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Clothed Like a Jaybird

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[Editor’s Note: Last week I showed a photo of Blue Jays scout Al LaMacchia posing with a Blue Jays road jersey that had different lettering than what the team actually used for its inaugural road blues. Today we have a guest entry from Lloyd Davis, who’s made some major research breakthroughs on this subject . ”” PL]

By Lloyd Davis

The photo of Al LaMacchia was intriguing, so I began searching the online archives of both the Toronto Star and the Globe and Mail. I couldn’t find an early picture of a player modeling either of the Jays’ unis (white or blue), but what I did unearth raises some interesting questions.

First, that LaMacchia photo was published in Canadian newspapers on Dec. 8, 1976. It was taken in L.A. during the winter meetings.

Just one day earlier, on Dec. 7, an item by Neil McCarl of the Star had reported that the Jays were looking at samples produced on spec, and that it would be another month before the uni design was finalized:

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I searched both papers’ archives several times and couldn’t find a word about that official, final decision. But it certainly raises questions about what Al LaMacchia was posing with.

Now jump ahead to the eve of spring training — Feb. 18, 1977. A wire service photo appeared, showing the Jays’ equipment manager with the team’s new uniforms:

jays.png

So it looks like they had the split-lettered roadies made up for spring training.

There don’t seem to have been many action photos in the two papers during spring training, especially when the Jays were away from their compound in Dunedin, Florida. But I did manage to find one in the Star on March 23, 1977 — a collision between right fielder Otto Velez and middle infielder Garth Iorg. It provides just enough of a view to confirm that the split lettering was being used in spring training, at least for this game:

Iorg.png

All of which brings us to one last interesting item. The very next day — March 24, 1977 — Milt Dunnell’s column in the Toronto Star included a note about lettering on the road jerseys, which was apparently causing legibility problems:

Fades.png

So the Jays apparently redesigned their road jerseys to include the solid lettering at some point after March 23, but I can’t quite pinpoint when. I struck out in my attempt to find a picture of the road uniform from any point during the remainder of spring training. Also couldn’t find any definitive pics from their first road swing of the regular season, so it’s not clear whether they wore the split lettering for any games that counted.

Finally, Paul had noted that Al LaMacchia was a just a scout and that we therefore still didn’t know who was the first player to wear a Jays uniform, I couldn’t find a shot of a player modeling the uni, but here’s a studio portrait of manager Roy Hartsfield from the Star (I’ve lost track of the date, but think it ran in the paper circa the third week of February). This might be the closest we’ve got to an official debut of the Jays uni, as worn by uniformed personnel.
————
Paul here. Great research by Lloyd, no? Incidentally, as long as we’re talking about the Jays, there’s been some chatter about them getting new uniforms next season, although I don’t have any further details.

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Pocket veto: Yesterday afternoon I wrote a little something for today’s entry. It went like this:

I like pocket schedules. I don’t collect them, like some folks do, and of course I realize there are plenty of online resources for checking a team’s schedule, but I like having a Mets pocket sked on the bulletin board that sits right above my desk, so I can check who they’ll be playing at a moment’s notice. I’m on the team’s mailing list, so sometimes they send me a few skeds during spring training; if they don’t, I call the ticket office and ask them to pop a few in the mail for me. It’s never been a problem.

Until now.

Back around March 10, I called and asked for some pocket schedules. The response: “Sorry, they haven’t been printed yet.” Okay, no biggie. So I called again in late March, around the 28th or so. The response: “They still haven’t come in.” Hmmmm. I called again yesterday and was told, “Nope, still don’t have ’em.”

Now, I realize pocket skeds aren’t the biggest issue in the world. But this seems like the kind of basic nuts-and-bolts item that any single-A team could do in its sleep, especially nowadays — just get the intern to fire up the right software package with a calendar template, drop in the file with this year’s schedule, make sure the ticket-ordering info reflects the new prices, e-mail the whole thing to the printer, and then go back to guessing the over/under on when Beltran’s knee blows out. Simple as that.

But that’s apparently too challenging for the Mets. Fucking idiots. And the Wilpons wonder why everyone ridicules them.

