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Posts filed under 'Uni Numbers'
The Nationals, like every other MLB team, participated in the Jackie Robinson 42fest on April 15th. In fact, they were one of the clubs that dressed the entire team in 42 that night.
But apparently that wasn’t enough for the Nats. Yesterday’s game against the Mets was billed as “Jackie Robinson Night.” They unveiled a 42 on the outfield wall, and 42 was worn during the game by Ray King, Lastings Milledge, and Willie Harris (all shown in that photo).
This raises a bunch of questions for me:
• Why wasn’t the 42 already on the wall? Like, it was already retired, right? I realize it’s a new stadium, but so what? The number was already supposed to be retired on an MLB-wide basis.
• Why did the Nats get to dress players in 42 again? Okay, so they were on the road last week, but so what? Is every road team from April 15th gonna get to do this? I disagree with people who say that the annual April 15th celebration cheapens the number, but I do think it got cheapened a bit last night. I realize some people will say, “Anything that raises awareness of Jackie Robinson is a good thing,” and I generally agree with that, but turning his memory into a way to add another promotion to your home schedule is totally bogus. The whole point of April 15th is that it’s a one-day thing — a tribute day, a special day. If we start to make every day special, the practical result is that no days are.
• Why was Ray King wearing white cleats in the preame ceremony? He switched to black for the game.
• While we’re at it, why is Ray King so fat?
It’s also interesting to see the design scheme the Nats chose for the 42 on the outfield wall. Many (most?) teams have chosen to depict it in the old Brooklyn Dodgers design scheme, or at least in blue (additional examples here, here, and here), although not every team has done this (additional examples here, here, and here). The Nats chose to use their own font with the numbers trimmed in blue and gray, which I find to be an unsatisfying middle ground. By trying to have it both ways, they ended up with neither.
Uni Watch News Ticker: “This site has a ton of photos from the Arizona Fall League (especially from 2002),” writes Steve Delaney. “One of the most interesting finds is this — that’s Jerry Hairston of the Orioles throwing and Alfonso Soriano of the (at the time) Yankees on the right. Looks like a Little League World Series game.” … UMKC is having a logo-redesign contest. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Best shot I’ve ever seen of Pete Maravich’s “Pistol” NOB. … A new book about goalie masks, called Saving Face, will be published this September by Wiley. The editor sent me some sample spreads, which you can see here. These pages are v-e-r-y preliminary — the text and layout will probably change significantly in the finished product — but they at least provide a sense of what the book will be like. … Jon Helf, who runs the awesome Fleer Sticker Project blog, checks in with another Pilots-related post: “Some of the late-’60s Fleer issues had different colors and styles from what the Pilots ultimately used in their intial season. You can see what I’m talking about here.” … Good article here about George Sherrill and his flat-brimmed cap. … Man, I wish I could’ve been in Seattle for this bowling alley auction. … Minnesota’s new football uniforms, unveiled yesterday, look like this, and holy shit do I hate that pants-striping treatment. No rear-view photo yet, but you can see that the stripe does a butt-cheek wraparound, which is bad news. Idiotic piping on the jersey, too. Piece o’. … And here’s the latest on Hawaii’s new uniforms. Not great, but I’m always in favor of more green, and their look has always been somewhat cartoon-ish, so it’s hard to get worked up one way or the other (with thanks to Jeff Osbun). … While searching for something else on YouTube, I came across the classic old Warner Bros. cartoon Dog Gone South, which I hadn’t seen in probably 20 years. I’d forgotten that at one point Belvedere finds himself wearing a Yankees jersey (yes, it’s in inaccurate, but hey, artistic license and all that). … “Great stirrups being worn by St. Helens High in Oregon,” writes Travis McGuire. “But what’s up with that mound?” … Attention, Jeremy Brahm: Steven Wyder spotted this on eBay. Can you offer any insights regarding its provenance? … Helmet logo problems last night for Kosuke Fukudome (with thanks to Cara Morefield). … “I was watching How I Met Your Mother from last Monday,” writes Mike Rich, “and noticed Ted (played by Josh Radner) wearing a bizarre T-shirt with a Cleveland Indians logo surrounded by a Cincinnati Reds logo. There was also a logo on his left sleeve, but they never showed a clear view.” … Several amazing new contributions from northwest baseball historian Dave Eskenazi: The first two are of the Vancouver Beavers, circa 1918. Nice, right? But the real prize is this shot of the 1938 Vancouver Maple Leafs. Man, is that totally gorgeous or what? “The players probably hated it, especially the veterans,” says Dave. … New member of the stirrups club: Matt Kemp. … The NHL’s great front-office coordination strikes again.
April 24th, 2008
By Bryan Redemske
In 1997, marking the 50th anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s major league debut — and therefore the breaking of the color barrier — teams wore sleeve patches to mark the occasion. President Clinton participated in a nice ceremony honoring Robinson’s legacy, and all was well.
