Uni Watch

What Can Brown Do for You? A Lot!

2012-05-30T11:45:05Z

[Editor's Note: Today we have a guest entry by Tim Newcomb, who has written an ode to what he feels is an underappreciated color. — PL]

By Tim Newcomb

Brown has never been the “new black” in uniforms. Never has been and, quite likely, never will be. Even teams that have brown in their name (the Cleveland Browns, Rhode Island’s Brown University) often relegate their eponymous color to benchwarmer status.

Having worn lots of brown and yellow while growing up as a Padres fan, I understand why that combination is often viewed as dated. But brown is more than the old San Diego color that Steve Garvey famously called a taco look. It has personality. If given a chance, it could develop a future.

Alas, brown is so unloved that it’s never even had a heyday. If we look at the NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB, only three teams have featured brown: the St. Louis Browns (they didn’t have a lot of options, now did they?), who played for over 50 years in brown and orange before moving to Baltimore and switching the brown to black; the San Diego Padres, who wore brown from the team’s inception in 1969 until 1991; and that aforementioned team from Cleveland, who didn’t wear their brown jerseys even once last season (although that’s apparently going to change this year).

As for the NCAA, Wyoming wears brown well. And Lehigh. The list isn’t much longer than that. Brown University uses silver and red as its primary uniform colors, saving brown for a few highlights. Two other schools that claim brown in their color palette, Western Michigan and Bowling Green, put it on the back burner in favor of gold and orange, respectively.

Todd Radom, a graphic designer who has created everything from minor league baseball uniform designs to Super Bowl logos, says brown’s first issue, if you don’t count the “inevitable bathroom comparisons,” stems from its lack of versatility. “Orange and brown go really well together, and that’s about it,” he says. “Maybe beige or tan, some golds and yellows, or some reds. Combining cool colors with brown doesn’t really work most of the time, and brown as a dominant color has to be pretty dark in value to carry the day.”

Radom says brown’s most prevalent use was in the 19th century, before the advent of modern marketing, focus groups, and broadcast television (where brown often looks like black). So it’s not surprising that the few remaining brown bastions can trace their brown roots back to the 1800s. Lehigh, for example, has worn brown since 1865. And Wyoming’s brown/gold color scheme was inspired by an alumni banquet in 1895, when decorators chose brown-eyed Susans to garnish the room.

Wyoming football went for a mix-and-match redesign in 2011, and brown stayed in play. In fact, the Cowboys even emphasized the brown angle, adding a brown helmet for the first time since 1976 and changing all the facemasks to brown. Timothy Harkins, an athletic department spokesperson, says brown merchandise now sells on par with gold.

Harkins says that folks in Wyoming love the brown and “take great pride” in the color. The school has tweaked and toyed with the golden hue over the last century-plus, but never touched the brown.

While Wyoming and Lehigh love their brown, the Padres banished brown from their color scheme in 1991 and have never revisited it. Although a certain vocal faction of the public has called for the team to bring back the brown, other fans have been just as vocal in their cries to keep the color locked away. The debate may be moot, because Anne Occi, MLB’s vice president in charge of design, says brown was never considered as an option during the team’s most recent redesign. “It was not even brought up.”

That’s a shame. As franchises look to carve out a marketing niche, brown could project a classic look — or a funky one, if paired with the right “cool” hue — that others can’t provide. We’ve all seen so much blue and red that those colors run together, and we certainly know that teams can add a black jersey for no good reason. If teams would just be willing to take a bit of a chromatic risk, they’d find that brown — if executed with a modern flair — can push a more daring agenda than it’s generally given credit for.

Tim Newcomb is a contributor for Time, Sports Illustrated, Popular Mechanics, and other publications. You can follow him on Twitter at @tdnewcomb.

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French Open Round-up

By Brinke Guthrie

The fans are flocking to Roland Garros once again for the French Open, and as usual the players on court are exhibiting a wide variety of styles. Men’s top-ranked Novak Djokovic has debuted his new line from Japanese maker Uniqlo. Turns out that Uniqlo isn’t a core sports outfitter, but more of a Japanese mass-marketer selling “basic and affordable clothing,” according to the New York Times.

Caroline Wozniacki’s tour nickname is “sunshine,” and that matches this orange/yellow Adidas by Stella McCartney look. Ana Ivanovic’s look, along with other Adidas-sponsored players, is shown here.

Nike’s well represented at the Open, as you might expect. Their players include women’s defending champ Li Na; Roger Federer; Rafael Nadal; and Maria Sharapova.

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PermaRec Update: Paul here. The two women shown at right had a lot of things in common, not the least of which is that both of their Manhattan Trade School report cards ended up in my possession. They both went on to big things, in remarkably similar ways. It was a total privilege for me to tell their stories in the latest full-length installment of Permanent Record on Slate. I’m really happy with the way this one turned out — give it a shot.

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Uni Watch News Ticker: I owe an apology to Vinnie Dinolfo. It turns out that former Browns defensive end Joe “Turkey” Jones really did wear a nickNOB, just as Vinnie claimed. That screen shot comes from the opening seconds of the highlight video on this page. … Neglected to mention the Pirates’ G.I. Joe pandering uniforms from last Sunday (blame Bob Brashear for reminding me). … The Twins wore their “M” caps at home last night. “This is the first time since the three games over the 1991 World Series 20th Anniversary Reunion Weekend in 2011 (Aug. 5-7) that they have worn the ‘M’ cap at home,” says Jeff Barak. “They did not wear the M a single time in 2010, and prior to that the M logo was only worn on the road since 2002.” … Marlins pitcher Anibal Sanchez was wearing a standard MLB undershirt with a swoosh on the collar last night. But the shirt also appears to have had an Under Armour logo on the chest. Weird (good spot by Chad Jorgenson). … We all know that “The City” jerseys used to have those great cable car uni numbers. But I didn’t know they also had a very cool light rail design — with a Giants-style “SF” logo — on the back of their warm-ups (great find by Matt Beahan). … Remember Will Johnson, whose baseball paintings were featured here on the site last summer? He has a bunch of new paintings. … New logo for the Denver Cutthroats (from Kelly Hellman) … Here are before/after pics of the new Mizzou gridiron (from Dwight Ternes). … Padres strength and conditioning coach Jim Malone wears a T-shirt that shows a dumbbell-themed version of the team’s logo (from Brian Crago). … Gary Chanko has made our first MLB Cubees, featuring David Wright and Cole Hamels. Look, he even included the little Liberty Bell on the Phillies’ stirrups! If you want to make your own, here are the templates for Hamels and Wright. Very cool, although those squatchees look a kinda big, no? … Nats reliever Drew Storen has his Twitter handle on his glove (from David Grindem). … Jeepers, here’s a very nice set of Twins stirrups complete with the “TC” logo (big thanks to Ben Gorbaty). … The Sugar Land Skeeters — a minor league team in the independent Atlantic League — has been using an old-school bullpen cart (from Matthew Robins). … This is truly awesome: a Chunichi Dragons uni-history coffee mug (gold star to Eric Stangel). … “On Tuesday night’s Rays broadcast, the TV guys pointed out that Hideki Matsui’s pants were an odd length,” writes Dan Wunderlich. “They had the elastic removed and came just to the shoetop without any breaking or bunching. They joked that he was wearing slacks.” … “In the Premiership final this weekend, the Leicester Tigers wore their old-school uni letters, rather than numbers, on their warm-up shirts. Then they wore numbers for the game.” … According to this La Liga season recap, “Villarreal decided that they were going to mark Mother’s Day by playing with the names of the mothers who gave birth to them on the back of their shirts -– an idea so good the fans were reminding them of it for the rest of the season” (from Mark Coale). … Interesting query from Michael McCormick, who writes: “I’m looking for a unique way to display baseball bats vertically on a wall, not in a case. And I’d prefer to not have to drill into the bats. I like my guests to be able to touch and pick them up to look at them. Any suggestions? Ive seen some acrylic hooks; any other DIY ideas?” … Brewers catcher Jonathan Lucroy, who wears No. 20, is out for several weeks with a broken hand, but Martin Maldonado was wearing Lucroy’s chest protector last night (good spot by Taylor Meiklejohn). … The Adelaide Crows are asking fans to vote on their clash jumper for next season (from Leo Strawn).

III-peat?

2012-05-29T11:09:16Z

The fallout from last week’s ESPN column about Robert Griffin III’s RNOB and a brief history of nickNOBs continued over the weekend. One thing at a time:

• Reader James Nagasawa points out that Earl Thomas of the Seahawks has been wearing RNOB on his practice jersey, as you can see at right. That Roman numeral looks like an aftermarket addition, no? Anyway, I got in touch with the Seahawks PR guy and asked if Williams planned to wear RNOB on his game jersey, and was told, “No. He just put it on his practice jersey last year.” So while Griffin isn’t the first NFLer to have worn RNOB in practice, he’s still on pace to become the first to wear RNOB in an actual game.

• Shawn Klis has alerted me to a nickNOB I hadn’t previously been aware of: “Back in the ’70s, the Buffalo Braves had a player named Ernie DiGregorio. I remember him specifically because he was the first guy that I ever saw with a nickNOB.”

• Last Friday I wrote this:

[A reader told me] that 49ers running back John David Crow wore a nickNOB — “Goober” — in the early 1970s. That claim is clearly false, since Crow’s last game in the league was in 1968, and the Niners didn’t even have NOBs yet at that point. I’m only bothering to mention it here because maybe Vinnie got some players mixed up in his head and there really was someone out there (not Crow) wearing “Goober” in the early ’70s. Anyone know more?

Just as I hoped, someone was able to connect the dots. “49ers running back Doug Cunningham was the one who was nicknamed Goober,” writes Richard Lewis (true enough — confirmed in this SI article). “Obviously, the 49ers would never have put ‘Goober’ on the back of his jersey, as you can see here.” Thanks for shedding some light on this one, Richard.

