Good morning! I’m back in Brooklyn after spending most of last week in Colorado, and I’ve finally found enough time to put together a report on last Tuesday’s Purple Amnesty Day activities.
The short version: It was a total blast. We’ve had lots of Uni Watch parties over the years, but very few of them have been tied to an event or occasion like this one was, and that really seemed to make a difference. There was a big turnout and an even more festive spirit than usual, nicely captured in the photo above of yours truly with reader John Costigan IV (photo taken by Kary Klismet).
Here are some of the other notables who turned out:
• Here’s Greg Lamm, who came all the way from Roswell, N.M., to celebrate Purp Walk (his shirt refers to something that ran on Adult Swim):
• Incredibly, Greg wasn’t the only party attendee who came in from New Mexico. Will Pike actually flew in from Albuquerque and flew back out the same night (all while wearing Rob Ullman’s excellent Uni Watch T-shirt from 2017):
• Another long-distance attendee was the great Rev. Nørb, who came in from Green Bay:
• It was great to finally meet Ticker contributor extraordinaire Kary Klismet in person. He was also very helpful with photos and logistics (and also made friends with the Rockies’ costumed mascot, Dinger):
• One of my favorite Uni Watch readers is Marty Hick, who I first wrote about way back in 2007. Marty lives in St. Louis, so he couldn’t make it to the party, but he sent his brother Steve Hick, who was every bit as awesome as Marty:
• Douglas Dinsmoor was the first person to arrive at the party, and he was dressed in purple literally from head to toe:
About those sneakers: Douglas said he ordered them direct from Converse — they have a web interface that lets you choose a message to be embroidered on the back of the sneaker. But they don’t allow trademarked names, so Douglas ordered RQCKIES and seam-ripped the little stub off the Q! How great is that?
• My buddy Tim Adams, who I’ve known for over 30 years, was another long-distance attendee. He came in from Durham, N.C., and spent the next few days with me in northern Colorado. We first bonded over indie-rock, so he wore his favorite Uni Watch shirt:
• The whole idea for Purple Amnesty Day, and also the idea for turning this year’s installment into a live event in Denver, came from Tim Cox, who’s pretty much the nicest guy ever. He outdid everyone by wearing a purple-accented wristwatch:
• Tim’s wife, Joy Cox, got purple hair extensions for several of the women in attendance. Here she is (on the left) with her friend Patti Theil:
• Back in 2015, designer Bryan Molloy was the one who suggested that we do a 24-hour Purp Walk merch offering each year. Since then, we’ve collaborated on a bunch of purple T-shirts, caps, buttons, stickers, and related projects, and have also become good friends. Bry lives in Rhode Island but was attending to some family issues out in L.A. the weekend before Purp Walk, so he adjusted his itinerary to stop on Denver on his way back home. I somehow failed to get a stand-alone photo of him, but you can see him in the middle of this next shot:
• There were lots of other people in attendance. I tried to get everyone to list their names and attire on a sign-up sheet, so I’d know who was who, but I may have inadvertently mis-identified some people and/or misspelled some names. (If so, let me know and I’ll make it right.)
———
As for me, I wore more purple than I’ve ever worn before in my life. Granted, that’s not saying much, but still, I think you’d have to admit that I really leaned into the spirit of the occasion:
After a few hours of socializing, we decamped for the ballpark, where we sat in the purple row of seats (although you can’t really see that the seats are purple once everybody’s sitting in them; photos by Tyler Maun):
We also got a mid-game visit from the Rockies’ costumed mascot, Dinger. I already ran this photo last Wednesday, but it’s good enough to repeat:
Dinger’s visit was coordinated by Rockies entertainment director Brady O’Neill, who also supplied us with some Rockies T-shirts to give away at the party. Naturally, he wore purple at the ballpark, but I’m pretty sure that comes with his job:
While we were at the game, someone produced an official MLB baseball (I’m not sure if it was a foul ball from batting practice that someone found under their seat or what), which everyone signed in purple. The ball was then presented to me as a memento of the evening’s activities:
———
In case you couldn’t tell, it was a really fun time. Big thanks to everyone who came out, and doubleplusthanks to Kary Klismet for taking photos and generally being helpful.
My biggest thanks, though, goes to Tim Cox, without whom none of this would have happened. Thanks for all your friendship and support, Tim — it’s all very, very special.
