Two Fridays ago I spent a few hours up at the NBA offices, where they showed me all the new gear for this season. Some of the new designs have already been unveiled, like the new Sixers uniforms, Portland’s “Rip City” alternates, etc. — I won’t go into those here. I’m also going to save some of the changes for my NBA season-preview column on ESPN, which will be running in about two weeks. But here’s a smattering of news to get you in the mood:

• The Cavs are once again doing one of those “CavFanatic” alternate uni designs. This time it’s the late-’80s design in 1970s colors. Dig the special tagging.

• By now you’ve seen Charlotte’s new pinstriped uni set. What you probably haven’t seen is that they’ll once again be doing a NASCAR version. Again, special tagging.

• Two uni-borne memorials for the Pistons: a jersey patch for Chuck Daly and that rear-collar “Mr. D” for Bill Davidson. As I mentioned in the Ticker last week, the Davidson memorial will be permanent.

• Speaking of memorials, the Pacers have added a patch for Mel Simon, although they haven’t yet worn it in their preseason games.

• Here’s a good look at the anniversary patches being worn by the Cavs and Kings.

• The Heat have made three changes to their shorts. First, the old format of having the NBA logo on the left leg and the team logo on the right leg has been reversed (that’s so the shorts match up with the jersey, where the NBA logo appears on the right-chest area). Second, the team logo on the red alternate shorts has been changed from the flaming ball to the flaming “MH.” And third, team logos have been added to the waistband on all three shorts designs.

• Last year the Nuggets wore green jerseys as an environmental-awareness thing. That initiative has been retired for this season, although a broader uni-based environmental program may be put in place for 2010-11.

• These are the new compression shorts and calf sleeves that many players will be wearing. So if you see any players looking like extras from Tron, now you know why.

• The rim design has been updated. In addition to the superficial changes, the new version has breakaway functionality on the sides as well as the front.

That should be enough to keep you busy for now. More NBA news coming soon-ish.

Never thought they’d actually play a game: I was out having dinner with friends last night so I missed Matt Holiday’s rock the UFL’s auspicious debut. Fortunately, Marcus Hall took a bunch of screen shots and Mike Sullivan actually created a new blog just to catalog all his UFL complaints, so you can get a sense of just how tragic the whole affair was. Man, Jim Fassel must have burned a lot of NFL bridges in order to have been reduced to this.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Hey, check it out, it’s Elvis playing football. The “E.P. Entp.” on the jersey stands for “Elvis Presley Enterprises,” natch (great find by Bruce Menard). … Last year, Mike Walker of the Jags wore No. 81 and a “Walker” NOB. This year, however, he switched to No. 11 and “Sims-Walker” (the hyphenated NOB reflecting a nod to his late father) — at least for the first three games of the season. But last week he was back to just “Walker” (good work by Jonathon Binet). … Not uni-related but still very cool: a directory of world license plate styles (great find by Jordan Guthmann). … Two good items from Michael Jaworski: (1) The local history museum in Stuart, Florida, is currently featuring a very good baseball exhibit, with a nice photo gallery. And (2) Florida is adding a women’s lacrosse team in February, but they’re already playing exhibition games. “I assume these are their actual game uniforms, but don’t know for sure,” says Michael. “They have SNOB, although I wish it was on the front, above the uniform number, like in basketball.” … I’ve seen lots of girls’ teams wearing candy-cane sock stripes, but never a boys’ team — until now. That’s a Pop Warner squad from Watertown, New York (with thanks to Dave Northrop). … The Florida Panthers came up with rock tour-style T-shirts for their preseason schedule (as noted by Scott Marcusky). … Update to an item from yesterday: Here’s a color version of what the Padres would have looked like if they’d become the Washington Stars. As you can see, the color scheme would have been red, white, and blue — not purple and gold, as reader Richard Craig had stated yesterday (big, big thanks to fellow SABR member Maxwell Kates). … “I got married a few weeks ago,” says Doug McConnell. “When my fiancé, now wife, couldn’t find any suitable cake toppers, I decided to use these little guys instead.” … “Here is the logo for the 2018 and 2022 Japan World Cup bids,” says Jeremy Brahm. “I don’t know why they needed Astroboy, but he is the ‘Special Ambassador.’” … Incidentally, I recently interviewed Jeremy for a Uni Watch Profiles segment, which will be running soon. … The end zones in Denver this weekend will feature alternating filled-in diamonds — nice.

I only caught the last few minutes of the Hall of Fame Game last night. Fortunately, thanks to the magic of internet photo galleries, I can bring you the uni-related highlights anyway:

• In recent weeks, it had looked like the Bills were gonna go with this pants stripe pattern. But they ended up going with this instead.

• The Titans’ much-discussed Steve McNair memorial decal is innocuous enough. And Tennessee’s coaching staff wore memorial collar pins.

• Take another look at that helmet photo. Notice anything? No NFL logo! In fact, the NFL shield was absent from both teams’ helmets. That’s nothing new for the Bills, whose throwback helmets have been shield-free for years now. It’ll be interesting to see if the Titans — and/or other teams partaking in the AFL throwback series — continue to eschew the league logo.

• Now go back to that Jeff Fisher shot. See how the logo on his shirt is all faded? That’s not a glitch — both coaching staff wore shirts with “distressed” emblems. I hate that faux-vintage approach (if you want a beat-up old Bills shirt, spend some time in thrift stores like I do), but I do find it interesting that they’d use that look for the coaches — a much more casual look than the usual coaching attire.

• The officials looked so damn great. A few people in last night’s comments were griping about the socks or the uni numbers not being fully accurate, but AFL officials had a wide range of looks over the years — they didn’t have just one standardized number font, e.g. I’m perfectly fine with how they’ve handled this.

• The red gloves that were worn by members of both teams reeeaaaally don’t belong in a throwback game.

• Bills owner Ralph Wilson wore his Hall of Fame blazer. But hey, Ralph, we gotta talk about those sneakers.

I’m sure there was a whole lot more that I missed, but I was busy catching the world debut of the Pedestrians. More on that later. For now, enjoy the onset of football season try not to melt today.

Raffle Reminder: I’m currently raffling off 10 free copies of Bill Henderson’s amazing MLB jersey guide. To enter, send an e-mail to the raffle address by 7pm tomorrow. One entry per person, except for Uni Watch Membership Program enrollees, who can send four separate entries. I’ll announce the winners on Wednesday.

