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Fridays With Morris

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Alomar_Blyleven-MSJr

Editor’s Note: Morris Levin will be contributing an article each Friday while Paul takes his break. Enjoy! — Phil Hecken

Capping Off The HOF
By Morris Levin

Next Friday, July 22, kicks-off Induction Weekend for the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven’s election to the Hall by the Baseball Writers Association of America was announced in January, and General Manager Pat Gillick’s election by the Veterans Committee in December 2010. Of interest to this readership is which team cap will be portrayed on the Hall of Fame plaque. When the BBWAA election results were announced, it was confirmed that Alomar would enter the Hall with a Toronto Blue Jays cap and Blyeleven with a Twins cap. As a non-uniformed executive, Gillick’s plaque will be sans team cap so his Hall entry will officially team-neutral.

During the enshrinement ceremony, new Hall inductees are presented with their Hall of Fame Plaque, the public signifier and recognition of their elite status. Inductee plaques are hung in the plaque gallery, an elysian monument of lifetimes in the sport.

Because players (and many of the managers) are shown wearing a specific team cap, the HOF plaque reflects something of an official confirmation of the legacy of team affiliation. Phillies team policy is to retire the uniform numbers only of those players with a Phillies-P on their Hall of Fame plaque..

The Baseball Hall of Fame itself reserves the choice of team logo on a player’s plaque and considers the wishes of the inductee himself. The guiding principle is that the logo be emblematic of the electee’s accomplishments.

Alomar had an unusual career for a Hall of Famer. That he played with seven different teams has been done, but that he played with one team for no more than five years is unusual. Even Gaylord Perry pitched for the Giants for ten seasons. Alomar’s five seasons in Toronto were more than he had with any other team. He made the All-Star team and won the Gold Glove award every season with the Blue Jays, and in 1992 and 1993 helped lead the team to the World Series.

Alomar’s entry as a Blue Jay represents Toronto’s first Hall of Fame plaque. The Blue Jays’ first season as a franchise was 1977, making Toronto and the Seattle Mariners the fifth youngest teams (after Arizona, Tampa Bay, Florida, and Colorado) of the 30 teams in Major League Baseball. Toronto is the first of this group to place a player in the Hall. Alomar’s HOF plaque cap is an important piece of Toronto Blue Jays’ franchise history and story, enhancing the depth and asset value of the Blue Jays name and logo.

Alomar left Toronto as a free agent after the 1995 season, and signed with the Baltimore Orioles. It was a complicated separation as such things can be sometimes. But Hall of Fame elections can opportunities for new found relationships between inductee and the team. Since his election, Alomar has rejoined the Blue Jays organization.

Alomar was first signed by the Padres in 1985 and made his ML debut in 1988. There was a brief period during which Roberto, brother Sandy, Jr., and father Sandy, Sr. were all in uniform together with the Padres. Roberto played three seasons for San Diego and was an All-Star in 1990. Then Alomar was traded to Toronto in the blockbuster deal of the 1990 Winter Meetings: Fred McGriff and Tony Fernandez to San Diego and Alomar and Joe Carter to the Blue Jays. (Trust me when I say that McGriff still had a lot of upside in 1990.)

Alomar went to Baltimore in 1996, and then rejoined brother Sandy in Cleveland in 1999. These were strong Cleveland teams, which played in front of sold-out crowds at Jacob’s Field. Alomar finished his career with the Mets, White Sox, and last with the Arizona Diamondbacks which makes him the first Hall of Fame inductee to have played for Arizona.

Four players in the Hall played for the Blue Jays during their careers: Phil Niekro, Dave Winfield, Paul Molitor, and Rickey Henderson. None played sufficiently long to be identified primarily with the Blue Jays but Winfield, Molitor, and Henderson were all teammates of Alomar in Toronto. Roy Halladay has compiled a career warranting Hall of Fame consideration, and not withstanding his stellar Phillies career to date, his long Toronto career makes him the most likely candidate to be the second Blue Jay in Cooperstown.

