(Corona) Vilkmas … in March!

By Phil Hecken & Jimmer Vilk
Follow @PhilHecken

Readers of Uni Watch know that our own Jimmer Vilk is a very generous hombre; in the past he has gifted some of his most prized possessions to our readership (including shipping!). We thusly had Vilkmas in December in 2015 and again in December 2016. Rather than having a LOT of items to ship during the holiday season, Jimmer broke his Vilkmasses in 2017 into two parts: one in July, and again in December of 2017. Jim’s edition for 2018 actually ran a couple days after 2019 began, but this year he (and I) got our shit stuff together, and then, once again this past December.

Normally, we run these around Christmas (Vilkmas) time, and occasionally over the summer, but with the COVID-19 pandemic bearing down on us, Jim felt now would be a perfect time to offer up some of his used goods. We can all feel a little bit better about the kindness of our fellow men/women in this time of national #AloneTogether unity. So without further ado, I’m pleased to AGAIN offer Jimmer’s generosity to the Uni Watch readership.

Take it away, Mr. Vilk!

• • • • •

♫ Down to the basement,
It’s time to go through my sports books and shirts again.
Fill up the mailbox,
I may be rushing things, but I’ll give stuff away now.
For we need a little Vilkmas
Need a little laughter,
Need a little snappy
“Happy ever after,”
Yes, we need a little Vilkmas
Right this very minute
We need a little Vilkmas now. ♫

Apologies to Jerry Herman…

Last week, as I read Uni Watch (not sure which day), between whatever Paul wrote about the Coronavirus and whatever the people in the comments were saying about it, Mr. Herman’s song just started going through my head. My inner voice would sing over the word “Christmas,” and that’s when it occurred to me, maybe we really *do* need a little Vilkmas. Right this very minute. So here I am, nine months early, with five more chances for you to win some fabulous free prizes.

As you know, free means free here. That includes postage. However… when you receive your prize, please note the amount of postage and strongly consider giving at least that much to an organization fighting this wretched disease. Thanks. Now, let’s see what’s in the old gift bag!

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ITEM #1:

Basketball fans, we have a book on the life of legendary UCLA coach John Wooden (with lots of personal and game photos), along with five trading cards from the 1993-94 NBA season. The players include Hakeem Olajuwon, Dikembe Mutombo, Sam Perkins, Danny Manning and Scott Skiles. Pure uni goodness!

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ITEM #2:

Next up, another 1997-98 Pittsburgh Penguins yearbook. Here’s a second chance to win it if you missed out a couple of Vilkmases ago.

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ITEM #3:

We’re in the midst of a national crisis, so no Astros jokes today. We’re all in this together. I’ll simply point out that the next item is a very cool Houston Astrodome shot glass. I drank a toast to blue-helmeted single-bar-facemask-wearing Skip Butler with it, and raised another to Billy White Shoes Johnson. You can toast whomever you want. And yes, I washed it.

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ITEM #4:

Opening Day was scheduled too early anyway may have been postponed, but you can take a bit of comfort with this trio of baseball gifts: an Andre Dawson Montreal Expos card, a Washington Nationals pocket schedule from their inaugural season at Nationals Park, and a Tampa Bay Rays 20th anniversary patch.

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ITEM #5:

Last but not least, we have another baseball item: a replica Roberto Clemente Pirates away jersey. No size listed, though it feels like an XL to me. The back number may be a bit small and the collar may be trimmed… hey, it’s still a good thrift store find. No ads, no makers mark. I’d wear that!

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Just like last Vilkmas, I regretfully have to keep the entries to US residents only. Hopefully those of you from other countries have a contact in the States who can enter for you. Other than that it’s standard procedure and Phil can take it from here. Best of luck (and best of health!) to all of you. Merry Vilkmas to all, and to all a good night!!

• • • • •

Thanks, Jimmer! Your generosity never ceases to amaze, ESPECIALLY now.

OK, this is very similar to Paul’s once-yearly raffle so here is how you enter:

1) Send an email to Phil.Hecken@gmail.com and put in the SUBJECT “Corona Vilkmas.”

