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Nights in White Satin

white satin hed

By Phil Hecken

Anyone who reads Uni Watch has undoubtedly had the occasion to check out “Dressed To The Nines,” which is basically the Hall of Fame’s graphic representations of Marc Okkonen’s seminal Baseball Uniforms of the 20th Century. Contained within the thousands of images is one that has always intrigued me: the 1936 Cincinnati Reds. You’ll notice in the graphic that one of the uniforms depicted is a Reds player wearing red pants. WHA?

Why the one year wonder? (In no other year, with the exception of the “mix and match” Bumblebee Pirates and the throwbacking White Sox, did a team wear only dark colored pants with a light top). I’d often been curious as to what made the 1936 Reds do something so seemingly revolutionary.

It turns out, the pants were developed as a function of nighttime baseball. In fact, they weren’t made of wool flannel or cotton, but satin. In Okkonen’s book, he explains:

The Cincinnati Reds introduced night baseball in 1935 and in the following year they commissioned the Goldsmith Company to produce a special uniform for occasional game use in 1936 and 1937. It is not clear what inspired this so-called “Palm Beach” version (possibly, it was the advent of baseball under the arc lights) but it presented some interesting departures from long standing Reds’ uniform tradition. In place of the standard C-REDS logo, the name REDS appeared in the now-fashionable red script lettering on the left breast. And the real shocker was the combination of white jersey and BRIGHT RED pants, which was only one version of the new Palm Beach ensemble.

Unfortunately, I don’t know if any of those 1936 uniforms are still in existence, but they surely would have looked striking, even today. One can only imagine how well they looked under the lights. Here’s what a reproduction of the jersey looked like.

While the Reds nighttime uniform preference was original to be sure, it was actually far from the only one. In fact, the Braves, Dodgers and Cardinals all wore satin uniforms (sparingly) for some night baseball.

I’m not exactly certain of the year, but the Cardinals sported this jersey (and I believe, the matching pants as well) in 1941. Okkonen’s graphic seems to indicate this.

The Boston Braves wore their satin uniform in 1948 (according to Okkonen — I’m not entirely certain this is correct). Like the Cardinals, the Braves satin uniforms didn’t drastically differ from their regular uniforms, with the exception of the broad red stripes and a red belt chamber (Okkonen mistakenly places them with a regular belt). I’m not real certain who manufactured their regular uniforms (Terry Proctor? Little help?), but the satin ones were manufactured by Horace Partridge, a local manufacturer.

The reason I am not certain whether Okkonen is correct is because I discovered this photograph online, which indicates the jersey was worn in 1946. It is quite possible the uniform was worn in multiple years, however.

Okkonen never specified (to my knowledge) the exact years worn, but one can surmise from his sketches when he believed they were. He continues about the satin uniforms:

The increasing popularity of night baseball also inspired an unusual “night-games only” shiny satin material on the game uniforms. The idea was that this more reflective material would add considerably to the viewing pleasure of baseball under the lights. Several National League clubs participated in this practice during the 1940’s ”” most notably, the Brooklyn Dodgers, whose road version of the night satins was bright powder blue with BROOKLYN displayed across the chest in white script.

Most of us are aware of the Dodgers wearing blue satin uniforms for a few night games in 1944. I believe they may have worn them in 1945 as well. Probably the most well known of the satin uniforms, we are most familiar with the baby blue look. However, I have reason to believe they may have had two different sets of blue satin, as clearly this uniform worn by Leo Durocher was a much more royal blue than the baby blue pictured above. For their Ebbets field games, the Dodgers also had a white satin uniform. In this black and white photo grabbed from the Life archives, I would bet this was from the “official unveiling” of the satin uniforms. Notice at the time the Dodgers were still wearing the McCuliffe font.

Additional proof that there were likely two distinct and different uniforms and in different shades of blue, comes from this photograph. Unfortunately, I did not note from where I grabbed that, but I believe it may have come from Lelands.

Whether it was a fad, or whether the uniforms proved too hot/uncomfortable, or not durable or whatever, or whether stadia lights just grew powerful enough over time, the satin uniform never took hold. It really would be another almost 30 years before baseball uniforms moved from the traditional decades-old materials to the polyester doubleknits and later other synthetics and blends, but the satin uniform is really somewhat of an unknown chapter in uniform history. If any of you good readers knows more, please feel free to elaborate in the comments.

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exclamation

Attention! Paul’s College Football Uniform Review…

… the one we all eagerly await, is running on ESPN right now!

Go ahead and Check It Out. It’s HUGE! (Important note from Paul: Although that link will automatically open in a new tab or window, you’ll be better off if you use your browser’s command to make it open in a new tab or window. Yes, that seems redundant, and it’s not worth explaining why it’s necessary, but it is — trust me.)

Take a while to peruse that, then come on back here and discuss it in the UW comments below.