• • • • •
• • • • •
LAST CALL for Father’s Day bats: If you want one of our Uni Watch bats in time for Father’s Day, you must get your order in today. The bats are available here, so move fast if you want that special gift for dad.
• • • • •
• • • • •
The Ticker By Jamie Rathjen
Baseball and Softball News: The Marlins skipped the camouflage caps when wearing their City Connect uniforms on Saturday (from Mike Nessen). … The Royals wore City Connect pants with their powder blue jerseys yesterday (from David Lesky). … MLB’s rosin bags are all made by one guy in San Francisco (from @scurryn and Mike Chamernik). … Reader Kaylee Salm checks in from the NCAA softball tournament, where, if you’re not aware, high-cuffery is the norm. There are lots of stirrup styles on display, but the most common seems to be “ones that are the same color as the sanitary socks but with a color accenting around the edges,” Kaylee says. … The Single-A Myrtle Beach Pelicans wore white jerseys on the road yesterday because both they and the Columbia Fireflies wore their Copa de la Diversión jerseys (from Randall J. Sanders). … A surprising number of MLB players are very particular about wearing cologne on the field.
Football News: New Chiefs WR Skyy Moore will wear No. 24, and as Andrew Cosentino points out, he wore the number in college but even there wide receivers with numbers in the 20s are uncommon. … Inspired by this 2016 entry where Paul points out how old ’50s and ’60s football players seemed to look, reader Taylor Warntjes sends us a Flintstones anecdote where Fred and Barney, attempting to pass as college students, tell a police officer they’re on the football team when they’re told they look too old. “It would seem there was at least some level of societal awareness in 1963 that football players appeared older than they were,” Taylor says.
Basketball News: A team in Japan’s men’s B.League, Shimane Susanoo Magic, is owned by Bandai Namco and not only uses Pac-Man as a mascot, he’s also on their jerseys (from Jeremy Brahm).
Soccer News: From the Premier League final day: Manchester City and Manchester United both wore memorialpatches for the 5th anniversary of the bombing of the city’s arena after an Ariana Grande concert. The bee is a symbol of the city. … Leicester City’s warm-up shirts commemorated the 40th and apparent last edition of an end-of-season tradition where club ambassador/former midfielder Alan Birchenall runs around the pitch for charity. … Meanwhile, only Arsenal wore one of next season’s shirts for the first time, as the Premier League allows on the final day. … A draft U.K. government white paper proposes to ban gambling shirt ads in the Premier League, but as the advocacy group quoted in the article points out, there’s not much point if the ads are still allowed in other leagues and in other formats, such as on adboards. … The NWSL’s North Carolina Courage have a new below-the-numbers ad. … Elsewhere in the NWSL, OL Reign wore a patch for the 50th anniversary of Title IX yesterday. The team also has a commemorative captain’s armband this month for Asian American/Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander Heritage Month. … Scottish club Aberdeen’s men’s team have a new front ad. … I noticed during Saturday’s women’s UEFA Champions League final that Olympique Lyonnais striker Eugénie Le Sommer’s NOB at club level changed to “Le Sommer.D,” which seems like a reference to her married name, and from looking at pictures happened at some point between late August and October 2020. Last year she briefly played in the NWSL for OL Reign and the NOB was more conventional, but now that she’s back at Lyon the longer version is back. A third version with no period has also appeared on Le Sommer’s France shirt.
Grab Bag: Australia’s Super Netball’s New South Wales Swifts revealed this year’s Indigenous design. The league’s First Nations round — renamed from the “Indigenous round” to be more inclusive — starts next weekend and includes a special ball design. … New uniforms for the Six Nations Chiefs, a team in Ontario’s top men’s indoor lacrosse league, Major Series Lacrosse, based near Canada’s most populous First Nation, Six Nations of the Grand River (from Wade Heidt). … If you’re not aware, championship hats and T-shirts for some of the NCAA’s so-called “Olympic sports” are generic and lack any team branding, as with this example from Virginia’s men’s tennis yesterday. Wahoowa! (from Colt Smith). … The Chicago Tribune has a new 175th-anniversary logo (from Griffin Smith). … Two police items from Timmy Donahue: Montgomery County, Md., wants to make its police uniforms less intimidating, and Arlington, Texas’s police department is allowing tattoos and facial hair. … Also from Timmy: A street in Fort Hamilton, which is NYC’s only active military base, will no longer be named after a Confederate general.
