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The Immaculate Stirrup Conception

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By Phil Hecken

Now that we’ve finally bid adieu to the XXXieth Games of the Summer Olympiad, Uni Watch will turn its thoughts to more pressing matters. I’ve got a bunch of great stuff lined up for the next week and a half before Paul returns to his rightful position atop the UW weekday postings, and today I’m ever-so-pleased to bring you an outstanding article from my buddy, the true patriarch of the Revolution, Robert Marshall. And yes, by Revolution, I am talking about the man who has single-handedly done more to bring back the “right proper” love for and wearing of the stirrup than anyone (aside from possibly Paul). But Robert is about more than just outfitting us handsomely in the most beautiful lower leg stylings known to humankind, he’s also a good friend and a stirrup historian of the first order.

So, at this point, I’ll simply surrender the reins of this lede to Robert as he guides us through…

. . . . .

The Immaculate Stirrup Conception
By Robert Marshall

With the Olympic games over, I thought it would be nice to talk about a little days of yore baseball texture in a way that incorporates the pseudo wire service, rabbit holes, white whales, and Collector’s Corner elements that we all know and love around what is a fetish interest of my already marginalized brethren drawn to Uni Watch. It was only a couple years ago Phil got a few of us together, and we talked stirrups, my part was explaining the origin of “Stirrup Fridays,” so if you have ever been curious, there it is. Phil mentioned the origin of the stirrup, and his information from the April 21, 2009, Wall Street Journal follows…

On July 4, 1905, the Boston Globe dropped a hint of its origins, reporting that Napoléon “Nap” Lajoie, of the Cleveland Napoleons, was down with “blood poisoning” after being spiked by a shortstop named O’Leary. The Globe said, “some of the dye in his stocking got into the wound and affected it.” The next December, the Washington Post reported that Cleveland players “will hereafter wear pure white stockings to avoid the possibility of blood poisoning.”

Pretty straight forward, the story we all pretty much know and accept, but there are some holes. First, who is O’Leary? The scrappy all glove no stick pre-Mendoza, Charley O’Leary, was in his second year with the Tigers on the junior circuit, was it him? If so, when was the moment of immaculate stirrup conception? Did it take a week or two for infection to sideline Nap? When did the first player cut his stockings creating the birth of the revolution? Oooooh, Cornmother, why do you forsake me with so many unanswered questions?!

Let’s piece together this puzzle as I have found them jigsawed apart. According to the Cleveland Indian Encyclopedia, Nap’s infection sidelined him immediately, he was out the next day. And according to Baseball Reference, his first game missed was June 30th (I had articles confirming the dates that I seem to have misplaced). Cleveland played 3 games in Detroit, followed by 5 games at home from June 26th to July 1st, including a double header at League Park against the Tigers. So unless my brain-pan has forsaken me yet again and given me the roofus-goofus, we can point to June 29th, 1905, during the course of a double header that Tiger shortstop Charley O’Leary slid into second spiking Nap Lajoie’s left ankle, which left untreated, beyond tobacco spit or rubbing dirt on it, got infected overnight, and nearly killed him. And with this, we have our date for immaculate stirrup conception.

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To this point, I do not know when the stirrup was born on the diamond surrounded by 3 wise umpires carrying lumber, leather, and myrrh, but one of these days the sacred parchment will reveal the glorious word. Until then we know Phil’s Wall Street Journal article points to Cleveland deciding to wear white sanitary stockings in December following the season. But Cleveland actually switched to white hosiery either instead of/as, or in addition to the sanitary stocking, my thought is one of the former. That being said, we know it happened by the 1906 cross town world series betwixt the Cubs and the upset minded “hitless wonder” White Stockings if that pixture was taken as late as the series as opposed to the start of the season, but the actual first date of a stirrup still eludes.

This was a transcendent moment, but what else also happened on June 29th 1905? That’s right, John McGraw put in Moonlight Graham, and we all know that story, quite the “magical” day evidently. Now that has the pan pinging, what of the cursory “players” in these events? Oh right, John McGraw is credited with inventing duck pin bowling in Baltimore, thank corn.

And what of Charley O’Leary? The Chicago born and laid O’ Leary may not be in Showman’s Rest, but he did combine with the baseball oddball Germany Schaefer in the off-season as a comic vaudeville act — how great is that? I would love to find some of that footage. Not to mention, recent information apparently might mark O’Leary older than originally claimed by the player himself, making him the second oldest ballplayer behind Satchel Paige, due to some time in Baltimore at the age of 59, once again connecting him to McGraw (not only through age but through that city). Maybe it doesn’t mean much, but both McGraw and O’Leary could have stories that had no-zero-none footnotes, so at the very least we have degrees of Kevin Bacon stuff happening here that remind you that there is always so much more intertwined than what you think you know.

