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Call Me Ishmael

white whale hed

By Phil Hecken, with Chris Geis

On Uni Watch, there are “white whales” and then there are “white whales,” — the quest to find uniforms we’re sure existed, but yet we have no photographic proof — the reference of course being to Herman Melville’s Captain Ahab chasing Moby Dick; perhaps it’s not the best descriptor, but for our purposes, it will do.

Today, we can cross one more of those “white whales” off the list. It’s not quite up there with the “blue bronco” (Ricko’s almost life-long quest to find a color photo of the preseason helmet [and possibly a few games early in the season] worn by the Denver Broncos in 1962.) Most people who are familiar with the scenario believe the Broncos wore a brown pony on they helmets. Rick believes it was blue. Since we’ve seen no color photographs of the helmet, it remains a great, white whale.

We’ve had other minor mysteries solved on UW from time to time, but some still elude us, including the possibility that the Cleveland Indians wore an all blue uniform during their “caveman” years (the possible sighting of this uniform may have been in the 1975, 1976 or 1977 All Star Game); another new one is the Texas Rangers wearing a powder blue top over white pants, possibly during the 1975 season. Still other uniform and equipment mysteries have been solved, including the recent Chiefs’ Headdress Helmet, tracked down after many years by Paul. It’s always a joy for the truly devoted Uni Watcher to unearth (or maybe, catch) a white whale.

As I stated above, we’ve had another white whale sighting this week. It’s not as huge as would be a color photo of the blue brown bronco of 1962, nor even the Chiefs’ Headdress, but it’s a great one nonetheless. And the man who has been at the forefront of this quest for years is none other than Chris Geis, who posts as Geeman. You see, he’s been swearing that the Pittsburgh Pirates, during their “We Are Family” years, wore their white pinstripes in a game at Shea, versus the Mets, also clad in white pinstripes.

Now, with all the possible combinations the Pirates wore during those years, you’d think there would be lots of white pins versus white pins matchups (it turns out there are a few), but no one had ever provided photographic proof. Thanks to a very important uni-tracking project being undertaken by Jerry Wolper, who has begun the process of documenting every combination the Bucs wore during the 1977-84 seasons (more on that below), plus the research contributions of UW uniform historian Tim Brulia, Chris’ memory of having seen a pins-on-pins game at Shea has been validated. During the course of the past week, Timmy & Jerry (and even Ben Traxel) have provided our photographic proof, in the form of newspaper accounts and baseball cards. They’re below.

But for a more personal account, here’s Chris:

~~~

In my mind’s eye the vision is clear: It is a warm summer weekend, late in the afternoon or maybe dusk. It is the last summer we would live in Queens, just a few miles from Shea Stadium, and the Mets and Pirates are on the television in our den, playing on WOR-TV, Channel 9. And both teams are wearing white uniforms with pinstripes.

“Hey, Dad,” I say. “Look at that. Isn’t that against the rules, with both teams wearing white uniforms?”

My dad once worked for the Mets and knew everything there was to know about sports, but all he could muster was an annoyed look at the scene and a comment about how that would make it difficult for the umpires to tell the players apart in a close play at the plate. He quickly moved on to more important household matters.

But I never forgot it. It was the first time I had ever seen two baseball teams wearing white in the same game, let alone white with pinstripes, and I’ve never seen it since. It violated every tenet of sports uniform wearing in my strict rule-abiding mind, and still does. Teams needed to differentiate themselves by wearing different uniforms, I insisted.

I have always loved sports, with baseball my first love, and have always kept track in my mind of teams’ uniforms. In those long, languid days of summer until my mid-teens, when I wasn’t playing some ball, I was thinking about it, watching it or listening to it on radio, or collecting baseball cards or reading the daily standings and batting averages that came out every Sunday. This included an informal cataloging in my mind of uniforms.

I was about to turn 11 when the Pirates came out with their multiple sets of black, gold, and white uniforms, which they mixed and matched without limitation, and I loved them. It spiced up the boring white and gray background of the game, or so this kid thought. Now, of course, I would find some of the new uniforms appalling and my tastes run much more to the traditional. But the Pirates ”“ and A’s, Orioles, Giants, Indians, and others who broke the uniform color barrier when I started following the game — will always have a soft spot in my heart. (The first World Series that I remember was the A’s-Reds affair in 1972. I still have all the baseball cards that came out the next year from each game, and the A’s alternated with white, gold, and green jerseys for those games and did the same in the 1973 and 1974 series.)

Of course, I did not think to document the Pirates-Mets game, but I was certain that it had happened. Then along came UniWatch, and documentation (“where are the pics?” “won’t believe till I see pics!”) became vital and enjoyable. I first mentioned on the message board, either last summer or the summer before, that I had seen the Pirates and Mets both wearing white pinstripes in a game at Shea in 1977 or 1978. The response was skeptical. I called it my white whale, determined to find proof somehow or another. But alas, job responsibilities and other matters never really allowed me time, or perhaps I was too lazy to make time, to do it. But I kept putting out the bait for others to track the whale down. It was the summer of ’77 or ’78, I said. I knew that because it was either the summer before we moved to North Carolina or the summer that we moved to North Carolina, and it was early in the Pirates’ bumblebee years (1977 was the first year they used the unis). Uniwatchers quickly directed me to the Mets’ schedule for those years. I suggested that it was either mid-July 1977 or June 1978.

I did this several times over the last year or two until finally a few weeks ago one of the readers said he was going to track every uniform the Pirates wore that year. There would be lots of time reading microfilm in libraries, but I knew it would uncover the truth. Then a few days ago, I mentioned it again. There was more skepticism from Phil. Perhaps it was tongue-in-check skepticism, but good old fashioned Long Island skepticism nonetheless; he mentioned that the tooth fairy and Easter Bunny would be found at the same time as the all-pinstripes game. So I put down the challenge: Just check out the New York newspapers’ microfilm at the library for the July 1977 or June 1978 Pirates-Mets series, and you’ll find proof.

Another reader (“timmy b” ”“ not sure if he is the same reader doing the Buc tracker) took the challenge. Bless you, timmy B. And he found the proof: Yes, the Pirates did wear white pinstripes at Shea in 1977, and the Mets were also wearing their home white pinstripes. (It wasn’t one of those reverse-home games like the Blue Jays and Phillies played a few weeks ago; I was sure of that.) It is right there in The New York Times’ articles of July 18, 1977. And he threw in some baseball cards of the Pirates wearing pinstripes — cards that I have had for years — and lo and behold, I slapped my forehead and realized the pictures for those cards were taken at Shea. The Mets are not in the pictures on those cards, but I spent enough time as a kid at Shea, even after I moved to North Carolina, to know it was Shea. All these years I had proof of that game in a shoebox and I never knew it. [Note: Ben Traxel did unearth this baseball card, which, while note completely pins versus pins, does show the Bucs wearing pin pants — PH]

(It turns out that this all-pinstripes affair occurred just a few days after the famous New York City blackout of 1977. I lived through that blackout, but in my mind the two events were separate and I never connected them. Of course, the TV was on when I saw the game, so the power had clearly come back by then. But if the power had not come on, I probably would never have noticed it.)

This is why Uni Watch is such a wonderful thing. The collective power of readers, their memories, and their motivations to document uniform history is awesome. Last summer UniWatch unearthed that the Indians had worn blue jerseys and red pants, and white jerseys and red pants, in some games in 1977. I always tried to keep track of teams’ uniform combinations, especially teams like the Indians and Pirates, but I had never seen those combos on baseball cards, on TV, or in the papers. Not even Mark Okkonen’s great book had them.

Uni Watch has also recently helped confirm that the A’s wore all-green and all-gold uniforms in the 1970s. I vaguely remember seeing baseball cards with one or both uniforms as a kid, but over the years I must have lost them, because they are not in my shoeboxes; I checked last summer after that photo of Vida Blue in all-gold from the 1975 All-Star game was posted on UniWatch. [Remember, Vida was absent from the 1975 ASG team photo — PH] A few days ago we got confirmation on UniWatch, with photos, that they wore both.

Two summers ago UniWatch readers also helped me clear up another mystery from my youth. In 1975, when the Orioles debuted their bright orange jerseys, they had a matching orange-front cap. I loved both and wore both as a kid, even though I’ve almost always been a Red Sox fan. I always thought there was a matching orange-front helmet, maybe because that’s what made sense to a 9-year-old, but I wasn’t sure if I had ever seen it; I just assumed there was one. I collected helmets as a kid — usually bought them for $2.50 when I went to Shea, which was five or six times a summer, often even after I moved away — and I had the white-front helmet but could never find the orange-front helmet. Did they even have one? I couldn’t document it one way or another. So I put out a call on UniWatch two years ago this month to see if anyone knew. Within a day or so UniWatch readers came up with a baseball card of Reggie Jackson in that orange Orioles jersey and a white helmet. This was conclusive proof that they had never worn an orange-front helmet, because Reggie played only one year with the O’s, 1976, and that year was the last year that the O’s wore the orange-front cap; after that, they wore the white-front cap with the orange jerseys.

Summertime is a beautiful thing. The pace slows, and memories of our childhoods flood our brains. Baseball was an integral part of my childhood summers, and unearthing these baseball uniform mysteries from my youth has been a fun throwback to a more innocent time. Thanks, UniWatch. Now let’s find another white whale.