Since then, things have progressively gotten bigger and bigger, making me wonder how much longer it will be before every team requires its players wear only Robinson’s No. 42 on April 15, and whether the numbers 4 and 2 will also be the only ones allowed in that day’s boxscores. True, Robinson’s debut had a large impact both historically for baseball and socially for the nation. But couldn’t one say the same thing about, say, Babe Ruth’s legacy? Would there have been a stage for Robinson to grace if not for Ruth? And why did it take 50 years to honor Robinson across the game if April 15 was so important?
There’s a far-reaching — and likely heated — discussion that could be set off at this point, but let’s steer clear of that for now. It’s time to count the 42s. Be prepared — there were lots of them. According to this story (which also includes the full list of players on each team), nine teams had a full compliment of 42s — the Angels, Athletics, Rangers, Rays, Mets, Nationals, Cardinals, Pirates and Dodgers. All of the others had at least one representative, and all 42s were NNOB.
Some 42s of note:
• Ken Griffey Jr., who started the wearing of the 42 a year ago, obviously followed it up. Dusty Baker also wore it, but understandably didn’t venture out of the Wrigley Field visitors dugout too much.
• New York Governor David Paterson, who’s legally blind, threw out the first pitch at Shea Stadium. Insert your own inappropriate joke here. Oh, and he’s wearing a Cool Base jersey, too.
• Several teams — Phillies, Marlins, Braves, Brewers, Orioles, and Giants — only had one representative.
• The Mariners have only four players listed, but had more than that in uniform.
• Other than the number itself, Derrek Lee doesn’t look too strange. The Cubs were NNOB in 2005 and 2006.
• Jimmy Rollins was the only Phillie with a 42, but got the double-number treatment.
• David Ortiz had a successful night on two fronts: No. 42, and he got a hit! But like most of the 42ers, his helmet number didn’t match his jersey number. Note also, the Indians wore their blue alts at home. They started doing that again last season. And check out Garko’s nameplate. Who set up that radial arch, David Paterson?
• The Blue Jays’ jerseys actually look good without a name on the back. OK, not really good, but substantially better. They chose a busy font and color scheme, and losing a good portion of it cleans things up. Nice(ish). Also in Baltimore, the Orioles’ Adam Jones had his very own T-shirt giveaway night. The problem? He was wearing No. 42, not his usual No. 10. Thanks to Dan Sliwinski for the tip.
• While the Dodgers obviously all wore No. 42, Chaka Khan, sadly, did not. Plenty of good seats still available, by the way, if you’re out driving around and thinking about a ballgame. Interesting note: The Dodgers played the Pirates in one of three games that featured two full teams of 42s. The others were Angels/Rangers and Mets/Nationals.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Paul here. First and foremost, major thanks to Bryan for handling today’s main entry (a task he assumed on just a few hours’ notice), which allowed me to take care of some other urgent business last night. Much obliged, Bry. … Now then: As we’ve discussed a few times, Michigan will become an Adidas school this fall but is still technically a Nike school for now. But Seth Gladstein notes that several of the players in Saturday’s spring football scrimmage wore Adidas cleats with Nike socks. … A few days ago I mentioned the Expos’ retired numbers banner, which currently hangs in the Bell Centre. Here’s a really good photo of it (along with Andre Dawson and Gary Carter in Habs jerseys), courtesy of Costa Galanis. … The question of wearing a jacket while running the bases is addressed, somewhat inconclusively, in the last entry on this Q&A page (with thanks to Don Montgomery). … Mark Fightmaster reports that the Cincy Bearcats are wearing some awesome striped stirrups. … Obama of Dreams lives! That’s Ben Kozyak, posing with singer John Legend on Monday. … Here’s a Philly incident I hadn’t been aware of: Mike Schmidt once referred to the locals as “beyond help” and Veterans Stadium as a “mob scene, uncontrollable.” In his next game after those comments were published, Schmidt came out wearing a “disguise,” consisting of a wig and shades, which reportedly prompted a standing O from the boo-birds (nice find by Andrew Hoenig). … John Wright sent me this photo of Dave Brown. Is that a uni number below his left hand? If so, it clearly isn’t No. 22. I’ve never seen numbers on the Seahawks’ pants before. Can anyone shed any light on this? … Sigh. … At first glance, this story isn’t uni-related — until you get to the sixth graf. … Looks like we’ve got our first case of Cool Base-induced mismatched grays (great spot by Bryan). … Check this out: Dan Marino had a numbered towel and a hand-warmer pouch during his days at Pitt (with thanks to Doug Keklak). … Also from Doug: John Russell (current Pirates manager, former MLB catcher) had a “Jo. Russell” NOB back in his Texas Rangers days. … Awesome old sneaker ad here (with thanks to Matt Mitchell). … Attention NYC-area readers: Big literary event tomorrow evening, as Mets by the Numbers author/webmaster Jon Springer will be reading at Word Books, and he’ll be joined by Spike Vrusho, author of the newly published Benchclearing: Baseball’s Greatest Fights and Riots. Most of you know Springer by now (if not, get acquainted with his web site here and his book here); as for Vrusho, he’s the former editor of the brilliant 1990s baseball-centric zine Murtaugh, which featured, among other things, Tony Millionaire’s “Batty” comic (including the fondly remembered do-it-yourself installment) and such masterpieces of poetic verse as “Ode to Marge Schott” and “Dallas Green Is a Douche.” In other words, we’re talking two serious heavyweights of baseball literature here. First pitch is at 7:30pm.
