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Posts filed under 'Uni Pranks'
Last month I wrote about all the great uni-related photos in Sports Illustrated’s The Football Book. Now I’ve gotten myself a copy of The Baseball Book, which has a slightly smaller but still significant trove of uni details. Let’s take a look:
• Here’s a 1950s shot of Nellie Fox. Note that the Sox insignia is a patch, not embroidered. Never noticed that before.
• Another Chisox shot, this one showing Luis Aparacio during the 1959 World Series, when the White Sox actually wore white socks.
• Next time we debate the pros and cons of base coaches wearing helmets, think about this photo. Can you believe how close to home plate those shutterbugs were allowed to get?
• This is an 1896 shot of the New York Giants, and I absolutely must have one of those sweaters.
• Couple of interesting things here, beginning with the Cards’ heavily ribbed stirrups. Also, look closely Bob Bowman’s (No. 26) right toe. Looks like he’s got a little metal plate and strip of leather there to keep the tip of his shoe from wearing through. And that leads us to…
• …this shot of Satchel Paige’s cleats, with a great view of precisely the same toe accessory.
• Amazing old Boston Braves jacket here.
• Decent view here of the yellow batting helmets that the A’s wore in 1967 (when they were still in Kansas City).
• Best uni-related prank ever. According to the caption, the player on the ground was actually an actor named Lou Archer, “who appeared in Babe Comes Home, Ruth’s second Hollywood feature.”
Loads of other great photography here — recommended.
Membership News: Got a brilliant card design request the other day from Robert Eden. He originally joined up back when the membership program was first announced, choosing the basic Uni Watch colors. But once he heard we were now accepting NCAA-themed design requests, he put in an order for an additional card (which anyone can get for $15, by the way) patterned after a Nebraska Cornhuskers tearaway jersey. As I think you’ll agree, Scott executed the concept quite nicely.
Meanwhile, Nina has finished adding all the Charter Membership code to the membership roster. If you’re a Charter Member, your number on the roster should be shown in bold. If we somehow missed anyone, let me know.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Yesterday’s post about uni numbers on pants prompted a response from Aaron Stilley, who pointed out a baseball example I’d forgotten about: the Kansas City Monarchs (additional views here, here, here, and here). “I agree it’s usually a bad idea, but for some reason I actually think it looked nice on the Monarchs’ unis,” writes Aaron, and I’m inclined to agree. … By now I think most of you are aware of the Minnesota high school hockey jerseys that are on display at the Xcel Center. But what you might not know — and what I didn’t know myself until Jeff Barak forwarded me some pics — is that the display also includes an incredible 1940s Coast Guard team jersey with a gorgeous chenille crest. Further info here. … The woman who designed the Lambeau Field 50th-anniversary patch is profiled here. … Alejandro Marci reports that Argentina has new soccer uniforms. “The jersey has a hidden drawing on the front,” he writes, “inspired by a traditional Buenos Aires decorative painting art form called Fileteado, which is most commonly used to decorate buses. That technique is also in a small patch located on the back of the neck. There’s also an awful colored field in the back, as a background for the numbers. Apparently it’s some new FIFA regulation for NTs.” … “As you know, the Giants typically apply each player’s last name to his batting helmet in large white letters,” writes Jason Taylor. “Until August, it appeared that Barry Bonds was no different. But I just noticed that his last name appeared in two other styles on the back of his helmet within about a week’s time. I’m guessing that it had something to do with him donating his 755 and 756 helmets to the Hall of Fame.” … Genius find by Jere Smith, who’s turned up a video clip from the 1988 NBA Legends Game, in which every single player wore FNOB — and in a totally weird format to boot. Details and full video clip here. … Several readers have noticed a subtle change made by the Bruins, but Paul Pokaski sums it up best: “The Bruins started the season with double-outlined lettering on their nameplates. This style was worn as recently as October 22 on the road against the Canadiens. Recently, however, the Bruins have been using single-outlined names on their road whites. They wore this style November 3 at Ottawa, and in their most recent game, at Toronto.” Very odd to see a team make this sort of change in the middle of a season. … You’ve gotta be kidding me. … Reprinted from last night’s comments: Lots of good uni-related soccer Q&A action here. … And The London Times’s picks for the top 50 soccer kits of all time here (with thanks to Iain Landon).
Holiday Schedule: We’ll have open chatter tomorrow. Maybe Friday too, or maybe I’ll put up some real content — not sure yet. And our usual open chatter for the weekend. Happy Thanksgiving to one and all, and remember, white meat’s for suckers — dark meat’s where it’s at.
