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Posts filed under 'Softball'
For years, if I’ve needed an old Astros photo, the first place I’ve looked has been Astros Daily, an excellent blog with loads of great images. What I hadn’t realized, however, until reader James Poisso recently pointed it out to me, is that the site includes a page of video links, which provide a priceless historical survey of what is arguably MLB’s most visually interesting franchise. There’s too much material to describe fully, but here are a few highlights:
- If, like myself, you’ve only seen Colt .45s uniforms in still photos, check out the very first video link on the page, which features lots of footage showing the Colts’ basic uni plus jackets, ushers’ uniforms, and related merch.
- You probably know that the Astrodome’s roof had to be painted when outfielders couldn’t pick up the ball against the original ceiling design (which in turn led to the development of Astroturf, because the facility’s original grass wilted and died when sunlight could no longer shine through the painted roof). One of the videos actually shows the roof being painted!
- As you might imagine, there’s plenty of footage showing the tequila sunrise design, including some good shots of the original bullseye version.
- According to Dressed to the Nines, the tequila sunrise jerseys were always paired with dark stirrups. But check out this shot of Larry Dierker — he’s definitely wearing orange hose, and they appear to be striped to boot.
And there’s a lot more. Recommended viewing.
Membership Announcement: Lots of you have asked if an additional column can be added to the membership roster, indicating the team and era that each card design was patterned after. I didn’t originally think we’d need to include that kind of info, since I figured the card designs would all be based on familiar uniform designs and that their sources would therefore be self-explanatory. But of course it hasn’t worked out that way — we’ve got throwback designs (the one shown above is a 1970 Indians treatment), minor league designs, soccer and cycling designs, etc. So yes, I now see it would be a nice idea to include this information, so everyone can see what a given card design was based on.
But here’s the thing: The roster chart is already pretty big and unwieldy — I don’t want to add another column to it. But if you go to the card design gallery and click on a given card design, you’ll get the Flickr page for that design — and you can add comments to that page. So I hereby invite all members to click on their own card designs and add an explanation for your design inspiration (turns out member Anthony Giaccone already did this several weeks ago). If all goes well, we’ll have all the team-based card pages annotated in short order.
You may have to register with Flickr in order to leave a comment. But it’s easy and free, and Flickr is a cool site that you really ought to be part of anyway, so it’s a win-win.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Scroll down to the end of this Q&A session with a Cardinals beat writer to see what the Redbirds think of the new BP caps (good find by Jordan Hirschfield). … Excellent catch by Avi Berliner, who spotted the following tidbit buried within this Wall Street Journal article: “Alex Marvez, president of the Pro Football Writers Association … winces at the new [NFL] rule requiring photographers to wear red vests with small Canon and Reebok logos. Mr. Marvez calls the idea of using working press members as advertising vehicles ‘really alarming.’ Neither company is paying a specific fee for the vests, but Canon Inc. is an official sponsor of the league (it pays a rights fee to be associated with the NFL) and Reebok International Ltd., owned by Adidas AG, is a league licensee (it makes merchandise with NFL logos, including jerseys, pants and photo vests).” … Always good to hear from Mike from Queens, who notes that USA Softball has some very odd batting helmets (additional views here and here). … Tour de France note from member Mike Edgerly, who writes: “Members of Team CSC are sporting black Live Strong-style wristbands that say ‘Harden the fuck up.’” Details toward the bottom of this page (and I swear, if today’s comments section devolves into a series erection jokes, I’m gonna pull the plug on the site, so don’t even think about it). … It’s well documented that Bob Feller will do anything for a buck, but this seems like a bit much. … “Could there be an uglier uni matchup?” asks Vince, referring to yesterday’s Brazil/Nicaragua contest at the Pan Am Games. … A reader who didn’t give his full name notes that Matt Holliday appeared to have one sleeve shorter than the other last night. … Reprinted from last night’s comments: With the Sharks and Ducks having added orange to their color schemes, Kris McInnis figures it’s time for every NHL team to go orange.
July 17th, 2007
Got two interesting notes over the weekend, both of which call for reader input. The first came from Ryan Burns, as follows:
I’m going to be president of my local lacrosse officials’ association next year. One of the common complaints is about our uniform. The uniform is black shoes, white socks with black tops (the width of black part varies widely, which drives me nuts), white shorts, black belt, black hat with white piping, and a shirt.
The shirt is supposed to have black and white stripes, black collar and cuffs, ¼-zip, pocket, and, for our high school, no patches. The reason for no patches is that for college games you’re supposed to have an American flag above the pocket, a sleeve patch, and a number on the back (that’s a whole other story) and the feeling is that if you have any patches in a high school game and your partner does not, then you would be showing him up. Here’s an example of proper dress, but you can see black snaps on the back (for a number) and sleeve (for a patch). And here’s me. My numbers and sleeve patch attach by Velcro, but my flag patches are sewn on, so I wear them even though I’m not supposed to.
Some people complain about the high socks, some complain about black hats (heat), some complain about white shorts (get dirty easily), some complain about patch restrictions and having to separate shirts (both long and short sleeve) for high school and college games. I’m thinking we should have the black and white spiral instead of vertical stripes and have advertisements all over, or else button-down shirts with bow ties. But short of that do you have any ideas on how we could improve our uniforms?
First and foremost, Ryan: Don’t change those socks. Love the color block look.
I’m kinda fascinated by the whole snap-on number and patch thing — didn’t realize such a thing existed. And I’m always amazed by the ongoing cross-sport ubiquity of zebra stripes (the origins of which are discussed here).