Alomar’s identification for the Blue Jays has meant an opportunity for the team to host Alomar’s post-election news conference, unveil Hall of Fame banners for Alomar (and Gillick) on Opening Day in April 2011, and have a Roberto Alomar Hall of Fame Day. The Toronto Star featured Cooperstown as a travel destination for its Ontario readership this summer. In March, the Blue Jays hired Alomar as special assistant to the organization, formalizing the renewed relationship.

Bert Blyleven will enter the Hall with a Twins cap on his plaque, the most natural and appropriate affiliation. Blyleven pitched for five teams in his 22-season career, Minnesota, Texas, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and the California (née Los Angeles) Angels. He debuted at age 19 with the Twins, and over two stints, pitched 11 seasons for Minnesota, easily the longest team association of his career. Since 1996, Blyleven has been a Twins broadcaster, strengthening his association with Twins fans.

Blyleven is the fourth player to wear a Twins cap on his plaque, joining Harmon Killebrew, Rod Carew, and Kirby Puckett. He is the seventh to have played for the Twins. Molitor and Winfield also played for the Twins, as did Steve Carlton who finished his career with the club.

Blyleven’s long playing career with the Twins and his role as a broadcaster gives him a different relationship to the Twins from that of Alomar to the Blue Jays. Blyleven maintains his own website, the pictures on which are Twins specific or team-neutral, and where he supports Twins initiatives.

Teams recognize value in the identification of a Hall of Fame inductee. A team’s fans can point with pride to one of their players being recognized at this high level. Attendance during Hall of Fame induction weekends tends to swell when players from cities within a half-day drive of Cooperstown are inducted.

Ceremonies are on Sunday, July 24 at 1:30pm at the Clark Sports Center. The full schedule of weekend events can be found here with the Hall offering special travel packages here.

~~~

Morris Levin is an alumnus of Mitchell & Ness Nostalgia Co. between 1993 and 2006 and edited MLB Game Worn Jerseys of the Double Knit Era. He is a proud booster of the Athletic Base Ball Club of Philadelphia and supportive of efforts in West Philadelphia to honor the legacy of the Philadelphia Stars.

~~~

Thanks for that wonderful article, Morris. Over the next three Fridays (four if you count today), Morris will be treating us to an interesting look at a variety of subjects.

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ESPN reminder: In case you missed it yesterday, Paul’s latest ESPN column takes a super-in-depth look at a super-small MLB detail. Enjoy.

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83padres

’83 vs. ’84

Reader Rob Holecko was watching last evening’s Padres game, and he made a very astute observation.

“Last night the Padres honored the passing of former manager Dick Williams by wearing 1983 road throwbacks (at home, we know) and also a patch on their sleeve with his initials, ‘RHW’. (Which are very close to my initials, RWH. I guess it would have been in bad form to use his first name.) Williams, who managed the Athletics to two world titles in the 1970s and the Padres to the 1984 NL title, also managed the Red Sox, Angels, Expos and Mariners in a 21-year managerial career, died last week at the age of 82. As it repeatedly says in the press release about the game, they are wearing 1983 uniforms.

“Why did they wear the 1983 uniforms and not the 1984 uniforms? Williams managed the Padres from 1982-85 and the 1984 team that faced the Detroit Tigers in the World Series was easily the most successful during his tenure. The 1983 team went 81-81 and finished fourth in the NL West, ten games behind the Dodgers.

“According to Bill Henderson’s MLB Game-Worn Style Guide, the only difference between the 1980-83 and the 1984 unis was the 1984 unis were button-ups and they had the initials “RAK” on the sleeve to honor owner Ray Kroc who died in January 1984. The 1980-83 Padres unis were pullovers, and one wonders if they were just cheaper/easier/quicker to make.

