You probably recognize the card shown above — it’s the famous Honus Wagner T206 card, the rarest and most valuable baseball card ever made. Only about three dozen are known to exist.
I recently found myself in the same room with one of those three dozen cards. It was just a few inches away from me; I could have touched it if I’d wanted. And where did this happen? About the last place you’d expect. Enjoy. — Paul
+ + + + +
Question Time: It’s been a few months since our last installment of Question Time (you can see the previous four installments here), so I’m opening up the floor to a new round of questions. You know the drill: You can submit one question — and only one — on any subject, uni-related or not. Personal questions are fine, although I reserve the right to not answer questions that are too personal. (For the record, this has only happened a twice so far.) Send your question — remember, only one — here.
+ + + + +
Radio appearance: I’ll be talking uniforms today, from about 1:30-1:45pm Eastern, on 810 WHB in Kansas City. You can stream the live audio here.
+ + + + +
Uni Watch News Ticker: Following up on yesterday’s entry about MLB going G.I. Joe for Memorial Day: It had already been announced back in March that all of MLB’s proceeds from the camo cap sales would go to Welcome Back Veterans. But when those camo jerseys started showing up at the MLB Online Shop yesterday, there was no indication that the jersey revenue would go to charity, so many people assumed, not unreasonably, that MLB was simply pocketing the jersey cash. An MLB spokesman now tells me that “100% of MLB’s proceeds” from the jersey sales will go to Welcome Back Veterans. I’ve suggested that they might want to make that clearer at the MLB Online Shop, so people don’t get the wrong idea. In any case, they can sell all the camo crap they want and donate all the money they want, but I remain opposed to the use of camo on the diamond, for reasons I’ve already spelled out many times. … Giants and Nats wore red ribbons last night. At first I thought it was for the twister victims in Oklahoma, but it turns out it had nothing to do with that. … The NFL has struck a deal that will lead to laminated play-calling sheets being replaced by Microsoft’s electronic tablets. Teams can also use iPads, but only if they cover the Apple logo. Douchebags. … Two hockey-related notes from Dane Drutis: (1) As Sweden was sealing their victory in the gold medal game on Sunday in the IIHF World Championship, players were given gold helmets for the post-game celebration. (2) During the 2013 Memorial Cup tournament taking place this week in Saskatoon, the captain of the Halifax Mooseheads will be determined based on which color jerseys the team is wearing: Trey Lewis is captain when they wear red, while Stefan Fournier has the C on the white jerseys. … New kit for FC Barcelona (from Danny Garrison). … It’s a little hard to see, but the weighted bat cuff in the Blue Jays’ on deck circle has the Jays logo and the MLB logo (from Mike O’Connor). … Here’s a pretty cool visual guide to all the cars and drivers in this Sunday’s Indy 500 (from Clark Ruhland). … New alternate football jerseys for Penn (from Evan Smith). … Here’s a video of the Rams’ rookies getting their gear (from Marcus Clowers). … Mike Kearney was at a flea market over the weekend and spotted this cool NFL mini-helmet display. … Everyone knows that Super Bowl LI should take place on Long Island (with the pregame party at LI Phil’s house), but nope. … Here’s a fun Stanley Cup infographic (From Anthony Nuccio). … Remember my recent interview with Joe “Big Cock” Johnson? That appears to have started a trend (from Jim Romenesko). … The excellent Frozen Faceoff site now has a new spin-off site devoted to full-rink graphics, including ads on the sideboards. “I plan to continue this next season, and will also add some historic ices,” says site honcho David Crabtree. “This is a much slower process, as it take so much longer to research all of the ads that go into the graphics, but I think the end result is worth it.” … Pakistan, in the midst of a brutal heat wave, has issued a new dress code for civil servants, who can now go without socks (from Tom Mulgrew). … Giants outfielder Gregor Blanco talks about the team’s recent high-cuffed game in the fifth and sixth grafs of this post on his blog (thanks, Brinke). … UNC and FSU baseball went color-on-color on Monday, plus UNC went G.I. Joe. ” It’s better than most of the crap camo unis out there but still pretty bad,” says J. Fletcher. … Nike and Oregon, in their never-ending attempt to redefine stupid, have come out with — wait for it — pregame baseball shoes. I eagerly await the postgame version (from Matt Busch). … Jeremy Brahm notes that the logo for the Indian Volleyball League, which was founded in 2011, is basically a straight rip of the original FIVB World League logo. … The A’s are planning to give away a T-shirt that will apparently have a vertically arched NOB, even though the A’s have never use that style, and nobody in the bigs currently uses it (from Shaun T). … Big thanks to those of you who expressed concern regarding my job status after hearing about yesterday’s unpleasantness. Don’t worry, people — I’m fine, at least for now.
We’ve known for several months now that MLB teams would be wearing G.I. Joe caps on Memorial Day. But reader Brendan Hickey has picked up on something that hasn’t yet been officially announced: If you go to each MLB team’s online shop and go to the listing of men’s authentic jerseys, the first item listed is a jersey with camouflage numbering and lettering, similar to the ones worn this past Saturday by the Angels and White Sox (that was for Armed Forces Day). In each case, the team’s online shop only shows a home camo jersey or a road camo jersey — not both — depending on whether the team is playing at home or on the road next Monday. Tucked away in the fine print is the following line: “As worn on-field Memorial Day May 27th, 2013.”
So every MLB team will be wearing G.I. Joe jerseys next Monday (yes, even the Yankees), in addition to the G.I. Joe caps. How wonderful.
It’s been said many times before, but it bears repeating: Memorial Day is not a day for celebrating the military. It’s a day for honoring the military dead. A more appropriate gesture would be an MLB-wide black armband. An even better gesture would be a pregame moment of silence, without anything on the uniform. But as is so often the case nowadays, merchandising and pandering trump common sense.
Meanwhile, yesterday morning — before I knew about the G.I. Joe jerseys — I received an email from a publicist, reminding me about the caps. I asked the publicist why the caps are called “Stars & Stripes” caps when they have neither stars nor stripes. His response: “They are part of the ‘Stars & Stripes’ program. These caps [for Memorial Day] are the first in a series of three, with the others coming out around July 4th and September 11th. Both of those caps will contain stars and stripes.” And based on what we’re seeing for Memorial Day, it’s reasonable to assume that these flag-desecration caps will be joined by flag-desecration jerseys. Grreeeaaaaaat.
I could go on about the twisting of civic values here, but I believe that sound in the background is reader R. Scott Rogers typing up a stinging indictment that does just that. Go get ’em, Scott.