November 21st, 2007
I could probably do an entire entry just on this photo. Where to begin? The upturned collar, the number on the sleeve, the vertical placket insignia, the amazing crest, the off-center belt buckle, the striped undersleeves — it’s a visual feast.
That shot (along with this one, which shows the same player with a different uni number) was turned up by reader Jeff Lindquist, who found it while poking around the Library of Congress’s George Grantham Bain Collection, a mother lode of old news agency pics. I’ve always meant to spend more time exploring the LoC’s archive, but it’s a daunting task, because the collection is so big that it can seem overwhelming. So it’s nice when someone else sifts through everything and comes up with some gems, as Lindquist has done. Here are some more pics he turned up:
• Another great vertical insignia here.
• Always good to see more shots of the Giants’ plaid uniforms from 1916.
• Here’s a player from the St. Louis Terriers, one of the early Federal League teams. Note the Federal League logo on the sleeve — “kinda reminds you of a recently redesigned logo from some other league, doesn’t it?” notes Lindquist. Interestingly, the league logo was similar to the team’s logo, which is visible on this sweater. Not sure if all the other Federal League teams had similar logos.
• Speaking of sweaters: As many of you know, I have a serious thing for old baseball sweaters, so I’m totally drooling over this, this, this, and this.
• I’d previously seen this Cubs logo in the Dressed to the Nines templates but never in an actual photo — nice.
• Here’s something from our old uniform cameo project: Babe Ruth as a New York Giant, from an off-season exhibition.
• Check out the American flag patch that the Dodgers wore in 1917, to support the war effort.
• The Yankees didn’t start wearing pinstriped uniforms until 1912, but they appear to have had a pinstriped jacket of some sort in 1909.
• Here’s a Chinese baseball team, from 1910. Almost looks like they’re wearing conventional collared business shirts.
• Bizarre shots here of the Yankees and Tigers doing drill exercises — with rifles!
Uni Watch News Ticker: I’ve recently made the acquaintance of the thoroughly enjoyable Susquehanna Industrial Tool & Die Co., whose frontman, Michael McMahon, was kind enough to loan me a pair of gorgeous vintage baseball pants (which didn’t have that big grass stain when he last saw them — oops), complete with nice side piping, even nicer belt tunnels and flap pockets, and — my favorite detail — gold braid on the inner waistband. I paired the pants with a chromatically compatible vintage jersey for my Sunday softball game, where my buddy Joel Wilhelmi snapped some fore and aft shots. The grass stains were the result of two sliding catches in left field (one of which shouldn’t have necessitated a slide — I got a really bad jump). … Reader Ryan Goldstein, who plays club tennis at Georgetown, recently asked me for advice about having an “MEJ” notation added to the club’s shirt sleeves, in memory of former teammate MIke Jurist. Since Georgetown is in DC, I put Ryan in touch with Baltimore’s Joe Hilseberg, who fixed them up right. “We were able to wear them at a tournament two weekends ago in NYC at the National Tennis Center, as well as last weekend at the University of Maryland Invitational,” writes Ryan. … The family that plays together stays together — especially if they’re wearing stirrups. That’s the message from Paul Wiederecht, who sent along a veritable family albums of pics of his father (here and here), his brothers (here, here, and here), and himself (here and here). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: The Reds played a pants prank on Norris Hopper the other day. … Also from yesterday: Scott Player’s famously loose-bolted single-bar facemask (which has resulted in a good nickname) was seriously askew on the last play of Sunday’s Browns/Raiders game (something that’s happened to him before). … Eric Westover was at Utah/UNLV game the other day and got a shot of Eddie Wide III, whose nameplate includes a roman-numeral ordinal. … Rob Montoya notes that DeSean Jackson had his jersey tucked into his belt the other day. … Laura Frye reports that the Missouri women’s soccer team wore pink jerseys (for breast cancer research) and black wristbands (in memory of former teammate Meggie Malm, who’d been killed in a car accident the night before) on Friday. … LSU will be wearing special Katrina uniforms on Saturday against Tulane (which will mark their first use of white helmets since the 1997 Independence Bowl). Lots of additional images here, full details are here, and there’s a video report here. … According to a small entry buried on this Q&A page, the Patriots will ditch their silver alternate jersey in 2009 and go with a red throwback jersey instead (with thanks to Ryan Van Buskirk). … I’m going to be visiting the ESPN mother ship up in Bristol for most of today, so talk among yourselves and play nice. Meanwhile, I have something very special planned for tomorrow — see you then.