2) In the BODY of the email, please indicate (a) your name and shipping address and (b) your top 3 prize choices, in order of preference, by description. If you’re only interested in, say, one or two items, then just list your top one or two choices; if you want all 5, you can do that too, but I don’t really expect anyone to go that far. Jim will do his best to accommodate all the winners’ choices.

3) One email per person. Entry deadline is this WEDNESDAY (April 1), 8:00 pm Eastern. The winners will be announced the following weekend.

OK? OK!

And please, everyone please give Jimmer a nice round of thanks in the comments below. Thanks, Jimmer — you’re still the best.

Ram Tough?

With the Rams announcing their new logo earlier this week (and if you missed, it, Paul had absolutely stellar coverage of that), people have been speculating what their unis and helmet will look like, given the new color scheme and “hints” surrounding the logo.

First up is Chad Fields, a graphic designer, who took a stab at how the new helmet might look. He came with two possibilities, one where the helmet “horns” take on a gradient look (which in my opinion will look awful) and another with a solid horn. He mocked up each with a few different grills.

Dig (click any images below to enlarge):

(Gradient helmet):

Like I said above, I’m not a fan of this and hope it’s not anything like what the Rams will do. And if they were to go this way, then I’d have to say the white mask is about the only one that really works.

Now, if they go with a solid horn, there are three possibilities:

I personally think every helmet looks better with a gray fasemask — even in this case, but I could see the blue or yellow gold masks looking OK as well. But here’s gray anyway:

Obviously, we have no idea what the helmet will look like, but it could very easily look something like one of these.

Just some food for thought.

And also, reader Ian Lee decided to mock up some unis (which I’m pretty sure won’t be what the team is wearing, but who knows?) based upon the newly released logo. Here’s what he has (a home, road and alternate), and his description:

Hi Phil!

I made a Rams concept and I wanted to pass it on. It features a large amount of gradient in the helmet horn and numbers, other than that though it’s not very much different than the classic Rams uniforms.

Ian Lee

The “BEST OF” Kreindler’s Korner

Hey guys & gals. You’ve enjoyed Kreindler’s Korner for several years now, mostly on the weekends, on Uni Watch, but with the recent coronavirus outbreak, Graig’s time is just too precious and he needs to tend to other things besides coming up with a new writeup each weekend.

So, going forward, for as long as the COVID-19 situation is bad in New York, I’m going to run a few “Best of’s” until Graig returns. This one appeared in 2018…

• • • • •

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.

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):

• • •

Title: “The $20,000 Roomate”
Subject: Ernie Banks, September, 1953
Medium: Oil on linen
Size: 18″ x 24″

This classic image of Ernie has always appealed to me for a number of reasons. One of the main reasons being that great zipper-front Cubs jersey. Though the pinstriped version of the late ’50s became de rigueur, there’s something about the previous designs that have always seemed extra cool to me. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that Banks started his career in them? Either way, mixed with that classic Cubby blue, you can’t go wrong. Also worthy of note, Banks’ gold tooth! I don’t think he had it for too long after coming up to Chicago.

• • •

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

Refrigerator Art…

…in the coronavirus age

This is really cool. It’s addressed to Paul (but since I’m on UWing duty over the weekend, Paul OK’ed me reposting it here) and it comes from longtime reader Douglas Ford (click images below to enlarge).

Paul,

In 2011, I sent you the email below with an attached pic of my original NFL helmet drawings from 1977(when I was 8). Since we are now locked down at home and street chalking has become an activity for my children I decided to make my own dream of colorizing these helmets.

DREAMS CAN COME TRUE!

Hope all is well for you and I am enjoying the porch cocktail pics.

take care!

Douglas

On Thursday, October 6, 2011, 08:18:44 AM EDT, Douglas Ford wrote:

My mother always gave me paper and pen to keep me occupied in church as a youngster. She was digging through her bible and found my handywork from 1977 (attached). I would have been 8 yrs old at the time. It might be fun to have a colorization contest with them as my family had black and white TV until 1984 so I am sure I didnt know what the colors were anyway. Do with them as you wish.

enjoy the site,

douglas

PS I miss the Cincy helmets that had “BENGALS” spelled out, don’t you?

And what did Douglas’ handiwork look like in 1977?

and the new, colorized versions?

How awesome is that? Two generations of uni watchers just doing their thing. Thanks for sharing, especially during this crazy time.