+ + + + +
French Open Overview
By Brinke Guthrie
The second Slam of the year is here: Paris is once again hosting the French Open. So pack your bags and let’s see who’s wearing what:
• Ana Ivanovic has a blue Adidas dress, notable for the French Open logo on the chest, intead of the Adidas logo. I think they did this last year too, as Adidas is a prime French Open sponsor.
• Rafael Nadal is the greatest clay court player in men’s tennis history. Unless the world stops spinning, he’ll be wearing this Nike stuff when he holds up his latest French Open trophy.
• More French Nike gear, including the Serena and Sharapova lines, here, with shoe close-ups here.
• Novak Djokovic’s clothing sponsor is Japan-based Uniqlo, but it seems they can’t be bothered to have anything new on their site, which showcases Djokovic’s Australian Open gear from January. Memo to marketing: Update the site before one of the Grand Slams.
• Fila’s various women’s player lines — for Jelena Jankovic, Julia Goerges and Nadia Petrova — are shown here.
• Also of note, Andre Agassi is “back home” with the Swoosh, after several years in the Adidas wilderness.
Finally, if you miss the 1980′s tennis look as much as I do (I played and wasn’t too bad unless I had to hit a backhand), you’ll love this site. You can see one of my favorite looks from that era here.
+ + + + +
Collector’s Corner
By Brinke Guthrie
Remember when you got that Sunoco NFL ’72 sticker book, like the one shown above, for Christmas? That scene on Christmas morning might have looked something like this. (If you’re not familiar with these great Sunoco sticker books, look here.)
Okay, so a photo of a cool item is one thing, but how about the actual items? Here’s this week’s haul:
• Michael Clary rides again. After a lengthy hiatus, he’s back with more eBay finds. Maybe you’re in the mood for an inflatable Boston Bruin mascot? Check. Or an NHL skate bottle opener? Double-check. And we have a nice photo of a 1960s 49ers helmet buggy.
• Never seen this LA Rams sweater design before. Almost looks like a DIY job, except that you can see there was once a label sewn into the inner collar.
• Nothing says retro NFL quite like this Cowboys Starter jacket I had this very model, in fact: My boss at Q102 at the time was Jim Fox, a diehard Cowboys fan, and he gave me one of these for Christmas.
Seen something on eBay or Etsy that you think would make good Collector’s Corner fodder? Send your submissions here.
+ + + + +
OMFG: My latest One-Man Focus Group column is about the new logo for Little Debbie snack cakes, shown at right. (If you view the column in Safari, the photo at the bottom may look weird. If so, try a different browser. Thanks.)
+ + + + +
Uni Watch News Ticker: The Battle of the Uniforms is over, and the O’s stand victorious. Who’da thunk? … More than 200 Mavs uni designs have been submitted in response to Mark Cuban’s invitation last week. You can see some of them in this ESPN piece I wrote yesterday afternoon. … In other NBA news, Bobcats owner Michael Jordan will discuss the team’s upcoming name change, to the Hornets, at a news conference today. … New basketball court design for George Washington (from Peter Kirschenbaum). … Meanwhile, James Madison wants a new court but is inviting fan submissions for the design (from Andrew Rader). … Yikes! That’s a throwback worn by South Adams High in Indiana (from Craig McKean). … Arouna Koné, who plays for Wigan Athletic (EPL), has an unusual NOB (from Max Weintraub). … Jimmy Griggs notes that Ole Miss baseball’s road uniforms appear to have mismatched shades of gray. … Speaking of mismatched grays, look at Bobby Gritch and Brooks Robinson in this shot from the 1972 All-Star Game. Looks like two different uniforms! (Good spot by Adam Garrettson.) … The new basketball arena down the road from me has its own distinctive aroma. Gross (thanks, Kirsten). … The Mets are conducting “Celebrate Israel Night” tonight, which means Mets-themed yarmulkes. … Brian Fitterman was looking in a 1962 prep school yearbook and came across this photo of a very unusual facemask. … New home kit for England — their first done by Nike, instead of Umbro (from Danny Garrison). … Check out No. 55 in the front row. Any idea who that is? Give yourself a pat on the back if you knew it was none other than Pete Rose, circa 1958. And speaking of Rose, did you know he has a Mr. Redlegs tattoo? (Both of these from Michael Clary.) … Oooh, coupla really nice old racecar photos here. When I see cars like those, the word “roadster” immediately comes to mind. … Yesterday’s uni-numerical note regarding Rick Barry (who wasn’t allowed to wear No. 24 with the Rockets, so he who wore No. 2 at home and No. 4 on the road) prompted this note from Terence Kearns: “Lewis Holtby was signed by Tottenham Hotspur in January, after trading away GK Carlos Cudicini, who wore No. 23. Holtby took 23 for all matches but UEFA Europa League, where he wore No. 14, because of some rule with registered numbers on a team.” … That same item about Barry also prompted this from Eric Holm: “When Rick Rickert played for the University of Minnesota, he wanted to wear 14, but he couldn’t, because the Gophers had retired number 14 for Lou Hudson. Rickert instead wore 1 at home and 4 on the road. Somewhere in my sports card collection there’s a collection of Gophers basketball cards that includes the Rick Rickert as No. 1 and No. 4.” … New football helmet for DePauw (from Joe Mueller). … New logo and uniforms for the Peoria Rivermen (from Josh Petty). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: New kits for Queens Park Rangers (from Jason Halpin). … Mikhail Herrera notes that Brett Gardner of the Yankees has been wearing one of those thingies on his sliding hand. … New football turf for Ohio University (from Leo Strawn Jr.). … Is Phil Jackson opposed to advertising on jerseys? Sounds like it, at least judging by “>this article, in which Jackson says the NBA should be more soccer and then adds, “Although their jerseys are a mess” (from Mike Cooperman). … Speaking of Jackson, check out him and Clyde Frazier wearing belted shorts in 1967 (nice find by Tom Farley. … The Philadelphia Soul — that’s an arena football team — wore orange socks on Saturday to raise awareness of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (from Lee David Wilds). … ’Skins GM Bruce Allen says the controversy over the team’s name is “a non-issue” (from Tommy the CPA). … Phil tipped me off to a photo of a new EMU helmet that was circulating, but the original source appears to have been an Instagram link that’s now dead, so draw your own conclusions. … In college baseball, Prairie View (purple) and Jackson State (navy) went color on color last night. “Might be the one of the worst-looking games I’ve ever seen,” says William Thomas. … Here’s a Cuban soccer player wearing an Adidas kit and Nike shoes. “Don’t know if this has to do with the peculiarities of Cuba’s economy or if the player’s just doing it on his own,” says Norm Johnson. … Here’s an amusing debate over whether the basketball rim should be raised.
