About a month ago I mentioned that I had to go see a podiatrist, and that he turned out to be uni-aware, which was nice. I had to see him again yesterday, and the first thing he said to me was, “My daughter says the Marlins are wearing the ugliest uniforms she’s ever . . . → Read More: Long-Neglected Accessory Finally Comes Out of Mothballs]]>

About a month ago I mentioned that I had to go see a podiatrist, and that he turned out to be uni-aware, which was nice. I had to see him again yesterday, and the first thing he said to me was, “My daughter says the Marlins are wearing the ugliest uniforms she’s ever seen. I haven’t seen them play yet this year — are they really that bad?” So we spent a few minutes talking about the Marlins, and at one point I said, “They actually have this orange cap that they haven’t even worn yet. Maybe your daughter will like that — or maybe she’ll think it makes them look even worse.”

Fast forward about 10 hours. I’m at last night’s Mets/Brewers game with my friend Emily, who’s driven down from Connecticut to watch the game with me. The game is a blowout, so we’re talking about pretty much anything other than baseball, and I begin to mention my trip to the podiatrist. Just then, the scoreboard shows a highlight from the Marlins game — Giancarlo Stanton crashing into the fence while making a sensational catch in right field — and I notice that the Marlins are finally wearing the orange cap. I will now forever associate this cap with my podiatrist.

One added bit of weirdness: Although the Marlins wore the orange caps, they went with black batting helmets. Very odd, especially since they have orange helmets.

Last night marked the Marlins’ 36th game of the season, incidentally. I wonder what the record is for the longest a team has gone before wearing a new uniform element for the first time. (The Mets still haven’t worn their black jersey this season, even though it’s technically part of their wardrobe, but of course they’ve worn in many times in past seasons.)

Meanwhile, since some of you have asked, I’ve been going to the podiatrist because I have a mild case of bunions. They don’t look too severe (read: I can’t ditch my writing career and make a fortune as a circus freak, at least not yet), and I have zero discomfort, but the Dr. Uni-Aware said I needed orthotics to keep the situation from getting worse. So he made a cast of my feet — an interesting experience — and now I’m fully orthoticized.

Such a funny word — bunions. Bullwinkle had one, and it could forecast the weather, but not mine. Dr. Uni-Aware says they’re mostly genetic (unless you’re in the habit of wearing super-restrictive high-heeled shoes, which I’m not), so I was probably pre-programmed to get them. I was worried he’d tell me that I’d have to stop wearing Chucks and start wearing some kind of godawful orthopedic footwear, in which case I was fully prepared to say, “Nah, just amputate my feet instead, I’ll make do with bloody stumps, no problem,” but he said Chucks + the orthotics = fine. Phew.

I have to go back and see Dr. Uni-Aware one more time in a few weeks (sort of a 100-mile check-up for the orthotics). I look forward to discussing the Marlins’ orange caps with him.

Cue the Allen Iverson monologue again: The NFL Equipment shield keeps showing up on jerseys and shorts in NFL rookie training camps (even though the new Nike game jerseys just have the basic NFL logo), leading many readers to speculate that the players have been wearing old Reebok stock with the vector swapped out for the swoosh.

I finally got around to asking Nike about this, and here’s what publicist Brian Strong told me: “The NFL shield is reserved for anything worn on gameday (including uniform, sideline, etc). The NFL Equipment logo is placed on anything worn outside of gameday (training, practice, workouts, lifting, etc). So what you’re seeing in training camp is definitely not old inventory.”

So there you have it.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Here’s an overview of the 2012 Premier League kits that have revealed so far (from George Chilvers). … In a related item, Chelsea decided to wear their 2012-13 kit for the last game of the 2011-12 season (from Matthew Denver). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Good piece on this season’s Texas Rangers throwbacks. … Also from yesterday: Sad news for NOB enthusiasts, as Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink has retired. … FNOB alert! That’s Brice Queener (duh) of the Hamilton Nationals of Major League Lacrosse. “His younger brother, all-star Brett Queener, is on the same team, but Brett just has ‘Queener’ — no first name or initial or anything,” says John Sheehan. … The Padres will be wearing 1978 throwbacks this Friday. Nice, but the NOBs should be vertically arched, not radially. Disappointing. … One of Mike Francesa’s “the big difference nowadays” hobby horses is that books are written about certain athletes before they’ve accomplished anything of note. He did a long riff on this when a book about Jeremy Lin was published about two months ago, and he went off on it again yesterday when he learned that there’s a new book about Bryce Harper. I’d be the first to agree that it’s kind of silly to publish a 340-page book about a 19-year-old who’s had something like 60 big league plate appearances, but it’s even sillier — not to mention disingenuous — for Francesa not to realize that the real difference in sports media from, say, 30 years ago is that we now have geeks who actually get paid to write about uniforms radio stations completely devoted to sports 24/7, blowhard sports radio hosts who blather on about nothing for hours at a clip, and sports radio shows that are simulcast on cable teevee (now there’s some compelling television). In other words, Francesa himself is a huge component of the hype machine he loves to critique. I don’t begrudge him his success — hell, more power to him — but it would be nice if he had even a shred of self-awareness about being part of the problem. … New uniforms for two Omaha high school marching bands (from Sean Gierke). … Mariners reliever Charlie Furbush has probably been teased about his surname for decades. And the kerning on his NOB doesn’t exactly help (screen shot by Laurence Holland). … Here’s what the yellow, green, an polka dot jerseys will look like for this year’s Tour de France (from Kenny Loo).

Click to enlarge

Nowadays every stadium has a high-def color jumbotron. Back in the 1970s and ’80s, though, most ballparks had conventional one-color scoreboards that displayed dot-matrix images. An artist named Peter Chen has created a series of portraits based on that old scoreboard style (you can see some . . . → Read More: He Shoots, He Score(board)s!]]>

Click to enlarge

Nowadays every stadium has a high-def color jumbotron. Back in the 1970s and ’80s, though, most ballparks had conventional one-color scoreboards that displayed dot-matrix images. An artist named Peter Chen has created a series of portraits based on that old scoreboard style (you can see some of them above; there are more here). I really like them, so I asked him to give a little summary of the project, which he happily provided:

As someone who thinks a lot about baseball as seen through an artistic lens, I recently began pondering about the jumbotron images and animations I had grown up seeing (as well as mimicked in ’90s baseball video games). This gave me an urge to create player portraits similar to those flashed on the scoreboard during Hank Aaron’s 715th home run and Pete Rose’s 4192nd hit. Specifically, I wanted to create players from the ’70s and ’80s, who were the equivalent of superheroes to me when I was growing up.

The process starts with creating a black-and-white pixel-sized image in Photoshop. This is the most painstaking part of the process, as each pixel can significantly change a portrait. Once that’s completed, the image is imported into Illustrator and overlaid with a series of dots in grid format. The excess dots are removed from the grid, resulting in the final image.

The image is then printed in black onto black paper via a laser printer, which results in a black-on-black effect. Gold foil is then overlaid on top of the printed piece, and both are sent through a heat laminator. The heating process fuses the gold foil to the toner to create the final image. This is an affordable yet powerful method of printing metalics in a one-off fashion. Otherwise, it would surely be cost-prohibitive.

Interesting! Peter’s prints evoke very specific reactions in my mind. The Shea Stadium scoreboard never displayed this type of image, so I associate these portraits with the Phillies, the Pirates, maybe the Reds. As I list those teams, I realize I’m also listing donut-style stadiums that had artificial turf. When I see these images, that’s what I think of: cheesy, synthetic, ’70s-style plastic culture. Except I mean all of that in a good way, if that’s possible.

Peter sells these prints for $100 at his Etsy shop. He also has a series of really nice MLB paintings, which he sells on his web site. Great stuff all around.

Collector’s Corner

By Brinke Guthrie

I don’t feature too many game-worn items here at Collector’s Corner — not sure why. But here’s one that caught my eye: a pair of game-worn 1970s Dallas Cowboys pants. Certainly has the tell-tale blue-green color. But notice the number of player numbers scrawled inside. There’s 70 and 64, who must have been lineman. Then there’s 49, who was probably a running back.

In non-game used items:

• More Mays for your money! Open up your wallet for this three-foot-tall bobblehead of the Say Hey Kid.

• Here’s something you don’t often see: a ticket stub for a football doubleheader. [Anyone know more about this? — PL]

• Luv Ya Blue! Can’t miss with this inflatable little 1969 Oilers guy.

• Look at this complete set of late-1960s/early-1970s Fleer MLB stickers!

• Volpe alert! Here we have a nice set of 1960s Detroit Red Wings thermal cups.

• You can have a killer slumber party or camping trip with these 1970s NFL sleeping bags. Feels like a Sears item to me.

• This set of New Orleans Saints gumball helmets includes the rare black version.

Seen something on eBay or Etsy that you think would make good Collector’s Corner fodder? Send your submissions here, and you can follow Brinke on Twitter and Facebook.

Your feedback is hereby requested: I’ve been approached by some folks who are developing a new media/publishing platform for the iPad and iPhone (with other devices to follow later). Their business model is based on the notion that more and more people are reading content — newspapers, magazines, ebooks, etc. — on mobile devices. I’m a little out of my element here, because I work at home and therefore don’t lead a very mobile device-y life — I have an iPhone, but I almost never read anything on it except for email, and I don’t own an iPad (although I’m planning to buy one tomorrow, mainly because I think I ought to learn its ins and outs if I’m gonna write content for it).

