History Lessons

Back in January, reader Warren Humphrey pointed me toward this page, which features lots of interesting Seattle Chieftains uniforms. I linked to it in the Ticker and that was the end of that.

But if I had bothered to click around on the site where that page was hosted (which I’ve now finally done, thanks to a tip from Dave Hembree), I would have found a ton additional material. The site is Both Teams Played Hard, and it’s amazing. It’s run by Warren, who describes himself as “a collector,” although I think “historian” might be just as apt a title for him. His strongest suit appears to be basketball, mostly non-NBA stuff, although he has at least a few jerseys from all the major (and some minor) sports. Here’s a small sampling of what you can find once you start clicking through his site:

• Totally digging this Knicks warm-up pullover and this snap-front design.

• The front of this Kentucky State shooting shirt is nice, but the real prize is the design on the back — check it out.

• Here’s a doozy: tequila sunrise and sunset!

• I’d never seen a basketball jersey with the school name in between the two uni number numerals before. How did they handle the design for jerseys with single-digit numbers?

• Awesome 1960s Cleveland Barons hockey jersey here.

• You can really see how the Jets’ shade of green has changed over the years when you look at this old salesman’s sample.

• Love the chunky Phillies script seen in this 1948 batboy jersey.

• Good thing Warren already sold this 1930s football jersey, or else I’d be reaching for the checkbook right now.

• We all know that the Cubs’ mid-century road design has also been used by minor league teams, but I’d never seen this version before.

• OK, so we all know how I feel about purple, but I might make an exception for this jersey.

• You also know how I feel about the combination of green and gold, and that goes double for this uni. GodDAMN that’s gorgeous!

• Greatest rear-jacket design ever? Could be, could be.

• The Globetrotters weren’t the only show team playing in Harlem back in the day. There were also the Harlem Travelers.

• Rare to see a shooting shirt with a big design on the front.

• It’s hard to imagine a jersey that screams “early 1970s!” more than this one does. Here’s the road version.

• I know there have been teams called the Quakers, but I’ve never seen one called the Quaker Oats. Must have been a factory team.

• Magnificent satin jersey here.

• Warren also has a huge page devoted to old photos, ranging from the gorgeous to the bizarre. Too many notable pics to list here, so let’s just say I strongly, strongly recommend scrolling through the entire set.

• Last but absolutely not least, Warren has also been compiling a tagging archive. Click on the individual brands to see loads of great tag designs.

And there’s more — a lot more. Good luck getting anything else done once you start poking around through Warren’s collection.

Great Seven-Inch Sell-Off, Continued: I’ve put yet another batch of old indie singles up for sale on eBay. Start biddin’!

Uni Watch News Ticker: Some really nice old baseball program and yearbook covers on display here. “My favorite is this one, for obvious reasons,” says Ray Barrington). … Oooh, check this out: Prior to Saturday’s Blackhawks/Avalanche game, Bobby Hull, Stan Mikita, Denis Savard, and Tony Esposito took the ice in period-appropriate uniforms. “Note the NNOB and older crest on Mikita and Hull and the gold trim on the crest with the sans-serif C on the shoulder patches for Esposito,” says James Huening. “Dunno why Savard had to wear an Edge jersey, though. And I’m pretty sure the numbers weren’t positioned so low on the back during the NNOB days.” … “Clemson football player Stanley Hunter was forced to quit the team right before the season started because of his ongoing problems with epileptic seizures,” says Benji Boyter. “As a tribute to him, a different player on the team is wearing his No. 17 for each game.” … You know how turf fields typically include those little pieces of ground-up tires? Turns out they could be toxic. … Good spot by Teebz, who notes that Chicago Wolves goalie Drew MacIntyre was still wearing his blue Predators pants the other day, instead of black like his teammates. … The Penguins will wear their blue throwbacks this Saturday. The full schedule for wearing them this season can be found here (thanks, Kek). … Good spot by Jesse Buckner, who notes that the Rangers have been wearing navy gloves, instead of royal. Is that a new thing? … Best news of the week! … USC is adding a helmet decal this weekend for Stafon Johnson, who suffered a serious training injury. … New logos and colors for the New Orleans Zephyrs (with thanks to Bruce Richards). … Todd Usher notes that Maurice Creek is shown wearing a numberless Indiana jersey on this page. “I’d never seen an Indiana head shot that didn’t include the number,” he says. … Great story about an old Arkansas pennant here (nice find by Charlie Shields). … FNOB alert from the late ’80s. That’s Kerry Cash of the 1989 Longhorns (as noted by Gordon Reid). … Look at this: Nike is selling Oregon State replica jerseys with different TV numbers on the two sleeves. “It’s so people don’t have to choose between the two best players on the team, brothers Jacquizz (#1) and James (#8) Rodgers,” says Malcolm Byers.

212 comments October 14th, 2009

Poster Boys

Got a note the other day from reader Michael Princip. As many of you know, he’s the guy behind the fairly comprehensive Seahawks memorabilia site Greenglare. Now he’s got a new project in the works, as he explains here:

My friend Dan Tearle and I have launched a web site called Illustrated NFL, which will focus on NFL illustrations — mainly works by Chuck Ren, but we’ll also cover other artists. We really just tried concentrating on the artists who contributed to the Damac NFL poster series, but there are some other artists featured who did work for the early ‘Pro!’ magazine sets….

This is an ongoing project and there is so much more material that we have yet to include, including writeups on particular pieces, analysis and source pics. There are also some interseting vintage ads we will be adding soon, including some British ads from Dan’s collection. Dan and I are also thinking of making a blog section to the site, where we can generate some feedback and learn more about these incredible illustrations from other collectors and fans of the art.

The site may still be a work in progress, but it’s already a freakin’ gold mine of magnificent NFL artwork. I hadn’t realized Michael was such a vintage illustration buff, so I asked him for more background on the project. Here’s his response:

I met Dan, who’s from the UK, through a sports memorabilia discussion thread about the Damac poster series. I contacted him and told him I collect vintage ‘Pro!’ magazines and would be happy to scan any illustrations he might like to see, in particular Chuck Ren’s work. I soon learned that Dan is an amazing illustrator in his own right and that he actually does illustrations for the NFL offices in London.

