Auction Action

By Paul Lukas, on June 15, 2021

For all photos, click to enlarge

As you may have noticed in the left-hand sidebar, our friends at Grey Flannel Auctions have another catalog auction in progress, so today we’re going to look at some of the more interesting items, beginning with this absolutely ridonkulous mid-1970s New Orleans Jazz warm-up top. Have you ever seen anything so wonderfully absurd? I mean, what the hell was the player supposed to keep in those pockets? It looks like a misguided Boy Scouts uniform or something. What a doozie!

Here are some of the other items that caught my eye:

• I love the Uni Watch colors on this late-1960s
San Diego Rockets jersey, but check out the oddly inconsistent block-shadowing on both the front and back typography.

• It’s always fun to see old Kentucky Colonels jerseys, because they were among the very few teams to include lowercase lettering on their NOBs. Some gamers are available here and here, plus there’s a really nice set of warm-up gear, complete with the team’s championship patch, here.

• There are a million game-used Michael Jordan jerseys floating around about there. But this one is different, because it’s from a charity game arranged by Larry Bird.

• Interesting to see a Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Lakers jersey that doesn’t have the hyphen on the NOB. But sure enough, he sometimes wore it that way on the court.

• Speaking of NOB peculiarities: Some people hate the use of first initials on NOBs, while others are okay with it. But I hope we can all agree that if you’re going to include the initial and a period, you must include a space in between the period and the surname — unlike, say, the situation on this Andruw Jones jersey. I hate that!

• Did you know NBA All-Stars receive rings? I didn’t! Here’s one from 1984 (shown at left) and from 1952.

• Speaking of rings, here’s a really nice Mets ring that was apparently given to office staffers in the pre-Miracle 1960s. Shea on one side, Mr. Met on the other!

• What’s better than a barber pole-striped 1992 NHL All-Star Game jersey? A barber pole-striped jersey that was worn by Wayne Gretzky!

• Not sure I’ve ever seen these up for sale before: two of Bear Bryant’s famous hats.

• This Frank Robinson jersey, from the period when he was managing in Cleveland, includes the rarely seen “Cleveland Spirit of ’76” sleeve patch (shown at right).

• Here’s a 1959-60 Philadelphia Warriors jersey. Definitely not a well-known design!

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Want you see more? You can browse through the entire auction catalog here.

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Cubbie coach: MLB coaches don’t tend to vary up their uni stylings. But Cubs third base coach Willie Harris has sported at least four different pant/sock formats so far this season. He leads in the league in coaching uni variety!

(My thanks to Ron Roza for pointing out Harris’s stirrups, which in turn led me down the Harris rabbit hole.)

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Collector’s Corner
By Brinke Guthrie
  

Let’s go back to the 1962-63 season for this Montreal (Canadiens) Forum Hockey Calendar. Some terrific artwork on this one! Also have one here for the 1964-65 season.

Now for the rest of this week’s picks:

• What a great hockey promotion for McDonalds back in 2003 with this set of six NHL Trophies (including the Stanley Cup, of course). Look how detailed these are! You also get a display stand and 32 gumball goalie helmets.

• J-E-T-S Jets Jets Jets! Check out this set of four unopened New York Jets book covers — just 59 cents! Well, that’s what they went for in 1971, anyway. 

• This 1950s Green Bay Packers beer stein is in great shape.

• How about this 1930s New York Yankees fountain pen and pencil set?

• Here’s a nice-looking NHL hockey puck lamp of indeterminate vintage.

• This Pittsburgh Penguins Lucite hockey puck is from the 1972-73 season and says, “Many Thanks.” Maybe it was given away at the last home game for a fan-appreciation promotion.

• Isn’t the spacing on this 1970s-80s Felco Cincinnati Reds jacket just a bit off? 

• Detroit Red Wings fans, how ’bout this cute DIY/handmade needlepoint keychain?

• This Atlanta Falcons poster is part of the 1968 NFL Collector’s Series. Says so right there on the bottom!

• Gonna go out on a limb here and say this “Pgh. Steelers Super Bowl Champs” coffee mug was unlicensed.

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And now a few words from Phil: Phil here. Sunday is Father’s Day, and I’ll once again be posting photos of Uni Watch readers’ “Dads in Uniform,” an annual tradition that began in 2013. This is always a very special day on the site, and I’d love for as many readers as possible to participate — especially those of you who haven’t done so before. A few of you have reached out to me saying “I’ve run out of photos of my Dad,” so if you want to resubmit a photo that we’ve used before, please feel free to do so!

To take part in this annual tradition, select one photo of your father (or grandfather or uncle) in uniform (it can be sports, military, work — as long as it’s a uniform) along with a short description of 100 words or fewer. Then email your description along with the photo — again, only one, please — to me by by this Thursday, June 17, midnight Eastern. I’ll run all of the submissions this Sunday. Thanks!

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ITEM! Possible new product: For years I’ve wanted to offer Uni Watch pint glasses. Two things have kept me from doing that: First, most places that offer custom glasses have fairly large minimum orders. And second, I really didn’t want to deal with stocking and shipping lots of fragile glassware.

So I was excited when Teespring recently told me that they were adding pint glasses to their print-on-demand product line. It seemed to solve both of the problems — the on-demand aspect would eliminate the need for minimum quantities, and Teespring would handle the fulfillment.

So I created myself a sample glass with our round logo on one side and the winged stirrup on the other. As you can see above, it looks good. But here’s the thing: If you look closely, you can see faint little horizontal white lines running through the logos, sort of like what you’d get with an inkjet printer. That’s because Teespring is digitally printing the logos, not screening them. Here’s what I mean:

I was hoping this might be a glitch, so I talked to my Teespring rep, who arranged to send me a new sample — same thing. So this appears to be the nature of the beast.

