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Uni Watch

There’s No Service Like Wire Service, Vol. 25

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Lots of great stuff in this batch of wire photos. All of these are from Mike Hersh and the pseudonymous BSmile. Off we go:

• Oh man, how awesome is the Tigers T-shirt that Billy Martin is wearing in this shot? Someone needs to put that design back into production, stat.

• Did you know the Cubs wore an Illinois sesquicentennial sleeve patch in 1968? I didn’t. But I do now.

• Speaking of MLB sleeve patches, here’s a good view of the one worn by the Phillies in 1976 (plus the National League’s centennial patch, but all the N.L. teams wore that one).

• Here’s the best photo you’ll probably ever see of Charles Finley’s mechanical ball-delivering rabbit. The folks at Warner Brothers must’ve been laughing too hard to bother suing him.

• Spekaing of Finley, here’s a great shot of him on his namesake mule. And look — the mule had a custom A’s cap!

• Finley wasn’t the only baseball personage to ride a mule on the field, by the way. Joe Berry of the Los Angeles Angels was riding one way back in 1938. According to the caption, Perry “was presented with the mule” prior to pitching a 6-0 shoutout against the Portland Beavers, although it isn’t clear why he animal was bestowed upon him.

• Speaking of the Portland Beavers, check out the awesome sleeve patch they wore in the 1920s.

• Little-known fact: The Beavers renamed themselves the Ducks in 1929, resulting in some really swell jerseys. They reverted back to the Beavers in 1930.

• In keeping with the animal theme, check out the sensational cap worn by the 1936 Columbus Red Birds. That needs to be brought back as a throwback, no?

• One last animal-themed jersey, this time worn by the early-1940s Richmond Colts.

• Here’s a great spring training shot of various Dodgers coaches wearing assorted satin uniforms (plus that one poor guy, second from right, who got stuck wearing standard flannels).

• I love this: In 1909, the Senators’ trainer got to wear “Doc” on his jacket sleeve. How great would it be if today’s trainers had that embroidered on their dugout jackets?

• And we conclude with two rather disturbing photos: First, could the Milwaukee Braves possibly have come up with a worse stadium sign in 1957?

• And to wrap things up, I don’t know what’s going on in this photo, but it can’t be good. That’s Bill Veeck with his shirt open. He’s wearing makeup, but obviously not as much makeup as the gent standing next to him, who’s in full blackface — his face, his hand, even his sannies.

Now, Veeck has some cred when it comes to integrating baseball. In 1947 he signed Larry Doby, the first black player in the American League. A year after that, he signed Satchel Paige to his first MLB contract. But still — a blackface performance? Very disappointing.

+ + + + +

Uni Watch News Ticker: Yesterday afternoon I drove out to the venerable Brenan and Carr on Avenue U, where I had lunch with uniform designer Todd Radom. We talked about a lot of stuff, but I was particularly struck by this photo, which he recently took at the East Texas Oil Museum. Might have to go down there just to see that sculpture in person. ”¦ St. John’s hoops will be going BFBS tomorrow. ”¦ New gridiron design for Appalachian State. ”¦ New logo for the Japanese Volleyball Association. “The red is for Japan, challenge and passion; the black is for tradition and dynamism; and the blue is for sanity and accuracy,” explains Jeremy Brahm. ”¦ Really interesting article about the new infield dirt at the Mets’ spring training facility. ”¦ Check out this awesome Deacon Jones comb (big thanks to Bruce Menard). ”¦ Wow, that’s quite an NOB. ”¦ Eric Trager is over in Egypt, where he saw a uniform making an interesting appearance in Tahrir Square’s tent city. ”¦ New gear for the Chinese Basketball Association all-star game (with thanks to Kenny Loo). ”¦ Oooh, check out Casey in the hoop-striped sleeves! (Great find by Mike Hersh.) ”¦ Love the ram horns on Milwaukee Marquette’s hockey helmets (big thanks to Jeff Ash). ”¦ I honestly couldn’t care less about Charlie Sheen, but the dude has some decent lower-leg stylings. Lots of other uni-notable aspects to that photo, natch. Anyone know the story behind it? (With thanks to Patrick Runge). ”¦ A new kind of apostrophe catastrophe was on display at yesterday’s Coastal Carolina game (screen shot courtesy of Chris Howell). ”¦ Ryan Mandel notes that Chris Campoli, newly acquired by the Blackhawks, was still wearing his Senators gloves last night. The ’Hawks have red trim on their Reebok gloves, not white. ”¦ Here’s another shot of a football coach — actually, a whole coaching staff — wearing football pants (and, in some cases, socks). Paul Molina found that shot in a 1955 UCLA yearbook. … Hey look, basketball is warfare now too. Who knew? Guess this means we’ll be seeing Pro Combat hoopswear soon (as noted by Shaun Tunick). ”¦ Meanwhile, can someone please explain why the mark of the beast is now sponsoring my city? (Nauseating screen shot courtesy of Bill Blevins.) ”¦ Two soccer notes from Kenny Loo: Mexico’s new home shirt has been leaked, and here’s the new ball for the Champions League final match. … Think I have a cushy job? Think again: I have to wake up at about 3:30am tomorrow, because I have a “cricket tutor” coming over. We’re going to watch a World Cup Cricket match (Australia vs. uh, someone or other, I forget) and he’s gonna explain all of the sport’s nuances to me, including all the uni-notable bits, so that I can have some semblance of a clue when writing my ESPN column for next week. Now where’s the case of Jolt cola I was saving for this type of situation..?

