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MLB Father’s Day Recap

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Yesterday was Father’s Day, so MLB teams wear blue caps and accessories, including undersleeves, wristbands, socks, and more.

The accessories were a bit inconsistent. Let’s take the two teams shown above — the A’s and Angels. The A’s wore blue belts, but the Angels wore their regular red belts:

It mostly looked ridiculous, but whaddaya gonna do.

In addition, several catchers wore light-blue catching gear:

(That last photo, incidentally, shows Rockies catcher Tom Murphy wearing comic book-themed gear. Cubs catcher Wilson Contreras had the same thing. I have no idea what that was about or what it had to do with Father’s Day. Anyone..?)

The umpires also wore blue caps and accessories. It looked okay on the umps who were wearing blue jerseys, but not so good on the ones wearing black jerseys:

Only one more uni-related holiday to go, thankfully. Oh, and Players Weekend. Sigh.

(My thanks to Mike Chamernik, Mike McMunn, and Brad DeMay for the catcher’s gear pics.)

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No word on the exit velocity: Quite a scene yesterday in Milwaukee, as Brewers reliever Adrian Houser vomited behind the mound — twice! — and still kept pitching (although not particularly well). Full details here.

Pitchers lose their lunch more often than you might think. Indians reliever Chris Perez did it after getting the final out in a 2012 game; Dodgers pitcher Tim Crews did it in 1988; a college pitcher did it just last month; and Twins reliever Ryan O’Rourke does it before most of his appearances (which admittedly isn’t the same as doing it on the field, but still). I also recall a pitcher doing it around 2007 or ’08 — a Dodger, I think — but I can’t seem to find any evidence of that.

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Overseas cap sighting: This is Theo, the two-year-old son of Uni Watch reader James MacNeil. They live in Broome, Western Australia. Theo, whose favorite team is the West Coast Eagles, looks sharp in his new Uni Watch cap, wouldn’t you agree?

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Culinary Corner: This past weekend featured some epic cooking and eating. It began on Friday night, when I attended a beefsteak at the home of a chef named Josh Stokes. He had catered the beefsteak a few months back at the Museum of Food and Drink, where I was a featured “guest expert” speaker, and he was mortified when they ran out of beef. So he decided to hold a beefsteak at his own house with waaaaay more beef than his guests could possibly eat.

It was a great time — massive amounts of meat, plenty of beer, lots of interesting new people to meet, and an incredible wood-burning grill. Check this out (for all photos, you can click to enlarge):

It was quite a scene. We stumbled home in a protein-induced stupor.

The next day — the very next day, people! — the Tugboat Captain’s brother and sis-in-law were in town for a visit, so we decided to celebrate by making a paella on the grill, using the paella pan that I’d found on the street on my birthday two years ago. I’ve shared this method on the site before, but it’s worth repeating because it’s so much fun:

1. First we lightly grilled some chicken thighs (not enough to cook them all the way through) and set them aside.

2. We put some olive oil in the paella pan, heated it on the grill, and added some chopped onions and roasted red peppers:

3. When the onions and peppers were browned, we added three cups of arborio rice:

4. Then we took the partially cooked chicken thighs and added them to the pan:

5. Before we took everything out to the grill, the Captain made some cooking liquid, which consisted of garlic, tomato paste, smoked paprika, saffron, clam juice, chicken stock, and dry sherry. We now poured that liquid into the pan:

6. We added a pound of shrimps that had been marinating in garlic and smoked paprika, along with a dozen clams:

7. The next step would normally be to add chopped chorizo, but the Captain’s brother has a rule about not eating animals that are smarter than his cat, so we substituted chicken andouille:

8. The final ingredient is a scattering of peas:

9. We let everything cook until the liquid was fully absorbed by the rice and the a nice crust had developed on the bottom. Here I am with the finished dish, flanked by the Captain’s brother and sis-in-law:

We had plenty of leftover paella, which we used for a picnic in Prospect Park yesterday afternoon:

And that, my friends, is the recipe for a sensational weekend of eating and socializing. Hope your weekend was every bit as tasty and fun.