Research Project: We’ve all long lamented the fact that there’s no online database for NBA uniform history. Now reader Chuck Myron wants to do something about that. He’s willing to do the archival research, but he’ll need help creating the illustration templates and the web site itself. If you’re interested in helping him out, contact him here. Thanks.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Some guy on eBay is selling some really great baseball-themed Cuban pin-up posters. I just bought this one, and there are additional examples here, here, here, here, and here. … Bizarre coincidence: In last week’s ESPN column, I mentioned that I’d met a collector named Michael Ono, who’s been collecting USC alum autographs. Got a note from him on Friday, thanking me for including him in the column, with a twist: Turns out that he’s been the creative services manager for the A’s for nearly a decade (”I thought I was the only one who knew about the various discrepancies in our logo,” he says) and even designed their 40th-anniversary patch last year. So when I interviewed him at the convention, I was talking to a professional logo guy and didn’t even realize it. Small world and all that. … Red Sox third base coach DeMarlo Hale appears to be wearing the same flapless Wilson helmet design worn by A.J. Pierzynski (good spot by Andy Chalifour). … New logo for GW hoops (with thanks to Dan Franko). … Whoa, check this out: a black Ohio State hoops uni. The design was never worn on the court (thankfully), but it’s still interesting (with thanks to Dylan Glickman). … Small change for Iowa football, where the chest wordmark has been replaced by a collar logo (with thanks to Matthew Nelson). … The Raiders have posted a bunch of archival photos, many of them spectacular, on their web site. Check out image No. 9 and you’ll see them playing against a decal-less Broncos team. Preseaon, perhaps? (Major thanks to Mako Mameli.) … Didn’t know AT&T Park had a Giants uni display until Brinke Guthrie sent me these pics. … I might actually watch soccer if it was played by kangaroos. That’s the logo for the bidding for the 2018-2022 World Cups in Australia (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … Those Adidas college football practice jerseys, first seen on Tennessee, are also being worn by other schools, including Notre Dame, Kansas, and Indiana. … New football uniforms Louisville. In addition to the new striping, Louis Samuels notes that the QBs already have hand-warmer pockets — odd for August, no? … And according to the very last sentence on this page, Pitt will be unveiling new Nike uniforms today (with thanks to CJ Giannuzzi). … Here’s a NickNOB. That’s Yuji Nakazawa of the Yokohama F Marinos in the J-League (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … Matthew Hiett notes that Braves first base coach Glenn Hubbard still has the 4ALS decal on his helmet. … Lots of good shots of Babe Ruth as a pitcher here (with thanks to Chad Todd). … Scott Little sent a bunch of scans from a Tokyo Giants mag. Among the highlights: a guide to the uniforms worn by the stadium staff at the ballpark and some sort of “design the uni contest” (look here, here, and here). … Also from Scott: Maybe the best “Official [whatever] of the [league]” sponsorship ever and some killer furniture. … Ricko sent me scans of a ticket brochure from the old Minnesota Buckskins of World Team Tennis. “I was league PR director and a minority owner in the Buckskins,” he explains. “I didn’t do the paintings, but I did design the unis and the logo (well, drew the intentionally unisex character and my dad did the lettering, by hand). Note that the women are shown wearing two different colors — brown was to be the road uni. Men’s road would have flip-flopped the brown and gold on the uni shown. All moot, though, cuz the majority owner didn’t wanna pop for the custom unis.” … Super-cool interactive map on old Indiana basketball gyms here (great find by Ben Traxel). … Dr. John C. Barnes notes that UNLV appears to have changed their black helmet stripe to a red stripe. … Mark Teixeira was missing the 2 on his helmet last night (as spotted by Mike Lafferty). … “This watch ad ran in various football game programs, including those at Dartmouth, in the late ’70s and early ’80s,” says Tris Wykes. “It ran with the image reversed year after year, and they failed to correct it. That’s Columbia at Harvard, in case you’re wondering. Interesting that the helmet logos weren’t airbrushed out.” … Reprinted from last night’s comments: Chris Cooley’s latest blog entry is all about uniform fines. … Check out this completely amazing vintage SF Giants apron! It’s available for sale here. … The Cowboys have been engaging in some haircut-based rookie hazing. … The long-rumored new Arizona State jerseys look like this. … Ladies and gentlemen, your new Philadelphia 76ers. … Someone on the Chris Creamer board showed a small scan showing that Broncos-style vertically striped socks were briefly featured in the Wilson catalog.

At the risk of having Teebz cross me off of his Christmas card list, I have to admit that my knowledge of NHL jersey patches is somewhat less than encyclopedic. But that may change now that John Muir has pointed me toward NHL Patches, a site devoted to, um, what was the name of the site again? Right.

There’s tons of good stuff documented here. Did you know, for example, that the Red Wings wore a war bonds patch during WWII? Or that the Bruins celebrated their 50th anniversary with a really creepy-looking bear?

You could waste a whole day clicking through the site. Fortunately for you, I’ve already done that, so here are some highlights, in roughly chronological order:

• Never seen an egg shaped sports patch before.

• And speaking of unusual shapes, I really like the shape and alignment of the Flames’ 10th-anniversary patch.

• Several teams have worn Olympics-based patches over the years, including the Canadiens, Sabres, Islanders, and Flames. Canadian teams have also promoted the Canada Games.

• I love — love — this Edmonton 75th-anniversary patch design. The following year, the Oilers wore a similar patch for the province of Alberta, but the design wasn’t as good.

• When the Red Sox wore the Massachusetts bicentennial patch, it was rendered in Red Sox colors. But the Bruins wore it in Bruins colors.

• You know how stores and businesses will proudly say how they’re “family-owned”? So did the Red Wings, in the early 1980s. Never seen anything like that. (Ten years later, the Wings celebrated their 60th anniversary with a direct-embroidered design instead of a patch — unusual.)

• Something else I’d never seen: a patch honoring disabled people.

• Somehow this Whalers 10th-anniversary patch is perfectly in keeping with the team’s endearingly simple graphics program. Awesome!

• I really like the color-coordination of these simple memorial patches.

• I knew about the Leafs’ King Clancy patch. But I didn’t know they’d worn heart disease patch that same season.

• Man, that is one busy patch design.

• Now that’s an all-star patch!

• Very interesting to see that that Harold Ballard’s memorial patches had his name rendered in white-on-white and blue-on-blue — a posthumous nod to his infamous color-on-color NOB stunt, perhaps?

• Speaking of the Leafs, here’s probably the best stadium/arena patch I’ve ever seen (much better than the one they wore a few years later).

• Very nice, very simple — I like.

• Here’s an oddity: The Flames celebrated their 15th season in Calgary with a small design direct-embroidered on their shirttail.

• The 1995 All-Star Game patch was supposed to look like this (excellent concept, not so sure about the execution). But that game was never played, because of the lockout. San Jose got to host the next ASG, but the patch design was revised to look like this.

• Here’s an excellent look at all the millennium patches from the 1999-2000 season.

• And I’m saving the best for last: quite possibly the coolest patch design ever. Wow.

There’s more, mostly from the last decade, but I’ll let you explore those for yourself. Just don’t blame me if you don’t get anything else done today.

