There’s No Service Like Wire Service, Vol. 29

Nearly 30 entries in, and the wire service gold mine shows no signs of being spent. Most of these come from the Sporting News archives and were submitted by Mike Hersh. Off we go:

• Who’s that in the Jacksonville Suns uni? It’s a young Tom Seaver (wearing a belt that looks like it’s left over from his junior high prom). Love the sleeve patch of the sun wearing sunglasses.

• Speaking of belts, look at the one this Cuban player is wearing. I like the oversized script and, of course, the thigh logo.

• And speaking of Cuban teams, here’s one of the greatest team uniforms ever to be worn on the island: the Santurce Cangrejeros (i.e., Crabbers).

• Man, that 1939 San Francisco Seals sleeve patch was really out of control. (Note, incidentally, that Robert Marshall re-created this uniform for one of his recent bobbleheads.)

• What’s going on here? According to the caption, it’s from a “Brooklyn vs. the World all-star game.”

• Love love love how the Phillies’ old chain-stitched uni numbers would shimmer with texture. Look at those loops!

• Anyone know why the Eau Claire Bears would have a rose as their chest logo?

• Why are all these Pueblo Dodgers holding rabbits? Turns out the team was running a rather unusual promotion. They don’t dream up ideas like that anymore, kids.

• Here’s National League umpire George Barr during a 1952 trip to Japan. According to Jeremy Brahm, his shirt says, “George Barr’s Umpire School, Tokyo.” Guess ol’ George was making the most of his trip overseas.

• Around 1950ish, ABC television and radio personalities in Los Angeles would get together for some friendly softball games (additional images here and here). Never seen that ABC logo before, and it doesn’t show up in Wikipedia’s entry on ABC’s logo history. (The entry does mention a logo “consisting of a map of the United States with the words ‘American Broadcasting Company’ superimposed but makes no mention of a map-based logo with just the letters “ABC.”)

• Looks like the original Devils logo was slightly different than the one they eventually settled on. And check out the placeholder prototypes they created for the occasion. C’mon, guys, was that really the best you could do?

• Here’s a rarity (submitted by Jerry Wolper): Dr. J. as an Atlanta Hawk. If you’re not familiar with Erving’s Hawks cameo, look here.

• Lots of noteworthy aspects to this Cubs shot. In fact, there’s so much going on in this seemingly unassuming photo that it deserves its own sub-list:

• The photo is dated 3/21/43 (exactly 21 years before a certain uniform columnist’s birth). But ’43 was the year the Cubs moved away from the vests, so they were wearing the previous year’s uniforms in spring training.

• In ’42, the vests had included the Hale America patch, but they apparently went to the trouble of removing the patches the following spring.

• The Cubs’ undersleeves had red stripes — and sometimes a white shoulder yoke — from 1940 through 1945. But look at the guy on the right — no stripes, and a white-outlined shoulder yoke. Never seen that before. (Of course, this could just be a case of Okkonen not being entirely accurate.)

• Is the lettering on that trunk totally boss or what?

• Two things about this 1945 shot of a Lockbourne Air Force Base Fliers player: (1) That is one killer uni, no? (2) Wouldn’t a throwback of this design be a much better military tribute than a stupid-ass camouflage jersey?

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Uni Watch News Ticker: Marcell Dareus posed with the old Bills jersey last night, even though he’ll never wear that design. Very odd that the Bills and the league chose to go this route, esp. since the new jersey was Madden-leaked earlier this week. ”¦ Meanwhile, Cam Newton was wearing an Under Armour lapel pin before the draft program started but it was gone when he came onstage after his selection. I wasn’t watching, but Raleigh McCool was: “As he made his way to the stage, an NFL guy handed him his Panthers hat, and then another guy stopped him and made him take off the pin.” ”¦ Houston football will wear throwbacks on Oct. 22 (with thanks to Corey Buck). ”¦ Ryan Connelly has posted a more detailed step-by-step documentation of his latest DIY project. ”¦ “My brothers and I recently played in an alumni football game,” writes Bill Vigna. “There were three Vigna boys — Bill (myself), Michael, and Mark — so we used initials on our NOBs. Since there were two names starting with M, my brother Michael (being the older of the two) had ‘M. Vigna,’ while Mark had ‘Ma. Vigna.'” ”¦ Nike is planning to give a makeover to Oregon State. Key quote from Tinker Hatfield: “From my conversations I see Oregon State as more classic and value-oriented [than Oregon].” Interesting choice of words — he’s basically admitting that the Oregon approach has been “value”-free, or maybe “values”-free. Either way, he said it, I didn’t (with thanks to Joe Alvernaz). ”¦ Sensational interactive Stanley Cup web site here (major thanks to Matt Brevet). ”¦ Mercer University is have a vote on its football helmet design (with thanks to Benjamin Braxton). ”¦ Get this: The Richmond Flying Squirrels — that’s the Giants’ double-A affiliate — are wearing Giants World Series patches! Seems like a bit of a reach, no? ” Not even the San Jose Giants, whose proximity, name-sharing, and other political importance to the Giants make them stand out, are wearing that patch,” says Kevin Cunningham. Anyone know of any other farm team that’s worn its parent club’s championship patch? ”¦ Also from Kevin: “On a separate note, the Flying Squirrels will play a ‘What If?’ night on July 22, when the team will have special uniforms branding themselves as the Richmond Rhinos, one of the other team names that were up for consideration when the team moved to Richmond.” ”¦ Tris Wykes just came across an old photo from his youth hockey days — that’s him at far right. “Look at that facemask,” he says. “Good heavens, it appears my parents thought I was going to be a crash-test dummy and not a youth hockey player.”