Click to enlarge
The Cincinnati Reds have worn five different uniforms over the past five days (as shown above, left to right, top to bottom): home whites, 1902 throwbacks, 1911 throwbacks, red alternates, and road greys.
By coincidence, those have also been the first five days — and first five games — in the big league career of rookie outfielder Nick Senzel, who happens to be the player shown in all five photos above. He was called up from the minors and activated on Friday and has now undergone a wardrobe change for each succeeding game.
It’s unusual enough for a team to wear five different uniforms in five different games (Oregon football notwithstanding, can anyone find any other instances, in any sport?), but Senzel’s streak of wearing five different combos in as many days at the start of his career must surely be a record, right? I have no idea how we’d document that, but it’s hard to imagine anyone else notching this distinction.
And Senzel’s streak could continue today, because the Reds sometimes wear their red alternate jersey with with their grey road pants. According to SportsLogos.net’s handy uni tracker, they’ve done that twice so far this season. If they do it again for tonight’s game in Oakland, that would extend Senzel’s streak to six uni combos (but only five jerseys) in six games.
I find myself really wanting this streak to continue. I would never wish injury or demotion on any player (well, maybe demotion for a few), but imagine if Senzel extends his streak tonight and gets injured during the game, or if he gets sent back down to the minors after the game — he’d have a chance to keep the streak intact at a later date! The Reds have two home alternate uniforms that he hasn’t yet worn (Spanish language and olive drab), plus they have 13 more throwbacks still in the hopper.
There’s also the outside chance that Senzel could be traded to another team, which would offer another way to breathe new life into the streak. Again, I don’t wish that fate upon him — but if it does happen, it would make for a great story, right?
Update: Longtime reader and Pirates uni tracker Jerry Wolper just posted the following comment: “In 1977, the Pirates wore their nine different jersey/pants combos in the first nine games. … Dale Berra came up late that year, and wore different jersey/pants combos in his first seven appearances. So Senzel still has some work to do.” Yowza!
(My thanks to Brenden Maxwell for bringing Senzel’s streak to my attention.)
ITEM! Yet another one-day raffle: The Tugboat Captain and I bumped into reader John Flaherty at the recent WFMU Record Fair. After introducing himself, he pulled out his wallet, handed me $25, and told me to raffle off a membership with his compliments. How great is that?
So today we’re doing the John Flaherty Raffle. To enter, send an email to the raffle address by 8pm Eastern tonight. One entry per person. I’ll announce the winner tomorrow. Good luck, and let’s hear it for John for sponsoring today’s membership giveaway!
Mascot update: Trying times here at Uni Watch HQ, as Uni Watch girl mascot Caitlin hasn’t been feeling well. Just last week we were celebrating her birthday and saying she seemed as kittenish as ever. But a few days later she began limping, shying away from being touched, and being unable to jump up on the sofa, the bed, or any of her other favorite spots. (I gently lifted her up on the sofa before taking the photo shown above.)
The vet gave her a thorough examination on Friday and says it may be arthritis, so we’ve been giving her anti-inflammatories, but that doesn’t seem to have helped much, at least judging by her symptoms, so we may bring her back for an ultrasound and/or X-rays. It’s heartbreaking to know she’s in discomfort (loving someone or something is hard!), so please think good thoughts for her. Thanks.
Membership update: Another bunch of new designs has been added to the membership card gallery, including Mark Cartman’s card, shown at right, which is based on the Maple Leafs’ St. Pats throwbacks. Nice, right? I really like this one (but of course I’m partial to anything green).
Ordering a membership card is a good way to support Uni Watch (which, quite frankly, could use your support these days). And remember, a Uni Watch membership card entitles you to a 15% discount on any of the merchandise in our Teespring shop and our Naming Wrongs shop. (If you’re an existing member and would like to have the discount code, email me.) As always, you can sign up for your own custom-designed card here, you can see all the cards we’ve designed so far here, and you can see how we produce the cards here.