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mlb uni winner

Best Home MLB Uni Results

And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for…

OK, not really, but the results of the “Best Home MLB Uni” poll are in. And now, to take us through it, is UW Pollster James Huening. Here’s Jimbo:

~~~

The Lions didn’t stand a chance. The Red Wings came close. Could the Tigers possibly make Detroit proud and take top honors in a “best uni” poll?

Indeed they did. And it really wasn’t even close. They collected nearly 150 more votes than their closest competitors, the Cardinals. The Yankees finished a distant third. Rounding out the list of also-rans (in order) are: the Giants, Dodgers, Braves, Red Sox, Cubs and A’s.

Interesting. First place in all the best uni polls has gone exclusively to midwestern teams so far. Top honors in the NFL home and road surveys went to the Bears and Packers, respectively. The Blackhawks won the NHL road (but should be home) and alternate uniform surveys. OK, actually it was the Oilers who won the thirds contest, but whatever. I meant teams based in this country. Or something.

Here are the final poll results.

~~~

Thanks, James. And thanks to all who participated.

Tomorrow, we’ll be back with the poll you’re all really waiting for — the “Design-A-Baseball-Jersey” poll. Alain has made his final decisions. And it will be up to you to decide whose design is best. Make sure you check back in for that one.

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largent rookie card

Collector’s Corner

by Brinke Guthrie

Football season is here, so we’re all NFL this time. There’s a lot of NFL stuff I’ve never seen before on eBay, too.

Mini-NFL highlights album — narrated by non other than Curt Gowdy. If you don’t know who Curt Gowdy is, you’re too young.

Here’s a nice NFL mug — it says “NFL Properties” in the heading but I don’t see any particular designation as such.

• These look terrific — a big collection of NFL cardboard helmets from the 70’s. They remind me of the old Brookshier-Summeral highlights show.

• Great 60’s Saints bobblehead here.

• A 60’s NFL promo transistor radio — This was part of a Chiquita promotion. I was going to bid on this but found out it didn’t work.

• Got $400? If you do, this entire box of 1973 NFL cloth patches belongs to you.

• This auction is for a Vikings “1973 NFL Champions” team photo. That would be news to Dolphins fans.

• A family of four could easily fit behind Steve Largent’s facemask; something Ricky Bell is missing in this shot.

• Just wanted to include this so I could mention “Otis Sistrunk” on Uni Watch.

• This is interesting- looks like a complete set of stickers that go on a Bengals helmet (minus the stripes.)

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vilk 5 & 1 flat 2

5 & 1

He’s baaaaaack. That’s right, after a whole summer hiatus (ok, not including the World Cup), Jim Vilk is here to regale us with his top 5 best, and one worst, uniforms for the college football season. OK, so the real football hasn’t started yet, so Jim will give the rundown on Div II schools, who have already begun play. Here’s Jim:

~~~

5. Bemidji State at Minot: B! E! A! V! E! R! S! Beavers! Beavers! Beavers!

4. Minnseota State-Moorhead at Missouri Southern: Nice Dragons helmet, but Southern has the nicer jersey.

3. Washburn at Colorado Mines: Ichabods (love that name) in white tackled blue monochrome and won.

2. Shepherd at Shippenburg: Lotsa blue pants, but fantastic above the waist.

1. Wingate at West Georgia: West Georgia’s wonderful stripes and colors atone for losing the game.

And the non-winner: Central Missouri at Southwest Baptist: If that pic isn’t bad enough, wait until you see what Central looks like from the back.

~~~

You’re already in mid-season form, Jim. Thanks for sharing.