~~~

Thanks Chris, for that nice trip down memory lane, and for sticking to your guns (even when I was only half-kidding you) about the pins-on-pins being as likely as the “tooth fairy.” It was with GREAT pleasure and surprise when Timmy sent me those clippings, and it was due in no small part to the efforts of Jerry Wolper, who’s been undertaking his “Buc Tracker” project. Although he’s made tremendous progress so far in documenting every combination the Pirates wore during the “bumblebee” years, he’s not ready for the final release of the results yet (but he has shared his findings with me.

Once we got “proof” of the pins on pins, I asked him how many other instances of such wearings he had found, and here’s what he had to say:

There are a number of instances where the Pirates wore
their white “pinstripes” on the road against a pinstriped home team.
Looking at jerseys, I have

5/2/77 Atlanta
5/27/77 Chicago
5/29/77 Chicago (according to Jerry Reuss; probably includes white pants)
7/15/77 New York (game 1; nothing for game 2)
7/17/77 New York (game 1; nothing for game 2)
7/29/77 Atlanta
8/16/77 Chicago (photo on left)
8/17/77 Chicago
8/18/77 Chicago

4/16/78 Chicago (photo on right)
6/18/78 Atlanta
9/10/78 New York (Photo from Dan C.)
9/20/78 Chicago

Of those, I know they wore white pants on 7/17/77, 8/17/77, and
8/18/77. I don’t have a pants color for 5/2/77 or 6/18/78. And,
besides those nightcaps, there are a bunch of dates where I haven’t
found a picture yet, so I don’t claim this list is complete. (There
are also games with a colored jersey and white pants, but the point
has already been made.)

The attached photos are the best I found where you can see both teams’ pinstripes.

And thank you Jerry.

~~~

Tremendous job by all, and again a BIG thanks to Chris, Timmy & Jerry, and everyone at UW who helps us find the unfindable, who makes our pursuit more than a blind shot in the dark. We’ve still got a few more whales to track down. But now we’ve got another one in the books.

What about you, readers? Is there a certain uniform you *swear* you saw at one time or another, but have yet to officially document? Let’s hear about it. Just two days ago a very minor *white whale* was found. On June 29th, mere hours before Timmy & Jerry sent me their visual proof of the pins-on-pins, I mentioned my own white whale — I had remembered the Yankees wearing a New York Black Yankees throwback, and I thought “the gambler” (Kenny Rogers) was pitching. Just two days ago, (scroll down for the nested comments — still trying to figure out how to directly link to comments) reader Adam wrote: “Speaking of throwbacks and what nots”¦ does any one else remember the Yankees actually wearing throwbacks? I remember watching ONCE a game in May 1996 when they were at Detroit and it was a game of the week on Fox where the Yankees were actually wearing the Negro League BLACK Yankees Road Unis”¦ and Kenny Rogers was on the mound. Anyone else remember this? Can Provide pix of it? I Googled it and cant find nothing!” Clearly, he and I were remembering the same game. Only hours later, reader Dwayne provided the photographic proof. UW readers solve another uni-mystery!

So, if you dear readers are looking for something, let us know. If you have any leads on Ricko’s blue bronco or one of the other Uni Watch Cold Case Files, list them below.

The Pequod is now boarding.

~~~~~~~~~~

Benchies Header

Is Mick the inspiration for softball guy? Get in the car…get there early…daddy’s mashin’. Here’s Rick:

Arch rivals bring out something in us; occasionally the best, occasionally the worst. History notes it doesn’t get much bigger than those times every year when the opposition is the crossstreet Blotto Bar. This one goes back so far it’s been about who got Cable first, Pong first, Pac-Man first. But today it’s softball, and that means EVERYONE is watching (insert eyeroll here).

Here’s your Saturday Benchies.

~~~~~~~~~~

just the trax

Musings and Missives from Ben Traxel this week include more stuff he knows will irk me. It’s just his way. Note there’s no purple in his garb, but the “shoes are different but still kind of square toed, and a little beat up.” Diggin’ the Cubbies rups tho…

Anyway, here’s Ben:

~~~

• Favorite baseball card of the week. 1973 Bob Locker. NNOB and NNoOB. If you zoom in really close, the cubbie patch is on the sleeve. So why did they take the number off his back? Is it really him?

• U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! Not that I was ever down on American sports teams but 2010 has really been fun even without a title. First it was these guys, which of course led to reminiscing about these fellas, which in turn caused me to purchase this. And now, while I know nuttin about soccer, it sure was fun watching the beauty pageant sashes pull through round one even though these things put me in a trance (which I rather enjoyed). So what’s next? I’ve never watched it before but I’m kinda wondering when that World Baseball Classical thing is. Or is there something else coming up?

• My wife thinks someone in our house is obsessed.

• Can we finally get this guy in the HOF ?

• Silent George’s visors made the ticker this week, now how about the Tito headband from the same era.

• Water golf, 1933 DIY scoreboards, even a new home for the Mets. Man O Man this Modern Mechanix site has some great stuff.

New does not always = better (1).

New does not always = better (2).

• But sometimes it does (1).

• But sometimes it does (2).

• And sometimes we just don’t know.

• RIP Mr. Coryell. We all know you were the original “Air”.

• Just think how much better Kevin Durant would have been had he played in this sweet getup instead of this hideous rag.

