Posts filed under 'Minor League Baseball'
It doesn’t take much to make my day — just genius, transcendence, perfection. Serve me up a tall glass of those and I’m an easy fella to please, ask anyone.
Case in point: Show me a 1956 Portland Beavers jesey and I’ll walk around with a big, goofy smile on my face for the rest of the day. The fun Cardinals-knockoff design (which is odd, because they weren’t affiliated with the Cards at that time), the gorgeous chain-stitching (that’s a modern reproduction, but still…), it’s a masterpiece. What could be better?
Oh, maybe this.
Holy shit holy shit holy shit, look at those sleeve stripes mimicking the stirrup stripes! It’s like a perfect call-and-response mating dance. It’s like that beautiful dream that you can’t quite remember when you wake up. It’s like heaven on a stick, only without the stick.
But was it just an isolated thing worn by that one guy? A mere tease to torture us with visions of what might have been? No!
Just imagine it: an entire team decked out in the game’s greatest stripe pattern, high and low. The mind reels, the body trembles. This, brothers and sisters, is what the political and corporate puppet masters don’t want the people to know about. This is the vision that could awaken the masses from their narcotic stupor and upend the establishment. This is How Life Is Supposed to Be.
I know of only one other baseball team that had matching sleeve and sock stripes: the early-1940s Cubs (see photos here, here, and here). I thought they were an isolated example, but the Beavers pics suggest otherwise. This changes everything.
Allow me to suggest a few immediate and urgent items for the agenda:
• There must be other photos of the 1956 Beavers out there. It is imperative that we find them.
• Now that we know the Cubs weren’t the only team with matching sleeve/stirrup stripes, we need to start scouring the old newspaper files for additional examples. I’m confident that they’re out there.
• We must — MUST — find one of these old Beavers undershirts. There has to be one stowed away in someone’s house, tattered and moth-nibbled. It is essential that we find out who manufactured it. (Jeremy Brahm, you live in Portland, so please start snooping around in people’s closets and attics, thanks.)
• Meanwhile, it is just as essential for someone, or perhaps several someones, to begin making reproductions of the undershirt. Jerry Cohen, Peter Capolino, whoever’s running the show over at Stall & Dean this week — I’m talking to you. Get crackin’. (Update: Cohen just told me, “Love to, but it can’t be done. No one will make a garment with knit-in stripes in low quantities. The machinery doesn’t exist anymore in the U.S.” Then he added, “If someone wants 10,000, maybe…” Okay, I’m in for the first thou. Who’s with me?)
• Finally, I hope all you Photoshop tweakers are already busily creating images to show us how other teams might have looked if their sleeves had matched their hose. Imagine a sleeve stripes based on this pattern, for example. Or this. Or, dare I even think it, this.
Okay, brothers and sisters, our mission is clear. But before we adjourn, let’s give a word of thanks — nay, a standing ovation! — to Pacific Northwest baseball historian Dave Eskenazi, who discovered these amazing photos and sent them my way a few days ago. I’ve been in a state of bliss ever since.
Like I said, I’m an easy fella to please.
Update: About an hour after this entry was posted, reader Roger Faso came up with this team portrait. Looks like five of the players are wearing the sleeve stripes in that shot.
Bigger Update: Dave Eskenazi has just come up with seven additional photos showing the sleeve stripes. I’ve put them all here.
Mardi Gras in November: The Hornets will unveil their new Mardi Gras alternates this afternoon. I’m not allowed to talk about them until the unveiling begins at 4pm eastern. So at that precise moment, I will post a short new entry here on the blog (probably just a photo and a few sentences) and will also have a new column going live on ESPN. Trust me — love ’em or hate ’em, you sure won’t be able to ignore them.
Uni Watch News Ticker: You’d think the NFL could use its current logo when turning people down for Super Bowl tickets (that’s the letter Bo Baize got). … Big Ohio State riflery photo gallery here, and a Miami riflery gallery here. … A little birdie — okay, a little birdie named Moe Khan — tells me the CFL will switch to having the home team wear white next season. … Kevin Marks got an excellent shot of Lendale White wearing what appears to be three pairs of socks (or two pairs plus a calf sleeve, whatever, same diff). … CJ Giannuzzi spotted this guy at last Sunday’s Steelers/Bengals game. … Wanna buy 200 really cool vintage sports T-shirts? I have just the link for you. … Jonathan Cain wonders why Benny the Bull’s uniform doesn’t match what the team wears. … You can really see the difference between the Packers’ seamless and standard jerseys here and here (with thanks to Jacob Shell). … This photo is full of Very Famous People but I’m not gonna tell you who they are because it’s such a great photo — why ruin it with celebrity baggage? (But Jen Muller knows who they are.) … Hey look, a big sportswear company has decided to treat its sweatshop workers like human beings after all. What a concept. … Memphis had one player going NNOB last night. Not sure of the story behind that (as spotted by Chris Salove). … Extremely garish new uniform for the Brisbane Lions (with thanks to Heather Hamilton). … Someone has started a petition demanding that the MLB Network air the Dock Ellis no-hitter. Not a bad cause, but it would be even cooler if they’d air the No Mas-produced Dock Ellis no-hitter animation.
November 18th, 2009
By Phil Hecken & James Huening
Back with my wingman, and UW pollster, James Huening again today, to bring you our nine finalists in the “Worst. Uni. Ever.” poll. You selected the nominees, and you voted (oh, boy did you vote), and now we’ve narrowed it down to the nine worst. One last round of voting will decide the winner of perhaps the most inauspicious title in all uniformity: Worst Ever.
Not much else for me to say, so I’ll turn it over to James who’ll take you through the final piece of the process. Here’s James:
~~~
Last weekend, we presented our candidates for worst uniform in the history of ever (or at least in the history of North American team sports). We asked you to vote in a survey to determine the finalists. More than 2,600 responses were received, which means this was our most successful survey to date.
The field has been narrowed down. We’ve got our nine finalists. Now it’s up to you to decide what is the worst (North American) uniform ever.
So without further ado, let’s meet the finalists.
In the Major League Baseball category: the 1978 San Diego Padres.
From the National Basketball Association, the expansion Toronto Raptors.
Representing the National Football League, we have the Seattle Seahawks‘ lime/electric/snot/neon green alternate.
The National Hockey League gave us our only truly close race. Only a handful of votes separated our top vote-getter from the second place finisher. And that top vote-getter is the “Flying V” of the Vancouver Canucks.
The next category is for Short-lived Uniforms. These are the ones that lasted a handful of games at most. It seems fitting that the 1976 Chicago White Sox get that “honor.”
Next, the Minor Leagues. This one wasn’t even close. The Tucson Toros absolutely ran away with this vote. Is it any wonder?
