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Posts filed under 'NBA'
By Bryan Redemske
There’s a guy in my office who rattles off lineups and stats when you start talking about baseball teams from the 1950s and ’60s. There’s another guy who talks about the various stadiums teams played in. Me, of course, I think of uniforms. And not just uniforms, but the way they were styled in particular eras. While the first guy’s mental Rolodex is fluttering from stat to stat, I’m picturing Al Kaline (right). While the second guy talks about the the monuments at Yankee Stadium, I think about the Mick, and how totally awesome he looked in pinstripes.
At this point, both guys usually leave because I’m rubbing my fingers together, eyes closed, and mumbling, “Wool flannel … so pretty … so scratchy … so baggy… .” And so on.
All weirdness on my part aside, this is actually how I think of different eras in sports. Pre-WWII baseball? Longish sleeves soft-crowned hats. And then there’s the ’70s. It’s like a long, tight, polyester nightmare. Things toned down in the ’80s, but the Straw pops into my head every time. Lots of sock, still tight, still slightly garish. For the current era, it’s Manny. Sigh.
Take a minute and consider your own mental filing system. Is your old-school football reference point this guy? The sleeves shortened for Unitas’s era, then the pads got really big in the ’70s. The college kids thought it necessary to show off their abs during that same period, something that continued well through the ’80s and into the ’90s. And that’s how I think of college football through the era — a faceless, teamless guy in big pads with exposed abs.
Three hockey images come to mind: Original Six, expansion/Gretzky, Crosby.
Basketball? Short and tight to longer to ridiculous. And also, unfortunately, shiny. I now generalize the entire high school basketball-playing population because of nylon dazzle fabric.
As a cyclist, I’m forced to render that sport’s past in uniform-based context as well. Really old guys (pre-mid-’50s) all look like this, Eddy Merckx represents almost every rider through the ’70s, and then there’s the tragic ’80s and early ’90s. And then there’s this. He has a category to himself.
Research Projects: Paul here. Earlier this week I posted pics of Marquette’s untucked jerseys. But as someone on the Chris Creamer board pointed out the next day, De Paul also went untucked back around 1981, as seen here and here — I hadn’t been aware of that. Aside from the pajama-era White Sox, have there been any other untucked teams? Obviously, I’m not counting hockey or other sports where the jerseys are meant to be untucked — I’m talking about teams that showed off their shirttails in an otherwise tucked-in league.
Also: Yesterday’s comments included a link to this pink helmet, which is essentially a scarlet letter that has to be worn by the player who comes up on the short end of a scoring game during practice (full details about halfway down this page). So it’s sort of like the pink knapsack routine in baseball, except it’s more uni-based. Can anyone think of any other uni-based scarlet letters?
Raffle Reminder: You know the drill — $250 Distant Replays gift card. E-mail your entry here by 10 p.m. tonight. One e-mail per person. Winner announced on Monday.
Uni Watch News Ticker: “Two CBA teams, the Oklahoma Cavalry and Great Falls Explorers, have had their road uniforms disappear this season,” writes Chuck Miller. “In Oklahoma’s case, fired head coach Micheal Ray Richardson simply took the road unis until he was rehired a week later; in the Great Falls situation, the circumstances are unknown. Anyway, this caused both the Cavalry and Explorers, on the road, to wear the road uniforms of their host teams, as can be seen by these photos of Albany versus Oklahoma (Albany is in the yellow) and Albany hosting Great Falls (ditto).” … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Great gallery of New Jersey high school hockey jerseys here. … We’ve all seen plenty of shots of Cleveland’s elfin mascot, Brownie. Until now, though, I hadn’t seen one where he had spikes on his stockings (with thanks to Brendon Yarian, who also passed along this shot of a Bears jersey with what appears to be an upside-down “3″). … As I mentioned in my ESPN column a few weeks ago, I don’t like uni memorials that include the deceased’s signature — seems a bit creepy. But Motherwall FC in Scotland apparently feels differently, as they’ve just tributed Phil O’Donnell by embroidering his autograph onto their jersey. Full details here (with thanks to Patrick O’Donnell). … Interesting note from Travis Edwards, who writes: “My boss and I were talking about football jerseys, and he had told me about some team (unsure who they were) who used to have footballs on the sides of their jerseys. They used to run the wing offense and when they would run, everyone would have their hands to their sides acting as though they had the ball. Now, was he jerking me around, or can you help me to identify who that team was?” … The Central Hockey League held their All-Star Game a few nights ago, and Scotty Hockey sent along a pic of both uniforms. … Hmmm, separated at birth? (Good find by Ronnie Poore.) … Good note from Steve Shanabruch, who writes: “Twins pitcher Pat Neshek has a blog, and he often has auctions for game-used items. The funny thing is, the winner isn’t the person who bids the most money, it’s the person who offers the best baseball cards (he’s a huge collector). Anyway, one of the recent auctions was for a luggage strap that he used for road games last season, inscribed with the last name ‘Dahmer.’ I figured he was using the name of a serial killer as his alias, but it turns out his alias was ‘Cy Dahmer,’ because if you say it fast, it sounds like ’side-armer,’ which is how he pitches.” … LeBron James has a new sneaker, and Vince has written his take on them. … Yesterday’s lead item regarding prototypes prompted Andrew Schimmel to send in n this shot from the Florida Panthers’ uni unveiling back in May of 1993. “Note that the red sweater has blue numbers with a yellow outline,” he writes. “The Panthers never used this color combo for the red sweater at any point. Also, the gloves have claws printed on them. I would tend to think they weren’t serious about actually using such gloves — I believe it was only for the unveiling ceremony.” A shame, because I think the claws look pretty cool! … Very unusual hoops jersey being worn by Fairfax High in L.A. Here’s another view, with a T-shirt underneath (with thanks to Hunter Franks). … We all know the Lakers wore short shorts a few weeks back. But until now, I didn’t know that there was an “I saw the short shorts” T-shirt, which you can have for your very own (nice find by Matt Shervin). … Latest reason to love Wisconsin. … “Formula 1’s Red Bull Racing unveiled their 2008 car on Wednesday,” reports Dane Drutis. “You can also see David Coulthard and Mark Webber wearing their new fire suits. I believe this is the first time F1 drivers have worn their car numbers on their driving gear. It’s somewhat odd that Coulthard will drive car No 9 but is wearing 09 — why the zero, I wonder? As for the stripe running from right shoulder to right ankle, you be the judge.” Personally, I dig the stripe, but I’m sure that’s no surprise to anyone here. … Latest installment of “Equipped with Joe Skiba” is up on the Giants’ home page, and it’s a really good one — enjoy. … Lots of crazy helmet decal action in this Shrine Game practice photo gallery (with thanks to Nick Noyes). … Latest example of handwritten uni numbers on socks: Denison Cabral of the Baltimore Blast (courtesy of Jen Muller). … Alarming news from Jere Smith, who writes: “I work for a children’s book publisher. One of the books slated to come out in ’09, for kindergartners, is about getting dressed for a baseball game. It shows your basic T-ball outfit, and each page shows a different piece of the uni. When it gets to the all-important ankle-ish area, they’ve put the poor girl in those white socks with the blue vertical stripe down the sides that end at the shoe line. The climactic scene shows the dad appearing, also in full identical uni, right down the fake stirrups.” … I’m going to be out off the grid again for most of today, so contact Bryan if you have any major site problems. I’ll be back on Monday.
January 18th, 2008
Whenever there’s an NBA throwback game, I inevitably get a few e-mails from people complaining that they should have shortened the shorts for maximum retro effect. The Lakers must have been listening, because last night they took the court wearing short shorts, just like in the old days. Unfortunately, they didn’t have the courage of their convictions, because they switched back to full-length shorts in the second half.
So how did it look? Some people have already complained about the compression shorts that were peeking out from beneath many players’ trunks, but that didn’t bother me (especially since compression shorts are often visible on players wearing full-length shorts too). My gripe was that the jerseys were too billowy — they should’ve been tailored snugger, to match the shorts.
For the most part, though, I thought they looked great. Take a look at both teams in this shot — it’s no contest. Same goes here and here.
The key — as always, boys and girls — is the socks. The shorter shorts look dynamite as long as you’ve got some socks covering up some of that lower-body real estate, but this look is problematic.
Once the Lakers went back to the contemporary shorts in the second half (which I think they did just because everyone likes to do that idiotic MJ shorts tug), everything turned predictably sloppy-looking — the baggy look just doesn’t work, people. Memo to David Stern: Make everything two sizes smaller, go buy a Val-U-Pak pack of tube socks, and get back to me in 2008.
Membership Update: Speaking of the turning of the calendar, if you made a new year’s resolution back in January to join the Uni Watch membership program in 2007 (an unlikely scenario, since the membership program didn’t yet exist in January, but still…) — or if you’d just like to ring out the year on a high note — today’s your last chance.