Attention Seattle readers: Got plans for St. Paddy’s Day? You do now: Scott Turner’s band, RebelMart, will be playing on March 17, 9pm, at the Mix. You know what to do.

 
  
 
Comments (211)

    Paul, on the off chance that you haven’t seen it yet, there is a very good graphic summary of Australia’s one day cricket uniforms here: link

    Enjoy the match; they are playing Sri Lanka, and it should be a good one.

    shame you missed England/Ireland in the week, that was a cracker of a match. Stil, Australia and Sri Lanka – formerly Ceylon! – should be a good match for a newbie

    Jeez, at least people traditionally use combat metaphors with football. With basketball it sounds orders of magnitude stupider.

    How about they should re-institute the military draft just for professional players so they know what war is really like. Maybe that will put a kibosh on the non-sense.

    I saw that Lebron quote on ESPN last night and it sincerely pissed me off. I’m tired of athletes, no matter what sport, comparing themselves to “warriors” or “soldiers”. I’d love to see some of them make it through boot camp, let alone the daily grind of military life. This shit needs to be stopped, and now.

    I am sure that most professional athletes could get through boot camp with ease. They may be spoiled and overpaid, but one thing they are not is out of shape.

    Those 1938 Los Angeles Angels uniforms would also make nice uniforms for a turn-back-the-clock game.

    Yeah, never mind the mule, check out the sweet stripe-age on those stirrups!!!!

    Any idea what their colors were???

    -Jet

    I used to stick my hip grip out of my back pocket in 83. I had to continuously comb my bi-level spike. Unfortunately, mine didn’t say “Deacon Jones” on it. Mine said “Goody”.

    I cant make out what is written under NYC in the swoosh screen grab…I don’t know…is a sporting event going on anytime soon there? Marathon/track & field event/basketball tournament anything??

    White Sox also wore the Illinois Sesqicentennial patch in 1968.

    The Bears did not. The Black Hawks did not. I don’t know about the Bulls.

    As for the Philadelphia 76 patch, the Eagles also wore that one, but the Flyers did not and again, I can’t speak for the NBA team in town.

    the Sixers did NOT wear the logo either

    link

    Many around here regard that team as one of the best, if not the best team in NBA history that did not win a title. Very Philadelphia.

    That logo was EVERYWHERE here, the ’76 in the liberty bell. It’s actually very nicely done especially ca 1974-1975.

    There was actually a Welcome to Philadelphia sign that had that logo on it on Roosevelt Boulevard that was only replaced about 2 years ago…

    It’s not like the photo was taken last week.
    Not that it makes it okay, but it was a different era.
    What are you going to do about it, sue Bill Veeck?

    maybe i’ll cut off his leg

    but seriously, i wasn’t making a “value” judgment (although im pretty sure that was never ok), i really do want to know what event or party or whatever was going on

    I think that photo was taken half a dozen years ago at Mike Huckabee’s 50th birthday party.