On the one hand, it’s not terrible. You have to hold the glass really close to your face to see the little lines, and the lines are less discernible if there’s liquid in the glass. Honestly, it looks worse in those photos than it does in real life.

On the other hand, it’s definitely not Perfect, and I want to be as transparent as possible with you folks regarding the product quality. What do you think — would you be interested in this glass, even with the digital printing? (The price would likely be $18-ish.) Thanks in advance for your feedback.

(As an aside: I’m trying to keep life as simple as possible these days, so I’m not really interested in finding another source for the pint glasses. For now, it’s Teespring or nothing. Thanks for understanding.)

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ITEM! New raffle: It’s been a few weeks since we raffled off a membership card, but reader James Flagg has generously donated one for me to give away, so that’s what we’re going to do today.

This will be a one-day raffle. No entry restrictions. To enter, send an email to the raffle in-box by 8pm Eastern tonight. I’ll announce the winner tomorrow. Thanks to James for sponsoring this one!

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Cap update: We’ve sold so many Uni Watch caps over the past four days that we’ve run out of shipping boxes! We have more boxes on the way, but orders placed over the next few days may not ship out until this weekend or next Monday. Thanks in advance for your patience.

Here’s what we have left, broken down by size:

7: 1 cap
7-1/8: 1
7-1/4: 6
7-3/8: 4
7-1/2: Sold Out
7-5/8: Sold out
7-3/4: 6
7-7/8: 6
8: 2
Adjustable: Sold out

Once they’re gone, they’re gone! So if you want one (or more than one), get your order in now.

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The Ticker
By Alex Hider

Baseball News: Beginning tomorrow, the Phillies will start wearing their red spring/BP jerseys sporadically on the road. Players, including OF Bryce Harper, have been lobbying to wear them in games (from Matt Breen and Joe Mays). … Lots of player/team logo errors with this graphic that aired on MLB Network yesterday (from Dave Holz). … Speaking of graphics, SNY used a logo the Angels haven’t used since 2004 in a graphic yesterday (from Jake Elman). … MLB yesterday formally unveiled this year’s Independence Day caps, although friend of the site Chris Creamer had the scoop on that a few weeks ago (thanks to all who shared). … Subscriber exclusive: Cleveland.com examines some of the difficulties Cleveland’s baseball team faces in renaming the club (from Pete Gill). … The Altoona Curve, the Pirates’ Double-A affiliate, will play as the Altoona Brookies from June 25-27 in a fishing-themed promotion (from Matthew Lourdeau). … The Somerset Patriots, the Yankees’ Double-A affiliate, had a recent BBQ apron giveaway ahead of Father’s Day (from John Cerone). … The new Oconomowoc, Wis., team in the independent American Association in will be called the Lake Country DockHounds and will play in a new ballpark slated for completion in 2022 (from Kary Klismet). … Notre Dame wore white as the visiting team during a NCAA tournament game last night. Mississippi State wore red as the home team (from Chris Mycoskie). … Gwinnett County in Georgia is named after Button Gwinnett, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. So on July 9, the Triple-A Gwinnett Stripers will wear jerseys featuring his signature as the chest insignia.

Football News: A Vikings blog has ranked the team’s various uniforms through the years (from Kary Klismet). … Although the Falcons have not officially retired No. 10 for former QB Steve Bartkowski, they recently blocked WR Russell Gage from wearing it. … Georgia Tech appears to have added an “ATL” logo to its front helmet bumper (from @TheLumberJacket).

Hockey News: Niagara Falls was lit up in Canadiens colors on Sunday night in honor of the team’s postseason run (from Wade Heidt). … Looks like Memorial Healthcare may have poached their 100th-anniversary logo from the NHL’s 100th-anniversary patch, which all teams wore in 2017 (from @Nas_160).

Basketball News: According to this blog post, the Knicks played their best basketball in 2020-21 in their white “Association” uniforms (from Phil). … New jerseys for both Japan and the Philippines. The teams will wear those during the FIBA Asia Cup (from Jeremy Brahm and @marcomanipon). … Mountain View High School in Virginia — a school that was formerly known as Stonewall Jackson High School — has a new midcourt logo to match the school’s new name (from Kary Klismet).

Soccer News: Costa Rica has a new dark blue 100th-anniversary shirt. Jamie Rathjen notes that the women’s team debuted the kit Sunday and that the men’s team will wear it first next month at the Gold Cup. … Also from Jamie: Here’s next season’s Premier League ball. … The next three items are from Kary Klismet: The Crew have unveiled their championship rings from their MLS title last season. … FC Tulsa of the USL Championship has unveiled a new jersey featuring design elements inspired by a mural project at a local public middle school. … MLS expansion club St. Louis City SC has released new renderings of its planned stadium. … New kit outfitter for top-level Spanish club Cádiz, which is switching from Adidas to Macron next year (from Jonathan Sluss). … New home and away uniforms for Czech First League club AC Sparta Prague (from Ed Żelaski). … Mike Pendleton notes that Fox Sports used three different scorebug styles in a 24-hour span during Copa América coverage. …

Olympics News: Great Britain has unveiled their opening and closing ceremony uniforms (from Phil).

