Skip to content
 

Tag Team

snyder4.jpg

Lots of random weekend musings today, beginning with the news that Kyle Snyder has now been officially certified as MLB’s undisputed king of the wayward shirt tag. Back in July, it was his undershirt tag, which was sticking out during an entire inning. (Full details here.) And Friday, it was the MLB logo patch on the back of his jersey, which was sticking out like a little hangnail, practically daring us to reach out and tear it off already. (Kudos to Brenden Fougere for catching this one.)

While Snyder was making a mockery of MLB’s branding efforts, Uni Watch webmaster John Ekdahl was having a surreal experience at a New Jersey watering hole. Later that night I received an e-mail from him, with a subject line that read, “I AM SO SORRY.” Here’s what he wrote:

I’m sorry. I really am. I fucked up bad. Please forgive me for what I am about to tell you.

I have a phone that doesn’t take very good pictures. I never cared, in fact, I went out of my way to avoid phones with cameras on them. Anyway, I live (and grew up) in the town that Bobby Ojeda now calls home. He moved here when I was in high school and his son was a grade below me. Anyway, I never thought that much of it because my town also has Bruce Springsteen and Bon Jovi as residents.

Long story short: Tonight I’m at one of the local bars (where both my girlfriend’s brothers are bartenders). I look across the bar, and I see a young woman, early 20s, wearing an ’86 Mets throwback. I’m impressed (even as a Yankee fan) and pay it no mind. Then she goes to the bathroom. That’s when I noticed she’s wearing the authentic ’86 Mets full uniform. Yeah, you read that right. I stopped her, asked her what she was wearing. It turns out she was Bobby’s daughter’s best friend and had borrowed (without Bobby’s permission) the uniform he had kept from that season. She wore the full uniform to the bar — yes, even those particular “socks” you seem to like so much (no cleats, though — I think she had typical girl shoes on). I have no fucking idea why she did this. I assume just to get attention, which worked. I almost lost it. I took the best picture I could, but it’s not that great.

Contributions for the John Ekdahl Camera Fund are now being accepted. Meanwhile, if anyone sees a chick cruising around in Mets garb, kindly take a good photo, tell her to tuck in that jersey already, and then point her directly toward Uni Watch HQ.

Ekdahl, incidentally, checked in again on Saturday with this report:

My girlfriend and I are watching college football today. During one of the update breaks, they showed the highlights from the Oregon game. Out of nowhere, she said, “Jesus, those uniforms are hideous.” I have never once talked about their uniforms in front of her, so this was completely unscripted and uninfluenced. Pretty funny, especially since the uniforms weren’t even that bad (on the Oregon scale, of course).

And speaking of the Oregon unis: During yesterday’s game, the referee identified the wrong player when calling a penalty, which led broadcaster Dan Fouts to opine that the uni numbers (in that weird tapered font) too hard to read.

The Buckle Stops Here: Got an interesting note from Sue Timpson, who runs this auction site. She writes: “I found your web site while trying to research an old baseball belt buckle I have an opportunity to purchase. Made of brass, dated 1952, no other identifying marks. A commemorative piece? Or award? MLB or some professional item? Or wishful thinking?”

We’ve talked about baseball belts before, but I’ve never seen anything like this. Anyone..?

Speaking of belts: A few weeks ago, I showed this photo of a late-1800s team with really bizarre belts. Now Chris Hilf has come up with a similar example: Check out the belts on this 1907 Heinz factory team (here’s a closer look). I’ve never seen belts like this before, on or off the diamond. Anyone know more about this style?

 
  
 
Comments (28)

    Watching the OU game last night it looks like they’ve removed the names off the back of the unis.

    link

    link (may need to scroll through the slideshow.

    In other news, don’t remember which team it was, but it looked like the coaches on the sidelines had “cool-flo” shirts. Very disturbing if its true.

    Speaking as a collector and a keen observer, regarding the 1952 belt buckle-100% definitely not MLB. Almost certainly not a Minor League thing either. Most likely an American Legion ball award.

    What is the official color of Georgia Techs jerseys they wore last night? Looks like brown mustard to me! Awful!

    [quote comment=”7460″]What is the official color of Georgia Techs jerseys they wore last night? Looks like brown mustard to me! Awful![/quote]

    Obviously a man who has never heard the ‘Ramblin Wreck.’ GaTech’s colors are officially white and gold. Although, I have to agree with the assessment of the home jerseys.

    link

    [quote comment=”7461″]i thought the name on the back of the 86 mets jersey was attached to a solid white nameplate, in the photo it looks like the name is sewn directly on the shirt.[/quote]

    Excellent catch. Hmmmmmm…..

    Was watching the Pitt game last night and noticed that Virginia didn’t change the color of the V on their jerseys. Its still orange where as their helmet V is white. I don’t know if this is just staying the same on the away jerseys or what. Also were they wearing new pants last night? Can’t find a good photo. And check out their Virginia V.”>socks.