The University of Oregon Ducks and their mix & match “diamondplate“ look are representing the NCAA in our poll.
Our soccer representative is another runaway winner. The Caribous of Colorado got nearly triple the votes that the other two contestants did.
Last up, we have the Orlando Thunder of the WLAF representing the Miscellaneous Pro Football category.
Full results are here, here and here.
Now that you’ve met the contestants, please tell us which is the worst of the worst. There are more pictures in the poll. You can click on them to see the full-size versions.
The poll can be found here. Time to vote!
~~~
Awesome work, James. Big round of applause to Mr. Huening for undertaking the monumental task of tallying more than 2,600 votes. But our work here is not quite done. We still need to pick a “winner.” So follow the link provided above and cast your final vote for the “Worst. Uni. Ever.” The future of the world is depending on you We’ll have the results next week. And may the worst uniform win.
~~~~~~~~~~
OK, I’ve been receiving a LOT of NFL uniform tweaks from you guys (thanks!)…so many that if I don’t start running a few with each post, well…there will be a couple of weekends of JUST uniform tweaks (and we really don’t want that, do we?). I kid, I kid. But many of these are really good, and so, today I will begin to mete out the first buhch I received.
Our first set of tweaks comes from John Mattson, who writes:
Here’s my shot at
Bengals (also here and here), Vikings, Falcons, and Cardinals.
It am not a graphic designer and it is done on the simple Paint application on all windows PCs.
Thanks for all your great work. Let me know your thoughts.
Next up is Andrew Greenwood (”Greenie”), who sent me the following just as we were beginning our polling:
Phil,
In anticipation of the news that the Buffalo Bills were the lowest scoring team in UniWatch’s first ever jersey poll ranking, I’ve come up with this new design. Simply put, the Bills need yellow. There is no yellow in the AFC East, and there are already enough teams that wear red and blue. Since the Rams dumped this color pairing when they switched to the metallic gold, it’s a team identity up for grabs. Also, this color scheme compliments the only other Big 4 team that Buffalo has, the Sabres. Simple helmet logo (someone on UniWatch had the idea to get rid of the red line on the logo, and I believe you did your quick and dirty best to show it), classic NFL helmet striping blue-fat white-blue, two fat shoulder stripes for contrast, and a UNIFORM stripe pattern on all three pants. Two more fat stripes on the sack finishes the look. Can’t wait for the poll results.
(I actually voted the Jags and Cards lowest, but I think the Bills will edge them out. Go Pack!)
Next up is Shaun Tunick, who sent me a few different concepts, in a couple of different e-mails (so this may sound somewhat ‘cut and pastish’). We’ll look his tweaks for the Broncos, Patriots, Falcons and Giants now:
Tweaks for the Broncos and Pats, for the Broncos i took out the weird side to chest stripe/panel, and changed the color scheme back to the royal blue and orange, and then switched the jersey back to orange… i mean they have never had a blue jersey before, so why should they? i also replaced the horn stripe thing on the pants with the striping from the 1977 orange crush uniforms. also, i got rid of the weird helmet stripe. for the patriots, all i really wanted to do was get rid of the really frickin annoying blue side panel on the away jersey, and i ended up taking it off and also the piping from the home jersey. edited the pants stripes a little.
[PH here - Shaun did two Falcons mockups -- an original and a revised edition, which he describes below -- his first version is here]
i wanted to change the pants piping, i hate how it flares out at the bottom but i just didnt want it to look like complete garbage. i really like the striping that you guys did on the bengals, cant remember what it is called… but i meant to get rid of the piping on the pants. something like what they wore 97-02 would look great too. and on the jerseys the one thing i was thinking about was getting rid of the black, i dont really mind the piping there.
And about the helmets, i just wanted to see what a red mockup of the current helmet would look like, and i just threw the mid 80s helmet in there for kicks because that is IMO the best set theyve had… the one with the logo resting on the shoulder stripes, something that would never work today.. On the pants, it is silver, something that they started in 78 and then decided to ditch with the new uniforms.
Hey sorry forgot to throw in the giants, i edited the away jersey just a bit… anyway thanks a bunch for checking this out!
Moving on, we have a submission from Ed Westfield, Jr. (”Eddie Atari”), who wanted to fix the Giants. Here’s Ed:
I liked Phil & Ricks’ NFL uni tweaks, and I have another one for the
Giants. I’ve said before that there is not enough blue in the road
kit, so how about… BLUE PANTS?!
Here’s my Photoshop mockup.
I’m usually a Giants purist, but I actually like this, especially with
the red/grey/blue stripe in tact. Note: It should ONLY be worn with
white jerseys…
Last up for today is a first batch from Uni Watch’s #1 Broncos fan, a man who simply goes by Denver Gregg. He first sent me a batch, of (surprisingly) Denver Broncos mockups. We’ll look at those today. Here’s Gregg:
Hiya Phil
You do a great job with the weekend site!
I’ve been a Broncos fan as long as I can remember, and there has always been something that’s bothered me about the unis. I remember doing a copper and silver redesign in 1973 (long since mercifully lost). Anyway I decided to do a 2010 re-design, incorporating elements of current and past unis. I’ve kept the elements I like in the current set – especially the number and letter typefaces, the colors and matching the helmet color to the principal jersey color. I know my MS paint skills aren’t that great, so there are a few things that look a bit off (like the hue of the orange). There’s something in this set from each of the five generations of Bronco uniforms.
I did four variations on the socks. Denver2010 is probably a bit too out there. Denver2010a may look too similar to another team’s 75th anniversary throwback attire. I don’t really like Denver2010c, but it’s needed to balance out Denver2010b.
I also took the liberty of changing the helmet logo. The first one I remember is the horse coming through the ‘D’. I thought that was too busy and had the drawback of a horse facing the wrong way on one side of the helmet. When I saw the “amoeba horse” of the 1960s in old pictures, I was horrified – regardless of its eye color. I don’t like all the swooshes on the cyberhorse. So I took the best past element and isolated it. It probably needs work, but the idea could be worth pursuing.
I fully understand if (1) you have other stuff on deck; and (2) this isn’t up to snuff from a craftsmanship standpoint. If you have time to give me feedback, though, that would be great.
That’s gonna do it for today on the NFL tweaks. I’ve got LOTS more in store for you in the coming weeks, so if you sent me something and it’s not in this batch — don’t despair — it’s coming. For anyone else interested in sending in mockups, gimme a shout.