The Ticker
By Paul
’Skins Watch: A controversy over the team name “Redskins” used by an Idaho high school led to a student walkout earlier this week (from @BradIvL).
.
Baseball News: Some Yankees caps for sale at Yankee Stadium have the Israeli flag on the side. It’s not clear, at least to me, if the Yanks sell caps with any other foreign flags (from Blake Fox). … Interesting article about how Mets INF/OF Jeff McNeil, who’s currently second in the bigs in hitting, uses an unusual knobless bat. … The Rochester Red Wings will become the Rochester Hustlers on May 25 (from @ddddwhite9). … Police-appreciation uniforms for Lamar softball. … New “Honor and Serve Day” uniforms for Illinois baseball. … The Double-A Eastern League revealed its All-Star jerseys. … New logo for the Saranac Lake Surge — formerly the Old Orchard Beach Surge — in the Empire Professional Baseball League (from John Cerone). … The auction house Leland’s is selling what it claims to be a Mets prototype road jersey from 1961. I’d need to know a lot more about its provenance before believing that that’s what it really is (from Steven Presser). … In attempt to make their ballpark more friendly to kids with nut allergies, the Hartford Yard Goats have become the nation’s first team to ban peanuts (including Cracker Jack, which includes peanuts) from their stadium. They’ve also changed a key line of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” from “Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jack” to “Buy me a hot dog and Yard Goats cap.” Additional info here. … When the Braves wear their navy alternate road jersey, they usually pair it with pants that have navy piping. But last night they wore the navy jerseys with their standard grey road pants with red/navy piping. Interestingly, the MLB Style Guide shows the red/navy piping as the proper pant pairing with that jersey, but they hadn’t worn it that way until last night (from Mitchell Barbee, Joseph Newell, and Zach Mauldin). … We had previously shown the new can design for Union Craft Brewing’s Eddie Murray-themed beer a few days ago, but Andrew Cosentino took the perfect photo of it. … Oh baby, look at Gary Carter and Rusty Staub in these commemorative Expos 20th-anniversary uniforms! Hot-cha-cha (from @DavesMetsDugout). … Latest one-day food-based MiLB makeover: The State College Spikes will become the Happy Valley Grilled Stickies on Aug. 9. … After Reds 2B Derek Dietrich wore a beekeeper’s costume on Monday, he donned a tool belt last night when the lights went out in Oakland (from our own Alex Hider). … Winthrop’s cap has a really enormous “W” logo! (From James Gilbert.) … Roger Clemens recently played in a Texas alumni game and wore a Red Bosox alternate jersey. “I don’t believe he ever wore a red jersey as a player for the Sox,” says Cork Gaines. … The Chiba Lotte Marines will wear Hawaiian-themed jerseys for 12 games this summer (from Jeremy Brahm).
NFL News: A Mexican company has started making luchadore-style figurines of NFL players (from Brady Phelps). … Here’s the best look we’ve had so far of the Bears’ centennial patch (from Thomas Juettner). … Good video clip on TCU’s equipment staff (from Ben Armstrong). … Here’s a rarity: two FNOBs and one FIOB together in one shot (from Collin Waples).
College Football News: Here’s how the CFB 150 patch looks on a Kansas State jersey (from @JOFA_3). … Boise State is getting new blue turf, and it appears to be even bluer than the old turf (from Tyler Keefe).
Hockey News: Latest clever upcycled product from our friends at Tokens & Icons: They’ve turned game-used stick blades into beer flight trays. Nice! … Entertaining piece about the NHL’s obsession with hair (from Alan Kreit). … This is nice: Bruins players remembering their first pairs of skates (from Tris Wykes).
Soccer News: Red Star Belgrade’s new shirt may have leaked (from Ed Zelaski). … Liverpool had to get a one-off goalie shirt for yesterday’s Champions League semifinal against Barcelona, because all their goalie kits would clash with Barcelona and/or the officials (from our own Jamie Rathjen). … New kits for Detroit City FC (from Ryan Keberly).