In case you didn’t notice the new ad on the left: You can now access all of the Naming Wrongs shirts from this page, and I don’t mind saying I think they look pretty damn nifty. Collect ’em all, buy lots for your friends, etc. (and big thanks to those of you who’ve already rung the cash register on this one).

Seriously, you won’t even know what hit you: I spent the weekend putting the finishing touches on the Mets-centric uniform quiz I’ll be conducting tomorrow night, 7pm, at Two Boots. It’s gonna be a doozy — I’ve got 25 questions with a total of 32 answers (i.e., some questions are “Name the three players who did blah-blah-blah”), and I’ll be impressed if anyone has more than 10 correct responses, although I’ll be very pleased if I’m proven wrong on that account. The prize will be a copy of Keith Hernandez’s new book, Pardon Me While I Snort the Third Base Line Shea Goodbye, and the book’s co-author, Matt Silverman, will be one of the other Two Boots speakers, so he can autograph it for the winning contestant on the spot. I’ll also have plenty of “I’m Calling It Shea” tees to sell, natch. See you there.

Uni Watch News Ticker: The Astros will wear lunar landing caps tonight (as reported by Maury Brown). … Check out this shot of the 1891 WVU football team! Love that little awning over the window on the building in the background (big thanks to Jason Bernard). … Awesome Chargers throwback slideshow — including throwback cheerleader uniforms! — available here. … Tommy Murray was at Magic Kingdom and stopped in for a bite at Casey’s, where the staffers wore baseball uniforms, including stirrups. … Marty Hick found a bunch of old indoor soccer uni drawings that he did as a kid. “My favorite parts are the collars, and the trendy indoor soccer shoes of the day.” Naturally, my favorite part is the socks. … New kits for Inter Milan. Further info here (with thanks to B. Mitchell. … Lots of cool old photos of the U. of Minnesota’s Memorial Stadium (with thanks to Tris Wykes). … Is there really a high school team called the Nikes? Yeesh (with thanks to Steven Wojtowicz). … As most of you probably know by now, Dwyane Wade has switched from Converse to Jordan. And as goes Wade, so goes his alma mater. … Some info on Nebraska’s basketball uniforms here (with thanks to David McGee). … Good roundup of the latest Premier League uniforms here. … Best photos yet of the new New Mexico football unis here (big thanks to Rob Montoya). … Really interesting video about the history of corporate logo design here (great find by Matthew Robins). … Interesting note from Tyler Kepner, who writes: “Had a great time at the McCartney concert at the Mets’ ballpark on Friday night and couldn’t help noticing a Detroit Red Wings sticker on the guitar he used while playing ‘Yesterday.’ I googled it and came across some sites that said a fan gave it to him in 1976. Maybe he liked it for the ‘Wings’ connection. Anyone know the real story?” … Ben Teaford notes that there’s a lot of orange in the logo for the groundbreaking on the Marlins’ new stadium (yes, even groundbreakings have logos now). “I also saw a video of the groundbreaking with people wearing orange shirts. Is this a hint of things to come or just an odd choice?” Hmmm. … More pics of those tuxedo jerseys here (with thanks to Paul Barrett. … Aaron Johnson reports that there was a Royals Hall of Fame game in KC on Friday. Participants wore the team’s current powder blue alternate jersey and matching pants and caps. Looks like they had a Royals HoF sleeve patch, too. … Some really interesting photos of keirin (Japanese short-track cycling) here (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … Here’s the new Celtic road kit (gracias to James Chaney). … Check out the Hannibal (Missouri) Cavemen, a summer league team that wears very nice northwestern-striped stirrups (big thanks to Bob Southon).

Has Vicente Padilla joined Alcoholics Anonymous? Nope — the “AA” on his cap last night was a salute to boxing great and fellow Nicaraguan Alexis Arguello, who committed suicide last week. Special thanks to reader Chris Mycoskie for letting me know about this rare cross-sport memorial tribute.

New ESPN column today — look here.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Junior Griffey wasn’t the only one wearing a white glove as a Jacko tribute on Tuesday night. Look at the Polish sausage at Miller Park (great catch by Kristopher Hunt). … And in other Jacko news, Ron Artest will reportedly wear No. 37 with the Lakers, because Thriller spent 37 weeks at the top of the album charts (with thanks to Stu Taylor). … Interesting logo news from Matthew Algeo, who writes: “The G8 Summit is being held in Italy this week. Originally it was scheduled to be held in La Maddalena, a town on an island off the west coast of Italy. But after the April earthquake in L’Aquila, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi decided to move the summit to L’Aquila, but it was decided to keep the summit logo unchanged. Hence there are sea turtles in the logo for a summit taking place in the mountains.” … New football uniforms for Miami University (additional views here and here), plus they’ll be wearing the university’s 200th-anniversary logo as a helmet decal (with thanks to Adam Hainsfurther). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Yaz’s grandson had an NOB typo in the Fenway Summer Classic. … Ironic T-shirt of the year (as spotted at the mall by Joey Greenstein). … Also from yesterday: LSU is adding an “LSU” chest mark. … Kayce Harris got a blue ski helmet and decided to give it a DIY Broncos treatment. “It’s a great conversation starter on the chairlifts,” he says. … Latest evidence of why the Jays need to reduce the size of their NOB lettering (with thanks to Craig Salinger). … In a vaguely related item, Daren Landers notes that first base coach Dwayne Murphy’s NOB has a space between the R and the P. … Daren took that photo at a recent Jays/Reds game, where he wore a Joey Votto jersey. The woman posing with him is Votto’s mom, who approached him during at a hot dog stand when she saw him wearing her son’s jersey. … Maybe it’s a Washington thing, not a Nats thing (with thanks to Marc Swanson). … Hey look, there’s a chess league, with some cool team logos (as spotted by Trevor Williams). … No photo, but Kurt Esposito reports that the Phillies’ ball girls have been wearing Hawaiian shirts to encourage people to vote for Shane Victorino, who is from Hawaii, as the final NL All-Star. … Now I finally understand why Lenny Dykstra never signed up for a Uni Watch membership. … Here’s a Brazilian blog about logos. … Looks like the Pistons will be wearing a Chuck Daly memorial patch this fall (with thanks to Jeff Cohen). … Check this out: Someone’s making replicas of New Era caps — out of paper (great find by Stu Taylor). … A’s and Rays will be wearing throwbacks on Saturday. … Latest member of Stirrup Nation: Orlando Cabrera (as spotted by Andy Chalifour).

Remember Matt Stover’s Gene Upshaw memorial sleeve band/patch thingie? It was pointed out in yesterday morning’s comments that Brian Dawkins was wearing an Upshaw armband (or maybe just a sleeve patch on a black undershirt) this past Sunday, as you can see above. Much later in the day, someone said Dawkins (who, like Stover, is a union rep) had been wearing the arm-borne memorial all season. And sure enough, he has, as seen in these pics from September 21st and 28th, October 5th, 12th, and 26th, and November 2nd. How is it possible that none of us pointed this out until now? We’re all slipping, people.

