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Good as Goldsmith

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It’s been a while since I acquired a vintage uniform catalog, and a long while since I acquired one as magnificent as the 1924 Goldsmith beauty you see above. Some parts of it are better than others, but almost every page offers at least one item of unusual interest, so let’s take a page-by-page guided tour of the entire thing:

Inside front cover: The inner cover lists all the schools that wear Goldsmith gear, including many schools that we now think of as major football powerhouses: Notre Dame, Michigan, Nebraska, Texas, Alabama, etc. That’s funny, I thought Nike and Adidas invented football at those schools.

Page 1: You’ll rarely see a more effective use of three-color design than this. Wouldn’t that make a swell poster?

Pages 2 and 3: This spread offers Goldsmith’s official footballs. Nice but unremarkable. These are the least interesting pages in the catalog.

Page 4: A page of fairly rudimentary helmets. Perfect in case you plow into a goalpost, like the guy in the illustration at top-center. But go ahead, do your worst — this baby is “padded throughout with best quality white felt.”

Page 5: Here’s where things start to get really interesting. Check out this helmet with elastic lacing in the back. Never seen anything like that. Also, note the “additional extension for back of head” (basically an early neck bumper) and the lower-jaw protection (more than 80 years before the Riddell Revolution!). “The finest helmet ever designed,” indeed.

Page 6: Another page of helmets, but I especially like the cutaway drawing on the bottom. I figure Michael Princip might want to incorporate some of those design details into his next version of the Bulwark, so here’s a close-up of the cutaway.

Page 7: Still more helmets, but note that the one at top-left has a built-in nose and cheek guard. Nice of them to provide comic relief with another spot illo, too.

Page 8: A selection of shoulder pads. The “interlocking pivotcentre” on the lower model is interesting. And man, do I love all those hand-lettered labels.

Page 9: More shoulder pads, notable primarily for the unusual design at top-right.

Page 10: Still more shoulder pads. Nothing particularly remarkable here.

Page 11: Now we’re talkin’ — a page devoted to football pants, complete with swatches. I’ve seen a lot of old catalogs over the years, and this is the first time I’ve ever seen fabric swatches for football knickers. Love the inside-out schematic views, too.

Page 12: If you’d like your pants to have an “inner harness,” then this is the page for you.

Page 13: More pants. Love the cutaway illo, along with the close-ups of the crotch and knee designs.

Page 14: Still more pants. At first I thought this page was nothing special, but then I noticed the lace-up pant legs shown at bottom-center (here’s a closer look). Fascinating!

Page 15: Here’s a page of practice equipment and accessories. I love that the tackling dummy is “correctly stuffed.”

Page 16: Matt Powers, this page is for you. Put me down for a pair of No. 44, thanks.

Page 17: Another page of footwear. Love those square-toed kicking shoes.

Page 18: Okay, I know you’re thinking, “Enough with the pads and shoes already. Where’s the good stuff?” I hear ya — here’s your money shot. Man, after 87 years, those colors still pop! And when’s the last time you saw a sports catalog offering “Blood Orange”? Worth the price of admission for this page alone.

Page 19: You know I love these wool jerseys. Note that numerals are optional, and are only for the back of the jersey. Lots of other good stuff on this page — I recommend reading the whole thing.

Page 20: More jerseys, this time with a variety of collar styles. Man, is the guy at lower-right the most unlikely-looking football model ever?

Inside back cover: Why do socks so often get lumped in with the jockstraps?

Back cover: And that’s a wrap.

Pretty nice, right? If you want a closer look, you can access larger versions of each page here.