    Al Jolston made his career doing that, in fact as insensitive as we may find it today – “blackface” is a common thread through vaudevillian history. If we judged all of our fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers by today’s standards we’d find they were all creeps.

    Then start by slapping yourself. Members of your family in the 1940’s considered things to be acceptable then that most certainly are not now. If your parents, grandparents, or great-grandparents lived in the USA during the 1940’s, they would have been calling the Japanese “nips”, the Germans “filthy Krauts”, and the Italians “dirty wops”, and it was all socially acceptable then. They also probably considered homosexuality to be immoral, illegal, and fair game for ostracism at best and violence at worst. They almost certainly considered women to be wives and homemakers only, and would have laughed a good solid, sincere belly laugh at the very notion of equal pay for equal work. When was the last time you attended a public hanging? If you had lived in the USA or UK in the 1800’s, you would have attended them in your town square like going to a movie today. You can start slapping if you want, or you can just use common sense and figure out that different times have had different social norms.

    Why is it so difficult for people to understand that the sensibilities of one time can not be judged by the sensibilities of another?

    I’m guessing some sort of skit, inappropriate though it may be by today’s standards (don’t tell Ted Danson and Whoopi Goldberg that, though).

    Don’t think that’s actually Veeck.
    Bill Veeck wouldn’t need makeup to play Bill Veeck.
    Someone PLAYING Veeck would.

    Also look closely, “Veeck” looks too young to be Veeck.

    —Ricko

    Maybe it’s the makeup makes him look younger.

    Anyway, Veeck owned the Indians when he was in his mid-30s. I don’t think the guy in the pic looks younger than his mid-30s.

    That being said, I agree with you that the guy in the photo isn’t Bill Veeck because he link.

    Yeah, I don’t think it’s Veeck, either. In fact, I’d bet that the whole skit was an oafish take-off on Veeck’s record of color-blind signings, and that it’s his open-mindedness that’s being lampooned… The tall guy in blackface could be an attempt at Satchel Page, or maybe he’s just broadly symbolic. Barring further evidence, I don’t see how Veeck’s legacy is at all tarnished.

    I shake my head when we get all hot and bothered in 2011 about things like blackface. I can see if this happened TODAY it would be cause for great outrage but looking backwards while unfortunate, in poor taste, racist, etc really just comes off as an exercise in white guilt. (I’ll await the post of all the “Whites Only” signs at restaurants, diners and stores).

    Every year, I watch “Holiday Inn” with my family during the holidays. Yes, it was AWFUL that the blackface routine for Lincoln’s Birthday is still in there, but it doesn’t ruin Bing Crosby’s legacy to me.

    Exercise in white guilt? I dunno about that. I look at stuff like that and think something along the lines of “the good old days that some people think we should return to were actually pretty fucked up in many ways” but I don’t feel any guilt about it.

    Bing Crosby’s legacy? I’m pretty sure he goes down as being a big asshole.

    Interesting take on that.
    Yeah, maybe it’s not actually Veeck but somebody playing him. Although it’s probably safe to assume that Veeck was in the room watching this skit.

    clearly it satchel, that scrawny mofo always seemed to have huge feet because of his physique, it has to be a play on that.

    kek, dude, really? you didn’t shutter when you saw that? it is more then the lens we are looking through, it’s indisputably disgusting. but the bottom line is i don’t feel guilty as a white guy, i feel ashamed as a human.

    jimbad, that is so the truth man.

    I didn’t shutter when I saw it. I didn’t shudder, either. Different times and all. Obviously it’s a shameful moment in history, but you can’t fault people for living in the norms their society has presented them.

    I didn’t shudder, I feel no guilt, and I feel no shame. It’s a part of our culture and our history, and at the time, there was nothing wrong with it. In my opinion, it is difficult to judge past events with today’s values and standards.

    Elvis Presley’s hip gyrations were considered too risque to be televised in the 1950s, but just 30 years later, Michael Jackson was wearing skin-tight pants and grabbinbg his crotch. Different times, different standards. neither was good or bad, neither was right or wrong – they just were.

    “at the time, there was nothing wrong with it”

    ~~~

    uh…yeah, there was something wrong with it then too

    Bad, bad, bad choice of words on my part.