“One also wonders if the Athletics or any of the other teams that he managed will honor him as well.”

~~~

Thanks for catching that Rob. Here are a few photos from that game. While I am not certain I have the definitive answer, I want to say the Pad’s wore these jerseys because they have worn the very same jerseys before, this year, in a game against the Mariners in Seattle. They probably thought they could just recycle the old jerseys, with the new patch, rather than having Majestic make them a whole new set (at what I have been told is a cost of approximately $10,000). In other words, they could just as easily honor Dick Williams by recycling the 1983 tops, even though the team was just a .500 club. Were they to have new jerseys made (assuming they old ones weren’t already created), they may have very well gone with the 1984s. I could easily be wrong, but that’s my guess. Readers? Your thoughts?

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Benchies Beginning logo

Benchies from the Beginning
By Rick Pearson

For nearly three years, “Benchies” has been appearing most weekends at Uni Watch. While Bench Coach Phil fills in for Paul Monday through Friday during August, we present a retrospective. New strips will continue to appear on weekends. For further background, here’s the “Benchies” backstory and bios on the regular Boys of “Benchies.” Enjoy.

7-15-11 d-drip

And here is the full-size version.

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Uni Watch News Ticker (aka some vacation this turned out to be): Paul here. Man, when it rains, it pours: Webmaster John Ekdahl’s computer went on the fritz last night and took most of today’s Ticker with it. So I’ve been pressed into emergency Ticker duty and am gonna try to reconstruct most of what had been submitted yesterday. If you submitted something and don’t see it here, my apologies — it happens. Anyway, here we go, starting with a submission from me: I think this might qualify as our most unusual headwear story of the year. ”¦ Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: a good story about how the Phils’ minor leaguers can’t wait to get to the bigs so they can go pajama-legged, plus an additional Philly-based story on baseball style. ”¦ New mask for Steve Mason (with thanks to Joe Exner). ”¦ Interesting point made by Marc Viquez, who notes that the Kane County Cougars — the Royals’ single-A affiliate — wear the same cap logo as the Royals, only in a different color scheme. ”¦ “During the weekend’s IndyCar race, Danica Patrick lost her front wing,” writes Chris Cruz. “Someone had taken her extra wing so she had to use teammate Marco Andretti’s wing, leading to a ghastly color combination.” ”¦ New uniforms for the Japanese national track team (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). ”¦ The Thrashers-turned-Jets are putting the finishing touches on their logo. “I’m eagerly awaiting the possible crushing disappointment of how it turns out,” says Sam Belk). ”¦ Here’s a first (or at least I hope it is): an E. coli-inspired jersey patch. Anyone got a photo? (With thanks to Nick Orban.) ”¦ Phillies announcer Gary “Sarge” Matthews really likes his hats. ”¦ Several All-Star Game cleat designs are shown here (with thanks to Coleman Taylor Quinn). ”¦ Kevin Holding notes that the seats at Angels Stadium still have the Edison International Field Logo on them. “Edison is a huge energy conglomerate out here and opted out of their 20-year agreement on the naming rights of the Big A (Then the Big Ed) in 2003,” he says. ”¦ Syracuse’s new MISL team now has a name and logo (with thanks to Rick DiRubbo). ”¦ Jim Walaitis reports that some dude appeared on Let’s Make a Deal in a St. Louis Browns uniform. ”¦ “Nike is obsessed with the All Blacks,” says Caleb Borchers. “There are two main Nike teams in international rugby, France and England. France is wearing a jersey commemorating two victories over the All Blacks at this year’s World Cup, and now England, is coming out with an all-black strip. They’ve worn white for a century. I can’t even summon the words to describe how stupid this is. This is like the Packers creating a silver and blue alternate for last year’s Super Bowl in Dallas. It spits all over England’s and New Zealand’s histories.” … Michael Vasinko has been trying to find an evolution of the USA international rugby jersey and he came across this op-ed that summed up his thoughts on the matter.

