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Helluva Fella, That Feller

Bob-Feller.jpg

As I think most of you know, late last year the Indians announced that their Bob Feller memorial patch would look like this. Everyone here seemed to like it (although I thought the Hall of Fame induction date and maybe even the uni number were superfluous). But then in early February it turned out that the team had gone with a much plainer design, which was not well received in our comments section.

Why the switcheroo? The answer, or at least a portion of it, came on Friday, buried toward the bottom of this article (which was sent my way by reader Mike Menner). Here’s the key passage: “The Indians want to honor Hall of Famer Bob Feller by wearing a silhouette of him pitching, including his high leg kick, on the sleeve of their regular season uniform jerseys, but they’re having trouble getting copyright permission.”

I wanted to know more, so I contacted Bart Swain, the Indians’ PR director, who explained that the silhouetted image on the patch is based on a photograph that’s owned by Photo File, and the team hasn’t been able to strike a licensing deal with them.

My initial thought was, “Eh, big deal — so you find a different photo and make a silhouette of that.” Like, the Indians must own the rights to some good photos of Rapid Robert, right? But then I did a bit of Feller photo research, and there’s no getting around it: The Photo File image really does seem to be the best, most iconic shot of him. There are a few similar images, but they’re not quite as good. It’s easy to see why the Indians might think, “If we can’t have that one, let’s just scrap the whole concept and come up with something else.”

Photo File, of course, is in the business of selling and licensing photos, so it’s not as though the primo Feller image is off-limits to the Indians — it’s just a matter of whether the team is willing to pay a licensing fee (as others have done). Swain, the Tribe’s PR guy, told me that negotiations with Photo File are ongoing, so it’s possible that the silhouette-based patch design may end up being used after all. Either way, this is probably one of the most convoluted design processes ever for a memorial patch. Which I guess is what happens if you don’t just go with a black circle, right?

Feller, incidentally, was somewhat notorious for being an autograph mercenary in his later years. He’d show up anywhere, anytime, for an autograph session — if the price was right. On some level, he’d probably be amused by the haggling going on over his likeness. And he’d also probably wonder why he isn’t getting a cut.

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Heckuva project: Remember Bethany Heck, who I featured here on the site last month? She’s moving ahead with her Eephus League merchandise line, beginning with a specially designed Eephus scorecard, but she needs a bit of financial support, so she’s partnered with Kickstarter to raise some capital. Please consider making a pledge to support Bethany’s project, which deserves to become a reality.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Two college baseball teams wearing striped stirrups: Abilene Christian University and East Central Oklahoma (with thanks to Britt Bonneau). ”¦ Wait, here’s one more: Valdosta State (with thanks to Taylor McGinnis). … Aaron Baddeley’s caddy had a Rangers logo on his hat on Sunday (as noted by Mark Kaplowitz). ”¦ Here’s a little item about why Brandon Inge likes to go high-cuffed (with thanks to J. Cristiano). ”¦ John Moist recently got back from a Cubaball tour and sent in a bunch of photos. ”¦ AHL news from Steve Cook, who writes: “The Hershey Bears have won back-to-back Calder Cups, so some lamebrain got the idea to engrave two cups onto this year’s ring. And two apostrophe catastrophes!” ”¦ Whoa, look at this crazy old baseball-themed sweater (nice find by Mike Hersh). ”¦ Yahoo Sports reported on Sunday that Justin Duchscherer had been victimized by an NOB typo. But I guess nobody with the Orioles reads Yahoo Sports, because on Monday he had the same typo on a different BP jersey. Scott Marcusky took that photo at O’s camp yesterday. ”¦ Here’s an interesting story that raises questions about the practice of shipping phantom-championship T-shirts to impoverished nations (thanks, Brinke). ”¦ Remember Friday’s post about Joe Smith and his many uniforms? Smith’s MLB counterpart appears to be Matt Stairs, who’s worn at least 46 different jerseys — or at least that’s what Dan Cichalski came up with after crunching the numbers. Check out Dan’s full analysis on his blog. ”¦ Ashley Kimel says this is a pair of the purple football pants LSU wore against Kentucky on October 14, 1995. “It is the only time they have worn purple pants,” he says. “Unfortunately it isn’t a game picture, but it’s still a rare thing to see.” ”¦ Eric Trager’s all proud of his wife, Alyssa Saunders. Here’s why: “She spotted a mini-baseball helmet collection with the Nationals included twice — in the NL East, where they belong, and mistakenly replacing the Cardinals in the NL Central.” ”¦ Here’s something I don’t think we’ve mentioned yet: Ohio State hoops is wearing a “3407” patch. Explanation here (with thanks to Doug Keklak). ”¦ Reprinted from last night’s comments: a big story about the Brewers’ equipment manager. ”¦ Who’s that plucking on the old banjo? None other than Uni Watch favorite Jerry Reuss. ”¦ Two items from David Merrill: Negus Webster Chan of Huntington High School in West Virginia has a massive double-decker NOB, and Oregon and Oregon State went color-on-color on Oregon’s wacky court the other night. … It isn’t yet clear what Carmelo Anthony’s new uni number will be, but it almost certainly won’t be 15 or 22. ”¦ Lots of great photos from Dave Eskenazi’s archive in this story about how Seattle University beat the Harlem Globetrotters in 1952 (with thanks to John Doodigian). ”¦ Keeping my fingers crossed for the people of Christchurch, New Zealand, a really lovely city that was hit by a deadly earthquake last night. I visited there twice in the 1990s (this was when I was deep in the throes of my obsession with the NZ music scene) and still know a few folks there. Just hoping everyone’s okay.