Meanwhile, there’s a bunch of new designs up for your perusal in the membership card design gallery, including today’s showcase design, which is based, of course, on the back of an Ohio State helmet.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Zazzle is running a 20% sale on all apparel from now through January 7th, making this a good time to snag yourself a Uni Watch T-shirt. … Reprinted from Friday’s comments: Bizarre (and bizarrely appealing) eBay item here. … More eBay stuff: some amazing old basketball unis, vintage sliding pants, an old Wilson baseball uni ad, and an incredible baseball uniform in Uni Watch colors. … Robert Gelles is a neckwear designer. He’s also a daily Uni Watch reader, which explains why his company is selling this (here’s a more detailed view), this (detail), and this (detail). … “This picture is from the 3A Texas High School football State Championship game,” writes Tory Humphries. “The orange team is the Celina Bobcats, and the word on their socks is ‘Bobcats.’ ” … I knew the Dodgers were wearing a 50th-anniversary patch next season, but I didn’t know what each element of the patch symbolized until Austin Chung sent me this. … Jim Burt always stretched his jersey as tight as possible. But Chris Flinn notes that in this shot, it almost looks like his nameplate has been stretched (or, more likely, they spaced out the lettering to match his stretch-spaced number). … According to the last paragraph of this item, Syracuse will have new football uniforms next season (so what else is new?). … Ever seen a hockey player wearing eye black? I never had, until Cullan Foote sent me this 1967 shot of Kent Douglas. … Several readers noted that Maryland’s punter was wearing a yarmulke during the Emerald Bowl. … If you skip to the halfway point of this video clip, you’ll see BYU kicker Mitch Payne peeling the “Y” logo off his helmet to give to a young fan at the conclusion of the Las Vegas Bowl (with thanks to Chris Flinn). … Ryan Perkins reports that the NFL Network ran a commercial with this image prior to Saturday’s Giants/Pats game. Too bad the Colts no longer wear white facemasks. … Totally bizarre gold shorts stripe being worn by one of the teams in the BJ League (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm, who also passed along some frightening pics from the Master League, the league for retired Japanese baseball players — look here, here, and here, ). … No sooner did I write about basketball players wearing sleeves than Evansville broke out their old sleeved jerseys on Saturday night. Details here. … “The 1988 A’s had a pitcher named Todd Burns,” writes John English. “He wore No. 54, and for some reason his uni numbers were different from everyone else’s on the club. The 4s were thicker and the 5s looked like upside-down 2s [as opposed to this]. This has bugged me for 20 years and while I don’t expect anyone else will know why this happened, it doesn’t hurt to ask.” … Bryan Widell reports that Manchester City captain Richard Dunne had problems with peeling numerals on Sunday. … Buried on this page is the following tidbit of Pittsburgh Pirates news: “The gold ‘P’ on the Pirates’ cap suddenly is taking the place of the angry, bearded pirate on just about all of the team’s printed matter.” Let’s hope this is the beginning of the end for the pirate logo, who’s always struck me as too cartoon-ish (good catch by Timothy Collins). … The Penguins’ goalies plan to wear old-school brown gear for tomorrow’s Winter Classic game. Details here (with thanks to Steve Laga). … And according to an item on this page, Penguins execs “are so pleased with the look of the retro-themed uniforms the club will wear in the AMP Energy NHL Winter Classic on New Year’s Day that the Penguins will seek permission to make that design their alternate look [next season]” (as spotted by Mike Reilly). … Reprinted from Sunday’s comments: Several people have mentioned to me that Daryl Johnston was forced to wear a Packers helmet during the 1994 Pro Bowl, after his own helmet was stolen. But I’d never seen visual confirmation until Nolan Brett came up with this. I’m gonna see if my ESPN photo editor can get us a full-size version. … Good view here of Vince Young’s blue chinstrap cozy, which is team-branded. … And we close out the year with a communiqué from Miguel Durón, the winner of our last raffle. He chose an Earl Campbell-era Texas Longhorns helmet from Gridiron Memories as his prize. “Here’s a pic of my 18-month-old daughter rocking it,” he writes. “She looks much cuter with it on than I do.” That’s so damn adorable, I’m not even gonna say anything about the purple shirt. Everyone have a happy and healthy holiday, and remember, New Year’s Eve is for amateurs.
December 31st, 2007
The nice thing about co-owning an NBA team is that you can work out with the players whenever you want. And of course you’ll get an official team practice jersey to wear — hey, you’re a part owner, you can raid the pro shop for whatever gear you want. High-five! But wait, the practice jersey features the logo of the company that manufactured it, and you have a longstanding promotional arrangement with a rival company. That’s a slight dilemma, but everyone knows what a savvy businessman you are, so you’ll come up with a smart and elegant solution.
That was the situation facing Michael Jordan yesterday. And here was his smart and elegant solution: He slapped a piece of white tape over the Adidas logo on his chest, although I think it’s fair to say that this maneuver went straight into the “Not fooling anybody” file, especially since he didn’t bother covering up the Adidas stripe treatment (presumably because they ran out of white tape).
I don’t know if Jordan’s still contractually forbidden to wear non-Nike gear, or the very idea of flashing a non-swoosh logo simply gives him a rash, but this little episode really highlights the continuing absurdity of how sportswear companies have become entangled with leagues and athletes. Did Jordan really think nobody would notice the piece of tape, or understand why it was there? Didn’t this actually draw more attention to the fact that he was wearing Adidas gear than if he hadn’t worn the tape to begin with? Couldn’t he have avoided this problem altogether if he’d just turned the shirt inside-out or worn a some other shirt? Oh, but then the Bobcats logo wouldn’t have been visible, so he wouldn’t have been promoting his team and its merch. What a mess — the whole situation reeks.
I’ll have more to say about logo creep tomorrow. Meanwhile, how much you wanna bet that some kid out there is gonna start wearing a piece of tape over the Adidas logo on his Bobcats jersey, just like his idol, MJ?
Raffle Reminder: Today’s the last day to enter the holiday raffle. For details, scroll down to the middle of Friday’s entry. As always, you can increase your odds of winning by joining the Uni Watch membership program. I’ll announce the winners tomorrow.
And hey, speaking of raffles: Are you excited about the Pro Bowl? Right, me neither. But the NFL is raffling off a free trip to its annual snooze-a-thon all-star game, and let’s face it, a free trip to Hawaii is a free trip to Hawaii, even if it does entail watching the world’s lamest football game. Plus the Pro Bowl is a uni watcher’s dream (assuming you dream about the really bad design), so it’s a win-win. To enter, look here.
