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Brian Begley Concepts Baseball

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By Phil Hecken

This post has been several months in the making, as I’d originally hoped to run it right after the World Series (and before any teams had unveiled new uni sets and/or jerseys), but as fate would have it, I wasn’t able to get together with today’s featured guest until recently. The baseball designs you’re about to see (and read about) below were concepted by Brian Begley (give him a follow on The Twitter). If that name sounds familiar to you, I’ve featured him twice before, once back in the summer of 2017 (with an interview), and again in the fall of last year. In that first article, Brian showed off his NBA concepts, and in the second, his NFL chops. Today I’m pleased to bring him back to offer up some of his MLB concepts. For all graphics you can click to enlarge. Here’s Brian with…

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MLB Concepts
By Brian Begley

Miami Marlins

I remember playing on the “Marlins” in Little League, and loved their colors! Giving this concept a throwback cream touch, with a new script wordmark, bridges the gap between the 90’s and today!

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Colorado Rockies

I feel like this team is in need of a rebrand ASAP! A sublimated Rocky Mountains with a new letter lock up brings this team up to date with a minimalistic approach.

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Pittsburgh Pirates

As iconic as the Pirates are, I created a new massive “P” logo over the chest and on the cap. Just updated a classic look.

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New York Mets

This concept was inspired by a lot of Mets history. A new wordmark along with some inspiration from the 80’s Mets Vneck combined with a cream flannel texture brings makes the Mets fun to watch…again!

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Atlanta Braves

I felt like this team needed a full on navy look. And they can 100% pull it off with a two color approach. Check it out ATL!

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New York Yankees

As a Yankees fan, I’m on board with keeping things the same. But, what if we removed the white from the road greys, and added a wool/flannel texture? We get a new old school! RIP Don Larsen.

Also, I had to put the swoosh to the right sleeve. Just because =)

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Thanks, Brian! You just had to troll me with that Mets concept, didn’t ya ;)? Anyway, very much enjoyed your MLB concepts, and thanks again for sharing with us.

OK readers? What say you?


Kreindler’s Korner

I had the distinct pleasure of featuring the wonderful artwork of artist Graig Kriendler on two occasions over the summer and fall of 2017, and more recently, in August of 2018.

For those who don’t wish to click the links, Graig paints baseball heroes (and regular guys) from the past, and is an immense talent.

Occasionally, I will be featuring his work on Uni Watch.

Here’s today’s offering (click to enlarge):

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Title: “Roy Partlow, 1940” (color study)
Subject: Roy Partlow, 1940
Medium: Oil on linen mounted to board
Size: 5” x 7”

In 1946, Jackie Robinson became the first African American to appear in white organized baseball in the 20th century. Debuting with the Montreal Royals on April 18, he went 4-5 with a home run and two forced balks. The ballclub routed the Jersey City Giants, 14-1.

Joining Jackie in Montreal that same season were Johnny Wright and Roy Partlow, two others who were signed by Branch Rickey to be a part of his ‘great experiment.’

The latter of the two, Partlow was a standout pitcher for the Homestead Grays (and others) in the 1940s. It was partially due to Roy that the Grays would regularly outdraw the big league Senators in Washington, both of whom shared Griffith Stadium.

In Montreal, he mainly found himself on the bench, pitching relief innings until his first win came at the end of June. And a great performance it was – a five-hitter against the Giants. His next two starts, however, didn’t end well, as he was chased from the mound early, and as a result was summarily demoted to Three Rivers (Class C in the Canadian-American League). He was very reluctant to accept the demotion, and even confronted Branch Rickey in Brooklyn about the move. What occurred between the two is unknown, but Partlow eventually made his way to Three Rivers at the end of July. Sportswriter Wendell Smith blasted Roy in the papers, calling him an “eccentric prima donna.”

When he did arrive, he flourished against the lower-grade talent. In eleven games, he went 10-1 and hit .404. Three Rivers won the league championship, with Partlow being named MVP. His play earned him an invite to spring training for the Dodgers the following year. He never made the ballclub.

Here’s Roy with the Homestead Grays in 1940. This is one of 200+ paintings of mine that will be on display at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in the spring of 2020.

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Thanks, Graig! You can (and should!) follow Graig on Twitter.