But let’s not forget Napoléon. Is his only association with hosiery being something of a virgin ankle for the Spike of O’Leary? Well not exactly. From 1912 to 1914 the Boston Garter Co. put baseball “cards” into their boxes of 12, and they are spectacular on many levels. Check out these lithographs from 1912 — pretty fantastic depictions of the boys in the locker room as games are played outside, simply lovely. The next set is credited with either 1913 or ’14 depending on what you read, but is a wonderful group off sepia-tone shots. And finally the 1914 set colours pop with amazing composition.

Now these 3 sets are all among the most coveted by card collectors, and to this day only one of the three has been completed, and it sold for over $5,000. The Joe Jackson alone is among the top 10 most valuable baseball “cards” of all time, and I can see why, they are gorgeous objects. As for Nap, here are his Boston Garter shots, nice heels, eh? Something tells me we won’t see many of these for cheap on eBay; however, this does show up even though I don’t see it on any checklist of the sets. Fascinating beyond its absence from checklists when you read the back the card: “These fine athletes have been chosen from all the big leagues: American National and Federal. In addition several notables are chosen from Cuban and Negro teams.” Pretty progressive for a company in 1912 wouldn’t you say? Sure, they want to sell garters to everyone, but that never stopped racism before.

While I could go on about Nap’s other contributions like the double nob bat that was supposed to give players better control, let’s just say that Napoléon Lajoie was a more fascinating character then the turn-back-the-clockish cards of the guy with the funny name and the gross batting average led us to believe as boys, and that goes for much of everything else we have forgotten or ignored.

. . . . .

