By Phil Hecken
Follow @PhilHecken
As you brace yourselves wait with bated breath for Major League Baseball to break out their annual America Fuck Yeah! “Stars & Stripes” jerseys and caps to celebrate America’s birthday tomorrow — you won’t have to even wait until tomorrow! That’s right, tonight the Miami Marlins and Atlanta Braves will be breaking out the patriotic gear a day early, as the two teams will meet up on an active military institution (Fort Bragg). And nothing screams “AMERICA” more than celebrating the 4th of July early, and doing so at an army base.
No. Seriously. That’s about as American as well, baseball, hot dogs (not a sandwich, btw), apple pie and Chevrolet.
They’ll play the game tonight, in front of a national TV audience on ESPN, for the Sunday Night Baseball game. According to this article, “The Atlanta Braves and Miami Marlins will be sporting “Stars and Stripes’’ uniforms for the first professional sports game to be played on an active military installation.” Well, damn. I know college teams have played games on aircraft carriers before, but I didn’t realize this was the first professional sporting event to be played on a military base. How has it taken so long?
Here’s a bit of a twist though: because the Braves and Marlins are playing on a Sunday (and the day is coincidentally not the Fourth of July), they will get wear the Stars & Stripes unis not once, but twice. The Braves will be the “home” team tonight, and so will be wearing white jerseys and a special blue/white cap (for all images below, you can click to enlarge)…
…while the Marlins will be wearing a gray top with a special red/white cap:
Now, because MLB never plays a “wraparound” schedule on Monday holidays, both the Marlins and Braves will face different opponents on Monday…and they will get to wear the S&S gear again. The Marlins will head up to New York to play the Mets and wear the red/white caps & gray tops for a second day. However, the Braves will be traveling to Philly, and as such, will be getting a second S&S jersey to wear there. It will be gray.
Now, unless I’m working on incorrect information, I believe this is the first time a team will wear the S&S jersey both on the road and at home in a single season.
Of course, MLB has been doing something “special” for Independence Day for more than a decade, as teams began wearing flag patches in the early 2000s (in 2002, to be precise, following the 9/11/01 attacks), and have been doing special caps for the past 9 or so years. Both the caps and jerseys are new for 2016. As you can see from the above, caps will be two color (either blue or red with a white front panel — the choice of color is up to the team) with a sublimated “star” design on a mesh panel.
Let’s take a look at a few caps (click to see enlarged detail):
All teams will have the stars mesh pattern, except of course, the Toronto Blue Jays, who will be sporting special America caps with maple leaf patterns.
Pretty standard fare on the caps — teams don’t have too much choice but for the color.
Now…the jerseys. We’ve of course seen these earlier when MLB announced the unis for Mom’s Day, Memorial Day, Father’s Day, the ASG BP jerseys, and the 4th of July unis. Thankfully, we’re now almost done with the forced specialty jerseys — and actually, I’m very much looking forward to the All Star Game BP tops — but tomorrow’s (and tonight’s for the Braves & Marlins) will again have special patterns in the scripts and wordmarks, and those wordmarks/scripts will be rendered in either red or blue.
Unlike the previous three holiday jerseys, when almost all teams wore gray or white (the exceptions being the Padres, who wore their Sunday camo for both Mother’s and Father’s Days, and the Angels, who wore red tops for Father’s Day), many teams this year will be wearing a colored top. You can see the full gallery here.
A few interesting ones stick out.
The Phillies will be wearing a solid white(ish/cream) jersey with blue trim, but their cap will be red/white. That’s a rather odd pairing (especially if you look at the gallery showing most teams’ trim matching their predominate color caps. The Blue Jays, with their red/white caps, will be wearing a royal blue jersey. That jersey will feature both a Canadian and American flag, on opposite sleeves.
That is the only jersey which doesn’t get the red/navy treatment, and their wordmark is solid white. So, they’re forced to wear a special cap (albeit with sublimated maple leaves on the mesh panel) and an American flag…but their jersey is otherwise unaffected. You’ll recall their Mother’s and Father’s day uniforms were identical in treatment to their American counterparts, although their camo pattern was different for the Memorial Day costume. Granted, the Jays just wore special red jerseys and caps for Canada Day (as they should), but here they’re kinda forced to half-ass it for America’s birthday.
