The 2014 MLB season had its second soft opening of the year last night in San Diego (the first one, of course, was eight days earlier in Australia), where the Padres hosted the Dodgers. As you can see above, the Padres couldn’t be bothered to wear their home whites for their first game of the season and instead went G.I. Joe — shame on them.
A few other notes from the game:
• As you also see in the photo above, the Padres wore their Jerry Coleman memorial patch for the first time.
• The Coleman patch design was also included in a U.S. Navy parachute jump conducted prior to the game.
• The Dodgers wore their new alternate road grays (the ones with the team name on the front). They’ve now worn this design twice, without having worn their primary road grays (the ones with “Los Angeles” on the front).
• The Dodgers’ starting pitcher was Hyun-Jin Ryu (No. 99), and in the 8th inning he was relieved by Brian Wilson (No. 00). This isn’t the first time these two pitchers have set the mark for the biggest uni-numerical difference between two pitchers appearing consecutively in the same game, of course, and it won’t be the last, but it’s the kind of thing that somehow seems worth mentioning when it happens on Opening Day Night.
• There were lots of “Opening Night” graphics splashed around the stadium. MLB’s season-opening graphics package also includes logos for Opening Day, Opening Week, Opening Weekend, and Opening Series, so expect to see all of those over the next several days.
• The Dodgers have now managed to play three games before 27 of the other MLB teams have played even one. Seriously, after they got tapped to play those two games Down Under, was it really necessary to give them the Sunday-night opener as well? Let someone else play!
The real start of the season, of course, is today. I’ll be camped out in front of the TV at 1pm to watch the Mets/Nats game, and I hope you’ll get to see (or at least hear) your favorite team’s game too. Play ball!
Unmasking the Commenters: I recently invited the site’s commenters to tell us a bit more about themselves and give us a peek at what they look like, just because I thought it would be fun to pull back the internet’s curtain of anonymity. I’ll keep showcasing you folks as long as you keep sending in your photos and quick bios.
One of the best things about “Unmasking the Commenters” is that I’ve been able to match up some people’s real names with their pseudonyms. For example, I knew we had a frequent commenter who calls himself Dumb Guy and a frequent Ticker contributor named Jon Solomonson, but I didn’t know they’re the same person. They are! And here he is (click to enlarge):
I just turned 50 last year but no, I haven’t made my colonoscopy appointment yet. I grew up in the DC area and am mostly an NFL fan and ’Skins fan, although I’m also a Cubs and MLB fan by osmosis (thanks to my Chicago-born dad). Not much for the hockey or the basketball. I am a proud graduate of James Madison University, which sports a wonderful purple-and-gold motif on its sports uniforms (sorry, Paul). Currently residing in Orlando, Florida, I am surrounded by lots of sports teams that are constantly changing uniform parts, so that is much to my liking.
Uni Watch is my first stop every weekday morning. It’s a great mix of uniforms, pop culture, and trolling. My screen name, Dumb Guy, simply portrays my love of the simple, the easy, the not-overthought, and the silly one-liner. Oh, and I’ve been a drummer for 40+ years.
Thanks, Jon. I appreciate all your contributions (I love typing your surname when I credit you in the Ticker — consonant, o, consonant, o, consonant, o, consonant, consonant o, consonant!). Thanks for helping to make Uni Watch a better place!
Do you want to be featured in “Unmasking the Commenters”? If so, send me a photo and a quick paragraph about yourself. You don’t have to reveal your real name, and the photo doesn’t have to show your face, but you must include a photo to be considered. Send everything this-a-way.
PermaRec update: The latest entry on Permanent Record is about Finding Vivian Maier, the new documentary film about a 26-year-old Chicago writer who acquired a set of old photo negatives that had been salvaged from a delinquent storage locker (including the photo shown at right) and realized he’d stumbled upon the work of a major unknown artist. It’s an amazing story — check it out here.
Live event reminder: Tomorrow night I’ll be conducting a discussion with longtime Uni Watch reader Matthew Algeo about his latest book, Pedestrianism, which is about how competitive walking became a spectator sport craze in the late 1800s. Matthew, as you may recall, is the same guy who wrote the definitive book about the Steagles, among other fine works. We’ll be discussing Pedestrianism at the Word bookstore in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, 7pm. See you there.
’Skins Watch: Can’t make it up: The guy Daniel Snyder chose to head his new Native American assistance foundation was the subject of a federal investigation into a “defective” contract that cost the Bureau of Indian Affairs nearly $1 million (from Tommy Turner).