Finally, there’s an additional development arising from that ESPN column, but it’s too big to be summarized in a simple bullet point. I’ll have a full entry on it soon, and I don’t mind saying it’s gonna be epic — stay tuned.

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Culinary Corner: I had a few friends over in the back yard on Sunday to celebrate the holiday weekend and my 25th anniversary of moving to Brooklyn (the exact date was May 29 — today). I usually try to experiment with new things in the smoker, and this time around I revisited a concept I began developing last summer, namely that anything that’s usually braised can also be smoked. Last year I successfully applied this concept to smoked short ribs and smoked lamb shanks. This time I tried it with something new, which you can see in the pan on the right side of this photo — see if you can tell what they are (click to enlarge):

Could you figure it out? They’re oxtails! I coated them with a coffee-based spice rub and then they got all blackened in the smoker, so it’s hard to recognize them, but they turned out really well. All my guests liked them (even a few folks who I thought would be squeamish about them). Another “If you can braise it, you can smoke it” success!

The other things on that platter are beef short ribs (the big, blackened nuggets) and lamb ribs, all of which were also smoked. On the grill, I had a steak, a pork chop, and a few dozen clams. Quite a feast!

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Collector’s Corner

By Brinke Guthrie

Tommy Lasorda’s been a Dodger for so long that it’s hard to imagine him in any other uniform. But here’s a cap and a pair of cleats from his days cap and cleat set from Tommy Lasorda with the Montreal Royals. Too bad they don’t have his old Montreal pants or belt — that might make for an interesting then-vs.-now comparison. (Thanks to Allen Yelent for sending that one in.)

In other eBay finds for this week:

• Fantastic 1968 Eagles poster, still in the factory packaging. Why can’t they switch back to this look?

• I was an avid fan of Apex NFL stuff, so I like this neat Apex promo cap. Speaking of Apex, I had this Cowboys parka and loved it, but it totally picked up every piece of lint in the air. Strange.

• Don’t think I’ve ever seen this before — a decal set for an NFL helmet, right down to the green dot. (What’s that for again?)

• Pat Patriot looks a bit crazed on this early-1970s Patriots button, doesn’t he?

• Totally cool: 1969 Packers helmet bicycle hubcaps. The same seller also has Giants and Redskins versions for sale, along with
lots of other cool stuff.

• Here’s a pretty cool 1967 Baltimore Colts autograph book.

• Mal Alberts of KRON TV probably did not know back on September 29th, 1968, that his Falcons/49ers game program and media pass would end up on something called eBay.

Seen something on eBay or Etsy that you think would make good Collector’s Corner fodder? Send your submissions here, and you can follow Brinke on Twitter and Facebook.

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In case you missed it on Sunday, voting is underway for Phil’s contest to redesign the Redskins. Cast your ballot here.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Well, that was embarrassing. Noteworthy details: The Rockies’ pandering cap was purple (first time the Rox had worn purple lids in many years); the Reds’ pandering cap was black (Cincy’s first time in black lids in many years); Orioles infielder Robert Andino forgot to pander, plus he does that thing where he wears his cap over his ears, like former Mets pitcher John Maine used to do (screen shot by Paul Gaiser). … Was Dusty Baker managing in jeans on Sunday? Sorta looks that way, but it’s just the black mesh screen on the railing making his uni pants look darker. … The Giants wore their headspooned “SF” road jerseys on Sunday, but Nate Schierholtz’s headspoon was MIA (good spot by Roger Hodges). … What are the Olympics all about again? Oh, right: athletic excellence. More detailed info here. … Here’s a video on how Nike soccer jerseys are made. … “We had our helmet fitting at the Toledo-area high school where I coach,” says Jacob Kubuske. “I was talking to the local Riddell representative, and while he was showing me his schedule I saw he had an appointment coming up at Bowling Green. As I mentioned the new matte orange BGSU helmets I’d just seen on Uni Watch, he went on to mention that BGSU will also debut a new white helmet at some point this year. He said it’s to keep up with all the other schools doing it.” … For reasons that aren’t clear, the Rochester Rhinos (USL Pro soccer) changed from their black/white stripes to their yellow alts during the break in Friday night’s game (from Kenn Tomasch). … Kevin Tiessen made himself a groovy little John Elway Cubee. … Unusual uni tracker of sorts from Jon Gates: “On the NBC comedy Community, Dean Craig Pelton (played by Jim Rash) has been known to wear a variety of ‘uniforms’ throughout the series. Cartoonist Dennis Culver is participating in a Community-themed art show and has created this poster, which features each one of the cross-dressing Dean’s costumes throughout the series so far.” … The James Caldwell High baseball team in West Caldwell, New Jersey, is wearing some nifty stirrups this season. That’s thanks to a donation by an anonymous Uni Watch reader who’s a Caldwell alum (class of ’87). “I ordered the stirrups through Comrade Marshall,” he says. “I did not tell the coach in advance, so he must have wondered what the hell was going on when a box with six dozen stirrups showed up unannounced, like Twin City Knitting was trying to flim-flam him for stuff he didn’t order.” Awesome work. We should all do this for our hometown high schools! … Ike Davis had some helmet decal issues on Saturday (screen shot by Steve Dodell). … Aussie footie news from Leo Strawn, Jr., who reports that the Western Bulldogs recently wore a one-off jumper to honor the club’s Hall of Fame members. “The letters ‘FFC” on the jumper stand for Footscray Football Club, which is the former name of the Western Bulldogs, and still the official corporate name for the organization,” Leo explains. … More Aussie footie news from Leo: “Two big manufacturing changes were quietly announced, both dealing with Adidas. First, Adidas will pick up Hawthorn for next season, although the official announcement won’t come until later in the year. The Hawks have been with Puma for over 30 years. Second, the Collingwood Magpies announced that they will drop Adidas after this season and make their own jumpers. That could mean no more manufacturers logos on their kits, among other changes.” … “I’m visiting my parents’ house in Minnesota, where I rediscovered these old Kellogg’s giveaway posters from 1993 showing the evolution of baseball jerseys and caps,” writes Erik Siemers. “I can’t remember the exact circumstances of how I originally got them, but I thought they were cool enough to share.” … Check out the similarity in Bob Ojeda’s stirrup stylings as a Little Leaguer and as a pro. … Although the auction ended last night, it’s worth checking out the eBay listing for this 1967 box of NFL miniatures, if only for the gorgeous box. “Never seen that one before,” says Brinke. … Don Larsen plans to sell the uniform from his perfect game (Leo Strawn again). … Lots of great stuff in this huge batch of Braves wire photos. Among other things, it looks like the Braves once experimented with “air-conditioned” mesh caps during spring training, just like the Reds did (from Jerry Wolper). … Ooh, check out this old Coast Guard hockey team — the Cutters! Here’s a color close-up of the jersey crest (great stuff from Willie Gabel). … Brookwood High in Georgia wears a rather minimalist baseball jersey. Seems more like a BP jersey (from Mike Raymer). … New logo for the Coca-Cola 600 (from Clint Ricahrdson). … Was Hammerin’ Hank getting some hitting advice from Chief Knock-A-Homa? Sure looks that way (thanks, Phil). … Here’s a video of new football turf being installed at Missouri. “Interesting that they shave out turf for numbers and logos,” says Terry Wehrend. … I’ve never read a Harry Potter book or seen a Harry Potter movie, so I’m not even sure what this means, but here are the 2012 Olympic Quidditch team uniforms. “Totally legit event going to take place,” says Andrew DeFrank. “Probably the biggest Quidditch tournament since the World Cup on Randall’s Island in November.” … Now that’s a football uniform (nice find by Jeffrey Allen). … Looks like Bob Lanier of the Pistons wore a captain’s C (Jerry Wolper again). … New 125th-anniversary jersey for Celtic. “If you fold over the sleeve, it shows the Irish Tricolour,” explains Daniel McLaughlin. … Kellogg’s has been producing throwback packaging for Frosted Flakes. Not bad, but I always preferred this version (from Bob Williams). … LetsRun.com is having a T-shirt design contest with a $250 prize (from Anthony Gonsalves). … Boy howdy, check out the solid gold uniforms that Southeastern Louisiana baseball wore on Saturday (from Chris Mycoskie). … Fresh on the heels of Randy Choate wearing orange sannies last week, the Angels wore red sannies for Saturday’s throwback game in Seattle. I figure they probably just wore the stirrups over their usual red socks (from Kerby Bealle). … A guy in St. Louis is trying to change the name of the Rams and their stadium (from Marty Hick). … Miguel Cairo apparently sweats a lot. … Take a close look at the uni number on the back of Michael Bourn’s helmet. Kinda looks like the Padres’ number font, no? (Good spot by Terry Duroncelet.) … Also from Terry: New uniforms for the Phantom Regiment Drum & Bugle Corps (“which is not a marching band,” he adds). … Michael Orr held another of his KitNerd gatherings in Portland on Friday. Full details, including photos of the soccer jerseys that everyone wore, here. … Remember our recent discussion of J.P. Walters etching his deceased daughter’s initials into the back of the mound? Someone in yesterday’s A’s/Twins game etched a cross into the mound. “It was definitely not there in the top of the 1st with Minnesota pitcher Scott Diamond on the mound but was there in the 2nd and even more clear in the 3rd,” says Jared Wieseler. “A safe assumption is that you could rule out Diamond and say that A’s pitcher Travis Blackley did it in the bottom of the 1st and then added to it later on.” … I don’t know what “thinclad” means, but that’s one hell of a track uni (Jerry Wolper yet again). … “The University of Arizona will come out with another helmet color this upcoming season, most likely red,” says Kenny Abbey Jr. “I’m not sure when it will be made public, but I’m hearing that it will be included with a Pro Combat uniform that will be gray. Also, there will be a jersey to go with the copper helmets that were introduced last week. Sorry, I can’t give up my source, who is close to the football program.”

