While you were doing something comparatively productive with your life (like, say, taking a nap, or scratching your ass), readers Joshua Brisco and Aaron McHargue were actually paying attention to the Pro Bowl. When you’ve stopped laughing, take a look at some of the things they noticed:

• Tony Romo’s sleeves were flaring outward a bit. Why? Because he slit them at the armpits.

• Vince Young’s skullcap featured the old NFL logo.

• DeSean Jackson was doing the one eye black thing (which he apparently used to do back in college.

So there you have it: proof positive that wasting three-plus hours of your life can result in some marginally interesting material. But that’s nothing compared to what Jared Pike did: He attended the Pro Bowl! I didn’t have the heart to ask if he actually paid for the tickets, especially since he sent some interesting photos:

• “I had a blast uni-watching at the NFL Experience before the game,” says Jared. “This kid was at the ‘Kick a field goal’ booth. The tape was covering a Chad Pennington NOB.” That has to be one of the best fan modifications ever.

• “There were plenty of loyal (and accurate) Miami Dolphins fans in attendance, but a FNOB Dan Marino? Seriously? To distinguish him from the other Marinos?”

• “The Bethune Cookman College marching band, otherwise very good, spoiled their halftime show by forming a Michael Jackson figure grabbing his crotch.”

• “I know this will be your favorite: The gentleman in front of us had a Miami Dolphins yarmulke.”

Major thanks to Joshua, Aaron, and Jared for their valuable public service. I look forward to their extensive Olympic biathlon coverage.

Coming tomorrow: Some major uni-historical breakthroughs. Seriously.

ESPN reminder: In case you missed it, my ESPN column about my recent trip to the Twin Cities is available here, and I don’t mind saying I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out. Enjoy.

Uni Watch News Ticker: As you may have heard by now, CBS has nixed a Super Bowl ad that showed a guy in a Packers jersey and a guy in a Vikings jersey making out. … What’s with the super-high uni number? It’s a guy from a radio station WSAI, which is 1360 on the AM dial (with thanks to Paul Wiederecht). … Mako Mameli sent along a bunch of screen shots from the 1991 AFC Championship Game, including Mark Kelso wearing the ProCap, a McNOB, the Bills’ kickoff specialist wearing two different brands of white shoes, Torin Dorn with two pairs of gloves, and some inconsistent NOB action. Coupla other things regarding that last link: First, for the image on the left, note that there’s no space between the period and “Davis.” And for the image on the left, note the large-ish American flag decal for Desert Storm — bigger than the ones used nowadays. Frankly, I thought the Desert Storm flags had been added for Super Bowl XXV and didn’t realize they were already in place during the playoffs. Anyone know if they had been added prior to the conference championship weekend? … New uniforms and logos for the single-A Wilmington Blue Rocks — including some totally bitchin’ striped stirrups (with thanks to Chris Ray). … Speaking of striped socks, how long has the Michigan State hoops team been wearing these vertically striped hose? (As noted by Nicklas Lane.) … Nice throwback for Xavier last Thursday (with thanks to Kevin Hastings). … Rob Perkey has found another catcher who wears his helmet brim facing forward: Robinzon Diaz. … New uniform set for the Chiba Lotte Marines (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … Also from Jeremy: Here’s the logo for spring training games that the Dodgers will be playing in Taiwan. … If you go to the Life photo archives and search on the term “football dummies,” you get some pretty bizarre images. “Many of the dummies are listed as having been made by Marty Gilman of Gilman, Connecticut,” notes Lance Smith. “A quick Google search shows there’s still a firm called Gilman Gear that makes athletic equipment.” They’ll be getting a call from me shortly. … One of the best things about the NFC Championship Game was the big Sir Saint backdrops behind the goalposts at the Superdome. And now they’ve put Sir Saint on a cap. But jeez, ya think that NFL logo on the back is big enough? (With thanks to Terence Kearns.) … Love the little mascot uniform in this 1896 baseball team portrait (great find by Craig McGlone). … Good article about English Premier League sleeve badges here (with thanks to Timothy O’Malley). … Love the Sears sign in this 1953 photo. But what’s that Coke sign at left say? “Home of Atlanta Crackers” — that’s Ponce de Leon Park in Atlanta, where the Crackers and Black Crackers both played. Those photos are from the excellent Atlanta Time Machine site, which was pointed out to me by Blair Thompson. … Latest league to rip off Jerry Dior’s MLB logo concept: the Women’s National Volleyball Association (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). … Washington Huskies wore some BFBS alternates on Saturday. … Paul Brandt sang the national anthem at Saturday’s Flames/Oilers game while wearing a Flames jersey with a note instead of a uni number (thanks, Kek). … There are two notable aspects to this Sonny Jurgensen photo. The first one is obvious but don’t overlook the fact that the TV numbers are on the shoulders — unusual, because the mid-’60s Eagles wore northwestern-striped jerseys with TV numbers on the sleeves. Ricko says the Sonny shot is from an early-’60s preseason game, circa ’61 (here’s another photo from the same game, pre-jersey tear), but Tim Brulia says the Iggles wore this style for a few late-’50s regular season games, and that this design marked the first time a team put TV numbers on the shoulders. … Really interesting story about purple Lego pieces (great find by Matthew Edwards). … Unfortunately, I didn’t win this catalog, but I’m intrigued by a few of the photos in the auction listing, including these horrific softball uniforms and the very interesting basketball shorts shown at the top-left of this page. Never seen that circular bullseye insert before. Hey, Terry Proctor, what can you tell us about that style? … Terence Kearns found a site with some very cool soccer-themed T-shirts. … Alex Ozenberger reports that Miramar High in Florida has one of the weirdest hodgepodge uni designs ever — Flying Elvis on the chest, bizarre-o number font, Oregon-style diamondplate (which is reflective, natch), and vertically striped socks. … Typo alert: BYU’s Charles Abouo’s NOB was misspelled on Saturday. And yes, they were wearing pink for cancer awareness (with thanks to Christopher Jones). … Daniel Caceres recently purchased a Cowboys jersey with an odd mix of old and new NFL logos. … Tremendous video clip featuring a 1970 Browns/Bengals game here. Among many other details, check out the jacket being worn by the guy holding the down marker (awesome find by Brinke Guthrie). … More standout video goodness: highlights from the 1962 NBA All-star Game. That’s the introductory segment — see the right sidebar for links to the first half, third quarter, and fourth quarter. Note that No. 4 on the East squad appears to have been wearing a mask. Not positive who that was, but I think it was Dolph Schayes (big thanks to Charlie Panian). … While looking for something else, I came across this shot of Reggie McKenzie wearing glasses on the sidelines. … Also stumbled upon this shot of Johnny Unitas in his first Chargers practice, circa 1973. Love how Johnny U is still wearing his old black high-tops. Also, kinda funny that the Chargers’ practice shirt was a tee with the team’s helmet. … Small item on this page indicates that Nate Schierholtz, who has mostly batted bare-handed up until now, will go with batting gloves this season (as noted by Tremaine Eto). … John Sobotka was watching some old World Cup footage and noticed that the German goalkeeper in 1966 was wearing a newsboy’s cap. … Nice find by Philip Garza, who found this New England Pats bike on eBay. … One sport I neglected to check out while I was in Minnesota: iceball (with thanks to Eric Baukol). … Nick Hanson attended Saturday’s Florida Everblades game and noticed that goalie Chris Beckford-Tseu’s pants didn’t match those of his teammates. … The mighty Fleer Sticker Project scores again, this time with a gorgeous set of NFL helmet-themed Hormel trays. Amazing stuff. … Brinke Guthrie says he remembers seeing a late-’60s white rain poncho covered with all the then-current NFL team logos. “Key point: It had reflective aluminum-y material on the inside, so it reflected your body heat,” he says. Anyone know more? … Interesting story about how Joe Robbie is being prepped for the Pro Bowl and Super Bowl here.

By Phil Hecken

The Pro Bowl (tonight, 7:20pm EST, ESPN) hasn’t always sucked. But now it does, and even the most avid of Uni Watchers will be hard pressed to call this event a “must see.”

If you actually care to watch, today (tonight actually) the 2010 NFL Pro Bowl takes place in Hawaii…er, Miami, the site of next week’s Super Bowl XLIV. Seeking to fix what was broken, but for all the wrong reasons, the NFL has decided this year to play their year-end spectacular before the Super Bowl, and on the mainland. At least when the NFL played the game in Hawaii, the players viewed it as a joke with a nice vacation thrown in. Now? It’s just a joke. There must be some connection between the declining quality of the game itself and the uniforms, right?

This year, it’s even worse — and I’m not going to go on a rant here — but good lord, moving the game to pre-Super Bowl, to try to generate some excitement, has actually worked to the game’s disadvantage. You see, none of next weekend’s Super Bowl combatants are allowed to play in tonight’s game — which makes sense — but it means that, automatically, the following players are eliminated: (from the Colts): Peyton Manning, Reggie Wayne, Dallas Clark, Jeff Saturday, Dwight Freeney, Robert Mathis, and Antoine Bethea; (from the Saints): Drew Brees, Jonathan Stinchcomb, Jahri Evans, Jonathan Goodwin, Jonathan Vilma, Darren Sharper, and Roman Harper. So, right off the bat, that’s 14 players, including BOTH Peyton Manning and Drew Brees, who were selected to be the starting quarterbacks. That means we’re left with a matchup of Matt Schaub and Aaron Rodgers.

Add in the following guys who won’t play “due to injury” (Philip Rivers, Chargers; Tom Brady, Patriots; Wes Welker, Patriots; Jake Long, Dolphins; Brian Cushing, Texans; Jairus Byrd, Bills; Nate Kaeding, Chargers; Brett Favre, Vikings; Steven Jackson, Rams; Larry Fitzgerald, Cardinals; Sidney Rice, Vikings; Andre Gurode, Cowboys; Kevin Williams, Vikings; Lance Briggs, Bears; Charles Woodson, Packers; Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie, Cardinals; and Patrick Willis, 49ers.) That’s 17 more. So, of the players selected to the Pro Bowl in 2010, fans won’t get to see 31 of them. Yeah, that seems like a good deal. If you’re still interested, here’s the full roster. Now, traditionally, lots of players somehow found themselves “injured” and unable to play, but they still enjoyed their Hawai’ian vacation. But there were never THIS many players selected to play in the game who will not. Good move, NFL.

