For many years here on Uni Watch, if a men’s college basketball team got a new uniform, that news would appear in the Ticker as “New uniforms for Georgia Tech” (or whatever the school might be). Similarly, if a men’s national soccer team got new uniforms, we would usually say, “New kits for Spain” (or whatever). In other words, we treated men’s teams, and men’s sports in general, as the presumptive default.
More recently, that has changed. When writing about college hoops, we now do our best to identify every team as either a men’s or women’s squad, and ditto for every other sport or league that includes men’s and women’s teams.
The person who deserves the credit for that is Jamie Rathjen, who joined the Uni Watch staff in the fall of 2017 and compiles the Tickers that appear on Mondays. A few years ago he began being more scrupulous about including gender distinctions in his Ticker reports and also began privately prompting me to add such distinctions throughout the site. (I’ve gotten much better about this, both in my own copy and when editing everyone else’s copy, but sometimes I forget, so Jamie gently reminds me and I make the needed adjustments to the text.) Jamie also began seeking out more Ticker items about women’s sports and has generally become our de facto advocate for women’s athletics aesthetics.
I recently suggested to Jamie that it might be interesting for him to write a blog post about how he became interested in women’s sports. He agreed, so I’ll hand off the baton to him now. Take it away, Jamie.
How We Talk About Men’s and Women’s Sports By Jamie Rathjen
Even though I’ve never tested positive for Covid, the pandemic definitely changed one thing for me.
In June 2020, the NWSL was the first U.S. pro sports league to return to action after the start of the pandemic. I was excited, because I’ve been a Washington Spirit fan since 2015. And yet I kept reading articles saying that either baseball (excluding soccer entirely) or MLS (excluding women’s soccer) would be the first to return. I remember the writer of one such article claiming to not know the NWSL even existed.
I thought to myself that Uni Watch could be better than those articles.
Until then, I had never thought of women’s sports as something I could bring to Uni Watch. I was brought on in part because of my knowledge of soccer, and that’s a big subject area in itself, even considering only men’s soccer.
Since then, however, I’ve gradually adjusted my focus. That year, I wrote the first of what has become an annual series of NWSL season previews. And I’ve tried to find more women’s sports items to include in the Ticker. I’ve come to realize that there’s a lot of uni-related material to find in women’s sports, especially if you look outside the U.S., and finding it can diversify the voices represented on the site.
I’ve also tried to help make sure the site is not reporting in a way that excludes or overlooks women. In sports media, this is perhaps most noticeable around the March Madness basketball tournaments. Lots of writers refer to the “NCAA tournament,” when they really mean “men’s NCAA tournament,” which will lead to factual mistakes. For example, when Rutgers made the men’s tournament in 2021 and won a game, there were articles saying it was their first “NCAA tournament” appearance since 1991. This article makes that mistake, and also notes that they ended a 38-year winless drought and that they’d won multiple games only “once in school history.” But none of that was true, because the women’s team appeared in most of the intervening years and won plenty of times. The writer was acting as if women’s basketball didn’t even exist (which, in his mind, perhaps it didn’t).
I never said anything to Paul about what I was doing, but he apparently noticed. In May of last year, he forwarded me an invitation to a Women in Soccer webinar, which I signed up for. One of the featured speakers was USA Today columnist Christine Brennan, who shared an anecdote from her time at The Washington Post in the 1990s. The paper’s golf writer was away covering the men’s U.S. Open, so Brennan asked the sports editor if they were going to cover the women’s U.S. Open going on shortly after.
“Yeah, you’re covering it. You go,” Brennan remembered the editor saying. She said she wished the golf writer had covered it, but she was still was still impressed by how simple the solution had been: “Simply going into the office and just saying ‘Why aren’t we doing this?,’ and all of a sudden, we were doing it,” Brennan said. That reinforced the notion that if I want to see more coverage of women’s sports on Uni Watch, I can make it happen simply by taking the initiative.
I find it really fulfilling to see what I can dig up every week, what stories these women’s teams are trying to tell through their uniforms. If I can contribute a tiny bit to growing these leagues by giving them some extra attention, it feels like progress.
As I’ve followed more women’s leagues, I’ve really become aware of the world-class talent on display. For example, one of the most elusive feelings in soccer is finding a winger who gets you excited every time they touch the ball, and the Spirit have that with Trinity Rodman, who was recently ranked as the best 21-or-under women’s player in the world by ESPN. What blows my mind is that Rodman plays in front of a few thousand people at a time for a team whose season tickets are, I would say, eminently affordable compared to other leagues. How lucky are we that talent like that is so accessible?
One of the most appealing things about women’s sports is a sense of belonging to something that’s getting bigger, because all the leagues have fan bases that just want to see these leagues grow and be successful. So significant milestones grab attention, like FC Barcelona setting the officially known women’s soccer attendance record twice in a few weeks earlier this year, or motorsports’ W Series getting new U.S. and U.K. TV contracts this year to match Formula One’s contracts.