New ESPN column today — here’s the link. Meanwhile, here’s your Ticker, which for a change doesn’t even include the word “douchebag.”

Uni Watch News Ticker: The Trail Blazers will retire the No. 30 twice in December, honoring Terry Porter and Bobby Gross. This is apparently only the third time an NBA team has retired a number on behalf of two players: The Knicks retired No. 15 in honor of Dick McGuire and Earl Monroe, and the Celtics retired No. 18, worn by Dave Cowens and Jim Loscutoff (with thanks to Dane Drutis). … Bob Wilzbach reports that the Dayton Bombers wore Troy Bruins throwbacks on Friday (note the very small “A” designation). “The Troy Bruins were an IHL team that played at Hobart Arena, where the Bombers now play, from 1951-1959.” He also notes that the Johnstown Chiefs now have ads on their chests (not unusual for minor league hockey) and their rear shirttails — ugh. … Yesterday I mentioned that the Padres had made uniforms for their proposed 1974 move to DC and asked if anyone knew what those uniforms looked like. Todd Radom to the rescue! … Best Onion cover ever (thanks, Phil). … Lots of helmet oddities in this photo of a Pinewood Prep (S.C.) player. Michael Orr says he doesn’t know why the helmet number doesn’t match the jersey number, or what the “POP” or “LM” decals are for, but he says this guy, from the same team, was clearly wearing his mismatched socks and leg bands on purpose. … Like the looks of this? Bid on it here. … Additional very nice letterman jackets here, here, here (that’s a women’s jacket), and here (ditto), plus some really nice varsity sweaters here, here, here, and here. And here’s the kicker: Check out the amazing little metal pins here. … The New York Times is shuttering its quarterly sports mag, Play, which reminds me of the following tale: When the Vikings were slated to be designing what is now their uniform — this was at least a year before the uni was actually unveiled — I approached the Play folks with the idea of a behind-the-scenes feature in which I’d follow the design process each step of the way (obviously, I’d have needed access to be granted by the team, league, and Reebok) and show how a new NFL uniform design comes to fruition. An editor — I don’t recall which one, alas — wrote back to me with the following: “That sounds great — assuming anyone actually cares how a uniform is designed.” He passed on the story. … We’ve all seen plenty of old baseball jerseys with a sun collar or cadet collar, but it’s rare that you see a piping-clad sun collar. Details here. … I’m so biased and mean toward poor, innocent little Nike that I’m going to link to this mean, biased article about Nike soccer cleats that smell like cat pee after they get wet (really!), even though I wouldn’t have known anything about it if Craig Ackers hadn’t sent the article my way, so I guess he’s a Nike-basher too, whee! … Dave Gardner notes that the Canadiens’ 1947-48 throwbacks don’t have the scoop hemline. … Great interview here with the guy who signals for the TV timeouts at Browns home games (thanks, Vince). … During last season’s Winter Classic, the Pens wore navy helmets with navy straps. But now that they’ve unveiled essentially that same jersey as an alternate, they’re pairing it with navy helmets with white straps. … Speaking of the Pens’ alts, here’s a schedule of when they’ll be worn (with thanks to Doug Keklak). … Morris Levin sent along his favorite shot from the Phils’ victory parade. … The Rangers had a kid from the Garden of Dreams Foundation drop the first puck last night, and check out his NOB, complete with small caps for the “of” (with thanks to A.J. Frey). … Brady Quinn’s green dot was missing last night. … Oilers goalie Dwayne Roloson briefly lost his mask last night (thanks, Phil). … An Italian soccer team is trying a new uni-related strategy (with thanks to Roger Faso). … The Kings’ alt jersey has been leaked.

Still Bryan here. Sorry, Paul fans. He’ll be back on Thursday.

But now, it’s … Tuesday. And Chase Daniel wore No. 25 on Saturday. You’re late.

Yeah, I know. I have my reasons (note: they’re all lame). I’ve received more than a few emails about the Chase Daniel thing, so here’s the deal:

From Missouri head coach Gary Pinkel, after a game earlier this season — “Every week the captains will select a player to wear his number and represent Aaron O’Neil (who died July 12, 2005, after a voluntary conditioning workout, due to causes later identified as lymphocytic (viral) meningitis. – br) in his senior year. We just think that’s a great way of honoring him, not only for the fans and for the players but certainly to honor him for his family. The seniors came up with that idea and I think it was an excellent one.”

A good idea in both spirit and execution. The result is more jarring when Daniel wears it compared to, say, the backup wedge buster on special teams, but I like it regardless.

Now, on to other things. I’ve had a few good ticker submissions that needed a little more explanation, so here are a few of them before the actual ticker. (And I’ll have more on Thursday.)
Michael DeAloia has been doing some research for his Cleveland history blog when he came across these two photos. The first is of the 1908 East Tech High team. “Love the turtlenecks with the big “E” on the front. And check out the various striped socks. Very cool.” The second photo is of the 1932 East Tech High squad. Michael says he wishes the photos were in color — I agree. Thanks for the note, Michael.

Greg Netherwood was out bowling the other night and … eh, I’ll let him tell the story: “in the bowling alley they have one of the New York State Lottery scratch off game vending machines. Since I had gone to the bowling alley wearing my authentic David Wright jersey, I thought it fitting that the scratch off I bought should be the all new “New York Mets” scratch off, showing a beautifully lit up Shea Stadium in the background. As I perused the game’s rules on the card, I noticed something peculiar. One of the instant win options was, and I quote, “Reveal a glove symbol, win DOUBLE the prize shown.” The glove symbol shown was none other than the old Milwaukee Brewers logo. The website even shows an example of the ticket, and in the explanation, shows the Brewers logo as well.”

Caleb Borchers checks in with some South African logo shenanigans. “For years the debate over keeping the Springbok logo in South Africa has been raging.  For many the Springbok is still a symbol of the apartheid era. Now, the official decision (until a billion appeals) to axe the logo on any national team has come.  The government claims this is final, but I promise the crap will hit the fan if this is actually enforced.” More info here and here.