As for the rest, what say ye, Uni Watchers? Any suggestions for our lacrosse officiating brethren?
But wait, before you deal with that, check out the note I got from Brent Marcus, who contributed the following:
Don’t know if you’re familiar with the show “Ninja Warrior” (airs daily on G4 TV). Massive, ridiculously difficult obstacle course. Competitions are filmed in Japan and the contestants are incredible amateur athletes.
Anyway, here’s the relevance to Uni Watch: Some of the best athletes show up dressed in their everyday work garb. For example, there’s a gas station manager who shows up in his gas station manager’s uniform [you can see him in this video clip]. His choice of khakis and polo shirt has no obvious impact on his performance. … You’d think these athletes would wear [performance clothing that would] allow the greatest flexibility, range of movement, etc. But they don’t. They wear corporate clothing and street attire, to no ill effect.
I’m sure this is just one example of non-uniform athletics, but to be honest, I couldn’t think of many others. I thought an overview of sports where there are no uniforms at all might make an interesting topic. I’m sure there must be several other examples. Historically, there are plenty — before we entered an age of Lycra and breathable mesh.
Interesting topic. Not sure it has legs, but I’m willing to open the floor to discussion. Your thoughts..?
Membership Update: The first batch of Uni Watch membership cards and fridge magnets went out in Saturday’s mail, so members should watch their mailboxes. Unfortunately, my printer chose Friday to go on the fritz, so I wasn’t able to enclose a cover letter with each card/magnet shipment, as I’d originally intended to do. If I’d been able to enclose such a letter, it probably would’ve looked something like this.
If your uniform number isn’t yet clickable on the membership roster, it means your card hasn’t been designed yet. We’ll get started on the second batch during the next week.
Incidentally, it has been suggested that we offer referee zebra stripes as the design option for the back of the card — an excellent idea that we have enthusiastically embraced. So if you’re a ref and want your card to be designed accordingly, speak up and we’ll be happy to accommodate you.
My continued thanks to all enrollees. If you’d like to get on board, full sign-up details are available here.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Stop whatever you’re doing and take two minutes to watch this completely amazing video about the guy who’s in charge of the jockeys’ silks at Belmont Park (with a lifetime’s worth of thanks to Tim McLaugh). … Nice eBay find here, courtesy of Todd Krevanchi. … More eBay-ism from Mike Engle, who notes that this guy appears to have every conceivable patch for sale. … Patrick Ryan reports that the University of Wisconsin at Green Bay has a new logo (which kinda looks like a Rorschach splotch to me). Details here. … Reprinted from Friday’s comments: The Blue Jackets will unveil their new uniforms on June 22nd. … Murvin English notes that the Majestic web site includes a section devoted to National Pro Fastpitch softball uniforms — home, road, and alternate. … Fun little piece here about history’s worst Bay Area uniforms (with thanks to Brian Catlett). … Not uni-related, but reader Christopher Falvey has created a baseball-related project that’s really, really cool. Check it out here. … Rather bizarre volleyball socks here (as spotted by Scot Williams). … Odd situation in the recent college baseball super regional series between North Carolina and South Carolina, both of which wore “Carolina” across their chests (good observation by Alex Benezra). … Reds equipment manager Rick Stowe put some pretty big expectations on rookie pitcher Homer Bailey when assigning him uni No. 34. For details, scroll down to the “Numerology” item at the bottom of this page (nice find by Steven Huelskamp). … In a break with tradition, Notre Dame has announced that they’ll be wearing their very beautiful green jerseys (which in the past have been worn without any advance notification, as a surprise) against USC on October 20th. … You know those clubs that play “base ball” according to the old rules, with period uniforms, etc.? Turns out there’s something similar for golf. You can’t even use a tee. Full details here. … Interesting thread on the Chris Creamer board about team-based lottery tickets in Missouri. … Bizarre multi-tone unis — colored in front, white in back — being worn by the Harlingen South Hawks in the Texas 5A state baseball championship tourney. “Pretty much the ugliest thing I’ve ever seen,” says Nick Zajicek. … “The NHL can’t catch a break,” writes RJ Charles. “They struck a deal with Sling Media (makers of Sling Box) for a video clip sharing deal, but Sling Media didn’t use the current NHL logo on their web site when announcing the deal.” … Single-digit pitcher, of sorts, in Friday’s Marlins/Rays game. Tampa was getting blown out, so in the bottom of the 8th they put infielder Josh Wilson on the mound. … Kevin Kelsey notes that the Women’s College World Series sleeve patch was inconsistently applied by both Arizona and Tennessee, with some players wearing it on the right sleeve and some on the left, as seen here, here, and here. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Big memorabilia sale at Lambeau yesterday, including — get this — a shitload of Packers nameplates (here’s another shot, and dig the tat on that dude’s arm!). … Matt Ryburn was at Saturday’s Dodgers/Jays game and got good pics of rookie Tony Abreu inviting a fine (and, more importantly, looking like total crap) by wearing his pants under his heels.