These women’s leagues, and women’s sports in general, have had much less time to develop than the various men’s games. The WNBA began play only 25 years ago and the NWSL in 2013; last week you may have noticed lots of articles marking the 50th anniversary of Title IX; and in England, a total ban on the women’s game from Football Association members’ grounds wasn’t lifted untiol 1971, with the modern Women’s Super League starting in 2011. (To put that in some perspective, when the men’s English Football League started its 12th season in 1899, it was still the late Victorian era and the FA had already been organizing the sport for close to 40 years.)
As I’ve delved more deeply into women’s sports, I’ve noticed that some of the uniforms are patterned after a male counterpart (especially in soccer, because more and more prominent women’s teams are run by clubs with prominent men’s teams) while others aren’t. Either way, though, women’s sports teams tend to make really sensible design decisions. Even when they use bright colors, the uniform doesn’t turn out garish. That’s resulted in some real classics, like some of the 2021 NWSL shirts. Even when a design seems out there, like the WNBA’s Indiana Fever doing a jersey based on Netflix’s Stranger Things, or four women’s cycling teams all ending up with purple and orange jerseys this season, I still tend to like the results.
Women’s teams have also put forth some fresh design perspectives, such as soccer teams using floral patterns, which I think have worked very well. Also, when a women’s team bases its design on what the men’s team wears, they sometimes change something about it to make it distinctive. There are some really good examples of this with Adelaide (the first two of the photos shown below) and Fremantle in AFL Women’s:
While I’ve primarily written about progress in this piece, there is still more to be made. Several big sporting events this summer, like two major “open” golf tournaments, the men’s Tour de France (with a weeklong women’s edition for the first time this year!), and the women’s soccer Euro 2022 have organizers or governing bodies that only list the gender in their women’s events. Another such organization, FIFA, is holding its World Cup (for men) starting in November, but that’s not before the under-20 and under-17 Women’s World Cups (with “Women’s” as part of the official name) are held in the intervening months.
In addition to tournament names, there’s also the issue of league names. For example, I’ve seen some WNBA writers and fans informally refer to the NBA as the MNBA. Of course, you could also go with the approach taken by the National Women’s Hockey League, which last year removed its gender signifer and renamed itself as the Premier Hockey Federation.
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Paul here. Thanks for this, Jamie — it’s all good food for thought. And thanks also for making me more cognizant of these issues and, in the process, making Uni Watch a better place.
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Bulletin preview: When the NFL recently lifted the one-shell rule, a lot of people said, “Great, now we can finally see all those great throwbacks that got blocked by the stupid rule!” But is that really true? Sure, most of us will be happy to see Pat Patriot and Bucco Bruce again, but are there really that many worthwhile NFL throwbacks that were blocked by the one-shell rule? In an attempt to answer that question, I’ve prepared a team-by-team list of my picks for the best available throwback option with a non-primary helmet shell color for each NFL team. It will run on Bulletin in two parts — NFC tomorrow and AFC next week.
My Premium Subscribers will receive the NFC article in their in-boxes tomorrow morning. 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!
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Start ’em young: Reader Steve Sher’s 13-year-old daughter tried her hand at rendering all of the Cubs’ logos. Love this so much!
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Meow: I spotted this guy at my local polling place when I went to vote yesterday. I loved the T-shirt design, so I asked him if it was for a softball team or something like that. Turns out it’s actually for a cat rescue organization that he volunteers for. Either way, great design!
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“What’s It Worth?” reminder: In case you missed it on Monday, we’re once again partnering with Grey Flannel Auctions to offer free, no-obligations appraisals of your sports memorabilia items. Full details here.
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The Ticker By Lloyd Alaban
Baseball News: The Orioles have recently worn uni combos they’ve never worn before. On Monday, the club wore their road greys with their alternate O’s cap. On Saturday they didn’t wear their orange tops, which are their regular Saturday unis. At last Saturday’s home game, they wore their black tops with their regular home caps — a double rarity, and triple rarity if you count black tops at home for a day game (from Dan Matthews). … Phillies P Ranger Suárez says he’ll wear stirrups for today’s start. Here’s hoping he doesn’t wear them backwards or with high-top shoes, as he did in that photo. … Phillies OF Oscar Mercado wore No. 35 last night — the first Phillie to do so since P Cole Hamels was traded in 2015 (from Trevor Williams). … A Marlins blog is running a series on the history of major league ballparks (from Kary Klismet). … In this 1933 publication from the Chicago World’s Fair, a Safety Glass Manufacturers’ Association ad promises that “one of the biggest thrills of the fair” is to throw baseballs at a glass target (from Max Weintraub). … Mariners 1B/DH Carlos Santana has his nickname, Slamtana, printed on his sunglasses (from Stephen Petit).