~~~~~~~~~

Thanks Paul, for the Ticker, and Morris for the great main article — and to you great readers for your patience this week. Certainly this was not the way any of us would have planned it, but the show must go on. John will take you guys through the weekend, and I’ll be back next week so Paul can finally begin his well-deserved vacation. You guys have a great weekend!

~~~

“Godd-mn NCAA (National Communist Athletic Association). I hope North Dakota nails the PC bastards with a successful antitrust suit. North Dakota’s nickname and logo are totally respectful of its native brethren. Leave them to hell alone!” –Terry Proctor

 
  
 
Comments (129)

    The Padres could have done a much better job of honoring Dick Williams’ memory by wearing turn-back-the-clock home uniforms from 1984.

    Agreed, since they would presumably be home uniforms. Since the road ’83s were lying around, they figured, “we can do this while Williams’ name is still in the news instead of having to schedule something further down the line”.

    And don’t forget that it takes Majestic for-GD-ever to get anything done. Remember that Majestic couldn’t produce those Dodgers powder-blue throwback alts in time (they club picked them in Feb/Mar, but they weren’t ready until the 3rd time the team wore them, months into the season). Do you really think they could have had Padres jerseys ready before Sept?

    Well, I guess they were also honoring 1984 by wearing belts. The 1983 pants had a waistband. Not that Majestic would ever care to have any accuracy at all with their supposed period-piece costumes.

    Isn’t the bottom line that to all but a few dozen people here, the Padres looked like the teams Williams managed? Purchasing a new set of full-button jerseys to replace the pullovers would not have improved that impression. Might even have reduced it, since run-of-the-mill fans probably associate the brown shirts with the pullover look. Plus, the 1984 unis already had memorial initials, and if anything, we here would be complaining more about the inauthenticity of removing the RAK to make room for the RWH. And if the Padres had gone with a new set of the 1984 home unis, it would definitely have reduced the impact of the gesture, as the brown jerseys are much more iconic than the whites. Both the local game announcers and the national commenters on either MLB Network or ESPN last night (forget which, I was flipping for game highlights) noted the iconic stature of the brown look and wished the Padres would return to that color scheme. (Though one of the national broadcasters who said this at first said “black and gold,” before one of his co-hosts corrected him. This same guy also called the current Padres colors “navy and gray,” so there’s that.)

    The point of the exercise is commemoration, not historical reenactment. As such, mission accomplished.

    I agree. I think they went with the ’83 unis to avoid the RAK initials. If they removed them, the look is not authentic. If they left them on, it would overshadow the Williams patch.

    “…to make room for the RWH…”

    well, the RHW — I’m not dead yet.

    But my whole point was: Was it because it was cheaper and that’s why they went with the ’83s instead of the ’84s? Adding in that they had 83s roads already laying around, then it was infinitely cheaper and it does make sense for them to have just worn the 83s they already had lying around, as Phil and others pointed out.

    My original point was, if it came down to simply that it was cheaper to make the 83s than the 84s, then did they just choose “cheap” over “more appropriate.” (Assuming you agree that it would be more “appropriate” to honor Williams by wearing the uniform of the year the won the pennant, his greatest accomplishment.)

    Considering that they did have the 83s lying around, it was probably more fiscally responsible to just use them, and yes they do represent the Williams era just as well as the 1984s. My question did they just “cheap-out” to save money (like the Royals and the Negro uni thing) or was there a good reason, obviously there was a good reason, they already had those unis available to them.

    Agreed.

    They’re remembering the guy. Not necessarily 1984.

    (Except for those who believe only winning a World Series makes someone worth a damn).

    Ooops. I get a “duh” on that one.
    All the more reason, I suppose, that 1984 wouldn’t be a necessity. Just remember Williams’ time with club.