Baseball News: Longtime Uni Watch pal Tyler Kepner has written a very amusing piece about how today’s MLB autographs are illegible. … Check out this belt. That’s Jerry Lyscio, a pitcher with the Astros’ Florida State League team in Cocoa in 1966. Keith Olbermann wonders if the belt was rendered in Astros colors. It’s possible, but I kinda doubt that it was a team-issued belt — looks more like a personal belt that he grabbed in a pinch. … You knew this already, but here’s an article about how Derek Jeter’s retirement will mark the end of single-digit uni numbers for the Yankees (from Chris Flinn). … An Australian’s explanation of baseball includes the observation that everyone wears pajamas (from Brian Crago). … Remember David Firestone’s recent guest-written entry about the late-1950s Senators’ 3-D uni numbers? I have a theory concerning that number design,” says David. “I’m trying to find a quote, or a press release, or a newspaper article concerning the publicly stated reason for the Senators switching uniforms prior to the 1956 season. So far I have had no luck, so I am pleading for help from the Uni Watch community.” If you’d like to help David with this research project, contact him here. … The Marlins have schedule their home uniforms by day of the week for the whole season. Hmmm, is it good to have a set protocol like that, or is it bad to eliminate any chance for surprise, superstition, and spontaneity? (Thanks, Phil.) … Also from Phil, this odd historical tidbit: In 1916, the Cubs had a live Cub on hand for Opening Day. … Oklahoma State wore solid orange yesterday. “Very close to an I-35 clean-up crew,” notes Vince Regan. ”¦ Cool story about some SF Giants jerseys that got repurposed for minor league use and then became a hit on Antiques Roadshow (from Kyle Sawyer). ”¦ Michale Hersch was watching a Reds/Indians spring training game and noticed that both teams’ respective “C” logos were painted on the grass in foul territory. “I was puzzled by why a team would paint the visitor’s logo on the field, especially for spring training, so I did a little research and learned that the Indians and Reds share spring training facilities,” he says. “I also learned that there are other teams that share spring stadiums as well. Do those teams also paint two logos? I’ve never seen it done before, although I don’t watch too many spring games. Also, I noticed a discrepancy between the on-field logos that the Tigers use behind home plate at Joker Marchant Stadium (where they use the jersey D) and Comerica Park (where they use the cap D).” ”¦ Speaking of the Tigers’ logo, check out the odd version of it that appears in this ad, which ran in today’s Detroit Free Press (from Glenn Victor).
NFL News: The Saints apparently have their own official ice cubes, which is fine by me because it means more exposure for the excellent Sir Saint logo (from Bob Kile). ”¦ NOB typo alert! That’s Giants offensive lineman Tom Mullen — no “s” — from a Sept. 18, 1977 game against Washington (from Steve Kraljic).
Hockey News: Sharks goalie Annti Niemi apparently wasn’t wearing team-issue socks under his pads for last Thursday night’s game against the Jets. I know many goalies do this, but it’s still interesting to see (photo by Clinton Brown, who was attending the game). … “I’m getting caught up on the awesome Canadian TV show Trailer Park Boys,” says intern Mike Chamernik. “In the season four premiere, Ricky and Bubbles wore makeshift hockey jerseys for their jobs as the Trailer Park Supervisor (Ricky, with the ‘C’) and Assistant Trailer Park Supervisor (Bubbles, with the ‘A’). The captaincy designations were a nice touch.”
Soccer News: “Sunday was the happiest day of the World Cup year here in Colombia,” says Fernando Cardenas. “That’s because today we finally got our Panini sticker albums. I doubt it is this way in the States but here in South America (and I believe in some parts of Europe, definitely Italy) we fill this baby up with religious devotion. You can’t walk alone on the street without seeing someone trading stickers they got twice for stickers they need. They are mass-produced by the Italian multinational Panini and distributed in a somewhat similar fashion to baseball cards, except you paste them into an album.” ”¦ The Urawa Reds were forced to play a match behind closed doors last week after a fan displayed a racist banner, leading to the eerie spectacle of a game being played in an empty stadium (from Yusuke Toyoda). ”¦ Also from Yusuke: On Sunday Liverpool replaced its usual jersey sponsor, Standard Chartered, with the bank’s anti-blindness charity, Seeing Is Believing.
NBA News: The Celtics honored the Boston Fire Department prior to last night’s game against the Bulls by wearing these shooting shirts, and head coach Brad Stevens wore a fire department patch during the game (thanks, Phil).