But it wasn’t always that way. Although it has now become the least consequential and likely least watched “all star game” of the major sports (and maybe even hockey, too), the Pro Bowl has actually been played, in one form or another, for decades — beginning with “all star games” first staged in 1939, between the NFL champion and a team of all-stars compiled from the other teams. From 1939 through 1942 (when WW II took it’s toll on the players and the game), the New York Giants, Green Bay Packers, Chicago Bears (twice) and the Washington Redskins all took turns scrammaging against the best of the rest.

The first true Pro Bowl took place on January 14, 1951, when stars from the NFL’s National and American Conferences faced off against each other. Accounts of what the players wore during the game are sketchy, however, it was likely blue (for the Nationals) and red (for the Americans). It was certain that during this game the tradition of having the National Conference wear blue (helmets), while the American Conference wore red. Both teams wore dark uniforms (or, I should say, the game was “color vs. color”). Another game would be held in 1952, and according to the game program, it was color on color again, with the National Conference wearing blue and the American Conference wearing Red. The third Pro Bowl game was played in 1953, this time with the American Conference donning white jerseys. Although the program covers for 1952 and 1953 depict white helmets, each team appears to have worn the color of their respective conference (blue for National, red for American).

Beginning in 1954, and continuing until 1970, the NFL would divide the teams up into the “Eastern” and “Western” conferences (this followed NFL procol, which had changed the names from American and National after the 1953 season). For the most part, the NFL kept the teams in their red and blue color designations (including the helmets), although several years had the players donning gold helmets (which occurred from 1967 through 1970) and wearing the NFL decal on the sides — the East wore a red-white-red tri-stripe and the Western a similar blue-white-blue tri-stripe. Players brought their own game helmets to the game, which were then spray-painted and decorated for the contest. (For the 1970 game the helmets featured the 50 NFL logo, which celebrated the first 50 years of NFL football.)

When the AFL came into being in 1960, that league began playing All Star Games as well, beginning in 1962 and up until 1970. Following the merger of the two leagues for the 1971 season, one Pro Bowl for the entire league was once again played. We’ll take a look at the uniforms from 1971-2009 (and also, for today’s game) in a moment.

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Wikipedia, the always trustworthy source, sums up the uniform designations thusly: “The teams are made of players from different NFL teams, so using their own uniforms would be too confusing. The players each wear the helmet of their team, but the home jerseys and pants are either a solid blue for the NFC or solid red for the AFC, while white jerseys with blue or red accents, respectively, for the away team. While it has been speculated that the color of Pro Bowl jerseys is determined by the winner of the Super Bowl, this is untrue.

“The design of Pro Bowl uniforms is changed every two years, and the color and white jerseys are rotated along with the design change. This has been Pro Bowl tradition since the switch to team specific helmets, which started with the January 1979 game. The two-year switch was originally created as a marketing ploy by Nike, and has been continued by Reebok, who won the merchandising contract in 2002.

“In the earliest years of the AFC-NFC Pro Bowl, the players did not wear their unique helmets, as they do now. The AFC All-Stars wore a solid red helmet with a white A on it, while the NFC players wore a solid white helmet with a blue N on it. The AFC’s red helmets were paired with white jerseys and red pants, while the NFC’s white helmets were paired with blue jerseys and white pants. Two players with the same number who are elected to the Pro Bowl can wear the same number for that game. [In the games early years], all players were required to wear different numbers, regardless of what jersey number they wore on their regular team. This changed … when players wore the jersey number on their regular team jersey, thus initially resulting in virtually every wide receiver on the field being numbered 80 or 81, a situation that, predictably, created significant confusion. Thus, it is recommended — although not required — that players use different jersey numbers, and generally when two players share a number, the less experienced one will wear a different number for the game.”

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So anyway, back to the uniforms, throughout the 1971-2009 history. Back in the first several years, as mentioned, the teams simply wore “N” or “A” helmets, with the NFC wearing blue jerseys and white pants. This continued until 1979, when players began wearing individual team helmets on top of their respective teams’ uniforms. No matter what the year, the uniforms remained a constant: AFC in team specific helmets with white jerseys and red pants with white-blue-white stripes, NFC in team helmets with blue jerseys and white pants with blue-red-blue stripes.

This set pattern persisted until 1989, when the NFL kept the same basic color schemes for both conferences, but added stars down the pants stripes (plus an “N” or an “A”) and contrasting colored outlines around the teams’ jersey numbers. This particular style lasted until 1994

Here’s where it all went to hell. Beginning in 1995, when the AFC was outfitted in garish costumes, and the NFC followed suit, uniform design has been, shall we say, lacking. The 1995 game featured the NFC in a “half blue/white” jersey blue pants (with the leotard look to boot), but for 1996 and 1997, they would switch to white pants. The AFC would stick with red pants throughtout the there year run, but in 1995 they wore red undersocks (for the dreaded leotard look), while in 1996 and 1997 they stuck with high white socks. One can only assume the jersey style was influenced by the CFL’s American contingent, since they sported small off-center numbers on the front of the jerseys. Mercifully, the three year run of that jersey design ended after, surprisingly, three years. Those uniforms were manufactured by Wilson.

1998 would usher in a new set of uniforms for the Conferences, with the AFC being outfitted in a solid red jersey for the first time. If one doesn’t count the 1995-97 jerseys as “white,” the NFC wore white jerseys for the first time. These two jersey sets weren’t all that bad (aesthetically), although they did feature rounded, drop-shadow numbers for both teams. Those uniforms lasted for three years as well, from 1998-2000. This was Nike’s uniform set.

The NFL would begin it’s “two and done” run of uniforms in 2001-02, and these were lackluster at best. The AFC was outfitted in red fading to white jerseys (in a gradient pattern) with white pants. The NFC, on the other hand, wore white fading to blue jerseys (in the opposite gardient pattern) atop blue pants. These uniforms were so bad that very few photos exist on the Interwebs of them. Perhaps that’s for the best. Reebok manufactured these uniforms, and would continue to do so through today.

2003-2004 didn’t get much better. Returning to a somewhat more traditional look, the AFC wore white over white, with garish side panels and football shaped designs on the pants. For its part, the NFC was outfitted in monochrome blue, in the reverse pattern of the AFC, also featuring the side panels and amorphous pants design.

A new uniform design would begin in 2005-06, with Reebok contining to trend towards the modern look. The AFC returned to wearing red jerseys, with same color side panels and a “Broncos-esque” pants swoosh atop white pants. While the AFC would have red top socks for a more balanced look, the NFC would sport a reciprocal white over blue uniform, complete with blue socks, for that special dancer look. Both jerseys would feature rounded numerals, and six stars would adorn the jersey and pants side panels, three each on the top and bottom. In a typical “mirror” image, the AFC’s white numbers had a white-blue outline, while the NFC would feature a solid blue outlined in white and red. As far as recent uniforms go, these weren’t too bad.

2007-08 would usher in new uniforms again, with the AFC returning to white over red and the NFC donning blue over white. Continuing the “modern” look and feel, this uniform set would include bumper sticker paneling under the arms and down the side panels, and the pants stripes would also include white and blue panels within the stripes for both teams. But the most interesting feature of these uniforms was undoubtedly the jersey design, which included similarly colored darker stars superimposed on the solid jersey, gradually moving from fully filled-in stars to outlined stars from top to bottom. Whether these new jerseys were following the jersey patterns of the moment or driving them is still up for debate.

We conclude our tour of the Pro Bowl uniforms with last year’s gems, which will be worn again this year. In the final game (at least for the next few years) in Aloha Stadium, the NFC sported a predominantly blue getup, while the went with mostly white over white. However, the uniforms were not without little quirks: while the front side of both unis were solid blue or white (providing a splendid monochromatic appearance for the NFC), the back of the NFC uniform was white (leading to an odd white vs. white appearance from certain angles). The AFC, in mirror-like fashion, had mostly red backs. Both sets of jerseys were textured with stars and had an odd number font. Fortunately, we’ll be graced with these lovelies again in 2010.

That will end the lookback at the Pro Bowl uniforms of the past several decades. Certainly today neither they, nor the game, approach their former, um…greatness. So now, if you do choose to watch the game tonight, in it’s new and temporary home in South Florida (what’s the name of the Stadium now?), you can at least appreciate some of the tradition that has gone into (and the ‘innovation’ that has become) these uniforms.

I’d be remiss without pointing out that by far the best and most comprehensive site (and from which many of the photos in this article were borrowed) is mmbolding.com. If you want to read a description of every Pro Bowl (and All Star Game) ever played, that’s the spot. If you want to simply look at more pro bowl photos, several of which were not in this article and which are fully captioned check out the Flickr album I put together.

Of course, I would be ESPECIALLY REMISS if I didn’t include something from The Ricko Files today. The one and only Rick Pearson was all over the AFL All-Star Games in the early 1960s, producing his famous “Kid Cards” for the 1962 and 1963 All Star games. Note that, unlike the NFL, the AFL teams wore their own helmets for the first two AFL All Star Games (the AFL played their first all star game in 1962).

There is ONE good thing about the NFL moving the Pro Bowl to today — it means that after this exhibition is over, the football season is not. I guess by playing it tonight, the NFL hopes to keep the interest up and fill the void during the week off between the Conference Championships and the Super Bowl. And think of the Pro Bowl this way: you can watch ESPN all day long, after checking out the X-Games, you segue right into the Pro Bowl, and then back to the closing ceremonies of the games. Perfect day, right?

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Remember the “Reebok Pump”? Yeah, I don’t either. Here’s Rick:

Technology is wonderful, and some of it is classic, timeless, unforgettable. And the Internet makes all things possible, accessible. So we use it to find any little advantage we can.

Here’s your full-color Sunday Benchies.

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Guess The Game From The Scoreboard: You’d think that in honor of the Pro Bowl being played today, I could find a scoreboard photo from a Pro Bowl game. You’d be wrong. So, you’ll just have to settle for the following instead. Ready? Guess The Game From The Scoreboard. Date, location and final score, please, and be sure to link to your answer. And, as always, if you enjoy the game, please send me some new scoreboards! Drop me a line. Thanks!

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Our next round of Uniform Tweaks, Concepts and Revisions is upon us again. We’ll be examining all sports now. So, if you have a tweak, change or concept for any sport, send them my way. Since most of you guys have been sending submissions for the Official NFL Jersey Tweaks Contest, (which is separate from the normal uniform tweaks section), it’s a smaller batch today. Remember, the deadline for the contest is February 1, (this Monday), so the contest WILL be closed down after that date.

