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Posts filed under 'MLB'
I’ve written several times about Earl Battey of the Twins, who in 1963 attached a metal plate to the side of his batting helmet, thereby becoming the first MLB player to wear an earflap.
I’d never seen another player wearing an improvised flap until scrolling through yesterday’s comments, where Larry Wiederecht posted a link to an eBay auction for this 1964 wire service photo.
Wow! Never seen that before, so I immediately e-mailed the photo to uni designer Todd Radom and Hall of Fame curator Tom Shieber, who’d never seen it either. Lots of info to process here — one thing at a time:
• Oliva played on the Twins, same as Battey, so the Minnesota equipment staff had some experience in making this type of helmet attachment. Which begs the question: Did any other Twins wear the improvised flap?
• Hard to be sure what the flap is made of. Metal? Plastic?
• Fascinating to see that Oliva resisted wearing the attachment because he thought it looked goofy. Forty-five years later, we’re going through the same safety-vs.-aesthetics issue with the S100 helmet. Some things never change.
• The caption mentions that Oliva grudgingly wore the flap in batting practice, but it’s not clear whether he ever wore it in a game. Ricko, can you shed any light on this?
• I have never been able to determine exactly when ABC Helmet began making helmets with real earflaps. I had always wondered whether Battey’s improvised flap in 1963 had led ABC to start making flapped helmets in ’64. But judging by the Oliva photo, that’s not what happened. Hmmmmm…
Big thanks to Larry for finding this photo — a major piece of the helmet history puzzle.
And now we have a truly ridiculous number of extra-curricular announcements (anything to take my mind off of last night’s ballgame)…
Raffle Reminder: I’m currently raffling off three cool posters from Infojocks Sports Graphics. Details here.
About freakin’ time: Many of you have asked me to give the DIY posts their own category/tag/etc. Unfortunately, we were using an old, creaky version of WordPress and had maxed out the number of categories — I couldn’t add any more. But Johnny Ek upgraded us to a new version of WordPress a few days ago and, as you can see in the right rail, our list of categories now includes “DIY Projects.” If you click on that link, you’ll get all our past DIY entries grouped together in one spot. Sorry it took so long to achieve something so simple.
Twitch, or Twat, or whatever the hell it’s called: Speaking of the tech upgrade, you may have noticed that there’s now a little “Follow us” link on the right side of your browser window. That’s because John has finally dragged me — semi-kicking, quasi-screaming — into the world of Twitter. Each new daily post here on the site automatically generates a new toot with a link to that post, plus I may occasionally flutter during the day, but I don’t expect to do it all that often (I mean, shit, this here web site should be enough of a soapbox for whatever I want to say, right?). Anyway, if you haven’t already done so, feel free to join the party.
And hey, as long as we’re talking about tech stuff: John is currently running some analytics to help us get a better grip on our traffic and readership. You can help by adding the Alexa add-on to your browser (it’s quick and painless, promise) and then filling out the little form thingie when your browser reboots. If you’d rather not, that’s fine; but if you’re willing, Firefox users can add Alexa here, and IE users can find it here. Thanks.
Beefsteak Update: This Sunday’s Brooklyn Beefsteak event is sold out, although I’m told there may be some tickets available at the door. Keep an eye on this page for updates. For those of you who were smart enough to buy tix in advance, I’ll see you on Sunday.
Uni Watch Party Update: We’ll be gathering on Sunday the 15th, 2:30pm, at Sheep Station. Ryan Connelly’s coming all the way from Pittsburgh to attend, so all you NYCers really have no excuse not to show up.
Uni Watch News Ticker: As had been rumored earlier in the week, Ohio State will be wearing throwbacks on November 21st. This photo made the rounds yesterday, although it’s unclear if that’s the design that will be used on the 21st. I’m sure someone will leak the appropriate info shortly. … Chris Douglas-Roberts has a mighty long NOB (as spotted by James Savage). … Nicole Haase notes that Marquette’s retired number banners show each number in jersey-appropriate type and colors. … Steven Tatar sent me 20 more photos from his visit to that varsity jacket factory. … The Ducks (Anaheim, not Oregon) wore camouflage jerseys during warm-ups on Tuesday, as a military-appreciation gesture (with thanks to John Muir). … It’s one thing to put a ski jump in an outdoor stadium, but how about inside the Boston Garden? Brian Codagnone, quoting from a museum exhibit at the TD Garden Sports Museum, explains: “In the 1930s, when the ski craze first swept the East, sportsman Walter Brown became obsessed with the idea of hosting a winter carnival at Boston Garden. Stumped by the cost and difficulty of importing snow for indoor use, Brown one day passed a fish market, where he noticed a handsome cod packed in ice that was ‘chopped up so fine it looked like corn snow.’ The merchant showed him his grinding machine and Brown super-sized the concept, ordering larger versions that could handle 500 tons of ice. In December 1935, a five-story ski jump was erected in the Garden rafters and hundreds of amateur skiers showed up, unaware it was intended for professional jumping demonstrations. The concept of indoor slopes and annual ski shows caught on, and were copied at Madison Square Garden and other arenas.” … Chris Paul has been wearing a captain’s “C” (here’s how it looks on the road). “David West also wore a ‘C’ for the home opener vs. the Kings (it’s hard to see, but it’s there) but he didn’t wear one during the Spurs, Celtics or Knicks road games,” says Jason Hijuelos. … Check out Henrik Lundqvist’s lastest mask design (with thanks to Matt Harris). … England’s new rugby kit is the color of the beast (with thanks to Caleb Borchers). … Truly sensational video clip on old hockey sweaters here (big thanks to Ethan Crooks). … Mariano Rivera wore a road BP jesey at Yankee Stadium for Tuesday’s workout (good spot by Jonathon Binet). … I’m still calling it St. James’ Park (with thanks to Matt Beahan). … What brand are these jerseys? … Here’s a Sox in shorts photo I hadn’t seen before. Also, note that Moe Drabowski, at far left, is wearing his jersey tucked in, even though that jersey design was meant to be worn untucked (nice find, Phil). … Eric Romain notes that Sean Avery has already worn three different helmets this season. … Bill Scrowther found some excellent old photos on Utah’s state history site. Among the highlights: three separate examples of vertical placket lettering (look here, here, and here), a Budweiser-sponsored baseball team, and some very odd basketball pants. … Check out the second service listed on this page — a cure for logo creep! How awesome would it be if a few thousand jersey owners engaged her services? (Thanks, Kirsten.) … Further evidence of how corporate footwear deals make everyone behave like douchebags. … It was a very uni-uneventful World Series, but here’s a great tidbit from AJ Chalifour: All Series long, Mark Teixeira was wearing a pink MLB logo on his jersey.
November 5th, 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
Tremendous moment at Yankee Stadium yesterday, as my ESPN colleague Jim Caple and CC Sabathia had the following exchange during an afternoon press conference (you can watch the exchange by skipping ahead to the 7:02 mark of this video clip):
Caple: CC, this is a little [bit of a] goofy question. It’s always been considered a great honor to wear the Yankee pinstripes, and there’s been a lot of speculation that since you are such a broad-shouldered, broad-chested man, that perhaps you have more pinstripes on your jersey than any Yankee in history. I’m wondering whether you’ve ever considerd that? Have you ever counted the pinstripes and where you think you may rank with the other Yankee greats?
Sabathia [smiling]: I don’t know. I mean, I never thought about that, never counted ’em. I do know I probably have the biggest uniform in the history of baseball, though. Proud o’ that.
By “a lot of speculation,” of course, Caple was referring to this column I wrote last December (to my knowledge, nobody else has ever addressed the topic). As you can see, Sabathia handled the question rather adroitly, but others were less amused. Over on WFAN (New York’s top sports talk station), afternoon blowhard Mike Francesa abruptly terminated the station’s coverage of the press conference after Caple’s query, declaring it the dumbest question he’d ever heard, and then dispatched a gopher to determine who’d had the temerity to pose such a worthless query within the hallowed halls of Yankee Stadium. (If you watch the rest of the presser video, you’ll see that the more “serious” questions were real deep-thought material like, “Does the weather forecast concern you?” and “What does it mean to be the ace of a staff?” — soooo much more illuminating that Caple’s question.)
And if the press conference question was enough to raise Francessa’s blood pressure, then he’ll probably bust an artery when he sees this video clip that Caple and I shot at Yankee Stadium yesterday afternoon. (And yes, you can all go ahead and crucify Jim for his jersey choice, but the wardrobe dept. was a bit strapped yesterday.)
Naturally, I’m pleased that Caple has revived this discussion. My only gripe: He asked the question almost apologetically, labeling it “goofy” before the fact. Never apologize, Jim — no compromises, no apologies! In fact, Caple tells me that several reporters asked him for further details on the pinstripe topic after the presser was over, which just goes to show that there are other media folks who take uni-related storylines seriously, even if a certain radio windbag doesn’t.