College Hoops News: Reader Derek Widner notes that Saturday night’s Wisconsin/Arizona game featured the unusual uni format of the home team wearing its location name and the road team wearing its team name. … New York Post columnist Phil Mushnick turned on the recent UCLA/Florida game and wasn’t sure which team was UCLA because where was the baby blue? (From Seth Horowitz.) ”¦ Hmmm, check out these odd basketball uniforms. They’re from this LG/NCAA commercial (from Alex Allen).
Grab Bag: Stephen F. Austin University has suspended use of its new logo (from David Wilson). … Oooh, look what the old Madison Square Garden marquee looked like in 1961. … I might be in favor of jersey sponsorships if they were all as endearing as this one. … “The Supercross series stopped in St. Louis over the weekend,” reports Sean Clancy. “Racer and Missouri native Jimmy Albertson wore this Cardinals-themed lid, and Vince Friese at ‘St.L’ logos on his.” … Serious pandering move by Maryland lacrosse, which waved the bloody flag yesterday (thanks, Phil). … Here’s Roger Federer talking about tennis attire and rackets (thanks, Brinke). … David Firestone has documented the various appearances of American sports logos on The Benny Hill Show.
It’s Opening Day, so I’m confused why the CotD pic is still football . . .
Ah, good point — will change shortly!
link
Over the years I’ve seen a few drum-based comments on here. Makes me wonder how many drummers read Uni-Watch.
I’ve done a bit, but it’s been a while.
Commenting drummers…would one call them beat writers?
Ba-Dum crash!
Cool pic’!
Cheers. Drummer for life, right here! That picture in Jon’s bio made me very happy. I’ve noticed fellow drummers are really into aesthetics. Maybe due to basing everything on patterns / creating textured rhythms? That would be my non-scientific guess…
(not a regular commenter yet, though, so not sure if this counts).
A couple of errata:
No link in the second NFL item.
Looks like more than one hockey item has been mashed together.
Fixed.
No link to the NOB typo in the football section.
Fixed.
You know, with the matching brown caps and sleeves, those Padres camouflage uniforms don’t look too bad.
As much as I hate camo, the Padres should just make that their primary look. At this point, they *own* the whole military appreciation thing and it’s certain a more distinctive look than their primary unis.
Agreed.
At least they’re wearing brown, then.
Agreed, the camo look is more distinctive and recognizable than the bland sand look…which goes to show just how boring that look is. I don’t find the camo disrespectful or derogatory or anything, I just think it’s somewhat lazy. I get that it is meant to honor all servicemen, but considering SD’s deep roots with the Navy, I think a uniform inspired by the dress whites would be a better choice. Still, it’s better than the last few Padre’s home looks, IMO. Also have to agree with Paul on wearing the primary on the opener…then again, I still think the season should begin in Cincinnati.
My thoughts exactly. As much as I am not a fan of camouflage on sports uniforms, the uniforms they wore last night, at the very least, have tons more character than those soulless navy blue and white duds they normally wear. There’s just something right about the Padres wearing brown. And based on the number of fans wearing retro brown Padres apparel that ESPN showed on the broadcast last night, it looks like I’m not the only one who thinks that way.
I’d like to see the Padres embrace brown again. They seem to go from way-out-there (solid yellow; brown and yellow) to totally characterless (today’s uniforms) with very little in between, with the possible exceptions of their “sand” road uniforms that they unwisely turned to dull gray, and their brown-and-white home look in the late ’80s.
Make the camo the default at home, with brown cap and sleeves and socks. It does look like a uniform, unlike a lot of gimmicky alts.
i was born and raised in san diego, my dad and i were sitting along the first base line for game 4 against the yankees, we campaigned hard for prop c, and we were season ticket holders for almost 15 years. (notice the past tense on that one.)
but i have to admit, it was never the same after they dropped the orange and the pinstripes and went to just navy and white. it got worse when they went to brewers-lite, and with the obsession with camo it’s at the point now where i just can’t bring myself to watch them. the fact they’ve been ordinary at best for the last few years hasn’t helped, but even when they had success in the NL West in the mid-2000s the spark just wasn’t there. camo every once in a while was ok, but the way the padres have just allowed themselves to get swallowed whole by the jingoism wave since moving to petco is infuriating.
we play like a joke, we look like a joke, we are a joke. quadruple-A? in our wildest dreams.
rant over. bring back the brown.