Uni Watch News Ticker: Love love love these old roller derby skates. ”¦ Reprinted from Friday’s comments: The Wenatchee Wild — that’s a minor league hockey team will wear Seahawks-themed jerseys later this month. Note the captaincy designation — a nice touch. ”¦ I like this shot of former UCLA football coach Red Sanders holding the old National Championship trophy (with thanks to Paul Molina). ”¦ When the Hollywood Stars came out with their famous shorts in 1950, it prompted Baseball Digest to publish a fun piece on baseball uni history (nice find by Mike Hersh). ”¦ Nike made special shoes for the Nets/Raptors game in London. “They went with the Raptors’ pre-2006 color scheme, including purple,” notes Cody Van Ryn — weird. ”¦ Those camo warm-ups are now spreading like a virus through the NHL. Latest team to be infected: the Caps. ”¦ When Mike Engle recently mailed me his membership fee, he addressed the envelope with vertically arched lettering! ”¦ A few weeks ago I linked to this white Cal helmet but didn’t know anything more about it. Now Kyle Mackie, who attends Cal, says he’s spoken with one of the team’s players: “He told me that it’s gonna be worn at an away game, so we can likely expect the Storm Trooper look. Cal opens the season with a game against Fresno State at a neutral site, Candlestick Park, in San Francisco. The player told me that if Cal is designated the away team, expect the white helmets to open the season; otherwise they would be held for a later road game. He also mentioned that at this point it’s a one-time thing only.” ”¦ Also from Kyle: “The other day I stumbled my way into a commercial shoot for a video the Pac-10 was filming at Cal to promote the new Pac-12 logo. The video is set to be released (I think) on March 16th on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and the like. The video is going to feature mainly Cal student-athletes, but dressed up in gear from all 12 schools in the conference. The Pac-10 people brought boxes of props, jerseys and helmets from all of the schools for the shoot, and had different students representing the different schools for the video. I didn’t see the new logo but was told that it’s pretty much the same as the current Pac-10 logo, but with a 12.” ”¦ This is pretty cool — it’s called “NBA: Six Degrees of Separation,” and l’ll let you play around with it so you can discover what that means. Be warned — it’s addictive (blame Matt Weidner). ”¦ Here are all the uni combos that the Angels will be wearing for their Flashback Fridays throwback games (with thanks to Adam Stoneman). ”¦ The Spurs and Heat did the Español thing on Friday night. ”¦ Another high school hoops mix-up in Indiana, as Northridge played Concord at a neutral site and both teams brought their white uniforms. Northridge ended up borrowing jerseys from the host school, Elkhart, which led to an unusual-looking uni match-up (big thanks to Tony Miller). ”¦ Always loved the Dallas Chaparrals logo (thanks, Brinke). ”¦ I’ve mentioned several times that Tsuyoshi Nishioka is obviously an Adidas guy, so it was surprising to see him wearing Nike cleats the other day (good spot by Jeff Metzdorff). ”¦ “Kris Letang of the Penguins got in a fight Friday night and was given game misconduct for not having his jersey tied down,” reports Doug Keklak. “They showed the strap in postgame, and you could make out the tag.” ”¦ Syracuse lacrosse wore throwbacks on Friday (with thanks to Troy Fowler). ”¦ Gordon Blau spotted this MLB-esque barber shop sign. ”¦ Here’s something interesting: I’ve seen high school and college basketball warm-up tops with snap-on nameplates before (this was so the warm-ups could be used for multiple seasons with different players), but I’d never seen a baseball jersey with snap-on functionality until now. It’s from this eBay auction. ”¦ According to this report, two young pitchers in Mets camp are working on lengthening their strides by wearing spikes on their push-off feet and sneakers on their landing feet. “That way,” says the article, “they learn to step further because they’re hitting the ground later.” ”¦ New logo for the Anaheim Bolts (with thanks to Kenn Tomasch). … Georgetown and Cincinnati went color-vs.-color on Saturday, but the real story is that Cincy point guard Chris Wright was missing the “s” on his chest insignia (good spot by Christopher Winschel). ”¦ Very disappointing to hear that FIFA has banned snoods, if only because “snood” is such a fun word (with thanks to Jeremy Brahm). ”¦ Another college hoops player is wearing boxing headgear on the court. That’s Kyron Stokes of Oral Roberts University. Further details here (with thanks to Joe Moore). ”¦ Here’s a major find: Pete Rose and Johnny Bench in basketball attire (big thanks to Dwayne White). ”¦ Here’s a good look at the centennial shoulder patch that LSU wore in 1993 (with thanks to Kenny Pellegrin). ”¦ The Rockland Boulders, a new entry in the Can-Am baseball league, have unveiled their logo (with thanks to Matt Harris). ”¦ New home uni for the Arkansas Travelers (with thanks to Justin Bates). ”¦ Oooh, check this out: The FBI and the Secret Service have their own hockey teams! I’m assuming the Secret Service guys are really good at sliding in front of a slapshot (nice one, Brinke). ”¦ The Rev. John Berg notes that Bemidji State goalie Dan Bakala has Bob and Doug McKenzie on his backplate. ”¦ The Mets’ only approved undershirt colors are blue (when they’re wearing their blue caps) and black (all other caps). But David Wright went through a period a few years back when he frequently wore orange. He’d stopped doing it over the past two seasons, but I noticed him doing it again yesterday. ”¦ Byron Alvarez of the MISL’s Missouri Comets put this headdress on after scoring a goal Sunday against the Chicago Riot. “I have no idea why,” says Kenn Tomasch. ”¦ Remember my super-keen Lane Tech varsity jacket? I just scored a great companion piece for it on eBay: this amazing-looking Lane Tech varsity sweater, complete with a Hale America sleeve patch, just like the ones MLB teams wore during World War II! More photos when I receive the sweater from the seller. ”¦ Dave Grob recently acquired a game-used 1975 tequila sunrise jersey and has written a detailed description of it. One particularly interesting note: The uni numbers were heat-pressed. Lots of other good info, too — recommended reading. ”¦ Bill Kellick has found yet another Raider with a smiley face sticker on his helmet. That’s Rod Sherman from 1971. What the hell was the deal with that trope? ”¦ Richmond hoops player Kevin Anderson has a tattoo of the Hawks’ old Pac Man logo. “To be fair, he grew up in Atlanta,” says Scott Turner. ”¦ Michael Lipinski was shopping the other day and spotted an NHL knapsack with an identity crisis. ”¦ Any of you Canadian readers got a spare $250 lying around? If so, you should totally snap up this gorgeous 1920s flannel jersey (nice find by Robert Silverman). ”¦ Matt Harris notes that Carmelo Anthony wore a headband in the first half of last night’s Knicks/Hawks game, but not in the second half. ”¦ The Rangers wore white at home yesterday, at the Times made a fairly big fuss over it — cool (thanks, Phil). ”¦ Günter Mast, who died last week, did not exactly leave the world a better place than he found it. For starters, he came up with the concept of corporate sponsorships on soccer jerseys. He also invented Jägermeister. Full details in this obituary (as noted by Jason Bernard). ”¦ One more from Brinke: a shot of Roger Staubach showing off his new Brooks shoes. ”¦ Mike Hersh has put together an excellent overview on the history of satin baseball uniforms. Highly recommended. ”¦ Some interesting attire at the Competitive Snowball Fighting Championships (good one from Chad Todd). ”¦ Jake Doyle sent along one of his periodic grab bags of material. This batch featured a goalie making like Superman, a tremendous Providence Reds jersey, and, as Jake put it, “a Hall of Famer and his syrup.” ”¦ Whoa — was that Mariano Rivera going high-cuffed the other day? This merits further investigation (big thanks to Grant Goldman).