FlameField

While I have every one’s ear, I would love to organize a Uni Watch 16″ softball game/gathering at the UIC women’s softball diamond before the weather turns, it is a fantastic venue with a great backdrop and a short porch. As all Chicagoans know, there is not a baseball derivative superior to 16″, it takes stones and skill that 12″ could only dream of, and it is uniquely ours. In addition to that, I am trying to set up an indoor wiffle league for this (long)winter. I just need to find the right abandoned church or factory for the venue, because I would like to keep it out of something as stale as a gymnasium, but everything is setting up quite nicely to this point. If you are interested in either of these, or other possibilities like table hockey tournaments, or anything on the margins of sport that fellow comrades like us can appreciate and I can set up in Chicago, drop me a line.

~~~

Thank you Robert. And please stay tuned after “Benchies” and before the Uni Watch Ticker, for Mr. Marshall will have another fine stirrup offering for the faithful revolutionaries (and soon to be converts) among us all.

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“Benchies” first appeared at U-W in 2008, and has been a Saturday & Sunday feature here for the past two years.

. . . . .

I don’t imagine he’s expecting a lot of halftime gigs…

8-13-12 d-collie

Click to enlarge

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Stirrups -- Attention

Attention! Stirrups!

Comrades, we will make this short and sweet considering I have had enough ramblings today about hosiery.

* As far as “new” offerings go, I have a feeling interest will be underwhelming, but that has to come with the territory every now and again. On the bright side the latest crop were shipped to me last Thursday, and will be in Chicago on Tuesday 9-15, at the latest, so there is that bonus.

* Some have asked me what the “official” stirrup of the Revolution is, and I say Nap gave us the stirrup and called it good, so they are all good, book closed. but I need/want to reissue the Nap for those who say, yeah, I dig what Nap put down. Even if it wasn’t the “first” stirrup, it was what started the revolution, and at conception was navy and white hose in a style vastly under appreciated, love the single fat stripe. And it is a early 1900’s 4″ instead of the usual 5″, sorry 7ist counter revolutionaries.

* I feel the need to say thank you to Kansas City and the wonderful people I met there, so why not a Monarch in navy and gold?

* Reissue “new” choices include the Bravos, Phillies, and Athletics (also a KC shout out, but in dark green).

* If there is anything else you are looking for maybe I can help at robertmarshallart.com

from each according their stirrvp,
to each according their strype.

comrade 91200

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ticker 2

Uni Watch News Ticker: “I saw the final of the 200 meter men’s final here on the west coast and noticed that all three Jamaican sprinters had different style shirts during their race (thanks to Kyle Mackie). … Could these be the possible alternate logos for the 2013 All-Star Game? (c/o John Muir). … Rocky Lum thought you might find this Slate article interesting: “Medals, Schmedals. Here’s Everything You Need To Know About the Purple Ribbons Hanging Around Olympic Champions’ Necks.” … Keenan Baileyspotted cleats that I bet will worn by Notre Dame during a practice video. Notice the two images are slightly different than this cleat, the one that was released months ago.” … Check out this lower leg styling: “I took this picture of Samuel Gonzalez of the State College Spikes on August 1. (They are the A ball, short season affiliate of the Pirates.),” says Caleb Yorks. It seems as though all Spikes players are required to go high cuffed for games, but Mr. Gonzalez, playing DH that night, too matters into his own hands with this. His pants were the same style all night long. … Caleb Borchers “All Blacks Oddity, Vol I:” Here’s a weird one. The All Blacks in all blue. Caleb explains they played a warm up match against some local provincial teams and chose to wear their practice jerseys instead of the game jersey. Players initials on the right shirt hem a neat touch, and also about the only time you see a sponsor on the AB jersey in game. “All Blacks Oddity, Vol II:” Caleb “saw a back shot that ups the ante on the weirdness. The All Blacks went without numbers, something I’ve never seen purposefully in a rugby game. Many players played out of position due to the trial nature of the match, so I guess it makes sense. Also WSOB (website on back).” … George Chilvers found some interesting Olympics facts. … There is apparently a Twitter site devoted to Redskins’ Gold Pants. Mark C.N. Sullivan says, “They have the right idea, I think.” … Several people sent in information concerning the Rename the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees contest. Good lord those are crappy choices. … I think this site has been mentioned on UW before, but another mention can’t hurt: Click here: Big Hair and Plastic Grass (thanks to Nick Ruggeri). … A reader, who wishes to remain nameless, saw this while walking around the Notre Dame football stadium. “That’s a truck that they pull outside the stadium on gamedays so they can sell more Notre Dame gear. Obviously, the weird thing is the NOB… Could they be adding them this season?” he asks. … “Nikelaces,” says David Ballinger, “I find myself thinking about Steve Grogan when I see the new Nike unis.” … Rob Curtin thinks the Seahawks’ pants piping looks familiar. “It appears they stole the Monster Cable logo and are using it as pants piping.” … Joe Solomonson isn’t sure what this Mexican card of Joe Thiesmann says, but, “It doesn’t say Redskins.” … Have you driven a Brown today? Michael Vasinko finds the Cleveland football team is now sponsored by featuring an ad patch from Ford. … Royce Ector says, “Just to add to the Bowling Green new unis story, they also have white helmets that weren’t officially “unveiled”. … “Thought you like this video from the Oklahoma athletic department,” says Dan Bewley. “It shows how they get the helmets ready for the season. It’s under the video for Friday August 10th.” … “Interesting set of infographics linked in this New Hampshire Public Radio story,” says Tom Mulgrew “It’s Olympic-themed, using a colored olympic ring to represent each of the 5 major continents, in statistics such as homicide rates, hazardous wastes. Fascinating stuff.” … Jen Heyden writes, “Mike Leake in perfect stirrups at Wrigley.” … More on the Irish in Ireland from Warren Junium: “Multiple Pics of the ND Ireland ball…much better versions that the one I previous shared. Also, undershirt and socks. Rumor of a special uniform for the Ireland game is running around town.” … Just “sharing a tweet with you” from Jay Sullivan: “Getting jerseys ready to be sent off to have nameplates put on. #ugafootball #camplife — UGA Football Equip (@UGAFBEquipment).” … So, it’s not just the Nikelaces that suck — the sweatboxes have returned too. Rich Picardini notes “this is common on many Lions uni’s versus the Browns.” … Oops: Good spot by Jake Morehead who saw Fresno State still has the “WAC” logo on their practice jerseys even though this year they will be playing in the MWC. … Joshua Pryor asks, “have you seen how cool the bmx jersey’s are at the olympics for USA? Spread eagle holding handlebars.” … Ewwww — more CFCS (camo for camo’s sake): “Ogden Raptors new jerseys… Not sure of the reason” (thanks, I think, to Samm McAlear). … The “Everett Silvertips of the WHL unveiled new Jerseys and logo for their 10th Anniversary,” writes Dave Sizer. “See the photo gallery, I haven’t ever seen the number on the bottom of the front of the jersey like that, or the name across the bottom. Not sure what I think of that yet, I’ll need to see it in action.” … More sweatbox action, from Jack Pluta: “All sweaty Jaguars players will be wearing two tone jerseys all year long.” … Because some people are obsessed with athletics aesthetics, Frank Miller writes, “Looks like Alex Smith was rocking the full 3 stripes on his 49ers jersey the other night. Why didn’t Nike make this standard for every 49ers jersey? It looks much better.” (For comparison, here’s Alex Smith last season, probably after the Niners loss to the G-men in the playoffs). … No wonder it was only two bucks: “I did not know the Jets were AFC Champions in 2010?” asks Marc Viquez. “I found this on sale for $2 at Marshall’s in New Jersey, us Jet fans can only wish!” And to think, those are free in Haiti. … Lets say you love uniforms and you love Uni Watch (duh) — but collecting jerseys can get expensive. What do you do? “Sculpt a small jersey out of clay, make a mold and cast as many as I want in plastic.” THAT is the awesome and genius project of Stephen Rawlings. Keep those coming! … Nikelaces, neckrolls — call them what you want, but the comparisons keep on coming: Casey Martyn agrees “that the new NFL jerseys look like the old neck rolls but while watching the Broncos play on Thursday I couldn’t help but to notice they looked like a disco collar. Here’s the Saturday Night Fever poster for comparison.” … Several people noticed the new VT helmets to be worn for the “white out” game Sept 8 vs Austin Peay look like “chicken feet or turkey feet.” … Brady Phelps sends in this, “Ryan Mathews in a chargers jersey… kinda, sorta, not really.” … I’m not sure who Lionel Messi is, or why someone would paint up a car to look like his uni, but Adam Herbst found “saw this today at the bagel store parking lot. That’s showing some love.” … Kevin Collins writes, “The Phillies inducted Mike Lieberthal into their Wall-of-Fame (Phame) – on Friday night. The alumni they brought back – (the likes of Schmidt, Carlton, Bowa, amongst others) wore arm patches – on the right arm. Two of them. One being the apparent logo for the wall of fame – and another representing all the Phillies P’s in their history. Also interesting. During the ceremony, Phillies third base coach Juan Samuel was introduced pre-game wearing jersey number 8. The number he wore during his playing times with the phillies. But now wears number 12 as the 3rd base coach.” … Awwww…how, um, sweet? Marc Bauche writes, “A couple got married before the Jays game at Rogers Centre yesterday. They rode off on a golf-cart (how romantic), with a giant “Just Married” baseball attached to the back of it.” … So? Maybe they don’t have McDonald’s jock contract. What? Rick Rutherford says, “Nike is NOT going to be happy about this.” Also from Rick, “I don’t remember “I don’t remember the Titans having reverse fangs on their yoke/nameplate before.” … G.J. Marmet noticed something odd: “Rob Vitense has worn a University of Wisconsin shirt every day for over a year, and he is still going and closing in on 500 days.” … “Chelsea and Manchester City played in the Community Shield this morning. Chelsea were in their home blues, so City wore their new maroon change kit, which includes some sweet gold sock stripes. City Picture.” (thanks to Evan Sadler). … “The Akron Aeros wore these Star Wars jerseys,” writes Jacob G. “I love Star Wars but cannot get behind these.” … Another Olympics Infograph that Anthony Nuccio says, “I think this would be something nice to put in the ticker tomorrow.” … “I know you said you like this logo,” says Mark Kaplowitz of this Indianapolis Racers hockey puck. “This is in my parents house — That’s the great ones signature.” … Anthony Pellegrino was at Fedex Field for a concert and backstage saw a couple of mannequins in Redskins unis, like the ones you can stand behind and look like you’re a Redskin. “They haven’t been updated to Nike unis yet.” … A reader who goes by Gastern50 sends this: “here is a pic of the back of an Aggie jersey. Note the “Sr” designation on cb Floyd Raven’s jersey.” I’m far more concerned with the awful beveling. … FNOB Alert from Clint Richardson: Not initials, his name is actually T.J Davis (that’s Auburn, right?).

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And that, dear friends, brings us to the end of this Monday’s post. That’s gotta be the mother of all tickers (so I’m holding off some stuff that would normally run today until tomorrow). Plenty to talk about there, right? Big thanks to Robert Marshall for that wonderful stirrup history lesson centering around our patron saint, Mr. Lajoie — make sure you guys pick up a pair or three of Friday stirrups — in fact, I’ll start posting pixtures (as Robert would say) of everyone who buys a pair and wears them on Friday beginning my first weekend back — so load up lads (and lasses). Everyone have a good Monday.