 
  
 
Comments (142)

    See you can pre-order a Carmelo jersey already? Pretty impressive. The 00 is obviously a mockup.

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    Paul, did you realize this? Conundrum for Knicks equipment manager: Shelden Williams and Shawne Williams on the same roster

    I remember when LSU wore those God-awful purple pants (for only one game, thankfully) on the road against Kentucky in ’95. The Tigers wore them with white jerseys and gold helmets. I can’t begin to describe how ugly the uniform looked. Gerry DiNardo was the coach.

    DiNardo, if memory serves me correctly, also introduced a white helmet (with gold jerseys?) in the ’97 Independence Bowl. I remember that some alums were not happy with the way DiNardo screwed around with the traditional Tiger uniform…one of the many complaints about DiNardo.

    Making it even worse, it was DiNardo that made a HUGE deal about having the NCAA allow circumstances where LSU could resume wearing White jerseys at home in order to return to the LSU tradition in doing so that went back into the mid-1950s and Paul Deitzel and the 1958 Championship season and the “Louisiana Saturday Nite in Tiger Stadium” stuff ….. The big deal being that LSU eeded to get back to wearing it’s hallowed White jerseys with Gold pants and Helmet at home ….

    There was quite a bit of energy put into that effort which ended up with Road Teams having a veto as to whether or not home teams could wear White-at-Home. Vandy was the only team that refused to allow LSU to wear White at Home in that era – due to hard feelings about diNardo runing out on Vandy to cme to LSU. That precipitated DiNardo dressing them in Gold jerseys – he said aloud that he did not like too much Purple in the uniform.

    So after all of that ….He gets the team to wear White at Home, and promptly dresses them in this hideous, non-traditional, crappy Purple Pants/White ejersey outfit. Nauseous ….. So much for “Tradition” …..

    But then again, with all of his imagination, he dressed his Vandy teams in copy-cat Colorado unis – solely because he was formerly an assistant at CU.

    BTW, for those who think LSU never wore gold jerseys until Gerry DiNardo’s arrival, they are wrong. During the 1957 season, LSU had a gold jersey (with purple and white stripes, just like on their helmets and pants) as part of their regular kit. They wore them at least twice…against Florida and against Vanderbilt, both on the road.

