Skip to content
 

Rolls Reuss, Volume III

Jerry Reuss delivers a pitch at Busch Stadium

By Phil Hecken

Today we continue with outtakes from my recent interview with the great Jerry Reuss. If you missed Volume I or II, you can look here and here.

~~~

We’ll begin today with Jerry’s take on the infamous “Bumblebee” uniforms the Pirates wore during two of Jerry’s seasons on the Bucs, 1977 and 1978.

Uni Watch The Pirates have obviously worn a bunch of uniforms over the years, and I’d have to say the one that they’re in right now is pretty fine. But honestly, I really did like what I’m calling the mustard uniform from ’70 to ’76. But for all of 1976, and I guess a few teams wore it sporadically — you had to wear, for the centennial, the pillbox. And, you wore it again from ’77 to ’78 too.

I don’t want to say, “did the players laugh at you” but were the other teams like, “What’s going on here?” or were they like, “Oh, OK, that’s Pittsburgh’s deal.”

Jerry Reuss: Probably the first thing they thought was “Whoa — look at that!” And the second they thought is, “Well, I’m glad you’re wearing it and not me.” Because other teams wore hats in the same style, it lessened the impact. Surprisingly, the fans accepted them and the style became part of the uniform when the club changed to the “combination” uniform style. Personally, I never liked any of the pillbox hats.

UW: OK. Tell me about the combination uniforms. The Pirates had a black, yellow and pinstripe uniforms that were interchangeable. You wore the first combination of pinstripes on Opening Day of 1977.

JR: The pinstripes were wider than pinstripes that you see with the Yankees. These were triple width with two thin black stripes sandwiching a double-size yellow one. And the pinstripe-look with “PIRATES” lettering was tough to read even with the larger size font. But added to the pinstripes and lettering, were the large stripes on the end of the sleeves and around the neck ”” that was a whole lot going on!

UW: I’m looking at a photo you have your website with the pinstripes. I really wasn’t a fan of those. But I love the black and gold, not so much the mix and match part of it — I prefer it when it’s one or the other — but I was never a fan, honestly, of the wide pins, and I guess maybe because its a pullover, and you know, the “PIRATES” almost gets lost in there.

JR: It did. With the collar colors, the sleeve colors, the waistband, plus the piping on the pants legs on the solid-colored pants, there was just a lot happening there. Add the pillbox hats to the mix — the look was more about visual impact and less about the traditional history of the Pirates.

You mentioned the pullover uniform tops. With the combination style, there was no way a button-top could be used. Buttons would have added another set of lines to a look that was too busy.

With regards to the solid color uniforms, I never liked the black ones. They just didn’t look right. The yellow uniforms were OK because the visual interest when placed with the green grass or turf was pleasing to the eye.

UW: I imagine on a summer day in the sunshine, the black top/pant combination was probably very hot, too.

JR: I never noticed it because I never had to stand on the hot turf when I pitched. The mound dirt didn’t hold the heat the way the turf did. The uniform colors holding the heat weren’t nearly the problem as the turf was. I remember what Lou Brock had to do in St. Louis, trying different materials as inner soles or soaking his feet in ice water between innings because the metal on the spikes of his shoes burned imprints on the soles of his feet. Once he switched to soccer shoes, he never had that problem again.

UW: Wow.

JR: Those uniforms represented a certain time and place. Looking back on those days, I wore all of the uniforms with pride because it was a major league uniform and it represented the Pirates. But it certainly wasn’t a look I embraced.

UW: And yet, they keep bringing them back. I have a whole flickr set of all the bumblebee throwbacks and they definitely screwed up a couple of them. When they did the pinstripes, which I’m sure you’ve seen, they made them much too thin — both in terms of their actual width and in terms of the spacing relative to one another.

JR: I didn’t see the throwbacks until Uni Watch carried the pictures. To capture the impact of those uniforms, it’s important to not only accurately reproduce them, but wear them in the style that was worn in the late ’70s. It just doesn’t ring true unless the pants are tighter-fitting, with stirrups and bloused pants bottoms.