A Story Tailor-Made for Uni Watch

2012-05-28T11:14:59Z

.
I got a great submission the other day from reader Andrew Rader, as follows:

I went to a tailor’s shop in Philadelphia [shown above — PL] to get some pants hemmed. Turns out that the proprietor (who speaks broken English) and his wife — Pat and Anna Scioli — have been the tailors for the Philadelphia Eagles for 14 years. Pat was more than happy to show me some of the current work for the team, and he said he had just finished the practice jerseys — about 300 of them. I asked if he noticed any differences between Nike and Reebok, and he said no. He also does all of Andy Reid’s game day alterations (black mock turtle necks and such).

Pat and Anna were delightful. Their primary business is formalwear alternations (cash only). Such a great guy who’s passionate about his work and spent an extra 20 minutes chatting with me and showing me many of his favorite photos.

I plan to ask more questions next week when I pick up my pants, so if you or the readers have any questions, I may be able to come in ready and get some good responses from Pat (even with the broken English). People can submit their questions to me here.

How great is that? Big thanks to Andrew for offering to be the Uni Watch emissary to the Eagles’ tailor.

That’s it for today. Everyone have a great Memorial Day, and I’ll see you back here with full-length content tomorrow.

Sons of Washington – Vote! Vote! Vote!

2012-05-27T10:22:08Z

By Phil Hecken

We’ve been treated to three days worth of submissions for the Washington Football Redesign Contest, and now it’s time to vote. To be as democratic as possible — and so some people don’t feel like their designs were summarily dismissed — I’ve decided to allow reader voting on every submission. Obviously, some are better than others, but that’s not for me (or a crack panel) to decide. So now it’s up to you.

So, before you cast your votes today, make sure you take a brief refresher course by giving each entry one last look-see. The first set is here, the second set is here, and the third set is here. Below (after the jump) is the poll (you’ll also be provided with links to each design in there, but not all the descriptions or in some cases, every design). For the first round of voting you may vote for FIVE of your favorite redesigns.

I’ll keep the voting open all week, and next weekend, the top 10 vote-getters will be advanced to the final vote. The winner of that will win the contest. Simple and fair, right? Right.

I want to again give a HUGE round of thanks to our pollster, James T. Huening, who sets all these polls up and enables the Uni Watch community to have their say in contests such as these. My thanks to all the submitters, and best of luck to you all.

The rest is up to you, dear readers…so, here’s your ballot:

Vote Below — (click on each name for a graphic of the submitter’s redesign)

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Benchies

by Rick Pearson

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The battle between flora and fauna resumes…

Click to enlarge

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Uni ~~Tweaks~~ Concepts

We have ~~another new~~ one set of tweaks, er…concepts today. After discussion with a number of readers, it’s probably more apropos to call most of the reader submissions “concepts” rather than tweaks. So that’s that.

So if you’ve concept for any sport, or just a tweak or wholesale revision, send them my way.

Please do try to keep your descriptions to ~50 words (give or take) per image — if you have three uniform concepts in one image, then obviously, you can go a little over, but no novels, OK? OK!. You guys have usually been good with keeping the descriptions pretty short, and I thank you for that.

Like the colorizations, I’m going to run these as inline pics — click on each one to enlarge.

And so, lets begin:

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We start off today with Matt Malinoski, who has some concepts for the AL West, circa 2013…

Phil,

I have decided to submit my concepts by division, so here are my concepts for the 2013 AL West:

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Angels: 1970 uniform with current graphics.

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Astros: 1965 home uniform with Colt .45 stirrups and matching number typeface. Road uniform is similar to home but with city name instead. Replaced Astrodome in logo with large baseball, removed the motion lines and added stars to the background.

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Athletics: 1951 uniform in green.

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Mariners: Removed the compass rose from front of jersey and added stripes to stirrups. Changed belt loops.

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Rangers: 1985 home uniform with 1960s MacGregor number font. Road uniform similar to home with some added trim. Changed belt loops.

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Thanks,

Matt Malinoski

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And our other submitter today is Rocky Vaughn, who brings us some Mississippi State University concepts:

Hey Phil,

Some Mississippi State University Football Uni Concepts:

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1. Maroon Jersey reflects on my favorite MSU uniform under Head Coach Rockey Felker (1986) with the new MState emblem on helmet.
2. White Away jersey paired with optional maroon pants with classic striping.

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3. Alternate Gray Uniform, from top to bottom, adds an unconventional twist to the Bulldog look.
4. Alternate Black Jersey paired with Gray pants looks interesting. I used White numerals trimmed in maroon because their previous Black tops with Maroon Numbers were difficult to read and not very pleasing on the eyes, in my opinion.
* When State took the plunge to re-brand themselves, I can’t understand why they didn’t request a newer version of the Interlocking MSU logo. *

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5. My version of Maroon Interlocking Logo
6. My version of White Interlocking Logo

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‘Preciate it,

-Rocky

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And that’s it for concepts for this week. Back with more next time!

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Colorize This!

Occasionally, I will be featuring wonderful, high-quality black and white photographs that are just begging to be colorized.

Another great set today, and aside from the G&G Boys, I’m back with John & Pete.

Let’s get right into it:

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We’ll start again with John Turney, who has a “correction” from last weekend:

Apparantly I made a big error in that the team in photo was Wake Forrest and not the Tarheels. My apologies.

Here is a corrected version

Thanks John. He also sent a couple others, but I’ll hold off on all but this one — John didn’t identify the teams, so if anyone knows (including John), by all means — speak up:

‘For Next Time’

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Next up is George Chilvers, with this:

A quick one for this week:

Bob Marshall, catcher for the Davenport Blue Sox in 1914.

Original at Library of Congress

George

Great stuff, George.

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Next up is Pete Woychick, with this:

Hi Phil—
Here’s another photo from the Smithsonian site. (Original Hilldales baseball team circa 1940) I always like these group shots for the variety of facial expressions and personalities that transcend time.

Wikipedia: Hilldale Club
The Hilldale Athletic Club (also known as Hilldale Daisies, Darby Daisies) was an African American professional baseball team based in Darby, Pennsylvania, west of Philadelphia. … Hilldale was a charter member of the Eastern Colored League in 1923 … Drew disbanded the ballclub in July 1932 after the combined attendance of two subsequent Saturday afternoon games at Hilldale Park totaled 295. … The Daisies wore red and white. Their jerseys in the 1920s had “Hilldale” across the front in the style shown above as the “team logo”. The club wore a red cap with a white plain-block capital H as seen above.

Due to the discrepancy in the dates (photo “circa 1940″; club disbanded 1932), I don’t know if this is the same team. It seems like it must be, but why would the caps have a W? (On a related note, is there a Negro Leagues uniform database? Seems like there ought to be…)

Cheers!
—Pete

Thanks Pete!

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And we conclude with another wonderful history lesson from Gary Chanko:

This early twentieth century postcard is, unfortunately, the last one in my pile to colorize. It turned out to be my favorite.

The image is one of ‘Real Photo’ postcards from the era (it sold at auction for $3600) that captures an afternoon game between the Chicago Union Giants and the locals from the small Wisconsin town of Randolph. The original contains no written material or date information. However we do know the photo was taken between 1900 and 1904 based on Chicago Union Giants history.

Although much is known (more info can be found here and here) about the Chicago Union Giants, one of the top Negro baseball teams in the Midwest in the early 1900s, I was unable to find further information about the game depicted in the image (Chicago probably won) or about the Randolph team. I’ve contacted the Randolph historical society hoping someone may have more info and, perhaps, the location in Randolph where the game was played, but no reply to date.

Some points of interest in the photo:

• Most of the spectators are outfitted in their “Sunday Best,” particularly the ladies which are a large percentage of the crowd.
• The crowd size looks to be a few hundred which is almost ten percent of the entire community population of just a few thousand.
• If you look closely, the protective screen for the grandstand is visible beginning at the pole behind the catcher. The unused screening material can be seen draped over the front of a vehicle on the far left.
• The playing field must have created a few nasty bad hops.
• A line drive down the right field line might be unpleasant for few spectators.
• Where’s the ump? Player’s bench?

Gary

Fantastic job, Gary.

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Great job all around by all today’s colorizers. Check back again soon for the next edition of Colorize This!

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And finally…

The Angels and Mariners played a PCL throwback game yesterday, with the Mariners playing as the Rainiers and the Angels as the LA Angels (who played at Wrigley Field, dontcha know).

I didn’t see any of this game, but it looked like both teams did a pretty nice job recreating the old unis. More photos here and some info about the LA Angels unis here.

OK, everyone, that’s it for this middle day of the Memorial Day weekend. Enjoy the 500 today (if that’s your cuppa) as tomorrow we brace for the camostrosity.

Have a great Sunday and we’ll be back with the final 10 in the UW Redesign The Washington Football Team contest next weekend. Don’t forget to vote!

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“No offense meant but the battle-axe blades on Provo’s Warriors concept primary and secondary logos look a bit like testicles.” — ‘Teenchy’

Have You Hailed Your Washington Football Club Today?

2012-05-26T16:25:58Z

By Phil Hecken

This fine Saturday we’re down to the third set (of 3) of the Redesign the Washington Football contestants. If you missed Part 1, you can check out the first 11 submissions here, and for Part 2, the second 11 submissions are here. All submissions are in alphabetical order, so today is the final set of 11 12 contestants.

By now, I’m sure you guys are familiar with the groundrules, so a quick recap: 11 (12 today) submissions will be shown on three successive weekend days (Saturday-Sunday last weekend, and today), and following that there will be voting on all the entries. The top 10 from there will move on to the final voting, from which one victor will be crowned. All logos and uniform concepts for the last 11 12 contestants are displayed below, and you can click on each graphic to see a full-size version. Descriptions of each submission will follow.

