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Posts filed under 'Uni-centric Books'
At the recent Uni Watch gathering in Pittsburgh, George Fetkovich was kind enough to give me this book, which has a bunch of great photos. Let’s take a look:
• Remember my column about the pinned-on uni number panels in the 1934 MLB All-Star Game? Looks like the Pitt football team was doing something similar in 1908.
• Y.A. Tittle could have used this chest mark as his personal logo. No idea what it stands for, but I like it.
• Speaking of cool chest logos, look at this! Unfortunately, there’s no explanation of what the caption refers to as “their unusual jerseys.”
• Anyone wanna colorize this? I’m thinking royal with navy trim for the jerseys, and something mustard-ish for the shorts.
• Hey, fellas, why are you wearing bras? Never seen that pattern on a hoops jersey before.
• Never seen this one either. I really like it, though.
• Here’s an interesting football team portrait. Not sure why some players have the “A” jerseys and some just have stripes. Maybe one or the other was a practice jersey design..?
• There’s surprisingly little Pirates content in the book, but I was particularly fond of two shots: This one shows the awesome “P P” collar monogramming that I love so much, and this one shows another one of those heavy-knit baseball sweaters that I wish would make a comeback.
• Very odd football padding on this guy. Almost looks like he’s got tumorous growths coming out of his elbows and shoulders, no?
• Rough image quality, but I’m intrigued by this 1906 youth baseball shot. Note the “NE” script, for “New Eagle.”
• There’s no shortage of teams that have worn their team name or city name on their placket over the years (in fact, Phil devoted an entire entry to this phenomenon back in December). But until now, I’d never seen a team wear the first initial of its city along with its team name. Note that the little period in between the first two letters on each jersey — amazing.
• Sashes are so damn cool (especially when paired with striped socks).
• Although the caption simply refers to this as a “bowling” photo, the telltale small balls mean that these lanes are configured for either duckpins (which is found primarily in Baltimore and a little bit in New England) or candlepins (upper New England). I wasn’t aware of either game ever having a foothold in western Penna. — can anyone tell me more?
If you like what you see here, you can click through the entire book here. Thanks again, George.
Special opportunity for UW readers: As I mentioned a week or so ago, there’s a sports blog panel/conference thingie coming up in June, and the organizers are now offering a 20% discount for Uni Watch readers. To take advantage of this deal, enter the code “uniwatch” when checking out on the ticket ordering page.
About that No Mas event with David Wright tonight: Basically, everyone who e-mailed yesterday is in. The event is at 8:30 tonight at 21 Mercer St. in Manhattan. Enjoy, and someone be sure to ask David Wright why he goes high-cuffed for day games.
Raffle Results: You were totally convinced that you were gonna win this time. And you were right — if your name is Curtis Pidhorney.
In case you were wondering: Yes, the Uni Watch Classifieds are still an ongoing concern. Later today we’ll add a permanent link to them They now have their own perma-link on the home page, and later today I’ll be adding a few more listings. I realize this project has been slow to develop, but we’re getting there — thank for your patience.
Uni Watch News Ticker: For those who missed it yesterday: The “I’m Calling It Shea” T-shirts are now available (here’s what the blue version looks like). And you can get a 10% discount if you use the checkout code “uniwatch” … Not sure, but I think this is Rob Ullman’s first NBA-themed treatment. … Jim Ransdell’s Sports Design Blog continues to impress. His latest winner: a post featuring lots of great circa-’74 basketball graphics. … Decent article on kinesio tape here. … Nice article here about how the Shea family is coping with the demise of Shea Stadium. … Current issue of ESPN Mag has this shot of Michael Crabtree, in which he’s wearing socks with the old NFL logo (current logo is on the cleats, though). There’s also this shot, which finds Crabtree wearing old-logo wristbands (with thanks to Chris Flinn). … Did you know frequent Ticker contributor Tris Wykes used to work for the Tampa Bay Bucs? I didn’t, until he sent me this note yesterday: “Back in 1993, while serving as an equipment assistant for the Buccaneers, we played a preseason game at Miami and I snapped this picture of my boss, Frank Pupello, and his Fins counterpart, who I believe was named Bobby Monica. We were told the aqua Dolphins helmet prototype you see on the shelf was going to be the team’s regular helmet for 1994. Apparently, that plan was scrapped.” … Don’t eat any yellow snow ice. Details here (with thanks to Brian Castile). … Angel Cabrera wears a special glove on his cigarette hand (with thanks to John Muir). … Ryan Howard, on the other hand, smokes bare-handed. … Tony Kellogg found some old football pics at an antique shop — he says they’re from the 1930s, but I think they’re earlier than that — that show the officials wearing white, which was common in the pre-zebra era. … Now the NHL postseason is starting, it’s time to grow a playoff beard (with thanks to James Huening). … Check out the “B” on Wes Unseld’s socks (with thanks to Dave Holland). … Steve Cook did some quick Photoshopping to show how the new Bosox alt cap logo would look with a white outline. Much better, sez I. … Who’da tunk Leo Sayer, of all people, had such good taste in hockey jerseys? (With thanks to Scott Stone.) … No photo, but I’m told that the Mariners have had an Ichiro jersey hanging in the dugout, which is odd for two reasons: (1) I thought Ichiro’s teammates hated him, and (2) since when is going on the DL cause for a hanging-jersey tribute? … Joan Jett, rocker ballplayer. Chris Falvey saw that photo on the wall of a New Orleans eatery. Not sure of the backstory. … Bryan Justman just finished his latest DIY project, a Guy LaFleur Nordiques jersey. … Lids for Yids (with thanks to Trevor Williams). … Teebz is running his annual NHL playoff pool over on his blog. Details here. … Who’s going to wear 42 tomorrow? Apparently everyone. … ANaGELS? … Oh dear (blame Dan O’Connor). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Michigan’s spring football game featured a QB wearing red uni numbers, presumably in place of a red no-contact jersey. … Pretty great uni-related Bruins commercial here (with thanks to Michael Blinn). … The Orioles debuted their new “Baltimore” road uniforms last night. Or is it “Balttimore”? And here’s a great spot by Tom Hedrick: Brian Roberts began the game with the wrong script on his right sleeve. Someone must have noticed, because it had been fixed by his second at-bat. … No photo, but here’s something I’d never seen before: At several points during last night’s Mets/Padres game, cameras caught San Diego outfielder Jody Gerut consulting a little crib sheet that he kept in his back pocket. Presumably had info on outfield positioning. … Also, in that same game, Mets batboy and Uni Watch membership enrollee Matt Harris christened the new Shea by wearing stirrups. Nicely done, Matt, but I also saw you untucking your jersey while you were still in the dugout after the last out was made. Save that until you’re back in the clubhouse! … Speaking of Shea’s inaugural game, a cat showed up on the field. John Okray got a video grab. … See that guy in the front row? That’s New York Governor David Paterson. He’s legally blind — and yet, as pointed out in last night’s comments, even he knew which Mets cap to wear last night, unlike the Mets themselves. … Last night I got an e-mail from one of my ESPN editors, Thomas Neumann, with the subject line “I’m assuming alcohol was involved.” The e-mail contained this link. … Pirates had their home opener yesterday and used the occasion to memorialize those three Pittsburgh police officers who were murdered by a gun-toting nut 10 days ago. The Bucs and ’Stros both wore Pittsburgh police caps during pregame ceremonies, and the Pirates kept wearing them during the game. They also added a “PBP” patch (for Pittsburgh Bureau of Police). … Speaking of the Pirates, I think someone mentioned this over the weekend, but it’s interesting that their collar piping extends all the way down the inner edge of the jersey. … Good spot by Brian Hunsicker, who notes that the “N” on the front of Wilfredo Ledezma’s jersey was upside-down yesterday. … Dave Gilmore hosts a weekly podcast on BaltimoreSportsReport.com, and this week his guest was Kevin Brotzman of Oriolesnumbers.com. “We talked about Uni Watch, Mets by the Numbers, a whole bunch of stuff,” says Dave. Check it out here.