~~~

A bit later on, we discussed some of the uniforms that Jerry didn’t wear:

JR: I like the A’s and the Giants ”” especially the “cream” color the Giants are wearing. It’s compatible with the orange and keeps the black”¦black!

The Giants were just featured on MLB and I noticed the black had a tendency to pick up some of that orange coloring which creates a brown cast.

UW: It’s funny that you say that, because for years, I thought that the Giants colors were, or had been changed to, orange and brown. It definitely has that look to it.

JR: With different types of lighting, the black, especially on HD TV’s, appears dark brown. The same issue happened with the Pirates uniforms. The black on the Pirates uniforms had a yellow cast. But the black highlighted in orange on a cream uniform kept the colors true.

It’s the best the Giants uniforms have ever looked. Add the traditional stirrups — those “3 stripes” — I don’t know if they’re historically accurate ”” yes, that’s a good look.

UW: I’ve done some stirrup research, and that is a historical stirrup. It didn’t stick around very long. We’re talking about from the mid-’40’s I believe. We’re talking Polo Grounds, like Johnny Mize years — that did not last very long. They did have that look at one time, but to my knowledge, they’ve always had just the plain black stirrups for a long time. And of course, during the Jack Clark years, they had the orange sanitaries there. That was kind of an interesting look.

JR: Granted..it is an interesting look. But, it doesn’t work. What does work are the stirrups the Orioles, another orange/black color combo, wore for years. The Orioles had some nice stirrups. Especially from the years of Cuellar, Dobson, Palmer and McNally”” those were a perfect compliment to that era of the Orioles uniform.

UW: Well those are almost the same pattern as what you had with the Pirates (with the old gold). I think the Red Sox had that as well. It’s an old school kinda common pattern. You had one color, and then a white stripe or two, and then the opposite color was on top. That’s a good look.

JR: Maybe I’m caught in a “time warp” of stirrup designs and patterns. Add the Cardinals and the Boston/Milwaukee Braves stirrups and we’re in stirrup heaven!

With the three-stripe Giants and the early ’70s Orioles, we have orange and black about as good as it gets on a baseball uniform!

UW: I’m a big fan of orange and black, and I was thinking, “how would those look if they had orange sanitaries?” instead of the white ones, and I think that might be overkill.

JR: It’s a great look…for halloween! But, for baseball uniforms, let’s not go there. White is the only color for sani’s.

UW: OK, we won’t.

JR: The only exception to the rule on white sani’s is Oakland. It’s because there’s something about those uniforms ”” the colors of yellow and green in that ballpark — I’ve broadcast games with ESPN, and with the Angels, and looking down at those uniforms”¦I don’t know why I like them but I do. It just seems right in that context.

~~~

Part of my interview revolved around Jerry’s appearance on the MLB-TV special, “40 Most Unforgettable Uniforms,” in which he discussed the Padres 1975 brown & gold unis, the Pirates Bumblebee era, and the Astros ‘rainbow’ era.

On the Padres, Jerry was quoted thusly: “A lot of ballclubs in the 1970s got confused about fashion. The San Diego Padres were as garish as anybody.”

UW: Lets talk about the MLB-TV stuff. What about your Padres comment?

JR: It was in reference to the Padres’ uniform history featuring brown and yellow. From 1972 through 1979, the Padres tried numerous combinations but they still had to contend with brown and yellow. It went from bad to worse.

And I have yet to find a way to make brown and yellow look good on a baseball uniform. I don’t know how to do it.

UW: If you think of the St. Louis Browns, they had brown and paired it with orange as opposed to gold or yellow. And that might be about the only color that would complement it.

JR: Maybe the Pads took their cue when they saw pictures of those St. Louis Browns colors. In 1980, the Padres added orange to make the uniforms tri-colored. When Steve Garvey joined the Padres in 1984, the look was a little bit better as they toned down the brown. Still, they had yellow sani’s and white shoes.

UW: Then this and later they had the orange drop-shadow going on. I’m not a big fan of that, not on that particular uniform. Now the original Padre uniform, from 1969 to I guess maybe 1971 or so — before they started wearing the solid gold, that was pretty nice.

JR: It was a classic look. From their inception in 1969 through 1971, the uniforms looked as good as they could featuring the chosen colors.

UW: Because you weren’t overwhelmed with the brown. It was an accent, not a feature color.

JR: Historically, the evolution of the Padres uniforms had some missteps. But I like the Padres uniform that’s worn today.