Other teams are going with either navy or red jerseys.
I really LIKE the Reds’ red jersey with navy headspoon piping — but what the hell is with the background on the Wishbone C? Why is it gray? Looks incredibly stupid. They are the only team who gets this treatment.
As always, the Indians’ Chief Wahoo remains in his “natural” flesh color — which in this instance matches the uniform.
The patterned scripts/wordmarks in either red or blue, and on white or gray unforms, are outlined in the opposite color (most are patterned red outlined in blue). On color jerseys, the wordmark/script is in the opposite color from the jersey and outlined in white/gray. The wordmarks/scripts themselves are rendered with a “stars” pattern similar to those on the caps. It seems to mimic the mesh pattern seen on the caps.
Caps will have the MLB batterman logo rendered in stars and stripes.
Jerseys will the same pattern for their MLB patch, only rendered in the “flex” fabric. Team logos will be rendered in navy and red, and all teams, including the Blue Jays, will have the American flag patch on the right sleeve.
Enjoy the games everyone.
Leo’s World
“Leo’s World” is a new, semi-recurring feature here on Uni Watch weekends, featuring some excellent uni-related finds from Leo Strawn, Jr.. Each installment will feature a new, unique or just very cool collection of related uniform observations and research. You can click most images below to enlarge. — PH
Familiar Players in Unfamiliar Uniforms, v 1.0
By Leo Strawn, Jr.
We’re all familiar with those odd photos of our favorite players either just starting or finishing out their careers in unfamiliar uniforms. Rather than just post a bunch of photos, I thought it would be fun to let readers guess who these legends are. Since it’s baseball season, these are all baseball greats.
I’ll take it easy on you…this time! The sixth one might make you scratch your head, though.
Ready? No Googling”¦
1. Everyone should know this PCL San Francisco Seals star.
2 & 3. Can you name this duo who suited up for the Boston Red Sox?
4. What famous player is wearing this Buffalo Bisons uniform?
5. Oh, what might have been for the Cleveland Indians.
6. What baseball legend is pictured here in a Pittsburgh Pirates uniform? (Gotta love the spelling on that jersey: Pittsburg!)
Extra point if you know why #2 & #3 are wearing Red Sox uniforms.
Answers:
How did you do?
Till next time…
Cheers!
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.
Just one set today, since it’s timely, and it comes from Diego Yanez , with a couple EURO2016 tweaks:
For the upcoming semi-final between Wales and Portugal I redesigned their current kits with a different brand.
== Diego Yanez
UW’s Friday Flashback
In case you missed it Friday, with Wimbledon now taking place across the pond, Paul’s weekly Friday Flashback piece on ESPN takes a look at players who’ve run afoul of Wimbledon’s notorious dress code (including Anne White in 1985, pictured here).
Check out the Friday Flashback here.
Enjoy!
AMERICA!
Some Words of Wisdom…
…from JPP
Uni Watch News Ticker
Baseball News: The Vermont Lake Monsters will be wearing this specialty jersey this coming Friday to “raise Cancer Awareness” (from OT Sports). If you look at all the different ribbons on the sleeves, I hope they have every cancer for which there is a ribbon covered. … Those same Lake Monsters will be wearing Star Trek-themed jerseys on Saturday, July 9th (also from OT Sports). … “Watched Cishek of the Mariners over the last couple of nights, looking for exactly when the stirrup on his left leg comes undone,” says Tim Dunn. “Two night average on his stirrup popping out is about pitch 8. It looks like he puts quite a bit a torque when he lands, causing the stirrup to slide out over his heel and out of the shoe. Here’s the last out of (Friday) night’s game. The offending stirrup had popped out about a pitch or so earlier.” … ‘Murica: Here’s an umpire with an American flag ball bag at a legion baseball tournament (from Jackson White). … Cool custom bat and sneakers for Megan Brown. … Here’s a look at the front and back of 4th of July jerseys & hats for the Bradenton Marauders (from Justin Wagner). … For the rest of the season, the York Revolution will don patches in memory of Louis Appell Jr., the businessman and philanthropist who played a key role in helping fund construction of the Revs’ baseball stadium in downtown York. … Here’s and interesting stars and stripes-twist uniform for the Kane City Cougary (h/t Christopher Overholt). … Check out these “Awesome #TrackTown16 jerseys at @EugeneEmeralds for US track and field Olympic trials” (from Joshua Neyhart).