I should specify that my relationship with these new media/publishing folks will not necessarily have anything to do with Uni Watch. At present, we’re mostly talking about some of my other creative projects (although Uni Watch may enter the mix). In any case, here are my questions for you folks: Do you own an iPad? What about your friends and family members — only the youngsters? Only the oldsters? Do you read stuff on it? Do you read Uni Watch on it? What about the iPhone — do you read on that? If you do read stuff on these devices, is any of that content paid, or is it all free? If it’s a mix, is there a marked difference between the quality of the paid content and the free content?

If you’re willing to share your thoughts regarding any of this (or about anything else relating to the iPad and iPhone as content delivery systems), I’m all ears. Big thanks in advance for helping to educate me on this subject.

Uni Watch News Ticker: The Browns wore white at home last season, but they’ll wear brown for at least some of their home games this year. “Also, the writer of that article, Tony Grossi, mentioned on the radio on Monday morning that the team is working on an alternate uniform for the 2013 season, but didn’t have any details on the color or look,” says Nick Hatch. … Justin Morneau is nursing a wrist injury, but that didn’t stop him from wearing eye black while sitting in the dugout the other day (from Marc Bauche). … According to this article, Johnny Damon is currently wearing No. 33 as a tribute to Trot Nixon (who wore that number with the Indians) and Jason Varitek (who wore it for the Red Sox). … “My fiancé and I are big Washington Capitals fans,” writes Robert Kuperberg. “Our wedding is going to be a bit hockey-themed, with chocolate hockey pucks as wedding favors and a Capitals jersey with our name on the back serving as the guest book. Also, I proposed to her on a hockey puck.” … I wrote an article on uniform advertising for Print, which is a graphic design magazine. Not much in the article that I haven’t said before here on this site, but here’s the link anyway, just in case you’re curious. … The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency is holding a contest to redesign its logo (which currently looks like this). Hunter Franks submitted this design. … Speaking of design contests, the Seibu Lions recently invited kids to design a uniform for the 100th anniversary of the Seibu Railways on a Lions uniform. Here’s the winning entry and Nike’s rendering of it (from Jeremy Brahm). … This photo of a guy dressed up as the Redskins logo has been ricocheting around the internet for a coupla days now. Anyone know the full story behind it? … Late-breaking eBay item: I loooovve the sash design on these old track uniforms. … Here are the WNBA uniforms for the upcoming season — Eastern Conference and Western Conference. “Not much change from last year,” says Kevin Brown. … There’s no softball in baseball! Or is there? That’s Marco Estrada of the Brewers, who was playing with a softball in the bullpen a few days ago (from Tim E. O’Brien). … Remember the Chargers’ unusual NOB format of having the first initial after the surname? Turns out the Browns did it too, at least once. That’s Mike Pruitt, on 9/27/81 (great find by Joe Wright). … New logo for the FIFA Under-20 World Cup (Jeremy Brahm again). … A member of Marty Hick’s croquet crew recently lost his father to cancer. So for their most recent match, they added a little strip of black electrical tape to each mallet handle. Very nice. … Can you guess which color Illinois State hoops is adding this fall? Hint: rhymes with gray (from Joel Hackler). … New basketball court design in the works for Georgia Tech. “They even consulted with ESPN about which paint colors show up well on TV, how lights can cause glare on certain surfaces, etc.,” says Britton Thomas. … For years the Phillies have had the little Liberty Bell icon on their stirrups, but not on their solid red socks. But now the Liberty Bell is also showing up on socks, but the one on the socks is positioned higher than the one on the stirrups. “I wonder if the equipment manager’s been sewing them on manually,” speculates Zach Carduner. … Special “30 years in Sydney” jumper for the Sydney Swans (from Leo Strawn).

Yesterday was MLB’s annual pink-out. You know the drill: pink ribbons, pink bats, pink cleats, pink wristbands, pink batting gloves, etc. Ugly as shit, worthy cause, blah-blah-blah — nothing new here.

Or is there? There’s a company in Ohio called Phoenix Bats. I’d never heard of them before yesterday, but their bats are . . . → Read More: Raising a Stink Over Pink: Were Bat Makers Hoodwinked?]]>

Yesterday was MLB’s annual pink-out. You know the drill: pink ribbons, pink bats, pink cleats, pink wristbands, pink batting gloves, etc. Ugly as shit, worthy cause, blah-blah-blah — nothing new here.

Or is there? There’s a company in Ohio called Phoenix Bats. I’d never heard of them before yesterday, but their bats are used by a few MLBers, including Miguel Cabrera of the Tigers and Billy Butler of the Royals, along with several top minor league prospects. Here’s what they posted yesterday on their Facebook page (with thanks to reader Jason Whitt, who brought this to my attention):

So we’ve been asked all week about players who will be swinging our pink bats in big league games and in the minors today. It’s the one day of the year pro players can swing a bat other than the allowed colors (black, brown, clear, natural, and variants thereof) as an effort to raise awareness of breast cancer.

Unfortunately, the answer is none of our players. Why? Because the powers that be have told all the pro-approved bat manufacturers, except one, that we can only provide pink bats without our logos and without any markings that would identify it as our bat. Plus they have told us that we must make a donation to their charity of choice. As an approved bat manufacturer, who has provided these pink bats, at no cost, to our players for years to help awareness and research monies, we find this to be a slap in the face. Not just to us, but to our players, our fellow pro-approved bat companies, and most importantly to those we are trying to raise awareness for.

But to do nothing is not the answer either. So in addition to our continued support of such causes outside of professional baseball, we have chosen to respond today by donating a portion from each sale of any full-size game or trophy bat purchase, from now until next Sunday, to the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. Just use coupon code PAINT IT PINK or consider making a donation directly to the Foundation or to a charity of your choice.

Thanks for your support to raise awareness and of our stand.

Interesting. Also disappointing. The one bat manufacturer exempt from the rule was obviously Louisville Slugger, whose logo was plainly visible on lots of pink lumber yesterday. Pretty fucked up that any outfitter or licensee would claim (or be granted) brand exclusivity for a charity venture. If that’s really what went down — and it’s worth noting that I haven’t had time to confirm or clarify any of this — then I’d say MLB and Louisville Slugger have some explaining to do.

If Louisville Slugger did in fact try gain marketing leverage over their competitors yesterday, that would make them the latest in a long line of corporations that have exploited breast cancer for commercial purposes. By handy coincidence, there’s a new movie about this very topic that’s about to be released, called Pink Ribbons, Inc. Here’s the trailer, which includes a passing reference to the NFL’s pink promotion (with thanks to reader Caleb Borchers):

Faaaascinating. Although other forms of cancer have decimated my family, I’m happy to say we’ve managed to avoid breast cancer. For those of you who’ve had the unfortunate experience of dealing with this disease (either directly or through someone close to you), what do you think of the pink? What do you think of Louisville Slugger — or any other company — having favored branding status yesterday?

Only 34 days until Father’s Day!