Football News: Some Packers fans on Reddit want to see the team make some uni changes (from Scott Hurley).
Soccer News: New home kit for Paris St. Germain (from @acquijpayya). … Turns out Premier League clubs releasing shirts every year is doing a lot of harm to the environment (from our own Phil Hecken). … The next few items are from Ed Zelaski: New away shirt for Spanish club Leganes. … New home kit for Oldham Athletic of England. … New home and alternate shirts for Huddersfield Town of England. … New away shirt and third shirt for Plymouth Argyle of League One in England. … Mexican club Mineros de Zacatecas did a new shirt reveal in front of a mural, which got some attention because the mural included a drawing of a penis (from @AaronBaronHill). … The Tiny Football Car, a remote-controlled car modeled after the Volkswagen ID4, got a Pride-themed paint job. Tiny Football Car was used to carry the ball out during Euro 2020 last year (from Wade Heidt). … Real Madrid has released renderings of their renovated home stadium, Santiago Bernabeu. In the video, they show the exact field for Super Bowl XXX, which featured the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers, and also show a rendering of the NBA’s L.A. Lakers’ former court (from Moe Khan). … The next few items are from Kary Klismet: New home kits for Dutch side Heerenveen. … New kits for Bundesliga side FC Augsburg. … New kits for Fortuna Köln of German fourth-tier Regionalliga West.
Grab Bag:New athletics logo for the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley (from Kary Klismet). … Virginia volleyball posted their player numbers for next season. Says our own Jamie Rathjen: “That’s not very common for a UVA team to do — none of the teams I watch regularly do it.” … Also from Jamie: The men’s cycling team EF Education-Easypost is going to use some of its ad space during the men’s Tour de France to promote the women’s Tour, which for the first time is being held over a week (not just one day) after the men’s race. …. Tennis player Coco Gauff wore an all-white varsity jacket at Wimbledon yesterday, perhaps a reference to her recent high school graduation (from our own Brinke Guthrie). … Also from Brinke: Tennis player Jelena Ostapenko risked violating Wimbledon’s all-white dress code yesterday by wearing a cream-colored skirt . … New helmet design on the way for U.S. Air Force pilots (from Timmy Donahue). … The rock band Kiss was mocked for displaying an Australian flag during a concert in Austria (from Steve Kriske). … All Elite Wrestling’s belt for its All-Atlantic Champion features the flags of two countries — Japan and China — that aren’t even on the Atlantic Ocean (from David Firestone).
The MLB All-Star Game will take place in Los Angeles on July 19 — three weeks from today. As you may recall, last year they deviated from the longstanding practice of having the players wear their regular team uniforms and instead dressed them up in laughably bad All-Star costumes, but the reaction to that was so overwhelmingly negative that I was wondering if they might go back to the old way this year. Judging from the caps that were released via retail channels yesterday, it appears that they’ll likely be staying with last year’s approach.
Let’s start with the game caps. All of them are black — fabric in the front, trucker-style mesh in the back — with the primary team logo rendered in light-gold embroidery, along with a little star. Here’s the full set:
Obviously, these are pretty awful. A few notes:
• It’s weird that the location of the star varies from team to team. The worst location is when the star appears at upper-right, because then it looks more like an asterisk.
• It’s also interesting that they chose to incorporate the star into the A’s logo, using the star to replace the apostrophe. (I’m surprised they didn’t do something similar with the Phillies, since the Phils used to wear this cap.)
• Astros: Star with a star!
One additional detail: The undervisors have a palm theme, presumably because the game in taking place in L.A.:
Next up are the “All-Star Workout” caps, which are also worn for the annual Home Run Derby. These are essentially the same as the game caps, but rendered in the teams’ usual colors:
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So what does this all mean? To me, it means this: Since the workout/Derby caps are done in team colors, that means players will once again be wearing their standard team uniforms for the workouts and the Home Run Derby — just like last year. And that in turn suggests that they won’t be wearing their team unis for the game itself, so we’ll once again be seeing some sort of All-Star costume. Here’s hoping it’s better than last year’s.
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Sox appeal: ESPN ran a story yesterday about how the sons of various former Red Sox players now play for the summer collegiate Brockton Rox. That’s nice, but I was more interested in this photo showing how the Rox’s uniforms are based on the White Sox’s old beach blanket design. (No number on the pants, though.)
After I tweeted that photo, Twitter-er @roblmo let me know that the Cheyenne Post 6 Sixers — an American Legion team in Wyoming — have their own excellent take on the beach blanket design:
Plus the Legion team also puts its own spin on another Chisox logo:
Take a look at this! You can almost hear the echoes of “Sweet Caroline” over this early-2000s Boston Red Sox Fenway Park concession stand tchotchke from Dept. 56. It also lights up for night games, so getcha dahgs he-ya! Pop-cahn, peanuts, Cracker Jack! (Looks like a White Sox version is also available.)
