There’s No Service Like Wire Service, Vol. 39

Finally clearing out the last of my wire service backlog. Contributors for this batch include Mark Kluczynski, Mike Hersh, Jerry Wolper, Bill Henderson, Brendan Slattery, Bruce Menard, Warren Humphries, and Mark Peterson. Thanks, guys!

• Turns out you can come up with a uni design that evokes the Maryland flag but doesn’t look like shite. Not sure what team that is.

• Lots of logos and wordmarks floating around in this 1952 Bears photo, but the one that particularly interests me is the walking bear on assistant coach Paddy Driscoll’s jacket at lower right.

• Always interesting to see Joe D. in an A’s uni. (And while we at it, here’s a much younger DiMaggio, from his minor league days.)

• Can’t mention Joe D. without also mentioning Teddy Ballgame, this time in his Navy baseball uni. Kinda startling to see him holding a bat with anything other than “9” on the knob.

• Check it out — the AP was doing some uni-watching in 1987!

• Here’s a nice shot of Royals equipment manager Al Zych just after the team added the Dick Howser memorial patch.

• You don’t often see a 1910 baseball player wearing a turtleneck.

• This might be the most indecipherable sleeve logo I’ve ever seen.

• Who’s that punting for West Point? None other than a young Dwight Eisenhower.

• Always good to have another view of the Tribe’s 1921 “Worlds Champions” uni.

•  Here’s something people often forget: In 1975, the Phillies wore white shoes.

• This might be the coolest use of the wishbone C — or maybe just the coolest baseball uniform, period — ever! That’s a Negro Leagues team from Hawaii called the Chinese Tigers. Holy moly!

• Whoa, check out this early Packers photo, from 1921. Look at that goalpost — looks like a junior high shop project!

• Here’s a seriously rare sight: Willie Mays wearing the tools of ignorance. (And while we’re at it, you can see the Say Hey Kid in a Puerto Rican winter league uni here and here.)

• Here’s Rogers Hornsby checking out his new Giants uni in 1927. I’m assuming the other gent is a clubhouse attendant — interesting that he got to wear a jersey.

• I really like everything about this Phillies jacket. The buttons, the chest logo, the raglan leather sleeves, the collar, the works.

• Here’s Warren Spahn in a different kind of uniform than we’re accustomed to see him wearing. Note that he’s holding his rifle left-handed, as befits the man who’s still the winningest southpaw in MLB history.

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Culinary Corner: A chicken wing comes in three parts — the drumette, the flat, and the tip. If you order wings at a restaurant or bar, you only get the drumette and the flat. But if I’m making wings at home, I always leave the tip attached to the flat, because I like the tip — it’s mostly just skin, fat, and cartilage, which means it’s a chewy, crunchy delight (not unlike my very favorite part of a chicken, the tail).

People who write chicken wing recipes apparently don’t agree, however. Such recipes invariably include the line, “Remove tips and discard or save for stock.” For years — for decades — I’ve responded to this line simply by muttering, “Screw that” and moving on. But for some reason something snapped in my head last week when I was reading the new issue of Saveur, which included a recipe for chicken wings. Sure enough, there it was: “Remove tips and discard or save for stock.” This time, for reasons I can’t explain, I somehow viewed this line as an affront — not just to me, but to all that is good and delicious. “Fuck it,” I said to myself, “I’m gonna make a batch of wing tips. Just the tips.”

And that’s precisely what I did yesterday. I had a bunch of friends coming over to play seven-inch records, so I figured the wing tips would make a good party snack. First I bought a pair of chicken wing family packs. Then I removed all the tips, which left me with this (as usual, you can click to enlarge):

I figured wing tips are too small to serve as a sauce delivery device (plus we were all playing records, so I didn’t want things to get too messy), so I decided to toss them with a dry rub instead. I used my standard rub, which has paprika, cayenne, chili powder, mustard powder, cumin, salt, pepper, and a few other things, but you could use whatever you like. Here’s how the tips looked after a quick toss with the rub:

Then I spread the tips out on a baking pan and popped them in a 350 º oven for about 25 minutes. That turned them golden brown, but I wanted to get them a bit crunchier, so I put them under the broiler for a few minutes. That left me with this:

The result what exactly what I’d hoped for: a chewy, crunchy, spicy snack that everyone liked (even the people who initially regarded the whole enterprise with a bit of skepticism). Each tip had one bone in the center, sort of akin to an olive pit, so I provided a little bowl where people could discard the bones:

In short: Success! “Discard or save for stock” my ass. As for the rest of the wings, I put them in my freezer and will cook them later. But they won’t be as good without the tips.

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Horn-Toot Dept.: Lots of extracurricular stuff in the hopper at the moment. Here’s the rundown:

• I’m going to be one of the instructors for a summer session in design writing and research being conducted by the School of Visual Arts. I’ll be presenting a session called “Object Lessons,” about extrapolating stories from seemingly mundane objects, and my co-presenter will be America’s foremost design historian, Steve Heller. I’ve known Steve for over 20 years (back when I worked in publishing, I edited a few of his books) but have never had a chance to work with him before — very exciting. Lots of other great instructors are involved as well. If you’re interested in enrolling, full info is available here.