Uni Watch news ticker: Some insight into the rugby question from yesterday, courtesty of Don Montgomery: “Ireland beat Scotland on Feb. 23, 2008, by a 34-13 score. It was their last 6 Nations victory, as they lost to Wales, then England after that. My assumption is that they’re simply wearing their last 6 Nations victory on their kit. Other than that, I don’t know. The Scotland match, other than the victory, didn’t have anything else so memorable about it.” We thank you for the info, Don. … Wow. Sweet. Thanks, Steve Lega. … Good idea, bad execution. Mark Kaplowitz on the tip. … Very, very interesting helmet decal on Ferndale High School in Michigan. Thank you for the note, Arden Smith. … Hey, you know that nasty one-day 49ers logo? A helmet with that decal was on eBay recently. Robert Eden had the tip on that one. … Following up on the cancer awareness item from yesterday, Jose Palacios reports that the Mexican soccer league uses a pink ball all through October. … John Muir was at the Islanders’ season opener and spotted a custom blade on the stick of St. Louis goalie Chris Mason. Patrick Lalime has a customized stick, too. … This was in my paper today, and I missed it. David McGee did not. … Funny Team of 18,000 commercial here, with thanks to Mark Coale.

Kickers don’t get on the field very often, plus the Ravens had a bye in Week 2, so it’s taken a little while for the issue of Matt Stover’s black sleeve with the Gene Upshaw patch to reach critical mass. It’s been briefly mentioned in the Ticker and in the comments, but until this week I didn’t realize that Stover had been been wearing it all season long, as you can see in these shots from Week 1 (when he also wore the giant Upshaw chest patch), Week 3, and Week 4.

The whole thing seemed very odd, on a number of fronts. First, we all know the NFL usually frowns on uniform freestyling, so how was Stover getting away with this? The fact that Stover (who’s the Ravens’ union rep) was openly critical of Upshaw’s union leadership just six months ago only made things weirder.

On Tuesday I called the Ravens to get the scoop. They promised to make Stover available for an interview, which took place yesterday. Here’s how it went down:

Uni Watch: We’ve seen lots of memorials for Gene Upshaw this season — first there was a chest patch, then that was removed and changed to a helmet decal, except for the Raiders, who’ve kept wearing a smaller chest patch — but you’re the only player I’m aware of who’s worn a black sleeve and a sleeve patch. How come?

Matt Stover: That was one of the things that went out around the league. Now, being a kicker, it’s a little easier to wear a sleeve band. That’s really what it is, an arm band.

UW: It’s a band that covers your regular sleeve?

MS: Yeah. And it was made to go all the way around. And I think that became cumbersome. But what I did with my equipment guy, Ed Carroll, his lovely wife actually cut it and sewed it onto my jersey.

UW: So originally it was sort of like a sleeve around the sleeve, so to speak, and she did a little custom tailoring for you?

MS: A little tailoring work, yeah. She did such a great job. And because of that, it’s just easy to wear, it’s not a problem. It’s honorable to Gene, and what he’s done for us. And I just want the NFL to know the solidarity we had, even though, y’know, the letter that went out and all that, I just wanted to say, “Hey, look, NFL, we’re OK. Everybody’s good here.”

UW: When you refer to “the letter,” you’re talking about the e-mail that became public about six months ago, in which you were critical of Gene. Was that situation part of why you’ve chosen to wear the sleeve band, to make an extra gesture as a way of saying, “Hey, I disagreed with him, but I still respected him?” or something along those lines?

MS: Not something extra, no. I just wanted to make sure that — I mean, the letter did say that we’re supposed to wear it all year, from the NFL. So I’m going to honor that.

UW: You mean the patch?

MS: No, the arm band, for player reps.

UW: Oh, really? You mean this was the league’s idea all along, for player reps to wear the sleeve band?

MS: Yeah.

UW: But I believe you’re the only player rep who’s worn it.

MS: Well, that’s because we went the extra mile. My equipment guy asked if I wanted to do it, and I said sure. And you know, I wanted people to know that I am the player rep, I’m proud of it, and we’ve got unity, even with guys who have disagreed with Gene.

UW: I didn’t realize this was a league-initiated idea. Normally, as you know, the league is notoriously picky about uniform adjustments.

MS: I will say this: They’ve been really respectful to the death of Gene Upshaw, and what he’s meant to this league. They’ve been great. Putting the patch on the front of the jersey, yeah, that ended up being a little bit much, because with the captain’s patch and all the other things, it started getting a little bit out of hand. Then they put it on the back of the helmet, which is not bad at all. Doesn’t look too much like Nascar.

UW: But you wanted to keep something on the jersey.

MS: Yes. For respect.

UW: And again, that was the league’s idea?

MS: Yes, for union reps. And you know, I have not spoken to any of other reps around the league with regard to this, and what that meant to them, and why they’re not wearing it, and whatnot. To me, it doesn’t matter. I thought it was a good idea, so I’m wearing it.

UW: Has anyone on an opposing team, or even on your own team, said, “Hey, what’s up with your sleeve?” or whatever?

MS: They kinda look at me. One guy was starting to ask me about it right before I was getting ready to kick a field goal, and I went, “Dude, chill out — let me go kick it first, then we’ll talk about it.”

UW: This was someone on your team?

MS: Yeah.

UW: Who?

MS: I don’t remember, you know how it is in the middle of a game. He was all curious — “What’s that, Stoves?” I said, “C’mon, man, let me kick first.” So yeah, the guys wanna know what it is, and I just tell ’em, I’m the player rep and I’m just givin’ it up for Gene and the union.

Fair enough. Odd that the league never publicly announced anything about the union reps being encouraged to wear the sleeve tributes, though.

When you factor in all the other salutes (jersey patch, helmet decal, field memorial), I think it’s safe to say that Upshaw is probably the most memorialized person in NFL history. Which is pretty remarkable when you consider that the guy who basically invented the modern NFL only got a one-game helmet decal in Super Bowl XXXI.

Membership News: The good news is that we’ve gotten all sorts of cool membership orders lately (including Valerie Kyriakopoulos’s shout-out to former Browns great Leroy Kelly, shown at right; as always, you can see the full gallery of card designs here). The bad news is that a few unavoidable circumstances have kept us from processing them as quickly as I would have liked. But the good news is that about 15 cards should go out in today’s mail, and hopefully at least that many going out on Tuesday as well. My thanks to all enrollees for your patience.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Here’s a nice shot of the U. of Washington helmet cart (with thanks to Ian Reandeau). … Michael Alper reports that Syracuse now has a women’s hockey team. You can see their uniforms here. … Mike Stevens has noticed that Titans defenders sometimes have loose strings hanging off of their jerseys (presumably similar to the laces Bill Romanowski used to wear to make his jersey tighter). I hadn’t noticed this before. Anyone else..? … New hoops uniforms for Oklahoma. … Someone posted this in yesterday’s comments, which pretty got my eyes popping out of their sockets. Here’s why: Over the past five years or so, approximately skatey-eight bijillion Pats fans have told me the story about how the Pats once had a “mascot contest” during halftime, with fans being instructed to “vote” via applause for either Pat Patriot or a proposed replacement character. Pat won, so that was the end of that, but nobody has every come up with a photo of what the proposed replacement looked like. Several people have told me, however, that the replacement guy bore at least a superficial resemblance to Flying Elvis, a description that could arguably sorta-kinda apply to this fella. Can anyone fill in some of the blanks here? … “The minor league Fort Wayne [Indiana] Wizards are moving into a new ballpark and have decided to change their name, becoming the Fort Wayne Tin Caps (a reference to Johnny Appleseed, who’s buried in Ft. Wayne),” reports the pseudonymous Sean Bratton. “The team has now become the laughingstock of the town, soon to be playing in a new downtown stadium no one wanted. I don’t think the logo looks too bad, it’s just that the name would make the Ft. Wayne Strawberry Shortcakes sound intimidating.” … Sure enough, Oregon is getting new Nike uniforms — for the volleyball team (nobody likes a tease, Ken Ocker). … Could Golden State be getting a new mascot? Who really gives a fuck? Could be (with thanks to Brendan Tarpey). … Here’s something you don’t often see: a double-decker hyphenated subscript NOB. That’s Taj McWilliams-Franklin of the Detroit Shock (big thanks, as always, to Jeremy Brahm).