    It was an acceptable form of entertainment at the time. Again, very different standards (after all, segregated water fountains were acceptable back then) – but I was wrong to say there was nothing wrong with it. Just because it fits the standards and mores of the time (i.e., segregated water fountains) does not make it right.

    Thanks, Phil – I appreciate the head slap. :-)

    There was, is, and always will be something wrong with blackface. And while it’s right and fair to judge historical persons by standards common to their own day, it doesn’t excuse what’s being presented in that photo, especially since there were plenty of people who recognized how wrong and offensive such “humor” was even then.

    really david?! it’s okay to be a racist if you were a 1940’s racist? that’s as they say, rich. and you campare overt racism to other cultural mores of decency? seriously? hip shaking and blackface miiiiight be different on some levels. it’s some bad-ass shit, and all humans should be embarrassed that humans thought it was funny or okay, does not matter the colour of your skin/ethnicity. seriously people? nazis, we shouldn’t judge them and their thoughts, it was a different time. lynchings are cool, as long as they pre-date some random date so i can’t judge. do you hear your words? you be racist clown.

    Whoa, whoa, whoa – timeout … I am not condoining any of the actions or behaviors of the past, nor am I saying it was okay at any point in our nation’s – or the world’s – history. All I said was that for the standards of the time, blackface was acceptable. I cannot, and will not, defend it, but again – AT THE TIME – it was not considered badass, or racist, or anything other than entertainment.

    Comparing actors wearing blackface to Nazis or lynchings is completely off-base, because hatred between people will always exist. Nazis were around long before I was born and will be around long after I die; same with lynchings. Hopefully – Ted Danson and Whoopi Goldberg notwithstanding – we have seen the last of blackface performers.

    really david?! it’s okay to be a racist if you were a 1940′s racist? that’s as they say, rich. and you campare overt racism to other cultural mores of decency? seriously? hip shaking and blackface miiiiight be different on some levels. it’s some bad-ass shit, and all humans should be embarrassed that humans thought it was funny or okay, does not matter the colour of your skin/ethnicity. seriously people? nazis, we shouldn’t judge them and their thoughts, it was a different time. lynchings are cool, as long as they pre-date some random date so i can’t judge. do you hear your words? you be racist clown.

    nice to see you admit that it is horrible. their is a difference between understanding the past and brushing off the horrible by saying it is history. i understand that blackface existed, i understand why it was okay to people, that does not mean i can brush it off, it is still embarrassing as a human. the pixture that paul showed is aaaaaamazing in that it is textured, and shows exactly how far we have come . but for people to defend it? i just don’t understand that, it makes me nauseous.

    I don’t think anybody was defending it, just saying you can’t really judge that time period using today’s lens. Just like we should judge other cultures using an American lens. That isn’t condoning it in the least, just maintaining a little perspective.

    perspective? i said we can understand the time, but not excuse the attitude, and to defend that attitude is, um, being racist. we use words like “lens” when we talk about a jefferson or jackson, i dig that. sure, what they accomplished while understanding their, hm, less then admirable views of race, fine. but you do not dismiss things as oh it was just the day, you insult humans.

    Wenatchee Wild of the NAHL is wearing replica Seahawks jerseys, then selling them for charity. Checkout the Captain’s C.

    link

    I’m pretty sure EFF used to make that Redbirds cap, so perhaps it can come back?

    The Nats trainer jacket is awesome. It’s also a style of jacket that I’ve been trying to find for years. Popular in the late 1800s through the 1910s, which makes it just young enough that Civil War reenactor suppliers don’t make it, and just old enough that it never turns up in vintage shops. But it would be the piece de resistance for my vintage base ball umpiring outfit.

    And I kind of don’t see what the big deal about the Braves sign is. Sure, it’s an Indian. But it’s just about the least racist-exaggeration or exploitatively cartoony version of the Indian mascot I’ve ever seen. I’m usually pretty hardcore in opposing that kind of crap, but that image really does seem much more an equivalent to the Vikings’ viking mascot than an equivalent of Chief Wahoo. But I’m sure someone can set me straight.

    I believe the Columbus Clippers wore throwbacks all through 1993 or 1994 for their anniversary. One month, they were the Jets, another month, the Redbirds, etc.