Research Request: Got this note yesterday from reader Bruce Genther:
I am writing and illustrating a book on the various professional franchises that have called Baltimore home and the uniforms they wore during their tenure. The sports include baseball, football, basketball, hockey, indoor and outdoor soccer, lacrosse, and indoor football. Almost finished, but information on the 1992-98 Baltimore Spirit soccer uniforms is hard to come by, so I would like the membership’s help. Any photos, descriptions, etc. would be greatly appreciated. Any and all information can be sent directly to me via e-mail. Thanks very much.
Stirrup Club Reminder: Robert Marshall has a new set of stirrups — and football socks! — available for order. For details, look here.
Uni Watch News Ticker: A high school x-country runner was disqualified for wearing black compression shorts with white stitching, which violated a rule against contrast-color stitching. … A Massachusetts high school is changing its logo because it looks too much like Virginia Tech’s (with thanks to Scott Kaplan). … Dana Czerwinski notes that Nebraska’s sleeve stripes were slightly off-white on Saturday. Anyone know more about that? … New rugby kit for Fiji (”Pretty epic,” says Adam Hainsfurther). … Another pair of interesting practice socks for Raheem Brock (with thanks to Jonathan Mayer). … Speaking of socks, why not get some for your furniture? For further examples, click on “Products” here (nice find, Kirsten). … Tremendous little video clip of Blackhawks logo crests being chain-stitched in a Quebec City factory here. It’s in French, but whatever, chain-stitching is the universal language of beauty, non? (Big thanks to Matt Smith.) … The first time I wrote about my uni catalog collection, way back in July of 2006, I included a paragraph about this Harv-Al catalog. Yesterday I got the following note from Bernadette Lipkin: “My son found your 1966 Harv-Al Catalog on the internet. What a great surprise! My husband is the ‘Harv’ in the Harv-al; his partner at that time was ‘Al’ Rimer, who passed away years ago. They were both young entrepreneurs from Winnipeg. The company was owned by my husband until 2002, when it was sold to Badger Athletic Teamwear of Statesville, North Carolina, where my son now works. I believe the company was started in 1950 or so. In 1972 a branch was opened in Fargo, North Dakota, and then it was moved to Ranger, Texas, in 1979 for marketing and business reasons. What a lot of memories come back when seeing the catalog out there!” … Now there’s a supermarket name! Too bad they don’t sell uniforms (great find by the Baroness Karen McBurnie). … If you liked the curling photos in yesterday’s entry, you’ll love this old curling footage from 1952 (great find by Nathan Haas). … Josh Jedwab has created a set of Mets-themed hockey jerseys. “I’ve lurked around uni web sites long enough to know that people like what they like and hate what they hate, so feedback isn’t my primary aim here. The fact is, I like them. What’s more, I like them enough to be interested in having a prototype of each one fabricated.” Anyone know a likely source where he could get that done? … Reprinted from last night’s comments: Ricko posted some pics of Lincoln High, a Minnesota school that wore vertically striped hose in the early ’60s. … Check out this old shot of Johnny Ramone in a Miami Dolphins tee (and yes, some fan in an Adidas tee, who cares). That’s from this photo exhibit, which is half a mile from my house. I’ll be checking it out shortly. … The Lakers got their rings (further ring info here, and additional photos here and here) and raised their banner last night, and then wore their Opening Night championship patches while beating the Clippers. … We also got our first look at the new NBA officiating attire, which looks very odd from behind.
October 28th, 2009
By Phil Hecken
Well, MLB has finally begun the League Championship Series, so as the second season begins to build towards the matchup FOX would kill for a possible Yankees-Dodgers World Series (and a uni classic of epic proportions), lets take another look at what you, the readers, have dreamed up to fix your favorite teams. We tweaked the White Sox, the Brewers and the Blue Jays, plus a whole bunch of others — so let’s empty the baseball tank today and see who else needs fixin’.
~~~
First up is Hungry Hungry Hipster, who has an unique take on the Bronx Bombers. Here’s HHH:
Hi Phil!
Attached is my Yankees jersey “uni tweak.” Since the Yankees are so traditional and probably wouldn’t want a major redesign of their classic uniforms, I decided to give them a subtle update. I was inspired by the treatment the NFL ref jersey stripes got in their update several years ago. I widened the pinstripes at the top of the jersey, and they mirror the flared ends (serifs?) of the Yankee logo. :)
~~~
Next up is Matthew Mark Sajna, who has some ideas for the Indians. Here’s Matt:
Here is my idea of how to improve the Uniforms of the Indians. The first set include the home and away jerseys. These are fauxback uniform combinations, and they feature my idea for a new logo the team could intorduce as a sort of compromise for the protestors against the iconic Chief Wahoo. The second set features alternate unis for both home and away games. I brought back the red jersey as a harken back to the 70’s. Hope you like them. Thanks.
~~~
Our next submission comes to us from Jordan Fleck, who has some thoughts on the Houston Astros. Here’s Jordan (who apparently likes all capital letters):
SINCE EVERYONE SEEMS TO BE IN THE MODDE TO REINVIGORATE THEIR CURRENT TEAMS DESIGN, I THOUGHT THAT IT’D BE A GOOD IDEA TO GIVE THE ASTROS FAITHFULL A MAKEOVER. THE FIRST IS MY ATTEMPT AT USING THE CURRENT COLORS WITH A NEW SCRIPT FONT ON THE JERSEY AND A TWO TONE CAP. THE BLACK ALTERNATE WOULD BE USED FOR BATTING PRACTICE AND I DECIDED TO CREATE A BIT OF A FAUX-BACK FOR A COLT .45S JERSEY TO BE WORN ON SUNDAY GAMES.
IN THE SECOND ATTEMPT, I WENT BACK TO THE MIDNIGHT BLUE AND SUNSET ORANGE COLOR SCHEME WITH THE NEW SCRIPT FONT AND AN ORANGE AND BLUE ALTERNATE. I LIKE THE ORANGE AND BLUE TONES BUT THEY DON’T LOOK GOOD IN GREY.
Jordan also included this cool Chinese motif with his submission — not sure if that’s supposed to go with the Astros mocks, but it’s interesting nonetheless.
~~~
Moving along, we have Doug Peltz, who has graced his with his concepts for the Detroit Tigers and Oakland A’s. Here’s Doug:
I saw your column today about making changes to MLB jerseys. I have a couple that I came up with a while ago and though I’d pass them along. I have a away alternate and an Oakland A’s home alternate. I’ve also included a new Tiger’s logo which is a combination of the old 80’s logo and the more recent Tiger crawling through the Olde English D logo. Hope you like them.
~~~
Our next submission comes from Matt McCutchan, who tweaked the Marlins. Here’s Matt:
Going for a more classic look and most importantly away from the black. If the mgmt wants to get away from the “90s teal,” I thought a UNC blue with navy highlights and just a touch of orange, the way, say, the STL Cardinals have a touch of yellow, would look nice..along with the navy piping..i hope you dig it.
~~~
Another Mets concept — a tweak on a previous concept — comes to us from Adam Wood. Here’s Adam:
Let me just start by saying that I’m a little pumped that I’m sending my first uniform design to you. Whether or not anyone gets to see it doesn’t concern me too much. Alex Rocklein made an excellent design for the Mets. However, there are a few things that I thought would be better. You will notice in the attached picture all my proposed revisions.
1) Replaced that orange button on the hats with a much more subtle blue one.
2) Got rid of the funky orange drop shadows and just gave the blue numbers an orange outline.
3) Added a number to the front of the home jersey as well as enlarged the one on the front of the roadies.
4) Took Alex’s idea for the road’s arm bands and applied the blue-orange-blue pattern to the whites.
5) On the home uniforms only, I removed the mets logo and replaced it with a Mr. Met patch.
If you want to get really detailed
6) I took the traditional “Mr. Met at bat” patch and cleaned it up by making all the cream colors to white, and changing the blue hat with an orange brim to all blue in order to better match the team.
Thanks for taking the time to check my ideas out.
~~~
Although our next submitter, Andrew Dixon missed the article containing all the Blue Jays tweaks, he sent the following along for your consideration. Here’s Andrew:
Hi Phil,
I am sending along a Blue Jays concept I came up with about six months ago. At the time, I didn’t have an email address for you, but I sent it along to Paul and asked him to forward it to you. I don’t know if that never happened or whether it did and it was so long ago it was forgotten, but I’d love to share my concept with UniWatch readers! I know I missed the day dedicated to Blue Jays posts, but hopefully you can work it in when you present the other re-design concepts!
I drew up home, away, home alternate, and road alternate concepts. I must admit I have an inexplicable affinity for the whole sans serif/no capitalization “mod” look in fonts which has recently become popular again (think the Pepsi font). The funny thing is, I always thought I hated this style – especially the trend toward not capitalizing things that ought to be capitalized – and I think part of me still does, and yet I also must admit to being weirdly drawn to it. I know it is very reminiscent of that old Padres font from 1978-1984, but what can I say? I like it, even as I know it has that kind of dated look (but that sort of font is very in right now – again, Pepsi, photobucket, etc.).
