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Uni Watch

The White Cap Chronicles, Continued

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The 1967 A’s and their occasional use of white caps, which I first wrote about last Friday, continue to present an intriguing rabbit hole, as reader Dave Robb has just provided me with some photos he scanned from the team’s 1968 yearbook. Take a look:


There are several points worth making here:

•  The first two yearbook photos in that slideshow are of Blue Moon Odom and Tony Pierce. They both pitched in the white-capped game A’s/Tigers game that was the subject of last Friday’s post, so the yearbook pics could be from the same game. In other words, these two photos don’t necessarily show an additional example.

• I’m assuming that the batting helmets in these photos were gold, not white, but it’s interesting to see how similar they look in b&w photography. Take a closer look at the one photo that features caps and helmets together — you can’t really tell them apart. In fact, based on this evidence, you could just as easily make a case that the caps were gold, not white — except, fortunately, we have this color photo showing that they were white (and lots of old color photos showing that the helmets were gold).

• The fact that white and gold are largely indistinguishable in the b&w photos bolsters Ricko’s contention (first made in the comments on Monday, I believe) that the white caps may have had gold brims. You wouldn’t know it from looking at the b&w pics, but you can make out a hint of gold edging on the underbrims in that one color shot.

• I was so obsessed with the caps that it took me a few minutes before I noticed that three of Dave Robb’s yearbook photos show the players wearing black shoes. “Wait a sec,” I thought, “1967 was the year the A’s went white-shod.” Then I checked Okkonen, who shows the A’s wearing white and black shoes in ’67. “Oh,” I thought — so I guess it isn’t so weird after all.”

But then I took another look and noticed that Okkonen shows the black shoes being paired with a jersey with gold typography and the white shoes paired with green typography — while the yearbook photos appear to show black shoes and green-numbered vests, a combination not shown by Okkonen. (Also: Note that the players in the dugout are wearing colored caps, not white, which furthers the case that the batting helmets weren’t white.)

Now, I’ve been saying for years that we shouldn’t take Okkonen as gospel (case in point: He missed the boat on the white caps). And maybe he didn’t mean to imply that the shoe/typography pairings were exclusive; maybe he just didn’t have room to show every mix-and-match combination.

Screen shot 2011-01-19 at 12.27.09 PM.png

So what I’m really getting at here is that the 1967 A’s were one hell of a mish-mash — one that continues to confound. Which I’m sure would make Charlie Finley very happy.

+ + + + +

Research project: Make a wish(bone): With the Bears once again vying for a spot in the Stupor Bowl, I’ve been thinking a bit about their wishbone-C helmet logo. Variations on this design have been worn by several other teams over the years, including the Reds, Indians, Cubs, Hiroshima Toyo Carp, the University of Chicago, Carroll College, the Chicago Cardinals (although I’d feel more confident about including that logo on the list if I could see it in situ, not just on a web page), and probably a bunch more. We could even include the Twins, although their wishbone-C is part of a more involved logo.

Are there more wishboned teams I’ve overlooked? Did people think it was weird when the Cubs, Indians, and Reds were all wearing it in the mid-1930s? And what are the origins of the C — who designed it, and which team was the first to wear it? The U. of Chicago claims to have been wearing it since 1898, so I called their athletics dept. yesterday to see if they had any additional info — no dice. If anyone knows more, please speak up. Thanks.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Cool slideshow about the Polo Grounds. ”¦ Craig Bates ordered a Panthers visor online. When it arrived, he was surprised to find a slight error on the back strap. ”¦ Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: a hilarious 1960s group portrait illo of the Southwest Conference’s mascots. ”¦ Also from yesterday: Fascinating shoulder yoke panels on this 1930s Aggies jersey. ”¦ Another treasure from the Texas A&M archives: Check out these makeshift shinguards (good find by Matt Mitchell). ”¦ Hey, ladies, wanna impress your valentine next month? Give him this. ”¦ While looking for something else, I stumbled upon this sensational Cubs scorecard cover. ”¦ New 10th-anniversary uniforms for some arena football team nobody cares about (with thanks to Tod Hess). ”¦ Man, there’s a lot going on in this high school football shot: striped socks; an NFL logo rip-off; merit decals in the center stripe; and additional dogbone-shaped decals. The two teams are James Bowie High School in blue and Hawkins High School in white (with thanks to Seth Hubbard). ”¦ Who doesn’t like Nike’s new soccer kit for France? Oh, just the team’s coach. ”¦ Awesome report from Michael Koch, who writes: “While I was at work last night, I saw a guy wearing an ‘authentic’ Yankees jersey with a nameplate that read, ‘NNOB.’ Had I been able to talk to the guy, I would’ve asked him if he’s a Uni Watcher.” No photo, alas. ”¦ Yet another team unveiling sweatbacks: West Virginia. ”¦ I was doing some newspaper archive research last night and came across a bunch of uni-related items. Among the highlights: a 4/10/81 AP story about the unveiling of the Bengals’ tiger-stripe uniforms; a small 1/18/81 AP item indicating that Bobby Bonds wanted to wear No. 007 (Bond, Bonds, get it?); and a 9/11/81 item about the Wisconsin cheerleading uniforms. ”¦ I first decried the new conference championship trophy designs way back in March, but that was just based on illustrations of the new hardware. Here’s the real thing. ”¦ New kit for the Seattle Sounders (with thanks to Jerry Gardner, Jr.). ”¦ Weber State is inviting fans to design its new gridiron.