April 14th, 2009
It took a while, but I finally got myself a copy of the new book Colors: Pro Football Uniforms of the Past and Present, which attempts to present a fairly comprehensive look at NFL and AFL uniform history. Let’s start with the obligatory rundown of noteworthy photos:
• Always good to see another shot of the Broncos wearing vertically striped socks.
• Ditto for the airplane-helmet Jets design.
• Here’s a great shot of Wahoo McDaniel’s NickNOB.
• Best stickum shot I’ve ever seen.
• Here’s a great close-up of the Steelers’ early logo, before they changed the “Steel” to “Steelers.”
• And speaking of the Steelers, here’s a rare sight: The team’s white pants, worn only in 1971.
• And speaking of rarely seen pants, here’s a shot of the Vikings’ early-’60s purple knickers.
• Check out this cheesy little nose bumper decal.
• Everyone associates the Oilers with “Love ya blue,” but they used to have a different color palette.
• I’ve seen lots of shots of Hank Stram wearing a Chiefs logo patch on his blazer, but this shot has the added bonus of the team’s secondary logo on his necktie.
• Here’s what I don’t understand about tearaway jerseys: Why didn’t every running back wear them?
• Look, if you need to wear a cast this big, you probably just shouldn’t be playing.
• There’s something extremely appealing about the simplicity of the old Cardinals uniform. Really works for me, even without the helmet logo.
• Here’s a super-close-up of the Falcons’ 25th-anniversary patch. I like how the stars on the NFL logo have been reduced to a few random threads.
• So much texture in this old Lions shot. The seams on the jerseys and pants, the edges of the numbers — that’s what I miss about today’s uniforms, which have largely eliminated texture.
• What the hell was Dave Jennings doing with a yellow stripe on his cleats?
• Here’s a new one: FNOT. That’s full name on tongue.
• First time I’ve ever seen a color photo of this press conference.
• Finally, check out this 1937 Redskins photo. That’s the same jersey design recently executed by DIYer Mike Sherman.
Pretty good stuff, right? Unfortunately, the book also has some problems, most of which can be traced back to the publisher, Beaver’s Pond Press, which is basically a vanity house. Here’s how vanity houses work: Instead of getting an advance against future royalties, the author provides all the production money up front and in return retains more rights and gets a bigger piece of the sales revenue pie. The publisher then handles the EDP (that’s editing, design, and production). Since the publisher has no investment in the product other than the production costs (i.e., they haven’t given the author any money up front), the EDP usually takes place very quickly and on the cheap.
In short, a vanity publisher is essentially a vendor for the author, which is no way to produce a quality product, because authors don’t know jack about how to produce a book. The Beaver’s pond web site says the firm was founded “to help writers reach their dreams of becoming published authors,” which is another way of saying, “We scoop up the shitty projects that real publishers turn down.”
None of which is to say that Colors is a shitty book. But it may explain some of these problems:
• The text is laid out with colored bullets instead of real paragraph breaks, which is incredibly annoying. I realize this is essentially the same way I format the Ticker, but the Ticker is a series of short, unrelated bursts (and it’s nowhere near as long as an entire book), while a book is supposed to present a sense of narrative flow. This was almost certainly done to save space and keep the book’s page count down, thereby saving on production costs, but couldn’t they just have used a smaller type size or something? Horrible design choice.
• Another bad choice: This is the flimsiest “hard”cover book I’ve ever encountered, because they’ve gone with a very low-grade cover stock that’s more flexible than rigid. I used to work in book publishing, and I know that using cheapo cover stock reduces your unit cost by maybe a third of a penny — not enough to justify the fact that your book will now feel like a cheesy rush job instead of a lasting document. Shame on whoever green-lighted this.
• There’s a separate chapter devoted to each team, with each chapter written by a different writer. This results in a lot of repetition (many of the writers repeat the same general points about football uniforms, which is something the editor should have addressed) and also leads to a very uneven tone throughout the book.
• Several of the chapter authors aren’t professional writers, and it shows. There are grammatical errors (again, something an editor should have dealt with), naked factual errors (”Today there is only one team that is wearing the uniform that it wore in its very first season — the New York Jets”), and lots of sloppy prose.
To be fair, there are also some positives, including lots of good anecdotes I hadn’t previously heard. For example: “In 1976, [Raiders] rookie defensive end Charles Philyaw wanted to have his full name emblazoned on his jersey, like his teammate, ‘VAN EEGHEN.’ What Philyaw failed to realize was that Van Eeghen’s first name was Mark.” Also: The Vikings chapter indicates that there was a coordinated effort for seven or eight NFL teams to wear white at home in 1964, specifically so their fans could see the visiting teams’ colors (this was apparently the source of confusion in the famous white-on-white Vikes/Lions game that year). Hadn’t heard about that before.
There’s also a very good chapter on officiating gear, written by Jim Tunney. It includes the following passage, which was new to me:
In the 1940s … only the Referee carried a whistle. The other officials wore a small horn strapped to their fingers. The purpose of the horn was that when a foul was spotted, the horn was blown. The officials then did not carry penalty flags, just horns. Sounding the horn did not stop play but served only to indicate that a foul had occurred. … In the 1950s, the NFL decided the fans could not hear the officials’ horn, thus the penalty flag was introduced.
No horn photos, alas. Anyone know more about this?
So, all in all: a mixed bag. I’ve been told that Jim Finks Jr., who coordinated this project, worked his ass off on it, and so did the people at Helmet Hut, who provided a lot of research support. My impression is that it was a labor of love for all concerned. But good intentions aren’t the same thing as a good book. Is this book worth $30? Frankly, I’d say no. But used copies should be coming into circulation shortly.