I suggested we collaborate on doing some Damac poster-type illustrations, and he really loved what I came up with as far as the backgrounds [you can see five examples of Michael and Dan's Damac-style illos at the bottom of this page -- PL]. Through these collaborations, we came up with the idea to start a site where we can share our collections. We also wanted to create some discussion through our site and hopefully find new artwork from other fans of this genre.

I’m familiar with the type of artwork Michael and Dan are featuring here, but until now it had never occurred to me that it was essentially its own category and that there would be collectors devoted to it (which of course is a big “duh” on my part). It’s a great genre to focus on, in large part because it documents so much of the texture that’s lacking in most of today’s uniforms. Gorgeous depictions of a classic era — big props to Michael and Dan for undertaking such a cool project.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Interesting to see Ervin Santana has “El Magic” on his glove (good spot by Brendon Yarian). … New jersey sponsor for Man U (with thanks to Steven Winner). … While conducting family business on Long Island yesterday, I passed this sign. I love how Mr. Mandelbaum’s “MHM” initials were incorporated into his logo. … A high school long jumper in Vermont was recently disqualified for having an oversized Under Armour on his shorts. The controversy has spawned its own Facebook group (with thanks to Mario Morgado). … Great vintage Little League photo, circa 1963, from Upper Uwchlan Township, Chester County, Pennsylvania (with thanks to Craig Hughes). … Mike Thomas asks a good question: Why did the Oilers’ 1961 Topps cards show the team in pink jerseys, especially since the ’61 Fleer set showed them in blue? … Spectacularly worded Baseball Digest article about the 1963 A’s uniforms here, full of terms like “Brooklyn’s daffiness boys” and “their Kelly green an Tulane gold play suits” (great find by Morris Levin). … Remember that great panoramic 1909 Browns portrait from a few days ago? Here’s the 1910 version — same caps, different sweaters (this one, like the last one, courtesy of Bruce Menard). … Hayden Jackson reports that the Memphis Redbirds dipped into the city’s minor league history and wore Memphis Chicks throwbacks last Friday. … Laurence Davies was helping to clear out his parents’ house when he came upon his old tabletop hockey set, which he received as a Christmas gift in 1968. “There probably wasn’t a November or December day that year that I did not look at this page from the Eaton’s Christmas Wish Book Catalogue (longtime Canadian institution),” he writes. “We quickly tried out every team, formed leagues, and played it to death that winter.” I had a similar set myself in the early 1970s — a hand-me-down from my older brothers. My set, like Laurence’s, had bare-faced goalies, so I made little paper masks and taped them to the goalies’ faces — except for the Red Wings’ goalie, because of Andy Brown. … Jack Looney’s book Now Batting, Number… lists Randy Johnson as having worn Nos. 51 and 57 during his brief late-’80s stint with the Expos. But Michael Kramer came across this (looks like 20something or 30something) and this. Anyone know more? … I’m OK with this, as long as the sponsor is Koz’s Mini-Bowl, Kopp’s Custard, or the House on the Rock. … RIP, Koko.

232 comments June 4th, 2009

The Good Life

By Phil Hecken

This past week, a number of pictures from the outstanding Google-Life magazine collaboration, featuring the treasure trove of Life magazine pictures, have been again popping up on the blog. The collection, which was originally released in November of 2008, features literally millions of gorgeous pictures from Life’s archives. You can begin your search for these photos here. I’ll see you in a few hours.

The collection is still relatively new (in fact, as many of you know, UW prexy Paul Lukas already wrote two pieces featuring photos from the Life collection when it was first released). But they keep adding wonderful photos to the archive, and it continues to grow. They estimate they’ll have over 10 million images available when all is said and done. Not all of them are sports-related, of course, but many are.

I won’t spend this article reposting a bunch of pics (although I will post some), since you don’t need me to do that — you can get lost in your own little search for hours (as I know I have and I’m sure I am not alone in that). But just in case there was anyone living under a rock, or who didn’t happen to read Uni Watch when Paul first explored the Life archives, I thought we could take just a few moments to discuss the Google-Life collaboration.

The only problem, if you could even call it that, with the search function, is it doesn’t seem to have a great interface. It takes some getting used to, and finding pics can prove tricky. And once you find your photos, they’re not exactly always clearly marked. I’m hoping they’ll get around to better identifying the photos in the future, but with 10 million of them, and I’m sure many of the originals weren’t well ID’ed, that may prove a daunting task.

Lets say I want to find some New York Mets pictures. Simple enough, right? Just go to the ’start’ page, type in “Mets” in the “search” bar, and voila — five pages of uni goodness. I mean, how gorgeous is this? Awesome, right? And look, the photograph is clearly identified: “Baseball player Willie Stargell #8 (L), of the Pittsburgh Pirates, sliding in a game vs the New York Mets.” They also include the date, location and photographer’s name.

Unfortunately, however, that same search turns up this beautiful photograph, but the only identifier is “1969 Mets Baseball Team” (I am pretty sure that’s Gil Hodges on the left, but many, I’m sure, do not.) And if I change my search terms to “Gil Hodges”, I do find 10 photos, (one of which may have been taken the same day, only it’s in black in white), but I don’t find any in color. So, while finding pictures, especially with an easy search such as “Mets” turns up gold, I simply wish there were more to go on, especially with older teams or teams for which I am not familiar.

Likewise, a search for “Tom Seaver” turns up ONE (!) result, and it’s flipped! (this pic appeared in the comments this week and prompted today’s column). That’s another small beef I have with the archive. Here’s how that pic should have looked (and surely, it was correct if it did appear in the pages of Life). As several readers (I’m looking at you Squiddie) have pointed out, many of the pics are flipped, such as this Baltimore Colts pic (which I unflipped). Again, with 10 million photos, give or take, I can’t really complain about the lack of identification or a few being reversed, but it is more than a minor flaw.

A search for “Giants”, for example, will return not just sports photos, but other stuff as well, so it’s always advisable to refine your search terms. If you just wanted to keep going after that initial search, however (and why not — those pics are gorgeous), seven pages in you’d find this page, and if you click on the 18th (out of 20) thumb, well then you’d be rewarded with this fantastic pic of “The New York Giants, in dark jerseys, playing against the Dallas Cowboys in light jerseys. (December 1962).” Notice the player is wearing sneakers. Of course, he’s not identified (pretty sure that’s Frank Gifford), so the greatness of the site is somewhat diminished by the lack of identifiers.