    My guess, RSR, is that Paul is alluding to the possible interpretation that the Brave has just completed a bowel movement and produced that giant baseball as the turd. It doesn’t look that way to me, really, but I too was scratching my head as to what Paul was geting at, and that’s all I could come up with. Like you, I thought the image of the Brave himself was inoffensive (if you get past the offensiveness of Indian branding shticks in general). Good-looking guy, in fact.

    I agree the Brave on the sign is no more offensive to me than the woman on the Land O Lakes butter package many of us probably have in their refrigerator right now.

    So in the mythos of the 1957 Braves, the earth was created when a giant Indian pooped out the world-baseball? I can get behind that, actually. Makes as much sense as any creation myth, and more than some. I mean, honestly, turtles? All the way down? I’ll take the Indian ball-turd, please.

    Joking aside, that photo screams for colorization.

    Maybe he seems less offensive because it looks more like a buff, happy white guy in a wig than a true Indian.

    Does something have to be offensive to be bad? The brave in a beefcake pose just makes for a weird sign.

    That UPI caption on the Dick Allen picture says he pinch hit in both the 9th and 11th inning.

    link

    The baseball knowledge I acquired as a 5 year old thinks that is not possible… agreed?

    He can pinch hit once, but the second time up, he’s not a pinch hitter, he’s in the line up… no?

    Yeah, looks like perhaps it should have read…
    “…and 11th innings AFTER ENTERING THE GAME as a pinch hitter”
    doesn’t it.

    —Ricko

    I can’t say for sure but I don’t think that Bill Veeck is in that blackface photo. It looks to me like someone play-acting as Veeck in a skit. The Cleveland media used to have an annual banquet called “Ribs & Roasts” for the big sports figures in town, and they’d have humorous skits etc. The photo might be from that event. Just a thought.

    You may be correct on this. Here’s a picture of Veeck from 1948 (scroll down) link . They don’t appear to be the same person.

    Nice detective work guys. The skit was still very tasteless at best…but that does shed some more light on the event (possibly).

    We can get all politically correct if we want, but “bad taste” seems to be par for the course in such roasts, even judging from roasts they show on Comedy Central recently.

    Politically correct? What is that supposed to mean? How is it “politically correct” to point out how absolutely crazy it was that this sort of thing was once considered acceptable by the general public?

    The Ducks uniforms are great. However, the comment that they ‘reverted back’ to the Beavers uniforms is redundant. You can’t revert any other way than back. A pet peeve of mine….

    Man, I also love the ram horns on Milwaukee Marquette’s link. In fact, I think I might like them more than ram horns on football helmets. The different angle makes it look link.

    Agreed. Also, it appears as though their horns curl around ABOVE the earhole, rather than down under it, correct? This is superior, IMO.

    The horns do curl above the football helmet earhole.

    I always figured those were goat horns, what with the Hilltoppers nickname and all.

    The Charlie Sheen pic was probably taken during one of the Dodgers link” games, but that’s just a guess on my part.

    yeah, it’s from this:

    “Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Charlie Sheen, who’s 5-10, meet at the pitcher’s mound during the 1991 Hollywood All-Stars baseball game”

    link

    Chris Campoli’s Sens gloves look better than the Blackhawks’ choice of gloves. I say he should stick with them.

    No they don’t. All that red looks stupid the way it link.

    Maybe they’ll look good with the white or black jersey, though.

    teebowski must have had to much bacon rolled in cornmeal, or all-dressed chips today, it is clouding his judgement.

    too. corn! how do you riff on a winnipegian for not being evolved enough for thumbs, and then mess up a too? for the love of stars and or stripes, i embarrass the eagle.

    It’s no worse than link. Unless, of course, Plaxico just wants us to believe he’s wearing gloves up to his forearms. You can’t tell me link on either wrist over his link.

    The fact that Campoli’s glove colour run into his sleeves makes it look more uniform rather than having two black stumps at the end of his jersey.

    If anything, I fully believe that the gloves are an extension of the sleeve of the uniform, and should match the colour of the sleeve itself. It’s far more pleasing to the eye to see colour continue along a path than to have it stopped.

    I’m ok with the disagreement, but I like Campoli’s look. Maybe it’s because I do the same thing when I play. I wear a navy blue jersey and have nave blue gloves.