Ready? Here’s Part 3:

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Bobby Pinkham:

Description: Here’s my entry for the Washington Football Redesign Contest. LOGO, HOME, AWAY. I chose Warriors for a few reasons. It was the second most popular choice in the renaming poll and I liked it because it’s alliterative, a reliable and classic way to go when naming a team. It’s also one of those names that get chosen because it conveys toughness and superiority in general (plus it’s a somewhat logical progression from Redskins to something less offensive.) I didn’t want to change much else about the unis because who doesn’t love the classic burgundy and gold? The only changes I made were to change the logo t an army font W in a gold circle and I added contrasting yokes to the jerseys for a more classic feel.

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John Pollicino:

Description: Here is my proposal for the newly renamed Washington Warriors. As a D.C. resident, I am acutely aware of the passion people have here for the Burgundy and Gold so I thought that subtle changes would be best. I created the logo by combining the old logo, adding a “W” to replace the head, removed the feathers and added the throwback spear (sans feathers). For the uniforms, I copied the format from my favorite team the New York Jets. I am a big fan of the site, have a great day.

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Jeff Provo:

Description: I decided to use the Washington Warriors. I like the alliteration and I think it fits in nicely with the Wizards. Detroit has Lions & Tigers (but no Bears, oh my), Washington can have Wizards and Warriors. The team imagery is based around battle axes (a typical weapon for the “Warrior” class in any RPG), and the team colors are Burgundy & Metallic Gold. I kept the uniform relatively traditional so as to not scare away any of Washington’s current fans.

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Elliot Schunke:

Description: First off, I feel the NFL is greatly lacking in the reptilian department. What better scaled beast to choose than the Dragon? Besides, a lot of fire-hot air gets blown outta that town, so it’s fitting. I kept the colors the same because it’s a classic combo. Two logos are used on the uni: the “DC Dragon” to be used as a breast patch, and a blown-up version of the dragon’s head, which adorns the helmet. The shoulder stripes branch from a single stripe giving an effect of the framework of a dragon wing. Enjoy!

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Adam Seabury:

Description: I wanted to do something that would still feel familiar to longtime fans, so I kept the same colors and integrated some design elements that are found in the current team’s identity (the “dirt” on the eagle’s tail feathers is the one I’m most proud of). I chose Federals as the team name, and played around with elements found on the federal “eagle” seal. The helmet logos are slightly different on each side. The eagle is clutching a bundle of arrows on the left, and an olive branch on the right. In the spirit of Washington’s “feather stripe” helmet, the white stripes are formed by the banner the eagle carries, its tails forming a vague “W” on the back. I wanted the fact that the team is from Washington DC (as opposed to the state) to be apparent, so the pants have a DC hip logo, and the numbers use it as a pattern. The main logo (with the exception of “Washington”), number font, and nameplate font are all custom. The main jerseys are pretty traditional, but I just couldn’t resist doing a Seahawk-esque alternate, complete with its very own swooshbag.

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Dan Taylor:

Descripton: I created this because I thought it looks sweet!

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Jason Thyrion:

Description: If Washington has to have a name change and it has to have a government-themed name on top of it, then the Federals are the only choice, even if the team that originally bore the name stunk. It’s basically a re-dress of a Redskin uniform, as well as a preservation of the color palette, with an element or two from the original Federals thrown in.

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Lee Traylor:

Description: Attached my entry for the Redskins re-name game. Took inspiration from Michigan’s legacy jerseys and Pat Patriot. Red, white, and blue make sense in our nation’s capitol, but I tried to use a different enough spin on it to make it both stand out and pay homage to the area’s history. Hope you like it!

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Stephen Vincent:

Description: I wanted to add a submission to this contest, and then I wanted to apologize for having to do it in Paint, but that’s what I have to work with. Anyhow, I went with Hogs because I think it would be cool to have an NFL team named after an offensive line.

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Adam Walter:

Description: The Washington Green Dots were made specifically to make everyone on the team feel good about themselves by getting to wear the elusive “green dot” that only quarterbacks and middle linebackers typically get to wear. Everyone is a winner on the Green Dots!

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Eve Wilderman:

Description: As the nation’s capitol, I kept going back to government nicknames and thought Federals had some strength. I also wanted to use the district flag, hence the repetition of two stripes and three stars in red. The logos bring in historical concepts – the first flag’s circle of stars and the quill pen, with three feathers for the three branches of government. The color scheme incorporates the red from the program’s history (sort of) and the district flag, but overall highlights a clean, bold appearance.

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John Woods:

Description: I really think the USFL Washington Federals had a very underrated logo. You had the bald eagle symbol, the wings making a green W and the negative space making a white F. There’s no way we could use this logo with Philadelphia in the same division. So I tried using a shield logo to get the W in burgundy stripes and getting the F in the white negative space. I’m not happy with these results but I just wanted to show you where I was going. The uniforms would stay the same so it would still look like Washington vs Dallas.

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And there you have it — the third and final set of redesigns. Take notes, pick your favorites, talk about them in the comments. Tomorrow, I’ll have a poll and you will be given the opportunity to vote upon every design. You’ll get to “Pick 5″ of your favorites, out of the 33 total submissions.

We’ll tally the votes during the week, and next weekend I’ll announce the top 10 vote-getters. Those 10 will then compete against each other (you’ll get one vote in the final) and the top vote getter in that group is the winner. OK? OK — make sure you check back tomorrow to begin voting, and I’ll keep that voting open all week long.

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Benchies

by Rick Pearson

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Not even if it’s multiple choice?…

Click to enlarge

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And now a quick word from Paul:

Hi, people.

Today is a another special date on the Uni Watch calendar, because it was 13 years ago today — May 26, 1999 — that the very first Uni Watch column appeared in the Village Voice. I never imagined Uni Watch would prove to be such a durable project — pretty amazing. My thanks to everyone who’s helped out along the way. You’re all aces.

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And finally…

Big congratulations to Paul! Can’t believe it’s been 13 years buddy. I’m sure the concepters are already busy designing your 15 year patch (you will have a patch, right?). Cheers!

And that will do it for this fine Saturday of Memorial Day weekend. Make sure to let today’s contestants know what you really think of their designs, and take good notes, because tomorrow we vote! And hey, Ricko — who’s on first?

Everyone enjoy the day and I’ll catch you tomorrow.

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“Camo hats … awful. Camo uniforms … beyond awful. This goes for the horrendous ‘flag’ hats as well. The Orioles have been losers for 24 of the last 26 years, all we’ve had is the history and the uniform to fall back on. Now we get the atrocious (and incorrect) O’s hat and this travesty. Thank you MLB and Peter Angelos. No nuance on the interwebs-just anger!” — Aaron Siemsen

Auction Action

2012-05-25T15:53:18Z

As you’ve probably noticed by now from the ad in the left sidebar, our friends at Grey Flannel Auctions recently came out with another catalog’s worth of good stuff. Here are some items that caught my eye:

• Oh man, I love everything about this satin Celtics warm-up jacket. The white/gold striping, the big number on the back, the satin sheen — magnificent.

• I love that Catfish Hunter’s nickNOB included quote marks. And I love even more that the quote marks hovered over the first and last letters, instead of outside of them. I realize that choice probably had more to do with space efficiency than aesthetics, but I like the results — looks more playful, less clunky.

• Okkonen/Nines shows that the Pilots wore a very simple uniform design for 1969 spring training. Here’s one of those rare jerseys.

• If you’ve been waiting for your chance to own an Indians TATC jersey from 1999, here’s your chance.

• Speaking of the Indians, ever seen this patch before? The Indians wore on their blood clot jerseys in 1976.

• So odd that the Yankees once wore a patch with royal and gold. Yeah, okay, 50 years is the golden anniversary, but still. Also: Note that the bat is going across the “k,” instead of parallel to it. (You can click on the today’s splash photo to see a larger version of the patch.)

• I love this Fenway Park usher’s jacket. Look at that awesome sleeve patch!

• Want to DIY yourself some Dodgers jerseys? You’ll be good to go with this huge lot of Dodgers patches.

• I’ve always loved the AFL logo, but putting it on two sleeves is too much.

• Holy moly, check out this sensational 1930 Stanford football uniform. The patch-style uni number, the sleeve and sock stripes, the riveted patches on the pants, the label design — tasty stuff.

• Totally digging the 1970s typography and ring of stars on this ABA all-star jersey.

• Speaking of the ABA, I’ve always been a sucker for their red zebra jerseys.

• And we wrap up with a double rarity: a basketball jersey with a subscript NOB, and it’s on a nameplate, instead of being direct-sewn.

Want to see more? You can go through the entire catalog here.

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Keeping up with the Joneses: In case you missed it yesterday, my latest ESPN column — which is all about nickNOBs, RNOBs, JrNOBs, and the like — is available here. It prompted a lot of interesting responses, especially about players named Jones:

• At one point I mentioned that Pacman Jones managed to wear his nickname’s initial. That prompted reader Mike Raymer to point to a similar example: Chipper Jones. But does “Chipper” really qualify as his nickname? I mean, I know his given name is Larry, but nobody calls him that. His de facto first name is Chipper. I don’t feel that way about Pacman Jones, but maybe that’s because you could actually name a kid “Chipper” while nobody would ever name a kid “Pacman” (I hope). What do you think of these two examples: Equivalent? Related, but different? Discuss. (And yes, it’s pretty nice to see Chipper in stirrups.)

• John Szczepanski singled out yet another Jones of note: Deacon. But is that a nickNOB or a FiNOB? Obviously, Deacon wasn’t his given name, but I’ve never heard him referred to by anything other than Deacon. In fact, until looking it up just now, I didn’t even know what his first name was (David, as it turns out). So: nickNOB or FiNOB? Again, discuss.