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The Ticker
By Jamie Rathjen

Baseball News: Yankees manager Aaron Boone wears No. 17. But for yesterday’s Old Timers’ Day festivities, he wore the No. 19 he had worn as a player (from Eric Hoey). … Reader Greg Brown‘s son graduated from high school wearing New York Giants stirrups, which were also the school’s colors, sourced several years ago from Uni Watch stirrups dealer Comrade Robert Marshall. … Austin Gillis noticed that somewhere in the SunTrust Field concourse is a banner featuring former Braves pitcher John Sain wearing the team’s 1945 one-year-only pinstriped uniform. “Hadn’t seen that uniform depicted much in Braves archives,” he says. … Vintage baseball: the 1879 Brown University team (from Bud Brooks). … Here’s a weird one: Check out this footage from a 1956 Giants/Indians exhibition game. It looks like the infield dirt is grey or even blue — yet the mound and other dirt areas are the normal brown, so it doesn’t appear to be a film-processing issue. Anyone know more? (From Bob Gassel.) … An architecture student at Kent State specializes in making very intricate models of ballparks (from Jason Hillyer).

CFL News: Uni-notables from the first week of the CFL season, all from Wade Heidt: The Montréal Alouettes wore the first of their throwback helmet designs for each month of the season. … The Hamilton Tiger-Cats wore alternate white pants, which now feature numbers at the right hip. Another picture here (from Moe Khan). … The Ticats’ opponents, the Calgary Stampeders, added the team name to the back bumper of their helmets.

Soccer News: New kits for Premier League Southampton (first kit and second kit), the Scottish Premiership’s St. Mirren (first shirt and second kit) and Heart of Midlothian (first and goalkeeper), the English Championship’s Nottingham Forest (first), the Scottish Championship’s Dunfermline Athletic (first and second), German 2. Bundesliga team Arminia Bielefeld (first and second), and Russian team FC Rostov (from left to right: goalkeeper, first, third, second, and goalkeeper), the last from Josh Hinton. … At the World Cup, Argentina and Iceland both changed on Saturday. … The referee in the same game, Poland’s Szymon Marciniak, had his patches attached with staples (from @IV159QZ). … A fan of the South Korean team has made a South Korean flag out of pieces of replica jerseys. Jerseys from 31 of the 32 World Cup teams are incorporated into the flag (from our own Anthony Emerson). … New second kit for the Scottish Premiership’s Aberdeen. … Back to Josh from here until the end: Arsenal’s third shirt has appeared. … Here’s a breakdown of the boot manufacturers present at the World Cup. … Denmark striker Yussuf Poulsen is wearing his middle name at the tournament, something he doesn’t do when playing for RB Leipzig. … The World Cup’s man-of-the-match award has Budweiser as an advertiser, so Egypt goalkeeper Mohamed El-Shenawy declined to accept it owing to Islam’s prohibition of alcohol. … From several readers: Some of Germany’s world champion patches were falling off yesterday.

Grab Bag: Porsche ran two 911 RSRs with throwback liveries in the LMGTE Pro class at this weekend’s 24 Hours of Le Mans (from Dave Kottler). Here are more pictures; two of the drivers of the “Pink Pig” car, Laurens Vanthoor and Michael Christensen, had matching helmets (from John Annino). … Two players on the Western Lacrosse Association’s New Westminster (B.C.) Salmonbellies have been wearing an older away uniform, distinguished by an “NW” shoulder patch (from Wade Heidt). … Australia cricketers Jhye and Kane Richardson (not related) and Shaun Marsh (who has a brother on the team) all wore double-decker FNOBs during Saturday’s One Day International against England (from Chris Roberts). … New blue and red kits — more specifically, gold was removed from the side striping — debuted for U.S. women’s field hockey in a five-game series against Argentina. … Here’s a detailed look at the design history of Lowell, Mass., including some of the local sports teams.

 
  
 
Comments (59)

    From the “losing your lunch” archives, I recall Drew Pearson of the Cowboys losing it on the field vs Cleveland. It was a Monday night games as well. I don’t know about basketball or hockey, but I am sure it’s happened.

    Oh, sure, it’s common in other sports, which have much higher rates of exertion than baseball. Let’s please stick to baseball and not turn the site into a vomitorium today. Thanks!

    For the NHL, a ref puked at some point. I’m not sure about players but I’m sure it’s happened.
    link

    That paella looks amazing. Might be on my to-do list if I get some time this summer.

    It’s so much fun to make!

    It’s based on this:
    link

    The actual recipe, with all the quantities and times, is behind a paywall, but you can click on the “Watch Every Step” link near the top to get a very helpful video that states all the info you’ll need. We’ve modified it a bit, but you can make your own decisions about that.

    The one game all year when the Rays’ Smurf shirts would have looked good, and they didn’t wear them. Oy.