Tomorrow: I’m working on something very cool for Friday’s post. Trust me, you’re gonna like this.

 
  
 
Comments (166)

    Keep in mind that in Okkonen’s book there are more detailed write-ups about the uniforms used by each franchise. His book includes far more information than the illustrations contained in the Dressed to the Nines database.

    I know. I actually pulled out my copy of the book before I went to the web version. Unfortunately, there’s no mention of any of the issues raised here (the white caps, the two different shoe colors in ’67, etc.).

    Is Duke the only program with the Nike sweatbacks that doesn’t have the two-tone front collar? All the rest of these teams look like they modify the front of the collar with the team logo centered in a different color

    Off the top of my head Duke is the only team that retained their normal collar and they’re the only team with the full sweatback.

    Obviously, it’s tough to find good photos this old, especially on the internet, but here is link wearing the ‘c’ inside the ‘C’ circa 1929.

    Here the link wearing it on their sleeve. These are the uniforms that inspired the Cardinals’ 1994 throwbacks.

    Here is link from the early 1920s. You can see the logo on the sleeve of the runner there.

    Here is link from the same time period with what appears to be different socks and what looks to be just a wishbone ‘C’ on the sleeve, rather than the logo with the two ‘Cs’

    There’s also a possibility that the little ‘c’ in the logo was a block letter as opposed to a curved form that followed the inside edge of the wishbone ‘C’ but it’s too tough to tell from photos of this quality.

    That Nevers pic seems to support the block ‘c’ argument, at least for that uniform. Maybe the classic version with the round ‘c’ was used on the early 1920s uniform and the one with the block ‘c’ on the later 1920s uniform.

    While we’re on this, if anyone has any info or photos of the 1920s era of the Chicago Cardinals uniforms, let ’em fly.

    The 1921 uniform is documented up there, obviously. I don’t know what other years it was worn or what variations were worn, though (today was the first I saw of that Paddy Driscoll closeup with the four-stripe socks and single ‘C’ on the sleeve).

    The Ernie Nevers uniform above, which apparently was worn at least in 1929, has been documented, but I don’t know what other years, if any, it was worn.

    I have the 1930 uniform documented and there is a 1931 uniform is hanging up in Canton, so I have that one, too.

    So, any info on 1920, 1922-1928 and 1932 is what I’ve been searching for.

    Ditto.

    Andy’s historical contributions are vital to the cause.

    Quite helpful to the 1920-1932 NFL era.

    Pretty much the one thing about the new NFL playoffs identity system I don’t hate. That’s a nice trophy. At least, judged by the standards of corporate-awards hardware, which is what any NFL trophy really is at this point. It compares well to, say, a JD Power award.