~~~~~~~~~~
 Our man in the street, Jim Vilk (taken at the Kent State/Akron game) brings you his “Top 5″ Best and one WORST college football uni matchup from yesterday:
5. Oklahoma/Nebraska: I miss seeing this every Thanksgiving weekend.
4. Furman/Auburn: Tigers are back, and bringing some snazzy Paladins with them.
3. LSU/Alabama: Best conference with another of the best uni-matchups.
2. Washington/UCLA: Even without the Bruins throwing back, this is a Top-Fiver.
1. Duke/UNC: It’s awesome, baby!
And the worst matchup: Navy/Notre Dame: It’s like going to a dance with your twin – it just ain’t right.
And as a special bonus pick, Jim awards “UW Honorable Mention to” Tulsa/Houston: Now Leon’s not the only one seeing red when it comes to Tulsa unis
~~~~~~~~~~
 Guess The Game From The Scoreboard: OK — back to football today. Not sure if you guys like these, but this one may be interesting. You should be able to determine the location and the teams with ease. So it’s just a date and a final score that’s needed. Ready? Guess The Game From The Scoreboard. Place a link to the answer from pro football reference. And if you want to keep this going through the fall, please send me some new scoreboards! Drop me a line and help a fella out, k? Thanks!
~~~~~~~~~~
 UW #1 Seahawks Fan Michael Princip has been tracking the Oregon Ducks and all of their 2,456 possible uniform combinations this season. He’ll be updating it after each game. Unfortunately, the Ducks winning streak came to a screaching halt yesterday, as they were upset down in Palo Alto by the Cardinal. In their second loss of the season (a possible derailment of their bullet train to the Rose Bowl), one stark fact emerges: White unis=bad. Might be safe to say this is the last time they’ll be outfitted in both white pants and jerseys in 2009. Here’s Your Updated Ducktracker.
~~~~~~~~~~
 You knew the Boys of Benchies liked football and baseball, but today we find they also have an affinity for a non-major sport. They’re up to their usual hilarity and hijinx when one of the Original Six makes an appearance in their hometown. That Mick…he kills me. On that note, Enjoy Your Benchies for today.
~~~~~~~~~~
Couple last things: Pacific Rim Correspondent Jeremy Brahm reports that even Japan is doing the Olde Tyme Baseball thing — check out that catchers’ mask! … Yesterday, both Oregon/Stanford and USC/ASU featured games where the officials were wearing one blue sleeve (sorry, no screen grabs) — it could best be described as a “long” blue sleeve worn on the right arm, underneath their regular official’s jersey (sort of like Jacoby Ellsbury in reverse). Anyone know what was up with that? … No Legacy Games today in the NFL, but we can all look forward to the Buccaneers busting out Bucco Bruce and the creamsicles in the Battle of the Bays (and that’s the early FOX game).
That’ll do it for today. Everyone have a great Sunday, and don’t forget to cast your vote for the WORST UNIFORM EVER.
November 8th, 2009
By Phil Hecken and James Huening
The long awaited “Worst. Uni. Ever.” nominees were submitted (both in last weeks comments as well as dozens of e-mails) and now, James is ready to bring you your selections in a knock-down, drag-out poll format. After receiving literally hundreds of nominees (many of them the “usual suspects” but some we never expected), James has devised the following poll, the link to which appears below. We’ve broken them down into nine categories, the winners of which will “face-off” shortly thereafter in a cage death match to find the absolute worst of the worst, as voted by you. Sounds complicated? Not really.
Simply read James’ descriptions and the pictures of your worst uniform nominees below, as broken down by category. We’ll take the top vote-getters in each category and have them all go up against one another. So with that, lets take a look at each of the nine categories, followed by the poll. James takes it from here:
~~~In the Major League Baseball (MLB) category:
1. First up we have the Cleveland Indians and their solid red uniforms that were worn from 1974 to 1977.
2. Next are the Houston Astros‘ beloved “Tequila Sunrise” uniforms.
3. This one’s sure to be a crowd-pleaser: the New York Yankees’ venerable pinstripes.
4. The Tampa Bay Devil Rays’ original unis.
5. The 1997-2000 Anaheim Angels.
6. Finally, the 1978 San Diego Padres.
~~~Our next category is the National Football League (NFL):
1. Our first contestant is the Buffalo Bills.
2. Joining them are the Cincinnati Bengals.
3. We go back to the dawn of the AFL for our next nominees, the original Denver Broncos uniforms, which have been on display this season as throwbacks.
4. And of course, we have the Seattle Seahawks and their new alternates.
~~~The National Basketball Association (NBA) is well represented:
1. Starting with the Atlanta Hawks’ 1995-99 uniforms.
2. Staying in the mid-to-late-90s, we have the Cleveland Cavaliers
3. The Detroit Pistons
4. The Houston Rockets
5. The early 90s and the Philadelphia 76ers are not to be forgotten.
6. We’ll head back to the mid/late 90s for the NBA’s two Canadian Representatives: the Toronto Raptors
7. And Vancouver Grizzlies
8. This decade is not completely off the hook, as you can see from the Washington Wizards’ recently-retired alternates.
~~~Plenty of National Hockey League (NHL) unis got nominated.
1. We start with the Anaheim Mighty Ducks and their whimsical “Wild Wing” alternate.
2. Staying in California, but going back farther in time, the California Golden Seals had a look that seemed as though it was inspired by UCLA football.
3. Moving to the present day, we have the Atlanta Thrashers alternate.
4. Back to California for the Los Angeles Kings and their “Burger King” jersey.
5. The Nashville Predators and their mustard-colored alternate that was worn from 2001 to 2007 are up next.
6. Next, let’s see the New York Islanders and the “Gorton’s Fisherman” jersey.
7. Back down south for the Tampa Bay Lightning and their 1996-99 alternate.
8. Our only Canadian nominee in this category is the “Flying V” of the Vancouver Canucks.
9. And rounding out this category, the Phoenix Coyotes alternate some refer to as the “Picasso” sweater.
~~~Our next category is for Short-lived Uniforms, whether they were intended to be permanent and scrapped after a handful of wearings or they were intended only to be worn once.
1. We’ll lead things off with the Baltimore Orioles and the orange jerseys and pants they wore for two games in 1971.
2. Joining them are the Chicago White Sox “short pajamas” that were worn in 1976. Nobody really seems to be able to agree on how many times they were worn. Most accounts have them being mothballed after a single wearing, but some say they were worn as many as four times.
3. Next up, the New York Mets and their “Mercury Mets” outfit that was worn as part of the Turn Ahead The Clock promotion in 1999.
4. The Philadelphia Phillies gave us the “Saturday Night Specials” for one game in 1979.
5. The only non-baseball nominee in this category is the Dallas Mavericks “trash bag” alternate uniform worn for a single game in 2004.