Uni Watch News Ticker: Brennan Boesch of the Tigers took things a step further yesterday by wearing two pink ribbons — one on his chest and one on his sleeve (from Samuel Lam). … Blue Jays pitcher Luis Perez was forced to change his undershirt on Thursday night because the one he was originally wearing had distracting stitching on the sleeves. Video of the incident is available here (from Justin Huyck). … Reprinted from Friday’s comments: Nike is adding golf ball-style dimples to a track suit. … Good story on how the WVU logo was developed (big thanks to Joe Sewash). … Here are the Olympic uniforms for the Japanese men’s and women’s gymnastics teams (from Jeremy Brahm). … Here’s a slideshow of the Broncos’ rookies getting fitted for their gear (from John Gagnon). … Frank Albanese DIY’d himself a 1979 Doug Flynn jersey. “I cheated a little because I purchased the wordmark and lettering kit,” he says. “The sleeve and neck piping were sewn onto a plain gray two-button jersey. Picked it up at Joanne’s fabrics. I had a little trouble with the neck piping, but all in all I think it came out okay.” … Over on the Sons of Sam Horn site, Peter Greenberg recently conducted a poll in which readers voted on the greatest Boston athletes to wear each uni number. You can see the results here. … Remember that Jetsons episode where pro football is played by robot players whose movements are controlled by coaches who push buttons and move levers? That future is now (from Dan Cichalski). … Another place that the NFL Equipment logo is still showing up: the Pats’ T-shirts and sweatshirts. The real question, of course, is whether the logo will still appear on Belichick’s hoodie (from Tom Adjemian). … Mark Armour posted this on the SABR-L listserv last Friday: “According to a Sports Illustrated story from 1963, Warren Giles ‘designed the first emblem for the National League, a device of ball, eagle, bat, gloves, stars and stripes, that he is currently revising. He must squeeze in two stars to represent the New York Mets and the Houston Colt .45s.’ A brief Google image search leads me to some newer [National League] emblems, and no mention of Giles. The current emblem has 16 stars, likely for the 16 (for this year, at least) teams. Did Giles design the first emblem, did he revise it, was it revised again with the addition of other teams, and how best can I see examples of the various versions?” All good questions. Anyone..? … Here’s a really superb look at Wellington Castillo’s forward-facing catcher’s helmet brim (big thanks to Matt DeLeon). … Check out the little name/number decal on Packers rookie Nick Perry’s helmet. Looks like other players have it as well. Not sure if this is just a rookie i.d. thing or if the Pack will be using that on all helmets this season (from Will Lemke.) … Here’s a very close look at the Giants’ G.I. Joe pandering cap. Gross (from Eddy Ayala). … Marlins skipper Ozzie Guillen was wearing orange stirrups prior to a recent game. I don’t think I’ve seen him (or any other Marlin) wearing anything hosiery color other than black up until now (from Taylor McGillis). … You know how a backup catcher will often warm up the pitcher between innings if the main catcher is busy strapping on his gear? Mets backup backstop Rob Johnson did that twice during Saturday’s Mets/Marlins game, but with a twist: When warming up R.A. Dickey, he wore full gear — chest protector, mask, shinguard, the works — because he didn’t wanna get hit by a wayward knuckleball. Never seen that before. When warming up reliever Bobby Parnell later in the game, he did it the usual way, just wearing his catcher’s mitt and no other gear. … Joshua Ringer found a coffee mug with a Michigan logo I’d never seen before. … Three soccer notes from Jon Forbes: Man U’s new set has the home kit in red, keeper in green; Liverpool’s new keeper kit includes a collared jersey; and there’s a new home kit for Wigan Athletic. … Oregon track wore Prefontaine-era throwbacks over the weekend, but the effect was ruined by the mark of the beast. More photos here (from Jim McDonald). … “I always loved the WFL’s 1974 game ball, writes Leo Strawn. “But I’d never seen a WFL football like this one until just now, although it’s obviously from some sort of a press conference in 1973 or 1974.” … Also from Leo: New “debt reduction guernsey” — a reference to the fundraising campaign to reduce the team’s debt — for the North Melbourne Kangaroos. According to the team’s web site, the guernsey “features names of every Bronze, Silver, Gold and Royal Blue contributor of the ‘Invest in Success’ campaign and will be worn by the team for the Round 22 home match vs. Fremantle on Sunday 26th August 2012.” … The Brewers have called up Brooks Conrad, who doesn’t wear batting gloves. “Looks like he went bare-handed when he was with the Braves, too,” notes Jordan Cutler. … Hmmm, do the Miami Dolphins have a moving company? “I saw that truck in an alley in northeast DC,” says John Muir. Either the owner figures no one will notice or else the Fish are pimping their logo for a few extra nickels.” … New kits for the Chicago Red Stars (from Kenn Tomasch). … Broncos rookie Danny Trevathan was wearing a Nike jersey and Reebok pants the other day (from Chad Back). … The answer is: This game show host has a Maple Leafs jersey with a question mark instead of a uni number displayed in his home. Who is Alex Trebek? (From Marc Malfara.) … A soldier in Afghanistan has been customizing his fellow soldiers’ helmets by painting their favorite sports team logos on them. “The artist, Spc. Chris Smith, is an avid Alabama Crimson Tide fan, and he states that he’ll do any sports team except the Auburn Tigers,” says Gary Dincher. … A Seattle T-shirt designer has created a series of tees featuring Seattle neighborhood names with NBA team logo themes. They’re available from these guys (from John Wokas). … No matter how many times I see Illinois baseball’s G.I. Joe design, it still looks like the Bengals to me. … Sebastian Vettel, the current F1 champ, wore a helmet with more white than usual for the Spanish Grand Prix (from Omar Jalife). … The U.S. volleyball team had been wearing a UPS ad logo throughout the NORCECA (North, Central and Caribbean) Confederation Olympic Qualification Tournament in Long Beach, California. But for the final round match against Canada, they dropped the ad. If Jeremy Brahm doesn’t know why they did that (and he doesn’t), what hope do we mere mortals have? … Ever heard of tabletop croquet? Neither had I, until Marty Hick sent me these photos. A friend of his found the set at his grandparents’ house. … RIP, Duck. I’ll never be able to play like you did, but I’ll strap on the Precision today and play a little bit for you all the same.

By Phil Hecken

We’ve now concluded our first “rebranding” contest, this one for the Cleveland baseball club, and I’m pleased to announce that our winner is (drumroll)…

Nate Schimelpfenig, who submitted the design you see above — his full submission is here, and after two elimination rounds, Nate outlasted all the competition to . . . → Read More: Just the Beer Light to Guide Us…]]>

By Phil Hecken

We’ve now concluded our first “rebranding” contest, this one for the Cleveland baseball club, and I’m pleased to announce that our winner is (drumroll)…

Nate Schimelpfenig, who submitted the design you see above — his full submission is here, and after two elimination rounds, Nate outlasted all the competition to become our winner. In fact, in the final showdown, Nate collected 1,764 out of 3,107 votes cast, or 56.78% of the votes cast. Some bar/pie graphs show the results below:

Great job Nate, and by all who entered the contest

Following the voting, I corresponded with Nate, who gave an even more detailed explanation of the thought process that goes into contests such as this.

Phil,

I’ve attached a screen capture of my working file in illustrator for my concept. I could certainly shrink these all down into a .pdfs that you could put out if you wanted. There are 21 different jerseys, 15 different caps, 15 different sock/’rrups combos, my process of creating all the logos and the images I looked at for inspiration. … I strictly used current and past Indians uniforms for inspiration. Being from Minnesota and I know what it is like to lose a team and have new one come in with a completely different look and just not have it be the same. See Stars>Wild. I wanted to honor the franchise’s history, my mantra was if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. I kept the franchises colors, current C logo, basically team roads because if I was a Cleveland fan this would make the transition to a new (old) name much easier…

I was selected to be the graphic design intern with my Minnesota Vikings (Paul’s Nightmare: all purple, all the time.) this past season but since the internship ended in February I haven’t been able to find work. This contest has been great for me, it’s been a great confidence booster, it brought me back to the Sports Illustrated for Kids uniform contests I entered as a kid, allowed me to see that people do appreciate my work, (the comment from the guy who sat down with his 75 year old father and they picked my concept together, that was a beautiful thing.) I’m certainly putting it on my resume, I know you guys are certainly aware but industry insider’s do certainly follow and discuss what is going on at UniWatch. on a daily basis. at the lunch table. with Adrian Peterson chiming in occasionally.

Thank you so much for the great work that you do and the exposure you have given my work,

Nate Schimelpfenig

Thank you, Nate. And thanks for the look into your thought processes with this contest. I again also want to thank all the entrants for their time and effort.

I still haven’t even looked at any of the Washington contest entries as of yet, but I do know there were more of them than the Cleveland contest. I also know that a number of you who entered the Clevo contest are also in the Washington contest, so if you did not make the top 10 or the final 3, your chance for redemption is nigh at hand. I HOPE to have those contest entries up next weekend.

Colorize This!

Occasionally, I will be featuring wonderful, high-quality black and white photographs that are just begging to be colorized.

I’m now reaching the end of the colorizations I received from John Turney, and I’ll be running several more today. Couple of non-G&G contributors today as well, so it’s another good one…

Based on the positive comments to the new format, I will again be running the photos in this way — click to enlarge all of the photos below (unless otherwise noted).

We’ll start with John again, and this time, he actually tweaked one of the photos that I had begun colorizing myself (back when I had some time). Correctly, John surmised I didn’t quite have the colors correct…here’s his interpretation:

This one was on the Uni Watch website a long time ago with Graham in a brown shirt . . . it may have been your work. It was a great beginning but I thought the jersey color was wrong. I think it is Orange and I brightend the Lions helemts and also turned them blue, which I think they are, since Lions wore blue helmets pretty often.

I then added a Kodachrome filter to make colors pop.

(Note: in my defense, I made the shirt orange — just not as bright and colorful as it likely was ;))

John is on a bit of an Otto Graham kick this time around:

I went ahead and made it Colts, wearing blue shirts with no stripes. It can always be changed.

Finally, John also finished another photo I had begun colorizing a long time ago. Again, he does a great job (this photo is Sept 15, 1955-Browns [Otto Graham #14] vs Bears [Ed Sprinkle #7])

Here is the finished product.

Thanks, John. I have one more from John (and it’s outstanding) so I’ll save that for the next edition of Colorize This!

Next up is another frequent colorizer, Larry Bodnovich:

This is the Columbus Panhandles, 1910′s — The Nesser brothers.

Larry Bodnovich

Shortly after Larry sent that, he followed up with this:

While looking for more about the Nesser brothers I found this image

And since they are not wearing numbers I am not positive which is the correct view. But the writing on this image in corner makes me think the correct view is in this email.

Larry Bodnovich

Thanks Larry.

Finally, we close today with a request, from Ben Traxel:

Phil,

Ben

Thanks Ben. OK colorizers — think you guys can do Ben a solid and take a crack at colorizing this for him? It would be a nice challenge and a great public service. OK? OK!

That’s going to do it for this edition of Colorize This! Back with more next time.

Uni Tweaks Concepts

We have another new one set of tweaks, er…concepts today. After discussion with a number of readers, it’s probably more apropos to call most of the reader submissions “concepts” rather than tweaks. So that’s that.

So if you’ve concept for any sport, or just a tweak or wholesale revision, send them my way.

Please do try to keep your descriptions to ~50 words (give or take) per image — if you have three uniform concepts in one image, then obviously, you can go a little over, but no novels, OK? OK!. You guys have usually been good with keeping the descriptions pretty short, and I thank you for that.

And so, lets begin:

Just one today, since it’s a good one — and somewhat long (which is good, because the descriptions are excellent).