Bracket Reminder: Uni Watch’s annual NCAA tournament bracket contest is now underway. For details, look here.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Major, major find by the mighty Fleer Sticker Project, which has acquired a 40-year-old article that tells the full story of how the Seattle Pilots’ uniforms were developed. Among the many revelations: The uniforms were designed by a local newspaper artist; the designer wanted NOBs but management balked; the home unis were manufactured by Wilson but the road grays were made by Spalding; and the positioning of the scrambled eggs on the cap’s brim was adjusted to allow room for players to tug on their visors. There’s a lot more, too — this is a gold mine of a discovery. Savor every last detail here. … Speaking of Seattle: RIP, P-I. … The Islanders won’t be elevating their third jersey to primary status next season after all. … Really fun article about old officiating attire here (with thanks to Ryan Burns). … Why was Chase Utley going high-cuffed at a minor league game on Saturday? According to this article, “The Phillies require minor leaguers to wear their socks up for uniformity purposes. Utley could have gone to the [minor league] complex and worn his pants the way he normally wears them — with the bottom of his pant legs below the ankle — but he chose not to. ‘I didn’t want to stand out,’ Utley said. ‘They were nice enough to let me play in their game, so I figured I would respect them and do what they do.’” He went back to his usual low-cuffed look the following day. … Scott Burns sent along a bunch of Portland Buckaroos jersey photos. Check them out here. … Scott Mason got this SI flier in the mail on Saturday. Note that the Arizona, San Diego, Atlanta, and Minnesota helmet designs are all out of date. … Awesome old Sprite patch available here. … Apparently the Raptors don’t exactly love their green St. Paddy’s Day gear. … I asked A’s equipment manager Steve Vucinich if he’d asked Corey Wimberly about his stirrups yet. “Turns out he wore ’em in Little League,” says Steve. “Then he got away from ’em, but he always liked the look, so he went back to ’em. Simple as that.” … J.Y. Owen checked in with a note regarding Sunday’s Twenty20 cricket match between England and the West Indies: “The new England captain Andrew Strauss played in his first Twenty20 match (the shortest form of the game) in three years, but the equipment managers were caught unprepared and sent Strauss out in the former shirt of Matt Prior with the nameplate taped over.” … Tris Wykes notes that minor league hockey advertising has spread to the pants. … I normally don’t care about the NBA’s D-League, but in this case I’ll make an exception. Mark Snider explains: “The home team for this game was the Idaho Stampede, wearing the black uniforms of one of their NBA affiliates, the Portland TrailBlazers, on Affiliate Night. The team in red was the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, wearing their regular road uniforms. And the third uniform was worn by Nathan Jawai, assigned to Idaho by their other NBA affiliate, the Toronto Raptors. Toronto didn’t want their player wearing the colors of another NBA team. So, they shipped Nate his Raptors road (third) black uniform.” Bizarre. And wait, there’s more: “The change also necessitated some uniform number changes for Idaho. Jawai wears 00 with Idaho, but his NBA number with Toronto is 21, so that meant that the normal #21 for Idaho, forward Jason Ellis, had to wear a different number. He wore #2, but because the change came late, he didn’t have a NOB.” That’s an awful lot of hassle for a game with a live crowd of about 17 fans. … Last week I linked to a video clip and said it showed Iowa wearing untucked jerseys in 1987. As several people pointed out, they were not going untucked — they just had stripes on their shorts that created an untucked illusion. But only Chris Chaussee came up with a photo to illustrate the point. … This book contains a short chapter about the Reds’ uniforms, and Jason Hillyer has generously scanned the appropriate pages for us. … Lots of stuff going on here. First, the nameplate is coming loose. Second, that’s Pirates pitcher Ian Snell, who’s pitching for Puerto Rico in the WBC. The “Davila” part of his NOB is explained here. And third, I think they meant to have a hyphen, not a period, in between the two surnames. … The Pirates apparently couldn’t wait for St. Paddy’s Day, as they wore green caps last night. Too bad about the logo creep and adjusta-straps. … Ben Traxel sent along some photos documenting a couple of projects. First, here are some 1950s pennants from his father’s collection (the Cubs design is particularly unusual). And then there’s this quilt, which he and his mom made back around 1983, when he was 13. “Once we settled on an idea and basic pattern, I copied each logo from my baseball cards onto newsprint at the size we needed to have them on the quilt (I made a few changes to keep it simpler, like not actually drawing the two guys shaking hands on the Twins logo). Then I used transfer paper and traced them onto the material squares. Mom had me use fabric paint and fabric paint markers. Together we painted each one before she sewed them all together, added the padding, and quilted the thing together. She quilted baseballs on each corner, since there were 30 squares and only 26 teams. It turned out pretty nice, but it wasn’t long before wanted something more grown-up. Now my boys have used it on their beds –- but unfortunately they don’t like it nearly as much as anything related to Star Wars.” Very nice! Additional photos here. … Fox’s Amazing Sports Stories series ran an episode about the Steagles last year (if you missed it, the entire episode is available here; it’s waaay too melodramatic but still informative). Rich Paine played #85 on the Steagles, Tony Bolva, and has sent along a bunch of photos from the set. … Two California high schools played a real throwback game, complete with wood bats and old-fashioned gloves. Details here (with thanks to Andy Luttrell). … And speaking of old-school gear, check out AntiqueAthlete.com (as suggested by Eric Sun). … If New Year’s Eve is for amateurs, St. Paddy’s Day is for idiots. Please do the world a favor and stay home tonight. And if you must go out, try to retain at least a shred of dignity, OK? OK.
March 17th, 2009
The Milwaukee Braves represent an interesting chapter in MLB history. They existed for only 13 seasons before the team moved to Atlanta, but they won two National League pennants and one World Series title in that time. Their departure was a huge blow to Milwaukee, but the city couldn’t really complain since the team had come to Milwaukee from Boston to begin with. Their influence remained, however: When the Brewers volunteered to switch leagues in 1998, one reason was that Milwaukee still had a lot of old N.L. fans.
William Povletich’s new book, Milwaukee Braves: Heroes and Heartbreak, does a great job of telling the team’s story and capturing the interrelationship between the club, the city, and the fans. Seriously, it’s one of the better baseball books I’ve read, and it’s full of great visuals. Here’s a sampling:
• This is supposedly the first team portrait ever taken of the Milwaukee Braves. As the caption notes, some of the players were still wearing their Boston caps.
• Before the Braves arrived, Milwaukee had a minor league team called the Brewers, which had cool ushers’ uniforms.
• Awesome spring training shot here. Note that one of the helmet logos is peeling off.
• Nowadays, reporters spot bottles of andro in players’ lockers. But in 1950s Milwaukee, the lockers were stocked with provisions of another sort.
• Looks like Miller was sponsoring (or at least inspiring) the locker nameplates, too.
• Speaking of beer, I was surprised to learn that Milwaukee fans were allowed to bring their own beer into the stadium. Or at least they were until 1961, when the local county board decided to ban carry-ins. After attendance dropped, the ban was lifted in June of ’62.
• The team’s front office personnel wore these team blazers — and the players wore something similar on road trips (see caption and left-side photo).
• The guy on the left has an interesting glove. Kinda looks like a Rawlings Trap-Eze model with an added strap across the top of the webbing. Never seen that before.
• Until I read this book, I hadn’t been aware that the Braves offered stock to the public (much like the Packers) in 1963.
• The book has a lot of great cartoons and illustrations (that last one shows the fight for the N.L. pennant, natch), many of them by Milwaukee Journal artist Al Rainovic, whose papers are archived at UW-Milwaukee — something for me to investigate on my next trip to the Cream City.
• The Packers played some of their home games in County Stadium, which led to September blackboard messages like this one.
• The book has lots of references to the Braves Booster Club. There’s something about that “in the bag” illo that I like.