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Grab Bag: Ever wonder where mascot costumes are made? Many of them are created by a small business in Marion, Ohio (from Kary Klismet). … Prada is selling a $995 volleyball for some reason (from @bryanwdc). … The next three items are from Timmy Donahue: The Air Force has officially added camouflage ballcaps and green coveralls to its uniform (also from Sean Gierke). … New badge design for the Laredo Police Department in Texas. … The Manly Warringah Sea Eagles of Australia’s National Rugby League have a new stadium advertiser. … The PRO14 — an annual rugby union competition involving professional sides from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales — will now be known as the United Rugby Championship.

June 15th, 2021 | Category: Collectibles/Memorabilia | 49 comments

D-backs Unveil ‘Serpientes’ Alternate Uniform

By Paul Lukas, on June 14, 2021

Click to enlarge

The Diamondbacks yesterday became the latest MLB team to release a City Connect alternate uniform (or, as I’ll explain in a minute), most of the uniform. As you can see above, it features a sand-colored jersey with a black “Serpientes” script and a red front number. The team’s primary logo, rendered in black, is on the left sleeve, and a modified version of the Arizona state flag is on the other sleeve. The cap matches the jersey’s sand color and has a black brim and black logo.

Here’s a look at the back:

Some thoughts:

• I love the idea of calling the team the Serpientes. So much better than their “Los D-backs” alternate (which is now being retired). Good move!

• I love the design of the script — very, very nice — but I hate that it’s done in black. For that matter, I hate the use of black throughout the uniform. Seems like such an unimaginative and reductive choice, especially given all the options presented by the Southwest’s distinctive color palette. Moreover, the sand color reminds me of the team’s original cream uniforms, so my mind’s eye keeps wanting the script, the cap brim, and the cap logo to be purple and/or teal.

• Similarly, changing to the state flag to include black seems like a really misguided move. Here’s a comparison of the actual Arizona flag and the black-centric sleeve patch:

Has there ever been another instance of a team in any sport changing a flag’s colors in this way? I can’t think of one.

• The front number bugs me on two levels: First, the modern font (which is the team’s standard number font) doesn’t feel like a good match for the classic-looking script. And second, the use of a red number beneath a classy-looking script insignia seems inescapably Dodgers-esque.

• On the plus side: Let’s give them some credit for resisting the urge to bring back the snakeskin pattern!

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So those are my thoughts about the jersey and cap. By this point you’re probably thinking, “What about the pants?” But it turns out that they are no matching pants — when this jersey and cap make their on-field debut this Friday, the D-backs will wear them with their standard white home pants. Sand over white — ewwww. And that’s not all. SportsLogos.net is reporting that the D-backs may also wear this uniform on the road, with their grey road pants.

Can you imagine how sand over grey will look? Well, imagining is all we can do for now, because the team hasn’t released any photos showing the full uniform. Instead, all of the promotional photos and videos show the jersey and cap being worn with jeans and shorts. In other words, they’re treating this like a merch dump instead of a uniform unveiling. Which is a shame, because the Serpientes concept is a good one and the script design is excellent (even if I don’t care for the use of black).

This uniform is slated to be worn seven times this season. You can see those seven dates here.

Five teams have now released CC alternates this season: the Red Sox, Marlins, White Sox, Cubs, and D-backs. Next up: the Giants (in July) and Dodgers (August). That will wrap up the CC program for this season.

As a side note, ESPN’s article about these uniforms included a very interesting quote from D-backs CEO Derrick Hall, as follows:

We’ve been bold at times, maybe too bold, had too many options in the past, and we simplified. We were one of the first teams to completely abandon our original colors and we were purple and teal, and for years, we had MLB asking us to consider changing our colors. We already had the Rockies with the purple. The purple never really matched up, and on TV, it looked more blue. The purple and teal was somewhat outdated.

There was no red in our division, and they put on an entire presentation for us where baseball was showing us that we should be the color red because of the Sedona Mountains and the sky and we said, no, thank you, but the more we thought about it, it made sense. We’re such a young franchise, and you can do that.

Hall is wrong, of course, about the D-backs being one of the first teams to change their colors (earlier examples include the Phillies, Pirates, Dodgers, A’s, Astros, and Padres, among others). But the real news here is that the D-backs changed their colors in 2007 because MLB wanted them to. I wasn’t aware of that!

(My thanks to Tim Donovan for alerting me to Hall’s quote.)

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Who needs a clash kit? The photo above is from an Irish hurling match between Blackrock (green and yellow) and Glen Rovers (green, yellow, and black). A change kit would probably have been useful, but the lack of one resulted in probably the most chromatically pleasing sporting event I’ve ever seen. Tasty!

Lots of additional photos here.

(Big thanks to Reid Nimmers for this one.)

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Cap reminder: In case you missed it on Friday, Ebbets Field Flannels no longer has access to the green wool fabric we’ve been using for our Uni Watch caps. They sent me samples of two potential replacement fabrics, but both of those were much darker than the fabric we’ve been using and didn’t feel right to me. So I won’t be getting any more caps from EFF, at least for now.

That means the caps we currently have on hand will be the final inventory of this product. They’ve been selling briskly over the past few days, leaving us with the following quantities (I’m updating this list in real time as orders come in):

7: 1 cap
7-1/8: 1
7-1/4: 6
7-3/8: 4
7-1/2: 1
7-5/8: Sold out
7-3/4: 6
7-7/8: 6
8: 3
Adjustable: Sold out

Once they’re gone, they’re gone! So if you want one (or more than one), get your order in now.

I haven’t yet decided if I’ll seek out a new cap supplier or if I’ll just get out of the cap biz. Either way, I won’t make that decision until we’ve sold out of the EFF caps, so get ’em while you can and then we’ll decide about whether there’ll be a new variety of Uni Watch headwear.

