Today’s batch of wire photos all come from the Sporting News archives, which are currently being sold/liquidated/etc. on eBay (my thanks to Dan Cichalski for letting me know about that). Lots of good stuff, so let’s get crackin’:
• The Red Sox changed from flannels to stretch-knits midway through the 1972 season, and here’s Yaz and Tommy Harper doing the before-and-after routine. But that must be a prototype that Yaz is wearing, because the Sox’s actual ’72 stretch-knits didn’t have pants piping, didn’t have sleeve trim, and had the colors reversed on the waistband.
• It’s easy to forget that the Braves’ tomahawk insignia and piping-trimmed belt loops date all the way back to the franchise’s days in Boston.
• Here’s a good shot of Chuck Klein wearing the N.L.’s 1933 All-Star Game uniform.
• Man, if only I’d been born a few decades earlier, I could’ve grown up buying peanuts at Ebbets Field from this guy.
• Hmmm, is this how Ralph Kiner developed those chronic back problems?
• Never seen the wishbone C used on a hardhat before. That’s Bears exec Mike McCaskey signing a beam during the construction of new skyboxes in 1988.
• Check this out: Lloyd McClendon as a Little Leaguer! The caption says he pitched a no-hitter, which presumably explains why he wore a jacket while running the bases.
• How awesome would it be if the Marlins’ new stadium looked like the ballpark used by the old minor league Miami Marlins?
• Always been sort of intrigued by the Phils’ 1946 uni. So weird to have that partial piping, but somehow it looks fine.
• Man, that old Pirates road insignia was brutal, especially for the skinnier players. Note that everyone’s wearing helmets, by the way, as the Bucs were going hard-hatted in the field at that time.
• Great photo, but what really intrigues me is the dark trim on the ump’s cap — don’t think I’ve ever seen that detail before. Then again, the photo’s from a winter league game in Puerto Rico, so maybe that was their look.
• Apparently Eddie Gaedel wasn’t the only diminutive ballplayer to make Bill Veeck’s acquaintance.
• And here’s a nice way to wrap things up: Check out the cool logo and meter mark on this old Teletype envelope. And hey, I just noticed that the postmark date is my birthday!
Finally: My roundup of NHL goalie gear is up and running.
Still hoping Wayne Hagin will show up: Uni Watch gathering tomorrow, 3pm, at Sheep Station in Brooklyn. Phil will be there, Scott Turner will be there, and I’ll have Meats T-shirts for sale. Also, as I mentioned the other day, my lower back is currently in shambles, so if you have any high-grade opiates in the medicine cabinet or a sister who’s a chiropractor, please bring them/her. Thanks.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Here’s a pair of game-used Seahawks pants with leg-warmers sewn into the pant legs (as found by J.D. Nighswonger). ”¦ In addition to changing their colors, the Wizards might revert to the Bullets (with thanks to Will Cosmas). ”¦ The NCAA is worried about the increased amount of helmets flying off of players’ heads. ”¦ New hoops uniforms for Marshall and Baylor (with thanks to Jake Keys and Josh Lassiter, respectively). ”¦ Virginia will be wearing blue over orange this weekend (with thanks to Ian Gallagher). ”¦ Bill Henderson doesn’t just put out a great MLB jersey guide — he also owns a 1963 Studebaker! ”¦ Check out this news clipping from one of the Islanders’ first practices back in 1972. “Gotta love the ‘Mom sewed on my numbers!’ look,” says John Muir. ”¦ Jeff Ash put together a photo gallery of Packers/Redskins games. Among the highlights: nice sweatpants, and check out Johnny Olszewski wearing No. 0. ”¦ Think the NFL is wearing too much pink this month? Hey, it could be worse. That’s Cathedral High School in Los Angeles (blame Erkki Corpuz). ”¦ Go to this page and search on the word “tuck” to learn some amusing things about Donovan McNabb (John Muir again). ”¦ The Coyotes are adding a “JN” memorial decal for Jukka Nieminen, probably the first time a team has uni-memorialized its massage therapist (with thanks to Robert Teofilo Jr.). ”¦ Update: Shows what I know — just been informed that Red Wings massage therapist Sergei Mnatsakanov, who was injured in the limo crash that ended Vladmir Konstantinov’s career, had his initials included on the Red Wings 1998 “Believe” patch. … Good tip from Jeremy Richardson, who writes: “Lost Lettermen, a great site about college football and basketball, past and present, has a new weekly feature: lost uniforms.” ”¦ Tenth-season patch for the Grizzlies. ”¦ Team-color scholar Donovan Moore has produced a comprehensive look at the Canucks’ color history. ”¦ Tim Snyder reports that the helmets at his high school — Orrville High in Ohio — have become seriously scuffed. Never seen anything like that before. ”¦ Hey, you know the circle-A anarchy symbol? It apparently dates back a lot further than I thought, at least judging by the guy in the back row. ”¦ Was so disgusted by the way the Yanks/Twins game was shaping up that I tried to distract myself by poking around on eBay. Found a buncha good stuff, including an old Little League uniform still in its original box; a really nice American Legion uni (I’d totally be bidding on that if it fit me); a nice wool jersey with a gorgeous script insignia; a cool pair of all-star baseball pants; a Hearst Magazines baseball uniform (!); a Japanese Little League jersey for a team called the Indians, which seems very odd; a baseball undershirt that appears to be a cross-promotion between Wilson and Slinky, which seems even odder; a Skinner satin jersey (might be worth it just for the awesome tag); a really cool-looking program and ticket stub from the 1960 NFL championship game between the Eagles and Packers; and old baseball uniform advertisements from Wilson, D&M, Pardridge and Blackwell, and Goldsmith’s. ”¦ Steve Mandich has scanned the covers of every single Mariners media guide. ”¦ Buried within this article is the news that Texas A&M basketball will be wearing a memorial jersey patch for Tobi Oyedeji (as spotted by Chris Smith). ”¦ Dwayne White found a 1986 Kool-Aid commercial that shows Pete Rose wearing his usual Reds jersey — except it’s NNOB. Odd. You can see the whole commercial here. ”¦ Pitt football beat writer Paul Zeise did a live chat yesterday, and someone asked him about the team’s pants. His response: “I think they have three sets of uniforms — blue, white, and gold shirts and blue, white, and gold pants. The combination the team wears on a given day is either based on what the coach wants or occasionally, for a big game, he lets the team decide what they want to wear. Apparently, though, with these new Nike uniforms, the blue on the shirts doesn’t match the blue pants so we won’t see that any time soon” (with thanks to Chris Hilf). ”¦ You’re gonna really like this: a Google map of football helmets. ”¦ You’ll probably like this, too: a site that lets you design your own plaid pattern, just like the Rays did. ”¦ I learned about both of those last two links on the Chris Creamer boards.
“The Coyotes are adding a “JN” memorial decal for Jukka Nieminen, probably the first time a team has uni-memorialized its massage therapist (with thanks to Robert Teofilo Jr.).”
Actually Paul, Red Wings’ massage therapist Sergei Mnatsakanov, who was also injured in the limo crash that ended Vladmir Konstantinov’s career, had his initials on the Red Wings 1998 “Believe” patch next to Vladdy’s.
link
Thanks for letting me know that. I’ll update the text right now.
No disrespect meant, but in those unis Harper looks like a baseball player while Yaz looks like a rec league softball player.
I think the pajamas look debuted for the Boston players when they wore them in the ’72 All-Star Game in Atlanta. IIRC, the broadcasters mentioned the pullover jerseys and beltless pants when Yastrzemski and/ or Fisk batted.
That was a dark era indeed – when comfortable natural fabrics were shunted aside in favor of polyester. I would love to amass a collection of modern jerseys but I just can’t stand the feel of polyester. I should start looking for funky old jerseys like Paul does…
-Jet
Who said doubleknit was less comfortable than its predecessors?
Wool (any version) was NOT comfortable. Double knit also was better than the first blends and acrylics, which got heavy with sweat…even though they were cooler.
Cotton would be cooler, of course, but is totally impractical for the purposes of baseball. Just not durable enough.
We can bemoan the cut of the pants, or the pullover-ness of the jerseys in the ’70s and ’80s…but doubleknit wasn’t uncomfortable. Players loved the fabric, once the manufacturers finally got it right.
Okay, yes, the jerseys could be annoying in the heat, but only if that’s all you wore. A light 100&% cotton tee shirt or schimmel solved that problem, and actually was cooler than wearing just the jersey.
I played almost 200 softball games every year for a decade wearing doubleknit, including long pants, most of the time…with maybe 3/4 of the those games in summer weekend tournaments…so it isn’t like I’m making up this stuff.