    Here’s my quote last night from the article linked in the Ticker:

    “The new trophy design is tragic. What I’m about say will sound weird, but I hope that the Packers win, for the Bears’ sake, because if the Bears win the NFC Championship and handed that trophy, I’m pretty sure that they’ll use it to bash Roger NO-GOODell’s head in, for junking two interesting trophy designs (they also ruined the Lamar Hunt AFC Trophy) in favor of these high school monstrosities. Booooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

    “New 10th-anniversary uniforms for some arena football team nobody cares about”

    I’m sure there’s a lot of the content on this site that you’re really interested in but many readers could care less about because of how ‘anti-mainstream’ it is. If you don’t care about it, don’t put it in the ticker, but if you put it in the ticker, you can at least show it some respect.

    perhaps you’re not yet familiar with paul’s style of prose

    and nobody but tod and vilk care about arena football ;)

    I was at ArenaBowl I!!! I was always have a place in my heart for the Pittsburgh Gladiators and the Arizona Rattlers. Those were fun games.

    There is a bar in Youngstown, Ohio the MVR with all the conference pictures like the one you printed today from the old Southwest Conference. They are all framed and hanging on the wall in the bar area.

    RE: Chicago Rush’s 10th Anniversary

    Is it really the 10th anniversary if the arena league itself and the team took a year off? Is this really the team’s 9th year?

    Not sure how they’re treating that. It would still be the tenth anniversary even if it they had skipped a season. The Browns celebrated their 60th Anniversary in 2006 even though they had a five year hiatus.

    “The Browns celebrated their 60th Anniversary in 2006 even though they were an expansion team in 1999.” :)

    Look, the NFL can twist the facts around however they want to. However, the truth is that the Browns moved to Baltimore, and were renamed the Ravens. Cleveland was then awarded a expansion team that was named the Browns.

    As a Cincinnati native and Reds’ fan I’m looking forward to the wishbone C research. I think it’s interesting that the Bears’ C is slightly different than the one the Reds use. The top half of the Bears’ version seems slightly smaller than the bottom, most easily noticed in the fact that the corners don’t align where the C comes together. The Reds’ version is symmetrical. Was this done to make the logo unique? Copyright rules? I’ll be waiting on the edge of my seat…

    I’m looking forward to it too, Greg. A while back someone posted some old football pics and that Bears version jumped right out at me – it wasn’t symmetrical like the Reds.

    -Jet

    I am a big supportse of Nike but I DO NOT LIKE anything about the HyperElite line (Sweatback) of NCAA uniforms.

    The S.O.D. line was full of clean, simple designs that accentuated the players athletic builds.

    The Sweatbacks seem to be a regression in design going back to the “World Horns” that UW didn’t care for full of random design elements thrown into the uniforms.

    For example, the new West Virginia uniforms all feature lettering that is the same base color as the jersey. i realize that the numbers are trimmed in an opposing color, I just don’t care for it!

    And while we’re at it…the SW Conference is illo is great…I seem to recall saving a similar cartoon of the Big Ten from UW a few years back.

    I’m thinking the artist was getting stumped on a Hoosier. The Buckeye is precious. A replacement for Brutus?

    Good Grief! I posted numerous links yesterday in response to the SWC illio, from the 60s/70s and original brochure shows the other conferences! Arg…

    From Yesterday:
    There is also an link on my site @ southwestconferencefootball.com. They had them for all conferences (I have the whole set of 8×10 prints) and you could get the images on cards and a variety of other items. One of the original brochures can be seen link, link, and link. #whydoibother…

    Yeah, what an outrage!

    Uh, wait. Sure, the image in the brochure is *slightly* larger but I don’t think that’s quite what Aaron had in mind.

    Plus, it’s blurry as hell.

    Yeah, maybe I wasn’t too clear. I was looking for the Big Ten one, for one. The “up for grabs” one is even smaller, and none of those links are exactly what I would call “hi-res.” Interesting, to be sure, but not exactly addressing the issue.

    In the Big 8 ‘Family Photo’, is the Oklahoma Sooner wearing a headdress? Maybe there’s something I don’t know, but I’m pretty sure most Sooners weren’t Native American.

    I don’t mind the same color lettering on the blue jersey, it looks kind of good, but in the yellow it it kind of hard to read, and even worse in the white. The wordmark back is kind of cool looking up close, but stupid looking in live game action as you can’t see what the hell it is. Would be nice on a T-shirt, but stupid on an actual in game uniform.

    I don’t mind the same-color lettering so much, but that white number just looks really out of place on the gold jersey.

