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Posts filed under 'Typos/Glitches/Wrong Uni/Etc.'
By Phil Hecken, with Tim Brulia and Rick Pearson
It struck Ricko and me at about the same time. We were trading E-mails before the Denver Broncos played the San Diego Chargers in their throwbacks this past Monday, and exchanging some barbs about the uniforms as depicted on the 1960 AFL section of the Football Uniforms Past and Present website — that website is an invaluable tool, and the amount of incredible research that has gone into it cannot be undervalued — and Ricko asked me, “you don’t think the Broncos are gonna wear brown pants with white stripes, do you?” Now, I wasn’t born when the Broncos played that first season, but I did know they only had one pair of pants. Yet, on the 1960 section of FUPP, those pants are depicted as having white stripes (which would have made infinitely more sense, only it didn’t happen).
Then we looked more closely at some of the other uniforms — and Ricko informed me they were wrong too. In fact, it occurred to him (and it hit me at about the same time): “Did the NFL actually use the FUPP site to base a good number of their AFL throwback uniform upon?” Could they have been that lazy? Were they relying on a (very good, but not infallible) website to dictate the look of their throwbacks? Certainly, the Houston Oilers, who are depicted as having blue numbers and blue stripes on their socks (for their road uniform) — which is also wrong — could have been the NFL’s model. When the Titans came out wearing their road throwbacks, sure enough they were wrong. In fact, they really butchered the socks, (those are the home socks).
Anyway, this got us (and by us, I mean Ricko) to thinking … just how many of those 1960 uniforms depicted on FUPP were not correct? As it turns out — EVERY SINGLE ONE had something that is incorrect — some mistakes are minor, some are major — but every single one of them is incorrect. And that is a shame, because FUPP is such a great site, but really, accuracy is of paramount importance. As it turned out, the Broncos did wear the correct pants for their game, but many believed they screwed up. Had FUPP correctly depicted the gold pants stripes, perhaps no one would have even noticed. But the fact that many felt the Broncos were actually “wearing the wrong pants” speaks volumes about the importance of making sure the historical record is correct.
One of UW’s outstanding research historians, Tim Brulia, who has compiled two historical columns for the UW archives (”White At Home in the NFL” and “Pro Football Uniform History” — both of which can be found on the right hand side of the UW main page, under “Research Projects”), is actually planning on working with and expanding upon the efforts begun by the FUPP website. I will now turn the column over to Tim, who will explain a bit about that and more. Here’s Tim:
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“What is my stake in all of this? I am trying to extend the great work the FUPP site did when it was first launched. But in order for a site to have teeth, it must be accurate, as close to 100% accurate as possible. With a site like FUPP, every little nuance, and detail (colors, stripes, numeral fonts, patches, logos, etc.) has to be accurate.
“In my research, I have used the Proquest archives of the New York Times that are available online. When I was a member of the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), they made available the Proquest archives of the Washington Post, Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times. I utilize the Pennsylvania State Library in Harrisburg, PA and their vast microfilm collection of PA newspapers, including the Pittsburgh and Philadelphia papers. When I get a rare chance to make it to Washington, I also use the microfilm newspaper collection from the Library of Congress. As well as various historical football pictorial books. Not to mention various contributions from others along the way. I thank all the facilities and generous people for the help.
“Currently, I am working with a contributor who is doing the graphic work on the pre-1959 uniforms. The aim is to complete these sets of unis. From here, we hope to revise the corrections that need to be made that is currently shown on FUPP and bring the uni combos that have been worn since 2003 up to date. When will all of this see the light of day on a website? Frankly, it is too early to tell. But even after our dream becomes reality, our work will never be done. There will always be something that we missed or we need to fix.”
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Thanks Tim. I will now turn the remainder of this section over to Rick Pearson, who will explain the importance of “getting it right” when it comes to stuff like this. Through Ricko’s tireless efforts this past week, he has reworked every single AFL uniform template for the 1960 season. This has come about by using his personal recollections, the study of numerous photos and clippings from “The Ricko Files” and the experience of being a “uni watcher” from birth. I’m often impressed, usually wowed, suitably satiated, and never bored by what we as a Uni Watch community bring to the table. But what you’re about to read and see, which is the culmination of that lifetime of paying attention to the little things that really DO matter, is one of the most amazing efforts I have ever seen, and not just on UW. If he and Tim (and others) collaborating now and into the future produce results like those below, then the historical record will have found in Tim and Ricko an equal to Marc Okkonen.
And with that, here’s Ricko:
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I’d just turned 14, with six or seven years of serious uni watching (lower case) already under my belt. It was a black and white world, except for Sports Illustrated, SPORT magazine, baseball and football cards (the latter being almost worthless) and Preview Annuals. One NFL game a week on TV and only a half-hour weekly highlight show on Saturday mornings. So if you didn’t see it on Sunday, you pretty much weren’t gonna see it.
And then along game this new American Football League. Lots of ink, mostly about how stupid and lame-brained the idea was. Precious little detail. Hard to know who the players were, much less anything about team colors or unis. Such things were of little or no concern to most people. No “gamers” on sale anywhere. No fan hats. Nuthin’.
Anyway, here comes this loopy new league, with lots of new names and faces, and plenty of familiar old ones.
I parked myself in front of the TV every Sunday. Actually had one in my bedroom, a bit of novelty for a kid back then, and I watched the AFL, making sketches of their unis. What color were they? Well, that required something of a science in itself. Scarlet and royal look almost alike on b&w TV…unless they’re on the field at the same time. If you knew “A” was red, then you could figure “B” (although when together, royal generally did look a bit darker).
You needed to be around for the beginning of the telecast. That was the time, if ever, the announcers would “set the scene. “ Maybe half the time, though, they didn’t bother to describe the unis at all.