Uni Watch News Ticker: The Vikings’ solid-purple look will not be repeated (that good news brought our way by Chad Burma). … Weird sequence of events yesterday, beginning when Kenn Tomasch sent me a note reporting that Steve Young’s orange jersey didn’t have stripes in 1985 like the rest of the Bucs had. Upon further investigation I discovered several other anomalies, to wit: Young appears to have ghosted sleeve stripes here and here; some of Tampa’s linemen didn’t have sleeve stripes either; kicker Donald Igwebuike (one of my all-time favorite sports names) had stripes, but his sleeve connected to his jersey down around his belly; if you factor in the sleeves, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen another NFL jersey look as mesh-y as this. … Michael Vick may not be in the NFL anymore, but he’s leaving quite a trail in his wake. … Looks like a Georgia Southern player was wearing a one-sleeved undershirt the other day (with thanks to Bob Jaye). … The Rutgers football team’s equipment manager is retiring (with thanks to Bruce Soltys). … Greg Riffenburgh notes that Minnesota’s Anthony Herrera appeared to be violating the NFL’s “only one footwear trim color allowed” rule the other night. … If you can’t prevent a concussion, at least you can know if you’ve gotten one. … Todd Krevanchi notes that Houston is using different font sets for its front and back uni numbers, and you can see in the 2s here. … Reprinted from last night’s comments: Awesome old newsreel footage shot in the Red Wings and Rangers locker rooms here.
December 19th, 2007
Okay, it’s official: The Bears have a serious problem with their helmet decals. It’s been brewing for a couple of seasons now, as the occasional player has shown up with a broken wishbone-C logo on his noggin. But last night it was practically a pandemic, as Alex Brown, Olin Kreutz, and Adrian Peterson all sported headwear malfunctions.
Giants equipment czar Joe Skiba has mentioned to me that helmet decals get more brittle in cold weather. But the NFL has been playing winter games for decades, and I don’t ever recall seeing a rash of decal destruction like the one currently being exhibited by da Bears. Decal guru Chris Willis, if you’re reading this (and I know you are), any idea what’s going on here?
Speaking of helmet decals, both teams were still wearing the “21″ memorial decal for Sean Taylor. No surprise that the ’Skins would continue to wear it for the rest of the season (they’re still wearing their “21″ jersey patch, too), but I raised an eyebrow upon seeing the Bears wearing it, since NFL deaths don’t usually get the league-wide memorial treatment for more than one week. In fact, none of the league’s three off-season deaths (Darrent Williams, Damien Nash, and Marquise Hill) resulted in league-wide remembrances. The last player to get memorialized by all 32 teams was, I believe, Pat Tillman in 2004, and that was only for one week.
Two other notes from this game:
• Mike Engle notes that Todd Collins was sporting double sock stripes.
• And Todd Davis points out that Mike Sellers appears to be the latest convert to the Schutt Ion helmet (here’s another view).
(Special thanks to John Okray for the screen grabs.)
Uni Watch News Ticker: Giants equipment director Joe Skiba cryptically advises us that we keep an eye on Plaxico Burress’s nose bumper this Sunday. … Speaking of Skiba, he’s been featured in a series of video reports on the Giants’ web site. You can see the latest one, which is about tailoring footwear for specific field conditions, is available on the team’s home page. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Twin City Knitting is marketing a set of team-logo stirrups. Very nice, although I’d prefer to see a higher foot opening. … The Royals’ powder blue alt jersey doesn’t look as bad with the white pants as I had expected. Certainly no worse than any other solid-over-white MLB combo (although that isn’t saying much). … Speaking of the Royals, Steve Johnston reports that Alex Gordon is switching uniform numbers, going from 7 to 4. … Here’s something you don’t often see: Kari Lehtonen wearing a practice jersey that he had already autographed (with thanks to Jeff McRae). … Coupla excellent NOB finds by Jere Smith: First, check out Rudy Tomjanovich wearing “Rudy T.” And if you go to the 1:18 mark of this video clip, you’ll see several views of Elvin Hayes wearing “E” (complete with the world’s biggest quote marks), as seen here and here. … Great Uni Watch party last night in Boston — big crowd, really great people, and a reporter from the Globe was there to cover the event. Only problem is that I kept getting distracted by a TV screen that was featuring the Bruins/Habs game, which was a serious thing of uni beauty. Full party details coming next week. … It has come to my attention that communiqués sent to me via the “Contact” link at the top of the page haven’t been getting through lately. So if you want to get in touch, just e-mail me directly.
December 7th, 2007
New ESPN column today — here’s the link.
Meanwhile: While the rest of the baseball world focused on the hot stove league, the real story was on the uniform scene, where MLB exec Bob Watson announced “the Francona Rule,” which according to Watson means, “You can only wear your uniform top or jacket.” In a truly inspired elaboration that will go down as the uni-related quote of the year, Watson added, “You can’t wear your nightshirt, or whatever it is. You can wear it before games, or after games, but not during games. You have to have your uniform top at all times.”
Watson’s commentary on sleepwear notwithstanding, this means no more sweatshirt for Francona (among others), no more smock for John Gibbons, and I think Buck Showalter just cancelled his latest comeback plans.