Slump-buster move yesterday by the Giants, as everyone went high-cuffed — even skipper Bruce Bochy, as you can see in the top photo. They also opted to wear their primary cap instead of their orange-brimmed Sunday cap. Didn’t work, alas, as they got blanked by the Rockies, 5-0, but that’s what they get for wearing the solid black socks instead of the ones with the orange stripes, which surely would have resulted in a victory.
According to this piece, Bochy was asked if the high-cuffery was his idea. He said it wasn’t, “and I’m done with it.”
One other note: If you look at screen shot near the top of the page, it looks like the player on the left may have a the mark of the beast on his left sock. Or maybe not — it’s tough to say for sure. Might just be a stray piece of a napkin that got stuck on his calf or some such. Can anyone who watched the game fill us in?
Another question: Throwback games notwithstanding, when’s the last time an entire team went high-cuffed? It’s pretty rare — maybe even unheard of — to get the entire team to play along. Usually there’s one player, often a pitcher, who insists on going pajama-pantsed, no?
Meanwhile, speaking of socks, yesterday was “High Sock Sunday” in St. Louis — and it extended beyond the players. Additional photos here.
(My thanks to Sean Robbins, Richard Paloma, and Brinke Guthrie for their contributions to this section.)
+ + + + +
Uni Watch News Ticker: Good roundtable discussion about the Redskins’ team name (from Matt Busch). … Look at these awesome old soccer stickers (thanks, Kirsten). … As mentioned in Friday’s Ticker, the Rays dressed up in camouflage for their latest road trip. Here’s how they looked (from Kevin Kleinhans). … “Pepperdine’s Firestone Fieldhouse is getting a new floor,” writes Tim Stoops. “Last Thursday they showed off an older floor that was underneath the most recent floor. A fun peek at the school’s basketball history.” … New football helmet for St. Lawrence, a D3 school in upstate New York (from James Ferentz). … Nice Northwestern-striped stirrups for Hofstra (from Nate Collins). … I’ve seen lots of shots of the Hollywood Stars’ shorts over the years, but not this one. That’s one of many wonderful photos from this sensational online exhibit about baseball in L.A. Highly recommended (from Ben Traxel). … Whoa, look at the ref in this 1941 UVA football photo. Horizontal sleeve striping! Another shot from the same game reveals that the refs’ jerseys were actually cardigans. No hats, either (Nate Collins again). … Buck Showalter apparently wants the Orioles to adopt a road cap with a “B” logo (from Nick Kelly). … Nice piece on NASCAR paint schemes (from Russ Havens). … The Seibu Lions will be wearing late-1930s Tokyo Senators throwbacks in July (from Jeremy Brahm). … Also from Jeremy: The Tokyo Yakult Swallows will wear green uniforms for eight games in July through September. … In Aussie football news, the Gold Coast Suns and Western Bulldogs went color-vs.-color — or is it colour-vs.-colour? — last Friday. “Beautiful to watch,” says Leo Strawn Jr. … Special commemorative kit for the Peruvian team Universitario de Deportes. Omar A. says it’s to commemorate “some old guy.” … There’s a new book out about Japanese baseball uniforms. Maybe Mark in Shiga or some other Japanese reader can get a copy and give us the scoop? (From Seiji, who didn’t give his last name.) … Someone is conducting a Big 10 football helmet bracket (from Chris Flinn). … New Mexico and San Diego State played a red-on-red ballgame on Saturday. “Good God,” says a nonplussed Frank Mercogliano. … In a related item, the Portland Timbers and Vancouver Whitecaps played white-on-white the other day (from Steve Bommarito). … New kit for Paris St. Germain (Jeremy Brahm again). … Michael Jordan wore No. 45 with the Birmingham Barons, but here’s a painting that mistakenly shows him wearing No. 23 (from Mike Latona). … Someone is trying to collect every baseball card showing a memorial patch or armband. Details here and here (from Matt Wilson). … Very impressive job by Andrew Pick, who designed and fabricated his bowling team’s shirts. “I did just about everything from designing the logo, ordering custom corresponding patches, and hand-embroidering my teammates’ names,” he says. Check out the very nice results here. … Exciting news from Bill Jones, who, along with three partners, has created a set of WFL football cards. That page also has a link to a podcast in which Bill and his cohorts are interviewed by the folks from Gridiron Greats magazine. … Oooh, look at this gorgeous old pair of stirrups. … Luke Frishman recently got bar mitzvahed, and the event had a U. of Wisconsin theme. Mazel tov! … According to an item in The Sporting News, Rick Barry wanted to wear No. 24 with the Rockets in 1978 but it wasn’t available, so he wore 2 at home and 4 on the road. And look — sure enough! “Has anyone else ever done something similar to this?” asks Jarrad Tauzin. Not that I can think of. Then again, I wasn’t aware of Barry having done it until now. … Retro-ish alternates for Wichita State baseball on Sunday (from Jesse Nienke). … Check this out: The Brewers’ Barrel Man character apparently dates back to 1901! And back in the ’40s they had a live mascot with a rather awkward Barrel Man costume (both of these from Eric Schultz). … “For some reason in Saturday’s San Jose Earthquakes match against the Colorado Rapids, Chris Wondolowski was wearing two flags on his sleeve in the first half,” reports Bryan Justman. “He was down to one flag in the second half.” … Charlie Charnigo was at an antiques store and spotted an Oilers bobblehead with a “gusher” logo. I like that better than their official logo. … Rangers head coach John Tortorella knew how to blouse his baseball pants quite nicely (from Alan Kreit). … New logo for the Sun Belt Conference (from Jay Winkler). … If you’ve always wanted to see a hockey jersey design that featured two deers humping, today’s your lucky day. “No story behind it, just thought it was awesome,” says Blake Pass. … The A’s wore three different jerseys for their three-game sweep of the Royals: gold on Friday, green on Saturday, and white on Sunday. “It’s reminiscent on the ’70s, when they’d wear the white tops only for Sunday home games,” says Richard Paloma. … The Nevada State high school baseball championship came down to a G.I. Joe team vs. a tequila sunrise team — yikes. Check it out, if you dare, in the slideshow on this page (from Demetrius Anagnostis).
The announcement earlier this week that Mark Cuban was going to attempt to crowd source new uniforms for the Mavericks (and which Paul covered very nicely on Tuesday) not only brought reaction from the various professional (and amateur) designers on the board, it also brought back memories of the White Sox design-a-uniform contest back in 1981, which begat these uniforms (which the ChiSox are fauxbacking to this year). But, was that the first ever “design a uniform” contest for a Major League Baseball team?