~~~We’ll turn to the Minor Leagues now:
1. Starting with the American Defenders of New Hampshire whose regular uniforms feature a camouflage motif.
2. The El Paso Diablos wore yellow, pinstriped uniforms with red pillbox caps in the early 1980s.
3. Our final nominee here is the 1980 Tuscon Toros According to an account I read, the back of the jersey was turquoise.
~~~There are way too many college teams out there to really pinpoint the worst one, so we limited things to the “big two” — NCAA Divison I football and men’s basketball:
1. First, we’ll have a look BYU football’s 1999 redesign
2. Next up, we have Florida A&M football
3. Turning to basketball, NC State’s “leotard” experiment makes an appearance.
4. It wouldn’t be a worst uni poll without Oregon football’s “diamondplate” mix & match set.
5. We’ll close out this category with a pair of football teams dressed from head to toe (or head to knee, at least) in orange: Syracuse
6. And UTEP.
~~~Now we head to the world of Soccer.
1. First, we have the Caribous of Colorado from the NASL. Their innovative jerseys featured fringe.
2. The early days of MLS gave us the Kansas City Wiz (who later became the Wizards).
3. Our third and final soccer nominee is Team USA for their 1994 World Cup unis.
~~~Our final category is Miscellaneous Pro Football.
1. From the CFL’s south-of-the-border expansion days are the Memphis Mad Dogs.
2. The Orlando Rage represent Vince McMahon’s XFL.
3. And we’ll wrap things up with another nominee from Orlando, the 1991-92 Orlando Thunder.
~~~Whew. There you have it. YOUR nominees for the category of “Worst. Uni. Ever.” Only one can win, but you can help narrow it down by voting in the poll below for your worst uniform in the nine categories. Once we have those nine, we’ll resubmit them to you so that we can, once and for all, determine what is the Worst. Uni. Ever.
On to the poll then: GO HERE FOR THE WORST UNIFORM EVER NOMINATIONS POLL.
Thanks again to James Huening for working on this and for coming up with the poll format. We’ll keep the nomination poll open for a week, and have the “playoffs” for the worst ever uni shortly after that. Thanks in advance for your participation!!!
~~~~~~~~~~Guess The Game From The Scoreboard: Hokie dokie. Got a football scoreboard today, which comes from reader Billy Duss. Not sure about the difficulty level on this one — kinda one of those “you had to be there” or have seen the game to get it. But we like that here. Definitely one to make you think about it. As always, please find a LINK to the game, which you can post down below in the comments, and not the game itself. As always, date, location and final score, if possible. Ready? Sure. Guess The Game From The Scoreboard.
~~~~~~~~~~ Our man in the street, Jim Vilk brings you his “Top 5″ Best and one WORST college football uni matchup from yesterday:
5. Texas/Oklahoma State — A real orange bowl, eh?
4. Tulane/LSU — Green Wave a little too green, but that light blue redeems them.
3. Temple/Navy — A wise old owl didn’t need to tell me to add this to the list.
2. UCLA/Oregon State — My color palette special of the day.
1. Ole Miss/Auburn — Nothing scary about this Halloween matchup at all.
And the worst matchup of the day: San Jose State/Boise State– At least the field looked nice…
~~~~~~~~~~ UW #1 Seahawks Fan Michael Princip has been tracking the Oregon Ducks and all of their 2,456 possible uniform combinations this season. He’ll be updating it after each game. And what a game it was yesterday. Your #10 Ducks took the #5 Trojans behind the woodshed (are we sensing a pattern here?) and basically put a lock on the PAC-10 and punched their ticket to Pasadena…for the Rose Bowl. Look for them to really move up in the rankings now. Only disappointment was the Ducks outfits — no new carbon-steel helmets, nor black and orange (what — they’d look too much like another Oregon school?) for Hallowe’en. Anyway, Here’s Your Updated Ducktracker. Thanks Mike!
~~~~~~~~~~Ah…yesterday we got to meet Mike’s cousin, Mongo. Well, today, the big guy is back with more of his unique brand of humor. Mongo’s humor that is:
More Mongo
Still More Mongo
Remember, Mongo only pawn in game of life.
~~~~~~~~~~ Bit of a “special” treat for you, since yesterday was Hallowe’en. Our man on the street, Jim Vilk, put together a special assemblage of Hallowe’en-inspired college football games for us that took place. Here ya go:
Happy Halloween matchups.
5. Miami, Fla./Wake Forest
4. Cincinnati/Syracuse
3. Grambling…uh, I mean Georgia/Florida
2. S. Carolina/Tennessee
1. Coastal Carolina/Clemson
Spooky…thanks, Jim.
~~~~~~~~~~And finally, in case you missed it, the Montreal Canadiens trotted out their barberpoles yesterday. Beauty, eh?
Good stuff there. Thanks to Jim & Rick & James & Mike and everyone else along the way. Don’t forget to vote for the WORST UNI EVER nominees. You can even post your guesses as to who you think the nine finalists will be in the comments, if you want.
And for all you uniform designers, and wanna-be designers, if you missed yesterday’s column, be sure to check it out — a chance for you to design a baseball uniform, logo and cap!
One legacy game today: Titans (Jets) versus Dolphins — should be cool to see the fish in something other than dropshadow for a change — you’ll be reminded how good they once looked, and could look again, if they wanted to make that look permanent. Game IV of the World Series tonight. Don’t forget to push your clocks back, if you haven’t already! That extra hour of sleep is so awesome, no? Of course it is.
Everyone have a great Sunday!
November 1st, 2009
Maybe it’s just coincidence, but I was in Baltimore two weeks ago and now Baltimore’s own Joe Hilseberg has found a site that has what he describes as “the greatest local collection of jerseys I have even seen!”
The site is Parkway Pastimes, and it’s run by some serious collectors of Baltimore/DC game-used gear. Plug “jersey” or “helmet” into the site’s search engine and you get hundreds of results. Among the many, many highlights (for all these pages, click on the thumbnails for larger versions of the photos):
• Here’s a full, intact set of the O’s solid orange uniform. And here’s a prototype for a different orange design, which I’d never seen before.
• But if you really want to see a cool orange jersey, look at this one.
• Speaking of orange, check out the Rawlings sleeve patch on this jersey, along with the 30th-anniversary patch on the other sleeve.
• Joe says, “I think this jersey design only made it on the field one time. Angelos hated the orange neck trim.”
• Dig the lowercase lettering on this NOB.
• Speaking of NOBs, remember that brief period when the Caps used negatively arched lettering? Note that the lettering appears to be direct-sewn, which means the nameplate shown at NHLuniforms.com is apparently wrong.
• Here’s a gorgeous jersey from the minor league Orioles days.
• And speaking of the minor league O’s, look at this incredible sleeve patch!
• Jeez, ya think the Terps were trying to rip off the Nats jersey design or what?
• Here are two different Brooksie helmets, both with the shortened brim.
• Unusual finds here: two Senators caps, both with old-fashioned protective insert liners.