Plus, when there are legitimate dugouts involved, the players get to spend nearly half the game in some kind of shade.
Also, I didn’t wear my jerseys for anything but playing, so comfort for use out-and-about is a valid and appropriate element in the equation. That’s quite different.
Just sayin’, on the the field it was an hellacious improvement over what had gone before. If it weren’t, doubleknit (or upgraded versions of it) wouldn’t still be around.
—Ricko
link
this guy sold CIGARETTES! Imagine if the stadiums sold cigs today, I’m guessing $28.50/pack…
come to think of it, i remember there being a cigarette machine at the Vet when i was a kid.
“Richard Brasno…four and a half foot midget”
im surprised the photo cap didn’t ID veeck as a “one-legged carney barker”
He would have LOVED that description.
He would have! The guy had an ashtray in his wooden leg!
ROFLMAO !
Is it me or does the Google Map of football helmets not have the Jets? It should be right next to the Giants, but nope!
Noticed the same thing. Probably created by a Pats fan.
It’s there, problem is you have to zoom way in to E. Rutherford street level. Same thing for Hurricanes and Dolphins.
They’re probably right on top of each other since they share a stadium. You can barely see Minnesota’s helmet from the Vikings when you zoom in, but there is a little offset there, suggesting the actual address is used, not just the city.
scoll in. the Jets helmet is there
Yeah, had to go to street level to see the Jets. Wonder how they stack in that case? Alphabetically?
Here’s a link.
No Big East, Pac-10, or indies… Fail!
There’s a contact address on that helmet map page. You could e-mail the creator with suggestions for improvement.
Another great wire service day! It’s good to see when youth were brought up properly, to respect striped hosiery…
link
-Jet
Back in the early 1980s, wearing stirrups that way was not cool. All my teammates wanted to look like the big leaguers who only showed a thin stripe of stirrup, sort of similar to the way Keith Hernandez wrote his with the Mets.
Hernandez was never a member of the “thin stripe” school:
link
Hernandez often wore them a lot thinner than that. But at least he always showed the top of the stirrup and never just the narrow bands.
What is the white-or-orange protocol for K cards at Pac Bell Park? (It’s not swinging or looking, that’s forward and backward K.)
By the way, there is a picture of it here. #64 of 113
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Also #78 of 113 here
link
Looks like it’s nothing more than a counting mechanism, where every third K is orange. Indeed, an orange K at the end…3; 6; 9; the picture is right after the 12th strikeout of the night.
Every third K is in orange. If the Giants strikeout 13 in a game, everybody gets a free pack of hotdogs from the local supermarket.
All the Ks used to be white. Made it difficult to tally the number of Ks around the 7th inning. You could always spot a couple fans pointing to the Ks from a distance, trying to add them up.
all i know is, one of the most dominant performances by a P since…well, hallyday the day before.
got my lucky GIANTS t on….go team.
Paul- Read the entire label. That FELCO “Satin” jersey is actually made from Tackle Twill, the same fabric that is used for letters and numbers. I can tell that it’s not Satin because the inside finish is very dull in contrast to the shiny outside of the fabric. Tackle Twill was used a lot for basketball shorts in the 1950s and ’60s and for softball uniforms and for girls uniforms in the ’50s. The fabric doesn’t breath or stretch at all so it was uncomfortable to wear in the summertime.
Skinner made tackle twill and nylon satin fabric for the sporting goods industry for many years. They always cautioned you to use a lining with the lighter colors of nylon satin because that cloth is somewhat transparent.
Isn’t it weird that I mentioned Post and Felco yesterday and today you feature an item from each?
Finally, from the look of the “40” size tag on the “Lulac” baseball shirt I’d bet that it was made by Powers. Powers would only place dealer-supplied labels in their garments. Most all other companies placed their own tag alongside the dealer’s.
Terry, I saw the Tackle Twill tag. But I didn’t think tackle twill could be so shiny. Can it?
Yes, TT gets its shine from the Rayon in it.
Also look at some TT letters and numbers on jerseys. Shiny, no?
I should explain that Tackle Twill is “dull” on the inside because the cotton part of the blend is woven on the inside. Satin, being 100% Nylon, is shiny on both sides.
I would think that a garment made entirely of tackle twill would be incredibly uncomfortable. I’m starting to sweat just thinking about wearing one.
I mentioned that very fact. Read on, MacDuff…
Cripes. How did I miss that?