Now for the rest of this week’s picks:
• Here we have a telephone used for the 1993 Super Bowl. Provided by GTE, “Official Telecommunications Consultants to the NFL.” Just plug it in, get a dial tone, done. Not terribly fancy, is it? Does it even have speed-dial to the league office?
• Bland & Co. Insurance was the sponsor of this 1958 St.Louis Cardinals ruler. Nifty little player illustrations!
• Here we have a huge lot of 28 1970s Avon/NFL cologne decanters, each one topped with a miniature football! There are 25 with those enameled team logo badges, and three blanks. All are unopened and filled with Avon’s “Wild Country” cologne.
• Look at the cover of this 1968 San Francisco 49ers media guide. Look that old-style cape, and you can practically feel the Kezar Stadium chill in the air.
• Here’s a 1980s NFL sleeping bag with graphics I’ve never seen before (didn’t think that was possible at this point!). I do recognize one player — that’s definitely John Hadl of the Rams toward the lower left.
• Baseball’s Joe Torre has no doubt received many accolades over his distinguished career as a player and manager. He’s also immortalized here on this “Big Torre head fan,” for lack of a better name.
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“What’s It Worth?” reminder: In case you missed it on Monday, we’re once again partnering with Grey Flannel Auctions to offer free, no-obligations appraisals of your sports memorabilia items. Full details here.
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The Ticker By Paul
Baseball News: The Blue Jays’ Independence Day cap has been revised to remove the stars/stripes motif, but it’s still pretty awful (thanks to all who shared). … The Triple-A Las Vegas Aviators wore Black Panther alternates this past weekend (from Kary Klismet). … The Triple-A Worcester Red Sox are having a Pawsox heritage night on July 9. “Love the idea because a lot of people in Pawtucket never had the chance to say good bye to the team because of Covid,” says Kevin Rice. … The Atlantic League’s Staten Island FerryHawks will play as the Staten Island Wild Turkeys on July 5. And I can personally attest that the name is appropriate!
Hockey News: Avalanche RW Nicolas Aube-Kubel managed to damage the Stanley Cup mere moments after the team won it on Sunday night (from Kary Klismet).
Soccer News: New away kit for FC Barcelona (thanks, Anthony). … New first kit for Scottish club St. Mirren. “It supposedly has a paisley pattern, which would be awesome because they’re from Paisley,” says our own Jamie Rathjen, “but I can’t see it in the photos.” … New home kit for third-tier English side Bolton Wanderers (from Ed Zelaski and Kary Klismet). … Also from Ed: New kits for Welsh side Newport County and English sides Oldham Athletic and Forest Green Rovers. … One more from Ed: New away kit for second-tier Spanish side Leganés. … Newcastle United, which was recently bought by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, has a new third kit, and David Bell says it’s “an exact copy of the Saudi national team’s design!” … New kit for fifth-tier English club Yeovil Town (from Alex Evans and Kary Klismet). … English side Bournemouth, which has recently been promoted back to the Premier League, will offer a retail version of its new shirt without the advertisement. “The club signed a sponsorship deal with Dafabet, an online gambling company,” says Chris Edwards. “From what I can tell, that prompted a tactful grass-root campaign to ask the club to reconsider and find a non-gambling sponsor. I guess the sponsorless retail option is the compromise.” … New kits for Mexican club Santos Laguna (Ed Zelaski again). … The rest of these are from Kary Klismet: New kits for Tigres UANL of Liga MX. … Also from Liga MX, new away kits for Monterrey. … New home kits for RKC Waalwijk of the Dutch Eredivisie. … New third kits for League Two side Leyton Orient FC. … New kits for Erzgebirge Aue of Germany’s 3. Liga.
Grab Bag: New uniforms for certain Hong Kong police units. … Aussie rules football team Carlton FC has added orange trim for for this Friday’s game against St. Kilda as part of the team’s annual “Carlton Respects” program to promote gender equality and prevent violence against women. Additional info here (from @BluesBrother95). … Whoa, check out this amazing tape measure curtain! (From the Tugboat Captain.) … Interesting piece about Elvis Presley as a fashion innovator. … U.S. Air Force crew members are getting new high-tech helmets (from Kary Klismet). … Also from Kary: Here’s the history behind the Chevrolet logo. … You can be replaced by a machine (maybe): Reader Duncan MacKenzie prompted an AI interface to design a “sports team logo” and came up with these results. “Seeing a lot of animal-influenced designs, and way too much blue,” he says. … Pro golfer Sergio Garcia’s LIV team will have a new name and logo for this weekend’s event in Portland. … Pro tennis player Emma Raducanu wore a polo shirt with Rafael Nadal’s “Raging Bull” logo for her post-match interview session following her first-round Wimbledon victory. She explained that she did it because Nadal “embodies fight.”