September 25th, 2007
Look closely at the photo shown above and you’ll notice something odd: The player (who happens to be Titans linebacker Ryan Fowler) has cut holes in the tips of his shoes, and his sock-covered big toes are poking out.
Football players are known for modifying their equipment, but I’d never heard of this one before. And it turns out that it’s actually quite common, at least according to a faaaaaaascinating article that ran in yesterday’s Nashville Tennessean (helpfully brought to my attention by reader Wade Harder), which explains that many players cut holes in their cleats — sometimes for performance-related reasons, sometimes to avoid damaged toenails. Here are some of the choicer bits:
It’s an NFL equipment oddity and something most fans would never notice. But in a locker room where players pay attention to every last uniform detail, at least a dozen Titans lace their cleats and then cut slits or even gaping holes over the big toes.
Some players believe it might make them better because it helps them feel lighter, faster, able to change direction more quickly. If nothing else, they at least feel more comfortable.
“I like tight shoes, and it kind of makes you feel like you’re out there with no shoes on at all,” said cornerback Kelly Herndon, who cut slits that make an X at the tips of both his cleats. “You want something light, and as tight as possible so you can move around better. If that means cutting them to make them tighter, that’s what you do.”
Linebacker Ryan Fowler has gone to the extreme. Both of his entire big toes hang out through man-made holes cut in his cleats.
Fowler said he’s not worried about someone stepping on his exposed toes. He’s more worried about moving around effectively. … “Also, a lot of times when you change directions and you stop, your toe hits the front of your shoe and toenails crack and you get an in-grown toenails. … It’s for comfort as well.”
[...]
Cornerback Eric King said he feels a little faster with the tight shoe, so he doesn’t mind breaking out the scalpel.
Cornerback Michael Waddell started experimenting after seeing some of his teammates perform shoe surgery. After he puts on two pair of socks and has his ankles taped, sometimes a little relief at the front end is nice, he said.
This probably qualifies as the coolest, most Getting It™ article of the year so far, so let’s give credit to Tennessean reporter Jim Wyatt, who wrote it (and to his editor, for not saying, “What the hell is this? An article about shoe surgery? We’re not running that!”). You can read the full article here.
And the Titans aren’t the only ones with one little piggy sticking out of their shoes. When the Tennessean article was briefly discussed in yesterday’s comments section, Mike from Queens pointed to this short item about Jets safety Kerry Rhodes, and a few other readers offered enough anecdotal evidence to suggest that cleat-cutting is a fairly standard practice.
Who knew? Not me. Do Reebok, Nike, and all the other shoe companies realize that the players are cutting up their footwear? How long before these companies start manufacturing cleats with pre-cut toe holes?
And it’s a shame that the late artist Don Martin Don Martin didn’t live long enough to be aware of this phenomenon. The guy was obsessed with toes (like, really obsessed), whether barefoot or shoe-clad. He would’ve had a field day with this.
August Raffle Announcement: With college football just around the corner, our good friends at Helmet Hut and Gridiron Memories have generously volunteered to raffle off one of their NCAA helmets — a selection that includes over 500 designs — to a lucky Uni Watch reader.
To enter, send an e-mail to uniraffle at earthlink dot net (please note that this is not the usual Uni Watch e-mail address) by next Thursday, August 23rd, at 10 p.m. eastern. I won’t actually be reading these e-mails, so don’t bother including any messages or questions. One entry per person, but anyone enrolled in the Uni Watch Membership Program by the time of the drawing will automatically get three bonus entries (i.e., members will get their names put in the hat three times even if they don’t send an e-mail entry, or four times if they do).
I’ll announce the winner a week from today.
Speaking of the membership program, I believe we’re now completely caught up on card designs (including the one shown at right, which is based on Belmont Park jockeys’ silks). If you’ve signed up and don’t see your card in the design gallery, and/or if you don’t see your name listed on the active roster, please let me know.
For the roughly four dozen of you who haven’t yet received your membership kits, you’ll be happy to hear that I plan to get your cards printed today. Figure another week for trimming, laminating and envelope-stuffing. Thanks for your patience.
