Skip to content
 

Angels Honor 2002 Team

The Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim (ridiculous) honored their 2002 World Series team before last night’s game. More than 25 former players and coaches were lined up on the infield and inducted into the team’s Hall of Fame.

All of them donned their ’02 jerseys during an on-field ceremony that saw Salmon and Eckstein provide speeches and former general manager Bill Stoneman throw out the first pitch to Scioscia. One by one, they each came out of the dugout to be introduced.

Except Scott Spiezio, who jogged out of the the right-field corner, where he dumped his memorable Game 6 homer.

“It’s something no one can ever take away from us,” Spiezio said. “It’s so cool that we’re all here to be able to share it with the fans.”

Meanwhile, in Oakland, the A’s honored their 2002 team as well.

On an evening dedicated to the 2002 A’s team and its American League-record 20-game winning streak, the current version of the club couldn’t very well come up short.

There was no dramatic walk-off homer, a la Scott Hatteberg, or even the garden-variety 2012 pie-in-the-kisser sort. Just a plain old, pie-free victory, 8-5 over Cleveland, driven by Bartolo Colon’s staunch pitching and Yoenis Céspedes’ power.

Before the game, the A’s honored players and coaches from the 2002 team. In a particularly poignant moment, Cory Lidle’s widow, Melanie, and son, Christopher, were recognized on the field, and a check was presented to the Cory Lidle Foundation.

. . . . .

In a bit of a surprise, the Seahawks wore a not-so-terrible-looking white over navy combo. I wonder if we’ll be seeing less of the monochrome look from them this season or if this was just a tease.

. . . . .

Screen Shot 2012-06-24 at 10.32.36 PM

This month “Benchies” also appears Monday through Friday at Uni-Watch.

. . . . .

Hey, c’mon, it’s not like he’s grave-robbing with Dr. Franckensteen…

8-19-12 s-Sitting

Click to enlarge

 
  
 
Comments (82)

    Great day for color at UW. First the Seahawks showing us that it is possible to take their various uniform elements and put them together to look like an actual professional football team. Who knew?

    Second, Benchies offers up one of the best uses of color I’ve ever seen in a newspaper-style comic. Sneaks up on you, winds up being a Wattersonian effect. Kudos Ricko!

    Seahawks in a professional uniform? Where? Where??

    All I see is an Arena Football League team or a NCAA Division III team who can’t afford good looking uniforms.

    So, we’ve reached the point of honoring the anniversary of a winning streak? Really? Give me a freakin break.

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    I really hope the white over navy becomes the Seahawks default road uni – it’s far better than the mono-white. In a better world, they’d be wearing gray over navy, but the NFL has to have it’s silly mandatory white jersey rules.

    If the Seahawks swapped the neon snot with a respectable silver or gray, these unis would actually have something going for them. Who are they marketing to? Laser tag enthusiasts???

    Certainly not worthy of the NFL. High School – maybe, I say it looks more like East Panhandle State Consolidated Jackass Junior College …. Can we please leave the monochrome uniforms and dark football pants to high schools that did not have washing machines in the 1950s, to a less-than-watchable history, and to that sad-assed football team from “The Last Picture Show” ….

    Don’t dis the neon, man. The league is full of dreary, dark colors. If anything, they should incorporate more of the neon green, not less. One team using a brighter color is not a bad thing. We already have the Patriots and (sometimes) Cowboys wearing navy & silver, the neon green is what sets them apart.

    …and most high school teams don’t have anywhere near that level of customization, Ricko. I’ll grant that it has an Arena Football League look, but let’s not go calling it high school. C’mon man.

    Maybe it’s a generational thing, but I just don’t get that association. My high school (late 90s) wore yellow pants both home and away, and the dark pants/white jersey thing has been part of the NFL for a long time.

    I can kinda see it if it’s a basic stripeless uniform, but as soon as you add pants stripes (traditional or otherwise) or shoulder yokes or anything else… it doesn’t really hold up.

    Not counting yellow as “dark.”

    Have said many times that in my day, high schools often went with navy or green pants (or some such) simply because it was time-consuming and costly to keep light-colored pants clean. Grass stains, etc., are a bitch.

    And those perceptions can get pretty ingrained.

    Plus, the leotard look always will be lost on me.

    Hollywood knows it’s stereotypical high school, too(or at least it used to be)

    (insert Gotham Rogues black pants/yellow jersey picture here)

    I think “used to be” is the key word. Nowadays, the pros do it just as much as college or high school.

    I didn’t say they don’t do it.
    I’m relatively conscious most days.

    Just said I have a longstanding reflex reaction.

    And, yes, I get it. ANY GIVEN SUNDAY redefined uniforms forever.

    “Don’t dis the neon, man.”