By Bryan Redemske

The Phillies — those forward-thinking, tree-hugging Phillies — on Wednesday announced a “going green” initiative, starting with the purchase of 20 million kilowatt hours of Green-e Energy Certified Renewable Certificates (RECs). The EPA says it’s the equivalent of planting 100,000 trees … but without actually planting the trees.

The club is going to be recycling now, and also getting rid of condiment packages and going with dispensers and such instead. And to that, I say, “hurrah.” Good for them. But how to celebrate this new era in Phillies history? Hmmm … how about a green hat? Perfect!

Of course, the New Era factory had to be fired up to make them, and they had to be shipped and everything. Eh, we’ll save the environment tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow (which is now today, since I wrote this last night), it’s May Day. In celebration of that, all Major League Baseball teams will install a Maypole in a prominent location. Obviously, the Yankees will put it in Monument Park, but teams are free to place it wherever they like. Also, look for hat patches, too.

Here’s a look at the rest of baseball’s celebrations for May:

May 2: It’s Negro Leagues Day — the league’s first game was played on this day in 1920. All teams will wear Kansas City Monarchs uniforms, except the Royals, who will be wearing their powder blue alts.

May 3: Bitch about Walter O’Malley day. The former Dodgers owner agreed to move the team to Los Angeles on this day in 1957. The Dodgers will wear “LA” caps to celebrate the successful move.

May 4: Ken Oberkfell was born on this day in 1956. The Braves will honor him by refusing to acknowledge Atlanta’s pre-1991 history.

May 5: The Astros will honor the 47th anniversary of Al Shepard’s first trip into space by wearing replica Mercury suits. They will also retire the number 47.

May 6: It’s Willie Mays’ 77th birthday! All players — on the Mets — will wear their caps and sunglasses like this.

May 7: All teams will have a moment of silence before the game — and wear a special sleeve patch — to mourn the victims of the Great Natchez Tornado, which killed 317 people … in 1840.

May 8: The Pirates will celebrate Bill Cowher’s 51st birthday by wearing black and yellow.

May 9: Sticking with the birthday bent, it’s Twinkie day in San Diego: Tony Gwynn turns 48! The Padres will wear their camouflage jerseys to mark the occasion.

May 10: Teams will wear pink for Mother’s Day, only to find out they got the date wrong. They’ll change the promotion to celebrate the first day of the Giro d’Italia, a three week cycling stage race. The teams’ jerseys are now based on the leader’s pink jersey.

May 11: Teams will continue to wear pink, since it’s actually Mother’s Day now. The Yankees will decline to participate on both days, because they’re a-holes.

May 12: To honor Yogi Berra’s 88th birthday, broadcasters all over baseball will say things that make no sense. Again, the Yankees will decline to participate.

May 13: Today is Barry Zito’s 30th birthday, so it’s stirrups and a high ERA for everybody!

May 14: All starting pitchers will go 9 innings — but lose — to observe Roy Halladay’s 31st birthday.

May 15: The Yankees will retire Nos. 56, 1, and 1941 to honor the start of Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak. The only numbers available for future players are 73, 94, and 97.

May 16: The No. 1 will be re-retired on what would have been Billy Martin’s 80th birthday. The Yankees will wear black ankle bands, since their sleeves are full of other patches.

May 17: The Padres will wear their camouflage jerseys in honor of the 1943 Dambuster Raids on German dams.

May 18: The Yankees, Orioles, Athletics, and Angels will all wear patches shaped like tinted prescription glasses for Reggie Jackson’s birthday.

May 19: The Blue Jays will celebrate Victoria Day by taking the day off, but having another ceremony later, like the Nationals on Jackie Robinson day.

May 20: It’s Hal Newhouser rubber jacket day in Detroit. To celebrate environmental consciousness, each jacket will be made from recycled tires taken off all current GM models.

May 21: Protective cup day in all parks, in an attempt to prevent future occurrences of … uh … this.

May 22: Mark Prior will undergo Tommy John surgery in honor of the 66th birthday of the surgery’s namesake. It was going to happen sooner or later — call it preventative maintenance.

May 23: The Padres will wear their camouflage jerseys in honor of Italy joining the Allies in World War I in 1915.

May 24: No activities planned. The Yankees decline to participate anyway.

May 25: It’s Star Wars Day across the majors in honor of the 31st anniversary of the film’s release.

May 26: Memorial Day — the Padres surprisingly don’t wear their camouflage jerseys, but the White Sox remember they have them and break them out for the first time.

May 27: It’s the 69th anniversary of the debut of Batman, prompting the Yankees to wear capes and little bat antennae.

May 28: Chleveland Honors Jhonny Peralta’s 26th birthday.

May 29: Today’s Red Sox game will be delivered in winks and nods in remembrance of Moe Berg, a former Sox catcher and U.S. spy.

May 30: The Cubs wear green hats in honor of grass, ivy, and the one-month anniversary of the Phillies’ green initiative.

May 31: Kenny Lofton, age 41 today, has his number retired by the Astros, Indians, Braves, White Sox, Giants, Pirates, Cubs, Yankees, Phillies, Dodgers, and Rangers.

Here’s Vince with the ticker …

Uni Watch News Ticker: As Paul has noted before, even fans get in on the whole misspelled jersey thing (thanks to Dan Cichalski). … Many people have emailed to say that Bob Uecker claimed during the Brewers/Cubs broadcast that Chicago’s Reed Johnson is the last among the Cubs to wear “old style” stirrups. Many also claimed that this claim doesn’t appear to be true. These photos seem to indicate Uecker is right, though. … There’s apparently some groundswell to have the NCAA allow USC and UCLA to both wear their home uniforms for their annual game (thanks to Eric Borer). … The Durham Bulls wore pink jerseys to support breast cancer awareness (thanks Josh Edney). …A New York Rangers sweater given to Bruce Springsteen is part of a larger auction you can find here (thanks to Michael Jaworski). … Reader Andrew has created a site devoted to the uniform history of the Diamondbacks. … If you haven’t checked it out ready, this blog devoted to ugly baseball cards is certainly a great time waster (thanks John Muir). … Patrick Ryan says that Houston had to wear their grey road uni’s for the first time this season because Arizona chose to wear their red alts. … Think Luis Sanchez really wants everyone to know whose jacket that is? (Thanks John Muir).