    For some reason, the white number on the blue jersey doesn’t bother me, but I feel like it should.

    I will scan all the conference portraits …… if you are nice to me! Drop me a line if you need one (susan AT southwestconferencefootball DOT com).

    When it comes to WVU uniforms, here’s my take: Most importantly, scrap the all gold and the BFBS uni’s entirely, along with all 3 sets of new shorts, they’re hideous. The whole sweatback thing is cool I guess, but they put one of the coolest parts in the center, the Mountaineer mascot, and you can’t see it! The Coliseum is a really cool looking building, but only WVU fans really recognize it on that sweatback image. (here’s what the Coliseum looks like… link )

    I do like the Blue and White uni’s. Those who may not like the color choices should see them in-game, they’re pretty nice I think. The “West Virginia” is still easily visible, and I really quite like the number colors (yellow #, white jersey; white #, blue jersey). It’s nice to see all three colors on both uni’s.

    Okay, enough from me…

    I love the rain delay pic from the 51 playoff. You can practically smell the old wood in the place.

    Re: 1967 A’s white hats

    Are we 100% positive all the photos in that yearbook are from the regular season? I own a 1976 Pirates yearbook which clearly shows players wearing mustard pillbox hats minus the black striping. These were spring training shots, don’t recall how many were game action.

    We’re not 100% positive of ANYTHING except that the A’s did not wear green caps when playing the Tigers in the second game of a twinbill on 6/6/67 (those are the photos from last Friday’s post).

    Everything else falls into the “preponderance of evidence” category.

    And the fact that a newspaper columnist writing during the 1967 season mentioned that the A’s had worn white caps, even before the game against the Tigers in June.

    I meant to mention this a few days ago: That newspaper item doesn’t really prove much, because the columnist was talking specifically about manager Alvin Dark, who of course would have been wearing a white cap no matter what the players were wearing.

    Sure looks like it — curiouser and curiouser.

    These could have been rolled out by Finley for one of his “special occasions”. In Oakland he was always looking for these, e.g., the all-whites the A’s wore for selected Sunday home dates, as I recall.

    I somehow doubt we’ll get to the bottom of this without seeing if any of the ’67 players (e.g., Rick Monday, Sal Bando) recall the cap variation(s). Their memories might not be as good as the amazing Dr. Reuss, but it might be worth a shot.

    Hmm, the new France uniforms have red turnovers on the sleeves?

    Is Nike ripping off Adidas now? I have a German World Cup jersey, and the sleeve caps have a little black cover, revealing the colors of the German flag underneath.

    Nike’s been ripping off adidas in soccer since it began, and adidas had been returning the favor elsewhere.

    Just wondering…

    A lot of talk this week focuses on Bears/Packers as “the oldest rivalry in the NFL” but wouldn’t the Bears and Cardinals truly be the league’s oldest rivalry?

    Obviously there’s not really much to the “rivalry” these days, but they are the league’s only remaining charter franchises.

    Well, there was that year of “Card-Pitt” so if that counts as the Cardinals not really existing for a year, then the Bears/Packers would be the oldest continual rivalry.

    I know the Bears-Packers didn’t play each other in 1982, the strike season. Otherwise, they have played each other twice a season almost every season since 1921 or so.

    The Bears don’t play the Cardinals every year, so even if you count Card-Pitt as counting towards both team’s records (as I believe the league does), their rivalry isn’t continuous.

    Sure, but as Timmy B pointed out, the Bears and Packers rivalry isn’t continuous, either.

    Just saying that if uninterrupted yearly play is the sole criterion here, then there are lots of rivalries that are older (Redskins/Cowboys, Giants/Eagles, to name just a couple).

    In regards to Bonds wanting to wear “007” …

    The closest he ever got was in 1980 when he wore “00” for the Cardinals and played left field. If a scorecard’s columns happened to go uni#, pos# and name left to right, it would look like 00-7-Bonds

    The elder Bonds had a drinking problem which short circuited his career. Once regarded as the next Willie Mays, his production tailed off in his 30s, and he bounced from club to club. I may have seen his final play at Pittsburgh when he dove for a fly ball and suffered a wrist injury while playing right field for the Cubs.