    Setting aside the question of the best way to honor Mr. Williams, the execution was also poor because it appeared no one seemed to regulate the undershirts the players wore under the brown jerseys. I saw at least 3 patterns: several solid blues that belong with the standard uniform (and look terrible with the brown), at least one solid brown (which I think wass actually intended to go with the camo unis), and, by far the worst, a camo undershirt. Horrible. But then, I’m a Giants fan, so I’m probably extra critical.

    exactly, I too was bothered by the navy sleeved undershirts, but then we can’t expect them to outfit a whole wardrobe that may not even get used just to match throwbacks. (Although the Padres do seem to bring back brown-and-mustard enough to maybe warrant a long-sleeve brown undershirt, I don’t know)

    We should probably just be happy they had correct helmets, and didn’t just use current ones.

    I am very certain that these jerseys were recycled from their throwback game in Seattle earlier in the season. During that game the teams were supposed to wear their 1984 jerseys, and for the most part they complied. I am sure there was debate on this site about it because the Padres’ ’84 jerseys were full-button style, as well all know, and the ones they used were pullovers, which we saw again in last night’s game. I am betting that they would have called them 1984 jerseys again last night but they received so much flak from those of us who pay attention to such detail that they just decided to change the name rather than order more jerseys.

    ah, but see there is the question: forget about last night to honor Mr. Williams — when they originally chose to make these throwbacks to wear against Seattle or whoever, still the ’84 team was a pennant winner and the ’83 team was a .500 ball club. All things being equal, you would naturally want to honor the pennant winners, right? (Unless it is 2013 and you’re honoring the 30th anniversary or something like that.) And so they went with the 1983 pullovers, not the 1984 button-ups. And why? Because they were cheaper, we assume, right? Bingo.

    When Roberto Alomar’s plaque is revealed, which Blue Jays logo will be on the cap – the current one, or the one he wore while he was playing for them? I sure hope it’s the one he wore, and not the current one – it better represents his playing days with the Jays, plus simply looks a lot better than the current one.

    The HOF normally puts the period appropriate cap on the inductees. The real question is which Twins cap do they put on Blyleven. The one from when he broke in with the Twins or the one from late in his career? If Vlad the Impaler gets into the HOF, does he go in as an Expo?

    The first one, for no other reason than it being easier to make the NY without worrying about representing an extra outline and drop shadow.

    /duh

    None of the above.

    link

    (OK, OK, I jest. But I always thought of Piazza as a Dodger first, so like Walter and Aaron, I wouldn’t say it’s a given that he goes in as a Met.)

    anyone saying piazza will go in as a dodger are completely wrong….i think it’s already a done deal he’s a met…just take a look at this past all star game, what cap did he wear during the celebrity softball match? Mets.

    exactly

    he’s going in as a met…the only question is which cap — and i’m being serious, because for all the years piazza was in ny, i guarantee he wore the hybrid or the black cap MORE than the classic blue

    Remember Paul’s piece on Page 2 a few years back? The comments people made were all gems. It was almost as good as the response to his piece on the Cowboys.

    Couldn’t help noticing the old URL there… though it is still valid, since it redirects to the current uni-watch.com.

    Even though Vlad had some good years as an Angel, I believe he will go into the Hall as an Expo.

    Was Piazza with the Metropolitans when the wore the icecream man hats? If so that’s the one lol…….

    That was in 1997, when the Mets wore those caps. Piazza was still with the Dodgers.

    Of the ARI-COL-FL-SEA-TB group, Arizona will probably have the next one with Randy Johnson and the purple-era logo and then Seattle gets Griffey Jr. Maybe the Rockies get one with Helton (Baseball Reference says he’s a HOF). Can’t see Florida or Tampa Bay getting their hats on a plaque anytime soon.

    Tough call, but I think he should go in as a D-back. Plus, that might get the Mariners off the hook of having to retire #51 twice.

    I agree. He won the World Series as a D-Back, had two different stints there, threw a perfect game there (or was that just a no-hitter against Braves?). I’m leaning Arizona.