Grab Bag: Following up on an item that appeared in the Ticker a few days ago, Guinness’s decision to deny a world record to British nurse because she ran the London Marathon in scrubs instead of a nurse’s dress has been overturned. … More ad creep: If you want to buy or replenish a fare pass for Philadelphia’s mass transit system, you now have to wait through a pre-roll ad, which, aside from being super-annoying, could lead you to miss your train. Douchebags. … New logo for the Arizona city of Wilcox. … Pro golfer John Daly will be permitted to use a cart in next week’s PGA Championship tourney. … LIU Brooklyn and LIU Post are merging their athletic programs, and LIU Brooklyn alums are not happy about losing their “Blackbirds” team name (from John, who didn’t give his last name). … A notable NYC chef has created a new beachhead for advertising by creating a special menu oriented around Arizona Iced Tea (NYT link) and even adding a neon sign with the product’s trademarked slogan. Cringe-inducing key quote from a culinary talent agent: “[It’s] a great idea to monetize the menu experience.” Gross. … New logo for Caterpillar (from Tom Currie). … Here’s a look at the logo evolution of Google, Microsoft, and Apple. … A lot of people don’t like Cal Poly’s new logo. Additional info here.
Click to enlarge
What Paul did last night: Way back in 1997, when my book came out, it received a smart, analytical review in The Nation by a guy I’d never heard of named Rob Walker. At the bottom of the review was a little bio line: “Rob Walker is an editor at SmartMoney.” I remember thinking, who the fuck works at SmartMoney, which was a personal finance mag (now defunct), and moonlights at The Nation, which is a socialist mag? This Rob Walker guy sounded interesting, if somewhat weird.
I got in touch with Rob later that week. We met up for a beer and quickly hit it off. Twenty-two years later, he’s one of my best friends and someone for whom I have the utmost respect both personally and professional. Simply put, I’m a huge Rob Walker fan.
Rob has a new book that just came out yesterday, called The Art of Noticing, and last night I attended a book-release event here in Brooklyn, which consisted of Rob being interviewed by Lifehacker.com editor-in-chief Melissa Kirsch (who’s basically his boss, because Rob recently started writing a column for Lifehacker). It was a great time, with lots of interesting info about how to be better at being present and noticing things in a world that’s constantly trying to distract us with advertising, electronic gadgetry, and so on.
The book consists of 131 short exercises for improving your ability to notice things: imagine what someone is thinking, give five compliments, describe the night sky, make a one-minute video about a place, etc. I’m proud to say that one of the tips comes from me:
I don’t know if I’ve ever spelled out that tip — “Ask how something got that way” — in quite those words here on Uni Watch, but I’d like to think it’s implicit in most of what we discuss here, right?
Anyway: The Art of Noticing is a great read — highly recommended. And you can learn more about Rob’s work here.
Paul, it looks like the “police appreciation” uniforms are actually being worn by Lamar University for the Southland Conference tournament, rather than by a team called Southland. You might check the wording of the ticker entry for clarity.
Good call — thank you! Fixed.
No Cracker Jack at a ballgame? Sad.
Given the current state of ballpark “security” practices, perhaps the lyric should be changed to, “Buy me some merch for my clear backpack.”
(lyrics continued)… “I don’t care ‘cuz I’m leaving in the middle of the eighth to beat traffic”
Yeah, but they’re singing the song in the middle of the seventh.
The Yard Goats are one of the best organizations in the minor leagues. This is actually old news, they announced they were going nut-free back in the off season. That said there’s plenty of stuff there to eat and drink and enjoy, I don’t know one person who will miss nuts.
As far as the line about a Goats Cap….Yeah, might want to rethink that one. Buy me some nachos and other crap? Buy me some ice cream and baby backs? (as in ribs). We can work with this!!!