• Wish I could’ve had a beer here.
Have I mentioned that I adore Milwaukee?
Uni Watch News Ticker: Interesting high school girls basketball uniform here. That comes from this 1972 yearbook. … If you skip ahead to the two-minute mark of this radio interview, you’ll hear some good info about how the Dallas Stars’ equipment staff handles player acquisitions while on a road trip. Good discussion about uni numbers too, which continues into this interview segment (with thanks to Dan Mugg). … The Erie Otters will be wearing St. Paddy’s-themed jerseys and dying the ice green for their game on March 15th (with thanks to Tony Kellogg). … The third question/answer of this interview finds supercross racer Kevin Windham discussing the New Orleans Saints-themed he may be wearing for this Saturday’s supercross race in the Big Easy (with thanks to Sean Clancy). … A little birdie tells me that the Canucks may have a new third jersey design next season. “They might drop the rink/stick logo and replace it with the Johnny Canuck full body shot on its third jersey,” he says. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Terrell Owens will apparently wear his usual No. 81 for the Bills. … “My mother and I recently attended a Capitals game and were shopping for a jersey for my brother’s birthday,” writes Al Stone. “His favorite player is Mike Green, and we were prepared to plop down 200 bucks or whatever for an authentic, but they were sold out of Green jerseys. We were about to leave when the shop’s helpful sales staff said they could stitch any name and number onto a blank authentic, right there in the shop — except the stitcher said he’d run out of “E”s and “R”s. , He said he’d have the letters restocked by that weekend but, as a Baltimore native, I rarely go into D.C., so that wasn’t really an option. I found it funny that an E and an R are making me go shopping for another present for my brother.” Dude, DIY! … Good story here about the company that’s making the floors for the NCAA tourney (with thanks to Blain Fowler). … “Interesting situation in this video,” says Greg Riffenburgh. “The goalie is given a red card (expelled from the game) and a penalty kick is awarded to the opposing team. An outfield player had to step in as goalkeeper for the penalty kick and takes the original keeper’s jersey and gloves for the rest of the game. It creates an interesting image with the new keeper wearing someone else’s name on his back.” … Several readers have suggested that Michael Young may have been wearing blue stirrups over blue sanitaries on Tuesday (helpful annotation courtesy of Jason Greening). … I’ve been worrying about a certain something for months now, and it turns out Idon’t have to worry anymore. Phew. … If you skip ahead to the 2:34 mark of this video, you’ll see about eight seconds’ worth of Iowa wearing untucked basketball jerseys in 1987 (with thanks to Thomas Foote). … Michael Jaworski notes that Jay Bouwmeester’s name is so long, his nameplate is trespassing onto the red part of his jersey. … Very cool article here about USC’s championship rings (with thanks to Tyler Benner). … And speaking of rings, here’s what the Rays will get on April 14th (with thanks to Dwayne White). … Several special uniforms on tap for Virginia Tech baseball. “What I don’t get though is why they’re wearing camouflage for ‘First Responders Day,’” says Ben Park. “What first responder wears camo?” Excellent point, and a sad example of how anything crisis-related has been conflated with military action over the past eight years. … This commercial shows Kevin Garnett holding a UCLA jersey with a radially arched NOB, but UCLA’s real NOBs are straight (good spot by Erkki Corpuz). … Reprinted from last night’s comments: double-decker hyphenated NOB! … Interesting helmet-switcheroo story from Cliff Pate, who writes: “Our school, Huntsville (Alabama) High, hosted Tuscaloosa County High on Saturday and some of Tuscaloosa’s batting helmets were thrown out by the umps, presumably because they were cracked or did not have proper labels. We also heard it was because some were white and white is not allowed anymore, although that was news to us. Anyway, they had to borrow some of our helmets, which was a first for me.” … When yesterday’s ESPN column went up, there were 146 members in the DIY group on Facebook. There are now over 200, and counting. I think we’ll be seeing a lot of cool new projects in the future. … Man, that’s a lot of sneaker scribblings. Josh Williams got that shot of a Mississippi State player while sitting courtside at a recent Tennessee/MSU game. … Speaking of courtside seating, Travis Holland got upgraded to front-row seat behind the basket at last night’s Cavs/Suns game, and he couldn’t even enjoy the close proximity because he was so annoyed by the up-close sight of Mo Williams with his jersey tucked into his compression shorts. Additional photo here.
March 13th, 2009
I know almost nothing about cycling, but I know a good jersey when I see one, and there are tons of them showcased in this 2006 book, Cycling’s Golden Age, which I discovered while birthday-shopping for a cycling-obsessed friend. Here are some highlights:
• I was aware that cycling jerseys used to be made of wool, but it’s still something of a shock to see these garments, which seem so tactile, so substantial, compared to today’s super-sleek jerseys.
• Today’s cycling jerseys have pockets on the back, but the jerseys of yesteryear had the pockets on the front chest area. The visual effect was often less than flattering.
• This was the only brown jersey shown in the book. Nicely earthy, but it seems more like hiking gear than a cycling jersey, no?
• Some of the most impressive garments in the book are the champions’ jerseys, which are adorned with special stripes — sometimes horizontal, sometimes vertical.
• It must be a drag to be from Switzerland, because you’re constantly being mistaken for a medic.
• Check out the beautiful chain-stitching here and here.
• I love back collar buttons, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen one with a pointed back collar.
• Not sure what I like best here — the two-tone torso, the striping on the collar and sleeves, or the patch.
• Love the chest insignia here.
• This dude’s just training, not racing. But holy shit do I love his outfit.
• Last but definitely not least, the book also features a fair number of magnificent cycling posters, which I’ve gathered into this slideshow.
And so on. Great text, too, and the whole package feels well-conceived and lovingly designed. Highly recommended.
Memphis Update: Yesterday’s post about the Memphis/FedEx situation prompted a really thoughtful note from reader Caleb Borchers. It’s lengthy, but I think you’ll find it’s worth the time it takes to read it:
Let me say first, that I am with you on the issue of logo creep and public space. Before today, I’ve never disagreed when you have gone after teams or companies that clutter public entities with private capitalism. That said, I think some context would help with this Memphis situation.
I am not a [native] Memphian, but I have lived here for two years now, working on a Master’s degree. In my time in Memphis, I’ve learned a lot of things about the city. I’ve learned that the crime rate is horrific. I’ve seen the urban decay that is slowly crumbling society. I’ve also learned that the infant mortality rate is similar to that in many parts of the undeveloped world. Frankly, this city is in constant crisis mode. The result is a sort of shame or apathy about the city. People are not proud to live here, and many try to get out as quickly as possible. That lack of morale and the collapse of the city are reciprocal. The more people are ashamed of the city, the more they don’t help make it better, the more they are ashamed, the worse it gets, etc.