June 11th, 2007
From time to time we’ve discussed uni-related issues of trademark infringement and protection. But policing your trademark in lawsuit-happy America is one thing — doing it in a far-off land, where any clown with a heat press can run off a few jillion cheap logo-emblazoned knockoffs of your design, is something else, as reader Eric Trager has discovered. Here’s his long-distance report from the Middle East:
I’ve been living in Cairo since August on an Islamic Civilizations Fulbright grant, which has given me a decent opportunity to travel around the Middle East a bit. It seems like almost anywhere I go, I find familiar-looking caps, none of which are ever official, and almost all of which contain completely incorrect colors. At the famous Khan al-Khalili market in Cairo, for example, I spotted this orange Yankees cap among other mostly Cairo-appropriate headgear. In Casablanca, I spotted this cap stand; you can make out a number of Yankees caps (there’s a proper navy one on the 60 dirham level, though the rest are completely off), along with a 49ers cap, a Florida Gators cap, and a Berkeley cap. [The one I find most amusing is the FBI cap. — PL] Although the Yankees are, unfortunately, the most prominent in terms of merchandise in the region, I happened to find this cap stand in Sana’a, Yemen, featuring Dodgers caps (again, wrong colors). Finding these things in Yemen was particularly surprising, given that most men there dress like this, i.e., sans baseball cap.
Though caps are the most prominent American sports gear I’ve come across in the region, I spotted kid in Jounieh, Lebanon, wearing a very decent Kobe Bryant jersey when I was there in 2004. It looks like it’s actually officially licensed, unlike this horrific Don Mattingly Yankees jacket I spotted in Rabat [Donnie Baseball never wore his stirrups like that! — PL] and this awful Rockies T-shirt I found at the Cairo tent market (although Uni Watch probably endorses the shirt’s use of red in place of purple, no matter how inaccurate).
Of course, the most common sports uniforms found in Middle Eastern markets are local soccer jerseys. I spotted these two brothers wearing al-Ahly jerseys in Cairo, and have purchased the jerseys of Maghreb Fez, Wydad (Casablanca), and the Moroccan national team as gifts for friends. Unfortunately, none of these are remotely authentic, though I was finally able to find an official al-Ahly jersey at the posh, Saudi-built mall in Cairo.
This is really just a small sampling of uni-relevant observations from my time in the region. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a picture of the hundreds of MLB, NBA, NFL, NCAA, and NHL T-shirts available in Hebrew in virtually any Israeli tourist area (similar to these online examples), though did happen to pick up this Mets yarmulke.
I’ll close with the most surprising uni-related find. Look closely at the religious insignia on the sports club t-shirt of the boy on the left in this photo — it was taken in a Palestinian refugee camp in the West Bank.
Pretty great stuff. The global, hegemonic reach of the baseball cap, even in cultures that wouldn’t know a baseball game if you plopped one down in their front yard, continues to amaze me.
And wait, there’s more: About a week after sending me that first note, Trager checked in with a nice little epilogue:
As I was packing up my things today to leave Egypt after a nine-month stint out here, I noticed that my Mets cap no longer fit. Fitted caps, as you might imagine, are extremely hard finds in Egypt, and all sorts of people — taxi drivers, camel merchants, children, restaurant owners, and tour guides — have asked me many times for some of my fitted caps right off my head, which I have always declined in the past. This time, however, rather than waste precious suitcase space on a Mets cap that didn’t fit, I went downstairs to find a kid to whom I could give it. He was very appreciative, and I think rather surprised. I might have just stumbled across a new mechanism for American public diplomacy.
Now we just have to get the kid to ditch the black.
Three Okay, TWO Blind Mice: Jamie Moyer’s stirrups occasioned lots of oh-so-adorable banter in the Mets’ broadcast booth last night. The chatter started after announcers approvingly noted that Moyer had busted it pretty hard while running out a ground ball. Here’s the transcript:
Gary Cohen: Not only is he running hard, but he’s running hard in stirrups.
Ron Darling: Yes.
Cohen: We’ve gotta get a shot of Moyer’s feet at some point. Nobody wears stirrups anymore! Maybe a couple of old coaches.
Darling: He wears ’em a little bit like you wore ’em, Keith.
Keith Hernandez: I’ll have to give ’em closer, uh, scrutiny. [Camera shows a close-up of Moyer’s stirrups.] Oh, I liked to wear ’em a little higher. That’s low. That’s minor league ugly.
Cohen: You didn’t have the Liberty Bell on your stirrups.
Hernandez: No. Those are the stirrups they gave you in the minor leagues.
Darling [struggling for something relevant to say]: Is that like coyote ugly? Minor league ugly.
Hernandez [ignoring Darling]: You had the wool uniforms in the minor leagues back in the early ’70s, and they were just itchy. And you were glad to have ’em, trust me, but I hated the stirrups. [As per usual during these hosiery discussions, the camera shows sacred Shea Stadium photo of Jerry Koosman celebrating the last out of the 1969 World Series.] See, that’s closer. I wore ’em a little bit higher than Kooz right there. [Camera now shows file photo of Hernandez’s favorite player.] Ah, there you go.
Cohen: There was a trend for a while there to show none of the top of the stirrup, right? Guys started adding extensions to the bottom so they rose that much higher.
Hernandez: Yes. I never liked that look. When we played for the Cardinals, we had those great socks with the stripes, like the Red Sox. You wanna show the stripes.
Cohen [who has clearly read either Ball Four or Uni Watch]: I guess it was Frank Robinson, wasn’t it, who first started wearing the high stirrups, that just showed white with a stripe on the side?
Darling [utterly lost but trying to sound engaged]: Yes.
Hernandez [also lost]: I think you may be right.
Cohen: Maybe it was someone else before that. I just…
Hernandez [now completely off on the wrong tack]: Was it with Cleveland? Remember those Cleveland uniforms, those red uniforms?
Cohen: Those were awful.
Darling [now barely treading water]: They were hideous!
Cohen: Of course, there were a lot of hideous uniforms in the ’70s. The Pirates…
Hernandez: The bumblebees!
Darling: How about Houston?
Hernandez: Ugh!