Today’s ESPN column is up:
link
Paul – Zeise’s comments on the Pitt unis bring to mind a subject I think you’ve touched on, but is worthy of sustained focus because it will help you bring down the evil Nike – why can’t these mfrs match, say, helmet colors and pants colors? You see this all the time – the best example being the (hated) Cowboys’ pants, which are supposed to be silver but don’t come close to the helmet color. It’s just weird that the mighty Nike can’t match colors.
Actually, the Cowboys’ pants are NOT supposed to match the helmet color (at least not the pants they wear with their white jerseys).
Color-matching is trickier than it seems, because dyes react differently with different fabrics/materials. Even if you can get a good dye match in daylight, the colors will sometimes look different under artificial light. And even if you can get *that* right, the colors will sometimes look different on a TV screen or other video medium.
My sense of things is that Nike isn’t any worse (or better) at this than the other companies.
Hmmm, maybe I’ll do an interview with color guru Donovan Moore and we can explore these issues.
The teams that wear old gold helmets and pants do a much better job matching color these days than they used to — but the pants simply don’t look as good. The old-school old gold pants of Notre Dame and Georgia Tech were much better (think “Rudy”). UCLA is the only school that even comes close to that nowadays.
I’ve conversed with Donovan about just this subject, and he’s both extremely knowledgeable and highly articulate in explaining the issue and the challenges of color-matching across media. I’m sure an exchange with Donovan on the subject would make for an excellent UW feature.
They can, and often do, but I think some shades of blue are difficult to match to different lighting conditions and different surface types.
Matte-finish helmets would actually match jersey colors much better, but wouldn’t look as nice under the lights.
That said, they could probably do a better job, obviously, with the Saints’ hideous gold collar and numbers to match them to the pants and helmet.
The Cowboys, however, are mismatched ON PURPOSE, so it’s not the uniform manufacturer at fault, it’s the team.
Laundering the unis could also be a factor in the color mismatching, no?
Ironically, I’m actually in the middle of putting together a new blog entry that addresses the myriad of Blues, Silvers and Grays that the Cowboys use and have used over the years. In my opinion, probably the most wacky set of team colors in sports history.
It’ll be up on link later today.
Never seen the wishbone C on a hardhat?
You mean, like someone actually wearing one? Because I’m sure you’ve seen link before, right?
Those were not the uniforms the Red sox ended up wearing.
link
The actual unforms did not have sleeve piping or stripes down the side of the pants. In addition that color and waste piping reversed the blue and the red.
Good catch. Shame on me for not spotting that myself. Will revise the text now.
That photo is from the day the Red Sox were modeling various styles of double knits during BP. I wish I had access to the photo in the Globe that day which had Yaz, Rico Petrocelli and another player (I want to say Carlton Fisk) in three different styles. Pants with and without stripes, sleeves with and without piping, red over blue/blue over red waistband, round collar and v-neck collar. They ended up picking an element from each.
That’s fascinating. I hope you find that picture/ aticle because it would be interesting to see some more uniforms that were manufactured but never got used in an actual game.
If you have a date (even approximate), I’ll see if I can find anything in the Google news archive.
Burghfan –
You are testing me at 53 years old.
I want to say early summer of 1973. My recollection is they switched to the double knits for the second half of the season. And my recollection of the photo (37 years later), is that it was three versions of Yaz’ uniform and two players had their backs to the camera. And, of course, it may have been in the Sporting News as well, which, long before this incredible site, was on the case with baseball uni changes.
Orrville Ohio is the hometown of Bobby Knight, just in case anybody wanted to know. They were in our conference growing up and their helmets always got scuffed up easily. the paint color from the other teams helmet always showed up.
It also helps that Orrville is routinely good at the football.
It seems somewhat fitting that I saw “The Social Network” there last night…
The link HQ was turned into a shopping mall link.
The last remnant of the actual Teletype operation (a switching station of some sort?) was replaced with a movie theater about 10 years later.
Just catching up to yesterday’s show/tell as i was stuck in conference all day yesterday. Paul, if you EVER wish to clear out some of that collection –please gimme a holla. That Saugerites wooly and the plain blue t w/ the shoulder stripe treatment are tits. (That was special for Susan Komen Friday) Thanks for sharing!
:)
Ain’t none of them garments going anywhere, my friend. But I’m glad you like.