 
  
 
Comments (164)

    I know it’s been bemoaned on this site time and time again, but WHY WHY WHY does the NBA insist on only half-assing the Spanish team names? “Los Spurs” and “El Heat” looks so f*cking stupid that I’m actually upset and insulted by such a dumb thing. What, do Espuela and Calor look bad on the jerseys? Are they scared of losing the white demographic? Can’t “Latin” it up TOO much? Good God almighty. That is so asinine I can’t even express it properly.

    For what it’s worth, I am not Hispanic, but if I were I think I’d be far more insulted but this bufoonery.

    They do it that way because — or so they tell me — that’s how Hispanic fans refer to the teams. They really do say El Heat and Los Spurs.

    Fair enough. Statement and anger retracted. I’m honestly surprised by that. Oh, well… I still think it looks stupid, but I suppose the NBA should actually be applauded for reaching out to the fans.
    Now I feel silly.

    But Anthony is still right: it’s asinine. English-speaking fans refer to the teams as “The Heat” and “The Spurs,” but even the idiots behind NBA uni design don’t put the word “the” on the regular unis. If the definite article is the only difference, then here’s what you do for Hispanic Heritage Night: You wear your regular darn uniforms. Either translate the name or don’t; adding “los” is the uni-design equivalent of the team execs walking around with their hands doing the “loser” sign on their own foreheads.

    I should add that I love when teams do cool stuff for various heritage events, including special jerseys with translated team names. It just disappoints me to see team half-ass it. It’s a sign they take themselves too seriously. Have fun with it; go all-in and translate your name or wear completely different colors or whatever. Don’t just slap definite articles on the corner of your jersey.

    And that’s the point that pi$$e$ me off, Paul, ’cause the league is 100% wrong on that.

    I’m from San Antonio, and have watched many games with the family of the woman who subsequently became my ex-wife. Said family often spoke Spanish around the house.

    They ALWAYS called them “Los Espurs.” NEVER “Los Spurs.” I have never heard anyone in the spanish-speaking community in San Antonio refer to them as “Los Spurs.”

    Stern needs to stay away from things he doesn’t know (like Spanish) and stick to things he does know (like rigging the draft lottery…)

    That Stern comment just took the lead for QOTD! Just as long as your head doesn’t explode over this, Tom…

    i always thought that “spurs” and “heat” were the teams brand names, so it wouldn’t translate in spanish. as in, you’re talking about a team/brand named “the spurs”, not an actual “spur” or “spurs”…

    That is a fair point, that it is a brand name…

    In the NHL, the only team that goes bilingual with their name is the Ottawa Senators/Sénateurs. The Montreal Canadiens retain their French spelling in English, while all other teams are officially referred to by their English names in French (i.e. Penguins instead of Pingouins), although I’m sure their pronunciation is going to be affected when speaking en français.

    How ’bout if today, to salute those of Latino heritage, we call everyone “Amigo”?

    That would demonstrate our cultural diversity, don’t you think?

    Unless we get punched in the face, of course.

    —Ricko

    In honor of the NBA, those of us not blessed with Hispanic heritage should refer to our peers who are as “el friendo” and see where that gets us.

    Make sure to speak really loudly and slowly. Non-English-speakers love that, I hear. :)

    Carmello did get black compression sleeves for his legs, allowing him to stop wearing the navy blue ones he brought with him from Denver. However, if he wears any more spandex, he’s going to look like one of these guys:
    link

    Love the Flyers/Penguins backpack. I have two Pittsburgh Penguins Christmas stockings. One is embroidered with “Pittsburgh Penguins” at the top, and the other with “Iowa Hawkeyes”.

    Yeah, that backpack’s got some serious issues.

    Of course, we can just blame Bettman… XD

    Ding ding…we have a winner. Good one, Scott.

    In the rare instances that I get to smell burning coal these days, I’m instantly taken back in my mind to my grandfather’s house in southwestern PA.

    i’d love to see the angels also wear the “los angeles angels” version of their throwbacks, especially now that they are the “los angeles angels of anaheim”.

    bill rigney sporting the arched “los angeles” look.

    link

    Does a “Los Angeles” Angels jersey get to double as a Spanish Heritage jersey?

    i realize it’s an away jersey and they’re only wearing the the pictured throwbacks at home (ie, all white), but here’a better pic of the uni i’d like to see the angels recycle…couldn’t hurt in their efforts to rebrand themselves as “los angeles”…

    link

    IMO 1997-01 was a terrible Angels uniform & logo. It just had zero familiarity to it. Way too clunky; too much outlining.