Gradually, I figured them out. Logic indicated the Oilers were in powder blue (though yellow gold was something of a possibility). Eventually, announcers confirmed the blue. The Titans certainly wore old gold pants. One announcer said they were in “maize and blue, like Michigan.” My ass, they were. Those pants were WAY too dark to be “maize” as Wolverines knew it. And so it went. And sometimes you’d guess. Educated guesses, but still guesses. And look for details. Is there a feathered edge on those stripes? Especially on socks. That could be a tough one. Not a ton of close-ups back then.
Wasn’t until maybe the third time I saw the Broncos that someone said they were in brown and gold. Until then, I was thinking maybe navy and gold. Or navy and the light orange we now call “Tennessee Orange.” I had reckoned the Patriots were in royal (not wanting to be the “Redcoats,” as many of you have mentioned) and that the Bills had chosen red and silver. Why not, it was a great look at Georgia at the time, and had served the 49ers well the season before. Then I learned it was just the opposite, probably when they played each other and I could compare the “grays”. Or when an announcer bothered to tell us what the hell the teams were wearing.
After a full season of carefully watching all or part of probably every ABC telecast, I had everything pretty much down. Then it was just a case of waiting until the end of the following summer to check preseason magazines (and hope for SOME quality in football cards) to check my findings … even though the magazines would all be black and white, too (it wasn’t until SI’s pro football preview in ’62 that I finally saw a color photo an AFL game).
And somewhere along the line it occurred to me that maybe no one else what recording the things I was recording … and that maybe someday it all would mean something to someone. Guess maybe now it finally does.
So that’s it. The photos I’ve supplied Phil all are from 1961 publications (unless noted), so they have to be 1960 games. Tough to find a camera that will photographs next year’s games.
And I have nothing but respect for FUPP. When I first saw the site, the mistakes irritated me. Then I came to realize they had taken on an outrageous task and very probably just hadn’t had the time to search for everything. I wish I’d know of them sooner, I’d have been glad to help.
What DOES irritate me is that it almost appears that the NFL simply went to FUPP for a lot of its input for the Legacy project. You like to think they’d have bothered to, oh, I dunno, look through their own photo files…or send someone to probe the local newspaper archives.
When Paul visited me a year ago, I kidded about being available to consult with the NFL on the AFL’s 1960 unis for the 50th celebration “for a reasonable fee.” We both laughed, and then he said, matter-of-factly, “They don’t care.”
He was right. The league doesn’t. The Broncos, though, put some extra effort into it. And whether we liked the ’60 duds or not, they got it right. All things considered, that’s exceptional. Also unusual, unfortunately.
~~~
Phil here. Before we return to Rick’s write up, I want to show you what Rick did to fix the FUPP 1960 AFL team graphics. So, here, for the first time, are all Eight Original AFL teams, properly rendered by color, stripe, helmet, etc. OUTSTANDING effort Rick! And here are each of those eight teams individually:
Boston Patriots … Buffalo Bills … Dallas Texans … Denver Broncos … New York Titans … Houston Oilers … Los Angeles Chargers … and Oakland Raiders.
Tremendous, tremendous job on those Rick. OK — I now return you to the sage uni watcher, Mr. Pearson, who has some notes on those templates:
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Notes on the Revised Templates:
1. Wide red band on Patriots socks.
Back then it took me a while to realize that was the top of the crew socks many of the Pats chose to wear. In some games, they wore crew socks that ended with a pair of red stripes, which totally garbled the leg striping.
2. Titans and Raiders helmets.
Raiders wore the same as the Bears at the time. Titans wore something different altogether. It might have been MacGregor, but I don’t remember any other teams wearing it (and I probably should have made theirs a darker blue, because they were). That blue-helmets-darker-than-blue-jerseys thing.
3. Raider numbers were same font as Oilers.
Most uni historians don’t get that right. They assume that Raiders were more like the Bears…probably because the uni was patterned after them.
4. Have not double-checked the specific versions of block numbers for teams that wore them.
Titans and Chargers are right, I believe. The others may well need adjusting.
5. Raiders gold.
You can see on my “Kids Cards” that I had the Raiders’ gold wrong. It had a bit of sheen to it, and I thought it was metallic old gold, like UCLA or Notre Dame. It wasn’t until I saw the 1962 cards (’61 Raider cards all were hand-tinted black & white PR photos and pretty useless) that I learned positively that it was yellow-gold.
6. One-year wonders.
Only Bills and Raiders were unchanged for second season.
In 1961…
* Titans went to white-added loop unis used for the Legacy games.
* Patriots changed loops to royal around white, and lost the white road socks. And, of course, the three-corner hat was gone.
* Chargers changed all bolts to yellow-gold edged in blue.
* Texans ditched white high road socks.
* Oilers changed to block numbers with no contrasting edge on numbers or sock stripes, either home or road.
*Broncos had no TV numbers on home jerseys.
~~~
Well, that’s it for the history lesson. All I can say is “WOW”. Outstanding effort Mr. Richard Pearson. It’s clear to me that the once and future FUPP website will be getting an outstanding resource in you, and when combined with Tim Brulia’s yeoman research and a quality graphic artist, we can look forward to an historical record that will rival that of Marc Okkonen. (And maybe even surpass it). Tip of the cap to you gentlemen, for this first salvo. I’m sure the project, when it finally does come to fruition, will be well worth the wait for those uni watchers (and non-uni watchers) who have been waiting for something like this since … well — forever.
What say YOU, Uni Watch community? How freakin’ great was this? Big round of applause for both Ricko and Timmy B!