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ticker 2

First up today is Jamie Kilgore with “one of the ugliest things I have ever seen… A ‘Realtree’ camo Tennessee Titans jersey. Why do they make this stuff?” … Chris Cruz notes a new Champions League font, “I’m not sure this applies to all teams, but Chelsea has changed the font it uses for names and numbers for the unis they will wear for Champions League matches. The old version had the Adidas-ized three stripes font. The new font has block letters with a drop shadow and the Chelsea lion.” … Couple things from Sam Cat: 1) Sam saw this jersey weirdness from the Rockies when they were in Milwaukee. He knows different names are going to require different spacing and arching, but it was just striking to see two extremely different nameplate approaches right next to each other in the dugout. 2) on the subject of female mascots, the Lowell Spinners have a whole stable of mascots. The three main ones are on the team website: the Canaligator, his wife Allie-Gator, and their daughter Millie-Gator. In addition to all that, they also have the Instigator, apparently the ‘evil twin’ of the Canaligator. He wears a Yankees jersey. There’s also this weird little video about the Canaligator exploring free agency, much to the horror of his wife. … Hugh McBride found this article on the family of a HS football player who suffered a brain injury during a game last year is suing Riddell for producing a helmet w/ “dangerous and known defective design.” … Couple gator items from Mike Jaworski: University of Florida does have a female mascot to go along with the main male one. They are Albert and Alberta. They even have their own statues too. And secondly, here is a link to various crowd shots from a 1973 Florida at Auburn football game. There are a few team and cheerleader ones too, but the highlight (lowlight) for Michael is the very primitive Florida Gator mascot costume. … Nathan Eten says they have a pretty good duo of M/F mascots in Northern Kentucky for their Frontier League team, the Florence Freedom: Liberty and Belle. Belle has a skit in-between innings where she hits on an umpire. … Ryan Connelly asks, “the steelers advertising patches match the color of their jerseys… are they the only team in the league that does this?” … Mathew Robbins has pics of the new Northwestern Unis. (also sent in via this link by Casey Common) … Jon Alvani notes the last graf of this link: “How about a redesign? I am hearing that the Utes will get a new look when they enter the PAC-10, 11, or 12 next football season.” … Not sports related but logo related, says Steve Johnston, here’s the scoop on United & Continental’s merger … FSU lets it ride: BJ Lanier says “I guess not all colleges are super anal about their brand, ala Wisconsin. Funny thing is that Southeast High has blue and orange as their colors (Gator shades to a T!) and FSU still says it’s cool.” … OK on the gridiron, but not the pitch: The Newport (N.H.) High’s girls soccer team had two players in No. 25 jerseys at a tournament the other morning. So they solved the problem. Not gracefully, but solved nonetheless (thanks to Tris Wykes). … Beautiful grab from Larry Bodnovich: 1972 or so Miami Huricanes borrowing Miami Dolphins jackets. … Are the leaked Va Tech unis the real deal? Dylan Glickman offers more “proof”. Guess we’ll know for sure on Wednesday. … Michael Orr offers his Premier League Kits Weekly update. … Color vs. color AND possible helmet theft in one shot? Yup. Chris Mycoskie notes the color on color matchup between Arlington Lamar (navy) and South Grand Prairie (gold) in opening week of Texas high school football. I’ll be curious to see when the collegiate licensing folks come for SGP like they’ve done with so many other high schools, as they’re another team stealing Florida State’s helmet logo. … Evan Schreiber points out the New Pac-10 Patch. “Personally, not a fan of it because white is not an official USC color. Could have easily kept the colors just cardinal and gold,” says Evan. … Joe Schmidt sends along something that’s neither new nor earthbreaking — but is always appreciated: A picture of Rajai Davis wearing some nice logo stirrups. … Mike Vamosi was reading the college football preview at Omaha.com it appears the Nebraska Cornhuskers have moved their Adidas logo to the center of the jersey which he believes the company has done for Michigan. Mike Vamosi also notes that the Omaha Royals are moving to a new stadium next season and are doing this, naturally. … Randy Miller snapped a pic of USF’s new soccer kit. Says Randy, “From the front, it looks great…not sure why the stripe motif does not continue.” … Chris Hernandez who notes the Hudson Valley Renegades (single- A short season for TB) have a female mascot, Rene. Also shes “married” to the other mascot, Rookie. To boot, they have a kid, Rascal. they got married before a game at Dutchess Stadium in 1997, and “renewed their vows” at a game this summer. Here’s the whole family. … Dan Kaempff was the first to note Joe Jackson’s jersey is a fake, kind of like the 1919 World Series results. … More grabs from Larry B: Miami Hurrucanes wearing Giants jackets in 1962 game at Yankee Stadium in 1962; says Larry, “I assume it is a NY Giants jacket. I found other pictures of the Canes vs Huskers from the Gotham Bowl in 1962. Wonder when the Canes started to buy there own cold weather jackets?” … About 100 readers pointed out the Nyjer Morgan incident over the weekend. The important part is found in the ninth paragraph: “There were one or two guys in Section 148 that were riding him pretty hard for a couple of innings,” the fan said. “Mostly they seemed to be heckling him about the way he wore his uniform. He was the only player on the field who was wearing his [uniform] old-style with the full stockings. They were screaming at him about looking like a jockey. … Stuff like that.” Also reported in the Philly media. … Probably not new news, but here’s a look at the new Warriors home jersey (thanks to Zachary Charles). … Got an email over the weekend from No Mas, who, amongst other gear, are offering an I’m Calling It Giants Stadium tee. Sweet. … Ben Traxel thought it might be fun to look at President Obama playing Casey — “There is no joy in Congress, Obama has struck out.”

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I want to apologize to a couple of readers whose ticker submissions didn’t make it in — for some reason, I was having major problems with the ticker — pictures were showing up in the wrong links for no apparent reason. I’ll try to add those who didn’t make it in today to tomorrow’s ticker.

Don’t forget to check out Paul’s ESPN College Football Review which is running here (but use your browser command to make it open in a new window).