• I don’t think Mike Devereaux has ever shown up on our running list of MLB players who’ve worn faceguard attachments. But he appears to have had one.
• Maybe my favorite thing on the site: an old Colts marching band uni from the AAFC days when green was one of the team’s color.
• Look at all the different Caps socks these guys have collected.
• If you search on “pants,” you’ll see lots of Washington Bullets warmup pants — including one from Manute Bol. Check out the inseam listing on the tagging!
• Check out the totally boss Bullets warmup jackets here, here, and here.
• Love this killer Colts championship jacket.
And so on. There’s a lot more on the site — have fun poking around on it.
Uni Watch News Ticker: The Jays wore their annual Canada Day uniforms yesterday, complete with CNOB and a flag sleeve patch. Additional pics here. … The Des Moines Register has put up a gallery of old Little League photos from the 1950s and ’60s, many of which feature interesting cap and jersey designs. Highly recommended clicking — check it out here (big thanks to Ryan Simmelink). … Very nice Forbes Field cartoon here (with thanks to Joel Basknight). … Latest installment of the North Stars uni history project is up (with thanks to Cole Jones). … Two new Australian soccer teams: the North Queensland Fury (here’s their road kit) and Gold Coast United (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … Also from Jeremy: A store in Japan is hosting a Yomiuri Giants exhibit that includes a gallery where six designers have come up with new Giants uni concepts. … Good story here about Charlie Hayes’s 1994 facemasks. Didn’t realize he’d worn the Rip Hamilton-style version (big thanks to Bo Baize). … Recently spotted at Shea: Someone in a Mets jersey with “Buckner 86″ on the back (with thanks to Dan Herr). … Great shots of Hank Aaron serving as a Korean batting instructor, circa 1982, on this page (Jeremy again). … Andy Bruinewoud recently visited the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and took some photos. … Boy, this really makes me proud to be from Long Island (with thanks to Alan Kreit). … Ryan Church was wearing some seriously ridiculous bell-bottoms yesterday (thanks, Phil). … Just what I always wanted: a baseball map of Taiwan (Jeremy yet again). … Tyler Kepner asked Brian Bruney about his blank-backed cap: “Wish I had a more exciting report for you,” he writes, “but Bruney said he simply
wears the same hat for everything — spring training, pre-game, in-game –
and the iron-on logo on the back peeled off.” … Wow, I didn’t remember this patch being so big. … Interesting question posed by Derek Blodgett, who asks: “What’s with the upside-down triangle and NHL team logos? Three teams use the triangle: the Penguins, Sharks, and Predators. Is there any significance to that?” Hmmmm. … With the all the AFL throwback hoopla just around the corner, Phil reports that the excellent Remember the AFL site has been expanded. Worth checking out. … Speaking of something worth checking out, look at this players-vs.-umps episode of Family Feud (genius find by Chris Flinn). …That new football stadium in Dallas finally has a logo. … RIP, Thin Man.
Holiday Schedule: We’ll have regular content tomorrow. Phil was planning something for Saturday, but I insisted that he take the holiday off, so instead we’ll just have a photo that captures the spirit of America (I really wanted to use that one, but the date kinda ruins it for July 4th purposes). And then Phil will do his usual thing on Sunday. OK? OK.
July 2nd, 2009
By Phil Hecken
It’s that time of year again. The annual barrage of teams wearing pink in support of breast cancer research and funding, or in support of The American Cancer Society, with proceeds used for cancer research. The prevailing trend now though, is Think Pink, which seeks to raise breast cancer awareness.
Just Google “pink uniforms” and you’ll see page after page of stories on teams who dress themselves in the color pink to promote some form of cancer prevention, research, or other endeavor. Especially with the recent passing of Kay Yow, many of the “Think Pink” cancer prevention efforts are now moving to to raise awareness for the Kay Yow/WBCA Cancer Fund. Worthy causes, all. And in all seriousness, who would be against cancer funding and awareness raising? But, does every team (seemingly) have to don pink? Is the trend getting to be, if not counter-productive, certainly watering-down the whole ‘uniqueness’ of the cause? That’s debatable of course, but lets focus instead on the actual uniforms and the myriad and sundry accoutrements surrounding the pink phenomenon.
Of course, wearing pink as an accent color has been around since at least the 1990s, and of course Andre Agassi, the ‘rebel’ himself, was at the forefront. At the time, though, there was no ’cause’ associated with it. Other athletes in non-team sports are still quite fond of pink, including Paula Creamer, self-proclaimed “Pink Panther”, who not only wears pink outfits but is also the only professional golfer to stroke a pink ball.
Moving onto team sports, however, the sartorial splendor of pink-clad squads is debatable. Again, for the purpose of this exercise, we will not debate the rationale or cause behind the donning of the pink, but merely the performance and appearance of the uniform and accessories. Kind of a skewed take on the Uni Watch dictum of “Is it good or is it stupid?”. In this case, the qualifications are merely, “Is the uniform good or stupid just really pink?”.
It seems like women’s college hoop teams are the primary wearers of pink. Personally, I don’t mind this, although there are certainly different shades of pink to be worn (which is nice — I’d hate to think they were all just one shade). I’m definitely less fond of the lighter pink sported here (yet, with different lighting, it appears slightly darker) or here. The brighter, hotter and deeper pinks seem to jump out more (since they’re less akin to pastels), and when accented with black, stand out. Course, it could just be the lighting, but this looks less pink and more ’salmon’ to me. And don’t forget to match the sneakers to the uniforms.
Women’s basketball is far from the only sport which has jumped into the pink craze. Both men’s and women’s hockey have entered the fray. “Pink at the Rink” is the new battlecry, featuring pink ice, pink-accented unis, pink sticks, pink-accented gloves, and, of course, pink uniforms for both the ladies and the guys. Even the refs have gotten into the act. Not a big fan of the pink at the rink myself, although it looks much better when the socks are coordinated with the sweaters, and the pants are in a complementary color.
Both men’s and women’s soccer sport the pink uniforms (although the Sevilla player is wearing, I believe, a change kit, and certainly not anything related to breast cancer causes) as well. Palermo also sports pink, as do several women’s colleges, with the latter donning the pink for cause-related reasons. Of course, you gotta start ‘em young.
In other, somewhat “individual” sports such as the triathlon and cycling, pink can always be found. Other semi-team sports like gymnastics will also find the pink in small numbers. Not to be forgotten, USA Softball has also gone pink for a good cause.
OK, that’s enough of the uniforms, but what about the accessories? The NFL got into the act by having the refs don pink ribbons to support breast cancer awareness week in October. Nice touch. Not to be forgotten outdone, the AFL used a pink-accented ball. I’m not sure this is official, but the Cowboys seem to have dabbled in pink, and this is always a welcome Dallas Cowboys cheerleader. But will her boyfriend QB ever slip on a pair of these?