The other idea I had was to alternate shades of blue in the lettering: Blue Jays, after all, exhibit more than one shade of blue in their feathers, so, between the lettering and the use of powder blue for the road alternate, I’ve employed three shades of blue in this design.
One final note: had I had the expertise, I would have tried to mimic the original Blue Jays font by having a white line pass through the middle of all the letters in the word “blue jays,” just like it does/did in their original wordmark. However, I couldn’t get that to work in MS Paint, which is what I used, without making it look bad/unprofessional, so I gave up. If someone can do that to this design, I’d love to see what it looks like.
~~~
Winding down, our next submitter is Dwayne White, who has some Cincinnati Reds concepts. Here’s Dwayne:
Phil:
I love the articles about the MLB uniform updates.
I decided to tackle the Cincinnati Reds. I am not much of a fan of the “faux old-timer” look that the Reds are currently sporting. I grew up following the Reds in the late-’60’s and ’70’s of The Big Red Machine era. I always loved their traditional look, but the pullovers went on to long.
On the jerseys, I “ditched the black” drop shadows and went with the MLB Block font that the Reds used from the 1960’s until 2007. I felt it was a more traditional look with an updated style. I am not a fan of the current font that the Reds are currently using. The guys at The Clink Room did a good job, but it is not my cup of tea.
The road jersey is a button-down version of The Big Red Machine uniform. The home alternate jersey is a cream-colored vest look from the mid-’60’s. I like the cream colored jersey of the Giants and I went with that look for the vests. In my opinion, not every team can wear vests. Much like every team can’t wear pinstripes like the Yankees do. The Reds and Pirates vests have a deep tradition and I thought I’d incorporate that look. I also included a pinstriped cap to go with the vests, but a red cap can also be worn.
The home jersey is a crisp, bright snow white color with the contrast of red. The Sunday alternate jersey is my favorite. The bright red with the contrast of white, devoid of any black or drop shadows, is an upgrade without too many bumperstickers. Plus, it can be worn with the white, gray or the pinstriped pants.
I also went with the 4 inch player names on the back instead of the traditional 3 inch letters. That also harkens back to the mid-’60’s up until 2007. I like the name under the numbers, but not in an arch like the Reds have used, but no trim was used.
I hope you enjoy my concepts.
~~~
Our next submission also comes from a reader, Christopher Parke, who missed the Blue Jays fixin. But that’s OK, he’s got a uni concept anyway. Here’s Chris:
Your recent blog post about revamping the blue jays awful uniforms got me in a creative mood. I used the ideas and designs of the contributors in your post (including yours)and some of my own ideas. The MS Paint file is attached. What do you think?
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The penultimate tweak comes from Geoffrey Waterman, who has conceptualized the Seattle Mariners. Here’s Geoffrey:
Hi!
I don’t really think the Seattle Mariners need to much to change their uniforms, but with the Sonics gone and a new soccer team that incorporates very similar colors that the Mariners use, plus the Seahawks, I thought they could use some color change.
I decided to go with a combination of the M-trident logo from the olden days and colors similar to then as well as from the baseball-M’s logo era. I chose to use a different font (partly because the one they use now is difficult to find) because I wanted to find something that reflected the metropolitan aspect of Seattle while not being hoity-toity. And for the numbers I wanted to use something similar to the ones used in their current alternate, a little more curvy and visually appealing.
With the home uniform I didn’t want to add much except for the change in font, number and color scheme (enough damage already), so I kept the blue piping, blue belt and the blue hat on white, with a similar arch to the team name and player name. I liked the non-capital “seattle” of the powder-blue Pilots unis, so I took that idea but with the “Mariners” for home, keeping the capital M to match the capital S on the hat. I also introduced a side stripe for the pants (followed down into the stirrups) and the sleeve stripes that made the Pilots uniforms so sexy.
With the away uniform, the changes were much the same as with the home, including the pants stripes, but I kept a straight blue stirrup for simplicity’s sake. It is the away uni, after all.
The alternate uniform is a few ideas mixed together. it has the sleeve and pants stripes from the home uniform, with stirrup stripes that match the sleeves. I did the jersey in the blue but with yellow sleeves (not a vest!), and did just the trident logo and a number on the front—it is supposed to be a home alternate.
Thanks! Hopefully someone else did some Mariners mock-ups to compare. Like I said, though, not that they need it.
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Next up is Ben Traxel, one of our Sartell Sabres “Design A Cap” contest participants. Ben has seemingly way too much time on his hands, as I think he’s tweaked every MLB team (or is on his way to so doing). However, they’re really outstanding efforts, and you’ll wanna check each one out. So, take a deep breath, and enjoy the creativity that is Ben:
Phil,
As you can see, I’ve been working waaaay too long on this and not enough at my job lately. Part of the sickness I guess. At least I’ve been having fun along the way! I’ve got some more started but these are the ones I have finished. I really liked the Brewers changes the other day and wanted to tweak my tweaks after seeing the awsome designs posted, but alas, I left them alone. I’ve been e-mailing back and forth with Frosty and RPM in the process too. Well, here’s an explaination of each of the ones I’ve gotten to so far (I will do them all but it might take till next season!).
Process: I generally tried to look at the past of each team (that has a past) and use what is already available instead of completely redoing scripts, logos, colors, etc. In some cases I’ve gone all the way though. I prefer the city letter on the hat, mascot on the homies, and city on the roadies. I started doing this before all the tweaking began on the blog, with my versions of 70s alt unis. This was inspired by the Royals powder blues this year. Had to do sansabelts to make it “complete” but I suppose they could be used with belts as well. After you started posting the White Sox, I took it to another level and began adding the dailies to go with my alts. I never really liked having alts but now I’ve kind of changed my tune and am okay with one worn occasionally. Stirrups with stripes are a must. I am tired of boring grays and boilerplate designs that seem to be the same on each team so I tried to make something unique for the whites and grays for everybody. I am not afraid of bright colors as you will see…….here goes.
Brewers: home … road … alt. Current design looks to be off the shelf by people who have no sense of history or passion for baseball. Definately needs a redsign. Put the old M back on the hat. Go with colors from the originals. I recycled the BREWERS which could be this design or the block font. Either one works, but I chose this one. Could do without the lower case e, but none the less, looks okay. Barrel man needs a comeback so I put him on the state map for the sleeve. Added the hops to get something from the current set. Colored sanis need to make a comeback here also.
White Sox: home … road … alt. I put the alt together before you even had your White Sox tweak post. I always dug the collars from the late 70s so I had to include them. This is the only team that doesn’t have stirrups but the stripes certainly add to the overall getup. I created a new hat logo with a C that I think turned out pretty good. Never liked the big S and smallish O and X on the current logo so I combined them to make it work better for the alt. I know the three concepts don’t match each other but since they are never worn together I never thought that really mattered.
Cubs: home … road … alt. Obviously the pinstripes didn’t need much help as they have become a classic even though they really didn’t come around until later in the franchise existance. I just modified the logo a little, going back to an older version. The bear sleeve patch was always cool and needs to be a fixture. The roads is where the Cubs always seem to have had touble as they tend to change quite regularly. I went with a powder blue that is not quite as electric as some and it looks to work quite well. The horsecollar and red CHICAGO made the whole design come together. I tried some combos of blue lettering/numbering but the red by far stood out. I hope they never bring back the red cap bill. I know a lot of people don’t like pins on dark jerseys but the white ones from the 70s look mighty fine with the white pants in my opinion on the alts. Added the powder sanis to make it complete.
Pirates: home … road … alt. This is one team that vests work on. Either a team is a vest team or they are not. Hint Rockies? Not much to tweak here, but add the colored sanis and make all letters in PIRATES the same size. The Roadies are one of my favorites. The horsecollar being contrasted with the gray really came to life with the double yellow stripe. Hasn’t been done in decades and I fell in love once I started messing with it. The yellow alt with the red trim is of course taken from the late 70s. Kind of fun and should be a big seller for the fans….IMO don’cha know.
Rays: home … road … alt. Here is one team with no history to go off of. To me this means no horsecollar which has ties to the ancient past. Being in Florida, they definately need to brighten their look and do away with their drab getup they have. The sunburst is cool, stick with that. Kept the Devil Ray logo on the sleeve as well. The colors though are brighter, happier, beachier, Floridaier. Created a “watertable” on the whites and made their version of power blue more acqua for obvious reasons. They definately need to have more fun. Maybe they were a little gunshy during their latest overhaul after that first disaster!
Orioles: home … road … alt. Like the Pirates, not much to tweak here. My biggest beef is that damn bird they keep sticking on the hat. It didn’t work before, it didn’t work when it was a cartoon, and it doesn’t work now. Nothing more wimpy than that birdmark. So. In the beginning they had a B on the hat. There is still nothing more classic than a basic letter as the hat logo. Stick the old block B back up there an don’t worry about the Red Sox claiming it is a copied B idea from them. It was their once, do it again. The cartoon duck thing, older style that looks much classier, works well on the sleeve. Other than that, These guys are good, keeping the city name on the grays of course.