    I wouldn’t trust a story from a girl who wears a full uniform to a bar.

    I go to law school with a guy that on occasion wears the full 1996 Dream Team Penny Hardaway uniform, short shorts and all, once with no undershirt. The full unis off the court just don’t work. I may be biased, but full uni? I think she was having you on

    [quote comment=”7465″]I wouldn’t trust a story from a girl who wears a full uniform to a bar.

    I go to law school with a guy that on occasion wears the full 1996 Dream Team Penny Hardaway uniform, short shorts and all, once with no undershirt. The full unis off the court just don’t work. I may be biased, but full uni? I think she was having you on[/quote]

    He lives two blocks from my house, that’s why I believe it.

    [quote comment=”7470″][quote comment=”7465″]

    He lives two blocks from my house, that’s why I believe it.[/quote]

    Fair enough, but still, the full uni in a bar, very strange

    [quote comment=”7472″]
    Fair enough, but still, the full uni in a bar, very strange[/quote]

    Oh, yeah. Without a doubt. I asked a friend of mine how she got it and she told me the girl raided Bobby’s closet while he was away. The girl who told me this I trust. As for the reason behind the lack of nameplate, I don’t know. Could be a one they made up for an old timer’s day?

    Don’t know if this qualifies as logo creep, but has anyone seen the ball-person outfits at the US open this year?

    a href=”http://www.usopenshop.org/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=4701″? Polo Logo Shirt

    [quote comment=”7479″]Why is everybody bitching about the link?

    They look pretty good to me.[/quote]

    See, why could the girl in the bar where THAT full uni

    Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina for the first time that I can ever recall is sporting stirrups. The only bad part of this situation is that they covered up by his shin guards.

    This might have to do with who the link was today.

    First Marquis, now Reyes is rocking the stirrup stripes? Awesome.

    We need to come up with an All-Socks team before the end of the season.

    [quote comment=”7479″]Why is everybody bitching about the link?

    They look pretty good to me.[/quote]

    I’ve been staring at that pic for the last 4 hours and I just noticed… logo creep.

    I think the thing I like most about the Heinz belts, is that it did not seem to particularly matter from what direction they threaded their belts.

    I did combined patrols with Peruvian Special Forces 15 years ago and I recall their uniform trouser belts had a similar buckle system. The ends of the belt with the buckles had a long extension that slid under the biter end, across the button on the trousers, over toward the opposite hip. It looks like the belts in the picture may have a similar construction. However, I don’t recall that the Peruvians had any relationship to the St Paul Baseball Team or to the Heinz corporation.

    [quote comment=”7487″][quote comment=”7479″]Why is everybody bitching about the link?

    They look pretty good to me.[/quote]

    I’ve been staring at that pic for the last 4 hours and I just noticed… logo creep.[/quote]

    Heh … bet that’s not all that’s creeping. :)

    Speaking of logo creep … you know how Oregon has that “mudplate” design on the shoulders and knees? I bet you anything that over time, Nike plans to replace those little oblong shapes with swooshes. You heard it here first.

    If I remember correctly, the style of belts they are wearing are called billeted belts. They were popular back in the anti-bellum period and after, usually worn on pants withouth belt loops, as they were not the norm at that time. I can only speculate that it was that wide and had two buckles due to the no belt loops. Some Civil War soldiers were known to wear belts like that early on in the war. I can look into it more and research the real names of them

    BTW, score one for the faithful, Baylor wore Gold helmets today!

    [quote comment=”7482″]Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina for the first time that I can ever recall is sporting stirrups. The only bad part of this situation is that they covered up by his shin guards.[/quote]

    For a good chunk of the ’90s, the best stirrups in baseball were worn by link. It always killed me that they were covered by his shinguards for half the game.

    [quote comment=”7483″]First Marquis, now Reyes is rocking the stirrup stripes? Awesome.

    We need to come up with an All-Socks team before the end of the season.[/quote]

    Reyes has been rocking the stirrups all season. It just hasn’t been seen as frequently because he has been up and down from AAA Memphis all year.

    As I was staring at the tennis courts of the U.S. Open, I noticed something horrifying–Lexus logo creep on the nets! Two of them! Sorry, no pic, but check out this logo creep instead.

    link

    Oh, and good-bye to a legend. Thanks for the memories, Andre.

    link

    [quote comment=”7490″]
    Speaking of logo creep … you know how Oregon has that “mudplate” design on the shoulders and knees? I bet you anything that over time, Nike plans to replace those little oblong shapes with swooshes. You heard it here first.[/quote]

    Never gonna happen. If Nike used the swoosh for decoration (like a repetitive design element) instead of an identifier, they could lose the trademark rights.

    Our link price is cheaper than other website, and the watch replica is the good watch. you can choose any watch replica to placed order, Once we receive your payment, we will handle the watch replica shipment.

Comments are closed.