I’ll be back for one more day tomorrow, then I’ll GLADLY hand the reigns back over to our fearless leader. Thanks for letting me be a part of your UW experience for the past month. Till tomorrow…

~~~

The Skins could keep their name, adopt Chief Wahoo as their mascot, hire Michael Vick and a defensive line of spouse-abusing Klansmen, and I’d still root for them if and only if they wore that helmet design. — R.S. Rogers

 
  
 
Comments (162)

    Why would the Omaha Royals try to change their name again next season when the fan reaction the last time they did it was so negative?

    Those camouflage NFL jerseys are beyond stupid. They’re ugly enough by design anyway, but then they don’t even bother using the proper number fonts. Pathetic.

    from today’s Philadelphia Inquirer

    Not to go jumping to any conclusions here, but the San Diego Padres, one of the league’s better-fielding teams, committed four errors against the Phillies on Sunday. The Padres were wearing their camouflage salute-to-the-military jerseys. Apparently the camouflage works, inasmuch as the players appeared unable to locate one another with thrown baseballs.

    The only person saying the ’73 Vikings were NFL champions is the seller (and whoever wrote ‘NFL Champions’ in pencil on the photo, presumably the same person).

    Looking at the enlarged picture and zooming in on that part, it looks to me like it could say NFC, not NFL.

    Here it is zoomed in 4x.

    link

    It’s fuzzy as heck though, so I can’t say for sure if that’s a faded pencil line or a jpeg artifact.

    The seller is a moron either way.

    Must have confused the ’73 team with the 1970 team, which won the NFL Championship but lost the Super Bowl.

    Second (and final) time in history that the NFL Champion was not also the World Champion.

    Indeed. It’s often overlooked that the first four” Super Bowls” (before the merger and regular-season combined play) were split…and that the Packers are, in fact, the only NFL team ever to beat an AFL team in the “Super Bowl”, winning the first two. The Jets and Chiefs then won the next two, evening the true NFL-AFL series, forever, at 2-2.

    (Quotes are because wasn’t officially called the “Super Bowl” under the Jets-Colts game).

    —Ricko

    NFL champions in 1983, ’84 and ’85 weren’t world champions, either. At least that’s what this USFL fan says…

    That Rox NOB thing is mostly an illusion. Iannetta’s name isn’t as flat as it looks; you can see how the outer letters cross the pinstripes compared to the middle letters that the jersey is just distorted in the middle by the way he’s bunched his shoulders. Basically, long as it is, Iannetta fits between the shoulders (with some hard kerning), so it’s given the normal treatment. Spilborghs doesn’t fit between the shoulders, so it’s given the full rainbow.

    Excellent job on today’s lead article, Phil. This is exactly the kind of interesting, informative material that attracted me to this site in the first place. I knew next to nothing about these satin baseball uniforms until very recently, so it’s great to learn even more. Makes me wish I could’ve seen these unis in action under the lights!

    Kick-ass job all month long, by the way. If you ever make it to Pittsburgh, the first Iron City’s on me (the next 10 are on Connelly).

    If Phil’s gonna take the trouble to come to Pittsburgh, can’t you buy him something good?

    Went to the Lowell Spinners game yesterday (where I saw the Canalligator, his wife, and their daughter). And the backup catcher warming up a relief pitcher (who wore #6 on his jersey) was wearing this odd (to me) helmet

    link

    I was gonna crack a joke about being Lance Armstrong’s personal catcher, but actually a catcher wearing a bicycle helmet kind of fits with a team named the Spinners.

    I hadn’t heard of “Horace Partridge Athletic Goods” before, but the numeral font on the back of Los Bravos’ satin shirt is in Liebes Full Block Pro-style that has been used by Rawlings forever. Therefore the Braves’ satins are probably a Rawlings manufacture with private labeling for Partridge.
    Partridge probably outfitted the Braves’ regular flannels as well. Sometimes teams would use Rawlings for one set of uniforms and Wilson or MacGregor for the other. In the old days the teams bought their own uniforms and went with the best price. There was no Majestic or Nike or Reetard to call on when you needed unis.

    On that “McCullife font,” the correct spelling is “McAuliffe” who supplied the Red Sox’ uniforms for many years, as well as the Athletics and Angels for a time. Although Tim McAuliffe baseball uniforms were actually made by Stall and Dean of Brockton, Mass. and private-labeled for McAuliffe.

    Given the obvious less-than-cordial feelings between the Red Sox and Braves it’s not surprising that each team would use a different uniform supplier.

    In the old days the teams bought their own uniforms and went with the best price.

    wait…what?

    thanks for the mcauliffe correction — didn’t look right, and at midnight last night, i was too tired to use mr. google…mea culpa

    thanks also for the uni info — you’re the best!

    Forgot to e-mail Paul after finding out that Louisiana Tech University will be wearing their red jerseys this year against Southern Miss on September 25th.

    Also, Thank you, Paul, for pointing out how low-level the ULM chickenhawks are. Those chicken feet decals are the worst!

    For those of you that read his College Football Uniform preview, he forgot to mention Louisville’s new look. This is taken from NCAA11, and doesnt have the new helmet but you can see theres new stripes on the shoulder and on the pants. Look here: link

    Yeah, squigglies going from nowhere to nowhere are far superior to stripes that actually have something to do with the construction of the garment.