In the comments that day, my buddy Chance Michaels wrote,
I just realized – there was a fan logo contest before the White Sox. The Brewers held one in 1977 to replace the beer barrel man.
The winner was a student named Tom Meindel, who received $2,000 from the team (almost $7,700 in 2013 dollars). His design, FWIW, was then given to a professional design firm which tweaked it and refined it.
But that can’t be the first one, can it?
As soon as I saw that, I contacted Chance and asked if he’d like to expand upon that comment and do a writeup for Uni Watch. He happily obliged. So, with that setup, I’ll now turn the remainder of this lede over to Mr. Michaels, who will give us all the details on …
. . . . . .
The Brewers Fan-Designed Logo Contest of 1977 By Chance Michaels
In the fall of 1977, the Brewers were in a funk.
The team was limping to a 67-95 season, 33 games out of first place. In eight seasons since moving from Seattle, they had never finished above .500. Fan support in Milwaukee was strong, topping a million fans four of the past five seasons (a good record in those days), but patience was wearing thin. Club president Bud Selig needed to shake things up, and nobody was safe. At the end of the season, Selig fired manager Alex Grammas, general manager Jim Baumer, and the team’s logo, the Beer Barrel Man.
The club had been using the Beer Barrel Man as its logo since 1967, years before Milwaukee had a team of its own. The character himself dates back at least as far as 1942, when he was called Owgust and welcomed patrons to old Borchert Field, although the version used by the Brewers made its debut in 1947.
But times change, and late in that 1977 season, the Brewers announced an open contest to let their fans submit designs for the Brewers’ new logo, which would accompany new (team-designed) uniforms.
One of the entrants was a graphic design and art major at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire named Tom Meindel. He heard about the contest from a local television station, and decided to give it a try.
Meindel reportedly came up with the idea for the Ball-in-Glove while bored in a psychology class, sketching in the margins of his notebook. “I remember working with the M and B and I was stuck,” he later recounted. “I wasn’t going anywhere. Then I decided to start using lower case letters. The obvious thinking was to put them side-by-side, but I thought ‘let’s stack it, one on top of the other.’ It was a very crude drawing, but all of a sudden, boom, the light bulb came on. It reminded me of a baseball glove.”
His original design was rougher, more elongated. The baseball had stitching rather than the smooth seam we have today.
He mailed his design to the Brewers’ marketing department, and a couple weeks later was informed that his had been chosen as one of two finalists, chosen from nearly 2,000 entries. The Brewers flew him to Milwaukee to discuss the design with Dick Hearn the team’s vice president in charge of marketing. Meindel’s entry was refined (possibly in-house, possibly by an outside firm), and shortly after Meindel returned to Eau Claire, he received a telephone call from the Brewers informing him that his design had won.
For his creation, Meindel received $2,000, which in 2013 dollars comes to just under $7,700. He put the cash towards the down payment for a house.
Selig’s new-look Brewers experienced an instant turn-around. The 1978 Brewers, with Meindel’s logo on their caps, went 93-69, only 6½ games back of the Yankees in the AL East. Selig himself was named “Major League Executive of the Year” by United Press International, beating out his own GM, Harry Dalton. Times were looking up for the Brewers, and the new logo helped shake off the cobwebs of mediocrity that had hung off the club since 1970.
Everyone knows the rest of the story. The Brewers would win a share of the AL East in 1981 and the American League pennant in 1982, taking the Cardinals to seven games in the World Series and securing a place in Milwaukee’s hearts forever.
But times change, and Meindel’s logo fell out of favor. In 1994, to celebrate the club’s 25th anniversary, the Brewers set it aside in favor of a more serious logo, with darker colors and sharper lines. Still, the BnG remained popular. In 2005, the Brewers were considering reviving Meindel’s logo in some form (we now know that they settled on an alternate uniform). The club held a “fan vote” at Miller Park, where patrons were given the choice between one of two free t-shirts at the turnstyles; the current barley-M or Meindel’s classic. The BnG won convincingly, as 63% of fans chose the classic t-shirt.
Interviewed by the Register-Guard in his new home of Eugene, Oregon, Meindel was intrigued by the persistence of his design. “For me, the way this thing keeps coming back is almost surreal,” he told the paper. “I wouldn’t compare it with any of the classics, but it has certainly withstood the test of time.”
It sure has. If anything, looking around Miller Park on any given home game makes me think he’s being modest.
. . . . . .
Thanks, Chance! Great writeup (as always). Well, folks — two things — how great is that and was this the first ever ‘crowdsourced’ uniform or logo design contest ever held (for any sport)? Even if it wasn’t (or was), it would be great to have a list of them so put on your thinking caps and lets find out!
Uni Tweaks Concepts
We have another new 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:
~~~
We begin today with Andy Cusack, who did up a whole batch of ChiSox unis, with a nice throwbacky feel:
Hi.
I’ve been a White Sox fan my entire life. I think I’m in the same boat as most other Sox fans in that I don’t dislike their current uniforms. But at the same time, they just don’t feel exactly right. There seems to be some disconnect with our glorious mess of a uniform history. The silver and black is just a little too stark for my taste.
Long story short: I created a series of uniforms that both give a nod to different eras of the team’s history (It’s be pretty obvious that each is rooted in a uniform of the past). But they also attempt to tie everything together into something that is at least a little cohesive.
I believe if the White Sox employed a uniform system like this, they wouldn’t have to bring back a past uniform to wear as an alternate as they’ve been doing the past few seasons with the ’59, ’72 and ’83 varieties. And I think they look pretty sharp.
Hope you enjoy these.
-Andy
. . .
Next up is Zachary Schwartzer, who retweaked the new U of Arizona Wildcat football unis:
Phil,
The U of A football team will be releasing new football uniforms very soon. It’s been confirmed by Greg Byrne on Twitter that there will be 4 different helmets, the 4th being the copper helmet they used last year. Rumors have it there will also be an alternate uniform to match with the copper helmet. Here is my concept for the new U of A uniforms.
Sincerely,
Zachary
. . .
We close today with Chris Powers who has added an alternate to the classic Tigers uniforms:
Hi Phil,
I know the Tigers’ unis are sacred, but I was inspired by all of the orange uniforms that were on display last week. I think this concept turned out quite well even if they’d never be used in a million years. It features a two-color script based on their primary wordmark and other lettering to match. I also included the headspoon that both current jerseys have. Stripes are a callback to the stripes on the 1980s away unis. Also if they’re not careful, they could inadvertently end up as the Tiggers considering where the “G” lands on the placket.
I am especially proud of the sleeve patch I created using the ‘80s design style and the cat from the ‘90s that is used as an alternate logo and by some of their farm teams. It could be used on the away uniforms, but I’d leave the home as-is. Hopefully the patch would bring the blessings of 1984 and not the quagmire of 2003.