It’s from Brent Becker, who doesn’t so much have a uniform concept as he does an entire University re-branding (click on each image to enlarge):

Hi, Phil,

The recent re-name/re-design contest had me thinking about my college days – I graduated form Bradley University – a small, private institution mostly known for Basketball and Engineering. Even while attending, our “Braves” moniker came under criticism and there were several halfhearted attempts to develop a new mascot and team identity. Bradly currently has the school name, a B-U logo with script “Braves”, and… No mascot… In the spirit of your Cleveland and Washington contest I developed four unique alternate and inoffensive names to represent my Alma Mater, Bradley University:

~~~

“Brave” – Drop the “s”, removing immediate Native American connotation in favor of an abstract notion of “bravery”… and then theme things with a “Medieval Scottish” feel, ala “Braveheart”. The main building on campus, Bradley Hall, would feel very much at home in the moors and highlands of Scotland…

~~~

“Bulldozers” – Bradley is located in Peoria, IL, a city synonymous with machinery manufacturer, Caterpillar! A lot of BU students work for Cat during their studies and after graduation. The “B” Bulldozer alliterates with “Bradley” and has a tough, mechanical feel that would be unique in the NCAA…

~~~

“Gargoyles” – A popular feature of campus architecture, Bradley’s Gargoyles have a deep-rooted tradition and significance among students and alumni. The Gargoyle moniker would be very unique to BU.