BTW:
Had been looking to make an appearance at the Sheep Station but alas my little girlie girl wants to ride a pony tomorrow. So, no beers for dad :(
bring her along to the station
You should come to Virginia some time. Roanoke or Charlottesville though. DC is too damn far from where I am.
Ditto on the need for UW to come to the Old Dominion. But Roanoke is too damn far from DC. How about a compromise in Petersburg, about equally inconvenient from all parts of VA, and home to some terrific examples of whatever you call it when businesses used to paint ornate signs on the sides of their brick buildings.
Might……… how far is the Sheep Station from Dumont burger???? :)
In the Packers-Redskins gallery, the ’83 game has most Green Bay players with only one NFL stripe on their sleeves (like now) instead of two stacked together. I saw that in a link of first half highlights that I grabbed for a post about the series. Also noteworthy, the Green Baby end zones look like something out of an early football video game.
At the 2-minute mark, you see that they painted the helmets in one endzone in Redskins colors. I’d forgotten about that, so they’re probably the last team to do that in a regular season game. I know the Browns painted one end zone for the Broncos in the 86/87 AFC championship game.
Man, it’s good to see Mark Moseley on there. For those who want to get rid of the kicking game, how about just outlawing the soccer-style method of kicking? Go back to the straight-on method and field goals would be more of an adventure.
Lloyd McClendon was one of the greatest little leaguers ever. 5 HR’s in 5 AB’s in 1971 LLWS
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link
And he managed a Little League team, too. Oh wait, that was the Pirates…
link
And now for the Slam Dunk Trivia Question of the Day…
One of ESPN’s “Top 100 Athletes of the 20th Century” always used two pair of shoes when competing.
Who was the athlete, and where did he rank in the “Top 100”?
—Ricko
TWO pairs of shoes? They should make a movie about that dude.
Gotta be Secretariat. Don’t know the rankning.
Just behind Lou Gehrig, if I’m not mistaken.
Two pairs of shoes eh?
That leaves only 2 possibilities.
A – an NFL kicker with mismatched shoes – because using one shoe from each pair is still using 2 pairs
B – a horse
Horses are not athletes. Whatever position it was on that list is wrong.
“Horses are not athletes.”
how about nascar drivers?
That would be at least partially the point, thank you Phil.
How many people can name the jockey?
Steve Cauthen?
actually THE jeff, that wasn’t my point at all
Obviously you weren’t around to experience the whole thing.
Those who lived through it get it.
Most who didn’t, don’t.
He was #35 in the ESPN poll.
Evidently a lot of voters DID consider him an athlete.
Jockey was Ron Turcotte, btw.
—Ricko
As soon as I sent that comment, I realized it wasn’t Cauthen. He rode Seattle Slew, right?
And yes, horses are athletes.
I really can’t see a good argument for considering a racehorse NOT to be an athlete.
So you’re saying its the jockey who should be included?
In theory, yes. I don’t really think a jockey would be legitimately among the top 100 athletes of the century, but if anyone is going to be recognized for winning races, it should be the guy in control of the horse.
Horse and auto racing are both stupid “sports” anyway.
So, The Jeff, any time a team wins a championship, it’s really the coach/manager who should receive all the recognition, not any of the players?
Again, it sometimes is really easy to tell who wasn’t around to live through the experience, those permanently on the outside looking in when commenting on the events and the sensations of that time.
—Ricko
You’re right Ricko, I’m far too young to understand the appeal of watching (and gambling on) animals being forced to race for entertainment.
It’s a horse. It races because it has to. It doesn’t have a choice. It sure as hell isn’t going to run around that track at full speed on it’s own. At least horse racing is more civilized than dog fighting, it’s not violent and we don’t kill the losers, so it’s got that going for it I guess.
Were gladiators athletes?
Is my cat an athlete?
It can run pretty fast. If I put it on a track with 5 other cats, throw a catnip mouse and declare the first cat to get to the mouse to be the “winner”, is that a sport?
I wasn’t talking about horse racing in general. I was speaking of the Secretariat Phenomenon, which is a different discussion. Thought that was fairly obvious.
And it had nothing to do with how young someone is, other than how it effects what they’ve experienced…whether they were old enough to experience and have cognitive recollections of certain events and their cultural framework.
Wasn’t a criticism of anyone, just a statement of fact. Sure not gonna criticize someone for when they were born. It is what it is, and it means you sometimes miss firsthand experience on things you’re interested in…so you have to ask others what it was like and learn from them.