Uni Watch News Ticker: If you click here and scroll up to the 12-minute mark, you’ll find a not-too-bad interview I recently did with the MLB Video guys (with thanks to Todd Krevanchi for reminding me to post the link). … Spectacular work by Richard Craig, who checks in with the following report: “At the beginning of last night’s Braves/Giants game, Jeff Francoeur’s name was misspelled on his jersey. He must have been clued in and switched jerseys later on, because suddenly his name was correct again. I know his name is easily misspelled, but wouldn’t you think he’d notice while suiting up?” … Major NBA hairstyling story here (with thanks to Vince, who also notes that there’s been some hair-related rookie hazing at Patriots camp). … A year ago I did an entry about the Oldtime Baseball Game, an annual charity event in which the players wear flannel throwbacks. This year’s installment of the event just took place, and there’s a great photo gallery here. … More amateurs. … Todd Krevanchi notes that Shanna Zolman-Crossley was wearing a full-length Under Armour-ish undershirt the other day. … Matt Craig wonders why Darrell Royal had No. 20 on his jacket sleeve during the 1970 Cotton Bowl. Anyone..? … Decent breakdown of all the current and pending NHL uni changes here (with thanks to Kim Kolb). … Oliver Perez fell victim to the classic bubble gum prank last night (as captured by James Fleming). … Great contribution from Jared Wheeler, who writes: “The Houston Colt .45s had a minor league team named the .22s — check out the caps on John Hoffman and Dave Adlesh.”
August 17th, 2007
By Vince Grzegorek
By now most of you have probably heard about Scott Proctor’s equipment bonfire after Saturday night’s game at Yankee Stadium. (In a world of cell phone cameras, no one got a picture of this? Come on!)
Usually it’s the other way around, with the fans burning a jersey in effigy. But Proctor is the latest example of an athlete who, faced with the proverbial last straw, decides to hold an imprompty uniform cremation ceremony. Let’s take a look at some other torch bearers (pun intended) who’ve used their uniforms as tinder.
- In 1982, Frank LaCorte of the Houston Astros set his #31 uniform on fire after a game in which he walked the bases loaded in a relief appearance. Why? The 31 reminded him of a 3-1 count.
- Jose Mesa claimed last year that he’d matured throughout his years in the big leagues. His explanation: “I used to rip my uniform and everything. I’d throw the shoes in the garbage, I’d burn the hat.”
- Ernie Broglio supposedly burned his entire uniform in 1966 after taking too much heat from his teammates and the Cubs fans for his dismal performance.
- According to this page, “Toronto fans were particularly harsh with [Damaso] Garcia, especially after he burned his uniform in the clubhouse after one of his poorer performances.”
- Former US National Team member Jeff Agoos didn’t react well to being cut from the 1994 World Cup squad and responded by torching his jersey (supposedly in a fireplace).
- Then there’s the most coordinated and entertaining uniform bonfire of all time: the actual bonfire held by the Denver Broncos in 1962 to forever rid themselves of their infamous vertically striped socks. (And according to Paul, ” This looks like any other bonfire photo but is really and truly the Broncos vertically striped socks bonfire [indeed it is -- PL].”)
- Gino Odjick of the QMJHL didn’t do it himself, but according to this message board, his jersey was lit on fire by a fan during a game while Odjick was sitting in the penalty box. (And yes, it says he had to roll around on the ice to put it out.)
And just to give equal time to the opposite end of the temperature spectrum, Cardinals shortstop Brendan Ryan fell victim to a classic prank the other day when his uniform was frozen by some of his teammates (details here). When he tried to thaw it out with a hair drier, he ended up blowing a fuse and knocking out the power in Tony LaRussa’s office. At least he didn’t start a fire.
Over to you, Paul…
July Party Itinerary: I’ll be in St. Louis one week from today, July 10th, and will be convening a Uni Watch party for the occasion. Our venue will be McGurks — let’s shoot to meet there at 8pm.
Precisely two weeks later, on July 24th, Uni Watch will go international with our first-ever Canadian party, in Toronto. Festivities will commence at 8pm upstairs at the Imperial Pub and Library. And for those of you with stalker-ish tendencies, I am tentatively slated to “perform” the following evening at the Pontiac Quarterly, which is curated by Uni Watch Ontario bureau chief Liz Clayton, who’s a bit of a stalker herself.
Membership Update: I mailed out more membership kits yesterday and am now completely caught up with everything that’s been printed. So except for members King, Patterson, Lee, Bridgett, Versel, Brandt, Hart, and Eckensberger (whose cards have been designed but not yet printed — soon, soon), if your membership card is linked on the active roster and shown in the card gallery, then it’s either in your hands by now or on its way. As for the handful of you whose cards haven’t yet been designed, Scott’s working on those right now. And those of you who’ve joined at Level Four or above should expect to hear from Scott shortly regarding your logo designs.
We’re now up to 199 enrollees — not bad for the first month. Friendly reminder: All members who join by the end of July will have a special “Charter Member” designation added to their membership cards when they renew next year.
