There’s No Service Like Wire Service, Vol. 20

Time for another round of sensational uni-centric wire shots. This batch was contributed by Bruce Menard, Paul Wiederecht, Mike Hersh, and Mako Mameli.

• Most of you have probably seen the famous shots of Big Klu’s typos on May 8, 1960. What you probably haven’t seen, though, is this follow-up shot that was taken after the game. Aside from the two typos and the piss-poor arching, take a look at that U. I think it was actually an O that was modified to look like a U. Similarly, I think the uni number started out as a zero! That’s a lot of uni interest on one jersey.

• I love love love this Wilson uniform display from 1947. The caption reads: “Opening Day observances were held at Wilson Sporting Goods too, with Wally Robb, Assistant to the President, and Fred Glahe, superintendent of the Knit and Clothing factories, holding an inspection of some of the uniforms they turned out for major league teams this season.”

• Look at the wonderful Rawlings tags on these jerseys.

•  How often do you see a player wearing a T-shirt featuring one of his teammates? That’s Roger Maris in a Yogi Berra Yoo-Hoo tee.

• Okkonen shows the 1957 Cubs wearing blue stirrups with thin white stripes. But the stripes were actually variegated. As always, I’m not picking on Okkonen here — just pointing out that we should never take the template databases as gospel. (Also: The chest logo on the home version of that uni featured some very tasty-looking chain-stitching.)

• Just to reinforce that point: According to Okkonen, the Cubs wore their white-yoked undershirt at home but not on the road in 1941 and ’42. But it looks like they did indeed wear them on the road at least once. Whatever you think of the yoke (I love it with the home vest but agree that it doesn’t work with the road), those sleeve stripes totally rule.

• Knights Braves in white satin. That’s from May 11, 1946, the first night home game in Boston Braves history.

• Of course, the Braves weren’t the only team to wear satins. That’s Gil Hodges, who apparently ate his Wheaties.

• Always weird to see an old shot with no uni numbers. Also, note that the plate ump’s cap is backwards.

• I love Felipe Alou in this Expos-style Wichita cap.

• Ouch! That’s Oscar Robertson, wearing one of history’s most gruesome-looking mouthguards.

• Sure, Joe D looked slick in a Brewers uni, but what I really like is the kid on the right’s outfit. Now that’s a smooth-lookin’ fella!

• As most of you probably know, the Dodgers played a handful of home games in Jersey City in 1956 and ’57. Here’s Duke Snider wearing a Brooklyn/JC combo cap. Cute, but that was a major nail in the Brooklyn Dodgers’ coffin.

• Someone should try to figure out how many different uniforms — official, promotional, and otherwise — Babe Ruth wore in his lifetime. You’d have to include this basketball uni and, in a major find, this Esquire-sponsored design. According to the file name, that’s Ty Cobb at far right, at the Polo Grounds, 1945. Not sure of the circumstances.

• Here’s Cy Young wearing an old-timer’s uniform — literally. The other players, from left to right, are Joe Wood, Lefty Grove, and the Big Train. Not sure of the date or locale.

This installment would have been one photo longer, but the photo in question turned out to have such a rich storyline that it deserves its own main entry. I’ll have that in a day or two.

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Major NYC Event: On Thursday, Nov. 18, I’ll be hosting and emceeing “Show and Tell at the City Reliquary,” the first installment of what we expect to be a monthly series. The concept is simple: Anyone and everyone is encouraged to bring one item of personal significance. You’ll have exactly three minutes to stand up at a podium with your object and explain why it’s special. Then it’s on to the next person. No video, no PowerPoint, no handouts — just you and your object for three minutes, the end. (If you’re not show/tell-ish and prefer to just come down and watch, that’s fine too.)

I’ll get things started with some showing and telling of my own and will preside over the ensuing festivities. I won’t be curating or pre-screening the participants, however — think of it as open-mic show and tell. Or a show and tell slam. Or something like that.

The Reliquary is at 370 Metropolitan in Brooklyn. Doors will open at 7pm (we’ll have a sign-up sheet available for those who want to participate), with presentations starting at 8pm. Suggested donation: $5. Beer and snacks will be available. Hope to see you there.

New sponsor shout-out: Those of you who play poker and darts — and I’m guessing that’s a lot of you — will be interested in our newest advertiser, who you may have noticed in the left sidebar: Card Parlour Darts. An excellent product for your game room, man cave, or what have you. Please check out their site.