• In non-Jones news, Tim E. O’Brien points out that Tank Johnson wore a nickNOB and FNOB simultaneously.

• Fred Teigen found a jersey with a hyphenated FNOB! Did Carlson really wear it that way on the ice? (And if so, was Ann-Margret also on the team?)

• Back to the Joneses: Vinnie Dinolfo wrote in to say that Browns defensive end Joe Jones wore a “Turkey” nickNOB in the early 1970s, when he was wearing No. 80. Jones was indeed nicknamed “Turkey Joe,” and he did wear No. 80 during the early years of his career, but I could find only two rear-view photos of him from that period, and they both show him with a conventional “Jones” NOB: this 1972 footcall card and this 1973 wire photo (I had to blow up the image a bit to be sure, but he’s definitely wearing “Jones”). So I’m skeptical of Vinnie’s claim on this one, especially since I’ve never heard it come up before. Anyone know more? (Jones later left the Browns and played for the Eagles for two years before returning to Cleveland. During his second stint with the Browns, he wore No. 64 and definitely had a conventional NOB.)

• Vinnie didn’t exactly help his credibility regarding Jones by also telling me that 49ers running back John David Crow wore a nickNOB — “Goober” — in the early 1970s. That claim is clearly false, since Crow’s last game in the league was in 1968, and the Niners didn’t even have NOBs yet at that point. I’m only bothering to mention it here because maybe Vinnie got some players mixed up in his head and there really was someone out there (not Crow) wearing “Goober” in the early ’70s. Anyone know more?

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Uni Watch News Ticker: Pandering to the public with G.I. Joe caps apparently isn’t enough for the Orioles, so they’re gonna pander a little lower on Sunday with G.I. Joe jerseys. Embarrassing. … The Columbus crew debuted their new white kit on Wednesday night (from Jacob Kubuske). … The Orix Buffaloes will wear red jerseys with three different chest lettering colors for three games this summer (from Jeremy Brahm). … A Craigslist user in Hawaii is selling a really nice batch of vintage Japanese baseball jerseys (from Kevin, who didn’t give his last name). … Craig Sallinger, an amateur aviation buff, recently visited the Glenn L. Martin Maryland Aviation Museum just outside of Baltimore. Martin had several company teams — baseball, softball, bowling, etc. — so Craig took some snaps of the uniforms that were on display. … Latest reason to love Rays skipper Joe Maddon: He recently posted the starting lineup and assigned each player a superhero alter ego. Not sure if that’s why Fernando Rodney and Joel Peralta were recently spotted wearing gladiator helmets in the dugout, but I think it’s safe to say that Maddon runs a very entertaining ship (from Jay Sullivan). … Good info on the Texans’ new uni number assignments. “Interesting to discover that #49 has never been assigned in Texans history,” notes Bob Wilkins. … I’ve mentioned this before, but it bears repeating: The latest installment of Mark Penxa’s “Stealing Signs” series is spectacular. Start here, click on a state, then click on a name, and you’ll see what I mean. … Here’s something you almost never see: a baseball team with uni numbers on their caps. that’s the Rensselear High School Rams, from upstate New York (from Joe Makowiec). … I know we’d already seen one of this year’s MLB ASG BP jerseys, but I’m not sure we’d seen both of them (from Edward D. Kendrick). … Good piece on the history of naming rights (from Kurt Esposito).

Holiday schedule: Phil will have his usual weekend content. The site will be open on Monday, but content will likely be minimal. Everyone have a great long weekend and I’ll see you next week.

Was He Wearing the Arm Sleeve Under His Jacket?

2012-05-24T13:47:52Z

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There’s something really odd about an athlete wearing another athlete’s jersey. That’s Allen Iverson, who showed up at last night’s Sixers/Celtics game in a Lou Williams jersey. Love the sign being held up in the background, too.

New ESPN column today, expanding on a topic we discussed here earlier in the week — enjoy.

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Uni Watch News Ticker: The Astros will apparently be going back to wearing orange. … New copper helmet for Arizona. … The NAHL’s Alaska Avalanche are moving to Johnstown, Pennsylvania and are getting a new name — the Tomahawks. “I guess the name is meant to capitalize on nostalgia for the Chiefs,” says Rob Ullman. “I don’t have a problem with that, but the colors are pretty lousy. And really, a brand-new team that decides to go with an Indian head for a logo? In 2012? Strikes me as incredibly tone-deaf, if not willfully stupid. Still, it’s the NAHL, so it probably doesn’t even matter.” … In a related item, a U.S. Navy exercise called an Indian Run may be renamed (from Chris Bisbee). … Interesting article on the state of modern football helmet design (from Jeremy Brahm). … Mike Hersh has scanned the super-cool 1971 kids’ gift catalog that he recently scored on eBay. Note the silhouetted logo at the upper-right corner of most of the spreads — never seen that one before. … New football helmet design for Bowling Green. “Love the brown facemask,” says Chad McNeal. … The Astrodome might not be demolished after all (thanks, Brinke). … There are pajama pants, and then there are full-on pajamas. Yeesh (blame Tom Arnel). … Super-sweet stirrups being worn by the Oklahoma baseball team (from Bryan Brazelton). … Two great NHL finds by Steve May: a 1942 all-star sweater and a rare sighting of the North Stars’ 1967 preseason jersey. … Got an excited note yesterday from A’s equipment manager Steve Vucinich, promising that “the return of Outmania” would be taking place in Oakland today in the form of Josh Reddick. I wouldn’t go that far, but Reddick’s logo-emblazoned stirrups were still plenty nice. … I might not mind jersey advertising so much if the ad patches all featured the Natty Boh guy. Details here. … Our Cubees du jour: Omar Jalife made Cubees of F1 driver Michael Schumacher and Mexican race car driver Pedro Rodríguez, and Zach Conrad created a template for a Michigan State football Cubee.

NFL’s Next Stop: Pad-dington Station

2012-05-23T12:30:54Z

Interesting news yesterday from the NFL, where knee and thigh pads will be mandatory starting in 2013. As most of you know, those pads are mandatory in college football but have long been optional in the NFL, and more and more players have been choosing to play without them for various reasons (speed, machismo, vanity, etc.).

A few thoughts:

• The best possible byproduct of this rule, as several readers immediately noted in e-mails to me yesterday, would be the end of the biker shorts plague. After all, you can’t have knee pads unless the pants are covering the knee, right? Then again, maybe you can — what if players keep wearing the biker shorts and just wear the knee pad above the knee? We’ll have to see how that plays out.

• By far the best article ever written about the modern era of NFL pads (and the players’ disdain for them) is this piece by Stefan Fatsis, which originally ran in the Wall Street Journal in 2004. Highly recommended. Two years after that piece ran, Stefan worked out with the Broncos as a placekicker, an experience that formed the basis of his book A Few Seconds of Panic. As longtime Uni Watch readers may recall, I interviewed Stefan before the book came out, and of course I asked him about pads. Here’s the relevant passage:

Uni Watch: Now, when you suited up for the preseason games, did you insert the thigh and knee pads into your pants?

Stefan Fatsis: Oh, no. I was like everybody else on the team.

UW: Meaning, no pads.

SF: No pads. We’ve talked about that before. And the reality was, I wasn’t going to get hit.

UW: Right. But I was wondering if you wanted, y’know, the sort of gladiator feel of putting on the armor.

SF: Kickers don’t want armor — they go padless. I understand it with kickers. I don’t really understand it with other players. Like, is this pad the size of a coaster really going to be an impediment to your 250-pound frame? But because I wasn’t a “real” player, the pockets were still in my pants — they hadn’t been removed.

UW: Your pants had pockets?

SF: To insert the pads.

UW: Oh, the inner pockets.

SF: Right. And most players will have those removed, if they’re not wearing the pads. I didn’t feel I was in a position to ask for the pockets to be removed from my pants — particularly given that the Broncos didn’t practice much in pads.

• A few conspiracy-minded readers sent me notes yesterday suggesting that the rule change was just a stunt to promote Nike’s newfangled pants with the pads built in. Just two problems with that: First, Nike’s new pants do not have the pads sewn in — or at least the ones at last month’s unveiling didn’t. They had traditional pockets for the pads. And besides, If Nike can come up with a pads-inclusive pant design, good for them. I have no problem with that (unless each pad has a visible swoosh or something like that — which, admittedly, is a concern, but we’ll worry about that if and when it happens).

The players’ union plans to contest the new rule, because it wasn’t collectively bargained, but that just seems petty. At a time when former players are suing the league over brain safety issues and the union is refusing to go along with the idea of an 18-game schedule due to player safety concerns, it doesn’t look too good to be challenging a rule that’s designed to enhance safety and cut down on injuries. Suggestion to the union: Wear the fucking pads already and shut up.

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Sign of the times: An interesting discussion broke out in the comments last night when reader Billy Duss noticed that Twins pitcher P.J. Walters had inscribed “AFW” on the ~~U.S. Cellular~~ Comiskey mound. Duss then did a bit of additional research and discovered that Walters had added the initials to the mound during his two previous starts. The initials are apparently a memorial for his daughter, Annabelle, who was born prematurely in February of 2010 and lived only 52 days.

Obviously, losing an infant is an unthinkably terrible experience that most of us can’t even imagine. But does that make it okay to put a public display on the mound more than two years after the child’s death — a display specifically positioned to be visible on television?

A few of us went back and forth on that question in the comments last night. Phil had a particularly sharp analysis (read: I’m gonna let him be the heavy here; the quote that follows is taken from two separate comments he posted):

You have to feel sorry for anyone who’s lost a child, but that is a “Look at me” move if there ever was one.