Uni Watch News Ticker: “I was at the Cedar Rapids Kernels game Friday night and saw a couple of things,” writes Joe Wagner. “First, the Kernels (class-A affiliate of the Anaheim Angels) wore special jerseys to pay tribute to veterans. They actually didn’t look that bad in person. They were playing the Kane County Cougers — an Oakland A’s farm team — and apparently the parent club requires their affiliates to wear white shoes as well. They looked awful, especially with the couple of guys who wore their pants high to show off the black socks.” … I’ve previously shown illustration templates of the new Texas A&M uniforms. Now, thanks to Glenn Stern, we have photos — look here, here, here, here, and here. … Ronnie Poore reports that there’s yet another movie in production featuring period uniforms. This one is Our Lady of Victory, based on girls’ basketball team from a Catholic school winning a championship in 1972. “Not much uniform detail in the photo gallery so far,” says Ronnie, “but the players do wear skirts [and striped tube socks! -- PL]. Some shots of the real team, from the school’s web site, are here.” Yee-fucking-haw! … “During Glen Davis’s introduction to the Boston media, I saw that his left sleeve still had the designer tag that you ordinarily remove when you buy the suit,” writes Matt Englander. “I once did the same thing while wearing a new suit to a job interview. In the middle of the interview, and without missing a beat, the guy opened his drawer and handed me a pair of scissors to cut the thing off. Pretty mortifying.” … Good spot by Matt Mitchell, who writes: “Vince Young made an appearance last week at Ladainian Tomlinson’s annual summer football camp here at Baylor Stadium. I thought the Pro Bowl jersey was Young’s (I thought somebody else may have had dibs on No. 10), but if you look closely you can make out ‘McNair’ across his back, so this was apparently a shout-out to Vince’s boyhood idol, former Titans QB Steve McNair.” … Great find by Matt Olson, who stumbled across this page devoted to NCAA equipment trucks. … Aaron Peters recently attended a Myrtle Beach Pelicans game and got some nice pics, including this shot of an Astros-inspired throwback design that the team wore last year. … Great scene yesterday in New York, where the Rangers introduced new signees Chris Drury and Scott Gomez, both of whom were wearing No. 23 jerseys. Both players have worn 23 in the past, so they flipped a puck to determined who’d get to wear it with the Rangers. Drury won. Details here. … Lots of excitement in the soccer world yesterday, as the L.A. Galaxy’s new jersey was apparently leaked. … Classic moment during last night’s Mets/Rockies game, as the ever-alert Keith “I Love Keith Hernandez” Hernandez forcefully opined that MLB players “should wear their regular team uniforms” in the All-Star Game, “instead of those league uniforms.” When play-by-play man pointed out that the league jerseys are only worn during the home run derby, His Keithness replied, “Oh, that’s right.” I’d love to put Hernandez in the same booth with Ron Santo, but the space-time continuum might never recover.
July 3rd, 2007
Yesterday was July 1st, which is traditionally celebrated as Canada Day up north. I’m told that from a strict statutory standpoint, this year’s version of the holiday is today, because July 1st fell on a Sunday. Doesn’t really matter from a uni-related standpoint, because the Blue Jays were on the road yesterday and are also on the road today, which means they won’t be wearing their special Canada Day uniforms for the home crowd.
What’s up with that? Couldn’t MLB have scheduled the one Canadian team to be playing at home for the country’s biggest holiday? And this isn’t a one-time thing — a quick schedule check reveals that the Jays were on the road on July 1st in 2005, 2004, and 2003. Then again, some of the Jays’ Canada Day designs have been decidedly better than others, as seen in these designs from 1997 (front, back), 1998, 2000 (front, back), 2001 (front, back), 2002, and 2006, so maybe it’s for the best.