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 UW #1 Seahawks Fan Michael Princip has been tracking the Oregon Ducks and all of their 2,456 possible uniform combinations this season. He’ll be updating it after each game. Oregon continued on its winning streak, remaining unbeaten in PAC-10 play and taking Washington behind the woodshed this week, with a 43-19 buttwhoopin’. Look for Oregon to move up from the 11-spot in the rankings and into to the Top 10. The Ducktracker is now updated.
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 Our man in the street, Jim Vilk brings you his “Top 5″ Best and one WORST college football uni matchup from yesterday:
5. USF/Pitt: Bulls are growing on me, while Pitt is a script away from being awesome-looking.
4. Indiana/Northwestern: A lack of Northwestern striping kept this from being rated higher.
3. Tennessee/Alabama: Oh, Bama…if you would have let the Vols wear orange you could have been #1.
2. Auburn/LSU: Tigers win this battle of the unis…
1. Iowa State/Nebraska: Cyclones blew me away with this look, while the Huskers remain classic.
And the worst one: Ball State/Eastern Michigan: A battle of winless teams in more ways than one.
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OK that’s all for today. Apologize for the lack of “extras” but needed to get this loaded early. Everyone have a great Sunday. Don’t forgot to nominate your Worst Uni Ever (see yesterday’s post for details). Two legacy games today, plus the ALCS resumes, following the rainout yesterday.
October 25th, 2009
Several Chicago Bears players apparently have a few issues with the Soldier Field turf. I confess that I’m not particularly sympathetic — a crummy field surface is kinda old-school, right? Still, it would be nice if the grounds crew could at least center the midfield logo on the 50-yard line, instead of the 45. (Thanks to Alan Borock for the photo.)
New ESPN column today — the annual NFL season preview, with lots of good stuff. Look here.
Raffle Results: The winner of the Jim Parker Memorial Helmet Raffle is Anthony Giaccone. Congrats to him, and thanks to all who entered.
Special Notice for NYCers with a Clue: As you may be aware, the band that made one of history’s most perfect records is playing at Southpaw this Saturday, and I happen to have two extra tickets that I’d be happy to sell at a discount. If you’re interested, please speak up.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod, it doesn’t get much better than this short 1953 movie about hockey. Stop whatever you’re doing now and watch it. No, not later — NOW. Well, except for Teebz, since he probably watched it in second grade (awesome find by Frank Mercogliano). … Anyone know why the base umps in Monday’s Bosox/Chisox game were wearing red caps? (As spotted by Steven Johnston.) … The Cowboys are color-coordinating their practice jerseys (with thanks to Stephen King). … Terrelle Pryor had a shout-out to Michael Vick on his eye-black the other day (with thanks to Chris Flinn). … A jersey snafu turned out to be very costly for a Chinese soccer team (with thanks to B. Cheng). … Justin Eller has put together a new site devoted to UVa football, including coverage of uniforms; programs, media guides, and other printed matter (I especially like some of the old ticket stubs); and tons of game photos, among other useful data. Nicely done. … The CFL’s Hamilton Tiger-Cats and Toromto Argonauts both wore throwbacks for the annual Labour Day Classic on Monday. “Of particular note is the fact that the Tiger-Cats accurately wore yellow throwback helmets,” writes Doug Brei. “This differed from their throwback-wannabe helmets during the CFL’s league-wide ‘Retro Week’ earlier in the season. The correct color is yellow, not black.” The Argonauts, meanwhile, dressed like so. … Nice little gallery of old Taylor University photos here (with thanks to Tim Lofton). … Whoa, looks like someone got a bargain (nice find by Ryan Perkins). … The Nets are finally first at something! Unfortunately — but not surprisingly — it’s something pretty douchebag-ish. … Relatively amusing assessment of NBA logos currently ongoing (with thanks to Robert Saietta). … In a related item, there’s a new sci-fi novel in which almost every planet in the galaxy has a corporate sponsor, which I’m sure Mark Cuban would be all in favor of. … Justice Sonia Sotomayor wore one of those white lace collar thingies for her first day of work at the Supreme Court, thereby maintaining the protocol of America’s two other female Justices. Further info, including a video report, here. … David Brown reports that the San Francisco Airport currently has a really nice exhibit on the Pacific Coast League. Although it’s out of focus, look at the beaver jumping through the program cover at the bottom of this shot. … Great shot of George Gervin’s old warm-up shirt (with thanks to Matt Mitchell). … Oooh, check out this awesome vintage Bengals sweater (click on the thumbnails for the full effect). … Kenn Tomasch nominates these guys as history’s worst-dressed chain gang, and it’s hard to disagree. That’s from a USFL game in 1984. … You know, I don’t even think it deserves to be called Shea. … Yesterday I mentioned that Mississippi Valley State was wearing a Steve McNair memorial decal. As several readers pointed out, all SWAC teams are wearing it. … New hoops uni for Washington State.
September 9th, 2009
I know, that screen shot looks like it’s from a video game, but it’s actually Carlos Peña from last night’s home run derby, where his Rays logo sleeve patch was upside-down (it’s supposed to look like this). Peña’s BP pitcher had an inverted patch as well, as you can see here.
Me, I didn’t see any of it cuz I was off at Keyspan Park watching Wilco and Yo La Tengo (whose frontman, Ira Kaplan, wore a Mr. Met T-shirt and lobbed a bunch of baseballs into the crowd because, as he put it, “That’s why you come to a baseball stadium, to get a foul ball, right?”).
Thanks to Tim Graham, Kevin “Lunchbox” Monahan, Greg Riffenburgh, and Tim Burke for their eagles eyes and screen shots. Thanks also to Phil, who notes that the A.L. and N.L. caps bore at least superficial resemblances to certain past and present team logos.
New ESPN column today, revisiting a topic we first debated here last fall, but now with some new information added to the mix. Look here.
Raffle Reminder: Today’s the last day for the Man City soccer jersey raffle. Details here.