April 16th, 2008
Whatever you think of the House the Ruth Built, its impending demise has had at least one salutary side effect: New York’s tabloid papers have been publishing plenty of historically minded retrospective articles filled with, as Scott M.X. Turner puts it, “lots of photo yumminess.” Scott noted some interesting pics in this past Sunday’s Daily News, and reader Eric Hoey found something truly astonishing in Sunday’s Post. Let’s take a look:
• Scott describes the memorial armband in this Joe D. photo as “the world’s thickest mourning strip” (also, note the belt buckle disappearing into the belt tunnel). Interestingly, I had a similar comment last August about this Joe D. jersey, which was displayed in the Museum of the City of New York’s “Glory Days” exhibit. The two jerseys aren’t the same, obviously, since one is home and one is road, but the Yankee Clipper apparently liked his armbands extra-wide.
• Remember my recent blog entry about the “ruptured duck” honorable discharge patch, which several Cubs players wore in 1945? At the time, I mentioned that Red Ruffing of the Yankees also wore the patch, but I didn’t have a photo. Now, however, thanks to Scott and the Daily News, I do.
• “Forgit the beauties here,” says Scott. “Check out the different number fonts. Yankees fans forget — or more likely don’t know — that the Yanks and Red Sox shared that ‘Red Sox font’ for much of the Ruth/Gehrig/DiMaggio eras.”
• Here’s the real prize, spotted by Eric in Sunday’s Post: The Yanks won the 1932 World Series, so they raised their championship banner on Opening Day in 1933 (exactly 75 years ago today, coincidentally). And what were the players wearing there in the foreground? Check it out: Yankees capes! How cool is that?! Or maybe they were blankets, because I found this shot of Babe Ruth from an exhibition game a few days earlier — same white trim as the capes had, although the capes looked shinier. Anyway, we’ve all seen sideline capes in football, but I’ve never seen or heard of anything like this on a baseball field. Anyone know of any other examples? (Oh, and that other team across the way? That would be the Boston Red Sox, who had no idea how many decades of frustration lay ahead of them.)
Uni Watch News Ticker: Cool socks worn by Kiara Franciso of Winter Haven High School in Florida (with thanks to Bob Rios). … Dave Concepcion not only wore No. 13, he also wrapped a Friday the 13th calendar page around the barrel of his bat! … “I grabbed this off the trailer for the Love Guru movie,” writes Carl Carlson-Drexler. “It looks like they’ve got Justin Timberlake wearing an old fiberglass mask, which would be slightly anachronistic — and bizarre, since they seem to have a lot of other things pegged (down to the Stanley Cup playoff patches).” … Check out the unusual downhill insignia worn by the 1924 Waterloo Hawks (the latest contribution from photo-historian David Eskenazi). … Good catch by Jere Smith, who was watching a replay of Mike Witt’s perfect game (September 30th, 1984) and noticed that all of the Angels had vertically arched NOB lettering — except for Reggie Jackson, whose lettering was radially arched. I couldn’t find any other 1984 rear-view pics of Reggie, so I’m not sure if this was a one-game aberration or something more extensive. Anyone know more? … Sharp-eyed Brett Crane notes that home plate ump Joe West was wearing two sets of memorial initials during last night’s Angels/Rangers game. The “EG” is for Eric Gregg, I’m sure, and I’m assuming that the “SC” is for former National League ump Shag Crawford, who died last summer. … Reader Paul Wiederecht was in town over the weekend and joined me for a beer. I paid for the suds, which was the least I could do after he presented me with a pair of genuine Mets stirrups, circa 1980. … While channel-flipping last night, I was surprised to stumble across the NCAA women’s bowling championships. Even more surprising: Arkansas State wore these skimpy shorts, while Maryland Eastern Shore wore short skirts. Can’t they just wear slacks, like the guys? Also note the NCAA patch, just like in the hoops tourney, and check out the uni numbers on the sleeves. And although I didn’t manage to get a photo, I just about slit my wrists when I saw one of the Maryland girls wearing one of those thin Nike swoosh bands on her upper calf (just like the ones being worn by most of the guys in this shot). … Max Rosenthal says this page features “a good roundup of/commentary on the shirts to be worn at Euro 2008 (the European soccer championship),” and I’ll take his word for it cuz I’m too busy right now to actually read the page. … I’m not the only one who has issues with corporate sponsorship (with thanks to Tom Konecny). … Jeremy Brahm reports that the Japanese softball team for this summer’s Olympics will look like this.
April 15th, 2008
It’s pretty simple, or at least it should be: You don’t wear an alternate uniform for the first game of the season. And that goes double when you’re playing the very first game at a brand-new ballpark.