    Looks like someone pulled a party favor and one streamer came out.
    In other words, a dud.

    —Ricko

    no, it is…to be honest, I feel that as good and improved Phil’s writing has become, it stills feels a tad loose and I really haven’t been too interested since Paul’s sabbatical.

    Not a fan of “mock-ups”; and alot of the information seems quite redundant (I am daily reader, so that may be the case).

    *also: Feels much less informative with “collector’s corner”/ 5 & 1 / all the sub-blogs within the bog…feels like a junk drawer of information.

    …I miss Paul…

    you know what? i do too…i think we all do

    sorry you haven’t appreciated my offerings for the month

    No, I do appreciate what you write…hence the “good and improved” comment…it’s a different flavor that I tried and isn’t for me…that’s all. Not a knock on you, or your articles…

    Phil, I think you just got the “It isn’t you, it’s me” line…

    That’s OK, you can’t please everyone, but you pleased a lot of other people. Thanks for filling in for Paul.

    Yeah, Phil… your work (and Kek’s and whoever else I’m forgetting) has been very much appreciated and a dang good read to boot. It’s not easy to come up with topics to write about on a daily basis, let alone fresh topics. As a daily reader, it’s mighty nice to find the store open no matter who’s minding it.

    No need to apologize. I don’t think of you as a fill-in, just an alternative perspective. As much as I like Paul, it’s not a bad thing to get a different voice now and then. You bring a lot of content and great commentary, and I thoroughly enjoyed the job you did this month. Lord knows most of us couldn’t do this for one day, let alone a whole month.

    Well said Mike & Dave. Now, how do I say I also miss Phil on the weekends without dissin’ Ek? Not that John’s done a bad job by any means. Simply, love perusing through the chock-full of weekend content whilst sippin’ the morning brew.

    No worries. I usually do my one-to-three paragraphs posts the morning I put it up (it’s generally the only time I can do it). Those small posts usually take me about 1-2 hours of fact-checking, research, digging up photos (always time-consuming when you’re trying to find something very specific), editing them, uploading them, writing the post with html markup, then finally checking it all over before posting. It *seems* like it should be much easier than that, but it takes a long time.

    What Paul and Phil do is nothing short of a full time job. The few times I’ve posted full articles (Ryder Cup Preview, Daytona 500 preview, etc.), it’s taken me a full day to get it completed.

    Even if some of you prefer Paul’s writing to Phil’s, you have to admire the considerable time Phil puts in on his posts especially a marathon one like today’s.

    phil has done a great job. you can never please everybody. if phil’s one fault is that he tries so hard to make eveyone happy, that is a great fault to have. i kept reading everyday phil, you worked your a** off and it showed.

    Agreed.

    Ek, I know what you mean. Doing one article or even a 5&1 list takes hours. I appreciate the posts, both long and short. Y’all are quite the team – you, Phil and Paul.

    Just think what August would have been like without someone filling in; I’m very grateful.

    And, just so everyone knows, Phil also had to give blood just to take some college courses.

    Imagine that. Five days a week of UW responsibility for nuthin’ and when he lays out money he has to give BLOOD, too?

    Jeez.

    —Ricko

    No link yet, but the SEC Power Poll is conducting a poll of the best and worst uniforms in SEC football.

    Discuss…

    Reminds me of an article idea I had – which conference has the best unis? I’d vote for the SEC.

    I’m biased (as a UGA grad), but I’d agree Jim.

    I think it’s because very few of the schools have monkeyed with their basic look. Vandy has worn gold tops, USCe has worn black on occasion, UGA and UT wore black once or twice, etc. For the most part, you could look at a SEC school’s uniform and instantly tell which school it was.

    Ole Miss with both red and blue tops is about as radical as it has gotten in the SEC.

    Top 3: Alabama, Auburn, Tennessee
    Bottom 3: South Carolina, Kentucky, Miss St.

    Just my opinion…

    If you go by that card set, nobody in the NFL had helmet logos the year before (when the photos were taken).

    —Ricko

    Really? I was not aware of this! Was it some sort of throwback celebration?

    It was 1976, right?

    Yes, was the Stealth Bicentennial Celebration.
    Celebrating the guerilla tactics of the colonials, hiding behind trees and all, by eschewing the gaudy helmet graphics.
    Think the slogan was, “Shoot Low, They Might Be Crawlin’ “.

    —Ricko

    Ah, yes, when the Hurricanes wore Kelly Green with Athletic Gold and called it “orange.”
    That’s George Mira, btw.
    link
    Be a great throwback, wouldn’t it.

    —Ricko

    btw, those three kelly stripes are on the crew socks. They wore them all season. The white legs above them are some kind of long undies (or some such) that the ‘Canes wore for the Gotham Bowl.

    Think it also may have been the only appearance of red stirrups (under the crews) for the Huskers that season, too.

    —Ricko

    Wow, that’s just a great look. Either throwback to that, or update it to orange and green, but…ah, never mind, today’s sleeve-challenged jerseys would just mess it up.

    I must be really out of the loop re: The U since I’ve not seen their dark helmet (no “Spaceballs” jokes please) look before. Then again, I’m not a very big college football fan.

    First Miami helmet with the “U” logo was forest green.
    Was during Chuck Foreman’s time there. Through his junior year.