NFL/College/CFL Football News: Hmmmm — looks like something is not quite right here (from Clint Richardson). Good thing those two fan bases get along very well and probably won’t mind the mix up. … “I love the Toronto Argos white lids,” says Steve B. Creations, “but why do the decals sit so far back? Center them!”
Hockey News: Union College is introducing new home and road jerseys and two alternate uniforms, including this jersey that pays tribute to Nott Memorial. You can read more about that here.
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NBA News: Whoa! Check out this awesome Golden State Warriors birthday cake made for Lewis Joseph by his stepmother. Awesome!
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Soccer News: A couple from Josh Hinton: PSV have introduced new home and away kits, and Norwich City have released a new home kit, and it’s very, very yellow. … Tweeter Trayton Miller asks, “These are supposedly the new Tottenham away kits. What do you call these stripes? Reverse NW?” … Even more reveals from Josh Hinton: Wolfsburg leaked home and away; BOCA (Argentina) Juniors leaked; and, Glagbach (Bundesliga) away revealed. … Still more from Josh: Sporting Lisbon (Portugal); West Brom (EPL) away kit; Athletic Bilbao home; and, Benfica have new home and away kits. … From Alex Buergey: Southampton FC new kits here and here.
Grab Bag: This Dale Earnhardt-themed helmet is one of many unique designs for Tony Stewart at Daytona (from Griffin Smith). Here’s a bit more on that. … “Didn’t know Under Armour made yarmulkahs (sic)” says Mike Lopez. That makes two of us. … Carlton player Jack Silvagni made his AFL debut against Collingwood this weekend wearing a long sleeve jersey (from Graham Clayton).
And that’s going to do it for today. Everyone have a great (and safe!) Fourth of July. I’ll be back next weekend, but until then…
Follow me on Twitter @PhilHecken
Peace.
“Just like the illegal fireworks display in my neighborhood gets louder each year, and is no longer restricted to the 4th. I swear”¦between the goofball uniforms, the fireworks yahoos and the obligatory Sousa music you hear on TV or in concert”¦I’m liking this holiday less and less each year.”
— Jimmer “Get Off My Lawn” Vilk
Sandwich.
Yes…I mean, if a hot dog is not a sandwich, what is it?
Enough.
There was one day with a long, sufficiently-interesting conversation about the implications of sandwichness, but now it’s become annoying.
I agree. Come on, Phil, give up your stubborn denial of the truth already.
Sorry Burghfan. I’ve yet to weigh in.
When your hands touch bread, and said bread has stuff in the middle, it’s a sandwich.
Or we can all live by what the late great D. Noon once said.
“A sandwich is whatever we make it to be.”
Makes sense that it’s a sandwich since hot dogs are nothing but miniature bologna.
Jimmer’s quote of the day has me wondering, Where is this magical place where he hears Sousa marches on Independence Day? When I was a wee tot in Iowa, the Fourth meant fireworks accompanied by the local orchestra playing Sousa, capped with Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture. Nowadays, ballpark or civic fireworks are accompanied by any damn thing except Sousa – mostly crappy pop anthems like Lee Greenwood crawing about he he would stand up and fight for America. Whereas Sousa was an actual Marine who composed his marches for the Corps. In late June, I change my ringtone over to the Stars & Stripes Forever because that’s about the only way I can count on hearing Sousa on the Fourth.
“Where is this magical place where he hears Sousa marches on Independence Day?”
~~~
Here, probably.
Lee Greenwood is country, not pop! Thank you very much.
Ah… labels…
Making America great again.
THIS
the Fourth meant fireworks accompanied by the local orchestra playing Sousa, capped with Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture.
Still the same here. Between the orchestra and a slew of cheesy commercials using Sousa, I’ve had my fill. Just give me colonial fife and drum music whilst I eat my hot dog sandwich with A1 sauce.
True story:
Abe Lincoln invented A-1 sauce using a combination of maple syrup he’d stolen from a Pilgrim, and the blood and semen from a bear he’d killed with an AR-15.