Cohen: How about the Padres?
Darling: That’s right, mustard and brown.
Cohen: Mustard and mud!
Hernandez: Contrary to Ron Darling, I love the A’s uniforms, love those swingin’ A’s unis.
[Inning mercifully ends.]
Uni Watch News Ticker: Plate umpires who wear the conventional-style mask always wear a cap, but umps who favor the hockey-style mask have always gone cap-free. Or at least that’s what I thought until seeing some footage from last night’s Rockies/Astros game, where plate ump Ed Hickox wore a cap under his hockey-style mask (you can see him holding his mask on the left side of this shot). … Tons of great uni- and equipment-related footages in this awesome WHA video (tremendous find by Tommy Gough). … Not quite uni-related, but still a worthwhile site. … Interesting query from Ryan Hickox, who writes: “This season, while watching Red Sox games, I’ve noticed a couple of narrow, dark objects behind the rubber on the mound, as seen here.” Anyone know what these are? … Newly minted Uni Watch member Michael Gargano recently bumped into a friend wearing a great Royals tee. … According to this article, Jake Peavy inscribes “BP” on his underbill, in tribute to his late grandfather, Blanche Peavy (good spot by David Conley). … Pretty cool stuff upcoming in Tampa. … That ridiculous London Olympics logo is already getting some very negative reviews (some really great quotes in that article, including a description of the logo as “a toileting monkey”), plus there’s now a petition drive to do away with it (with thanks to Morris Bird). … Now that’s a nameplate. Player in question is Washington State kicker Romeen Abdollmohammadi (as spotted by Michael Carman). … Some interesting factoids about the Diamondbacks’ uni protocol in the “In Case You Were Wondering” section of this page (good find by Doug Simpson). … Jacob Reed wonders what Eddie Stanky had written under his bill. … Photo of the day comes from Uni Watch intern Vince Grzegorek who noticed Tim Hudson finding a new use for the rosin bag. … Great article here about a Milwaukee memorabilia hound who specializes in collecting bats (with thanks to the Cream City’s finest, Nicole Haase). … Brian Willette notes that Northwestern softballer Darcy Sengewald has been wearing eye black shaped like little hearts and dollar signs. … Beau Lynott sent along a screen shot of Russell Martin’s torn pants from last night’s Dodgers/Padres game. “He was sliding repeatedly in steal attempts with one out in the 7th inning, then fell down rounding second on a base hit and was tagged out in a pickle. Matt Vasgersian on Channel 4 Padres said, ‘What’s with the re-stitch? Get the man some new pants!’” … Want your logo rendered in pasta? Comments section stalwart Minna H. recommends these guys. … The Indians wore blue jerseys at home last night, marking the first time they’d done that since 2001 (although, as Tim Bennett notes, there was a lot more red trim back in those days). … According to an article in yesterday’s New York Times, dreadlocked Giants defensive back R.W. McQuarters recently had his first haircut since his rookie season and is now wearing a helmet two sizes smaller as a result. … Arsenal has unveiled its new white kit.
June 6th, 2007
I don’t mean to pick on Giants equipment manager Mike Murphy — he’s been with the team for nearly 50 years, and he probably has his hands full finding caps to fit Barry Bonds’s ever-enlarging cranium — but the team had some major slip-ups on the uni front last week. First, as reported here last week, Dan Ortmeier’s left-sleeve team logo patch was missing; then Fred Lewis’s right-sleeve All-Star Game patch was similarly unaccounted for. The kicker came on Friday, when Randy Messenger made his Giants debut with no name on his jersey.
Messenger had been traded late the night before, so the Giants had less than 24 hours to prepare a jersey for him. And yes, the trade happenedjust as the team was leaving New York and heading to Philly. Still, it shouldn’t have been that hard to get a jersey lettered and ready to go. Couldn’t they just have gotten one made at the local Sports Authority or something? Messenger didn’t pitch on Saturday or Sunday (no doubt due to embarrassment), so it’s not clear if his jersey has finally been brought up to code.
Interestingly, the Messenger nameplate snafu took place almost exactly a year to the day after the Giants misspelled Eliezer Alfonzo’s name on his jersey. Maybe the team should just take a week off every season during this time of year.
To be fair, the Giants aren’t the only MLB team with uni-related problems lately. As noted in Friday night’s comments, the Brewers’ right-sleeve anniversary patch was missing from Jeff Suppan’s jersey on Friday.
And whatever quality control issues MLB teams are having, it’s nothing compared to what’s happening to the Philadelphia Soul of the AFL. Reader Rob W. was at Philly’s Friday-night game and snapped pics of several players with numerals that had peeled off, as seen here, here, and here. First time I’ve seen anything like that since the Colts’ 2005 opener, when lineman Corey Simon had one of his numerals ripped off of his jersey (an oddity I no longer have a photo of, unfortunately, although I do have shots of of Miguel Tejada with the “1″ coming off of his jersey after a head-first slide in early 2005 [he played the rest of that game as No. 0]).
(Special thanks to Chris Shastid for the Messenger screen shot.)