    How exactly does one get involved in Competitive Snowball Fighting? More importantly, why doesn’t ESPN2 cover it? Surely that’d be more entertaining than freakin poker.

    First draft choice: Buddy the Elf.
    He had a gun.
    A snowball machine, he was.
    link
    Second? Randy Johnson (see Geico commercial)
    link

    —Ricko

    Where was this sport when I was younger? I would have loved that. Used to subscribe to the Bud Grant philosophy…no gloves. Keep your hands warm, but when it’s time to grab the snow your bare hands make it pack faster.

    One of my best memories of the 80s invovled a snowball fight. The neighbor kid sensed defeat and started to run around to the other side of the house. I did some quick calculations and lobbed one over the two-story structure. Two seconds later I heard “Ow!” Nailed him.

    For the record, Gunter Mast did not invent Jagermeister. He is credited with popularizing it through his link.

    I think Jägermeister has been around since the early 30s. Herr Mast was 84 when he died, so he would have been just a tyke when the recipe was developed.

    Kudos to Mike Hersh on the Satin Baseball Uni history (my, don’t we all wish we were rich and could buy fearlessly–and endlessly–at Mitchell & Ness, Ebbets Field Flannels, that Minnesota Hockey history site and others).

    Also a belated “good stuff” to Jim Vilk for the ski jump (yeserday’s lead) and his unintended salute to Eddie the Eagle. A question, though: Did you ever calibrate that thing to see how far the Little Red Man DID jump?

    To quote Napoleon Dynamite: “Whow, you got, like, three feet of air on that one.”

    —Ricko

    Oopps, that “buying fearlessly” comment was also meant to reference the Goldsmith Catalog in concert with Hersh’s retrospective.

    —Ricko

    I think he needs more skiers first. Paint a few more guys up to represent different countries and all that. No point in measuring distance unless there’s actually some competition.

    ’tis true, ’tis true.
    I was thinking only of the comparison to Eddie the Eagle. Did Little Red Man actually outjump the Brit, perhaps? I cannot help but wonder.

    —Ricko

    Thanks. You both think like me – I have about nine or ten guys ready for painting, and eventually I was going to get into marking the distance…perhaps a little baby powder on the landing will make the landing point readily visible. I’ll be doing some aesthetic modifications as well.

    So, are you talking actual distance, or measuring to scale? If it’s the latter, there’s a possibility my guy outjumped Eddie.

    Call me ignorant if this has been mentioned before, but how much money does the Cal “storm trooper” uniform cost to the program? I understand marketing money prevails, and I honestly like the helmet. However, when a large state university is cutting non-profit sports, such as baseball, where do you draw the line? I know athletics are big business (read:corporate $$$$), but shouldn’t the logo company do something to help the non-money making student athletes?

    The standard all-sports contract between a school and it’s supplier (in this example Cal and Nike) usually states that the supplier provides uniforms and equipment free of charge to the school (in addition to any cash payment the supplier makes to the school). I’d be very surprised if Cal did not have such a clause in their Nike contract.

    Right, I know it’s all “free” equipment. I was lucky enough to go to a D3 school and get free gear. Why can’t Nike (or Adidas, Reebok, UnderArmour, anyone…), donate the little money it takes to sustain a competitive baseball/rugby/lacrosse program? I’m with Paul in the logo creep argument, but in cases like this, corporate money, and logos, would be worth it.

    It’s advertising/marketing. The ROI is far better from outfitting the football team for one game than from underwriting an entire baseball season at Cal (or virtually any other school, for that matter).

    I don’t like it any more than you, but that’s just fact. And it’s business, which also is a fact.

    —Ricko

    The most significant cost is not the equipment, uniforms, etc. Or even the insurance for the players (adding 20 players to a policy of, say 350, is a nominal cost). It’s the grants-in-aid (scholarships). I would assume that Cal would want to have the maximum number of scholarships for their varsity teams. Not exactly sure what the number is for baseball, but I’d say it’s around 12-18. That’s a lot of money.

    I live in Nashville. I understand the investment needed to develop a successful baseball program. And I understand a corporation’s need for a return on their investment. Is Cal simply giving up on certain athletic programs? Again, my ignorance, but let’s assume each new helmet carries a cost of $100(?). Cal has maybe 75 to 85 players that dress. As bad as their recent uni’s have been, why not spend that money in developing other avenues? Are we saying all the smart baseball/rugby/lacrosse athletes go to Stanford? Obviously baseball is my passion, but why do all non-revenue sports have to suffer at “logo” schools? Off my soap box now…

    7 degrees of separation from Jeremy Lin (Warriors, from Harvard) to Art Spector (scrub for the Celtics in 1949-50).

    Fun tool.

    Exactly.
    There’s Gold and there’s Old Gold (now more commonly Vegas Gold). To that mix a few years ago, Michigan and Oregon added flat-out Yellow (although I believe the WHA Cincinnati Stingers may have been one of the real trailblazers with Tweety Bird yellow).

    Is that so complex that we can’t get our heads around it?

