By Phil Hecken, Rick Pearson & Mike Engle
[Please note: A majority of this post was composed before Paul posted a ticker link to the red caps this past Wednesday, and there were several opinions rendered in the “Comments” section. I apologize if some of what follows is “old news,” but a tremendous amount of work had already gone into this article, and I asked my co-authors to ‘tweak’ their thoughts following Wednesday’s column. Please feel free to add new thoughts, tweak your old ones, or ignore this section altogether. — PH]
I’m rejoined this fine day by Ricko and Mike, and today we are here to bitch about discuss this year’s newest twist on “patriotism” (or whatever it is they’re selling it as), via the wearing of the new red “Stars and Stripes” caps, which will be worn by MLB teams on Memorial Day. I had originally thought they’d be worn over the Fourth of July, which would be bad enough as a one-shot deal, but no, MLB plans on having its teams wear the red caps three times: Memorial Day, the Fourth of July, and 11 September. (Lest we completely forget the true meaning of Memorial Day.) But at least MLB did have the good sense to remove Chief Wahoo from the Indians cap, replacing it with the “Block C.” As you all know (or should by now) last year the teams wore “old glory (?) blue,” and this year they’re sporting blood of our soldiers red.
Wearing the caps once is a gimmick. But wearing them at least three separate dates (with possibly more, should teams wish) –that’s more than enough times to make a complete mockery of the gimmick. That they would have the teams wear the caps on Memorial Day is even more appalling, especially to me, since this isn’t a day of celebration of independence or even the end of a major conflict, or the memory of a tragic event, but it is a day to honor the fallen soldiers throughout the United States who died while in military service (it was actually begun to honor Civil War soldiers, but became a somber day to remember the war dead from all conflicts). “Memorial Day,” while technically a holiday, isn’t (or shouldn’t be) about barbeques and beer or even baseball, but that’s what it’s become — but I digress.
Last year, MLB pulled a similar stunt, only they “began” it on over the 4th of July weekend, claiming they were giving a portion of the proceeds from every cap sold to Welcome Back Veterans. Paul wrote about it (scroll down to the ticker) then. I’m not sure we ever did get an accounting of how much green MLB pocketed. But at least the 4th of July is a national holiday of celebration, not a somber day of mourning and remembrance. That MLB is pushing this latest merchandizing ploy on this day is offensive, at least to me. And I don’t care that it’s another excuse for MLB to say “Look at us and how much good we do.” Spare me. Aside from the 29 owners not named Steinbrenner, MLB has at times in the past claimed to be hemorrhaging money, but they never miss a beat when it comes to “generating” money for charitable causes — but how much do they keep for themselves? I’d be willing to bet they’re not giving 100% of the profits from these caps to Veterans’ organizations.
But let’s skip the civics outrage, for now, and focus on the aesthetics of this. How will these red caps actually look with the 30 MLB clubs who’ll be wearing the regular uniforms with them? I doubt any club will look “better,” though some clubs who normally wear red caps probably won’t look much different. For the rest, however, it may be a similar nightmare to what those non-blue based teams faced last season, only in red.
There’s still some talk about giving teams the option to wear the blue caps — not amongst MLB, but among Uni Watchers. Clearly, for some teams, the blue cap would be a much better option. Another possibility, which we will explore a bit is the possibility of MLB introducing still another Stars and Stripes cap, next season. A white one. Here’s what a White Cap would look like. We’re not saying this is a good (or welcome option), but at least giving teams the option of either blue, red or white caps, caps which might actually compliment, rather than clash with, their uniform scheme, is infinitely more palatable than what we’re being presented with for Monday.
Still, what could be more appropriate than having your favorite team sport this and even this to “pay tribute to our fallen soliders” as MLB is putting it. Well, thankfully, they’re not actually wearing the fashion jerseys … at least not on Memorial Day. (But, if they’re hot enough sellers, I wouldn’t be surprised to see them broken out for the July 4th games.) I can’t sugarcoat my outrage at this mockery of the baseball gods enough. Thankfully, I’m joined by two different generations of Uni Watchers who may feel differently than I do. But then again, they may not. — Phil
We’ll begin with the youngest member of the “My Three Sons” trio, Mike Engle.
Mike Engle: These red hats…one intended consequence (raise awareness ad proceeds to American veterans rip off spendthrift fans and make shitloads of money) and a bunch of unintended consequences. Aesthetically, we get some interesting things that were unthinkable a generation three years ago. The Chicago White Sox could pull off a TBTC vibe (please be at home, so the powder blues don’t come back), the Los Angeles Dodgers can “finally” match their front uniform numbers with something, the Texas Rangers Texases can throw back to the first week of the season, when they decided to wear the red hats with blue everything else, “Red Wings Appreciation Day” at Ilitch’s Other Playground…fuck, I’m exhausted from all this sugarcoating. Shoot me when the Mets roll out another alternate.
I have to say, my least favorite part of these Memorial Day and 4th of July shenanigans is the total distortion of tradition, for the USA and baseball. As much as we at Uni Watch hate camouflage uniforms “because the 1776 soldiers definitely didn’t wear camo for our freedom,” they sure as hell didn’t wear red either. Those were the other guys…the British “Redcoats”–the very team America was supposed to hate many years ago. (This is the part where I feel the Cubs fans’ pain. Sorry you have to look like the Cardinals.)