There are two bright points, two institutions that bring pride and dignity to the city. One is the Memphis Tigers. I’ve never lived somewhere that cares so much about college basketball. Watching them play in the Tournament is the one thing that makes Memphians proud to declare where they are from. The other institution is FedEx. This city needs FedEx as badly as Detroit needs the big three. And frankly, FedEx is more often than not a good company. They provide health benefits for part-time workers. Everyone starts at the same job and pay, and can work their way up the ladder in the company. Theoretically, even the CEO started with the company unloading packages at midnight. In a city that historically gave opportunity based on the color of your skin, that is a significant thing. Many people in Memphis eat, live, and provide for their families because of FedEx, and FedEx does not rape and pillage the community as some companies (cough, cough, Wal-Mart) are known to do. When someone criticizes the team or the company, in a real way they criticize the whole city. The connection is that tight.
All of this to say, when someone in the city had the idea to honor the company that keeps the city alive (”Memphis brought to you by FedEx” is not far from the truth), by doing something via the organization that brings this city the most pride, I think that calling them whores is not quite fair. I understand your ideological stance, and agree with it, but living here and seeing the context every day made it not sit well with me. The metaphor suggests that Memphis will do anything for money, and that FedEx is some pimp that abuses the city to make a profit. This is not the truth. I generally take every chance I can to take a shot at corporate America, but there are a few companies I respect for their genuine concern for the people that work for them, and FedEx is one of them.
Most of all, I hate to see a little more shame tossed on a city that already has plenty to go around. (Mitch Album had an excellent article on similar in issues in my home town of Detroit, “The Spirit of Detroit,” which I think describes a similar phenomenon there.) The jersey idea was poorly executed — I would have preferred something like a “Thank you FedEx, signed, Memphis” patch or something like that — but I don’t think the good people of this city deserve to be publicly shamed for a mistaken gesture of gratitude. A symbol of city pride and solidarity is now a reason to mock Memphis once again. The people here struggle enough day to day to keep their dignity without potshots from the media.
I really respect your work and what you do with the site. I don’t mean for this to sound as preachy as it may have come across. I just thought that a little context was important for the discussion.
That’s a really great piece of feedback. Thanks, man.
As I explained to Caleb when I wrote back to him, to me the question is not whether FedEx is a good company, or even whether they’re good for Memphis. My point is that the distinction between our civic institutions and our corporate entities should be akin to a church/state relationship. If you start honoring the company on things like basketball uniforms, you essentially start ceding your identity to theirs, which is a toxic road to go down, at least from my perspective.
Look, the relationship between a company and its home city is supposed to be a good one, it’s supposed to be a win-win. If the company goes above and beyond (and I don’t know enough about Memphis or FedEx to say whether that’s the case here, but let’s say it is), then give the CEO the key to the city or issue a mayoral proclamation or something. But once you start merging your civic identity with the company’s brand, you’ve taken the first step toward declaring your own civic subservience to the company, which is very, very bad news. If the company is secure in its own business model and is really a good corporate citizen, it shouldn’t have any problem with staying on its side of the civic/corporate line. And it shouldn’t need special recognition — like, say, FedEx Appreciation Night — as a reward for doing the right thing.
Steeltown Hoedown: I’m gonna be in Pittsburgh at the end of next week and would like to convene a Uni Watch party on either Friday the 27th or Saturday the 28th. Further details to follow in a few days, but you can definitely pencil it in for one of those two dates.
February Raffles, Round 3: I haven’t yet had a chance to see the new book Colors: Pro Football Uniforms of the Past and Present (my copy is in transit as we speak), but several people have told me that it’s very, very good. Now our friends at Helmet Hut, who consulted with author Jim Finks Jr. on the book’s content, have invited me to raffle off a copy to the Uni Watch readership.
To enter, send a blank e-mail with your name in the subject line to the raffle address (not to the usual Uni Watch e-mail address, please) by this Thursday, February 19th, at 10pm eastern. One entry per person, but anyone enrolled in the Uni Watch membership program at the time of the drawing can send four entries. I’ll announce the winner on Friday.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Anyone who loves striped socks as much as I do needs to know about this site. “They’re marketed as socks for the skateboard crowd, but they look like old-school striped basketball socks to me,” says Micah Roberts. “I’ve already picked up several pairs am currently pondering which ones to get next. My old solid-whites have been relegated to the drawer.” … Interesting story about the woman who designs the dresses for the ring-card girls at Madison Square Garden bouts here. … No mourning period for Omar Vizquel’s uni number (with thanks to Dan Cichalski). … Several readers have expressed surprise over this 1962 photo, which shows Duke wearing red trim. … Lebron James is considering a uni number change (with thanks to Brendon Yarian). … Buried deep in that same article, there’s this: “If James would switch [uni numbers], though, there’s a good chance it would happen in 2010. The NBA is likely to alter its uniforms in two years to make their construction more consistent for every team, making them easier to make and reproduce for fans who order them. That is already the case with warmups and practice attire now.” I’ve asked the NBA for more info on that and got this response: “Not for any of the reasons mentioned below, we are working with Adidas to combine their technologies with our uniforms for a more complete system. We have been researching for several years and continue to do so with no set timetable.” That’s some first-rate double-speak right there. … One good thing about economic downturn: Naming-rights deals are floundering. … Two great finds on Rob Walker’s excellent Murketing blog. First, check out these great Mexican thumb-wrestling masks. And on a more esoteric note, a photographer named Ofer Wolberger has come up with something really wonderful called the Maggie Project, which involves having a female model pose in various situations while wearing a somewhat disturbing mask — a uniform of sorts. It’s a brilliant project, because most of the photos are really gorgeous, but the mask recontextualizes them. View the full project here. … Alexander Julian, the man who ruined uniforms for a decade by starting the purple/teal trend, is the subject of a new exhibit at the Chapel Hill Museum. I suggest we all start picketing tomorrow (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … Interesting to see Albert Pujols posing with Rick Ankiel’s bat (good spot by Aaron Steele). … How much do I love stripes? So much that on Sunday I picked up a vintage white sweater — something I’d never consider wearing under normal circumstances — just because it has these groovy stripes on the sleeves and shoulders. … More basketball players with long sleeves. That’s Fairfax High in L.A. (with thanks to Erkki Corpuz). … New 50th-anniversary logo for Navy’s stadium. Details here (with thanks to Kevin Whisman). … Yesterday I asked why the Harlem Globetrotters are wearing a memorial patch. My thanks to everyone who provided the answer. … In another follow-up item, yesterday I asked about Cristobal Huet’s thick black sleeve stripes. Josh Becvar couldn’t answer that one, but he did point out that the Huet’s mask in that photo is a new design. Here’s the old one. … Several spring training observations from Brendon Yarian: First, Anthony Reyes usually goes flat-brimmed but he’s either moving away from that or else it’s just impossible to go flat-brimmed with those BP caps (anyone know?). Also, if you look again at that last photo, you’ll see that Victor Martinez appears to be wearing earplugs or earphones. Also-also, Kelly Shoppach has changed from Wilson gear to Reebok (again with the wordmark!). … Mark McGinnis reports that the DC United had a press conference yesterday to announce that they’ll be working with Maryland’s Prince George’s County to build a stadium. The press conference featured what may be the first instance of CoNOB — county name on back. … Awesome Keds sneakers display materials available here. … And a totally awesome 1936 Keds catalog here. … Here’s something I hadn’t seen before: an old basketball backboard catalog. … Rocco Baldelli is still wearing his blue/gold Rays batting gloves. … I love hats and tend to get attached to them,” writes Andy Chalifour. “I never want throw them away once they’re no longer wearable, but something has to be done. So I recently had the idea to turn into refrigerator magnets. The first step is to cut the logo out of the hat. Next, find the magnets. I am sure you can buy them at a craft store but I had some lying around from and old note pad that used to be on the fridge but tore off. The key is to make sure the magnet is strong enough to hold the weight (thin ones usually aren’t strong enough). Then the last step is to hot-glue them to back of the patches. In five minutes they’re ready to put on the fridge. … Here’s a major find: a vintage RCA Victor basball uni, complete with super-cool sleeve patch. … Best douchebaggery story ever. … Purdue will finally wear those long-rumored new uniforms tonight. Photo gallery here and further info here. Am I the only one who thinks it’s stupid to unveil a new design at this point in the season? … This is pretty great: video coverage of the Nats holding racing presidents tryouts (thanks, Phil). … Also from Phil: A Seattle cycling team gives the sponsorship space on its uniforms to local nonprofits, and Tim Duncan liked those high-tech all-star uniforms. … “Uniform numbers in rugby correspond to specific positions (e.g., No. 1 is a prop, No. 9 is the halfback, etc.), so NOBs aren’t usually needed,” writes Hadyn Green. “In fact, I had never ever seen NOBs in rugby until this past weekend, when the Chiefs (based in Hamilton, New Zealand) played their opening match away in whites with NOBs. Interestingly, it seems only the starting 15 players got NOBs — the reserves just had numbers.” … In a related item, with more spring training games being televised, the Indians have added NOBs to their BP jerseys (with thanks to Tim Bennett).