Uni Watch News Ticker: Colorado’s new football uniforms, unveiled over the weekend, will look like this and this. Additional pics, info, and video links here, and still more pics here, here, here, and here. … Amusing teal manifesto here (with thanks to Rob McCallum). … Check out Softbank Hawks pitching coach Tadashi Sugimoto, who appears to be wielding the world’s longest fungo bat (with thanks to, of course, Jeremy Brahm). … “I found my old high school volleyball practice shirt the other day,” writes Jeff Bethune. “I never really liked them, but now looking back I see it’s because of the extreme radial arching. I don’t know what my coach was thinking.” Actually, I think that looks pretty sharp, except for the uni number, which looks way clunky. … Great catch by Uni Watch intern Vince Grzegorek, who notes that the MLB logo at the base of Mike Rabelo’s mask is patterned on the American flag (here’s a close-up from the All-Star web site) — never seen that treatment before. … More from Vince: (1) Serious decal crowding on the back of the Northwestern softball team’s helmets. (2) Josh Beckett appears to be wearing everything but a noose. (3) Trevor Hoffman’s trophy room, complete with jerseys on the wall. … The guy in the center of this photo is a young Barack Obama, shown on the JV hoops team of his high school in 1977. Here’s another shot, from 1979. … Maybe the reason Carlos Zambrano took a swing at Michael Barrett the other day is that the “C” appliqué on Barrett’s helmet was peeling off, a uni transgression that might move anyone to violence. … Looks like Jorge Posada was wearing white-out on his nails on Friday night (good catch by Mike Foreman). … “Found this picture from this gallery of an American football (as opposed to soccer) team in Germany,” writes Tom Langan. “Note the team names (in English) on the backs of jereseys, what appears to be No. 57 memorial sticker, and some logos on the bottom of the jersey numbers, à la the EPL.” … Todd Burus and Chris Mahoney both note that Wily Mo Peña, who wears uni number 22, is wearing No. 26 wristbands — perhaps a holdover from his days with the Reds. Plus Burus adds that Manny has been wearing his skullcap backwards, with the MLB logo facing front. Not only that, but the Red Sox logo on the back is backwards, which means either he’s also wearing it inside-out (although it doesn’t look that way, because the backwards logo looks raised) or else it’s yet another quality-control issue. … Brinke Guthrie recently stopped in at McCovey’s Restaurant and snapped a buncha pics of the many jerseys on display. Check out his full slide show here. … Anyone know what Troy Glaus was wearing on his leg while running the bases in the 7th inning of last Monday’s Yanks/Jays game? David Chisholm says Glaus wasn’t wearing it while batting, but he apparently strapped it on once he reached base. … Interesting commentary here about how the Trail Blazers need to start fresh with new uniforms (with thanks to Aaron Wiens). … Latest volley in the discussion of the Orioles’ road uniforms can be found here (kudos to Zach Smith). … See that tiny white-ish smudge on the left edge of Terry Francona’s cap brim? You can’t tell from that photo (or from any other that I’ve been able to find), but on TV it clearly appears to be a small “11,” apparently a shout-out to former Sox player Doug Mientkiewicz, who was injured in that collision with Mike Lowell on Saturday night. … Looks like Johnny Damon picked up a first baseman’s mitt on the way to the ballpark last night (with thanks to Michael Basu). … Actual quote from Cincy pitcher Kyle Loshe, when told May 28th could be his day, since he wears No. 28 and the Reds were playing home game No. 28: “I hate my number. I’d rather be 21, 22 or 23.” (Nice find by Jeff Barak.) … Faaaaascinating reminiscence from Paul Hirsch, who writes: “When I was a ballboy for the 1974 Angels, we wore pants without belt loops. However, there was a pocket on the inside of the waistband where a belt could be snaked through, using a special plastic tool that guided the belt through. Not everyone used it, but it was available and it did help keep one’s pants up.” … John Moist reports that Saturday was Price Is Right Night in Fresno, with the Fresno Grizzlies wearing some truly bizarre jerseys. Additional pics here and here. … More minor league zaniness, this time from Matt Nelson, who notes that Memorial Day found the Binghamton Mets using red, white, and blue jersey insignia and bases.
June 4th, 2007
Last Tuesday I had a small Ticker item about how the old Cincinnati Stingers of the WHA used to put first intials. in addition to last names, on the back of every player’s uniform (as you can see in this video clip). That prompted an interesting reply from Bob Halfacre of AIS uniforms, who happens to have some very strong thoughts on the matter:
First initials on jerseys may be my greatest professional pet peeve. My disdain for them rivals your distaste for purple. I have always hated them and will fight clubs from placing them on their jerseys to the bitter end. Clubs that we provide lettering for who don’t use them include the Anahiem Ducks (Niedermayers) and the LA Kings. You also won’t see them on the Mets. To quote the great longtime equipment manger/traveling secretary Charlie Samuels [we’re gonna have to agree to disagree on that assessment of Charlie. — PL], “What the fuck are they wearing numbers for?” I couldn’t agree more. It eventually leads to one of players being out of the lineup or off the club and the other one sporting an initial for no reason.
A few specific experiences:
• The San Francisco Spiders of the old IHL had every player’s first initial on their jerseys. It was at the insistence of the owner’s wife.
• When Reggie Smith was with the Dodgers, he was adamant that his jersey have “R. Smith” on the back. He didn’t care if the Dodgers had another Smith or not.
• Tim Brown of the Oakland Raiders always wore “T. Brown” on the back of his jersey, whether or not the Raiders had another Brown. His first NFL jersey was that way and I think he was superstitious about it.
A specific instance that I remember is when Howard Johnson joined the Mets in 1985: His jersey read “H. Johnson,” but manager Davey Johnson just kept wearing “Johnson” — no initial — which I always interpreted to mean, “I’m the main Johnson around here.” (And please, let’s not have a slew of johnson jokes in the comments section.)