As for baseball, as a seven-and-a-half year-old I first set foot in a big league stadium 4 July, 1996, so it’s a bit of an anniversary for me. I saw the Brewers play the Yankees at The Stadium. Greg Vaughn scored first, but Paul O’Neill and Derek Jeter homered, Pettitte won, Wetteland saved … 4-1 Yankee win (this is all from memory by the way)…it was a beautiful day, and a Yankee fan was born. And guess what? It was standard uniforms. Gray vs white. Regular hats. No special flag patches. They even sung “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.”
This whole Stars and Stripes program is a colossal failure, no matter what color it is. The Star Spangled Batterman logo (on the backs of all hats) is a really cool touch, and I wouldn’t mind seeing that stay, but I DESPISE the way the logos are “colored in” to the point of illegibility and ABHOR an across-the-board hat color. It just doesn’t work. Last year, the hats were a particular shade of dark blue. (“Old Glory Blue?”) Those hats failed partly because the Old Glory Blue didn’t match any uniform. For any given team, the hue either greatly clashed or didn’t quite match. (Notice how Johnny Damon’s hat is much too light to be a proper Yankees hat.) This year’s red hats should actually match some teams’ uniforms, but they still fail because they’re Redcoat Red.
Listen, Selig, I’m only 20 years old, and if baseball already doesn’t look like the game I know, love, and recognize, I think we have a bit of a problem.
Now, about white hats … those could actually look really cool with team color brims. (All-white hats? Not sure about that.) The Oakland A’s would pull it off the best because they wear white shoes. Would look like shit over pinstripes though.
Bottom line, I’d say keep the Star Spangled batterman logo, slap it on the regular everyday hats, and call it a day.
Need I say more?
For Ricko’s part, he’s decided to address the red caps a la David Letterman, with his own “Top 10 List”:
TOP TEN REASONS MLB RED HATS ARE COOL FOR MEMORIAL DAY, ETC:
10. MLB will sell a lot of red hats because last year the hats were blue, and because P.T. Barnum was right.
9. You just know someone’s gonna walk into a ballpark and ask, “What’s this”¦’MLB’s Salute to Crabs’?”
8. The Red States deserve recognition while we’re stuck with a Blue State President.
7. It will look like, for once, there are plenty of guys ready to get passengers’ luggage to check-in.
6. Thinking it’s the Red Wings out there, some fans may throw octopi onto the diamond, a major league first.
5. Look, Citi Field is in the red!
4. Elmer Fudd, fashion-forward at last.
3. Attending a game with members of her Red Hat Society group and overcome with nostalgia, elderly Morganna will run onto the field searching for George Brett to kiss, her knees wreaking havoc with what once were her biggest attractions.
2. Canadian fans, who are easily confused, will be confused.
1. Hey, it works for Sally Struthers.
My thought on the possibility of white hats for next year?
Seriously, if they simply MUST do this “thing”, then have gray hats for the road teams. It would look better with opposing teams in differing hats and (wash my mouth out for noting this cuz it might give MLB ideas) they’d sell more hats. Hey, I gotta have the home and road version of my team’s hat, don’t I?
Uni Watch Stirrup Poll: As many of you who read the comments know, James Huening (“JTH”) has a son who plays in the little league. An unfortunate dilemma has made its way into the sartorial splendor that should be every boy’s little league uniform: his cap is blue and his jersey (t-shirt) is forest green. So JTH, being the wonderful father he is, is facing a quandry: does he outfit his son in blue stirrups, so as to match the cap, or green, so as to compliment the shirt? I suggested he put it to a vote of the UW faithful, and (although the quality of the camera phone isn’t great), he has presented us with a “side by side” photo of the two possible outfits — one with the green stirrups (on the left) and one with the blue. What say, UW? Green or blue? Please vote for the better combination in the “Comments” section below.
As a bonus, James has also provided us with two additional pics from the children in his son’s league, just to give us an idea of the fashion trends of the younguns in today’s leagues. We’ll call this first photo “Good … bad … worst, as you’ll note the youth on the left is wearing pajamas, while the youth on the right favors the “Greg Maddux” fake stirrups. The boy in the center, of course, properly stirruped, is JTH’s son. And, whilst the socks on our next youth might be “dorky,” I love ’em. They might not be cool when you’re in high school, but how great are these socks?
Guess The Game from the scoreboard: This past week, a new “game” was introduced in the comments and it was pretty well received. Basically it’s a pretty simple game. We post a picture of a MLB scoreboard, and from the clues (all on the scoreboard), readers try to guess the game. If it’s easy, all we’ll post is the scoreboard. If it’s difficult, additional clues may be posted along with the pic. See if you can figure out which game (day, date and location) is pictured, and how you came about your conclusion. We’ll reveal the correct answer during the day, so check back often.
Today’s scoreboard comes from Lance Smith. Difficulty: Moderate-easy; Clues: None
Next weekend, I plan to run a (possibly two day, depending upon the response) article highlighting the “uniform record” of the team you’ve been tracking. A number of you (I’d conservatively say 20) have already contacted me to indicate you’re tracking your team and there may be others out there who are also doing this. I think I “flagged” everyone’s email who has contacted me, but just to be on the safe side, I’d ask that you all please contact me again this early this week (say, Monday-Tuesday, if possible) — I will be sending out an as-yet-to-be-determined “questionnaire” on your tracking technique, team record wearing such-and-such uniform, etc., and I’d hope you could take a moment to answer. I’ll try to include everyone’s responses in next weekend’s “2 month track”. If you aren’t aware of the tracking of which I speak, I direct you to the third section of last Sunday’s post, which explains it. Anyone who has been keeping that uni-record, please send me an e-mail so I can post your efforts as we begin the third month of the MLB campaign. I’m sure there will be some interesting trends emerging, and we can “see” if teams start “shifting” to certain uniform combinations because of their successes (or away from them because of their failures) … or whether the decision to wear a uniform is completely random, based on a day or days of the week, starting pitcher (for those tracking that stat) and so on. Looking forward to everyone’s results.