A final, although not major complaint I do have is when one finds, say, a photo string to one’s liking. Say I just click on the “Baseball” link on the home page. The result will be thousands of photos in thumbnail form. If I click on the one from page 1 entitled Cuban Baseball Players, I get that particular photograph, with not much identification (ok, fair enough). To the right of the photograph are four additional thumbs (“Related Images”) plus a link to “more” photos. I wish they could have spread those photos and the additional links out in the same form as I get if I typed in “Cuban Baseball Players” in the search screen. The way they’ve set the board up, however, yields the photo with the four thumbs (which seem to rotate in a bizarre order when you click on them). If I click the “more” link, all I get are four new small thumbs. If there is anyone from the Google-Life page reading this, maybe you could talk to someone about this and set about to fixing it pronto? (I keed, I keed).

Anyway, in sum, I LOVE the Google-Life stuff. I just wish it were a little easier to identify and/or search for specific teams, persons, etc. And Life isn’t the only game in town as far as finding old sports photos goes. The Library of Congress (head down to the third item in Paul’s Follow-Up Roundup for linkies) has pics, as do Corbis (be sure to sign up — it’s free) and Shorpy and probably a bunch of others. But the Life archive is still relatively new, adding new pictures all the time, and just a wonderful place to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon (or a day in your office, if you know what I mean). If you haven’t yet bookmarked it, what are you waiting for?

From The Ricko Files we have four beautiful photographs today, in honor of the announcement that the Original Eight AFL clubs would be wearing throwbacks this season. (For the full story, click here. For a pretty damn cool link showing a bunch of 50th Anniversary stuff, click here.) Paul referenced the report (first item in Friday’s ticker), and announced the referees (to our surprise and delight) would also be “throwing back” to their original AFL uniforms. Some discussion ensued as to whether the AFL referees really wore orange and white stripes, or if the stripes were, in actuality, red and white. As we Uni Watchers are nothing if not a detail oriented group, we of course needed additional confirmation that the ref unis were, in fact, orange and white. Confirmation came in the form of this auction piece, which shows the unis are a beautiful orange and white stripe. Notice that the uniform on the left has what appear to be equal width stripes, while the two on the right have thicker orange stripes (as well as numbers). One is obviously the short-sleeved and the other is the long-sleeved version of the same jersey. They are distinctly different from the third jersey however. This will be evident in the photos below.

Ricko has delved deep into the Ricko files to provide us all with additional photographs showing the referees in their original orange and white. The first pic appears to be just a couple of Patriots (and, c’mon, how freakin’ gorgeous is that uniform? — I know the ‘losing’ sentiment that is attached to those, but seriously, that’s 9,000 times better than the stuff they won all their Super Bowls in). Anyway, if you look closely at the photograph, you will see in the upper right-hand corner a referee, clearly clad in the orange and white. You’ll also see the lower portion of his leg, which features a black and orange striped sock (but no stirrup!). It’s hard to tell, but the orange stripes appear thicker than the white ones on the official (ref?). The second photograph shows the Buffalo Bills in action (another gorgeous uniform), with a clear image of a referee in the background wearing the orange and white stripes and an orange cap. The stripes on his jersey appear to be of equal width. The third photograph is from a 1963 Chargers versus Oilers game (love those Oiler helmets) and notice the color of the Chargers jerseys — I’m not quite sure what color blue that is, but I know what it isn’t — ‘powder’ blue. Notice the referee (or is that a line judge?) in what could be described as red (but most likely orange) stripes, and they appear to be much thicker on the color side and thinner on the white side. Also, the cap is white. Finally, the fourth photograph is from 1961 (it says 1962, but it’s a pre-season guide, so the pic is from ‘61), Buffalo Bills versus Dallas Texans. The official does appear to have red stripes in that one as well, but don’t appear to be equal width either. Hmmm.

I can certainly see how it might be possible to think the referees and officials wore red back then, because in a couple of these photographs they sure appear red. If anyone knows more about the stripe width (as in, who on the field wore which), it’d be great if you could post it. Also, what was the distinction between the orange and the white capped officials?

Ricko sent me a note along with the photos, a portion of which I will reproduce here:

“That Bills-Texans photo is the first color action photo I ever saw from an AFL game. Imagine that, the ‘62 SI football preview. Two full seasons played and its the first color game action seen by a kid who bought every annual he could find for those two years. Saw football cards, of course (which were all posed), but no game action. Granted, I didn’t live in an AFL market, but still…

And these young guys think we’re kidding, exaggerating, bragging or telling sob stories when we talk about how tough uni-watching was back then. LOL”

Thanks, Ricko! You’re the man. These kids today, eh?

This and That: Interesting stuff from reader Charlie Lockett: “The new England soccer kit is launched this weekend and for what i believe will be the first time, each kit is individually tailored to each player, like a suit! Some really interesting preview videos you might enjoy” … Today’s NC2A regional final between the Heels and the Sooners may be more about Blake and Tyler than NC and OU … Texas Ranger Michael Young states, “I played for the Cubs. Our uniforms were green.” … They’re still doing that pink thing in hockey? … This may have already been posted, and if it was, my apologies, but the Chiefs will be wearing the Texans unis this year, and some are not happy about it (again, apologies if this exact story was already posted) … The Jags will be getting really shitty uniforms this fall, but at least they have low expectations for the upcoming season … Speaking of new uniforms, the Russians are getting some for their national soccer team … Yesterday’s post got me thinking “Go Terriers” (no, not really) … Speaking of hockey, this is REALLY cool — why didn’t they have cool stuff like this when I was a lad? … “We haven’t bowled a single game as a team and we already have equipment companies calling us, so the word is getting out” … A bit of uni news can be found in the “Briefly” section of this 49ers article … Do people still skateboard? If so, here are some skateboard logos … and finally, Brawn scores with Virgin.

Everybody enjoy your Sunday. I gotta work, my brackets are all busted (there’s more red ink there than in the stimulus package), and it’s supposed to rain. Cheers!

