In today’s Ticker: A new NASA spacesuit, changes to MLB’s replay system, and more.
Uni Watch News Ticker for March 16, 2023
Posted in:
Baseball
MLB
- Starting this season, umps will communicate with replay officials via a Zoom-equipped tablet, rather than a headset. On some TV broadcasts, home viewers will be able to see the Zoom interaction.
- Here’s something I didn’t know: Western Kentucky University poaches the Nationals’ script “W” logo.
- MLB’s new pitch clock is proving to be challenging for broadcasters, who now have to work at much brisker pace.
- In 1899, the Reds’ home jerseys didn’t properly match the pants, so the team sent them back to the manufacturer shortly before Opening Day. (From Lee Wilds)
- Absolutely essential viewing: Check out this sensational 1954 video footage that shows all the uni elements and gear that’s typically found in a Cardinal player’s locker.
Minors
- Star Wars Night jerseys on May 5 for the Triple-A Omaha Storm Chasers. (From Alex Seder)
- The Single-A Fort Myers Mighty Mussels will wear at least four promotional jerseys this season.
More
- “Ryan Lavarnway is catching for Team Israel in the World Baseball Classic,” says Andrew Hoenig. “His chest protector’s shoulder guard shows the Hebrew word ‘chai,’ which means ‘life’ or ‘living.’ Moreover, the numerical value of chai is 18, so 18 and its multiples are spiritual numbers in Judaism. Lavarnway’s uni number is 36.”
- Speaking of the WBC, Canada and Mexico went red vs. red yesterday. (Thanks to all who shared)
- Pierce College — a community college in Washington State — has baseball uniforms that are pretty much a straight poach of the 1970s Phillies. (From @JayJayDean)
- Vanderbilt wore Lou Gehrig tribute uniforms on Tuesday and will wear them again next Tuesday. (From Kary Klismet)
- It was pretty cold for last night’s Duke/Presbyterian game, so Presbyterian’s base coaches wore blue hoodies over their red jerseys — which, oddly, made them match the Duke jerseys. (From Rob Brown)
Football
NFL
- With Aaron Rodgers saying he wants to play for the Jets, it’s worth noting that the number he’s always worn in the NFL — No. 12 — is retired on the Jets for Joe Namath. But Rodgers and Namath will probably talk about that if and when Rodgers is dealt to the Jets.
College
- New Pitt QB Phil Jurkovec will wear No. 5. Here are the uni number assignments for the rest of the team’s new players.
- If you like college football, you’ll love this 13-minute 1961 video about Iowa football. “It features outstanding old-timey uniforms (including a really cool Indiana helmet), cheerleaders, marching bands, concessions, merchandise, and solid midwestern fashion,” says longtime reader Lee S. He’s right — don’t miss.
CFL
- Nothing official yet, but the Calgary Stampeders appear to be hinting at new uniforms.
More
- Women’s shoes that look like a football? Sure, why not. (From David Firestone)
- Here’s a short interview with the equipment manager of the old Raleigh-Durham Skyhawks, who played in the WLAF. (From James Gilbert)
- Greenwich (Conn.) High School has received its rings for winning the 2022 state championship. (From Kary Klismet)
Hockey
NHL
- The Devils practiced yesterday in their green throwback pants, so they’ll presumably be wearing the red/green throwbacks for tonight’s home game against the Lightning.
- The Sharks are scheduled to wear Pride Night pregame jerseys on Saturday. In case you missed it over the weekend, the recent controversies involving NHL Pride jerseys have largely been due to Russian players (although it’s also worth noting that the Kraken wore pregame Pride jerseys on Monday night without incident).
- In a related item, buried within this story is the news that NHL commish Gary Bettman has no problem with players or teams opting out of Pride jerseys. Key quote from Bettman: “I think you have to respect the fact that not all players want to be participating actively, and the clubs have to decide how best to respond to that.”
More
- “The Dallas Stars Elite are the top youth travel hockey team in Dallas and are partially bankrolled by the NHL’s Dallas Stars,” says Alex Posani. “They recently posted a photo commemorating their 16UAAA team, and I couldn’t help but notice an error on one of the banners in the background. Dmitry Sinitsyn was indeed drafted by the Dallas Stars in the 7th round of the 2012 NHL Draft, but the Stars didn’t start using that shade of green and that logo until 2013.”