Meanwhile, it turns out that some Canadian minor league teams wear special Canada Day jerseys too, as seen in this shot of the Ottawa Lynx. Check out the kid with the little flag — love that.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Did you know there was a World Cup of American Football? I didn’t, until Jeremy Brahm sent me these photos of what the Japanese team will be wearing. … Anyone else notice that the Giants’ Rod Beck memorial sleeve patch looks a lot like a Uni Watch membership card? … Vince Grzegorek stumbled upon a photo of Georgia College’s baseball team, which uses what has got to be the biggest name typography ever. … Ramon Castro was the victim of a multi-layer cap prank on Friday. More photos, and a short but priceless video clip, here. … Speaking of Mets-related pranks, someone appears to have hung a pink “I’m Gay” T-shirt (with Nike logo creep!) in David Wright’s locker. … The Indianapolis Star’s web site has a great photo gallery covering 60-some years’ worth of Indiana all-state hoops teams. Lots of awesome photos — well worth clicking through. The full gallery (which was brought to my attention by Kenneth Adkins) is here. … Nice Negro Leagues throwback game yesterday in K.C., with the Royals dressing up as the Kansas City Monarchs and the White Sox honoring the Chicago American Giants. The Royals/Monarchs had a “42″ sleeve patch for Jackie Robinson and a “22″ cap inscription for Buck O’Neil, plus the Royals coaching staff all wore uni No. 22. … Jonathan Carone reports that Presbyterian College (DII, moving up to Division I this year) has just unveiled new football uniforms, as seen here, here, here, and here. Assuming you can get past the team name (yes, they’re really called the Blue Hose, which should be reason enough to root for them), it’s particularly odd that their white and colored jerseys are based on completely different templates. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: According to a paragraph buried in the middle of this column, at one point this season Ichiro actually asked now-departed Mariners skipper Mike Hargrove to wear a real jersey instead of a smock/pullover thingie. That is just too cool for words.
Holiday Schedule: Things will run as usual around here this week, except for Wednesday, when we’ll have an open thread. Plus I’ll have a doozy of an ESPN column on Thursday. OK? OK.
July 2nd, 2007
Derek Lowe is scheduled to pitch tonight for the Dodgers. I’d been looking forward to this, because several readers reported over the weekend that Lowe was spotted in the dugout during last Saturday’s game with a captain’s “C” on his jersey. Unfortunately, nobody provided a screen grab or even specified the inning in which Lowe was visible, and I haven’t had the patience to scroll through the entire gamecast to find the appropriate shot (or the heart to ask Vince to do it), but I figured we’d all get to see the C when Lowe took the mound this evening.
The thing is, I couldn’t find anything on the web about Lowe having been named the Dodgers’ captain. So yesterday I called the team’s PR office, where a spokesperson let all the air out of the balloon: “He’s not the captain. That was just a joke that the other players played on him — they put the C on his jersey as a prank.” Too bad. This means Jason Varitek and Mike Sweeney maintain their status as MLB’s only current C-clad captains. (Derek Jeter is also a team captain, but he doesn’t wear the designatory letter.)
The reason the Lowe situation was so intriguing, of course, is that pitchers almost never serve as team captains. C-clad pitchers are rarer still, and C-clad starting pitchers rarest of all — rare, but not unprecedented. Back in 2000, the Cubs had four captains, all of whom wore C sleeve patches (a confusing protocol, since “Chicago” and “Cubs” both start with C): Sammy Sosa, Mark Grace, reliever Rick Aguilera (you can just barely make out his C here), and starting pitcher Kevin Tapani (the best shots I’ve been able to find are here and here).
So at least for a day there, Lowe was an honorary member of a very exclusive club. Maybe he’ll be a real captain someday — but first he really needs to something about his pants. That’s no way for a person of stature and responsibility to dress. Meanwhile, if anyone recalls roughly when they showed Lowe during Saturday’s game, I’ll do a screen grab to preserve the moment for posterity. (Update: Thanks to a helpful post in the comments section, I was able to locate the shot — look here.)