And as long as we’re talking about our sponsors, Sports Propaganda screen-printer Chris Speakman is featuring special limited-edition Giants and Rangers prints on his site. As always, my thanks for supporting our advertisers.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Congrats to the Giants, who can now break out this uni for 2011. ”¦ Neglected to mention yesterday that Portland State, as promised, went with blank helmets (with thanks to Kristina Cruz). ”¦ Here’s an oddity: UCLA stripes on a baseball jersey. Even weirder, the stripes are truncated, just like on modern football jerseys. Strange. ”¦ Twol great finds from Bruce Menard: a Willie Mays syrup ad and an ribbon-style patch from a Yankees tour of Japan. “Makes me want to source stitching software,” says Bruce. ”¦ Here’s a really well-executed article on the Ravens’ uniform cop, Bruce Laird. Among other details, it turns out he (and presumably the league’s other uni cops) make $750 per game. Multiply that times eight home games and you’re talking six grand for showing up on Sundays and saying, “Yo, your knees are showing.” And people think I have a good gig (big thanks to William Yurasko). ”¦ Here’s another high school team with different logos on the two sides of the helmet: the Cedar Falls Tigers in Iowa (with thanks to Scott Mason). ”¦ Interesting uni number story from Jeff Hunter, who writes: “Back in high school (Hewitt-Trussville High in Birmingham, 1977ish), we had some sort of uni snafu and ended up wearing different numbers based on whether we were home or away. I wore 82 at home and 83 on the road. If I remember correctly, everyone wore one number higher in our white jerseys.” I vaguely recall someone telling me something similar several years ago — anyone..? ”¦ Gumbal helmet king Bill Jones is branching out into new sorts of projects: “My 16-year-old-son, Ryan, plays for a competitive hockey travel team called the Texas Junior Stars. So I found an old Starting Lineup figure of Mike Modano when he was a Dallas Star and hand-painted it to match Ryan’s uniform. Then, since the SLU figures all come with a player trading card, I made one for Ryan. Finally, I re-sealed the original container so it looks like it came straight from the store shelves.” ”¦ New superhero-style space suits in the works for NASA (with thanks to Robbie Biederman). ”¦ According to a note on this page, Utah’s helmets are so shiny because they use floor wax (with thanks to Jason Hillyer). ”¦ Donnie Gould was at a minor league hockey game the other night that featured Adrian Van de Mosselaer and Wes Vannieuwenhuizen. Those photos are from separate games, but they should give you an idea of the NOB overload Donnie was experiencing. ”¦ Damn, the ’46 Phillies looked my-t-fine (great find by Mike Hersh). ”¦ Also from mike: An excellent view of the Dodgers’ 1916 tatteralls and a great team portrait of the Houston Buffaloes. ”¦ Chris Mason, who was previously wearing this blue mask design, now has a white version (as noted by John Muir). ”¦ Check out the harlequin-style pattern on the goalie in this 1936 photo. ” I know some soccer goalies tend to be flamboyant with their jersey designs (see Jorge Campos from Mexico), but I didnt know those type of designs went that far back,” says Juan Pinillos. ”¦ New hoops uniforms for Siena (with thanks to John Dougherty). ”¦ Yesterday I mentioned that the Browns were originally slated to wear orange-numbered home jerseys in 1984, but they changed to white numerals when the orange ones proved to be too hard to make out from a distance. Now Sean Wilson has found a good example of the orange-numbered homes. “Plus I also found what looks like an orange-numbered road jersey,” he says. “The description says, ‘This was from a set of jerseys created in the preseason of 1984 and after one game was discontinued as being the only time the Browns ever wore orange numbers.’ While I have heard of the home jersey being scrapped, I have never heard of a matching road jersey also being designed and scrapped. Is this legit or a hoax?” Good question. Anyone know more? ”¦ Pretty great Expos tribute video here (with thanks to Andrew Harris). ”¦ Here are the proper images, with the proper conference patches, for the Utah and Texas Tech camo-patterned Wounded Warrior Project jerseys, which will be worn this weekend. ”¦ Someone came up with a really good Rangers T-shirt for the World Series, but of course MLB couldn’t allow that (with thanks to Jason Hillyer). ”¦ Bryan Stevens reports that Wyoming went with solid poo on Saturday. Ew. ”¦ Here’s Michael Orr‘s latest round of EPL uni news. ”¦ New hoops uniforms for Princeton (with thanks to David Barndollar). ”¦ New uniforms for the Japanese national women’s volleyball team (thanks, Jeremy). ”¦ There’s a new documentary about the Seattle Pilots. “It’s a bit dry but has some cool vintage Pilots footage,” says Steve Mandich. “One thumb up.” ”¦ Maryland goalie Matt Mitchell has a Maryland flag pattern on his leg pads (big thanks to Tyler Hull). ”¦ Another great old news clipping discovery by Jerry Wolper: Back in 1959, the Browns were flagged for wearing illegal cleats.