[Editor’s Note: Back in March, Marc Mayntz designed a “national flag” for each NFL team. Then he did the same thing for the NHL and NBA. Today he’s back with the MLB installment of this ongoing project. Enjoy. — PL]
By Marc Mayntz
These designs took some extra time to create, for a couple reasons. First, baseball logos are, to a large degree, already minimalist and timeless. One advantage that MLB does have, however, is the unique experiences at the ballpark, so there are a lot of nods to certain parks and traditions in this flag set.
Arizona Diamondbacks
The turquoise and sand of the Arizona desert are separated by a Diamondback stripe.
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Atlanta
Navy stripes representing Boston and Milwaukee, red stripes for Atlanta’s MLB and Negro League teams. The four diamonds honor Hank Aaron in perpetuity.
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Baltimore Orioles
An orange flag evoking the windows and brickwork on the B&O warehouse beyond right field of Camden Yards.
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Boston Red Sox
The design shows the relative heights of the Green Monster (white), the Triangle bleachers (red), and the Pesky Pole (navy).
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Chicago Cubs
The team’s City Connect cap logo is reproduced on a field of white to match Wrigley Field’s “W” victory flag.
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Chicago White Sox
An adaptation of the old Beach Blanket uniform.
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Cincinnati Reds
Mr. Redlegs’s pillbox cap is the model for the alternating red and white stripes.
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Cleveland Guardians
The stylized “G” wings in the team’s new logo abut a navy blue triangle representing Lake Erie.
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Colorado Rockies
A simplified version of the Rockies’ logo.
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Detroit Tigers
My favorite uni detail of all time is the Tigers’ cap logo changing color between home (white) and away (orange). So the flag can flip depending on whether the game is in Detroit (white on top) or elsewhere (orange on top). A dark navy gear with eight teeth represents Detroit being one of the eight original American League teams.
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Houston Astros
Just another tequila sunrise.
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Kansas City Royals
I wanted a “watery” look to the different shades of Royals blue through the team’s history. The edge shade is the navy blue from the Kansas City Monarchs.
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Los Angeles Angels
Three concentric halos representing the three versions of the Angels’ cap halo.
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Los Angeles Dodgers
Dodger Stadium’s hexagonal scoreboard dominates the white field, with the lower-right corner colored red, just like the front numbers on the team’s jerseys.
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Miami Marlins
Black is the only color that has been present in every iteration of the Marlins’ color scheme. The “test pattern” symbolizes the vibrant, multicolor look of Little Havana.
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Milwaukee Brewers
Just like in the ball/glove logo, an “M” is hiding in plain sight in this beer barrel design.
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Minnesota Twins
Minneapolis on the left, St. Paul on the right, Mississippi River in the middle.
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New York Mets
A modification of the NYC flag, with the Home Run Apple in the middle.
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New York Yankees
27 pinstripes, with room for more.
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Oakland Athletics
The diamond was used during the Kansas City years. The white stars are the Philadelphia championships (1910-11, 1913, 1929-30). The green stars are the Oakland championships (1972-74 in the outfield, 1989 catching).
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Philadelphia Phillies
The crack in the Liberty Bell separates fields of powder blue and maroon, the colors of the Phillies’ first World Championship team.
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Pittsburgh Pirates
Stargell Stars will never not be cool. Plus, Pittsburgh owns black and gold.
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San Diego Padres
A simplified San Diego city flag with the Padres’ signature brown as the main color.
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San Francisco Giants
A baseball has been part of every Giants logo since the move from the Polo Grounds.
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Seattle Mariners
The only square flag in this set. The compass rose is tilted to the northwest, indicating Seattle’s geographic position and relative MLB isolation.
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St. Louis Cardinals
The Cardinals bat separates the primary red and navy fields. Since the team long predates the Gateway Arch, I decided not to include it in this classic-style design.
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Tampa Bay Rays
The old Devil Rays rainbow is capped by a tilted dome roof of Rays navy.
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Texas Rangers
This quartered flag reflects the Rangers’ historic straddling of the “red team” vs. “blue team” divide.
Official story: The four quadrants of DC are represented, with the Capitol at the center of the cross. Unofficial story: Take the Quebec provincial flag, switch the blue and white and change the fleurs-de-lis to stars.
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Paul here. Big thanks to Marc for this great four-part project, which I’ve been proud to share on Uni Watch. Well done!
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The return of “What’s It Worth?”: Over the past few years I’ve periodically run promotions in which Uni Watch readers have been invited to submit items of memorabilia for appraisal by Grey Flannel Auctions at no charge and with no obligation, sort of like an online version of Antiques Roadshow. Lots of readers have submitted photos and descriptions of their items, and some have taken the extra step of consigning their items with GFA and selling them for a pretty penny. Items from Uni Watch readers have included this Tom Seaver USC uniform (which sold for over $37,000!), this Aaron Rodgers jersey (over $30,000), this Tom Glavine jersey ($4,468), this Rick Honeycutt jersey ($1,805), and this Jose Cruz jersey ($866).