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And now a few words from Phil: Phil here. Sunday is Father’s Day, and I’ll once again be posting photos of Uni Watch readers’ “Dads in Uniform,” an annual tradition that began in 2013. This is always a very special day on the site, and I’d love for as many readers as possible to participate — especially those of you who haven’t done so before. A few of you have reached out to me saying “I’ve run out of photos of my Dad,” so if you want to resubmit a photo that we’ve used before, please feel free to do so!

To take part in this annual tradition, select one photo of your father (or grandfather or uncle) in uniform (it can be sports, military, work — as long as it’s a uniform) along with a short description of 100 words or fewer. Then email your description along with the photo — again, only one, please — to me by by this Thursday, June 17, midnight Eastern. I’ll run all of the submissions this Sunday. Thanks!

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The Ticker
By Jamie Rathjen

Baseball News: Mets C Tomás Nido was wearing OF Michael Conforto’s batting gloves yesterday (from @stevenwoj). … Nationals C Alex Avila is apparently one of those players who has his jersey sewn shut. “That horizontal line under his second button makes it look like that to me,” says Max Weintraub. … Tigers players came to yesterday’s game wearing NBA and U.S. men’s basketball team jerseys (thanks, Brinke). … Tennessee baseball IF Liam Spence had his sleeve patch coming off yesterday (from Timmy Donahue). … Reader Jerome Peirick sent us this picture of a 1941 Missouri amateur team that wore orange jerseys and dark-colored pants.

Football News: Rams CB Jalen Ramsey joined the ranks of new single-digit wearers yesterday by switching to No. 5 (from Timmy Donahue and our own Brinke Guthrie). … Reader Mike Cline, of the Helmet Addict Twitter account, had a combo Bills/Miami (Fla.) helmet cake, intended for his and his wife’s aborted wedding reception, made for the anniversary instead. … The Athletic has a good piece on why renaming the Washington Football Team is so challenging (from Nicklaus Wallmeyer).

Hockey News: Reader Jonathan Karberg has a T-shirt with a soccer-style Blues logo that he says the team gave away at the event in 2018 where they revealed their current third jersey — which then did not feature that logo.

Basketball News: The WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx are to retire No. 32 and 33 for Rebekkah Brunson and Seimone Augustus, respectively, next season (from Kary Klismet). … Cross-posted from the baseball section: Tigers players came to yesterday’s game wearing NBA and U.S. men’s basketball team jerseys (thanks, Brinke).

Soccer News: Multiple current and former teammates of Denmark midfielder Christian Eriksen supported him through their goal celebrations after his medical emergency on Saturday, as did Austria right-back Stefan Lainer. … Austria and North Macedonia both wore second kits in their Euro 2020 game yesterday, which happened three times in 2016 — the Portugal/Wales semifinal and two of Croatia’s group stage matches. … One more item from Canada’s friendly on Friday mentioned here yesterday: Captain Christine Sinclair’s armband was the colors of the transgender pride flag. … Germany’s women’s team are to wear the men’s black shirts in a friendly on Tuesday. … Guatemala’s and Venezuela’s teams have new shirts. … The U.S. teams had new warm-up shirts for their games last week. Pictures of the alleged new second shirt that first appeared a few months ago have also resurfaced (from Kary Klismet). … New second shirt for Scottish League One’s Dumbarton. … Aston Villa/England winger Jack Grealish famously wears his socks very low. He recently said it’s because he once had a pair that shrunk (from Rich Fuller). … The NWSL’s OL Reign are playing at the Sounders’ and Seahawks’ stadium for the first time Aug. 29 — before they moved to Tacoma, Wash., they played at Seattle’s city high school football stadium.

Grab Bag: The Australian Football League’s Greater Western Sydney have a new orange clash guernsey worn for the second time yesterday. … Australian teams sometimes wear black armbands in memory of players’ family members, and Super Netball’s West Coast Fever did so for reserve team shooter Donelle Wallam’s grandmother. … Division II’s Wingate has a new sports logo (from Kary Klismet). … Nike has been granted a patent for the Air Jordan 1 silhouette.

June 14th, 2021 | Category: MLB | 60 comments

Your Euro 2020 Kit Preview (Part II)

By Phil Hecken, on June 13, 2021

By Phil Hecken, with Kyle Evans & CJ Fleck

Good Sunday Morning, Uni Watchers! Pleased to let you know that after a harrowing day yesterday, I am finally back on-line and good to go. I hope everyone is doing well and staying safe and sound.

Once again, I’m re-joined by UW soccer aficionados Kyle Evans and CJ Fleck, who will be giving you a preview of the kits of the Euro 2020 (yes, it was supposed to be played last year, but fell victim to COVID-19, like so many sporting events). If you’re not familiar with this tournament, Wiki has a good synopsis. If you missed yesterday’s Part I, please click here. Now lets welcome back Kyle & CJ with Part II. Enjoy!

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Euro 2020 Kit Preview, Part II
by Kyle Evans & CJ Flect

Thanks Phil! We’re glad to be back to showcase the kits for Euro 2020, which kicked off Friday with the match between Italy and Turkey. And yes despite being 2021 the tournament is still going with 2020 in the name as it was postponed last summer. As previously scheduled, the tournament is being held all over Europe as opposed to one or two host countries to celebrate the 60th birthday of the event, with the finals (semifinals and championship) being held at Wembley Stadium in London. The other basics: there’s 24 teams (for the second time), the event runs June 11 – July 11, and Portugal are the defending champions.

In terms of the kits, the most obvious difference in international competition is the lack of advertising. The postponement has also affected the kits as some that were originally released 1-2 years ago with the intention of being worn for the Euros have been replaced with even newer releases.