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Our first entrant today is Thad (who would prefer I don’t use his last name), and Thad has a couple tweaks for Da Bears:

Hello,

I’m a life-long Bears fan and love the uniforms but I have a couple tweaks that would make the set flow better.

I didn’t change anything on the navy jersey because it’s perfect. However, I adjusted everything else, though this set still looks like the Bears. The white pants now have an orange-blue-orange striping pattern, as do the stripes on the white jersey and socks. The navy pants now are white-orange-white.

While this doesn’t change too much on the home set (other than making the pants and jersey striping match if they ever go monochrome again), it makes the striping on the away set more uniform and makes it conform better to the rest of the look. It always bugged me that the stripes on the navy jersey are outlined, but the stripes on the white ones weren’t. If the Bears do the traditional monochrome on the away set, all the stripes match.

Thanks.

(And if you do use this, just refer to me as Thad.)

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Next up is Ronnie Poore, who has some ideas for the N’awlins Saints:

I gave the Saints uni a bit of a tweak. Added a white divider stripe on the pants (never liked the Steelers style wide stripe). This makes the pants stripes match the helmet stripes. Also darkened the pants so the gold better matches the helmets. I’ve attached 2 images, one with plain socks, one with stripes…take your pick.

Ronnie Poore

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Moving along, we have my new Deep Freeze buddy, Ben Traxel, who knows I’m an Islander fan and couldn’t resist mocking up a new logo, just for me:

I mocked this up quickly last night…just for you, Phil. :) It was quick and dirty, just for fun.

Ben

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That’s all for today. Today’s second submitter, Ronnie Poore also sent me a bunch more tweaks that we’ll get to in the next round. If you have any last minute submissions for the ‘win a jersey’ contest, again, tomorrow is the deadline. Keep the regular tweaks coming, though, since that part of the weekends will remain (as long as I have submissions). Send both your regular tweaks and your contest tweaks to me at the same address, but if you’re submitting something for the contest, please be sure to label the subject: “UNI WATCH NFL JERSEY DESIGN CONTEST.” Thanks!

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Meet Flat Tyler. Time for a little love for Ryan Connelly, who send me the following E-mail, which is pretty damn cool:

You guys have heard about “Flat Stanley,” a project kids do for school? They take pictures of this paper guy all over the place? A lady at work (Nancy), has a lady in her group that works in Denver. Well, the lady in Denver has a 6 year old grandson that had a “Flat Tyler” project. The kid’s name is Tyler, and the project (I think, I wasn’t paying ALL that much attention at the time) is to send Flat Tyler out to friends around the country and get pictures in various places. Nancy got it and knew I was going to the Penguins game last Tuesday (Malkin 3 goals, Crosby 6 pts), and asked me to take pics of Flat Tyler at the game. So I took it one step further for the little guy, and made him a little Penguins jersey. Took the image from this page.

I copied the image multiple times into an Excel spreadsheet, sized them down to Flat Tyler’s size, and printed them out. I cut the arms off of the first jersey image to use for the body, then cut the arms off of the other image so that I could angle them on to Tyler’s arms. Then I taped the jersey together and paper-clipped the jersey onto Flat Tyler, so that the real Tyler could take it off and on and do whatever the hell he wanted with it.

So there, quickie little DIY project I wanted to share. Enjoy the pics!

P.S. Those were NOT taken from my seats! I was a “a little” further up. HAHA

Thanks RyCo40…nice job for Tyler!

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This next section is a repeat from yesterday, so if you saw it then, you can feel free to skip it today. But if you didn’t, please give it a quick read. Thanks.

You may remember Kenny Ocker, the Uni Watcher who scored the fantastic interview with Casey Martin last month. Well, he’s back at the U of O and he needs your help. I’ll let Kenny explain:

Dear Uni Watch Community,

When I (The Hemogoblin/Kenny Ocker) am not on the internet, I’m a sophomore journalism major at the University of Oregon. This term, I have a class that requires me to write a 100-page research paper. My topic question is “Should cities, counties and states use public money to fund the construction and operation of sporting venues for private organizations as a way to stimulate the economy?” If any of you feel as if you have something to contribute to my topic, you can e-mail me at The Hemogoblin (at) G-mail (dot) com. I’m especially looking for people who I can interview and stories/documents that are relevant to stadium funding. (I know that you all are a relatively educated bunch on this topic, given the success of the “I’m Calling It Shea” t-shirts, and that you’re all dedicated sports fans.) Any insight on my topic would be fantastic. Also, this is why you all will hardly see me until I get through this term.

Thanks,

Kenny

No, thank you Kenny. What say you, fellow Uni Watchers, can you help a brother out?

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That’s all for today folks. I want to thank everyone for their nice comments on yesterday’s post — looks like there will be a uni stadia watch II down the pike. If anyone wants to assist me with a column on the old ball parks, I’d love to work with you (all but Parc Jarry & Exhibition Stadium, tho — I already have a co-conspirator on those). Give me a holler. In fact, if you have any ideas for a future column, let me know. RIP, JJ

Have a great Sunday, folks. Enjoy the Pro Bowl.

By Phil Hecken

I’ve always been fascinated by the old baseball parks, especially the ones that were long gone before I was born. So many quirks, so much history — the ghosts of baseball past, if you will. Unlike today’s retro parks (which were, of course, inspired by the cathedrals of the past) and their immediate predecessors — the cavernous concrete multipurpose donuts and municipal yards that were built either on the cheap or without character (oftentimes both), ballparks of yesteryear have always held a special place in my heart. Sure, they’re not uniforms, but after uniforms, they’re my one of my true loves.

I had often wanted to write a piece on some of the old parks, and today I’ll give a quick look at some of my favorites. I have to say, I was inspired to write about these a long time ago, and after some rather intense discussions with some of my Deep Freeze comrades last weekend, where I found my love of these parks was far from unique, I decided to think about it. Then, this past Tuesday, Paul posted a ticker item featuring one of those newfangled computer baseball games in which one can “select” an old school stadium (to be precise the particular game featured seven of my favorites old buildings: The Polo Grounds, Crosley Field, Forbes Field, Griffith Stadium, Shibe Park and Sportsman’s Park) in which one could play a game. That cinched it — and this post was born.

There are far too many stadia (although to be fair, most of them weren’t stadiums at all, but much smaller, more intimate places), most of which featured some amazingly unique architecture or other characteristics which can’t be replicated today, to actually cover in one post (or even 100). So, I’ll just scratch the surface and provide you with a few links so you can waste spend the rest of the day just enjoying the simpler times, before night games, commercial breaks and t-shirt shooting cannon. Back when “lets play two” was a weekly occurrence and you could spend a day at the park without taking out a loan. So without further ado, here’s a look at five of my favorite old-tyme ballparks:

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Ebbets Field: No list would be complete without Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field. Opened in 1913, this wasn’t the first park in which the Dodgers played, but it’s the most famous (sure, Dodger Stadium has it’s finer points, and it has hosted more Dodgers games than Ebbets Field). It was one of baseball’s first cathedrals, and was no doubt most famous for the rotunda. The New York Baseball club that “replaced” Brooklyn (and the Giants) upon their westward move attempted to replicate that rotunda when they christened their new ballpark last season (and didn’t do too bad a job).

But Ebbets had many other glorious features as well: Like many parks of yesteryear, it was shoehorned into the neighborhood, and featured a very short rightfield porch, famously adorned with ads, including the iconic Abe Stark (“Hit Sign Win Suit”) sign, and an angled wall with a high wire fence. The big “Schaefer Beer” sign would tell those keeping score whether a play was a “HIT” (the “H” in Schaefer would light) or an “ERROR” (the “E” would light up). Awesome.

There is so much more to Ebbets Field, and you can read more here, here, here and here.

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Shibe Park: A Philadelphia classic, Shibe Park (later known as “Connie Mack Stadium”) was also an architectural splendor to behold. It featured a magnificent French Renaissance facade, and was the first ballpark (constructed in 1909) built entirely of concrete and steel. Featuring gargantuan centerfield dimensions (over 500 feet from home plate in the early years), it too was built to fit inside a city grid.

Shibe was home to both the Athletics and the Phillies, with the A’s being the original tenant in 1909. By 1938, the Phillies had moved in (and would remain there after the A’s departed for Kansas City), and would stay until the Vet was built.

While devoid of multiple quirks like other ballparks of it’s time, Shibe did have one distinguishing feature: Connie Mack, owner of the A’s, was pissed that those in the neighboring homes could see games for free over the low fence, so he constructed a “spite” fence in right field. The new fence effectively cut down on the “squatters” but didn’t endear him to the neighborhood.

Lots more to read about Shibe, and that can be found here, here, here, here, and here.

~~~

Griffith Stadium: Look at the size of that left field! That’s not an illusion, when Griffith Stadium was constructed, it was a whopping 407 feet down the left field line, and it actually increased to 424 feet in 1921! Another stadium whose dimensions were reflected by it’s relation to the neighborhood, Griffith Stadium also had an extremely unique quirk: the centerfield wall jutted inward at almost a right angle, detouring around a tree and five houses.

The Nationals/Senators called Griffith Stadium home (as did the Negro League Grays and the Redskins), and it was the site of perhaps the longest home run in baseball history. The Mick hit one that was “supposedly measured” at 565 feet (baseball’s first “tape measure” shot, although the gentleman who later claimed to have used an actual tape measure later claimed to have merely guestimated the distance).

Griffith Stadium also featured a high rightfield fence with a giant Natty Boh bottle atop it. The bottle was about fifty feet high.

So much more information on Griffith Stadium can be found here, here, here, here and here.

~~~

Polo Grounds: Another New York icon, the Polo Grounds always intrigued me because of it’s horseshoe shape. It was actually the fourth ballpark built on that spot, and was home to the Giants, the Yankees (for a few years until they’d build a somewhat famous stadium across the river), and after Horace Stoneham paired up with Walter O’Malley to move the Giants (with the Dodgers) west, the New York Metropolitans, who played there for two years. Now, the Polo Grounds wasn’t always an enclosed stadium, but the builders quickly went from this to the fully enclosed stadium shortly after construction. Like most parks of it’s age, centerfield was very deep, and the monument was in play (and is in memory of Captain Edward Leslie Grant, who was mortally wounded in France during World War I).

The Polo Grounds was full of quirks, including the monument and the giant scoreboard and cutout in centerfield between the bleachers (through which players and fans both exited the stadium). One of the oddest features occurred due to the shape of the field, which not only had the deep outfield, but two incredibly short left field and right field walls. While short porches aren’t uncommon in older parks, unlike other fields, they couldn’t erect high fences to keep those short shots in play, as they would block the fans’ views. As a result, pop flies right down either baseline would become home runs. And although the right field fence was closer to home plate than the left, left field featured a somewhat unique overhang, which shortened the distance considerably.