101 comments March 29th, 2009

Land of 10,000 Lakes … and Some Excellent Sweaters

It’s not often that I devote the lead entry to a retail operation, but reader Scott Johnson recently told me about a truly impressive outfit called Vintage Minnesota Hockey. The good news is that you don’t have to be from Minnesota to appreciate their outstanding work; the better news is that they’ve got an online store featuring some gorgeous jerseys, which break down into two main categories:

• Classic Minnesota jerseys: This category features 60 spectacular hockey sweater reproductions — some from high schools, some from old pro teams, virtually all of them magnificent.

• U. of Minnesota jerseys: Eleven very nice Gophers designs. I particularly like this one, and you can’t beat the sleeve patch on this one.

Plus they’ve also got Frozen Four patches and game-used Gophers socks. And if you want a custom job, they claim to have over 30,000 fonts, which they’ll apply for reasonable prices. Not sure how these folks eluded my notice until now. Anyone out there ever dealt with them?

Meanwhile, speaking of good hockey jersey outlets, Stan Olechowski has found a site that sells uncrested sweaters from various leagues and affiliations — an excellent middle ground if you’re thinking about embarking on a DIY project but don’t want the hassle of applying all the stripes, yoke panels, etc.

Was the XFL more influential than we thought?: In yesterday’s Ticker I mentioned that Hammonton High School in New Jersey appears to have taken its athletics program logo from the XFL’s NY/NJ Hitmen. That led several to several comments pointing out some other schools that have adopted the Hitmen’s stylized “H,” including Hebron High in Texas, Hillcrest High in South Carolina, and Highland Regional in New Jersey (sorry, no photo yet). Yes, I realize that lots of high schools “borrow” logos from professional and college teams, but c’mon, the XFL? Also, nobody has mentioned any high schools using other XFL logos — just the Hitmen’s mark. Seems like a very odd trope to me.

The Reebok Chronicles, Continued: As you may recall, a few weeks ago I reported that I’d been assured by a Reebok spokesman that the company’s wordmark will not be replacing the vector logo on NHL jerseys next season. Simple enough. But on Wednesday I was contacted by a sports retailer who sent me this image. That’s the cover of a new Reebok wholesale catalog. I spoke with the retailer, who said his Reebok sales rep had told him just that day that the wordmark would be used at the beginning of the 2009-10 season but that Reebok was being coy about it because they had a lot of unsold vector-clad merch that they wanted to clear out first.

Hmmmmm.

Late Wednesday afternoon I e-mailed the catalog image to Reebok corporate communications manager Dan Sarro (who was the one who’d originally told me that the wordmark wouldn’t be appearing on the jerseys) and asked if he’d like to amend his earlier statement. Later that evening he wrote back that the image was a “Photoshop error” and reiterated, “I can assure you that the logo treatment on the jerseys will not change next season.”

That sounded a little fishy to me, so yesterday I spoke with Sarro. The basic points of our conversation break down like this:

• He was surprised when he saw the catalog image, so he showed it to Reebok’s NHL uniform director, Keith Leach, who was also surprised but confirmed that the wordmark will not be appearing on NHL jerseys next season. (Sarro also offered to have Leach call me so I could hear this directly from him. This hasn’t happened yet, but it’s been less than 24 hours, so I don’t think that means anything one way or the other.)

• So why is the wordmark shown on the catalog image? Sarro basically said (I’m paraphrasing from memory here), “It’s true that we’ve been replacing the vector with the wordmark on a lot of product, so someone in the design department probably just got overzealous and thought it was changing on the NHL jerseys too, and then it ended up on the catalog cover without anyone catching it.” He also said there are no other images in the catalog that show the wordmark on an NHL jersey. I checked back with the retailer, who confirmed the accuracy of that statement.

• And what about the sales rep who told the retailer about the impending change? Sarro said any such claim is simply mistaken, and that Reebok will communicate with its sales force to make sure everyone’s on the same page.

If someone else had written this text and I’d just read it, I’d probably think, “Man, what a bunch of bullshitters — they’re totally gonna change the logo.” But I’ve interviewed a lot of people over the years, and I don’t think Sarro is bullshitting me. Do they need better quality control on their catalogs and better communication with their sales force? Yeah. But are they trying to pull a fast one here just so they can sell some merch that’s about to be obsolete? I don’t think so. I think Sarro is being straight with me.

So why am I even bothering to report this if the bottom line is that the situation remains unchanged? Because I suspect the catalog cover will be finding its way to other media outlets, so I want to nip this one in the bud before that happens.

Uni Watch News Ticker: The Pirates and Rangers will unveil new uni sets today. … According to this story, the Blackhawks will have a new alternate jersey next season — basically the same design they wore for the Winter Classic, except the tomahawk shoulder patch will be added. … The Patriots have unveiled a 50th-season logo. Not sure if it’ll be worn on jerseys, but I suspect the answer is yes. … Check out Paul Brown’s cap (with thanks to Jason Hillyer). … Coupla more close-ups of those Inauguration Day sneakers here. … Wait until you see the shorts on this old basketball uniform. … This dame is MLB’s newest mascot. Additional info here, and lots of photos here (with thanks to Nick Houser). … It’s late January, which means it’s time for the annual story about the factory that makes the Super Bowl footballs (with thanks to Stu Taylor). … Tons of great neon signage on display here (with thanks to Lee Wilds). … How great is this? Answer: Very, very great. That’s the logo of the Fenn College Foxes, now known as the Cleveland State Vikings (tremendous find by Stan Olechowski). … Jeremy Brahm reports that the Yakult Swallows have a new uni set: front, back, 40th-anniversary patch, road close-up (note the odd red top button). Also, a fifth-anniversary patch for the Rakuten Eagles. … RNOB alert: Tommie Liddell III of St. Louis (with thanks to Harrison Bobbins). … Nice shot of sleeved New Mexico State hoops jerseys here (with thanks to Brian Borkenhagen). … Happy birthday to my father, Irwin Lukas, who turns 85 today (and who totally Gets It™). See you in a few hours, Pop.

275 comments January 23rd, 2009

Preseason Ponderings

Now that the first slate of NFL preseason games has been played, a few new developments have come to light (aside from those green dots on QBs’ helmets, which we’ve already discussed at length). Let’s take a look:

• At first glance, it appears that the Chiefs are wearing an AFL logo patch. But upon closer inspection, it turns out that the patch includes little “LH” initials at the bottom, in memory of Lamar Hunt. Personally, I’ve always loved the AFL logo and am happy to see it in just about any context, and I realize Hunt was a prime mover behind the AFL’s inception, but this still seems like an odd memorial choice, especially since it’s so hard to see the “L.H.” initials. Maybe if all the original AFL teams were wearing the patch..? Visually pleasing conceptually puzzling.