I suggested to team management they needed to do a Peanuts night, with Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the gang. Have Lucy pull the football away, have Charlie Brown get taken deep to right field. The idea being that while there’s no peanuts, the Peanuts gang will always be welcome!
The Yard Goats competition in New Britain, the Atlantic League’s Bees, are having a bit of fun with this and making sure fans are aware there is one park in the capital region where peanuts and cracker jack are available.
Re:SEPTA…I pronounce it “Septic tank” when I am in Philly…
Re:5 uniforms in a row
I don’t how to look it up, but I would imagine it’s at least feasible with the NBA and half the league having 5 jerseys this season, and no regulations on when they wear them.
The Yankees have sold other Yankees caps with other flags on the side. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen the Yankee Stadium team store sell one with a French flag and there may have been some with the flag of the United Kingdom more recently.
I remember seeing Dominican Republic, Panamanian, and Cuban flags.
In 1977, the Pirates wore their nine different jersey/pants combos in the first nine games. (I haven’t checked to see if there are other such instances.)
Dale Berra came up late that year, and wore different jersey/pants combos in his first seven appearances. So Senzel still has some work to do.
Oooh, really! Wow.
I love the coincidence of “Reds Rookie Goes 5-for-5” as a headline the morning after the A’s no-hit them!
Clever, Paul. Clever. :)
“Here’s a rarity: two FNOBs and one FIOB together in one shot ”
Imagine if that was the “era” of Jr. and III, etc. It could’ve been a crazy time in Broncoland!
OMG! Dave Widell actually *was* a Jr.–according to this article.
link
Love the feature on TCU and the helmet maintenance. Even if the helmets WERE purple….
Jerry already topped this with his Bucs example, but back in 2014, the Mets wore link.
With all due respect, that example is a bit bogus, because the Jackie Day uniform was essentially the same as the road greys worn the next day. Yes, I know — NNOB vs. NOB, but come on, it’s the same uniform!
I believe a few years ago the Pirates also wore 7 different unis in a row. A Sunday alternate, home white, home black, a Negro League Throwback, Military Appreciation, road black, and road gray in a row (Not necessarily in that order). I want to say 2014 or 2015, but I’m not sure
Paul, the Astros wore five different jerseys over the first five games of the 2005 NLCS.
link
Hey Paul, As a fellow cat lover I am sending good thoughts and vibes to Caitlin and her human friends.
I’ve been wondering what that smudge on Senzel’s 2nd Jersey (The 1902 version) is? Pine Tar or something else? Looks rather dark to be pine tar.
Also, I hope the UniWatch Mascot Caitlin feels better soon.
Paul, sending good vibes on a return to good health for Caitlin. Stay positive.
Less than 1 percent of the population suffers from nut allergies. Would have made more sense if the Yard Goats had a nut free seating section with a nut free concession stand.
Because (at the risk of sounding melodramatic), one peanut-related incident is one too many.
Trace amounts of peanut dust in the air can trigger allergies. It takes trace amounts of one (seriously, one) peanut to trigger an allergic attack: rashes, closing of the throat, you name it. Obviously, not every person with a nut allergy reacts the exact same way, but all people who have a nut allergy react in some way.
Couple of examples: My cousin’s son has a severe peanut allergy. He’s been told by his doctor that trace amounts of peanuts (such as his sister, who is not allergic, eating a PB&J and drinking from a straw and having the drink sit next to his) is enough to trigger a reaction.
I used to direct a summer camp for children. We had a severe peanut allergy child who had an epipen and some medicine always at the ready. One day, one of her “friends” (OK, we’ll say fellow campers) decided to test this child’s theory by smearing part of her peanut butter sandwich on her skin. The child’s arm instantly blew up red like a balloon. Didn’t realize the body was capable of such things. We had to call in EMTs to administer some Benadryl (sp?).