One of the most famous catches in history occurred here, when the Say Hey Kid robbed Vic Wertz in the 1954 World Series. And of course, only years earlier, the short left field porch would be home of perhaps the most famous home run in the world, with Bobby Thompson’s shot heard round the world. This occurred on October 3, 1951, a season in which the Giants would make a miraculous September charge, winning stealing the pennant from the crosstown Dodgers.

Much more information on the Polo Grounds can be found here, here, here, here and here.

~~~

Sportsman’s Park: This grand old park, opened in 1902 and used until 1966, was also referred to as Busch Stadium in later years. Until baseball began moving westward in the 1950’s, Sportsman’s Park had the distinction of being the furthest west park in baseball. While not particularly large or small in comparison to other old parks, it did have a fairly deep center and short right field porch. Originally home to the Browns (when it first opened), the more famous tenants (and later owners) were the St. Louis Cardinals.

While not particularly ‘quirky,’ Sportsman’s Park did have two very cool features: whenever a Cardinal hit a homerun, the Budweiser Eagle on top of the leftfield fence would flap it’s wings. Before the eagle sat atop the fence, like several ballparks, the flagpole was in fair territory.

Of course, when your owner is the inimitable Bill Veeck, there will be some interesting players on the team: Pete Gray, the one-armed major leaguer and Eddie Gaedel, baseball’s shortest player, both played at Sportsman’s Park (note the original dimensions and orientation of the field superimposed on a later shot). Perhaps my favorite quirk of the Stadium occurred during the 1946 World Series, when the Cards dropped the Red Sox and the field featured a crazy ring around the mound. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen this feature before or since in any park.

Additional information on Sportsman’s Park can be found here, here, here and here.

~~~

That’s going to do it for this installment of the old ballparks. If you guys enjoyed it, I’ll do another set in the future. So what say you, do you love the old parks as much as I do? Have any others you consider your favorites? Got any stories of seeing games in any of these? Although, unless you’re considerably older than I, *coughrickocough* I’m guessing most of these were gone before you were born. Either way, whaddya say?

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“Be Like Mike.” Such a great marketing phrase back then. Not so much now. Here’s Rick:

Everything is a learning experience, right? I mean, that’s what they tell us. So why should we doubt that philosophy because something goes a little amiss? We just file it away and move on. Again. Grumbling.

Enjoy your Saturday Benchies.

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Guess The Game From The Scoreboard: Back today for a little college action. This one may give you some trouble, but you never know. Jake was there, and that’s probably even more of a hint than you need. Guess The Game From The Scoreboard. Date, location and final score, please, and be sure to link to your answer. And, as always, if you enjoy the game, please send me some new scoreboards! Drop me a line. Thanks!

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Our next round of Uniform Tweaks, Concepts and Revisions is upon us again. We’ll be examining all sports now. So, if you have a tweak, change or concept for any sport, send them my way.

~~~

Our first contestant is UW stalwart Mike Engle, who took crayon to paper to create this interesting Habs mashup:

As we all know (and especially me, as a McGill student), the Montreal Canadiens have been celebrating their old age for two years, while giving five throwback jerseys cameos. Though I am not advocating that the Habs even THINK about adopting this third jersey (I’m not even sure Jim Vilk would wear this thing), I am willing to share the result of my “blue duck syndrome.” I wanted to see what would happen if I took the Habs’ throwbacks, threw them all into a blender, and made one “encyclopedic” alternate top. Turns out, since the Habs have mostly exclusively been bleu, blanc et rouge, I didn’t need special helmets, breezers, or socks. I’d prefer natural leather brown gloves with this jersey, but I’d settle for standard red and blue gloves. Either way, the other team will definitely be wearing white.

Don’t mind the pencil guidelines or the lighter-than-supposed-to-be scanned color pencil. The colors are red, royal, white, and forest green. The NOB and number font are the same as currently used, so any differences there are coincidental as well. The thin white torso stripe and the blue upper is from the 1909 blue jersey; the sleeves are from the barber pole. The green accents are, of course, a recessive gene from the 1910 jerseys. I intentionally dialed back the green since it’s obviously a forgettable 1% of the uniform history. The green is only an accent when needed for extra contrast. The sleeve CA patch is directly from the 1912 jersey. But since I hate sleeve numbers on one sleeve or less, and didn’t want to interrupt the barber pole stripes more, I moved the TV numbers to the shoulders. Hardly the usual, but if Team Canada can do it, so can I. I invented the MCMIX patch for the right wrist as a “tattoo” to bookend the Reebok vector–I’d rather both be hidden than both seen on the ice, but the fans can certainly enjoy the year patch. (That’s Roman numeral for 1909, their first year, and I LOVE Roman numerals.) I put a CH logo front and center because it’s the famous logo, of course; I included a lace-up collar because they are my favorite; finally, the “normal” look below the torso stripe is to tie in with the rest of the non-throwback uniform. And oh by the way, why Ken Dryden for the model? My mom is a Cornell alumna, so I have to love Dryden.

~~~

Next up is James Hayden, who has some new looks for the Washington, D.C. football club:

Hi,

Since I was designing new unis for the “Dead-skins” anyway, I decided to create a full set using my questionable graphic design talents and forward my results to you.

My basic concept is based on the NFL 75th Season throwbacks from 1994 — I always liked the jerseys they wore and even spent a couple bucks on ebay for a Mitchell & Ness Ricky Ervins repro that somebody didn’t read the washing instructions for (the NOB has a distinctive pink-ish cast to it). The current helmet would remain in use (I don’t really see the new GM pushjing for a re-design, since his dad designed it to begin with!), although Gray facemasks are a possibility — the change back to Gray from a colored mask seems to have worked out for the Colts.

Anyway – I’ve created 4 basic designs including a Burgundy Home Jersey, a White Road Jersey, a Gold Alternate and a “George Allen” Throwback – since George’s son is the new GM. Being a modern NFL team – I have three regular pants colors (and one alternate) so they can do the whole crappy high school look if needed (Red over Red – yay!). I’ve also returned to the darker Burgundy color they wore through 1968 (and on their Redskins 75th Alternates) and prefer to use the Yellow/Gold color they are supposed to be using – although they have a habit of using too light of a shade (closer to Packers Yellow that the more correct Steelers Yellow/Gold) – their 1971 Throwbacks from 2008 especially suffered from this issue – thanks again Reebok.

1. Dark Jersey – Based on the aforementioned 1994 Throwback – Dark Burgundy jersey with Yellow/Gold numbers and sleeve gathers, the numbers are “shadowed” in Old Gold. The TV numbers are placed up on the shoulder. The collar is similar to what the Packers wore back in the 1990’s and echos the 1969-1977 jerseys designed by Vince Lombardi. I’ve, of course, deleted any sleeve striping (since modern sleeve striping looks silly) and have placed the Chief Joseph logo on the sleeve ala’ 1930’s (and the 1994) jerseys – but I’ve used the helmet logo from 1982 (the “folded feather” logo). Basically I’ve tried to have some sort of homage to every era of Redskins football combined into a single jersey.

This jersey could (should) be worn with either Yellow/Gold or White pants – it’s not noted on the image, but the pants would have a contrasting stripe based on the Steelers uniforms – i.e. a single wide Burgundy stripe on the Yellow/Gold and White pants and a Yellow/Gold stripe on the Burgundy pants.

2. White Jersey – this mirrors the Burgundy jersey – same collar, numbers are Burgundy, but retain the Old Gold “shadowing” and the circle around Chief Joseph is Burgundy (with a very thin outline of Old Gold). This jersey would most properly be worn with the Burgundy pants (harking back to the Joe Gibbs eras), although White pants could be worn.

3. Alternate Gold Jersey (ugh) – I hated to do this, but modern teams need their alternates and a Black jersey would match absolutely nothing in the ’skins design genre. That being said, there was a (jinx) picture of Jason Campbell on the cover of Sports Illustrated last summer where he was wearing his QB practice “red-shirt” jersey – which, of course, can’t be red so its (the proper shade of) Yellow/Gold with Maroon Numbers and I thought that it looked kind-of cool. In addition, Nike’s WVU Yellow jerseys actually looked okay (for Nike, and I hate WVU’s numbers), so there’s a bit of influence from that quarter as well. This jersey omits the “Lombardi-esque” collar in favor of Plain Burgundy and Chief Joseph’s circle lacks the this gold trim. I’ve also used an alternate number style as the Old Gold “shadowing” wouldn’t look quite right. Either White or Burgundy pants should be worn with this jersey, although I’m sure somebody would want to try Yellow/Gold pants for a nice monochrome crappy high school look.

4. Throwback – modernized version of the 1969-1978 unis worn during the George Allen era, in consideration of the fact that the George’s son is the new GM. Basically the dark version of the 1971 Throwbacks they wore in 2008 (but with the proper shade of Yello/Gold), they use the current lighter Maroon shade used since Vince Lombardi designed “Packer-style” unis in 1969 and are worn with matching special Throwback pants and socks (BTW – the socks echo the jersey striping). They current helmet is worn, of course, since it was designed by George Allen for 1972 and has been used ever since (with the exception of the “folded feather” logo in 1982 – worn in Super Bowl XVII by everybody but Joe Washington and the change to Yellow facemasks. Of course, an alternate Throwback would just be the current unis, since they haven’t really changed since 1978 anyway…

Well, that’s my tweak – I’ve considered doing the Ravens, but all my designs eliminate Purple for either Blue (where they end-up looking too much like either the Colts or the CFL Baltimore Stallions) or Green and Silver like the AAFC Baltimore Colts (which means the look a lot like the second season USFL Washington Federals, or how the Eagles should look) – thanks for your time…