Uni Watch News Ticker: Nice gesture last night by the Nationals, who acknowledged the shootings at Virginia Tech by wearing Hokie caps — or, more specifically, a variety of Hokies caps (much like the assorted first responder caps that the Mets wear annually on September 11th). The Nats actually wore their regular caps in the 1st inning before coming out in the Virginia Tech lids for the top of the 2nd, because the truck with the collegiate caps got stuck in traffic (details here). Additional pics here, here, here, here, here, and here, courtesy of Jason Reddish (who asked me to mention that he has a new blog). … Daniel Kinderman and Mike Toriello both report having received the following communiqué from USA Baseball: “In this survey, we will ask you to help U.S.A. Baseball select its uniform and headwear logo design. When considering the logos presented to you, please select the one you feel would best represent Team U.S.A. when they compete in national and international team competitions such as the World Baseball Classic and the Olympics.” Four options were given: the current design (Kinderman’s choice), and then this (Toriello’s choice), this, and this. Anyone else think these logo all look like postmarks? Not a decent cap in the bunch, either (and I swear to god, if anyone posts a comment about the flag sleeve patch being “backwards,” I’m gonna just blow up the site). … South Carolina just had their spring intrasquad game, which provided a look at their new Under Armour uniforms, and holy crap do they look awful (with thanks to Ronnie Poore). … The dates that the English Premier League teams will be unveiling their new kits are here (as provided by Dominic Litten). … Yesterday’s post about neckties led Scotty Johnson to point out that early pro bowlers also wore ties (an action shot would be better, though — anyone..?). … My old ESPN.com colleague Darren Rovell has done a small rundown of cool minor league baseball logos. … Andy Head was looking at some old Seattle sports photos and came up with this early baseball shot — note the beret-like caps. Nice early football shot, too. And another ballplayer wearing a tie! … William Blevins notes that Yankees emergency starter Chase Wright was wearing Sean Henn’s glove last night. … Not only does Felix Pie have the coolest baseball name in years, but he already had midseason-caliber pine tar on his helmet yesterday, even though it was his MLB debut (good catch by Bryan Redemske). … Another ballplayer wearing sunglasses at night: Hitoshi Tamura of the Softbank Hawks (as spotted by Jeremy Brahm). … Speaking of which, there’s an explanation for Morgan Ensberg’s night shades about halfway down this page. … Quasi-uni-related item: Vikings CB Cedric Griffin was arrested after a scuffle that began when he was ejected from a nightclub for wearing droopy pants. … Maybe someone should arrest Micah Owings, too. … Several of the Rangers were still wearing the Jackie Robinson helmet decal last night. … Very nice article here about the history and evolution of baseball gloves (with thanks to Billy Duss). … The Hawks may be getting new uniforms. … Reprinted from last night’s comments: Check out this old hockey ref photo. Yeah, he’s got a tie, just like the officials whose photos I linked to yesterday, but the most interesting thing is that he’s holding a bell in his left hand, because early hockey officials used bells, not whistles. … Hey is that where the term “bells and whistles” came from?
April 18th, 2007
In case you somehow missed it on E!, the big uni-related news yesterday was that Chad Johnson wore an “ocho cinco” nameplate during pregame warm-ups (that’s “eight five,” in case you don’t habla Español). He was reportedly told he’d be fined if he wore it during the game, so teammate Carson Palmer reached over shortly before kickoff and removed the nameplate — easy enough to do, since it was only affixed with Velcro — revealing the usual “C. Johnson” underneath.
The media, predictably, is treating this as a typical wide receiver “Look at me!” stunt, like Terrell Owens’s Sharpie or Joe Horn’s cell phone. But that’s not a good comparison, because those were essentially solo pranks, while Johnson needed help to pull this one off. Who made that nameplate for him? The fabric and typography appear to match the Bengals’ standard specs, so did Reebok make it? Did the equipment manager have it made? Did the team’s stitching vendor do it? And who put the Velcro around the edges of Johnson’s regular nameplate? Someone did some major aiding and abetting here, and I’d very much like to know who it was.
Also, if this is the NFL’s latest attempt to court the Hispanic audience, they’d better wise up regarding the proper numerical translations. Fortunately, reader Jeff Israel has provided a helpful tutorial.
Paging Messrs. Krevanchi and Mihalik: An interesting footwear query came in last night from Joaquin Jang, who quoted the following bit from Scott Ostler’s column in yesterday’s San Francisco Chronicle:
Jorgen Klinsmann is seen as the coach who could lead U.S. soccer out of the wilderness of mediocrity, and talks have begun. Insiders say one stumbling block is shoes. U.S. soccer is a Nike operation, and Klinsmann has strong ties to Adidas. Maybe Klinsmann could do what Darryl Dawkins did one game when he had overlapping contracts with two rival shoe companies. He wore one of each.
“Dawkins played before I began following the NBA,” says Jang, “so I’d never heard of him wearing two different shoes at the same time. Have you? Any photographic evidence of it?”
As many of you know, I’m not particularly sneaker-centric, so this was all news to me. I did some very quick photo research but the pics of Chocolate Thunder that I found all showed him wearing matched footwear. Also, it’s worth noting that several of the items in Ostler’s column are clearly meant to be jokes, and this might be one of them. Any sneaker-heads out there care to enlighten us?