Haha, the best part is A-1 isn’t even an American invention, it’s from the U.K. Although hot dogs are, kind of.
WHILE WALKING TO THE LIBRARY IN 10 FEET OF SNOW!
#GodBless PhilHecken!!
Ah, there you go. I don’t watch much TV at the moment other than ballgames, so I’m not seeing many commercials. Well, obviously I’m seeing plenty of commercials, but like the same three ads over and over again. Not much variety during Brewers broadcasts. Still, I don’t remember ever seeing a commercial with a Sousa march, other than car dealership ads. I’d be totally down with seeing more ads with patriotic march soundtracks.
Like Father’s Day, no tomahawks for the Braves. Supports my completely unfounded theory that the team will continue to phase out the tomahawk as they make the move to Suntrust Field. They’re even handing out stickers without the tomahawk.
As I was reading today’s post with all the S&S caps and jerseys, my dog came up to the screen and growled. Then my wife said “oh no, don’t get HIM interested in uniforms!”
With all due respect to your wife, please allow your dog to be part of the Uni Watch family. I had a similar reaction to those S&S caps and jerseys.
It’s kind of funny when you consider they’d actually dropped the tomahawk in Milwaukee and didn’t wear it for their first 21 seasons in Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium.
Regarding the stripes on the Tottenham shirt , England sport teams have called them “irregular stripes/hoops” whether they are inverted or not. The rugby league team Hull FC have been calling them that since the 1800s as its their main design (usually as they have gone with a V across the chest in recent years”
*English
Agreed.
Sorry, I have to respectfully oppose your viewpoint
Hot Dogs have a specified bread based border, therefore are a sammich
I don’t want to get into the whole where do I stand on blank as a sandwich.
BUT I will say where I am on the trend that doesn’t seem to want to die – the infantilization of food words that has led to widespread use of sammy/sammich, eggs benny, brekkie, etc.
Great quiz. Got them all except the last player–did get the bonus question.
Nice job!
I promise they’ll get harder in the future. :)
I am okay with the S&S jerseys but those hats look like flowery gardening caps.
PS i didn’t know who Megan Brown is but is the gear she received due to this? link
Have a safe Independence Day. I prefer Independence Day, because calling it the 4th of July, makes it sound like any other day of the week.
Not a fan of baseball’s special unis for sure. But, they at least get the colors right, unlike US soccer.
You have to lodge that complaint with Nike.
Soccer ticker: Gladbach, not Glagbach
This has probably been touched on before, but aren’t all the American flags, on the MLB jerseys, on backwards. The union (stars) are always supposed to be in the upper left.
Not on the right sleeve.
“When worn on the right sleeve, it is considered proper to reverse the design so that the union is at the observer’s right to suggest that the flag is flying in the breeze as the wearer moves forward.”
Nevertheless, while that’s correct positioning of the flag on the right sleeve, the US Code also says, “No part of the flag should ever be used as a costume or athletic uniform. However, a flag patch may be affixed to the uniform of military personnel, firemen, policemen, and members of patriotic organizations.”
link
Ah, thanks. So when wore on a uniform as opposed to hung.
That rule was invented for the Army, by the Army, when it moved the flag patch from the left to the right sleeve, and some numbskull officer decided that soldiers are exactly the same as airplanes. For civilians, there is no such exception from the general rule that the union (the blue bit with the stars) should always be displayed in the upper left, because for a flag that is the place of honor. Simple question, really: Are you an airplane, or a member of the United States Army on active duty? If you can answer yes to either, then the flag on your right side should be displayed backwards. If you are not, then the flag on your right side should be displayed properly, stars on the left.
All of which is a moot point for sports uniforms, because the Flag Code and more than a century of flag etiquette strictly forbid the display of the flag in any form on an athletic uniform. There is no right way to display a flag patch on your right sleeve if you’re playing a game of baseball.
What if hotdogs are to sandwiches as Jordans are to Nikes? Jordans are technically Nikes and they definitely started out that way, but then they just became their own thing after a while without a great explanation as to how or why.
The Orioles wore their S&S hats twice in 2014. July 4th on the road with their black softball tops and again at home in September for the 200th anniversary of the Star Spangled Banner with special white jerseys that read “Baltimore.”.