~Chris Powers
. . .
And that’s it for today. Back with more next time.
ASG Smocks
Looks like the 2013 National and American League Batting Practice jerseys have been released for both teams. As in the past, the colors borrow from the colorscheme of the host team, which this year is the Mets, so we have a royal and orange set. Not too bad, as far as softball tops go:
…And on that note, that’s it for today. I prepped this post early Saturday, so apologies if there was any other breaking uniform news on Saturday that I missed. Feel free to break stuff in the comments below. Thanks (as always) to Chance for a fantastic historical lesson. You guys have a great Sunday and a better week, and I’ll catch you next weekend.
Follow me on twitter @PhilHecken.
Peace.
One For The Road
.. … ..
“Obviously the NBA will just retroactively declare that the New Orleans Hornets were always called the Pelicans and were an expansion team, while the Charlotte Hornets simply suspended operations much like the Cleveland Browns, then changed their name to the Bobcats, only to change back. Obviously.”
–(THE) Jeff Provo
Well, Uni Watch readers — we’ve made it (almost). We’re now to reveal the final sets of contestants for the UWFFL — today’s final two teams are coastal teams, one from the east and one from the left — the Tampa Terror and the San Francisco Reign Fire. I know I’m really excited to reveal the final team (the Reign Fire) because of the possibilities of the helmet art — we also have a very special treat from Rob. More on that below.
Once again, I want to thank Rob Holecko for all his work on this, and all the great submitters for taking such an interest in this contest. And now, I will turn this over to Rob, who’ll take you through the final two groups of entries, complete with polls (so be sure to view all of the entries for each team and then be prepared to vote — write down your favorite if you have to, so you can easily vote on it after each of the sections). Click on each graphic to enlarge.
Ready? OK — here’s Rob:
. . .
Hello again from the UWFFL. We are back with the results from last week’s voting and the submissions for the final two teams. Next week we’ll have (barring any further run-off votes being necessary) the results for these final two teams as well as laying out what the future holds for the UWFFL when we pick it back up in July or so.
First off, here are last week’s winners. In the second run-off for the New York Sharks voting, Robert Kramer defeated Adam Cain and claimed his first victory.
___________________________________
___________________________________
~ ~ ~ ~
In the competition for the Seattle Superbeasts, it was a runaway and Wes Peters notched his fifth victory.
___________________________________
___________________________________
~ ~ ~ ~
And for the San Diego Storm, Brett Callero defeated Wes for his third win.
___________________________________
___________________________________
~ ~ ~ ~
That brings us to the last batch of teams to vote on: Tampa and San Francisco.
First the Tampa Terror. Here are the ten entries, with voting below:
And finally the twelfth team, the San Francisco Reign Fire.
For the Reign Fire, we had a little help from 970 KDSF in San Francisco, the official broadcast partner of the Reign Fire. They co-sponsored with us this portion of the contest and their afternoon drive program, The Dick Schaefer Show (no relation to the GUD’s Bill Schaefer) interviewed some of the entrants and gave them a chance to talk about their submissions. We gave all of the entrants the opportunity to be on their program, but it was totally optional, and when making your voting selections you shouldn’t hold it against those that chose not to take part. But for those that did, we have included the audio of their interview with their submissions and you can listen to it below and let it give you just a little more insight into the designers’ processes.
We thank 970 KDSF for their interest in the contest and look forward to their continuing coverage of the San Francisco Reign Fire as they compete in the UWFFL this fall.
___________________________________
Andrew Seagraves
___________________________________
Brady Ivie
___________________________________
Brendan Jang
___________________________________
Brett Callero
___________________________________
Curtis Peddle
___________________________________
Dan Hutcheson
___________________________________
Elizabeth Eicher
___________________________________
Robert Kramer
___________________________________
Trent Daniel
___________________________________
Wes Peters
___________________________________
Unfortunately, not every contestant was available for interview purposes. But, just to wrap things up, give one last listen here:
~ ~ ~ ~
Well, there you have it, good luck to the Tampa and San Francisco entries, congrats to Robert, Wes, and Brett for their wins, and to the rest of you be sure to vote and discuss in the comments your favorite designs. We’ll see you next week!
___________________________________
Thanks, Rob (and nice interviews!). OK readers — unless there is a run-off, this is the last you’ll be voting on the UWFFL (at least for a while, I promise), so lets send them out in a blaze of glory OK? And make sure you thank all the contestants and also Rob for helping to organize this. And of course, let the submitters know how they did. Back with the results next weekend.
Uni Tweaks Concepts
We have another new 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:
~~~
We begin today with Bryan Ross, with a Penn State University redo:
Hey Phil,
I was looking at Penn State’s uniforms and felt they needed an update. With the home uniform, the major change I made wwas adding the logo to the side of the helmet and a blue back plate with PennState font added. Another change was keeping the simple helmet stripe and tying it into the side of the pant leg giving the socks the same look to bring it all together.
Basically the thought throughout was to give some subtile updates while keeping with the classic look. See what you think.
Bryan Ross,
Graphic Designer
. . .
Next up is Brian F (from NOLA), who has retrofitted the Rays:
Phil-
I hope this is the right place to send these to. I want to like the Rays, I lived in Tampa for a while and generally like the area, but everything about the team just seems generic. Everyone uses the navy blue now-a-days and I think there needs more green in baseball. The Rays were close a few years ago with their road grey’s, but the green and blue were too dark. I don’t love the wordmark they used, but it’s better that the current one. The other is using the wordmark from the throwback the clock, which is very Floride like.
Brian from NOLA
. . .
We close today with Brett Knowles some logos for the St. Louis Metro football club:
Phil,
Love reading your stuff. Been following logos/uni’s most of my life and always thought I was odd for that. It turns out, there is quite the following.
With the upcoming Chelsea/ Man. City game being played here at Busch Stadium next month, talk has resurfaced about the possibility of MLS in St. Louis.
I came up with a logo about two years ago and have attached it. In case it wasn’t obvious, no photoshop was used, just good old MS Paint!
Let me know what you think if you get a chance. I know it’s not perfect, but I would love to see it incorporated in some way by someone who actually knows graphic design.
Thanks!
Brett Knowles
. . .
And that’s it for today. Back with more next time.
Stirrup Fridays…
Because we love the stirrup here at Uni Watch, this section is devoted to those of us who sport the beautiful hose on Fridays — a trend popularized many years ago by Robert P. Marshall, III. For many of us, it’s become a bit of an obsession, but a harmless one — a reflection of our times. Where we once had Friday ties, which has been replaced by Casual Friday — we now have Stirrup Fridays. It’s an endearingly simple concept — no matter where you work (or even if you don’t) — break out a fresh pair of rups to compliment (or clash with) your Friday attire.