Uni Watch News Ticker: “Strange things going on with Michael Owen at Monday’s Manchester United training,” writes Mike Orr. “Articles have him taking on the coveted No. 7 shirt for United (previously worn by the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, David Beckham and George Best). But in two separate photos today he appears to have a 15 and 19 training shirt on. No clue what’s up with all that.” … Lots of good stuff in this 1984 All-Star Game slideshow. … Lots of CFL retro action in store for the Calgary Stampeders, Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and B.C. Lions (with thanks to Richard Musterer). … “I had one of the weirdest uni experiences while watching the U.S. military all stars,” writes Paul Friedlander. “They had camo pants, brown jerseys, and camo helmets. Some of them wore camo hats, others wore brown. To make it even weirder, they had a couple of ‘Latin Stars’ playing with them wearing red jerseys and gray pants. But the craziest part was the back: the NOBs were important names linked to their uni numbers.” Bizarre, right? Additional examples here, here, and here. … HHH has added more designs to his collection of city flag jerseys. … Super-cool Michigan hockey jersey, circa 1947 (with thanks to Tom Wilcox). … Luis Castillo had a piece of gum on the back of his batting helmet on Sunday. Additional views here. … Jim Ransdell found a notebook where he’d designed some modern NBA logo concepts back when he was in high school, over 20 years ago. … Chris Cooley has some thoughts about the NFL’s uni rules. Scroll down to No. 3 on the “Ten Things I Think I Think” list on this page (with thanks to Jake Reed). … Steve Mandich has updated his collection of All-Star Game ballots.
July 14th, 2009
OK, things have now officially gotten so weird that the question needs to be asked: Is there someone at Majestic who’s pissed off because his wife had an affair with a Nationals player? Or with a Nationals executive? Or maybe just with a random person in DC?
That’s about the only plausible explanation after the latest (but almost certainly not final!) episode of “Spot the Nats Uni Faux Pas™!” While you were driving home from your annual Mothers Day fiasco and wondering if it might be possible to rent yourself a new family between now and Fathers Day (forget it, you had put down your deposit months ago), Nats reliever Ron Villone was taking the hill in the bottom of the 6th with both of his front uni numerals flapping in the breeze. The 4 achieved an impressive angle of declination, and the 1 created a nice profile effect. Look, you can even see the torn stitches!
The last time I recall something like this happening on an MLB diamond was on 4/10/05, when Miguel Tejada’s “1″ came loose (he ended up removing it completely and played the rest of the game as No. 0). But Tejada’s situation was understandable, because he had just come out of a head-first slide. Villone, on the other hand, had just come out of, uh, the visitors’ bullpen in Arizona.
In case you’ve lost track, Villone is at least the fifth Washington player this season to wear a jersey that was less than shipshape. The others — or at least the others we know of — are Mike Hinckley (upside-down 8), Wil Ledezma (upside-down N), Ryan Zimmerman (misspelled team name), and Adam Dunn (misspelled team name). And this has all happened in the course of just 29 games. At this pace, there’s enough time left in the season for every player on Washington’s 25-man roster to have his own uni glitch — plus a couple of September call-ups!
It can’t just be a coincidence that all these mishaps are befalling the same team, right? All you Majestic folks out there, I know you’re reading this. Anyone care to take the Deep Throat role on this one? C’mon, somebody spill already — I promise to safeguard your anonymity (unless your name is Dick Hertz or something like that, since everyone’ll think that’s a pseudonym anyway).
As for Villone, he needed only three pitches to put out the fire in the 6th inning, and another Washington pitcher took over in the 7th, so we’ll never know whether Villone would have gone back out there with his dangling numerals. And it turns out that the problem had begun to manifest itself the night before, when his 1 was beginning to come loose.
In any case, let’s give Villone credit for some preternatural self-control. How did he resist the urge to rip the numbers off his jersey right there on the mound? I don’t know about you, but my policy when confronted with anything that’s loose and already partially detached — a thread, a button, a clothing tag, a bit of peeling paint, a tuft of cat fur, a Band-Aid, a hangnail, a cuticle, a tooth, a scab, a limb — is that it must be torn free as swiftly and cleanly as possible, am I right? Yet Villone somehow resisted this compulsion. Either he didn’t realize the numbers were coming loose or else he’s a cyborg.
Meanwhile, here’s another question worth asking: Maybe the Nats’ equipment manager should wake up already? Just a thought.
(Special thanks to readers Jeff Christ and Ryan Tominac, who brought this one to my attention within seconds of each other.)
Extracurricular Update: Just about every free moment I have this week (and probably some not-so-free moments as well) will be devoted to finalizing and installing the Candela Structures exhibit, which opens this Saturday at the City Reliquary. Kirsten and I have been working on this for eight months, and now we’re in “all Candela, all the time” mode (read: a frantic blur). The good news is that I’m pretty happy with how the show has come together; the bad news is that things are going to be so crazy that I’ll probably have to call at least one snow day for the site this week. Apologies in advance for the withdrawal symptoms.
The exhibit has already gotten some coverage on Gothamist, and we expect more media attention this week, including an article in Friday’s New York Times.
For those who are planning to attend the opening reception/party on Saturday evening: Festivities commence at 7pm, but the Reliquary will be open all day. So, if you actually care about seeing the exhibit (as opposed to drinking, mingling, showing off your “I’m Calling It Shea” shirt, etc.), I suggest that you arrive by 6pm, because the exhibit room will be so crowded during the party that you probably won’t be able to take in all the material. There’s really good barbecue half a block away at Fette Sau, so come by in the late afternoon to check out the exhibit, then grab some ’cue, and then come back to the Reliquary for the party (and maybe bring me a present from Fette Sau, hint-hint).