As for the “They’ve got uniform numbers, so why bother with the initial?” gripe, it’s fine as far as it goes, but it’s a bit of a straw man argument. If you take that line of reasoning to its logical conclusion, it becomes, “They’ve got uniform numbers, so why bother putting names on the jerseys in the first place?” I still haven’t heard a completely satisfying answer to that one.
Membership Update: Preparations continue for the launch of the Uni Watch membership program (if you missed the initial announcement, look here), including a new twist regarding the membership card: As I mentioned last week, you can choose your own uniform number for the back of the card, along with your choice of lettering styles for your name (vertically arched, radially arched, NFL-style, subscript [a new offering!], or no name at all). HOWEVER, if the Uni Watch colors aren’t good enough for you, you can instead choose to have your name and number rendered in the style of your favorite team (but we’ll remove the border and bunting around the edge, so the colors won’t clash). There are a few gaps in our typeface collection, but we can do most MLB, NFL, or NHL teams. Unfortunately, no NBA teams for now. And to nobody’s surprise, I will not permit anything involving the Vikings, Ravens, Rockies, or any other purple-inclusive team. Also, please don’t ask for minor league or old historical teams, since we don’t want to drive poor Scott Turner crazy as he prepares the cards.
Personally, I’m kinda hoping you’ll all choose to stick with the Uni Watch colors for your name and number (as I’ll be doing on my own card) — Uni Watch is our team here, after all. But at least now you have some additional options.
And if you want your name to include your initial, that’s okay with me. But we won’t tell Bob Halfacre about it.
Meanwhile, don’t forget that I’m raffling off a free membership as we speak. If you haven’t already done so, go ahead and send an e-mail to uniraffle at earthlink dot net (one per person, please), and I’ll announce the winner when the entire membership program is ready to go, which I hope will be within a few days. Be patient, people — it’s gonna be worth the wait, I promise. (Extra-special thanks to Ben Thoma, who whipped up the super-cool raffle ticket graphic.)
Uni Watch News Ticker: Cinematic report from Jared Peterson, who writes: “The Syracuse Athletic department has put up a gallery of pictures from the set of the upcoming Ernie Davis biopic, with 1959 Syracuse uniforms.” … Greg Evans reports that the Anderson Joes, whose logo was the subject of much discussion here last week, had their home debut over the weekend. Additional photos of their retro-style uniforms are available here. … Brilliant catch by Ferdinand Cesarano, who writes: “I was watching a little of the LSU/Stanford college softball game on ESPN on Saturday and noticed that LSU’s jerseys buttoned in the direction of men’s baseball jerseys [i.e. buttons on the right, buttonholes on the left], but Stanford’s jerseys buttoned the opposite way, like a women’s coat. I watch very little women’s softball, but it seems that most college softball jerseys that I’ve seen button in the same direction as men’s baseball jerseys.” … Rugby update from Caleb Borchers, as follows: “The American tradition of wearing patches to commemorate appearances in championship games is certainly preferable to what went on in rugby this weekend. The Bulls, who won the Super 14 final, wore this jersey. Note that to commemorate the occasion they added the verbose ‘Finaal Bulls v. Sharks Durban 19 MEI 2007.’ (I don’t believe that the Final of May are misspelled. Instead they are in Afrikaans, even though the Super 14 is a primarily English-speaking league.) They also have put each player’s first name on both the front and back of the jersey near the top, something they had not done all season.” … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Nice video report here on ambidextrous pitcher Pat Venditte and his special lefty/righty glove. … I loooooove this guy’s baseball uniform drawings. … Anthony Memme has come up with a rare sight: Blue Jays skipper John Gibbons in an actual jersey (instead of that annoying smock he usually wears)! … Uni Watch intern Vince Grzegorek notes that Fausto Carmona tends to leave the MLB hologram sticker on his underbill (additional pics here and here). … Also from Vince: Bernie Williams got an honorary degree from Iona College the other day, leading at least one graduate to wear the Yankees logo on his mortarboard. … “The Capitals signed and introduced 2006 No. 1 pick Nicklas Backstrom on Monday,” writes Michael Alper. “It’s interesting that they had him pose with the current jersey, since the Caps are introducing new ones in a few weeks. It’s also interesting (and pretty sad) that it was a cheap replica jersey, not even a game-issued or authentic one — note the CCM logo on the left sleeve. It’s also dumb that he posed in an empty locker room!” … Interesting documentation of game-used Roger Clemens jersey here — among other things, he likes to have the front shirttail tags removed (courtesy of Kevin Gee). … Tough to see in this screen grab (snapped by Tom Mowbray), but pitcher Winston Abreu was wearing shades during a night game yesterday. … My vote for the Miss Universe pageant is going to the Canadian entrant, Inga Skaya, for obvious reasons (with thanks to Nick Vossbrink). … The double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats wore a Manchester Police Dept. patch last night in honor of a slain officer, and are also retiring his badge number (with thanks to Eric Martin and Mike Hennessy). … Don Whelan notes that uniform designer and longtime Uni Watch pal Todd Radom designed this really nifty clock as part of a fundraiser for the American Institute of Graphic Arts (you can see the rest of the clocks here).
May 22nd, 2007
Do you ever get jealous of people who somehow score front-row seats right along the first- or third-base line? They get to reach down and scoop up foul grounders like low-hanging fruit, players and coaches flip additional balls to them, and they’re close enough to the action to see a stray thread on a player’s jersey. And most of them didn’t even pay for the tickets! Ah, but reader Jackie Grady justified her primo vantage point at Monday night’s Marlins/Dodgers game by documenting a classic uni-related gaffe. Here’s her report:
I was sitting in Section 1, Row AA. These seats are on the field, between the visitors’ dugout and the visitors’ bullpen. Of course, I brought my digital camera.