~~~

“Fightin’ Squirrels” – Hands-down, a student favorite – this was the popular choice for a mascot replacement while I was a student on The Hilltop. This is due to the abundance of abnormally large and aggressive (hence, fightin’) squirrel population dwelling on campus.

~~~

Anyhow, Phil, I realize the attached imagery has more to do with re-branding a school with no accepted mascot than uniforms per Se… But if you can use it as supplement to the Cleveland/Washington project, please feel free to share with the readers. Thanks!

-Brent

Thanks Brent. Some excellent ideas there — hopefully you’ve pitched these to your alma mater. Readers? What say you?

Back next weekend with a full set of tweaks, concepts and redesigns.

Benchies

by Rick Pearson

“Come back, Toto, come back!”…

Click to enlarge

Partying like it’s 1972…

Yesterday the Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Anaheim California Angels threw back to 1974 (according to their own promotional materials), turning back the clock thirty-eight years…as part of the Rangers’ season-long 40th anniversary celebration (why they didn’t throw back to 1972? I don’t know).

In fact, I’m not so sure that Ranger guide is correct — because the Angels uniforms were not from 1974…they had to be from 1972.

Let’s start with the Angels — Here’s what they wore. That’s a button-down jersey — which is what the Angels wore in 1972. However, by 1974, they had moved to a pullover. They had also moved to the upper case A along with the pullover. Indeed, this 1973 Topps card shows the 1972 button-down. So, the Angels were throwing back to 1972. But as far as getting the details correct for 1972? Looks like they nailed it pretty well:

The Rangers also seemed to nail the 1974 throwback as well. If indeed they were throwing back to 1974 — since they essentially wore the same uniform from 1972 through 1974, they could have been throwing back to 1972.

Back in the day, both teams wore sansabelt pants, which Majestic replicated nicely, and both teams wore button-down jerseys — a rather odd mix (but not unheard of), since many teams who entered the polyester double-knit era did so sporting pullovers with sansabelts. In fact, the Angels did just that beginning in 1973 and continuing through 1978, a look some loved and some hated. The Rangers would also go to a pullover, but it was of the two-button variety from 1975-80, returning to a button-down jersey (while keeping essential the same style) in 1981.

As far as the little details — looks like they got the piping right on the Rangers, as well as NOB treatment in the throwback. They also nailed the little star in the circle on the “R” of “RangerS”. And as previously mentioned, Majestic got the lower case “a” for the Angels, plus the State of California patch, and the McAuliffe font, although it looks as though the sansabelt on the 1972 squad was a bit thinner. Still, good job all around.

You can see more photos here and here and some video here.

I’m looking forward to when the Rangers break out the powder blues (circa 1976), but that’s not until August 11th. In between, they’ll throw back to 1986 on June 16 and 1994 on July 7.

OK boys and girls, that’s going to do it for today. Hope everyone has a great Mother’s Day (and don’t forget — the big leaguers will be swinging really bright pink bats today). As MLB states, “to raise awareness of breast cancer in the interest of prevention, treatment and a cure. Hundreds of MLB players are expected to use pink Louisville Sluggers, stamped with the MLB breast cancer awareness logo. To further demonstrate their support for the fight against breast cancer, players and on-field personnel will wear a pink ribbon on their uniforms along with pink wrist bands. Commemorative dugout lineup cards also will be pink.”

So what better way to kick off mother’s day than with this…

Have a good one everyone!

I liked the striped sansabelts, too, but I’m not married to them. — Jim Vilk

By Phil Hecken

As many of you know, one of the semi-recurring features on the weekend Uni Watch entries is a fabulous section called “Colorize This!,” which features readers (artists, really) who painstakingly and often in excruciating detail, colorize black and white photographs. Sometimes the photographs are of more recent vintage, and the . . . → Read More: Fat Men, Baseball, and Early Twentieth Century Postcards]]>

By Phil Hecken

As many of you know, one of the semi-recurring features on the weekend Uni Watch entries is a fabulous section called “Colorize This!,” which features readers (artists, really) who painstakingly and often in excruciating detail, colorize black and white photographs. Sometimes the photographs are of more recent vintage, and the colors are well known. Other times, however, a reader will find a photograph he wishes to colorize for which very little is known — not just the colors, but the story behind the photo.

Reader Gary Chanko, one of two colorizers who has been a major contributing force (and one half of what I call the “G&G Boys”), is one of those who really takes the art of colorization to another level, not only by taking a photo and (as best as humanly possible) getting the color details right, but he also finds the story behind the photograph. Today, we have an example of that. There aren’t enough superlatives to describe Gary’s efforts, so I’ll just say that what follows is really a fantastic mix of talent, historical research, dedication and devotion. I can’t imagine how many hours went into this, but we’re all the richer for it. Here’s Gary. Enjoy — PH

Fat Men, Baseball, and Early Twentieth Century Postcards
By Gary Chanko

Many baseball related postcards from the early twentieth century preserve the history of the amateur and semipro teams prevalent across the country during this time period. Baseball during this era was unquestionably the national pastime with seemingly every community, irrespective of size, represented by a team. There was obviously strong interest in these teams and their more notable players; significant enough for photographers and publishers across the country to market images of these relatively obscure teams and players as postcards. Some of these vintage postcards survived the past hundred years as valued collectibles. Despite their small size and sometimes poor condition they are great candidates for colorization.

I recently discovered this amusing postcard copy of the World’s Largest Baseball Player (below) dating from 1908. The monstrous 450 pound player in the photo played for the Citizens Ball Club of Emporium, Pa., a community in north central Pennsylvania with a population at the turn of last century of only a few thousand. Interestingly, today it still remains a community of only a few thousand.

It seems implausible, or certainly unexpected, that a person from this era would have reached 450 pounds and yet actively participated in a sport that requires some agility. A hundred years ago there were no fast food restaurants, super markets stocked with cheap snack foods, video games to keep you cemented to a sofa all day, or other potential contributors to today’s obesity epidemic. I wonder if any of his Citzens Ball Club teammates were similarly large stock as the note on the back of postcard suggests. Was this level of obesity common a hundred years ago?

Further research turned up almost nothing about the unnamed player or his team. For the colorization the choice of uni colors was mine based on tonal range guesses from the original. The research did, however, provide information to suggest he may not have been the World’s Largest Baseball player at all. In fact there was a whole team of players with a roster that tipped the scales a few pounds short of two tons!

This unusual traveling group of players was known as the Fat Men’s Amusement Co. Ball Team from Waterloo, Iowa. The Two Ton Team toured cities throughout the Midwest during the summer of 1910.

The 3″x5″ postcard original used for the colorization (as I learn more about these early twentieth century collectibles) is categorized as a “Real Photo” postcard, which is a term describing postcards created by exposing a negative directly onto photographic paper. So the post card was an actual B&W photo print. I also discovered it wasn’t until early 1907 that you were permitted to write anything on the back of the post card other than the mailing address! This may explain why many of these postcards have handwritten descriptions on the image.

Unfortunately this postcard has no writing on the back to indicate the location or date of the photo, but almost certainly it was taken during the 1910 tour. The spectators, formal but norm for the day, attire form an interesting part of image and a colorization challege.

For the colorized image I was fortunate to find this short video clip (shown below) that contains an actual uni jersey and discusses the players and team background. The person being interviewed is actually the granddaughter of the youngest player on the team (Earl Holm, first player on the left in the image). Before watching clip, see if you can guess which the players in the image is actually the umpire; his identity is disclosed in the interview.

The June 10, 1910, morning edition of the Hull Index (City of Hull, Iowa newspaper) carried this clip titled “A Big Ball Team” describing the Fat Men’s ball team and their upcoming season:

“Waterloo has one of the most unique amusement enterprises ever organized in this part of the country is to be called the Fat Men’s Bell Team and Amusement company. Frank C. Knee who weighs 450 pounds is to be the manager and Oliver Kimball of Chicago, who is 48 inches tall, is to be the umpire. He is the smallest umpire in the world just as Baby Bliss of Bloomington, Illinois, who is to be the catcher, is the largest man in the world. He weighs 640 pounds.

The other members of the nine are Earl Holm, who is 15 years old and weighs 350 pounds being the largest boy in the world; Wolfgang Schmidt of Nebraska, 426 pounds; E. J. Sheehan of Clermont, Iowa, 390 pounds; M. V. Hinds of Monmouth, Illinois, 400 pounds; Charles P. Van Luven of Osage, Iowa, 375 pounds; Finkey Howrey of Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, 325 pounds; and J. A. Brownell of Manchester, Iowa, 370 pounds.

The total weight of the team is 3,735 pounds. Commencing June 9, the unique team will tour the country giving exhibition games. Despite their large size the players are active and are skilled in the arts of the great national pastime. They will steal bases and slide as gracefully as men of more moderate avoirdupois.”

Not all sports writers were raving about the Fat Men’s traveling road show performance. A Milwaukee Sentinel newspaper article, dated 25 September 1910, termed them Baseball Travesties (far left column, half way down the paper). The article makes note of the lawsuit for back wages by Baby Bliss, the largest player on the team and highlighted in the video clip above. I wasn’t able to determine positively if Baby Bliss is present in the colorized team photo, but he might be the large fellow on the far right. Undoubtedly he was the featured attraction of the Fat Men’s midwest tour that summer. Leonard H. “Baby” Bliss, “world’s largest man,” bicycle showman, and baseball wonder died tragically just fifteen months later as described in this obituary.

Final note, if you find this baseball era interesting check out this link to the full reprint of Spalding’s Chicago Amateur Baseball Annual and Inter-City Baseball Association Yearbook, 1905. It includes the complete Rules of Baseball and Henry Chadwick’s (The Father of Baseball) Advice to Amateurs.

Thanks, Gary. Tremendous, tremendous job, as always.

An interesting note about that article Gary included with his interview — I don’t know if any of you read below the highlighted section, but there is a sub-hed entitled “Grave Charges” which alludes to Hal Chase throwing games(!) — you can read more on that here. Fascinating stuff…all right there in black and white.

Celebrating 75 Years…

On Thursday evening, the Washington Football Club unveiled their alternate uniform for 2012, which Paul covered a bit yesterday. As he mentioned, and as seen on the obligatory Nike photo mocks, it’s pretty tidy — Paul called it “fine, if unremarkable,” and I would tend to agree with those assessments.

Much attention was focused on the helmet, which is the best attempt (so far) to recreate a leather look that was the norm back then.

At the time Paul posted yesterday’s article, he wasn’t sure who was responsible for the helmet design. UW stalwart, and super-sleuth Chance Michaels believed it’s done by Hydro Graphics Inc. (www.hydrographicsinc.com), who are “Nike’s go-to supplier for custom finishes” according to Chance. (As many of you know, I’m not a helmet guy, so this was news to me.) Nice work.

He was right — you can see more pics of the helmet here, here, and close-ups here, here and here. My only complaint is that they went with a black mask instead of a gray one. You can learn more about the process here — and you can thank (or blame) them for the Ducks Rose Bowl helmets and Notre Dame’s golden dome lids too.

There was also some question as to whether this uniform, which the team will wear twice this coming season, is a true throwback, or a faux-back. We find our answer from the team:

Redskins owner Dan Snyder and his staff worked closely with Nike to create a look that spoke to the club’s unique heritage, while highlighting several key details that helped define the team’s history. The alternate anniversary uniform is a balance between history and tradition, featuring a rich darker color palate and updated numbering system. It is a modern interpretation of those worn back in 1937 — a year signifying the team’s move from Boston to Washington, D.C., as well as their first national championship. The patch on the shoulder is one that was worn in early team history. The design also pays tribute to 1937 QB Slingin Sammy Baugh, who in his first year in the league led the newly relocated Redskins to their first national championship.

So — how’d they do?

Well, color photography of that era is almost non-existent, so we need to rely on historical artifacts for the colors, but we do have black and white photographs from 1937, as well as photographs of the 1937 team. We also have this lithograph of the 1937 uniform. Based on those, I’d say the team has fairly replicated the 1937 uniform.

It’s a tricky era to be sure, as 1937 was the great Sammy Baugh’s rookie season, but numerous images of Baugh exist with him wearing several different uniforms during the leatherhead era, including this color(ized?) photo. While this Shorpy image is dated September 1937, I don’t believe the club ever wore that in Washington (which the Gridiron Uniform Database confirms).

But enough evidence is there to suggest that the uniform to which the team is “harking” back is very close to the one worn in Baugh’s rookie campaign, which was also the year the club moved from Boston to Washington.

I’m pretty happy with the fauxback, which seemed to get all the details, right down to the sleeve patch, correct within the constraints of a modern uniform template. And while I’m still not a fan of the current team keeping their name, I am absolutely pleased they did not remove the sleeve patch which was clearly a part of the ’37 unis. Regardless of whether you agree with me that the current monicker is racist, and their iconography is offensive, I would in no way support them removing it in this instance. It’s part of the historical record, and if we are to accurately recreate the past, we cannot remove images that may be offensive in the name of political correctness. It was wrong for the Tampa Rays to remove the cigar from their Smokers’ throwbacks, just as it would have been wrong for the Astros to have removed the revolver from their Colt .45 throwbacks. For accuracy’s sake, I’m pleased the Washington team kept the patch.

Verdict? I like them (at least from what I’ve seen so far) — obviously we’ll all need to see them in action before a final verdict can be rendered. But they seem to have done a pretty decent job in recreating an historical uniform (sorry, JTH), and I’m real interested to see how that faux leather helmet looks on the field.

Lets hope at least one (if not both) of the games when they’re worn will be nationally televised.

One last thought, and this was mentioned briefly in yesterday’s comments — if you think you’ve seen this fauxback before, well, that’s kind of because you have. In 1994, during the NFL’s 75th Anniversary, the Washington club wore a similar uniform to the one introduced Thursday evening. In that incarnation, it appears the sleeve patch was slightly different from the one which will be worn this year. Also, in 1994, the team simply stripped the decal off the helmet, keeping the gold facemasks, and wearing an old gold (matching the interior number color) for the pants. This time around they appear to have default tan-ish pants and they’ve certainly created a brand new helmet.

Uni Tweaks Concepts

We have another new set of tweaks, er…concepts today. After discussion with a number of readers, it’s probably more apropos to call most of the reader submissions “concepts” rather than tweaks. So that’s that.

So if you’ve concept for any sport, or just a tweak or wholesale revision, send them my way.

Please do try to keep your descriptions to ~50 words (give or take) per image — if you have three uniform concepts in one image, then obviously, you can go a little over, but no novels, OK? OK!. You guys have usually been good with keeping the descriptions pretty short, and I thank you for that.

And so, lets begin:

We start with Garrett Ponzi, who has a nice scheme for the Canes…er, Carolina hockey team:

Phil,

What if Carolina had kept “Whalers” when they moved out of Hartford?

Home

Away

Alt

Garrett

Next up is Andrew Reilly, who sent in a redesign for the N.O. hoops team — three days before Paul announced his contest, so he was rather prescient — he did submit the design to Paul’s ESPN contest, but I don’t know if there was a writeup on it. So, I’ll feature it here with his writeup:

Hey Phil,

Since I have been following the renaming process of the soon to be no longer New Orleans Hornets, I thought I’d use my spare time during my final senior semester to create a template for the current fan favorite, the New Orleans Knights. I used the Saints Black and Gold color scheme and also included the fleur-de-lis that has made New Orleans and the Saints recognizable worldwide.

Andrew

We conclude today with Christian Cisneros, who has few MLB concepts, plus one for the NBA & one for the NHL:

Phil,
Back with some more tweaks. For part one I have the Clippers, San Francisco Giants, San Jose Sharks, and the Miami Marlins.

Clippers: I added a blue alternate. I think the Clippers should use blue more often.

Giants pt. 1: To be honest, I LOVE the Giants uniforms, but it drives me crazy that they ditched the primary road from last year and put a headspoon on it. But I do love the new alternate. So I for one do think the Giants should stay where they are (except for the primary headspoon roadie) when it comes to uniforms, but I went a little Oakland A’s kinda style with the uniforms.
Home: Everything is the same, except they will always wear the orange billed cap at home.
Home Alt: This is where I went with the A’s style. I took the Giant’s alternate road jersey and made it for orange fridays at AT&T.
Road: Stuck with the design from last year.
Road Alt: Same as the home alt, except with the gray pants and black billed cap, for Friday games.

Giants pt. 2: These are just tweaks for the concepts they have this year:
Home: Same as above
Home Alt: Same as they have now, except with the orange bill
Roads: The alternate that the Giants have now is great, so I made it be the primary and I ditched the primary roads that they have now.

Sharks: All I did here was change the home stripes on the jersey, since it normally goes White Orange Black, I changed it to Black Orange White, and I think it looks a lot better. Everything else is the same.

Marlins: I find the Marlins new designs great. But one thing that bugs me is the white lettering on the road. So I made it black.

Thanks and I will have Part two finished soon!
Christian

That’s it for this round. Back with more tomorrow.

Benchies

by Rick Pearson

Won’t be claiming plausible deniability, will he…

Click to enlarge

That’s all for this fine Saturday, folks. Everyone have a good day.

I like a solution that keeps either the word Red or the word Skin in there. If it becomes the Washington Pigskins or the Washington Red Tails, then stuck-in-the-mud fans for whom it’s really important to their sense of self worth to keep insulting people can go on calling them the Redskins or the Skins or whatever. — R. Scott Rogers

What you see above is the helmet for the Redskins’ new alternate uniform, which was unveiled last night. I don’t know who’s responsible for it — the team? Nike? Riddell? — but it’s brilliant. It’s what the Packers should have used for their bulls-eye throwbacks the past few years. It’s what the Steelers . . . → Read More: Now Just Change the Racist Team Name and We’re Good to Go]]>

What you see above is the helmet for the Redskins’ new alternate uniform, which was unveiled last night. I don’t know who’s responsible for it — the team? Nike? Riddell? — but it’s brilliant. It’s what the Packers should have used for their bulls-eye throwbacks the past few years. It’s what the Steelers should have used for their 2012 throwbacks. It’s what any team wearing a throwback or retro concept from the leatherhead era should use. Kudos to all involved.

As for the rest of the uniform, it’s fine, if unremarkable. TV spotters won’t like the lack of TV numbers, and those of us who are opposed to Indian imagery on uniforms won’t like the sleeve patches, and I wish the socks had some stripes. Could be worse, though, especially since I’d heard through the grapevine that the design would be BFBS. Glad that report turned out to be incorrect.

Blue/Gray Game (or: The Lone Gray Ranger [or: Diez de Mayo]): There was a funny moment during last night’s Rangers/O’s game, as Rangers reliever Robbie Ross warmed up during the bottom of the 8th while wearing a gray jersey — which would have been fine, except that the rest of the team was wearing blue. He soon switched to the proper color. Here’s the whole sequence, as captured on video during the game:

Contrary the broadcasters’ speculation, this had nothing to do with rookie hazing. It was just a mix-up on Ross’s part. The full explanation can be found here.

I know of at least one other time when something similar took place. It was in 2005, when Octavio Dotel — then pitching with the A’s — tore off his jacket and began warming up in a green jersey, while the rest of the team was wearing gray. But here’s the freaky-deeky part: The Dotel incident took place on May 10, 2005, which was seven years to the day prior to last night’s snafu with Ross. Mark your calendars now, folks: Some weird shit’s gonna go down on 5/10/19.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Yesterday I did a fun little ESPN piece about a Uni Watch reader who had an NFL-themed wedding. … The Heat have been told by the city of Miami to remove a bunch of ads on trees in front of their arena. Why? Because putting corporate advertising on trees is completely repugnant is illegal. Douchebags (from Joshua Paster). … Fun article on the design and standardization of roadway markings (big thanks to Craig Dudley). … Some guy got a pair of Chucks tattooed onto his feet (from Gordon Blau). … Paste magazine has compiled a list of the 50 best band logos (from Jack Purdy). … A Massachusetts high school has changed the name of its teams from the Redmen to the Red Hawks. Are you listening, Washington Redskins and Cleveland Indians? (From Ben Marciniak.) … Coming soon to Green Bay: a Packers Heritage Trail, complete with historical markers (from Jeff Ash). … Remember how ran some photos showing how NFL practice jerseys still had the old NFL Equipment logo patch? The Jets’ practice jerseys appear to have no NFL-related patch at all (from Brian Erni). … The Maple Leafs’ centennial is still five years away, but it looks like they’ve already registered a logo for it (from Michael A. Gargano). … Super DIY project by Jim Mellett, who made himself a pair of Steelers-themed cornhole boards. Note that he even included the little red cross above Polamalu’s NOB — a brilliant touch. Now he just needs to do a board based on this year’s throwback uni. … Chelsea, the soccer team, is now sponsoring the Sauber F1 team (from Carlos Ahmed Jalife Ruz). … Two Utah high school softball teams wore red and white uniforms, respectively, to represent red and white blood cells, for a game to raise awareness of blood cancer. They even had BCNOB — that’s blood cell names on back. Full details in this video report (from Darin Nelson). … The Pirates logo on the mound at PNC Park is now in color, which seems like a bit much (from John Muir). … Oooh, look at this great set of old NFL patches (from Pat Crosley). … Here’s a cool photo of Bears equipment manager Tony Medlin fitting rookie draftee Alshon Jeffery for his helmet (from Tim E. O’Brien). … New kit for Liverpool. “It looks very retro,” says Jon Forbes. “Even the crest is similar to the one used by the club in the 1970s and 1980s.” … Jim Mullin, who had previously ranked the 16 worst CFL uniforms of all time, has now ranked the 16 best.

With college football and basketball programs changing their uniforms so frequently nowadays — and often changing to designs that many people don’t like — I’m often asked, “What kind of deal does that school have with Nike [or Adidas, or whomever]? Like, did they have to pay for those ugly uniforms? How does . . . → Read More: What, No ‘Free Unlimited Barbecue from the Cozy Corner’ Clause?]]>

With college football and basketball programs changing their uniforms so frequently nowadays — and often changing to designs that many people don’t like — I’m often asked, “What kind of deal does that school have with Nike [or Adidas, or whomever]? Like, did they have to pay for those ugly uniforms? How does it work?” I got some similar questions after my recent post about Nike owning Mississippi State’s logo.

My standard response is that every contract between a school and an outfitter is different and that there’s no way for me to know the terms of any individual deal. The larger truth is that I’ve always been rather ignorant regarding the way these contracts work, so I’ve never felt comfortable talking about them.

That has now changed, thanks to reader Jimmy Griggs. He was poking around on the web and found a link that provides a PDF of Nike’s 2008 contract with the University of Memphis. There’s nothing sneaky about it — as you can see from the URL, it’s hosted right there on the school’s web site. (The contract includes a confidentiality clause, but that clause also mentions the Tennessee Public Records Act, which I assume is why the contract is on the school’s web site, since Memphis is a state university.)