• Headed to Busch Stadium on Sunday. Let’s hope for bearable temps, high socks, and lots of explosions.

Have a safe revolutionary celebration everyone.

~~~

As always, thank you Ben.

~~~~~~~~~~

vilk 5 & 1 flat 2

It’s getting down to brass tacks in the World Cup now. Surprisingly, after the US’ loss they’ve decided to keep playing. Our 5 & 1 rankers Jim Vilk and Mike Engle are back with their penultimate rankings:

~~~

Kicking off today is Mike:

5) Netherlands v Slovakia: …uh, I guess I’d wear that…so why didn’t I pick Brazil v Chile? Because I would have had to say, “Brazil looks like Brazil, but Chile looks bland.” THAT, dear readers, would have been repeating myself from last week. So let’s not do that.

4) Uruguay v South Korea: Uruguay has a really cool soles motif going on there, trust me. And yes, I’d let Zaira Nara-Forlán wear that with nothing else around me. South Korea looks inoffensive enough, but they should have used the red shirts this game.

3) Spain v Portugal: I still think Colorado Hockey Rockies look is a mistake by the Spanish, but I’d still love an excuse to wear that snazzy Portugal shirt.

2) Japan v Paraguay: The striped shirts and socks are still cool, but boy, I miss the royal Paraguay shorts, and I don’t like the monochrome royal on Japan. If the teams would have done a shorts swap, it would have been a lock for #1.

1) Argentina v Mexico: Yes, I’m fully aware this is an anti-clash-induced non-traditional look for Argentina, but gosh darn it, I like that!

And the game of shame:

USA v Ghana: Vilk and I are going to have to agree to disagree here. As vertigo- and nausea-inducing as I find those mustard and ketchup-striped shirts, the fatal flaw is in the white front numbers. Thanks to a boneheaded design flaw, all the front numbers were hard to read at best, and invisible at worst. FAIL!

~~~

Thanks, Mike. And now, here’s Jimmy:

~~~

5) Brazil/Chile: Brazil’s unis had a leg up on Chile’s, but I’d wear both.

4) Uruguay/Ghana: A little Friday Night Fever, with a game that was as great as it looked.

3) Netherlands/Brazil: Brazil didn’t go out with class, but at least they looked classy.

2) Spain/Portugal: My color palette special of the week.

1) Germany/England: Pity the English fans may never want to see the all-reds again — I liked them.

And the game of shame

Argentina/Mexico: Red armpits vs. mismatched home and away unis? I’d close my eyes, too.

~~~

Gracias & Merci, gentlemen. We’ll have one last World Cup 5&1 next weekend as we completely ignore the sport for another four years we bid adios and adieu to the beautiful game’s ultimate tournament. But fear not, because we may just have an all-tournament 5&1 retrospective. Or, not.

~~~~~~~~~~

uni template 2

Back again with more Uniform Tweaks, Concepts and Revisions today. Lots to get to, and if you have a tweak, change or concept for any sport, send them my way. Still finding the tweaks have slowed to a trickle, so if you have something you’d like to show, give me a shout.

~~~

Just one huge set of tweaks today, and it comes from Daniel Rerko, who actually sent along eighty-seven NFL separate tweaks. Last weekend, we looked at the first batch. Today features Round II. Says Daniel, “I am sending you a gallery of 87 uniform tweaks for NFL teams on Flickr. Some of them are terrible, but some of them turned out pretty well. I hope you enjoy!” We’ll just divide those up into several different subsets, which we’ll look at over the next few weeks, but some of them are actually quite interesting. Here then, is the second set:

Buffalo Bills Red, White & Blue: Just messin around… This is the real patriotic collection from Buffalo. This is just an experiment with their current uni template.

Buffalo Bills Complete Overhaul, red alternate: A Jim Kelly-era inspired bills uniform, with some tweaks to it to it. Also, I got currious and wanted to give the red alternate a try.

Detroit Lions dark blue instead of silver, white helmet: Adding in a dark blue aspect to the uniform, along with a white helmet. I’m not sure why, but I figured I would give it a try. Also, this eliminates the BFBS option in the uniform.

Cleveland Browns TV numbers on helmet, socks match sleeves, brown helm on orange alt: The TV numbers are on the helmet, and I deceided to give a brown helmet to the alternate. (Ew.)

Jacksonville Jaguars No teal, original jag logo: The new uniforms kinda suck, and they got rid of the gold. So, in a bit of role-reversal, I eliminated the teal and brought back the gold. Along with that, I always had a liking for the never-used logo from the earliest days of the Jaguar’s history.

New Orleans Saints Silver, Black helmet: Black helmet, and I decided to give silver a spot in the uniform. I’ve always thought the black helmet was interesting.

Denver Broncos Old uni, new logo, blue alt.: Basically just the old uniforms with the new bronco logo. I feel that it is a good mix of the old and the new.

Dallas Cowboys White Helmet, home jersey sleves: The white helmet with the color jersey sleeves on the white jersey. It has always bugged me how the Cowboys have had different home and away uniforms.

Arizona Cardinals really futuristic, AZ flag colors: …If Superman played football… I decided to bring in all of the colors from the state flag and just throw it in to the uniform somehow. This is probably the weirdest, most bumper-sticker-stricken uniform I have ever seen, and I would be embarased to see it on the field. But it was an interesting design.

San Francisco 49ers No gold, All Silver, Silver alt.: No reason for this. But hey, why not?

Washington Redskins Overkill on the arrow logo: Again, I hope this never shows up on a field. This looks like it belongs on an Arena Football field.. and even then, I wouldn’t want to disgrace Arena Football like this. The only part of this uniform that I like are the socks and the helmet.

Cincinnati Bengals A lot of Alts, Shoulder yoke, white pants, old helm: The only bright spot here is the old BENGALS helmet logo. This is just the ultimate Halloween collection.

Carolina Panthers Small stripe changes: Looks basically the same… I just expanded the short helmet stripes and split the shoulder stripes from a three-color stripe to a two-color stripe.

San Diego Chargers Bolt socks, no bolt outline, yellow alt., light blue: Powder blues, lightning bolts on the socks, and alternates that flip the gold and the blue on the uniform.

San Diego Chargers Bolt socks, no bolt outline, yellow alt.: Dark blues, lightning bolts on the socks, and alternates that flip the gold and the blue on the uniform.

Philadelphia Eagles Based on 90’s uni, black alt, unified stripes: Kelly greens’ with some black thrown into the mix.

Atlanta Falcons Red helmet, minor tweaks, awesome socks: Red helmets help out in my opinion, but this concept still needs a lot. I liked the socks from their current alternate.

Kansas City Chiefs burnt orange, oilers blue (original requested colors): I read an article that was talking about how the Chiefs wanted columbia blue and burnt orange as their colors, but the Oilers got columbia blue, so the Chiefs settled on their old colors from the Dallas Texans. So I decided to see what it would look like.

OK. Thanks for batch number 2, Dan. That’s enough for today. Back with more tweaks, concepts and revisions next time.

~~~~~~~~~~

uni tracking header 1

Back at the beginning of the 2010 season, I announced the 2010 Uni Tracking that a number of us do. Last year, I devoted about four full weekend columns to it, and that was probably a bit much for most of us to take in one dose, so this year, I’ll occasionally post the updated tracking of certain teams as the trackers send them in. So, if you’ve been doing your due diligence with your team, send me your mid-season tracking reports, and I’ll post them as a “sub article” on the weekends. OK? OK!