Loney wearing orange sanis today under blue stirrups, except that the stirrups are on backwards, as I’m sure all Uniwatchers spotted. Like the combo, though.
I love the look, but … it just doesn’t go with the racing stripes. Loney also wore the orange sanis/blue rups with the Royal Giants uni last weekend, and that looked tremendous.
Could be inherent confirmation bias based the Athletics and Giants, but IMO, if the sanitary socks are not white, then the shoes need to be. Ergo, concurring, but for a reason separate and apart from the 86 look.
I know the editorial staff on this site doesn’t think much of the S&S caps and jerseys- but as a jersey collector I enjoy them (and so do a great many others considering Majestic has back ordered my S&S jerseys and I will be lucky to get it just in time for labor day).
But I like Phil’s assessment yesterday of the Canada Day Jays jersey (I have 7 different years’ versions). I would love to see MLB go with that type of design. Incorporate the US flag colors- without the flag inlay designs (and go with the neck spoon).
On another note I found something interesting- for the first time in a few years the S&S cap fabric is NOT NE’s Diamond Era. For that matter- neither are the All Star game hats. Both are made of the AC Performance material. Which is a disappointment because that AC Performance fabric holds the heat (and sweat stains) nicely. Anyone know what the change?
So I had a frozen chili dog from Meijers and in the instructions it said, “Remove sandwich from packaging.”
I don’t like the cap design this year, but I don’t have a big problem with the special uniforms.
I like the batterman logo with the Stars and Stripes.
Kudos to MLB, Braves and Marlins for playing at Fort Brag before the men and women away from their families to protect ours.
On the cancer jerseys, I see there are named printed on there. I don’t know if those are relatives of players, but that’s a nice, personal touch.
Have a nice, safe holiday, everyone!
I think they should more games for our boys and girls that are only open to them and their families. Baseball is a great sport to do that because they have 162 games, 81 at home. To make it up to the home teams- the teams that have to take the show on the road- can tack on a couple extra bucks to the other 80 home games.
I’m not demanding this- I am a conservative and a capitalist- but call it good corporate citizenship. Maybe they create some new fans with this simple act.
Anyone know why the Reds are going with the red jerseys for the 4th? Their usual jersey protocol is red jerseys for home day games. Tomorrow’s game is a day game, but it’s in Chicago. I can’t remember the last time (if ever) that the Reds wore red on the road.
They did at least once. I think 1985 in SF.
“On at least one occasion, the Reds wore an all-red version of the away uniform during a game in San Francisco against the Giants.”
link
Wiki entry says 1985 but I can’t find any real sources (e.g., the Reds) to confirm the date. Pretty sure it was a long losing streak and they decided to leave on the BP jerseys to try and break the spell, IIRC.
In July 2013 the Reds played a “home” game in San Francisco as a makeup for a rainout in Cincinnati. The Giants wore road grays for the night game, while the Reds wore their red softball tops – which, as usual protocol, are only for home day games (except Opening Day, when the reds do wear the home whites).
I forgot about that one! A little different since it was a “home” game, but interesting nonetheless.
Thanks for the responses!
Pretty cool of JP-P to be willing to do a PSA about fireworks, always good to see somebody willing to take a bad situation and try to create something positive out of it.
Hope a lot of people see that and it makes a few of us think twice about putting ourselves and others in unnecessary risk.
There’s only one thing that comes to mind when I see all the… flag-inspired MLB uniforms. And that’s the theme song of Team America: World Police.
… yep.
AFL teams call their uniform tops ‘Guernseys,’ not jerseys.
Why not “Holsteins” or “Ayrshires”?
Because the category is “Channel islands”, not “kinds of cow”
Or, more commonly, “jumpers”.
Related: long sleeve guernseys used to be quite common but became increasingly rare – except for a few notable holdouts like James Hird – once the transition from wool to modern sports fibres started happening.
I know you like unusual mascots. Stopped in Brazosport, Tx recently to find the local high school is the “home of the mighty exporters”. I found this interesting.
Also, on the AFL player. Is it still a guernsey (not jersey) if it is long sleeves or does it then become a jersey?
Would be awesome if CLE could incorporate stars into Wahoo’s eyes.
Yes, because it’s not offensive enough as it is…