But the Braves were more interested in selling a few shirts and caps than in having any respect for the game or for their hosts, so they chose Opening Night to unveil their new blue alternate road jerseys and solid blue caps. Nice going, John Schuerholz. Maybe at your home opener you can announce that you’ve sold the stadium’s naming rights to Coca-Cola.
Such unseemly breaches of protocol notwithstanding, how did the new togs look? Well, they’re waaaaay better than the red alt jersey (which, sadly, will still be worn for Sunday home games). The big problem is that the blue script and, especially, the blue uni numbers look sooooo Little League, like they didn’t have enough $$$ to shell out for an additional color or something. I never thought I’d ever be using a BP jersey to make a favorable comparison, but compare the BP shirt’s red lettering and numbering to the new gamers and it’s no contest. As someone on Chris Creamer’s site pointed out, the blue-on-blue uni numbers are very reminiscent of this and this, neither of which is the kind of thing you’d wanna be associated with. The jersey needs some red.
As for the navy-brimmed cap, I don’t mind that so much, esp. since it harkens back to an earlier era. But a spot of red would’ve been nice, even if only on the top cap button. And hey, how come they didn’t have solid navy batting helmets?
Other notes from the game:
• That little left-sleeve patch says, “Beach,” a memorial tribute to coach Jim Beauchamp.
• I didn’t realize that the Nats’ stadium sleeve patch was gonna be reprised as a cap patch. Let’s hope this is just just for the first game or first series of the season.1
• Odalis Perez had major undershirt-tag problems early in the game.
• Fans of double-flap helmets will be happy to hear that Willie Harris is still wearing one, just as he’s done earlier in his career. In addition, Brayan Pena wore one, something he has not previously done.
• I understand that stuff like this is unavoidable these days. But seriously, I am so sick of these mound logos. The mound is a place for serious work, not a billboard for you to tell people something they already know anyway.
• Speaking of Ws on the mound, we’ll never have to see this again, and that’s more than dandy with me. Go back to sleep, George.
Simple Rule: If someone posts a photo of an attractive female athlete — or just an attractive female, period — and if you respond by posting a dick-for-brains comment like, “Uniform? I don’t see any uniform!” or something of a similar ilk, my new policy as of right now is that you will be blocked from making any further comments on the site. This is not because such comments are offensive, but because they’re so totally lazy, stupid, and depressingly predictable. If you need to convince everyone that you’re heterosexual, at least come up with a more creative way of doing it, like by running for governor of New York or something. Thanks.
Uni Watch News Ticker: I hadn’t spent any time poking around Steve Dewing’s completely addictive photo site for a while, so I checked in the other day and, as usual, got completely sucked into the gorgeous imagery. Among the new finds: Keith Hernandez in white shoes (clearly from the 1987 All-Star Game) and this shot, which appears to show a Dodgers catcher wearing either a front-facing helmet or a brimless helmet. The thing is, this photo is almost certainly from 1969 (as evidenced by the MLB 100th-anniversary patch on Tony Perez’s sleeve), and I wasn’t aware of catchers going front-brimmed or brimless that early. … Chris Burris notes that Orlando Mendez-Valdez has been wearing the Western Kentucky logo on his socks. … Nice historical rundown of Coastal Carolina logos here (with thanks to Greg Sharp). … While looking for something else, I came across this 1988 photo. Check out that amazing American League umpire’s cap! … The Brooklyn Cyclones are planning to wear Hebrew uniforms for Jewish Heritage Night in a few months. Details here (with thanks to Mike Stutzman). … Good Converse article here. … David Stern floated a trial balloon the other day about possible uniform advertising for NBA preseason games overseas (a particularly disappointing prospect when you consider how interesting some of the country-based preseason designs have been over the past two years). If you’d like to help shoot that balloon down, you can contact the NBA here. … Reprinted from Friday’s comments: Outstanding article about Rawlings gloves — highly recommended. … Remember Rob Ullman and his uni-themed cheesecake illustrations? Kent Foster certainly does: “Took your advice and had Rob create a hockey pin-up girl for me,” he writes. “The team is the University of Richmond Spiders and the girl is my wife, Monica. I actually got it for her for her birthday, although it was probably more of a present for me.” … “I think this is my favorite picture so far from the SI vault,” writes Jesse Spector. “I think you’ll really enjoy it too, for the little details like the red shoes, the sock stripes, and the Baltimore Clippers championship banner.” Indeed. … Padres news from Brian Hilemon, who writes: “CEO Sandy Alderson stated during his weekly radio chat that next season the Pads will have uniform designs to honor not only the Marines but other branches of the military as well.” Jesus Christ, why don’t they just put mosquito netting over the stadium, make fans salute when they go through the turnstiles, and install David Petraeus in the manager’s office already. … Headband or wannabe-monk? (As forwarded by Greg Riffenburgh.) … “I went to the games in Tokyo last week and got some cool shots of the unis in the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame and at the game,” writes Mark Bittick. “The Hall is mostly about uniforms (there’s something um, unsettling about the Hiroshima Carp’s sleeve patch), and the beer girls at the stadium are straight out