~~~

Two tracks today. First up is Brad Bierman, who is tracking the San Diego Padres. This is a couple of weeks old (had to figure out how to convert it to a google doc). But here we go:

Hi, Phil, I enjoy your varied weekend contributions.

I am a rare Padres fan living in the Philadelphia suburbs (I was a broadcast intern with the team in college, the reason I am a Padres fan), and with Extra Innings on DirecTV (enjoying Dick Enberg this season call the games on Channel 4 San Diego) I have watched all or part of every game but three so far, and saw one game in person in Philadelphia, obviously very happy about the results so far. I keep a simple word document tracking the uniforms and results but have not gotten into the detail of the records wearing each combination only overall record, perhaps next time around.

Through June 18, the Padres have worn six caps; home, away, green alternate on Sunday home games with the camouflage jerseys (a cap I own and like immensely), 1984 uniform, 1978 uniform, and Stars and Stripes. They have worn the road cap at home for eight games. The Padres wore five different jerseys in the first nine games of the season. On the road, the sand jersey has been worn 12 times, the blue alternate jersey for 18 games. At home the white jersey has been worn for 21 games, the blue alternate for nine games. The camouflage jerseys have been worn six times on Sundays, and the aforementioned 1984 and 1978 jerseys for one home game apiece.

Thanks.

Brad Bierman

Next up is San Francisco Giants tracker Patrick Karraker, with his (almost) mid-season report:

Phil:

Here is my Giants uniform tracking as we approach the All-Star break. This is the first year uni tracking has really been necessary for the Gigantes, since they have added the orange alternate jersey and a Sunday alternate cap. Generally, though, the uniforms have been used on a pretty strict schedule- Monday to Thursday, away Fridays, Saturdays see the Giants going with their normal white home or gray away jersey and their primary cap. For home Friday games, they wear the orange alt with their normal black cap- slightly surprising because I think most people expected them to pair the jerseys with the alternate caps. On Sundays, they wear the white or gray jerseys with the alternate cap. The one exception to this schedule was last Monday, when for the “Halloween in June” promotion, the Giants wore their orange jerseys against the Orioles’ black. Obviously they were required to do the Jackie Robinson and Welcome Back Veterans promotions as well.

Their most successful uniform has been the orange jersey with black cap- they’re 6-0 with this combo as I write this. I’ll be interested to see if they start wearing this uniform more if they continue to be so dominant in it. They are 18-9 in the white, and 15-20 in gray. They have been slightly more successful in their main cap than in the alternate caps.

Patrick Karraker

I attached my uniform tracking as a PDF.