    ~~~

    for once, i’ll agree with THE

    it’s not the neon that sucks about the uni, it’s pretty much everything else

    this, in and of itself, didn’t suck — it was the fascination of wearing all blue pants/socks that did … put that jersey with white (or gray) trou, and it’s not so bad…

    dump the epaulettes and it’s really not bad at all

    (obviously, that’s last year’s uni — the point is — the neon isn’t the problem, the bumperstickers are)

    and don’t be dissin the gray, peeps…before they went all “nike university of seattle” — they could have had a decent looking uni if they just went gray on top & bottom

    Silver helmet / navy jersey / silver pants looks a little too Cowboyish.

    I don’t get the navy helmet, tho.

    I don’t think kelly green and/or royal could save that uni. A bad design is a bad design.

    It’s as simple as that. I saw that last night and was shocked at how misconceived, sloppy and random the thing looked.

    People worked full-time for a long period on coming up with a new Seahawks uniform and THAT design is their best effort?

    Really? I look at the new uniform as a graphic designer and love how all the design elements work together and works with the logo for the first time. Maybe it is because I have to work with Salish design elements with work, but I like this 100% more than any of their previous generic jersey designs.

    There’s a real “We’ll call it good because we did it” mindset with these uni designers these days, it seems.

    I keep thinking of The Emperor’s New Clothes.

    Teams don’t appear have the gonads to say, “You’re kidding, right? That sucks.”

    Then again, teams think the Marlins in black vs. the Rockies in purple looks pretty damn nifty.

    Really? I look at the new uniform as a graphic designer and love how all the design elements work together

    What elements? It looks like a bunch of random shit thrown together. A Seahawks name tag on the left shoulder? Seriously? WTF?

    If you lose the crap on the shoulders and replace it with something a little less Nike it’s really a great uniform. I like the numbers and the stripe on the pants, the shoulder stuff with the Seahawks on one side is killing it.

    Honoring the anniversary of a league record-setting winning streak is no different from honoring the anniversary of DiMaggio’s hitting streak, or Cal’s playing streak. A league record is a league record. Now, once the record is broken, you don’t throw “we’re number two” parties, but until then, nothing wrong with celebrating an actual record like this.

    Especially when it’s pretty much the high-water mark for your team in living memory.

    So in a few years, we should expect to see the New England Patriots celebrating the 10th anniversary of the only “perfect 16-0 regular season (but we lost the Superbowl)” and you’d be OK with that?

    They really want nothing to do with that season, The. There’s a banner up for it at Gilette, but it’s hidden in a corner of the stadium that no one ever really sees.

    Wow. The Cubs totally dropped the ball two years ago when they could have celebrated the 75th anniversary of the Major League record 21-game winning streak.

    yeah, that’s not entirely accurate. The Giants have the longest undefeated streak whereas the Cubs have the longest winning streak.

    And do you fuckers seriously believe I think the Cubs should have done something to mark the anniversary?

    I could swallow this a little more if they referenced that the 2002 A’s won 103 games & the A.L. West title (is it mentioned anywhere?)

    Celebrate a playoff team yes, but a select group of games in a season? Not so much. Also I think it’s a bit too soon to celebrate a season that happened only 10 years ago. I guess waiting 25 or 50 years is too much for today’s A.D.D. society.

    Man, I can’t believe I’m actually saying this, but I agree with you…

    I think I’m going to go take a shower now. I feel… Icky. Heh heh.

    Yes, mentioned this week seeing training camp video of the basic navy practice jerseys over the gray pants. Looked pretty good.

    link (without the Gillette patch, of course) — not that the jersey is so much better than the game version, but the silver pants are a big upgrade.

    Put a logo on the sleeves and TV numbers on shoulders and this ain’t half-bad, either. All things considered.
    link

    That Navy over gray looks better every time I see it. I hope it makes it to the field too.

    The Athletics also won the Western Division in 2002. Not a pennant or World Series, of course, but certainly more than just “honoring a winning streak.”

    “All of them donned their ’02 jerseys,” you say, MLB.com? No, as seen in the photo at the top of this post, both Joe Maddon and Jose Molina remained in their Rays garb throughout the ceremony.

    As a Wigan Athletic supporter I’d like to have a winning streak – any winning streak – to celebrate the anniversary of ;)

    First time I read Wigan, my mind went to these guys. Then I got it straight…
    link

    (second item down kinda interesting for those who love the ’70s, though)

    In the vernacular is a shortening of “Athletic”, apparently.

    That’s what he said a couple days back, anyway.

    Yeah, that’s what I remember too. Wigan Athletic, Latic is short for Athletic, fans are self described as “Latic Fanatics”.

    OK then, so the “letic” to Latic transformation comes from the Lancashire / Mancunian accent?

    For any further info I think Mr. Chilvers will have to be the one to enlighten you. The Queen’s English is certainly not my forte’. Hell, the English we speak here in the states isn’t either for that matter!

    This is the same accent that turned “Association Football” into “Soccer.” Just have another cup of tea and roll with it.