of anime. They even wear stirrups!” … Good close-ups here of David Beckham’s 100th-match golden cleats, jersey, and cap (big thanks to Dana Prey). … Cool video segment about our friends at Distant Replays here. … Thoughts on the Civil Rights Game: Overall, the uniforms were really lame (duh), but the orange trim on the Mets’ attire looked really good (although it would’ve looked a lot better if they’d worn blue sleeves and caps, to match the chest insignia, instead of going with black). Interesting that the Mets had special pants made for the occasion, while the Sox just wore their regular road pants. Also interesting that both teams wore their regular caps (well, except for that little “Civil Rights Game” embroidery on the side), while the Cards and Indians wore specially designed caps (and helmets!) last year. … Strange boxing phenomenon the other night: Arthur Abraham was wearing Adidas gloves, or so it appeared during his bout with Elvin Ayala (in fact, Ayala had Adidas gloves too). But when the tape came off the gloves after the fight, it turned out Abraham’s gloves were also Everlast-branded — what gives? I have a friend at Everlast and hope to have an answer soon (big thanks to Richard Giron for spotting this one). … According to the little “Did You Know?” squib in the right-hand column of this page, the Sean Taylor memorial movement is alive and well (good catch by Daniel Weimann). … Really nice old baseball uniform available here. I’d bid on this one myself, but the seller says the jersey is 22 inches from pit to pit (i.e., a size 44), which means it’s too big for me. Dang. … Really, really good article here about rugby sponsorships, logo creep, and related issues (with thanks to Caleb Borchers). … Great article and audio slide show about some interesting behind-the-scenes details at Yankee Stadium. … Good catch by Brian Russ, who writes: “When CBS showed the brackets after the Memphis/Texas game, they misspelled Xavier on the screen.” … Jeremy Brahm notes that the Romanian women’s handball team has off-center uni numbers. … Jon Chin reports that New Era is now selling fitted MLB caps for women. The sales copy says they’re “fit for a woman!” (not sure if this refers to the cap’s tailoring or if they mean it in the “fit for a king” sense) and adds that the caps have a “re-designed fit with a re-sculpted crown and trimmed visor.” Not sure how this makes them more “woman”-ly. Anyone..? … At first I got all excited when Scott Marcusky sent me these awesome photos of a Pirates farmhand from Saturday’s Bucs/Twins spring training game. “Ah,” I thought, “Nyjer Mogan’s hosiery influence is spreading!” But then I checked the Pittsburgh roster and found that No. 79 is Luis Munoz, who (a) is a pitcher, (b) isn’t listed in Saturday’s box score, and (c) looks like this (tough to say for sure, but that doesn’t look like this fella). Now I’m inclined to think that the player in question might actually be Morgan himself wearing someone else’s jersey, as occasionally happens in spring training. If anyone can help confirm or refute my theory, I’m all ears. … As many readers have noted, the new NFL logo is now being featured on NFL.com. … Contrary to what I wrote a few days ago, the Dodgers never intended to wear throwback flannels for Saturday’s game at the L.A. Colisseum. Instead, a bunch of 1958 old-timers will wear the flannels during today’s Opening Day ceremonies at Dodger Stadium. Sorry to have gotten the two events mixed up. … Reprinted from last night’s comments: Vince Young has a nameplate tattoo. … The Hershey Bears wore 1938-39 throwbacks on Saturday night. Additional pics here (courtesy of Mark Coale). … Check this out: baseball stadiums made out of Lego, plus an interview with the guy who designs them.
March 31st, 2008
Got a note the other day from reader Matt Fedorka, who raised some interesting points. I’ll let him tell the story himself:
Last year my girlfriend bought me an authentic customized Boston Bruins jersey (pre-Reebok Edge format), with my name and No. 87 on the back. I got it and I was really excited, but I noticed that the “7″ was not the same kind they used on the ice last year. The “7″ on the ice had a serif on the bottom, while mine did not.
Since I’m a nitpicky jersey guy (and because my girlfriend dropped $300 on the jersey), I decided to investigate. I went onto the NHL store’s website and used the preview function to see if the 7 would look the same as the one on my jersey, and it did. So they’re basically selling something that’s different from what the players wear, even though they’re calling it authentic. I then called the NHL store’s customer service line, where a representative said he would try to give my number to the right person, but he said it might have to do with what the Bruins wanted to allow for numbers.
So THEN I went onto my NHL 2K5 hockey game, and all the teams had the correct font for there numbers — except for the Bruins, who still had no serif at the bottom of the 7.
Here’s another point: If you look at that photo I showed you before, which is from January of 2007, you can see that the Bruins were using a serifed 7 on the back but a sans serif 7 on the sleeve. They seemed to change the sleeve 7 that pic was taken, which is apparent in this pic taken in December of 2006. I dug back a little further in the history book and noticed that at one point in the late ’90s they were wearing a sans serif 7 on the back, just like the one on my personalized jersey.
This made me feel a little better (at least they wore the sans serif 7 at one time). And I’ve noticed that with the new jerseys this season, the Bruins are now using the correct numbers on their customized jerseys. But the fact remains that my girlfriend and I have been shafted by the NHL. She ordered me an “authentic on-ice jersey with authentic numbering,” yet it wasn’t authentic. What’s the deal?
