By Phil Hecken, with Jimmer Vilk
Follow @PhilHecken
Got a fun one for you guys today.
What would happen if you combined the ugly, septic, vapid and yet endearingly utilitarian concrete donut stadia (lovingly referred to as “cookie cutters”) with the fun, wholesome and utterly charming practice of baking sweets? Yeah, I didn’t think I wanted to know either, but that’s where the inimitable Jimmer Vilk comes in.
Fresh off his high of Vilkanova winning the national title, and absolutely no threat to Paul’s Culinary Corner, Jim is here to present to you his award-winning recipe the newest trend in gastronomic dystopia…
Cookie Cutter Cookies
By Jim Vilk
About a week ago, I was listening to the Sully Baseball Daily Podcast, where Sully talked about The Place Formerly Known As SkyDome installing a full dirt infield. The loss of the old sliding pits got Sully nostalgic for something I miss as well, the multipurpose “cookie cutter” ballpark.
The next day that show was still in my head when I read a comment in Uni Watch from uni-themed cookie baker Elena Elms. She was making Opening Day cookies, which made me think, someone should make Cookie-Cutter Ballpark Cookies! I then decided I should be that person, so I got to work on them.
Ironically, I didn’t use an actual cookie cutter to make these. I used old takeout container lids, which doubled as covers for the finished product.
Except for one cookie…look, a retractable dome!
Not all the cookie-cutter parks were equal, contrary to popular belief. Same with my cookies. Let’s just call my worst one The Vet.
All the cookies started out with sliding pits. When I remembered the grass parks had full dirt, I quickly added some brownish icing to one, ate the outfield seats and came up with Shea Stadium.
I used the same cookie, and my son’s phone, to bring Hank Aaron’s big night at Fulton County Stadium back to life.
By this time, I was taking requests on Twitter. Someone asked for the Trop, so I obliged.
I happened to have some things handy that brought to mind the best of the cookie-cutter parks, Busch Stadium.
Another stuffed animal gave me the inspiration for Riverfront Stadium.
Saving my favorite for last, I took an old post card and used it to bring back Three Rivers Stadium.
If you should ever happen to have a Cookie-Cutter Ballpark Cookie of your own, I’m not going to tell you how to eat it. This is how I do it, though…start at first base…
…make your way to second…
…then round third and head for home.
Thanks, Jimmer. You may have finally found your calling!
Uniform Tweaks & Concepts…
…from Uni Watch readers
For years, Uni Watch readers have been sending in their redesigns, concepts and tweaks for current (or future, or past) uniforms for all sports.
You can click on any images below to enlarge.
Up first today is Jonathan Shields, with a tweak of the Penguins:
Hi Phil,
Tweak of the Pens’ third-jersey. Made the sleeves completely yellow with a black-white-black stripe instead of their current half black/half yellow sleeve. Simple.
Jonathan Shields
Next up is Christian VanDenBerghe with a twist on the Jazz’ logo:
A few months ago a local news source in Salt Lake city broke a story saying that the Utah Jazz were planning on getting rid of the mountain logo (primary) and making the note logo the new primary. To quote the article itself:
“The plan is to make the secondary “note” logo the primary logo, and invent a new secondary mark that hasn’t been used before. Ultimately, that will reduce confusion and result in improved merchandise sales. Data show that apparel with the primary logo sells significantly less than apparel with the note logo…”
I read this article and saw it as an opportunity to try and come up with a good Jazz secondary logo on my own. For months I’ve been trying to think and come up with one and I may have gotten a good idea. My logo draws on the geometric qualities of the note logo and uses the square shape of the state of Utah. It combines the initials of the team and our state into what I think is a pretty neat concept, but it’s still in the preliminary stages.. I LOVE your blog and read often. Would love your input on this concept logo!!
-Christian VanDenBerghe
And we close today with Adam Vitcavage who has some new concepts for the Diamondbacks:
Hi Phil,
A while back I did a pretty crappy Diamondbacks concept (featured here).
I was pretty upset about this new “evolution.” I’m a teacher and did these concepts in between classes, so they are extremely rough. I figure we can use the current modern colors, but mix it with the World Series winning layout.
Home: bring back cream pinstripes. Keep current color scheme. New snake logo on arms. Traditional A on chest. I like two-tone hates, so I made those.