Point I’m making is that even trace amounts of contact with peanuts can trigger an allergy — and for some, it’s literally a matter of life and death. Here’s something from an academic journal:
“One peanut contains about 200 mg of protein. In most people with peanut allergy, symptoms develop after substantially less than 1 peanut is ingested, and highly allergic people can react to trace amounts. In a study designed to determine the minimum dose of peanut protein capable of eliciting an allergic reaction in highly sensitized individuals, subjective symptoms were reported with doses as low as 100 μg, and objective signs were evident at 2 mg. Similar conclusions were drawn from a recent consensus publication that identified threshold doses of foods in people with allergies.”
link
There’s no reason any ballpark should be able to trust adults at the park — who often are clumsy and had a couple of beers — to stay away from the peanut allergy people. No way to corral every peanut allergy person and put them in a pen. No way to trust that food workers know which glove is the “peanut glove” and which isn’t. PR nightmare would be disastrous.
And we see safety measures like this in pretty much every ballpark. For example, there are nets behind home plate to make sure people don’t get conked in the head by wayward foul balls. The actual odds of getting hit by a baseball while at a game is around 0.004% (link) but there are nets up there anyway. Because one fan-hit-by-a-ball incident is one too many.
I’m reminded of the “of course…but maybe” bit from this thread.
That’s a shame.
Behind home plate? Haven’t been to a game in awhile?
Mariners May 19 – May 24, 2017 wore 5 different combos on consecutive days (Home Alternate Green, Home White, Sunday Cream, Road Grey, Road Alternate Blue)
link
Any idea if a player started his career there on May 19th?
Just ordered Rob’s book, as well as Paul’s. Excited for a few good reads!
If LIU wants to change their nickname, that’s their business, but could the suggested replacements be any more boring? Sharks, Eagles, Falcons. At least pick something unique!
“Blackbirds” is pretty unique. How about that?
“Cline also said the school has heard that the Blackbird is an offensive racist mascot.”
you HAVE to be kidding me…
Several college football teams, including the Kentucky Wildcats, often wear several combos. In 2013-2015, I believe, we never wore the same combo in a season.
On a side note, Fulham FC wore four different kits across six matches at the beginning of this PL season, which is highly unusual.
Fulham ended up wearing nine combos this season.
Other teams that definitely made it to five combos this season are Tottenham, Manchester United, and Rangers (who also wore four shirts). There are probably at least a few others.
On the Mets prototype jersey, I would be skeptical unless it came from the Mets or Wilson. I thought that Wilson jerseys had tags in them that were designated as prototypes.
But, I could be wrong…
I am extremely skeptical that jersey is what they say it is. The auction listing doesn’t give any provenance at all for that claim: no prototype tagging, no quote from company or team employee, nothing.
We know that link, so maybe Wilson would have made prototypes without knowing what they would be. But do we have any idea when the new club decided to pick up the Giants’ old logo?
The dead giveaway that it’s bogus is the Y is on top. The N is always on top with the National League teams from NY (Mets/Giants) and the Y is on top for the American League (Yankees).
So sorry to hear of your kitty! I hope they figure things out and she gets better. As guardians, it’s tough when one of your animals is not feeling up to par and I wish nothing but the best for little Caitlin!
What’s with ‘this is a new record’ stuff unless someone can prove me wrong – that PL has been doing lately – seems lazy
When else did I do it?
In any case, as I wrote today, I honestly have no idea how to look up or research something like this. Do you? If so, I welcome your research tips.
Can be done on sportslogos.net (that’s where I found the M’s info). However…
I had made a contribution about the M’s wearing 5 combos in 5 days a couple years back, but couldn’t remember exactly when or what date. Takes some time to go through the great work by Chris Creamer and research unless you know when/where and what team you’re looking for.
Took me about 15 minutes of searching to find the reference to something I knew had happened for one team over the past 3 years. If you try searching 30 teams all their uniform combos over a 2-3 year period, you’re looking through 14,580 games worth of information.