    The pictures are small, but check these out (on the upper left)…

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    When DiNardo was at Vanderbilt, he made a huge deal out of the rivalry with Tennessee. (Sort of in the same way that a hammer and nail are a rivalry.) He refused to even say Tennessee. Once, at a press conference, one of the microphones had a piece of orange tape on it. He refused to speak until the orange tape was removed.

    I’m not sure if that Purple Pants Game at KY was even televised ….. I do remember the hideous highlights, and if I am not mistaken, they may have even lost that game …..

    I am the one who sent in that pic. I did attend the game, and it was televised by Tigervision. Back in those days I taped all of our games on VHS, but obviously not this one as it was on PPV.

    I also think there is a pair of these pants in the LSU Athletic Department hall of fame.

    I actually don’t think they would have looked as bad had they put stripes on them. But, the plain pants with our normal jersey was just hideous.

    If you can get a screen grab of the Youtube video here, you can get Matt Stairs in a road Chunichi Dragons uniform.

    Right at the beginning of the video.
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    Bob Feller was signing at a card shop here outside of Chicago about 3 years ago andI’m a big Feller fan so we went to see him. The Photo File picture was the one that he was signing. He said it was from his first time in Yankee Stadium. He was a super nice guy and really seemed to like sharing stories from his playing days. I have no problems giving the older players a few bucks for their autographs since they didnt make the big pay day players are making now.

    About 8 years ago there was an old timers game during spring training. I think it was held at City of Palms Park, and Feller was by far the oldest timer there. He sat in the aisle in the stands for 6 innings, signing autographs for everyone for free, and was very friendly for the entire time.

    I had a different encounter with Bob Feller. I attended the Equitable Old Timers game at Fenway Park in 1987. Mr. Feller was standing near the dugout and I approached him for his autograph (I was 14). He looked me up and down, got a sour look on his face, and told me he would only sign for people wearing Cleveland Indians gear. Then he walked away. Maybe if I had offered him some money?

    “But I guess nobody with the Orioles reads Yahoo Sports, because on Monday he had the same typo on a different BP jersey.”

    This pains me on so many levels…not my Orioles!

    Given Peter Angelos’s reputation for nitpicking the most minor of aesthetic details – I’ve been told firsthand that he regularly checks the color of the infield dirt and personally measures the grass to make sure it’s within 1/10 of an inch of where he wants it – you’d think that the one consolation Orioles fans could count on would be mistake-free jerseys.

    Maybe he just doesn’t know how to spell Duchscherer and keeps “correcting” the clubhouse staff?

    So I was checking out the Knicks website to see what number I think Carmelo will wear (since both 15 and 22 are retired) and I noticed that the Knicks apparently had a different idea of how to treat the outline that results from the mesh numbers of the newfangled adidas jerseys. In all the player profile photos, the numbers have a white and then blue outline, instead of the blue then white they currently use, as seen below.

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    Those numbers are supposed to go on the blue jersey, but someone has sewn them on the white jersey by mistake, is what happened there.

    NON-UNI RANT –

    Thank heavens the MELO trade is finally done
    – Enough Already ….

    That said, this is just one more reason to absolutely DESPISE the NBA. They will eventually have 6-7 teams with any chance to compete, and the balance of the league will be the equivalent to the “Washington Generals” that are paid to lose to the Globetrotters every night.

    For this we get to pay top dollar to watch half of the fans in your hometown gym act like Kobe/Lebron/Melo sycophants, cheering them as your team gets trounced, while Chris Broussard on the ESPN/WWL has verbal climaxes describing how wonderful the situation is. Add that to the “flexible” fouls called and traveling rules, and you get a pretty corrupted product ….

    All so the league can play 100 games treading water until the LA/NY Finals, with a little Celtics on the side.

    I’d rather watch the Landry/Easton HS JV game in an unheated gym ….