With no further ado, here’s what you’ll be seeing on pitches across Europe for the next month!

P.S. Let’s give a Uni Watch shoutout to CJ who’s getting married next weekend!

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Group D

Croatia

Primary: classic red and white checkerboard design
Secondary: black and grey checkerboard pattern

Kyle: Absolutely love the classic Croatian look.

CJ: Can’t go wrong, but of course we need a color contrasting branding so we don’t forget who made them! I also would say the secondary is a bit garish.

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Czech Republic

Primary: dark red with black accents
Secondary: new Puma template, white with team name breaking a red horizontal stripe

Kyle: Nothing spectacular to see here, and you’ve seen the white one already.

CJ: Those are, in fact, kits.

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England

Primary: white with navy accents
Secondary: blue with neon red accents and graphic print sublimated design

Kyle: Solid white, although I prefer the maker’s mark and crest split across the chest rather than centered and stacked. And oof to that blue jersey, let’s hope we only see it once (as a clash to Croatia).

CJ: Agree with Kyle on the stacked/split idea. I have a sneaking suspicion the blue will live on in historical kit lore for the English; watch out for that Croatia game.

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Scotland

Primary: navy with darker navy horizontal stripes and red/white sleeve cuff stripes
Secondary: sky blue diagonal gradient graphic pattern and navy accents

Kyle: The navy design is really nice and I’ll leave it at that.

CJ: Could be better, could be much worse. Kyle is right.

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Group E

Poland

Primary: white with red accents, white/red collar, national team crest centered
Secondary: colors inverted from primary but without a collar

Kyle: Classy and moving the crest front and center allows it to be larger than if it was in the traditional heart location.

CJ: That primary is lovely, and the secondary isn’t bad either.

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Slovakia

Primary: blue and navy graphic design “based on country’s mountains”
Secondary: white with blue accents

Kyle: Tell me you don’t see fish in that graphical pattern.

CJ: These are certainly something. What that is, I don’t know.

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Spain

Primary: checkered with different shades of red
Secondary: white and light grey graphic pattern, red/yellow/red sleeve cuff stripes

Kyle: Spain generally looks great, but not as much this time around. A lot to be desired here.

CJ: The off-center checker is driving me crazy.

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Sweden

Primary: yellow with navy/blue/navy sleeve cuff stripes
Secondary: navy with yellow pinstripes

Kyle: These both look great and I have to say that I absolutely love the yellow pinstripes on navy.

CJ: Pinstripes? Pinstripes! An instant classic.

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Group F

France

Primary: blue and navy horizontal stripes with single red horizontal stripe across chest
Secondary: white with red and blue side stripes

Kyle: Magnifique! The defending World Cup champions certainly dress like it.

CJ: I’m not sold on the red stripe, but it’s not a bad look in general.

_____

Germany

Primary: white with thin black horizontal stripes and black/red/yellow sleeve cuff stripes
Secondary: all-black (including maker’s mark and crest) with black/red/yellow sleeve cuff stripes

Kyle: The white and the flag-based sleeve cuffs are beautiful.

CJ: Flag cuffs are a great touch for the usually simplistic Germans. A non-green secondary is a letdown.

_____

Hungary

Primary: red and dark red horizontal stripes inspired by the “waves of the Danube River”
Secondary: white with green side panels and sleeve cuffs

Kyle: They’re just ok for me.

CJ: I actually like the use of colors in the secondary, but I think that’s just me.

_____

Portugal

Primary: dark red with black/red/green stripes on sides and sleeve cuffs
Secondary: light teal with three sets of black/red/teal/red/black horizontal stripes

Kyle: The defending European champions aren’t messing around with their jerseys, a nice mix of a classic look and a new unique one.

CJ: That secondary is wild, but you can’t blame them for going back to teal after winning with that color in 2016.

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Thanks guys! Great job on both parts. The lads will be back soon for a look at your Men’s and Women’s Olympic kits. See ya then.

Cubs Debut “Wrigleyville” City Connect Unis

Yesterday evening, as expected, the Chicago Cubs debuted their “Wrigleyville” City Connect uniforms, and by dint of fate, played in what I believe to be the first ever mono-navy vs. mono-powder blue matchup in MLB history. We knew the Cubs would be in the navy unis, and St. Louis always wears their powder blue roadies on Saturday, so we got a color-vs-color matchup that hasn’t ever happened before. Has it?

Anyway, if you’re unsure as to why the Cubs were wearing these solid navy uniforms, Paul had a nice preview of them earlier this week.

It was either a really good or a really bad looking game depending on your perspective. I loved it.

The Cubs CC uniform had “Wrigleyville” splashed (in marquee curvature) across the chest to give a shout out to “Chicago’s 77 distinct community areas” or some such nonsense.

Or, as Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts says,

Lakeview is the neighborhood, but Wrigleyville is kind of the aura. Anyone who’s sitting at a bar anywhere in the world, watching baseball, watching the Cubs, is in Wrigleyville. So, that’s kind of the way we look at it.

Well there you go.

There weren’t any real uni surprises (but there was one big uni disappointment, which I’ll get to below), and there appeared to be an equal mix of guys showing sock (cuffing appears to be a somewhat lost art) or going pajama style. Obviously, hosiery is critical here as this uni goes downhill real fast when full length pants are worn.

All in all it looked about as good as one expected it would, with one exception: the Cubs were the first team to wear a CC uni and not create a custom helmet. They just went with their regular ROYAL blue lids, which created a less-than-satisfying visual. Navy and powder go together very well. However, royal pairs well with neither powder nor navy blue, so the whole time the Cubs were on offense their unis looked a bit disjointed.