    I was sent an image of a Giants player with the same comic book look. It was an Under Armour pair of cleats. Maybe it was that company’s take at Father’s Day? Sorry I don’t have a link to the image or who wore them. It appeared to be a promo shot.

    Here is the link to the photo off of the Giants Facebook page. It does not say who is wearing them.

    link

    Bryce Harper shared some photos of his comic-book UA cleats for Sunday. A close-up revealed some text that said “My Dad is my hero”. I think UA was going for a comic book superhero motif with the hero Dad angle.

    Teams that normally wear blue, and particularly teams that historically worn different shades of blue, look great with this Father’s Day promotion. I’d love to see my Cubs make an alternate home uniform with this color.

    Totally agree, we would look really good in powder blue. Most blue teams would. What bothers me more than anything about the holiday promos is the red teams wearing pink accents.

    I was thinking the light blue Cubbies hat would be gorgeous with the late 70’s-era light blue road unis.

    “This is Theo, [he] looks sharp in his new Uni Watch cap, wouldn’t you agree?”

    That lid is dope, Yo!!

    There’s another YouTube video by the same person with footage of the Kansas City Athletics playing the Yankees and Indians at Kansas City Municipal Stadium in 1963.
    link

    Lots of interesting things in the video:
    00:25 – Nice striped stirrups on the Indians manager (Birdie Tebbetts), and solid stirrups by Athletics manager (Eddie Lopat).
    00:27 – A creepy mechanical bunny (?) that spins and lifts up out of the ground behind home plate with a basket of extra baseballs on its head.
    01:39 – An Athletics player #29 with “TONY” on his back, standing in the on-deck circle swinging a bit. Turns out it is a young Tony LaRussa.
    01:40 – A lot of youngsters wearing uniforms with small numbers (in the stands behind LaRussa).
    02:50 – More great stirrup action on Yogi Berra… and a few seconds later with Mickey Mantle.
    03:13 – Grayish dirt at home plate with grass and then a brown colored dirt encircling that area.
    03:16 – More of that mechanical bunny basket holder with extra balls being loaded in by the Athletics crew.

    Thanks for pointing that out, Paul — missed Uni Watch reading that week while on vacation. Very cool — love old footage like this!

    Maybe I missed it somewhere, so was there ever an explanation to why the Fathers Day striped socks/stirrups did not match? They didn’t match anywhere that I saw…Detroit, Atlanta, even in the lede pictures. The RH sock was different than the LH sock, on everyone who wore socks.

    Maybe the most famous vommiter was Bill Russell. Thankfully it was in the locker room and not the court. He threw up before every game.
    “Russell’s intensity was unrelenting, as were his expectations of his teammates. He would get so worked up before games that he would vomit – explosively. The sound reassured his teammates. Havlicek called it ‘a tremendous sound, almost as loud as his laugh.’ And, said Havlicek, “It’s a welcome sound, too, because it means he’s keyed up for the game and around the locker room we grin and say, ‘Man, we’re going to be all right tonight’.”
    During one final playoff game against Philadelphia in the 1960s, the Celtics coach Red Auerbach hadn’t heard Russell throw up. Auerbach ordered the team off the court during warm-ups and wouldn’t let them back until Russell threw up.”

    The Cleveland vs Giants exhibition game looks like Burnett Field near Dallas. I couldn’t find mention in various sources for color in dirt. Film color could be culprit.

    That could be an explanation if all the dirt was off color, but that doesn’t seem to be the case here…the mound and some other areas are normal color.

    Agree that’s likely Burnett Field. I don’t think the color is film though because it appears there’s a very clear line where the color starts coming out of the home plate area. Is it possible it’s clay (which we have a lot of down here). I remember playing baseball as a kid on crushed white limestone so I know we didn’t always use dirt.

    I hope your new place has a grill, so we don’t miss out on these grill posts.

    Also, the last entry in your MLB ticker is a link to a story about David Resnik’s Jacob’s Field model. If any readers don’t know or remember, he was featured on this site in January

    link

    Alas, I will not have backyard access in the new apartment — or at least that’s the current situation. I’m hoping to negotiate for some outdoor cooking.