    In following Comrade Marshall’s lead, I go and eff up the HTML. Nice job, Teebz, ya jackwagon! LOL

    Once more:

    It’s no worse than link. Unless, of course, Plaxico just wants us to believe he’s wearing gloves up to his forearms. You can’t tell me link on either wrist over his link.

    The fact that Campoli’s glove colour run into his sleeves makes it look more uniform rather than having link at the end of his jersey.

    If anything, I fully believe that the gloves are an extension of the sleeve of the uniform, and should match the colour of the sleeve itself. It’s far more pleasing to the eye to see colour continue along a path than to have it stopped.

    I’m ok with the disagreement over this look, but I like Campoli’s look. Maybe it’s because I do the same thing when I play. I wear a navy blue jersey and have nave blue gloves.

    I have no idea why you think that posting pictures of two guys from a completely different sport who aren’t displaying a particularly good look supports your position, but OK.

    Anyway, I’m pretty sure that we can agree on one thing. Whatever gloves Campoli is wearing, he looks better out there than link.

    I was pointing out that there definitely is worse out there in terms of looks, although not very effectively. This week of exams has my brain fried, so I’m surprised I’m even writing English properly. LOL

    As you know, JTH, I love the Blackhawks’ red uniforms. The less black they have on them, the better. I’m all for the red, so less black = better.

    You image just returns code… :o(

    I need to check Sopel’s socks now that he’s in Montreal! He’s probably pissing all over that team’s spectacular look with his sock shenanigans.

    Coffee Crisp sounds good right about now, rpm. Or simply just a coffee would be nice! LOL

    i need coffee. the in-laws are coming to dinner, and everything is on the frtitz. i blame canada.

    In Brazil, they have this stripped down version of Criquet called ‘Taco Bola” (bat ball, translating it literaly) if I find any pics I’ll try to post it here.

    Okay, we haven’t done this in a lonnnnng time.

    It’s Friday.
    The ALL-BODY PARTS Team.
    (nicknames DO count)

    I’ll start.

    Barry Foote
    Bill Hands
    “Three Fingers” Brown
    Louis Lipps

    —Ricko

    No one wants to play?

    “Puddin’ Head” Jones
    “Iron Head” Heyward
    Dave Butz
    Joe Theismann (okay, that one’s phonetic)

    —Ricko

    Larry Hand (70’s Lions DT)
    Fu-Te Ni (another phonetic one)
    Rollie Fingers
    Conor Chinn
    Larry Foote
    “Jaws” Jaworski

    Ice Follies trick skater Harris Legg (seriously, who names their kid “Harry Legg”)

    —Ricko

    And of course, former NFL player Harry Colon (or as I said the first time I heard that name, “that’s GOTTA itch”

    Not quite in the same vein, but one of Muhammed Ali’s early nicknames

    The Louisville Lip

    I, as well, love Marquette University High School’s ram horns on their hockey helmet. What’s better? The detail in the ram horns. What’s better than that? Their awesome sleeve patch!

    link

    What’s even better than that? Their school nickname is the Hilltoppers!

    BTW, for all your Wisconsin State Hockey tournament needs, head on over to link. They have live streaming of the games, in depth coverage, and great pictures.

    Yup; it inherited the name Hilltoppers from the parent college. (Of course, Marquette U. has gone through a couple more nicknames since then.) And congratulation to the Green Bay Notre Dame de la Baie Tritons, who beat MUHS in that semifinal game. (Tritons was chosen as the nickname because the school came out of a merger of three schools:
    Green Bay Premontre Cadets, an all-boys school
    De Pere Pennings Squires, another all-boys school
    Green Bay St. Joseph Academy Sajoacs, an all-girls school (and yes, Sajoacs is from SAint JOseph ACademy.)

    I’m impressed with your Wisconsin High School knowledge Ray! I went to St. Norbert College and was roommates with a guy who went to MUHS, and a guy who went to Notre Dame, so that is where my knowledge comes from. MUHS is also located at the top of a hill near Merrill Park in Milwaukee.

    Former Green Bay sports editor, that’s why (and former Hortonville Polar Bear)

    that Mets link was interesting – anyone else pick up that the Mets split the $15k fee for the soil w St. Lucie? 15K!?!?!??!?! and they aren’t in trouble? ollie perez just made $15k while i typed this!!!