There’s a lot of confusion and misinformation about this story and the history surrounding it. I can’t clear up all of that confusion, but I can help with some of it, FAQ-style:
Didn’t MLB and Francona butt heads over this issue a few months ago?
Yes, back in August.
So if they were already enforcing the rule then, why did they have to enact a new rule now?
Good question.
Doesn’t the rulebook already require the manager to wear a uniform, at least if he leaves the dugout and goes onto the field of play?
No. Rule 3.15 states: “No person shall be allowed on the playing field during a game except players and coaches in uniform, managers, news photographers authorized by the home team, umpires, officers of the law in uniform and watchmen or other employees of the home club.” Note that the “in uniform” stipulation is applied to coaches but not to managers.
On the other hand, I recently came across this page, which tells the story of how two beat reporters — George Lederer and Phli Collier — managed a Dodgers intrasquad game during spring training in 1964. Lederer actually donned a Dodgers uniform, but Collier skippered in civvies (you can see them both here). As the account of the game then explains:
Collier, dressed in street clothes … broke the rules when he charged onto the field to argue an umpire’s decision at second base. At this stage of the game, with the score still 1-1, Lederer was sharp enough to remind the umpires that Collier had no right to be on the field.
So this suggests that non-uniformed managers were understood to be barred from the field of play at least as early as 1964, even if the rulebook doesn’t specify this. Why? In going back over my research files, I found a 2005 listserv post by Frank Vaccaro of the Society for American Baseball Research that may shed some light on the subject:
Nearly all non-playing managers before 1900 wore civilian clothes. … [T]here was a [National League] rule in place from 1879 to 1891 preventing non-playing managers from appearing on the field. This was referred to as the “Harry Wright rule.” After he won the championship in 1878 — his sixth in seven years — this rule passed, I suppose, to give other teams a chance. Wright used to stand on the sidelines shouting orders to his players: “WAIT” to take pitches and “FACING” to hit to the opposite field, as well as the names of players who should catch flies, etc. Other teams were in a panic.
So the “Terry Francona rule” is apparently the latest version of the 128-year-old “Harry Wright rule.” I have a feeling Bob Watson doesn’t know this.
Why do managers wear uniforms anyway?
In baseball’s early days, many managers were also active players, and player/managers persisted longer than most people realize. There were three three of them as recently as the 1970s (Frank Robinson, Don Kessenger, and Joe Torre), and one in the 1980s (Pete Rose).
But Connie Mack wore a suit while managing, didn’t he?
Yes. Mack’s a bit of a red herring, though — he owned the A’s, so he wore a suit in large part because he saw himself as a businessman/executive type and dressed accordingly. For a broader analysis, let’s turn once again to Frank Vacarro’s 2005 SABR listserv post:
[T]he interesting question is “How did baseball managers evolve to become the only team leaders in sports with the tradition of wearing the team uniform?” The answer is four-fold. Nearly all managers in the 1890s were playing managers, but a 1900-1920 manager could manage in civilian clothes if:
1) He embraced the style created by the [Harry Wright rule].
2) He wanted to exude the authority of a magnate.
3) He did not want to play or to appear as a base coach.
4) He had never played baseball professionally.
By 1940 these reasons became archaic. The 1880s NL style was forgotten; managers “like magnates” did poorly; teams carried enough coaches (and players — roster sizes grew) to do all delegatable tasks; and all managers had at least some professional playing experience. Offsetting these [factors] were the layout of the grass and the diamond and the fact that a manager could participate, on any corner of the field, in pre-game activities that were low on effort but high on skill, such as hitting grounders or fungos, bullpen catching, or even pitching BP. All these contrast sharply with activities high on athleticism that characterize pre-game practice in the other sports. It’s sometimes said, rightly or wrongly, that baseball is more a game than a sport.
For good measure, Vacarro provided a list of 20th-century managers who skippered in civvies (an asterisk indicates that the manager was known to don a uniform on occasion):
• Bob Allen, Reds, 1900
• Connie Mack, A’s, 1901-1950
• Horace Fogel, Giants, 1902
• Tom Loftus, Senators, 1902-1903
• Bill Armour, Indians, 1902-1904; Tigers, 1905-1906
• Frank Selee, Cubs, 1902-1905
• Ed Barrow, Tigers, 1903-1904; Red Sox, 1918-1920
• John McClosky, Cardinals, 1906-1908*
• Hank O’Day, Reds, 1912; Cubs, 1914
• George Stallings, Braves, 1913-1920
• Hugo Bezdek, Pirates, 1917-1919
• Clark Griffith, Nationals, 1917-1920*
• Branch Rickey, Cardinals, 1919-1925*
• John McGraw, Giants, 1921-1932* (although he usually wore a uniform prior to 1921)
• Wilbert Robinson, Dodgers 1928-1931*
• Burt Shotton, Dodgers, 1947-1950* (additional pics here, here, here, and here, plus here’s one of his game-worn dugout jackets)
It’s not clear how many of these skippers, if any, went onto the field of play during a game, but this photo shows Hank O’Day wearing spikes with his suit while managing the Cubs, suggesting that he went onto the field at some point.
But MLB doesn’t want Francona wearing a pullover even in the dugout. So when did not wearing a full uniform go from being rare to being banned?
I haven’t figured that part out yet.