So now we’re going to do it again. Here’s some quick background: Over the years I’ve developed a good relationship with GFA’s director of operations, Michael Russek (that’s him at right), who periodically advertises here on Uni Watch. In an industry that can sometimes be a bit sketchy, Michael has always impressed me as a stand-up guy. Back in 2017, when my friends Sonya and Tony acquired an amazing 1905 Princeton football jersey at a flea market and asked me if I had any suggestions on how they could sell it, I sent them to Michael because I knew he’d treat them right, plus I knew GFA would reach the right audience to bring the best price for the jersey. (It ended up selling for over $50,000.)
Do you have some sports or pop culture memorabilia that you think might be valuable? Have you ever wondered how much it might actually be worth? Now’s your chance to find out. Here are the details:
1. Items that can be reviewed for appraisal include game-used and game-worn jerseys, bats, and equipment; vintage sports and historical autographs; championship jewelry, trophies, and awards; pre-1960 trading cards (for any sports); and entertainment, rock ’n’ roll, political, Americana, and historical memorabilia.
2. For each item, please provide several photos (front, back, tagging, maker’s mark) and a detailed description regarding the item’s condition and provenance.
3. Also include your name, phone number, and email address.
4. GFA only handles items with a perceived value of at least $250. If your item doesn’t meet that threshold, you may get a response indicating that the item doesn’t fit the parameters for a GFA appraisal.
5. Full disclosure: If you end up consigning an item to GFA and the item sells, Uni Watch will get a cut of GFA’s fee. (And in case you’re wondering, I did not receive anything for the 1905 Princeton jersey. That referral was just a favor I did for my friends.)
Have fun with it, people. We’re excited to see the treasures you share with us!
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Too good for the Ticker: Here’s yet another interesting detail at Angel(s) Stadium: They use the team’s halo-topped “A” logo to mark rows on the stairs within the ballpark. I love that!
(Big thanks to Ryan Wetstein for this one.)
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Uni Watch Screening Room: On Friday night we streamed The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, in which Nicolas Cage plays himself in all his absurd Nicolas Cage-itude. The movie is basically an extended hall-of-mirrors wink-wink riff on Cage, his eccentricities, and the movie industry. It’s very self-aware, very meta, and very, very funny.
The last 20 minutes or so crossed the line from clever in-joke to overbearing self-parody, at least for me, but for the most part this is a very successful gimmick movie. If you don’t care about Cage, you can skip it. But if you’re a Cage fan, as I am, you’ll love it. Either way, kudos to Cage for being a good sport who’s able to laugh at himself.
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The Ticker By Jamie Rathjen
Baseball News: The Brewers’ scoreboard mentioned yesterday that LF Christian Yelich is the great-grandson of Rams helmet designer/football helmet logo pioneer Fred Gehrke (from multiple readers). … The Marlins have a team-branded football helmet that C Nick Fortes wore for a TV interview yesterday. It’s also covered in players’ bat knob stickers (thanks, Phil). … Yesterday, White Sox 1B Gavin Sheets homered while his helmet logo was askew. He kept it like that for the second at-bat, but popped out, and it was fixed for the third (from Clint Wrede). … Athletics P Zach Jackson had a No. 78 belt yesterday. That number isn’t currently worn by anyone on the team (from Rich Paloma). … Rays pitching coach Kyle Snyder wasn’t wearing the team’s throwback cap yesterday (from @pointbrett). … The New York Times found a Phillies fan who turned one of his bathrooms into a homage to the team’s relievers called the Relief Room (from Kurt Esposito). … The next two are from Kary Klismet: For the past several years an Omaha teenager has been drawing the Men’s College World Series participants’ logos in chalk outside the stadium. … Marshall moved the location of its planned new baseball stadium. … With Dodgers 1B Freddie Freeman making his return to Atlanta this past weekend, fans wore Atlanta/Dodgers frankenjerseys (from Nicklaus Wallmeyer).
Hockey News: A family member of Avalanche coach Jared Bednar wore an Avs jeans jacket with Bednar’s NOB — but not in the Avs’ vertically arched style — for last night’s Stanley Cup Final(s) game (from L.J. Sparvero).