    ‘Canes went to white helmets his senior season.

    —Ricko

    Chuck Foreman… wow, haven’t heard that name in years. My buddy had the Chuck Foreman Vikings jersey (purple w/ white numerals) like the ones pictured link… I was so dang jealous. I did have the Cliff Branch Raiders jersey though (black w/ white numerals), so that definitely made up for it.

    Didn’t know Foreman went from #32 in college to #44 in the pros. Was he considered a fullback in Minnesota or was #32 just not available?

    I think you mean the Canes adopted the U logo in Foreman’s senior year (1972). Before that season their helmet was forest green with no logo. The white helmet didn’t come in until 1976. This is what The Helmet Project site says, anyway.

    Ooops, missed that one in the Ticker. But, yeah, that’s the helmet I was speaking of. The original “U” helmet.

    —Ricko

    Nah, the Swooshies would never permit that nice insert with 4″ TV numbers to ever leave the factory!

    That Miami jersey is Style FB26LS/SC Nylon/Cotton from Champion Products and sold for %5.75 complete with imprinted numbers.

    Homina homina homina…

    Never thought I’d say I’d wear a ‘Canes uni, but that one’s outstanding.

    Well, I’ll at least give them a chance, a lot of their jerseys have been decent, though I’m not really a fan of the current set of templates. It would also be nice to see more templates for the MLS teams, since so many end up using the same ones, and just changing out the colors.

    I’m getting tired of the whole league having one manufacturer, this includes the NFL, NBA, and NHL. Makes for very little variety except for changing of colors. One of the reasons college is so much more exciting for uni watching. Might get some atrocius uni’s every year but at least not everyone is using 1 of 5 templates.

    I think the reason there’s more variety in college is because there’s 5 times as many teams. Tons of them wear basically the same uniform in different colors.

    I agree Andy. But also they try the different stripes and stuff like that. Like Arkansas’ horn design, I thought it looked good for them.

    The biggest problem with soccer league uniforms is when they have a standard name/number font.

    I dislike the standardized font for your league, but if you’re going to do it, at least pick a good one. The Premier League did. MLS did not.

    If you jumped in a time machine and went back to a Giants game in 1976, do you think you could have sold “I’m Still Calling it Shea” shirts?

    My only problem with these shirts is, well, it’s a different building! At no point was the new stadium Giants Stadium, nor was Citi Field ever Shea.

    Now, the “I’m Calling it Comiskey” and a few other shirts, those make a fair point.

    My problem is that while the other shirts seem to campaign against corporate stadium naming, this one does not. I dunno, calling it “Meadowlands” really doesn’t seem that offensive to me. Then again, I’m not a Giants fan. So it probably doesn’t matter as much to me. Oh well.

    Well, yeah, I can agree with that, too, though I doubt I’m the only one that thinks it won’t be Meadowlands Stadium for long. If/When it does get renamed, by all means, make shirts that say “I’m Calling It Meadowlands.”

    Good to see Northwestern will be wearing their stripes again. There’s really no excuse for them not to. If only they’d drop the Gary Barnett black.

    NW was among the first in college football to do the BFBS thing, as I recall.
    Right?

    —Ricko

    Some of those early Topps cards had really weird perspectives, and enhanced any equipment mods or quirks. In example, Largent’s face mask looked bigger because it was fastened a little lower(see top fastening points), thus looked bigger. Also, one of my favorites, 1976 Archie Manning and his clear shell helmet(Mac. suspension) made his helmet ride a little high, thus the Great Gazoo look. heh heh

    link

    I’m guessing shooter was pretty close to Largent on that shot.
    Looks like possibly some lens distortion, a bit of the “fish eye” effect.

    —Ricko

    Love the look of those satin unis. I wonder if they were “clingy” when the players began to sweat. Yikes. I can imagine the aforementioned sweat left huge dark spots on the uniforms as well. I also couldn’t help but wonder how durable they were. Satin’s not exactly the toughest fabric around. Ah, who cares… they looked awesome!

    Nowadays, you can get the shiny, reflective effect without sacrificing the quality or durability of the material. For example, the Inland Empire 66ers used to make the brims of their caps out of link. I got one of those when they first came out and it was awesome. But by the time I needed to replace it, the team had switched from reflective satiny silver to link. Bummer.

    Anyway, shimmery, satin-like material has been common on football unis for a while now, and you see it in hockey and basketball too, but rarely in baseball. I wonder why? There are a number of teams where I’d think it’d be a natural fit – the Brewers, Nats, Rockies, White Sox, to name the most obvious candidates. Maybe not the whole uniform with that style of fabric, but certainly elements like caps or lettering.

    Didn’t the Astros have shiny brims on the navy and gold set, the ones they wore when Randy Johnson was there?

    —Ricko

    Indeedy. Guess I’d blocked that from memory on account of it being my least-favorite ‘Stros unis ever, and pretty much everyone else’s favorite Houston unis. But it goes to show: if a team has gold or silver in its color scheme, there’s no reason not to have shiny metallic fabric in its unis.