~~~

There’s still much more to the interview, but we’ll end it here for today. Big, nay, HUGE thanks again to Mr. Jerry Reuss for sharing with his take on uniforms. Make sure you guys thank him for his time.

~~~~~~~~~~

colorize this

Colorize This!

Occasionally, I will be featuring wonderful, high-quality black and white photographs that are just begging to be colorized.

Very small set again this week.

~~~

We start off with some suggestions/requests, which should get the colorizers’ blood really pumping. These are some good ones:

First up is Jack Wilson, who thinks this shot of Williams, Musial and Mantle would be superb for colorizing. I agree.

Here’s my idea for Colorization. I’ve always thought that it was an awesome picture.

Jack Wilson

~~~

I also received two fantastic hi-res photos from “BSmile”, who does a tremendous job with the restoration of old baseball photographs. These also scream out for colorization:

I just posted this pic on my BB-Fever, Baseball Photography page (in Vintage Panoramics)

1913 Chicago Cubs Team — I attached the full resolution version. (2000 x 1586 (2.93mb))

It needs some colorizing in a big way!

I find the pics, I clean them up, sharpen them, etc, etc. I just don’t have the time to colorize them.

I’m guessing somebody on Uni Watch would tackle it.

I’ve also attached a drop-dead gorgeous image of the 1919 Chicago White Sox (Black Sox). It’s a very large/hi-res pic I’ve worked on that would be relatively easy to colorize.

Anyways…onward to the baseball season.

Cheers!
~BSmile

~~~

The last two spots today are occupied by the big guns. Up first is Gary Chanko, who has three beauties for us:

Phil

So back to the Wire Service photo archives this week to find a former Phillies player to work with. Got lucky on a first try and found Willie “Puddin’ Head” Jones in the Phils 1948 uniform, the style on which their current home day game version is based. As a kid, I actually saw Willie play at Connie Mack Stadium.

I’m not old enough, however, to have seen Shoeless Joe Jackson. This Wire Service photo (There’s No Service Like Wire Service, Vol. 14) shows him as a minor league player for the Savannah Indians. The B&W original print is small and in pretty rough condition, so I cropped it remove some of the damage and add focus on Shoeless Joe. Not much success in determining colors, so I’m just guessing the sweater was red.

My last submission was suggested by my son, 1st Lt. Ryan Chanko, US Army and currently deployed in Kuwait. He designated this famous shot of Rick Monday saving the American flag at Dodger Stadium as The Greatest Play in Baseball History. The original image was not that suited for colorization, but you have to work with what’s available.

We actually made this into a poster last year and I’ve attached a copy.

Cheers,

Gary

Fantastic job on those Gary!

~~~

And the last colouriser, of course, is George Chilvers:

Phil

A late one this week!

You had an article on cars last week, so I found this on Shorpy.

Donnie Moore (who? – not the Cubs player) in a Duesenberger – the plate is 1920 DC.

Best wishes

George

And also outstanding, George

~~~

OK, colorizers — you have three wonderful photos for this week — two of which are hi-res. Let’s see what you can do!

As always, if you have any suggestions or submissions, you know what to do.

~~~~~~~~~~

Benchies Header

Benchies

by Rick Pearson

~~~

Sunday in the park is one of the real joys of Spring. Clear blue sky. A little casual fun. Maybe try a new game.

s-frisbee_(2)

And if that’s too small, the full-size.

~~~

Last day… to enter Ricko’s “Design an outfit for Mick” contest — Here’s A Template. Just give the Mick a nice golf outfit (you can enter as many as you’d like) and the “winner” will receive either a signed original “Benchies” or be written into a future strip — possibly both. For full details, you can refer back to the contest. Remember, the deadline is today.

~~~~~~~~~~

all sport uni tweaks

Uni Tweaks

We have another nice of tweaks today.

