Skip to content
 
Uni Watch

Bucking The Trend

By

By John Ekdahl

Showalter’s new team broke out an old set of unis against the Tampa Bay Rays last night. The Orioles were in an all-orange uniform, which was only worn twice during the 1971 season. Buck Showalter didn’t seem all too pleased by having to wear the throwback, saying “I’ll break out the jacket today”. Tampa Bay was wearing a 1970’s throwback of the minor league Tampa Bay Tarpons. As for the attire worn by the man throwing out the first pitch, I’ll let you comment on that.

Round 3 of the PGA Championship kicks off today, with half the field still having to finish Round 2 after bad weather forced a delay. TNT has coverage starting at 11AM ET this morning and CBS picks it up at 2PM ET. You can also follow the leaderboard here.

 
  
 
Comments (114)

    The O’s All-Orange looked a lot better on the 1970’s players that all did not weigh 240 pounds, and when worn in the 1970s’ more sensible, less baggy fashion.

    Worn in today’s baggy custom, with the stirrups covered P-Diddy style with the pants dragging the ground, on today’s more-hefty Sugar-Salt-Fat dieted players, the O’s today look like a bunch of Santa Clauses dressed up fot Halloween!

    PB, when are you going to put up some more of your concepts? Haven’t seen any in a while, and would like to see more, they’re always sweet.

    The whole point of turn back the clock last night was connected to the Village People performing post-game. What was weird was pre-game the Rays showed on the board a “Week in Baseball” like show from June 1977. I got confused and thought that the orange julius unis were from that year.

    Seems to me it would be really easy to make an embarrassing mispronunciation of Tampa Tarpons.

    Having lived in the Tampa Bay area since the mid-1960’s, that joke NEVER, EVER gets old. [/sarcasm]

    But I have always found that to come from people that never matured past puberty.

    Loved the Inmate Orange Unis! Even though they rocked solid black socks instead of ‘rups….it’s sure does beat Pajama Pants.

    Too bad the Orioles didn’t keep this uniform after 1971, can you imagine the 1979 Series? That would have been the ultimate colorful Fall Classic.

    You do remember that the Orioles wore orange jerseys in games 1 and 7 of the ’79 Series?

    actually, they o’s did wear that uni in 1972 (okkenen has it right) — i think there was universal disdain for them, but because brooksie’s company designed them…they wore them once or perhaps twice in 1972

    Loved the Tampa Tarpons unis. And the reason why Anzalone was throwing out the first pich was because the Rays have a concert series, where bands play after their games. Last night was the Village People.

    Always like those turn back the clock type promotions, but despite the game being played on a Friday, and the Rays contending, they only drew 24,000 fans. By contrast, in Houston, the putrid Astros-Pirates game drew 36,000.

    When I lived in the Tampa Bay area and the Rays were lousy, you rarely heard any talk about the location of Tropicana Field. The poor attendance then was chalked up to a horrible team. But since 2008, the disappointing attendance has continued, and now the location of the stadium is a big deal. For those loyal Rays fans who remember the Suncoast Dome, hope they can find the public money for that new, proposed stadium. The owner of the Rays has already publicly said the club will relocate before the current lease expires without a new home.

    One proposed location was old Al Lang Field, off Bayshore Drive in St. Pete. That was shot down, but I’ve heard of a few other possibilities: the Derby Lane area,
    Carillion Center area, and Toytown landfill site(I believe that’s off I-5)

    Toytown is north east of St. Pete, close to I-275 and Roosevelt Blvd. and is an old landfill.

    The Derby Lane area off Gandy Blvd. would be a better location.

    I like Buck Showalter, but this snippet from ESPN’s game recap disappointed me a little:

    Showalter was not a big fan of the Orioles’ uniform and wore a jacket in the dome stadium. “Someone said it looked like Halloween candy corn,” Showalter said. “Take a picture. You won’t see them again.”

    buck is old school — and correct

    glad we got to see them (once)

    while you know i want to see a team or three try monochrome again…this aint the team to try it

    Oh, I wouldn’t want it for a full-time uni, but something that nice should see the light of day more than once.