    I realize it was a slim pickins day yesterday, but nonetheless, Paul, you had the best uni of the entire post. I haven’t had one in years, but Murderburgers still rule (and in my mind, I’m still in my 20s or 30s, stopping in at the White Castle in Sunnyside on the way home from seeing bands. And that paella looked fantastic. (You had me at garlic …)

    Speaking at White Castle, I spent my first 50 years in Chicago and the midwest, where no condiments came on the sliders unless you asked for them. Imagine my surprise when I moved out east to find ketchup being a default topping.

    I don’t remember ever getting ketchup on a White Castle slider, and almost all of them have been in the NYC metro area. Then again, I’m rarely sober when I eat them, so….

    Thanks. As I just mentioned in another thread, I received it as a gift in 1989. Pretty threadbare now, but still a favorite!

    1989? You rule! I’m going to show this to my wife the next time she gripes about me wearing my ratty College World Series shirt from 1993. ;)

    Maybe the infield and base paths were built from clay … which does have that bluish color in some places.

    The way the Blue dirt in the Giants/Indians game behaves, I’d guess it’s track cinders. Why it was used? No idea.

    Proofreading: in the soccer section of the ticker, the flag is made out of pieces, not about of pieces.

    Yesterday’s US Open champion Brooks Koepka is a somewhat rare breed of golfer: he doesn’t have a club manufacturer contract. He wears Nike apparel but, because Nike no longer makes golf clubs, has a very mixed bag:

    TaylorMade driver and fairway wood, Nike driving irons, Mizuno irons, Vokey (Titleist) wedges, Scottie Cameron putter, and a Titleist ball.

    I always root for guys who play mixed bags. It kind of feels more authentic, like they’re playing the clubs that they like and that work for them instead of the clubs that their sponsor wants them to sell. I’m not certain how true that really is, especially since the guys with full-bag deals have all their clubs custom made anyways, but it’s a simple narrative that gives me a rooting interest.

    The current Masters champ, Patrick Reed, also doesn’t have a full-bag deal, but he does have some sort of contract with Callaway. He plays a few non-Callaway clubs though, like his Ping driver.

    Great info, Nate — thanks!

    I’ve never thought about this before, but does the term “mixed bag” derive from golf?? (Some quick googling is inconclusive.)

    I always thought it referred to assorted nuts. Then again, those usually come in a can. Hmmm.

    I really would like to see the Calgary Stampeders find more ways to add their team name to their uniforms. Pants, jerseys, and helmet bumpers just isn’t enough.

    Stamps had the logo in the back bumper for a number of years:

    link

    Not a fan of team name on the pants either.

    Notable that the Hamilton Tiger-Cats are the only team in the league with plain front and back helmet bumpers. They are just black with no text.

    Paul…

    Today my friend, you used my favorite word in the English language.. shrimps.. I don’t know why I like it so much.. every time I see it, it makes me happy.. again, there is zero rhyme or reason behind why it give me joy… in fact, I am allergic to shellfish, so while your paella looks spectacular, I would be dead by the time I got to the hospital… but the word shrimps… love it…

    Nice!

    I alway love seeing “shrimps” on a menu. “Shrimp” is fine, but “shrimps” is a party! It sounds more festive, more playful, just MORE! It’s like there’s an implied exclamation point attached to the word. Shrimps!

    Agreed … shrimps seems more playful, it almost draws your attention in a bit, since most people use ‘shrimp’ … it’s almost ‘did they really just put an ‘s’ on that word? I gotta find out why.

    On Saturday, a Phillies fan wore a top hat and monocle when Phillies pitcher “SER”anthony Dominguez was on the mound. link

    Paul,

    The Purple Amnesty hat arrived today. Can’t begin to say how pleased I am with the end result! Seeing it in person, I think the white stitching down the front actually compliments the look better than the original design, and I’m beyond pleased to find out the mesh white backing of the trucker cap is actually a soft mesh and not a harder, stiff plastic.

    Glad the end result came out good, in spite of the problems and the headache along the way.

    Thanks!

    I was watching the Rockies game on Sunday while at work so I wasn’t able to catch the whole conversation, but I do recall the announcing crew on ATT Sports Net that covers the Rockies say the equipment manager made the team blue belts. I am assuming this is true for the other teams that wore blue belts, and why some teams didn’t wear blue belts.

    Re: the ticker item about Porsche at LeMans. It was humorous listening to the broadcasters (on both Radio LeMans and the world TV feed) try to describe the blue and white livery without using the advertiser’s actual name…since it’s a tobacco product and such reference is banned.

    Most resigned attempt was “a sponsor {sic} that starts with ‘R’ and ends with ‘othmans.'”

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