• Great to see the Browns wearing their old striped socks again, instead of what they were wearing last season. Additional views here and here, just cuz it looks so damn good.

• Nice catch by Chad Wilcox, who notes that many of the Redskins with non-Riddell helmets are wearing the team’s stylized “R” secondary logo (the one usually seen on Joe Gibbs’s cap) on their nose bumpers Here’s another view. I like. Meanwhile, we’d all seen the team’s 75th-anniversary patch before, but it’s worth noting that it looks plenty sharp on the field.

• Speaking of anniversary patches, the one being worn by the Steelers doesn’t look as good. And although this is still appearing on the Bengals’ home page, it’s not on their jerseys, at least for now.

• There’s something weird about opening your season — even your exhibition season — in your alternate jersey.

• I wish the Chargers’ pants bolts had a few more jags in them. Otherwise, I think their new design looks sharp.

• Subtlest change of the year: Motorola has outfitted the coaches with new headsets this year. The microphone bar is much thicker and clunkier-looking than last season — apparently so the Motorola wordmark can be printed on it as much as possible. Just in case anyone’s missing the point, the wordmark is also now appearing on both sides of the upper strap. (Note, incidentally, that while Joe Gibbs wears earphones on both ears, most other coaches only have an earpiece on the mic side.

That’s enough for now. Look for further developments in the Ticker as more games are played (like tonight’s Eagles/Ravens and Niners/Broncos tilts).

Charge It: The story behind this commercial and its inconsistent lightning bolt designs (compare this view of LaDanian Tomlinson, in which the upper-front point of his shoulder bolt is pointing forward, to this one, in which it’s pointing backward) continues to evolve. Last week I posted a note from Steve Due of AIS Uniforms — the company that made the unis — which didn’t fully explain the inconsistencies. Now I’ve received a dispatch from Due’s AIS colleague Bob Halfacre (who, as elephant-memoried readers may recall, had some very strong opinions a while back on the subject of nameplate initials), which I think finally closes the book on this story:

We made the bulk of the uniforms in a week with no help with patterns from the NFL. All we had was a replica-style jersey from Reebok. So the jersey itself isn’t perfect. … When the commercial was filmed, the Chargers sent Antonio Gates, Philip Rivers, and LaDanian Tomlinson with their actual tailored game jerseys. The shots of those three players are a mix of footage of those players in their actual uniforms along with footage of actors in the jerseys made by AIS, edited into what looks like continuous football action. I noticed the problem when I saw the commercial the first time also.

This shot is actually LT in his real jersey. Now that I have studied it a little more, I can see the problem. We put the bolts on backwards. If you look, the actual pictures of Gates and Tomlinson have the bolt with the first jag inside low and outside high. The AIS jerseys have the bolts the other way.

This explanation matches up with yesterday’s Chargers/Seahawks preseason game, where all of the Chargers’ shoulder bolts had the upper-front point facing forward (additional views here, here, and here). So there you have it: an all-too-rare case of someone taking responsibility and admitting his mistake. Thanks, Bob.

Membership News: We’re almost caught up on membership designs. Lots of good new stuff in the design gallery, including, as you can see at right, our first Bad News Bears treatment. Also newly added: a San Diego Chicken design. (I confess that I had never noticed the Chicken’s jersey logo until member Michael Rawson asked for it on his card.)

The next batch of designs, which Scott should have ready in a day or two, includes a really brilliant request that’s gonna look sooooooo cool — stay tuned. Meanwhile, new members are still welcome, so keep those orders coming.

Uni Watch News Ticker: No photo yet, but David Conley reports that Tiger Woods’s baby girl, Sam, “was actually wearing a red jumper with a large Nike swoosh on it when they showed her on TV yesterday after Tiger won the PGA.” And if you’ll excuse me for a second, I need to go throw up. … Okay, I’m back: The Celtics have announced that Scot Pollard and Eddie House will be wearing Nos. 66 and 50, respectively. Why? According to Friday’s Boston Herald: “‘Because all the other (expletive) numbers were taken here,’ Pollard said, looking around a conference room that had the numbers of Bill Russell (6), Tom Heinsohn (15), John Havlicek (17), Robert Parish (00), Larry Bird (33) and Kevin McHale (32) hanging on the wall.” (With thanks to Matt Englander.) … If you’re into modifying the uniforms on your video games (as discussed in detail here), you’ll want to check out the customization videos on this page (with thanks to Trev Ulmer). … Shorpy continues to be a great source of old uni photos, including this shot, captioned as follows: “Opening Day at Hilltop Park, April 4, 1908. New York Highlanders and Philadelphia Athletics” (as forwarded by Bob Andrews). … Brilliant catch by Peter Fahey who notes that Red Sox uniforms often have an upside-down 8 (the bigger opening should be on the bottom). … Elena Elms reports that the Durham Bulls will be wearing Livestrong jerseys, to benefit the Lance Armstrong Foundation, on August 19th. … While doing a bit of membership-related research, Scott Turner came across this photo, taken in 1984. “How come Dorsett’s got a big star on his chest?” he asks. Good question. Anyone..? … If you haven’t read Game of Shadows, some of its most damning evidence about Bonds concerns his uniform: “[Giants equipment mananager Mike] Murphy could document Bonds’s physical changes via the changes in his uniform size. Since joining the Giants, Bonds has gone from a size 42 to a size 52 jersey; from size 10 1/2 to size 13 cleats; and from a size 7 1/8 to size 7 1/4 cap, even though he had taken to shaving his head” (with thanks to Matt Schudel for forwarding that quote). … Bryan Redemske notes that Chris Duncan, like all the other Cardinals, wore red shoes on Friday but switched to black on Saturday. … Matt Algeo reports that the Russian national baseball team wore throwbacks the other day. “Who knew there was a Russian national baseball team, or that they were around long enough to wear throwbacks?” he writes. Details and additional pics here. … Not often that you see “Sr.” on a nameplate. The player in question is Nebraska wide receiver Chris Brooks, whose young son is Chris Brooks Jr. (nice find by Brian Hansen). … Small item about Rick Ankiel’s uni number history about halfway down this page (with thanks to Tom Chalifour). … Dave Gardner sent along a few hockey-related links I hadn’t seen before, including a discussion forum for vintage goalie masks and a gallery of Russian jerseys. … “Found a cool gallery of lacrosse photos from the Victoria Shamrocks of the Western Lacrosse Association, a semi-pro summer box lacrosse league in Canada,” writes Thomas Langan. “Looks like some of the jerseys get recycled, as evidenced by the tape over the name. Some nice retro-looking jerseys too.” … “This blog entry has two uni-related tidbits,” writes Kim Kolb. “One is about a United midfielder trading jerseys with Beckham, the other is about some guys trying to steal the Galaxy’s laundry, leading to a chase through the bowels of RFK Stadium.” … The Twins’ recent I-35W memorial decal provides a uni-related connection for this excellent story about how a new signage typeface is being used on American highways. … Soccer note from Jeremy Brahm, who reports that Montreal Impact goalie Matt Jordan was injured with a broken jaw a month ago but is now playing with a mask. … My worst nightmare recently came true down in Virginia, where the Richmond Braves had a purple jersey promotion (with “thanks” to David Rosenthal). … Latest MLB team to pull the totally bush move of wearing their BP jerseys for a regular-season game: the Mariners, who did it yesterday, apparently because it was so hot and muggy and they don’t have a Cool Base road jersey option. … Speaking of the M’s, many of them are wearing a custom-designed undershirt. Details here (with thanks to Jerry Gardner). … Amusing column here about the PGA’s no-shorts rule (good spot by Alan Kreit). … Eyebrow-raising note buried in Phil Mushnick’s Sunday New York Post column (as spotted by Seth Horowitz): “The University of Utah’s new basketball coach, Jim Boylen, could be the guy we’ve been looking for. At Boylen’s urging, black has been eliminated from the team’s uniforms. ‘Our [school] colors are red and white,’ he explained. ‘Black is not one of our colors.’” … The Texans are the latest team to publish their jersey schedule for the upcoming season (good find by Seth Harris). … No photo, but Morris Levin reports that Bruce Froemming is still wearing his All-Star Game cap. … “Adam Gaylord plays his college baseball at Stanford, but this summer he’s been playing for the Waterloo Bucks of the Northwoods League,” writes Matt Nelson. Sunday he sported these nice stirrups.”