Awesome. Thanks Brad and Patrick. We’ll get to more trackers next time.

~~~~~~~~~~

And that’s going to (finally) do it for today — sorry for the extra long post, but tomorrow being the Fourth, I’m off and we’ll be closed for comments. So I had to cram two days worth of stuff into just one day.

Everyone have a great Saturday & don’t overdo it tomorrow.

When a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. — Declaration of Independence; 4 July, 1776

 
  
 
Comments (138)

    Regarding the blurb about Kevin Durant….and how good he would have been had he ever wore the Seattle Sonics jersey instead of the OKC colors….he did:

    link

    link

    And even a yellow alternate:

    link

    I worded that poorly, intended to mean this year. It didn’t say that he never wore that uniform though.

    Those final Seattle combos were as good as those OKC rags are bad.

    My wife thinks someone in our house is obsessed.
    link

    So we can assume she’s not into having sox on the bar?

    —Ricko

    WOW! this episode of UW goes to 11 – maybe even 12.

    Since I am always all about me – the unearthing of the NYY wearing a NY Black Yankees throwback @ Detroit in May 1996 was a jaw dropper. Mainly due to the fact I was breaking up w/a woman from Detroit that month, that year. Had I not been moving out & in transition, I would’ve no doubt been watching that game on TV with her. As it was, I had no idea it even took place – being a bit distracted at the time, w/ the move & doing multiple interviews for a radio gig ( lost the gf/ got the job. . ..) So, big time thanks for the pics. In my POV, Yanks should wear that uni as often as possible for all the right reasons.

    Here’s some extra info on the ’73 Bob Locker card. It was a total airbrush job of a picture taken when he was with the A’s. They added a Cubs logo to his arm and changed some yellow to blue. But they couldn’t do anything with the number, so they just airbrushed it out. The best part of the card is the outfielder in the background. They just slapped a big C in the middle of his jersey. I blew up the photo for a closer look and found that they didn’t change the color of his gold A’s spikes. You can check out more about the Locker card link.

    They did a nice job adding the sleeve patch but then just gave up after that. That C on the fielder is just sad in a great way. I love bad airbrush jobs. Nice website, WW.

    Thanks, Phil and everyone else for the great work on the Pirates piece. I think that all-pinstripes game that I saw was on a Friday night, so the July 15 game was probably it. I questioned my memory when I saw the photos from the July 17 game, because that was a Sunday game. But it appears from the information above that they wore all-pinstripes in both games. That makes it even weirder. By the way — I never saw them wear black or gold jerseys with the pinstripes, so just to clarify, it was definitely sold pins.

    But I have a new mystery for you — see next post.

    I’ve got a big July 4th party here today to get prepped for today, so I won’t check in again till later in the day. Weather here in North Carolina is gorgeous. Happy 4th, everyone.

    New Mystery.

    link

    Phil — Where in the world did you get this picture? When the Giants started wearing their orange jerseys, they always wore an orange-billed cap. Or so I thought! (I’ve got the solid-black helmet and orange-billed helmet, by the way.)

    Might depend on the year. Pretty sure there was a season or two when the Giants scrapped the orange sanis and white cleats at home, staying with typical white sanis and black cleats all the time (which is what Jack Clark is wearing in that photo).

    Can’t remember, did they dump the orange brim helmets then, too?

    —Ricko

    IIRC that in 1977 or 78, the Phila and Pirates were involved in an all-pinstripe game at The Vet as well.

    That would be great to see, were you at the game, or do you recall watching the game on TV back then? The other interesting aspect of gold pinstripes would be the question of which team actually was the first to introduce this type of uniform? The Pirates appear to be the first, but there must have been a minor league or college team before 1977 somewhere who tried gold pinstripes. Hopefully, the current Pirates will dump the black pinstripes and bring back the sharp gold pinstripes.

    tore. tina should get a keeper. now keep messi out, and we can send diego primadona home right proper.

    For their quarterfinal match, Ghana moved the white numbers to the red area near the player’s right shoulder, making the numbers more legible.

    In a similar vein, Argentina changed the numbers on their sky blue and white jerseys to black numbers with a white outline.

    Rather handy, I suppose, to have your kit supplier on site to make changes on the fly.

    The 9/10/78 New York photo link has the 5/2/77 Atlanta pic.

    I guess my white whale is I could have sworn I saw (possibly ’79 ASG in Seattle) the Cubs wearing blue pinstipes on the powder blue roads. I would say my source was WGN rain delay TWIB footage, because I could have sworn I saw both blue & white pinstriped Cubs road uni’s in the same dugout. And as far as I know, no other team wore powder blue with pinstripes. Tho it’s possible it was just very dark lighting in the dugout.

    Another one that eluded me for years (and another TWIB sight) was the outfield wall at Veterans Stadium:

    link

    Found the 1st pic on ebay a few years ago, then the 2nd at the Fleer Sticker Project, the 3rd in May. I was told it’s downtown Philadelphia & the Penn Building. Unusual wall decoration, I’ve never seen a full shot of it or when it was around, tho some sources show late 70s-1980, but it disappeared in the ’80 playoffs.

    Tho this one not uni related, it’s a generic “sunset prairie” 1970s design that evolved but maintains its white top / orange/redish hues at the bottom which I’ve seen numerous times in TV shows & movies, but never been able to get a clean photo of that ’70s version. “You’re Tony Randall!”

    link

    Long and short version on The Vet’s “skyline”.

    After the 1979 season where Philadelphia Phil and Phillis were retired (to Storybook Land in Egg Harbor Township, where they still reside BTW), the Phillies commissioned a new Home Run Spectacular, which was in center field to start the season. However, several visiting catchers complained about the strobe lights being used, so the display was condensed and moved to left field over the visitors bullpen, and was permamently removed when the football season started that year, and the scraps were used and recycled as wind covers on the gates.

    Wow, thanks for the info! Saving it & putting it in my archives. Oh and in that 1st pic, I accidentally deleted the right side of the outfield wall, didn’t notice it until now.

    If anybody’s collecting, here’s the original file:
    link

    Argentina is wearing their full Home kit, while Germany has mixed and matched, when there is no conflict between the Argentina Home and the Germany Change..
    Any ideas on why they mixed and matched?

    All right, I’m confused again. Both Argentina and Germany are wearing black shorts today. I thought there was a big to-do about teams not wearing the same color shorts or socks?

    I assume Argentina is the home side since they are wearing their full home kits. Germany is wearing all black (with the mismatched shorts striping because those actually go with the white shirts, as Paul mentioned the other day). Germany’s change kit is supposed to have white shorts (with striping that matches the shirt) so why aren’t they wearing them?

    Another Soccer item, I noted during the the Netherlands v Brazil match is that the Netherlands have the flags of both nations on their uniforms..
    I went back and found some pics, this one : link probably being the best. I went back a bit further, and found they did the same thing in their friendly against the US. link

    Anyone have any idea on how long the Netherlands have been doing this?

    Someone mentioned this earlier in the World Cup that some teams do it as part of the commemorative when the sides switch kits after a match.

    I’d really like the Germany black Uni’s if the shorts matched. The gold is nice. gold and white look like they got it from a thrift store.

    Just a couple of things:

    Yes the weather here in North Carolina had been brutally hot for a few weeks, but this weekend it is incredible! Going out to Lake Norman for the fireworks, not the same as being a kid and watching them from my rooftop in NY….but it will do…

    I had until now believed, incorrectly it seems, that for the World Cup, the uniform rules were that every article of the uniform had to be a different color than the oppositions article…. Yet Germany and Argentina are wearing the exact same shorts. In fact Germany is mismatched in wearing the black ones…both addidas same stripes of course.

    I still find it hard to believe that I have no memory of the Yankees ever wearing a Negro Leagues throwback uniform…none. I WOULD REMEMBER SOMETHING LIKE THAT…but somehow I missed it… by the way..I need to see a “game pic” not just an article saying what they would wear….although that is shocking enough….

    Off to South Carolina to by fireworks!!

    “I need to see a “game pic” not just an article saying what they would wear….although that is shocking enough…”

    I think Bill Henderson’s exhaustive MLB Jerseys Of The Double-Knit Era (1970-2009) is pretty good proof.

    it’s more than enough proof

    still, would love to see a game pic…but i remembered it; another reader remembered it…and henderson gave the proof