    That’s what they are aiming for – I hope it NEVER happens.
    Though I’d stomach that before I’d pull for anything involving Lebron in the Finals …..

    If you still consider the 1970s “the future”, although I’d have to question the sanity of any such person…

    Hard to believe the Knicks and Lakers have only met three times in the NBA Finals since the Lakers moved from Minneapolis – ’70, ’72, and ’73. Of course, they had to escape the tedium of the Celtics winning it all 11 out of 13 years in a row.

    “That said, this is just one more reason to absolutely DESPISE the NBA. They will eventually have 6-7 teams with any chance to compete, and the balance of the league will be the equivalent to the “Washington Generals” that are paid to lose to the Globetrotters every night.”

    So tell me, do you like baseball? ‘Cause things are almost the same there.

    Do you also despise the brash chest-pounding of the players?
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    ‘Cause, yeeeeaahh, that never happens in any other sport….

    Flexible fouls? Is that like Eric Gregg’s strike zone?

    Traveling? Well, you got me there. Dang Jordan…

    I’ll admit Melo should have just ripped the proverbial bandage off instead of slowly pulling it for the past several months, and I’ll admit the NBA is far from perfect, but why do they seem to get singled out on this board more than any other league? Every professional sports league has major flaws.

    It’s not quite as bad in baseball, actually. In the last 10 years the NBA has had 5 champions and 5 other teams in the finals. Baseball has had 9 different winners in 10 years (only the Red Sox won 2), and 6 other teams in the Series.

    Yeah, that’s why I added the “almost.” But there are several teams who, like the Pirates, are on the other side of the abyss. And you know the league and the media salivate over the Sox/Yanks or Yanks/Dodgers as much as the NBA and the media salivate over the Celts/Lakers or Knicks/Lakers. Probably more.

    You’re right on those numbers, Perry. National writers have used those numbers too, but that doesn’t equal parity. Problem is, those numbers are inflated by MLB doubling the number of playoff berths in the mid 90s.

    The vast majority of those smaller market teams who reached the Series fell back quickly into reality. The Padres, Rockies, and soon, Rays fall into this category. True parity occurs when teams like the NFLs Steelers or Packers can seriously compete for the title for a long period of time, not 2-3 years.

    The Twins have been a consistent winner and playoff participant for years, but have been a disaster in the postseason, failing to be a serious contender.

    Have there ever really been more than 6 to 8 teams seriously contending in the NBA in any given year?

    please gusto

    and in re:MLB…

    yes, they “doubled” the number of playoff spots to a whopping eight — which is four less than football (and watch that go to 16 in the next CBA), and half the number allotted to basketball and hockey

    football has (or had, we’ll see what happens) so damn much parity that half the teams who make the playoffs one year don’t even make it the next…thanks to free agency, among other things…

    now, there’s nothing wrong with “any team can win” … but there’s so much player turnover that half the guys on your team one year may be gone the next…don’t know about you, but i like the idea of building dynasties and keeping them together

    the twins win because they have a good model, a bit of luck, a weak division and a great manager and a few great players

    ask a cubs fan or a mets fan if they’d trade the twins success (even if they’re one and done to the yankees every year) for their own … it’s not money in baseball — otherwise you’d certainly have been celebrating a cubs world series victory at least ONCE in the past 102 years

    i feel bad for pirates fans…i don’t think there is any franchise in the history of sport with as many consecutive losing seasons, is there? that can’t ALL be the fault of yankee spending, can it? could it possibly be the fault of pirate ownership/management?

    nah…it’s easier to play big/small market and blame that

    “that can’t ALL be the fault of yankee spending, can it? could it possibly be the fault of pirate ownership/management?”

    No and yes.

    I feel bad for my fellow Pirates fans too…but I don’t feel sorry for ownership for pocketing the money instead of investing it in the club, then singing the small market blues.