Smaller set than normal today.
. . . . .
James Poisso:
Phil,
I’ve never been able to identify these stirrups, but they look nice.
James Poisso
. . .
Joaquin Jang:
Hi Phil,
I graduated from grad school on Thursday so I figured I would celebrate Stirrup Friday a day early. I’m clicking my heels, not just because I graduated, because I got to wear some sweet stirrups too!
Joaquin
. . .
John K.:
Phil,
Broke out the classic Orioles look to celebrate their great run in the ESPN uni bracket. Going back to “Baltimore” on the away jerseys a few years ago was a great (and seriously overdue) move. They just need to add the classic socks/stirrups, and get rid of the white panel on the hat.
I was in meetings all day yesterday and did not get a chance to vote. Not sure if I will be able to vote today, either. A difficult decision: Vote partisan for the very good looking Os, or the truly iconic and beautiful Cards. The Cards could almost win on stirrups/socks alone.
John
. . .
Robert Brashear:
Comrades,
I have joined the revolution
Bucco stirrups in the big apple
Robert Brashear
. . .
And that ends today’s look at Stirrup Friday — all of you who participate, send me your pics and a brief (~50 words) description of their relevance, and I’ll run ‘em here on Saturday (and sometimes Sunday too!). Be sure to visit Robert’s House of Hose for news on rups.
And now…here’s …
~~~~~~~~~~
Comrade Marshall’s Rupdate:
Comrades!
First off, my apologies for not being part of the post last week, I dropped the ball in coordinating with Phil. That being said I was also busy all week defending the stirrup revolution. Apparently there is a snake in the revolutionary grasses phishng the stirrup movement. Clearly this thief has intimate knowledge of what we do here, and to be honest, I was really hurt that someone would try to rip-off an operation that is set up to benefit rather the gouge Uni Watch readers. I was close to saying fine, I’ll raise prices blah blah blah, but I came to my senses and realized that just because there is one weasel out there, the rest of us shouldn’t suffer. Besides, there is 92 bucks in the revolutionary accounts, let him do his worst. The bottom line is after reflection, everything is all systems normal except one thing, the Stirrup Friday Image winner now gets a buy one/ get one prize. I hope that prize is okay with everyone.
Let’s get on with the Stirrup Friday shots, and begin with last week since the pixtures were so great. On top of Phil’s killer Met’s game shot, there was great stuff all around, and I will talk to Soukie about what I will do for him and his usual Gem, but let’s award Nathan Stewart with the shot of the week for those killer chops that go so well with the 70′s orioles look. As for this week, clearly Joaquin Jang’s graduation shot might be the shot of the year, that was super sweet Joaquin, you were a hands down choice.
As for actual hosiery, The Cardinals and Braves are back in stock, and I expect the 1959 “beer shower” World Series Go-Go Sox sometime this week, but since they are not here yet I will run the 69 Padres and 48 Senators as “new” this week even though they are in stock and there will be no waiting. If the beer showers get here as expected, I will have another new stirrup for everyone based on the feedback I have gotten next weekend.
From each according his stirrvp, to each according his strype
• And finally, the Preakness Stakes is today. There was some discussion in yesterday’s comments of a horse called Titletown Five, whose name is a reference to Green Bay. Check out the silks! And here’s a photo of the silks (not the same jockey who’ll be riding today, but same silks).
That will do it for today. Quick programming note for tomorrow: I’m scheduled to open the summer place today, which, among other things, means meeting the cable guy to hook up the Interwebs. As with all things, this is not a given. Also, the computer out there was built before some of you were born, so…
I’ve already prepared tomorrow’s post so there will be stuff tomorrow (and a great lede from none other than Chance with another wonderful historical uni/logo look back). But there might not be anything NEW from today (may need to upload the post from my phone), including a QOTD. Just warning you.
Everyone have a great Saturday, and I will catch you tomorrow one way or the other.
Follow me on Twitter @PhilHecken.
Peace
One For The Road
.. … ..
“Sweet Mother of Jesus. This is getting scary. Not too long ago – a couple of years? – I asked you in this space about your hometown, and you sent me the same wiki link you just sent this morning. I (now) remember the picture 2nd Street! I need to buy a walker. And maybe a bib.”
–Conn Nugent
Hmmm, is this a new Texas A&M football uniform? Could be, according to a reader who prefers to remain anonymous:
I recently visited Adidas HQ in Portland and saw these uniforms in their football room. The helmets start black up top and turn to maroon toward the bottom. Facemask is the same way.
Interesting. I ran the photo past an Aggies-obsessed friend of mine. Here’s what he had to say:
If I had to wager, I’d guess they’re looking for something to trot out for their big Sept. 14 home game against Alabama, which is one of the most anticipated games in A&M history. Last year, that was the only game they wore the all-whites for. They wore the all-black ones for their first big game against a highly ranked team, Mississippi State.
Sumlin definitely seems to try to fire the team up with that kind of stuff.Now you’re gonna ruin the surprise and they’re gonna lose and Johnny’s not gonna win two Heismans and then I’m gonna wage a campaign for the Mets to wear black and purple uniforms.
(Update: Several commenters are pointing out that this is essentially the same uni A&M wore against Mississippi State last year. Only the pink arm sleeve is now. Ah well…)
Speaking of Johnny Football, he threw out the first pitch at last night’s Padres game, so they gave him a jersey with a Heisman sleeve patch (photo courtesy of Jared Bremseth, click to enlarge):
Purple Amnesty Day: Today is the seventh anniversary of the first entry ever published on this site. In keeping with longstanding tradition, that means today is also the one day of the year when the prohibition on purple-inclusive Uni Watch membership cards is lifted. So if you’ve been waiting to order the Vikings- or Lakers- or LSU- or Rockies-themed card (like Greg Cornwall’s LSU helmet treatment, shown at right), now’s your chance. Sign-up details, as always, can be found here. I’ll accept purple-inclusive orders until midnight Eastern tonight. (Of course, non-purple orders are also welcome.)
And hey, membership cards and purple aside — seven years! That’s pretty amazing. My thanks to each and every one of you for helping to make Uni Watch such a fun, successful project.