~~~

“The Titans baby blue pants are awesome. It reminds me of the older Oiler uniforms. I love light blue minus the sheen from the synthetic fabrics. If Nike can do this to the Titans, then the Chargers need to go back to powder blue and yellow, pronto.” — Kyle Allebach

 
  
 
Comments (150)

    Actually, it does say “Redskins”..”Red Indian / American Indian”…it’s what it should say in a localized sense…better than the insulting “Los” we use here…

    “A trolley frog is not only a mechanical part of a trolley, it takes us into a creative world of frogs, lily pads and snapping tongues.”

    This sentence embodies all that is wrong with sports club marketing and logo design today.

    Unfortunately, it’s probably the least terrible of those names… At least it has local historical ties. That seems like it’s their version of the not so far away IronPigs nickname… The IronPigs took their nickname from Pig iron, which is a temporary byproduct of smelting iron ore when making steel… Even though the IronPigs are a city over in Allentown, Bethlehem Steel was the largest industry in the Lehigh Valley, so they ran with the steel industry theme. Pretty much just like Billy Joel did with his song “Allentown”. So while their description of it is marketing BS, at least it gives the local fans something to attach to.

    Seriously though, can you imagine the work mark for the “Scranton-Wilkes Barre Black Diamond Bears”. Who thought that a 6 word team name was a good idea?

    Seriously though, can you imagine the work mark for the “Scranton-Wilkes Barre Black Diamond Bears”. Who thought that a 6 word team name was a good idea?

    Wait till you see the interlocking SWBBDB logo.