Good Sunday Morning, Uni Watchers…I hope everyone had a great Saturday.
It’s springtime in Paris, which means it’s also time for the French Open to begin. As I’ve done for many, many years, I’m again teaming up with my doubles partner, Brinke Guthrie, who will bring you the full rundown of all the gear we’ll be seeing on the top players in this year’s second Major. Unlike down under in Melbourne, when unvaccinated Novak Jokovic was prohibitied from play, the pandemic has eased enough that he’ll be allowed in the 2022 French Open. Fans were hoping to (possibly) see a final between Novax and thirteen time champion Rafa Nadal, but alas, the draw puts them on a quarter final path. But enough about that — we’re not here to talk about the players…we’re here to run down the gear. And with that, I’ll now turn it over the Brinke as he brings you the…
• • • • •
2022 French Open Fashion Preview by Brinke Guthrie
Bonjour mes amis; welcome to the 2022 French Open tennis gear preview. As we do around the four Slams, (Australian, French, Wimbledon and US Open) here’s what you can look for clothing and shoe-wise on the Paris clay for the next two weeks.
🇫🇷 Asics Women’s #1 Iga Swiatek is absolutely on fire. As in, a 28 match winning streak, scoring five titles so far this year. The prohibitive favorite here.
Novak Djokovic sports his own Asics shoe. Asics helpfully told me “the shoe Novak wears is a bit different colour wise to what is for sale in retail.”
Also, notice that “UKG” logo on his sleeve; since that photo was taken, they announced that he’s no longer sponsored by them. One of those “Already planned, mutual parting of the ways.” Of course it was.
🇫🇷 Fila The brand has just announced the signing of women’s star and world #2 Barbora Krejcikova to an apparel and shoe deal, which she’ll debut in Paris. (She’s also the defending champion in singles and doubles; Fila will get a lot of camera time, which is, of course, what they want.) She moves over to Fila from Head. With the retirement of Ash Barty, she steps right into their flagship player spot. Here she is shown wearing their new “Center Court” line. “It is an honor to step onto the court and represent a brand with such an iconic history in the game,” she said recently.
World #8 Karolina Pliskova will also sport the Center Court line.
The Fila guys John Isner, Reilly Opelka, Diego Schwartzman, and Sam Querrey will also wear the same Center Court line; here’s Diego ripping a forehand.
🇫🇷 Nike Naomi Osaka has a very sharp looking shoe for the current European clay swing. She’ll have a tough road here as she’s unseeded, mainly due to lack of activity. Clay is not her favorite surface, but you never know. Her clothing line is also shown below- let’s call it “neon camo.”
Rafa Nadal is synonymous with Roland Garros. He flat owns Paris, winning this event a bonkers 13 times. (Teen phenom and fellow Nike/Babolat racquet dude Carlos Alcaraz is the hottest player on the planet and is quite ready to take it from him.) I like this look — the blue makes a nice contrast with the clay.
🇫🇷 Adidas is way into their “end plastic waste” campaign; they’ve been doing it for several years. Their Instagram page says “The featured innovations in our new apparel collection represent our commitment to help end plastic waste. The future is in our court.”
🇫🇷Lacoste This is their home tournament, and Le Croc will be well represented by the likes of Novak Djokovic and also Daniil Medvedev (below) who plays in Lacoste clothing and shoes, and uses a (Lacoste owned) Technifibre racquet.
And we’ll wrap with this French Open fashion podcast. See ya in late June for Wimbledon.
• • • • •
Thanks, Brinke! Looking forward to the red clay action and we’ll see you in a month or so for your Wimbledon preview.
Guess The Game…
from the scoreboard
Today’s scoreboard comes from Tom Branson.
The premise of the game (GTGFTS) is simple: I’ll post a scoreboard and you guys simply identify the game depicted. In the past, I don’t know if I’ve ever completely stumped you (some are easier than others).
Here’s the Scoreboard. In the comments below, try to identify the game (date & location, as well as final score). If anything noteworthy occurred during the game, please add that in (and if you were AT the game, well bonus points for you!):
Please continue sending these in! You’re welcome to send me any scoreboard photos (with answers please), and I’ll keep running them.