    Plus, the satiny fabric could help differentiate authentic from replica merch, and thus help drive higher-end merch sales. Your fitted replica caps could have the flat fabric color, with only the authentic having the shiny reflective material, and bam, you’ve just increased the fan’s incentive to spring for the authentic merch.

    You can see the dark sweat stains on some of the pictures, looks gross. Must have been a sight to see those unis in color, in person…

    -Jet

    ALMOST love the new No Mas “I’m still calling it Giants Stadium” tee. They just need to add the Giants “ny” logo in the helmet, and I’d definitely buy one!!

    Primitive gator costume notwithstanding, looking at those ’73 Auburn/Florida photos gave me a small case of the creeps – clearly the memo about racial diversity hadn’t made it that far south yet

    Pro Combat? Feh! I’m anti-Combat, at least where Nike is concerned. And I’m really disappointed in VPI. I’d have thought that was one of the few remaining institutions in America where people in leadership positions understand that Can ≠ Should.

    I can honestly say that I am a fan of the Pro Combat series uniforms, however not too crazy about what’s going on in that VT shot; matrix circuit board, neon color gradients….etc. Major fail there.

    Not sure if I’d wear a satin uni, but I like that Reds uni with the red pants. Let’s see one or two teams do that. The Redlegs would be an obvious choice. Since the White Sox did it, I could see some black pants…as long as the socks are white.

    Now a satin uni would look good on one of Rob Ullman’s drawings, if he could replicate that look…

    I would like to thank UniWatch for not charging $50 for parking…(I am thinking of becoming a “free agent fan”, see which team will give me the most for my services, because 30 years as a Jets fan, it’s nearing an end for me if this keeps up)

    About the college football preview:

    Yay to Clemson, Army and Arizona (sort of) for upgrading.

    Boo to Syracuse, Indiana and Michigan State for downgrading.

    Virginia gets both. Yay for the front of the unis, boo for the back of them.

    Hopefully Boise State will pleasantly surprise me. After switching to one of the worst-looking unis I’ve ever seen,
    link
    the thought of them in “Pro Combat” unis just scares me to no end.

    I actually kind of liked the Michigan St change. The beige number outline looks solid, and I don’t mind the shoulder yokes (they’re minimal enough). I would ditch the stupid type going across the chest (hate when teams do that) and eliminate the alternate with the butt stripes altogether. If they did that, I think it would look pretty solid.

    The Indiana change looks hideous though. There’s no fixing that!

    I don’t mind the yokes either, but the new font bugs me. The butt stripes and butt tattoo have to go, too.

    pl~
    since kate is moving to kc ahead of me tomorrow, and this is also the start of the college football season, your preview could not have come at a better time. as i think you know, we have been “betting” the college games against each other over the past 3 years while she was at school in something we call champ or chimp(long story). it has been a way of talking about something that isn’t as intense as life can sometimes be, and yada yada, looks like we will be doing it long distance again for a month or so. anyway, the preview was probably the first thing that hooked me and brought me into the site, and may still be my favourtite post of the year every year for that nostalgic reason.
    ~rpm

    also, i assume all the people that normally complain about political content are going complain about trax’s pjtv submission today right? i am guessing no, i will leave it at that.

    Little tidbits from the world of NCAA football:

    Fresno State will be wearing white cleats for road games now (opposed to black)

    Fresno State will be wearing “DOGS” nose bumpers after a year of wearing “D.B.” nosebumpers (the latter to honor deceased coach Dan Brown)

    Fresno State will be wearing “100 year” patches on their uniforms to celebrate the school’s centennial.

    Looks like a very young Johnny Antonelli standing with him.

    Sibby Sisti, of course, is in THE NATURAL.
    Plays the manager (?) of either the Phillies or the PIrates.
    Might be the “Hit the cover off it, Roy!” scene.

    —Ricko

    “I miss Paul” …

    For the record, I miss Paul as well. But here’s my personal take:

    Paul and Phil: (Big) Apples and (something witty I can’t think of at work) Oranges.

    I believe Paul is able to fill the site day to day with interesting facts and opinions, and we never have a doubt when he feels strongly about anything – good or bad.

    I believe Phil has a more targeted focus of interest, and it shows. Personally, I am typically 100% in line with his interests (old-time ballparks, uni-tweaks, etc.). I love this stuff. I can’t get enough.

    Both can be good – even great – on a given day. Both can be bad – even trashable – on a given day. Each and every one of us is lucky to have them both, and I wouldn’t trade either one of them … unless a dancing, singing monkey became available.

    Just an FYI – that Bemidji St vs. Minot game pictured in 5 & 1 is actually Beavers vs. Beavers.

    That’s right – some hot beaver-on-beaver action. Maybe this site is NSFW, after all.

    Well whaddaya know…

    I just grabbed the pic from Bemidji’s site and didn’t even notice that.

    Found another pic from Minot’s site.
    link
    Not crazy about the design, but I like the red/green combo.

    link

    Video showing UCLA’s new road uniforms as well as a patch worn by all teams honoring Coach Wooden on the back of the helmet.

    Minor uni news from Chicago. Alexei Ramirez will probably need to change his NOB from “Ramirez” to “A. Ramirez” now that Manny being Manny in on the White Sox.

    No word if Manny is going back to #24 or keeping #99.