James Hayden

~~~

Today’s final set of tweaks comes from Kaleb Stuckey, who has a whopping sixteen NFL teams he would like to see change their looks:

Baltimore Ravens- I got rid of the God-awful purple and replaced it with a maroon/burgundy to kep with the “dark” Ravens theme. Also, I gave them a new helmet logo.

Buffalo Bills- Probably the most necessary redesign, I gave the team back the old school white helmets, because I am obviously a big fan. Also, I made all the blues on the uniforms the same. The seven or eight different shades on the current uniforms is an eyesore.

Carolina Panthers- I got rid of the silver and, again, gave them white helmets. I changed the blue to actual “Carolina Blue.” And, just for the sake of change, I made the sleeves and jerseys different colors.

Cincinnati Bengals- I hated the old oval numbers and gave them more of a block style. Obviously the biggest change is the helmet. The stripes have worn their way out of my mind. Instead of the tiger stripes on the sleeves, I put them on the pants.

Cleveland Browns- Not too much change to these, just consistency.

Dallas Cowboys- Another consistency issue, I got rid of the ridiculous green pants and royal blue on the white. I also changed the white jersey sleeves with one band instead of the two. I also gave the three tone socks.

Detroit Lions- I got rid of the black on the color and white uniforms. If they want to wear black, they can wear the alternate, but hopefully rarely.

Houston Texans- Probably the most far-fetched concept, I brought back the old light blue from the Oilers days. I also gave them the underarm stripes.

Kansas City Chiefs- I gave more contrast to the two colors. The old red was too light and the yellow was too bright. I darkened the red and dulled down the yellow, as well as with yellow pants.

Minnesota Vikings- Obviously I used the South Carolina Gamecocks template for these, but anything is better than what they have. The new pants colors are what makes these uniforms better.

New Orleans Saints- I like simple uniforms (Colts, Jets), but boring is a different story. The Saints colors are the same as my high school colors were so I have played around with them before, but these might be my favorite. Accents and outlines are what makes them so different from the current uniforms.

New York Giants- Not too much difference in these, except for sleeve cuffs and white pants.

Pittsburgh Steelers- The most important change in these uniforms is that they have the logo sticker on both sides of the helmet (the most annoying idea in NFL uniforms.) The italicized numbers were also agonizing, so I gave them a block style and changed the color to yellow on the color uniforms.

Seattle Seahawks- Probably my favorite, I used the same current uniforms, but with the awesome colors of the former uniforms. Just as long as they don’t use the neon alternate.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers- Not too many obvious changes, but I got rid of the orange color in the accents. No team should have more than four colors on their uniforms.

Tennessee Titans- These didn’t need too much change, so I just adjusted a few things that bugged me. The helmet stripe is changed to the lighter blue. I just hope they don’t mix the light blue jersey/pants with the dark blue jersey/pants.

Thus endeth the tweaks for today. Don’t forget about the Official NFL Jersey Tweaks Contest too, which is separate from the normal uniform tweaks section. Remember, the deadline for the contest is February 1, (this Monday), so the contest WILL be closed down after that date. Keep them coming, and if you have a uniform or set of uniforms you have concepted, send them my way.

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It had to happen sometime, right? After almost 22 years of inertia, this past week I took the semi-momentous step, at least for me, of returning to the university environment, beginning my post-graduate studies in pursuit of a Masters Degree in Journalism. Right now, it’s only one course (so at this rate, I’ll have a degree in four years) for now, but it’s a beginning.

Why am I telling you this? Aside from an ever-so-slight chest puffing, it means I may need to start scaling back some of the weekend columns, depending upon the amount of assignments and such I will have. Or it may just mean I need to better organize my time. Either way, I still fully intend to bring at least as much quality (if not quantity) to the weekends as I have in the past (insert “what quality?” joke here).

My favorite (or one of my favorite) part of the weekends is being able to work with many of you to bring a special or unique-ish main article to the readers, and I’d especially like to continue that. I try to work in one if not two of those per weekend, so I’m going to keep pulling a Tom Sawyer and keep those coming. However, in most of the instances, I seek a co-collaborator or two out. What I’d like to ask of you guys, though, is to come to me.

So, if you have an idea for a uni-related (unlike like today’s article) column, I’d love to see if we can’t put something together. If you have any ideas for a weekend piece, let me hear from you. No idea is too outrageous, so long as uniforms are involved, and all suggestions will be considered. If there is a topic or a sport you don’t think we see enough (or any) of on UW, let’s see if we can’t tackle it together.

OK? OK! I thank you in advance for your patience and understanding.

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And I’m not the only journalism student who needs your help these days. You may remember Kenny Ocker, the Uni Watcher who scored the fantastic interview with Casey Martin last month. Well, he’s back at the U of O and he needs your help. I’ll let Kenny explain:

Dear Uni Watch Community,

When I (The Hemogoblin/Kenny Ocker) am not on the internet, I’m a sophomore journalism major at the University of Oregon. This term, I have a class that requires me to write a 100-page research paper. My topic question is “Should cities, counties and states use public money to fund the construction and operation of sporting venues for private organizations as a way to stimulate the economy?” If any of you feel as if you have something to contribute to my topic, you can e-mail me at The Hemogoblin (at) G-mail (dot) com. I’m especially looking for people who I can interview and stories/documents that are relevant to stadium funding. (I know that you all are a relatively educated bunch on this topic, given the success of the “I’m Calling It Shea” t-shirts, and that you’re all dedicated sports fans.) Any insight on my topic would be fantastic. Also, this is why you all will hardly see me until I get through this term.

Thanks,

Kenny

No, thank you Kenny. What say you, fellow Uni Watchers, can you help a brother out?

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Alright everyone, that’s going to do it for today. Everyone have a fantastic Saturday, ok? OK!

[Editor's Note: Today we have an outstanding guest column from Kenn Tomasch, who's taking a look back at little-noted chapter in baseball history. Enjoy. -- PL]

By Kenn Tomasch

For a time 20 years ago, baseball season went into extra innings, and the boys of summer played deep into the winter.

In November of 1989, just days after the Giants and A’s completed the earthquake-delayed World Series, the Senior Professional Baseball Association took to fields at spring training complexes throughout Florida, ushering in what was pitched as a new era in the long history of the game.

Former University of Arizona ballplayer and Colorado real estate man Jim Morley envisioned the SPBA as a circuit for ex-major leaguers age 35 and over (32 and over for catchers) that would attract snowbirds and other baseball fans needing an offseason fix. While the league did feature Curt Flood as commissioner and a playing roster that included future Hall of Famer players and managers, former 20-game winners, batting champs and Cy Young winners, it never caught the fancy of the fan base. The eight teams — the Bradenton Explorers, Fort Myers Sun Sox, Gold Coast Suns, Orlando Juice, St. Lucie Legends, St. Petersburg Pelicans, West Palm Beach Tropics and Winter Haven Super Sox — averaged just 921 fans per game, about half of what Morley projected.

Senior Professional Baseball Attendance 1989-90
Team	Dates	Total	Average
West Palm Beach Tropics	35	56,012	1,600
Fort Myers Sun Sox	37	49,153	1,328
St. Petersburg Pelicans	35	39,611	1,132
Gold Coast Suns	36	35,457	985
Bradenton Explorers	35	27,349	781
St. Lucie Legends	36	21,849	607
Winter Haven Super Sox	36	19,033	529
Orlando Juice	35	14,016	400
SPBA TOTAL	285	262,480	921

While Dick Williams’s Topics were far and away the best team in the league during the 72-game regular season, St. Pete won the compressed “stepladder” tournament to become the SPBA’s only champion. (Midway through its second season, in December 1990, the league sank in a sea of red ink.)

Northern Division	W	L	Pct.	GB
St. Petersburg Pelicans	42	30	.583	0.0
Bradenton Explorers	38	34	.527	4.0
Orlando Juice	37	35	.514	5.0
Winter Haven Super Sox	29	43	.403	13.0
Southern Division	W	L	Pct.	GB
West Palm Beach Tropics	52	20	.722	0.0
Fort Myers Sun Sox	37	35	.514	15.0
Gold Coast Suns	32	39	.451	19.5
St. Lucie Legends	20	51	.278	31.5

The SPBA’s uniforms reflected the time period. The pullovers and bright colors of the 1970s and early 1980s were trending out in the majors, and the senior teams went largely with button-down jerseys and traditional home whites and road grays. The elastic waistbands survived in Fort Myers and West Palm Beach, but most clubs went with belts. The late 1980s were stirrups’ last stand, with the faux-stirruped socks beginning to make inroads. Most SPBA players, like MLB players of the time, wore their pant cuffs high — including, ironically enough, George Hendrick, the trend-setter in long pants. Most teams had just the two jerseys and one hat (alts having not yet come into vogue), though some teams did wear their (fairly generic league-wide) batting practice jerseys in games occasionally and West Palm Beach had home and road caps to complete their garish ensemble.

Here’s a rundown of each SPBA team’s uniform look:

Bradenton Explorers: White with blue pinstripes at home and “EXPLORERS” on the chest. Grays on the road with “BRADENTON” on the chest. One hat (blue with team logo). Their BP jersey had the city and nickname screened on it. SPBA home run champ (with 17) Jim Morrison played for the Explos, who made the playoffs and beat Fort Myers on the first night of the tournament before falling to the Pelicans. Pitcher Danny Boone was one of the few SPBA players to make it back to the majors on the basis of his Senior League play, as the Orioles signed him and he played 4 games for them in 1990 at age 36.

Fort Myers Sun Sox: Probably the best-looking SPBA team, with home whites with green pinstripes and green-and-gold trim, a dandy wordmark on the front and secondary logo on the green cap with gold brim. The Sox had a solid green pullover for road games. They also did have the SPBA standard BP jersey with (sewn-on, not screened) wordmark on the front. As a bonus: yellow sanitaries! The Sun Sox had the league’s leading hitter in shortstop Tim Ireland (who had had a cup of coffee with the Royals). Ireland hit .374 and pulled off the hidden ball trick twice. Their average attendance — 1,328 — was second-best in the league.