    Dynasties are fine, as long as any team can be a dynasty. But that’s one thing that does seem to be tied to market size. Think the Royals could ever be a dynasty the way things are now?

    I’d rather have the “any team can win” scenario. Make a run, and if you win cherish it because it’s not easy to repeat. If you fall short, you may not have to wait too long to make another run (unless you’re the Pirates, Lions, Browns or Clippers).

    “Traveling? Well, you got me there. Dang Jordan…”

    Yes, Jim, before Michael Jordan came into the league, the traveling rule was strictly enforced.

    Please.

    Right. It was all on Jordan. The rule was strictly enforced before then. Nobody else got away with traveling. Not Dominique Wilkins. Not George Gervin…

    Please.

    I didn’t say that. I just said they’d occasionally let them get away with three (Doc almost always dunked in two steps, though, as I repeatedly showed my dad on replay after replay). All I said was that Jordan stretched it to four.

    Oh, I see. You’re not saying it all began with Jordan, you’re just saying it all began with Jordan? That makes perfect sense.

    Look, I’ll agree that he took three steps with some regularity. Not all the time, but often enough.

    But you make it sound as though he took three steps every time he had the ball. That’s simply not true. And maybe he took four steps now and again, but not as a rule.

    Not every time, I’ll agree, but wasn’t he the reason they allowed the hop step?

    At least I didn’t say he took five steps.
    Oh wait…
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    And I know, that was defintiely the exception.

    Almost five and a half, followed by one dribble then the shot.
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    At least he knew how to “crab dribble.”
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    And to bring it back to what matters on this site, he dressed a lot better than his son does now:
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    It is also pretty crappy in MLB baseball, as evidenced by the bottom 10-15 teams being real time MLB “farm teams” that develop stars awaiting their moving up the free agent chain to NYY/Boston/NYM/LA etc.

    What’s even worse are the true MLB stars developed by smaller market teams whose fans have to endure the constant never-ending ESPN/WWL speculation as to when the home-grown stars will leave – whether they really end up leaving or not.

    What makes the NBA a bit worse is that it takes only 1 or 2 star players shifting teams to create a contender at a previously hopeless team, and that the gravitational pull always seems to be away from smaller markets to the fixed, gotta-be-good teams franchises (that the NBA admits openly the blatant “need” for certain, chosen cities to become “strong franchises”) just like what we saw this week.

    This simply is not the case in MLB. It takes alot more than 1-2 players to make a MLB champion, moreso than the NBA with 5 guys on the court …. Also, we are not treated to half of every Baseball Tonite broadcast being an ongoing disertation on how the MLB “needs” certain franchises to become “strong franchises”, the way we hear almost EVERY DAY in NBA coverage ….

    Maybe I’m just sick and tired of hearing the NBA Chris Broussard-types climaxing over the move, the “forcing of the move”, the mechinations of the move, the details of the anticipated move, the “reasons” for the move (“his fiance wants to move to NYC to exploit the career possibilities given the proximity to the hip hop industry …..”)

    Enough already, you can have it.

    what is this “NBA” thing people are referring to?

    Meanwhile; we’re live @ Scottsdale for the Giants workout.
    BEAT LA.

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    Re: “Lamebrain” who designed the Hershey Bears ring.

    So I guess the people who designed the rings for the champions of Super Bowls 19, 24, 30, 39, 40 and 42 are “lamebrains” as well?

    Yeah I’m not seeing what’s so lamebrain about that design. It’s definitely not uncommon for championship rings to have multiple trophies represented on them if a team has been dominate for a few seasons. I guess the ’09 and ’10 aren’t really necessary, but I dunno if that’s enough to call it lamebrain. Championship rings are always a bit on the ugly side. It’s almost a rule.

    There is only one Calder Cup. Showing two of them is stupid.

    the Super Bowl analogy is a poor one. NFL teams keep their Lombardi trophies.

    I’m not sure I follow that. Many championship rings refernce the team’s history, even if individual players weren’t a part of it.