229 comments August 13th, 2007

Switching to a Completely Predictable Color Scheme Is the New Black

Jerry Glanville has always been such a blowhard. The whole “Man in Black” thing, leaving a ticket for Elvis, driving a replica of James Dean’s car — a shtick as hackneyed and cornball as that has to be earned, and anyone with a head coaching record of 62-71 hasn’t earned jack.

But Glanville and his shtick are back this year, because he’s the new head coach at Portland State, which unveiled its new uniforms yesterday. And in the year’s 9473rd-biggest surprise (right after Lindsay Lohan’s latest rehab stint, and in front of Karl Rove’s refusal to answer a subpoena), the team’s previous green-based color scheme has given way to black. (As an aside, check out the kid on the left — he’s wearing NFL gloves, which means they’re made by Reebok. A rare chink in Nike’s promotional armor!)

It could’ve been worse. According to this release, Glanville originally presented his own uniform design (also black, I’m sure), but that one was discarded after Nike came up with their design. “When Nike presented their new look, I realized I may be in the wrong business designing uniforms,” said Glanville. Yeah, because you probably wouldn’t have come up with quotes like this one, from Nike creative director Todd Van Horne: “We (at Nike) huddled together and said ‘there’s energy here.’ We needed to bring that energy very visually to the field.” Don’t you love it when marketers talk like that? Yeah, Portland State has energy — unlike all those other football teams, which presumably have, like, no energy at all, right?

Such bullshit notwithstanding, the most interesting thing about the new design is the helmet, which features a center spear instead of flanking side logos. The most obvious corollary is probably the Redskins’ old feather design — not a bad pedigree. I kinda like it.

As for Glanville, I’ll say this much for him: If the Vikings or Ravens want to hire him, I’ll gladly contribute a letter of recommendation.

Membership News: Scott’s been busy with non-Uni Watch work (that boy needs to get his priorities straight), so the membership gallery hasn’t had any new designs for the past few days, but expect to see more designs added by the end of the week, including some real doozies. Meanwhile, I mailed out two dozen membership kits yesterday and should send out about 45 more today and tomorrow. And congrats to new member J.J. Carton, who last night became our 400th (!) enrollee.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Indiana is memorializing Terry Hoeppner with a helmet decal (with thanks to Mark Fightmaster). … I’ll be interviewed tonight at 10pm eastern on the Face Off Hockey Show, whose principal, Scott Wasilewski, sent along this photo of NASCAR drivers Michael Waltrip and David Reutimann wearing NAPA-branded Canadiens jerseys. … “UnderArmour has made a couple of changes to Texas Tech’s football jerseys for 2007,” writes Aaron Dickens. “The jersey numbers will be much thinner than last season and the UA logo will be black instead of white.” … Oh my. … You probably saw this spotlighted in my ESPN column from last week, but just in case: UniformViolation.com is pretty damn cool. … Everything leads back to Bill Buckner (good find by Jere Smith). … “The Harrisburg City Islanders of the United Soccer Leagues Second Division have what may be the most useless names I’ve seen on a team’s jersey — they’re in blue here,” writes Chuck Nolan Jr. ” Also, Harrisbuirg has worn pink jerseys and Cincinnati (from the same league) has worn pink socks.” Ewwww. … The St. Paul Saints have added a black armband to mark the I-35W bridge collapse. It’s interesting that minor league teams are usually more showy and “wacky” that MLB teams, but in this case the Saints’ response to the bridge tragedy is much more restrained than the Twins’ gesture. … Speaking of memorials, have you noticed that the umpires have been wearing “SC” sleeve patches? That’s in memory of former ump Shag Crawford (father of current ump Jerry Crawford), who recently passed away. … The Thai police department is punishing slipshod officers with a novel twist on the scarlet letter (nice find by Matt Brosseau). … AJ Connelly notes that Terrell Owens “has opted for something from Jimi Hendrix’s wardrobe! Something needs to be done about this before Reebok spots it and make it de riguer in the NFL on Sundays.” … Someone broke a record of some sort last night. It had nothing to do with uniforms, so if you have strong opinions about the record-breaker, please post them on a more appropriate forum, not here. Thanks.

