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Uni Watch

A Close Look at Team-Colored Neckties at Press Conferences

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For all photos, click to enlarge

In last Friday’s Ticker we had a mention of how newly acquired Mariners pitcher Yusei Kikuchi wore a Mariners-colored necktie to his introductory press conference. That Ticker item was based on a tweet from MLB.com writer Mike Petriello, who wrote, “I am very invested in players wearing team color ties in their first public appearances, and Kikuchi really nailed it here.”

That seemed like a fun topic that I’d never thought of before, so I followed up with Petriello to learn more. He said he hadn’t made a point of tracking team-colored neckwear over the years — it’s just something he tends to notice when it happens. He provided a few additional examples and encouraged me to write about it if I wanted to, so here we are.

Some of the examples that follow are from Petriello, some are from my own photo research, and one is from Phil. This list is by no means exhaustive, but it suggests that at least some players and executives do put some thought into what they wear around their necks when facing the public for the first time as a new member of a team. Let’s start with the following players:

Shohei Ohtani, Angels


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Jacoby Ellsbury, Yankees


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Giancarlo Stanton, Yankees


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Alex Rodriguez, Yankees


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Jon Lester, Cubs (also note the uni-numbered French cuff)


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Paul Goldschmidt, Cardinals

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The team-colored neckwear phenomenon also extends to managers and GMs, as seen in the following examples:

Brody Van Wagenen, Mets


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Dave Martinez, Nationals


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Brandon Hyde, Orioles


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Mike Elias, Orioles


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Don Mattingly, Marlins

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Looking beyond the baseball diamond, we can see that team-colored ties can also be found at introductory pressers in the NFL:

Kirk Cousins, Vikings


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Jon Gruden, Raiders


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Steve Wilks, Cardinals

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After seeing all of those team-colored ties, it’s a little jarring to see someone with non-team-colored neckwear — like, say, Robinson Canó:

What if you were joining a new team and being publicly introduced — would you try to wear a team-colored tie?

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CFB title game recap: Not much uni-notable activity in last night’s national championship game between Clemson and Alabama, but here are two tidbits:

• All four of Alabama’s senior captains wore SEC “Graduate” patches.

• This was the fourth consecutive ’Bama/Clemson game in which the team wearing white — in other words, the lower-seeded team — won: Alabama in 2016, Clemson in 2017, Alabama in 2018 and now Clemson in 2019.

(My thanks to John Muir and Trey Volk for those two items.)

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Click to enlarge

Collector’s Corner
By Brinke Guthrie

The NFL playoffs are underway, so today we’re focusing on this season’s postseason class, starting with the Chargers. That assortment of Chargers merch shown above includes this youth football helmet. In addition, we have the coolest jersey that has ever graced an NFL field, the Bolts’ early-1960s powder blue look (Mitchell & Ness repro). And then there’s this No. 44 Chargers sweatshirt from Champion.

Now for the rest of this week’s picks:

• Close cover before striking! These L.A. Rams matchbooks have the team’s 1986 schedule printed on the inside cover.

• I remember this one: In the early 1970s, Adidas was the dominant shoe in the NFL. The Cowboys and defensive end George Andrie were featured on this Adidas poster.

• And I remember this guy! Tom Stincic was a linebacker for the Cowboys from 1969-1972. This jersey was made by Southland Athletic Company of Terrell, Texas (east of Big D). Am I reading that tag right — he wore a size L? An NFL linebacker?

• We’ve got a 1970s New Orleans Saints helmet plaque here, and it looks to be in perfect shape.

• This 1970s Seattle “Jr. Seahawks” binder/pen/bookmarks set from Sears was just the thing for back-to-school in the Pacific Northwest.

• This 1960s placemat features Colts stars Gino Marchetti and Bill Pellington.

• This 1960s Boston Patriots bobble includes their original 1960 season “hat + number” helmet design.

• The strange thing about this 1990s Baltimore Ravens Starter T-shirt is that someone approved this design and thought people would like it.

• Check out this 1970s cardboard cutout Riddell Cowboys helmet! One for the Chiefs, too.