Father’s Day deadline reminder: Paul here. In case you missed this news earlier in the week, the folks at the Pillbox Bat Co. tell me that if you want one of the custom-painted Uni Watch bats in time for Father’s Day, you must get your order in by this coming Monday, May 23. The bats are available here, so move fast if you want that special gift for dad.
Also, while I have you here: My latest Bulletin article is a worst-to-first ranking of the 10 MLB City Connect uniforms that have been released so far. My premium subscribers can read the article here. If you haven’t yet subscribed, you can do that here (you’ll need a Facebook account in order to pay). Don’t have or want a Facebook account? Email me for workaround info.
Okay, now back to Phil with the rest of today’s content.
Uni Watch News Ticker By Phil
Baseball News: New Baltimore Oriole Adley Rutschman will wear Mike Mussina’s old number, 35 (from Kenneth Traisman). … Reader Max Weintraub (who I believe lives in or near D.C.) notes there is a bit of a baseball flag war in his neighborhood (pictured are Red Sox, Yankees, Nationals, and Mets flags). … The Bowie Baysox, a Minor League Baseball team located in Bowie, Maryland, wore these flag, crab and shore themed jerseys on Friday evening (from William Selby). Here’s a look at them in action (from Marcus Hall). … The Fort Wayne Tin Caps honored the AAGBPL Fort Wayne Daisies yesterday by wearing uniforms wearing uniforms mimicking those worn back in the day. … If you have watched any MLB games either Friday or yesterday, you know everyone is camo-pandering. If you don’t know why, Paul has you covered. … Mets outfielder Mark Canha wears Prada shades (from Danielle Sepulveres). … The White Sox released their tee shirt giveaways. Submitter Joe Schmidt notes, “A few really fun designs. Should be the standard but great that the designers are so visible.” … Now THAT’S a belt (from Tony). … When umpire John McSherry died in 1996, the Mets wore a memorial on their unis (from Eric S.). … When a rookie gets his first MLB hit, here’s how the Cardinals handle it (from Jim Hayes). … Here’s a new one: Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto was sporting a black helmet “to match his Camo gear” (from Tim Kelly). … Not sure we’ve noticed this before, but the Chicago White Sox now have raised lettering on their helmets (from Nick Murawski). … Adley Rutschman made his debut for the Orioles in arguably the ugliest uni combo possible yesterday (from Andrew Cosentino). … The Rockies’ Connor Joe has such a short last name it appears as though he has a non-arched NOB (from BatBeat). … Some colors just look terrible with camopander caps. The St. Louis Cardinals in powder blue is definitely one of them (from Mike Sgroi). … One of the many reasons college baseball is great is the generous stirrup porn (from Timmy Donahue). … This is cool: the Phillies use a bull pen cart graphic for pitching changes (from Syaoran Wolff).
Football News: Here is yet another article which seeks to rate the best and worst uniform looks for every NFL team. … I think most of you know Notre Dame goes NNOB during the “regular” college season, but adds NOBs if the team reaches a bowl game. This article asks whether they should go NOB full-time. … Here’s a look at NFL rookies in their new uniforms (note the 49ers are wearing old stock). From NFL Fashion Advice. Also looks like two Patriots are wearing #4 (good spot by Matt Sottile).
Hockey News: Fan of the Great One? Got a few bucks laying around? Well, a jersey worn by Wayne Gretzky in his final Stanley Cup win with the Edmonton Oilers is expected to fetch up to $1.4-million in an auction. … Uh oh — here’s an interesting use of a “stolen” logo (from Hull City Kits).
Basketball News: A Kobe Bryant game-worn jersey has just hit the auction block — and it is apparently “so rare” because it can actually be authenticated — and could possibly sold for $5 million or more at auction. So, if you missed out on the Gretzky jersey (see the Hockey News section), well, here’s your fall back. … Ever wonder how lines are painted on a court? Wonder no more (from MachinePix).
Soccer News: … From our Pacific Rim correspondent Jeremy Brahm, Junsei Chida’s J-League mascots for Saturday. T Fukuoka (wasp)-Marinos, Mid L Hiroshima-Kyoto, R Cerezo-Gamba (Osaka Derby), Bot L Urawa-Antlers, R Tosu-Kawasaki. … Here’s a look at Tomosan with 30 years of Yokohama F. Marinos 2nd kits in the J-League (also from Jeremy Brahm).