    Oh, no, wait, I forgot. We should deep-six almost 90 years of nomenclature just because someone today is too lazy to look at his TV and make a distinction between yellow and non-metallic gold (a clue: Steelers colors are black and gold; that might tell us something, huh?)

    —Ricko

    And perhaps Ricko can point us to all the times he’s ripped the head off anyone foolish enough to call it “red” when any fabric sample from the last century will quite clearly indicate that the color is actually “scarlet,” and obviously red and scarlet are completely unrelated colors that have nothing to do with each other, just as gold is in no way related to yellow.

    There’s nothing wrong with calling some varieties of yellow, gold, but we also shouldn’t kid ourselves that gold isn’t yellow. It is. Especially in sports uniforms, where for reasons having everything to do with cultural norms and absolutely nothing to do with color theory, every shade and hue of yellow has long been called “gold.”

    I’m just saying that here of all places the benchmark—the touchstone, the standard—probably ought to be longstanding catalog descriptions, often married to a teams’ descriptions of their own colors…when clarifications are necessary.

    And I rarely get into the red/scarlet thing. Calling crimson “red”, maybe. :)

    And I’ll say, yet again, put that many parts of red into white paint and NOBODY would still call it “white.” So while some may not like “gold”, the resulting color sure as hell isn’t still “yellow” (not stricly speaking, anyway).

    —Ricko

    You had to go there, didn’t you?

    So what? They stupidly called it GOLD back then. That color *should* have been called DARK YELLOW, but no, we can’t have macho athletes wearing yellow. So they called it gold. It was wrong then. It’s wrong now. Notice that they also have GRAY on that page – not SILVER. One’s metallic, one isn’t. It’s the same relationship between colors. A bad label is a bad label. I suppose you think Pluto is still a planet too, don’t you?

    No, but Abe Lincoln should have had a mustache, too.
    That half-assed beard was really geeky looking.

    Why fight so hard with something you can’t undo? Incessantly shining a light on the path others SHOULD have followed a century ago is a serious waste of time and energy.

    Your mom probably said, “Put on your shoes and socks” and you did. Never mind that had you done it in that order it would have looked pretty stupid. But I trust you corrected her fiercely. Perhaps you could petition the Bureau of Colloquialisms & the Vernacular to get that changed to “put on your socks and shoes.”

    Saying again, “Gold” (whether you choose to accept it or not) has has been a name for a non-metallic color for, quite literally, centuries or more.

    And why the hell is it called “Hit & Run” when it’s the other way around? That really fries my bacon. We need to get that changed IMMEDIATELY.

    —Ricko

    Who says I can’t undo it? There’s plenty of words that have different meanings now than they did 90 years ago. If enough people start viewing it my way, maybe the vernacular will change.

    What’s so sacred about the name of a color anyway? The Steelers don’t forfeit all of their NFL history if the masses decide that the color is now dark yellow instead of gold.

    Okay, you work on that, and I’ll muster all my friends and, by god, we’ll get the name of the gel on ham changed to “Hamoglobin.”

    (These being two of the great issues of age).

    —Ricko

    There’s plenty of words that have different meanings now than they did 90 years ago.

    Just ask the Redskins. Whose colors, by the way, are burgundy and gold. Man, I’m so queer for them.

    Hmmm… doesn’t look metallic to me. I’m going to call that “tan”. Or maybe, “brown-yellow”.

    The Jeff, your particular quest is as quixotic as it is bizarre. The color name “gold” goes back far longer than 90 years – it goes back about six hundred years.

    So you want to change the established meaning of a word in common and continuous use for half a millenium because you personally don’t like it. link

    Just look at how many pre-Superbowl articles talked about the large amount of yellow in the teams’ uniforms. I’m far from being the only person who wants to call it what it is.

    No normal person is going to say that this: link is gold. Now put that color on a football helmet and suddenly it is. Whatever.

    So because this generation of writers can’t get it right we should all go along?

    And, I ask sincerely, are we the uni geeks who get/know sporting good nomenclature, or are we the ones correcting every supposed mistake of the past century?

    Cuz, y’know, really oughtn’t we be the ones telling the writers they’ve got it wrong? Not celebrating their genius at correcting we idiots who’ve had it incorrect all these years (which would include the Steelers, Packers, Redskins, Iowa, Minnesota and countless other half-wit organizations who apparetnly are oblivisous to a color that has long been widely accepted as “gold”).

    Ah, screw it. Never mind. It’s like talking to aluminum siding.

    —Ricko

    THE

    for about the 9,000th time…you’re not WRONG to call it yellow…but those who call it ATHLETIC GOLD (or “YELLOW GOLD” or even just “GOLD”) are correct as well

    just accept that what you call yellow is also (more correctly) called gold

    k?

    Fine. I’m done for today.

    /gray facemasks are bad
    /ncaa football needs a playoff system

    ;)

    ‘Hmmm… doesn’t look metallic to me. I’m going to call that “tan”. Or maybe, “brown-yellow”.’

    Vegas taupe?

    I’m calling Athletic Gold “Ricko Gold” and Old Gold “The Jeff Gold.”

    Also, THE, could you please call the Navy and Marine Corps and let them know that their service colors for the last 235-plus years (pre-dating the birth of the country, by the way) have been wrong? Thanks, dude.