So that was that. A few hours later, I went to the Maple Street Press gathering in Queens. There was a table set up with a bunch of stuff — some for sale, some for giveaway. And look what they just happened to have.

So the good news is that the Mets have pocket schedules after all. The bad news is that nobody told the ticket office. Typical.

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Uni Watch News Ticker: The Orix Buffaloes will wear three different throwback designs this season (thanks, Jeremy). ”¦ NCAA football zebras have been showing up for some spring practices, and they’re wearing their new stripes (major thanks to Chris Buttgen for providing our first look at the new design). ”¦ Anyone know why Benjamin Stewart was NNOB on Monday night? (As noted by Chris Jowdy.) ”¦ Some crank at Michigan State is lobbying for BFBS jerseys. Not only is he uni-idiotic, but this college student still hasn’t learned that plurals don’t take apostrophes. Moron (with thanks to Michael Thompson). ”¦ The Florida Panthers’ arena is getting a new naming sponsor (with thanks to John Muir). ”¦ Cubs starter Andrew Cashner looked inside his cap several times during the 2nd inning of yesterday’s Cubs/D-backs game. Play-by-play man Len Kasper noticed it and said he’d try to remember to ask Cashner about it after the game (as noted by Jim Walaitis). ”¦ Here’s a good view of the Wisconsin sesquicentennial patch that the Brewers wore in 1998 (with thanks to Thaddeus Lewandowski). ”¦ Kyle, who didn’t leave his last name, found a SF Giants bike jersey. ”¦ Alan Saunders reports that the Altoona Curve have introduced what may be the world’s first reversible cap. ”¦ “Opening Day” logo? Okay, if you insist. “Opening Weekend” logo? Nuh-uh. “Opening Series” logo? Come on now (as noted by Brian Young). ”¦ This double-swoosh collar thing is getting out of hand (screen shot courtesy of Will Melbye). ”¦ Andruw Jones had a nice game last night. But not this nice (good catch by Brandon Boemann). ”¦ Everyone knows I like high-cuffery, but Fernando Rodney was taking it a bit far last night, even for me (big thanks to Kyle Mackie). ”¦ In a related item, Austin Prather reports that Brandon Phillips is being bombarded by low-cuff peer pressure, although he’s trying to hold out. ”¦ Lucas Demrow notes that Rod Barajas is still wearing catching gear trimmed in Mets orange, even though he hasn’t been a Met since last July. ”¦ The White Sox beach blanket knock-offs keep on coming. That’s UVA (obviously) from last night’s game. No indication of why a Virginia team would be wearing a White Sox-based design (with thanks to Dave Forbes). ”¦ Brad Hall, who serves as Stadium Operations Director for Na Koa Ikaika Maui of the North American League (Independent Baseball), sent along shots of the team’s rather bold jerseys. … I’ll have the NCAA pool results tomorrow.

 
  
 
Comments (151)

    Can’t stand the new patch on the White Sox road grays. Makes them look like the minor league affiliate.

    I don’t understand that complaint. Plenty of major league teams have patches on the shoulders of their uniforms, and those don’t make them look like minor league affiliates. Sure, the new patch is a downgrade from what existed before, but that doesn’t make it minor leagueish.

    I think he’s saying that because it’s a primary logo, and minor-league teams are known for wearing their parent club’s primary as a secondary patch.

    Additionally, the big problem is that it isn’t a patch, as we traditionally think of that term — it’s lettering:
    link

    A patch has a defined shape (usually ciruclar), which works well on a small space like a sleeve. Lettering is too amorphous, too abstract, to work on a sleeve. Works great on a chest, where there’s plenty of real estate. But scripts and insignia never work on sleeves.

    What do you think of the Dodgers LA logo on the away jersey sleeve? When they changed to the single twill “Los Angeles” away crest, they did away with the “Dodgers” underlined patch logo on the sleeve and took a step backwards as well.

    I agree, I would prefer to see a team’s logo patch… ala the Mets Skyline logo. Can you imagine if the Mets had the interlocking NY or just plain “Mets” in script on the sleeve?