    The headline writer in the French soccer jersey story almost got it perfect: “Blanc sees red over blue French jersey” would have been better, since Blanc means “white” in French.

    Nice.

    If anything, though, I thought he’d be upset that they look more like a blue version of the England kits and not the Italian’s. Not a surprise though, since Umbro was bought out by Nike (or something like that)…

    link

    Buckeyes unveiled their white Sweatbacks on Saturday, but last night they broke out the new gray version…

    link

    I really loved the S.O.D. version, so this new set will take some getting used to. But the best part? The red socks!

    link

    Amen, brother! The white collar, the white letters & numbers, and the awkward stiping on the shorts just- it’s a uslesss bumper stickers! They had the best S.O.D. design in all of college basketball, and ruined it.

    Oh, and they actually wore the red socks with the previous gray uni too…

    link

    The ‘Nova uni is growing on me, but there was never any need to replace this thing of beauty:
    link
    You’ll be seeing a DIY of that eventually…

    Some versions actually have redeeming qualities. I assume St. John’s is SoD, correct?
    link
    I like that one. What I don’t like are minimalist, tight white tops with small numbers and baggy skirt-like shorts, which is what I think of when I hear “SoD.”

    And yeah, James, the shoes throw off that whole ensemble.

    Vilk,

    I was certain that you were going to praise this ‘Nova uni, against Felipe Lopez of St. Johns and their famous skyline unis:

    link

    And the Johnnies are wearing Sweatbacks(HyperElite)…you can tell by the perforations down the leg of the shorts.

    link

    That Weber State turf redesign could be disastrous, given the current trend among small-market teams looking to draw some attention by using colored turf and the fact that Weber’s colors are purple and white. That the template they’ve requested fans to use is entirely void of color, it seems likely that more than one submission will include purple turf and that, in an effort to steal some of the regional spotlight from Utah and BYU, WS just might decide to go with such a design.

    Here’s a pic of the link, for good measure.

    I have to say that I kinda like the way they look — kinda. The crystal looks nice.

    I really don’t see why they needed to replace the old ones, though. I mean, they certainly link but at least they were distinctive.

    I thought they looked crystal when they were introduced last year, but the pictures I’ve seen this week look like a metal football.

    Crap. I think you’re right. I didn’t look closely enough.

    Now I’m not so sure I like them after all.

    I’m still SORT OF torn…

    I loved the big bulky wooden bases of the old trophies but..

    I like how the new are more like the lombardi tropy… also kind of neat that the football is made of four pieces which im assuming is used to symbolize the divisions (?)… clean look though. I guess ill wait to see them on the field

    The only good thing about about the conference trophy is that if the home team wins the championship game, they can have the ceremony in front of the crowd. The much more important Lombardi Trophy is awarded in front of a “neutral” gathering.

    The Reds had a wishbone C in use well before the 1920’s. My grand father worked at the pre-cursor to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base during WWI. We have a picture of him with a few (unknown) Reds, wearing sweaters with what sure looks like a wishbone C.

    Here’s a clue they existed as far back as 1905: link. Ewing pitched for the Reds then. I assume tht is a Reds sweater.

    Assuming their cheer is “Let’s go Dutch!” what is their mascot…a guy with wooden shoes or a waitress with two guest checks in her hand?

    “New kit for the Seattle Sounders”

    Horrid, just horrid. Like every bit of all their other kits.

    Loved the Polo Grounds slide show, especially the photo of Eamon de Valera!

    I’m wondering: why did the Titans change their identity to Jets?

    Remember: Blue Valley Butter is GOOD Butter.

    “I’m wondering: why did the Titans change their identity to Jets?”

    The Titans had been terrible on field and off, a real second-rate organization. The new owners wanted a clean start, and “Jets” not only had a contemporary feel to it but matched with the Mets, who although weren’t yet great on the field at least had a combination of the excitement of youth and prestige of the Senior Circuit.

    Because the Titans were a team owned by under-capitalized sportcaster Harry Wismer, a situation the new league lived with in order to have a franchise in New York. New leagues almsot ALWAYS have trouble finding deep-pocketed start-up owners for the New York market (alo see: ABA, WHA, WTT, WFL, USFL, WLAF, XFL, UFL…).