Guess The Game…

from the scoreboard

Today’s scoreboard comes from Cosmic Charlie.

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.

And now a few words from Paul

Hi there. How are you feeling? How are you holding up? I’m hanging in there, and I hope you are too.

I have a bunch of things to tell you about. One at a time:

1. With the weather getting warmer and more people riding their bikes instead of driving because they’re staying closer to home, Adelph Wear’s Nathan Haas and I have decided to revive the Uni Watch cycling jersey. Just like before, you can customize the back of the jersey with your choice of number and NOB. We’re taking orders for one week, and the product should be ready to ship in early May. Full ordering info here.

2. In case you missed it a few days ago, the 22nd annual Uni Watch MLB Season Preview is now available. Just like always, it has info on all of the new uniforms and patches you can expect to see on the field this season — whenever it eventually begins.

3. In case you missed it on Friday, I’m interested in hearing readers’ stories about when they first Got It™ regarding uniforms. Was there a formative childhood uni-related moment? Maybe you were watching a game and became fixated on a particular team’s logo? Or maybe stumbling upon Uni Watch itself was your formative moment? If you have a good story about how you first knew that you Got It™, write it up (try to keep it to one paragraph) and send it to this mailbox (note that this is not the usual Uni Watch email address). No stories in the comments, please. I’ll post the stories here on the site in an upcoming post. I’m looking forward to reading your uni-watching origin stories!

4. You probably know this by now, but just in case: I’ve lowered prices on a bunch of Uni Watch products, including membership cards, caps, and seam rippers, plus you can get a 15% discount on everything in the Uni Watch Shop and the Naming Wrongs Shop with the checkout code COMMUNITY. You can also help support Uni Watch by (which, quite frankly, could use your support these days) by making a donation.

Uni Watch News Ticker
By Phil

Baseball News: ICYMI: the other night (remotely), Joe Biden wore a Phillies cap on an appearance with Jimmy Kimmel. When Kimmel kidded him about wearing it, Biden replied: ‘It’s the way to be able to sleep with my wife.’ … Really great story about a fan who never gave up on Ebbets Field (NYT link). From Gordon Blau. … Hmmm. Here’s a Detroit Tigers logo (shown on TWIB) that is unfamiliar to Mark Morgan. … ICYMI: Hat Club has introduced “Washington Stars” caps — the cap(s) the San Diego Padres would have worn had they moved to Washington DC back in the 1970s (from Rob Bergeron). … Lots of social distancing logos from the “Coronavirus Prevention Baseball League” (from Jeremy Brahm). … Whoops! On the A’s shopping site Richard Paloma found this for the youth home jersey. (I made a screen grab of what Rich sent, just in case they’ve fixed it.) … “The orioles posted a picture that had orioles jerseys with the “Baltimore” script across the chest instead of the normal “Orioles”,” writes Billy King. “Perhaps it’s a picture from when they did this a few years back?” … As many of you may have heard, our friends at Ebbets Field Flannels announced Friday they were closing their physical location in Seattle. They’re saying they’re keeping online sales going, and will reopen the storefront as soon as they can. Colt Foutz wrote about it from a personal angle. … What’s a player have to do to get his favorite number from a teammate? (from Kenneth Traisman). … Does the uniform a team wears impact their winning percentage by that much? Probably not, but there are vast differences in which uniforms saw the most wins and the most losses. So, the Twins blog has discovered uni tracking! … WHOA — check out this awesome Opening Day (2019) stirrup matchup (from Squatchee on Top). He adds, “Had to be creative w/Rays, Rockies, D-backs & Marlins as stirrups weren’t worn as much then or they were just solid.” … Mike Cooperman was “introducing kids to classic 80’s movies since we’re spending time at home. Watching Police Academy and I see this…Steve Guttenberg in a pullover v-neck light blue Darrell Porter Cardinals Jersey.”