Away: bring back vest idea, but make it a pull over like Paul suggested in his ESPN piece to avoid “Z” being split. Keep current color scheme. Use new ARIZONA font (here’s where I just copy and pasted and it’s all choppy).
Can we have a contest to “fix” Diamondbacks and even the Padres (what they should have done, instead of half-assing it)? I want to see designers do their best on these latest “evolutions.”
Adam Vitcavage
UW’s Friday Flashback
In case you missed it, Paul’s Friday Flashback on ESPN looked at the Royals wearing their gold-trimmed championship uniforms for two games earlier this week, which took a look at the history of World Series champs wearing gold to open the season, and included looks at three teams (1906 NY Giants, 1921 Cleveland Indians and 1927 St. Louis Cardinals) who were a bit ‘bolder’ in proclaiming to the nation they were, indeed, defending World Series champions.
Great read, so be sure to check it out if you didn’t catch it on Friday!
Enjoy!
Uni Watch News Ticker
Baseball News: Not quite sure what’s wrong with the color in this video, but it’s bad (from Robert Hayes). … The Gator Ladies (softball) have a new batting helmet (from Dave Doop). … The St. Lucie Mets wore Star Wars jerseys last night (via Jason Yellin). … Yowsa — the New Mexico Lobos went with the anthracite top and bottoms topped with a matte cherry helmet yesterday. … Nice look yesterday for Mississippi State (h/t MSU Baseball). … Speaking of brutal combos, Tennessee was at it again (from Senator Tom McElveen). Here’s a “better” pic (from sc1990). … Daniel Nelson asks, “am I wrong or does it seem like the Yankees roadies the New York had more of an arc this year?” Daniel wasn’t the only one to notice. … The New York Mets will be breaking out their 1986 throwback unis today (h/t Nathan Bryson & David Lugo). … Another team with pinstripes affected by the new Majestic flex base jerseys: Chicago White Sox (from Rob Ullman). … Check out this GO CUBS soda display (from Jeff Lagro). … The Diamondbacks wore their black alternate jerseys yesterday — dear god those pants are awful, and it shows how much better socks make that uni look (from Brandon). … On Friday night, Royals catcher Salvador Perez began the game wearing a catchers helmet with the gold “World Series champs” KC and noticed he was the only one, so he switched to the regular “KC” (in white) in the top of the 7th (pics from Bob Novotny). … Actor Rob Lowe had some commentary about the hairstyles going on at Great American Ball Park Friday (from Patrick O’Neill). … Here are several of the donated uniforms that DC little leaguers wear. The Nationals outfit DC little league (from William Yurasko). … According to Jared Carrabis “Pablo Sandoval is so fat that his belt exploded when he swung” (thanks to Mike Chamernik). Here’s a closeup, if you dare (from Denis Costello). … “The winning run in last night’s home opener in Seattle came from a great looking matchup of the high cuffs,” writes John Kimmerlein. “Sadly, it did not go the Mariners’ way.” … Houston and Milwaukee played a color vs. color game yesterday (from Jared Haack). … The good, the bad and the ugly all in one photo — great striped stirrups totally canceled out by camo (from Ashly Elam) — that’s Southeastern Louisiana vs. Lamar. … Jame Rock asks, “is this one of the TBTC hats the Cubs will wear for one their 100 years at Wrigley celebrations?” … The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders are taking uniform design down a few notches this year.
NFL and College Football News: For those who keep track of such things, Minnesota Vikings running back Jerick McKinnon is going to change jersey number from number 31 to number 21. … Several tweeters noticed this and sent it in: during yesterday’s spring football practice, Stanford football wore jerseys with really old patches (so old, the PAC only had 10 teams back then). … Speaking of wearing “old” jerseys, Rex Henry says, “I checked out the spring game at NC State and attached a pic of the uniforms. Red is wearing 2015 jersey, with White in 2013.” … Here is some pretty interesting information on college conference championship rings (from Jeff Axel Bowman). … Tod Meisner writes, “might be hard to see, but digital down markers at @FootballAU spring game. SEC moving 2 these?” … Virginia Tech has an orange chrome helmet. Here’s what it looks like when the paint comes off (nice spot by Clark Ruhland). … The South Carolina Gamecocks helmet has a Palmetto helmet bumper (from Daren Stoltzfus). And here is a look at the Gamecocks uni combos for 2016 (from Andy Shain). Also note it looks like the ‘cocks are adding a matte black helmet (screengrab by Andy Shain). … Pretty cool field design for Auburn’s Spring Game (from Griffin Smith). … Did Clemson mistakenly leak new 2016 football uniforms? Here’s More on that. Hmm. Those screen grabs look awfully similar to mine — only mine were posted hours earlier. Be nice if people credited you when they steal your shit (like Andrew Lind was kind enough to do).