This and That: We start off this section with two bits of information from the aforementioned JTH, who notes Randy Brown’s Bulls championship rings sold for $53,833 … also from James: “and you probably saw something about this already, but here’s another reason to hate ND and the Yanks. Can you believe the balls on these bastards to call it a potential ‘midseason bowl game?'” … Dude — you are wearing way too much shit and you tuck your shirt into your underwear — please don’t do that … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments (credit to Beardface): looks like there might be a rebranding in the near future of the Charlotte Bobcats … Seriously? … LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and the core of the Olympic basketball champions could be back in USA uniforms next summer for the world championships … You probably won’t be seeing this t-shirt on No Mas — but there is now apparently a market for one … President Obama hates kindergartners! Seriously — while he was getting this nifty Steelers jersey, Barry had a group of 100 kids, who were 10 minutes late, turned away … I think we can all safely admit this sweater is just wrong — read all aboot that and more here … Ron Artest is probably not recommending a barber to Kobe, dontcha know … You know that hilarious video (of the Henrik Zetterberg impersonator) Teebz posted in the comments yesterday? Here’s the backstory … Apparently the porn ‘stache is back as a fashion statement — ¡Viva Zavada! … I don’t normally pay much attention to miniature golf course design … and apparently neither did the designer of this particular hole … Good to see so many teams wearing their softball jerseys for the beginning of the interplague series on Friday — it’s really time to end this ridiculous experiment and let the leagues play ONLY intraleague games, or maybe have ONE interleague series per season … Even in what could have been good interplague matchups, it just ain’t happening … Just curious — why would “Yahoo Tech” even carry an article on Google’s new logos? … “Whaddaya mean, these hands aren’t touched by god?
Have a good Saturday. Don’t forget to vote for JTH’s boy’s stirrups!
Didn’t know the 5950’s were available with the chin strap from a Kevlar, good marketing. Nice job MLB Properties jerkoffs.
I’m really against anything that is mandated by the MLB (Turn Ahead the Clock, Stars and Stripes, #42 on everyone). I think that the options should be given to teams, but that it should be up to the teams to decide.
I could go either way on the Stars and Stripes caps, but agree that interleague play and the alt jerseys remain abominations.
all the mlb is doing with these hats is marketing them to gangs. does an o’s or a’s fan really want a red hat? the gangs love red caps and new era does everything to ensure that they will produce more that will sit flat brimmed on somebody’s head.
as for “softball unis.” i like them better. white and gray are boring.
I vote for the green stirrups.
For what it’s worth, i would go with the green stirrups.
I am not sure if this has already been posted, but there is a cool flicker gallery (link) of old school cycling jerseys from an exhibit called “My Favourite Shirt”
link
Game on the scoreboard was July 31, 1956 at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City. The Brooklyn Dodgers played there while trying to get a replacement for Ebbets Field.
[quote comment=”330700″]Game on the scoreboard was July 31, 1956 at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City. The Brooklyn Dodgers played there while trying to get a replacement for Ebbets Field.[/quote]
link. You beat me to it.
Armed with the knowledge that the Dodgers played a few home games there in 1956 and ’57, I just went link and looked for any game where the Braves were the visitors, ignored any game where the attendance was greater than 26,000 or so and clicked until I found a match. Unfortunately, I wasted some time because I started with 1957 instead of 1956 for some reason.
i say match the hat. it brings the uni together. if you match the shirt it just makes the hat look out of place. the color combo is weird anyway.
Nice work by the photographer in link to get the portrait of Chris with his Canadiens jersey in the background.
Also, for anyone who thought that the furnishing/interior decorating style was a bit over the top in “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”, that picture shows evidence that they got it right.
Are the Phillies not wearing their interleague caps this year? They had their standard ones on last night against the Yanks.
[quote comment=”330704″]Are the Phillies not wearing their interleague caps this year? They had their standard ones on last night against the Yanks.[/quote]
I thought they got rid of those prior to the ’08 season. I wonder if they had still existed last year if they would have worn them in the only interleague series there should be: the World Series.
I get the sense Yahoo is transitioning to a “serious” outlet for journalism. They’re doing a good job of digging into sports stories, so perhaps they’re objective about news across the board.
If it weren’t for Yahoo digging … ESPN sure wouldn’t have uncovered the corrupt program that is UConnecticut and Jim Calhoun. Something about “biting the hand that feeds them” … ESPN just isn’t a serious media outlet since they refused to report on a hoops starter not attending classes for roughly two years … happening right in their own backyard.
“2. Canadian fans, who are easily confused, will be confused”….Dude, stop insulting my country, lol! Seriously, I love the column and keep up the great work. I read it every morning, and contrary to what a lot of people have been writing, I LOVE the “homemade league” stuff! It reminds me of what my brother and I used to do as kids with everything from Atari to rod-hockey…Hamilton Hammers, 1983 Activision Ice Hockey League Champs!