Whatever you think of the House the Ruth Built, its impending demise has had at least one salutary side effect: New York’s tabloid papers have been publishing plenty of historically minded retrospective articles filled with, as Scott M.X. Turner puts it, “lots of photo yumminess.” Scott noted some interesting pics in this past Sunday’s Daily News, and reader Eric Hoey found something truly astonishing in Sunday’s Post. Let’s take a look:

• Scott describes the memorial armband in this Joe D. photo as “the world’s thickest mourning strip” (also, note the belt buckle disappearing into the belt tunnel). Interestingly, I had a similar comment last August about this Joe D. jersey, which was displayed in the Museum of the City of New York’s “Glory Days” exhibit. The two jerseys aren’t the same, obviously, since one is home and one is road, but the Yankee Clipper apparently liked his armbands extra-wide.

• Remember my recent blog entry about the “ruptured duck” honorable discharge patch, which several Cubs players wore in 1945? At the time, I mentioned that Red Ruffing of the Yankees also wore the patch, but I didn’t have a photo. Now, however, thanks to Scott and the Daily News, I do.

• “Forgit the beauties here,” says Scott. “Check out the different number fonts. Yankees fans forget — or more likely don’t know — that the Yanks and Red Sox shared that ‘Red Sox font’ for much of the Ruth/Gehrig/DiMaggio eras.”

• Here’s the real prize, spotted by Eric in Sunday’s Post: The Yanks won the 1932 World Series, so they raised their championship banner on Opening Day in 1933 (exactly 75 years ago today, coincidentally). And what were the players wearing there in the foreground? Check it out: Yankees capes! How cool is that?! Or maybe they were blankets, because I found this shot of Babe Ruth from an exhibition game a few days earlier — same white trim as the capes had, although the capes looked shinier. Anyway, we’ve all seen sideline capes in football, but I’ve never seen or heard of anything like this on a baseball field. Anyone know of any other examples? (Oh, and that other team across the way? That would be the Boston Red Sox, who had no idea how many decades of frustration lay ahead of them.)

Uni Watch News Ticker: Cool socks worn by Kiara Franciso of Winter Haven High School in Florida (with thanks to Bob Rios). … Dave Concepcion not only wore No. 13, he also wrapped a Friday the 13th calendar page around the barrel of his bat! … “I grabbed this off the trailer for the Love Guru movie,” writes Carl Carlson-Drexler. “It looks like they’ve got Justin Timberlake wearing an old fiberglass mask, which would be slightly anachronistic — and bizarre, since they seem to have a lot of other things pegged (down to the Stanley Cup playoff patches).” … Check out the unusual downhill insignia worn by the 1924 Waterloo Hawks (the latest contribution from photo-historian David Eskenazi). … Good catch by Jere Smith, who was watching a replay of Mike Witt’s perfect game (September 30th, 1984) and noticed that all of the Angels had vertically arched NOB lettering — except for Reggie Jackson, whose lettering was radially arched. I couldn’t find any other 1984 rear-view pics of Reggie, so I’m not sure if this was a one-game aberration or something more extensive. Anyone know more? … Sharp-eyed Brett Crane notes that home plate ump Joe West was wearing two sets of memorial initials during last night’s Angels/Rangers game. The “EG” is for Eric Gregg, I’m sure, and I’m assuming that the “SC” is for former National League ump Shag Crawford, who died last summer. … Reader Paul Wiederecht was in town over the weekend and joined me for a beer. I paid for the suds, which was the least I could do after he presented me with a pair of genuine Mets stirrups, circa 1980. … While channel-flipping last night, I was surprised to stumble across the NCAA women’s bowling championships. Even more surprising: Arkansas State wore these skimpy shorts, while Maryland Eastern Shore wore short skirts. Can’t they just wear slacks, like the guys? Also note the NCAA patch, just like in the hoops tourney, and check out the uni numbers on the sleeves. And although I didn’t manage to get a photo, I just about slit my wrists when I saw one of the Maryland girls wearing one of those thin Nike swoosh bands on her upper calf (just like the ones being worn by most of the guys in this shot). … Max Rosenthal says this page features “a good roundup of/commentary on the shirts to be worn at Euro 2008 (the European soccer championship),” and I’ll take his word for it cuz I’m too busy right now to actually read the page. … I’m not the only one who has issues with corporate sponsorship (with thanks to Tom Konecny). … Jeremy Brahm reports that the Japanese softball team for this summer’s Olympics will look like this.

It’s pretty simple, or at least it should be: You don’t wear an alternate uniform for the first game of the season. And that goes double when you’re playing the very first game at a brand-new ballpark.

But the Braves were more interested in selling a few shirts and caps than in having any respect for the game or for their hosts, so they chose Opening Night to unveil their new blue alternate road jerseys and solid blue caps. Nice going, John Schuerholz. Maybe at your home opener you can announce that you’ve sold the stadium’s naming rights to Coca-Cola.

Such unseemly breaches of protocol notwithstanding, how did the new togs look? Well, they’re waaaaay better than the red alt jersey (which, sadly, will still be worn for Sunday home games). The big problem is that the blue script and, especially, the blue uni numbers look sooooo Little League, like they didn’t have enough $$$ to shell out for an additional color or something. I never thought I’d ever be using a BP jersey to make a favorable comparison, but compare the BP shirt’s red lettering and numbering to the new gamers and it’s no contest. As someone on Chris Creamer’s site pointed out, the blue-on-blue uni numbers are very reminiscent of this and this, neither of which is the kind of thing you’d wanna be associated with. The jersey needs some red.

As for the navy-brimmed cap, I don’t mind that so much, esp. since it harkens back to an earlier era. But a spot of red would’ve been nice, even if only on the top cap button. And hey, how come they didn’t have solid navy batting helmets?

Other notes from the game:

• That little left-sleeve patch says, “Beach,” a memorial tribute to coach Jim Beauchamp.

• I didn’t realize that the Nats’ stadium sleeve patch was gonna be reprised as a cap patch. Let’s hope this is just just for the first game or first series of the season.1

• Odalis Perez had major undershirt-tag problems early in the game.

• Fans of double-flap helmets will be happy to hear that Willie Harris is still wearing one, just as he’s done earlier in his career. In addition, Brayan Pena wore one, something he has not previously done.