Grab Bag:The Telegraph, which is the only newspaper I’m aware of that has full-time women’s sports coverage, has a piece on how Wimbledon’s all-white dress code is stressful for women who get their period during the tournament (from Trevor Williams). … Meanwhile, The New York Times has a piece on Wimbledon’s grass. … The two drivers on the W Series Bristol Street Motors team, Jess Hawkins and Alice Powell, are wearing helmet designs that won a contest for next week’s races supporting the Formula One British Grand Prix. … New sports logos for Division III Hilbert College (from Kary Klismet). … The Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History has some beaded necklaces based on Heat and Broncos logos (from Chance Plett). … Reader Jared Buccola has this week’s Premier Lacrosse League roundup: “Chaos Lacrosse Club added new matte black helmets, making a first time uniform combo against Waterdogs LC. Great contrast for Redwoods LC vs Whipsnakes LC. Cannons LC went dark against the light gradient for Chrome LC. Battle of the blues between Atlas LC and Archers LC. Redwoods, Cannons and Archers all wore their second jerseys for the first time this season (Week 4).” … The first lady of Illinois, M.K. Pritzker, has a dress covered in husband J.B.’s campaign logos (thanks, Anthony).
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Click to enlarge
What Paul did last night on Saturday and Sunday: We had quite the epic weekend. On Saturday alone we attended the opening reception for a very cool Dept. of Sanitation museum exhibit, then went to our neighbor’s kid’s bar mitzvah, and then went to a friend’s backyard party. Spent a good chunk of Sunday recovering from all that and then got dressed up to attend the 50th-anniversary party for our favorite local tavern (hence the photo shown above), which was held at a big banquet hall.
However you spent your weekend, hope it was a good one. Here’s to a restful work week!
[Editor’s Note: Today we have a guest post from our own Brinke Guthrie — aka my doubles partner — who is going to bring you a look at all the tennis gear for Wimbledon, which begins tomorrow. Enjoy! — PH]
Each of the Slams has its own personality. The Australian Open is sunny and cheerful, just like the people of the country, mate; the French is stylish like the fashions for sale in Paris, or gloomy like the frequent rain; the US Open is a street brawl, with huge raucous crowds exhorting their favorites deep into the NYC night, and Wimbledon is…….veddy proper. Tut tut my good man, now see here, etc.
We’re missing some big names this year: Wimbledon has banned Russian players, (Ukraine, y’know) and as a result the ATP and WTA have pulled ranking points from the event. That translates to Naomi Osaka skipping it although her Achilles is giving her problems. Roger Federer still rehabbing the knee and due back in the fall. Dominic Thiem’s wrist isn’t ready, and finally Russian Daniil Medvedev, the #1 player in the world, wants to play….but can’t. Though there is a way around that.
Equipment-wise, expect a lotta white here, because if you don’t follow their fashion rules, you don’t get out of the locker room. Here we go! Ready? Play.
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🍓🇬🇧Adidas The Adidas Stan Smith is an all time classic. Listen to how she says “Adi-das.”
For Wimbledon, Adidas continues with their “Parley” campaign. The Adidas x Parley Collection will be worn by their guys (and ladies) Felix Auger-Aliassime, Elena Rybakina, Maria Sakkari (below) and Stefanos Tsitsipas who “all share a passion for working together to help end plastic waste.” (At least that’s what the press release says. Do they really have a passion for this? Who knows?) And what is this Parley, you ask? “The adidas x Parley Collection is designed to help end plastic waste whilst still being fashionable and fully functional on court. All garments in the collection are made in part with Parley Ocean Plastic and feature engineered patterns and laser-cut executions, enabling players to perform on court with style.” (I like how they said “whilst.” You don’t see that much these days, you know.)
So, I wanted to see what the “engineered patterns” and “laser-cut executions” were, and here they are. Um, not a fan so much. Seems like unnecessary over-thinking to me.
….and here’s Iga Swiatek; she’ll wear this while holding the winner’s trophy. Again, the prohibitive fave, currently serving up scorched earth tennis with a smile.
🍓🇬🇧Polo Ralph Lauren They’re the outfitter for tournament personnel. I don’t even want to know how much this stuff costs, but I’m sure your bank can offer attractive loan terms. The official Wimbledon colors are a dark rich purple and forest green, (not all white!) featured below:
The spirit of sportsmanship
This year as the Official Outfitter of @Wimbledon, Polo Ralph Lauren is proud to reimagine our traditional ballperson uniforms and celebrate 100 years of Centre Court
Incidentally, while the all-white clothing rule may be tradition, it can be particularly troubling for women, which has for years been the subject of some controversy.
And that’s it for Wimbledon. Back in two months for the US Open.
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Thanks, Brinke! As always, a great rundown — OK, tennis fans (and even non-fans), what do you think of this years Wimbledon gear? Pretty white, right?
Burgundy and Green? The original Avs colorscheme
A couple weeks ago we saw how the Colorado Rockies would look wearing deep green — a very logical color for a team based in the Rocky Mountains — but did you know that Colorado’s hockey team (which relocated from Quebec) also almost wore burgundy and green, instead of the (now classic) burgundy and blue?
Well, if you read Uni Watch pal and one of the faces of the Uniform Mount Rushmore Todd Radom’s book (co-authored with another UW pal, Chris Creamer), Fabric of the Game, you would.