    “something that nice should see the light of day more than once.”

    well, considering the game was played in the trop…perhaps it should actually see the light of day

    Why not. Make ’em regular. Or at least as regular as the typical alt jerseys. Have some fun. I’m TIRED of the boredom being run out there every dadgum day.

    Got my meat pie, got Tottenham and Man City playing on my computer…the Premier League season has begun!

    Love Tottenham’s warmup – just like the home jersey but no sponsor logo.
    link

    By the way, FIFA’s considering doing away with ties in the World Cup:
    link

    Guess you missed it on ESPN2 at 7:30 AM.

    Oh well, you didn’t miss much. Citeh did wear their change strip with the awesome striped socks…

    As an O’s fan who saw his first game in Baltimore exactly 50 years ago, I say that I hope Showalter is right, I hope we don’t see them again. As a one time gimmick they were good for a laugh, but please never again. Tampa, on the other hand. Looked pretty sharp in theirs.

    I’ve never heard of the “Tampa Bay Tarpons”. When I was a kid, I went to Al Lopez Field, which was next to old Tampa Stadium, to see the Tampa Tarpons. For a while they wore the red * white uni we saw the Tampa Bay Rays wear at the Trop yesterday. The Tarps played in the Florida State League:<a href="link; link

    So, according to the “guidelines” proposed the other day, should the Rays have worn those unis? They seem to be representing the city, not the franchise.

    Um, no. Defunct/extinct franchises, I’ve said SEVERAL times in this discussion, are ideal for such things, and are all about the baseball history of an area. My only distinction was in regard to still-existing franchises, even if they changed locations, even if they changed the team name.

    Unless some side arrangement is made such as the Browns Anomaly, or Calvin Griffith leaving “Senators” in D.C. as part of MLB’s effort to appease Congress with an expanson franchise and avoid any potential threat to the game’s anti-trust exemption, a franchise’s “heraldry” goes with it, whether it stays in use or not. Because, legally, it all belongs to the business, to the franchise, not to any community. That’s just plain fact.

    —Ricko

    Then you shouldn’t think that game was allowable. From what I can find the Tarpons franchise now exists as the Jupiter Hammerheads. So that franchise still exists.

    Silly me.

    I’d have thought it was obvious I was talking about other still-existing major league franchises. For one thing, minor league franchises get returned to the league and re-issued all the time, which isn’t the same thing as MLB franchises being bought sold beween individuals and corporations.

    Guess I was wrong, huh?

    You know, sometimes this place is like that old joke about asking an accountant, “What color is that horse?”

    “Brown” he’ll answer. “On this side.”

    From now on, I’ll be sure to ask, “What color is that horse on both sides?”

    Y’know, to avoid confusion.

    —Ricko

    Just bought a book on EBAY published by ESPN, called “Kiss ‘Em Goodbye” by author Dennis Purdy, about defunct franchises. I havent received it yet. Will update you guys with anything interesting when it comes.

    Congrats to Rays and Orioles to have the creative vision to listen to their fans, and not a small % of Uniatics.

    Nearly 80% of you loved the all orange uniforms, so let’s thank @RaysBaseball for a fantastic 70’s throwback promotion.
    Rule #1 of successful marketing: listen to your audience (customers). Orioles fans overwhelmingly support the throwback hence the promotion is a huge success.

    Any small wonder Buck Showalter doesn’t get many managerial offers? At some point, baseball operations and marketing staffs need to co-exist not mingle in other’s business….

    Showalter was not a big fan of the Orioles’ uniform and wore a jacket in the dome stadium. “Someone said it looked like Halloween candy corn,” Showalter said. “Take a picture. You won’t see them again.”

    You won the game Buck… Maybe you should consider going orange more often John McGraw??????