Couldn’t MLB have avoided this whole mess with Francona if they hadn’t created so many different kinds of officially licensed outerwear for him and other managers to try on?
Gee, what do you think?
Membership Update: Remember, today is the last day for ordering a gift membership at discounted holiday rates.
Today’s showcase card is based on the “shineboy,” the shirt worn by Alpha Phi Omega members when they run the Texas flag onto the field before Texas Longhorns football games.
Beantown Reminder: Uni Watch party tomorrow, 8:30 p.m., at Boston Beer Works. The gathering got a little preview write-up in today’s Boston Herald, plus Randy Moss is gonna stop by and explain why he keeps wearing those upside-down 8s, so come by and join us.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Wisconsin wore their long-awaited throwbacks on Monday night, and man did they look sweet, although it turns out that the beat writer for Madison’s Capital Times totally Doesn’t Get It™ (with thanks to Nicole Haase). … Expect to see lots of NBA throwbacks beginning this Friday. Details here. … Duke guard DeMarcus Nelson is wearing some interesting kicks. Details here (with thanks to intern emeritus Vince Grzegorek). … Awesome female Black Fives photo and info here. … Spectacular discovery by Jared Wheeler, who found a shot of Magic Johnson from the 1980 NBA All-Star Game with two initials on his NOB! … Jeff Meyers, who works for the independent Ft. Worth Cats, informs me that the team has a cat eyes alternate jersey. Look closely and you’ll see that the pupils actually spell out “F” and “W.”
December 5th, 2007
There was a classic moment during yesterday’s press conference to unveil the Blue Jays’ new road and alternate uniforms. It came when they trotted out old-timers Lloyd Moseby and John Mayberry to model the team’s new 1979 powder blue throwbacks, which will be worn for Friday home games. At one point Moseby was asked what it felt like when he first wore that uniform back in the day. The prop boy must not have been holding the cue cards high enough for Moseby to see, because instead of giving a scripted reply, he chose to ad lib: “The uniform sucked, okay? So we ain’t gonna go there.”
After a moment of nervous laughter from the audience, followed by a beat or two of silence, Moseby added, “’Course, it was big to put on any uniform,” but it was too late — his point had been made, namely that these things were ugly back then and they’re still ugly now. I know many of you have some sort of nostalgic and/or kitschy fascination with this uniform, but come on — it’s totally minor league. With the centered crest and the pullover style, it looks and feels more like a hockey jersey than a baseball jersey. Plus they’ll be wearing it at home, which means we’ll be treated to blue-vs.-gray games — ugh. (Moseby, incidentally, gave some additional choice comments about the design to a Canadian reporter after the unveiling ceremony.)
While the original design had pants with a double-snap waistband, the throwback has more traditional belted pants (Moseby approved of this change: “When dirt got in your snaps, they wouldn’t work”). The mock-up in the MLB Style Guide shows a striped belt, presumably to simulate the striped waistband, but the belts at the unveiling were solid blue, which is probably for the best. On the other hand, I give them credit for sticking to one aspect of the original design: NNOB.
As for the new road jersey, I like it. Yeah, it doesn’t match the home design, but I count that as a plus, because the home design blows. I see at least four reasons to like this revision: 1) vertically arched lettering; 2) the ascension of blue from trim color to main color; 3) uni numbers finally appearing on the front of the jersey; 4) a pretty cool number font (soooooo much better than the old one). Problems? I count one: They’ve retained the super-clunky NOB typography. But at least it’s blue now, which is mild improvement. Now if we could just get them to wear a blue cap.
Finally, if you believe in omens, there was a bad one: The “N” in “Toronto” is supposed to look like this, with the shadowed side of the bevel down and to the right. But the “N” on the jersey that Jeremy Accardo was wearing was upside-down. Nice going, guys.
(Special thanks to the Chris Creamer board, where many of the above-linked photos were first posted.)
Uni Watch News Ticker: Homeless man update from Mike Hennessy, who writes: “At a news conference sometime over the weekend, Belichick wore his regular sweatshirt with the hood cut off. I think with this he has hit rock bottom.” … Speaking of Belichick, for a few weeks now his headband has featured a Pats logo that I haven’t seen elsewhere. I kinda like it, especially since the “New England” part of the team’s name usually doesn’t get much play. Anyone know more about this logo? … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Steve Smith threw his cleats into the crowd after Sunday’s game. … Great catch by Jeremy Iwen, who noticed that the first “R” in Dominique Barber’s nameplate was backwards a few weeks back. … Ray Lewis memorialized Sean Taylor on his eye black last night.
December 4th, 2007
Big uni-related story in the NFL yesterday was the range of Sean Taylor memorials. Here’s a quick rundown:
• The Redskins wore a “21″ jersey patch. The Redskins’ coaching staff and owner wore it, too.
• In addition, Clinton Portis wore a Taylor tribute T-shirt under his jersey (here’s another view).
• John Eubanks wore a Taylor do-rag. At first I thought this was one of the towels that fans were given, but now I think it was actually the sleeve from a Taylor jersey.
• All teams wore a “21″ helmet decal. This led to some pretty crowded rear-helmet groupings, especially for the Broncos (who already had their dual memorial for Darrent Williams and Damien Nash) and Browns (who added that “BW” decal this week in memory of Hall of Famer Bill Willis — not to be confused with the “BW” decal for Bill Walsh that the 49ers have been wearing all year).