    The Titans couldn’t pay their bills, couldn’t make payroll, once had the hot water turned off in the Polo Grounds locker room because they owed money….

    …and so on.

    When Sonny Werblin and his group took over, both they and the league realized a whole new image would be best for the New York entry. “Jets” almost certainly sprang from three notions…
    1) it rhymed with “Mets,” with whom the team would share the new Shea Stadium,
    2) the stadium was close to LaGuardia
    3) jet aircraft were enroute becoming the standard mode of commercial air travel. If the ’50s were the military “jet age”, the early ’60s were where the “jet age” for everyone else.

    —Ricko

    I actually gave my grandpa a Cubs scorecard with that exact same cover last year. In hindsight I wish I had scanned the inside and outside first. The man who had it had started scoring the game but gave up in the fifth inning.

    Jim Caple is way out of his league on his ‘ranking of the MLB logos’ article on ESPN.com:
    link

    His comment on the Braves logo:
    “Well, it certainly beats the old logo of a Native American warrior screaming so demonstrably it was as if he just received his season-ticket renewal bill.”

    Seriously Jim?

    I have to agree with him on the Braves old logo. The warrior always looked inappropriately happy to me for some reason – like an Up with People cast member or something.

    He’s actually not that bad. Going strictly on design, though, I’d say the Jays’ logo is worse than Cleveland’s.

    I agree with him on the ’60s cartoon Detroit Tiger. I know he showed up on yearbooks and media guides in other poses; I should hyperlink to some of them but I’m pressed for time.

    i will hyperlink to my favorite old cartoon MLB logo. link

    Hey Paul, when is my interview going to be posted? I’m getting impatient here!

    Just kidding. No rush.

    On a more important subject, have you heard about when Arizona’s going to unveil their sweatback uniforms? I would have thought that this weekend against Arizona State would have been the perfect time to do it, but obviously that didn’t happen.

    Story from the Waukesha Freeman on Carrol University’s wishbone C logo and how the Bears may have adopted it. From today’s paper. What are the odds?

    link

    re: 1967 KANSAS CITY ATHLETICS…

    What I wondered was whether there was yet a THIRD hat in 1967, one with a gold visor…just because of the look of that Camera Day color photo. Pretty sure those from the night (brawl) game are all white.

    Actually I guess that would be the FOURTH hat in 1967, because Finley got pissed at Kansas City and for much of the A’s last season in Missouri they wore a kelly hat with a white “A”. The “‘s” didn’t get added to the hats until after they were in Oakland.

    Shoes? In ’67 they had a set of green Riddells “for muddy days”. After that, I think the alternate cleats were black.

    Green letters and numbers on the Wedding Gown Whites? Yes, indeed. Early sets of the whites (before the white shoes) were the reverse, gold edged in kelly.

    The vested era for the A’s is all over the map, starting with the fact that the original golds had “ATHLETICS” across the chest (and unis were satiny looking), but changed to the single “A” sometime during the first season (’63). The era that began with Billy Martin and didn’t end until they went to the look associated with the Bash Brothers was full of oddities and second thoughts, too. Okkonen would need to have added entire pages to include all the helter-skelter combos of undersleeves, jerseys, sanitaries, even shoe colors, from those two eras.

    Well, okay, the mono kelly and mono gold for apparently a handful of games kinda schmutzes up the first doubleknits that began in ’72, too.

    —Ricko

    Ah-ha! Just now so this…
    link

    Okay, no gold visors. That’s an imaging anomaly.
    Hey, was worth looking into.

    So, then, three hats in ’67.
    Kelly, white “KC”.
    White, kelly “KC”.
    Kelly, white “A”.

    And yellow-gold helmets with kelly “KC”…which begs the question….did Finley change the helmets, too, after he changed the softcaps from “KC” to “A”?

    —Ricko

    link

    Yup, the KC is an A on the yellow-gold helmet.

    The rarely worn three-stripe version of the stirrups, too.

    —Ricko

    Ricko —

    The 1981-86 era sure was a patchwork. The A’s went from years of simplicity (three jerseys — gold, green, and white — with white pants) to all kinds of stuff. One year, I thought they wore only white at home and grey on the road with, heaven’s forbid, dark shoes. The era begs for a game-by-game analysis of the kind someone is doing for the Pirates of the late 1970s.