    They honestly should have just gone back to being the Scranton Wilkes Barre Red Barons. That was a classy uniform, and the name didn’t have any ties to the Phillies. They were named to honor two previous area minor league teams, the Scranton Red Sox and the Wilkes Barre Barons. People had a connection to that name. They may not have been Phillies fans, but they were Red Barons fans, and they would have remained so regardless of the affiliate. The need to brand them the Yankees alienated a lot of that fan base, which is why they’re now changing it again. But they’re trying to reinvent the wheel. All they need to do is go back to Red Barons, and everyone will be happy.

    #1 I still say we all say “Lightning Bugs” in NEPa so it should be that instead of “Fireflies”.
    #2 I see more Groundhogs than Porcupines.

    With that said I went with Porcupines, Trolley Frogs, and Fireflies as my top 3. All of the local news crews conducting polls have the same results. The 6 finalist names suck. But I’m still happy “Yankees” is going away and even happier “Red Barons” isn’t coming back. And BTW even though they used a plane in their logo the “Red Barons” were actually a nod to the old Scranton Red Sox and Wilkes Barre Barons not the infamous pilot Manfred von Richthofen. I still want to know what the hell a Black Diamond Bear is. That better not win.

    TA:

    IIRC, the Black Diamonds were a failed Atlantic League franchise based in the Lehigh Valley.

    I doubt that a fan base which supports the S/WB Penguins would show a lot of support for any team calling themselves the (anything)Bears, and black bears are routinely hunted in PA to control their populations, aren’t they (I know their numbers are routinely ‘thinned out’ in NJ)?

    Actually there’s quite a bit of black bears roaming the area. A lot more than there used to be. That would’ve been acceptable to go with.
    Black Diamonds would not go over too well but not because of the Atlantic league franchise. For better or worse the area is really trying it’s best to distance itself from it’s coal mining past which is why I’m confused at how “Blast” made it into the final list.

    I submitted the name of SWB “Greys” in honor of Wyoming Valley native Pete Grey who was the only armed pitcher in MLB history and it was in the six finalist. I guess fireflies and porcupines are more historically accurate to our region.

    This may have been discussed, but William Shatner threw out the 1st pitch on Star Trek Night at Dodger Stadium wearing a jersey which was missing a front number:

    link

    What # was on the back?

    link

    Shanter opted to wear his usual lid for the occasion.

    On Friday, David Carpenter made his Blue Jays debut vs. the Yankees wearing uniform #39.

    Before he was released, pitcher Andrew Carpenter, wore #39 for the Blue Jays.

    Anyone know how rare it is for 2 unrelated players with the same last name, to wear the same number for the same team in the same season?

    Plus, I wonder if he wore 39 since they already had a jersey laying around with his name on it and just told him to wear it?

    Not quite unrelated, but James McDonald of the Pirates wears #53, and his cousin Darnell was wearing #54 with the Red Sox before he was DFAed.

    Also, Phil, please tell me you’re kidding about not knowing who Messi is… I know most of you guys don’t know much about soccer, but come on.

    RPM, I went to the Moonlight Graham link in your column and discovered the interesting fact that he was the brother of Frank Porter Graham, the well known former president of UNC Chapel Hill who was briefly appointed a U.S. senator. Graham was for integration long before its time and it cost him. The 1950 Senate race that he lost is a landmark in North Carolina history.

    In his honor, there is a tasty beer called the Frank Graham Porter at a bar in Chapel Hill.

    i never knew that about yount’s brother, and didn’t notice that about grahams brother either. but i love the stories outside the stories too.

    Absolutely! Has the feel of a million-dollar idea, too: Kisckstarter a little capital and seek a big-league license and I could see this being a successful merchandising/collectible product.

    Or, you know, a fun hobby. But still, it really does seem to fill an empty and potentially very lucrative commercial niche.

    The Ford family (which still owns the car company) owns the Lions, but they’re sponsoring the Browns’ practice jerseys?

    *SMDH*

    There is a large Ford assembly plant just outside of Cleveland in Avon Lake. Not that it justifies the patch, but it might explain the thought process.

    The Ford Motor Company is a publicly held corporation, owned by stockholders. The Fords own less than 2% of the company now.

    The owner of the Lions is William Clay Ford, Sr., not the “Ford family”. He retired in 2005, but remains on the Ford board of directors as a Director Emeritus.

    If you visit the Cleveland Browns website, you’ll see that the entire site is “Driven by Liberty Ford”, and that Liberty Ford sponsors the daily Browns radio show. It’s a good bet that the Ford patch on the training camp jerseys represents Liberty Ford and is part of their sponsorship package.

    I think there’s a missing link to a picture showing stirrups in 1906, either Cubbies or White Stockings. Guessing it might be this:

    link

    or this:

    link

    So we’ve pinned down the date of the incident that sparked the creation of the stirrup, but we still don’t know who was first to wear stirrup-plus-sani nor when. If I’m reading today’s report right, it remains possible that other teams could have been wearing stirrups with sanitaries prior to Nap’s poisoning.