NFL News: The N.F.L. is one of the only professional leagues to have been spared the scheduling snafus caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The league has doubled down on its annual three-day draft, but this year, there will be no crowds at the televised spectacle (NYT link) April 23-25. Top picks will be participating remotely. … Those Tom Brady jerseys (he’ll never wear) are still selling like hotcakes (from John F.). … Not only are Brady jerseys selling well, so too apparently are Brady bobbleheads (also showing a uni he’ll never wear). From Ron Jes. … Tweeter Coach KT noticed Phillips with the white helmet stripe on the ‘68 Bengals, the only player on the team with this. It’s an anomaly seen in the linked video. … CROSSOVER ALERT: Check out this 2004 photo of Allen Iverson repping the Doug Williams Buccaneers jersey at the 3 Point Contest (from Throwback Sports). Also posted in NBA. … Awesome old NFL Films stuff here from Old Time Football: In the 1950’s the Colts switched the horseshoe on the helmets from down to up (*this is news to me). And here are the Colts wearing blue helmets. … There was a time when the horseshoe was upside down, but not on a helmet (from Keith Grinde). … Or on the field (from Robert Goulet). … Speaking of NFL helmets, if NFL helmet rule change does come into effect, this article thinks they should bring back these 10 throwback looks. … Count Russell Wilson as among those who would love the one-shell rule dropped.

College Football News: With the coronavirus wreaking havoc on sports, the NFL (see above) and College Football have been largely unscathed, so far. But Kirk Herbstreit says he’ll be “shocked” if the NCAA football season happens (NFL too). That won’t be good.

Hockey News: The Penguins were scheduled to wear green St. Patrick’s Day jerseys in warmups before a March 15 home game against the New York Islanders. While the game wasn’t played due to the coronavirus pandemic, but the Penguins foundation raised $20,000 from the auction of the jerseys and donated $5,000 each to the Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, Western PA Diaper Bank, Rainbow Kitchen and Salvation Army carry-out meal program. … Brian’s Custom Sports has shifted their production away from goalie gear to building medical gowns. They expect to make 18,000 for local EMS (from Goalie Gear Nerd). … This is pretty cool — all 31 NHL teams done in dominos (from Mike Chamernik). … The author of this article feels the Blackhawks need a “consistent” 3rd sweater. … Check out this paint ad in a February 1973 ⁦⁦Canadiens⁩ vs. Maple Leafs program (rt’ed by Paul). … The Cleveland Monsters weren’t able to wear their Purple Jerseys last night & gave one to a lucky twitterer.

NBA & College Hoops News: What do you talk about when there are no sports? You talk about the stuff they wear to play sports. Here’s “Charlotte basketball’s definitive jersey rankings—the worst of all time.” … Remember that brief period when MJ returned to hoops and wore “45” (before going back to 23)? Knicks fans, like myself, will never forget. CROSSOVER ALERT: Check out this 2004 photo of Allen Iverson repping the Doug Williams Buccaneers jersey at the 3 Point Contest (from Throwback Sports). Also posted in NFL. … Here’s a piece ranking the LA Clippers unis from 1984 to 2000. … Oooohhh — check out this Youngstown State Media Guide from 1989 (from Vintage Youngstown).

Soccer News: Reader/tweeter Josh Hinton has given us a better look at the South Korea home/away kits that were released in early February (from Colin Dowding).

Grab Bag: (Thinking this might be better under soccer, but…): “Check out the clue for 10 Down in (yester)day’s NYT crossword,” tweeted Paul. So, is it “uni” or “kit”? … “The 1987 Kevin Costner movie “No Way Out” contains a uniform error involving the Navy Cross. Costner’s character is wearing the medal prior to earning it. Also b/c his actions weren’t in combat he should’ve been awarded the Navy & Marine Corps Medal” (from Timmy Donahue). … Mikasa has added a distanced logo (from Jeremy Brahm). … Oh My — check out these “most stylish tennis outfits of all time” (r/t’ed by Paul). … “Looking at an old Volleyballai magazine from 1996 World Super Challenge and Japan’s men uniform had their names on the shorts and on the back of the shirt,” writes Jeremy again. … Check out the tie dye socks in this photo from 16 years ago (from James Gilbert). … The maker of the Racing Sausages and Bucky Badger mascot is now producing medical masks for Wisconsin hospitals (from Mike Chamernik). … Massachusetts-based New Balance will repurpose sneaker factories to produce medical face masks.

And Finally… Mom made it home from the hospital yesterday! Thanks to all for your good thoughts and kind words.

Everyone stay safe. #AloneTogether

That’s the ticket.

Peace,

PH