Padres: home … road … alt. Similar to the Rays, this team needs color. They had it once and I think they need it again. I always liked the brown/yellow scheme but it does lead to a bid of a toilet bowl conotation so I stayed away. Electric powder is the way to go for these guys. The alts obviously play off the past and I chose the best remaining wordmarks for the dailies. The sleeve patch is also a classic and should be kept but the hat has always had issues. They never seem to be satisfied with the interlocking SD, how it should be connected, the exact font, etc. I created a new hat logo with the setting sun SD. This is another beachy team and colors need to be used to make this statement.
One more thing, I created my own template in Autocad where I do all my work. It is what I know best so I just stay with that. Well, there you have it. For now. I will be doing more, and will get them to you when I get another good batch. We might not be in baseball season at that time, but oh well. Always enjoy your weekenders.
Wow, Ben, those were awesome. But wait … He isn’t done yet — Ben also sent me mock ups (without descriptions) for the following — and I’m sure if he’s reading this post, he’ll tell us all about the following in the comments:
Oakland A’s: home … road … alt.
Arizona Diamondbacks: home … road … alt.
Florida Marlins: home … road … alt.
Texas Rangers: home … road … alt.
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Whew…that’s some work by the avid (or is it rabid?) UW readership. Great stuff one and all. I apologize for the length of this post, but I had so many great uni tweaks I wanted to put them all into one post — didn’t realize it was gonna be this long, but hey — more for you to enjoy. Thanks to all the submitters. Let them know how you feel about their tweaks!
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 Our man on the street, Jim Vilk, is back from the boonies for his “NC2A matchups”. He is gonna have a tough time with his uni matchups today — there are some outstanding potential ones, and a possible bunch of clunkers. Now, I don’t always agree with his choices, but he’s pretty discerning in his picks. How bout some nominees from you guys today? Scan the wires, check out the obscure games, find the doozies. You don’t want him to put USC/ND or The Red River Rivalry in the one spot, right? Post picks of your top (best and worst) games for his consideration down below. Thanks!
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Guess The Game From The Scoreboard: Aight…as the season winds down, we’re gonna get a little tricky with this scoreboard. Not all that tricky, but it might give you pause. Teams are pretty obvious, but that’s where the ease ends. Or maybe not. You guys are too good at this game to be stumped, especially with this one. But I’ll give it a shot anyway. As always, and if possible, please do NOT post the date of the game but link to Baseball Almanac or Retrosheet and post a link to the answer. If that’s not possible, but I believe it is, link to a newspaper story or something similar which details the game. OK? OK. Ready. Guess The Game.
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 ATTENTION UNI TRACKERS — If you’re on of those insane lunatics, like me, who has kept track of your teams’ uniform combinations for all 162 (or, if you track the Twins, all 163) games this season, think about gathering all of your data, plus a final writeup, for your tracking. I may post my Mets tracking tomorrow, depending upon the size of the post. I’m hoping to gather everyone’s tracking and (if Paul gives me the OK), possibly place them into one big file for inclusion in the archives. When you have your stuff ready, send them to me with the subject line “UNI TRACKING – (your team)”. If you made it this far, I thank you for all your efforts. You don’t need to be terribly brief in your write-up, but please don’t compose a novel either. Make sure you list any particular trends or unique factors. I can tell you this: The Mets sucked this year, but not surprisingly, they had better records in certain combinations — now, had they worn those combinations more or less often, would their record have been any different? Who is to say. All I know is, when all was said and done, the Mets wore TWELVE different combinations this season, sporting (shockingly) winning records in six of them. Stay tuned (if you care) for the full writeup.
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Ah…don’t ya hate it when those young whippersnappers think they’re faster and smarter and better lookin’ than you are? Pretty sure Mick does. Unfortunately, he’s wrong. But does this mean that Mick is only half-fast? Enjoy your Saturday Benchies. And remember, any resemblance between Mick and Rick is, well, purely coincidental.
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This and That: Did we ever get a linkie to the new UNLV basketball unis? I don’t remember. Forgive me if we did … I know this was posted (at least in the comments), but worth another look-see: SI takes a look at the AFL legacy unis … Speaking of AFL throwbacks, the Patriots and Titans Oilers will be wearing them this Sunday … Big game at Big Bend today, when the Irish meet the Trojans, and will the Irish break out the green like they did before the ‘77 matchup? … This is a few days old, but the Huff Post has a nice breakdown of Broncos Unis through the years … In one of those moments where “you remember exactly where you were,” it was 20 years ago today (don’t you feel old now?) … It’s gotta be the unis, right? Nope. Both football teams from Mizzou are winless in 2009, despite both wearing throwbacks last weekend … Fresh on the heels of Paul’s post yesterday on the Winter Olympics melted records medals, the London Olympics of 2012 has unveiled it’s logos — yawn … Wanna own one of them game-used, unwashed Bronco uniforms from last weekend’s Legacy game? Here’s your chance … If you’re not a baseball fan, or don’t live in the northeast, or reside in my condo (which has no heat, thank you very little), you might not know it was cold at Yankee Stadium last night — like really cold — Lots of Fudd’s and hoodies on the participants … “Bullpen? What Bullpen?” … For every king, a crown … Apparently the porthole was closed, but the velcro wasn’t … Looks like the seventh inning stretch at Yankee Stadium will be a little shorter now, but let’s hope the Steinbrenner’s don’t hire this guy to replace this guy … Rafa, dude, what’s up with the shorts? Did they belong to A-Rod’s outfit? … Does this remind anyone of this? … And finally, what happens when you go to an adidas school, but you’d rather wear Jordans? Well, if you’re Marcus Jordan, what do you think? (thanks to James Huening for the tip.)
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Alrighty then, that’s a wrap for this fine Saturday. Enjoy the football, because it looks like mother nature may deprive you of baseball. Oh, right, I guess there’s hockey and some other stuff too. Unitrackers, start your engines, and lets see some of them gridiron matchups you hope Jim will pick as his top 5 (or worst). Have a great Saturday
October 17th, 2009
I recently Ticker-linked to this 1972 photo of an odd Padres cap, with a particularly wide-spanning yellow panel. That item has now prompted some interesting responses — let’s take a look:
• First, several readers have pointed out that the same cap can be seen in this card (and most of them pointed out the huge crowd in the background)k. Y’know, I’ve looked at that card a few jillion times over the years and never noticed the unusual cap.
• Richard Craig has generously scanned a bunch of photos of Padres players wearing the wide-span cap. Most of those are head shots from a ’72 program, plus he also found one action shot. “The player shots include some amazingly unmemorable Padres (including Enzo Hernandez, he of the lifetime OPS of .550 in more than 2600 plate appearances),” Richard notes.
• The most intriguing communiqué comes Robert Walker. “That cap was only used in ’72, only on Sundays, and (from what I have found) only for home games.”
That’s a bit of an eyebrow-raiser. A Sunday-specific cap way back in 1972? I thought the notion of specific uni elements for specific days was a much more modern phenomenon. So I wrote back to Robert: “Were you aware of this at the time, or is it something you’ve become aware of more recently? Is this well-known among Padres fans?” Here’s his response:
I’ve known of the alternate “Zimmer” cap for a while, and somewhere along the line I read about it being a Sunday special. Not too many fans know about this, as there aren’t too many “hardcore” fans like me. I don’t have much in terms of photo evidence besides old Topps cards. But all the photos of the cap that I have seen are from day games, and the only day games in San Diego at the time were Sunday and the occasional “Businessman Special” on Thursday.
After wearing the wide-span chevron cap for Sundays in 1972, the team introduced the tamed-down chevron design as their primary cap in 1973. That cap was used until 1979.
Hmmmm. Hey, Richard Craig, were you aware of this Sundays-in-’72 thing? “Nope, but I was only seven years old at the time,” he says. “All I knew was that they were funny-looking caps, especially in comparison with the later, more minimal front panel. Of course, every aspect of those uniforms was funny looking, even to a kid who didn’t know any different. It all just contributed to our long-held civic inferiority complex about the Padres.”
Can anyone else confirm or refute the Sunday protocol? Does anyone know of any other MLB cap designs that featured wide-span front panels? And did the change in the front panel from ’72 to ’73 reflect a change in cap manufacturers? All subjects for further study.