You already they manufacture pink golf balls, but you gotta put your balls on one of these, right? Of course, if you’re gonna play with pink balls, well then, shouldn’t you stroke them with pink clubs? And what better place to keep your clubs than in a pink bag? Of course, tennis players can also hit a pink ball too.
And what of those soccer players? Well, the pink clad ones can certainly kick a pink ball with their shiny pink boots. And the sport of boxing? Sure, why not use pink gloves.
Coaches and fans? Sure, dye your hair pink or put on some pink Chucks. May as well pile on the pink bodypaint for the cause, too.
But surely, surely, the greatest sport of all, which gives millions of dollars to multiple charities, supports many causes, and provides entertainment for millions, would never resort to a gimmick? Surely, baseball would never resort to the pinkification of sport, would it? I think you know the answer to that question. At least they haven’t introduced pink gloves…yet. But they’ll never make the uniforms pink, right? You never know — once you stop taking roids, nothing is out of the question.
Happy Valentine’s Day. Remember, think pink.
February 14th, 2009
The start of the short-season single-A baseball season is still five months away, and Inauguration Day in Washington is still a week away. You may think those two things have nothing in common, but the Brooklyn Cyclones beg to differ.
On Tuesday, June 23rd (the “inaugural Tuesday” of the NY-Penn League season), the Cyclones will temporarily rename themselves the Baracklyn Cyclones, in honor of Mr. Yes We Can. Festivities will include the following:
• The Cyclones will wear special jerseys. I don’t think they’ll all be No. 44, but it’s interesting to note that Obama’s presidential ordinal corresponds with such a storied baseball uni number (Hank, Reggie, Lastings, etc.).
• The first 2500 fans will get this bobblehead.
• There will be some politically themed giveaways and discounts
• They plan to keep four seats behind the plate available for the new First Family, “should they decide to attend the festivities.”
So why announce all of this in the dead of winter? Because tickets for this game are being made available on Inauguration Day.
Yeah, it’s all a bit hokey, but it’s one of the more amusing minor league stunts in recent memory, and it’s surprising and impressive that the marketing staff was able to get team ownership to agree to a politically themed promotion. Most interesting of all, the team has created a dedicated web site just for this game. Among other things, it includes some intriguing back-story info on how the promotion came about.
Of course, all this is contingent on the Cyclones not going bankrupt (along with every other business in America) by June 23rd, but hey, one thing at a time. And in the spirit of the house-rental frenzy that’s been going on in Washington as the inauguration approaches, I’m happy to announce that if anyone wants to attend this Cyclones game — or, hell, any Cyclones game — and can’t find a place to stay, I’ll happily make my apartment available for a mere $1000 per night. But you have to feed the cats.
The Proctor Files, Continued: Phil’s Sunday post about the Southern California Sun and some related 1970s uni designs prompted a dispatch from sporting goods maven Terry Proctor:
The Southern California Sun football uniforms were made by, of course, Sand-Knit. They did most of the World Football League (except for the Birmingham Americans, who were very provincial and wore Russell Athletic uniforms made in Alexander City, Alabama). Sand-Knit had the pastel shades of magenta, lavender, pale yellow, electric blue, and lime green, as well as Black Watch and MacGregor tartans (plaid patterns) in various color combinations.
The other chief offender in the wild uniform craze was Rawlings — they did the Atlanta Hawks’ lime green and royal uniform, the Floridians’ magenta and orange, the Bullets’ orange and navy “swoosh” design, and the Nets’ stars-and-stripes set.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Worst color-on-color game ever: Illinois vs. Wisconsin, 2003. … Also from yesterday: Edgerrin James began Saturday’s Cards/Panthers game with his familiar visor but went visor-free later in the game. … Still more from yesterday: Neil Rackers’s pants were somewhat less than skin-tight on Saturday. … There was a car show in Boston over the weekend, and someone displayed this. Further details here (with thanks to Dan Lamothe). … Team Astana has a new kit (with thanks to Chris Warfford). … Other new cycling kits: Columbia-Highroad (plus there’s a black shorts option; additional info here) and Milram (with thanks to Jeff Mayer). … Stuart Greenlee was cleaning out his garage and came upon an old uni-patterned Giants apron. But it isn’t just designed after a Giants jersey — it includes the pants! “It’s made of the same kind of vinyl used to make shower curtains and is not exactly the best material to have next to your skin when you are in close proximity to a hot grill,” says Stuart. “I only tried using it once and that was enough.” … Sam Thornton notes that several of the Eagles’ linebackers have ribbed stitching on their shoulder areas, similar to what began showing up on the Bears’ linemen a few years back. … Hockey query from Todd Davis, who writes: “Was watching NHL Network the other night (really) and caught a video tribute to Wayne Gretzky’s 50 goals in 39 games. The five-goal 39th game was against the Cooperalls-Flyers, which was cool in its own right, but I noticed that one of the Flyers skaters was wearing an old-school fiberglass goalie-style facemask. I can’t tell from the video who it was, but I’m wondering if Teebz or anyone in the Hockey Wing would know anything about that.” … Jeff Newman might go down as the king of brimless catchers: He not only went brimless for at least two teams but also wore a team logo decal in both instances, a phenomenon previously seen only on Jim Essian (all this courtesy of Andy Chalifour). … Shea Stadium’s current state of disrepair can be seen here. Those shots were taken on Sunday by Alan Tompas, who lives in Queens. Meanwhile, in the latest Mets embarrassment, Citi Field is already beginning to rust. … If you’ve been dying to see LeBron James in a Browns uniform, your wait is over (with thanks to Brandon Yarian). … Before there were the Boston Celtics, there were the Original Celtics. Additional pics and info here (with thanks to Brad Keppler). … Jeremy Visser notes that Jamario Moon’s sneakers have his intials along with his team’s name and city. … Here are some more shots of Wayne Chism’s socks, courtesy of Josh Williams. … Look, another pitcher wearing a batting glove on his glove hand. Much like the Rollie Fingers photo from last week, this must’ve been taken during BP or pregame long-toss or some such (nice find by Patrick O’Sullivan). … Doug Keklak got this book for Christmas. Its many photos include this (interesting to see the dark outlining on the pant cuffs) and this. … Dustin Pomprowitz was watching Game 7 of the 1991 World Series last night on ESPN Classic and noticed two non-switch-hitters wearing double-flap helmets: Chuck Knoblauch and Jarvis Brown (sorry, no photo). Dustin also passed along this shot of Knoblauch. Yes, that’s a double-flap lid, but what really caught my eye was the Rawlings script on the helmet — should’ve have been a no-no, as brand logos have never been allowed on MLB headwear. … Color vs. color: Coastal Carolina vs. Liberty (with thanks to Mike Miller). … Best line yet about the Pro Bowl jerseys (from a thread on the Chris Creamer board): “The names on the back should be the players’ actual autograph, so it looks like they signed their own jersey, but in twill instead of ink.” … Everything from here to the end of the Ticker is from Phil: The spat between the Hockey Canada and Canadian Olympic Committee has spread to the editorial page. … Admit it, you’ve always wanted your favorite team’s logo on a Russian-style hat. … Latest team to wear camouflage: some obscure hockey squad you never heard of. … Who knew Tom Cruise was such an astute judge of uniforms?