February 17th, 2009
Wish I’d known about this before the holiday shopping season: Reader Stu Taylor just tipped me wise to the work of Brooklyn illustrator Joel Kimmel, who specializes in really cool NBA portraits, like the one of Caron Butler shown above (you can see dozens more of them here). He’s cobbled a bunch of these illos into a book called Portraits in the Paint, plus he’s made them into T-shirts and sells limited-edition prints. All good stuff.
New ESPN column today — link coming soon. tomorrow. Thought it was gonna be today, but they just decided to bump it back a day. I’ll have a full entry tomorrow (and a really good one, I might add) to make up for today’s short entry.
Paging Jeff Apple and Dan Luther: I can’t parcel out the holiday raffle prizes yet because two of the top four winners — the aforementioned Mssrs. Apple and Luther — haven’t yet given me their prize choices. Yo, Jeff and Dan, please check in asap, OK? OK.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Yesterday’s Ticker mistakenly stated that that all NBA teams playing on Xmas Day wore a snowflake patch. As several readers quickly pointed out, the Cavs pulled a last-minute uni switcheroo (because LeBron James wanted to wear the blue alts to match his new blue sneakers — jeez Lou-fucking-eze), which forced the Wizards to change uniforms as well, which in turn meant that neither team wore the patch. The weird thing is that when the NBA showed me samples of their new uniforms back in the fall, the snowflake sample was sewn onto a blue Cavs uni. But apparently at some point they decided to wear the snowflakes on their home whites — and then got caught short when LeBron had them switch back to blue. … In other follow-up news, yesterday I posted pics showing Al Harris wearing biker shorts and super-high whites. But that was just in the first half — Jeff Ash reports that Harris switched to super-low whites in the second half. … Still more follow-up news: Yesterday I linked to this catalog for a tabletop soccer game called Subbuteo. Turns out Jeremy Brahm is a Subbuteo enthusiast, and he pointed me toward several web pages related to the game. There are old boxes shown here, old uniforms here, and more uniforms here. … And yet another follow-up: Yesterday I showed James vanRiemsdyk and his small-caps/caps NOB. “JVR (as he is known on campus) also plays for UNH,” reports Adrian Kerrison. “We have a bold, italicized font on our nameplates so I don’t envy the staff trying to fit his name on there. Here’s a photo that gives a good view of the lowercase-uppercase mix.” … Why does this Michigan helmet have a gray facemask? Details here (good find by Jason Hillyer). … While looking for something else, I came across this shot of 1960s heavyweight boxer Buster Mathis shooting hoops. … Lots of you enjoyed Bryan Justman’s recent entry about making his own DIY hockey jerseys. Here’s his latest creation: a Blackhawks Winter Classic jersey. … Something I’d completely forgotten about until I stumbled across a photo of it yesterday: Jose Canseco briefly wore double-zero during his 1998 stint with the Blue Jays. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: The rink setup at the Winter Classic will apparently look like this. Note the team logos in the on-deck circles. … Also from yesterday: When the Steelers’ medical staff took Big Ben off the field on Sunday, they removed his facemask but not his helmet, because they didn’t want to jostle his noggin. … Here’s an interesting find: This vintage basketball warm-up top has snaps on the back so a player’s nameplate could be affixed and then removed. … Really nice warm-up top here, too. … There’s a whole subculture of people whose hobby is to sneak into abandoned buildings and poke around (I’ve done a decent amount of this myself, although not nearly enough to qualify me as a full-fledged member of the club). One such person apparently snuck into the Aud in Buffalo last year and took a bunch of cool photos. Check out his story here (with thanks to Michael Joachim). … Reprinted from last night’s comments: a Scott Player imposter, complete with low-bar facemask (wrong helmet brand, though). … Like they always say, there’s no such thing as bad publicity (with thanks to the many readers who sent screen shots of CNN’s home page last night). … “I visited the Carnegie Science Center last Friday because I wanted to see the train display,” writes Doug Keklak. “I thought it would be relevant to share some photos of it, mainly the replica of Forbes Field. The man working the display said the stadium crowd was made up of over 20,000 hand-painted Q-tips.” Additional details worth savoring: the waving flags, the runner suspended in mid-slide (but did anyone slide head-first back then?), and the street lamps. And hey, one kid checking out the exhibit was wearing awesome striped sleeves. Sign that kid up!
December 30th, 2008
Here’s another reader-recommended phootball photo book to check out. And this one’s among the best we’ve examined so far — not only are the photos tremendous, but there’s a wealth of uni-notable details. Por ejemplo:
• You’ve probably seen this photo of Jack Lambert’s gums a few dozen times. Until now, however, had you noticed that the end of his yellow-stripe tape appears to be coming loose?
• The single greatest thing about football is that they play in any weather, which leads to awesome photos like this, this, and this.
• Who’s the QB in this shot, Dilfer? Whoever it is, Note the Russell logo on his hip — I don’t recall having seen that back in the day. Did lots of teams have hip logos, or was this just a Tampa thing?
• Other things I didn’t remember: a chest wordmark on the Cowboys’ white jersey (hard to see, but it’s there), such massive maker’s marks on the officials’ caps, and such blatantly Wilson-branded gloves.
• Not sure who the tackler is in this shot, but check out the Batman logos on his arm pad and hand pad!
• Gotta love Charlie Joiner’s striped wristbands.
• This is one of the best old-timey football pics I’ve ever seen. Those are the New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers playing at the Polo Grounds, 1936.