• This 1960s Chase & Sanborn Eagles coffee mug includes the green helmet/white wings combo. (Note: Perhaps this mug is from 1969. Check out this excellent Todd Radom article on the Eagles’ helmets. He says in 1969 they wore green helmets at home and white on the road, which I never knew!)

• As far as portrait art goes, no one did it better than Nick Volpe. Dick Butkus, Bobby Douglass, and other Bears players are featured in this lot of Volpe portraits.

Seen an item on eBay that would be good for Collector’s Corner? Send any submissions here.

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Click to enlarge

KRC update: The latest installment of Key Ring Chronicles is about a miniature Aku Aku mask. It’s a really nice piece — check it out here.

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The Ticker
By Alex Hider

Baseball News: The Twins have announced they’re adding a “living wall” above the center field fence, which will double as the Target Field batter’s eye (from R. Scott Rogers). … BSmile shared this photo of a vintage Mr. and Mrs. Met bobblehead yesterday. Check out those felt pennants and caps! … Speaking of bobbleheads, the Lakewood BlueClaws will give away a bobblehead of current Phillies P (and former BlueClaw) Seranthony Domínguez dressed as a knight on April 18 (from John Cerone). … Good find on Antiques Roadshow: Former Yankee Wally Pipp’s dugout sweater and cleats, which were valued at $75,000 (also from BSmile). … Here are some of the looks that Kentucky will be sporting in 2019. … New cap for the University of Houston. … Oregon State’s championship ring has a glaring design error.

Football News: Bears K Cody Parkey used to play for the Eagles, but that’s probably not why this Philly fan wore his jersey to the Flyers game last night (from Matthew Alego). … The Goodyear Blimp has been inducted as an honorary member into the College Football Hall of Fame — the first non-player. I wonder how much Goodyear ponied up for that (from William F. Yurasko). … There’s some good uni talk in this Central Michigan podcast by Tim Chapman. 

Hockey News: Goalie Michael Hutchinson was traded from the Panthers to the Leafs late last month, but after appearing in two games with his new team, Hutchinson is still using his Panthers-colored gear (from Will Leslie). … While watching Game Six of the 2000 Stanley Cup Finals, Eric Schultz  spotted a Dallas Stars player with a strange facemask. … Sesame Street’s Ernie wore some sweet Chuck Taylor skates when he suited up with the Blackhawks back in the day (from Griffin Smith). … The Hurricanes may be wearing Whalers jerseys these days, but what would Hartford’s logo look like in ’Canes colors? (From ACC Tracker.)

NBA News: Warriors PG Steph Curry, who publicly questioned the legitimacy of the moon landing about a month ago, has now made up for it somewhat by releasing a “Moon Landing” colorway of his sneakers, with proceeds going to STEM education initiatives in the Bay Area (from Mike Chamernik). … Couple of number updates from Etienne Catalan: New Cavs PG Cameron Payne will wear No. 3 and new Suns F Quincy Acy will wear No. 4. … The Mavs gave away golf towels modeled after their BFBS uniforms at last night’s game (from Randy Peterson).

College Hoops News: A Columbus brewery is partnering with Ringer staffer and former Ohio State walk-on Mark Titus to come up with a commemorative brew for the 10th anniversary of Titus’ blog, Club Trillion (from Walt Keys). … Check out the Old English font on these late-’50s Virginia jerseys, sported here by Bob Mortell, who recently passed away (from Chad Dotson).

Soccer News: Mexican team Pumas officially unveiled their third uniforms yesterday (from Ed Zelaski). … Maccabi Tel Aviv FC’s kits will now be made by Fila (from Josh Hinton). … Also from Josh: AS Roma’s new third kit has leaked.