- Police officers in Ottawa wore “thin blue line” jerseys for a charity hockey game.
Basketball
NBA
- The Trail Blazers have a new costumed mascot. (From Kary Klismet)
College
- Here’s a quick video snippet of the NCAA tourney patch being added to a Purdue women’s jersey. (From Kurt Esposito)
- Grand Canyon men’s had to make some quick emergency arrangements after losing their uniforms on their way to their first March Madness game.
G League
- A Maine Celtics player had LNOB — that’s league name on back — instead of a standard NOB last night, which apparently happens sometimes with new roster additions. (From Mike Boscaljon)
More
- The Cincinnati Public Schools All-Star Showcase has pretty cool uniforms! (From Chris Mycoskie)
Soccer
USA
- New first shirt for the NWSL’s Chicago Red Stars. (Thanks, Jamie)
- New USL One teams Lexington SC and One Knoxville SC have announced a rivalry trophy. (From John Flory)
- Virginia Dream FC of the semi-pro NPSL have new handcrafted tie-dye-style kits. (From David Tra)
International
- Canada: New primary and alternate kits for the CPL’s Hamilton Forge. (From Wade Heidt)
- Germany: New diversity-themed alternate kit for VfB Stuttgart. (from Kary Klismet)
- Italy: Good article on the slightly chaotic introduction of squad numbers in Serie A 30 years ago.
- Speaking of Serie A: New throwback kits for U.S. Lecce. (From Kary Klismet)
- Here’s an overview of the host stadiums for the 2026 FIFA Men’s World Cup. (From Kary Klismet)
Golf
- LIV Golf’s attempt to trademark a new logo has been blocked by a famous Miami nightclub called LIV.
Cricket
- The new Major League Cricket (the upcoming American men’s Twenty20 league) team in D.C. will be called the Washington Freedom, which was also the name of a team in the first two U.S. women’s soccer leagues — WUSA and WPS. (Thanks, Jamie)
- Pakistani cricketer Mohammad Rizwan is taping over the gambling advertisement on his Pakistan Super League team’s jersey. “It’s technically a news website ad, but a gambling company owns the site and uses the same name and logo for its news and gambling arms to get around the league’s ban on gambling advertising,” explains R. Scott Rogers.
Grab Bag
- New logo for supermarket chain Harris Teeter.
- NASA has released the first prototype spacesuit for the Artemis III moon mission. (From Shawn Hairston)
- The Oklahoma Dept. of Wildlife conservation’s logo looks like a bearded guy in a hat, especially when reduced to the size of an online avatar, and department personnel are apparently getting really tired of people pointing that out. (From Chuck Graves)
- The University of St. Thomas in Minnesota has unveiled renderings of its planned new multi-sport arena. (From Kary Klismet)
- Air Japan, a new low-cost carrier, will have gender-neutral uniforms for its cabin crew. (From Kary Klismet)
- Walmart has rolled out more inclusive vests for store employees.
- The Saskatchewan Rush — that’s a box lacrosse team — will wear retro uniforms inspired by the old Syracuse Smash on April 15. (From Brad McLeod)
Comments (43)
Ah, the Raleigh-Durham Skyhawks. The only things worse than those red-and-green atrocities that they passed off as uniforms were their record – 0-10 – and the fact that they were owned by George Shinn … the same guy who owned the first version of the Charlotte Hornets. Tried so desperately to get them moved out of Charlotte that he tried to fabricate low attendance numbers to speed up the move (and was caught doing so).
I rather liked their minimalist helmet logo, and hoped the NY Jets might one day poach it.
The Cardinals’ locker room footage features long time equipment manager Morris “Butch” Yatkeman:
link Pretty much every team photo of my youth featured Yatkeman.
The list of stadiums for the ’26 World Cup opts for generic names for any that have sold their naming rights. “Dallas Stadium” for AT&T Stadium, etc. But BC Place in Vancouver is listed as “Vancouver Stadium”, but I don’t think that’s a case of corporate advertising. Or am I wrong?
Yeah that’s weird and unnecessary.
During the 2010 Olympics, which has similar rules, BC Place was “BC Place” but GM Place was “Canada Hockey Place.
Check out how old the photo of BC Place is on their website! Really FIFA? I would bet that photo could be late 1990s considering Vancouver skyline around it. The old inflatable roof was removed in 2010.