Paul asks his readers to help him out routinely. Maybe help out rather than criticize?
Can be done on sportslogos.net (that’s where I found the M’s info)…
But it would take a huge amount of cross-referencing to determine if an individual player had worn a different uni for each of his first five MLB games — which is the record in question here.
Again, I know of no obvious (or even non-obvious) way to look that up.
That CFB patch is brutal. Just brutal. (Ratchet it down about 75 percent.)
Paul – The Reds afternoon game in Oakland is tomorrow. They play a regular late game tonight so I am going to imagine they will wear the regular road-grays.
Right you are. Will adjust text.
Sending positive thoughts Caitlin’s way. Hope she gets well soon.
Your item in Rob Walker’s book reminded me of something that Steve Jobs said: “Life can be so much broader, once you discover one simple fact, and that is that everything around you that you call ‘life’ was made up by people who were no smarter than you. And you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.”
I was moved, almost to tears, regarding the young students who decided to stage a walk out regarding that horrible “name” that I refuse to mention. Kudos to you all, we need to change the racist culture of our country and clearly these young students are well on the way to doing that.
It would be nice however, if I did not have to look at that horrible racist image while scrolling through the blog. Please exercise better judgement in the future regarding that offensive image.
-Pete
Late to comment because of phone troubles, but some cleanup on that “get your membership card” blurb could be useful:
That’s a Toronto Maple Leafs St. Pats throwback, as worn on St. Patrick’s Day of late. “St. Pats Saints” is a mumble jumble slip of the fingers, probably thinking of the St. Paul Saints or something.
But hey, ugly jerseys make awesome cards, and as a Habs fan, all Leafs jerseys are inherently ugly to me!
Thanks, Mike. Fixed.
The walkout was IN SUPPORT of the name you wish not to reference, according to the linked article. 67% of the student body voted IN SUPPORT of the name and mascot. I am heartened by the hope that some of the 33% of the students who didn’t vote in support are not incipient racists.
Paul – my personal mascot, Jake, is 18. He is in remarkably good shape for his age….He has his issues, but everything’s manageable right now. At one point last year, I had the same issue with him as you are having with Caitlin. We chalked this up to his having pulled a muscle and to give it time. We even gave him some tea-pills called “Qi”….holistic….I don’t know if it helped, but I’ll try anything for my boy.
He’s had similar, short-lived episodes as well – turns out that he was constipated and pulled a muscle in his back. Kind of not unexpected with cats that have kidney issues.
Around that time, I asked my vet to do a thorough workup – blood, everything. Aside from the typical kidney issues and his existing thyroid issue, all was good. However, he was sleeping all the time…I chalked it up to his slowing down and started to prepare myself for the inevitable….I took him back to the vet in Feb – they hadn’t done a cardiac workup (I assumed, wrongly, this would be included in my request for “everything”) – his bp was through the roof. Now he and my father share a prescription and Jake is like an 8 year old again.
My point after this diatribe? Keep an eye out and go with your gut. Watch her if she seems to have issues in the litterbox. Don’t be afraid to ask for additional tests. I didn’t with my boy Cody and I still feel guilty.
Fingers crossed that it’s a muscle pull or something equally simple. All the best to Caitlin.
Thanks so much, Jen. All best to you and Jake!
You got a mention from Gary Cohen today when they were talking about removing pine tar from uniforms during the Mets gametoday.
I think you mean last night!
If you look closely at the Boise State turf being installed you can see that the lettering in the endzone is made of large nylon(?) sheets, not painted on.
Paul,
As an owner of an older cat (19 yrs old!), I totally empathize with what you are going through. Hope she’s ok…..cats are pretty resilient.
From the 9/7/18 UW edition, you posted info I sent that the Royals wore 5 different unis in 5 games and they went 10 games without wearing the same uni in consecutive games.