Tim E.’s MLB, Template Style, Part the Second

By Phil Hecken

Last weekend, I brought you Tim E. O’Brien and his fantastic MLB 3D template and a dozen or so MLB concepts. You can see those and more at timeobrien.com.

Today, we’re back with the second batch.

As with last weekend, I like most of these, and I’ll share my favorites (and maybe a *hate*) after you’ve seen what follows. Tim continues down a pretty traditional path for these concepts, which is nice, since baseball is probably the most traditional of the major sports. Of course, he does throw in a few wild and crazy ideas too, which is fine when we’re discussing theory. Whether or not they’d actually look good on the field is another matter.

Tim nicely sticks to my one “request” when making these — stirrups or socks, please. I know there are a few of you out there who say, “yeah, but they’ll never wear stirrups (or socks) so why even bother?” Well, because many times, ok ALL times, the uniform looks better with socks or stirrups, so at the very least we can envision what a uniform might look like if it were actually worn properly. Maybe that’s wishful thinking, but hey — that’s the primary consideration for these tweaks. After that, Tim was free to create at will.

So with that, here’s Timmah:

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MLB ‘3D’ II: This Time It’s For Keeps
By Tim E. O’Brien

So, where did I leave off? Oh right, I was just tweaking some teams to test out my new MLB uni template (an updated version of which can be downloaded here).

Well, I sort of randomly selected 12 teams last week, so today, I decided to try my hand at the rest of the league. Just like last week, none of these are complete rebrands (although some of them probably should be) but I just didn’t have the time to scorch the earth.

So what did I learn during this time ’round?

Unlike The Jeff, I do believe in Home and Road uni distinctions, especially when it comes to wordmarks. Home unis should have the team name and Roadies should have the city/state/area name (although I don’t always follow my own rules).

Also, I – apparently – love softball tops. Now, not everyone agrees with me, but these are my concepts.

And while I like softball tops, I’m not a big fan of having them – or really any uni – going with only a left chest logo and maybe a uni number (but once again, I go against this on occasion).

And who says you can’t have the occasional monochrome?

OK, enough telling you what you’re about to see and more showing you what you’re about to see.

. . . . .

Athletics: Home, Home Alt, Road, Road Alt – The yellow, the green, the white cleats, not too much of a departure from the norm here but a few changes for the A’s.

Braves: Home, Home Alt, Road, Road Alt – Keep the regular home and road mostly the same (exception: sleeve patches) but bring back the 70s throwbacks as permanent alternates, ’cause those are clean.

Cardinals: Home, Alternate, Road – Bring back the victory blues, throw on some sleeve patches, and you’ve got yourself a stew goin’.

Diamondbacks: Home, Home Alt, Road, Road Alt – Here’s a big departure. So when the Diamondbacks first came out, they had a quintessentially 90s take on desert colors. Since those were hideous and going to a red and black uniform is as bland as oat bran, I came up with a new color scheme that’s a little more desert and a little more serpent. Also, the home unis don’t say Dbacks because I’ve always felt that was a bit too close to D-bags.

Dodgers: Home, Road, Road Alt – The powder blue throwbacks have been a rousing success this season, so why not add a powder blue alternate?

Giants: Home, Home Alt, Road, Road Alt – First, I changed the Giants’ logo from radially back to vertically arched and I added an orange home and a black road alternate.

Mariners: Home, Home Alt, Road, Road Alt – I think the Mariners need more work than I had time to give them. So, based on a good idea by Phil, I gave the Poseidons some sea-foam teal monochrome alternates. The trident-ed one would be proud.

Marlins: Home, Road, Road Alt – The Marlins will be in Miami soon and – just like The Jeff – I have come up with an appropriate hat logo and new wordmark. While I added a bit of orange, I kept black hats and stirrups to connect the new with the old.

Mets: Home, Home Alt, Road, Road Alt – No black. ‘Nuff said, right? Sorta. I kept the pinstripes ‘throwback’ as the main home and the main road is an almost charcoal brown color per a request by Phil. And I gave the Metropolitans a road alternate that’s a more traditional color with a two tone hat.