    The need to put the “parent club’s” word mark on a patch is what makes it look minor league. Same goes for the Dodgers. What’s interesting is they retained the diamond sock patch on the black alt, which already has the Sox primary word mark. Obviously, some jackass decided, “…the grays don’t say ‘Sox’ anywhere. We can’t have that…” lame. At least it still says “Chicago” across the front. I’m sure that was discussed at some point.

    Besides, if they were so jazzed for it to say “Sox” on the roadie, they could have easily done this..

    link

    I have a modest pocket schedule collection dating back to 1990, but man, those things have been getting pretty large & heavy over the years. Basically 12″ x 7″, heavy thick hi-gloss paper stock. I used to keep mine in a wallet, but I can’t even fit them in the damn slots anymore. Too busy trying to cram as much information as possible on them.

    oops! that wasn’t supposed to go here.

    Thumbs down on the new Sox roads, and the paper mentioned today the starting pitcher picks out the top & goes with it until a loss. Guess we’ll be seeing the black alts again today.

    Those Orix Buffaloes throwbacks are pretty interesting, as they reflect the two teams, once local rivals, that merged to form the current team. For many years the Kintetsu Buffaloes and Hankyu Braves were in competition with the much-more-popular Hanshin Tigers for the affections of Osaka/Kobe-area fans.

    Then around 1990 the Hankyu Braves were bought out by Orient Leasing (“Orix”) and, after being the Orix Braves briefly, changed the name to the Blue Wave.

    In 2005 they and the Buffaloes merged operations, resulting in the merged uniforms that they wear normally — nickname from the Buffaloes; blue and yellow colors from the Blue Wave; alternate-color sleeves from the Buffaloes. More games in Kobe than Osaka.

    Fans have always liked the beige-with-red-sleeve home jerseys and I’m not surprised to see them selevted. The 1990s blue Ichiro-era jerseys are a surprise, though; they’re not different enough from what they wear now.

    Since the Atlanta Braves got their road alternate jerseys with the “outline only” numbers that are a dead ringer for those of Orix, I’ve wondered if it was some kind of shout out to the other “Braves” franchise. Doubtful, but Japanese teams have no problem copying major league fashions.

    Excellent research on the Blue Jays inaugural season uniforms (I’m inclined not to put an apostrophe after Jays, though I have no idea whether that is correct punctuation or not). So the photo of the ’78 Topps card of Ron Fairly depicts what the road uniform looked like that season?

    That would be grammatically correct (at least to my thinking) as those uniforms belong to the Blue Jays, and obviously putting the apostrophe after the s denotes it as plural. The trickier part is whether you treat a team as a single entity or as a group of individuals. I’ve never really seen a consistent rule regarding how you do that, so I just kind of go on the fly and take context cues as best as I can.

    Scott, I edit books for a living, and I still struggle with that question!

    In your example, though, an apostrophe would be needed after the S in Jays (the Jays’ uniforms), because it’s a pretty clear-cut example of the possessive case (the uniforms belong to the Jays).

    The question is whether the first noun functions as an adjective or names the possessor of the second noun. But sometimes the distinction can get a bit fine.

    For example, here’s a sentence where the apostrophe is necessary in order to be grammatical:

    The Dodgers’ caps are Dodger blue.

    The caps *belong to* the Dodgers, so Dodgers is possessive.

    But consider:
    The Dodgers cap on his head was Dodger blue.

    No apostrophe, because Dodgers is working as an adjective.

    When I’m in doubt, I swap out the plural nickname for something like Avalanche or Blizzard. Then the function of the team name, and whether an apostrophe is needed, becomes clearer.

    But I once got into a heated discussion on an online forum for editors (well, about as heated as a discussion between editors can get – ha ha) over this question. Despite my citing various sources on language and usage, she remained convinced I was just making this shit up.

    Next week on “Poets’ Corner,” the that-versus-which controversy!

    Paul, you should have held the Blue Jays uniform story until tomorrow. For on Thursday, April 7, 1977 the Jays played their first official game in beating Chicago 9-5. So tomorrow is the 34th anniversary to the day and date of the Jays’ debut.