247 comments August 8th, 2007

…But I Know What I Like

If you’re a regular reader of this site, I’d say there’s a pretty good chance that you used to doodle uniforms or at least logos in the margins of your notebooks back in junior high. No shame in that — I did it myself, and so did uniform designer Todd Radom. But when it comes to uniform doodling, we’ve all got nothing on Marty Hick.

I met Marty a few weeks ago at the Uni Watch party in St. Louis (he’s the one who wore the super-cool St. Louis Cardinals necktie). At one point during the party he went outside and then returned carrying a cardboard box. When I asked him what was in it, he was all noncommittal. “I’m can’t show you yet,” he said. “I need a few more drinks before I’ll be ready for that.”

A few beers later, I asked Marty if he was ready to give me a peek at his stash. Still a bit wary but now clearly eager to share, he hauled the box onto the bar, reached in, and pulled out a big stack of notebooks — notebooks filled with amazingly detailed uniform drawings.

I flipped through the notebooks as Marty explained that he’d been making these drawings for years. But I soon stopped listening to him, because I was too busy engrossing myself in the drawings, which were incredible. There were stripe patterns and studies, comparative pants concepts, logo redesigns, Olympics uniforms, baseball sleeve treatments, all-star designs, NFL sock comparisons, some bizarre corporate brand uniforms, and more. It was a mother lode of obsessive-compulsive uniform illustrations.

The most interesting artistic trope in Marty’s drawings was his habit of combining home and road designs in the same drawing (additional examples here, here, here, and here), which created a weird In-Betweener or Lokai and Bele effect. When I asked him why he did that, he replied, “To save ink.”

By this time Marty’s initial reticence had given way to exuberant self-promotion. “Look, look at that!” he said as I flipped the pages. “Look, a logo on the Bears’ pants! Who else would think of doing that? Nobody! Look at that Islanders concept! Look at that Rams redesign! And look, here’s where I reconfigured the American and National Leagues in three divisions each — years before they actually did it themselves!” Somehow this all came off as charming instead of egotistical. I mean, really, how could you not be charmed by this? (You can see even more of Marty’s work in this slideshow.)

It was pretty obvious to me that Marty didn’t create all this artwork because he wanted to; like all creative visionaries, he did it because he had to. So I got his address and then, when I got back to my hotel room, I immediately ordered him a copy of Blackstock’s Collections, the book of obsessive “visual lists” that I reviewed a few weeks back. In the spirit of Blackstock’s work, as well as his own, I hope he’s doodled a few drawings in the margins.

Membership News: Lots of cool new stuff in the membership gallery, with lots more to come in the next few days. Remember, you can click on your card’s icon to explain what the design is based on and why you chose it, and you can also leave comments for anyone else’s design.

Meanwhile, every enrollee should now be listed on the membership roster. If you’ve signed up and don’t see your name listed, please let me know and I’ll make things right.

I’m happy to report, incidentally, that we’ll soon have a very special raffle — one that will make all you glad to have those three bonus raffle entries that come with membership. Details soon.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Oklahoma will have player names on the jerseys this season. … Reprinted from Friday’s comments: Although not truly uni- or logo-related, this is really, really cool. Details here. … Dennis Hurley has created a gallery of Cork City FC uniforms. … Brandon Roberts notes that Kentucky appears to have a new white helmet stripe this season. … College hockey report from Tom Konecny, who writes: “Though no official announcement from the school, the top two pics on this page appear to be the new Bowling Green State University hockey jerseys.” … The Bengals have once again published their jersey schedule for the upcoming season. Why can’t every NFL team do this? … In a vaguely related item, Chris Gilligan reports that this year’s N.Y. Giants season tickets show the team’s uniform history (additional images here and here). … Despite what you might think, I had nothing to do with this video (but Vincent Barone says his sister did). … Remember how we all noted some inconsistencies in the shoulder lightning bolts on the Chargers’ new uniforms when the design was unveiled a few months back? Check out this commercial, which shows the new uniforms in action. Not only do the bolt styles vary from player to player, but compare this view of LT to this view — and it’s the same play! … The Lakers have a new 60th-anniversary logo. … The Nats and Cards wore Negro League throwbacks on Friday. Interestingly, the Nats had throwback caps but cheated by using their navy road helmets, even though it was a home game. … Justin McGrail notes that the Celtics are plastering Kevin Garnett’s image everywhere in a numberless jersey. … Chaminade University is sponsoring a logo design contest (with thanks to Chris Chaussee). … “The Ottawa 67s of the Ontario Hockey League wore special jerseys during pregame warm-ups to honor longtime coach Brian Kilrea’s 2000th back in February,” writes Joe Dunman. “Luckily they didn’t all wear the jerseys during the actual game — the play-by-play guy would have gone crazy.” … Several readers have asked about this photo, which recently ran in SI and appears to show Hank Aaron wearing a two-digit number starting with 5. Now, the Hammer actually wore No. 5 when he first came up, later switching to his familiar 44, but I can’t find any info about him wearing fifty-something (or fifty-anything). Joe Hilseberg notes that neither of Aaron’s minor league teams was called the Braves, so that rules out that possibility. Anyone know more about this? … Might just be the lighting, but it looks like the Wizards are changing their trim from bronze to gold. … Willie Randolph added a “B.R.” inscription to his cap the other day, in memory of Bill Robinson. … Interesting NHL logo-o-rama site here. … Syracuse has unveiled a helmet revision, and if you squint a bit and break out the magnifying glass, you might just notice it. … Matthew Hackethal recently came across some old 1986 Topps stickers that show some of the Braves wearing really shitty-looking mesh-backed caps. “The photos appear to have been taken during batting practice (Dale Murphy’s shows him leaning against a batting cage),” he writes. “I’m wondering if this was just a spring training thing or did it continue in to the regular season.” Anyone..? … This always cracks me up. … In fact, it cracks me up so much I’ll show another example. … Not quite uni-related, but an interesting superstition. … Chosen logos (nice find by Matthew Scher). … The batting helmet from Bonds’s 755th homer is heading for the Hall of Fame (thanks, Vince). … June Jones apparently has some unorthodox coaching methods (thanks again, Vince). … Here’s something you don’t often see: an NHL/NASCAR connection (the trifecta for Vince). … Someone has tracked Florida State’s record by uniform combo (with thanks to Bob Jordan). … Rutgers has apparently tweaked their football jersey (compare to last year’s version). … The following item was buried in yesterday’s column by Newsday’s Ken Davidoff: “The commissioner’s office issued a memo last month to remind teams that proper uniform tops are to be worn at all times. That means that managers such as Boston’s Terry Francona can no longer go with the sweatshirt look.” I’ll believe that when I see it. … We’ve seen the Steelers’ 75th-anniversary logo before, but here’s how it looks on their jersey. … Several readers reported seeing a green dot on the back of many players’ helmets during yesterday’s Steelers/Saints Hall of Fame Game. Haven’t been able to find a photo. Anyone know more about this? … This site got an insane number of hits over the weekend, and I can’t figure out why. Not complaining, mind you — just mystified. Links from my Friday ESPN column account for some of the increased activity, but there’s gotta be more to it than that. Did some big mainstream site link over here without my being aware of it?