• I’ll be talking about uniforms and other things on WFMU’s excellent “Seven Second Delay” show on Wednesday, March 7, 6pm. This show is aired live from the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in Manhattan, and you can attend the live broadcast by purchasing tickets here. I’m told that one of the other guests on the show that evening will be New Yorker writer Susan Orlean, who’s really talented (although she once snubbed me at a party back around 1995, and it still bugs me).

• After a year-plus run at the City Reliquary, my Open Mic Show-and-Tell series is settling in for a spring residency at Cabinet magazine’s exhibition space in Gowanus (300 Nevins St., Brooklyn). The first Show-and-Tell event at Cabinet will be on March 15, 7:30pm. Same format as before: Anyone can bring an object of personal significance and talk about it for up to three minutes, or you can just be part of the audience (because you can’t have show-and-tell unless there are people to be shown and told). Either way, it’s a good time. Free admission + free beer = duh, show up already.

• There’s a new entry up on the Permanent Record blog. Also, there will be new PermaRec material on Slate in another week or two, and then (I hope) roughly every six weeks after that.

• Although it hasn’t been officially announced yet, I can tell you that the next Brooklyn Beefsteak event will be on April 22, so mark your calendars. As usual, I’ll be selling T-shirts and hopping onstage to assist in Susquehanna Industrial Tool + Die Company’s rousing rendition of “The Song of the Beefsteak.”

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Uni Watch News Ticker: I didn’t watch the NBA All-Star Game, so I have no idea whether any players wore the compression-style uniform instead of the regular one. Anyone..? ”¦ The Cardinals are adding a championship patch, and boy do I hate the way that red area extends into the white outlining. ”¦ Here’s the Mets’ memorial patch for Gary Carter. Kinda plain. But if they’d tried anything more creative, they probably would’ve screwed it up, so maybe it’s for the best. … Meanwhile, looks like the Mets have removed the metallic flake from their batting helmets. … And one more Mets note: Sure looks purdy without the black. … Missouri State has inked a deal with Adidas. … New logo apparently in the works for Utah State. … The earliest known football footage has been discovered. … Ohio State athletics will no longer retire any numbers (from Jason Hillyer). ”¦ Michael Martin lives in Tupelo, Mississippi, where the local newspaper previewed the state basketball tournament by running this graphic. Simple but effective. ”¦ Manny Ramirez, who wore No. 99 with the Dodgers, will wear No. 1 with the A’s. Has anyone else ever worn both of these numbers? ”¦ Who says MLB doesn’t cater to the ladies? Classy move, gang (thanks, Kirsten). … Check out Warren Sapp in a Jags hat (with the original logo!). “It’s from the 1995 Scouting Combine,” says Lou DeGeorge. “The Jags had yet to begin play, but I guess Sapp may have been campaigning for them to take him with the No. 2 pick that year, before he famously fell all the way down to the Bucs at No. 12.” … With St. Paddy’s Day approaching, here’s a nice shot of the uni that started the whole “Let’s wear green” thing. Wish Grif had learned to blouse his cuffs, though (from Brice Wallace). … “Just saw an MLB Fan Cave commercial with Matt Kemp, who wakes up wearing an Oklahoma City Thunder jersey with ‘M. Kemp’ and #27,” writes Mike Chamernik. “Kemp wears 27 with the Dodgers and is from Oklahoma, but I have no idea why they included his first initial on the NOB.” … Matt Aballi conducted a quick interview with a guy who has a collection of over 1100 fitted caps. … New 25th-anniversary logo for Arena Football (from HHH). … Tim Lincecum is once again tinkering with his footwear during spring training. His latest brand: New Balance. … Here’s a really good piece about where curling stones come from and how they’re made (big thanks to Doug Kalemba). … New stadium-anniversary logo for the Buffalo Bisons (from Kevin Clark). … Whoa, scroll down and check out this amazing streamroller logo! It appears on the sleeve of this jersey. … The NBA used a new basketball design for the Rising Stars game (good spot by Kenny Loo). ”¦ Anthony Emerson notes that the Red Sox are not wearing BP caps for spring training workouts. ”¦ Kudos to the A’s, who are giving away striped socks on June 16 (from Chris Flinn). … Here’s a rundown of this year’s MLS kits (from George Chilvers). ”¦ New away kit for Portugal. “Same kit, different toilet, or something like that,” says Leo Thornton. … Here’s something odd: a 1909 photo showing a catcher with no shinguards while the batter has one on his back leg (from Daniel Pesce). … Here’s an article that’s sort of Uni Watch for the presidential candidates (from Tom Mulgrew). ”¦ Lots to like in this WVU/Texas football program cover illo (nice find by Jason Bernard). ”¦ A little boy in Illinois needs to wear a helmet while his head continues to fuse together, so they made him a Bears helmet (from Nick Yelverton). ”¦ What’s with the umps in civvies? Those shots are from the 7/10/79 Astros/Pirates game. “According to the next day’s Pittsburgh Press, the umpires’ equipment didn’t arrive, and there was a 13-minute delay before the umps were ready to start the game,” says Jerry Wolper. ”¦ The Astros are “leaning heavily” toward new uniforms for next season (from David Cline). ”¦ Also from David: There’s a lot going on in this photo. The player on the right is from South Charleston High in West Virginia, which apparently uses SNOB. The guy on the left plays for Wheeling Park. Looks like they use single-quotes around their nickname — that’s a new one on me. ”¦ Thanks for the beer, Rafael.