    That week was Holy Week so the Jays didn’t play on Good Friday. But the Chisox were there on Saturday and Easter Sunday. I saw my first Jays game on that bright, chilly Easter as Jerry Garvin beat Chicago 3-1. I was also there the next day as Toronto beat Detroit (then managed by Ralph Houk)5-3. Rusty Staub was the Tigers’ DH. I left my Blue Jays in first place that day. Unfortunately things went downhill after that opening weekend. LOL

    “That week was Holy Week so the Jays didn’t play on Good Friday.”

    Something most teams don’t consider these days, unfortunately.

    Shoot, I remember when almost nothing was open on Sundays. Was still that way in Vancouver when I was there in ’82. Called ’em “Blue Laws” here in the states.

    Looking back on it, was kinda nice. Everyone just slowed the hell down one day a week. And kids/teenagers had to find something to do. Play catch, hit golf balls, play touch football, shoot hoops, play shinny. “Hanging out at the mall” wasn’t an option. Mall was CLOSED, jack.

    Ricko,
    I agree–was just thinking about this the other day. It was nice to have one day a week that was slow…

    1- fast ball
    2- curve

    Remember Dizzy Dean’s story on himself?

    First time he pitched in an organized game he called his catcher out the mound in the second inning and said, “Call that two-finger pitch more often. I get a lot more on it.”

    I wish I could be that clever, but my thought was that the little plastic fibers that make up the stiffening for the front of the crown were probably coming loose and poking him in the brow.

    I won’t lie, I kind of like the Na Koa Ikaika Maui jerseys. I also think the outline of the the state of Hawaii on the back shoulder is kind of a neat touch (in this case) as well. Though I do hope that that doesn’t become a trend.

    I kinda like ’em, too, but maybe because it’s a semi-pro team on a tropical island. No heavy historical burdens to carry.

    Really great would be a baseball jersey that looks like a Hawaiian tourist shirt, busy design, bright colors, giant flowers, hula dancers with ukeleles… Waikiki Wahinis!

    Fernando Rodney looks like he was confused with what sport he was playing. He might have thought he was getting dressed to play link for BYU…

    We do know he was horsing around, rolling his ankle length pants inside out up over his quads, don’t we?

    We can see it covering the pants stripe on his right leg.

    Rodney wasn’t rolling his pants up to “fool around” he was rolling them over his quads to stretch out the leg opening for a more flared opening. Most players do this before games, except Rodney carried this out into the bullpen.

    I’d like to think I have the hand strength to handle it. Except right after I wake up, perhaps.

    I’m sure strength isn’t a problem… but how many times can you unbend/rebend the bill before it wears out and starts looking sloppy? (unless of course you want to look like a fool with a flat brim… though it is a hat with giant googly eyes on it… so… yeah)

    If you’re only turning it inside out during situations that require “rally” support, I don’t think you need to worry about unbending/rebending the bill.

    “rally” the hat once, then turn it right-side-out and i’m sure it will look like garbage. i doubt it keeps a good shape

    Unless they’re those wonderful all-synthetic “flex” hats.

    Y’know, the ones I mean. They hold so much heat they get sweat stains if you eat a pretzel?

    “rally” the hat once, then turn it right-side-out and i’m sure it will look like garbage. i doubt it keeps a good shape

    Oh, look who’s so particular about their 5950s now… ;)

    Seriously, we’ve all seen link before, right? Not a link here.

    LMAO thanks ricko! (i don’t wear sunglasses though)

    bernard, i don’t think either one of those pics is an authentic “on field” hat though

    Looks like the Panthers have only sold the naming right to the ice surface and not the arena itself. Much like the Vikings sold the name of the field but not the HHH Metrodome…

    “opening series logo”

    we sure as shite aren’t gonna be in the “world” series anytime soon so…

    Feb. 18, 1977 <— my birthday… like… that day

    we sure as shite aren’t gonna be in the “world” series finish above .500 anytime soon so…

    ~~~

    (fixed)

    I do NOT, however, expect to see a
    “SCHEDULED DOUBLEHEADER”
    logo.

    Recognition-worthy though such a thing might be.