• See anything odd in this shot? Look closely at the tackler’s sock — that’s a little “Bengals” tag. I’ve seen something similar in a few 1990s Chargers shots, but never on a Bengal.
• Here’s the best shot I’ve ever seen of Lester Hayes and his stickum. Bonus points for the cup design.
• Wow.
• Back when football jerseys had sleeves, you could really see what the Jets were trying to do with their striping pattern: a white panel for the TV numbers, framed by two thick green stripes and then two thin white stripes. Puts the current version to shame.
• Picture-perfect.
Want your own copy? Won’t cost you much.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Robert Thomas has a new number. … Yesterday I linked to an article about a guy who claims to have created the MLB logo, but it turns out he’s not the only one who’s made that claim (links courtesy of JC Helf). … Mark Holmes sent along a bunch of images from the NFL’s Best Plays of the Year, 1962, which I’ve gathered into this slideshow. … Yesterday’s piece about football-themed baking projects prompted a few good responses. Derek Ponamsky steered me toward a bunch of LSU-themed cakes, and Brian Porter says his brother-in-law’s 40th birthday cake looked like this. Man, you’ve really hit rock bottom when you’re so desperate for a date that you’ve gotta grope a cake. … Here’s something you don’t see every day: a Pete Rose basketball jersey (thanks, Scott). … According to this page, there are less than 100 Revolution Speed helmets out there, and Navy has seven of them (with thanks to Mike Althouse). … R.I.P., old friend (courtesy of Alan Kreit). … Lots of old Devils and N.J. high school hockey jerseys shown here (with thanks to Kenn Tomasch). … Dog bites man. … It takes a lot of chutzpah to ask fans to spend big money for a jersey they can’t even see, but the Sharks are doing it anyway. … Someone on the Chris Creamer board has pointed out that if you scroll down to the bottom of this page, you’ll see several 49ers wearing gray facemasks during practice. Very curious to see if this is a permanent move by Singletary to put his aesthetic stamp on the team. … Anyone know why David Price has “Live Like Nate” printed on his glove? (Screen shot courtesy of Dan Perkey.) … Amusing bit here about how George Hendrick ruined baseball forever by wearing long pants (with thanks to Jesse Agler).
October 24th, 2008
When I visited Scott Little’s house last month, I got to spend a little bit of time perusing his bookshelf. One volume in particular caught my eye: The Pro Football Experience, a massive tome published in 1973. “Man, this is great!” I said, flipping through Scott’s copy (which he acquired, of course, at a thrift store, I believe for $6). To which he replied, “Dude, you don’t have that already? Are you kidding me?” I felt appropriately chastened.
But now I’ve got my own copy, and it’s a beaut (only cost me $8, too). The book is filled with lots of gorgeous design flourishes and details, and there’s a ton of spectacular photography, some of it in the form of gatefold fold-outs (Caitlin added for scale; Caitlin-free fold-out example here).
A few notes:
• The endpapers feature a really cool motion-blurred shot.
• Whenever I look at NFL pics from this era, I’m struck by all the arm padding and tape worn by the linemen — a stark contrast to the bare-armed linemen of today.
• Never seen anyone tailgating with so many eggs before. The photo was taken at Minnesota’s old Metropolitan Stadium.
• This band played at Candlestick during 49ers games. Anyone know what the name refers to?
• I didn’t know they had inflatable helmet bladders as far back as the early 1970s.
• Remember when they had goal line flags, instead of pylons?
• I’m pretty sure I’ve linked to this photo before, but it sure is a doozy. Same goes for this one.
• Love the little handwritten uni numbers on the Browns’ helmets. Here’s another example.
• How great would it be to have one of these equipment bags?
Most of the other photos aren’t particularly uni-notable — just beautiful (additional examples here and here).
Want your own copy? There are several available here. Oddly, there’s also a “concise” paperback edition, which is smaller, shorter, and doesn’t have as many high-end production details (no fold-outs, e.g.). On the other hand, it’s much easier to fit on a bookshelf. If you want that one, it’s available here.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Dig it: veep trading cards (with thanks to Chris Ashworth). … If you choose to believe the next-to-last graf of this article, LSU helped pioneer the tearaway jersey way back in 1907. Key passage: “Before each game, [LSU coach Edgar] Wingard would soak [RB Doc] Fenton’s woolen shirt in a mild acid solution to weaken the fabric. The Cubans often were left clutching at air, as had opposing American players” (with thanks to Brandon Vogel). … This illustration from yesterday’s Ticker prompted the following from Andrew Ranck: “That cover seems to have been done by John Churchill Chase. He was a native New Orleanean who did various cartooning work his entire life. He taught classes on New Orleans History at Tulane and drew a lot of covers for Tulane football programs. He also wrote a great book about the history of various New Orleans street names (a lot more interesting then it sounds, I promise). There’s a gallery with a couple of his football programs here.” Wow, great stuff — I particularly like this and this. … Most pathetic “TM” symbol ever? Could be. Further details here (with thanks to James Huening). … Andrew Sherriff reports that Fordham has changed its logo from this to this. … Here’s something you probably haven’t seen before: Colorado wearing gold. “They wore this ‘retro’ design for their game against Baylor in ’98,” says Dylan Wilbanks. “It was supposed to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Folsom Field. Unfortunately, they were absolutely hideous — gold top, black pants and helmet, but 1998 numbering.” … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Great college all-star jersey available for bid here. … Big article in Pravda yesterday about outfield grass mowing patterns. … If you liked my recent post about helmet carts, then you’ll definitely enjoy this shot halftime at Super Bowl VII (big thanks to Nicholas Wollen). … Good spot by Matt O’Brien, who noticed the “Final Season” tagging on Maz’s jersey from Sunday’s stadium-closing ceremonies at Shea. … Alarming report from Joe Hilseberg, who notes that the Ravens’ chest wordmark, which in the past has always been black, was purple on Monday night. … The Rangers won some lame-ass trophy nobody cares about the Victoria Cup yesterday by beating Metallurg Magnitogorsk, 4-3. “Has there ever been a more fear-evoking team name in the history of sports than a bunch of Russians named Metallurg Magnitogorsk?” asks Robert Tusso. “I bet I can guess how many hours of focus groups went into that one. Makes the current American process for team ‘branding’ seem kinda weak, no? Ooohh, the ‘Thunder,’ scary.” I don’t have the heart to inform Robert that Metallurg Magnitogorsk is actually Georgian for “Spinal Tap,” so don’t tell him, OK? … At first glance, this looks like one of those Wisconsin cheesehead thingies, but it’s actually a Denver Broncos helmet-cam, circa 1965. “It was made by the defense contractor General Dynamics,” says Bob Jones, who scanned the photo from an old Broncos program. “The side of the helmet has the General Dynamics 1960s ‘GD’ logo with color bars vertically placed between the G and D. ‘General Dynamics Astronautics’ is printed below the logo.” … When you’re faced with an economic meltdown, global warming, and a looming energy crisis, there’s really only one thing to do: turn on all the lights. That’s the Cira Center in Philly, as photographed by Eric Trager. … Rugby note so most of you can skip to the next item from Caleb Borchers, who writes: “Rugby is one of those sports where teams wear their typical strip unless it clashes with the home team’s look. But Adidas has decided that that’s not lucrative enough, so next year New Zealand’s five Super 14 teams will adopt a home/road jersey program, for no other reason then to sell jerseys.” … “Where were these when I was 10 years old?” asks Rick Subrizio. “I would have spent my whole allowance on them.” Lots of similar products scattered amongst the same seller’s other items.