    There were plenty of Packers on the 1967 Super Bowl II-winning squad who wore link.

    The New York Islander’s 3rd cup ring has 3 cups with years on the shank. I think the 4th one did something similar on the top. (can’t find the photo evidence)

    And I remember seeing Yogi Berra’s WS ring from 1953 with the #5 on top of the ring. (to show the consecutive WS he had won)

    Yesterday I posted my idea for an OKC Thunder rebrand on my personal site, wondering what people think?
    (link)

    And if you like that check out my uni concept page where I have done my ideas for basketball, the BigTen and the entire NFL.
    (link)

    Thanks

    Yeah, I like that — not crazy about the gray and black concepts, of course. A cream-colored alt I’d like to see, though.

    Maybe some standard-looking pants paired with vertically-striped socks?

    And I dig the link, too.

    LOVE the OKC uniforms in the black/gray color scheme. I agree with what (I believe) Jim Vilk said yesterday – “City” should be below the number on the front of the jersey.

    I like those Texans uniforms. The stars on the sleeves really make them work. Unfortunately, Bob McNair is trying to do everything he can to differentiate his team from the Cowboys, so he probably wouldn’t let that go through.

    Yeah, the idea came from the star/eye of the logo but you bring up a valid point, the ‘Boys do sort of own the ‘star’ in the NFL

    Post-Gazette article on Uni Watch’s favorite stirrup’d player:

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    I loved the line, “But there has been a bit of a buzz around him in Bradenton, due in large part to his legs.” Unfortunately, Colin Dunlap was speaking of Corey Wimberly’s speed, not his leg attire.

    Agreed on the sweet yellow jerseys. Almost makes the Pirates look like a professional baseball team.

    At this point, I understand why the Pirates ownership makes the decision year-in, year-out to field a sub-AAA ballclub. The marginal return on investment sufficient to field a break-even team is probably negative, so they’re happy to make a profit in the cellar rather than lose money in contention. But it need not cost anything to look good. So let the Pirates be the laughingstock of pro sports, fine, but bring back the pillbox caps, or the Clemente-era unis, or the old gold, or all of the above.

    No pillbox caps. Please.

    And if you want to make money with a small market team, sell. Or make your money in something else and use the Bucs as a writeoff.

    Count me in as liking the yellow jerseys.

    Here’s hoping Wimberly makes the team and that Neil Walker decides to go high cuffed this season as he did briefly last season.

    c’mon photo file, show a little heart. negotiate a nominal fee with the Indians and donate the the fee to charity. i know you’re in business to make money, but you’re coming across as a greedy villain in the Bob Feller patch deal. this is a chance to make yourselves look good, and generate positive publicity for your company.

    What do photo file and MLB have in common? They’re there to make money. If memorials were for nothing but to memorialize, we’d never see anything but black armbands anymore. Sadly, they’re just as much about marketing as anything else out there.

    No villain here. Just businesspeople being businesspeople.

    “John Moist recently got back from a Cubaball tour and sent in a bunch of photos.”

    Thought that said Cubsball until I clicked on it…

    What’s up with the off-centered numbers on this team?
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    Hey Tiki, what does this “G” stand for?
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    This time, do some research…

    I think we need to add “Hey Tiki, what does this “_” stand for?” to every caption of a sports uniform with a stylized letter logo.

    Bethany, I have a question: Do you have a Facebook or Twitter account? Not trying to be creepy or anything, just curious. My Twitter is linked to my username.

    im sure the whole copyright issue can get messy but couldnt someone from mlb just not have traced the image so detailed? (every wrinkle in the pants) & they wouldve been ok? seems odd to be able to copyright someones throwing motion. have selig dress up in old gear & someone take a pic of him throwing like feller, then trace that. idk.

    “Okay, Bud, just hold it there… get the leg up just a little bit more…”

    “AAAAHHH! I just threw out my back!”