+ + + + +
Uni Watch News Ticker: Another uni-notable thing about today’s date: It’s the birthday of Carlos May, the only athlete I’m aware of to wear his birthday on his jersey (my thanks to Brendan the Aspie for pointing this out in yesterday’s comments). … Bloody Nolan! “That’s from Sept. 8, 1990,” says Andy Chalifour. “Bo Jackson led off the second inning by hitting Nolan Ryan’s first pitch back to the mound. Ryan misplayed it and the baseball hit him in the mouth. Nolan Ryan refused to leave the game and went on to pitch through the seventh inning.” … Faaaascinating piece on how apostrophes are frowned upon in place names. … Rays pitcher David Price has been suffering from allergies that have been traced to the team’s uniform-laundering system (from Brian Mazmanian). … Buried within this story is the news that the Warriors will likely retain their sleeved jerseys for next season. … Good piece by Chris Creamer on the American and National League logos being updated. … Mets pitching prospect Zach Wheeler, who hails from Atlanta, was wearing a Falcons cap while in New York for a cortisone shot. … For the first time ever, Ebbets Field Flannels has done a college baseball throwback jersey — for Illinois State, 1969. … Dobyns-Bennett High School in Tennessee has some seriously weird baseball pants. “The head coach is the cousin of my best childhood friend, but I still haven’t had the balls to ask why these were even thought of, let alone produced game use,” says Daniel Hargis. … The Stockton Thunder (ECHL) will mark their first appearance in the Kelly Cup finals with this jersey patch (from Richard Paloma). … Did you know there’s a blog devoted to U.S. military uniforms? I learned that from this story about the military’s latest camouflage debacle. “And we thought the Jags had problems,” says Chris Weber. … Here’s a gallery of cycling shoes from the Giro d’Italia. “Sweet Jesus!” says a rapturous Sean Clancy. … Latest sports-themed soda display is for the Blackhawks. “Now that’s you honor Native American heritage,” says Jamie Uthe, with an indeterminate level of irony. … In a vaguely related item, check out this Blackhawks-themed barber chair. I happen to have that exact chair in my living room — only, you know, without the team design theme (from Brian Crago). … Small item at the bottom of this page informs us that the Rays are wearing camouflage on their current road trip. That’s, like, on the plane and the bus, not on the field (from Kevin Kleinhans). … All U. of Oregon teams will wear an “AR” memorial patch in memory of Alex Rovello, an Oregon tennis player who died last week (from Maks Skuz). … A Papa John’s delivery guy in Brooklyn was allegedly selling cocaine while in his Papa John’s uniform. At least this finally explains the longstanding mystery of why anyone in Brooklyn would order Papa John’s. “Yeah, gimme a large extra-cheese, half pepperoni, half coke.” … Ladies and gents, your Hillsboro Hops. The team’s inaurgural uniforms were unveiled yesterday (from Christopher Ouellette). … Did you know there were college football teams in Ireland? There are! And one of them is facing criticism for wearing Penn State jerseys (from Chris Flinn). … The Cardinals are giving away striped socks this Sunday and have produced a fun video to promote the giveaway (from Joe Mueller).
Battle of the Uniforms: Voting is still open in the LCS round until 9am Eastern. The World Series round, which looks like it will feature the Cardinals (no surprise there) vs. the Orioles (huge surprise there!), should be up and running by noon-ish today.
Like many of you, I’ve always had a certain fascination with scoreboards. So I was pretty jazzed when Reader Cory Gibson-Bath recent tipped me wise to a new site devoted to illustrations of NHL scoreboards, past and present. I wanted to know more, so I got in touch with the site’s creator, CanuckFanatic92 (he prefers not to give out his real name). Here’s the transcript of an email interview I conducted with him:
Uni Watch: How old are you, where do you live, and what do you do for a living?
CanuckFanatic92: I’m 21 and I live on Vancouver Island, which is in British Columbia, and I am trying to search for a job.
UW: Have you always been interested in scoreboards?
CF92: Yes, ever since I saw the old scoreboard at Pacific Coliseum during highlights of the 1994 Stanley Cup on TV many years ago. It just intrigued me how the technology has come such a long way since that time.
UW: How did you get the idea of creating a website devoted to scoreboard imagery?
CF92: A friend convinced me to create the site after I showed him some of my renderings of scoreboards. He was like, “You gotta put these on a website!” And I was like, “Yeah, you’re right, they’re no use to anybody if they rot on my hard drive.”
UW: I know you’ve contributed to the Frozen Faceoff site. Was that site an inspiration for your site?
CF92: Frozen Faceoff has inspired me to get the work out there, but I’ve been quietly making these textures since approximately 2008. I haven’t shown them publicly until last month, however.
The original plan for these was to get them “modded” into the NHL series made by EA. Unfortunately, due to the way the 3-D model files were made, one could only modify the existing shape of the model, not add onto it.
UW: Your site only shows hockey scoreboards. Do you care about other sports, and do you plan to show their scoreboards on your site at some point down the road?
CF92: At some point there is going to be that person who will request scoreboards from MLB or the NBA, and I realize I’ll have to direct my attention to these scoreboards in the future. In short, I am open to the idea. Lately, I’ve also been thinking of putting up team banners, like retired numbers and championships.
UW: Do you have any specific goals for the site? Like, do you want to document every single NHL scoreboard ever, or something along those lines?
CF92: To be honest, documenting every single NHL scoreboard was one of my goals, but photographs of the old analog clocks are pretty hard to come by. So that goal has, so far, been an uphill battle.
UW: What do you base your illustrations on? Like, do you have a lot of old scoreboard photos, or what?
CF92: I base my illustrations on the best shot I can find of the target scoreboard. Usually the best angle is a head-on shot of it. My photograph cache probably has around 300 photos, and dozens of screencaps from videos.
Another factor I have to take into account is scale. I go mad if I don’t have the scale exactly right, especially with the new scoreboards, which sometimes don’t have their dimensions listed.
UW: What software do you use to create the illustrations, and how long does a typical illustration take to create?
CF92: Photoshop, obviously. Without it I’d be stuck using MS Paint. An “average” scoreboard can take up to a week. My personal best on a single illustration is two hours and 15 minutes.
Recently, for the dot-matrix display illustrations, I’ve been using Paint Shop Pro 3 (a program from 1993!) to enlarge the designs to fit onto the scoreboard texture, and it enlarges them in a way the image doesn’t lose its “blockiness.”
UW: Has this project taught you anything about scoreboards that you didn’t already know?
CF92: It’s taught me how the design of scoreboards went from supplementing the game experience to being eye candy in the blink of an eye. Scoreboards have gotten noticeably uglier as the years have gone by. They went from four-sided technological marvels to gargantuan, oversized television screens within a decade.
UW: Any other things you’re particularly interested in besides scoreboards? Any other websites besides this one?
CF92: I’m also interested in hockey uniforms, and especially the NHL ice surfaces like what Frozen Faceoff does. Also, I’m a lover of old fire trucks.