Guess The Game…

from the scoreboard

Today’s scoreboard comes from tweeter Randy Robbins (although he didn’t submit it as such).

The premise of the game (GTGFTS) is simple: I’ll post a scoreboard and you guys simply identify the game depicted. In the past, I don’t know if I’ve ever completely stumped you (some are easier than others).

Here’s the Scoreboard. In the comments below, try to identify the game (date & location, as well as final score). If anything noteworthy occurred during the game, please add that in (and if you were AT the game, well bonus points for you!):

Please continue sending these in! You’re welcome to send me any scoreboard photos (with answers please), and I’ll keep running them.

    Yet another Teespring sale: Paul here. From now through the end of Sunday, you can get 10% off of anything in the Uni Watch Shop (T-shirts, pins, cufflinks, mugs, stickers) or the Naming Wrongs Shop (“I Still Call It…”) by using the checkout code N3WY3AR.

    This is a good deal for both of us, because Teespring is sponsoring the sale — so you’ll get a 10% discount but Uni Watch and our design partners will still make the same profit. A win-win!

    My thanks, as always, for considering our products.

    The Ticker
    By Anthony Emerson

    Baseball News: In an extremely alarming move, the Giants are selling jerseys labeled as “authentics” that are at least portrayed online as having NOBs. The team has been without NOBs on their home jerseys since adopting the jerseys in 2000. Their black alternates also now have NOBs (from @gggiants, @klondikedep and Stuart Greenlee). … The 1988 Chevy Chase vehicle Funny Farm depicts Chase in a Yankees hat on the poster, but he wears a Mets cap for the entire movie.

    NFL/CFL News: A company is selling a line of yoga pants based on NFL team pants-and-sock designs (from multiple readers). … Notice anything odd about this 1988 picture of Bills RB Jamie Mueller? If you guessed “TV numbers in the wrong spot”, you’re right — there seems to be a manufacturers error on Mueller’s jersey, as the Bills had TV numbers on the sleeves, not the shoulders, that year (from Johnny Garfield). … The Vikings are going purple-over-purple this afternoon (from multiple readers), while the League is not allowing the Saints to wear their white color rush unis in the same game (thanks, Phil). … The NFL’s Turning Point series was talking about Patriots CB Stephon Gilmore’s performance against the Dolphins in Week 17, and used B-roll of Gilmore most certainly not from Week 17.

    College/High School Football News: Darnell Washington, the No. 1 high school tight end in the country, announced his college commitment to Georgia by dressing his baby daughter in a Georgia onesie, which certainly takes the cake for most adorable college commitment announcement (from Alex Ridoré). … As always, be sure to check Josh Hinton’s @CFBowlWatch Twitter account for the latest college football bowl game uniform and stadium news. … Lots of people pointed out how many patches Ohio’s unis seemed to have with the extra large school name, the CFB150 patch, the maker’s mark, the conference logo, and the bowl game patch, as well as the captain’s C for QB Nathan Rourke, which is basically interfering with his TV number. … Speaking of Ohio, all those patches were applied properly to K Louie Zevros’s uni, but his nameplate was not (from Timmy Donahue). … Also from Timmy, Nevada coach Jay Norvell pays tribute to his mother by writing her initials on his visor. … A handful of Central Michigan players have been given jerseys with an “experimental” NOB design, making their names bigger and bolder, and aligning to the same degree as the team’s “action C” logo. … Edgewood Academy in Alabama uses either the Packers’ or Georgia’s logo, slightly modified into a lowercase ‘e’ (from Ben Whitehead).

    Hockey News: Broad Street Hockey ranked the worst sweaters in Flyers history (from @PhillyPartTwo). … The AHL’s Cleveland Monsters wore Cleveland Lumberjacks unis last night. They’re not technically throwbacks because the current Monsters team is not a direct descendant from the former Lumberjacks team (from Ryan Hercik and Russ Flynn). … The visiting Milwaukee Admirals also got in on the fun in Cleveland, wearing 1970 throwbacks against the Monsters Lumberjacks (from Andrew Wagner). … The ECHL’s Toledo Walleye are celebrating Nickelodeon Weekend with Ren & Stimpy sweaters.