    Research topic: when was the last scheduled, single-house doubleheader? Day/nights don’t count.

    Me either, considering scheduled day-night doubleheaders are prohibited by the 2002 CBA

    Well, I’ll be hornswoggled. Saturday, July 16, Angels @ A’s….2nd game start time given as “To Be Determined”.

    Thank you, BurghFan!

    The A’s doubleheader is not a day-night doubleheader, but rather a true doubleheader. It is part of a promotion for “80’s weekend”.

    I don’t see anything wrong with the Pirates recognizing their first home series for their home fans. Everybody else did it and painted a logo on the field. What’s the difference? It’s not their fault that they didn’t have a home game until now.

    Looking closer at the Altoona Curve site reveals that they have FOUR mascots link. Steamer was from their initial brand focusing on the train going around the famed Horseshoe Curve, Diesel Dog was added as his cuddly friend, and now they’ve added Al Tuna (ha!) and a conductor named Tenacious C (hack).

    I know minor league teams are all about entertaining the kids to earnt he family attendance/dollars, but SHEESH.

    Is that a record for most mascots on a team at the same time? I’m guessing it is.

    And that’s three too many, in my opinion. I’m not even that hot on having one. Call me cranky, but there’s a way to entertain the kids – let them watch the game. There are so many distractions for kids now that a lot of them have no understanding of what’s going on.

    More than any other sport, you want your kids to focus on what’s going on at a baseball game. Especially if you sit along the baselines where a screaming foul ball or a broken bat can easily ruin your day.

    there’s a way to entertain the kids — let them watch the game

    ~~~

    first thing in two weeks you’ve said that i agree with you on, movi

    i know im *odd* but i can remember my pop teaching me to score games at home before he took me to my first ever game (age 6 or 7) and i couldn’t wait to get there…sat riveted from the first pitch to the last

    didn’t need to stinkin’ bazooka t-shirt shots, dancing mr. met, see which subway wins the race, etc…

    just peanuts (possibly crackerjack) and a scorecard with a fresh golf pencil

    /heaven

    I didn’t learn how to keep score until I was a little bit older, but I remember my first big league (Cardinals vs. Mets in old Busch) and I was so bummed because Ozzie was hurt. And I was already a Cubs fan, I’m sure much to the disappointment of my dad. I had started school, but I was only in first or second grade. My brother (two years younger than me) got so excited at a Bernard Gilkey (as a Cardinal) home run that he kind of jumped out of his seat. The bottom flipped up and he banged his elbow pretty hard on the armrest and landed on concrete. He was about the most excited hurt kid you’ve ever seen.

    The point kind of got lost there, so let me put in this addendum. but I was so enthralled by being at the game and seeing the stadium with my own eyes, I didn’t have time to worry about anything other than the game. I think that’s stuck with me and my brother. So, yes, anything to tone down mascots and between inning entertainment, I can get behind.

    “I’m totally with you Jim.”

    OK, the racing pierogies are an exception. They make one appearance and they’re gone.

    The Parrot is a keeper, too, although he really needs to get off the top of the dugout during play. Come out between innings and that’s it.

    Not a total Scrooge, though – I love when they let the kids run the bases after the game. It’s a good reward for sitting nicely through nine innings.

    Interestingly, if you look at the Blue Jays uniforms in the Dressed to the Nines database, the Jays switched to split-lettering on their road unis in 1979. And while it is hardly scientific, the lettering does become almost invisible. And I don’t mean illegible. I mean invisible.

    Yeah, but the 1977 prototypes/samples/etc. had blue lettering with white inlining:
    link

    The split lettering they used in 1979 (and stuck with for nearly a decade afterward) was the reverse of that — white lettering with blue inlining:
    link

    In between, in 1978, they tried solid lettering with white OUTlining:
    link

    In short: They were really struggling to find a good way to show blue lettering on a blue jersey.

    I’ll put this in tomorrow’s post, but here’s a sneak peek at the NCAA contest winners, for those of you who read the comments:

    1. link, by Prashant

    2. link, by Adam

    3. link, by Barron Calvert

    4. link, by Mark

    5. link, by Joseph S

    These five winners get to choose from the prizes listed link and should get in touch with me to claim their prizes (top winner gets first choice, second place gets next choice, etc.). The prizes not chosen will be offered again for the annual reader-appreciation raffle in December.