January 13th, 2009
[Editor's Note: Reader Mike Miller recently attended the the 2008 Carolina League/California League All-Star Game in Myrtle Beach and provided such a thorough report that I've decided to run it as a guest-written entry -- enjoy. I'll see you down at the Ticker. -- PL]
By Mike Miller
The game took place at BB&T Coastal Field, home to the single-A Myrtle Beach Pelicans. Here’s a rundown on the visual aspects of the game.
Batting Practice Jerseys. Nothing too remarkable here. Carolina League, as the home team, had powder blue — err, Pelican blue — jerseys with gold and navy trim and “Carolina” across the front. The design was straight out of the current MLB BP jersey template. (Yes, that’s Roger Clemens’ kid Koby in this shot.) Many of the players had BP jerseys with different numbers than their game uniforms, so I think the jerseys were pre-numbered then had nameplates added when the rosters were finalized.
The California League BP jerseys were similar, except with navy blue as the primary color and “California” across the front. Their numbers were three-layer, with powder blue, then white, then gold. Both leagues’ BP jersey had the all-star logo on the left sleeve.
Game Uniforms. The Carolina League got everyone to wear home whites. The California League couldn’t meet the challenge, with half of their players wearing a colored alternate instead of the road grey.
A few cool and weird tidbits:
• Wilmington probably has the only gold front number on a white uniform of any team in baseball.
• The Stockton Ports, which are an A’s affiliate, go with white cleats, just like the parent club (but they don’t all wear stirrups).
• Although Myrtle Beach wears powder blue caps at home and on the road, they have black batting helmets. I was told that helmet manufacturers don’t make helmets in powder blue and that the team basically didn’t want to pay the money to paint them all that color.
• The Rancho Cucamonga Quakes have a fissure across their cap bill.
• Salem’s jerseys are faux vests (white jerseys with black sleeves). Compare them to the real deal here.
• Winston-Salem, a White Sox affiliate, have White Sox sleeve patches.
• There were a few quality stirrup sightings. The best was Sean Doolittle from Stockton.
Field Markings and Stadium. The logo they painted behind home plate was not the actual all-star logo, but a watered-down version (the full version is much more detailed, with a palmetto tree and crescent moon, which of course are taken from the South Carolina state flag).
The grounds crew had some nice touches, outlining the home plate area and coaching boxes in red, white, and blue, plus they painted each league’s name in the coaching box closest to that team’s dugout. And before the game, the crew put down a stencil of the Pelicans’ “MB” cap logo of behind home plate. So after they watered that area, the logo was clearly evident.
The stadium has a “beach area” down the left field line, where folks can watch the game from beach chairs. They even have a few lifeguard chairs for good measure. Since the main scoreboard is in left field next to the outfield bleachers, they put in a manual scoreboard on the right field foul line so the bleacher folk and beach-dwellers could actually see the score. It’s got to be one of the largest flip scoreboards in history, like the ones you used in gym class. The poor ballboy (blue shirt between the B and S) has to get up after every pitch to change the count.
Some cool things around the concourse too, including a list of every Pelicans player who’s made it to the majors and each year’s Opening Day lineup.
Finally, the gift shop had a heat press for those who wanted a personalized jersey. It got some work while I was watching.
Uni Watch News Ticker: A little birdie informs me that SMU, now being coached by June Jones, is returning to traditional white helmets, and that the new uni “will look similar to throwback Bills — royal jerseys and white pants at home, solid white on the road.” Can’t show any photos yet, but I can tell you it looks pretty hot. Official unveiling to come in the next couple of weeks. … Joe Alexander loves No. 11 so much that he might not play if he can’t get that number (with thanks to Josh Exine). … Pink caps are getting bashed in Boston. … John Blatchford recently attended the http://www.ishof.org/”>International Swimming Hall of Fame in Florida and sent along some photos (look here, here, here, and here). Lots of info on their current “History of Swimwear” exhibit is in this PDF. … Some interesting uni-related content in this video clip about what the UGA baseball team does on an off-day. … Chris Warfford notes that Team Slipstream, in addition their argyle cycling outfits, “are going to have one of the most colorful team photos ever. They’ve got five national title-holders that will be representing their nations during the grand tours, and those riders will be allowed to wear kits that reference their national titles, in addition to the argyle. Of course, we haven’t seen the new kits with the Garmin logo (that will be resolved soon), but if the Giro d’Italia is any indication of the kits, very few colors will be left out of the team photo.” … Not sure if I’ve run this link before, but here’s a good site for UK soccer kits (with thanks to Patrick Murray). … I just scored this nifty old uniform ad. “Preferred by the leaders of Boyville” — how totally great is that?! … Totally love this label (which is on this old uniform). … The Western Michigan White caps are going to wear Star Wars uniforms on Saturday. … Footwear observation from Brian Jud, who writes: “I noticed the SportsCenter commercial with Pierce, Garnett, and Allen shows them wearing road jerseys with white sneakers, when everyone knows the Celtics wear black sneakers on the road. More details here. … Sartorial justice: Maria Sharapova and tuxedo-themed Nike outfit were beaten yesterday by Alla Kudryavtseva, who later said, “I don’t like her outfit. It was one of the motivations to beat her” (good find by Brinke Guthrie). … You know how UMich always wears special shoulder logos for bowl games? Here’s an article on the company that puts them on the jerseys. … Bill Sour was watching the 1984 film Supergirl, which includes a scene in an abandoned amusement park. “I did a double-take when I saw a bunch of bumper cars with NFL helmets on them. After further review there it was, an NFL-themed amusement park ride [additional pics here and here]. I’d kill to find one of these old rides.” Very cool, but they got the Falcons’ logo backwards. … “George Shinn had wanted to own an NHL expansion team in Raleigh, but got pushed aside in favor of Felix Sebates, the NASCAR owner,” writes Tris Wykes. “So he came to Hampton Roads and whipped up ticket and suite deposits and civic interest in his proposed team, the Rhinos. They were in the hunt before being turned down by the NHL in January of 1997. There were billboards and T-shirts and Coke cans with the Rhinos logo. The character’s name was Rhocky.” … By now most of you have seen the Timberwolves’ new logo (which continues the NBA’s odd practice of including a basketball in the vast majority of its logo designs). According to this article, they’ll be unveiling a new uni set in August. … “Sometime last year, I sent along the only unearthed picture of Auburn sporting the hideous orange jerseys from 1979-82,” writes Kris McInnis. “But I was doing some attic shuffling and have found a few more good color shots from a couple of old university yearbooks. I can’t imagine there’d be anymore of these laying around that are actually in color. These shots differ from the original one I sent along, as most feature striped sleeves that are not seen on the tear-a-ways.”