I’m not sure if this link will work, but Buster Olney’s blog today is about his DIY baseball field he made as a kid. Pretty cool story- link
Stars and Stripes hats are a huge failure. As an O’s fan (I know, I will take all the sympathy I can get) these hats never match our unis and this weekend we are playing the Natinals, so we will match those guys for one game. I like the idea of just changing the logo on back to the Stars and Stripes motif.
For the LL conundrum, gotta match hat with stirrups.
After serving in the Army for 20 years I am not easily offended, but:
That picture at the start of the column is just offensive. Tell me a MLB team didn’t seriously do this. The fallen Soldier memorial is something you never want to see first hand and to have it used to sell hats is outrageous.
Rant over
Here’s a compromise:
Stars and Stripes logo, regular team colored hats:
link
Still doesn’t look quite right on the A’s, but its much better.
I was afraid Roosevelt would make the scoreboard guess too easy. Still I couldn’t resist suggesting it because I haven’t seen that many photos of the stadium. It’s also of interest because the photo might have been taken for a story about Braves fans traveling out to see their team play the Dodgers.
The other big clue is that the next game is against Pittsburgh on August 7.
If you read the box score, it was a pretty good end of the game. The Braves tie it in the top of the 9th. In the bottom of the inning Pee Wee Reese leads off with a single. Duke Snider advances him to second with a sacrifice bunt. After Furillo draws the intentional walk, Jackie Robinson singles to center to score Reese.
Ricko, I am a loyal David Letterman fan, but I have to say your Top Ten list is as funny as any of have heard on the show in years! I laughed so hard that I woke up my wife (uh-oh).
[quote comment=”330701″][quote comment=”330700″]Game on the scoreboard was July 31, 1956 at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City. The Brooklyn Dodgers played there while trying to get a replacement for Ebbets Field.[/quote]
link. You beat me to it.
Armed with the knowledge that the Dodgers played a few home games there in 1956 and ’57, I just went link and looked for any game where the Braves were the visitors, ignored any game where the attendance was greater than 26,000 or so and clicked until I found a match. Unfortunately, I wasted some time because I started with 1957 instead of 1956 for some reason.[/quote]
Also note #41 Clem Labine was batting in the ninth spot, he and the Dodgers eventually won the game over Dave Jolly #16 Braves … Score 3-2.
Attendence – 26,141
I say go with the stirrups to match the jersey, so go green
or you could go with green stirrups and blue sanitaries…just a thought
Blue, match the cap.
Big thumbs down to any across-the-board anything all-MLB caps
That’s all.
Stirrups– This is a quandary because the colors are both blue based. Generally, I’d say the stirrups should match the hat, at least in part, not the jersey, the jersey sort of ‘breaks up’ the ensemble– green jersey, green socks, it looks too bottom heavy, blue stirrups blue hat is more balanced with a green jersey, also blue undershirt. You could get away with something like the ‘Packer’ style stirrup, though it’s hard again because there isn’t enough contrast– blue body of the sock with fat green stripes and thin stripes in white to at least get a bit of contrast between the colors.
Speaking of young un’s, I was pleased to see that my girlfriend’s daughter’s JV HS softball team had four actual stirrup wearers on the field, the rest did the stripe-sock combo, but at least they’re trying, all showing sock that gestured at stirrups. Interesting to note that sophomore girls have the sense to know that stirrups of some sort are part of a bat/ ball/diamond uniform, while their male counterparts twice their age still haven’t figured this out. When I asked her about it, if the coach mandated it, she (who had never played before this year) said ‘no, but that’s what you’re supposed to wear, aren’t you?’ From the mouths of babes…
I loved the blue stirrups.
And I don’t know if you saw that last shot before you included that final LeBron jab… I’m not so sure those hands aren’t touched by God. All that shot lacked was Ehlo collapsing onto the floor in the background.
Could be the “quality” of the pictures, but the blue hat/green top/green stirrups ensemble looks better to me than blue stirrups.
PS: Why not link? Should make it easier to track the votes.
Green stirrups at home
Blue away
Red on Memorial Day, etc.
Why pick just one set of stirrups? Why not use green for some games and blue for others? Just don’t mess it up with a red hat.
i have to say that the green to me looks better than the blue. and that color combo is strange.
i watched my nieces softball game the other day (8 year olds) and there were quite a few of them with the pulled up pants and faux stirrups, i was quite surprised.
OK, how ’bout this: Blue stirrups w Northwestern stripes: white-green-white? Socks Rocks ought to be able to set up the entire team.
I think I’m voting Green on the Stirrup Question.
I’m going with the blue because it creates more of a balance and on the theory that the accessories should match.
On another note, is there a worse “jersey” in MLB than the black vests worn by the Rockies?
What threw me off on the scoreboard was the next game being on Aug. 7 vs. Pittsburgh. If you look at the Dodgers’ schedule, they then play two more against Milwaukee and then four vs. St. Louis before Pittsburgh.
Although that could mean their next game at Roosevelt was August 7.
Those Mets “Snow Whites” with the Blue cap are really growing on me. I think they are probably the best of the Mets current “Uniform Carnival” – to quote an old PL Village Voice reference.
There are several books about the Brooklyn Dodgers that go into detail about how and why the Dodgers played some regular season games in N.J. at Roosevelt Stadium.
I’ll pull the quotes up and post them later.
Blue stirrups – stirrups should match the hat.
Stirrups must always match the crown of the cap.