    Buck must have really hated those uniforms.

    Wearing a jacket indoors, in Florida, in August.

    what, exactly, does buck’s ability to manage have to do with his critique of the uniform?

    does he alter his strategy because they’re wearing orange gear?

    im also curious as to where the “Any small wonder Buck Showalter doesn’t get many managerial offers” comes from…how do you know this? are you his agent? all i know is he’s managing right now while alot of guys arent

    and managers aren’t supposed to concern themselves with marketing…he’ll trot the boys out there in anything the marketing “geniuses” come up with — doesn’t mean he has to like it…and his personal preference for uniform color has absolutely NO connection with his ability to actually, ya know, manage a game

    When we are talking about “monochrome” around here I think this overall issue should include anything with dark pants. Whether or not it matches the jersey is a side note. the Buc’s bumblebees, the Tribe’s white elephant of red and blue combo, The White Sox collared combos are all within my memory’s reach. The ancient Red’s link tried it out too. Not monochrome, but dark pants. While Phil did a great job checking out matching dark jerseys and pants, how about just some dark pants of any kind?

    the tribe never wore blue pants…despite ricko’s protestations to the contrary

    and i did mention the reds one year wonder in my original monochrome piece…despite the fact that red pants with a white top is NOT monochrome

    please…STOP with the contrasting color pants/tops…it’s softball … if you’re that bored with the uniforms, perhaps it’s time you watched another sport…

    that’s my biggest worry about a team actually introducing a monochrome uniform — the tempatation to mix and match at random…what the pirates (and to a certain extent, the chisox) did was a unique thing…please, let it stay that way

    contrasting tops and bottoms looks good on a football field, not a baseball diamond

    Hey…I said I recalled glancing up and seeing a quick shot of an Indian in mono navy in what I THOUGHT might have been the ASG. Now that we’ve learned they wore navy over red, I do need to amend that. Perhaps it actually was a quick highlight on a black and white TV from one of the times they wore navy/red…and my mind couldn’t conceive of them doing such a thing. Figured, instead, that it was the navy counterpart of the red mono.

    There’s no doubt the mind fills stuff in when watching black and white. When she was just shy of 3, my daughter saw bits and pieces THE CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON on American Movie Classics a couple times. She’s now 22 and, to this day, she’ll swear the creature was green. But the film’s black and white.

    —Ricko

    Phil, we’re just gonna have to agree that I’m right and you’re wrong. Fair enough? The world WOULD be a better place if a team would introduce as a regular set a varying number of mix and match colorful uniforms. I want to see what the Mets would look like with their pin pants and snowy tops. And I DEFINITELY want to see some dark pants somewhere in MLB. As well as pullovers.

    the only thing we can agree on is you’re doing a bang up job of annoying me

    you wanna have ONE team play mix and match with softball bottoms? fine, let the pirates go back to that look, since they’re about as good as a softball team anyway…they did it once before, and they own it — it’s pretty unique…OK

    but no real teams should EVER mix pinstripes and solids (and there are several teams who do this now, with the softball tops paired with pin pants — looks like shit, imho)…wearing cream pin bottoms with the snow whites? i know you’re just saying that to piss me off…if that was your goal, you’ve succeeded mightily my friend

    but if you seriously think that’s a good look, then you’re also insane…like…dadgum insane

    if you’re bored with baseball looks, why don’t you fight for proper hosiery and teams to actually wear…ya know…team colors

    you want to see a monochrome or three–i’m with you

    but please do NOT advocate for teams to wear softball uniforms

    Lost in the shadow of the Orioles unis, the Giants wore their orange jerseys in a color vs. color matchup in San Diego:
    link

    Looked a little better than the blue/red Red Sox/Rangers matchup:
    link

    Surreal, huh.
    The ball flyind around with no one throwing it, catching it or hitting it.

    Almost as cool as getting stoned and watching a bug zapper up close. “Duuudddde, it’s like the attack on the Death Star.”