—Ricko
link.
I am NOT going to discuss the pros and cons horse racing in general. Not the point. This discussion, before it got sidetracked, was with regard to whether Secretariat was an “athlete.”
What you’re missing here, The Jeff (and I’m sure many others, too), is that Secretariat LOVED to run, and to race. Once he got into it, his competitive nature surfaced. He was something of a showoff, too. Apparently always sensed when a camera was pointed at him. When he won the Belmont by a gazillion lengths, he was still pulling away from the field at the finish line. Watch the footage. Turcotte is doing almost nothing but taking a basic ride. The horse is pretty much running on his own, running the race he wants to run.
Animals DO have personalities, you know. Some more than others, of course. The only people who don’t know that are people who have never spent any real time around animals.
—Ricko
do you like movies about gladiators, james?
Sure animals have personalities but it’s pretty narcissistic for humans to assume animals “love” to do something for their entertainment and profit. Secretariat might have rather run in a grassy field while chasing a ready filly. It’s a cruel and exploitative sport. The owners get the profits while the horse’s “personality” is ignored in order to turn it into a thing that doesn’t mind getting exploited. We used to do something similar in the US with regard to slavery.
Ricko, ever spent the night in a Turkish prision?
Dunno where he is in the top 100 but when Secretariat was in Sportscentury’s top 50 the reaction on sports talk radio was “But he’s a HORSE!”
Anyway, that’s my guess.
The Jeff you should spare us the usage of the phrase ‘i’m too young anyway’. As if we couldn’t determine that by your arguments and the tack of your reasoning.
There’s actually 3 horses on the list: Secretariat, Man’o’War and Citation
To answer the above discussion, there’s also 2 jockeys – Shoemaker and Arcaro
This doesn’t have anything to do with youth; that’s where the argument went awry. He raises good points, however. Horse racing isn’t any better than dog fighting when we come down to it- we’re forcing animals to do something they don’t necessarily want to do. I’m not saying horses don’t run, and some may have a personality of a racer, but how in hell would a human know that?!
Furthermore, the after-effects of racing on horses, especially ones who don’t compete at big events like the Kentucky Derby, are questionable at best. Too many are put down or slaughtered for consumption in Japan and Europe, partially due to the lack of land, partially due to being no use to the owner any longer. I don’t have exact numbers, but this article from the Washington Post should do the trick. link
Sorry, I hit reply on the wrong post. There’s so many little boxes, it was hard to find which one to hit reply to.
From my buddy in NJ…
Steve Cauthen rode AFFIRMED, the last triple crown winner.
—Ricko
Oh yeah. Forgot about that horse.
It really bothers me when people say horse/car racing is not a sport.
Caveat: I believe horse racing is cruel, but its still a sport. I am, though, a big NASCAR fan.
Car racers use equipment in their sport. Not unlike baseball. Does it matter that they happen to be inside the equipment, driving it? I’m going to take this in a somewhat silly direction, but the point stands: would it be a sport if they *pushed* the cars? Or did some Fred Flinstone thing where they power the cars with their feet running? What’s the difference?
Driving at 180 MPH, inches from other cars takes skill, strength, and smarts. Like all sports.
An XBox is equipment in the same sense that a race car is equipment.
There’s also a difference between a sport and a competitive sport. A sport is anything that involves physical activity and competition. An athletic sport is one that requires athleticism. Car racing is a sport, but it’s not athletic. Horse racing is athletic, but only the horses are athletes.
I meant for that to say there’s a difference between a sport and an athletic sport. Sorry.
Beginning in the 1980s when WTCG (now known as “The Superstation” – WTBS) began broadcasting in the Mississippi Delta, the Atlanta Braves quickly shot past the St. Louis Cardinals as this area’s favorite team. After all, the Bravos were on the tube every night during the summer and folks from nine to ninety followed the antics of Braves’ boss Bobby Cox and his band of “Berry Braves.”Cox took over the Braves’ helm in the late ’70s and has had a Hall of Fame career as the Atlanta manager. Perhaps his greatest achievement was winning 14 – count ’em – 14 straight division titles. Or maybe he is better known as the manager who leads the league in ejections. Yessirree, Bobby has been tossed from more games than any other Major League manager in history. And that includes some great ones like the Yankees’ Casey Stengel, “the ol’ perfessor;” Tommy Lasorda, who, when nicked, bleeds Dodger blue; the Orioles’ Earl Weaver, who has kicked more dust on umpires shoes than anyone; and even Billy Martin, who was hired no less than five times by Yankee majority owner George Steinbrenner.