Orioles: Home, Home Alt, Road, Road Alt – Combo of old and new. I brought back the 70s cap (and logo) and striping while using modern logos on the unis. the road alternate is a tip o’ the cap to some Oriole history. I considered an all orange alternate, but that’s a bit much – is it not?

Phillies: Home, Home Alt, Road, Road Alt – If the Phils are gunna keep that fauxback on as a home alternate, why not create a road counterpart? So I did.

Pirates: Home, Road, Road Alt, Sunday Home, Sunday Road, Throwback One, Throwback Two – Pittsburgh has great uni history. The home, road and road alt are all basically the modern set. The ‘Sundays’ are an homage to my favorite ball player of all time, Roberto Clemente. The throwbacks? How could you not relive that beauty?

(And yes, Clemente did die 15 years before I was born, but I still love the guy.)

Rangers: Home, Home Alt, Road, Road Alt – I hate drop-shadow. And while this, technically, isn’t drop-shadow, I got rid of it because it’s too close for comfort. Looking back to the mid 80s, I saw some style that would go nicely with the simplified modern type.

Red Sox: Home, Road – The home uni is almost unchanged but if you’re going to have a road uniform that features plain blue letters, why half ass it? I don’t, so I went back to the old school block lettering. Killer stirrups.

Rockies: Home, Home Alt, Road – The Rockies’ unis are fine but I have always thought that their visually busy font was a little too hard to see so I simplified it. I resisted the urge to continue the road pinstripe, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t try it out.

Royals: Home, Home Alt, Road, Road Alt – The Royals should wear Royal, not Powder.

Tigers: Home, Road – Added an orange outline on the chest logo at home and put the tiger logo on the road sleeve. Other than that, you cant perfect perfection.

Yankees: Home, Road, Road Alt – I know, blasphemy, right? You’re not supposed to change the Yanks but the home uni hasn’t changed since the 30s and the road hasn’t changed since the 70s so instead of tweaking those, I added a road softball top. Come on, it’s not the worst thing in the world, is it?

. . . . .

Well, those are my MLB tweaks using the new MLB ‘3D’ template. Feel free to download and create your own ideas, I’d love to see what people come up with.

But – for now – those are my ideas.

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Great job, again, Tim. Really great concepts. OK, so there are too many alts (but for concepting sake, that’s fine — I just don’t think there should be any that many in the game. As far as my own personal faves, it’s funny, but I loved the powder Cards (a uniform I didn’t particularly like when they wore it originally — it’s amazing how good powder can look when it’s rendered with buttons and belts, instead of pullovers and sansabelts); I liked the Hank Aaron-era Bravos, the O’s fauxback, the Bucs alt (but I’d prefer monochrome gold to mix & match), the A’s gold top (although that doesn’t look too much different from their current new alt), the new Marlins roadie, and of course, the Mets pins with dropshadow removed. Couple clubs were great but I’d tweak the color a notch (like the Mets — should be a much deeper royal). Overall, really really solid work.

What didn’t I like? Sorry buddy, but I can’t say I’m a fan of the D-Backs home alt — there should be another MLB team to use green, but Arizona just doesn’t feel like that team; the Orioles home alt — but that’s not because of the jersey — you need to go with the classic stirrups with that getup; and, I hate to say this — the Mets charcoal roads — but not because of the execution — I think the blue needs to be a deeper royal and unfortunately, the font doesn’t show up well enough against that background (but I don’t want an outline or dropshadow, so I don’t know how to fix it). Nevertheless, thanks for turning my suggestion into a concept … I think we can make that work.

OK, folks — another huge hand for Tim E. Let him know what you think!

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Colorize This!

Occasionally, I will be featuring wonderful, high-quality black and white photographs that are just begging to be colorized.

A rare Saturday appearance for this favorite, and it’s a bit small today. Why today, you may ask? Because, barring some unforeseen uni development that kills tomorrow’s lede, I’ll be featuring colorizer-extraordinaire Gary Chanko, who’ll give us an amazing tutorial on this wonderful art. So today, I’ll run this weekend’s “Colorize This!”