    Also, I wonder how many other players, if any, experienced spiking blood poisoning but didn’t draw attention on account of not being a top player like Nap. Or if the blood poisoning even had anything to do with the stocking dye, since we’re talking about taking a metal spike, dragging it around on the ground for a while, and then stabbing a guy with it. Blood poisoning would kind of be the expected outcome there even if you weren’t stabbing the guy through a layer of dyed cloth.

    link was the 06 pixture. and no, i would say it was very doubtful that anybody wore stirrups before the injury, perhaps a sanitary was worn by some though on occasion. i think it is pretty clear that it was the following year that the double sock gained in popularity yielded to the stirrup. and it may not have been one person, but one team that first did it.

    Right – I’m assuming it was a team, not an individual, that first adopted stirrups plus sanies.

    I’d look at catalogs from the 1900-1910 period, if I had access to any, to see when stirrups plus sanies are first advertised. At least that might indicate whether they were created in response to Nap’s poisoning, or merely adopted by the big-league teams in response.

    i might hit up the main branch of the chicago library on washington and start going through old papers on microfiche to see what i can find out. but i bet there was an individual that came up with it, but i bet it spread to the team so quickly that it might be impossible to find it.

    i wish i had access to the cooperstown pixture archives, that might be a good place to look too, but it is kind of a drive from here.

    It looks like TO is wearing NBA socks in the picture displaying the new piping on the Seahawks pants.

    Covered in the ticker in the past couple weeks some time. Otherwise you’d probably have gotten a nice reaction. Still a very nice catch!

    yup

    don’t worry, it’ll be back tomorrow…i figured with comrade’s lede, benchies and the ticker, enough was enough for today

    In the absence of new letters, some examples of what NBA jerseys will inevitably look like after the end of the BS “trial period” for small patch-sized ads:

    link

    link,!ogE9c9GnFh-BPYwfp!MJQ~~60_35.JPG

    link

    link

    Not speculation. According to reporting linked here last week, this is the league’s actual overt plan.

    Here’s that second one, with a link, hopefully. It’s the best of the bunch, and most representative of where the NBA is clearly heading.

    So… as the NBA kicks itself out of the “Big 4” sports leagues, which sport should we promote into it’s place? Lacrosse? Rugby? Ultimate Frisbee? Curling?

    Surely you mean college football, not hoops. No one gives a shit about NCAA Basketball except during March Madness, and then it’s all about the gambling.

    “No one gives a shit about NCAA Basketball except during March Madness Jim Vilk”

    ~~~

    (fixed)

    i wanted to keep one of them for some reason, and i always liked the world myrrh as it looks. lumber and leather had that alliteration too, but truth be told, i almost used resin.

    Great minds think alike. I, too, like how myrrh looks…just wish it had a better Scrabble points.

    That Joe Williams Garter card is not an original, its a custom-made print. Sort of tricky in how it is listed, but it does explain all that in the description.

    Nike could be so much more creative with those sweatboxes.

    Just imagine a Bengals jersey with tiger stripes that are invisible at first and get darker as the game progresses.

    Great read as always. Then again my Falcons look ridiculous enough without the Nikelace and Sweatbox. Thank Jeebus they didn’t go with those too…. I’ve only seen pictures of games so far so it may be the angles causing an illusion but it looks like the Swoosh made some of the pants stripes thinner. Just a result of bad pics or did that happen for some teams? The new arm striping for the Chiefs will take some getting used to as well.

    Question for Jen Heyden: which game is that from?

    I ask because it looks like last Fridays game and my wife and I are in the front row – just to the right of the edge of the backstop. I also took a picture of Leake’s stirrups, but I can’t upload them until I get home. I’ve emailed it to Phil, maybe he can help out by posting it.

    i’m pretty sure it’s friday’s game (that’s when it was emailed) — and mike, haven’t (yet) gotten your email, but i’ll post it when i do

    re: Great seats.

    What I used to do…and I imagine it still might work…is walk up to the box office at the game and say, “Give me the two best seats you’ve got.”

    Often times someone will get a pair of incredible seats from work or whatever, but because they want to take their whole family, will trade them in to get more seats together.

    You can end up paying the highest level price, of course, but you also can end up with some big company’s season tickets in the third row that are not otherwise for sale.

    Yeah, maybe not as effective now with online ticketing and all…but worth a try.

    The idea’s right, but I don’t know if it’s quite as effective now that teams charge obscene amounts for “premium” seats.

    Sorry for the delay…..It’s from Friday’s game. I share seasons in 226, Row 8. The wind was howling in our faces. We take the full brunt of the wind howling in over Waveland (LF).

    Most teams end up releasing tickets just prior to the start of the game as most of the big wigs (or big whigs depending on your preference) don’t bother to show up.