    I’m calling Athletic Gold “Ricko Gold” and Old Gold “The Jeff Gold.”

    Scratch my earlier comment – the Mothervilker’s just scored the QOTD in my book!

    Vegas taupe? Isn’t that what the Penguins wear on their Edge jerseys?

    Uh, my mom always used “socks and shoes”.

    These colors labeled as gold are forms of yellow. Yellow is the broader category they belong to. As for metallic/non metallic, if it doesn’t actually shine, I’m not gonna call it metallic. They may be more specific shades, but they are yellow.

    As for what teams call their colors, I don’t care. It could be ‘Color-of-the-sky-on-a-bright-day-with-70%-humidity Blue’ for all I care. Call it gold or call it yellow, it’s still a form of yellow. Gold just sounds more manly and intimidating, so that’s the form they use.

    Speaking of appearing manly and intimidating, isn’t that the main criticism of BFBS?

    “Gold just sounds more manly and intimidating, so that’s the form they use.”

    You keep repeating that without any evidence. Repetition doesn’t make it so.

    You keep repeating that without any evidence. Repetition doesn’t make it so.

    ~~~

    different jeff

    At first glance, I like what the Rockland Boulders did with their logo.

    link

    Then I glanced again. Your wordmarks’ angles contradict one another. What angle are we supposed to be viewing from? Also, Rockland is apparently one word. However, before that obligatory rogue flying baseball broke through the logo, Rock and Land were separated by quite a space.

    Then I saw the B. SEVEN layers? It’s like the Charlie Sheen of alternate logos. A bit too much definition to be taken seriously.

    Re.: Angels’ throwbacks

    Why is the California map logo on the right
    sleeve of the 1971 jersey? Wasn’t it originally
    on the left sleeve?

    Yeah, but they’re wearing the 50th-anniversary patch on the let sleeve of all their jerseys — standard and throwback — this season.

    That blows.

    Why would they do that and not just put the anniversary patches on the right sleeves?

    Because it’s not supposed to be a true throwback – they’re using synthetic fabrics for all. It’s more like “what would the Angels look like today if they hadn’t changed their uniforms?”

    Pretty standard, actually. Very few teams have 100% historically accurate throwbacks, preferring instead to couple modern construction and style with period design.

    Actually, only the Angels uni at the far left was worn in the pre-sythentic era. The lower case “a” logo came in with the first doubleknits, or the immediate precursor of same.

    So they aren’t really that far from the original concept, and any “fabric fussiness” is off base.

    Full-fledged flannel was pretty much long gone by the mid to late ’60s. Lots of synthetics around by then. Not doubleknit, to be sure, but synthetic components.

    —Ricko

    What does the fabric have to do with the patch location? They could make the jerseys out of paper and still put the secondary logo on the left sleeve and the anniversary logo on the right.

    so…never let a good promotional patch get in the way of authenticity (or as close as it could be)

    There was a commercial for Pro-Line (Canadian sports betting) in their “Anything can happen” series that had an over-enthusiastic owner put his team out on the ice in “throwback everything!” Needless to say, things did not go well for that team in their ancient equipment.

    link

    Football coaches in football pants. I wasn’t sure if this had been on here before but thought I would share. Yep thats the Coast Guard Academy staff led by Otto Graham.

    chiming in about mckechnie field bradenton from a few days back. watching mlb network’s pirates/jays game last night jogged the memory. been to many spring training fields in fl and az. my absolute favorite is mckechnie. if you like old school, in tradition of wrigley, and you can only get to one march game in your life, this is the spot.

    Long before the sight of a crescent moon on a logo struck fear into the hearts of Westerner’s, it was simply “exotic.” For example, look at these awesome Saskatoon Sheiks uniforms: link
    If you like the sweater the coach is wearing, here’s a look at one, in glorious color: link

    Love the article on the satin uniforms. And look – link!

    I do take some issue with the notion that link is conclusive evidence of a fourth Dodger satin uniform, a solid-white home without the blue piping. That photograph has made the rounds before, but the resolution isn’t high enough for me to say that the apparent shine isn’t a trick of the light (we’re all aware of how the eye can get tricked).

    The Times archive seems to be busted at the moment, but all other contemporary accounts seem to refer to “shiny white uniforms trimmed in royal blue” when describing the home satins.

    I’m very skeptical about this “fourth” uniforms. But still, a great review of what still seems a pretty bizarre fad to me.

    Any day where Wabash (my alma mater) gets mentioned, even if indirectly, is a good day. I wish DePauw hadn’t also made the list, but you can’t be nitpicky when you went to a small school.