    NBA News: The league-wide memorial bands for David Stern debuted last night; here’s a closeup of the band on the Celtics’ jersey, and how it looks on black jerseys. … Unsurprisingly, the Heat will retire Dwyane Wade’s no. 3 (from Mike Chamernik). … Jazz F Donovan Mitchell included the team’s throwback mountain range motif on his shoes. … Tonight, the Hornets will have a player in every uni number from 0 to 11 in use (from Mark Followill). … Speaking of the Hornets, Brad Budziak noticed that there seems to be extra space between PJ Washington Jr.’s NOB and his number.

    College Hoops News: Providence men are going with throwbacks today (from Anthony Gonsalves). … Houston G Dejon Jerreau had the hems of his shorts tucked under, giving him a weird, ultra-short-short look for last night’s game. … Oregon women have unveiled some nice throwbacks (from Jakob Fox).

    Soccer News: Liverpool have been granted permission by the FA to wear their Club World Cup Champions badges in FA Cup matches, but likely will not wear them in Premier League matches (from Chris Cruz). … The San Jose Earthquakes’ stadium is now known as Earthquakes Stadium, dropping the corporate advertisement, at least for now (from Ed Żelaski).

    Grab Bag: Cycling Tips ranked the kits of the 2020 WorldTour (from Jeff Mayer). … A new ordinance in Salt Lake City allows companies to put up vintage signs in the Sugar House neighborhood (from @GRTx3). … Phoenix International Raceway has dropped its corporate name (from Kyle Dawson).

    And That’s It for today. Big thanks to Brian and of course to all the readers who wished me a Happy Birthday yesterday. You guys are aces!

    Tomorrow: The Final SMUW of the Season, so be sure to check back for all the Bowl Action from the past week, Memal’s final 5 & 1, and tracking for every Power 5 team who played in a bowl. You won’t want to miss this one!

    Peace,

    PH

 
  
 
Comments (35)

    Pirates in mono-black is cool but a front number on both the shirt and the pants is redundant.

    Braves in mono-navy is interesting. I like the idea of mono-dark unis generally.

    Most revolutionary aspect of the Yankees design is side stripes on the pants, and it’s not even mentioned in the text.

    The Rockies ‘sublimated’ jersey would just look kind of sweaty in an actual game.

    Kind of like the Marlins.

    Mets look like something a sports cartoonist would off-handedly draw, depicting the current look but getting it wrong.

    I generally agree with each, except the Braves, who have done ghosted navy lettering before and those were among the ugliest jerseys in baseball and the worst the Braves have ever worn. With bolder sublimation and light accent color outlining, the Rockies concept has promise. The Mets concept leaves me wondering what was the problem the new design is supposed to solve? Is the current Mets lettering too legible? Does the lack of an underline create uncertainty about what sport the jersey is for? I honestly don’t understand what design problems could possibly have motivated this approach.

    The Yankees design is a significant improvement for what is the weak link in the Yankees uniform set. Yankees road is one of the worst uniforms in MLB, and these changes make it almost as strong as their home uniforms. Well done! And the Marlins redesign is one of the better approaches I’ve seen. My only quibble is with “throwback cream” – there’s nothing creamy about throwbacks for a team so young, and Miami’s distinctive civic visual style is more suited to bright white than dull cream. Still, good color balance, nicely designed script, and I dig how the slightly off-balance cap M has a jaunty, Miami-appropriate flair.

    Disagree slightly on the Yankees. He was on the right track by removing the white trim and darkening the gray. But he fell into the stylistic rut of his MLB concept set and added those sleeve and pant stripes.

    Disagree on the Yankees. He was on the right track with removing the white trim and using a darker gray. But he fell into the stylistic rut of this concept set and added totally unnecessary (and ahistorical) sleeve and pant stripes.

    Now, here I am thinking that the Yankees have one of, if not the, best road uniforms in baseball.

    Disagree. I don’t like the Yankees but this road concept is great. Remove the pants stripe maybe. I like the Marlins script but the hat has to have a fish somehow. They could have such a great uni set but the Marlins just roll out crap every time they redesign.

    Scoreboard is Saturday, June 8th, 2013 at Wrigley Field between the Pirates and Cubs. Pirates won 6-2.

    The 1-1 score despite all zeroes in the Mets-Marlins game makes me think that this was the day of that awesome extra-inning game they once played… link Shaun Marcum pitched 8 innings of relief for the Mets, the ultimate hard-luck loser, in what has to be one of the longest relief appearances of the decade.