• I understand that stuff like this is unavoidable these days. But seriously, I am so sick of these mound logos. The mound is a place for serious work, not a billboard for you to tell people something they already know anyway.

• Speaking of Ws on the mound, we’ll never have to see this again, and that’s more than dandy with me. Go back to sleep, George.

Simple Rule: If someone posts a photo of an attractive female athlete — or just an attractive female, period — and if you respond by posting a dick-for-brains comment like, “Uniform? I don’t see any uniform!” or something of a similar ilk, my new policy as of right now is that you will be blocked from making any further comments on the site. This is not because such comments are offensive, but because they’re so totally lazy, stupid, and depressingly predictable. If you need to convince everyone that you’re heterosexual, at least come up with a more creative way of doing it, like by running for governor of New York or something. Thanks.

Uni Watch News Ticker: I hadn’t spent any time poking around Steve Dewing’s completely addictive photo site for a while, so I checked in the other day and, as usual, got completely sucked into the gorgeous imagery. Among the new finds: Keith Hernandez in white shoes (clearly from the 1987 All-Star Game) and this shot, which appears to show a Dodgers catcher wearing either a front-facing helmet or a brimless helmet. The thing is, this photo is almost certainly from 1969 (as evidenced by the MLB 100th-anniversary patch on Tony Perez’s sleeve), and I wasn’t aware of catchers going front-brimmed or brimless that early. … Chris Burris notes that Orlando Mendez-Valdez has been wearing the Western Kentucky logo on his socks. … Nice historical rundown of Coastal Carolina logos here (with thanks to Greg Sharp). … While looking for something else, I came across this 1988 photo. Check out that amazing American League umpire’s cap! … The Brooklyn Cyclones are planning to wear Hebrew uniforms for Jewish Heritage Night in a few months. Details here (with thanks to Mike Stutzman). … Good Converse article here. … David Stern floated a trial balloon the other day about possible uniform advertising for NBA preseason games overseas (a particularly disappointing prospect when you consider how interesting some of the country-based preseason designs have been over the past two years). If you’d like to help shoot that balloon down, you can contact the NBA here. … Reprinted from Friday’s comments: Outstanding article about Rawlings gloves — highly recommended. … Remember Rob Ullman and his uni-themed cheesecake illustrations? Kent Foster certainly does: “Took your advice and had Rob create a hockey pin-up girl for me,” he writes. “The team is the University of Richmond Spiders and the girl is my wife, Monica. I actually got it for her for her birthday, although it was probably more of a present for me.” … “I think this is my favorite picture so far from the SI vault,” writes Jesse Spector. “I think you’ll really enjoy it too, for the little details like the red shoes, the sock stripes, and the Baltimore Clippers championship banner.” Indeed. … Padres news from Brian Hilemon, who writes: “CEO Sandy Alderson stated during his weekly radio chat that next season the Pads will have uniform designs to honor not only the Marines but other branches of the military as well.” Jesus Christ, why don’t they just put mosquito netting over the stadium, make fans salute when they go through the turnstiles, and install David Petraeus in the manager’s office already. … Headband or wannabe-monk? (As forwarded by Greg Riffenburgh.) … “I went to the games in Tokyo last week and got some cool shots of the unis in the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame and at the game,” writes Mark Bittick. “The Hall is mostly about uniforms (there’s something um, unsettling about the Hiroshima Carp’s sleeve patch), and the beer girls at the stadium are straight out of anime. They even wear stirrups!” … Good close-ups here of David Beckham’s 100th-match golden cleats, jersey, and cap (big thanks to Dana Prey). … Cool video segment about our friends at Distant Replays here. … Thoughts on the Civil Rights Game: Overall, the uniforms were really lame (duh), but the orange trim on the Mets’ attire looked really good (although it would’ve looked a lot better if they’d worn blue sleeves and caps, to match the chest insignia, instead of going with black). Interesting that the Mets had special pants made for the occasion, while the Sox just wore their regular road pants. Also interesting that both teams wore their regular caps (well, except for that little “Civil Rights Game” embroidery on the side), while the Cards and Indians wore specially designed caps (and helmets!) last year. … Strange boxing phenomenon the other night: Arthur Abraham was wearing Adidas gloves, or so it appeared during his bout with Elvin Ayala (in fact, Ayala had Adidas gloves too). But when the tape came off the gloves after the fight, it turned out Abraham’s gloves were also Everlast-branded — what gives? I have a friend at Everlast and hope to have an answer soon (big thanks to Richard Giron for spotting this one). … According to the little “Did You Know?” squib in the right-hand column of this page, the Sean Taylor memorial movement is alive and well (good catch by Daniel Weimann). … Really nice old baseball uniform available here. I’d bid on this one myself, but the seller says the jersey is 22 inches from pit to pit (i.e., a size 44), which means it’s too big for me. Dang. … Really, really good article here about rugby sponsorships, logo creep, and related issues (with thanks to Caleb Borchers). … Great article and audio slide show about some interesting behind-the-scenes details at Yankee Stadium. … Good catch by Brian Russ, who writes: “When CBS showed the brackets after the Memphis/Texas game, they misspelled Xavier on the screen.” … Jeremy Brahm notes that the Romanian women’s handball team has off-center uni numbers. … Jon Chin reports that New Era is now selling fitted MLB caps for women. The sales copy says they’re “fit for a woman!” (not sure if this refers to the cap’s tailoring or if they mean it in the “fit for a king” sense) and adds that the caps have a “re-designed fit with a re-sculpted crown and trimmed visor.” Not sure how this makes them more “woman”-ly. Anyone..? … At first I got all excited when Scott Marcusky sent me these awesome photos of a Pirates farmhand from Saturday’s Bucs/Twins spring training game. “Ah,” I thought, “Nyjer Mogan’s hosiery influence is spreading!” But then I checked the Pittsburgh roster and found that No. 79 is Luis Munoz, who (a) is a pitcher, (b) isn’t listed in Saturday’s box score, and (c) looks like this (tough to say for sure, but that doesn’t look like this fella). Now I’m inclined to think that the player in question might actually be Morgan himself wearing someone else’s jersey, as occasionally happens in spring training. If anyone can help confirm or refute my theory, I’m all ears. … As many readers have noted, the new NFL logo is now being featured on NFL.com. … Contrary to what I wrote a few days ago, the Dodgers never intended to wear throwback flannels for Saturday’s game at the L.A. Colisseum. Instead, a bunch of 1958 old-timers will wear the flannels during today’s Opening Day ceremonies at Dodger Stadium. Sorry to have gotten the two events mixed up. … Reprinted from last night’s comments: Vince Young has a nameplate tattoo. … The Hershey Bears wore 1938-39 throwbacks on Saturday night. Additional pics here (courtesy of Mark Coale). … Check this out: baseball stadiums made out of Lego, plus an interview with the guy who designs them.