    Didn’t just win the World Series as a D-Back, he did so with one of the most legendary performances as a pitcher in World Series history. Maybe not top three, but definitely top five performances by a pitcher in the Series, ever, probably one step above Walter Johnson in ’24. (The key difference being Big Unit delivered as a starter and a reliever, whereas Big Train lost both of his starts.) The HOF usually claims to be all about whole careers and context and the long view, but to me this is one of those special cases where a single historical moment carries more weight than his years in Seattle.

    Fisk played longer with the White Sox, but went in with a Boston cap because that’s where his historical moment occurred. Ryan has a Rangers cap on his plaque, in part because that’s where he recorded his seventh no-hitter. So, by that logic, Unit probably does get a Diamondbacks cap on his plaque.

    Nolan Ryan was inducted in 1999. Prior to a 2001 policy change that resulted from a bribery scandal, the HOF usually deferred to a player’s request. So the Rangers cap may represent Ryan’s affinity for the club as much as any particular historical merit.

    yeah, I think it was Nolan Ryan and Wade Boggs that led to them changing that policy… I remember part of Boggs’ contract negotiations with the Devil Rays (I forget the specifics) was Boggs would choose to go into the Hall as a Devil Ray, when that time would come — after all there had been debate would he go in as a Red Sox or a Yankee – after a long Red Sox career, he won a championship with the Yankees. So the Hall didn’t want that (him going in as a Devil Ray) so they took the choice away from the player.

    I think Johnson should go in as a D-Back, but I think that the HOF will make him go in as a Mariner, since he was with them longer.

    What were the Mariners thinking in giving his # 51 to Ichiro?

    And, when are the D-Backs going to retire # 51 for Johnson? They should also retire # 15 for Bob Brenly and # 38 for Curt Schilling.

    Johnson threw a no-no as a member of the M’s. He threw a perfect game for the D-Backs.

    It was Dave Winfield and Boggs that caused the stir. Winfield was try to sell his cap to the highest bidder: Yankees or Padres. He went in as a Padre. Boggs had it written into his contract with the Rays, but ultimately he’s in the Hall as a Red Sox.

    They should do away with hat depictions on plaques altogether. It belongs to another era; one before rampant greed, cheating, and other things that make us throw up. No hats for the throw-up era.

    Randy Johnson would efinitely go in as a Mariner. Wasn’t Curt Schilling on that team too? (Not the biggest baseball fan so this is a genuine question) I don’t think anyone expects him in anything but a Red Sox hat if he gets in.

    Never seen the Cougars wear a KC hat before (I live 15 minutes from Elfstrom Stadium and even raced the mascot as a little kid), I’m thinking it may have been a one time promotion to announce the new big league team (or at least newish, they were the A’s property the last time I checked).

    This used to be their go to hat link

    and that’s what all their future stars wore link

    and at some point, this came into the mix link

    but the KC hat is new/a surpise to me.

    Must be – I’m also 15 minutes from Elfstrom Stadium, and I’ve never seen that cap before. Their team merchandise online store shows the following: link

    Weird. So can anyone confirm if that “KC” cap has become their regular lid this year? The Cougars had been pretty traditional since their inception in wearing the logo cap.

    that’s easy tim…
    the bottle, which is refilled in mexico if you buy it in mexico, but thrown away or possibly recycled in a different manner in the states, is an old bottle. but the sticker, which is put on to give right proper nutritional info to the american consumer is an after market addition, which is much easier to rebrand. der. it isn’t like there is a separate factory for soda-pops going to the states, they have those here, and i suspect that by the time pepsi rebrands yet again, you will see wome “new” pepsi bottles. it is the reason the outside of mexi-sodas are so scratched up, they reuse the bottle, while the bottle you drank was used for the last time.

    I’ve been to a few Cougars games this year, and I’ve seen the “KC” cap being worn by a few ushers/vendors, but not by the players on the field during games. However, they did add that huge Royals patch to the front of their jerseys and the Royals’ “KC” logo is painted on the lawn areas, so there might be a transition in the works.

    Hmmm, that Phils ‘minor league can’t wait to get to the majors ’cause no dress code’ article was interesting. Particularly this comment:

    “According to Chuck LaMar, the Phillies’ assistant general manager for player development and scouting, it would be an ordeal to ask the big-league manager to “police something like that every night.” ”

