Tom Juettner Presents: MLB 2020 (Volume I)

By Phil Hecken, with Tom Juettner
Follow @PhilHecken

Hey everyone! Hope everyone is being smart and safe these days — obviously there’s a LOT of non-uni stuff going on while we begin to open things up. In a year when you never seem to have a day with no news (and usually it’s bad news), we seem to have had a decade’s worth of stories in the past couple weeks. This would already be an incredible year if we weren’t fighting against the COVID-19. 2020 just won’t quit.

But…even as we’re seeing more and more signs that we probably won’t have an MLB season this year (but even if we do, it won’t resemble any season we’ve ever seen), that doesn’t mean we can’t still dream of baseball unis. I’m pleased to welcome back reader Tom Juettner (you may recall Tom did his take on American and National league “City” edition uniforms earlier this spring, just as the COVID-19 was kicking in). It took a while, but Tom has now finished his “regular” team uniforms (mostly home, road and alternates, with a couple exceptions), and we’re going to look at the first half today. Tom sent them in alphabetical order, so that’s how these will run. There are actually 31 teams (he welcomes the Expos back!), so today we’ll look at the first 15 teams, and check out the final 16 shortly. If you’re saying to yourself, “Hey, where’s the Cleveland team?” — it’s coming. It’s just that Tom has renamed the squad, so that team will appear with the next set.

So with that set up, here are your first 15 MLB teams, 2020 edition — you can click on any image to enlarge (there are usually 3 images per team, and each one is a separate image). And now, here’s Tom:

• • •

2020 Series
by Tom Juettner

Forward:

Our country is in a very difficult place. Our emotions have varied from fear of a global pandemic to rage against the rampant injustices of our society. We’ve lost George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breona Taylor to violence and over 100,000 other Americans to sickness leaving us little time to mourn.

Sports has typically been an outlet for collective grief but since March we’ve had no sports to share together. This project was conceived to help bridge the gap before the crack of the bat, the squeak of the hardwood, and the clap of the slapshot could return. This is not going to heal the open wounds in our nation but art (and surely we who love this site believe uniforms to be art) can still be enjoyed for a moment before we return to the struggle.

__________

Angels:

The early 70’s lower case “a” returns but with a 3D effect that fills out the design. It also harks back the PCL Angels who also used 3D lettering. The Angels road uniforms of the 70’s and 80’s always looked a little periwinkle in the right light and that’s been emulated here.

__________

Athletics:

The original OAKLAND script returns along with the straight white at home, gold on the road format. The number font is a modernized version of the classic McAuliffe font but adjusted to match the ratios of the chest letters.

__________

Astros:

The 2000’s Astros scripts were better than they deserved to be, especially the home script. They’ve been stripped down to plain monochrome to make room for a new shooting star style with tequila sunrise trim. The cap logo takes its cue from the unused “A” prototype cap.

__________

Blue Jays:

Arguably the best uniform in baseball, the only changes are committing to powder blue on the road and dropping the excess navy piping on the TORONTO script. A solid blue uniform becomes the alternate, complete with a racing stripe style the Blue Jays have never explored.

__________

Braves:

The classic uniforms but without the Indigenous imagery. Small change to the “Atlanta” script. The capital “A” is blocked off from the rest of the lettering to match the home script which has the “B” separated. I might be the only person who liked the blue on blue road alternate so I’ve brought it back despite the fact that it breaks many of my cardinal rules of baseball design.

__________

Brewers:

I think the Brewers redesign went mostly ok but there are a lot of little details that bug me. I also think that a team that shared a city with teams like the Irish rainbow Bucks and the untucked Marquette hoops can go bolder. This set bends my rule about pinstripes or soutache but not both on the same uniform by using sublimated pins. Powder blue takes over full time on the road. Gold letters are standard for home and away and the script Milwaukee takes over for the arched. One lager gold alternate for home and away.

__________

Cardinals:

The bat becomes blue and beaks become red in a style that uses team colors throughout. A single red stripe on the pants harks back to the late 60’s look. Rather than two heritage alternate, I’ve mashed them together into one design that’s primarily there for playing red forward teams like Cincinnati.

__________

Cubs:

Totally stripped down to basics. Including the original, finer ’30s style numbers and no outlines. A solid fauxback with the standing bear logo replaces the blue softball top.

__________

Diamondbacks:

A Pepsi team if there ever was one, this set reimagines them as a Coke franchise. The “A” is replaced with an “A” snake design based on the old “D” logo. Arizona adorns home and away jerseys because “Diamondbacks” is too long a name to fit.

__________

Dodgers:

I love the Dodgers aesthetic. The one problem is they cannot stick with one road uniform. I think one reason they have leaned towards “Dodgers” on the road is that the “Los Angeles” script is a little long for the jersey. The solution is found in classic Lakers jerseys which staggered the “Los” and “Angeles.” A Sunday home alt harks back to the satin uniforms from Brooklyn with the Los Angeles script to add a small changeup.

__________

Expos:

They’re back! I’ve also been amused by the fact that Canada’s two Original Six hockey teams adapted the colors of the opposing provincial flags. The Maple Leafs wear blue and the Canadiens wear red while Ontario has a red flag and Quebec has a blue one. With the Blue Jays matching the Leafs, this is an opportunity to emphasize red for the Expos jut like the Habs.

__________

Giants:

The more slender 60’s lettering returns and the “SF” takes over on the road permanently. The numbers get slimmed out a touch but very few changes overall.

__________

Mariners:

I’ve loved the current look going back to the Griffey era. The main changes have been to revert the chest lettering to the original style and use the same font on the back numbers.