    Are you from Cincy or Chicago? (please don’t say Cincy, I’m so tired of red…….ha)

    – Jen Hayden

    Another thing of Note in the Community Shield. Manchester City Goalkeeper Costel Pantilimon shifted his kit during the game in stages. He wore Manchester City’s away goalkeeper kit in the warm up/ shake hands portion of the game, but i assume its too close to Chelseas home blue to wear during the game. He couldn’t wear the home goalkeeper kit that’s green which matches Chelsea(home teams) keeper kit. So they had to use a yellow one. First picture is him in full blue. Second is him in yellow shirt blue shorts/socks. Third is him in yellow shirt, black shorts, yellow socks.
    Photos link

    Maroon has been a prominent city away kit color, like the red/black stripes from last year.

    They wore maroon in the 1933 and 1934 Cup Finals and maroon with narrow white stripes in 1956 Final.

    Nothing new there.

    Those Notre Dame trailers have been around for at least the last 4 years (I just graduated from there), and they’ve always said “Irish” on the back of the jerseys.

    The “Everett Silvertips of the WHL … “I haven’t ever seen the number on the bottom of the front of the jersey like that, or the name across the bottom. I’ll need to see it in action.”

    The LA Kings had it on their purple/black jerseys from 1998 to 2011, “Los Angeles” is on the bottom front of the jersey’s.

    link

    I meant to write:

    The “Everett Silvertips of the WHL … “I haven’t ever seen the number on the bottom of the front of the jersey like that, or the name across the bottom. I’ll need to see it in action.”

    The LA Kings had the name across the bottom from 1998 to 2011. “Los Angeles” is on the bottom front of their purple & black jerseys.

    link

    Late in the 49ers – Vikings game on Friday night the 49ers on the bench start pulling out the heavy jackets (55 degrees and foggy) and they were all Reebok. I guess Nike hasn’t started shipping the cold weather gear yet.

    The last ticker link is indeed At Auburn’s Fan Day. Worth noting that the NOBs and numbers have returned to their link prior to last year’s link. Still haven’t fixed the pants striping or sleeve stripes which still look like a kitchen knife and a patch shaped like a cereal bowl, respectively.

    Hmm – that doesn’t work.

    Go to the search box and put in: college uniform top 25

    Absolutely all of those led to the same generic yahoo page. Fuckin’ yahoo…

    I just googled a bunch of different top 25 lists. Saw one for the top 25 NEW uniforms. It was pretty terrible “jounalism”. No research done whatsoever, he just stuck a bunch of cool words in and prayed it worked. It didn’t. He also voted WVU’s gray uni #4 on the list. That uni is attrocious.

    Outstanding job, Moose. Thorough research + engaging narrative + some link = one hell of an article. You, sir, are the boss.

    PS – link, as you might expect, is giving me serious wood.

    thanks. the fun part was making the hand of god, and virgin “mary” images, they are so ridiculous that i love them.

    oops the quotes were to be on “virgin”, i am still out of it today, the coffee won’t take hold

    I was disappointed when the official 2013 ASG logo didn’t include the apple, really hope link is the real deal.

    Although, I think the “fancy” letters look a little out of place. Why not “All Star Game” in Mets script?

    1) Secondary and tertiary logos. Seems legit to me.

    2) The “fancy script” is, in fact, Mets script: that of the road uniform.

    It looks fine on the road unis or on the Sawx unis, and even link just never seems to look right to me when it’s not link.

    I actually have a number of sets that I’ve used for DIY jerseys, tried putting just the NY on a sweatshirt sleeve and that looked odd too.

    Forgot about that one. I tried in vain to find an LA Angels cap in Dodgers colors for my softball team. Had to settle for a regular old Dodgers. Oh well.

    Love the apple. Not a fan of the hat. Top hats are for the Yankees, Monopoly players, and buskers begging change on the street.

    Or magicians who make things disappear, which actually befits the Mets in a lot of ways, so maybe I’ve just unlocked the secret to the hat.

    I’m not as much of an NBA fan as I was growing up but I still somewhat follow 2 teams to see if they won. I’m fully on the NoUniAds bandwagon though. I was thinking about it last night. The calls and emails to the empty suits at the NBA are great but what about a secondary campaign as well? Most emails have people saying they can’t stand to see THEIR teams with ads on them.

    Well then why aren’t we all doing this and sending these same letters and calls to our TEAMS? Let’s flood the marketing groups and front offices of our teams with this as well. Who will take the hit the most? The teams losing the jersey and ticket sales. Let the NBA know along with letting the teams themselves know! They’ll probably shrug just as much as the NBA but they should all be told they’re going to lose these jersey sales and ticket sales if this happens and they agree to putting ads on their uniforms. For those that support the cause but aren’t a fan of any particular team send something to whatever “home market” you’re in and tell them you’ll never support them if they go along with this.

    damn straight. so i assume i can count you in for the game if enough people want in?

    i have heard from some wiffle ballers, so with the 8/9 teams i already had in the bag, we could be up to like 12/13 teams. maybe enough for two nights so that there could be a world/chicago series betwixt the league/night pennant winners.