Hockey News: Yesterday we were treated to a color-vs-color (specifically gold vs. green (I know someone who would like that) in the Frozen Four Final (a matchup of Quinnipiac v. North Dakota). Here’s another look. From KLM and Mike Parlitsis respectively. … Yeah, that’s the ticket (from Nathan). … From an e-mail with the subject line “Zetterberg new era locker room hat redwing logo,” Peter Kuzdal notes, “I’ve noticed that the logo on Zetterberg’s normal game after hat is a little fatter than the real logo. It’s a new era hat but looks I guess chunkier. The wings feathers seems to be different and fuller.”
NBA/Basketball News: If you saw yesterday’s Uni Watch, I linked to an article on the ill-fated possible switch of the New Jersey Nets to the New Jersey Swamp Dragons (if you haven’t yet read it, it’s HIGHLY recommended). Well, it didn’t take long for someone to create new New Jersey Swamp Dragons unis for NBA 2K16 (from PCostello via Paul). … The Warriors are currently discussing the possibilities of a uniform that honors Oakland, where the city has played since 1961, according to multiple sources. … New uniforms for the Florida Gators’ women’s team? (from Kyle Baker). … The Bulls wore their red throwbacks at home against the Cavs last night (from Zach). … I have no context for this picture, but both teams have names below their uniform number (from Steve Tuck). To answer the tweeter’s question, I believe this happened in NBA All Star games (more than once) and Christmas unis as well.
Grab Bag: Here is a ‘mildly relevant article’ from the New York Times which comtains some information about State universities trademarking name of a state (nice find from Kurt Esposito, and also sent in by Ilana Hardesty). Who knew? … “This ad is from a 1970 Sports Illustrated,” says Bill Kellick. “Interesting to see a car company and a sock company teaming up on a promotion.” … UCLA men’s volleyball was rocking the men’s hoops jerseys last evening in Pauley Pavillion, like they did during the John Wooden years (h/t Johnny Rath).
That’s it for this weekend, folks. Enjoy the final round of the Masters today, the first full weekend of baseball, and all the soccer, hockey and basketball too! Thanks to Jimmer Vilk, the concepters and everyone who tweeted or submitted for the ticker. Everyone have a great Sunday, and I will catch you next weekend! Until then…
Follow me on Twitter @PhilHecken.
Peace.
“(S)top being so goddamn pedantic, people!”
— Rob S.
Basketball game with both teams wearing names below numbers: looks like Thunder-Kings matchup, with Thunder wearing alternates and Kings wearing Kansas City throwbacks.
Oh. Kings’ last game at ARCO/Sleep Train Arena. Did not stay awake for that one.
I will be looking for two things on the Mets 1986 throwback today:
1) Will they use nameplates? The throwbacks should have them for accuracy sake. I may be in the vast minority, but with pinstripes, I would prefer nameplates even on today’s uniforms.
2) What will the Mets script look like? Paul did a lede recently on the Phillies script getting bolder and he wondered if other teams have subtly changed, whether intentionally or not. The original Mets script was elegant. After 1992, the Mets went to a swoosh script, took away the swoosh, added a white outline, then dropshadows, slanted the M ridiculously, then removed the dropshadows and tried to fix the M. What we have now is IMO a link where the M is too far away, the script is too bold and the e is way too fat.
A great example of what I think is a truer Mets script is this link
1986 Mets Throwback is using nameplates…pleasantly surprised and it looks good. Have to get a better look at the script.
The script appears to be more faithful to the original script…another pleasant surprise. I implore the Mets to restore the script to the one on the throwback, adjusting for having a button down vs. the pullover throwback. These are an A+. The only things that would look better is more players in stirrups and front numbers more toward the center.
keith Hernandez says he doesn’t remember the blue collars, but that is what the 1986 original had.