For the record: This contract doesn’t say anything about Nike owning any designs or colors it creates for Memphis (or if it does say that, I missed it). Indeed, most of the contract seems fairly straightforward and sensible. But it provides an invaluable look at how a big-time outfitter does business with a big-time college athletics program.

The contract isn’t all that long, doesn’t have much legal-ese, and is consistently interesting, so I encourage you to read all of it. But here are some highlights:

• Section B.1.(a) sets out Nike’s status as the school’s official outfitter (for all of these excerpts that I’m posting, you can click to enlarge):

• Section B.2. specifies that Nike will provide “men’s apparel” (presumably suits) for the men’s basketball coach:

• My favorite clause in the entire contract is Section B.3.(d), which states that spatting “is inconsistent with the purpose of this contract”:

• Section B.3.(f) is interesting, because it sets out the procedures to be followed in case one of Nike’s designs is found to be in violation of NCAA rules:

• Things start to get more serious in Section C.1.(a), which stipulates that Nike will provide the school with $1.5 million worth of uniforms and equipment per year:

• But the school doesn’t just get uniforms from Nike. According to the terms of Section E.2., Nike will provide cash payments to the school at a rate of $660,000 per year, plus a half-million-dollar signing bonus, plus a few perks (but note subsection (e), which states that the annual payment goes down to only $400,000 if John Calipari is replaced as the basketball coach, which of course is exactly what happened shortly after the contract was signed):

• So based on those last two sections, Nike is in the hole for a total of $11.3 million in cash and gear over the five-year term of the contract. What do they get in return? Well, for starters, they get a bunch of perks (stadium signage, free tickets, parking passes, access to coaches, announcements on the P.A. system at games, ads in school publications, etc.), as spelled out in Section G:

———

Now, most of you are probably thinking, “There’s no way those free tickets add up to a value of $11.3 million.” True enough — most of that stuff in Section G is just window dressing. So how is Nike going to make back its upfront costs? Duh: By selling merch. Now it becomes apparent why Nike pushes the retail product so hard — they pretty much have to, because they have to pay a lot upfront just to get in the door. This makes it really clear how the merchandising tail wags the on-field dog.

Consider how different this is from the old way of doing things. Back in, say, the 1970s, companies like Spalding and Rawlings didn’t provide uniforms to universities for free, and you can bet they didn’t provide cash payments either. Instead, the schools bargained for the cheapest price they could get and then bought the uniforms from the company — simple. But that was before anyone had figured out that fans would pay $200 for a polyester shirt, and it was also before sporting goods companies started thinking of themselves as lifestyle brands.

Nike talks a lot about how everything they do is for the athlete, how they’re always pushing for more performance-based innovation, and so on. And it’s true that they’ve pioneered all sorts of research with biometrics, wind tunnels, thermal imaging, new fabrications, and all of that — that stuff is legitimately innovative. But how many serious athletes actually wear Nike gear? Not that many, because there aren’t that many serious athletes out there. Most of the people wearing Nike product are people like you and me: a mix of fans, weekend players, couch potatoes, and collectors. That group of people numbers in the multiple millions — that’s where the money is, and that’s who Nike is really working for. Nike can afford to sink huge amounts of money into a program like Memphis athletics, because it builds their cred with people who’ll never need thermal imaging but who nonetheless like the idea of owning high-tech gear. (Obviously, none of this is unique to Nike — Adidas and Under Armour play the same game.)

I’m no lawyer, so I may have overlooked some ticking time bombs or other notable bits in the contract. If any of you legal eagle types want to take a look at the document and provide your assessments, I’d be happy to print them at some point down the road.

One final excerpt from the contract: According to Section J.3.(b)(4), Nike can terminate the agreement if anyone at the school makes any negative comment about Nike gear:

So if Nike comes up with some new cleats and they slip on the turf, nobody can say anything. If a new fabric ends up ripping too easily, nobody can say anything. If there’s backlash against a wacky new design, nobody can say anything.

And never was heard a discouraging word — because it was written into the contract that way.

Culinary Corner: As you may recall, a few months ago I wrote about the pleasures of chicken wing tips, and how I think they’re neglected, overlooked, etc. Some of you made fun of me for this (one guy in particular wrote a lengthy screed telling me the whole notion of wing tips was an example of “weird shit you do just for the sake of being weird [that] just makes you look like an idiot”), but whatever. I recently decided the wing tips idea could make a good piece in a food magazine, so I pitched the story to a few publications, and now I’m happy to report that I’ll be writing about wing tips for Saveur magazine’s web site. Validation! I’ll post a link when the piece runs, which I believe will be next month.

Uni Watch News Ticker: The good news is that MLB will no longer be desecrating the American flag with its Memorial Day cap designs. The bad news, as I’d reported last month, is that they’re playing G.I. Joe instead. Very disappointing. Memorial Day is about remembering the fallen — why not have everyone wear a black armband (a uni element that has fallen into utter disuse)? Or as I’ve suggested for years now, why not wear throwback uniforms based on old military baseball teams? Or why not stop the pandering and just have a moment of silence followed by a baseball game? … “The Dolphins held a fundraiser last week and players wore their aqua jerseys,” writes Dan Isaacson. “You can see that the jerseys were the Reebok style, with the NFL Equipment shield, but the team colored in the Reebok logo with a Sharpie.” … The Liberty Bell icon on the Phillies’ stirrups and socks only appears on one side — it’s supposed to face outward. But Hunter Pence had one facing inward on Tuesday night (good spot by Jim Satriano). … Jake Hurley is obsessed with getting the Rockies to wear striped stirrups. A noble cause, although I suspect a quixotic one. … “In order to make ends meet, some potential U.S. Olympic athletes (those not supported by their sport’s federation) have sold ‘sponsorship’ tattoos,” reports Tom Mulgrew. “These can’t be displayed during qualifying events or at actual Olympic events, but they’re okay during non-Olympic meets.” … Okay, this is really weird: a Mr. Magoo doll in a baseball uniform. … Hamilton Nolan of Gawker reaffirms his status as the best cultural critic around with this piece about a recent advertising conference. Granted, making fun of an ad conference is almost too easy (I pulled essentially the same stunt by covering a marketing conference back when I wrote for Fortune in the late 1990s), but Nolan’s critique is particularly sharp. My favorite passage: “Advertising rhetoric is notable in that it uses the language of art to describe the activities of business. I interpret this as the purest sort of propaganda, though it could more generously be interpreted as a sort of subconscious maneuver to invest a dreary business activity — selling things — with a more noble and attractive sheen. … In this world, creativity exists in a bubble, allowing it to be admired and marveled at by peers without making the dreary connection to its actual societal function. The Most Interesting Man In The World, yes; the fluctuations in the market cap of Heineken International, no.” Highly recommended reading. … “I’m an assistant baseball coach for the high school where I teach in Indiana,” writes Craig McKean. “I worked hard on influencing my head coach to go back to striped stirrups this year.” Very nice — well done, Craig! … Cycling news from Michael Roecklein, who writes: “A few days ago there was a bad crash in the third stage of the Giro d’Italia and the overall race leader, American Taylor Phinney, went down and hurt his ankle. The next day was a rest day, and Phinney was seen wearing one compression sock and altering his cycling shoes to fit his swollen foot. He also has lace-up shoes, which are uncommon in modern cycling and are usually limited to velodrome racing.” … More about single-digitized pitchers: Ken McCabe points out that when the Astros announced the signing of Shawn Chacon in February of 2008, the last line of their press release stated, “He will wear jersey number 1 for the Astros.” But Chacon’s Baseball Reference page shows him having worn 30 and 32 for the ’Stros. Interestingly, the caption to this 2008 Photo Day shot — taken just a few days after that press release was issued — lists him as No. 1, but all the regular season photos of him that I could find from that season show him wearing 30 or 32. So he apparently wore 1 only during spring training. … New uniforms for Michigan hockey (from Justin Howland). … Anyone know what Gil Hodges had on the handle of his bat? (As spotted by Marshall Rase.) … Lots of old-timey design goodness in this 1939 Packers/Cardinals program (from Mike Rengel). … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Fun little piece about the artist who created the Swinging Friar. … Blain Fowler found a 2009 article about Tiger Woods’s concussion. Note the brain illustration. … The Rangers are going with a 1972 Topps motif for their scoreboard this weekend (from Greg Stamps). … Weird scene in L.A. the other day, as former Clipper Keith Closs wore his own jersey to the game (from Robert Silverman). … Chipper Jones is getting the retirement tour treatment whenever the Braves go on the road this season. Before yesterday’s game at Wrigley, the Cubs presented him with the Braves flag from the ballpark’s standings display (from Terry Duroncelet). … Soccer news from Donnie Kwak: “Much-coveted Belgian soccer player Eden Hazard, who currently plays for Lille in France, cryptically informed reporters, ‘It’s the blue that I’ll be wearing next season. Definitely the blue.’ He’s already stated that he wants to play in the English Premier League. So will it be Chelsea? Manchester City? Or any one of the number of EPL clubs that have blue as a primary color?” … New third kit for Olympique Marseille — and it’s reversible. “Oddly, only the black side has the sponsor logo and the three stripes, so that’s the one we’ll probably see more of,” says Jon Forbes. … What is this — a padded facemask? According ot the caption, that’s Lions WR Leonard Thompson, wearing “his new helmet to protect his jaw” in December of 1983 (from Russ Yurk). … Were you waiting for someone to invent Kevlar basketball shoes? Well here they are anyway (from Omar Jalife). … Rolling Stone got a bunch of rockers to name their favorite baseball uniform (thanks, Brinke). … The Seattle Sounders and FC Dallas played color vs. color last night (from Lars Johnson).

History of sorts was made in Colorado last night, as Alex White — freshly called up from the minors and installed in the starting rotation — became the first pitcher in Rockies history to wear a single-digit uni number. Well, sort of the first: The Rox have also had two single-digitized position players . . . → Read More: The Joy of Six]]>

History of sorts was made in Colorado last night, as Alex White — freshly called up from the minors and installed in the starting rotation — became the first pitcher in Rockies history to wear a single-digit uni number. Well, sort of the first: The Rox have also had two single-digitized position players who’ve been forced to take the mound during extreme circumstances: Brent Mayne in 2000 and Todd Zeile in 2002 (couldn’t find a photo of his mound stint, alas). But I’d say those two get an asterisk, since Mayne and Zeile weren’t normally considered pitchers.

I’m not sure why White is wearing No. 6 this season. Last year he wore 43 for the Rockies and 32 for the Indians, but he began wearing 6 in spring training this year. Anyone know why? (This is the part where we all get to say, “Maybe it refers to his blood alcohol level.”)

White becomes the second single-digitized pitcher in the bigs this season, joining Kyle Drabek of the Blue Jays. I’d love for the Jays and Rox to play each other, so we could have an all-single-digitized pitching match-up (has that ever happened before?), but the two teams aren’t scheduled to play each other during this year’s slate of interleague games. So either Drabek or White will simply have to be traded to the opposite league. Nothing else will do.

I believe the last single-digitized pitcher before Drabek was Josh Towers. Unfortunately, his time in Toronto didn’t overlap with Drabek’s, so the Jays never managed the trick of having two single-digitized pitchers on the same roster (not sure if that’s ever happened either).