We won’t be hearing from Gary today, but he’ll be front and center tomorrow. The other half of the “G&G Boys” will be well represented, as usual. Up first however, is Bruce Utzig, who has a colorization request:

Hello Phil,

I would like to offer this photo of my dad to be colorized by the excellent people of the site.

About 3 months ago, my aunt came across this picture of my dad while cleaning out some boxes from my grandparents estate. According to the family time line this would have been taken in Bend, Oregon (not that it matters since the picture is inside). My dad would have been age 12 for this photo. I spoke with him about this uniform and he believes it was grey flannel with royal blue lettering. Everything else is subject to interpretation as he doesn’t have that many details.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Bruce Utzig

Great photo, Bruce. Hopefully one of our colorizers will take you up on that request.

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Next up is a second-time participant, Andy, from the Dick Allen HOF, with a new colorization:

Phil

Thanks for including me in your most recent “Colorize This!” post.

I completed another one this week of my favorite subject.

Regards,
Andy
Dick Allen Hall of Fame

Thanks Andy.

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And finally, before we get to the heavy hitter, we have Chris Bisbee, a frequent contributor, who offers not a colorization, per se, but a twist on it:

Phil,

Here’s a link to a great story in the London Daily Mail. Very cool color photos from the Depression.

regards,
Chris Bisbee

Nice! Great pics Chris

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And the moment you’ve all been waiting for…George Chilvers checks in with a few beauties:

First one was sent to me early in the week:

An early one for next week, Phil :)

Original is here

Everton 1960.

George

Beaut, as always. Then came this, indicating a bit of a theme:

Another Everton group

Original is here

Everton 1905-06

George

Tremendous. And, finally, the kicker, with a bit of history attached:

Hi Phil

Back to “the Sport of Kings” – literally – as this is Herbert Jones, wearing the British royal racing colours, the colours now worn by jockeys on HM The Queen’s horses.

Herbert was royal jockey in the early part of the 20th century, and won the Epsom Derby for King Edward VII in 1909 in Minoru.

In the 1913 Derby he was the rider of the horse of King George V, Anmer, when a suffragette Emily Davison leapt out from the crowd and under the horse. She was killed, and tragically Jones said ever afterwards he was haunted by her face. Although it was a long time later he himself committed suicide in 1951.

Not very cheery I know, but a bit of British social history after the large number of comments last week about naming of baseball/football teams.

Original to be found here.

Herbert Jones.

Best wishes

George

Thanks, George. Fantastic job as always.

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That’s it for today, but be sure to check back tomorrow when I’ll feature Gary giving us all a tutorial of how to colorize — it’s great both for beginners and for those who’ve been doing it for a while — you’ll definitely learn some new tricks!

As for suggestions for next time? You’re on your own, but there’s a tremendous photo of the 1918 Cubs (or a single Cub, I should say) that will follow in another section — that would make for a great colorization. And of course, there is the request from Bruce Utzig (above). Happy colorizing.

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Benchies

by Rick Pearson

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Good to have a profession that makes people want to chat…

And, as always, the full size.

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Uni Tweaks

We have another new set of tweaks today.

If you have a tweak, change or concept for any sport, send them my way.

Remember, if possible, try to keep your descriptions to ~50 words (give or take) per tweak. You guys have been great a keeping to that, and it’s much appreciated!

And so, lets begin:

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We start with Johnny Bruno, who touches the untouchable…and also has some thoughts on the Nets:

Hey Phil,

I’ve sent multiple tweaks and I have a few more for you.

First off the untouchable uniform, the New York Yankees. Not so much of a tweak but a throwback concept. The home jersey is a throwback to the 1912 uni and the road is a tribute to the 1927 murderers row team. I also made a few new logos with multiple color variations.

I’ve also made a concept for when the Nets move to Brooklyn. The inspiration came from multiple places, an iconic team that used to play in Brooklyn, and the New Jersey Americans from the ABA. The new uniform is inspired by both the Dodgers uniform and the old Americans uniform. The primary logo is an altered version of this Brooklyn Dodgers alternate logo. The new alternate is a new version of the old Americans logo. I also designed a new floor as well. As are all my other tweaks, these are all made with MS Paint.