Re: Live Event Reminder: “Pedestrianism” is missing the R.
That is, the linked one – the second usage is correct.
Fixed.
Regarding the #99 and #00 differential, I’d long been under the impression that while #0 represented zero, #00 effectively represented 100. I think it came up when the Celtics retired Robert Parish’s #00; the Celtics official site lists #00 at the end of the list of retired numbers, which are presented in sequential order.
Then again, Benito Santiago wore #09, and that represented nine and not 109, so I suppose that impression was mistaken.
Perhaps it’s a sport-by-sport or even a team-by-team thing?
Perhaps it’s just however the team wanted to sort them. I have no clue. It’s an interesting, though. Personally, I’d list 0 and 00 at the beginning. Never thought of 00 being 100.
On Japanese baseball rosters, where many teams have both 0 and 00, 00 is listed before regular 0, as if it were somehow smaller: aren’t there needles or wire or something like that where sizes go downward with …2, 1, 0, 00, 000…?
Then again, the Seibu Lions once gave out numbers 01 to 09 to on-field staff members, and they listed those after 99, as if they were 101 to 109. So it could work either way. But I feel like “00 equals 0, but in a tie-break is smaller” is most natural.
Women’s clothing sizes work that way as well – 00 is smaller than 0.
I’m guessing the greatest differential between a substitute and the replaced player has happened with Australia’s national soccer team’s Asian Cup qualification. Because of a quirky rule that required a unique number for every player, there were players whose link.
I think this can be topped. In Japanese baseball, the “junior varsity” minor league team doesn’t repeat numbers with the big club, and these days they’re giving out three digits to the developmental players. Norihiro Nakamura, after leaving the Dodgers, wore #205 while working his way back to the Chunichi Dragons. So if he ever changed places with a #0 or 1 or 2, he’d have the record.
Only the Dragons use the 200s; everyone else sticks to the low 100s.
Almost forgot: the Giants use leading zeroes. Check out link.
link.
That’s pretty amazing, especially the leading zeroes.
I wonder if 007 is a coveted number in the Giants farm system.
What on Earth are you talking about in the hockey item? That sentence doesn’t parse correctly, and the image is unavailable.
Fixed.
I’ve always been intrigued with empty stadium games. In 2008, the Nashville Sounds (MiLB AAA) played the Iowa Cubs in an empty stadium after major floods in the area.
The reports of the empty-stadium Urawa Reds game were pretty interesting. With no fams making noise, you could hear everything the players and coaches were saying. And the visiting team opened up their stadium and showed the game on their big screen, with all their fans out in force and cheering like mad.
It’s especially staggering because the Reds are known for their link (though I suppose that was a contributing factor that led to the closed match).
Squiggly autographs are one reason I got back into baseball card collecting.
I started going to Capitals practices and getting autographs on a mini hockey helmet. After a while, I realized I was forgetting who some of them were. So I went and bought the Capitals team set of hockey cards so then I’d have the name and picture with each autograph. That next summer, I figured I’d try to find out how to get baseball autographs, so I got the Nationals team set. Then eventually, I just started buying packs again.
In my opinion, cards are the best for autographs because you won’t forget who the person is. And you can collect a lot of them and they don’t take up nearly as much space as other things… like baseballs or bats.
Years ago, when Angel Guzman was a Cubs prospect, I went to a show and got his autograph on a bunch of stuff, indcluding a baseball. After the show, I had to reference a signed photo because on the baseball, I couldn’t tell 1) which end was up, and 2) who had signed it, since the signature looked nothing like the name Angel Guzman.
The photo of the old Madison Square Garden is just fantastic. I remember that so well. Noted that the marquee is promoting an NBA doubleheader to be held the following day. There is a good chance I attended that one. Back then my family regularly got tickets from my uncle to Knicks games and my Dad especially loved those two-for-one affairs.
One thing to note is that the picture is acutally from February 1, 1965, not 1961 as originally indicated in the ticker.
2/1/65 was the only time George Chuvalo fought Floyd Patterson in their careers. It was even named The Ring‘s Fight of the Year for 1965.
Also, basketball-reference.com verifies that there was a Knicks-76ers and Warriors-Hawks double-header at MSG for 2/2/65. If it had been 1961, the Warriors would’ve still been in Philadelphia, which would’ve implied they were playing two games in one day!