The last pitcher to wear 6 prior to White, at least that I’m aware of, was Rob Bell of the Rangers in 2001. Bell took the single numeral after being traded in mid-season. Wayne Gomes did the same thing that year, wearing No. 2 after joining the Giants in July (although I can’t find a photo of that, alas).

My favorite single-digitized pitcher is Boomer Wells, who briefly wore No. 3 in 2005 as a shout-out to the Babe. But after getting off to a rocky start, he switched to 16 about a third of the way through the season.

Another interesting case is George Brunet of the Pirates, who wore No. 4 for a couple of games late in the 1970 season before switching to 22. The odd thing is that 4 was Ralph Kiner’s number, and the Pirates eventually retired it in 1987. You have to wonder what took them so long (Kiner retired in ’55 and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in ’75). If they had taken his number out of circulation sooner, it wouldn’t have been available for Brunet to wear.

The most popular single-digit numbers for pitchers over the years have been 8 (worn by Bob Priddy of the Pirates, Bob Baird of the Sens, and Bill Monbouquette of the Giants in the 1960s) and 7 (Atlee Hammaker of the Giants in ’85, Jeff Juden of the Indians in ’97, and Towers from 2003-07, which is by far the longest run for a single-digit number on a pitcher’s back). At the other end of the spectrum, I believe no pitcher has ever worn 5 or 9. Or, for that matter, 0.

Although it’s a bit strange to see a single-digitized pitcher on the mound, there’s something to be said for a pitcher wearing No. 1, since that’s also his position number. To my knowledge, only two pitchers have worn 1: Jack Jenkins of the Senators in 1962 and Matt Young of the Mariners in 1990.

I used phrases like “to my knowledge” and “I believe” a lot in this piece, because (a) I’m mostly working from memory here and (b) although there are some lists of single-digitized pitchers floating around the web, I don’t trust them. George Brunet, for example, wasn’t on any of those lists until Keith Olbermann was watching some old footage a few years ago and spotted him wearing No. 4. And Jack Looney of SABR once gave me a list that included Mark Small of the Expos wearing No. 0 in 2000, which is wrong on multiple counts (Small’s entire career consisted of 16 games for the Astros in 1996, when he wore No. 36; meanwhile, the Expos didn’t have a No. 0 in 2000). So if anyone can refute or amend anything I’ve presented here, please feel free to do so.

ESPN reminder: In case you missed it yesterday, here are the results of my “Redesign the Hornets” contest.

In addition, if you read that column prior to 2pm yesterday, you may have missed Leo Strawn Jr.’s really fun New Orleans Rhythm design. He submitted it in time for the contest, but for some reason it never showed up in my in-box. Then he sent me a follow-up note yesterday afternoon, which I did receive. I like his design, so I added it to the “Honorable Mention” section. Frankly, if I had received it the first time around, I probably would have included it among the top five picks. Sorry for the snafu, Leo.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Really fun article about the new dress code in chess (from Joe Makowiec). … I’m very pleased that my city is about to start a bike-sharing program. I’m not so pleased to learn that the bikes will be instruments of corporate douchebaggery. … Look at this early version of the Swinging Friar. Brady Phelps spotted that in a display case at Petco Park. … Leandro Rosas, Jr. bought himself this swell 49ers helmet chair a few days ago. Better put another lock on the door, Leandro, or else Brinke will be coming to heist it from you! … Interesting move by Cowboys draftee Tyrone Crawford, whose Twitter page shows a Cowboys helmet without the star logo, because he still has to earn his star (from Steve King). … “What is this Washington State logo that Howard Stern is wearing?” asks Rick Rutherford. “I have lived in Washington my entire life and I have never seen it before.” … “I attend Purdue University, and one of my fraternity brothers has recently been awarded the position as a Purdue Pete, our school’s mascot,” writes Kyle Bayram. “He let it slip to me the other day that Nike and Purdue had requested that all of the football uniforms worn by the players — and by Purdue Pete — be returned because they are changing the designs and possibly adding an alternate uniform. Sure enough, I asked a local Purdue athletics store about this and they said they had to give all of their replica football uniforms in stock back to Nike for changes.” … Not sure I’ve eve seen this before: full armpit exposure on a high school softball uniform. That’s Waco Reicher Catholic High School pitcher Beth Tobin (from Matthiew Mitchell). … No photos, but Southern Miss football will be wearing 1970 throwbacks for at least one game this season (from Landon Howell). … Good video showing what the 76ers’ equipment manager did during the first round of the playoffs (from Erik Autenrieth). … New kits for Stoke City and Newcastle United (from Jon Forbes). … Interesting story behind the uni number choice for one of the Eagles’ new draftees (from Brice Wallace). … I think we may have seen this helmet cart photo before, but once more definitely can’t hurt (from Garrett Schabb). … “Some bizarre news from Cardiff City, where the new Malaysian owners want to switch the club’s colors from blue to red because ‘red is seen as a more dynamic colour in Asia when it comes to marketing merchandise,’” says Nick, who asked that his surname not be used. “Cardiff has been wearing their blue and white jerseys since the days when the Chicago Cubs were winning championships and the Qing Dynasty ruled China. Crazy.” … Brandon League looks like he’s wearing a long-sleeved undershirt, but he’s actually wearing compression sleeves (screen shot by Rick Rutherford). … Here’s a review of the Mumbai Indians’ cricket uniforms (from Harsh Kalan). … Cuban volleyballer Fernando Hernandez has the Cuban flag design shaved into his head (from Jeremy Brahm). … RIP, Maurice. It’s been one helluva wild rumpus.

I love team logos based on happy, playful animals. The Bucks, the Chaparrals, the Orioles — they say, “This game is fun!,” which is so much cooler than “Fear the [whatever].”

So I was really pleased when reader Danny Garrison submitted this New Orleans Crawfish logo as part of my “Redesign the Hornets” . . . → Read More: Where’s the Snarl and the Furrowed Brow?]]>

I love team logos based on happy, playful animals. The Bucks, the Chaparrals, the Orioles — they say, “This game is fun!,” which is so much cooler than “Fear the [whatever].”

So I was really pleased when reader Danny Garrison submitted this New Orleans Crawfish logo as part of my “Redesign the Hornets” contest on ESPN. The typography isn’t great, and the accompanying uniforms aren’t so hot, but that crawfish with his claw on his hip — love it!

Danny’s submission was one of about 70 entries I received. You can see all of them here. My favorites are showcased in today’s ESPN column — enjoy.

Collector’s Corner

By Brinke Guthrie

I have 31 bobbleheads, and counting, so I’m knowledgeable about them. Some bobbleheads look like the guy they’re supposed to; others, well, not so much. The A’s gave away this Rollie Fingers bobble last month, and they nailed it, right down to the requisite white Adidas cleats.

In non-bobble finds for this week:

• Willie Mays turned 81 two days ago, so here’s his signature on a 1962 Cubs program. Great display of caps on there.

• This 1960s NFL seat cushion was found at Tex Schramm’s estate sale. You think there was some good loot there?

• Here’s a 1960s metal plaque depicting the Cleveland Browns’ “Brownie” mascot.

• I like this 1960s Gale Sayers shot for two reasons: the very prominent “Wilson” in the front, and also how the helmet sticks out on the sides.

• This 1960s Baltimore Bullets decal looks to be in great condition.

• One more from the 1960s, for PL: this WNEW football Giants sticker. [Very nice, although it's kinda odd to see the chinstrap protruding almost as far as the facemask. — PL]

• Nice set of NFL helmet goalpost kits from the 1970s.

• From reader Derek Hannen: You can practice good oral hygiene while showing your fine taste in NHL collectibles with these Hartford Whalers toothbrushes.

• From Mike Hersh: a 1970s Swedish hockey equipment catalog.

• From Raymie Humbert: a set of 16 NHL goalie pins.

• From Paul: Lots of great logos on these 1970s MLB bed sheets.

• Also from Paul: these vintage ceramic football bookends.

• And speaking of ceramics, check out these nuns playing baseball.

Seen something on eBay or Etsy that you think would make good Collector’s Corner fodder? Send your submissions here, and you can follow Brinke on Twitter and Facebook.

Candela update! Another piece of the Candela Structures puzzle has fallen into place. As you may recall, last September Kirsten and I got to visit the “missing” structure, which has spent the past 45 years serving as a summer cabin for an upstate New York family. The family patriarch told us that his father (now deceased) had purchased the structure at an auction after the 1964-65 World’s Fair. He thought he still had the original auction flyer and promised to send it to us when he found it. How he’s finally found it (click to enlarge):

At first I was puzzled by the Department of the Defense connection, since the World’s Fair had no connection to the Federal government. But this structure was used during the fair by the Coast Guard, which was part of the Defense Department at the time (it’s now under the purview of the Department of Homeland Security), so that makes sense.

I’m hoping to write an article about all this for an architecture or design magazine. More details soon-ish.

Uni Watch News Ticker: There’s a debate taking place at NYU tonight on the question of whether college football should be banned. Two of the participants — Friday Night Lights author Buzz Bissenger (who’s in favor of banning it) and broadcaster and former NFLer Tim Green (who’s against banning it) — had a sort of pre-debate on the radio yesterday, which I happened to hear. Provocative stuff. The archived audio is here. … Yesterday I Ticker-linked to this shot of Kobe Bryant in a black Lakers alternate uni. The full backstory has now been provided by Mina Mikhael, who writes: “The photo is from Slam magazine and the jersey is from the Nike Rewind series, back from when Nike had the NBA contract. Basically, Nike took old designs and remixed them with new colors. They made at least three or four different series for a lot of teams, and even extended the series to warm-ups and shorts. You can see some examples here, and there’s a short article about the series here.” … Last week I wrote an ESPN piece about a guy who had written fan letters to teams 20 years ago and was selling some of the things he’d gotten in response. That prompted John J. Woods to write a piece about the stuff he got from teams during his youth. … Benjamin Page notes that Vikings draftee Matt Kalil held up a No. 67 jersey at the draft, but now he’s wearing No. 75. … New home kit for Arsenal. … “Mizzou has bought a series of billboards all over SEC footprint states to advertise their impending move to the conference,” writes Lucas Ravenscraft. “The billboards feature a picture of a Mizzou football jersey with a shiny new SEC conference logo patch sewed on the upper-right-front corner. The weird thing is that the jersey is the 2011-12 version, and we all know Mizzou just launched a huge redesign, so these billboards depict a uniform that will never actually exist in competition.” … Whoa, check out the shoes that Notre Dame football will be wearing for the game against Navy in Ireland. “Awful,” says Warren Junium. … Late-breaking eBay item: You don’t often see a corduroy team jacket, but check out this Bruins beauty. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Michael Waltrip wore a Junior Seau memorial on his No. 55 car over the weekend. … Need MLB, NFL, or NCAA team logo decals? Look here (from Timothy Tryjankowski). … “On April 28, my son Caleb and I attended Rutgers Day,” says Adam Herbst. “As part of the celebration, they had a number of students dressed as famous alumni, including one who was dressed as a participant in the first intercollegiate football game (which Rutgers won against Princeton).” … A chicken ran onto the pitch during yesterday’s Wigan/Blackburn EPL match. “Not just an ordinary chicken,” says Joe Hollomon. “A chicken sporting some sort of scarf or flag with the Blackburn logo.” … Here’s a weird one: a Philly Eagles bat and ball (from Joshua Newman). … Yesterday I Ticker-linked to a story about 7-Up’s branding history. That reminded Sean M. Conway that he’d recently seen these old Notre Dame 7-Up bottles at an antiques shop in Minnesota. “I didn’t end up getting them because there is no way my wife is going to let me spend $12 for a couple of empty pop bottles,” he says. Sounds like grounds for divorce to me. … Actor Daniel Dae Kim of Hawaii 5-0 threw out the first pitch in Philly last night, and you can probably guess what jersey number they gave him (thanks, Brinke). … One of Brandon Inge’s former teammates on the Tigers has noticed that Inge is no longer going high-cuffed (from Mike McLaughlin). … The Ravens have announced uni number assignments for their 2012 draftees (from David Cline). … New logo and kit for Oman (from Jeremy Brahm). … Who’s that in the red helmet? None other than Russian president Vladimir Putin (from R. Scott Rogers).