    And if the photo had extended a little more to the right, we would have seen the same thing in the Texas-Toronto game, where all those zeroes are actually in extra innings and it’s a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the 16th as the picture is being taken.

    The Vikings are going purple-over-purple this afternoon

    The Vikings-Saints game is not being played today. It’s tomorrow. The AFC games are being played today.

    Most adorable commitment? I’m not sure what is more pathetic…that comment, the fact that he used the baby as a prop, or the fact that yet another teenager was too dumb to wrap it up and avoid an awful situation for all involved.

    Is the possibility of NOB-clad Giants really “extremely alarming”? Is the editorial position of this site really that strongly anti-NOB for baseball? I never noticed that before if so. Personally I have strongly disliked their lack of NOBs ever since they introduced those uniforms 20 years ago

    I think the concern is more that there has not been an announcement that they are adding names to the back, but the website is selling them that way. Fans may end up spending a lot of money for an incorrect jersey.

    Yankees wouldn’t have the black band and number for the same person. It’s band first, then number.

    Yankees use a black number if the decedent has a retired number, else a black band. If you see a black band and a number, they’re for different people.
    George Steinbrenner and Bob Sheppard were exceptions with other designed patches.

    The Yankees added the white trim in 1973, as baseball was beginning the double knit era. It was a relatively muted change compared to what the rest of baseball was doing. If Uni Watch was around at the time, there probably would have been some protest, citing the rich tradition of the road uni without the trim. At this point, nearing 50 years hence, the white trim is now the tradition. Personally, I wouldn’t mind seeing the pre-1973 flannel era version from time to time as an alternate if it could give the appearance of flannel and be worn with proper stirrups.

    As for the Mets concept, I truly wish I had never seen it.

    Re: the concepts
    There is a fine line between understated minimalism and boring, and these went over that line. Lots of monochrome and not a lot of contrast. Black graphics on a deep purple background are illegible. I like the faux flannel but in general, there are too many monochrome dark colors without any contrast to make things pop. Sorry.

    I’ve always wondered why some teams # and logo on the front are..what is the right word? Asymmetrical?

    Example: if you are looking at the Nationals jersey, the # is down lower on the left, while the W is higher on the right.

    (As some of these do, which made me think of it.)

    Other than the Pirates uniform – which has plenty of flaws – I wouldn’t want to see any of these on the field. The concepts are pretty lacking.

    MIAMI: Why try to give a non-traditional team such a traditional look? The cap logo is lifeless.
    COLORADO: The black logo and numbers would get lost on a purple jersey. The same goes for that purple logo on the black cap. The sublimated mountains are a decent idea but not executed well.
    PITTSBURGH: The idea is sound but the P logo is way too big, and the white/yellow piping clashes with the yellow logos and numbers.
    METS: The wordmark tail throws back to a dreadful period in team history. The front number needs an outline to avoid clashing with the wordmark.
    YANKEES: The idea is sound, and the wordmark is an upgrade. But the sleeve and pants piping is unnecessary.

    In all honesty, I don’t know why these concepts are worthy of being a lead item.

    ATLANTA: It was a positive change when the Braves added red to their navy alternate. I’m not sure why this was the direction. The red sleeve logo really stands out, but not in a good way.

    (Forgot to post this one.)

    I think they’re excellent – except for the Mets – I don’t mind the sleeve and leg stripes but the “Mets” script is awful. I’d like to see the traditional script with everything else.

    Why were the Seahawks and Ravens allowed to wear alternate jerseys this season but the Saints can’t?

    Hooray for the NBA and the restraint they showed by using only a simple black band for David Stern. Nowadays memorials are usually a patch with initials/numbers/and maybe even a logo. Of course the ideal memorial would have been a black band over the uni ads. Just wondering when Nate Silver will be renting out space on his head.

    Why mess with the Rockies? Same classic uniform since 1992. Why try to go “modern?”
    A short time later he is saying the Pirates is classic……makes no sense
    Marlins need a redo, but not sure this is it. Just go back to originals. Braves need the red to offset the navy. All navy looks bad.

    The black letters on a purple shirt is unreadable. Mono colored dark unis are already a cliche.

Comments are closed.