There were a lot of neutral-site NBA games back in the day…
Sorry, that would be Knicks-Warriors and 76ers-Hawks. I inadvertently transposed those teams…
That 1966 pic of Jerry Lyscio’s belt looks like a pretty standard d-ring canvas belt from the day, like these: link
Also, ‘Finding Vivian Maier’ looks really amazing. Thanks for the tip Paul!
Re: belt – Looks like it might have a more standard buckle and holes etc…but still the same style belt strap I mentioned. Could be the Astros colors though…
That patch Brad Stevens is wearing is gigantic. And it also seems to be coming off.
Why no “shame on them” directed towards the Dodgers? Were they not wearing alternates as well?
I don’t think this unwritten rule about what teams wear on opening day actually exists. Normally unwritten rule violations are met with widespread disapproval, yet teams have been wearing alternates on opening day/night for years and only a handful of people have complained. And I get that it has to do with uniforms and thus not everyone would be so keen, but usually unwritten rules in baseball are ones that are agreed upon by everyone who watches the game, not limited to a certain portion of fans.
Why no “shame on them” directed towards the Dodgers? Were they not wearing alternates as well?
At least they were wearing grays, not a softball top. (Of course, they don’t have a softball top, which is to their credit.)
I don’t think this unwritten rule about what teams wear on opening day actually exists.
This is going to go down as one of the great examples of double-talk ever!
“This is going to go down as one of the great examples of double-talk ever!”
It’s an unwritten-and-unstated-and-super-top-secret rule. Probably initiated by the Illuminati. Those guys hate dark colors.
Violators will be subject to double secret probation. (I’ve always wondered, at least since 1979, is it the probation or the secrecy that is doubled?)
“…and that foot is me!”
Paul, the padres wearing the camo uni set on Sunday has been going on a long time, it is a local TRADITION. Just like wearing stirrups is on a baseball uniform. I know you are against the padres honoring the local military tradition, but it certainly isnt ‘shame’ worthy. Just say, ‘I dont like camo and they should have worn white cause that’s traditional.’ Well here in SD, camo on Sundays is the new tradition and honoring those who served (including former broadcaster Jerry Coleman, a WWII/Korea vet) never goes out of style. You can say you think the team is pandering all you want, but until you have attended a Sunday home game, seen the tradition, you cant cast ‘shame’ on them.
You’re missing my point: I didn’t say they were pandering, and I’m aware of Coleman’s military record. But Opening Day is a day to wear your home whites — your dress uniform, not your fatigues. That’s a tradition that goes back a lot longer than the Padres’ Sunday use of camouflage. I would have said “Shame on them” if they’d worn their navy tops, too.
You may think the team tradition supersedes the sport tradition, and that’s your prerogative. I disagree, and that’s my prerogative.
Paul, I am not disagreeing with that you are not allowed your own opinion. I am disagreeing with the use of the word ‘shame’. You may have said it in a less than serious manner, but the wearing of these uniforms, is not a shameful thing. There are a lot of shameful things pro athletes and teams do, but sticking to a local tradition, that may trump an unwritten longer national tradition is not one of them.
And technically, last night was not ‘Opening Day’ for the Pads. According to the MLB marketing machine, it was ‘Opening Night’. Tomorrow is ‘Opening Day’ for them. But that is another whole argument by itself….
Hey Intern Mike,
Nice to see another TPB fan. Canadiana at its finest! :o)
Would be great to see C “loos” on the field, but it probably should be “logos.” (And not Cee-Los either.)
Boy, lots of typos and mistakes today — sorry, people.
Now fixed.
Geez, you show up late for work ONE day and “you get yer picture on the cover of the Rolling Stone!!” Well, OK, the cover of Uni Watch!!
1916 real Cub on the field…. It looks like they are trying to get him to run the bases!! Ahhh, the pre-PETA era.
S_l_m_ns_n & c_l_n_sc_py I’d like to buy an “O”, Pat.
Even better: the town of Oconomowoc, Wisconsin.
I have one of those names where I grew up spelling it to people with a certain rhythm:
S,O – L,O – M,O,N – S,O,N
If someone spells it back to me differently my brain explodes!
Believe it or not there is another nice Swedish boy with my exact same name!!
Can we get the details on your kit? DW?
This kit is part of my 2002 Ludwig Classic Maple:
8, 10, 12, 13, 16, 18, 22 Silver Sparkle
(only the 10, 12, 16, 22 on this kit)
5.5 x 14 Ludwig maple SD Purple Sparkle
Zildjian Cymbals:
14 Quick Beat HH, 17 crash, 17 K crash, 21 rock ride, 12 splash.
12 Wuhan china
Way too many more drums and cymbals at home.