The scoreboard is from July 31, 1956 Brooklyn Dodgers vs. Milwaukee Braves at Roosevelt Stadium in New Jersey. The huge Roosevelt Stadium atop the scoreboard narrowed the dates down to ’56 and ’57 and then I found which year the Pirates played the Dodgers on Aug 7th. The fact that they played only a handful of random games at Roosevelt Stadium confused things a bit, as the next game wasn’t the next Dodger game but the next game at Roosevelt.
The Dodgers went on to win 3-2.
The green ones look better to me. I get what you’re saying about matching the hat, but the green just looks better, I think because it balances the color from the solid jersey.
[quote comment=”330720″]Green stirrups at home
Blue away
Red on Memorial Day, etc.[/quote]
Yep – Green at home, Blue on the road.
Stars and Stripes stirrups on the Mem. Day, July 4th and 9/11. and don’t forget plain, nondescript teeshirts for your LL’s annual Civil Rights game.
[quote comment=”330729″]Stirrups must always match the crown of the cap.[/quote]
‘Cept the Red Sox, of course. :)
Stirrups: Let the kid choose.
1. diggerjohn rocks
2. ricko/mike thanks for the contribution.
c. stripes for jth, but if you cant stripe it, match the hat.
4. ricko is much smarter then the rest of us, i think we need wwrs bracelets. “what would ricko say”. all uw problems could be solved if we just look to master pearson.
5. and dickie dunn, that was some good writtin’ today. i always like your posts, but i think you really captured the spirit of the thing today. seriously, i enjoyed your words a great deal. the whole beer and bbq thing, you are right, but i will do that this weekend, and i will also find a way to respectfully remember those members of my family not with us anymore who served their country proudly. anyway, i just wanted to say the post was a great read, thanks for the effort.
You mentioned how a “celebration” cap isn’t necessarily the most fitting for Memorial Day. I’d love to see certain teams take on branches of the military with a cap patch or something. Let the New York teams take the army, Baltimore and DC (and perhaps San Diego) with the Navy/Marines, perhaps the Red Sox get the Coast Guard, Colorado gets the Air Force. And give the White Sox a POW/MIA logo, just because it would look pretty good.
[quote comment=”330725″]I’m going with the blue because it creates more of a balance and on the theory that the accessories should match.
On another note, is there a worse “jersey” in MLB than the black vests worn by the Rockies?[/quote]
As to current sets: the Pads’ camo jerseys, everything worn by Phoenix, the Reds’ red jerseys, the Nats’ home jerseys, Dallas’ red jerseys, the Jays’ home jerseys.
Nothing anywhere as bad as the Angels’ Disney nightmare sets of the late nineties.
The blue stirrups look much better.
One amusing thing about the Dodgers game in the photo is the start time.
The Baseball Reference entry give the TOG as 1:58. The clock on the scoreboard is at 10 to 10, so that means the game started at 8.
No way a modern baseball game starts later than 7:30, there too much danger the game would still be going after midnight.
I wish a 2-hour game wasn’t noteworthy.
[quote comment=”330737″][quote comment=”330725″]I’m going with the blue because it creates more of a balance and on the theory that the accessories should match.
On another note, is there a worse “jersey” in MLB than the black vests worn by the Rockies?[/quote]
As to current sets: the Pads’ camo jerseys, everything worn by Phoenix, the Reds’ red jerseys, the Nats’ home jerseys, Dallas’ red jerseys, the Jays’ home jerseys.
Nothing anywhere as bad as the Angels’ Disney nightmare sets of the late nineties.[/quote]
I agree except for the Reds’ alternate. I think is one of the best alts in the league.
How about doing an A’s type thing and doing blue sanis and green stirrups or green sanis and blue stirrups?
I’ll vote for green stirrups, but it was hard to see in the picture.
I don’t like these Stars & Stripes hats at all, and as Paul wrote about last week regarding camo, MLB teams should instead honor Veterans and such by wearing those old military baseball team uniforms, which would lead to actual storytelling and learning about our nation’s history, and where baseball fits in. I wonder what Ken Burns thinks of this.
Even though interleague has been around for years now, I still love the uniqueness of seeing different teams play each other. I only occasionally see AL games, and when my Marlins play them, it is a chance to check them out and see some new players. Rotating divisions is critical, as is keeping those crosstown/area rivalries, and I think it broadens the game to include new things for the fans.
P.S. to Phil: Is anyone tracking the uni records for the Marlins? I haven’t been, but would like to see them represented, and will do it if no one has done the work already. Thanks
[quote]P.S. to Phil: Is anyone tracking the uni records for the Marlins? I haven’t been, but would like to see them represented, and will do it if no one has done the work already. Thanks [/quote]
i don’t believe any one is, and if you’d like to undertake such a feat, i, for one, would love it…
gimme a shout
[quote comment=”330734″]Stirrups: Let the kid choose.[/quote]
Probably the best answer yet.
[quote comment=”330737″][quote comment=”330725″]I’m going with the blue because it creates more of a balance and on the theory that the accessories should match.
On another note, is there a worse “jersey” in MLB than the black vests worn by the Rockies?[/quote]
As to current sets: the Pads’ camo jerseys, everything worn by Phoenix, the Reds’ red jerseys, the Nats’ home jerseys, Dallas’ red jerseys, the Jays’ home jerseys.
Nothing anywhere as bad as the Angels’ Disney nightmare sets of the late nineties.[/quote]
whilst looking for my pixture of wahoooooooo, i came across this, guy has a couple cool bronco images you might like…
link
[quote comment=”330733″][quote comment=”330729″]Stirrups must always match the crown of the cap.[/quote]
‘Cept the Red Sox, of course. :)[/quote]
That’s why they should wear the Fisk era cap, and the Cardinals should only wear red caps.