In the top of the 1st, I noticed that Brad Penny’s pants looked funny and it appeared that his fly was open. While hoisting up my camera, I exclaimed, “OH MY GOD, A UNI WATCH MOMENT!” My friend Lynne, who knows that I read your blog, said, “What is it?” I said, “Penny’s fly is open.” Laughter erupted in the seats around us as I began taking pictures. But it was tough to tell for sure, and questions began circulating about whether it was perhaps just some dirt. There was considerable discussion about whether the dirt was there from Penny, ahem, adjusting himself.
I continued to click away and someone from behind remarked about how I’d spent the entire inning focused on the pitcher’s crotch. My friend also snapped some pictures and inquired, “Would Uni Watch really call out the guy and expose to the world that his fly was down?” I gave a rather annoyed look when I responded, “Yes.”
After the inning, I began reviewing the pictures and was able to zoom in on the area in question, confirming that his fly was down. The camera was passed around and adults laughed like school kids. When Penny took the mound in the 2nd, the issue had been fixed.
Jackie later caught a foul ball, but I think you’ll agree that she more than earned it with her ace camera work. Penny, meanwhile, joins the likes of Ray King, Chris Cooley, Anquan Boldin, and Marcus McNeill in the Uni Watch XYZ Gallery.
Uni Watch News Ticker: “I went to the Cardinals game tonight, and Anthony Reyes was selected to catch the first pitch,” writes Tyler Kulasza. “Apparently he does not show the stirrups for games that he is not scheduled to start.” … Nice striped stirrups being worn by the Sam Houston baseball team (with thanks to Glenn Stern). … Not sure if we’ve covered this before, but just in case: Interesting shot here of Paul Shmyr captaining the 1978-79 Oilers while wearing a “K” instead of a “C” (as spotted by Jacob Bestebroer). … Great little video survey of Padres uni history here (with thanks to Mat Strauss). … Uni Watch intern Vince Grzegorek notes that Don King was wearing a Rangers jersey the other day. … Vince also reports that all sorts of stuff from MLB’s recent Civil Rights Game is being auctioned off. … More trademark litigation (as forwarded by Bob Jordan). … Speaking of litigation, New York City’s ban on aluminum bats is being challenged in court. … “The new font on the back of the 2007-08 English Premier League jerseys found here,” writes Dominic Litten. “If you look at the previous font, you’ll notice that the lion in the EPL logo at the bottom of the number is different as well. That’s because the EPL has changed their logo from this to this. Details, details, details.” … Someone on the Chris Creamer boards posted this fascinating backgrounder on how the Royals’ logo was developed. … Mets reliever Joe Smith has a series of uni-related rituals (with thanks to Dan Herr). … Nick Bell notes that Peter King’s latest column includes the following tidbit: “A rookie free-agent named Xzavie Jackson is in camp with the Bengals, trying to make the team as a reserve defensive lineman. That’s notable because there never has been a player in the history of American professional sports whose first or last name began with the letters ‘xz.’ ” Bell adds the following: “Because the Bengals already have Dexter Jackson, who will almost certainly stay on the team, Xzavie Jackson will get an ‘X’ on the back of his jersey if he makes the roster.” … Nike’s latest brainstorm: matching 99-cent store outfits for doubles partners Rafael Nadal and Carolos Moya at the Rome Masters. And don’t forget the matching Capri pants (with thanks to Todd Krevanchi). … Reprinted from Monday’s and Tuesday’s comments:Michigan and Michigan State wore pink softball uniforms the other day, and even the umpires got into the act. Additional pics here, here, here, here, here, and further details here and here. … Looks like the Bucs have new practice jerseys (as spotted by Rob Montoya). … “I noticed Dee Brown of the Utah Jazz uses an orange mouthguard,” writes David Arnott. “That suggests it’s the same one he used at the University of Illinois.” … Interesting query from Dan Bauso, who writes: “A while back I tuned in to ESPN Classic and watched a rerun of NFL Game of the Week, the old recap series starring Pat Summerall and Tom Brookshier. This particular episode was 1969, Week 13. That week, Joe Namath and the Jets played in Houston against the Oilers. The announcers made no mention of it, but Namath clearly wore an all-white jersey with a green ‘12′ on it. It had no side piping/stripes, as was present on the rest of the Jets’ jerseys.” Anyone know more about this? … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Looks like I’m not the only one who gets a bit obsessive about socks.
May 9th, 2007
Like a lot of Americans, I don’t really follow horse racing but still get a kick out of the Kentucky Derby, mainly because it’s a good excuse for a party. So on Saturday I baked a derby pie, put Uni Watch designated raceday tomato Amanda Madden on my arm, and headed over to Watch Your Back impresario Brian Corrigan’s pad, where a TV/BBQ party was in full swing. In between bites of grilled chicken and swigs of beer (no mint juleps for me this year), I made the following observations:
- Winning jockey Calvin Borel looked fairly sharp, bow tie and all. I kept wondering what happened to the propeller on his beanie, though. Also: I know it was muddy out there, but why did he have four pairs of goggles (here’s another view)? Was he switching them on the fly during the race? If anyone knows more about how this works, fill us in.
- I liked how the tape on some of the horses’ ankles created the equine equivalent of striped socks.