Seems to me there are two issues here: First, there are the inconsistencies in the Bruins’ on-ice 7s, and then there’s the question of “authentic” product. (Some folks — including me — might also say there’s the question of why anyone would spend $300 on a polyester shirt, but I’ll leave that issue for another day.) I can pretty well guarantee that the NHL and the Bruins will not be thrilled about explaining any of this to me, so before I pester them, does anyone know more about any this?
Research Project: Last year, and maybe the year before, I was surprised to see a few MLB umpires wearing goatees. Unfortunately, I don’t recall who those umpires were, and I haven’t been able to figure it out on my own. Several umps have facial hair in their official head shots for MLB.com, but all of those umps appear to have gone clean-shaven on the field, at least based on the photo research I’ve done so far. Does anyone know which umps have worn beards on the job? Do we know who was the first ump to do this, and when?
While we’re at it: To my knowledge, the first bearded manager and GM of the modern era were, respectively, Davey Lopes (in 2000) and Steve Phillips (ditto). But that’s just based on my sometimes-faulty memory — can anyone confirm or revise?
Friendly Reminder: Live web chat, today, 1pm eastern, here.
Uni Watch News Ticker: On the subject of airbrushed baseball cards, check out the size of the jersey button here (good spot by Mike Miller). … The AHL’s Philadelphia Phantoms will induct Bobby Clarke into their Hall of Fame on Sunday, and will wear 1968-69 Flin Flon Bombers throwbacks (Clarke’s boyhood junior team). Details here and here (with thanks to Matthew Algeo). … Wednesday marked David Beckham’s 100th appeaerance for the English national team, and his jersey had “100th Cap” in gold letters” for the occasion. Yes, it’s hard to see, but note that the gold lettering is missing from Peter Crouch’s jersey (good spot by Jonathon Binet). … Also from Jonathon: According to a small item in the middle of this Q&A page (search on “Rob from Deltona”), the Jaguars will be making “a minor change to the stripes on [their] white pants, to match up better with the black letters on the jerseys.” … Although the NFL season is over, new installments of “Equipped with Joe Skiba” are still being produced. The latest episode, featuring punter Jeff Feagles, is really good, and it’s available here. In addition, Skiba says he just filmed an episode of the History’s Channel’s Modern Marvels, about helmet technology. It’s slated to air on June 6th. … Are you kidding me? That screen grab, I’m told, with a number on the front of Chien-ming Wang’s jersey, is from MLB 08 The Show (good spot by James Yeh, who adds, “Doesn’t give me much confidence in the rest of the game”). … While researching something else, I came across this photo of former Orioles catcher and all-time MLB unibrow king Andy Etchebarren (sorry about the crop job). Check out that double-striped undershirt collar — man, that looks so fucking hot! … Yankees roster news from Tyler Kepner: “When [Morgan] Ensberg learned he would make the team last week, he decided he could not continue wearing No. 21, which was last worn by Paul O’Neill. But reliever LaTroy Hawkins has snapped up 21, and he said he would wear it to honor Roberto Clemente, who died 10 days after Hawkins was born in 1972.” … Peter Snow has scanned some images from The Leafs: The First 50 Years, which chronicles the Maple Leafs from 1926-76. Some great stuff here, including a hockey version of the Greaet Gazoo helmet, a rare sighting of eye-black on the ice, and some seriously freaky all-star uniforms (or at least that’s what I assume they are). You can view the full set of scans here. … Personally, I don’t give a shit what people are buying at the NBA Store (in fact, I wish there was no such thing as the NBA Store), but if you do, you’ll want to see this. … Got a spare $8000 laying around? If so, you can own one of the ugliest jerseys of all time (as forwarded by Damon Hirschensohn). … Speaking of auctions, look at this lot and check out the sleeve numbers on the guy at bottom center. … New football uniforms for Utah — details here (with thanks to Ryan Purdie). … The recent LeBron James Vogue cover has inspired a very smart response from Claude Johnson. … “It finally stopped snowing here in Chicago long enough to get some high school baseball in,” writes Steve Johnston. “I was at a game on Wednesday and took these photos. That’s the head coach for St Francis High School in Wheaton, Illinois. I commented on the stirrups and he said he’s trying to bring some tradition back. About a third of the team is wearing the pants high enough so you can see the stripes.”
March 28th, 2008
SI.com’s photo galleries are usually pretty good, but their current “Greatest College Football Players by Number” rundown offers a particularly rich lode of uni-related details. Here’s a rundown (several of which were also spotted by various readers over the past few days):
• I had completely forgotten about Texas A&M’s shoulder stripes.
• Was there a particular reason Oklahoma State was wearing a huge shoulder flag?
• I don’t think I’ve ever seen such small or high-positioned uni numbers as Iowa was wearing in the late 1930s. Also, note how the knee pads appear to be poking out below the pant cuffs.
• I’ve mentioned Ohio State’s big-ass TV numbers before, it’s always worth another look, just for the “Holy shit!” factor.