Why no green socks with white/blue stripes…aka circa 1991-1992 Harford Whaler Socks.
If the league gets rid of Chief Wahoo, the best hat logo in the league, I expect the Yankees to be renamed as well. As a White American, I feel offended by this once-derogatory term
[quote comment=”330745″][quote comment=”330737″][quote comment=”330725″]I’m going with the blue because it creates more of a balance and on the theory that the accessories should match.
On another note, is there a worse “jersey” in MLB than the black vests worn by the Rockies?[/quote]
As to current sets: the Pads’ camo jerseys, everything worn by Phoenix, the Reds’ red jerseys, the Nats’ home jerseys, Dallas’ red jerseys, the Jays’ home jerseys.
Nothing anywhere as bad as the Angels’ Disney nightmare sets of the late nineties.[/quote]
whilst looking for my pixture of wahoooooooo, i came across this, guy has a couple cool bronco images you might like…
link
Thanks. Always fun to see a shot of Nemiah Wilson – the first pro athlete I ever met.
[quote comment=”330744″][quote comment=”330734″]Stirrups: Let the kid choose.[/quote]
Probably the best answer yet.[/quote]
I’ll second that.
JTH:
My choice would be the green to match the jersey.
Related question: doesn’t the team need to be “uniform” in their choice?
BTW, kudos to whoever arranged for the photo accompanying the headline. Hed could have used a sarcasm tag, though. ‘Specially since Phil uses such tags so well.
haven’t had the chance to read much of the post or comments today (scanned through the post, will read it monday though), but wanted to chime in real quick:
blue stirrups. match the hat!
Also for JTH:
Of COURSE it’s a midseason bowl game.
How the hell else is Dome going to say that they played in a bowl?
BTW, tell the Yankee Stadium group that they’ll need to shut down the buffet line before Weis gets there.
[quote comment=”330751″][quote comment=”330744″][quote comment=”330734″]Stirrups: Let the kid choose.[/quote]
Probably the best answer yet.[/quote]
I’ll second that.[/quote]
Yeah. See, the thing is that he really doesn’t care. I tried to get him to choose and he thought it would be a good idea to wear both.
We’ve also got a pair that are black and another pair of navy blue. He’d probably be just as happy with either of those choices as well — black because they’d match his batting gloves & shoes and navy because he doesn’t quite understand yet that navy and royal blue don’t match.
[quote comment=”330752″]JTH:
My choice would be the green to match the jersey.
Related question: doesn’t the team need to be “uniform” in their choice?[/quote]
Man, you should see some of the stuff these kids show up wearing. Lotsa jeans and cargo shorts.
JeffM (#23), Hibbs (#28), DenverGregg (#29), Marcus Hall (#40), Mike Miller (#49):
That’s just crazy enough to work.
Chris Lamping (#25), Flip (#31) rpm (#43) Adam (#55):
I’d love to get some custom socks and if I thought the other kids would actually wear them, I probably would. But as I mentioned above, a lot of these kids don’t even wear proper baseball pants, so getting them to wear a decent pair of socks with them is a tall order. So we’re just going with the ones we already have on hand.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Did I miss anyone?
[quote comment=”330753″]BTW, kudos to whoever arranged for the photo accompanying the headline. Hed could have used a sarcasm tag, though. ‘Specially since Phil uses such tags so well.[/quote]
i always do both…
im gettin a’ight at that MS paint, dontcha think?
[quote comment=”330748″]Why no green socks with white/blue stripes…aka circa 1991-1992 Harford Whaler Socks.[/quote]
blue & green can work link
blue stirrups. looks good for the carpet to match the drapes…er, i mean, for the bottom to match the top.
btw, speaking of stirrups. in light of the increasing number of mlb players wearing actual stirrups with sanitaries, and the several players wearing just the full dark socks, it makes me wonder…
which is older, more original, in baseball? didn’t the early players wear dark socks, not stirrups?
[quote comment=”330757″]Man, you should see some of the stuff these kids show up wearing. Lotsa jeans and cargo shorts.[/quote]
Yeah, I’m old I guess. :-)
Regarding this and the next comment: the first year my niece played in the “hit from a pitcher” age group, she was fascinated with batting gloves. She wore two batting gloves in the field, both under her baseball mitt and on her throwing hand.
And of course, she batted barehanded. :-)
[quote comment=”330761″]which is older, more original, in baseball? didn’t the early players wear dark socks, not stirrups?[/quote]
there is only one column you need to read on this
it’s quite possibly the best ever written on the subject
and it’s why many of us are here
enjoy
They put the old Padres cap logo on AGAIN. Those S&S caps look like ASS.
[quote comment=”330763″][quote comment=”330761″]which is older, more original, in baseball? didn’t the early players wear dark socks, not stirrups?[/quote]
there is only one column you need to read on this
it’s quite possibly the best ever written on the subject
and it’s why many of us are here
link[/quote]
thanks phil…an excellently detailed history.
so the original lower leg style was the solid sock with no opening.
not a bad look at all, but i think my preference is the highly cuffed pant with a small opening at the bottom (similar to david wright’s recent look).
I vote blue stirrups. More balance with blue cap / forest shirt / blue stirrups.