Grab Bag: We’ve shared this story before, but it’s worth sharing again: Jim Thorpe wore two different shoes — that were different sizes! — and still won two gold medals at the 1912 Olympics (from Kurt Esposito). … Fascinating silent video from 1923 that shows 1,250 men swaying, marching and walking around the then newly built Wembley Stadium to test its stability (from Mark Coale). … A high school basketball team in northeast Ohio wears candy-striped warmup pants, but also poaches Miami University’s logo (from Mason Rozycki). … Not sure when this game was played, but it was an eyesore: Spingarn High School (DC) and St. Frances High School (Maryland) went yellow-on-yellow (from Ben Becker). … It’s easy to forget how similar Kentucky and Houston’s logos are. As Ignacio Salazar found on Reddit, some think that Kentucky’s logo looks like someone sat on Houston’s logo. … Southwest Airlines is honoring the passing of its founder, Herb Kelleher, by allowing employees to wear old uniform shirts and sweatshirts the week of Jan. 7-13 (from Brinke).

 
  
 
Comments (52)

    It was a long time ago, and I’m sure you could find more recent examples, but Jason Giambi’s shirt/tie combo at his first Yankees press conference has always bothered me. link:

    the coolest jersey that has ever graced an NFL field, the Bolts’ early-1960s powder blue look

    [pedantry]That was gracing AFL fields at the time[/pedantry]

    College Hoops News: Check out the Old English font on these late ’50s Virginia jerseys, sported here by Bob Mortell, who recently passed away.

    The link is missing.

    Has there been a confirmation that the Rams are wearing their throwbacks this weekend? Gridiron database has the throwbacks listed for the game.
    At this point if the NFL is going to grant them the exemption to wear the throwbacks extra times in the regular season, and also in the playoffs, why not just let them go throwback, both blue and white, full time until they make their official uniform change when they move into the new stadium?

    The blue throwbacks were already in the Rams’ uniform rotation (and hence, in the retail pipeline), hence they’ve merely been de facto re-designated as a primary. The white throwback (viz., the jersey they wore in Super Bowls XIV and XXXIV), is not.

    The Stars player with the goofy facemask is Blake Sloan. My guess is that he had some kind of injury on the left side of this face, hence the extra protection there.

    link

    Can think of a few other examples of team-colored ties outside of baseball, mostly on coaches:

    -Tony Bennett used to wear an orange tie semi-frequently, but stopped wearing ties this season.
    -In football, Miami’s Al Golden used to wear orange and green stripes.

    Not as many soccer coaches wear ties anymore, but when they do they’ll often be team-colored (and team-branded as well). I like the look.

    Here he is with the Burnley FC crest in the bottom right corner:

    link

    It is my understanding that he wears this for most interviews and matches.

    NBA or NHL Coaches seem to wear ties a lot. It seems to me that when they’re on a national TV Feed they like to match their ties to team colors. Or some event.

    Here’s a USA Today article on NHL Coaches being superstitious about how they dress. A quote from that article “It’s well known in the hockey world that Toronto Maple Leafs coach Mike Babcock has worn his McGill University tie for important games, including two Canada Olympic gold medal-clinching contests.”

    link

    And then there’s that whole Don Cherry thing…
    link

    Sam Bradford joining the Eagles 2015 – grey suit, green and black tie, white shirt. Easy to do, but every team color included.

    link

    This article about Kirk Cousins signing with the Vikings opens with his wife ordering a purple & yellow tie from Amazon – link

    I recall another article about a college football coach who was being pursued by a few teams so his wife was scrambling to find ties in the right colors

    Orlondo Steinauer nailed the tie colour when he was introduced as the head coach of the Hamilton Tiger-Cats this off-season.

    link

    Has happened on more than one occasion with introduction of new CFL head coaches.

    Just off the top of my head. Remember 2016 when Chris Jones was introduced as Saskatchewan Roughriders head coach. Team president Craif Reynolds also wearing green tie for the occasion:

    link

    Jeff Tedford in 2015 when introduced as new head coach for the BC Lions:

    link

    New BC Lions head coach for 2019, Devone Claybrooks, looked to be rocking an orange tie too:

    link

    I’ve always assumed that the team provides them with the team-colored neckwear for the press conferences. I think it is always more interesting when the team has colors that don’t lend themselves to traditional suits-and-tie color schemes. Kirk Cousins with the Vikings, for example.