Gold Coast Suns: Earl Weaver’s team was originally to split its games between Miami and Pompano Beach, but couldn’t draw flies in Miami and eventually finished its season in Pompano. Either they didn’t have anything other than their BP jerseys or they hadn’t come in yet by the time all the photos were taken for the trading cards (this one had to have been taken on Opening Day — that’s the since-demolished grandstand at Terry Park in Fort Myers). I can’t recall seeing them in anything other than the blue jerseys, though they did have white and gray pants and two different hats. In an attempt to appeal to South Florida’s considerable Hispanic population, the Suns featured recognizable Latinos like Rafael Landestoy and Luis Tiant, but finished 32-39 and out of the playoffs.

Orlando Juice: A good-looking team that no one saw (they averaged just 400 fans a game despite finishing 37-35), the Juice had nice home whites with blue pinstripes and road grays, both with “JUICE” across the fronts and both with belts and a blue hat with “OJ” on it (oddly enough, the first appearance of that hat didn’t have the baseball “splat” on it). Bright spots included pitchers Bob Galasso (9-2, 2.67 ERA) and Pete Falcone (10-3) and shortstop U.L. Washington (who hit .338 while, yes, chomping on his trademark toothpick). Their owner — a Detroit mortgage banker named Philip Breen — disappeared in January 1990, allegedly with $10 million in embezzled funds from his company and has never been found. So, yeah, there were dark spots, too.

St. Lucie Legends: Former sluggers Bobby Bonds and George Foster played for the Legends, who had grays that they wore most of the time when they weren’t sporting their blue BP jerseys. they did have two black hats – one with initials arranged a la the St. Louis Cardinals’ hats and one with a stylish “SL.” The Legends were the league’s worst team, going just 20-51 and drawing 607 fans per game. They opened the year with Graig Nettles as player-manager (and his brother, Jim, in the outfield, leading to the inevitable FIOB), but he was eventually traded to Bradenton.

St. Petersburg Pelicans: The league champs had former All-Star Steve Kemp, former felon Ron LeFlore and former acid-dropper Dock Ellis (who doubled as the team’s pitching coach and had a 1.95 ERA with 6 saves). They also had home whites with maroon pinstripes and road grays, both with the logo/wordmark on the front, and maroon hats with St.P on the front.

West Palm Beach Tropics: The usual home whites with the orange undershirts and hats, as well as the road grays with similar accents, were fine. But when they went with the orange BP jerseys, the result was technicolor ugliness (Paul Mirabella made it worse with the blue undershirt). Despite the garish get-ups, the Trops were the class of the league, going 52-20, hitting .319 as a team and sporting the league MVP (current Texas Rangers manager Ron Washington).

Winter Haven Super Sox: The idea was to put some of the old Red Sox (including the still-strange Bill Lee) together at the Bosox’ training ground. The idea didn’t work, as the Super Sox, owned by Broadway producer Mitchell Maxwell, went 29-43 and drew 529 fans per game. They had a pretty traditional look, evocative of the Red Sox, with home whites (no pinstripes, of course) and road grays. Their hats said, simply, “Sox.” There were rumors that Jim Rice would join the SPBA, but he didn’t until season two, so the Sox had to make do with Leon Roberts, whose eight home runs led the team.

1989-90 SPBA ALL-STARS
Pos.	Player	Team
1B	Dan Driessen	FTM
2B	Tim Ireland	FTM
3B	Jim Morrison	BRA
SS	Ron Washington	WPB
OF	Steve Henderson	STP
OF	Mickey Rivers	WPB
OF	Jose Cruz	ORL
DH	Amos Otis	FTM
C	Stan Cliburn	BRA
SP	Juan Eichelberger	WPB
RP	Rick Lysander	BRA
MGR	Dick Williams	WPB
MVP	Ron Washington	WPB

In its second season, the SPBA was down to just six teams, including new clubs in Sun City, Arizona and San Bernardino, California. The ownerless Tropics became a traveling team, playing all of their games away from home. Bradenton moved to Daytona Beach. Only Fort Myers and St. Petersburg remained in their original locations for 1990-91. And when the Sun Sox’ owner pulled out the day after Christmas 1990 (midway through what was to be a reduced 56-game schedule), that was the end of the SPBA.

Why did it fail? First off, the league and the teams thought that the players themselves would be enough of a draw to bring plenty of fans in. The clubs didn’t have robust sales and marketing efforts and didn’t have a century of tradition to promote. Secondly, as it turned out, the players who could actually perform the best (for the most part) were the youngest ones and the ones who hadn’t been Major League stars. And the really big names, for the most part, didn’t want to either jeopardize how fans remembered them or didn’t want to ride the bus for less-than-major-league wages again (an entire team’s salary cap was less than $600,000). The snowbirds flocked to Florida, as they always have, but they didn’t flock to Senior League games. Perhaps 7:00 pm starts were too late for many of them.

As for the SPBA’s legacy? Not too surprisingly, there’s almost none to speak of. The league spawned a pair of books (of the two, Peter Golenbock’s The Forever Boys is the better read) and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays wore Pelicans throwbacks — albeit with pajama pants — for a game in 2008. I am the proud owner of Rich Gale’s Sun Sox hat and Amos Otis’s bat, but little memorabilia, and fewer who remember the league, remain from a time when baseball season never ended.

=======
Paul here. Outstanding job by Kenn, no? When I asked him how he knew all this stuff, here’s what he told me:

I was a TV sportscaster who covered the league — and the Fort Myers Sun Sox, specifically — during the SPBA’s lifespan. I am also a packrat and kept EVERYTHING I picked up during that time — media guides, press passes, the hat and bat, stats, you name it. And I have several things on tape with highlights from the league. Just never had an outlet to do anything with it. Thanks for giving me one.

De nada, Kenn, and back atcha.

Giveaway results: The winner of the Soul Power DVD + T-shirt is Craig McKean. For those of you who didn’t win, you can get a 10% discount on the DVD/tee combo by going here and using the discount code INZAIRE74.

Last-call contest reminder: Today’s the last day to submit your entry for the Cooperstown Hawkeyes logo contest. Details here.

Deep Freeze article update: My ESPN column, which was supposed to run yesterday, got bumped to today — look here.

Uni Watch News Ticker: As if guest-writing today’s main entry weren’t enough, Kenn Tomasch has also written a tale of two Tampa Bay soccer logos. … Lots of rumors about a possible Redskins black jersey. … The Andre Dawson controversy prompted The Chicago Tribune to print an amusing look at the Expos’ logo (with thanks to John Waller). … Jeremy Brahm sent along this Japanese batting helmet photo. Anyone know what the holes on the flap would be for? … New addition to the roster of catchers who’ve worn brimless helmets: Dave Valle. But who’s the catcher in this shot? (Both of these courtesy of Andy Chalifour.) … Nathan Haas points that that I’ve neglected to showcase this weekend’s Pro Bowl jerseys, which are actually the same crummy design as last year. … Want to buy grass seed from your favorite ballpark? Now you can (with thanks to Tom Konecny). … An Iowa football helmet has somehow ended up in a Korean pop music video (as reported by Chris Williams). … New inaugural-season arena patch for Red Bull New York (with thanks to Michael Orr). … Several interesting old White Sox spring training photo finds by Larry Wiederecht, including a sock design that I don’t think was ever used in the regular season (if anyone can confirm or refute, please speak up), Thad Bosley brandishing a aluminum bat, and Tony LaRussa doubling up on his collar points. … Flyers between-the-benches broadcaster Steve Coates is now wearing a helmet (with thanks to Mario Carr). … Adam Hainsfurther notes that some CMU shooting shirts have NOBs and some don’t. … Lots of cool vintage pennants available on this page. I recommend exploring the rest of that site, which includes excellent pins, board games, scrapbooks, and a lot more (excellent find by Dave Hembree). … The Canadiens have scrapped their final two centennial throwback promotions. Anyone know why? Jeff Barak wonders if it might have something to do with the new ownership group that just took over. … Some sort of controversy involving X Games attire, but who really gives a shit? … Oooh, check out these awesome mini helmet buggies (kudos to Brinke Guthrie). … Check out the caption on this Joe Morgan photo — interesting (good find by Dwayne White). … I very distinctly remember watching the 1991 AFC Championship Game between the Raiders and Bills. What I didn’t remember is that some of the Raiders wore a helmet decal in honor of Steve Wisniewski’s brother, who was a fighter pilot in Desert Storm (awesome contribution by Dan Lee). … Just when you thought Oregon couldn’t look any worse, they did the breast cancer thing by wearing a pink-trimmed version of their whiteout uniform, complete with upside-down pink ribbons (big thanks to Don Dexter and Ben Teaford, respectively). … RIP, JDS.

Meet Brent Proulx, assistant equipment manager for the Minnesota Wild and all-around swell guy, who was nice enough to give me and Phil a behind-the-scenes tour after Saturday night’s Wild/Blue Jackets game. He’s proudly holding one of the jersey-themed laundry bags he designed for the team’s players — an excellent example of how he sees everything in uni-centric terms.

I didn’t take many photos during the tour, but here are a few tidbits:

• The Wild locker room has a rug that looks like a hockey rink (which frankly seems a bit too much like a 12-year-old’s bedroom to me, but whatever). The team crest at center ice is exposed on game days but covered at all other times.

• All of the Wild lockers have a little memorial decal for Sergei Zholtok, who died in 2004. There’s also a much larger tribute to him in an adjacent room, but I didn’t get a photo of that.

• I’m a total sucker for specialized measuring devices. If you can’t read all the type, here’s a much larger version.

• Here’s a small news item: If you look at this shot, you can see that the Wild have two different sets of green pants: the kelly-ish set with the stipe down the sides, which they wear with their home and road uniforms, and the slightly darker, hunter-ish set, which doesn’t have a stripe and is worn with the green alternate uni. Brent says they’ll be ditching the striped set next season and going with the hunter set full-time.

• I loved this skate blade shelving unit.

• Here’s the team’s stick room. As you can see, all the sticks are trimmed in Wild colors. But what about these sticks? Those are for players who’ll be participating in the Olympics — the sticks are rendered in their national colors.

• Here’s the thread for the sewing machine Brent uses to make jersey repairs. One spool for each team color (except for the blue spool — Brent told me what that was for, but I’ve already forgotten).

Brent, incidentally, is totally one of us. In addition to designing those laundry bags, he also designs the team’s locker nameplates, and his office was full of uniform tweaks he’d come up with and related ephemera. Uniforms aren’t just his job — they’re his passion. Meeting him was one of the highlights of my weekend.

I’ll have more to say about my Minnesota trip in today’s ESPN column – link coming soon. which has just been postponed until tomorrow.

Bosox Numerology: Bill Nowlin has just finished co-writing the forthcoming book Red Sox by the Numbers, and yesterday he posted something to the SABR listserv about some interesting anomalies he found along the way:

There was the time in 1955 when Frank Sullivan’s jersey was so drenched with perspiration that he put on several shirts in the course of one game. The third was one #9. And this during a game when [Ted] Williams was playing left field, so there were TWO players wearing #9 in the same
game. Frank and I pinned down the game as the August 28 game in Kansas City.

Then there was the game in more recent times, in 2003, when Mike Cubbage simply put on one of fellow coach Ron Jackson’s shirts in error and didn’t realize it until after an inning or two.

Luis Tiant wore #23 most of the time, but there was one game in 1975 when Rogelio (Roger) Moret wore 23. Thieves had broken into the clubhouse and stolen some of the shirts, including Moret’s #29, so he wore one of Luis’s shirts.

Fascinating stuff, and a good reminder that things aren’t always so cut-and-dried as most of us would like to think.

Freebie Reminder: Today’s the last day to enter for the Soul Power DVD + T-shirt giveaway. Details here.

Contest Reminder: And tomorrow is the deadline for submitting your Cooperstown Hawkeyes logo design. Further details on that one are here.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Good article about Ryan Miller’s Olympic mask here (with thanks to Bill Jones). … Can’t go wrong with a photo that’s captioned “Cleveland’s New Pro Cagers,” am I right? (Thanks, Vince.) … Looks like the Reds are giving away some nice throwback caps this season (with thanks to Joshua Exline). … The Capitals will be wearing 35th-season patch on February 5th (as reported by Mike Rucki). … Dept. of Not-So-Good Ideas: Eastern Washington is changing its football field to red turf (with thanks to Rob Leavell). … Dave Murray nominates this 1975 Hostess card for the title of Worst Airbrush Job Ever. “Note that they didn’t remove the Expos logo on the jersey, and only bothered to add some of the pinstripes. Staub had already been with the Mets three seasons when this thing came out!” … Here’s a serious rarity: a photo of Kurt Rambis in a Knicks uniform! The story behind it is pretty fascinating — look here. … Here’s Germany’s road kit for the World Cup — pretty nice (with thanks to Terence Kearns). … Miguel Tejada, who used to wear No. 10 for the Orioles, will wear No. 9 this time around (with thanks to Andrew Cosentino). … Whoa, check out U.S. Olympic snowboarding gear! It’s actually Gore-Tex, not wool or denim. Pretty cool concept (as noted on the Chris Creamer board).

Last Friday’s Uni Watch party at Grumpy’s generated one of the biggest turnouts ever — a great mix of local readers and out-of-towners who’d headed to the Twin Cities for the Deep Freeze. Here’s a rundown on who showed up:

• First and foremost, big thanks to David S. Gardner, who generously volunteered to secure us the private room at Grumpy’s. Thanks again, Dave. He said his hockey jersey was from a club team in Minsk.

• Dave brought along his buddy Michael Drivas, who owns a local bookstore and didn’t seem the least bit fazed by being plunged into the middle of a bunch of uniform fanatics. Very cool dude.

• The award for most stripes ever worn to a Uni Watch party goes to James Huening, who paired a Canadiens throwback jersey with Indiana warm-up pants, plus he had Cubs stirrups under the pants and 49ers socks under the stirrups, along with striped shorts. Well done, Jimbo.

• James drove up from Chicago along with the inimitable Robert Marshall. I’ve noticed that just about every piece of clothing Marshall wears is paint-speckled, including the Chisox tee he had on under his sweaters — a nice signature style. That tee, incidentally, included a shout-out on the back to Sox organist Nancy Faust — nice.

• Larry Kurtze wore a White Sox throwback jersey with 1959 Chisox stirrups (don’t worry, he didn’t have his pants scrunched up like that for the entire party), topped off by a later-model Sox jacket.

• Here’s Jim Lonetti, wearing a salesman sample Twins jersey — note the unusual script. He also wore a cap with a logo patch instead of a direct-embroidered logo — weird. But note that the “T” on the cap is curved, which is how the team’s logo used to be back in the day (nowadays it’s almost straight).

• The man, the myth, the god, the godfather — ladies and gentlemen, I give you Ricko. He wore a Minneapolis Millers jersey with Willie Mays’s number. He was also a fantastic presence all weekend long, dispensing wisdom and pointing me in many productive directions. Thanks for everything, Rick — home run all the way.

• For the second time in two and a half years, Teebz drove all the way from Winnipeg to attend a Uni Watch shindig. Note that he wore a Brooklyn Dodgers cap just to score points with me. What a brownnose, am I right?

• This is Mike Menner. In addition to wearing a nifty Nicaragua jersey, he also gave me a six-pack of northwestern-striped tube socks. Or at least I think it was him — my memory’s a little fuzzy on some of the evening’s details. Whoever it was, that was a really sweet gesture — thanks.

• Here we have Kenny Gunderman, wearing a Macalester College club team jersey.

• This guy asked me not to print his name, I think cuz he stole all that gear from the Michigan equipment room. Okay, not really, but he was wearing a bona fide national championship ring — yowza. Also note the Rose Bowl sleeve embroidery and the Rose Bowl watch.

• Can’t get enough of that old Twins script. That’s Mark Wilkes wearing it.

• Here’s the best right-hand man a left-handed writer could ever ask for, our own L.I. Phil Hecken. Underneath the Isles jersey he had this super-cool Uni Watch Deep Freeze T-shirt.

• The Deep Freeze tee was designed by Ben Traxel, who came up from Missouri for the weekend. His Browns sweater is a total DIY job (you can see additional photos of it here and see how he made it here). Ben was also wearing a pair of those 1959 Chisox World Series stirrups, and so was Phil, so the two of them and Larry Kurtze later posed for a sock-off photo op.

• Ben brought his pal and architecture colleague Aaron Duncan along with him from Missouri. Aaron’s Vladislav Tretiak jersey featured by far the coolest NOB at the party.

• Dan Schneeman wore a John Randle jersey but kinda blew it by not wearing the Randle-style eye black. C’mon, Dan, if you’re gonna do it, do it right!

• Dan’s brother Carl Schneeman wore one of my favorite jerseys of the night: an untucked Marquette beauty.

• Here’s another jersey I really liked: Kevin Joseph’s Minnesota Aurora design, which he created himself for his rec league team. Nice combination of various local team logos.

• Here’s longtime reader Jeff Barak, wearing a jersey from a local high school team. He also engaged in a bit of self-promotion by wearing a shout-out to his blog, the excellent Third String Goalie.

• I think I embarrassed (or maybe scared) Wes Johnson by constantly making a fuss of his gorgeous Ashby Arrows warm-up jacket. Dig the awesome script on the back. Underneath the jacket he wore a shirt that dated back to the days when Bud Selig wanted to contract the Twins out of existence.

• Love the black cat on Chris Lamping’s Wobblies jersey, which is from his rec league baseball team. (Here’s a shot of him wearing it on the mound!) Don’t know what the Wobblies are? Look here and here.

• Seated here are Ray Wroblewski on the left and Mike Nachreiner on the right. Naturally, I liked Mike’s green-and-gold Adidas jacket, but I liked it even more when I saw what was on the back. That one’s for you, Phil Knight.

• When I think of the Minnesota Fighting Saints, I think of this logo. Didn’t know they’d also used this design until I saw Robert Danneker wearing it.

• Last but not least, here’s Hugh Gitlin. The jersey is reversible — the other side says “Manny’s Team.” Apparently they were handed out a kid named Manny’s bar mitzvah and everyone played a game of hoops (which doesn’t sound like any bar mitzvah I’ve ever attended, but I guess they do things differently out in Minnesota).

My thanks to all who attended, apologies to anyone I missed, and bonus apologies for ducking out as early as I did — I was in town on assignment for an ESPN piece, and the long work day had taken its toll. But I think you’ll like the resulting article, which should run tomorrow.

Freebie Reminder: Remember, I’m currently giving a way a Soul Power DVD + T-shirt. Details here.

Also, for the many of you who’ve asked: Yes, I will definitely be giving away the Jaguars jersey box (probably next week) and the footballs provided by Joe Skiba (the week after that), so hold tight — you’re bound to win something eventually.

Contest Reminder: Friday is the deadline for submitting your Cooperstown Hawkeyes logo design. Further details here.

Uni Watch News Ticker: While looking for the postcard image to post at the top of today’s entry, I came across this — whoa! … Rickie Fowler’s name was misspelled on his caddie’s attire over the weekend (with thanks to Michael Cooke). … Check out this original sketch for the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers logo. It’s from an article that explains the logo’s evolution (nice find by Wolfie Browender). … Last week’s Supreme Court decision allowing corporate political spending prompted Atlanta Journal-Constitution cartoonist Mike Luckovich to create some astute logo creep commentary (with thanks to Austin Gillis). … Caleb Berg was recently watching the pilot episode of Sequest DSV, which first aired in 1993, when he noticed something interesting: “The character Lucas Wolenczak, played by the late Jonathan Brandis, is wearing a Marlins jersey. At the end he turns around and you can see he has ‘World Series Champions 2010′ on the back.” Seems unlikely, but stranger things have happened. … The Saint John Sea Dogs are inviting fans to design the team’s third jersey (with thanks to Thom Dennis). … New logo for Roosevelt University (with thanks to Tom Fredrickson whose wife’s design firm created the logo). … Super-cool hockey jersey available here. … Check out this Oregon-branded laptop. Think there’s a swoosh etched on the other side? (With thanks to Bryan Duklewski.) … Bruce Menard found some killer early NBA stuff on eBay, including a 1949-50 Chicago Stags media guide (be sure to scroll down and click for the larger scans), a 1948-49 Sheboygan Red Skins media guide (ditto), and a 1948-49 Stags team photo (note the antlers on the costumed mascot!). … Looks like Ben Sheets was wearing a pre-2007 gray-underbrimmed cap for his press conference yesterday (good spot by Eric Trager). … Yesterday’s main entry included this ad for Hostess baseball cards, which prompted Rick DiRubbo to find and scan some of his old Hostess cards. … The Maple Leafs wore 1970s throwbacks for warm-ups last night, complete with period-appropriate NOBs. Click on the sidebar for more photos (with thanks to Rob Ullman). … Moon over Melbourne! That’s Venus Williams, who I assume was wearing a G-string-ish undergarment of some sort (screen shot courtesy of Ryan Perkins). … Wait, check that: She’s actually wearing brown undies. … Here’s a look at MLB’s new BP caps in action. “Even more hideous than I imagined,” says Dan Cichalski. “The black on the edge of the bill looks like a second hat beneath the blue hat, similar to a player like Juan Pierre wearing a cap beneath his helmet. Ugh.” … Seattle University wore sleeved throwbacks last night! And instead of wearing their usual uni numbers, the players wore the numbers of former Seattle greats, like Elgin Baylor and Eddie Miles. Additional photos here and here. … For the dog who has everything: a doghouse shaped like a giant football helmet (as forwarded by Byron Wages). … Andre Dawson will reportedly be wearing an Expos cap on his Hall of Fame plaque.