If you have a tweak, change or concept for any sport, send them my way.

Remember, if possible, try to keep your descriptions to ~50 words (give or take) per tweak. You guys have been great a keeping to that, and it’s much appreciated!

And so, lets begin:

~~~

Up first is Hyatt Werling, back with a bunch of “concept” football tweaks:

Dear Phil,

My name’s Hiatt Werling, with four more tweaks that follow the theme of changing an NFL team’s color scheme based on something that I can in some way relate to the team or the city. I’d like to made such a tweak for all 32 teams. As a disclaimer, obviously I don’t think any team should ever use any of these, they’re just for fun and to see what I can come up with. Here’s 17-20:

Patriots – New England Set: I felt that the Patriots could represent more of the region they’re named after. I gave them blue and yellow, which I found to be the most common colors amongst the flags of the New England states, including the anchor from Rhode Island’s flag.

Browns – Decision Set: So those in Cleveland still upset about Lebron James leaving can feel like they have their own Miami Heat to go watch.

Chargers – In-N-Out Set: In-N-Out Burger is my favorite fast food chain, and they have a very nice distinctive logo with good colors. They’re headquartered near San Diego, so I gave the red and yellow to the Chargers, and combined the Chargers lightning bolt with the In-N-Out arrow.

Titans – Flag Set: This is most drastic change in any of my tweaks thus far. Like all of us who read Uni Watch, I’m quite interested in graphic design, and the graphic design I’m most interested in after sports logos and uniforms is state flags. Tennessee has one of the best flags, so I gave them a uniform set based on it, with the Packers throwback as a base.

–Hyatt

~~~

Next up is Michael Hull who brings us some pretty cool Illini football tweaks:

My little brother plays Safety for Illinois and since we enjoy discussing uniform-related items, I decided to try my hand at a couple designs for the Illini using the Nike Pro Combat template…

Design #1 carries the classic helmet stripe throughout the uniform.

Design #2 is loosely inspired by the Hyper Elite uniforms for Illinois’ basketball team.

~~~

In the three-spot is Paul Lee with another league logo concept:

Since the NBA has a logo for St. Patrick’s Day, how about one for St. Valentine’s? Also attached is a cheesy, crossover logo.

Paul Lee

~~~

And closing out the weekend is Andrew DeFrank, who has a few more NFL concepts, some of which may have Chuck Noll and Bud Grant rolling in their graves (I kid, I kid):

Hi Phil,

Here are my last set of revisions to my first set of tweaks.

Vikings Home
Vikings Away
Vikings All Purple
Vikings All White

Steelers Home
Steelers Away
Steelers All Black
Steelers Away Alt

Hope you all enjoy!

Andrew DeFrank

~~~

Thanks to all of today’s tweakers. Back next weekend with more.

~~~~~~~~~~

PS

Parting Shots

• Just want to remind everyone who might not have known (or seen posted here yesterday) that MLB Extra Innings is offering a free preview through April 11th. So that means the first week of the season will allow you (if your satellite or cable provider carries it) to watch almost every game played. Which is nice.

• Don’t forget — today is the last day to participate in the Benchies contest. See above for full details.

• Quick NCAA Tourney Trivia: A) What is the lowest seeded team to officially win the tournament, who was it and in what year? B) How many Final Fours has John Calipari been to? How many has he been to officially? C) What school has won the most NCAA tournaments? What school has had the most different coaches win at least one NCAA tournament? Who were they?

• Congrats to Butler and UConn. Kudos to the mid-major (and 2 Finals in a row) and the Huskies, for keeping my Big East faith, for at least one team.