    “Here’s an interesting story that raises questions about the practice of shipping phantom-championship T-shirts to impoverished nations”

    Favorite item: “…A man walking along a dusty road clad in a faded blue T-shirt that read: ‘Cubs Suck.'” They actually had leftovers of those to send overseas? ;)

    Always wondered why they didn’t just shred the shirts. I’ve heard of places that do that and use the shreds for pillow stuffing. The league could donate a bunch of pillows overseas just as easily as a bunch of shirts.

    Favorite “line,” not favorite “item.” Wouldn’t wear one of those shirts…just laughed at the thought of seeing that over there.

    Always wondered why they didn’t just shred the shirts. I’ve heard of places that do that and use the shreds for pillow stuffing. The league could donate a bunch of pillows overseas just as easily as a bunch of shirts.

    Genius! Since the people of impoverished countries have exactly as much need for pillows as for clothing (that is, zero), this idea makes sense. As a bonus, the domestic manufacture of pillows plays no meaningful role in the development of indigenous industry and technological innovation, so unlike dumping clothing onto poor countries, dumping pillows wouldn’t actually do any harm.

    I didnt’ take a picture of it, but the baseball team from St. Joseph’s University (the D-1 school in Philadelphia) was also wearing striped stirups this past weekend (with their road uniforms) as they played in Norfolk against Old Dominion

    At about 10 minutes into this video, Canucks’ back-up goaltender Cory Schneider talks about his mask design and the messages on his back plate and then reveals that he writes messages on the back of his blocker.
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    Dan Cichalski — Nice job, but you’re definitely missing some of Matt Stairs’ unis in your roundup.

    For example, he wore four different ones while he was a Cub, not three.

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    If home/road pants with the same alt top count as two, then I would think he’d have A LOT more than are pictured.

    I wonder where Jeff Bagwell ranks among the Rickey Hendersons/Matt Stairs of the world for # of unis worn. I can only assume he holds the one-team record!

    I guess I misread that ticker item. He’s only tracking the jerseys, not the full uniforms. The ticker referenced Joe Smith’s uniforms.

    “Remember Friday’s post about Joe Smith and his many uniforms? Smith’s MLB counterpart appears to be Matt Stairs, who’s worn at least 46 different jerseys

    Yeah, but that’s a bit of an apples/oranges thing. In the NBA, a different jersey always means a different pair of shorts. In baseball, though, they mix and match — a solid alt jersey can be worn at home or on the road.

    That’s not the point I was making, Paul. I was simply explaining why I thought Dan was tracking full uniforms worn by Matt Stairs — because I misread the ticker item.

    Biggio started earlier and stayed longer. If Bags has more than anyone, Biggio must have at least as many.

    More outdoor game photos – this time the Calgary Hitmen vs the Regina Pats

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    The calgary jerseys mirrored the flames jerseys from sunday, but in black and grey. Very nice look IMO. The Pats are throwing back to a 1950s design when they were an affiliate of the Habs. The patches are for the pricess patricia’s canadian light infantry, the regiment that is the Pats namesake.

    Well, that explains the CH logo.

    Those Hitmen jerseys look pretty sharp; the black and gray looks a little better than the dark red and gold the Flames wore.

    I broadcast a few youth hockey games on Monday and saw these on the backs of the players:

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    First I couldn’t figure it out, then I remembered reading about them.

    Good to know.

    I’ve seen those before as well. I always kinda wondered what they were all about but I never bothered to ask anyone.

    Nothing to see. Keep moving forward. No subliminal messages there, folks. I have no idea what you’re talking about (though I sure would like to stop and pick up a big mac on my way home tonight).

    I swore there was a link on here (that didn’t work) to something like this last week – I guess it wasn’t a dream after all!

    That’s not Aaron Baddeley’s caddie. It’s Fred Couples caddie, Joe LaCava, who is a big NY sports fan.