Finally, one other item regarding the early-’70s Padres: When Richard Craig was scanning those cap photos, he also came across this shot of the team’s proposed Washington uni design. “I’ve read that the team colors would have been purple and gold,” he writes — yikes.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Lots of very cool varsity jackets available on eBay — look here, here, here, here (I really like that one!), here, here (unusual color, great details), here, and here. … And while searching on “varsity,” I came across this very cool-looking game. … Nate Robinson has apparently changed his uni number from 4 to 2 (with thanks to Steve King). … Good time-lapse video of the NLDS logo being applied to the Dodger Stadium field here (with thanks to Dan Cichalski). … Shawn Dzwonkowski has scanned a bunch of pages from an old Sheboygan Red Skins media guide. … My Page 2 colleague Kurt Snibbe created this alternate NFL logos the other day. It took Bill Jones about 24 hours to gumball-ize them. … Didn’t realize Visa was now sponsoring the Niners’ practice jerseys. Fuckers (with thanks to Brinke Guthrie). … Hey, look what happens if you cross a horse with the Batmobile! Actually, that’s a horse training system (thanks, Kirsten). … Oooh, you know I like this. “I stumbled across it in Reminisce, a nostalgia magazine aimed at the AARP demographic,” says Jerry Adams. “I left the caption on, although it appears that nobody really knows what school this is.” … Not uni-related, but this home-movie clip of San Francisco, circa 1958 is gorgeous — the clothes, the signage, the saturated colors. Total eye candy (big thanks to my buddy Shane Arbogast). … We’ve all seen photos of the Wilson football factory, but I figure it’s always fun to see a few more. … Caddies in the President’s Cup have been wearing Giants jerseys. Additional details here and here (as reported by Mike McAllister and John Okray, the latter of whom also reports that Tiger Woods looks swell in argyle). … Ya doesn’t have to call me Johnson, but it would be nice if you could at least spell it correctly. That’s Ryan Johnson of the MLS San Jose Earthquakes (screen shot courtesy of Josh Manck). … Got some spare basketball jerseys lying around? Turn them into produce bags (Kirsten again). … Okay, so I love the vertically striped socks as much as anyone, but maybe they should wait until Sunday, y’know? For more on the Broncos’ throwbacks, go here, click on “Video and Audio,” and then click on “Past Meets Present.” … Anyone know why Evander Holyfield had “Head” on his waistband for his 1994 fight against Michael Moorer? Answers involving snarky mentions of head-butting don’t count (as spotted by Tim Donovan). … Also from Tim: Phillies vendors wear Phillies-style uni numbers. … The whole “We won, let’s untuck!” thing is bad enough, but last night Orlando Cabrera untucked after a loss (as noted by Jen Muller).
October 8th, 2009
The most obvious answer is sometimes the one we most easily miss
By Phil Hecken
Lots more uni tweaks/redesigns/overhauls from you guys today. Good stuff. Interesting Stuff. Fun Stuff. It turned out there were so many people who wanted to tweak the Blue Jays, they’re getting their own column. Lets get started.
In the first set of tweaks, I mentioned there were numerous submissions for the Toronto Blue Jays. While there seems to be much love for the powder blues (although they really need to realize that is 1-NOT a home uniform and 2-NOT a pair of pajamas), there seems to be some universal disdain for the lack of actual blue in the Blue Jays these days. And of course, there is always great admiration for the back-to-back World Series champion uni worn in the Blue Jays heydays. So, not surprisingly, many of the readers would like to ditch the black (I mean, c’mon — this is the best they could do) and would like to return to something along these lines (the one Joe Carter is wearing, not Gene Tenace). Some fans have really had enough, expressing their distaste for the black in interesting ways
So, with the Blue Jays in need of an obvious change, what do the readers offer? There are some really interesting ones to follow. So, let’s take a look-see:
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You may remember last time out we had a submission for the Twins from Matt Keller. He also provided me with one for the Jays:
I’m not legally eligible for a prize being 16, but I mess around in photoshop on occasion. (Here’s) a plain, but I think a clean looking Blue Jays uniform. It was made before the Twins uni, and if I could do it again, I’d like to change the numbers to something a little more retro.
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Our next submission comes from Ben Sibley, a man of few words, but great suggestions:
A modern twist to a classic uniform
Thanks
Blue Jays Logo
Blue Jays Home
Blue Jays Road
Blue Jays Alternate
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Next up is UW Stalwart and a gentleman who aided me with a column a ways back, our Calgary lawyer, Mike Styczen “Mike 2″ (who is also a Blue Jays tracker). I’m not sure if Mike wasn’t being tongue-in-cheek with his submission:
For your ongoing column on MLB uniform redesigns, I’ve got one (attached) for the Blue Jays.
Its not very imaginative. They already have their perfect uniform in their past, 1989-1996, and the logo dates back to their founding. The fans loved it, they won two World Series wearing it. I don’t see any need to change a thing.
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Um…thanks Mike. Moving along, reader Brian Cheung (who posts as “Random Reader”) is a man of many words. That’s fine, I enjoy when you guys explain your work. Here’s Brian:
Hey, LI Phil:
I just want to thank you for commenting on my mock-up Blue Jays road jersey. For a while now, I always wondered how they’d look with more blue in their jerseys and I finally decided to put my creative skills to use.
I’m actually a Yankees fan but I’ve just been bothered in recent years by all the black in the Blue Jays uniforms, that wacky font they use for numbers, and how the road jerseys and home jerseys don’t have matching fonts. To put it simply, I felt they could look a whole lot better.
I’ll start with their current road jersey first. I thought of it as being a step in the right direction for Toronto, since it employs a little more blue than the previous uniform in 2007, with that funky “Toronto” script in silver, graphite and white. After seeing this photo, I edited it by adding some red around the front logo and the numbers. I also made the cap blue, the sleeves blue, and tried to add blue accents in on the cap. I was quite surprised primary logo by changing the silver and graphite to shades of powder blue, in order to include a reference to the past in their current logo. I also darkened the blue jay itself, changing it from that light shade of blue to something more of a royal blue. I changed the blue border to red because red was always a color present in their logos and I thought their current logos looked very bland without red as an accent. I did the same with the road cap; I eliminated the silver and replaced it with powder blue and I also included some red to serve as a border.
Next was the jerseys. I actually used to like that wide font they use for names and that strange-looking font for numbers. But I got tired of seeing them and I suppose someone in the Blue Jays felt the same; the road uniforms changed in 2008 as the numbers were now in a different font, along with the logo on the front. But the road uniforms still had that italicized font. What I decided to do was employ the font used on the roads (I believe it is called Agency FB) and apply it to their home uniforms. I gave the nameplates the same font so that names don’t look like they take up half the uniform. I added powder blue to the numbers and gave them a red border. I kept the beveling effect as I see it as being a modernization of the classic Blue Jays number front, with that line running inside each number (I always thought it was cool and whenever I saw them, I always associated them with the Blue Jays). I altered the wordmark on the road uniform to make it powder blue—a nod to how the Jays once wore powder blue uniforms on the road. Originally, the wordmark was supposed to be royal blue but I realized the Jays would look too much like the Texas Rangers; I had to change it to powder blue to give the uniform its own look that won’t be mistaken for that of the Rangers.
For both the home and road, I got rid of the black socks, belts, and piping and made them blue. I also changed their all-black alternate uniform to make it an all-blue one. The team is named the Blue Jays after all, so it would only make sense to have some uniform have a lot of blue in it.
Hope you enjoy. I tagged most of the images just so others won’t try to pass my work as theirs.
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Still more Blue Jays tweaks came in, this one from Matt Murray (who you may recall had earlier offered submissions for the Milwaukee Brewers). I have to say, this is some impressive work for someone who’s still in high school! Here’s Matt:
Phil,
Attached are some Blue Jays uniform ideas. These concepts for the Blue Jays mix in a throwback look similar to the current Friday uniforms. I was also sure not to include the script “Jays” anywhere in these uniforms because THAT ISN’T THEIR TEAM NAME! I also kept the concept free of black. I reverted back to the old “bird on ball” logo for the caps. I opted to keep the maple leaf on the sleeves because that is pretty much the only thing I like with the current uniforms. It’s something that signifies the uniqueness of the franchise as the only team North of the Border. Both powder and gray away concepts are included. I haven’t gone to school for graphic design or anything like that, nor have I graduated high school! But I think it’s the thought that counts with the uni concepts. Hopefully I “get it!”
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Still on the Blue Jays train, next up is Brian Arnold, who I think sent me these a loooooong time ago when Paulie Soto and I did our Fauxback column. If he did, and I neglected to post them, I apologize. Anyway, getting the play they deserve, here’s Brian:
I sent this link as a email a while ago when you did an entry about “fauxbacks”. I just saw your recent call for submissions, so I’ll send it again, maybe it will get some attention this time. Blue Jays Home and Blue Jays Road.
Thanks,
Brian
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Phew…next to last in the Blue Jays tweaks, we have Sean Wilson. Here’s Sean:
Blue Jays. Changed base color to blue instead of black and killed the ridiculous beveling on the wordmark.