Oops! I’m a liar! This kit is 10, 12, 16, 22 PDP (DW’s baby line).
The 1916 picture of the real cub at their home opener I notice people watching the game from building tops,
looks like that could be a century old tradition.
I’m wondering about that uniform that the player (coach?) in the picture is wearing.
The 1916 Cubs supposedly had wishbone-C-with-walking-bear on the jerseys, both home and road. What’s with this “CHICAGO” home jersey?
That ad from the Free Press isn’t using an official Tigers logo (the lack of a TM is one sign). It looks to me like they just pulled a “D” from a generic blackletter font. A lot of the free ones have the upper right of the “D” heavily rounded like that.
Doubly ironic that the BBB is using that generic letter as a “mark of quality”.
Anyone else notice that the Marlins have two different pairs of white pants? One with orange piping and one with black piping. Not one pair of regular home pants and one throwback (i.e. Twins, Phillies, Cardinals) but two different standard white pants. Looking at pictures from last season it appears this has been a thing for a while.
link
link
Given what we’ve discussed about the Dodgers wearing two different road pants is this in the same vein?
My question at this point is if teams are wearing more than one white and one grey pair why don’t we see monochrome? For example why don’t the Royals just go full powder blue?
Permanent Record! I have the Vivian Maier book and I’ve been anticipating the movie for a while now. Get to Seattle already!
The Vivian Meier story is terrific. Those are tough-minded wonderful photos. Great choice, Paul.
Been a while since I checked out Permanent Record. I picked a very good day to do so.
Thanks, guys. It’s a really amazing story. If you get a chance to see the movie, definitely see it!
Jeff Garlin was on the radio (WGN) this morning talking about the film, he’s one of the behind-the-scenes guy. Two mentions of this in 2 hours? Means I have to see it.
I saw the 20/20 (maybe) story on her not too long ago. So cool.
I love how she included herself in some photos too.
Wonderful!!
Now tell us how you really feel about Camo, Paul. Also, didn’t realize you were assigned as the Bringer of Shame; congrats on that, your mother must be proud.
The Padres have, for nearly the last decade, worn their military unis for all home Sunday games. I respect them for not changing that just because the ESPN cameras showed up.
For all intents and purposes, SD is treating Tuesday’s game as it’s true Opening Day with all of it’s pomp & circumstance. I’m sure they’ll be wearing white, and if then don’t you’ll have the joy of casting down more scorn and shame from your throne.
See thread above where this topic is addressed.
And my Mom is proud of Uni Watch. I’ll tell her you said hi.
Joking and insults aside (I’ve been a long-time fan and reader of UniWatch), I agree with you that Opening Day should mean white unis for all home teams. Opening Day also usually meant day games (until ESPN got their grubby hands on it). The Padres are treating Tuesday (a day game) as their true “opening day.” If they don’t wear white, I’ll eat a Taco Bell SD hat. (Please don’t hold me to this).
A Yankee could still wear a single-digit number…zero.
” … The Urawa Reds were forced to play a match behind closed doors last week after a fan displayed a racist banner, leading to the eerie spectacle of a game being played in an empty stadium (from Yusuke Toyoda)…”
Interesting that the offending banner (“Japanese Only”) was written in English. So, Yusuke: 1) Can we presume that using English means that the sign-hangers wanted to draw international attention?; 2) Have Japanese fans ever chanted racist slogans, etc?
In that Tom Mullen photo, doesn’t it look like the “Mullen” is centered (without the “S”)? Kind of suggests that maybe they had it right the first time and then added the “S” later?
I agree!
I noticed that many, many of the Giants’ NOBs during the 1977 season were off-centered.
There is still one more single digit yankee number… 0.
Can we presume that using English means that the sign-hangers wanted to draw international attention?
English is the go-to language for hooligans wishing to make news. Consider Euro 2012, and the match between Poland and Russia; the Russian fans smuggled in a gigantic tifo with “This is Russia” written in huge all-caps English (adding to the provocation was the fact the match was held on a Polish national holiday). UEFA ended up fining the Russian Football Federation and putting them on double secret probation or something.
As for Urawa Reds, they became famous (or infamous) for being the first Japanese team of any sort whose fans actually boo the opposition (a breach of Japanese decorum). It’s news to me that their fans had a political bent (far-right Japanese politics are strongly anti-gaijin). They wouldn’t be the first club whose fan base is politically homogenous (see Livorno’s left wing-communist fans, or Lazio’s right wing-fascist supporters).