    I was listening to the Cubs game on the radio so I can’t say for sure if Len got to ask Cashner about looking in his hat, but I doubt it as I believe he went straight from the ballpark to the hospital to get an MRI on his shoulder.

    The double collar swoosh is understandable.
    Chilly (or downright cold), so you wear two shirts.
    Your regular shirt first, then you grab one a size larger than you normally wear to go over it, so you can still move.
    Hence, a larger circumference neck on the “overshirt”.
    Hence, the logos on both shirts end up showing.

    Call me crazy, but I think there’s something slightly amiss about this listing on the Oakland A’s team store…

    link

    Uni-related “amissness”…
    Shirt appears to be kelly green.
    Don’t think Eck ever pitched for the A’s when they wore kelly.

    Nope, he didn’t. Topps played with the color on just about all of the A’s cards that year…dunno why.

    Nah, they didnt. Kelly was gone in 1982. That said, there’s a TON of 87 Topps cards with altered color – especially see McGwire.

    link

    I bought that shirt and it’s so comfortable. (It’s not as bright green as the picture suggests, but it’s still not the forest green the team wears now).

    Well, the A’s released three shirts and I think they just wanted to keep a consistency in the colors they were using. It’s probably because the kelly green harks back to the good ol days (even though that particular green wasn’t used in the late 80s).

    link
    link
    link

    Virginia’s beach-blanket jersey is taking after Virginia Tech’s tequila sunrise jersey of two years ago.

    Perhaps there’ll be a 70s game between the two?

    VT still wears those god awful tequila sunrise jerseys but the UVa jersey was a one night thing. They held their annual “throwback night” last night and got new jerseys for it. They also have a military night coming up soon and got new jerseys for that as well link

    If the “Blue” Jays really are rebranding soon, they should use that opportunity to correct the mistakes they’ve been making since the mid 90’s that gradually made their uniforms the clown suits they are today – go back to the World Series look! The inaugural uni’s were nice, and they had been perfected by the early 90’s.

    link

    That is a damn fine baseball uniform.

    Nothing wrong with that uni at all. Should never have been messed with. The style in which it was worn, however, wasn’t always so good. That was the era when quite a few players wore tight pants extending down to meet clunky high tops (Bonds, Sosa, the Jays’ Carter, to name just three). As I’ve said, if my only two choices are Loose PJs or Longjohns & Combat Boots, I’ll have to take the PJs.

    But, again, that’s player style, and has nothing to do with the uni design itself.

    A fine uni, no doubt. My only quibble is with using the jersey logo on the cap. Maybe it’s just a question of size. A design that busy (bird, ball, maple leaf; Roger Angell wondered why they didn’t thrown in a scenic view of Banff) doesn’t compress that well. A nice T would have been OK…

    I agree that a simple “T” would have been nice (and more effective). Maybe they didn’t want the cap to look too much like the Rangers? Or maybe they just wanted to be different for the time? I never loved the white panel with the logo, but I have to say I loved it when they went to the solid blue cap. Maybe it’s just because that logo is so fantastic.

    According to the Giants’ beat writer blog, Lincecum will go high cuff with black socks for his start today. No orange stripes though..

    source: link

    Maybe Zito has the only pair.

    I mean, we know the Giants issued the ones with normal striping to their farmhands last year.

    The big team apparently issues solid black.

    And Barry got his from Soccer-R-Us.com so….

    MLB has confirmed the unis for the Giants ring ceremony. It’s old news since it’s been talked about here before, but at least this is the official confirmation with both the cap and jersey.
    link

    Ridiculous uniforms. Act like you’ve been there before, Giants. Oh wait, you haven’t.

    If they were gonna wear them all year, it would be top-shelf stoopid. For a one-game special, where’s the harm?

    God forbid they should have a celebration BEFORE a game.
    Because—let’s all think back real hard now about how it works—they weren’t champions until AFTER their final game last year.