    — G.

    Some interesting DIY’s from Cardinal Fans concerning Albert Pujols

    link

    Also, a look at some of the jerseys on sale or in the crowd at the annual Cardinals Winter Warmup

    link

    The Polo Grounds montage…
    link

    Reminded me…

    1. …of something most fans don’t realize, and that’s just how close together New York teams were. Photos #3 snd #4 show the proximity of the Polo Grounds (Giants/Mets, Titans) and Yankee Stadium (Yankees, Giants football). Looks like four or five really great teeshots would get you to the other ballpark.

    2. …that while we still often hear of the late Bobby Thomson’s “Shot Heard ‘Round the World” in 1951, the Giants’ pennant chase that culminated in that memorable home run has a name, too, a wonderfully lyrical name that now seems to be, sadly, on its way to being forgotten: the Miracle of Googan’s Bluff.

    —Ricko

    Coogan’s Bluff mentioned in cutline for second photo. That’s what made me think of it.

    —Ricko

    When Jake Ruppert and Col. Huston were looking for a place to escape the Polo Grounds to (remember that they were John McGraw’s tenants until the Babe came along and McGraw wanted them out), they supposedly looked all over the place, but one has to believe that they were stalling until they could agree on a price with the guy who owned the lumberyard (how appropriate was that?) where YS is/was/whatever. Ruppert absolutely wanted to shove his magnificent ballpark down McGraw’s throat by placing as close as possible to the PG.

    link

    Image of A. A. Stagg, University of Chicago coach, and two unidentified athletes standing on Marshall Field Marshall Field (renamed Stagg Field in 1915) was located north of East 57th Street and east of South Ellis Avenue on the campus of the University of Chicago in the Hyde Park community area of Chicago, Illinois, 1902. From the Chicago Daily News collection. (Photo by Chicago History Museum/Getty Images)

    All well and good, but let’s address the real cultural issue here:
    Which came first, the wishbone “C” or the typical toilet seat?

    —Ricko

    ugh, Paul. you had to remind us about the modified NFC/AFC Championship Trophies. disappointing.

    A variation of the wishbone C can be found on all uniforms for Chowan University. D2 in North Carolina.

    For what its worth, Carroll College recently became Carroll University. And yes, they use the “Its all about the U” schtick.

    There is one team that used, quite literally, the Chicago Bears’ wishbone “C”, the short-lived Charlotte Hornets of the WFL.

    link

    Beginning the season as the New York Stars, the franchise moved to Charlotte after just a handful of games at crumbling Downing Stadium and, needing something “Charlotte” to plaster over their NY/star logo, they reached for the Bears’ wishbone.

    This is the result:

    link

    ’tis true. The helmet on ebay (a recreation to be sure)looks better than the real thing did.

    I remember watching the newly relocated club the first time they were on TV (on TVS, a long defunct indepedent network that carried sporting events that CBS, NBC and ABC weren’t interested in).

    It was EXACTLY a Bears “C”…obviously their decal, or version of same. Was an orange C (not red as on the ebay helmet) with a white edge. Also center was filled in with navy, to cover the “NY” at the center of the New York Stars’ star logo…so the decals must have been obtained from someone making NFL replica kid helmets or something.

    Checked it very carefully on TV that night, looking for sideline closeups especially. You could SEE it was an oval-shaped navy decal with an orange and white Bears wishbone “C”.

    I’ve mentioned it here before. Nice to see someone else (the Wiki contributor) knows of it, too.

    Keep in mind, I had worked for, and with, the people who started that league when they put together the WHA and WTT, and had done a bit of the very, very early PR work on the WFL…so I kept a pretty close eye on how well, or how badly, they were doing, on all levels. Even the unis.

    —Ricko

    Not saying they didn’t change it subsequently. Just saying that for their FIRST game as the Charlotte Hornets, they used Chicago Bear helmet decals.

    I didn’t really make that clear.

    —Ricko

    Ricko:

    According to this excellent WFL history site, the Bears decals were bought from the Chicago Bears equipment manager. The relocated Stars first game happened to be a road tilt against the Chicago Fire.

    link

    I own a copy of the New York Stars program from their last game in New York, against the soon-to-be-disbanded Detroit Wheels at Downing Stadium on Randall’s Island. Apparently the sportswriters dubbed it “The Bankrupt Bowl.” Stars won, 37-7.