October 2nd, 2008
Sorry for the back-to-back Book Club posts, but I’ve got a backlog of them, so bear with me. Today’s installment: At a reader’s suggestion, I recently picked up a copy of Gameface, a photo book with an unusual slant: It consists exclusively of Kansas City Chiefs pics, because Young was their team photographer for more than three decades. Even if you’re not a Chiefs fan per se, there’s lots of worthwhile uni-related imagery here, including the following:
• The Chiefs have had a lot of jersey patches over the years, as seen in these shots from 1984 (here’s another view), 1994, and 1999 (additional view here). I confess that I can’t recall who this 1992 memorial patch was for — little help?
• Check out these thermal boots. That’s Billy Jackson from 1983. Must’ve been a very cold day for him to have resorted to those things.
• There’s some better cold-wear gear on display in this shot of Buck Buchanan, circa 1975. Love that ski cap!
• Here’s an odd one: I remember several teams wearing the Wilson “W” logo on their sleeves in the 1990s, like in this 1993 photo, but I don’t recall having seen this “W/S” logo before. That shot is from 1995. Anyone know more?
• Speaking of mystery logos, what’s the deal with the mark on Mark Collins’s collar? It’s from 1996, if that helps.
• Totally digging Emmitt Thomas’s white leather belt, from 1977 (all the players wore them, not just him). Also, note that the pants have a zipper fly and grommets for a lace-up closure.
• Kinda surprising more Chiefs players haven’t done this. That’s Don Parrish, 1980.
• Never liked it when coaches wore their stadium passes on their belt loops. Madden pioneered that style in the 1970s, and for a while it caught on with other coaches, including KC’s Rick Abernathy.
And so on. The printing is gorgeous, and there are small but well-worded bits of text (”I’ve always thought most coaches were like generals; some are there for the troops, but most are there for the war”). Want your own copy? Look here.
Membership Drive Update: Nine people signed up for the membership programyesterday (my thanks to all of them), so we’re almost halfway to the goal of getting 20 new members by the end of next week. If we hit that mark, I’ll raffle off the three College Vault books that I wrote about yesterday; if not, I’ll offer them for sale at a discounted price.
Research Project: As should be obvious to anyone who’s been following the Ticker lately, I’ve been doing a lot of Shea Stadium research. Yesterday something came up that I hadn’t been aware of: Jon Springer (who runs the awesome Mets by the Numbers site) informed me that the book Green Cathedrals includes the following tidbit about Shea: “On Opening Day of 1967, on April 11, the outfield [wall was] painted an olive shade of white, with dark green distance numbers. By May 2, after only seven games with that ugly paint scheme, [it was] repainted with the familiar green [and white distance numbers].”
I’d never heard or seen anything about Shea’s wall being “an olive shade of white” (a confusing description at best), and the book doesn’t offer any visual evidence. So I e-mailed Mets radio broadcaster Howie Rose, a walking encyclopedia of Shea lore. He confirmed the general outlines of the story, although he described the early-season paint job as “black numerals on [a] light-green outfield fence.”
“Light green” or “an olive shade of white” — either way, it’s something I need to see. The problem, of course, is that it only lasted for seven home games, so visual documentation is gonna be tough to find. Still, if anyone has a ’68 yearbook that they’d be willing to look through, or any other resources, you know what to do.
Uni Watch News Ticker: According to the first item on this Q&A page, the Bears will wear their orange jerseys on October 19th (with thanks to James Huening). … Fake, but funny (with thanks to Brendon Yarian). … The Bruins have unveiled their alts (which, as John Muir points out, are slightly different than the gold-hemmed versions originally shown here). … Check out this gorgeous 1950s Las Vegas Wranglers jersey (courtesy of Jared Wheeler). … Vanderbilt is switching to the System of Dress (with thanks to Ernie Goens). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: There’s a brilliantly obsessive critique of the Thunder’s new logo here. … Also from yesterday: Wow. … Marc Swanson sent along a few old football photos. “This one is a team photo of the 1934 Pittsburgh Pirates, this one shows Ernie Nevers in a Duluth Eskimos uniform, ca. 1925.” … New uniforms for the TSA (with thanks to Michael Alper). … Check out this rare shot of George H. W. Bush — then the American U.N. ambassador — throwing out the first ball at Shea Stadium in 1971. Combination of his trenchcoat and the Mets dugout jacket makes in look like he’s wearing a skirt. … And here’s a shot of celebratory Mets after the 1986 division clincher. Note the missing teeth on the rake — couldn’t they even afford to keep those in good repair? … If you go to this page and click on the embedded video, at around the 23-second mark you’ll see David Ortiz wearing what appears to be a red Sox robe (good spot by Karl G. Anderson). … Yesterday’s query regarding the first player to have worn a tilde on his NOB prompted this from John Moore: “I believe Cesar Cedeño asked for the tilde after his breakout 1972 season. Of course, back then he was called a Latino prima donna for asking. Pretty sure it was around the same time Kareem asked for Milwaukee to change the NOB from ‘Jabbar’ to Abdul-Jabbar.’” No visual evidence, though. Anyone got any Cedeño pics from that era? … With the Habs slated to retire Patrick Roy’s number on November 22nd, they primed the pump yesterday with a press event featuring Roy in era-appropriate attire. Here’s photo gallery of his Montreal days (with thanks to John Muir). … While looking for something else, I found great old gumball helmet ad in a 1967 issue of The Sporting News. Dig that goalpost display! … Here’s something pretty cool: Broadway Joe wearing a “Staff” jacket while warming up in 1971. … JC Helf, who runs the always-awesome Fleer Sticker Project, informs me that the folks at Topps are auctioning off a bunch of old football color negatives, including this great Rams shot and some WFL images. Check out the pics scrolling by on the auction pages to see what else they have for sale. … Great archival shot here of Tiger Stadium being prepared for football use. … Kody Staples notes that Packers lineman Mark Tauscher’s left sleeve striping was AWOL on Monday night. … Yesterday I linked to this page, which includes the following statement: “In 1962, the [Wisconsin football] team introduced a white plastic helmet with a red W on the front and the player’s number on the side.” But Jim Parker quickly pointed out that this helmet design was actually introduced in 1957 (note the fallen player on the ground), not ’62. … I’m not a fan of these caps to begin with, but the A’s really went out of their way to make them look like shit. … Laundry tag alert for Zach Jackson’s socks. … Here’s a weird one: Ed Ra bought this cap, which of course has the NFL logo on the back. But look, it’s a hybrid logo — the new version on top, the old lettering on the bottom. Bizarre! “It looks like this mistake was made on this style of cap for all teams, but I haven’t seen it on any other merchandise,” says Ed. … More info on the Sabres’ new alts here. … UNC wore navy pants last night. A sharp look, sez I, but still so weird for that particular school.
September 12th, 2008
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