As far as the combined unis? I wouldn’t want to see this matchup every day, but as our first ever (I believe) matchup between mono-navy vs. mono-powder, I could definitely see it again.

And here’s how the unis looked in action:

You can see more photos here.

Guess The Game…

from the scoreboard

Today’s scoreboard comes from Nicklaus Wallmeyer.

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.

Calling All Sons (and Grandsons & Nephews)!

This coming Sunday is Father’s Day, and I’ll once again be posting photos of Uni Watch readers’ “Dads In Uniform,” a tradition that began in 2013 (and has continued every year since then). This is always a very special day, and I’d love for as many readers as possible to participate — especially those of you who haven’t done so before. A few of you have reached out to me saying “I’ve run out of photos of my Dad” (from years’ past), so if you want to resubmit a photo used before, please do so!

To take part in this annual tradition, select one photo of your father (or grandfather or uncle) in uniform (it can be sports, military, work — as long as it’s a uniform) along with a short description of 100 words or less. Then email the photo — again, only one, please — and text to phil.hecken@gmail.com with the subject line “Uni Watch Father’s Day 2021” by this Thursday, June 17, midnight Eastern. I’ll run all of the submissions this coming Sunday. Thanks!

Click to enlarge

Important Uni Watch cap news: Paul here. In case you missed it on Friday, I recently got in touch with Ebbets Field Flannels to order some new Uni Watch cap inventory. But they told me that they no longer had access to the green wool fabric we’d been using for our caps. They sent me samples of two potential replacement fabrics, but both of those were much darker than the fabric we’ve been using and didn’t feel right to me. So I won’t be getting any more caps from EFF, at least for now.

That means the caps we currently have on hand will be the final inventory of this product. Adjustables are sold out but we currently have small quantities of all fitted sizes from 7 through 8. If you want one (or more than one), get your order in now — once they’re gone, they’re gone!

I haven’t yet decided if I’ll to seek out a new cap supplier or if I’ll just get out of the cap biz. Either way, I won’t make that decision until we’ve sold out of the EFF caps, so get ’em while you can and then we’ll decide about whether there’ll be a new chapter of Uni Watch headwear.

Now back to Phil!

The Ticker
By Anthony Emerson and Phil

Baseball News: Did you know reliever Dan Wheeler was part of all three uniform eras for the Rays? … The Atlantic League’s West Virginia Power were to wear jerseys with rainbow elements during Thursday night’s Pride night game, but the game was rained out (from Josh, who didn’t give his last name). … The Arizona Diamondbacks and Nike are apparently foreshadowing the unveiling of the team’s City Connect uniforms today (expect Paul to have full coverage tomorrow). Astute Uni Watch reader Myles Gallagher noticed that the image they’re using to promote it shows a gopher snake, not a diamondback (from Kary Klismet). … Also from Kary, “I just came across this photo of an awesome collection of 7-11 Slurpee cups featuring early ’70s-era MLB stars on Facebook.” … Sean McSean says, “Weird that Gameday on the MLB app is accurate enough to know the 7 Line Army is filling centerfield with orange shirts, but inaccurate enough to have the Padres in the wrong uniforms.” They wore their brown pins yesterday. … Last night the Frisco RoughRiders went both the camopander AND S&S route (from Timmy Donahue). … Here’s what Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts had to say about the Cubs Wrigleyville unis. … Not sure whose it is, but someone on the Mariners had a rainbow dyed glove (from Mike L.).

NFL News: Packers players wore generic jerseys with no uni numbers or sleeve stripes for picture day (from Garrett Van Auken).
.
.

College/High School Football News: The University of Central Arkansas will have a very, ahem, interesting new field for the 2021 season (from James Gilbert). … Iowa State changing to the “Jack Trice Stripes” for their front bumper next season (from J.A. Scott). … Did you ever think you’d need a ranking of Notre Dame’s alternate uniforms? Me neither, but yet here we are.

Hockey News: The Athletic has come out with a ranking of each NHL team’s best and worst alternate uniforms (from Kary Klismet). … Also from Kary: New logo for the San Diego Jr. Gulls youth hockey team (which appears to be nothing more than a slightly tweaked version of the logo of the team’s namesake, the San Diego Gulls of the American Hockey League). … Also posted in the soccer section: Bruins C David Krejčí, who is a free agent at the end of the season, wore a Revolution jersey during his post-elimination press conference, a seeming indication that he wishes to stick around in New England. … When will the Kraken release their uniforms? According to this article, the team is trying to finalize prototypes for players to put on at the expansion draft. But it involves overseas manufacturing, so COVID-19 delays are a factor.

Pro Basketball News: Here’s an in-depth look at the WNBA’s new basketball (from Kary Klismet). … The grammar is awful, and the opening graf may also have the longest run-on sentence I’ve read in some time, but this writer is a uni-watcher (even if he doesn’t know it). Sure he needs a proofer, what with a gem like this, “Full discloser – I have no fashion sense unless it comes to sports,” but he still GetsIt™.