Thanks again to Jerry Reuss, the colorizers and tweakers. Great stuff again this weekend.

~~~

If you’re the Atlanta Braves, and your road jerseys are navy lettering on a navy jersey, never, ever wear your alt jersey. Not on Opening Day, not on any other day, not at home, not on the road. The Braves manage to make the Mets and the Blue Jays look like classy, well-dressed teams by comparison. — R. Scott Rogers

 
  
 
Comments (81)

    Problem is, I don’t know who Chuck Noll or But Grant is!
    I think I’ll be starting team 7 soon though. Eagles or Jags.

    Not bad. I’d prefer to keep the Steelers with their rounded font, but other than that…

    Meh. There’s nothing right about that rounded font. It looks too trendy & gimmicky for a Steelers look that’s pretty classic & old.

    The Bears had those rounded numbers since the 1940s. That’s their trademark; plus they’re straight – the Steelers on the other hand, just merely replaced good-looking block numbers with cheesy Italicized pointy numbers in 1997. Just seems like pointless change for the sake of change. I have yet to see any uni’s that looked good with Italicized numbers, a modern idea.

    I would agree that the slash font is meh. It just doesn’t fit their design. The Patriots early italics were terrible as well.

    Nice post. I be taught one thing more difficult on different blogs everyday. It can all the time be stimulating to read content from other writers and observe a little bit one thing from their store. I choose to use some with the content on my blog whether or not you don’t mind. Natually I offer you a link in your net blog. Thanks for sharing.

    I remember the Pirates, or maybe it was Chuck Tanner himself, asking the National League if the team could wear all 9 combinations of the pinstripes/black/gold uniforms on the last day of the season. Anyone ever know if that request was granted…and if it ever happened?

    I don’t recall that story about Tanner and the 9 uniform combinations, had it occurred, it would have certainly been reported. Minor uniform news wasn’t known in those days, but that would have been major news. During the three years of the pinstripes/black/gold uniforms, the Pirates were also fighting for the division title, so it sounds like Tanner was making a joke about trying something so ridiculous late in the season.

    Sorry I’m so late.

    No, it never happened. I’ve read that players suggested doing it, but the idea was shot down.

    Part C of the trivia;
    Kentucky- Adolph Rupp, Joe B. Hall, Rick Pitino, Tubby Smith?

    Anyone see the latest in “on-field” chicanery by smaller football schools to gain home field advantage, recruiting leverage or at the minimum attract attention to themselves? You think Nike is bad with pro combat and black uni’s?

    link

    link

    Central Arkansas is getting a purple and silver field. Along with Boise State’s blue and Eastern Washington’s “Blood Field” there is an alarming trend going on hear that is just the beginning.

    You know, when the sun beats upon a color over a long period of time, that color fades and changes – if just a bit. When a turf field is Green, it will fade a bit over time and still look nonetheless like a Green football field.

    Come talk to me in 2 years after these trendy colored fields are laid out. Will Purple still be Purple, or will it be a dark Violet? Will the Gray fade to a light Gray? Will the Blood Red become dark faded Pink?

    We’ll see. I bet on the Sun’s proven powers to fade just about anything, and not the company claiming to sell color-fast turf …..

    We know what Dick Allen said about artificial turf. Imagine what he’d say about grass that wasn’t green?

    Hats off to Jerry and the Colorizers. (Not a bad punk band)

    As to NCAA tourney and low seed champs, hmmm… Did they have seeds in the early 1960s, when Loyola shocked Cincinnati in the final?

    Pretty sure seedings didn’t start until the late 70s, which would make my link college hoops team the answer.

    tourney trivia-
    a) Villanova was an 8 seed when it won in 1985
    b) Calipari has been to 3 final fours, only one (?) officially (this one with Kentucky) his final four season in memphis was vacated and i’m pretty sure his final four season at UMass was vacated as well
    c) part one: UCLA i would presume

    The whole idea of vacating records has to be among the stupidest things the NCAA does. It’s not like you can wipe away the memories of the fans. I suppose it’s no different from the NFL trying to tell us the Ravens, not the Browns, are an expansion franchise.

    More great stuff from Jerry!
    Also, I hope some Uni-readers take the plunge with the colorizations…can’t wait to see the results!
    ~B

    White Sox still wearing the black jerseys. In spite of promising to showcase the grays and making a big deal out of the new patch they have yet to play in them.