    So am I the only one who noticed the Coastal Carolina apostrophe is grammatically incorrect? “Every student’s passion” is needed, not every group of students’ passion. I guess it doesn’t count as “higher learning” when its that close to Myrtle Beach….

    I’m pretty sure that’s what Paul meant by a “new kind” of apostrophe catastrophe.

    Just making sure…they’re so often upside down and backwards that I quit paying attention to what it looks like.

    Continuing a conversation from yesterday regarding Arco Park in Sacramento…here’s another shot of the foundation for the never built ballpark ( link ).
    And I sure remember it being nuilt for the A’s, not the Raiders. Does that look like the foundation of a football stadium?

    For some reason the Charles Finley with mule photo reminds me of the famous Jack Ruby shooting Lee Harvey Oswald photo. Must be all the folks in suits and cowboy hats.

    Well, sure, if someone’s only frame of reference for that time period is the Ruby-Oswald wirephoto, I suppose so.

    —Ricko

    Always love the Wire Service photos. I wish MLB umpires were required to wear coats and ties again.

    The animal themed logos in the wire service photos are just so cool. Simple, clean depictions of the creatures. Celebrating the very notion of the magnificent animals, not their imagined anger or psychosis.

    This one takes the cake…

    link

    Brilliant.

    jimbadf~
    i accidentally wormholed into yesterdays comments, and i saw your thermos remark. you, are, link, er, togdor to me.

    appreciate? trogdor, you’re an anti balt-ite. but that’s okay, it isn’t 2056 yet.

    In the Tolan Allen picture it says that Allen had “pitch”hits in the 9th and the 11th? Is that possible or am I reading this wrong?

    I’m not. I’ve been sick of Sheen for 20 years now. The whole world has finally caught up. “Two and a Half Men” has to be one of the most overrated shows ever, and all reruns in syndication will age badly. Sheen is just a drug-addict stiff-actor nut.

    Always liked Sheen as an actor (“Platoon,” “Wall Street”), but with “Two and a Half Men,” he stopped acting and just started being himself, and that character is not likeable, in real life or TV. The show is also a sorry indictment of men in today’s society, or as one commentator put it, it shows the infantilization of our current culture.

    And my point was that at least he’s been working lately, which means jobs for other people on a show to which he is more than a little essential.

    Lohan, other than being fodder for paparazzi and shows like TMZ, is simply taking up space that easily would be filled by some other overprivileged, over-indulged, under-brained celebrity such as Paris Hilton, Kendra Wilkinson, et al.

    —Ricko

    A self-absorbed entertainer with little or no sense of the real world? And chemical issues, too? Apparently with far more money than brains?

    Is this something new? Does this surprise us?

    And least the guy’s been productive and made SOME kind of contribution.

    Let’s see, Lindsay Lohan’s last relevant work was…
    was…

    Okay, someone help me out here.

    —Ricko

    In “Prairie Home Companion,”( w Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline, last film by Robert Altman), Lohan was excellent in an under-appreciated movie.

    Besides, I have a thing for Irish Catholic girls with drinking problems. And a few other problems, too, I suppose…

    I watch very little teevee (sports notwithstanding) and am about 99.99% indifferent to celebrities, so the Sheen thing is a big “Who gives a fuck?” to me.

    Last week right after I’d watched a Sheen rant, I went to my computer and saw an MSN headline quoting Momar Gadhafi: “All my people love me.”

    First thought? Dude, they’re on the same shit.

    —Ricko

    link (once again, thanks guys) and now I have my road Thunder jerseys tweaked to have the numbers between ‘Oklahoma’ and ‘City’.

    Ice Follies trick skater Harris Legg (seriously, who names their kid “Harry Legg”)

    –Ricko

    I suppose the same kind of parents who name their kid Harry Baals.

    link

    I’ve done a quick scan of the comments but don’t see this anywhere, so apologies if I missed it, but what exactly is that on Billy Martin’s shirt in that picture? I can’t make it out for the life of me. Great looking tee, but what’s the logo say?

    Oh. Well, they shouldn’t really bring that design back unless they win something again.

    you complain about ads every but then you start placing ads on the bottom of every blog. seems a little hypocritical to me, just sayin.

    “Anyway, the “It’s just business” argument misses the larger point: Yes, sports teams are business entities, but I would argue, strongly, that they’re also civic entities – that’s why we care about them so much!”