    — Andrew

    Cool. Nice to know my eyes weren’t deceiving me.
    And nice to learn some more details.

    I enlarged the b&w photo of the actual helmet on the ebay item (to 400%) and it appears that the white tip of the wishbone has been cut off, as has the right side of the C in an attempt, I imagine, to disguise it a bit.

    —Ricko

    Just read the Houston Texans history at that site. Really accurate. My best friend in pro sports was Steve Arnold, the Texans’ owner.

    I can add to it a bit, though, with a tidbit related to this site. What never was made public was that while Arnold still was involved with putting the team in Memphis—before the shift to Houston—he was planning on using Tennessee rather than Memphis as the team’s locator name. (John Bassett moved his Toronto Northmen there later, renaming them the Memphis Southmen/Grizzlies. Yes, the same John Basset who would own the Tampa Bay Bandits of the USFL, and who probably would have saved that league had he not been terminally ill).

    Anyway, back on point, Arnold’s team was going to be the “Tennessee Rifles,” taken from a line in Disney’s DAVY CROCKETT AT THE ALAMO where Crockett says, “Reckon they don’t know how far a Tennessee riflegun can shoot.”

    I know because I named them. It happened one morning while Steve and I were having breakfast before a World Team Tennis meeting (he was involved in that league, too) at the Jockey Club in Miami Beach. I asked if he was going to use Memphis or Tennessee. When he said “Tennessee” I suggested the name for the reason described. He liked it, and it was a done deal. Colors were going to be black and old gold.

    That was the same breakfast when I suggested to Ed Grusin of Chicago (also involved in both leagues) that “Fires” wasn’t quite right because there was only one Chicago Fire, and that with teams like the Crimson Tide, Fighting Irish and Green Wave out there, why not just go “singular.”

    I had a good morning that day. lol

    —Ricko

    Sorry we never saw the Tennessee Rifles take the field. Their unis sound, well, Saintly. The WFL was a bastion of singular nicknames, the Fire, the Philadelphia Bell, Portland Storm, Shreveport Steamer, etc. This was years before the Heat, the Avalanche, the Trenton Thunder.

    Your reference to the WTT reminds me of the forgotten stablemate of the Mets/Jets/Nets grouping, the New York Sets (later renamed the Apples, if i recall correctly). — amh

    Yeah, the Sets, another underfunded startup franchise in the New York market (I was the WTT’s PR Director). Sets’ owner was Jerry Saperstein, son of Abe, owner of the Globetrotters. Hint: Abe still had all the money.

    I feel bad about that epidemic of singular WFL names. Feel like I started it with that suggestion to Ed Grusin. I think it was at that same WTT meeting that Tim Grandi of the WFL told me it was going to be the “California Cobras.” I reminded him of the Rivieras song, “Warm California Sun.”

    Well now, I’d think they’d BOTH take it to heart. Next thing I know everybody and their damn brother was doing it. I just thought ONE singular nickname would be unique for the league. Should have known the “monkey see, monkey do” factor would kick in.

    But, hey, I was only 26. At 26 we have a lot to learn about such things.

    —Ricko

    I DIDN’T think they both take it to heart, that is.

    Although, I guess not using “Philadelphia Bells” was just common sense. Either way, though, was a dumb nickname.

    —Ricko

    not a hockey fan, but always liked the Flyers P. And the Atlanta Flames “A” for that matter.

    DEEP FREEZE Plus One Year Update.

    Right now, 5 below zero with 22 below zero wind chill.
    Pond Hockey starts tomorrow a.m.

    The rain and slop was bad last year, but this kind of weather would have been a real adventure for a U-W gathering.

    —Ricko

    Hey, there’s the solution to the whole “Redskins” debate.

    Just change it to “Redsniks.”

    —Ricko

    I mentioned this during a discussion of monochrome a couple of months ago. If you get the 1967 Red Sox Impossible Dream DVD, in the extras there is brief footage from a game in Kansas City where the A’s are white on white on white. It is unmistakable. I had always thought just the coaches wore white, but no….

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