Will be cool to see grass in BC Place. Would also be cool to see them keep the grass for the rest of summer and early fall 2026 for subsequent BC Lions and Vancouver Whitecaps games. Though not sure how sustainable that would be in that stadium.
Not only that, but they also have the wrong photograph for “San Francisco Stadium.” They used the one for MetLife Stadium whose word mark can clearly be seen in the photo.
On yesterday’s Baseball Tonight podcast Eduardo Pérez was on to discuss the WBC since he’s the GM for Puerto Rico and he was asked about the team’s uniforms. He mentioned that in previous editions of the tournament the uniforms were provided by the tournament but this time teams were required to provide their own and that this change was a surprise to him. I wonder if GB’s plain design was a result of a last-minute request to suppliers. Pérez also mentioned that he got some negative feedback from organizers about the size of one of the patches. I forget whether it was the flag on the sleeve or the Adidas logo.
What’s to talk about? The Jets retired #12. Seeing that back on the field rendered in their current design is a terrible prospect and diminishes the honor.
I sure hope Aaron Rodgers opts to wear a different number…he should lobby for NYJ to go back to wearing green-over-white and ditching the black uni options.
And speaking of BFBS…fingers crossed that the Stampeders lose every trace of black on thier uniforms and just go red and white.
It would just be one more douchey (is that a word?) move by Rodgers if he requests the 12. I fully expect that he will.
Totally agree with you on the Stamps losing black completely.
I’d be in favor of Rodgers going back to his college #8 from his time at Cal.
^
This
As a non-jets fan, I am not so bothered by the new unis strictly referring to the green and white options. I don’t Iike the black unis or helmets. I have always preferred the contrast sleeve/shoulder stripe jets look, but I don’t mind the new ones. What I do mind is that the new look is very darted and angular and precise, but they’re using the generic football with boilerplate font arch logo. The squared-off italic font logo with the top of the J becoming the jet trail is by far the superior logo to pair with this current uni. This uni set literally looks like it was designed based on that logo and yet they don’t use it.
If they put the jet trail italic logo on the helmet and ditched the black laundry, I think they’d look great out there.
Good chance the Stampeders are going full red and white for primaries (except note the black trim still on the logo).
But Calgary’s had the black alternate jerseys since 1994. Wearing an alternate back when it wasn’t a big thing in pro football. As much as many people don’t like the black alternate, their organization seems to love it. Would expect a black alternate uniform to hang around.
“MLB’s new pitch clock is proving to be challenging for broadcasters, who now have to work at much brisker pace.“
When will they find the time to tell me about tonight’s very special episode of “Gordon Ramsay’s Angry Cookin’”?
Prompted by the new soccer kits: I wonder if the uni advertiser has any say in uni designs (particularly with soccer since they change designs so frequently). I can imagine in baseball it’s next to none at the moment but with soccer the team’s identity essentially being its advertiser, I wonder if it’s a team design effort.
“the team’s identity essentially being its advertiser” is a ridiculous statement.
Maybe I should say the team’s “visual identity”? The advertisement is by far the biggest and most obvious thing on the jersey aside from the players number, and the uniforms change far more frequently than the advertiser.
That may be the case for for UniWatch’s ad-obsessed readers, but it in no way reflects the views of soccer fans around the world. You say it as if every team has identical kits that are only differentiated by the ad on the front.
Technical issue: I get a spinning wheel of death whenever I click on the link for the Greenwich High School championship rings item. Looks like it might be a broken link? Here’s the original link if that’s helpful:
link
I’m a bit confused on the Ryan Lavarnway ticker item. The word chai has two letters, chet and yod, read right to left.
link
His right shoulder guard clearly has a yod, but I’m not sure where the chet would be. A quick google search suggests that he doesn’t wear a left shoulder guard, which if he did and it had a chet would more clearly spell out chai. Unless I’m missing something.
link
link
Oh, the giant gray area on the chest. I’m a moron. Please disregard.
Wish the Jets were going back to their classic uniforms for Rodgers like the Bucs did when Brady joined them. Their current uniforms and their reliance on the black is disgusting.
Yes, the Jets current look is their worst (though salvageable with some tweaking IMO), but they’ve gotten enough mileage out of the Namath-era uniforms. Nothing would say ‘we live in the past’ more than reviving/retreading them for another go-’round.
Keep them locked away, to be seen on a limited/special occasion basis.
Bringing those back yet again is a bad idea…one that would be made worse if they did so just because they get a hold of Rodgers for some (short?) term.