11 straight. They didn’t award division titles in 1994 because the players and owners quit. I’m pretty adamant that we shouldn’t pretend that year didn’t exist.
And, if you want to accept it existed- the Braves were in second. All the hitting records from that year, for example, count toward career stats.
I also think streaks like Cal Ripken’s consecutive games streak stopped the day *HE* struck.
The ’94 season happened, of course, but no division title was awarded, because the season never finished. So the Braves did, in fact, win 14 straight division titles. I’d like to pretend that Montreal won the NL East pennant in ’94 as much as the next Nats fan, but they didn’t, because that season was truncated and never finished. There was no pennant to win.
Well, the way I see it is the players and management were at fault for the season ending. The Braves didn’t win a division title in 1994 because they quit. I think that counts.
And I also would say my White Sox (in first place) did not win a division title either.
There were games Cal Ripken was scheduled to play. He didn’t. He quit. I’m sorry, I fault him for that (he never came out and said he was against the strike.)
but the point is, for 14 straight seasons in which the division had a winner, it was the braves.
I know I’m flirting with sacrilege here, but those old Pirate uniforms link are, quite frankly, sloppy looking. Not the design, but the way they’re worn. I know wool unis were hot and you needed some room for air – and yes, the stirrups distracted from the look – but really, it’s just sloppy. No different from a lot of today’s players, with the exception being the length of the pants.
Ralph Kiner is another example. Then again, if I was next to Miss Jr. Rose Bowl, I’d look sloppy too.
No sacrilege taken by me, baseball uniforms in general were sloppy looking by many teams back in the day. If you ever watch Baseball’s Golden Age program, you’ll see the old film and it’s obvious.
I like that Kiner photo, too, it was representative of the corny staged pictures we’ve seen before. Kiner was in the downside of his career in that photo, playing for the Chicago Cubs.
‘on the downside’ perhaps…. but you can clearly make out the twinkle in Ralphs’ eye in this snapshot. :)
I wonder if Ms. Jr. Rose Bowl came up studs first on this slide?
The incomplete piping on the Phillies jersey link reminds me a little of WVU’s striping for football:
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Not an identical comparison, but close enough to make me think of it.
not even in the same ballpark, jim
that being said, not a fan of the phillies design either
The man, the uniform, the composition, the poignancy of this image. I’ll say what we’re all thinking: Beautiful.
Er, this: link
Read this on Espnchicago.com yesterday: Northwestern will have a memorial sticker with the initials of a former player and his sister in honor of their mother’s killing.
Has there ever been a memorial of this kind before?
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Good question, I think the fact the QB was such an important part of the Wildcats past teams resulted in this decision being made.
That aspect makes some sense. But why put Sarah’s initials on there and not Mrs. Kustok’s? Especially since Sarah went to link…
Only posting this here because the auction is ending over the weekend: One of you aussie-rules football fans should really pick up this awesome-looking publication:
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I am not photoshop savvy, so will someone out there please create a piper in full highland dress wearing a Uni Watch tartan. The hose should be stirrups(duh)and perhaps spikes on the ghillie brogues.
By the way, why doesn’t Uni Watch have an official pipe band? I hereby offer my war horns to the cause!
By the way, if you want a custom sporran, check out:
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A little late but Jordan Pope’s Rawlings helmet looks alot like the Bike/Adams helmets that were popularized by the XFL a few years back.
Pope:
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He Hate Me:
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LaRon Landry:
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Your mention of the XFL reminded me of the old World League of American Football from the 1990s. The colorful lime green jersey of the Orlando Thunder has already been discussed here, but the New York/New Jersey Knights had a sharp uniform and logo.
The WLAF also introduced the “helmet cam”, which hasn’t been seen since. Each televised game on the USA Network/ABC had one player with a tiny camera inside the helmet, one of these helmets was at the Pro Football Hall of Fame. During the broadcast of the game, viewers would see replays from that unusual vantage point, including audio. Different positions were chosen each week, from QB to linebacker, and so forth. Unfortunately, this great video only lasted about one half, because of the abuse from the hard hits these players would sustain during the game.
PLEASE let the Wizards name go to the great hunting ground in the sky!
Instead of the Bullets, reneme them the Generals.