    MONDAY, MONDAY / STORMY MONDAY … Day of Moon always rich here in land of the not-George not-Jerry Lukas… Triumphs and tripe in abundance… Let’s do sleek and tidy and swing in order of appearance… Which means yesterday, natch, where JV built an insane ski jump for some alt universe and Colourisation Chilvers reached middle floors of Heaven House… Today’s hero: tall dank handsome Mike “45 Degree” Engle, who buttered up Boss Lukas with stunning rendition of Carroll Gardens ZIP Code… The Boss was understandably Gaga-For-Goldsmith, fab acquisition for the bespectacled chief… Cover of catalog, btw, a showcase for yerz truly’s point about brown pants and brown helmets as key support elements for flashy stripe-ness thing… Angels throwbacks mostly meh, with sans-serif upper case A-cum-halo sole winner… Se dice “español,” Pablo, no “Español,”… And take it from this hispano-hablante, the amiable lady from San Antonio says “Espurs,” not “Spurs” cuz it’s hard for her to start an “s” word without a preceding vowel, ie “Espurs” is how you pronounce, but not write, “Spurs.” Es decir, los Spurs es OK… Gotta love that roadrunner logo for the ol’ Dallas Chaps, tho these days he’d have teeth and anger-management sessions… Bolts and Boulders sport excellent monikers, blechh logos… Paul likes sound of “snoods,” we like sound of “Bemidji State”… Boss struck gold with Lane Tech warehouse… Mike Hersh satin fetish kinda scary… Does First Amendment guarantee right of someone to yell “Gold Not Yellow!” in a crowded website?? Jes askin… Providence Reds 4evah,.. Syl Apps sounds like feature for new iPhone… Mariano’s high cuffs a sign from above?… Speaking of which, our Final Q: Hear about the dislexic agnostic insomniac?… No?… Stayed up all night wondering whether there really is a dog… seeyalatuh.

    I really love how closely those helmets, with the nose guard, resemble medieval war helmets.

    Maybe Nike can intergrate that line of thinking into their “COMBAT” approach. I should be a marketing genius.

    you’re right. SNOOD is a fun word. Used to know a secretary that wore one all the time, I’d walk by and say, “So that’s the….” and she’s answer “snood” just so I could hear her say it. True.

    What a great Uni-Monday!! So much to chew on today.

    Did ya notice the cartoon illo on the right side of this page from the football catalog – why is the guy chasing the ball not wearing a jersey?

    Paul, no comment on the PURPLE swatch in that football catalog?

    -Jet

    Not much Paul can do about the past… he can only campaign for the color’s eradication from sports palettes going forward.

    Perfect example of how your “entry point” affects your thinking. If you started following MLB only in the past 15 years or so, the Angels in predominant red is entirely normal.

    If, however, you go back to Nolan Ryan, Bobby Grich, Reggie Jackson and others (or even before) you still have trouble thinking of the Angels as a “red hat” team.

    Isn’t about who’s right or wrong, just that we’re always going to have differing frames of reference.

    —Ricko

    All true, but I’ll also add that I think the blue balances the red and just plain looks better. The red A on the red cap is overkill.

    I wasn’t disagreeing. Just saying the older you are the more trouble you may have ajusting to the red hats, still seeing them as the anomaly.

    —Ricko

    Can’t fault the Angels for going all-out red. It made for an absolute contrast with the Dodgers, and they won a World Series.

    Too much red? Perhaps, but there are people here complaining about the dominance of blue and navy in MLB. The Angels have had pretty good success with the red look.

    Those Disney uniforms, that was just a bad dream.

    on a side note…with the angels throwbacks now on display, i think the lower case “a” with the halo is by far the best looking of their hats. i prefer it over the “LA” with actual halo on the top of the hat.

    the worst has to be the all red hat. too much red is never a good thing.

    At the beginning of the season, the league told Rondo to stop wearing his headband — and, subsquently, Logoman — upside down. So he decided to stop wearing the headband altogether.

    That’s a great catalog, Paul.

    “padded throughout with best quality white felt.”
    Hmm, Jo-Ann Fabrics could get into the vintage football helmet business.

    “Another page of footwear. Love those square-toed kicking shoes.”
    Me too. Put me down for a pair.

    “Why do socks so often get lumped in with the jockstraps?”
    I dunno. Make me wonder if boxes of tissues get lumped in with bras in womens wear catalogs?

    After seeing the old equipment, I’m surprised no one’s come out with a vintage football (or “foot ball,” according to the catalog) league. There are vintage base ball teams, after all.

    I too have wondered about a vintage football league. I have seen the Olde Tyme baseball leagues or players a while back in Columbus. They were walking to a game I guess.

    “Nike made special shoes for the Nets/Raptors game in London.”

    Read the comments at the end of that link:
    “Toronto isn’t in the UK?”
    “I think they’re like sister countries – close ties to each other.”

    Sigh.

    I can’t remember what I was watching, but it was one of those “how ignorant are random people we stop on the street?” segments.

    The question: Canada is on what continent?
    One answer: The UK.

    Maybe that commenter is the same person.

    *sigh*

    I studied geography and was already a roadgeek before I even started school, so while I know not everybody’s going to get everything right all the time, it’s still a sore point when someone makes a geography mistake that egregious.

    “Syracuse lacrosse wore throwbacks on Friday.”
    Aw, I thought it was going to be Jim Brown-era throwbacks. Oh well, these were nice, too.

    I hope the Angels wear navy blue undershirts with their throwbacks because last season when they wore the big “A” throwbacks they wore red. It didn’t look right. The red wasn’t introduced until the chamionship season in 02′.

    “PANcakes”? What the hell restaurant makes pancakes in a pan anymore?
    Let’s start a movement to get them properly called
    “Griddle Cakes.”

    C’mon, people, who’s with me?

    We’ll start by picketing IHOP.