    See Bengals owner Mike Brown in a black-and-orange tie:

    link

    Also, I always thought Denny Crum’s red blazer was a bad fashion look, but necessary for the job as Louisville coach:

    link

    I work in public education. I have always worn a tie the same color(s) as the school where I was interviewing. My dad gave me the idea before my first interview believing it would give me a polished, prepared look that would stick with the administrator.

    “This was the fourth consecutive ’Bama/Clemson game” – Alabama won as the lower seeded team in 2018, but they played against Georgia in the championship game.

    Re: Collector’s Corner…
    I thought the ’69 Eagles wore the white helmets at home and the green on the road.

    I think you are correct, Chris. I can’t find a 1969 game action photo of the Eagles wearing white helmets with white shirts. Every one of them has a green jersey with the white helmets. At the least, it looks like they went for the contrast between helmet and jersey.

    The Marquette article is from four years ago, but the item in the Ticker makes it seem like this is a current thing. Please check the date of it. Cheatham now plays at Florida Gulf Coast University.

    link

    I don’t wear ties to work, but I usually will wear team color dress shirts or polo if one of my teams have a big game that day. IE when the Mets were in the 2015 World Series, I wore blue or orange shirts every day they played. Same if Bills play on MNF – will wear blue/red plaid shirt.

    College coaches seem to be the biggest adherents to the “school colored ties only” philosophy. And given how frequently many change jobs, they have to throw out an entire chunk of their wardrobe before their next job.

    Given the frequency, I suspect they just stuff the other color gear at the back of their closet. They’ll probably need it again sooner or later.

    Is it lighting, or has the NY on the Pipp sweater faded to purple over time?

    Amusing that the Mavs towel has the Uni Ad on it too.

    You are correct, Navy wool felt on these early sweaters and jerseys often fade to a purple colour. In more extreme cases they take on a light lavender hue.

    Thanks Waffle. I did not realize that they were felt. Interesting.

    And also amazing that they have lasted as long as they have.

    That silent video “test” is a hoot. I would hope it was moreso PR to prove the soundness of the stand than actually testing it to see if it would fail, even in the mid-1920s.

    “Alright, everyone sway!”

    [stand collapses, 1,250 men fall a painful distance]

    “Hmm, guess that test failed.”

    A few things today:
    – the M&N Chargers jersey is indeed beautiful. I have one that’s a few sizes too big for me. The label on the jersey is incorrectly marked as being a 1963 replica. The Chargers wore a darker shade that season.
    -love the Hurricanes/Whalers mock up!
    -I wish the Cowboys would go back to that number font on the Stincic jersey.

    Not a tie but I remember when Roger Clemens made a dramatic unannounced mid season return to the Yankees some years ago.Clemens wore a blue pinstripes suit clearly as a nod to the Yankee uniform. It was the memorable moment captured by radio announcer Suzyn Waldman screaming about “George’s box”.

    I was listening to the midday show on WFAN today. At 10:48 Evan Roberts brought up the Jets getting new uniforms next season.

    Someone he knows sent him a picture of the supposedly new uniforms. He reiterated to take it with a grain of salt since he can’t confirm its legitimacy, but the description was a white helmet with the word Jets on it (which they liked) and an “Oregon-esque” uniform (neither were fans of).

    This is probably nothing more than something created by a fan, but figured it was worth sharing.

    Let’s hope. Anyhthing “Oregon-esque” will have me rushing to the store for Giants merch.

    Hey Paul…on the Rams schedule inside the matchbook…when is the last time a team played 4 straight games vs a team with “New” in their name? Pretty interesting!

    That’s a really interesting quirk, in theory it could go out to 5 weeks. Either an NFC East or South (or old NFC west) team could have the Jets, Pats, Saints, and Giants in there, and depending on which division, would have a second game against the Saints or Giants.

    The “blimp” shown at the top of the Goodyear article is actually a Zeppelin NT semi-rigid airship, not a blimp. Goodyear has been phasing out its old GZ-20 blimp fleet for several years now.

    Has it been posted somewhere already that Clemson’s tiger paw is always facing the same direction?

    It doesn’t mirror or switch depending on whether its on the right or left side of the helmet/jersey.

    I feel like it’s been mentioned already.

Comments are closed.