    Perhaps an intriguing sign. The White Sox have stopped selling the new road jersey in their online shop.

    Is there some kind of unwritten rule that almost every NFL tweak has to include striped socks?

    A GOOD rule of design: Sometimes there can be too much of a good thing.

    Exactly.

    Which is why, while white at home and gray on the road is classic and should not disappear from the baseball world, there is plenty of room for colorful jerseys or unis.

    Especially since stirrups (or other striped socks) are now pretty much history in MLB.

    I’m guessing you see them in so many of the tweaks because so many teams don’t use them anymore in reality. I think the Bears & Chiefs are the only teams to use them on non-throwback uniforms, currently. Lots of teams that used to do it, but nearly none now.

    In other words, yes, there is an unwritten rule about it.

    When you say Bears and Chiefs, do you mean they’re the only ones who *always* wear striped socks? Because I believe that is the case.

    Because there are a handful who usually wear them with one set of pants but not necessarily the other (Patriots, Redskins, Jets, Browns, Dolphins, maybe a couple more).

    Do the socks the link and link wear count as striped?

    Technically, I suppose yes.
    But they also look a lot like the crew socks with a colored top that a few teams favored back in the day.

    Hard to think of them in the same vein as those with sripes designed to encircle the calf, though.

    Pretty sure that’s what they are — white crew socks with a colored ring around the top.

    Another treat from Phil and Jerry!

    Yeah, I wore one as a kid, but I wasn’t fond of those pillbox hats either. I did like the striped unis, though. I think with link type of hat, it would have been a lot better.

    I’d like to agree that the current Pirates look is the best, but I can’t. The font works great on the lettering, but not the numbers. I’d rather see them in the number font from the mustard era.

    Very much in agreement with you on the A’s and Giants. That A’s uni is so good, whether it’s with stirrups or with long pants and white shoes.

    I sort of agree with the Padres. The addition of orange was a good idea (and the Taco Bell unis were my favorites), but most of the brown and gold unis were good for me, too. When people say brown and gold don’t work, or that it reminds them of potty time, I counter by saying it reminds me of link I just don’t like the current set at all and would love to see a complete re-do.

    Eagerly awaiting Part Four!

    For an example of nondescript uni selection and matchup (read: visually uninteresting) check out the Libery-Wintrop women’s softball game on ESPNU right now.

    Well, except maybe for the Liberty butt piping, which is interesting because you want to ask, “Why?”

    Is it even possible the Padres can go five years w/o a uniform tweak? Of all their incarnations, I suppose the current home duds w/ this road version link would be my favorite.

    While brown may be historically correct, I’m thinking it simply doesn’t work at the MLB level. Blue and sand say San Diego. The script the Pads have isn’t my favorite, but it’s distinctive to San Diego. Extend it to the road uni, call it good and stick w/ it.

    Gene Lamont, the Tigers 3rd base coach always wears stirrups under his pants, but also has his pants down at his ankles, so unless you’re at the game and can see the edge of them, you wouldn’t notice.

    link

    But today he has his pants cuffed, albeit about half way cuffed, but cuffed none the less. Need to find a picture…

    After catching a glimpse of the Indians today, I have to say their red hats stick out like a sore thumb especially when compared with their batting helmets (blue hat, rid brim). With the blue socks and undershirts, the solid red hats look totally incongruous.

    Kinda like when the Braves wear that all navy hat with their mono gray roads. From a distance, when the letter isn’t totally clear, you’d almost want to ask, “Why are they wearing Yankees hats?”

    Loved Michael Hull’s tweaks, especially consering the Fighting Illini has had some terrible unis lately.

    I’m one fan who thinks brown and gold defines the Padres and is an excellent combination. Some of their designs over the years were just bad designs, and I don’t blame the colors. And as opined during the interview with Jerry R., the original Padres uniforms were not just good, they were classics. For me, they’re among the best in MLB history.