    “Just a plain old, pie-free victory, 8-5 over Cleveland, driven by Bartolo Colon’s staunch pitching and Yoenis Céspedes’ power.”

    Interesting, since Bartolo Colon’s uniform features quite a bit of paunch stitching.

    EPL Notes: In different games this weekend, two players were sent to the benches during play to change color of the tape on their socks to match the socks.

    Yellow “excessive celebration” cards were given in the Man City game for 1. diving into crowd after big goal and another 2. for displaying a t-shirt under his uni after a goal.

    Mentioned it yesterday.

    Happened to aguero today right at start of match, not long before he went out injured.

    I wonder if this will be like the blak rule in baseball years ago, where they called it incessantly to start the season and it petered out.

    Something about the Jets’ new Nike uniforms is bothering me.

    What I like about it is the fact that the shoulder loops are a bit farther down on the sleeve; they look more like they’re at an angle, not straight-up-and-down. So that’s good. (Unfortunately, this shrinks the TV number a bit because they have to have that huge Nike swoosh above it, but that’s nipciking for now.)

    What’s bothering me is the shade of green on the jersey fabric. Someone pointed out to me last week that it looked more like military olive drab than hunter green, which I postulated was due to fabric and lighting, not an actual difference in color. But watching last night’s game, with the Jets wearing white, it looked like he was right; the green on the shoulder insert to be a different shade than the fabric on the sleeve.

    Anyone else noticed this?

    Watched a chunk of Bronx/Seahawks at a local sports bar yesterday, with sides of Giants/Jets and Cowboys/Chargers. A few observations, apologies if they’ve been covered here on other days:

    1. Seattle white jersey has a link that seems only to emphasize the swoosh.
    2. Broncos’ link on orange jerseys doesn’t match the armpit horn shade of blue. Didn’t seem to be an issue on the white jerseys last week.
    3. Seattle’s link, also drafted by the Colorado Rockies btw, might be the first player in a professional sport to bear the names of two uni-manufacturers.

    1. Seattle white jersey has a color patch that seems only to emphasize the swoosh.

    And the navy one has a lime green patch that does the same, maybe een more so. It would be, based on the design, an ideal place for a team logo but noooooooo…

    Gregg, did the colors look strange to you (specifically Denver’s orange)?

    I don’t know if it was just me, but the colors just looked strange, almost muted. I was at the game, so I know it wasn’t my TV. Something about the navy helmets against the orange looked different.

    Orange looked extra bright but so did the grass. Nothing muted at all on channel 9.

    The Seahawks probably wore white-over-navy because a lot of teams only give out one pair of pants for training camp, and that’s what they probably gave everybody. Same reason why the Eagles go all white in the preseason.

    I liked the Seahawks look last night. I’d still rather a gray helmet and would like to see the pants striping take over the arms striping instead of the shoulder/arm striping they have. But overall it didn’t look as bad as I thought it would. I’m hoping the regular season sees the blue jersey/gray pants at home and the white jersey/blue pants on the road. Burn the white pants and only use the gray jersey as a home alt with the blue pants kind of like the Patriots used to do. It’s not the best look ever but I hate it less seeing it on the field than I did seeing it in the stupid promo pics. And it’s still better than the Bengals.

    question for anyone who might know…

    does the nfl require the makers’ mark on the teams’ shoulders? that stupid backwards swoosh really bothers the fuck out of me, and totally ruins the continuity between any kind of TV numbers or sleeve treatments…

    is there a reason they couldn’t have put the swoosh on the chest, like they do in college?

    it’s actually less annoying there (and just as obtrusive)…

    does the NFL require makers’ marks on the sleeve?

    Not sure of that answer but I would support that move. The pants appear to only have 1 frontal swoosh so why can’t the jersey? I guess it wouldn’t mean 360 degree views of a swoosh if they just had it on the chest. We can’t have that and risk someone forgetting who made the uniforms!!!
    The backwards swoosh keeps making me think someone reversed the film by accident. It’s annoying me even more than the Nikelace, sweatbox, the monstrosity of the Texans collars, and even the horrible Chiefs sleeve striping. It might also just be me getting older or a less stretchy material but I still swear the pants striping is slimmer than last year too.

    All I can find is the 2011 NFL rulebook and no mention of manufacturer’s logos at all actually. I found this in Rule 5, Section 4, Article 3. And I now believe at least 95% of the players violate at least parts of the uniform rules. I hope the link will work.

    link

    I miss Paul…I wish Phil would stop the uber long posts, (even on the weekends)…the old way was so much better…

    I don’t mind the uber long posts. I’d prefer them over the shorter ones actually. What I did like though was the abbreviated main page. I guess that lost the popularity contest in favor of the whole days post minus the comments showing on the main page. But then again I don’t read daily. I only catch up with a week of stuff on the weekends.

    I’m with Bromo….I miss the truncated posts. Too much scrolling to find yesterday’s or the day before’s post.

Comments are closed.