I’d consider it bad form to see the Jets dress in those with an un-retired #12 under center.
Regarding the Ottawa thin blue line jerseys… from the article:
—
“He said the jerseys weren’t purchased by the association, but by an officer who played on the hockey team 10 years ago “long before it was ever made into a symbol of racism.”
They have been worn regularly for charity tournaments ever since, he said.
Ottawa Police Association president Matthew Cox says the jerseys were purchased 10 years ago by a now-retired officer. (Nicole Williams/CBC)
Cox said the intention was never to harm the community. While he was aware of the controversy surrounding the symbol, he didn’t expect the backlash recent social media posts have created.”
—
Let’s continue that logic. The swastika didn’t used to be a hate symbol either. But it became one. And we don’t display it or wear it for that very reason. So the acknowledgement that he was aware of the thin blue line controversy but then continued to wear them tells you all you need to know.
On a different note – NASA going BFBS??
Apparently its not how they will look in action.
“The precise look of the suits, however, remained a closely guarded trade secret. Those on display came with an outer layer that was charcoal gray with dashes of orange and blue and Axiom’s logo on the chest – intended to obscure Axiom’s proprietary outer fabric design.” link
Maybe NASA’s equivalent of home and road unis!
Zoom tablets for umps kind of seem like a downgrade from the headsets.
Hopefully they aren’t looking at video on that tablet or all those pitch clock time savings will be lost. They just need to be told by someone upstairs what call to make. Keep it quick. Better yet just give them an earpiece they wear the whole game, and let replay send down quick decisions without dragging things to a halt.
The 1961 Iowa video has footage from at least two different games — one against Indiana and one against Wisconsin. Both visitors had almost identical uniforms — including helmets with logos on the front and back instead of on the sides! I wonder who copied whom?
For some reason, it feels totally on-brand for FIFA to have an ancient photo of BC Place, spell “San Francisco” wrong, not have a picture of “San Franscico Stadium” at all, forget that the first ever game there was an Earthquakes game, and identify “Seattle Stadium” being in “Seattle, New York City”
Have to wonder who poached who – I mean, the Nats have only been around since 2005, so it’s possible that WKU used that curly W prior to that. Of course, the Senators II used it from 1963-71, so maybe the school started using it after they became the Rangers. Or maybe they both poached it from Walgreens? Wait til I get going! Now, where was I?
It looks to me like a hand-drawn copy of one of the more accurate Senators curly W’s used on official MLB merch, rather than a straight poach of the Nats curly W. Now, the Nats curly W is the same as the actual on-field Senators curly W, but MLB has never permitted a field-accurate logo to be used on Senators merchandise. Or the WKU curly W could be hand-drawn from a photograph of a Senators cap; the WKU version lacks the sharp points of the real logo, but a photo of embroidery on wool tends to give those sharp angles a rounded appearance. The slight variation in the thickness of the left arm and the odd flatness of the right side of the W make me think it’s drawn from an old Senators photo or Cooperstown Collection Senators merch.
Meant to include this link to a digital version of that particular WKU logo: link
With the G-League putting the NOB below the number, I think it would be more accurate to say the Maine Celtics player went NNOB, since players with normal NOB also have LNOB.
I’m grateful the Seattle Kraken followed through on their Pride sweaters, but refresh my memory: Didn’t we reach the conclusion promotions like this are beside the point and create an opportunity for black eyes for the league?
“We”?
No.
Lee
From the Golf Digest article about LIV:
“Both entities use the Roman numeral for 54 as their avatar—the nightclub as an allusion to Studio 54 and LIV Golf for the number of viewers they get for each event—”
HAHA! BURN!!!!
San Franscisco Stadium is located just off the west coast of California. So Santa Clara is an island?
In a way.
Lee
I thought that G-League uniforms had the player’s name underneath the number??
Didn’t Lou Gehrig go to Columbia? Why is Vandy wearing tribute uni’s to him?
According to this article (link)…
“The games, featuring the Vanderbilt Commodores, Belmont Bruins and Lipscomb Bisons baseball teams, will raise money for the Live Like Lou Fund for ALS Research at Vanderbilt University Medical Center (VUMC).The Live Like Lou Fund focuses on defeating Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
The Live Like Lou Foundation and VUMC have been working together for the past two years, committing more than $3.5 million to fund ALS research.”