Liked what you did with some of the NFL unis, especially the Falcons. On the Bengals, though, you’ve got to have the tiger striped pants stripe
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Finally, we have UW Graphic Artist extraordinaire, Paul “Pretty Boy Paulie” Soto to round things out. Here’s Paul:
The Blue Jays have always had modern uniform designs. They never quite had an “old school” look. So what I wanted to give them here was a “classic” look. Complete with script wordmarks and serifed/bold numerals. Royal blue is their primary color, sky blue is their secondary and I kept the dreaded black as an accent color. An actual Blue Jay does have a black trim on their feathers. So, I can live with the black as long as it’s not the primary color. Plus I only regulated it to the road uniform. I feel it appears more appropriate there. We need more striped socks in the league so why not give ‘em some. Here we have blue socks with alternating stripes that has white/sky blue at home and white/black on the road. The last time I did a Blue Jay uni modification I used a primary logo that combined two of their best logos in their history. It would be a dream to see them use that logo on their home caps and as a primary logo. The road cap features a script “T” that is loosely inspired by their current alternate cap. Stay “classy” Toronto.
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“What about you, Phil? Don’t you have a Blue Jay mockup?” Well, sadly for you I do. I was never fond of the original wordmark/script, but I did love the bird. And I hate the current home and road scripts, with their beveling and black and gray. I was also not fond of the second generation font with the additional red. So I took their classic white and gray uniforms, and found the font to match those found in the Toronto Subway system. A very nice and basic font, but it’s classy and businesslike but not too formal. So — here’s the home and away look, with royal blue cap (also can use a sky blue cap at home and sky blue cap with sky blue trim and stirrups on the road). I just couldn’t bring myself to return the Jays to powder blue.
Well, there you have it. Obviously the Blue Jays should be the next MLB team to undergo a major overhaul. As we say, lots of “retro-inspired” designs, and a few who simply want to return the “blue” to the Blue Jays. My thanks to everyone who sent in a submission, and next time, we’ll get to the rest of the MLB overhauls.
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 OK, in case you missed it, last week, with the help of James Huening, I ran what we hope to be the first of several ‘unofficial’ polls to determine how we feel on uniforms. Don’t bother voting anymore, the poll is officially closed now. That poll, “Rate the NFL Home Uniforms” was an unmitigated success. We’ll have the results next week, but James wanted to give us a quick look at some of the preliminary results.
“Well, the votes are in. Some of the final results are still being tabulated, but the Uni Watch community has spoken and a team has been chosen as having the best home uniforms in the NFL. And it was truly a hard-fought battle for the top spot.
“If you recall, we asked you to rate each team’s home uniform from zero to five points. We also asked you to nominate a team as having the best uni and another as having the worst. Our top team averaged 4.24 points per response, barely edging out our second place finisher at 4.21. In addition, #1 was mentioned by 15% of you as having the best uni, compared to 12% for #2.
“The rest of our top five was equally competitive. The third, fourth and fifth place finishers’ average scores were 4.07 (9% of you thought they were the best), 4.05(6%) and 3.83(7%).
“So, to everyone who participated, thank you. It goes without saying that we couldn’t have done this without you and the response was overwhelming. We were hoping for 500, but we collected nearly 2,000 completed surveys! And people from literally all over the world checked in. We received responses from every continent. Yes, that includes Antarctica.”
Thanks, James. So now that the votes are in — which uniform do you think was rated THE BEST in the NFL? We’ll tell you next week, but why not give an early guess. Just post “Best: (insert team) ” down below.
In addition, a special thanks goes out to Adam Walter, who’s doing most of the heavy lifting on this endeavor, with his incredible data crunching and analysis.
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Guess The Game From The Scoreboard: As the MLB season winds down this weekend, I’m running out of scoreboards…so, either you guys will have to keep sending me some, or we’ll be putting the game on a temporary hiatus. No worries today though, as SlimandSlam hooked me up with this one (although partial credit has to go to Squiddie)– and while in and of itself, it’s tricky, a little detective work on your part (read: the photo you’re about to see was run in one of my earlier columns) will help you solve it. Remember, PLEASE do not post the actual score and date, but rather, use Retrosheet or Baseball Almanac to link to your answer (if possible). Ready? Guess The Game. I think tomorrow we’ll try a football scoreboard, but I’m not sure how that will go over. Let me know what you think.
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A Little Bit of This and That: Somehow we all missed the fact that the official team outfits for Canada’s 2010 Winter Olympics team were unveiled in Vancouver, and some are calling them, “Hoser chic,” while others are suggesting it smacks of a Conservative conspiracy and others noting similarities to an iconic Canadian military symbol. … The Oregonian is getting a lot of mileage out of their Dress The Ducks thingy, even encouraging opposition fans to clothe the U of Zero Ducks in the worst possible combo … This item was posted earlier this week, but it proves once again that worst uniform polls should be decided by UW readers — in fact, in the coming weeks, we’ll be doing just that — stay tuned …Turns out they had to update the poll after readers had other thoughts about those worst unis … This article on the Islanders’ affiliate the Bridgeport Sound Tigers states they will wear uniforms this year that resemble those of the Islanders’ 1980 Stanley Cup dynasty. Unfortunately, no pics accompanied the article — little help? Teebz? … Apparently, October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. Which means every team, league and sport will be getting in on the pink uniform action … We all know that the Mets sucked this year, but according to NBCNewYork.com, the real villain in the 2009 Mets season was the shade of white used in the Mets’ home uniforms (sorta old news, but a nice shout out to Paul Lukas and the blog in the fourth graf) … If you thought the San Francisco 49ers were mixing too much purple into the red and too much yellow into the gold, well, you’re not alone … Pretty much no one knows that the NBA was segregated for it’s three first years of existence, which may not seem odd until you realize that Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier in the same year the NBA was founded. Roger Murdock Kareem Abdul Jabbar is directing a tribute to the Harlem Rens, the “greatest team you never heard of.” (since you read UW, you have heard of the Preston Rivulettes). The Documentary will be called “On The Shoulders of Giants,” and there are sure to be some great unis in it … The soon to be defunct UFL unveiled its helmet art yesterday — and I hope the league is around long enough for someone to work on a full uni breakdown column with me … The FAU Owls, who have one of the best unis in college football, will be playing their 100th football game ever today … Pretty cool look at the Princeton University logos here … Did you ever want to know how Ice gets laid? If you said “a couple drinks, sweet talk and Flunitrazepam,” you’d be wrong. … When you play the “fourth” sport in a big city and you haven’t been relevant since the mid-80’s, what do you do? Why, rebrand yourself of course.
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That’s a wrap for today. Next weekend I hope to have the “Design A Cap” submissions all flickr’ed and ready, we’ll have the results of the voting on the “NFL Home Uniform” poll, and more. And that’s just next weekend. And there’s even more good stuff coming tomorrow. Nice college football today, and still some meaningful baseball in Detroit and Minnesota (where the Twins are hoping for one last miracle before they shut the dump down cede ownership to the Mall of America). That could get very interesting because if the Twins and Tigers end up tied, the Twinks are supposed to host a tiebreaker on Monday — but there’s a twist, because the Dome might be busy. So they’d have to play Tuesday. Hmmmm.
Anyway, let the folks who mocked up some new Jay’s unis know what you think, and don’t forget to take a guess at what we, the Uni Watch community, thought was the best home uniform in football. Oh, and think pink.
October 3rd, 2009
By Phil Hecken
There seemed to be great interest by UW readers in developing new concepts for Major League Baseball teams, following previous columns in which readers tweaked the ChiSox and the Brewers (see here and here). I put out the call for you guys to send me your submissions for any MLB team, and you didn’t disappoint. In fact, there were so many submissions, it’s going to take two posts to get to them all. But we will. So, lets see what everyone came up with, shall we?
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The first two in this batch were actually featured before, but I wanted to include them in this post so they’d receive full comparison:
Jason Krause had a couple mock-ups for his hometown team, the Colorado Rockies:
I based these Colorado Rockies jersey mockups off of the old school logo of the hockey Colorado Rockies before they became the New Jersey Devils. I made them a pull-over top such as the Blue Jays and the Cards from the 70’s.
I created two different home looks, as well as an alternate that pays homage to the Colorado Flag. The black jerseys are also a big hit out here, so I created a look for one of those.
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Alex Rocklein sent me some mockups for the New York Mets. Very interesting. Says Alex, “I attached some Mets uniform concepts. Some are outrageous, but there is considerably less black.”
Indeed, when it comes to the Mets, less black is usually much better. He has come up with three new uniform concepts: a clean new home and away set, with all the black removed (but where are the stirrups???); and two alternates. The first, featuring pinstripes (I guess we can say they’ve reduced the once venerable pins to an alt) and a royal blue top with “New York” in fancy block letters. As you know, I’m not a fan of the “alternate/softball” tops, but if the Mets could replace the black tops with this one, I’d be 100% behind it. Finally, Alex came up with another home alternate, and it is considerably more colorful. He combines a new alternate cap, featuring a blue crown and an orange bill, with a new orange alternate top (plus he has put the script “Mets” on the blue alternate).