    You mean to tell me with the 1,245 people who work for a major league ballclub that the task has to fall to the manager?

    Seriously? Give me a break, lazy bastards. You want ballplayers to wear stirrups and pants up? Enforce it. Don’t give us the ‘whoa is me, the manager has too many responsibilities’ line of reasoning.

    The thing is, they DON’T want that. Never really have. Some teams have policies, but not MLB across the board.

    Didn’t when Frank Robinson and Vada Pinson started wearing stirrup extenders, or when Willie Mays had his pants tapered. They have left that up to individual players. Pretty much always have.

    To say it’s MLB policy to police stirrups is revisionist history. Not in actual practice, anyway.

    Corporate Branding Watch more than uni watch but…

    I was at a great little Taqueria in the city of West Chicago yesterday when I got a Mexican Pepsi when I ordered a drink.

    While the front of the bottle had two old Pepsi logos and fonts – link

    The back had the current logo and font – link

    It’s been a few years since the Pepsi rebrand so I guess I just have to say: What Up With That – link

    There are tacquerias in WeGo? Who knew? :-)
    (a little insider DuPage County humor there. Very little)

    Well, you’re in the right place…used to work right by the Post Office…good stuff when you get into “town” (by the train station), or the little places off Joliet Street by the HS

    I work right across from General Mills on Washington St. (in between The Crusher and T.S. Specialties link )

    My dad has been at that company for years and I’ve worked there for the summers since I was 19 or so but am just now finding all the good local/authentic eats.

    Interesting that Sarge is now obsessed with wearing hats. At least when he was with the Cubs, he was quite famous for TAKING OFF his headwear while running the bases. Rarely did he ever make it more than 2-3 steps from taking off with his helmet still attached to his head.

    “Stairway to Heaven”? Nah…

    “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind”? Maybe…

    “So what did you do at work today, honey? Honey? Hey, what’s with that goofy smile?” Possibly.

    “I’m sorry Mr. President, but I can’t seem to find your keys anywhere.”

    Looks to me like the Ted Turner photo is a colorized black & white photo, not an actual color photo. So the belt color may not be accurate.

    Yeah, definitely a colorized shot.

    Seen a few ‘shops, can tell by the pixels, etc.

    Any chance that could go back up? Now that I see the follow up, I want to see what I DIDN’T see the first time!

    Precisely. Wondered when someone would notice.
    First clue? The lack of variation in the background colors.

    Not to mention that I doubt ol’ Ted would have failed to grabbed a set of team issue royal sleeves. Those gray sleeves, etc., make it look (to me) as that were colorized to spin the tale, to make it appear as if he walked out of the stands, into the club house and pulled on a uni. Not that the move was worth a damn, but it was at least properly, um…staged and packaged.

    The StL Browns guy from Let’s Make A Deal either played/knew someone who played/bought a game used uniform from the World Record Longest Baseball game link or is a member of our little Stirrup Revolution. I am wearing those same Browns stirrups today, oddly enough.

    “Nike is obsessed with the All Blacks”

    Would that be because they’re an ,a href=”http://scrapgrlz.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83451e61e69e20134855278aa970c-pi”>adidas team?

    NFL jerseys,NBA jerseys,NHL jerseys and MLB Jerseys from link with discount price,free shipping,you can order the jerseys online and pay by your credit card,its easy and fast

    wow bob, that almost seems like you are an actual poster out to give us some inside dish. watch how quick i make a mental note of that site and never buy shit from it.

    dddddddddar, i was wondering if i could ask the community of jersey guys, where can i buy a nfl, nba, nfl, or mlb, i can’t find those anywhere, dooooooi. oh, and i want to do it online, use a crdit card, and i want it to be super easy and uber fast.

    I don’t think spambots are capable of reading replies, Bullwinkle.

    Not a good idea to give them tips if they can, either. We want them to be obvious.

    what i bullwinkled was the reply somehow, that’s twice today, oh well.

    but i think we can sniff out most spamtastics anyway. and we sure as heck wouldn’t give any ol dude as a place to go. like if someone was looking for getting a jersey customized, we would send them to alain or frosty, not shitbirddotcom. sheeeet jeffenderbender, if that little exchange had gone on we would see through that too. i mean…