Grab Bag: A number of restaurants are betting that Americans want to get gussied up again, but not everyone is thrilled (New York Times link) about the fashion screening (from Tom Turner). … Also from Tom Turner, thanks to Beyoncé, Ralph Lauren and hit shows like “All American: Homecoming,” depictions of Black campus life (NYT link) have moved from “A Different World” to center stage. … Ads are everywhere: Aussie rules football has ads on the ball (from Paul Caruso). … Here’s a very cool look at official college colors from 1896-1897 (from James Gilbert). … Here’s a pretty cool look at all 50 official state logos (from hybrid creature).
Uni Tweet of the Day
Unfortunately, I could totally see Carolina adding an alternate black hat with this uni…
The @NFLPA hosted their #RookiePremiere event in LA, and during their photo shoot rookies got a chance to wear their official uniforms for the first time.
Here’s Matt Corral in the black jersey, black pants combo.
— Jonathan M Alexander (@jonmalexander) May 22, 2022
And finally… that’s all for today and for me for this weekend. Big thanks to Brinke for the French Open gear rundown (we’ll see him in another month or so for the Big W preview)!
Everyone have a great week as we head towards Memorial Day weekend. I’ll catch you next Saturday!
Good Saturday morning, Uni Watchers. I hope everyone has had a safe and pleasant week.
While the NFL has been rather quiet this past off-season, uniform-wise (so far, only the 49ers have announced any changes, and those were just tweaks), up north in the Canadian Football League, the Edmonton Elks (formerly the Eskimos) released a new and updated set of uniforms yesterday.
If the CFL and/or the name “Elks” is not familiar to you, that is because two years ago, the team announced it was changing its name from “Eskimos” — they were known as the EE Football Team and Edmonton Football Team from 2020 until last year, when “Elks” was selected as the new team name.
If the parallel to the Washington Football Team transitioning to an interim name before settling upon “Commanders” sounds familiar, it’s because both teams took similar paths in seeking to divest themselves of a name many considered insensitive at best, and racist at worst. Like Washington, the Elks chose to retain their previous color scheme of green and gold, tweaking their uniforms twice before settling on a new uniform set.
Prior to the change, the team featured rather Packer-esque uniforms, with the popular “EE” logo on the helmets and “ESKIMOS” as a wordmark on the chest.
Their helmet was considered a classic among fans:
Following the name change in 2021, the team introduced slightly different uniforms — the new helmets featured a graphic of Elk horns, while “ESKIMOS” was removed from the jersey, replaced by “EDMONTON.” Numbers changed from gold to white on the green home uniform.
The team also introduced a third (alternate) jersey and altered helmet, the jersey featuring the popular “EE” logo emblazoned on the chest.
Those changes did not prove particularly popular with fans, so the team sought to further tweak the uniforms going into 2022. Those changes began in March of this year, when the team introduced a new helmet featuring the return of the popular (and slightly modified) “EE” logo:
From there, yesterday the team unveiled the further changes to the uniform.
As you can see, the team retains both green and white home/away jerseys, retaining the white numbers on the home jersey, and green ones on the white. The new number font introduced in 2021 was retained, but other changes followed.
Gone was the “EDMONTON” wordmark on the jerseys, replaced by “ELKS”:
Shoulder stripes (gold/white on the green jersey, green/gold on the white) have now been replaced by three solid color stripes, bisected by a new logo, a set of antlers. Numbers on the white jersey are green and numbers on the green jersey are white:
The green jersey features three gold stripes (mimicking the “E” of the “EE” logo) with white antlers, while the white jersey has gold stripes and green antlers:
The back of the jersey features NOB in a block font in the same color as the number (white on green jersey, green on white jersey):
Unfortunately, the green/white/green striping on the pants has now been replaced by a solid green panel, decorated with the new elk antler logo found on the shoulder caps:
You can get a slightly fuller sense of the new uniforms in this video, which also features the uniforms of local high school teams:
Three stripes adorn both the home and away jersey sleeves, harkening back to the Club’s most successful period during the 1970s and 1980s, including the team’s five-in-a-row Grey Cup run from 1978 to 1982. The entire look is capped by the return of the highly popular Double E on the team’s helmet, which binds the past with the present.
All in all, I very much like the new uniforms, save for the pants panel featuring the new antler logo. The team will debut the new white jersey uniforms on the road in Winnipeg on May 27th, as well as at home on June 3 against Calgary — both preseason games.