• I was hoping we’d see some facemask stripes, like Taylor sometimes wore. Didn’t happen, but Antonio Pierce of the Giants did something similar: He taped Taylor’s uniform number onto his mask. This was the only personalized tribute to Taylor that I spotted. (Special thanks to Ryan Perkins for the screen grab.)
Meanwhile, in non-Taylor developments:
• Tommie Harris had “Psalms 91″ (which also happens to be his uniform number) written on his Breathe Right strip.
• The Jets took the unusual step of wearing their Titans throwbacks on the road in Miami.
• Joseph Addai was showing some serious skin in the 2nd quarter.
• No photo yet, but I saw for myself that Dallas Clark’s American flag decal was still missing — a particularly egregious omission when you consider that the equipment staff had to add the Sean Taylor decal to his helmet, so you’d think they would’ve noticed the missing flag. Bryan, whose wife went to high school with Clark, is still working on getting the full story on this one.
• Also no photo, but several readers reported that Braylon Edwards was wearing white shoes and going bare-calved, NCAA-style, early in the Browns/Cards game. Then he added brown socks but still had white shoes. He eventually switched to black shoes like the rest of the Browns.
Uni Watch Calendar Update: Several meet/greet opportunities coming up over the next week. Here’s the deal:
• December 6th: Marc Spears of the Boston Globe and I will be fielding questions from students in a media seminar class this Thursday at Boston University. I’ll be convening a Uni Watch party at 8:30 that evening at Boston Beer Works, which is right across from Fenway Park. Meanwhile, if anyone wants to attend the seminar class, which begins at 6:30, the professor has graciously agreed to accommodate a few extra people. If you’re interested, get in touch and I’ll let you know where to go.
• December 10th: The completely wonderful City Reliquary, of which I am a proud card-carrying member, will be holding its annual benefit gala at the Automotive High School Auditorium, and I’m one of the two featured speakers this year. I’ll be doing a Power Point presentation about Brooklyn Dodgers uniform history, but the real attraction is the other speaker: Lawrence Weschler, author of Mr. Wilson’s Cabinet of Wonder and Boggs. The evening will also feature a short documentary film, a live samba band, and — if you shell out a lot of extra $$$ — dinner at Bamonte’s, one of Brooklyn’s oldest and most storied red-sauce Italian restaurants. Full details here.
• Sometime in January: I’m going to be one of four presenters at the inaugural edition of a new speaking series called “Adult Education,” which is being curated by my longtime pal Carrie McLaren (editrix of the excellent consumer-culture magazine Stay Free), who describes the series as “sort of grownup show-and-tell,” complete with visual aids. The theme of this first installment will be “Micro-Genres”: Carrie, who’s mildly obsessed with chimps, will be talking about people who’ve tried to raise chimps as part of the family; longtime Uni Watch pal Liz Clayton will talk about painfully obvious fast-food restaurant conversions (she has an entire site devoted to this phenomenon); Jim Hanas will talk about “meta tourism” (i.e., photos of tourists taking photos); and I’ll be talking about the strange world of trade magazines (Elevator World, Hay and Forage Grower, American Funeral Director, Demolition, and so on, each of which is as obsessively subject-specific as Uni Watch is). The exact date is still TBA, but it’s definitely going to be on a Tuesday in January, and the venue will be Union Hall, which is conveniently located around the corner from Uni Watch HQ. Further details on this one as they become available.
Membership News: I’m happy to announce that we’ve now gone over 500 enrollees. But I can’t announce who the 500th member is because that was a gift membership and the gift-giver has asked that I keep the order secret until Christmas.
Speaking of which, remember, this Wednesday is the deadline for ordering a discounted gift membership for the holidays.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Lots of pics here from the upcoming hoops movie Semi-Pro (with thanks to Mike Nachreiner). … Bizarre uniform sighting here (courtesy of Eric Trager). … Looking for new and creative ways to lace up your cleats or sneakers? Look here (with thanks to Mike Blinn). … Roman numeral alert: Charlie Coley III of Charlotte (with thanks to intern emeritus Vince Grzegorek). … “Once upon a time, Marquette had a football team,” writes proud Badger State booster Nicole Haase. “Here’s a pretty cool collection of 1940s program covers.” … “Check out the difference in the helmet stripe thickness for the two players in green, who play for Mentor Lake Catholic High in Ohio,” writes Tim Snyder. “I figure it’s some kind of merit award, but they also use more conventional merit decals.” Anyone know more about this? … Paul Bridge reports that Utah Valley University, which will have D-1A status by 2009, has some new logos. Details here. … Very odd NOB typography being for Jonathan Zebina of Juventus (and, presumably for the rest of their players): The “Z” and the “E” look like a “2″ and a backwards “3.” It’s apparently so fraught with confusion that the “E” ended up being applied backwards for Saturday’s game against AC Milan (all this courtesy of Jeremy Brahm). … Mizzou’s Stryker Sulak had some sleeve patch problems on Saturday (with thanks to James Wortham for the screen grab). … Nice little recap of Lakers uniform history here (as forwarded by Matthew Wolfram). … Ryan Perkins notes that R.W. McQuarters of the Giants had some helmet decal issues yesterday. … Several readers noted that Wabash wore some ill-advised pants in Saturday’s D-III quarterfinal game. … Georgia will wear black in the Sugar Bowl. … Speaking of black, Texas A&M’s hoops team wore their black alts yesterday. … “The Barbarians, an invitation-only rugby club that plays a handful of matches per year, took on the newly-crowned world champions South Africa,” writes Eric Bangeman. In addition to wearing classic black-and-white uniforms, the Barbarians ask each player to wear the socks from his home club, which makes for some interesting hosiery contrasts.”