    —Ricko

    The throwback uniforms are great! But to be honest, just about all baseball uniforms look good…when the players are wearing stirrups or high-socks! Is it just me, or does the long pants look, look retarded? I don’t care if its the “new style”, it looks terrible! I’ll leave y’all with this: I associate the long pants look with the last decade and the infiltration of steroids to the game. Think about it!

    I watched the Jaguars-Eagles game last night and I noticed that the Jaguars have appeared to change their jersey piping. Where it used to curve in at the top like the Broncos’ stripe does, it now just goes straight up to the shoulders, like an apron. It looks f— terrible. Sorry to hijack the discussion about the O’s throwbacks (they were gorgeous in a way that only something from the ’70s can be) it was just something that I noticed and it made me angry. Sorry if it has already been pointed out here. I’m a regular reader, but we all miss stuff sometimes.

    There’s a pic of the change at the top of this article: link

    That jersey looks like the new fabric they’ve been using for a couple of teams, the Colts, Packers, & Jaguars most notably. They probably wanted to avoid this. link

    Orioles should go back to that hat they wore last night. The jerseys great but the orange pants are a bit much.

    Now to the important news. Listen very carefully. Nothing says happiness like a pair of special edition Blackhawks stirrups brought by the postman from Marshall. Vive’ the South Side.

    I’ve been in Johnstown, PA all week following the AAABA National Tournament. The winner this year was Youse’s Orioles out of Baltimore.

    I joked last night when I saw the unis that Youse’s should have broken the all orange out for the championship game which was earlier today.

    A couple of the coaches of the team and friends that follow them didn’t think so!!!

    Although they couldn’t be convinced to go all-orange, I can’t knock these boys, they KNOW how to sport stirrups:

    link

    link

    That’s just Monday and Tuesday, I’ll post the rest of the week when Brian (the photog) posts the rest. They had quite a few combos and had some striped stirrups too.

    You got that right. That they got that right, that is.

    But I certainly hope there isn’t seven inches of solid color between the top of the stirrup and the bottom stripe on the striped versions.

    —Ricko

    Anyone else hear the Sports Center anchor last night say, in reference to no Met ever pitching a no-hitter, “…for a franchise that began play in 1964”?

    Attention, research department, we need to talk.

    —Ricko

    well…depending on how you look at it…the “washington nationals” franchise either began play in 1903…or 2005

    but not 1969

    someone really needs to look up the meaning of the word “franchise”

    You’re right, Phil.

    One thing it certainly is, is something that can be bought and sold. The most valuable corporate asset of any pro sports team is the franchise itself, that piece of paper that says you belong. Without it, you ain’t in the league, Jack, and you ain’t got shit.

    You know that monster price tag called “expansion fees” we hear about when discussion of the NFL in L.A. comes up? That’s what it’s for. That piece of paper, that legal document, that tangible corporate asset. Everything else is over and above that.

    Why is that so tough for so many here to get their heads around?

    —Ricko

    I hate throwbacks! They rarely ever look like the originals (mostly because the players wear their uniforms differently these days). The Pirates pinstripe throwbacks were all wrong. And “throwing back” to a minor league team like the Rays did is STUPID (Gee, remember the old Tampa Tarpons? Ahhh, no).

    I’ve only liked 2 throwbacks: the Astros (from the 60’s, not the rainbows), and the Brewers 80’s uniforms(because their current uniforms are so freaking boring).