    I’m afraid the only thing I especially liked about their current uniform was the “sand”-colored road uniform (reminiscent of the subtle tan color of the original road uniforms), which they’ve discontinued. By quick count, I get 10 teams currently using dark blue/navy blue as their primary color and no less than 23 teams that are black or some shade of blue. Throw red in there and there’s exactly one team in the majors that isn’t using red, blue or black as their primary color (the Athletics). To me, that makes the sport a lot duller than it used to be.

    Yep. And I never even liked the Padres’ khaki (that’s what I think the color was “officially” called) road unis until I saw them in person early last season. They definitely look better that way than they do on TV.

    So are the Nuggets.

    It’s link too, so some of the Nuggets are wearing bright green shoes. Also, NBA arenas have link on the floor.

    When was the last time – other than an All Star Game – that Astros players wore gray jerseys in a game in which the opponent wasn’t wearing a red top? It seems in recent years that Astros only abandon the red jerseys on the road when their opponent forces them to.

    Those new A’s? Best. Alt. Ever.
    Nats red jerseys are second. And since I’m ranking things…

    Today’s 5&1 (and don’t worry, I’m not making this a habit):

    5. link – Braves need the red brim.
    4. link – Points off for the SAN FR ANCISCO on the button-down jerseys.
    3. link – At least PITTS BURGH splits appropriately.
    2. link – Ditto for De troit.
    1. link Best. Alt. Ever.

    And the bad one: link Sorry, The Jeff.

    BEST ALT EVER! Could not agree more. Man, that looked awesome. I also agree on the Nats.

    Next up, Make the A’s green alt a mirror of the Gold alt, and wear gold at home and green on the road as primaries. Back to the glory of the early 70’s!!

    Oh, and you could look it up, those bad boys were Yellow, not Cheddar. About the only time I can think of that an MLB team used flat-out yellow as a trim color.

    Throughout the uni, that is, as one of the team colors.

    Not incidentally like the Cardinals’ bat or the Rays’ sunburst.

    Are you sure, Ricko? This is what I dug up from my collection that’s not any throwbacks:

    link

    Worst look in Mariner’s history.

    Yes. My son’s first fitted New Era cap back in the ’80s was that Mariners hat (he loved Junior) bought at the time they were wearing that set, and, at least on the hat, that sucker was flat-out yellow.

    And I had plenty of gear around the house to compare it to. Not even close to, say, the cheddar of the A’s.

    I started looking closely at Mariners stuff in stores, in photos, on TV…and if it wasn’t flat-out yellow it was the nearest any team has come to using a PMS that close Process Yellow.

    Found on ebay while looking for ’87-’92 Mariners stuff:

    link

    How much of a coolness factor of a Topps contract?

    i thought…could be wrong…the Giants just wore the orange bill caps for home Sunday games. Maybe it’s any Sunday game?

    I just got a chance to see the Indians’ new red caps. Red cap + blue socks = fail.

    I take it you don’t like the Red Sox uniforms, then, because they have navy caps and red socks.

    Hey, another great installment with Jerry, I really appreciate his time and insight!

    Also great to see all the talk about the Padres unis, considering he never played for them! I agree about their 69-71 unis being a good use of the brown, but there’s one other I really like which wasn’t discussed – their last brown pinstripe unis, specifically the ROAD jersey with the “SD” on the left breast. You had a pic of the home jersey which I was never crazy about, thought the orange outline made the “PADRES” difficult to read. But I did love that road uni!

    -Jet

    hey jet,

    yeah thanks, jerry is a super super great guy…pleasure to work with

    i agree with you on the interlocking SD — in fact, a few days ago (maybe friday?) i said that was their best roadie because of the fact that neither SanDiegO that they have now, nor any of the previous incarnations, really works — and i’d prefer they not have “Padres” on a roadie at all…but as far as a road logo, this was the best

    of course, pins don’t belong on a roadie, so that kind of ruins it (for me) but that was a good one…probably their best away (except for the pins)

    I like a lot of the old Padres unis, but i think the navy with orange dropshadow on pins was their best look ever. Apparently I’m the minority, but I love em. When they eliminated the orange and took off the pins, (solid white with navy logo) it just looked like a cheap replica to me. Terrible. From classy to terrible.

    That tweak you put up of the current Padres set with the old brown and gold colors was clean! That should be their design, we’ve got enough blue teams out there! And yes, the A’s new alternate is the BEST ALT EVER! Perfect to go along with the best white and greys in the league! GO A’S!

Comments are closed.