Soccer News: Museum of Jerseys has a new piece with Football Kit Geek, the guy who uni-tracks the Premier League and EFL, wrapping up the PL season. It has stats on the number and frequency of combos, most successful and least successful kits, among other quirks (thanks, Jamie). … Canada’s women’s team wore rainbow numbers during yesterday’s match, and wore orange wristbands in memory of the hundreds of indigenous children discovered in a mass grave at a Catholic residential school in Kamloops, British Columbia (from multiple readers and our own Jamie Rathjen). … New home and away kits for Portuguese giants Benfica (from @mikeDfromCT). … The recently-relegated German club Schalke 04 is returning to Adidas after a handful of seasons with Umbro (from Nate Rathjen). … EFL Championship side Huddersfield Town is has unveiled their home kit (from Ed Żelaski). … Also from, Ed: Newly-promoted Ukrainian Premier League side Metalist-1925 have added both the Tryzub — the national symbol of Ukraine — and the slogans “Glory to Ukraine” and “Glory to the Heroes” to their new kits for the 2021-22 season, apparently in protest of UEFA’s demands to remove the political slogans from the Ukrainian national team’s kits. … Sticking with the Ukrainian Kit Saga, US Embassy staff in Kyiv wore the new kits with the “objectionable” iconography to show support for the Ukrainian national team ahead of Euro 2020 — but mostly to needle Russia (from Chris Aversano). … Peru has unveiled their new kits ahead of Copa America 2021 (from Germán Cabrejo). … Also posted in the soccer section: Bruins C David Krejčí, who is a free agent at the end of the season, wore a Revolution jersey during his post-elimination press conference, a seeming indication that he wishes to stick around in New England. … There’s a new jersey collaboration between the Rolling Stones and Umbro; the collection includes England, Scotland and Wales football shirts featuring each Stones’ band member’s name on the back (from Gary Moore). … Check out these circa 1981 MISL logos, from Missle magazine (from John Skrtic). … How cool is it that the Swiss use Helvetica? The Helvetica font (typeface) was developed by Swiss designer Max Miedinger in 1957 (from Jeremy Brahm).

Grab Bag: Ever wonder how stadium seats are restored? Reddit’s “DamnThatsInteresting” sub has the answer (from Keith Semineiro). … Australian rugby league team New South Wales Blues were mocked on social media for how tightly their new Puma jerseys fit during a recent match against Queensland (from Kary Klismet). … Andretti Autosport IndyCars will have rainbow liveries for June’s races (from Jordan Pawlikowsky). … A new video detailing the history of the United States Army’s uniforms has gone viral on YouTube (from Kary Klismet). … Whoops! We don’t often see (or feature) road signs, but this one’s a doozy. Submitter Brandon Weir asks, “Who on earth approved this sign?” … Louisville found a way to spell the word “Official” wrong on the welcome materials they gave for their Official Visits this weekend (from Mark Johnson). … French Open finalist Novak Djokovic wore the jersey of NBA MVP and fellow Serbian Nikola Jokic while preparing for his French Open semifinal.

Uni Tweet of the Day

Giancarlo was not impressed. Wait for it.

And finally… big thanks to CJ and Kyle for their Euro2020 kit previews. Looking forward to their forthcoming Olympic previews.

Hope everyone had a good Saturday and a has better Sunday. Hope you guys will again join in the Uni Watch Father’s Day submissions (either for the first time or again). That’s always a special post.

Finally got wifi routed at the summer place (although it took the installer almost 6 hours as the provider needed to install all new fiber optic lines — or something like that — that sort of thing is above my paygrade). But all’s good to go!

So now, I leave you with this…

Peace,

PH

June 13th, 2021 | Tags: , , | Category: Soccer | 34 comments

Your Euro 2020 Kit Preview (Part I)

By Phil Hecken, on June 12, 2021

By Phil Hecken, with Kyle Evans & CJ Fleck

Greetings and a good Saturday morning, Uni Watchers. Today’s a bit of an odd post, as I had to pre-load it yesterday morning, so I apologize in advance if there is no breaking uni-news covered in today’s post (more on that at the end).

Today, I’m re-joined by UW soccer aficionados Kyle Evans and CJ Fleck, who will be giving you a preview of the kits of the Euro 2020 (yes, it was supposed to be played last year, but fell victim to COVID-19, like so many sporting events). If you’re not familiar with this tournament, Wiki has a good synopsis. But I don’t want to step on Kyle & CJ’s introduction, so I’m just going to turn it over to the lads now. Enjoy!

• • • • •

Euro 2020 Kit Preview, Part I
by Kyle Evans & CJ Flect

Thanks Phil! We’re glad to be back to showcase the kits for Euro 2020, which kicked off yesterday with the match between Italy and Turkey. And yes despite being 2021 the tournament is still going with 2020 in the name as it was postponed last summer. As previously scheduled, the tournament is being held all over Europe as opposed to one or two host countries to celebrate the 60th birthday of the event, with the finals (semifinals and championship) being held at Wembley Stadium in London. The other basics: there’s 24 teams (for the second time), the event runs June 11 – July 11, and Portugal are the defending champions.

In terms of the kits, the most obvious difference in international competition is the lack of advertising. The postponement has also affected the kits as some that were originally released 1-2 years ago with the intention of being worn for the Euros have been replaced with even newer releases.

With no further ado, here’s what you’ll be seeing on pitches across Europe for the next month!

P.S. Let’s give a Uni Watch shoutout to CJ who’s getting married next weekend!

__________

Group A

Italy

Primary: blue with sublimated “Renaissance” design
Secondary: new Puma template, white with team name between single thin green and red stripes
Third: dark green with sublimated “Renaissance” design

Kyle: Love the classic blue and I think these patterns qualify as a good use of sublimation in the design! Extra love for the collars as well.

CJ: I’m not sure I’m a fan of the “Renaissance” bit, but it could be worse. I’m sure it will be hard to see on the field. Collar is good.

_____

Switzerland

Primary: red with thin dark horizontal stripes
Secondary: new Puma template, white with team name breaking a red horizontal stripe

Kyle: The Swiss have looked better, but these will do. The white is fine on its own but doesn’t stand out when other countries share the same template.