Horn-Toot Dept.: The one-two punch of the Bill Buckner and Kenny Rogers stories has resulted in some nice media coverage for Uni Watch. Check out these testimonials from the Baltimore Sun, Newsday, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Showing off? Nope (well, okay, maybe a little) — I just wanted you all to see that more and more people are starting to Get It™, which is good news for those of us who already do. Also, reader input and contributions are a huge part of Uni Watch — I literally couldn’t do it without you folks — so feel free to take a share of the credit for those glowing reviews.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Really love your team’s colors? Home Depot will let you paint your house with them (tip o’ the cap to the always-colorful Mike from Queens). … Paul Stastny has changed his uniform number from 62 to 26. “62 was to honor his dad (in reverse, since Peter wore 26), but now he’s just going with the direct approach,” explains John Griebel. … “Technically, these qualify as a uniform change,” says Nicole Haase. Full details here. … Why doesn’t Chris Hovan just get it over with and wear a toga already? … Good stuff you may have missed from recent Comments sections: Nice article here about college football merit decals (with thanks to Jill Horn). … Tony LaRussa appears to have been wearing some sort of stick pin just under the “StL” logo on his undershirt. … Adam Vinatieri was wearing an undershirt with striped sleeves yesterday. Anyone know the brand? … John Muir notes that Vancouver goalie Robert Luongo’s alternate mask features the team’s old Johnny Canuck logo on the side. Full details on that seldom-seen logo here.
October 30th, 2006
It’s becoming increasingly clear that Tsuyoshi Shinjo is going to need his own wing in the Uni Watch Museum of Athletics Aesthetics. As we’ve already discussed over the past few months, his farewell tour in Japan has seen him wearing collared undershirts, checkered wristbands, and the opposing team’s uniform. But he really outdid himself in last week’s Japanese All-Star Game.
It started with the pre-game photo, where all the players wore their uniforms — except for Shinjo, who wore a flashy shirt and shades (that’s him in the back row, third from the right). Then, during the game, he wore red camouflage wristbands, a matching undershirt, special shoes, and — the real showstopper — an oversized belt buckle with a scrolling LED message, which read, “Never Mind Whatever I Do, Fan Is My Treasure” (here’s another view). He later gave the belt to a fan. For good measure, he also swung a swirl-painted bat. Here’s the full effect, and here’s a video of his first at-bat, where you can actually see the belt buckle message as it’s scrolling. There’s also a Shinjo highlight video here, and you can see his belt buckle scrolling as he makes a diving catch here.
Somewhat amazingly, Shinjo wasn’t the game’s biggest spectacle. That title goes to his Nippon Ham Fighters teammate Hichori Morimoto, who dressed up as the anime character Piccoro — just a bit bizarre, to say the least. There’s some video of him midway through this clip.
(Big thanks to Uni Watch Far East Correspondent Jeremy Brahm, who provided most of the above links.)
Help Wanted Received: Über-thanks to everyone who responded to yesterday’s call for help in tabulating all the “worst uniform ever” emails. Seriously, I was blown away by how many of you volunteered your services — just the latest proof that Uni Watch readers are the coolest.
The “lucky” intern turned out to be Mike Orr. I figured he’d do part of the job and then I’d hand off the project to someone else to pick up where he left off. But in a truly heroic effort, Orr spent most of yesterday slogging through all of the nearly 600 responses — many of which featured multiple nominations and lengthy diatribes — and broke them down into a neat, easy-to-follow document. The fruits of his labors will be featured either in next week’s ESPN.com column or in the column two weeks after that.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Good article here about Mike MacDougal’s cap problems. … Remember the Devil Ray with the giant “W” taped to his windbreaker? An explanation comes from Cork Gaines: “It was Jae Seo, and it appears that the ‘W’ was from some prankster teammates. Seo has yet to earn a ‘W’ with the Rays, and his teammates felt he deserved one.” Ouch. … Good story from Shawn Dzwonkowski, recalling a 1999 game in Milwaukee: “I had third-row seats behind the visiting team’s on-deck circle. While Ken Caminiti was on deck, he pulled his batting gloves out of his back pocket and, unbeknownst to him, the pocket was hanging out! Being an observant fellow, I pointed this out to my friends. We all gawked and snickered, and then one of my friends started shouting, “Hey, Caminiti, your pocket’s hanging out!” He continued shouting this several more times, and then Caminiti reached around, tucked his pocket back in, and kindly turned and thanked us.” Given what we now know about Caminiti, they’re lucky he didn’t fly into a ‘roid rage and brain them with his bat. … David Sonny asks, “Could Antione Winfield not ‘cage the snake,’ if you catch my drift?” … Bill Blevins notes that Akinori Otsuka has “JAPAN” printed on his glove. … More news about Bob Wickman’s plus-sized physique, courtesy of Patrick Lindsey: “When Wickman got traded to the Braves last week, the team was in Philly. The Braves didn’t have any uniforms in his size, so they had to call Majestic and have someone drive his uniform down to the ballpark from the factory, which luckily was in Bangor, Pennsylvania, which is only a short trip. As for the pants, he wore a spare pair of Chad Paronto’s.”
July 27th, 2006
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