June 27th, 2008
When you think of Sparky Anderson, you probably picture him being dressed one of two ways: as a Red or a Tiger. But Sparky wore lots of other uniforms prior to assuming the managerial chair. His one season as a big league infielder was spent with the Phillies, he played for lots of minor league teams (including the gorgeously attired Toronto Maple Leafs), and let’s not forget this uniform.
But if you grew up watching Sparky skipper the Reds, as I did, there’s one uniform — that of a certain division rival — that it’s simply impossible to picture him wearing. Or at least that’s what I thought until reader Richard Craig got in touch with me the other day. He attended the recent Dodgers/Bosox exhibition game at the L.A. Coliseum, where he picked up a scorecard that included this photo of the 1958 Dodgers (the franchise’s first squad in L.A. — 50th anniversary and all). I’ll let Richard pick up the story from there:
I didn’t look closely at this team photo until last night, and I noticed some very strange things about it. First, it wasn’t the team photo I’d seen before. … Furthermore, the uniforms seem to have no numbers on the front, unlike those in the [other] team photo or the previous one taken in Brooklyn.
I concluded this must have been some sort of spring training picture where they rounded up everyone they could find and posed them around a “Los Angeles” flag to make a point about the team’s move west.
That’s really interesting to me, though, is something I’d never seen before — what appears to be an image of Sparky Anderson in an L.A. Dodgers cap. He’s on the far right in the third row from the top. Here’s a close-up.
I knew Sparky had been a Brooklyn farmhand, but I also know that he never played for the Dodgers in the big leagues, and I’ve definitely never seen an image of him in an L.A. uniform. For those of us who grew up in the ’70s with the N.L. West being a battleground between the Dodgers and Sparky’s Cincinnati Reds, the sight of him in an L.A. hat is truly bizarre.
Indeed it is. But it turns out that Anderson had already worn an L.A. cap — although not an L.A. Dodgers cap — by the time that 1958 photo was taken. That’s because he had been a member of the minor league Los Angeles Angels. I’m not sure of the date of that photo, but note that the jersey features shoulder gussets, a style that the Angels wore in 1956 and ’57, so that narrows it down.
If you look again at the photo of Sparky as an Angel, you can sort of see in that the Angels’ “LA” cap lettering was white and red, not just white (plus there’s an extra serif at the top of the “A”). But in the ’58 spring training photo, Sparky does indeed appear to be wearing a white-lettered Dodgers cap — a stunner.
Two final thoughts: First, I found one other shot of Sparky as a Toronto Maple Leaf — with eyeglasses! And second, you can hear Sparky’s finest recorded moment (definitely NSFW) here.
Philly Reminder: Uni Watch party tomorrow at Bob & Barbara’s Lounge, Philadelphia, 4:30pm. See you there.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Check out Mickey Mantle’s cuffed sleeve cuff. … Tytus Abrahmason notes that Vlad Guerrero was wearing his usual tar-gunked helmet in the 1st inning of Wednesday night’s Angels/Royals game but wore a clean, shiny helmet for the rest of the game. Vlad hit into a disputed double play in that 1st inning plate appearance and was pretty upset afterward, leading to Tytus to wonder, “Could it be that he bashed his helmet to pieces during a 1st inning tantrum in the dugout?” … Ohio State football note from Matthew Hager: “I was at the Buckeyes’ spring draft Wednesday afternoon and they mentioned they will be wearing a special helmet decal on Saturday. It will be the initals D.S., in honor of elementary school crossing guard Dianna Sharp, who was killed a week ago when she attempted to push an eight-year-old out of the road before a dump truck hit them both. The kid survived, she didn’t.” … Fascinating note from Jeffrey Soderberg, who writes: “On Wednesday night, when Melky Cabrera ended the 7th inning by being thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double, the 2nd base umpire pulled out a stopwatch — I guess to time the TV break — but I had never seen it before and I wasn’t aware that they carried them.” Anyone know more about this? … Logos in public space have officially gotten Orwellian (disturbing find by Mike Cusack). … Here’s a slightly clearer view of those Yankees capes from Opening Day, 1933 (big thanks to Eric Hoey). … Great video clip here about a little kid who’s basically a minature version of Flames goalie Miikka Kiprusoff (with thanks to Mike McAllister). … Lots of Papal uni-watching currently floating around out there — looks here and here … Hmmm, Black Sox? … The latest installment of “Equipped with Joe Skiba,” featuring newly signed backup QB David Carr, is up on Giants.com, and it’s a doozy, with discussion of Carr’s facemask, sleeves, socks, and, of course, gloves. Recommended viewing. … Check out this amazing Sabres patch that Zac Neubauer found. … Remember the question of whether a pitcher who enters the game as a pinch-hitter would be allowed to wear a jacket on the bases? A source who prefers to remain nameless was so intrigued by that question that he posed it to someone in the MLB office, who responded thusly: “I believe that the pitcher would be permitted to wear a jacket on the bases regardless if he was actively pitching in the game at that point. The Major League Baseball Umpires Manual section 2.15 covers Jackets by stating that, ‘A pitcher may wear a jacket while a baserunner. A pitcher may not wear a jacket while batting. No other player is permitted to wear a jacket while a baserunner, a batter, a defensive player, or a coach on the baselines. If worn (by a pitcher on the bases), the jacket [shall] be buttoned.” … Check out Larry Doby in the striped cap — when did the Tribe wear that? … Chris Mycoskie reports that Louisiana-Lafayette wore 1930s throwbacks on Wednesday night (lots of additional pics here) The “S” dates back to the days when the school was called Southwestern Louisiana Institute, but Chris says the “Ragin Cajuns” lettering on the placket is inaccurate, since the school’s teams were called the Bulldogs until the 1960s. … Kenny Chesney threw out the first pitch in Baltimore last night, and wore a bottom-hemmed Cool Base jersey for the occasion (thanks, Bryan). … “A few weekends ago we went to a park here in Greensboro, North Carolina, where they were staging a reenactment from a Revolutionary War,” writes Jake Keys. “I thought you might enjoy this picture. The kid has style.” … Big surprise.
April 18th, 2008
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