CJ: A wonderful reminder of the international teams template issue. Why does branding get just as big as the team indicators here?

_____

Turkey

Primary: white with red horizontal stripe containing white crescent and star from flag
Secondary: dark red with matching flag design

Kyle: I love the use of the country flag which makes the centered maker’s mark feel even more off-putting.

CJ: Just like the Swiss, it feels like the branding is the real delineator of which team is which. I do like the flag usage.

_____

Wales

Primary: red with yellow/red/black/white striped sleeve cuffs
Secondary: yellow with green accents and sublimated pattern

Kyle: These are lovely and I don’t think we see enough cuff striping like this!

CJ: Give me more cuffs! Fantastic look.

__________

Group B

Belgium

Primary: red with black and red “brushstrokes” that form a letter B
Secondary: white with black/red sleeve cuff stripes

Kyle: Wow. The red is simply stunning and Belgium might deserve the top ranking not only for their play, but for their look as well.

CJ: Kyle might be going a bit far, but these are very good and eye-catching in a way that isn’t offensive.

_____

Denmark

Primary: red with white shoulder stripe
Secondary: White with red accents

Kyle: Fairly standard but a solid set of jerseys.

CJ: Yup, it’s Denmark.

_____

Finland

Primary: white with navy/blue gradient cross
Secondary: navy with blue shoulder stripe

Kyle: I will always love flag-based designs, although the gradient takes a bit away from that and the secondary looks like a golf shirt to me.

CJ: That secondary might as well be coaching gear. Strange dichotomy here. Minus points for the gradient, too.

_____

Russia

Primary: red with white sleeve cuff stripe (note: sleeves were originally blue/white but the team refused to wear them due to the similarity to the Serbian flag)
Secondary: white with blue/red horizontal stripe and sleeve cuff stripes

Kyle: Sublimated “blotches” aside these are great, especially the white.

CJ: Agree with Kyle here, though the primary could be a little better perhaps.

___________

Group C

Austria

Primary: dark red with white sleeves and a “Vienna art” inspired pattern
Secondary: new Puma template, black with sublimated team crest pattern and name breaking a red horizontal stripe

Kyle: Yes to the primary and no thank you to the black and sublimation crest pattern.

CJ: Art isn’t a bad inspiration, but that secondary is just too much for me.

_____

Netherlands

Primary: orange with geometric lion pattern and black accents
Secondary: black with orange accents and a collar

Kyle: Beautiful designs for the Dutch and a collar appeal to CJ!

CJ: That collar needs some contrast, though! Not too bad overall.

_____

North Macedonia

Three new jerseys were recently unveiled and the primary was met with extreme backslash due to the color and immediately pulled. The primary will be the kit worn since 2016 and the other kits may or may not be the new ones.

Primary: red with yellow sun pattern (based on country flag)
Secondary: white with gray sun pattern

Kyle: A PR disaster (to say the least) with the new reveal, but just based on design the old kits do a nice job incorporating the flag.

CJ: Gradient could be worse but I suppose I shouldn’t complain about flag usage.

_____

Ukraine***

Recently revealed and covered here on the site, Ukraine’s new jerseys caused political controversy over the inclusion of Crimea in the sublimated country borders and nationalistic phrases on the back and inside of the jerseys.

*** (Just before press time, but after Kyle & CJ sent in their preview, UEFA demanded changes to Ukraine’s kit tops, so these jerseys will be altered in time for the Euro — PH)

Primary: yellow with blue accents
Secondary: blue with yellow accents
Third: white with gold accents

Kyle: The kits look nice, but the political statement is what truly stands out here.

CJ: Visually simple, politically complex.

• • • • •

Thanks guys! We’ll be back with the second part of this tomorrow, when we look at the remaining kits.

Guess The Game…

from the scoreboard

Today’s scoreboard comes from Deborah Shoshlefski.

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.

Click to enlarge

Important Uni Watch cap news: Paul here. In case you missed it on Friday, I recently got in touch with Ebbets Field Flannels to order some new Uni Watch cap inventory. But they told me that they no longer had access to the green wool fabric we’d been using for our caps. They sent me samples of two potential replacement fabrics, but both of those were much darker than the fabric we’ve been using and didn’t feel right to me. So I won’t be getting any more caps from EFF, at least for now.

That means the caps we currently have on hand will be the final inventory of this product. Adjustables are sold out but we currently have small quantities of all fitted sizes from 7 through 8. If you want one (or more than one), get your order in now — once they’re gone, they’re gone!

I haven’t yet decided if I’ll to seek out a new cap supplier or if I’ll just get out of the cap biz. Either way, I won’t make that decision until we’ve sold out of the EFF caps, so get ’em while you can and then we’ll decide about whether there’ll be a new chapter of Uni Watch headwear.

Now back to Phil!

Uni Tweet of the Day

That must be one hell of a good luck bat…

And finally… that’s all for today — sorry there’s no ticker, but as explained above, I needed to pre-load this Friday morning. Why? That’s because I’m finally opening up the family summer place today — technically, I left yesterday, but due to some scheduling problems, the cable/interwebs guy won’t arrive until sometime this morning (or early afternoon), so while physically there yesterday, I had no access to any tv or internet yesterday (and hopefully there will be no problems today). Assuming all goes well, I’ll be back with a full post tomorrow (and also hopefully the first sunset photo of the year). Sorry about this — I try not to have “interrupted” weekend posts, but with no Internet until today, it is what it is.

Everyone have a good Saturday and I fully expect to be back with you guys tomorrow!

Peace,

PH

June 12th, 2021 | Tags: , , | Category: Soccer | 13 comments
 
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