“it’s really time to end this ridiculous experiment and let the leagues play ONLY intraleague games”
You have got to be kidding me. Just the opposite is true. Interleague play should be expanded to be throughout the entire season. What is ridiculous is that a fan in a one-league town misses HALF the fucking teams in baseball. MLB is the only sport that tries to segregate its two leagues so much. It’s bad enough that the season is ludicrously long, but it’s made worse by only putting teams against half the league. People can only sit through the same matchup so many times before they just stop caring won’t they?
The REAL problem in MLB is the DH rule. I don’t know what bullshit reasons there are for the AL/NL split on this, and frankly I don’t care. It was illogical that one sport would have two different sets of rules. Can you imagine if something like this was in another sport? What if the NFL had a “no hitting the QB in the AFC rule?” Or the NBA had a “Western Conf. plays with six men on the court rule?” The fact that almost nobody seems to mention this or complain about it is mind boggling. Is it not ONE united major league? Am I the only sane person in the world or the only insane one?
Interleague play needs to be expanded and be throughout the season, and MLB needs a unified DH rule.
[quote comment=”330767″]”it’s really time to end this ridiculous experiment and let the leagues play ONLY intraleague games”
You have got to be kidding me. Just the opposite is true. Interleague play should be expanded to be throughout the entire season. [/quote]
Couldn’t disagree more. Interleague Play is a Selig novelity that’s a cheap gimmick, and designed solely to crybaby fans who whined and whined about not seeing superstars in their home parks. Baseball needs to get back to having seperate leagues. Interleague Play is why nobody cares about the ASG anymore, and why World Series ratings are so low. The game was played over 120 years without I.P. and it was just fine the way it was. Season-long I.P. would be an absolute nightmare in travel. If anything, baseball needs to schedule doubleheaders and produce more off-days.
[quote comment=”330696″]all the mlb is doing with these hats is marketing them to gangs.[/quote]
Yep. Last year was the Crips turn, this year is the Bloods.
[quote comment=”330767″]
The REAL problem in MLB is the DH rule. I don’t know what bullshit reasons there are for the AL/NL split on this, and frankly I don’t care. It was illogical that one sport would have two different sets of rules. [/quote]
It was a 1973 gimmick by a struggling league who wanted to bring more offense to the game. I don’t like it, it just lazy managing and one-dimensional ballplayers hanging on longer. What’s even worse about the DH rule is the lack of flexibility; and the fact that if the DH comes on the field, you lose it altogether. And the fact that you can only DH the pitcher? Stupid as hell. If you’re going to have a bastard rule, you might as well make as many DH’s as you want. That way you can always have your best defense and offense in the game. It’s an experiment that went too far and should had been stopped. DH the ‘real’ problem in baseball? Hardly. And I want to close by saying: baseball is superior to every other sport.
[quote comment=”330767″]”it’s really time to end this ridiculous experiment and let the leagues play ONLY intraleague games”
You have got to be kidding me. Just the opposite is true. Interleague play should be expanded to be throughout the entire season. What is ridiculous is that a fan in a one-league town misses HALF the fucking teams in baseball. MLB is the only sport that tries to segregate its two leagues so much. It’s bad enough that the season is ludicrously long, but it’s made worse by only putting teams against half the league. People can only sit through the same matchup so many times before they just stop caring won’t they?
The REAL problem in MLB is the DH rule. I don’t know what bullshit reasons there are for the AL/NL split on this, and frankly I don’t care. It was illogical that one sport would have two different sets of rules. Can you imagine if something like this was in another sport? What if the NFL had a “no hitting the QB in the AFC rule?” Or the NBA had a “Western Conf. plays with six men on the court rule?” The fact that almost nobody seems to mention this or complain about it is mind boggling. Is it not ONE united major league? Am I the only sane person in the world or the only insane one?
Interleague play needs to be expanded and be throughout the season, and MLB needs a unified DH rule.[/quote]
You missed a {sarcasm> tag. Phil meant, there are so many softball tops in interleague play, let’s ban interleague play to cut down on the god damn softball tops Phil hates.
For JTH’s son’s little league uni, I vote for blue stirrups to match the hat. It would tie the uniform together and makes it look balanced: a little blue on the top, a little blue on the bottom. Green stirrups, by matching the shirt, would make the blue hat look really out of place and wouldn’t match any part of the uniform, unless the kid has royal blue cleats.
I find it interesting that the boy has a choice between green or blue stirrups. Wouldn’t the team’s coach want all the players to wear the same color stirrups? If I was the coach, I’d make it mandatory for the entire team to wear those really cool spiral socks!
Hank Blalock of the Rangers had a HUGE tear in his pants today, didn’t get it fixed, then hit a home run while flapping in the breeze. Sorry, no screengrabs from me today.
JTH: I suggest a striped stirrup with Blue and Dark Green. You could get two pair–one with each as the main color and the other as the stripes… That would be truly sweet.
link
Check those out–various heights and stripe styles to choose from.
Green Stirrups!
[quote comment=”330696″]all the mlb is doing with these hats is marketing them to gangs. does an o’s or a’s fan really want a red hat? the gangs love red caps and new era does everything to ensure that they will produce more that will sit flat brimmed on somebody’s head.[/quote]
yes, because all gangs wear red.
omir!
[quote comment=”330775″]JTH: I suggest a striped stirrup with Blue and Dark Green. You could get two pair–one with each as the main color and the other as the stripes… That would be truly sweet.
link
Check those out–various heights and stripe styles to choose from.[/quote]
Sweet goodness… Go for the Northwestern stripes!