December 3rd, 2007
Last month I wrote about all the great uni-related photos in Sports Illustrated’s The Football Book. Now I’ve gotten myself a copy of The Baseball Book, which has a slightly smaller but still significant trove of uni details. Let’s take a look:
• Here’s a 1950s shot of Nellie Fox. Note that the Sox insignia is a patch, not embroidered. Never noticed that before.
• Another Chisox shot, this one showing Luis Aparacio during the 1959 World Series, when the White Sox actually wore white socks.
• Next time we debate the pros and cons of base coaches wearing helmets, think about this photo. Can you believe how close to home plate those shutterbugs were allowed to get?
• This is an 1896 shot of the New York Giants, and I absolutely must have one of those sweaters.
• Couple of interesting things here, beginning with the Cards’ heavily ribbed stirrups. Also, look closely Bob Bowman’s (No. 26) right toe. Looks like he’s got a little metal plate and strip of leather there to keep the tip of his shoe from wearing through. And that leads us to…
• …this shot of Satchel Paige’s cleats, with a great view of precisely the same toe accessory.
• Amazing old Boston Braves jacket here.
• Decent view here of the yellow batting helmets that the A’s wore in 1967 (when they were still in Kansas City).
• Best uni-related prank ever. According to the caption, the player on the ground was actually an actor named Lou Archer, “who appeared in Babe Comes Home, Ruth’s second Hollywood feature.”
Loads of other great photography here — recommended.
Membership News: Got a brilliant card design request the other day from Robert Eden. He originally joined up back when the membership program was first announced, choosing the basic Uni Watch colors. But once he heard we were now accepting NCAA-themed design requests, he put in an order for an additional card (which anyone can get for $15, by the way) patterned after a Nebraska Cornhuskers tearaway jersey. As I think you’ll agree, Scott executed the concept quite nicely.
Meanwhile, Nina has finished adding all the Charter Membership code to the membership roster. If you’re a Charter Member, your number on the roster should be shown in bold. If we somehow missed anyone, let me know.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Yesterday’s post about uni numbers on pants prompted a response from Aaron Stilley, who pointed out a baseball example I’d forgotten about: the Kansas City Monarchs (additional views here, here, here, and here). “I agree it’s usually a bad idea, but for some reason I actually think it looked nice on the Monarchs’ unis,” writes Aaron, and I’m inclined to agree. … By now I think most of you are aware of the Minnesota high school hockey jerseys that are on display at the Xcel Center. But what you might not know — and what I didn’t know myself until Jeff Barak forwarded me some pics — is that the display also includes an incredible 1940s Coast Guard team jersey with a gorgeous chenille crest. Further info here. … The woman who designed the Lambeau Field 50th-anniversary patch is profiled here. … Alejandro Marci reports that Argentina has new soccer uniforms. “The jersey has a hidden drawing on the front,” he writes, “inspired by a traditional Buenos Aires decorative painting art form called Fileteado, which is most commonly used to decorate buses. That technique is also in a small patch located on the back of the neck. There’s also an awful colored field in the back, as a background for the numbers. Apparently it’s some new FIFA regulation for NTs.” … “As you know, the Giants typically apply each player’s last name to his batting helmet in large white letters,” writes Jason Taylor. “Until August, it appeared that Barry Bonds was no different. But I just noticed that his last name appeared in two other styles on the back of his helmet within about a week’s time. I’m guessing that it had something to do with him donating his 755 and 756 helmets to the Hall of Fame.” … Genius find by Jere Smith, who’s turned up a video clip from the 1988 NBA Legends Game, in which every single player wore FNOB — and in a totally weird format to boot. Details and full video clip here. … Several readers have noticed a subtle change made by the Bruins, but Paul Pokaski sums it up best: “The Bruins started the season with double-outlined lettering on their nameplates. This style was worn as recently as October 22 on the road against the Canadiens. Recently, however, the Bruins have been using single-outlined names on their road whites. They wore this style November 3 at Ottawa, and in their most recent game, at Toronto.” Very odd to see a team make this sort of change in the middle of a season. … You’ve gotta be kidding me. … Reprinted from last night’s comments: Lots of good uni-related soccer Q&A action here. … And The London Times’s picks for the top 50 soccer kits of all time here (with thanks to Iain Landon).
Holiday Schedule: We’ll have open chatter tomorrow. Maybe Friday too, or maybe I’ll put up some real content — not sure yet. And our usual open chatter for the weekend. Happy Thanksgiving to one and all, and remember, white meat’s for suckers — dark meat’s where it’s at.
November 21st, 2007
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