For those who can’t make it on Saturday, the show will be on view at the Reliquary for weekends at least through the end of June. We’ll also be making most of the exhibit’s content available on our Candela web site, so you out-of-towners (and lazy NYCers) will have a chance to see what all the fuss is about.
Meanwhile…: As some of you may be aware, the site’s third birthday is this Sunday. In the past, I’ve always had some sort of announcement to commemorate this date — the advent of the membership program, the unveiling of a new T-shirt design, etc. — but I’ve been so busy with the Candela project and a family crisis that I haven’t been able to plan anything for the site’s anniversary this year. Sorry about that. But I’m definitely proud of what we’ve all accomplished over the past three years, and I hope to be able to mark the occasion when my life’s a bit less hectic.
Speaking of which, there’s another important milestone fast approaching: The 10th anniversary of the very first Uni Watch column is on May 26th. If things work out, Johnny Ek and I may have a special announcement regarding the site that day. Or it might not be ready by then. For now, let’s just say we’ve got something cooking.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Whoa, look at this: My “Outmania” line has been co-opted! The screen grab comes courtesy of John Grow, who spotted it during Friday’s A’s/Jays pregame show (Outman pitched that night’s game). “They didn’t talk about his stirrups, just his pitching,” says John. “No one on the pregame show even said ‘Outmania’ or anything like that. It was just on that ‘Coming up next’ teaser.” … Meanwhile, Outman’s hose have gotten some attention in the local paper. … I’m pretty sure I won something really special here. Details to follow once I receive the item. … Check out Brian McCann’s new look. Details here. … Big thanks to Greg Riffenburgh for pointing out that Cleveland pitcher Jeremy Sowers deserves a spot on Uni Watch’s all-hosiery team. How come nobody brought him to my attention until now? … Soccer note from Ryan McDevitt, who writes: “World-class head case Adriano, having retired for 12 days (just long enough to persuade his club, Inter Milan, to tear up his contract), was just (inevitably) unveiled as a Flamengo player, his hometown club in Rio. In addition to the iconic red and black stripes of the Flamengo jersey, check out the personalized logos on the wall behind him: ‘Imperador do Rio: Adriano’ = ‘Adriano, Emperor of Rio,’ and ‘Voltei para vencer’ = ‘returns to conquer.’ Has there ever been a more narcissistic personal logo for a player? Also, note the tattoo of his own given name on his forearm. Winner.” … Vince has an interesting question about the Jake: “The left foul pole is now sponsored by Walgreens, with the letters running vertically about half the way up. But the W and the A stick out a little bit into foul territory — no more than a couple of inches, but still. What happens if a homer hits that part of the letter? Fair or foul?” … All-time classic contribution from Roger Faso, who writes: “The other day I was at a restaurant that had an aquarium. The shrimp in the aquarium looked like little 49ers pants. They were even color-correct. I pointed it out to my wife and her response was along the lines of, ‘That’s just super, Roger. We’re being seated right now. Would you like to join the adults for lunch?’ Later on, as I was gazing into the distance, my wife said, ‘You’re still thinking about those shrimp, aren’t you?’ It was a quintessential uni-watching moment.” … This guy apparently designed the Broncos’ current logo, along with tons of other stuff (with thanks to Justin Brownlee). … Follow-up on the topic of the Orioles’ solid-orange uniforms from the early 1970s: We had previously established that they’d been worn on 9/16/71 and 4/17/72, and now Hall of Fame curator Tom Shieber reports that the 5/15/72 edition of The Chicago Tribune included the following passage, referring to the Chisox/O’s game of the previous day: “By the time [White Sox pitcher Tom] Bradley was thru taming them, the Orioles were wearing red faces to go with their fetching new burnt-orange uniforms. ‘With that getup, they should be managed by Bob Lemon,’ somebody noted while shielding his eyes from the glage of the visitors’ loud threads. ‘I wonder how they made out in the Grapefruit League?’” … Lance Smith notes that the Life archives now feature a bunch of shots from the 1953 Tour de France. … Speaking of the Life archives, Friday’s comments featured some AMAZING shots of the West Virginia football team wearing some pants that look rather clownish from the back and really unfortunate from the front. … Jim Moran has designed a cool Mark Price tee. … “This is Norfolk (Va.) Academy lacrosse defenseman Bradley Johnson honoring his late grandfather during Friday’s Tidewater Conference tournament final,” says Tris Wykes. … New wordmark for the Penguins. … You call that an arch?! … Hey, who needs Mannywood anyway? (With thanks to Kevin Mann.) … “Those aren’t Seals uniforms,” says Roger Faso. “And that ain’t 1956.” Hmmmmm. … Cool sox, cooler tat. … Hey look, Cornell football players wear their jerseys while conducting their annual fund-raising cop ambush car wash (with thanks to Tris Wykes). … “This is Kyle Peter, an outfielder for the Lakeland Flying Tigers, the Tigers’ single-A affiliate,” writes Wayne Koehler. “As you can clearly see, he’s wearing Rick Porcello’s jersey from last season. Porcello is now with the big club.” … Evan Stewart notes that the Brown lacrosse helmets have TV numbers on one side and the Brown logo on the other. “I can’t think of any other college team that has two different logos on their helmets,” he writes. “I also couldn’t think of any other college that uses their crest on their athletic uniforms.” That last bit sounds a bit counterintuitive — is that really true? … Joe Nathan apparently uses this