Thanks Again,

Johnny Bruno

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Next up is Paul Lee, who has a “rebuttal” that is about 17 words longer than his usual amount…

Heat

Note: This is not a rebuttal to Mr. Tim E. O’Brien’s tweaks””who prefer his NOBs sans outline :)

Paul Lee

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And last up today is Kenny Sorrentino, with a Bills redux:

Hey Phil,

As we all know, the Buffalo Bills are changing their unis for the 2011-2012 season. Greatest idea since bringing up Jim Kelly. If they can get either Cam Newton or Patrick Peterson to wear these unis, they might get far. The font looks a little like the Patriots’, but the 4 evens it out. (On the Toronto Series helmet, it is a maple leaf over a “T” if you can’t tell)

Kenny Sorrentino

Thanks everyone. Back tomorrow with more.

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Back to Beantown, 93 Years Later…

This evening, the Chicago Cubs are back for their second game in Boston since 1918, when the two clubs met in the World Series; while there is some revisionist history speculation that the Cubs may have thrown the series, we’ll probably never know for sure. All we do know is that the Sawks won that series, four games to two.

Due to the complexities of interplague, even though regular season play between the leagues has been occurring since 1997, the Red Sox have never hosted the Cubs. That ended last night. But today, the two teams will be sporting throwback uniforms designed to resemble those worn during each team’s respective 1918 season.

The Cubs had a very interesting chest logo, while their counterparts from Boston had NO wordmark on their home uniform (the roadies had this script). It’s a shame the teams weren’t swapping home and roads, as the Sox roads looked like this. The Cubs homes in ’18 were also more colorful. In black and white they looked like this, and probably would have looked like this in living color. But alas, tis not to be.

Instead, the Cubs will be fauxbacking to this, this and this, which should be an interesting look. Your 1918 World Champion Red Sox will be sporting a very plain white uni, with the only real color coming from the the red stripe on their socks.

I haven’t seen a single preview of either team’s uniform, but I assume they won’t be too difficult to replicate. Update: Here’s a preview of tonight’s unis. Now, if Majestic is making them, and they are, they better damn well tailor them so the players cannot wear pajama pants. I doubt any of them would, since the Sox would likely look like milkmen (thanks for the reference, Ricko). Anyway, I guess we’ll know soon enough how the respective teams look. Since it’s a Fox regional game, that means most of the country, unless you’re in the Chicago or Boston market, probably will only get highlights of the game. Still, looking forward to how they pull it off.

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Parting Shots

With apologies to Mercutio, “An Interplague on both your leagues.” Bah.

It’s that time of year again…that time when the almighty dollar rips apart the baseball season and forces interleague baseball upon us all. What started out in 1997 as kind of fun experiment has morphed into a complete disaster, replete with bizarre forced pairings (and forced rivalries that never existed), and basically thrown a full scale “STOP” into the baseball season. Yeah, occasionally we’ll get a “decent” matchup (such as the Cubs and Red Sox), but who doesn’t love the Royals/Padres matchup or the Blue Jays/D-Backs pairings? NO ONE. Not even the “fans” apparently. But MLB insists it’s a great idea.

I won’t even get into the inequities of the interplague schedule, but at least in 1997 when this started, every team in your division played one series against a team in the “reciprocal” division (i.e. AL west played NL west, etc.). But because the number of teams is uneven (16 in the NL and 14 in the AL), there’s always two NL teams playing each other, no matter what the rest of the leagues are doing. And teams don’t even play a representative schedule any more — the Phillies might play four AL opponents with a combined winning percentage of .545 (for example), while the Nationals might play four other clubs with a winning percentage of .420. Not that the Nats will be winning the division or wild card, but that’s wholly unfair to the Phillies.

Even as a Mets fan, I’m completely sick of seeing the Yankees six more times every season — especially when this is the same amount of games the Mets play against the NL Central in any given season. How fair is that? There’s probably a half-dozen more reasons I hate interplague and I’ve already said enough. But enough is enough. Time to either end this experiment entirely, or come up with a better system of allotting who plays who, and reduce the number of interleague games all teams play.

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Yes, I am calling the 1961 Twins script Minnesota’s equivalent of a black Mets jersey. — Scott Rogers