Would Any of These Guys Wear a Nats Cap?

As some of you may be aware, on Monday afternoon the Nats announced that tahey’d be wearing Navy SEALs caps for Tuesday’s game against the Reds, in honor of the 30 SEALs who were recently killed in Afghanistan. But they ended up wearing their regular caps in that game. I figured the SEALs caps didn’t arrive at the stadium on time or something like that.

Here are two things I didn’t know until yesterday:

1) The Nats did wear the military caps, but only in pregame warm-ups.

2) They had planned to wear the caps during the game, but MLB said no.

According to that story (by the excellent Dan Steinberg, who’s always on top of the DC uni-verse), MLB’s stated position is that it prefers “specific causes” to be saluted with patches or BP showcases. “We reserve [game] hats for national tributes, where every club is wearing them on the same day,” said an MLB spokesman quoted in the story.

That, of course, is complete nonsense. The Nats themselves acknowledged the Virginia Tech shootings by wearing VT caps a few years back. Other teams have worn Earth Day caps, first responder caps, military appreciation caps, and so on.

Personally, I’d rather not see a team wearing military-related caps, for a variety of reasons. For one thing, every military (and civilian) death in Afghanistan (or wherever) is tragic, not just the 30 that happened in the recent helicopter crash. For another, as I have said several times, nearly 30% of MLB players are foreign-born, and I think it’s unseemly to make foreigners wear American military accessories. If a team really thinks it’s necessary to intermingle baseball and the military, I continue to advocate for the use of military baseball team throwbacks, like the ones worn by Bob Feller and others. That way, you’re telling a baseball story, not just a military story. So, all in all, I’m happy the Nats didn’t go with the Navy caps.

All of that said, however, MLB’s party line here smells fishy. Let’s get real: This probably had to do with not ruffling any feathers over at New Era, not some alleged rule about restricting special caps to MLB-wide promotions.

+ + + + +

Uni Watch Stirrups Club Update

By Comrade Robert Marshall

Greetings, Stirrup Comrades ”¦

The good news is that the late-June order has finally arrived, and I have turned it around, so everyone should finally have their stirrups in the next few days. Unfortunately, while the stirrup revolution had its usual grand designs, the reality is that the engine of hosiery change is built on my brain-pan’s rusted surplus parts, and backed by old-fashioned American manufacturing “pride.” In an effort to make things up to revolutionaries, I’ve decided to revive a bunch of old designs that people have asked about. These are offerings that I don’t plan to keep in stock, and can’t afford to keep in stock, so there will be very few extras.

It may not be December yet, but even so, let’s begin by singing fa-la-la-la la, la la-la Oaks. Don’t like singing? Perhaps I can fly you to the moon, or at least to Seattle. What’s that you say — you want another crack at the swinging Friars? And hey, ruptender, forget the old rotgut — instead, set me up with another *hic* round of tequila rup-guts. Or maybe you want to catch this little dish?

As always, these new offerings are shown at the top of this page, with full ordering instructions here. The deadline for new orders will be next Wednesday, Aug. 24, at midnight.

From each according his stirrvp,
to each according his strype,

~ Comrade 91200

+ + + + +

Me, me, it’s all about me: In case you missed it yesterday, my latest ESPN column, about uni-related myths, can be found here. And there’s still more new content over on Permanent Record.

+ + + + +

Uni Watch News Ticker: Several readers noted that Michael Vick had some interesting stitching on his jersey shoulders last night. Wonder what that’s all about. … Meanwhile, right on cue, I received several e-mails from people wondering why the Steelers weren’t wearing their helmet numbers. As most of you probably know, that’s an annual preseason ritual — they don’t add the numbers until the after the final roster cut. … If you thought Joe D. looked weird in an A’s uniform, that’s nothing compared to this, which is apparently from some sort of celebrity game (great find by Mako Mameli). ”¦ Also from Mako: Bill Walsh with a hat featuring a seldom-seen 49ers script, a partial glimpse of Browns lineman Tony Jones with FNOB. ”¦ The Winnipeg Goldeyes wore really nice throwbacks the other night (thanks, Teebz). ”¦ Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: Tons of cool stuff on display from Bill Simmons’s visit to the National Sports Collectors Convention. ”¦ Michael Plunkett says he’s never seen football pants cut off like this, and neither have I. That’s Pitt punter Matt Yoklic. ”¦ The Sacramento River Cats wore their zebra-striped jerseys the other day (with thanks to Chris Chaussee). ”¦ Ashton Kutcher bought pink uniforms for his high school football team (from David Teigland). ”¦ If you wear your shorts like this, you risk getting reprimanded by the WNBA (from Kevin Brown). ”¦ Here’s the first real-life view we’ve had of the Notre Dame retro uni for the game against Michigan (thanks, Brinke). ”¦ Did you know there’s a Professional Baseball Scouts Hall of Fame? It’s in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where Mike Wissman recently stumbled upon it and took these photos. ”¦ New football uniforms for Greenville College (from RK Covert). ”¦ Scroll down to see the explanation for this unusual spelling. And a uni number on the thigh to boot (great find by Cort McMurray). … Did Dolphins lineman Don Reese really play with an eyepatch? Bill Kellick spotted that while watching a 1975 game on Hulu.

Pinch-hitting: Phil’s busy, so I’ll be handling the weekend. See you tomorrow, yes? Yes!