Actually, in that particular case, it wasn’t meant to attract international attention (or any wide attention at all). Apparently, some ultras (there are thousands of little supporter groups) were upset that foreigners were sitting in the ultras section, and in their minds, acting like tourists and disrupting the choreography/singing.
Which seems innocuous enough (if incredibly stupid), but a few Urawa ultra groups were link. The group responsible for the “JAPANESE ONLY” banner has been kicked out, but I imagine the anti-Korean groups are still in the stands.
link
New/old/recently promoted Indians logo on power rankings.
Paul,
The link to my email address is wrong, it’s link not link@gmail.com
David, I apologize. As you can see in today’s comments, I made a lot of typos and other errors in today’s entry. Ugh.
It’s now fixed. FWIW, nobody has contacted me to say that their email to you had bounced, so I don’t think anyone has attempted to use that link yet. Again, my apologies for the mix-up.
Tis Monday…we are all like this…don’t get yourself down…
It’s really not uncommon to see 2 logos on the field during Spring Training at the parks where clubs share the facilities.
Typically, one team’s logo is consistently found in one spot, while the other is consistently found at another.
Seattle and the Padres have been doing it for years. Nice facility there. I do miss Chewie’s…loved the Nachorritos…..
Camelback Ranch – home to the Dodgers and White Sox – has the teams’ logos right next to each other on the main scoreboard.
link
The logos are permanently affixed year round, as can be seen from this Arizona Fall League photo of the scoreboard.
link
Sorry Mets fans, but this had to be brought out…
http://youtu.be/okXhAC78d4Q
Cubs wearing alts on Opening Day.
Ugh! These alts are so lame!
Cubs in their new gray alts.
FYI, I’m using adblock for this site for as long as you keep that ridiculous Skins Watch thing going.
Pirates in black. They are now jinxed and will start a new streak of 20 losing seasons.
link
I’m again in the minority. I love the Bucs black alts. I just wish they weren’t worn as often as they are.
But I’m not really a fan of the new Cubs road alt. The “Cubs” just looks to generically clunky for me. Then again the “Cuba” road is still my all time favorite Cubbie road look.
If the Cubs would have kept their traditional-to-themselves distinctive rounded font, I might potentially be lukewarm to it, writing it off as wholly unnecessary. BUT, as is, to steal a line from The Jeff, those new grays make the Cubs look like an unlicensed video game version of themselves. *sigh.*
Rangers in red on Opening Day. The unwritten rule is being erased (sob).
Hey Paul, the Phillies have a black circle patch on their chest with the letters CB on it, any info on that?
Explained here:
link
I totally missed that news — my bad. (Found that tweet by googling “Phillies CB patch” after seeing your post.)
The Rockies and Diamondbacks share a facility in Arizona, and use a hybrid logo as seen here for the field, with the snake forming the mountain peak.
link
Can somebody Photoshop a love child between Chief Wahoo and Mr. Redlegs? I don’t know whether I’d be offended in abject horror or whether I’d laugh at the ridiculousness, and I’m not even from Ohio!
link
Not sure how this failed to be among the horrors unleashed from the vaults in The Cabin in the Woods.
Error in the Jeter article from the ticker…the Yankees DID amazingly give out Dimaggio’s number while he was in the army…to first baseman Nick Etten.
This was in the ticker about a month ago
link
In 2010, panini had a virtual world cup sticker album (sponsored by a cola beverage company).
I hope they do it again.
The Harmon Killebrew story in that autograph article is amazing.
I love the guy in the Vivian Maier photo with the Ballentine beer can upside down.
Just saw a picture of Verlander’s cleats on the Baseball Tonight twitter feed…wonder if he’ll have to change those soon with reebok rebranding?
Paul, totally off any topic here today but I got watching the Australian National Rugby League on TV this weekend. Turns out, other than the league logo, most all the other logos, read ads, on the field are all digitally generated. Only way to tell was when they cut to the lower cameras from the main cameras because then the ad logos disappeared. How long before this ad creep ends up on our pro and college sports fields?
Back on topic, I will be going to Australia end of April to visit clients in Sydney. I know a few of them went to the baseball game. I will have to get their impressions. One in an email already mentioned the pyjamas but I pointed out cricket players also wear long pants though they are designed as long pants for the most part.