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OK, you may remember seeing those before, but the rest are all brand spankin’ new.
Another longtime reader, a Yankees fan no less, Kenny Jacobson saw the above section on New York Mets uniform concepts (when I first posted it), and, having already done some up, thought I’d like to repost them. With pleasure, Kenny, with pleasure. Here’s Kenny:
I’d posted these in the comments this summer but maybe you could get them out there.
I’m a Yankee fan but would really like to see the Mets go back to a classic look.
Home
Road
and if you MUST…
Alt
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Got another submission from Uni Creator Alex Rocklein, (see above for his first uni tweak of the Mets) who this time has been working on some fixes for the Oakland A’s. I’ll let him explain:
I updated the primary (A’s in the circle) because the one they use now is outdated. I added cream to the scheme (now looking similar to their rivals across the bay) and added some piping because, let’s face it, who doesn’t like some piping?
I kept the away set relatively the same because I think it’s one of the most underrated sets in baseball. Threw some alts in there for the sake of having them. I feel like the solid color alts need to be limited by teams because when you watch a Cubs/ChiSox game in which its royal blue on black it feels as though I’m watching Spring Training or a couple of Thursday Night Slow-Pitch Softball games.
Also, matched the A’s “A” from the logo to the one on the hat (right now they use two different “A”s).
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Another uniform concept submission comes from reader Daniel L. Dennis, who has got some proposals for the Texas Texases Rangers. Here’s Dennis:
I read the blog quite often, and I hope these are along the lines of what you’re looking for.
First of all, the Rangers erred greatly in not having their team name on their home jerseys. The Texas Texases (as Paul is fond of calling them) need an identity, but this minor facelift would probably suffice. It’s simple, it’s elegant, and above all, it’s somewhat unique (no comparison to the Angels, please – besides, I think the Rangers were using this typeface first).
Here’s the home jersey. All I did was go back to red as the primary color, and arch the team name like they did in 1972 with the original wordmark. Back then, the bigger “R” and “S” stood for “Robert Short” – today, they don’t really stand for anything, but it’s a nice treatment IMHO.
The away jersey is pretty much – well, gray. But the wordmark gets the same treatment.
Now for the alternate jersey. Seems like every team needs one. This time, I got rid of the blue (too many bad flashbacks to the Dallas Cowboys of the ‘70s, who always seemed to lose when wearing their blue jerseys), and went with the primary red.
Not sure I’m sold on the NNOB treatment, but at least it stands out.
Sleeve patch stays the same, and stripes on the pants go red and blue. Same with the sleeve stripes on the home and away. The red alt can keep the white trim.
This is what Nolan’s boys need to be wearing next year – and it wouldn’t take that much to pull it off. Oh, yeah, and I got rid of that gawdawful typeface for the NNOB.
Now don’t go selling this to the Rangers!
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I received two concepts from “losalkyle,” who tweaked the San Diego Padres and the Seattle Mariners. A man of few words, this sentence accompanied his Padres tweak: “Take the light blue in their primary logo and make it the uni color.” The next one was simply an attachment, with the subject “Mariners Powder Blue.” That should be pretty self-explanatory. Here it is. If you’re reading this and want to identify yourself, please do!
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Next up is Matt Keller, who actually sent me two submissions, but the second one is going to wait for the next batch. His first tweak is for the Minnesota Twins. Here’s Matt:
I’m not legally eligible for a prize being 16, but I mess around in photoshop on occasion.
1st off, I’ve eliminated those dreadful pinstripes from the Twinkies’ away uniforms. I think what I’ve done is pretty O.K. looking.
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Our final uniform tweak for today comes from Matt Murray, who unfortunately missed the Brewer tweaks which ran a couple weeks ago. But I promised Matt I’d include his mockups of the Milwaukee Brewers in the next set of uniform concepts. So, here’s Matt:
Mr. Hecken,
Attached are my uniform ideas for the Milwaukee Brewers. I might be a little late, but I think can still contribute to the discussion.
I like the Brewers current color scheme, but I think the current script and wordmarks are just a failed attempt at a classic look. I combined the navy and gold scheme with throwback lettering to create a modern look that reflects the past of the program. Both the home and away caps have the ball and glove “mb” logo, and the beloved beer barrel man on the sleeve. I’m a big fan of thick piping on pants and sleeves, but not on the front of the jersey. I used cream for the home threads and a powder blue(ish?) grey for the road uniforms to further compliment the historical aspect. A red mock-up is included. Thanks!
~~~
OK, that’s going to do it for this first batch of uniform concepts from the fantastic UW readership. The next batch will be coming real soon. One interesting thing about this exercise, while I didn’t call for any specific teams whose uniforms needed updating/changing/tweaking, I got (so far) a bunch of submissions for the Toronto Blue Jays. How I didn’t see this team as the obvious choice for a uniform upgrade in the first place is beyond me, but I give myself a huge “DUH” for neglecting to ask for specific submissions for them. Let me tell you, the four or five I have received so far are tremendous. So, if anyone else wants to try their hand at tweaking the Toronto team, send em along. Of course, any teams you want to upgrade are fine as well.
As long as we’re on the topic of upgrading/tweaking, it sounds like it’s official that the Miami Marlins will be getting new uniforms when they move into their new digs (there’s a link in that article to the New York Times article [registration required]) where owner Jeffrey Loria mentioned the new unis. Now, I don’t want to step on Paul’s toes in calling for reader submissions for new Miami Marlins uniforms, since he’s been known to have done those type of things on the mothership. However, if you have done, or in the process of doing a Miami Marlins mockup, feel free to send it my way as well.
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 Is this the end of the world as we know it? Apparently so. Yesterday evening, several readers reported seeing Chris Berman state that the oft-rumored Seahawks alternate lime green jersey is a reality. Will it actually be worn this Sunday? And, will if so, will be paired white pants, as in the Wikipedia entry? Or, blue pants, or, heaven help us, lime green pants? And, what color will the jersey numbers be: White? (just imagine this) or blue? Perhaps we’ll know more tomorrow or later this evening. But if Boomer reported it, Wiki posted it, and Madden mocked it … it must be true, right?
It’s the end of the world as we know it.
[*late night edit: I just watched the repeat of the "2 Minute Drill" and here's what Berman said: "The Seahawks will unveil their bright green -- I guess '80s retro-ish green uniforms -- It'll be a 'Green Day'. I think they'll have the time of their lives." (The latter reference was because Boomer spent a portion of the segment discussing LPs {"albums to those of you under 30"}.) So that's what we have to go on. Who knows -- PH]
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Guess The Game From The Scoreboard: OK, got another submission from our resident ’scoreboard finder’ SlimandSlam, who has brought to you another good one. Shouldn’t have too much trouble with the teams or the stadium, but the game itself may prove more elusive. As usual, please post the answer in the form of a linkie from Baseball Almanac or Retrosheet. Date, location and final score please. Ready? Guess The Game. Anyone interested in football? I think we’ll try a football scoreboard guessing game tomorrow…see how that goes. Thanks, Slim!
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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. Tomorrow marks the debut of his first tracking graphic on UW. It will be a regular feature through the end of the Ducks season. Sounds like a fun little idea. Assuming the Ducks wear the rumored throwbacks tomorrow against Cal, this will be updated with the final score. Otherwise, Mike will insert whatever uni they choose to wear. Check back tomorrow to see the result and the uni they wore!
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Ah, time for Mick and Mike to relax and (presumably) enjoy a game on the tube. And that’s a biiiiiiiig couch, innit? Enjoy the wit and wisdom of Mick in today’s Saturday Benchies. Yakitty-yak…don’t talk back.
***
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This and That: Seems that the Huskers will be donning vintage 1962 uniforms today, complete with black numbers on white helmets. According to the article, “Fans are wearing red, as usual, but retro red. Women are asked to wear red dresses and carnations.” Good times, good times, except, Nebraska hopes, for the Ragin’ Cajuns. Unis and helmets should look like this. … The Yom Kippur religious observance is going to force New York football fans to have to choose between games this Sunday — first time the Jets and Giants have kicked off at the same time (other than when playing each other) since 1984; both teams are 2-0, and the Titans (Jets) versus Oilers (Titans) are wearing AFL throwbacks … And speaking of throwbacks, Navy plays Western Kentucky on CBS today, with Navy to wear replica 1959 uniforms — it’s in honor of the dedication of the Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium — check out the program cover from that day! … The Florida State Seminoles will wear white at home for the first time — ever — against USF today; not just the normal white over crimson, but white over white! Nice. Of course, the best thing about FSU games are the uniforms worn by the fans sitting in the stands … The Turkeyfoot Middle School, which, not coincidentally, is located on Turkeyfoot Road, is under pressure to change its name — no, they’re keeping “Turkeyfoot,” but they may be dumping their mascot and nickname, because that is much worse than “Turkeyfoot.” Try saying “Turkeyfoot” five times fast … The LeBron James farewell to Cleveland Cavaliers 40th Season is just jam packed with giveaways, and here’s the list … Reader Ed Westfield shot me a note, “In Any Given Sunday, the Miami Sharks never wore white jerseys on the road, or anywhere. So, I wanted to see what it would look like.” … Let it be known: it is NOT OK to profit of Tim Tebow’s name or likeness! Is that clear? Unless, of course, it’s the University of Florida that’s doing the profiting, natch [*NOTE...I was alternately getting a "404 not found on website" and the article, so if it comes up 404, I apologize] … Speaking of the Gators tho, ESPN has posted an “instant classic” video game, sure to be great fun for all Gator haters … Of course, political correctness is still the hot topic at UND, where the school must get permission from the two Sioux tribes in North Dakota in order to keep using the nickname, “Fighting Sioux,” or face NCAA sanctions, including being banned from post-season play — and they need it by October 1st … Wanna have more shoe combinations than Oregon has uniform possibilities? (Like, 2 million possible combinations???) Now you can. … Here’s a little uniform story that slipped below the radar: seems that UW readers are not the only ones who want to ditch the black — especially when your team is called the “Cardinals” and, “We have the Cardinal as a mascot and our colors are red and white. I don’t understand why you would want to change that.”