glove to shag flies (with thanks to Chris Flinn). … Nick Cristiano notes that Jeff Feagles, who started with the Giants wearing No. 10 before switching to 17 and then 18, is back to 17. “Rookie Hakeem Nicks now has 18, and of course 17 became available again when Plaxico was cut,” he says. I’m checking to see if Feagles exacted a price from Nicks, as he did from Eli and Plaxico for their numbers. … Mark Jacobson reports that Brandon Prideaux of the Chicago Fire had his American flag sleeve patch upside-down on Saturday. … Charlie Shields was attending the Arkansas high school baseball tourney on Saturday and noticed that Valley View High has put an interesting spin on the Brewers’ old ball/glove logo. … Nick Whitford says the Broncos used two similar but distinct helmet logos prior to the Nike redesign — one from 1968-92, and one from 1993-96. Details in this discussion board thread. … Karl Vierthaler points out that one of the Brewers’ ballboys is wearing a jersey with the team’s 2002 All-Star Game patch. It’s not clear whether the ballboy has been there that long or if the team is really into recycling. … Some info on Mother’s Day footwear here. As for all the rest of the pink sweatbands, bats, ribbons, etc., there was too much of it to keep track of, so I won’t even try. … Roy McMillan was 35 when this photo was taken. Did he already look like an old man or what? … “I work at the Red Sox team store across from Fenway,” writes Michael Caldwell. “Yesterday I was going through old clearance items in a back room of the store’s warehouse and came across this little gem. It was the only one I could find, so who knows how many were made! I wonder if it was meant to be worn as a sleeve patch the following season?” … Bryan Justman’s latest DIY project: a Hartford Whalers jersey. … Have I mentioned that I love Milwaukee? … Interesting place for a condom ad (”Not that there’s anything wrong with that,” says Jason Bernard). … “My son had a tournament over the weekend,” writes Patrick Chippeax. “While we were ’scouting’ other teams we came across this. No other picture, and the only info I have is that they were called the Hustlers. Draw your own conclusions.” … I realize purple is a Washington Huskies team color, but is it really necessary for them to have a purple warning track? (As forwarded by Steve Mandich.) … Hey, this poster is pretty cool! Who knew they played football in Poland? “The league started in ’06 with four teams,” explains Stan Olechowski. “In ’09 they’ll have 22 teams in two divisions. The level of play is pretty bad, but it’s cool to see my fellow Polacks playing football.” … Good to see that Steve Dewing’s amazing baseball photo site, which had been largely dormant for about six weeks, is once again posting new photos daily.
May 11th, 2009
Man, what does Majestic have against the Nationals? In the team’s latest uni snafu that can be traced back to the outfitter’s factory, Mike Hinckley’s 8 was upside-down last night (note how the beveling is on the wrong side). Kudos to reader Jason Shaffer for being today’s winning contestant on “Spot the Nats’ Uni Faux Pas™!”
And that’s all for today, cuz I have a bunch of other stuff I need to deal with. No content, no comments, no foolin’ — sorry. Back tomorrow with some really good stuff, promise. — Paul
April 28th, 2009
Paul here. Phil had something special planned for today, but it’ll have to wait, because there was a uni snafu for the ages last night in DC.
Actually, it was two snafus, because two Nats players — Adam Dunn and Ryan Zimmerman — both had “Natinals” (note the missing “o”) on their jerseys.
Now, jersey typos are nothing new (I chronicled lots of them in an ESPN column a while back). But to my knowledge, this is the first time two players on the same team have sported typos in the same game, which surely qualifies as an unprecedented level of uni-ineptitude.
For those keeping score at home, the Nats are clearly leading the league in uniform miscues. On Monday, they sent Wilfredo Ledezma out on the field with an upside-down “N”; on Friday, they wore those blue clown suits with red helmets and sleeves; and now this. Good thing the team in our nation’s natin’s capital plays such solid ball on the field to make up for — uh, wait, never mind.
Both players switched to properly spelled jerseys during the game, but by then it was too late. The TV guys talked about it, two different Washington Post writers blogged about it, and it was even mentioned in wire service photo captions. Anyone know if it got the SportsCenter treatment?
I’ve already heard people saying things like, “Their seamstress should be fired.” But a team’s local stitcher doesn’t put the team insignia on the jersey — that’s Majestic’s job. Yo, Majestic people, I know a bunch of you read this site. So once you all stop shitting bricks and back-dating the paperwork to make it look like you didn’t work on the Nats’ jerseys, could someone please let me know how this could have happened? (Update: There’s a semi-explanation in the last three grafs of this item, but it still doesn’t explain how these jerseys got through Majestic’s quality-control process, or how the entire Nats team — including the clubhouse staff and Dunn and Zimmerman themselves — didn’t spot the problem.)
The best explanation comes from reader Cary O’Reilly, who writes: “When you consider that so many of Washington’s players and team personnel used to be with the Cincinnati Reds, it makes perfect sense — they’re the ’Nati-nals!”
The saddest part about this fiasco is that it overshadowed what should have been the uni story of the night: Josh Outman’s second start of the season. You’ll find a gallery of his magnificent stirrup stylings here.
(Big thanks to all who contributed pics and info from the Nats game, including David Raglin, Matt Kernan, Andrew Stebbins, Ari Cohen, Chad Dotson, David McGee, Bryan Mullican, Daniel Steinberg, Paul Soto, and of course Phil.)