    NFL throwbacks are even worse. Stop the madness! This is sooooo overdone. Please stop.

    im gonna agree and disagree with you

    i’ll agree that throwbacks rarely look like the originals because (1) majestic absolutely blows and (2) no 1977 pirate ever wore pajamas…right there is enough reason for me to bemoan the teams ever throwing back…

    but i’ll disagree with you because both (1) and (2) above can be corrected…take the 1960 broncos, as revived last season — someone like ricko, who was actually alive when those were originally worn, probably absolutely delighted in finally having the chance to see that uniform, on tv and in living color…some 50 years after they debuted…or the colts 1955’s, for example — not wearing them because “they aren’t exactly the same” would deprive millions of football fans from having the pleasure of seeing that uniform in action…now, the NFL is a bit different from MLB, in that there’s no way the players of today would (or should or could) wear the same unis that were worn 55 years ago — but the baseball players certainly COULD

    that’s why, to me anyway…it actually IS IMPORTANT to get the little details right — jim vilk may have enjoyed the too-narrow pins and black pajama pants, because it’s different and it may remind him of something he saw 30ish years ago — but it just pisses me (and im sure others) off

    that’s where i’ll agree with you — if they can’t go the extra yard to make the throwbacks correct, and the players can’t spend the extra 20 seconds to actually wear them as they should…ya know what…please don’t bother

    don’t sully the image we had of those unis by screwing them up

    …

    the o’s last night? while they should have had stirrups instead of just solid socks, it wasn’t bad — and it was great fun to see

    the pirates the other day? not so much

    Watching the pre game show for the Browns @ Packers at the moment and the Browns are wearing WHITE pants! I hope the brown pants are history!

    Just watched a bit of it.
    Damn, they look SO good. Wearing the white striped socks, too.
    One of the four or five truly iconic NFl unis. Really don’t get the screwing around with brown pants…or the unstriped pants, home or road, for that matter.

    —Ricko

    yup…just watched a bit of it myself…thanks to ricko

    that’s a DAMN FINE uni matchup

    gotta agree with the rickster, too — definitely a top five greatest ALL TIME look for an NFL team — for BOTH teams…pack in green and brownies in all white

    just about perfect all around

    I dearly hope so too. The Brown’s dark pants are such a eggregious adbomination, classless, a crap upon the beautiful class and history of a stories, wonderful, beloved uniform – they are even a tad worse than my beloved Saints’ Black leotard pants.

    Unfortunately, some of these teams , Saints for one, wear the more sensible light colored pants with their White jerseys in preseason, or in warmer games, and then plague us again, later by reverting back to assinine, trendy, bush-league dark pants when the real season begins.

    ARRRRRGGGGGGH!

    The Bears are wearing a little ’99’ on the backs of their helmets for Gaines Adams. In white, in the Bears’ number font.

    Navy pants with the white jerseys, too.
    Didn’t do that very often in 2009, did they?

    —Ricko

    To me it’s welcoming, because I always thought it looked better than white-on-white. (It’s probably me being drunk on SBXX nostalgia, but it *does* look better.)

    Also, the Chargers still have the old AFC logo on the decorative walls surrounding the field. Maybe they’ll rectify that by the regular season.

    Powers, you still out there?
    Not to exclude other athletic shoe freaks, of course (hey, I’m one of ’em).
    Check this image…
    link

    —Ricko

    Seahawks are wearing their dark blue pants (that they wore last year with their neon green alt jersey) with their regular blue jersey. I don’t really like the look, but it’s slightly better than their usual monochrome uniform.

    Maybe. I think the Seahawks would look 10000% better with theior current Blue jerseys paired with either White pants or Silver pants with a sensible set of stripes, rather than the dark BLAHHHHH that is their current home uni.

    Traxel’s “softball” pants intrigue me. Not saying every team should try them, but I also don’t think the Pirates should have the monopoly on the mix-and-match look.

    As I like to say, there is room for lots of styles in the majors. I like traditional unis, but I also like bumblebees and Tequila Sunrises and monochromes and the color green. Let some other teams try variations of these things.

    And yes, I don’t like pajama pants on baseball players. But, I live with it. It doesn’t tick me off that they wear them, or if the throwbacks aren’t perfect. Life’s too short to be ticked off at something that small (unless I’m the guy who actually hired the designers). I know this site is about the details, but in the end, we’re not the boss. We’re just a group of fans. We can and should express our opinions, but after that I choose to spend my time enjoying the stuff they do get right. I just want a good game, whether or not the players look exactly right.