    That photo of the helmets is just a reminder of how ridiculous the alignments are. Put Milwaukee back in the AL Central where they belong, and Minnesota in the AL West. No reason for one division to have 6 teams and another only 4

    other than the fact that with two 15-team leagues, you’d have to have at least one interplague EVERY SERIES…either that or a hell of lot of off days

    Also, shifting the Twins out of the Central and to the West would be a bad move.

    If you’re going to move anyone, it should be the Royals.

    oh, that is a good point I hadn’t thought of.

    I’d like no interleague play. And I’d like to have equal divisions. Maybe it is an either or type deal, but instead we get both. Yay

    I’d also love to see a return to a balanced schedule, but that probably isn’t going to happen either.

    And I’d like to see the end of the DH, a 154-game schedule, three 10-team leagues with two 5-team divisions each, and pickoff throws counted as balls the same way fouls count as strikes.

    As to the current alignment, the numbers may be a bit screwy, but the current groupings are by far the most sensible in the history of baseball’s divisional play. Simply having Atlanta not be in the NL West pretty much demolishes any argument against the current alignment; everything else (Minnesota playing in the Central, etc.) is gravy.

    I do like ending the DH, but I can’t get on board with the rest of it.

    I also wouldn’t mind seeing the leagues go to two bigger divisions and cut out the wild card (thus the divisional round) of the playoffs, too.

    And just because I’m really bored at work, here’s how I would split up the divisions.

    The current East and West teams would stay put, so then we just have to divvy up the Central teams. And no AL/NL switching this time around.

    PIT, CIN, MIL, CLE, and DET would go east. CHC, STL, HOU, MIN, CWS, and KC would go west. In a perfect world I probably would’ve sent the Cubs west and the Brewers east, but I didn’t want to break up the Cubs-Cards. The Sox going west is a little bit easier because of the geography of the AL.

    go 3 leagues (federal league) but keep tradition-
    AL-NYY,Bos,Bal,CHW,Min,Det,Cle,Oak,LAA,Tex
    NL-Atl,Phi,NYM,StL,CHC,Pit,Cin,LAD,SF,Hou
    FL-TB,Tor,KC,Sea,Was,Fla,Mil,Arz,Col,SD
    play everyone outside your league 3 times (60 games), the play the other 102 or 94 inside the league
    … i just realized how much i hate this idea.

    there is actually an easy solution, but it involves adding two more teams

    then you could have two, perfectly balanced, 16 team leagues with either 4 4-team divisions (like football) or 2 8-team divisions

    not gonna get into it now … but aside from the obvious problems of expansion and the dilution of talent (and many feel MLB might be better off contracting two teams, rather than expanding) … 32 is absolutely the perfect number

    In terms of talent dilution, I think the only way that wouldn’t happen is if Cuban players had unfettered access to the Big Leagues. Waiting for the day…

    “Talent dilution” is obvious hogwash, but I’m on board with not going to 32 until Cuba opens up, simply because I want one of the expansion teams to be in Havana, and I want that team to be named the Cuban Missiles. (Los Cohetes de Cubana or whatever.) There are a very few things on my personal list of “I hope I live long enough to see that,” and an MLB team in Havana is maybe #2 on the list.

    Begs the question: what’s the hidden meaning?
    (A) One more than LeBron
    (B) Split the difference between 22 and 15, his high school and Syracuse/Denver numbers
    (C) Other
    (D) No meaning whatsoever

    My eyes! Seattle U. and University of Washington are going red vs. purple tonight. Not right.

    And evidently UW’s Matthew Bryan-Amaning forgot his #11 jersey at home and he’s wearing a nameless #55 jersey instead.

    Found this article for other reasons, but just now noticed some White Sox player sporting some pretty nice stirrups; pic courtesy of Big League Stew:

    link

    Pretty dumb article.

    Paul and co, I don’t know if you guys saw this yet, so I figured I’d post it:
    link

    Article about ad’s on football jerseys; I figured it’s a good read.

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