    Yeah, it’s been awhile since they won the W-S. That’s the fun of it. There’s joy in it. If the Yankees did such a thing it would look pompous, yes. The team’s first W-S win in more than half a century, and the first in this town? Hey, go for it. Enjoy the day. Wear a special uni.

    So the envious fans of other teams grump about it. Ignore them. They grump about everything anyway.

    Agreed, I see nothing wrong with the special Giants uniforms celebrating their first world championship in San Francisco. We can’t underestimate how important that was to those fans, 1954 was the date of the last New York Giants world title, so the disconnect is obvious. Outside of Willie Mays(who played the majority of his career in San Fran), you’d have a very difficult time finding Giants fans who could easily name other players on that New York team. Even fewer would recall the Indians were heavy favorites to win that ’54 Fall Classic.

    The connection and bond those San Francisco fans had with their 2010 team will always be unique, even with fans who have roots in that city but live elsewhere now. We also can’t forget the Giants were close to leaving San Francisco for Tampa about 20 years ago.

    “We also can’t forget the Giants were close to leaving San Francisco for Tampa about 20 years ago.”

    I still have the newspapers from that day!

    (See, kids, newspapers were these things that had news in them, only they were made of this thin paper that put ink smudges on your hands, and you couldn’t scroll through them and if you wanted your friend to see a story in them, you had to tear it out and put it in an envelope and put a stamp on it and put it in the mail.)

    I guess. The fact they are wearing a patch all year? That is unquestionably pompous. When you wear that on your road jersey, you are saying “Hey, look at me!”

    I still think their fancy-shmancy opening day jerseys remind me mostly of this:

    link

    So, do they truly offend your sense of moderation and humility in general, or it just that you’d rather see it being done by a team you like better? Or a team that you dislike less than you seem to dislike the Giants?

    Would you apply those same standards if it were your favorite team, is what we’re asking.

    Inquiring minds…

    It has absolutely nothing to do with it. I have seen my teams win many championships before. I live in Chicago, and don’t see my beloved Blackhawks wearing a patch on their road jerseys telling everyone they won the Cup last year. And opening night they didn’t come out in rhinestone covered sweaters.

    I think calling braggadocio on Frisco is not a stretch. Not in the least.

    Ahhh, your point is well-taken. Isn’t exactly common in other sports. Some of the blame then should lie with those couple teams who re-introduced the concept over the past few seasons.

    And I will definitely agree that there’s potentially slippery slope here that could lead to a long and tiresome string of increasingly cornball W-S champion Home Openers that, like the patriotic hats, may have no sound exit strategy…because no team will want to be the first to “deprive” their fans of the opportunity to cheer for, and pony up for, a gold-festooned jersey.

    That’s the scary thing about it. Not so much what it is this afternoon, but where it could lead. A tacky new tradition we could live without.

    Maybe a “rule”. If more than, what, 25 years since you’ve won the W-S, or this is your FIRST W-S win, fine. Use some gold for one game. Otherwise, just show up and defend your crown 162 times.

    Rules. Ick.

    An endless source of inspiration! Reminds me of when I drew “Yankees” scripts on the front of the Indians’ “blood clot” uniforms.

    A shout of praise to Lloyd Davis for using those Toronto newspaper archives for his research.
    I say newspapers are the best source for digging up almost anything, including uni research.
    While on the subject, The Sporting News used to be on a site called Paper of Record dot com. Now, I see it is part of a site called hypernet dot ca. And it is a pay service.
    Does anyone know anything more on this??

    What a ridiculous attack on the MSU student. I happen to be friends with said student, and it was for the purpose of fan enjoyment and his friends at MSU. A Uni-Idiot? You run a daily blog about uniforms in sports. Unless your comment is implying that he does not have the overwhelming fashion sense for uniforms that you do. I don’t see why someone would feel the need to attack a college student proposing something simply for the purpose of the enjoyment of students at said university. I’m not usually one for criticizing, but this is warrented. By the way. I do, however, appreciate your hard-hitting journalism digging through papers from the 1970’s searching for official decisions on Blue Jays team uniforms. He’s a college kid who thinks it would be cool for his team to wear different uniforms for a big game. Just that simple.

    re: Ron Fairly (today’s lead photo).