[quote comment=”330769″][quote comment=”330696″]all the mlb is doing with these hats is marketing them to gangs.[/quote]
Yep. Last year was the Crips turn, this year is the Bloods.[/quote]
Post of the day
[quote comment=”330779″][quote comment=”330775″]JTH: I suggest a striped stirrup with Blue and Dark Green. You could get two pair–one with each as the main color and the other as the stripes… That would be truly sweet.
link
Check those out–various heights and stripe styles to choose from.[/quote]
Sweet goodness… Go for the Northwestern stripes![/quote]
Anything but the solid requires a minimum of 12. I doubt that’s happening with his only needing one pair, and having two pairs that could work.
1. Home – right leg green stirrup, left blue Road – switch it up.
2. Softball alts are dumb marketing ploys for $$$. HOWEVER, for some reason I love it when a team really creates a disaster. I then have a great desire to own one. Hypocritical, I know.
3. Red hats are a complete embarassment. 42 on everyone is even worse. To do it over and over should be cause for someone to get canned. Noble intention, poor execution.
4. Got my Pujols statue giveaway at last night’s Cardinals game. Doesn’t look like him. Big “Made In China” sticker on bottom. The bat already broke. I wanted a bobble head.
5. “Birdman” certainly is a colorful man. Yikes!
6. I shouldn’t bitch about everything, so great column guys! Always fun to read the weekender stuff! Most of the time I don’t get to catch up until late in the day but it sure makes me look forward to finally getting to it. I always do at some point in the day!
[quote comment=”330781″][quote comment=”330779″][quote comment=”330775″]JTH: I suggest a striped stirrup with Blue and Dark Green. You could get two pair–one with each as the main color and the other as the stripes… That would be truly sweet.
link
Check those out–various heights and stripe styles to choose from.[/quote]
Sweet goodness… Go for the Northwestern stripes![/quote]
Anything but the solid requires a minimum of 12. I doubt that’s happening with his only needing one pair, and having two pairs that could work.[/quote]
I vote for buying stirrups for the whole team and teaching them how they should wear their pants/socks!!!
[quote comment=”330725″]I’m going with the blue because it creates more of a balance and on the theory that the accessories should match.
On another note, is there a worse “jersey” in MLB than the black vests worn by the Rockies?[/quote]
Thank You! Those things are an atrocity and I thought I was the only one who thought so. They look like a 13-year old traveling team. Unfortunately they wore them as their lucky jerseys clear through that streak at the end of 2007 too.
Im very tired of MLB/Focus groups problems with the Cleveland Indians logo. There is so much real hate in the world, real violence that a cartoon logo is nothing to get worked up over. I mean who is that red, besides me and my English heritage after a day at the beach?
First the Indians had to add the rediculous script I, then the block C. No they have to wear a stupid red hat (not our regular color) with white trim around the leter because the “C” is already red usually.
Go with the green stirrups
link: link (and link) wore a Giants cap while speaking at the link.
The scoreboard picture was taken on July 31 1956. The Dodgers would win the game in the bottom of the 9th when Robinson would single in Pee Wee Reese.
Green Stirrups.
The Cincinnati link should be always competitive enough to keep pace with the others. I really like them; they’ve always been my favourite teams in MLB.
Just read about them here:
link
Yeah, I guess I’ll have to be the odd one out, and say that I like the idea of the Stars and Stripes cap. I’m not dumb enough to say that they’re not a marketing gimmick, but I honestly don’t mind them 3 times a year. That being said, I greatly prefer the blue caps from last year. What MLB really should do is offer teams the option of the red or the blue in my opinion.
Whoever greenlighted this idea should be fired. I can’t take these games seriously today when the teams look like complete buffoons with red caps clashing with their team colors. If you want to ”honor” Memorial Day so badly, have the teams wear patches or armbands. This is just a horrible horrible idea and it is appalling.
I don’t think political correctness is behind the new Indians flag hat this year. I think the real reason MLB put the new flag logo on the “Block C” Indians cap instead of Cheif Wahoo is because they play at home on this holiday… and the Tribe wears their alt faux-back unis on weekends and holidays. Last year, the Tribe was on the road on July 4th, thus the Wahoo/Flag logo because the Wahoo caps are go with the road unis.
[quote comment=”330956″]As for baseball, as a seven-and-a-half year-old I first set foot in a big league stadium 4 July, 1996, so it’s a bit of an anniversary for me. I saw the Brewers play the Yankees at The Stadium. Greg Vaughn scored first, but Paul O’Neill and Derek Jeter homered, Pettitte won, Wetteland saved … 4-1 Yankee win (this is all from memory by the way)…it was a beautiful day, and a Yankee fan was born. And guess what? It was standard uniforms. Gray vs white. Regular hats. No special flag patches. They even sung “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.”[/quote]
Nice piece, Mike. Just to clarify — Fernando Vina scored first in that game.
link
blue stirrups.
vote: blue stirrups
Here’s all you need against the “Stars and Stripes” caps.
According to the Flag Code, a flag is a flag or anything “by which the average person seeing the same without deliberation may believe the same to represent the flag.” So what is displayed on these caps, as well as the name of the product itself makes these caps a “US Flag”.
From the US. Flag Code:
“The flag should not be used as “wearing apparel, bedding, or drapery”,…”
“The flag should not be used as part of a costume or athletic uniform…”
Bottom line is that the Stars and Stripes Caps are in direct violation of the US Flag Code which is ironic for a product meant to elicit patriotism but in fact shows the ignorance of those trying to be patriotic.