• Love this shot of Doak Walker wearing an all-star uni.
• Think monochromatic uniforms are a modern phenomenon? Then check out this old shot of Syracuse wearing solid orange. Plus note that the helmet stripes don’t match, and dig Jim Brown’s Lucite facemask.
• What’s the deal with Dick Butkus’s helmet stars? Were these early merit decals?
• I had no idea that Nebraska had worn this number typeface in the early ’60s.
• Check out Greg Roberts’s helmet — looks like a cross between the Willie Lanier style and the ProCap. Anyone know more?
• I love how football photos from the 1920s always seem to feature lots of little patches and rivets on the pants, like in this shot of Bronko Nagurski.
• Look at this shot of Buck Buchanan. Looks like he’s got “Bell” written on his elbow pad. At first I thought maybe this was a makeshift memorial for former commish Bert Bell, but he died in 1959, when Buchanan was still in college. Can anyone shed any light on this?
• Dig the stripes on Jim Seymour’s shoes — pretty cool. Also, it’s tough to say for sure, but it looks like the official may be wearing two-tone (i.e., non-striped) socks.
Too bad the gallery stops at uni No. 99 — they could easily have included an entry for Chuck Kinder, who wore No. 100 for WVU in 1963, to mark the 100th anniversary of West Virginia’s statehood.
We Can’t Make This Stuff Up: My ESPN.com colleague Patrick Hruby is looking to get his hands on a giant ear costume (something like this) as soon as possible. If anyone has any idea where to find such an item, please let me know, post-haste.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Yesterday’s item about the guy with the Patriots logo tattooed on his head led Jon Smith to send along this photo, taken in 2006. That’s Jon on the left, posing with what he describes as “the ultimate Chargers fan.” He says there’s a matching bolt on the other side of the guy’s head. Wonder how he felt when the team changed its bolt design last spring. … According to this item UGA’s black jerseys have helped the school’s recruiting efforts (with thanks to Greg Riffenburgh). … Did you know that American-style football is played in Italy? I didn’t, until Travis McGuire sent me this photo from the Italian Super bowl. Not sure what the temperature was, but dig that ref in shorts! … Fun NOB find by Caleb Borchers, who notes that Richard Wigglesworth (of the Sale Sharks rugby club in Manchester) wears “W’Worth.” … Dude, you forgot your mouthguard (as spotted by Glenn Chamberlain). … Several Canadiens and Black Hawks old-timers were honored before last night’s Habs/Hawks game. Happily, the oldsters got to wear CCM jerseys, not newfangled Reebok models. … Maryland wore yellow alts last night (thanks to Bryan Duklewski for the screen grab). … Remember yesterday’s Ticker item about basketball gloves? Turns out that idea was first floated (and presumably sank) way back in 1991, as you can see toward the bottom of this page (great find by Matt Shevin). … Just as I was about to post today’s entry, this query came in from Matt Weber: “Recently a friend told me that Arizona State’s football team wore gold jerseys for one game vs. University of Arizona, a game that they lost. I believe it was in 1989. However I can’t find any pics of these jerseys. My friend said that since ASU lost that game, they would never wear gold jerseys again.” Can anyone confirm and/or provide more info? … Every now and then it’s good to remind people that I don’t just write about uniforms.
January 9th, 2008
The nice thing about co-owning an NBA team is that you can work out with the players whenever you want. And of course you’ll get an official team practice jersey to wear — hey, you’re a part owner, you can raid the pro shop for whatever gear you want. High-five! But wait, the practice jersey features the logo of the company that manufactured it, and you have a longstanding promotional arrangement with a rival company. That’s a slight dilemma, but everyone knows what a savvy businessman you are, so you’ll come up with a smart and elegant solution.
That was the situation facing Michael Jordan yesterday. And here was his smart and elegant solution: He slapped a piece of white tape over the Adidas logo on his chest, although I think it’s fair to say that this maneuver went straight into the “Not fooling anybody” file, especially since he didn’t bother covering up the Adidas stripe treatment (presumably because they ran out of white tape).
I don’t know if Jordan’s still contractually forbidden to wear non-Nike gear, or the very idea of flashing a non-swoosh logo simply gives him a rash, but this little episode really highlights the continuing absurdity of how sportswear companies have become entangled with leagues and athletes. Did Jordan really think nobody would notice the piece of tape, or understand why it was there? Didn’t this actually draw more attention to the fact that he was wearing Adidas gear than if he hadn’t worn the tape to begin with? Couldn’t he have avoided this problem altogether if he’d just turned the shirt inside-out or worn a some other shirt? Oh, but then the Bobcats logo wouldn’t have been visible, so he wouldn’t have been promoting his team and its merch. What a mess — the whole situation reeks.
I’ll have more to say about logo creep tomorrow. Meanwhile, how much you wanna bet that some kid out there is gonna start wearing a piece of tape over the Adidas logo on his Bobcats jersey, just like his idol, MJ?
Raffle Reminder: Today’s the last day to enter the holiday raffle. For details, scroll down to the middle of Friday’s entry. As always, you can increase your odds of winning by joining the Uni Watch membership program. I’ll announce the winners tomorrow.