From there I headed over to the Mendez Boxing Club in Manhattan, where I joined No Mas principals Dave Larzelere and Chris Isenberg to watch the Mayweather/De La Hoya bout. It was a pretty raucous scene, never more so than when Floyd donned that big-ass sombrero for his ring entrance. He also wore the Mexican colors on his robe, trunks, and shoes, plus his cornermen were wearing “Mexico Loves Mayweather” T-shirts, all of which seemed like an obvious ploy to steal De La Hoya’s Mexican-identified mojo. Since turnabout is fair play, I was hoping Oscar would come out in blackface and some gangsta tattoos, but wit has never been the Golden Boy’s strong suit. Anyway, it was way too loud at the Mendez for me to hear any explanation that Jim Lampley or Larry Merchant might have offered for Mayweather’s Mexican-themed attire. Did they discuss it?
Meanwhile, anyone know the story behind the little portraits appearing on Mayweather’s WBC belts? Like, are they the faces of the current champions in the various weight divisions? The faces of fighters Mayweather beat to win his titles? If anyone knows, kindly fill us in.
Missing Persons Dept.: Hey, Ben Nickerson, if you’re reading this, please get in touch asap. Thanks.
Uni Watch Midwestern Road Trip Update: I’m happy to announce that the venue for this Saturday’s Uni Watch Chicagoland party will be the Montrose Saloon. So the weekend party itinerary is now set: We’ll be convening in Minneapolis this Friday evening, 7:30pm, at the very wonderful Nye’s Polonaise Room. And then, precisely 24 hours later, I’ll see all you Chi-town folks at the Montrose. Looking forward to it.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Not sure how we all missed this until now, but someone on the Chris Creamer boards alertly noticed that the Mariners have switched from using nameplates (that photo is from last season, and so are this, this, and this) to direct-sewn lettering (as additionally seen here, here, here, and here) — a major improvement. … Good slide show here on the history of sponsorship in the German Bundesliga soccer league (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … Interesting eBay items here, here, here, and here. … The Giants did the Gigantes thing for Cinco de Mayo. … Interesting note from Kel Hinkle, who writes, “I was at my daughter’s softball game on Saturday and the opposing team’s pitcher wore a mask.” Yikes — looks like Hannibal Lechter on the mound! … Bit of golf attire commentary here (as spotted by Seth Horowitz).
May 7th, 2007
The WNBA preseason begins today, and the league kicked things off yesterday by unveiling a new set of uniforms for all the teams. The truth: I don’t really give a rat’s hairy little tuchis about the WNBA, and I know most of you don’t either. But the new designs still provide some useful object lessons — most of them, unfortunately, negative.
WNBA teams already face serious visual identity challenges, because many of them are affiliated with, and aesthetically modeled after, NBA teams. So why make things even worse by imposing the same design template on every club in the league? If you’ve got a league that’s struggling for recognition and high-profile coverage, wouldn’t it make sense to allow your teams to develop their own unique looks? But instead each WNBA team now has an elongated design panel running down from the jersey through the shorts; each team now has player names appearing below the uni number (a fun device when used sparingly; pointless overkill when imposed league-wide); each team name will appear on the players’ butts; and so on. In other words, these aren’t really individual teams with their own distinct characters — they’re just interchangeable pieces of Team WNBA. Or at least that’s the message this kind of design program creates.
The template might be tolerable if it were a good template — but it’s not. Each team has its own piping pattern (described on the league’s web site as “a dramatic pattern design formed from core elements of each team’s logo”), and some of them are pretty embarrassing. I mean, c’mon, what is this? Or this? I do like this one, but the shape of the jersey panel is still so weird and forced-looking — it all feels like a badly failed experiment. (You can see more images of the new uniforms here.)
This hive-mentality approach is the unfortunate hallmark of small, new-ish leagues these days, because they insist on having the league office coordinate all the uniform designs. Fun logo characters like Pat Patriot and odd uniform quirks like the Steelers wearing their logo on only one side of the helmet could never happen in leagues like the WNBA or the AFL, because the uniforms are all created under the same roof. I understand why they do it — they’re trying to create a league-wide brand identity — but I think it’s a serious miscalculation. If you’re an upstart trying to compete with the major sports, you don’t need a league identity — you need lots of distinct team identities. People don’t say, “Hey, let’s go to the WNBA game tonight!” They say, “Hey, let’s go see the Mystics tonight!” Or at least that’s the idea.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Holders for placekicks usually go bare-handed, so I was surprised to see this photo. Don’t think I’ve ever seen a double-gloved holder before. … There are a lot of odd things in this photo, but the one that interests me most is that the ump is wearing his uni number on his ball bag (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … Kudos to Phil Richardson, who’s got his entire Little League team wearing striped stirrups (additional pics here and here). … Yet another case of a municipal icon being draped in a jersey: Check out this photo gallery (with thanks to Aaron Stilley). … Willie Harris is back in the bigs, this time with the Braves. As you may recall, he’s that rarest of creatures: a non-switch-hitter who wears a double-flapped batting helmet. … Good discussion of college softball uniforms here. … Juhem Navarro notes that Tigers closer Todd Jones has some issues with MLB’s uniform regulations (but then he lots of issues, so I don’t take his opinions too seriously). … Interesting rugby news from Caleb Borchers, who writes: “The French have just changed their national rugby jerseys from this to this, and seem to have done it to force New Zealand’s famous ‘All Blacks’ into not wearing all black if the two meet in this year’s World Cup. If all goes as expected such a matchup would be in the Finals of the tournament.” Further details here. … This should be fun. … Nice documentation here of Julio Lugo wearing Jason Varitek’s jersey during pregame warm-ups. … Enough already. … Coming tomorrow: a really interesting story about golf (and believe me, I never thought I’d be typing those words).
May 2nd, 2007
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