    jorf,we can figure digital note bad sign. (i hope my link translation is okay)

    According to Paul’s Uni Watch article, yes. Though the player’s keepsake is miniature, it is bronze, just like the full-size one for the Hall. No other bronze plaques are available for purchase.

    You know how every once in a while someone will get fashion designers or artists to design sports uniforms, usually with horrific results? link. That link has images and video from BMW’s new collection, featuring car livery designed by Lichtenstein, Calder, Hockney, Warhol, and other artists.

    if spaces betwixt punctuation and words isn’t a problem, boy do i have a site for you, it’s go to hell dot com where clearly all your jersey concerns will be soothed.

    does the tongue of blyleven’s cleat have a “9” on it or something else? Certainly isn’t his uni number, but not sure what it is. maybe a rectangular box of some sort?
    link

    I went to Angel Stadium in 2006 and at that point, they had these little plastic things with Angel logos glued over the Edison Field logos on the aisle seats. However, lots of the plastic pieces were missing (either stolen, or the glue or whatever wouldn’t stick well). I guess they gave up on the plastic logo things…

    Stadium seats generally last around 20 years (Camden just replaced theirs’), so expect these to last another six years or so.

    I was just there 2 weeks ago, and never thought to look at the seat sides. I did sit in LF and noticed, right above my head, that it was clear as day where the old upper deck had been cut off. The jagged metal is still very clear.

    Angel Stadium has painted over the old Edison Field logos and has also placed a metal (perhaps plastic) “A” logo over the top of them as well. I have, however, seen a number of aisle seats where the new logo has fallen off or been ripped off.

    “Alomar’s HOF plaque cap is an important piece of Toronto Blue Jays’ franchise history and story, enhancing the depth and asset value of the Blue Jays name and logo.”

    Another reason for the current Jays to go back to the old logo, huh?

    Oh, the link for Alomar as an Oriole is actually a photo of him in a Padres uni.

    Speaking of the Padres – they already had the ’83 unis on hand. It would have been a waste to make up a set of ’84 unis, too. Don’t nitpick on this one, folks. Just appreciate the gesture.

    Don’t forget – y’all have free baseball on satellite (and probably cable) from now until the 20th. Marlins and Cubs start things off at 2:20.

    Which reminds me:
    Hey Red Sox fans – is there any chance Tim Wakefield could pitch against the Orioles on Monday or Tuesday? If so I want to tape that game (even better, I’d love to go to it, but I don’t see that happening). I love knuckleballers and I want to go to Camden Yards someday.

    Oddly, the free week of Extra Innings doesn’t extend to the MLB At-Bat App. I see we still only get 1 free TV game. (I only have the radio package)

    I sure hope the new Winnipeg Jets logo is not a cartoon, like the Moose, and please, NO BETMAN BIB!

    Apologies if this has been mentioned before, but I just saw on MLB Network they gave the Golden Spikes Award to a UCLA pitcher and in the video about him, they showed that they let him wear a grey hat while all the rest of the team is wearing a blue hat. I guess they let him keep wearing it for good luck. It’s real old, but I don’t think it was originally grey it’s just so worn out and faded it’s lost it’s color.

    link

    link

    ..also one of the other finalists was from Texas, and like the Rangers, UT also has a Texas flag on their hat… it’s not straight 2-D, but they don’t have the same issues with the funky grey area, like the Rangers do.

    link

    you think that halladay will be the next blue jay inductee? do you not think Carlos Delgado won’t make the hall?

    I loved Delgado but he’s in the Hall of Very Good. Not quite 500 HR, one 2nd place MVP, only two (!) all star games. No PED taint, so maybe he gets more votes than his stats deserve. Enough to linger on the ballot for a few years, but I doubt he’ll make it.

    Carlos Delgado should at least be inducted into the Blue Jays Level of Excellence.

    Probably late to the party, but the Phillies have been promoting a “80’s night” game coming up against the Padres, with throwback uniforms to 1984… most likely these same 1983 Padres jerseys.

    Those two teams should throw back to 1970. Phillies in racing stripe flannels & black shoes, Padres in their beautiful inaugural brown & golds.

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