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OK folks…that’s a lot to digest. Still time to participate in the Design A Cap Contest that started last weekend — just follow the directions there if you’re still interested. Some great college football matchups today, including a bunch of throwbacks — wonder if any of them will make the Top 5 uni matchup list tomorrow. Enjoy your Saturday everyone!
September 26th, 2009
I think it’s fair to say that relatively few people bothered to tune in for Monday night’s Mets/Braves game, what with both teams playing out the string and Peyton Manning plying his trade a mere click of the remote control away. I think it’s even fairer to say that the game’s initial TV audience, however paltry it might have been, had dwindled considerably by the bottom of the 5th, by which time the Braves were winning by the tidy score of 11-2.
But those who stuck with the SouthSports telecast that long (including Becky Taylor, who informed me of what I’m about to describe) bore witness to an epochal moment in broadcasting history, as Braves play-by-play man Jon Sciambi pulled out a T-shirt and presented it to his partner, Joe Simpson, who obligingly draped it across his chest. “Simpson was always unabashed in talking about his hatred of that stadium, so it was a gag gift,” explains Becky.
Sciambi and Simpson then took turns making fun of this guy, which I believe marked the first time the gray and royal Shea tees have both been featured on TV in the same half-inning (and definitely marked the dorkiest dual endorsement ever). And then Simpson, who clearly knows how to hit a hanging curve, said, “You know, the funny thing about this shirt is, right after Chipper’s son was born, that’s what he said.”
For the record, I sent a shirt to Chipper a few months ago, but nothing ever came of it — dang. Meanwhile, if this moving exchange between Sciambi and Simpson has led to a stirring in your loins wallet, you can scratch that itch here.
And after you buy the T-shirt…: When Brian Schulz asked us to pattern his membership card after his high school football jersey, complete with the mesh treatment, I wasn’t sure we’d be able to do it, but Scott really outdid himself, as you can see at right. That’s one of several new designs that have been added to the membership card gallery. For those of you who’ve been waiting a few weeks for your cards, a new batch will mail out today.
I know lots of you have been “meaning to” sign up (or at least that’s what literally dozens of you have told me in recent weeks), so hey, there’s no time like the present, am I right?
Yet another way for you to give me all your money: I’ve been going through my record collection and making a few old 45s available on eBay. The current crop includes fairly rare stuff from the Apples, the Dead C., and Big Black, all of which should be very exciting to the four or five of you who’ve actualy heard of those bands. Remember, the more records I sell, the less likely I’ll have to resort to the latest trends in sports media (and/or the sooner I can just retire to New Zealand already, whatever).
Uni Watch News Ticker: On Monday I asked about Brad Childress’s non-Motorola headset. As several readers informed me, he wears it because of a hearing problem. … Stopped by the Shake Shack the other day and was disappointed to see that this sign had an apostrophe catastrophe. … Of course, some apostrophe catastrophes are more catastrophic than others. … Shaun Tunick notes that Brian McCann has been wearing a road catcher’s helmet at home. … Neglected to mention that Floyd Mayweather was wearing two-in-one faux stirrups on Saturday (thanks to Kenneth Ritz for reminding me). … In a related item, a player for AC Fiorentina was wearing stirrups in a Champions League match last week (as spotted by Stephen Boyd). … The Army has a new uniform for use in Afghanistan (with thanks to Kyle Kalkwarf). … Reprinted from Monday’s comments: Here’s something I’ve never seen before — a hockey helmet getting ripped in half. … Also from Monday: Hyphen vs. hyphen! … Here’s the new Mavs alt jersey. Additional photo here. … New hockey jerseys for Ohio State (with thanks to Nick Houser). … Rookie hazing is in full swing. … If you go to this link and scroll down to the “Interesting Story” headline, you’ll learn how the Twins were considering having corporate sponsorship for their organ (courtesy of Nate Hill). … Unusual NOB typography here (with thanks to John Dugan). … Here’s a good look at the Tribe’s “We lost last year’s World Series” patch, worn in 1996. … Now there’s a train wreck. That’s Washington High School, from Sioux Falls, South Dakota (with thanks to Bill Blewett). … New uni set for the Bobcats, and I can’t say I’m a fan of the pinstripes. … Jeff Meyers notes that one of the Colts’ coaches was wearing a red cap on Monday night, presumably so players on the field could pick him out as he gave signals. … Adidas and Puma have buried a 60-year hatchet, or something like that (with thanks to Brinke Guthrie). … Take a deep breath to prepare yourself for this. That’s Vida Blue (duh), wearing FiNOB and what appears to be cut-off baseball pants while working out in March of 1980 (tremendous find by Morris Levin). … Didn’t realize that Sheldon Brown wore a Jason mask for his pregame intro on Sunday until Shaun Tunick mentioned it to me. … Excellent stripes being worn by Battle Mountain High School in Edwards, Colorado (with thanks to Jeff Moddelmog). … Longtime Uni Watch fave Mark Penxa has designed the logo for this very entertaining site devoted to “an alternative baseball lexicon.” … Good article about Vanderbilt players’ eye black messages here (with thanks to Wade Harder). … Longtime contributor Michael Orr has started a new blog about English soccer, including some uni coverage. … New mascot for Tulsa, and be sure to check out the gallery of past ’scots — fairly hilarious stuff (with thanks to Dan Bewley). … And in a related item, there’s a new logo for Cal State Fullerton. … What’s the latest way for players to keep cool on the sidelines? Air-conditioned pads (props to my Page 2 colleague DJ Gallo). … Navy will wear these throwbacks on Saturday (as sent my way by Mike Althouse). … Most of you have never seen the Rams wearing these pants. That’s because I believe they’ve only been worn once, during a 2001 preseason game against the Chargers. Reader Mako Mameli has provided a bunch of additional photos. … Is this where football sock design is headed? That’s Wautoma High, and I’m embarrassed to report that they’re from Wisconsin. Yeesh (with thanks to Ray Barrington). … Michael Princip is keeping track of Oregon’s uniform combos, plus he’s added some program covers to his excellent Illustrated NFL site, including this killer Lions cover. … Always fun to see as many shots as possible of Clarence Weathers and his double-decker FNOB (with thanks to Zak Kalina). … Do you have dreams about uniforms? If so, here’s how to interpret them (thanks, Phil, but why were you cruising around that site to begin with?). … Tremendous vintage football jersey available here (nice find by John Sheehan). … A few years ago, Doug Brei sent me a note in which he claimed that Wendell Tyler wore mismatched cleats in Super Bowl XIV. Or at least that what he says — I don’t actually remember. In any event, he now has visual evidence. See this photo spread? Check out Tyler’s footwear — Adidas on one foot and Pony on the other! Bizarre, right? Similar to the Pete Vukovich photos I wrote about last year. … What’s better than a lot of stripes? A lot of stripes with striped trim. That’s School baseball team from Groton, MA about 1899. If the dude in the white necktie looks familiar, it’s because he’s FDR (great find by Justine DeCotis). … Eric Wright of the Browns has been fined $5000 for having his knees uncovered (with thanks to Brinke Guthrie). … TNOB alert. That’s the Canadian High School football team, from the incongruously named town of Canadian, Texas. Further non-uni details here (with thanks to Dan Cichalski). … This article about game-used Mets merch is intermittently uni-related and consistently hilarious — highly recommended reading. … One of America’s foremost collectors, Lester Glassner, has passed away. He died over a month ago, but nobody is officially dead until the New York Times says they are, and that didn’t happen for Lester until two days ago. His obituary is fascinating and entertaining, as I’m fairly certain Lester himself must have been. RIP, brother.
September 23rd, 2009
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, I started up Photoshop to work on re-doing the rest of their logos.</p>
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