    Hey guys I am not saying that I dont believe it….I just cant believe that I dont remember it..something like that would be big news to me…

    I need to see a game pic so that it registers in my mind…. does that make sense at all?

    “My wife thinks someone in our house is obsessed.”

    – Is it the stirrups or the booze? Very impressive
    collection of booze.

    Rerko has reached master tweaker status. I like the Falcons red helmets, Chargers number helmets, and the Bills white helmets. The 49ers need gold as it is their name even though gold and red has never been my favorite color combo. That’s one dead Redskin with all those arrows. And the Saints and Jags have something going on that I kinda like, just don’t know what it is. Those Jag helmets are cool in profile but will run into the Seahawks problem of chopping them off in the back or making it a siamese feline.

    Well that comment sure ended up in the wrong place.

    Guess I had the booze on the brain. Actually, I end up with a stockpile because people give it to me and I rarely drink it. Beer is more my flavor.

    I cannot stand that Brazil has blue shorts and blue socks, yet they use green for piping, NOB and number. I think that looks awful.

    After the 1950 World Cup final game loss (at home, to Uruguay, in front of 200,000 spectators), Brazil abandoned their traditional all-white kit. A Rio paper sponsored a competition to design a new national kit, using the colors of the Brazilian flag (blue, yellow, green, white). The winner, Aldyr Garcia Schlee, determined that the best mix of colors was yellow with green, and blue with white.

    link,,1123140,00.html

    My white whale: Photos of the 63 Milwaukee Braves. Huge NOB, with smaller than normal numbers. This week I saw a throwback for sale, that didn’t have a tomahawk on the front. Now I’m confused!

    The Braves didn’t have the tomahawk on their unis the last three seaons in Milwaukee. That was their original Atlanta uni,too, just changed the letter on the hat.
    link?
    link
    cmd=ViewItem&pt=US_Baseball&hash=item518e0cb1db
    link
    link

    —Ricko

    Nah nah nah nah…nah nah nah nah…hey hey hey…goodbye!

    Thank you, Mr. Marshall’s team!

    Love the Falcons tweak, as well as the Yellow chargers alt. Broncos, Jags and Bills are cool, too.

    Mike, Mike, Mike…I thought I had you trained better…Mexico/Argentina as #1? Oy. The others I could see (although I found S. Korea as plain as Chile). In fact, I kept moving my matchups up and down the list, but Mex./Arg. was firmly entrenched as the non-winner.

    I didn’t consider yesterday’s games, so I had eight games to fill out the 5&1. Not too many options to go around.
    I’ll acknowledge that the double-blue is hardly traditional for Argentina, but it inexplicably worked for me. Meanwhile, Mexico looks so terrible in BFBS, I overrate their look when they stick to El Tri.
    Meanwhile, I think I’m rooting for Spain now. I only have one country in my axis of evil, and I don’t think Paraguay would stand a chance against that damn nation…

    My Axis of Evil has been vanquished, so it doesn’t matter who wins now. Not a huge fan of Holland or Germany, but if they play entertaining football (yes, I said football) then good on them.

    HEY WORLD! GET THE MESSAGE?
    i ain’t gon’a lie, spain scares me. talk about a tough road,england-argentina-spain-dutch, that would be an underdog win for the ages. and why didn’t we wear white shorts? i thought fifa had rules about matching underoos.

    one of your kids is ruggedly handsome, i can’t put my finger on what it is, but he is clearly a lady killer.

    Further to last night’s comments, the Blue Bombers wore their gold jerseys last night with the simpler blue “W” on the helmets:

    link

    Similar look to what they wore in the 2007 Grey Cup (when they wore it with plain blue pants)

    link

    I still think that’s a great look for the Blue Bombers. The Tiger-Cats, on the other hand, that uniform hurts to look at compared to the great looks in their past.

    link

    I’m pretty sure that the 49ers weren’t named after the great silver rush of 1849. Bloody Angeleno (I’m guessing).

    Here’s an interesting Uni-related Sporcle Quiz you should check out:
    Name the Minor League Baseball Team by their Hat
    link

    Good quiz. I only got 17, but in my defense some (ahem, #4 and #28) were a bit hard to see with the weird angles.

    I got 19. The rest got real tough, but I knew quite a bit. Yay for useless info in my head!

    My 2 “white whales” are:

    The proposed road jersey that the Tampa Bay Giants were going to wear in 1993 after their move from San Fransisco. I know that it is out there as the St. Pete Times reported about Vince Namolli receiving the jersey design in August or September 1992. I just can’t find it. I can find where it was reported, but not any pictures.

    Bobby Hull as a Chicago Blackhawk wearing a black CCM (NOT a “Stan Makita” Northland model) with a Dunguard model DG110 attached to it during a time when his jaw was broken. Once again, I know it is out there, but I can’t find proof.

    I wish I could help you on that. I remember saving for a while a clip from the Chicago Tribune of the proposed Tampa Bay Giants logo, which featured a gray isosceles triangle down on its side, a slanted 6-color panel rainbow mimic dome roof, and “GIANTS” in a block serif royal blue font. I was always curious on what their colors would had been.

    Following up on my last post, I drew in memory to what I best remember the logo being like (with the help of a pic). I remember the font being like the current rounded Giants font, but different; like the NY Football Giants font but slightly different. So maybe this is the font the roads may have looked like. Trademarked August 17th, 1992. And there’s something um, very San Francisco-ism of this, too.

    link

    Thanks for digging that up. But, The St. Pete Times reported that Naimoli had received the Giants road jersey that they would be wearing in 1993 and said nothing about the home jersey. IIRC, it had Tampa Bay in cursive. That would lead me to believe that they were going to stay with the black and orange, since there was no mention of the home jerseys.

    No way that the new digs for the Broncos are as good as the old ones. Sure, there are some luxury areas that weren’t at the old joint, but the overall game experience was much better at the real Mile High.

    DenverGregg knows what he’s talking about. No way the Nacho Bowl beats out the hellish atmosphere old Mile High presented to visiting teams. I remember, as a kid, fearing for my safety from how heavily the stands would shake during a defensive stand. We Broncos fans appreciate the sentiment, and I’m sure Pat Bowlen appreciates the revenue, but we all know deep inside that we’ve lost something huge with Invesco.

    I’ve mentioned my white whale before, but I feel appropriate to bring up today as it’s somewhat related to topic at hand. It involves the Pirates also. I thought I saw photos once in a Pirates’ yearbook of the team in the early 80s, post-pins but still mixing and matching era, of the team at home wearing black pants with the solid white home jersey. I came across a box with some yearbooks when I moved and I only had ’83 and no such photo existed.

    J-Wol, maybe you’ll come across that if you extend your research in the 80s, if so, please let me know.

    Phil, what a missed opportunity not running my Pirates’ uni-tracking today!!! (You know I’m only teasing you!)

    I’m back outside to finish the yardwork, catch up with the comments later, everyone have a great 4th and belated Canada Day wishes to all my friends to the north.

    A lot of yearbook photos were/are? shot in spring training.
    Might that explain it, maybe?

    Because as you know, kek, once the tri-color pins were jettisoned, the Pirates stuck to the plain white over white at home.

    —Ricko

    I’m 90% positive the shot I saw was taken at Three Rivers, I recall this because I knew at the time the Topps baseball cards were pretty much taken in spring training.

    Always felt it was a mistake to jettison the gold pins after just three years, but in 1980, the Bucs did just that. It wasn’t the first or last time a team had a good uniform idea and didn’t stick with it. I don’t recall the unfortunate choice of a white jersey/black pant combo in the regular season, maybe it was for only one game, or used just in spring training.

    No they DID. It was sometime in the early 80’s. I cannot remember the exact year (I’m thinking 1982), but the Bucs ran a promotion called “Black & Gold Days”. It was late in the season (I’m thinking September). Since I couldn’t get their games on TV (and they were at home anyway, when the Bucs still didn’t TV home games), I did get them on the radio (WFBG-FM in Altoona carried their signal quite far east in the day) and Lanny Frattare described that they wearing the white tops with the black pants or the gold pants.

    But I am definitely thinking the year was 1982 or 1983. So guys, please check me out and prove this “white whale” has some Bucco black & gold in it!!

    In September of 1980, they started mixing and matching at home instead of wearing all-white.

    “The players wanted to do it, so I figured ‘Why not?'” explained equipment manager John Hallahan.

    just got the following e-mail from jerry reuss:

    Happy Holiday, Phil,

    While reading this morning’s posts, I remembered a photo that I hadn’t seen in years. It was in a plastic storage tub in the bottom of a shelf full of memories. This photo is of me pitching in Wrigley Field (that’s Stargell obscured in the background) during either 1977-1978.