    I’d be in like a dirty shirt if I was still in the Chi-town vicinity. That looks like it would be a rocking evening of fun!

    Perhaps you need to look at make a stirrup league, Comrade. Included in your league fees are your team stirrups to be worn every game! LOL

    naw, i wouldn’t do that to people. but i do get pretty happy when i see somebody in stirrups, or if someone has a right proper blouse.

    the game will be on a monday afternoon. no, obviously i would make it when the most people could be there, like a weekend afternoon, but they do have great lights, so an evening game is a possibility. and you can take the metra for corn’s sake, you make it sound like you like in northern wisconsin.

    oh, i would like to introduce you to it, it is a great game, you’ll love it. you use a haevier bat too. i use a 38 oz, and there is a uw’er named shaggy that i believe swings a 40 oz. , which is crazy. you can also use a baseball bat, that is legal, so if you have a favourite one, it can be in play. but don’t let that fool you, the pitching rules make it hard to hit, you get steps in any direction, fakes, and we will be going no ceiling.

    *stirrups came in, but you might as well strike that about the naps being a 4″, it is a 5″ like all the others. fargin tck.

    that isn’t even funny skipper. hen you make it up here for a game i am going to riffle one at you so you can tell everyone what a bitch it is to [play;)

    so far most of the interest has been for wiffle.

    sure tim, i mean we all have shit that we have to do here and there, but i would miss any bucks game but one to play myself. i just ment it isn’t hard to get here.

    pffft…chicago mushball?

    or do you use one of them new, hard-as-your-rock things that can kill ya? that aint no fun

    new ball for every game, and yes it is like a rock for an inning or two, but it will soften up as i hit it towards you;) the leather on the clincher is pretty soft, so even when the ball is hard, it’s pretty nice. but the wilson synthetic is a skin breaker for sure when it is new. i’m a clincher fan myself. but i think it will be fun seeing you swing that heavy bat the first time.

    would love to have you, but it’s a long way from st louis for a softball game. maybe down the road paul and/or phil will come to town and have a gathering after a game, and you can make that. i would love to see some of these east coast candy asses try their hands at our game:)

    Y’know, people make fun of “Old Baseball Guy” as a generic character, some kind of odd comic figure who hangs around, even if it’s just in the neighborhood to watch American Legion games or something.

    But, guess what, a whole lot of baseball’s extraordinary place in the American consciousness—not to mention the game’s history—leaves us when we lose someone like Johnny Pesky.

    Anecdotal by somewhat relevant aside from 50 years ago re: “Old Baseball Guy”…

    Right now I’m thinking about a slim and smallish widower most of us knew only as “Grandpa Jensen.” He was at our Babe Ruth League field every single night, arriving like clockwork in his immaculate black 1950 Chevy sedan wearing his straw baseball-style hat, and always with his buff-colored cocker spaniel, Lady, at his side.

    I don’t think I ever spoke to him, but I loved those two with a heart-and-a-half…because even as a 15-year-old kid I understood that very likely all they had was each other.

    And baseball.

    Taking umpires and everything else out of it, it’s time to paint the RF Fenway foul/fair pole black. Since that won’t happen, how about a great Pesky Pole patch?

    I am not a Red Sox, or AL homer, but he hit 17 career home runs. Ask any REAL baseball fan and they know where the Pesky Pole is.

    whoever sits in the seats around there should tie a black scarf or something around it every day. that would be a cool fan gesture.

    I’m all for this.

    On a somewhat related side note, Comrade, I ordered a pair of ’36 Sox stirrups from you a while back, are they part of the shipment you’re getting in?

    send me an emil shane, we will figure it out, but if you were form last week, they are in the mail. rpmarshall at gmail.

    The Raiders may not have gone with the Elite51 jersey top like they should have (they can keep the shiny pants), but they’re finally wearing black cleats for the first time since link, as it was intended. I’m not sure if this is a result of the players taking advantage of the new shoe rule, or if they officially became a “black shoe” team with all of these changes within the orginization, but I’m happy.

    Not a Raiders topic, but same game: if there is one thing I like about Romo, it would be that he wears some real sleeves. Good stuff.

    I don’t like ’em. Not the length, but the bagginess. I would be fine with them if they were the same size as Peyton Manning’s sleeves (back when he was with the link), but the sleeves that Romo wears (along with a handful of other QBs) look really unprofessional to me. Not calling for the glorified muscle shirts that linemen and some skill position players wear, but you have to find some sort of balance in between the two. Just MO.

    that would make sense, and it looked like that to me which combined with how late in the writing game i found it is why i almost didn’t even mention it. but if it was legit from the time that would have been incredible. thanks aaron.

    I am from northeast PA and submitted the name th Scranton/Wilkes-Barre “Greys” in honor of Wyoming Valley native Pete Grey who was the only one armed player in MLB history. I felt it would be a great tie in to our local history. any thoughts?

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