Wear a shirt under your jersey, write her initials on your cleat, shit, get a tattoo … but for the love of Christ, keep the mound clear of that.

And this seems like a total ratchet move too. If someone else loses a kid, or their wife, or their mom or their sister, or their childhood friend … what’s to stop them from expressing a similar sentiment? You’re gonna have all kinds of mound graffiti.

Nay, there are other and more appropriate ways to mourn someone than defacing the bump. …

First game back after her death, as a one-off? OK, I’m down with that. Three (at least) games approximately two years after her passing? No.

Reader Jim Hamerlinck took a different view:

I would cut the guy some slack. … Baseball is a funny game with a rich history full of ideosyncratic moments, events, and characters. That’s part of the reason why we love and follow the sport. A man carving the initials of his dead daughter into the mound doesn’t strike me as particularly egregious. What is his motive? What’s going on with him? Maybe he needs help.

I’m with Phil on this one. I’d be more okay with it if the initials were on the side of the mound, where the TV cameras couldn’t pick them up — then it wouldn’t have as much of a “Look at me” factor. As it is, it’s the mound equivalent of some guy who stands behind a TV correspondent and waves because hey, he’s on TV!

Frankly, I don’t want to see anything on the mound except the pitcher, the rosin bag, and that thingie that cleans the spikes. I’ve hated team logos on the back of the mound ever since they were introduced (and I hate them even more now that more of them are appearing in color), and Walters’s move seems like a fairly predictable outgrowth of that trend. If you start putting “official” things on the back of the mound, don’t be surprised if unofficial things end up there too.

But Jim raises a good point, namely that baseball is full of eccentric lore. If we were told that a pitcher had put his dead daughter’s initials on the mound back in the 1940s or ’50s, that might seem quaint, because we tend to react differently to things from the past than we do to things in the present. Similarly, I’ve always loved the story of Big Klu ripping the sleeves off his jersey — but if someone did that today, I’d be the first one to roll my eyes and call bullshit. Why the differing responses? Part of it is temporal context: Big Klu lived in an era when athletes didn’t “act out” as much as they do today, so it’s easier to view his sleeve stunt as a personal quirk instead of a calculated move to enhance his personal brand.

A more recent example: When MLB ran the TATC promotion with the futuristic uniforms in 1999, I pretty much viewed it as the end of the world. Whatever dignity the game had managed to retain over the years had now been flushed down the crapper, or at least that’s what I thought at the time. I suspect many people here felt similarly. Thirteen years later, I still think the TATC promotion was a terrible idea that never should have gotten off the drawing board. But it’s also an interesting chapter in a sport full of interesting chapters, and I wouldn’t want to live in a world where such chapters could never be added to MLB’s storyline. In years to come, maybe I’ll take a similar view of Walters adding his daughter’s initials to the mound. For now, though, I still think it’s inappropriate.

Finally, I seem to recall that there was a pitcher a few years ago (can’t remember who) who got in the habit of inscribing something on the back of he mound (can’t remember what, but I’m pretty sure it wasn’t a memorial), until another pitcher on an opposing team (can’t remember who) very pointedly used his foot to scratch out whatever had been on the mound, and that was the end of that. I know this happened — I just can’t recall any of the details. Little help..? (Update: Reader Dan Wohl thinks the incident I’m referring to may be when Jonathan Sanchez of the Giants scratched out the Padres logo on the Petco mound. That might be it — not sure. Either way, kudos to Sanchez. Too bad more pitchers haven’t followed his example.)

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Equal time: This is apparently a big week for vegetarians, which I discovered when the Mets sent out this tweet.

Some of you are probably expecting me to crack some sort of joke here. That’s understandable, since I’ve made it clear that I really like meat. I like to write about it, I like to talk about it, I like to think about it. But I realize some you people are vegetarians, and I figure it’s probably a bit of a drag for you when I write about my latest blow-torched steak or whatever. Yeah, you can just scroll down to the next section, no biggie, but I’m aware that there’s a certain air of glee in my tone when I write about meat, a sort of carnivorous evangelism that could easily be interpreted as a finger jab aimed at the vegetarian community’s collective eyeball. Still, not one of you — literally not a single one — has ever complained. Nobody has ever said, “Paul, could you dial down the meat angle just a smidge?” or anything along those lines.

I’ve known lots of vegetarians over the years (even dated a few, which was a bit of a trip). Many of them have told me, “Don’t worry, I’m not one of those preachy vegetarians,” which is funny, because I’ve never encountered a preachy vegetarian. Frankly, I’m way preachier about meat than any vegetarian I’ve known has ever been about salad.

Vegetarianism isn’t for me, but I can see plenty of good reasons for it. It’s definitely healthier, it’s better for the planet, and it’s better for animals. Some people like to play gotcha with vegetarians (“Sure, you don’t eat meat, but you’re wearing leather shoes, you hypocrite!”), but I don’t think a person’s eating choices need to be intellectually consistent or even rational; they just need to make sense to that person. As long as it works for you, that’s fine by me.

So today, in the midst of World Vegetarian Week, I’m offering a salute to all you herbivores out there. I know it can suck to be part of a marginalized class, and I respect the fact that you stick to your principles without getting all uptight about it. I won’t be running any meat recipes this week, I promise.

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Position wanted: The crummy economy delivered a body blow to the Uni Watch family last week, as Collector’s Corner columnist Brinke Guthrie was laid off from his job. He’s now seeking a new gig, so I’ll hand the mic to him:

I’m looking for a position in radio and/or internet news, sports, or tech media. I have extensive music, news, and tech radio experience, and I’m based in the SF East Bay area. You can check out my profiles on LinkedIn and About.me for more details; I’m available by e-mail and Google Voice (925.405.6140). Many thanks!

On a personal note, Brinke has been a weekly Uni Watch columnist for about two years now (and he was a steady reader and Ticker contributor for a long time before that), and I can honestly say he’s a pleasure to work with. Very dependable, a self-starter, and full of ideas. No drama or ego trips, either — the guy’s a peach. If you can help him out, he can definitely help you out. Drop him a line.

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Cubee update: Another day, another nice round of Cubees. Here’s the latest batch:

• Jason Torban made himself a Randall Cunningham/Eagles Cubee.

• Gary Chanko is making Cubees of 2012 Heisman Trophy candidates. His latest rendition is of Clemson QB Tajh Boyd. (If you want to make this one yourself, here’s the template.)

• James Ferentz made himself a very nice Iowa Hawkeye Cubee.

• And my favorite Cubee of the day comes from Mike Hall, who depicted a Cubee-fied Jonathan Vilma offering a $100 bounty to anyone who’d take out the Peyton Manning Cubee from yesterday’s entry.

Cubee-fication — everybody’s doing it!

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Uni Watch News Ticker: Quick, what sport did these guys play? Answer at the bottom of the Ticker. … The White Sox, who had already added a memorial patch for Moose Skowron, have added another one for BP pitcher Kevin Hickey. …Several uni-notable items in this gallery of 1982 Reds highlights. Slide 3 shows the sour grapes banner that flew atop Riverfront Stadium that year; slide 4 shows the team’s unusual dugout jacket design from that season; and check out the caption on slide 6 — fascinating! (All this from Mark Fightmaster.) … The Denver Post has been offering something similar to Cubees for a while now. Not quite as charming as Cubees, I’d say, but still fun (from Michael Lukac). … Since some new outlets have had a hard time distinguishing the L.A. Kings from the Sacramento Kings, the hockey team created this fun infographic (from John Muir). … A little over a year ago, I wrote an entry about a 1969 ballgame in which plate umpire Ed Sudol worked the game in a T-shirt. I also that instead of having a ballboy bring the baseballs to Sudol, the Cubs apparently used an usher. Now I’ve heard from reader Dan Ronan, who writes: “Andy Frain was a company that provided event security and assistance at the ballparks, Soldier Field, the Chicago Stadium, etc. They provided the usher. He would sit on a small stool near the Cubs’ on deck circle with a canvas bag of baseballs bring them to the umpire as needed. It was the same guy for years, and I recall he kept putting on weight, so eventually he was well over 250 pounds and was having trouble making it to the umpire in between innings. Also, I recall the game you are talking about, because I was actually attending and wondering what the umpire was doing wearing just a T-shirt. I was about 10 at the time and I remember it was oppressively hot and humid and the ballpark was nearly full, so add 38,000 of your closest friends to a small, cramped ballpark and many were drinking beer, etc. Kind of like a typical day at Wrigley Field today.” … This is pretty cool: wallets made from baseball gloves (big thanks to Steve King). … Just What the World Needed Dept.: Sweatbacks have come to the baseball diamond. Sigh (from Josh Kelman). … Here’s a very nice set of National League team patches (from Jameson Adams). … Some good photos and details regarding the Jackie Robinson movie that’s currently being filmed in Chattanooga (from Matthew Robins). … You’ve Gotta Be Fucking Kidding Me Dept.: Thanks to some anonymous one percenter, the position of offensive coodinator at Stanford will now officially be known as the Andrew Luck Director of Offense (from Jarrod Leder). … MLB already knows what next year’s All-Star Game logo will look like (not that they’re ready to share it with us, mind you). But that didn’t stop Bryan Molloy from coming up with some concepts of his own. … Coupla problems with the Rusty Staub bobbles that the Mets are giving away this weekend: (1) The Mets never wore a headspooned home jersey during Rusty’s two stints with the team, and (2) they got the stirrups style all wrong (bobble photo from Nicholas Schiavo). … Packers rookie Nick Perry was wearing a Reebok jersey with a cover-up patch on the marker’s mark the other day (from David Trett). … Two Indian tribes in Oregon are disappointed by the state board of education’s move to ban the use of Indian mascots, because they favored a more nuanced approach. Before anyone on either side of the issue jumps to any conclusions, I suggest that you read the whole article (from Peter Dalgaard). … Max Reinhart noticed something in the Wikipedia entry for David Humm, who was a backup QB in the ’70s. According to the entry, Humm was “an effective holder for a field goal or an extra point, with the unusual habit of arriving on the field with no shoulder pads, which tipped the opposing team that a fake field goal was unlikely.” Now, I actually remember David Humm, but I don’t remember him not wearing pads. Of course, maybe I just didn’t notice. Anyone know more? … Novak Djokovic has signed a new endorsement deal with Uniqlo (thanks, Brinke). … Also from Brinke: With the Warriors planning to move from Oakland to San Francisco in 2017, team and city officials did a photo-op with some specially modified jerseys. … Really interesting article on the making of F1 tires (from Jeremy Brahm). … Outmania! Even with that farking jersey, it looks pretty sweet. … Did you know that Ford had put its logo up for collateral on a loan deal back in 2006? They finally got the logo back yesterday. … Answer to quiz: These guys were the tug of war team from the Milwaukee Athletic Club (hence the chest logo). They represented America at the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis and won the gold medal. I love the shoulder coverings, which I assume were to protect against rope burn (awesome find by Garrett Van Auken).