    Using retrosheet, I deduced that the picture was from 5/29/77 or 8/7/78 as I pitched there twice in 1977 and 3 times in 1978. Willie and I appeared in the same lineup at the same time only on the dates I previously mentioned.

    Note the pinstripes and the gold hat/sleeves/stirrup combination. Following the blogs over the last few months, there was some question as to whether or not this combination was used in a game. I guess this is proof. Also, I’m not certain if the Cubs wore blue tops during those years, so, there’s a possibility that this was a “pins vs. pins” game.

    Anyway, I hope this answers more questions than it creates. Thanks for the heads-up on today’s discussion! Feel free to post this e-mail and photo.

    My best to all readers for a safe and joyous holiday!

    Jerry

    awesome! thanks, jerry

    wow, didn’t know that Jerry Reuss was such uni-nerd like the rest of us. That’s awesome! Phil, are there any other former/current pro athletes that are part of the uni-watch community?

    I was stumped too by Germany wearing the black shorts this morning- they clash with Argentina’s shorts and they don’t match the shirts.

    Man, that’s just awesome. Thanks, Jerry. Until UniWatch, I had never seen the Pirates in that combination shown in your picture. There was a similiar picture of Jerry in that same uniform on this site a few weeks back. Maybe it was the game.

    My next question is this: Who decided what uniform the Pirates wore? They had nine combos and why wear an all-white uniform on the road when you had eight other combos to choose from?

    That’s a good question about who choose what to wear, I would prefer the pinstripes at home only. That said, because the gold pins were larger than regular pinstripes, there was at least a difference. Miscommunication must have been the primary reason the Bucs wore all gold pins on the road. My guess is the Bucs thought the home teams were not wearing their usual uniforms for those games for some reason.

    OK, the Pirates, if we count cap, jersey, undersleeves, pants and stirrups, in 1977 could have worn not 9, but up to 72 different combinations.

    Or could they have worn 81 different combos??? (my math ain’t the best)

    I am trying to recall, but I am sure I went to a Bucs-Phils DH (Labor Day??) where for game one the Pirates wore the all-pins with black caps, undersleeves and socks. For the nightcap, they kept the cap and tops and pants, but changed the undersleeves and stirrups to yellow.

    Technically, a different combo.

    That’s a lot of yellow! I love it.

    Thanks, Jerry. Never saw that combo before, either.

    And great stuff today, Phil and Chris!

    Interesting fact about Jerry Reuss, he finished up his career as a Pirate in ’90 or ’91. Reuss was a quality pitcher on those NL East Championship teams of the mid 70s.

    I think the fact those underrated gold pins were only in existence only three years, and worn infrequently, have caused them to be lumped together with a few of the subpar Pirate multicolored choices from that era. Never liked the concept of breaking up the gold pins, or the all yellow uniform. If the Pirates did bring back those gold pins, I think fans would accept them. Maybe not for everyone, but who cares?

    yeah…a few fans might

    they were *good* only in that they were unique…but they looked more like something you’d see in the KBO

    i know ricko is fond of labeling teams “pinstriped” or “plain” — i don’t necessarily agree with this, but in pittsburgh’s case…i’d have to agree…the pirates were definitely NOT a pinstriped team…and those outfits were just garish

    that being said, when worn as an actual uniform, not a mix and match, and with the gold accoutrements (as in jerry’s pic), they were ok

    when mixed & matched, it was awful

    imho, the bucs best uni (wool/cotton/flannel era) was this vested beauty, and their best (and very unique) poly doubleknit uni was the mustard & black ensemble immediately between the vests and the bumblebees

    Time to cover the Prefontaine Classic. About the only drama is whether Andrew Wheating is going to wear an Oregon singlet or not.

    Also, I included an interesting nugget in my brief last night that was (high school track) uniform-related:

    link

    greetings all… living in northern NJ in May ’96 I clearly remember the saturday afternoon game where the Yanks wore the Negro-league throwbacks!! In that days NY Post in the “yankees notes” it was mentioned that this was the first time since the early 1930’s that the yankees were not wearing their ‘traditional’ uniforms.. I was also in the habit, back then, of listening to the Yankee broadcasts where Michael Kay always spent a good 35 seconds describing both teams uniforms of the day… I PURPOSELY waited to hear him describe the Yanks in the throwbacks… and he did not disappoint!!! I suppose my quest now is to find photographic evidence from the game!!

    nybatt

    I’ve noticed that the Yankees/Jays are the only 2 teams that have not worn the ‘stars and stripes’ caps last night and today… all other teams wore the caps last night and the cubs/reds are wearing them again this afternoon.

    I’m guessing this is an example of the Yankees wearing the caps only when they are ‘required’ to… tomorrow.

    no complaints here!! I am not a fan of the caps being worn any time on the field… sell them in the concession stands for fans only.

    I still believe the flag patch on the side of the left side of the caps were just the right touch… but needed to be sewn in, not glued!

    nybatt

    Ditto, almost 100%.
    The little flag patches threw off the symmetry. Meanwhile, I happen to like the star-spangled Dior logo on the back of the cap. Put that on the normal cap, and it would be perfect. But that’s probably too subtle for MLB’s “look at me” nature. Fine, I’ll settle for the SEWN-IN flag patches.

    The Yankees should wear their top hat logo (as some of their minor league teams do) in place of the interlocking NY. The stars and stripes are already incorporated into the logo.

    So does the O’s and Red Sox the last two nights.

    Maybe they didn’t get the memo for This Bud’s Not For You Selig.

    Nah, that’s Denver. Didn’t know what it was either, until Denver Gregg posted back on comment number…where are the numbers? I’m so confused.

    finally got to the post…

    trax~
    i love that shot on the bar. i didn’t think you could make a stocked bar look even better. we could permanently embed those in resign on the bar top, i am just sayin’. also, i got your package yesterday, and i looove that book you put in there.

    Shallac (sp?) the rups in the bar top? That indeed is a great idea. Not the one I’ve been waffling on but definately worth consideration. Full basement project is 75% done, someday I’ll get it finished.

    That book came with an arch. firm we bought last year. Just been sitting on the shelf. Looked like something you’d appreciate.

    Paraguay/Spain underway. Was going to say it’s a guaranteed Top Fiver, but with six games left, it definitely is guaranteed.

    Love the all navy with red and yellow trim for Spain. If they wore white pants and navy socks, and if Paraguay wore the royal blue shorts instead of white, this surely would have been #1.

    For anyone still watching the game, John Harkes is completely useless as a commentator.

    The pic showing the Black Yankees jersey is from Bill Henderson’s guide.

    Fun uniform fact from the World Cup:
    Upon looking back, I realized that as soon as the Round of 16 played out, the knockout bracket serendipitously comprised of “the adidas side” and “the not adidas side.” Furthermore, the “not adidas side” had a Nike quadrant and a Puma quadrant at the conclusion of the Round of 16.
    The odds were stacked for that outcome right after group play though: Slovakia, England, and Portugal bucked the trends by being on the “wrong” side of the bracket.

    Nats are wearing their Blue tops, with white pants and the White crown/blue bill stars and stripes cap. They need to make this a standard uni combo! Maybe even the white crown/red bill cap with their Red tops and white pants, too.

    I’d add Soldier Field to that list, but apparently a lot of people didn’t like the way it used to be. Personally I miss seeing the pillars & the much lower ticket prices. I hear some parking spots are over $100 now. Ridiculous.

    I would’ve loved to have seen a new and improved Kingdome; i.e. retractable cement dome, bathrooms free of the piss troth, organics etc… ;o/

    Fantastic aerial pic. Mickel.

    Great UW posting for a Saturday!

    Regarding the Broncos Great White Whale question -Somewhere, somehow, we have to be able to get ahold of a player, a broadcaster, a statasticvian, or even a season ticket holder that was around for that era and saw the helmet with their own eyes. I’m not from Denver, but maybe someone from that area or with connections there can help.

    Saints Tweeks – Adding the Silver makes me want to say _ GO BUFFALOS! That’s what the Univ. of Colorado SHOULD look like. Please, let’s save Black Saints helmets for paper theorizing, but not on the field. The Louisiana Superdome’s lighting is for SH%T and they would look horrible. When Tulane abandoned White helmets for Dark Green, the same thing happened. Saints Black helmets – and I have a couple, one on my mantle, look great in your room and horrible on the field.

    Gotta dig the CFL Blue Bombers alternate Old Gold jerseys, particularly when set with an Old Gold helmet and WHITE PANTS – the way God surely meant it to be. The sparse trim on the numerals and logo add a real “throwback” cred to the iuni – whether or not the uni is truly a throwback or not.