Love love LOVE the cookies, jimmer! Shea was especially brilliant
Great job on the cookies Jim! Also, maybe these bleeding DBacks pants will shame more of them into wearing shorter pants with socks… nah, I doubt it.
So, while the Diamondbacks have worn a different uniform for every game this year so far, the Cubs have worn the same uniform for all five games. Interestingly, it’s not the standard road gray uniform, but the alternate blue shirt with the gray pants. When you wear the alternate all the time, when does it become the standard and the gray get called the alternate?
Back in the 1980s the Cubs only had a blue jersey for road games. I guess the 2016 team will only wear gray when playing against a home team that wears blue jerseys.
At least those Scranton/ Wilkes Barre Railriders uniforms have matching jerseys and pants, similar to what the Durham Bulls, Oklahoma City Dodgers and Bridgeport Bluefish have done in recent years. Nothing bugs me more than a mismatched jersey and pants color in baseball.
Since I believe the Cubs leave the jersey selection each game up to whatever the starting pitcher wants to wear, they could assemble their starters in spring training and have the group vote on which jerseys will be designated standard or alt, based on which they are likely to choose when they’re pitching. Of course it’d be way late for style guides and such. And starting rotations change during the season, but an “unofficial” primary/alt designation based on the vote might be helpful or kind of cool to see.
Hey Christian, cool Jazz secondary concept. Have you thought about putting that green line between the U and the J or shadowing it like the primary logo to make them stand out? The non-conventional shaped J gets kinda lost.
“The Minneapolis Lakers moved to Los Angeles where there are no lakes. The Oilers moved to Tennessee where there is no oil. The Jazz moved to Salt Lake City where they don’t allow music.”
The Jazz were one game away from an NBA title, and the Titans were one yard away.
Looks like the Yankees now have a reason for using the extra spacing between the second and third buttons to have more proper spacing between the “New” and the “York.” As previously noted, the Yankees made the buttons more evenly spaced on the home unis where there is no need for such a gap. In both cases, definite improvements for those who appreciate symmetry.
Hey Vilk, I’d eat that. One of my favorite guest spots ever. This was creative and hilarious. Thanks for making my day!
Great Jazz secondary! One tweak I’d have suggested was perhaps truncating the green line so it wouldn’t extent past the U into the J, but after reading another comment, I thought about perhaps removing the green line from the left side and a) placing it on the right side of the U, b) put it on the right side of the J, or c) have it on both the U and the J. Your concept is so clever, the team should buy it from you.
Just for fun, I whipped up my tweaks. I hope you are not offended, but I just wanted to see what alterations would look like. Now, I noticed that my “Utah” logo is just awful once I zoom out and look it from afar, but just wanted to play with it, you know?
link
Here’s a better “Utah,” I hope.
link
Cookie Cutter Cookies – insane! But even more insane with a grommet.
1986 jerseys look great. Pants, not so much; racing stripes don’t look good on pajama pants, all the way down to shoetops.
I gather the stuffed animal for Riverfront Stadium is supposed to be Marge Schott’s dog? Funny
Here is a ‘mildly relevant article’ from the New York Times which comtains some information about State universities trademarking name of a state (nice find from Kurt Esposito, and also sent in by Ilana Hardesty). Who knew?
Residents of Ohio have known about that for close to 20 years.
link
link
I’m watching the Mets game now, and it looks like the Mets batboys wear 86 for these special uniforms. What is it normally, double zero?
It is now BB…but in 1986, link
You can also see on Gary Carter in that photo, in 1986 most of the numeral 8’s, front and back, were upside down. Probably done by Goodman, who made the jerseys that year.
Here are more examples:
link
link
If two people take the same screenshot, it will look identical.
Lady Gators, not Gator Ladies.
Sounds like something you’d see at a circus.
Can someone get a picture of the SF Giants Hunter Pence from today’s game? Not sure if I like the socks up look, but it sure is better than the pajama look!
@Wheels: Yes, the dog is playing the part of Schotzie.
Thanks, everyone, for the nice comments. I’ll definitely be baking more of those in the future.
Great tweaks today! The only thing I’d add to the Diamonbacks tweak: outline everything in teal.
I love the Father’s Day Jerseys and hats, but I’m a huge sucker for Dark Grey and Light blue. Just ask my wife! They were our wedding colors last year!