Special Saturday Ticker: Big thanks to Tyler Kepner for writing about “I’m Calling It Shea” on his New York Times blog. … Major, major douchebaggery story out of Cleveland, where the City Stars (a USL soccer team) will be playing in Bedford High School’s Bearcat Stadium — except that it will be called Middlefield Cheese Stadium during City Stars matches. The good news is that Middlefield Cheese is a local operation, not a giant corporate monolith, but this is still completely ridiculous, especially at a high school facility, which should be as advertising-free as possible (with thanks to Chuck Nolan Jr.). … Dwayne White recently checked out the Ted Williams Museum at at the Trop and got shots of Teddy Ballgame wearing an unfamiliar uni number and an autographed baseball with an interesting history). … Did you know that members of two political groups in Thailand broadbast their affiliations by wearing red and yellow shirts? Fascinating. … Here are the track uniforms that the Japanese team will be wearing at the 2009 IAAF World Championships in Berlin (with thanks to, of course, Jeremy Brahm). … Most of you probably know that there used to be a minor league team called the Atlanta Crackers (not to mention a Negro League team called the Atlanta Black Crackers — one of my favorite team names ever). But check this out: Here’s reader Wallace Baine as a 1972 Little Leaguer. … Nick Adenhart wasn’t the only one who died in that car crash. The Mira Costa High School baseball team has added a memorial patch for 2002 grad Henry Pearson, who was in the car with Adenhart (with thanks to Matt Shevin). … Genius move by Brandon Yarian, who got this screen shot from the webcast of Friday’s Tribe/Yanks game. Five different team logos on the screen at one time! … Really interesting find by photo historian Dave Eskenazi: a cap that’s blank except for a letter on the brim. Never seen that before. The player is Charles Burke of the 1922 Vernon Tigers. … UCLA spring football news from Erkki Corpuz, who writes: “After an injury to senior TE Logan Paulsen, the coaching staff decided to switch OT Nate Chandler to TE, requiring him to change jersey numbers from 68 to 44. Now there’s a bit of confusion on the field, since the offense has two players wearing 44: Chandler and senior WR Alex Pearlstone. From the looks of Pearstone’s shorts, he might be the one asked to change his number when the real season starts.” … Excellent early-1980s softball stirrups here (with thanks to Jason A. Tirotta). … The Orioles’ solid-orange uni lives on — as a bobblehead (great find by Zevi Lowenberg). … Well, it’s good to know someone gets to wear the Mets’ blue cap and pinstriped jersey. That’s the new Archbishop of New York, Timothy Dolan. Anyone know why they gave him No. 10? … Kenny Crookston found this LP in a thrift shop. Note the logo patch. … Some guy attending yesterday’s Cubs/Cards game was wearing a collared dress shirt with a 1970s Cubs road jersey treatment, complete with a uni number on the back (as spotted by Tim Donovan). … “Last year for Christmas, I scanned my family’s slide collection,” says Barry Badrinath. “One picture, taken either in late 1986 or early ’87, shows of my brother’s old friends in a crazy striped Eagles hat. A buddy of mine thinks the hat was originally a giveaway at local MAB pain stores. I can’t confirm that, but it looks like there’s a sponsor’s logo on the left side of the hat.” … “I was at the Mets game on Wednesday,” says Thomas Carter. “The security staff for Citi Field are dressed in maroon. Many fans asked, ‘Why would they dress security in Phillies colors?’” … The TD Bankworth Garden in Boston is getting a shorter name (with thanks to John Muir).
April 18th, 2009
Let’s say you’re a high school basketball team and you show up for tournament game at a neutral site. Just one problem: You’ve brought along your home whites, but it turns out you’re actually the designated road team, so your opponent is dressed in white as well. You can’t borrow a set of road or practice uniforms from your opponent, because you’re at a neutral site — they don’t have access to any of their other gear. What to do?
That was the dilemma facing Terry Sanford High, a North Carolina school, on Saturday. They decided to borrow road uniforms from a nearby school, J.H. Rose High, which was just a few miles away. The weird thing is, they borrowed Rose’s jerseys but kept their white shorts, creating a very odd mismatched uniform set. It made for a really odd-looking game. (There’s a ton of additional photos here.)
According to this story, three of the Sanford players managed to get jerseys with their usual uni numbers; the rest were wearing new numbers. Good thing the borrowed jerseys were NNOB, or things would’ve been even more confusing at the scorer’s table.
I’m intrigued by the borrowed Rose jerseys, because Carolina blue and kelly green isn’t a color combo you see very often. I’m a big fan of each color individually, but I don’t think I like them together. What do you folks think?
(Thanks to Gerry Dincher for bringing this story to my attention.)
Uni Watch News Ticker: Check out this gorgeous 1958 photo of Pele. The sash says that Santos, his team in Brazil, was the 1958 Sao Paulo State Champion (great find by Jeremy Brahm). … Eagle-eyed Mike Page notes that Terrell Owens was holding a Tagliabue-signed football during his press conference the other day. “Then again, the Bills’ greatest successes came with that type of ball, so maybe that’s all they keep around,” he says. … Stephen Jennings saw a Little League game over the weekend in which several players were wearing gold stirrups over black sanitaries. … Although the Rangers have scrapped their two-tone batting helmet, I’m told that it appears in the MLB 09 The Show video game. Can anyone get some screen shots? … Absolutely spectacular old basketball uniform available here. … Yesterday I mentioned that I was unfamiliar with the term “basketball target socks,” as seen at bottom-right here. Terry Proctor quickly filled me in (and took me to task): “Paulie, you disappoint me. Back in the heyday of basketball, when teams ran real pattern offenses they would have the ’star’ wear the shortie stirrups with the thought that they would be easier for his teammates to spot on the floor. He was the ‘target.’ Hence the name.” Interesting concept, but it also seems like borderline cheating — it’s basically having one guy dress differently than the rest of the team, which goes against the whole point of a uniform. … Always fun to see a rare shot of the Phillies’ alternate blue helmets (with thanks to Mike Engle). … The Detroit News recently held a contest to design a new logo for the Detroit Lions. Here’s a gallery of submissions, and this is what they chose as the winner, although I much prefer this one (with thanks to Craig Barker). … Tyree Evans of Kent State wore argyle socks against Akron on Sunday (good spot by Nicholas Popczun). … The U. of Minnesota’s hockey equipment manager is retiring (with thanks to Steve Christopher). … Here’s a really good shot showing how the Lakers’ shorts and jerseys didn’t match (with thanks to Alex Putelo). … Interesting batch of Russian hockey cards here (with thanks to Jerime Wargo). … It’s tough to see, but Michigan State appears to have a sublimated rear-jersey pattern, much like Duke. And three more schools will get a similar treatment for the NCAA tourney. Details here. … Whatever that little sticker is on Johan Santana’s brim, Phil notes that it was there at least as early as March 1st, and as recently as yesterday. … “The New Zealand Warriors rugby league team (note it’s a different sport than rugby) will be wearing a memorial patch for a fallen teammate this season,” reports Hadyn Green. … The 8th Annual New England Game-Worn Hockey Jerseys Expo will take place in Marlborough, Mass., on March 21st (with thanks to Mike Hersh). … Kudos to Brenham High School in Texas, whose high-cuffed baseball team wears northewestern-striped green socks (all photos courtesy of Yvonne Tomlinson). … John Philips transcribed a key juncture from NBC’s broadcast of the 1972 Opening Day game between the Mets and Padres. During the top of the 3rd, color analyst Sandy Koufax had this to say about the Mets’ change from flannels to polyester: “This year I think the Mets have new uniforms also. Teams like the Pirates, you can see that they’re new. They’re the double-knits. But the Mets got, not a different-appearing uniform, but evidently a different-feeling uniform. They’ve gone to the double-knit uniforms and all of the players have said that it’s the best feeling uniform they’ve ever worn. And I think that the new freedom of the double-knit has to make the players feel a lot better.” A second later, play-by-play man Jim Simpson noted that the Mets were wearing a memorial armband for Gil Hodges. … Not sure I see the point of the small caps here. Shouldn’t it be all caps, with proper spaces between all three elements? (Photo taken by Ed Ra.) … Here’s another school that uses a north/south center-ice logo: Oswego State (with thanks to Fab Panelli). … John Okray notes that Karim Garcia, who’s playing for Mexico in the WBC, is wearing a bracelet — or maybe a series of bracelets — on his right wrist. “The announcers talked about it a little bit, calling it a ’superstitious thing.’” Anyone know if this is a new thing for Garcia, or if he’s been doing it during his recent stints playing in Japan and Korea? … No matter how many times I see this, it still looks ridiculous. … Brian Hughes reports that General Mills is apparently running a throwback cereal box campaign. … This chart appears on page 14 of the current issue of Newsweek. Guess they didn’t get the memo about the new NFL logo (with thanks to Nick Ruggeri).
March 10th, 2009
The Bucs had a big halftime tribute to Mike Alstott last night. As is frequently the case in the NFL, they didn’t officially retire his number, although they certainly made sure everyone knew what that number was. Anyway, amidst all the fuss and fiddledeedee, they apparently neglected a bit of quality control regarding Alstott’s nameplate.
Or did they? Reader Brandon Creeger posted this in last night’s comments: “The orange jersey is from his rookie year (1996). For his first two home games, his jersey was misspelled. [So the typo in the retired jersey] was intentional. It was the first jersey he ever wore in the NFL.” That story appears to be confirmed here. I’d never been aware of that typo.
In other uni-related news from the weekend:
• Pink uni elements to support breast cancer research are nothing new, but New Mexico State took things to a new extreme on Saturday, replacing their regular helmet decal with a pink ribbongloves too, although that seems like an afterthought compared to the helmets. (Thanks to Sam Wasson for the pics.)
• The Bears did their annual Tang-fest thing yesterday. Lots of additional pics here.
• The Rams wore white at home, presumably to force Dallas into wearing their bad luck blues.
• Speaking of the Cowboys: Most of the attention regarding Dallas QB fingers was focused on Romo’s wittle boo-boo pinky, but check out the tape on Brad Johnson’s fingers. Never seen that on a QB before. Anyone know what that might be for?
• And Matt Garza was wearing earplugs in the 1st inning last night — unusual for a home starter. He took them out for the rest of the game. (Screen grab courtesy of L.I. Phil.)
Raffle Reminder: I’m currently raffling of an Ernie Davis throwback Syracuse helmet from Helmet Hut, just like the ones used in The Express. For details, look here.
Uni Watch News Ticker: I was looking through some old files and came across something I’d written back in 2000: a review of a basketball-themed cereal. I’d completely forgotten about this, but it holds up pretty well as quasi-Uni Watch material. … Lots of photos of Shea Stadium’s dismantling (plus an old article that I hadn’t seen until now) here (courtesy of Stan Olechowski), and there’s a video report here. … And wait, still more Shea demolition pics here. … John Muir notes that the “C” on Roberto Luongo’s mask has changed from blue to white, plus his backplate features a Luc Bourdon memorial decal, much like the ones the rest of the Canucks are wearing. … Great video clip here about the woman who sews the World Series patches on the Phillies’ jerseys. … The Coyotes’ alternate jersey has been leaked. … Some Washington Nats uni gossip here (with thanks to David McGee). … Interesting piece here about making hockey helmets more team-centric, much like in football (with thanks to K.C. Kless). … “You know you’re a Uni Watch addict when you notice a Pedro porthole on Seinfeld,” writes Chris Markham. … Reprinted from Saturday’s comments: Great Rhode Island Reds patch here (good find by Ricko). … Lots going on in this Montclair High School football photo. The “44″ is for a teammate who died a few days ago; not sure if any of the other decals are also memorial-related, or if they’re merit decals; and note the SNOB (school name on back). … Jen Muller reports that Bobby Abreu did the ceremonial “first kick” at a Red Bulls game on Saturday and wore a Red Bulls jesey for the occasion. … Justin Jarvis of Boston College has an eagle logo shaved into his head (with thanks to Dan Snider). … Attention Teebz: The inside story behind the Islanders’ fisherman logo is here, courtesy of a blogger who used to be the team’s PR rep.
October 20th, 2008
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