161 comments August 6th, 2007

Uni Watch Grab Bag

Coupla things I’ve been meaning to get to, all of them slightly bigger than typical Ticker fare but not quite weighty enough to merit full-scale blog entries of their own. So without further ado…

And then there are the Browns.

• We all know that the A’s have been wearing white shoes for over 40 years now. So when Michael Turner recently wrote to ask if I had any photos of the A’s wearing green shoes in the early ’80s, I said, “Nope,” and privately wondered what the hell he could have been thinking about.

Shows what I know. Turns out there are quite a few shots of the A’s wearing dark shoes on the road in 1982, although it’s tough to say if they include green — maybe (here’s another potential candidate), maybe not.

Interestingly, Dressed to the Nines (which I obviously should have consulted before so blithely dismissing Turner’s query) shows the A’s wearing green footwear on the road in 1983, and what appears to be black cleats in ‘81. But for 1982 — the year in which all those photos were taken — they’re listed as only wearing white. (And yes, almost all those photos were of Rickey Henderson, but I also found dark-shod pics of other players, so it wasn’t just a Rickey thing.)

We actually bid that job. We had a gold fabric that was a little less brassy than the one Majestic used. The problem is that Majestic gives each team such a large marketing credit that most clubs want to get all of their uniforms as near as free as possible. It’s very frustrating for us, because we really feel like we are being “played” by clubs a lot of the time, but Majestic hands over the big money to squash guys like us. Ninety percent of the time, these [throwback] projects are being handled by the [team's] marketing department, and they generally lack the experience to execute a uniform’s details flawlessly.

My father, Doug Gordon, was the head equipment manager at Clemson University from around ‘83 to ‘94. The “Clemson cut” pant was originally made by a clothing company called Powers. The rep from Powers would come help my father fit the entire baseball team with their pants. The Clemson cut is called so because Clemson was one of the first schools to fit players by their waist, calf, thigh, and inseam sizes. They were custom-fit for each player to fit their legs. Most players got three pairs each, due to the fact that they always wear the white-styled pant. The web site you have shown [in the link above] is odd to my father, because the Clemson cut pants never had stirrups in them. I myself am an equipment manager at the University of South Carolina, so I just happen to have an interest in the whole uniform genre.

Gotta love that — the family that equipment-manages together, uh, what rhymes with that? Too bad about the whole calf/inseam thing, though — this may have been ground zero for the ruination of baseball hosiery.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Very telling fold of the fabric here (as spotted by David Fleming). … “I went to my brother-in-law’s senior art show at Washington University in St. Louis this past weekend,” writes Dan Brown. “While I was there, I saw this painting by Elena Rodriguez.” Man, someone needs to commission Elena for a big mural, pronto! … Veeeery interesting blog entry here regarding the cost of English Premier League sponsorships (with thanks to Dominic Litten). … Here’s an eBay auction with another jersey featuring the number on the “wrong” side. … Some really sensational uni-related bits (and, by any standard, some very cruel moments of sexism) in this video of Babe Ruth teaching women who to play ball (nice find by Crhis Manes). … Good article here regarding cyclists pulling their socks up high (as forwarded by Lee Wilds). … Yesterday I linked to a photo gallery from the shooting of the Ernie Davis biopic. Turns out that a reader who prefers to remain anonymous was watching the film shoot through a fence and took some great additional pics, as seen here, here, here, and here. … Reprinted from yesterday’s comments: I didn’t realize that the Rockies originally had logo-emblazoned stirrups! The photo is taken from this timeline. … Cathy Reeder sent along some interesting Florida Little League photos, including shots of a kid with mismatched socks, a kid with no socks, and a team that wears its uni numbers on the caps. … Remember Frank DiPino? Yeah, I barely do either, but apparently he wrote, “Get Somebody OUT!” on his underbill, and you can have that cap for your very own here (nice find by Eric Stangel). … Not only do the Diamandbacks and Astros now have similar color schemes, but as Chris Shastid points out, they have similar problems regarding the integrity of their lettering across the placket. … The Yokohama Bay Stars will be wearing these uniforms during the Japanese interleague games. “They’ve added a brick-red panel and color to the cap, plus a gold neckline,” writes Jeremy Brahm. “But look at the serif on the 2 — it would look fine without it, but it is huge.” … Great contribution from Larry Brunt, who writes: “I’ve been reading a bunch of baseball picture books with my four-year-old, including Lou Gehrig: The Luckiest Man, by David Adler. The illustration that accompanies the text of him taking himself out of the game that ended his streak is here. I’m quite impressed that the artist (Terry Widener) included the historically accurate sleeve patch the Yankees wore in 1939 for baseball’s centennial.” … Thomas Harris notes that there’s some good stuff going on in the Coastal Plain League (“The Nation’s Hottest Summer Collegiate Baseball League”), including some killer stirrups being worn by the Thomasville HiToms and the completely endearing logo being used by the Columbia Blowfish (who also appear to have one of history’s greatest mascots). Even the league’s logo gets it right. … Bosox pitcher Julian Tavarez has been wearing Big Papi slippers in the clubhouse (where he’s also been spotted wearing a “Manny Being Manny” T-shirt) and even in the dugout on days when he’s not pitching.

223 comments May 23rd, 2007