Great article at SBNation about uniform rendering in video games (mostly the new MLB game). Addresses the “screaming Brave” and Chief Wahoo logos as well. link
For the ticker, Facebook maps the most-liked MLB team in every county in America:
link
Two things surprise me: How little of Virginia is dominated by either the Nats or the Braves; and That the Nats are the most-liked team in any counties in Maryland at all.
I wouldn’t be surprised at all about the Ex-Expos’ (oops, I mean, the Nats’) reach in Maryland! I’d be willing to guess there are plenty of (a) former Senators fans who welcomed a new DC team, (b) commuters from Bethesda and Landover who would in fact be domiciled in a Maryland county as opposed to DC, and (c) people who just flat out don’t want to give Peter Angelos any more money.
I’m confused about the Yankees uniform number article. Is #0 not considered a jersey number? It’s been worn in baseball and currently, Omar Quintanilla is wearing 0 for the Mets.
I think it’s generally assumed (and quite accurately) that the Yankees would sooner add NOBs and solid-colored alt jerseys than use zero as a uni number.
Curious they wouldn’t use #00 or #0 since they have a lot of retired numbers and will be retiring more in the future (2, 6, 20, 21, 46, 51?). Thank you for the reply Paul.
Red Sox’ revamped roadies look great on the field.
I generally like the Permanent Record stuff, but that Vivian Maier? That one I loved. Really loved.
How many great artists are hidden among us? Ms. Maier’s story reminds me of “Census”, the poem by Wislawa Szymborska:
We three billion judges
have problems of our own,
our own inarticulate rabble,
railroad stations, bleachers, protests and processions,
vast numbers of remote streets, floors, and walls.
We pass each other once for all time in department stores,
shopping for a new pitcher.
Homer is working in the census bureau.
No one knows what he does in his spare time.
Oh! Uniwatch! You do provoke Deep Thoughts….
I’ll have to check Szymborska’s work out, now, after seeing that poem. Very cool.
That last line was mine, not the great Szymborska’s. Although I suspect if she had been a UniWatch reader, she would have thought camo sports uniforms were asinine.
Versions of the Olde English D like the one that appear in that Freep ad are prettty common in Detroit when companies want to advertise using the Tigers but don’t want to pay for the Tigers logo. They just find a different Olde English font and use their D. I’m pretty sure my mom has a hat with that specific one on it.
I guess its also worth mentioning that a lot of the time when advertisements or whatever use non-Tigers Olde English D’s, they’re not even really trying to get you to think about the Tigers, just Detroit. People associate any old looking D with Detroit. I’m not sure there is any team in sports whose logo is also the de facto logo for their city the way that the D is for Detroit. There are tons of people who are not baseball fans at all and will never claim to be who have gear or even ink with the D just because they like Detroit. Really not uncommon at all.
Glad to see the Cardinals wearing the navy road caps. We’ll have to see if they go back to this full time, or continue to do the garbage where they let the opposing team dictate their uniform choices and only wear navy road caps when the home team is wearing red caps.
The red caps on the road were an eyesore last year.
I, too, thought the Cardinals looked spectacular today.
“Eyesore”? In that, they looked like the actual Cardinals? I suppose if one hates the Cardinals, the navy caps are awesome. But assuming one has some respect for the Cardinals as a team, and understands the history of the name, then on the contrary, the red caps on the road are infinitely superior and to be preferred.
Given that I’m pretty much maximally anti-Cards, I suppose I should join you in celebrating the blue caps, in that they represent a betrayal of the very idea of the Cardinals.
History? The Cardinals wore navy caps for decades. The navy cap with the red bill was worn from the late 1930’s until 1959. From 1959 until the mid 60’s they wore the all navy cap similar to the one worn today.
The red cap was introduced in the 60’s. They brought back the navy road cap in 1992 for their 100th anniversary season.
There is more of a history in navy caps than red for the Cardinals.
The red cap just doesn’t look right with the gray unis IMO
Great submission regarding the Antiques Roadshow article.What a find!
Regarding the unusual uni format of the home team wearing its location name and the road team wearing its team name.
The unusual part shouldn’t be the home/away matchup. It’s unusual for college teams to wear their mascot names in place of the school names, similar to college football helmets rarely using the cartoonish mascot logo instead of the school’s primary word/letter logo.
I’m guessing there’s no rules against this, but maybe an invisible line that the latest manufacturers have crossed, with the latest “sic ’em bears” jersey as going too far. It’s also just another step toward erasing the difference between “amateur” and professional, but that’s another topic.