    Regarding the Pnstripe vs. Pinstripe games, I believve that looking at the final game on the above list – the 9/10/78 New York (Photo from Dan C.) – that game actually looks like the Priates vs. the Atlanta Braves. Anybody else agree?

    Trax, pink stirrups? And an ID card with the number 17? Pure awesomeness. If you don’t mind me asking sir, where did all those stirups come from? RPM?

    Pink? I don’t have the pink ones, tho rpm did offer a nice elvis version – or was it mother’s day. All I can say is this site can set you up. link

    Traxel,
    Oh man, my colors are off. Those are red right? Regardless, love seeign all those stirrups on the bar. Beautiful.

    On a relatd, yet somewhat different, note sure wish I had seen those Mother’s Day stirrups when they were offered. Definitely my style. Kudos to you rpm.

    I don’t think it’s your colors. The reds all look pink to me as well in that pic (especially the Salmon Bellies and the 10¢ beer night ones).

    Someone tell Ben Traxel the next time he can root for a ‘Team USA’ is the Futures Game at the All-Star break.

    These Stars and Stripes hats are pretty hit and miss. Some of them look borderline amazing, like the Tigers white and blue and the Cardinals white and red. Although, some do look awful.

    they were *good* only in that they were unique…but they looked more like something you’d see in the KBO

    That is just…um…wow. Bright colors, pins, I’ve got to take a closer look at the KBO cuz I’d definately wear that. (sorry for stealing the line, Vilker)

    You can borrow it, as long as I can say it too. I really dug that orange pinstripe uni.

    A couple of people have commented on the uniforms that the Winnipeg Blue Bombers wore last night – while it’s an interesting look – unfortunately I think it still misses the mark. To really make the uni work , I think the fabric has to more authentic – which is probably unrealistic to expect (jersey today have to breathe – especially at last night’s game when it was hot and humid).

    Saying that, for some reason – I always find the USC Trojans uni – has an old school fabric look – although I’m probably just imagining it.

    To Jerry Reuss’ question: no, the Cubs didn’t wear blue jerseys in the 70s.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    concealed78: Just wondering, do you actually remember what the inside of Soldier Field was like before the redesign? About the only thing that was good about it was that you could see the colonnades.
    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    My white whale: In 1977 or so, I saw about 5 minutes of a Cubs game on TV. I thought they were playing in Los Angeles and the Dodgers were wearing red caps.

    This was before I really knew much about what teams wore what colors so it didn’t seem weird to me. I remember talking to my dad a while later (a few weeks? months? Dunno.) about it. He basically told me that I was insane and the game was probably played in St. Louis.

    not sure if it’s been mentioned on here, i don’t recall that it has, but the umpires are also wearing stars and stripes caps when the teams do. the Angels and Royals wore the S&S caps in their games tonight, and i noticed the umpires with the special caps for the first time.

    White Whale: I touched on the pillboxes a week or two ago, and this link is the only picture I’ve seen of the Cardinals wearing the 1976 stripes on the helmet. Did it really happen in a game? Are there any other pictures?

    And just how many teams wore the pillbox hats? link

    Did the expos do it? Paul asked about this a couple of years ago. link

    When I linked to a several of them on the Hunt Auctions website they were priced REALLY high, making me believe they were actually used for something. There was a Phillies, a White Sox, and a Yankees. link
    link
    link

    Any more info on the pillboxes would be grand.

    My recollection is that teams like the Cards, Phillies, and Mets very rarely wore pillbox hats in 1976. All those other pillbox hats you see, from the Yanks to Expos to Chisox, were produced just for merchandise purposes, and not worn in a game. Only the Pirates made the pillbox hats a full time style, which they kept through the 1985 season.

    Every NL team at one point during the 1976 season wore the pillbox caps. I remember the Phils wore them twice in that season and lost both times. Yes, Les Expos wore them in September in their last games in Parc Jarry.

    It would be interesting photos of those other teams with the pillbox hats, it sounds like it was very rare event. The sight of the Astros in those hats while wearing their sunrise uniforms must have been crazy. Any Houston fans recall this?

    I loved those pillbox caps and wore a navy blue White Sox pillbox cap (purchased at Angels Stadium) on the softball field for many years. I really liked the way this style linked to an early 20th century look.

    The Phillies wore theirs for their home opener and lost a heartbreaker to the Pirates. Philadelphia had apparently nailed a Pittsburgh runner at the plate to end the game but catcher Johnny Oates (who’d won the job that spring from Bob Boone) dropped the ball — understandably as it turned ut because Oates sustained a significant injury in the collision and was out for quite a while, giving Boone the job back. The Phillies’ wonderful announcer Harry Kalas committed a cardinal sin on the radio coverage, declaring the runner out and the game over before realizing Oates had dropped the ball.

    And I clearly remember the Expos wearing their white pillbox hats in that September game in which the visiting Phils won the game and clinched the NL East crown for their first post-season appearance in 26 years. A very big deal for those of us watching the Philadelphia telecast (I was living in Dover, Del. at the time). I’m thinking it was game one of a double-header, with the Expos reverting to their regular hats in game two. I thought the Expos looked very good with their white pillbox caps and blue bills, much better to my eye than the usual Expos caps of that time, which struck me and my brothers as looking like half a beach ball.

    It would be a good idea if UniWatch devoted an entire column
    to the 1976 pillbox season, there’s certainly enough material. I recall this site tackling the ’76 all star game pilbox hats, which were worn in some pregame activities.

    Being a Pirates fan, I have a 1976 yearbook packed away somewhere which has some interesting photos from spring training of that season. Those hats did not have any of the striping we now associate with those hats, so a decision must have been made shortly before the ’76 season to correctly add them. I wonder if any other NL team yearbooks had the same issue, it seems either the hat company or someone else pulled the trigger on that good decision to add the stripes. In ’76, the Bucs pillbox hats were mustard in color, just like the 1970-75 regular hats. Then in ’77, the team decided to go with the two black and yellow versions we think of today.

    I think that pillbox White Sox cap would have looked great with their collared uniforms. That would have made that uniform perfect.

    I have never seen a picture of the Reds wearing a pillbox hat other than the white ones at the ASG. I would like to see if they, in fact, actually did wear one.

    I guess the spam filter blocked my post with 4 pics of Lou Brock wearing the striped batting helmet.

    Here’s one: link And then another: link

    On the bases: link There’s a few more of them.

    Here’s one where he’s completely missing any decals: link

    One with the alternate swinging Cardinal logo on the helmet: link

    Watching a replay of the Argos and Stampeders on ESPN3. My two favorite CFL teams are the Ti-Cats and Stamps, but they have the worst unis right now. Yep, even worse than the Alouettes. The black stripes on the Stamps’ jerseys just really bug me.

    Until I can get my crayons out, someone please tweak the CFL unis.

    Think I’ll switch over to Aussie Rules football before bedtime.

    Now watching Sydney vs. Richmond in Aussie Rules. Paul may not like the jerseys, but he’d love the socks. Sydney has red and white striped socks and Richmond has black and gold striped socks.

    Never understood the game as a kid, but I’m starting to get it now. Great stuff.

    Interesting to see the card with Gene Tenace and George Hendrick from the ’72 WS. George isn’t wearing his pants all the way to his ankles.

    If anyone is pursing the “white elephant” of the 1970s Rangers wearing light blue tops and white pants, I may have a bit of a clue. I have a clear recollection of them wearing that combination in an early-season game that was the NBC Saturday game of the week. There was a pre-game ceremony of some sort, maybe commemorating what could have been the Rangers’ first appearance on the Game of the Week, and it really struck me that they were doing something unusual, combining their new road tops with their home pants. This must have been 1975, because I clearly remember there being a blue outline to the “Texas” on the jersey and it looks on “Dressed to the Nines” like Texas only had that outline in ’75.

    All these comments and no one has pointed out that the Pirates’ 1970s uniforms were not PINstripes? They had stripes, but pinstripes are thin, and the stripes on the Pirates uniforms are wide and bold. Because they had no true home and road uniform, anything was fair game with their combinations, home or road.

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