    Yesssssirrrrreeeee Jimvilk. Now, how would you feel about this? link

    Traditionals, yes. On traditional teams. Now for instance the Rockies are not a traditional team. I consider them an option for some new fancy stuff. Being the purple mountain majesties, the only team between the eastern plains and left coast, there are SO many options for creative wear. Definitely not saying it’s that awful picture above, but these guys DO NOT need to be wearing a Yankee knockoff, or stoopid customization thereof. Throw some color in there, purple is good. People seemed to like maroon and powder on the soccer kits, how about purple and powder? Trim powder? Hmmmmm. Rays, Padres, Mariners, Marlins, all teams that could use some creative design and bright coastal colors.

    While I’m in favor of Colorado using much more purple in their uniform, purple pants are better left for football. I would say the Rockies should go with a purple hat and alternate purple jersey. Colorado should toss the black jersey, black hat, and black pinstripe sleeveless uni. The latter is too similar to the White Sox.

    I agree with Phil about a limited number of teams attempting monochrome and mix and match. Football is best suited for different color combinations.

    Did you make the helmet purple? If so, and if you make the sleeves just like the pants, I’m down with that.

    Maroon and powder? Oh yeah, one of the many red/blue teams needs to embrace that. Or even the D-Backs.

    Yeah, I don’t know how to do that yet. I would definately have made the sleeves and helmet purple. The Twins in burgandy and powder, with powder as an actual team color (as opposed to a background field color), might be worth seeing…Ricko.

    saw this on the bengals website. didnt know they publish the uni info in advance like this. doesnt say anything about the pants and socks, but interesting nonetheless
    link

    Also, seeing a few of the “prototype” jerseys on the Bears, with the cut-off stripes and NOBs much closer to the number.

    These new jerseys do not work with stripes on sleeves. I wonder if the NFL/Reebok is looking to do an EDGE-like rollout if they ever implement these league-wide; a lot of teams may have to change their current uniform designs because of the now-complete sleeve obliteration.

    When they did that with the NHL, the teams that kept the horizontal hem stripes now have hem stripes that look like shit. The Panthers adapted hem stripes to the Edge template by curving them. link

    Anyone else catch the Browns/Packers Preseason game? Not only did the Browns wear the white pants on the road, they also wore the white striped socks! It looked great!

    Didn’t expect the Toronto Argonauts to throwback to these:
    link

    Nice, though. I likes me some flashy unis, but simple is also good.

    By the way, since we were talking about the Montreal Concordes the other day, I found some pics of QB Turner Gill:
    link
    link

    continuation from above:

    Okay LIPhillip. I’ll give you the cream/snow argument. I wasn’t thinking about that. I do want to see bright pins with a solid topper though. Reminds me of little league and I have fond memories of late 70’s little league. I remember the Optimist Club wore bright purple with bright white pinstripes. I always wanted to be on that team but, alas…..

    All for proper hosiery (or however you spell it) and team colors and no black…..

    But gimme some color and new design styles!!!!! I’m sick and tired of the same old horsecollar button downs. Sure it looks good some times (Detroit) but good grief cholly brown, everyone doesn’t need to do it. Barf on seattle, tampa, mets, reds, indians. And the typical black knockoff pins – rocks, marlins, or other noncreative pins – twins. Someone the other day said there were only about 3 templates for a uniform these days. They were absolutely right. The 1970s at least threw the dice. Something new anyone???

    It sure is funny how funny things can get. Rationalizing anything isn’t rational. Too much preaching to the choir is like letting the choir preach.
    Chaka Khan said it best when she said…
    “Chaka Khan let me rock ya, let me rock ya Chaka Khan…”

    One thing I liked about this game is that they matched the batting helmets with the hats. Many throwback games, for whatever reason (I would guess $) seem to use the regular batting helmet, which produces quite a jarring effect.

Comments are closed.