After all, they’ve lost a lot of games…
I’m fine with Bullets, but if they want to respect Abe Pollin’s wishes, how about Cannonballs?
aaaaaaaaaa-ha-ha ha-haaaa. roses! i found the perfect roses! ha-ha ha-haaaa. there is no stopping my evil plans now. must. finish. by. third. week. in. november.
I think Brandon Philips has an external inscription on his cap. Didn’t get a great view on my small television, but maybe somebody else can get a better look and/or a screen cap?
This SN liquidation breaks my heart… 2 years ago I actually had oversight for the archives as SN’s premium products director. unfortunately, they just weren’t up to the challenge of archiving and digitizing like Life did with Google.
I had so many plans for making these photos publically available, and none of it ever came to fruition… sad to see it broken up piecemeal like this.
can you post them here?
or send me a few hundred thousand? i’ll host em
Phil: I didn’t styeal them when I left… although there were many I would have loved. Some great Koufax, Mantle and Jackie Robinson shots.
I don’t know if they’ll ever make them public, but the SN questionnaires are the coolest thing ever. I may have one of the only reproductions available outside the SN offices.
As bad as Rutgers looks wearing Red over Red…it could have been worse, this is a student blackout game, so it easily could have been this nightmare again:
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Anaheim Ducks goalie Jonas Hiller is going with a flat black mask. His buddy who owns a auto body shop painted it for him. (According to the Red Wings announcers).
mildly off-topic
A new sponsor for the home of the Calgary Flames – the Scotiabank Saddledome
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Its the fourth name for the facility in 27 years, after Olympic, Canadian Airlines and Pengrowth Saddledomes.
It also shares a sponsor with the Ottawa Senators home (Scotiabank Place).
This is why I am dreading the Ilitch’s building a new arena for the Wings (and the Pistons, if the sale goes through). Right now they play at the Joe Louis Arena not the Huge Corporation Arena. I know they will sell the naming rights like they did with Comerica and Ford Field.
I guess this is really tangential, but this reminded me of me always wondering why the Pistons play in Auburn Hills. Were they originally owned by Chrysler or something?
I was on the bus near the stadiums in Seattle today and the driver announced the next stop: “Safeco Filed/Qwest Field,” and it depressed me.
Two corporations (insurance and telecommunications) which have nothing to do with sports or civic pride or history are now part of our everyday nomenclature…..because they paid more than other corporations were willing to pay for it.
It has been announced that the Kansas City Arena Football team next year will be the Command and I thought the old name the Brigade was bad.
What a horrible name for a sports team.
Will they have a C:\> for a helmet logo or what?
Kansas City Command? Alliteration rears its overused head again.
Where ya been, aflfan?
Been a bad year. My dad fell and shattered his femur. Our house got broken into while we were asleep, I was in the hospital for pneumonia, plus several other things. Just getting back to uniwatch after all that.
That’s putting it mildly. Welcome back, and I hope the worst is over.
Thanks Jim.
Big center ice change at Miami (OH). Instead of the RedHawk pointed toward the student section, they now have a big red “M” at center ice. Just saw it on CBS College Sports.
What is it batting practice jersey night in San Francisco?
Spring training, actually. :) These teams show no respect for the postseason.
The orange Giants jerseys are almost ok…they are certainly better than this:
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The Braves alt is horrible. Would have been a little better if the script and numbers were red and not just a white outline. If they were going to wear color tops, they should have broken out these:
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Everyone would have gone nuts!!
Looks like a Friday night Beer League game.
Blech.
I agree. It looks like a friggin softball game.
sad to say, but based on the two teams proclivities, we basically KNEW this matchup was coming
i know some of y’all like this alt jersey crap, but this is quite possibly the worst postseason matchup, uni wise, in…ever
I did a little research on the Dressed to the Nines site, searching for the first AL and NL teams to wear solid color jerseys with white pants. In the AL, it’s the 1972 Oakland A’s. In the NL, the 1977 San Fran Giants.
So there you have it.
Freddy Sanchez just came up and he’s wearing his shinguard on the inside of his front leg. What’s the point of that? Does he foul it into his foot a lot?
A few other things you might not have known about Orrville (OH) football. 1) the Wooster/Orrville game will be played for the 100th time this season on Oct 30, 2) it’s the 3rd oldest rivalry in the state of Ohio behind McKinley/Massilon and Lima/Piqua, and 3) Orrville sucks! (GO WOO!)