We can probably expect some more NFL uniform news as the season approaches: we know the Rams will be releasing one final new uniform (after adding a white jersey last season, to fill in the 2021 image); while I have no inside information, I believe the team will either introduce a yellow (“sol”) jersey and/or white pants for 2022; additionally, with the lifting of the “one shell” rule, we can probably expect a few teams to release new throwbacks (for example, we believe the Falcons will unveil a red helmet this season). But as far as wholesale changes to uniforms this season? Looks like we’ll need to wait until 2023 for that.
Your thoughts on the Elks new duds?
Guess The Game…
from the scoreboard
Today’s scoreboard comes from Charles Carson.
The premise of the game (GTGFTS) is simple: I’ll post a scoreboard and you guys simply identify the game depicted. In the past, I don’t know if I’ve ever completely stumped you (some are easier than others).
Here’s the Scoreboard. In the comments below, try to identify the game (date & location, as well as final score). If anything noteworthy occurred during the game, please add that in (and if you were AT the game, well bonus points for you!):
Please continue sending these in! You’re welcome to send me any scoreboard photos (with answers please), and I’ll keep running them.
The “BEST OF” Kreindler’s Korner
Hey guys & gals. You’ve enjoyed Kreindler’s Korner for several years now, mostly on the weekends, on Uni Watch, and we’re still doing the “Best of” until Graig can re-devote his efforts to new writeups for paintings you haven’t seen. Hopefully that will be soon!
Here’s today’s offering:
• • •
Title: “Frazee Finds Fortune” Subject: Babe Ruth, 1918 Medium: Oil on linen Size: 34″ x 30″
It’s still interesting to me that a lot of people tend to forget Babe Ruth started his big league career with the Boston Red Sox. Perhaps more often than not, baseball fans are exposed to him as an aging superstar with a big belly, wearing those pinstripes of the New York Yankees. Certainly those years of the early 1930s – when he was the absolute focal point of sports in our culture – are rife with more images of him doing more things in and out of uniform than perhaps at any time in his career. Perhaps because of the ubiquity of THAT Babe Ruth, when I see an image of him with the Red Sox as a young, svelte upstart, I’m always very attracted to it.
This particular image depicts the man-boy at Chicago’s Comiskey Park during the 1918 season, when he had almost doubled the amount of games played from the year before, splitting time between the outfield and the mound. The motif of him looking into the camera with a bat on his shoulder was cool enough, but when coupled with such bright light, I couldn’t say ‘no.’
It was that quality of light that I really tried to push here. Whenever I had seen photography or video footage of old Comiskey Park, more often than not, the sunlight was of a blinding quality. So much so that it often washed out the light plains in the very reference I looked at. Obviously, it’s not ALWAYS bright in Chicago, but in my head, I wanted the sunlight in this painting to mimic what I had been used to seeing. As a result, the painting was treated as an exercise in painting something high-key in its value structure – in other words, those values would inevitably stay in the upper (brightest) shades on the scale, with the exception of whatever accents I chose to plug in. I kept most of those in his face and bat where I wanted the viewer’s eyes to be drawn to; but otherwise, there are a lot of very bright areas with seemingly lost edges
The result of this kind of thinking made for a painting that I thought pretty well captured the memory of seeing and feeling that blinding Chicago sun. But I suppose having a 23-year old George Herman Ruth on there helps with the coolness factor, too.
• • •
Thanks, Graig! You can (and should!) follow Graig on Twitter.
Father’s Day deadline reminder: Paul here. In case you missed this news earlier in the week, the folks at the Pillbox Bat Co. tell me that if you want one of the custom-painted Uni Watch bats in time for Father’s Day, you must get your order in by this coming Monday, May 23. The bats are available here, so move fast if you want that special gift for dad.
Also, while I have you here: My latest Bulletin article is a worst-to-first ranking of the 10 MLB City Connect uniforms that have been released so far. My premium subscribers can read the article here. If you haven’t yet subscribed, you can do that here (you’ll need a Facebook account in order to pay). Don’t have or want a Facebook account? Email me for workaround info.
Okay, now back to the rest of today’s content.