__________

Marlins:

Their current letters are nice but everything else is muddy. So I’ve adapted them to the 1997 World Series template. Black sleeves on teal pinstriped vest.

__________

Mets:

Pins at home, vertical arched “NEW YORK” in the 50’s Giants style on the road. Done.

• • •

Thanks Tom! I’ll be back with Tom in the very near future for the remaining 16 teams. Please let him know what you think of these concepts in the comments below.

Guess The Game…

from the scoreboard

Today’s scoreboard comes from Ron Bolton, 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.

Father’s Day Is Coming: Next Sunday is Father’s Day, and I’ll once again be posting photos of Uni Watch readers’ “Dads In Uniform,” a tradition that began in 2013 (and has continued in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and last year). This is always a very special day, and I’d love for as many readers as possible to participate — especially those of you who haven’t done so before.

I welcome those who have submitted before to do so again — and this time, I’m going to allow readers to send in photos of their Grandfathers or Uncles (sorry, no brothers — maybe next year). So if you have a photo of your grandpappy or uncle in a uni, please send it in!

To take part in this annual tradition, select one photo of your father (or grandfather or uncle) in uniform (it can be sports, military, work — as long as it’s a uniform) along with a short description of 100 words or less (refer to my prior years’ entries to get a feel for the style of the descriptions). Then email the photo — again, only one, please — and text to phil.hecken@gmail.com with the subject line “Uni Watch Father’s Day 2020” by this Thursday, June 18, midnight Eastern. I’ll run all of the submissions next Sunday. Thanks!

Uni Concepts & Tweaks

After being dormant for a while, the Uni Tweaks/Concepts have returned!

I hope you guys like this feature and will want to continue to submit your concepts and tweaks to me. If you do, Shoot me an E-mail (Phil (dot) Hecken (at) gmail (dot) com).

• • •

Occasionally I’ll have some concepts tweeted at me. Have a few in the pipeline from Lucas Daitchman who has some NHL Concepts (there are lots more, but we’ll start with these four):

New Jersey Devils:

Here are my ideal 4 NJ Devils jerseys. The home and road jerseys blend their classic and modern sets. the third adds an all black uniform for a change and the fourth jersey is a modern take on their red and green uniforms.

Washington Capitals:

Next up in my redesign series is the Caps. The Weagle is promoted to primary, on new jerseys inspired by their 2014 Winter Classic set. The navy third jersey is inspired by the Washington, DC flag, while the fourth jersey is a modernized version of their bronze and blue set.

Arizona Coyotes:

Here are my 4 ideal Coyotes jerseys. The home and road use their current colour balance with added sand and the Kachina pattern. The third jersey is similar, only with a recoloured Kachina crest, and the fourth whiteout jersey incorporates a sublimated Arizona flag on the sleeves.

Edmonton Oilers:

My ideal four Oilers jerseys are two home and road sets: a modern orange and navy set, with stripes based off of their old orange alternate, and a classic royal and orange set which is a cleaned up version of their Cup-winning jerseys.

• • •

Thanks. OK readers, tweeters (and concepters). If you have some tweaks or concepts, shoot ’em my way with a brief description of your creation and I’ll run ’em here.

The Ticker
By Anthony Emerson

Baseball News: Here is the “inside story” on Kansas State’s new baseball unis (from Sean Kautzman). … New logo for Little League baseball and softball (from Mike Chamernik).
.

NFL News: Johnny Garfield sends along this 1996 clip of Bills RB Carey Bender having the “D” in his NOB fall off. … Titans head coach and former Patriots LB Mike Vrabel once trolled Bill Belichick by wearing a Giants helmet to practice after Belichick kept on negatively comparing his Pats linebacking corps to the legendary Giants linebackers he coached in the 1980s (from Mike Chamernik). … This Vikings blog wants the team to adopt new unis (from Kary Klismet).

College Football News: The latest episode of the Sports Uncovered podcast delves into how Oregon’s decision to change their unis ahead of the 1999 season changed the college football aesthetic forever. The podcasters also wrote an article on the topic (from Kary Klismet and Danny Pedroza).

College Hoops News: Kentucky men have released their 2020-21 uni numbers (from Josh Hinton).
.
.

Soccer News: The Premier League’s Black Lives Matter NOBs will last for the first 12 matches of the restarted season, not just the first match. A Black Lives Matter badge and an NHS badge will feature for the rest of the season. Bleacher Report also posted a rendering of what the Black Lives Matter NOB will look — two-tiered (from Mike Slavonic). … Both Juventus and AC Milan wore anti-racism messages on their warmups before their match yesterday. … Several Premier League clubs will be in the market for new advertisements after this season (from Josh Hinton). … New kits for USL Championship side OKC Energy FC (from Kary Klismet and Ed Żelaski). … Italian Serie B side Pescara have an insane/awesome healthcare worker appreciation kit (from Gabriel Hurl). … The MLS will allow teams to wear shorts ads for their Orlando tournament, and is considering adding ads to the sleeve that doesn’t already have one, the left (thanks, Jamie).

Grab Bag: Dallas Center-Grimes High in Iowa has a new athletic logo (from Kary Klismet). … Band-Aid is launching a new series of colors that strives to match skin tones to promote inclusivity (from @walbergLines).

And finally… big thanks to Tom Juettner for those MLB 2020 concepts. Some of those are pretty cool — let Tom know what you think below.

Start thinking about your Father’s Day submissions too!

I’ll catch you tomorrow — and I think you’ll enjoy what I have in store. If you want some “out there” designs, then tomorrow will be your day. It’s a collaborative effort between two outstanding designers (both of whom have been featured before). That’s all I’ll say for now.

Peace,

PH