    As far as “A. Ramirez,” I doubt it; haven’t seen any FIOBs (First Initials on Backs) for a while. (If I’m wrong, let me know.) And where will Manny’s first game be with the Chisox? None other than (I’m Still Calling It) The Jake!

    I’d highly doubt Alexei becoming “A.Ramirez” because he’s been with the team. If anyone has to take a FiNOB, it would be Manny. But considering different body builds, different positions, and different hair, I don’t think the two will ever be mistaken for each other. Safe money’s on just keeping it Ramirez and Ramirez.

    Yeah, the etiquette is for the newer player to take the FIOB. Which has sometimes led to veteran stars being stuck with FIOB while unknown rookies go last-name-only. I’m not sure if how much the players look like each other has ever entered into it.

    I remember the story of an equipment mananger who met with a veteran player acquired in a trade. He asked the player what number he wanted.
    “Nine,” said the veteran.
    “Somebody’s got it,” said the equipment manager.
    “How long’s he been here?”
    “Longer than you.”

    —Ricko

    i’m guessing that’s not quite how the conversation between jerry rice and the seahawks equipment manager went

    Don’t hold me to this, but I want to say that the Reds Hall of Fame and Museum had/has a pair of the red pants on display. I seem to recall walking past them a few times and always thinking they looked like some sort of usher uniform. To be more specific, I want to say they are on display near the dugout/locker room area they have reassembled.

    I am sure a simple email to the museum could bring this search to a quick end.

    I too loved the look of those satin uniforms. I wonder what the fans of that time thought about them?

    Font geeks may appreciate this: I was watching the replay of the Jaguars-Buccaneers game last night on NFL network, and I saw that the names of the foundations on the end-zone sides of Raymond James Stadium have a new font, link, which is one of my all-time favorite fonts.

    Not sure if this has been posted or not, but the White Sox had representatives from the various Chicago championship teams in all 4 major sports from the last 25 years together and had link made up for the occasion.

    Wow. Somebody should have totally submitted that for the ticker, except maybe a video clip instead of just a pic.

    Or maybe someone did, but as happens with many true geniuses and visionaries, his contribution was ignored and/or misunderstood by the powers that be.

    Just checked out most of Paul’s college football uniform. Wow sure is a lot to go over there. Great job Paul. I have to save that column.

    Watching the Mets-Braves game on ESPN right now, and couldn’t help thinking how much better off New York would have been with a blue alternate jersey instead of black. The blue jersey could say “Mets” or have just their logo on the chest, and a blue hat instead of black.

    or…they could just have pinstripes and a blue cap at home…and gray solids and a blue cap on the road

    Damnit. IU changed their jerseys. Sure we lose a lot in the Big Ten, but at least we used to belong sartorially. Only good thing about IU football is now ruined.

    And to add insult to injury, the explanation about the blue jerseys in the 50s is gone. Too bad, it’s actually kind of an interesting story about how the blue color is actually supposed to represent the cream portion of the school colors because of the way fresh cream (on a dairy farm) looks bluish when there’s a thunderstorm.

    Well, at least the helmets still look good. How long before they screw those up again?

    I recently stumbled onto a website called jerseywholesaler.com. They offer just about any jersey you can imagine. The throwbacks seem historically accurate and the prices seem too good to be true. I was wondering if anyone has ever purchased from jerseywholesaler.com. Usually if something seems too good to be true, it is. Does anyone have any experience with this website or anything that would keep me out of an internet scam? Any help is greatly appreciated.

    I briefly checked their website, and in my opinion, I would veer away from that company. One red flag for me was the absence of a customer service phone number, along with the typos in the text. My guess is this company is located in an Asian country, hence their low prices, but the quality could be a concern. Have no personal experience with this company, but I would be careful if you don’t have money to burn in case things don’t work out. Good luck.

    Thanks so much. I did notice there was no customer service number, and in fact there is hardly even a customer service section. I did send them an email and received a reply. I got a reply from someone named Sarah, no last name and no job title. They are based out of China, according to the email. I asked for a street address or anything to let me know where they were located and they gave me some crap about how Chinese cultuer(they spelled it that way) is different than American culture. Definitely going to avoid them. Thanks again for the help!

    On a slightly related question, does anyone have any good retailers for shirts that would be realistic to use in a DIY throwback football jersey. The jersey I want to try is based on the one in this photo (link) That’s Joe Schmidt, in case you didn’t know. Being a Lions fan, you have to focus on whats right. With a team as bad as ours and a uniform as rough as ours, it helps to look back to the good old days.

    The “I’m Calling It Giants Stadium” shirt is bullshit. It’s the Jets’ home too, and it’s great that the one NY/NJ football stadium that hosts two teams doesn’t have the name of just one. Besides, New Meadowlands Stadium doesn’t even have a corporate sponsor name.

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