And hey, speaking of raffles: Are you excited about the Pro Bowl? Right, me neither. But the NFL is raffling off a free trip to its annual snooze-a-thon all-star game, and let’s face it, a free trip to Hawaii is a free trip to Hawaii, even if it does entail watching the world’s lamest football game. Plus the Pro Bowl is a uni watcher’s dream (assuming you dream about the really bad design), so it’s a win-win. To enter, look here.
Uni Watch News Ticker: The Vikings’ solid-purple look will not be repeated (that good news brought our way by Chad Burma). … Weird sequence of events yesterday, beginning when Kenn Tomasch sent me a note reporting that Steve Young’s orange jersey didn’t have stripes in 1985 like the rest of the Bucs had. Upon further investigation I discovered several other anomalies, to wit: Young appears to have ghosted sleeve stripes here and here; some of Tampa’s linemen didn’t have sleeve stripes either; kicker Donald Igwebuike (one of my all-time favorite sports names) had stripes, but his sleeve connected to his jersey down around his belly; if you factor in the sleeves, I don’t know if I’ve ever seen another NFL jersey look as mesh-y as this. … Michael Vick may not be in the NFL anymore, but he’s leaving quite a trail in his wake. … Looks like a Georgia Southern player was wearing a one-sleeved undershirt the other day (with thanks to Bob Jaye). … The Rutgers football team’s equipment manager is retiring (with thanks to Bruce Soltys). … Greg Riffenburgh notes that Minnesota’s Anthony Herrera appeared to be violating the NFL’s “only one footwear trim color allowed” rule the other night. … If you can’t prevent a concussion, at least you can know if you’ve gotten one. … Todd Krevanchi notes that Houston is using different font sets for its front and back uni numbers, and you can see in the 2s here. … Reprinted from last night’s comments: Awesome old newsreel footage shot in the Red Wings and Rangers locker rooms here.
December 19th, 2007
Okay, it’s official: The Bears have a serious problem with their helmet decals. It’s been brewing for a couple of seasons now, as the occasional player has shown up with a broken wishbone-C logo on his noggin. But last night it was practically a pandemic, as Alex Brown, Olin Kreutz, and Adrian Peterson all sported headwear malfunctions.
Giants equipment czar Joe Skiba has mentioned to me that helmet decals get more brittle in cold weather. But the NFL has been playing winter games for decades, and I don’t ever recall seeing a rash of decal destruction like the one currently being exhibited by da Bears. Decal guru Chris Willis, if you’re reading this (and I know you are), any idea what’s going on here?
Speaking of helmet decals, both teams were still wearing the “21″ memorial decal for Sean Taylor. No surprise that the ’Skins would continue to wear it for the rest of the season (they’re still wearing their “21″ jersey patch, too), but I raised an eyebrow upon seeing the Bears wearing it, since NFL deaths don’t usually get the league-wide memorial treatment for more than one week. In fact, none of the league’s three off-season deaths (Darrent Williams, Damien Nash, and Marquise Hill) resulted in league-wide remembrances. The last player to get memorialized by all 32 teams was, I believe, Pat Tillman in 2004, and that was only for one week.
Two other notes from this game:
• Mike Engle notes that Todd Collins was sporting double sock stripes.
• And Todd Davis points out that Mike Sellers appears to be the latest convert to the Schutt Ion helmet (here’s another view).
(Special thanks to John Okray for the screen grabs.)
Uni Watch News Ticker: Giants equipment director Joe Skiba cryptically advises us that we keep an eye on Plaxico Burress’s nose bumper this Sunday. … Speaking of Skiba, he’s been featured in a series of video reports on the Giants’ web site. You can see the latest one, which is about tailoring footwear for specific field conditions, is available on the team’s home page. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Twin City Knitting is marketing a set of team-logo stirrups. Very nice, although I’d prefer to see a higher foot opening. … The Royals’ powder blue alt jersey doesn’t look as bad with the white pants as I had expected. Certainly no worse than any other solid-over-white MLB combo (although that isn’t saying much). … Speaking of the Royals, Steve Johnston reports that Alex Gordon is switching uniform numbers, going from 7 to 4. … Here’s something you don’t often see: Kari Lehtonen wearing a practice jersey that he had already autographed (with thanks to Jeff McRae). … Coupla excellent NOB finds by Jere Smith: First, check out Rudy Tomjanovich wearing “Rudy T.” And if you go to the 1:18 mark of this video clip, you’ll see several views of Elvin Hayes wearing “E” (complete with the world’s biggest quote marks), as seen here and here. … Great Uni Watch party last night in Boston — big crowd, really great people, and a reporter from the Globe was there to cover the event. Only problem is that I kept getting distracted by a TV screen that was featuring the Bruins/Habs game, which was a serious thing of uni beauty. Full party details coming next week. … It has come to my attention that communiqués sent to me via the “Contact” link at the top of the page haven’t been getting through lately. So if you want to get in touch, just e-mail me directly.
December 7th, 2007
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