A Story to Warm Even the Coldest of Hearts

2012-05-22T12:20:20Z

When Jake Hurley first told me about his campaign to get the Rockies to wear stirrups, I didn’t think much of it. Most fans don’t like stirrups as much as we do here at Uni Watch; more importantly, most players don’t like them either. I mean, shit, there’s no bigger stirrups advocate than me — I’ve been fighting that fight for over a decade — but I’ve never had any illusions about being able to achieve widespread success. Little victories here and there? Sure. But getting a whole team to wear stirrups? Yeah, right. Jake’s quest seemed like the very definition of quixotic.

But I underestimated Jake. As I mentioned in yesterday’s Ticker, he positioned himself to get some face time during Friday’s postgame show. Turns out he did it again on Sunday. That was also the day he had a rather remarkable encounter with Rockies pitcher Jamie Moyer (the following text is excerpted from this post on Jake’s blog):

I arrived at Coors Field at around 11am. … I went right down to the field level where Jamie was throwing. When he wrapped up, I shouted over to him and he looked at me. I asked if I could have 10 seconds of his time. [A security man] next to him answered that I absolutely could not, and that if I wanted to talk to Jamie I had to get in line like everyone else [because it was Autograph Day, and people were lining up to get Moyer's autograph]. … Jamie chimed in something along the lines of “Sorry, man, I have to listen to my boss.”

I got it, and immediately sprinted over to the line, which I stood in for 30 minutes. Once I got down to Jamie, I gave him the 20-second pitch and he loved it. I told him that I was trying to start a movement that would return stirrups to the game of baseball and that it would mean the world to me if he could read my card [sort of a mission statement for Jake's stirrup campaign] and also pass a few out to other Rockies players.

That’s when “his boss” interrupted us. He told me in a very stern manner that they collectively had no interest in whatever it was I was saying. Jamie would not be passing anything out, nor was he there for any other purpose other than to sign items that were sure to be on eBay later that day. …

But that’s when Jamie made my day, or season. He turned to the big mean man and told him very kindly to calm down. He turned his attention back to me and I knew that I had just received a golden ticket, I had about 15 more seconds. I handed him a stack of cards and reiterated how much it meant to me that he was showing interest, and that if he got a chance could he pass a few out to his teammates? I told him that I loved his work and was very happy to have him on my team. I shook his hand, took his picture and was on my way.

I stopped about 10 rows up to see what happened next. The big mean [security] man took the stack of cards and thrust them into his pocket with authority. … [But then] Jamie politely asked for the cards back. He wasn’t going to lie to a loyal fan. The big mean man now seemed small and weak, he surrendered the cards to Jamie, smiled, and went on his way.

Jamie then … proceeded to walk around the field and began handing one of my cards to each and every one of his teammates. He waved at other fans as he did this. I had to sit down and regroup, because I could have sworn I was dreaming. I couldn’t believe my eyes.

That’s one hell of a story. Even if nothing ever comes of it, I’d say Jake’s lobbying campaign has now been validated and rewarded. Shame on me for having dismissed him as just another windmill tilter, and kudos to him and Jamie Moyer for having such a great fan/player interaction.

And hey, maybe something will come of it.

Moyer, incidentally, has changed things up a bit with his stirrups this season. During the past decade or so, he’s generally worn his pants low and his stirrups even lower, with barely a sliver of white showing. During spring training this season, he showed a bit more white. But now, as you can see from the image at the top of today’s entry, he’s going with more of an ’80s look. Not sure if this reflects the influence of his teammate Josh Outman, but it feels like a seismic shift in the lower-leg stylings of MLB’s longest-running keeper of the hosiery flame.

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Cubee update: Several readers sent in photos of their completed Cubee projects, including Gary Chanko, who used Justin Hind’s basic Cubee template to create a design for Carolina Gamecocks RB Marcus Lattimore (it’s shown at left; click to see a larger version). Here’s how it turned out — nice!

Additional work by our fine Cubee crafters:

• Blake Parker made himself a Drew Brees Cubee. Looks good, but I think it’s too tall (ba-dum-BUM!).

• Peyton Manning hasn’t played for the Broncos yet, but he’s already a Cubee, thanks to Kyle Rini.

• Aaron Frueh whipped up a nifty Cubee of Julius Peppers — completely with a little Cubee gridiron.

• John Condray had already tried his hand at Cubees before I wrote about them last week. Here are the templates he created for the Rams and Chiefs.

Cubees: They’re addictive! Keep those photos coming.

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Collector’s Corner

By Brinke Guthrie

We’re leading off today with a gorgeous-looking Boston Red Sox jersey, complete with stirrups. The beauty is at minimum 62 years old, and look at the condition! The seller has another Bosox jersey (but no accompanying stirrups) here. And since we’re showing the Red Sox, we also have to balance it out with this Joe Dimaggio Yankees iron-on from the 1940s, and this Lou Gehrig/Bill Dickey bank from the 1930s.

As for the rest of this week’s eBay finds:

• Always interesting to see photos of Johnny U from his days with the Bolts. He appears to be wearing high-top blue Adidas in that shot, but here he is in his traditional black high-tops.

• Absolutely had one of these 1970s Reds stickers on my school binder, for sure. Always wondered by they chose #27 for Mr. Red’s uni number. Anyone know?

• Don’t recall ever having seen a “Kelley” maker’s mark on an NFL helmet, but this nose bumper doesn’t lie. And speaking of Cowboys helmets, check out “this plaque and this jigsaw puzzle!

• Here’s a great Pro! magazine poster from the 1970s. It pairs well with this neat Super Bowl poster.

• I love this pair of 1960s Cleveland Browns bobbleheads.

• How about an NHL jersey set with that Big Mac?

• Nice 1970s NFL Tudor set featuring the Battle of Ohio. (Browns/Bengals). By the late 1970s, though, Tudor had downsized a bit.

And this 1970s pizza delivery jersey is right up PL’s alley. It’s 100% nylon, though — is that a deal-breaker? [Nope. I actually had my eye on that piece, but it's a smidge too small for me. — PL]

Seen something on eBay or Etsy that you think would make good Collector’s Corner fodder? Send your submissions here, and you can follow Brinke on Twitter and Facebook.

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Assistance wanted: If anyone out there works in or has connections to the world of children’s publishing, please drop me a line. Thanks.

Uni Watch News Ticker: I asked the NFL about the rule change that’s allowing Roy Helu Jr. to wear JrOB. They obligingly sent me the text of a memo from April 30, which reads as follows: “The League Office would like to update the current rule regarding Jerseys (Rule 5, Section 4, Article 3b) from the Official Playing Rules of the National Football League: ‘Surnames of players in letters a minimum of 2.5 inches high must be affixed to the exterior of jerseys across the upper back above the numerals; nicknames are prohibited.’ Clubs are now permitted to place the surname with a generational title (i.e., Sr., Jr., or Roman numeral) of players on the nameplate of his jersey. If a player requests a nameplate change to include a generational title, the club must work with the player to ensure he fully understands Nike’s retail inventory reduction policy regarding authorized nameplate modifications.” Interesting. So this same rule change is allowing Robert Griffin III to wear RNOB. Wonder if the rule change was made specifically for him. … Eephus League honcho Bethany Heck has created an absolutely kickass Eephus League webmagazine. Great content, great interface — don’t miss. … While looking for something else, I stumbled across a Marriott Hotels ad that includes a photo of what appears to be Little Leaguers wearing Homestead Grays Negro Leagues throwbacks. … The Cedar Rapids Kernels wore Chewbacca-themed jerseys on Sunday (from Billy Toner). … For reasons that I confess elude me, Justin Upton has added his Twitter handle to his batting gloves (thanks, Brinke). … The Reds are saluting Chipper Jones’s final trip to Cincy by putting special plaques on their bases. Am I the only one who thinks this is a little fucked up? Give him a pregame ceremony, salute his career on the Jumbotron, etc. — that kinda stuff is fine. But celebrating a visiting player on the bases, complete with the visiting team’s logo? That seems like a bit much to me (from Britton Thomas). … Ryan Connelly tried to DIY some logos onto hockey pucks, but it turned out to be a bit trickier than he’d expected. … Keith Chaiet and Mark Snider have both noticed that the Washington State baseball team is wearing the Pac 10 and Pac 12 logo patches. “Must be last year’s jersey with this year’s new logo,” says Keith. … Nick Schiavo recently visited the Hockey Hall of Fame and took a bunch of photos. … I’m still calling it the Bradley Center. … Kyle Sawyer notes that Lance Lynn’s road cap has been squatchee-free for a few weeks now. “I looked back at his home starts and his hat is complete in those games,” he says. … Brady Phelps has posed an interesting uni-related question regarding the Padres. … Check out this awesome label design. It’s from this vintage cycling jersey. … Interesting piece about 10 former Olympic sports that should be brought back. Of course, none of that matters until bowling takes its rightful place upon the Olympic stage. … New kit for Barca (from Joe Schmidt). … At some point people are going to realize that the only way to avoid football concussions is to stop playing football, but until then we’ll keep seeing new products like this padded attachment designed to be worn during football practices (from Jim McCue). … Here are this year’s uniforms for the Japanese baseball all-star game. “What’s weird is that they are essentially the same for both leagues except for the name on the chest of the Leagues and the letter on the cap,” says Jeremy Brahm. … Also from Jeremy: A Montreal soccer league has banned religious head coverings. … The Fresno Grizzlies will commemorate their 15th season with a special jersey this Friday. “It includes the three fonts of the three jerseys they’ve worn since their inception,” explains David Taub). … Dustin, who didn’t give his last name, spotted umpire Bob Davidson putting in a clear mouthguard. Don’t think I’ve ever seen an ump wearing one of those before. … Over in Germany, Adidas has been promoting its Tango 12 soccer ball by attaching a replica of it to microphones at press conferences held by the German national soccer team. “Which would be kind of clever, except that the model they’ve chosen is so large and obnoxiously placed that photographers and cameramen complained that they can’t see the players’ faces properly.” Douchebags. … Did you know that there’s a guy who’s considered the father of baseball card collecting? Not only that, but he donated his collection to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Further details here.