    I could not possibly agree more with this. I never get tired of re-reading that piece.

    In fear of being banned from this site (can that still happen when I’m a card-carrying member?), I’ll ask:

    How long until good folks at Budweiser or Subway start making athletic uniforms?

    You’re so eager to play “Gotcha!” that you’re not bothering to think analytically.

    I’m never once said I’m opposed to advertising; I’ve always said I’m opposed to advertising where it doesn’t belong, like on a uniform, or in a public park, or in other public spaces.

    Media enterprises — especially ones that provide their content for free, like Uni Watch — depend on advertising to stay afloat.

    As you may have noticed, many of the smaller companies that used to advertise here on the site (Homage Clothing, Sports Propaganda, Mothering Hut, Ticket Journal, etc.) have recently stopped advertising with us. Tough economy and all that. So we’ve tried to pick up the slack by partnering with a company that cycles ads from big companies onto the site.

    Have we added ads in a few places where they didn’t appear before? Yes. But one thing we haven’t done — and that I will NEVER do, even though lots of other sites do it — is put advertising in the middle of editorial content. You’ll never see an ad interrupting the text on Uni Watch — never. You may see ads in between entries, or between the end of an entry and the start of the comments, but never in the middle of editorial content. Promise.

    I didn’t see anyone mention this yet but Pro Combat basketball gear has been around for a few years already link

    “…plus the National League’s centennial patch, but all the N.L. teams wore that one”

    I’m pretty sure that the Expos didn’t wear the NL patch in 1976. Instead they wore a patch for the 1976 Montreal Olympics.

    On link card you can see the Olympics patch on the right shoulder while the left shoulder seems blank.

    The Lakers Nation logo is… epic.

    link

    If the Lakers ever had to change their logo, this would be a perfect replacement (with a few tweaks, of course).

    Here’s the link to the LN Facebook page:

    link

    It’s easy to fall into the trap that anything old and unique is sensational. For example, the Columbus Red Birds link has many flaws, in my opinion. The biggest is that the bird is flying away from you. Just an odd perspective for a logo. Reminds me of link.

    For all two of you still reading the comments, back to this abandoned Arco Park project…

    I came across a couple pretty interesting things looking for more information on this today.

    1) link (I don’t know how believable this is since no sources are cited.)

    2) link

    3) link!

    Crap. That first link takes you to a site that is currently down for maintenance. Here’s what that post said (there was a link, as well):

    In 1988 the foundation was being poured for the 40,000-seat Arco Park baseball
    stadium next to Arco Arena in North Natomas. The Sacramento
    Sports Association had a sponsorship agreement with the Atlantic Richfield
    Co. to support this new stadium worth $25 million to $35 million and would
    have enable the association to complete construction of its sports complex
    if a major-league franchise was found to fill it.

    In 1989 the Sacramento City Council voted 9-0 to provide
    $50 million in public money to bring the Los Angeles Raiders to Sacramento.
    In the end, Raiders’ owner Al Davis decided to stay put, and construction on
    the stadium halted as Lukenbill and Benvenuti’s Sacramento Sports
    Association buckled under millions of dollars in debt. Seattle First National
    Bank repossessed the partially completed facility.

    In 1992 refund checks went out for the “Piece of the Park’ stadium fund.
    More than $2 million in refunds were mailed to approximately 1,200 sports
    fans who hoped to reserve space at the unfinished Arco Park stadium.
    Sacramento businessman Fred Anderson said it wasn’t appropriate to keep
    the public’s money while he completed the purchase.

    In the end, the SSA was not able to lure either a MLB or NFL team to
    Sacramento. SSA partners Joe Benvenuti, Gregg Lukenbill and Fred Anderson
    who had controlling interest in construction stopped construction with
    approximately 20 percent completed and several million dollars worth of
    concrete for a stadium next to Arco Arena.

    I could not find any renderings of the proposed Arco Park, if anyone has one,
    could you please post it… thanks.

    Good research there James! Clown alley, the tunnel to no where. Also, if that place is 20 percent completed, the finished product wasn’t going to be much to speak of. I’d too like to see a rendering. Is anyone close to there? Current pix? Yeah, like anyone is reading right now…..zzzzzzz.

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