    He’s the answer to pretty good trivia question:
    Name the last AAA American Association St. Paul Saint active in MLB?

    (Last active AAA Minneapolis Miller was Yaz).

    In fact…

    Somebody wanna dig around on this?

    Might Fairly also have been the first to play for both Canadian MLB teams?

    (or am I forgetting someone who’s really obvious?)

    Even better, Fairly was the first Blue Jay to be an All-Star, but he was NOT the first player to a wear a Blue Jays batting helmet in the All-Star Game. That’s because Ruppert Jones of the Mariners wore Fairly’s helmet in the 3rd inning:
    link

    Fairly didn’t appear in the game until the 7th inning.

    Fairly was in the ’71 ASG as a Expo. So was he also the first to have represented both Canadian teams in the ASG?

    A veritable triva kettle of fish here.

    Often forgotten that The Pistol wore the Hawks’ uni that was very much like that…
    link
    He’s more remembered, of course, for this set…
    link

    Black pants are fine for football referees if it’s cold outside. They look very cheap and not “football-like” indoors, and in warm weather.

    I can’t see officials enjoying these heavy pants during the humid early season games down south.

    My organization has an unofficial switch date of Columbus Day. By then, it’s cold enough to wear them comfortably.

    Regardless of the weather, no official looks fast wearing long black pants.

    Seen umpires lately? ;)

    (Sorry, it’s protocol to make jokes at the expense of football umpires.)

    Anyway, I’m certain we’ll hear from current officials about how we don’t get to decide how we think they look, but this is the way football is going, unfortunately. I said a while back I’ve seen Arizona officials wear them in early September when it’s still 113 degrees here. I think the knickers are going the way of newspapers.

    It’s a shame, really. Officials had an iconic look, I felt, one that went through tweaks over the last century, but which represented tradition and authority. I’m not sure what it represents now.

    Man, I only saw this for the first time this a.m.

    Bring it up cuz always thought either Foghorns or
    Chicken Hawks would be great minor league baseball names/logos…working in concert with Warner Bros., of course.

    link

    I do not like the idea of BFBS so that MSU fan’s idea is goofy.

    But Michigan State did wear black and gold in the early 1930’s. If they make it a throwback game then ok. If not forget it.

    “And let’s be honest, when teams wear black jerseys, they don’t lose.” – even if meant in complete jest, this may be the stoopidist sentence on the internet.

    “for AD Mark Hollis to finally give our team the intimidating “Black Jerseys” that so many schools have tested out.” – what makes a black jersey more intimidating than any other jersey? MSU’s current green is so goddamn dark, it might as well be black anyway. And these other teams you speak of, who were they testing these jerseys out for, anyway? Sparty?

    I’m more charitable: get a friend to draw up (or do it yourself) a set of black uniforms, and after the “Dude! They should totally do this!” conversation, your ardor usually cools.

    In regards to the BFBS at MSU, a paraphrase from Bill Parcells works best here, “That’s a dumb ass idea.”

    saw a comment from two weeks ago about the Giants and their high cuffs. Timmy is going right now with high cuffs and no stripes!! If anything, I think that all the Giants that wear high cuffs should go with what Timmy wore last year for Orange Friday. That was awesome: link

    I have a conspiracy theory on the pocket schedules.

    Someone at the Mets offices probably has access to the internet. That person has perhaps read some of the unflattering Mets posts that may appear from time to time.

    Conspiracy theory goes on to suspect that people at Mets offices (following Daniel Snyder’s footsteps) have compiled a naughty and a nice list.

    People who say mean things about the Mets (or associate themselves with low-life illegal t-shirt pimps) don’t get any assistance with anything.

    Just a theory.

    LA Kings are wearing those hideous UPS jerseys tonight. Are they really making these their regular jersey next season? WTF?

    20. I am extremely impressed with your writing skills as well as with the layout on your weblog. Is this a paid theme or did you modify it yourself? Either way keep up the excellent quality writing, it’s rare to see a nice blog like this one today..

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