Todd was recently interviewed on the matter — you can check out some video here:
And to think…if not for a “shoddy printer,” the Avs could have been wearing one of the best looking color combos in sports.
Guess The Game…
from the scoreboard
Today’s scoreboard comes from Morgan O’Malley.
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.
Thanks, Jimmy!
Reader, contributor, pal and overall good guy Jimmy Corcoran saw yesterday’s post with its segment on my Curling Tournament last weekend, and had a little fun.
“Nice work!” he says. “Here is a little NFL Films style collage to remember this.”
Is that cool or what? Better than the actual trophy plaque my rink received for winning the “C” bracket!
Thanks Jimmy!
Uni Watch News Ticker By Phil
Baseball News: Reader Derek May writes, “I was at the Angels game on 4/21 versus the Royals and thought I noticed Ohtani’s shin guard was under his pants. He was the DH that night and not pitching. I was unable to get a good picture so I did a Google search for Shohei Ohtani Batting and found that he does indeed often wear the guard under his pants. I assume when pitching he wears it over the pants which I also found images of. Not sure if it’s a new discovery or just new to me.” … Here’s a fun collection of (mostly baseball) stadium objects from the collection of the Smithsonian Institution (from Max Weintraub). … Who doesn’t love sidewalk chalk art? Here’s a nice rendition of Slugger Bird (from Jeff Callahan). … One can never see too many shots of the Reds in white helmets, vests and pinstripes (from SABR Bio Project). … On Friday evening, you had the Rangers in red and Nats in blue but opposite colors on the scorebug (from Alex). … Yesterday Adam Wainright and Albert Pujols were both sporting Robert Clemente Award patches (which you can read more about here). From Nick Wiskirchen. … Did the NY Giants get “new” uniforms for the 1912 World Series? (from James Gilbert). … I’m pretty sure Paul has addressed this on more than one occasion, but it’s still odd to see a player batting while wearing a wedding band (from ItsYourKidsMarty). … The Marlins wore their CC unis yesterday, and Steve Kriske noticed they have a red spike cleaning mat (and god-awful ad) to match their CC unis. … Here is another example of the Brew Crew differing from the jersey. Check out the frame in the last photo (from Geoff). … The Salt Lake City Bees threwback to the Salt Lake City Trappers last night. … Here are three more ways the Brewers CC unis in The Show 22 differ from the on-field product (from Andrew). … Whoa…check out this DDNOB (Double-decker Name on Back). From Taylor Scroggins. That’s Pete Crow-Armstrong of the South Bend Cubs.
Football News: For those of you who care about such things as ranking the “Best” helmets in college football, THE Ohio State University was ranked #1. Perhaps not surprisingly, the reaction was swift from the rest of the college football world. … The Calgary Stampeders wore a “RGP” decal on their helmets yesterday, in honor of team executive committee member Rob Peters. Rob passed away June 15 (from Wade Heidt).
Soccer News: VfL Bochum 1848, a German association football club based in the city of Bochum, North Rhine-Westphalia, and who play in the Bundesliga, have introduced a new third kit (from VfL Bochum). … Wieczysta Kraków, a Polish football club based in Kraków and who currently play in the Polish Fourth Division, have introduced some new shirts (from Ed Żelaski).
Grab Bag: Remember Saturn (the automobile)? Do they still make them anymore? Anyway, reader Tom Flanagan says, “Pretty cool story — apparently these were given to ‘Olympic Hopefuls’ in 2000. Some random badging was all that differentiated, but some cool old team USA swag in the boot!” … From the “High School poaching pro team logo” files, here’s one from Bartholomew County Schools (in Indiana!), borrowed from the Broncos (from Robert Brashear). … Here’s one from a sport that isn’t featured on Uni Watch too often: cricket — Jamie Overton, of the England cricket team, lost one of the letters from his shirt advertiser when diving to make a run against New Zealand. The grass stain from the dive, though, left him with a partial ghost ‘h’ on his shirt (from Mark Gillingham). .. Speaking of cricket, there are a bunch of youths in Texas who are obsessed with bats and balls, just not the baseball kind (WaPo article, soft paywall). … ICYMI: After 85 years, officials at Kraft announced changes to its iconic Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, including a new name and box color (from bryanwdc). … IS NOTHING SACRED? (from Jeff Lagro). … Want to know what a 1 million-seat stadium might look like? Here’s one artist’s concept (from Kary Klismet).
Uni Tweet of the Day
A highly underrated look and one of their all-time best…
And finally… that’s it for today … and for me for the week. BIG THANKS to Brinke for his in depth look at the Wimbledon whites. How long do we think Wimbledon will hold on to that tradition?
Everyone have a great Sunday and a better week as we sail towards Independence Day weekend. Nice sunset last night. Even had a bit of company watching it.
Guess The Game…