UW: Anything to add?
CF92: I know the “Clapping Hands” (like the one from Maple Leaf Gardens) will end up in my request jar at some point. I’ll get it drawn up and animated someday!
+ + + + +
Accursed color reminder: Tomorrow is Purple Amnesty Day — the one day of the year when you can order a purple-inclusive Uni Watch membership card. The 24-hour window will run from midnight to midnight (Eastern time). I’m bracing for the onslaught. Do your worst!
Battle of the Uniforms:Voting for Round Three will remain open until 9am Eastern today. The fourth round — essentially the two league championship series — will be up and running by noon-ish.
If you look at this page, second row, second stirrup from the left and this page, third row, sixth sleeve from the left, you’ll see a stripe pattern that’s labeled as “Utah style.” I immediately recognized it as the pattern worn by the Bills in the 1960s. But I’d never seen or heard it referred to as “Utah style” or “Utah stripes” (or as anything else), even though I own several dozen uniform catalogs from that period. Was this a common term, like Northwestern stripes or UCLA stripes?
My go-to guy for this sort of question is sporting goods scholar Terry Proctor, so I shot him a note. Here’s his response:
I believe that Utah used that pattern in the late 1950s or early 1960s, since Buffalo didn’t adopt the style until 1964. … Although not as well known or popular as Northwestern striping or UCLA inserts, they would be referred to as “Utah stripes” in the trade, because of the association with the Utes.
Interesting. I did a few quick photo searches and couldn’t find any old Utah football photos showing this stripe pattern. So I called Utah’s media relations department, where two extremely helpful people offered to investigate for me. One of those people looked in old Utes yearbooks dating back to 1905. But while she found photos showing all sorts of stripe patterns, none of them matched the pattern shown in the Spanjian catalog. (In fact, the Utes mostly seem to have worn Northwestern striping over the years.)
So I feel like I’ve hit a bit of a dead end on this one. Anyone have any additional info and/or photos? And have any other teams worn this stripe pattern?
+ + + + +
Knishery update: Remember that Knicks/Knish T-shirt design I was toying around with? Again, this shirt isn’t available, but it’s still a fun concept, so I’ve kept tinkering with it — just for fun, you understand — and made the knish look a bit more, well, knish-like (click to enlarge):
Although this is just a concept, I’m nonetheless curious to gauge its appeal. Can I see a show of hands?
+ + + + +
Uni Watch News Ticker: The Twins and Brewers will wear these very nice minor league throwbacks on May 30. The game will be at Target Field, which means the Twins will be wearing gray at home. “We wanted our two St. Paul-born players (Mauer and Perkins) to have a chance to wear the hometown name across the chest,” explains team president Dave St. Peter. … According to an Emory University Sports Marketing Analytics study, teams that stop using Native American mascots take a one- or two-year financial hit followed by long-term financial gains, and “no long-term negative effect on brand equity.” … Meanwhile, many Native Americans in Virginia have no problem with the Redskins’ team name (from Tommy the CPA). … This is awesome: an infographic showing which bumblebee uni combo the Pirates wore for each game of the 1979 season. Further details here. … New away kit for Utrecht (from Brett Stone). … New volleyball uniforms for the Japanese women’s national team (from Jeremy Brahm). … Latest college baseball team to let fans choose the uniforms for a given game: Virgnia Tech (from Steve Hicks). … Uniform designer Todd Radom was interviewed by ESPN baseball columnist Buster Olney in this podcast. Todd’s segment starts at about the 19:30 mark. … More Negro Leagues video footage, including an amazing-looking pregame comedy routine by Goose Tatum, here (from Jake Kessler). … And while we’re at it, here’s a 1946 promotional film from the Pacific Coast League (from Adam Jackson). … Jimmy Mac collects A’s flannel vests from 1968-71 and would like to hear from other A’s collectors. If that’s you, contact him here. … What the hell could this Orioles “B.O.” button has been about? (From Comrade Robert Marshall.) … Carl Yastrzemski’s grandson, who plays for Vanderbilt, turned down the chance to wear No. 8 and wears 18 instead (from Scott Ingalsbe). … Blake Gantz had a little back-and-forth with Mark Cuban regarding the Mavs redesign. … Kevin Durant was wearing a SuperSonics cap the other day (from Jimmy Couto). … All U. of Hawaii men’s teams will be called the Rainbow Warriors after all (from Bill Sodeman). … Arguably the ugliest uniforms in sports history are making a comeback — sort of (thanks, Phil). … Speaking of ugly uniforms, check out the 1979 Charleston Charlies (from Doug Ford). … We’re getting our first look at the Jags’ helmet on the practice field, and it looks about as stupid as you’d expect (Phil again). … The Fremantle Dockers (Aussie football) will wear this unusual design during the 2013 Indigenous Round vs. the Melbourne Demons on May 26. “The Indigenous Round is played annually ‘with the aim being to celebrate the contribution of all indigenous players to the AFL,’” explains Leo Strawn Jr. … Good spot by Kevin Kennaley, who writes: “The Giants are in Toronto for a quick two-game series, which meant that Melky Cabrera, who’s now with the Jays but was with the Giants last season, got his World Series ring from them before the game, as well as a handful of bats from before his suspension last year — one of which he used in last night’s game. He went four for five against his old team.” … Also from Kevin: “During his recent end-of-season press conference, Canucks GM Mike Gillis had a bottle of Canucks-branded water.”
Battle of the Uniforms:Voting in the second round remains open until 9am Eastern. The big surprise is that the vote between the Yanks and A’s is going right down to the wire, which I’m rather pleased about. The next round should be up and running by noon.
Meindel reportedly came up with the idea for the Ball-in-Glove while bored in a psychology class, sketching in the margins of his notebook. “I remember working with the M and B and I was stuck,” he later recounted. “I wasn’t going anywhere. Then I decided to start using lower case letters. The obvious thinking was to put them side-by-side, but I thought ‘let’s stack it, one on top of the other.’ It was a very crude drawing, but all of a sudden, boom, the 
He mailed his design to the Brewers’ marketing department, and a couple weeks later was informed that his had been chosen as one of two finalists, chosen from nearly 2,000 entries. The Brewers flew him to Milwaukee to discuss the design with Dick Hearn the team’s vice president in charge of marketing. Meindel’s entry was refined (possibly in-house, possibly by an outside firm), and shortly after Meindel returned to Eau Claire, he received a telephone call from the Brewers informing him that 
But times change, and Meindel’s logo fell out of favor. In 1994, to celebrate the club’s 25th anniversary, the Brewers set it aside in favor of 
Uni 
Stirrup Fridays…
And finally…