    It’ll be fun, not to mention lead the correction of a huge flaw in American culture. And, we all can sleep peacefully knowing we’ve righted such an egregious wrong.

    —Ricko

    International House of Griddle Cakes (IHoGC) sounds awesome.

    I guess it is actually easier to make them on a flat griddle for flipping purposes. I always like making large pancakes at home using a 12″ cast-iron skillet. The trick is using two spatulas to flip the behemoths.

    And, furthermore, if there’s no metal in their Griddle Cakes they damn sure better not refer to them as “golden brown”…lest they receive a strong letter from our small but determined band of lexicon correctors.

    —Ricko

    yup, “yellow-brown Griddle Cakes.” That’s the descriptor we expect to hear from now on.

    Get it right, people. You’ve had it SO wrong for SO long.

    I should point out that the folks under the Golden Arches (Yellow Arches?) just call ’em Hotcakes, thus circumventing the whole pan/griddle thing altogether.

    I would totally order a big ol’ stack of Vegas taupe griddlecakes at IHOG.

    While we’re on the subject, can we also stop calling the game where putting your foot on the ball means you’re surrendering the offense “football”? In the spirit of griddlecakes, let’s insist on calling it “gridiron” or “gridironball” instead.

    Those throwback Angels jerseys made me think of something… what ever happened to Jersey-Joe, the store that sold jerseys and used to advertise here? Whenever I visited the site of late, nothing has changed and shows the old World Series jerseys when the Yankees and Phillies last played. Did they go out of business?

    Hey everyone, I’m going to see if I can work on an article for link about a group of horrible uniform ideas actually deployed. If you guys can give me suggestions, I would appreciate it.

    1. Rockland Boulders are in MY county. The logo is GARBAGE…I am extremely disappointed although , I plan on going to the ballpark a ton this Summer.

    2. Bearcat:
    link

    Interesting that Adidas has been puishing the Crazy 8 shoe on all of their teams.

    link

    Originally known as the KB8 becuase Kobe was endorsed by Adidas and wore them, they changed thier name when he broke the contract!

    im pretty sure kobe’s kick contract expired, rather than was broken

    Wasn’t the tagline for those shoes something like “Kobe’s feet work, so we copied them.”?

    Ironically, the Cincy player missing the “s” was the most logical one to have that happen. This way his jersey read 1 Bearcat.

    as for the georgetown-cincy thing, I think the player without the “s” is Cashmere Wright. Chris Wright is a different player on Georgetown, but injured at the moment.

    Hey Paul,

    Just a random question here: what are your thoughts on glove color affecting baseball uni aesthetic?

    Regarding the NBA’s Noche Latina jersey issues, I’m pretty sure everyone would be happy if they took a cue from the ABA and had all the players link.

    It’s like a bizarre version of Murphy’s Law: link to the Washington Freedom. The lede:

    “For five months the future of the club formerly known as the Washington Freedom has been one big question mark. New owner Dan Borislow has changed the name of the club to magicJack’s Washington Freedom, promoting his Internet telephone company, Magic Jack, a la Red Bull New York. The Freedom will play the majority of its home games at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Fla.”

    A friend who has contacts with the league claims that the team is retaining the Washington Freedom name because Puma didn’t have time to design new uniforms or logos before the start of the 2011 season, and pretty much every team item that has the Freedom name also link.

    I had been waiting to see the catalog Paul told us about before and here it is. Now I have to check it out more.

    I’ve just applied to be the next public address announcer for the Chicago Cubs. I have an itching feeling I won’t be leaving my current position, though.

    link

    Pretty good!
    You have a better chance of making it than when I applied to be the Pirate Parrot. I never made it past the first interview.

    Just ate and did a few things. Now back to looking at the column. I see Goldsmith was an Ohio based company in Cincinnati.

    I wonder if we could find out anything more about the actual company and its history?

    I just got home and looked through the catalog, and I’m completely blown away at how amazing it is. Those illusrations, cutaways, and swatches are incredibly cool. Oh man, and page 18,, money shot indeed.

    link

    Top notch!

    HAHA Hey Michael that was my favorite too. Very amazing find and buy for Paul and of course sharing it.

    If you get tired of it you can mail it to me Paul.

    Today the column was awesome. I love old football uniforms and to see and read about the fabrics and material used is fascinating.

    Thanks for the Flickr link too.

    The cost of the items in the football catalog were also fun to see.
    5,6,7,8,$9.00.

    Just watching the Yankees-Orioles Grapefruit League game. The Orioles’ mascot is in pre-season form with his stirrups on backwards.

    Boy the Angels really have some dull looks. If different players wore all those throwbacks at the same time, people would hardly notice.

    Someone needs to do some DIY NBA UK Heritage jerseys (ideas: “The Heat”, “The Spurs”). I hear that’s what they call teams over there.

    Got a good chuckle out of that one, Dave.

    Or do they call them “The ‘eat”?

    Why did the special Raptors & Nets shoes for their UK games have a tag that said 2010 on them? Even if the shoe was designed last year, the game was in 2011.

    not sure how many people remembered it was link and wore their jelly doughnut stirrups to work today, but this is sort of the unofficial start of the stirrup friday season, our opening day if you will. props to those who remembered.
    from each, to each,
    comrade 91200

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