Like Father, Like Son

2012-05-21T12:57:04Z

On Friday I noted that Robert Griffin III is wearing the Roman numeral as part of his NOB and asked if any NFL, MLB, NBA, or NHL players had ever worn a Roman numeral. The answer to that question appears to be no (although it’s worth noting that Acie Law IV did something clever while he was with the Hawks, using his uni number to stand in for the Roman numeral).

I also asked if anyone could come up with an example of a professional player who’d worn an NOB that included “Jr.” or “Sr.” (This is another case of something that shows up semi-regularly in the college ranks but to my knowledge has never happened in the pros.) That prompted several readers to send me e-mails claiming that Ken Griffey Jr. wore the generational suffix while playing alongside his father with the Mariners in 1990 and ’91. Hmmm — I don’t remember it that way, so I did some photo research. All the 1990 and ’91 photos of Junior Griffey that I found show him wearing “Griffey,” and that includes two photos showing father and son together. So until I see visual evidence to the contrary, my position is that Junior never wore “Jr.”

As long as we’re talking fathers and sons, there are two other cases worth mentioning, both involving the Orioles:

• I am fairly certain that Cal Ripken Sr. and Jr. both wore “Ripken” during the period when they both wore O’s uniforms. That was certainly the case for at least part of their time together.

• Tim Raines Sr. and Jr. were teammates in Baltimore for a few days at the end of the 2001 season. Unfortunately, I don’t recall their NOBs, and I haven’t been able to find any rear-view photos. If anyone knows more about that situation, please fill us in.

In any case, even if no professional player has ever worn “Jr.” in the Big Four, that’s about to change, because Roy Helu Jr. of the Redskins will be wearing “Jr.” this season. Helu wore “Jr.” at Nebraska but not during his rookie season with the ’Skins. According to that article, he’ll now be allowed to add the “Jr.” due to an NFL rule change. I’m trying to find out the specifics of that rule, especially since I’m wondering if it also pertains to Griffin’s Roman numeral.

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Shin-anigans: Marlins pitcher Randy Choate has been switching back and forth between stirrups and pajama pants for a while now. But he upped the ante yesterday, as he took the mound wearing stirrups with orange sannies. Has he ever done this before? If so, I wasn’t aware of it.

First let’s get the historical markers out of the way: Throwback games notwithstanding, Choate is the first non-Oakland player to wear colored sannies since the ’84 Padres, and the first to wear orange sannies since the 1980 Giants. So this is a pretty big deal.

Phil, who brought this one to my attention, says Choate is now his new favorite ballplayer. Me, I’m a bit more conflicted, because Choate has essentially created a new uniform element out of thin air here, and that’s kinda fucked up. It’s bad enough that some players can go high-cuffed while others wear pajama pants, and that some of the high-cuffers wear stirrups while others wear solid socks. Now there’s no rule for what the stirrup-clad players wear under their stirrups? It’s just the latest example of why MLB needs some sort of lower-leg regulations. It’s chaos out there, Mr. Selig. Pure chaos.

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Cubee update: Friday’s post about how to make NFL Cubees was such a hit that we overloaded and crashed Justin Hinds’s NFL Cubeemaker site. He’s now arranged for it to be hosted by another provider, so if it didn’t work for you on Friday, try it now.

Among those who managed to access Justin’s site before it crashed, at least two readers wasted no time in creating their own Cubees. Mikhail Herrera is a Raiders fan, so he made himself this excellent Tommy Kelly Cubee. And Jeff Worthington likes the Bills, so he made himself a Cubee version of Fred Jackson. Keep those photos coming.

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Uni Watch News Ticker: Very thoughtful of MLB and New Era to consolidate the worst aspects of two miserable design tropes in one convenient package. Efficient! … Cyclist David Zabriskie wore a Captain America helmet during the Tour of California last week. “Maybe there are some other Avengers cycling out there,” says Carlos Ahmed Jalife Ruz. … More alternate uniforms in the works for Michigan football. … Judd Allan reports that there’s a football team in Israel that has the star of David on its helmets, but of course that’s been done before. … Someone on Kickstarter has raised a ton of money for his “baseball horror graphic novel,” whatever that means (from Joshua Pryor). … Tim Frederick asks a good question: How are uniform numbers assigned to MLB umps, NBA refs, and NFL/NHL zebras? Like, is there any rhyme or reason to it? Is there a protocol based on seniority or something like that? In the NFL, do the various officials have specific number ranges, same as the players? If anyone knows, do tell. … Here are some good shots of the Nats’ new bat knob decals. … New kits for Valencia and Queens Park Rangers (from Jon Forbes). … The Packers played a charity basketball game the other day, and James Jones wore argyle socks for the occasion (from Jon Meerdink). … Whoa, look at this awesome Rangers sweater (big thanks to Jon Springer). … UGA softball has been wearing striped white stirrups over black sannies. I like it, although the effect is ruined when viewed from the front, for sadly predictable reasons (from Greg Trandel). … There was a delay before the 2nd inning of Friday night’s Mets/Jays game. Why? The umpires’ equipment hadn’t arrived in time for the game, so the umps had begun the game wearing borrowed pants. But their gear arrived during the 1st inning, so they went in and changed after that. According to ESPN.com’s Adam Rubin, “There are extra umpire uniforms at each major league stadium, but ump Wally Bell had to borrow black cleats from the Mets.” … Check out J. Edgar Hoover in an FBI baseball cap (from Bruce Menard). … Also from Bruce: A satin uni — with a satin cap to match! … Robert Griffin III attended some sort of function the other day and wore a Reebok ’Skins jersey (from Eric Arnold). … Here’s an oddity: FNOB with a mix of all-caps and upper/lower. That’s the South Korean women’s volleyball team (from Jeremy Brahm). … Check out the Thousand Oaks High School football team — the defensive team in this photo. As you can see, some players are wearing white helmets and others are wearing dark green. “The green helmets are awarded for the best defensive players,” explains Dom Lewis. … “As a gift to her, I digitized a number of her family photo albums (a gesture that frankly means more to me than her),” says Andrew Levitt. “This photograph was taken in Atlantic City in 1921. There are several family members in the photo, but we have no idea who the gentlemen in the ‘DC’ uniforms are. If anyone in the Uni Watch community has any insights regarding the sport or club, I would appreciate knowing more, just as a nugget of family history.” … Jake Hurley, who’s been lobbying the Rockies to wear stirrups, got some exposure on Friday’s postgame show. “My biggest success of the night came after the game, when I was able to get Josh Outman’s attention when he was walking off the field,” says Jake. “I threw him a folded-up card [like the one he's holding in the postgame screen shot] and gave me a smile and thumbs-up when he saw the picture of himself. Even though this project is completely quixotic, I really think some of these pictures sum up what it is to be a uniform nerd. Most people gave me strange looks at first, but then they liked the idea after they asked me about it.” … Aussie rules footy news from Leo Strawn, who writes: “The Richmond Tigers and Essendon Bombers played at the ’G (MCG), as is customary during the AFL’s Indigenous Round. For the second year in a row, Richmond had a special jumper for the occasion. Also, both clubs wore commemorative patches, but each patch was different. (No idea why, can’t find any info on this.) Here’s Richmond’s patch and here’s Essendon’s.” … Mystics center Ashley Robinson, who normally wears No. 43, took a shot in the face during Saturday night’s game and had to switch to a blood jersey that was No. 00 on the front and blank on the back (big thanks to Stewart Small). … Speaking of the WNBA, the Lynx got their championship rings yesterday. You can see the design here (from Kevin Brown). … The U. of Michigan golf course uses these tee box markers (from Britton Thomas). … Excellent site devoted to old ballparks here. Well worth investigating (big thanks to Chad Todd). … Austin Berry of the Chicago Fire suffered a torn jersey during yesterday’s match against the Portland Timbers (Jeremy Brahm again). … Can anyone identify the logo on this hockey jersey? It’s part of Jack Schendorf’s collection, but he has no idea what team it’s from. … Everyone knows Mariano Rivera is the last 42er — at least in MLB. But did you know there’s also been a 42er in the minors? You can read his fascinating story here. Highly recommended reading (big thanks to James Ashby). … Here’s a bunch of NFL rookies singing and dancing in their new uniforms (from Thomas Filip).