Today we’re going to check out another batch of classic sports-themed ads from the Vintage Ad Browser site. Some real beauties this time, most of them from the 1960s and ’70s (with thanks to Jim Vilk, who contributed the last four ads in the list):

• I confess that I didn’t know who Nick Pietrosante was until I saw this awesome ad. Shame on me.

• Love the ’60s color tones in this fishing reel ad.

• Whoa, look at this check-writing machine! Someone please locate one of those on eBay, pronto!

• Love the jackets on this pit crew. Is the guy in foreground wearing a mask or a helmet or what?

• Weird to see the Steel(ers) logo in a hockey context.

• Chuck Muncie didn’t just wear glasses — he shilled for glasses (and also needed longer pants and higher socks).

• Nice watercolor in this Rawlings glove ad.

• Interesting mix of sports in this CBC ad. I like the black/silver striping on the football player — is that a CFL team, or just a generic gridder?

• Speaking of the CFL, take a look at this ad. Forget the cheerleader the junk in her trunk — take a look at the guy at far-right. Is he supposed to be the ref? If so, were CFL officials wearing beanie-style caps in the late ’70s?

• Can you imagine what a pain in the ass it must have been to create this visual effect in the days before computers?

• I totally remember seeing this ad and this ad in comic books back in the 1970s. Never had any cards from the Hostess series, though. Did any of you?

• Here’s another one I remember from comic books. Note that the inset baseball scene shows an infielder wearing solid orange/red.

• Okay, we all realize that some advertisers can’t come up with the licensing cash to use official pro logos in their ads. But couldn’t Mizuno have done a bit better than this?

• Here’s another case of MLB uniforms without logos, although the team in the field is clearly wearing Reds-style stirrups, even their caps and jerseys don’t have the proper logos.

• Here’s yet another variation on the Tigers’ D logo. Also, is it just me or does that cap look like it’s made out of leather, or maybe vinyl?

• When the Blue Jays were born, they immediately became the centerpiece of a Toronto tourism campaign. Can anyone identify that player?

• Not sure I’ve ever seen a baseball jersey insignia run “uphill” as much as this one.

• Here’s one of my favorite ads on the entire site. You know those little stickers on Chiquita bananas? Back in 1980 they made a series of winter Olympics stickers. I’d love to see a set of those!

• Bowling and patterned socks: two great tastes that taste great together.

• The Indy 500 and laxatives: two great tastes that, uh, don’t taste so great together.

• Sal Maglie was called “the Barber” because he liked to pitch inside and give hitters “a close shave,” so he was a natural for razor ads.

• And remember, kids, if you can’t be an athlete, be an athletic supporter.

DVD + T-shirt Giveaway: Longtime Uni Watch pal Deb Goldstein (aka T-shirt maven Miss Wit) is the exclusive merch licensee for the excellent Soul Power film, which comes out on DVD today. She’s offered to give a free DVD and T-shirt to a Uni Watch reader.

To enter, send a blank e-mail with your name in the subject line to this address by 10pm eastern this Thursday, January 28th. One entry per person. I’ll announce the winner on Friday.

Remember, Uni Watch Membership Program enrollees are NOT entitled to extra raffle entries anymore — it’s one entry per person for everyone. Thanks.

Uni Watch News Ticker: My report on Minnesota scene will have to wait another day or three, but here are some pond hockey photos from Teebz, along with his blog report on the proceedings. … The current issue of National Geographic has a page devoted to smashed pennies. Take a closer look at this one — gorgeous, no?… The Toldeo Walleye wore tuxedo jerseys the other day (with thanks to Aaron Whitlow). … Did Kansas State really wear mis-matched shorts and jerseys in 1975, or was this just a case of lost luggage or something like that? (As noted by Brian Codagnone.) … Jeremy Brahm reports that Japanese short track speed skater Mika Ozawa has a cool little skate-shaped baggage tag. … Also from Jeremy: Here’s a look at Japanese speed skating uniforms since 1992. … An Italian soccer player has caused a bit of a stir by wearing a Silvio Berlusconi mask (with thanks to Mike Edgerley). … Bryan Moore has envisioned the Carolina Hurricanes using Hartford Whalers colors. … I’m not a video game guy, but I might have to rethink that now that MLB 10 will be featuring several classic stadiums (with thanks to John Sobotka). … Not happy about that new Michigan State logo? Coach Tom Izzo thinks you should shut up and drink the Kool Aid already (with thanks to Jeff Cohen). … Fun little video clip of Nate Robinson discussing NBA uniforms (with thanks to Grant Oldman). … Steve and Eliza Mandich have started a new blog about the Olympic mascot, Quatchi. … Here’s something I’m not sure I’ve ever seen on an NFL gridiron before: This 1991 shot shows Bears LB Dante Jones with his jersey tied in a knot (nice find by KW Hunt). … Are these completely beautiful or what? They’re from a series of paintings done by David Boss in 1965. To see the rest of the series, check out the latest installment of the Fleer Sticker Project. … Reprinted from last night’s comments: In this blog post, Bengie Molina writes, “Last season, I changed equipment companies and it kind of messed up my legs. I’ll stick with one company all season this year.” … “Here’s a gallery of bike/equipment customization from the recently completed Tour Down Under,” writes Bryan Redemske. “Once you get past the gold bike, there are some interesting bits.”

All season long, Vikes coach Brad Childress has worn a special non-branded headset due to his hearing impairment, but the clowns at Motorola finally decided to impose their logo and wordmark on his rig yesterday. Pretty standard corporate douchebaggery, but I’m surprised it took them this long to get around to it.

That was my favorite uni-related observation from yesterday’s NFL action, which Ricko and I watched at a pair of bars in Minnesota. In other news:

• Brett Favre appeared to have purple tape over his earholes, plus he was wearing purple earplugs, presumably to block out the Superdome noise.

• Garrett Hartley is another kicker who wears his wedding band on the field — but not on his ring finger.

• Lance Moore wore eye black on only one side, which is apparently something he’s been doing for a while.

• Several Vikings players appeared to have their jerseys tied down to their pads at the base of the collar, Cowboys-style.

• Pierre Thomas has a uni-numbered mouthguard.

• Kinda weird that there was a guy in a Miami Hurricanes jersey lurking in the background during the AFC trophy presentation. “The logical explanation is that it was a tribute to Reggie Wayne, who wears No. 87 for the Colts and also wore that number at the U,” offers Sam Blum. “Plus the Super Bowl is in Miami this year. I would imagine that Reebok must have been irate over swoosh’s presence.”

Finally, it’s worth noting that CBS’s Sunday Morning program did a little preview of the Saints/Vikes game yesterday, accompanied by this pathetic graphic. Maybe they’ll figure out what the Saints’ helmet actually looks like in time for the Super Bowl.

And now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to head to the airport and, weather permitting, fly home.

(Thanks to everyone who contributed observations and screen shots, including Marc Malfara, Rick Friedel, Michael Kinney, Aaron McHargue, Dylan Moran, and Drew Nolan, and extra-special thanks to everyone who helped make this past weekend in the Twin Cities such a gas — you guys are all the best.)

Uni Watch News Ticker: Bizarre news from Marcus Cooper, who writes: “The Lake Erie Monsters, who are an Avalanche affiliate, just announced a promotional bobblehead night for…. Shaquille O’Neal?! I played the video on that page and gasped when I saw the Avalanche logo, #33 on the sweater, and O’Neal’s head instead of Patrick Roy’s.” … Speaking of unusual minor league hockey promotions, here’s a first, I think: a hockey team wearing Girl Scouts-inspired jerseys (with thanks to Kevin Joseph). … Here’s a story I hadn’t heard before: In 1966, the Ford Motor Company commissioned Paul Rand to create a new logo, but it was never used (with thanks to Michael Paez). … Coupla nice finds by Alex Putelo: the Illinois hoops team wearing verynice northwestern-striped socks, and Bobby Hull with a makeshift facemask. … Good info and photos about the new Red Bull Arena in New Jersey here. “One interesting note is that season ticket holders will not have physical tickets but electronic ID cards that they swipe to gain entry into the arena,” says Michael Berluti. … Check out this old Cubs spring training photo — with a mascot in a cub suit! Never seen that before (nice find by Joe Coney). … Joe Drennan notes that the Bauer logo on Tuukka Rask’s mask is oddly off-center. … More new J-League soccer uniforms from Jeremy Brahm, this time for the Shimizu S-Pulse, Mito Hollyhock, Cerezo Osaka, Sanfrecce Hiroshima and Hiroshima Sanfrecce. … Will Rickenback attended the Orioles’ Fan Fest and took a bunch of photos of the game-used gear that was available. “They had hundreds of jerseys, bats, hats, pants, helmets, even banners from around the stadium,” he writes. “One of the helmets was huge, had two flaps and hard Styrofoam on the inside — seems like a predecessor to those new helmets. Also got lots of pics of the pants from the September throwback game from Ebbets Field Flannels.” … “This is a story from our local paper about a bank robbery,” writes Robert Tusso. “In the security camera still-frame, it’s easy to recognize the late-’90s Angels cap. But the impressive thing is that the police either went through the trouble to properly identify it as an ‘Anaheim’ Angels cap (from the five-year era between ‘California’ and ‘LA of Anaheim’) or else there’s a detective that knows his baseball uniforms. Or maybe they just happened to call it ‘Anaheim’ serendipitously.” … New jersey for St. Helens rugby (with thanks to Craig Ackers). … Dylan Buell reports that a recent Indiana/Ball State women’s tennis match found the two teams wearing virtually identical Adidas uniforms. “The only way to tell the difference was by looking for the IU logo on the left shoulder,” he says. … The Dodgers will be playing some spring games in Taiwan, and Jeremy Brahm rightly points out that this will probably mean a new logo and/or patch. … Duke wore a Haiti relief patch on Saturday night (with thanks to Mike Lafferty). … “Matt Zaba, the Rangers’ backup goalie, does a shuttle from the minors to the big club every two weeks or so,” writes Alan Kreit. “On Saturday night he saw his first NHL action, but his helmet had No. 30 (his minor league number — he’s wearing 31 for the Rangers) and the logo of the Hartford Wolfpack.” … Several nice finds by Brinke Guthrie, including a Cincinnati Swords jersey, a 1969 NFL game program with a cool multi-helmet photo, and a page showing dozens of super-cool-looking old sports books for kids … New rugby jersey for the Qantas Wallabies (with thanks to Drew Douglas). … Paul Wiederecht found these 1980 spring training shots of Billy Martin. Note that he’s wearing black shoes! … Paul Deaver is looking to sell his entire set of 42 NFL pencils for $25. If you’re interested, or if you have any questions about the set, contact him here.