Uni Watch News Ticker By Anthony Emerson
Baseball News: Phillies C JT Realmuto was wearing a black helmet behind his mask during last night’s game, rather than the usual red. Perhaps it has something to do with the camo caps and catcher’s gear? (from multiple readers). … Red Sox 2B Trevor Story wore his Rockies elbow guard and batting gloves during Thursday’s game against the Mariners. He hasn’t been wearing them in previous games, so maybe he was wearing them to try to bring some of his Colorado success to Boston after a slow first month (from Andreas Papadopoulos). … Staying in the Sox/M’s series, NOB kerning issues are still impacting the Mariners’ blue alternates, with Robbie Ray the latest victim (from @LevityNYC). … The Cubs wore a patch for their Fergie Jenkins statue unveiling for yesterday’s game (from multiple readers). … The Somerset Patriots, Double-A affiliates of the Yankees, will wear camo jerseys over the weekend (from John Cerone).
Hoops News: The Newfoundland Growlers and Montreal Alliance, the newest Canadian Elite Basketball League teams, have unveiled their unis (from Wade Heidt and Moe Khan). … New court design for Bowling Green (from Pat Dougherty).
Soccer News: From our own Jamie Rathjen: “Newcastle United men’s manager Eddie Howe publicly commented on the club’s not-yet-released third shirt, saying he assumes it’s a reference to Saudi Arabia’s colors and by doing so basically confirming its existence.” … Polish second-tier side Stal Rzeszów will wear ’90s fauxbacks this weekend (from Ed Zelaski). … The mayors of San Jose and Sacramento have agreed to a bet for the US Open Cup match between Sacramento Republic and the San Jose Earthquakes: the losing mayor must wear the winning team’s jersey to a city council meeting (from our own Lloyd Alaban).
Grab Bag:The Washington Post has a good article on the glut of crypto advertising in sports, and what those deals means as the entire crypto market struggles to recover from last week’s tailspin (from Tom Turner). … All 18 Australian Football League teams have revealed their indigenous guernseys. You can check them out here (from @JeffChrz).
Uni Tweet of the Day
Much as I have fond memories of two Supes in (basically) these unis, I still think their current home unis are close to Top 5 in the league…
And finally that’s it for today. Lots of playoff puck & hoops this weekend, plus the Preakness and PGA today, and of course, baseball. Enjoy the unis in whatever you so choose to watch. Catch you tomorrow!
[Editor’s Note: Today we have another guest entry from baseball jersey restorer extraordinaire Bill Henderson and his business, the Dream Shop. Enjoy. — PL]
By Bill Henderson
For many years, my goal as a collector has been to collect one example of every jersey each MLB team wore from 1972 to the present. But as I spent years researching game-worn MLB jerseys from the doubleknit era, I noticed that there were some jerseys that simply didn’t seem to exist in the collector’s market. For example, the 1972-73 Oakland A’s gold jerseys with white/green lettering and the odd Expos-font front numbers were nowhere to be found. Ditto for Cleveland’s jerseys from the 1972-74 period, or most Padres road jerseys of the 1970s. What happened to them all?
As I eventually learned, these missing styles had all been sent to the minor leagues, stripped of their MLB identification, and then usually worn into oblivion and often discarded.
The Padres were a particularly difficult nut to crack. Search as I might, I could not find a single example of their grey road jerseys from 1974 and ’75. I eventually concluded that they simply did not exist any more.
Fast-forward to last summer: A friend contacted me and suggested I take a look at an eBay auction for a 1974 Alexandria Aces road jersey. The Aces were the Padres’ Double-A farm team at the time. “Could this be an elusive Padres 1974 road jersey?” he asked.
What intrigued me was a grainy photo of the tagging. Minor league teams generally did not year tag their jerseys, so this tagging suggested that the jersey had originated with the big league parent club:
I placed a bid and won the auction. When I received the jersey, I could tell that the “12” on the front (which remained in good condition) and the “12” on the back (not so good) were original to the jersey. The “Aces” wordmark had clearly been sewn on after something else had been removed from the front, but it was so worn that I couldn’t make out enough details to confirm its origin.
Once I removed the “Aces” lettering from the front, it immediately became apparent that the words “San Diego” had indeed been on there before! The clearest evidence was the burned in glue imprint of the center letter “D” that had been right on the button placket. As is often the case, this is a spot where the thickness of the cloth and the heat and pressure from the original heat press was the greatest, thus leaving an indelible mark. (If you look closely, you can see the “D” outline on the previous photo as well.)
Luckily, I already had a recreation of the Padres road insignia, scanned from a rare original I had restored and authenticated some months earlier. As I overlayed the lettering template onto the Aces jersey on the light table, I could see several other places where the “San Diego” lettering had been originally stitched, some 46 years ago.
Who originally wore this jersey? Some quick research indicated that No. 12 was issued that year to coach Jim Davenport. A search of other jerseys he wore during his playing career show that they were size 40 — the same as the jersey I was now working on.
As is often the case with minor league jerseys, this one was filthy. It was probably washed 200 times in a commercial machine along with 50 other filthy uniforms, and the dirt compounded into the fabric with each wash. A hand scrub, then a long soak in a bucket of warm, soapy water (Woolite and OxiClean powder is my magic formula) and then a machine wash brightened the garment considerably. It was ready to be relettered.
I cut and stitched a replacement “San Diego” wordmark for the front. The original back numbers were truly awful, so I decided to replace them, along with creating a matching “Davenport” NOB in the Padres distinctive vertically arched style. The long surname and the small jersey size required some careful narrowing and tight spacing to make all the letters fit.
I’m very pleased with the final product. Although I certainly can’t wear it (I last fit into a size 40 in eighth grade), it will display nicely, and it fills what had been a gap in my collection.
Here’s my cutting proof — every order that goes through the shop gets one, even mine:
As a coda to the story, I was contacted by the other person who was bidding against me in the eBay auction. He was a historian for the Alexandria Aces and had wanted the jersey for display in their museum. I promised him I would take the Aces lettering that I’d removed from the jersey and use it to make a reproduction Aces jersey for him.
———
Paul here. I love these stories so much. Big thanks, as always, to Bill Henderson for sharing his expertise with us. You can see more of Tales From the Dream Shop here.
• • • • •
• • • • •
Bulletin reminder: In case you missed it on Thursday, my latest piece on Bulletin is a worst-to-first ranking of the 10 MLB City Connect uniforms that have been released so far.
My premium subscribers can read the article here. If you haven’t yet subscribed, you can do that here (you’ll need a Facebook account in order to pay). Don’t have or want a Facebook account? Email me for workaround info. Thanks!
• • • • •
• • • • •
Click to enlarge
We don’t see many of these in Brooklyn: A buddy and I spent most of yesterday in Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, where we encountered this handsome elk!
We had hoped to spend the entire weekend exploring the park, but they’re expecting some serious snowfall there today, so we high-tailed it back to Denver and I’ll be flying back to NYC this morning.
• • • • •
• • • • •
Uni Watch News Ticker By Anthony Emerson
Baseball News: While exploring the archives of the Manitoba Baseball Hall of Fame’s website, Will Scheibler found an undated photograph of a baseball jersey made out of a flour sack as the team was unable to afford the cost of new uniforms. Considering the circumstances, I would guess that the jersey dates to the Depression. … In 1988, the Reds wore a black strip on the sleeve of their unis during their first homestand to honor Ted Kluszewski, who died shortly before the season began. The thread goes on to detail how the Marge Schott-owned Reds did little, however, to honor Hall of Famer Edd Roush, who died a week before Kluszewski (from David Thomas). … The chairs in the dugout box seats at Jacobs Field still have the old Cleveland logo on them (from Ben Teaford). … The Jersey Shore BlueClaws, High-A affiliates of the Phillies, will wear Spider-Man uniforms next Thursday (from John Cerone). … The Cascade Collegiate League have shamelessly stolen the 2021 MLB All-Star Game logo for their 2022 All-Star Game.
Football News: Cartersville High in Georgia is adding QR codes to seniors’ uniforms for today’s scrimmage. When scanned, the QR codes bring you to the player’s recruiting information (from Gerry Dincher).
NBA News: The Warriors have revealed their Western Conference Finals uniform schedule (from Carlos Montalvan).
Soccer News: Manchester City have revealed their new 2022-23 home kit, going with a rare center-oriented club badge and maker’s mark. … Arsenal have launched their 2022-23 home kit (from multiple readers). … If you’ve lost track of the major clubs who’ve revealed their new kits, goal.com has you covered (thanks, Phil). … The Bundesliga has revealed their 2022-23 match ball (from Ed Zelaski).
Grab Bag: Czech sporting officials are currently debating a unified national name across all sports (thanks, Phil). … Syracuse’s dome has a new corporate name (from multiple readers).
Guess The Game…
