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By Phil Hecken, on June 16th, 2019 
By Phil Hecken
For the past six years (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018) it has been my privilege and pleasure to run photographs of our fathers dressed in uniforms — whether they be sports uniforms, military uniforms, or any other uniform. The response was overwhelmingly positive, and I’m pleased to again run this feature.
If you’re not familiar with this tradition, just click on any of the past Father’s Day posts for a description. That’s all I’ll have to say today. So sit back, enjoy (and click on the photos to enlarge). I’m running them in the order they were received.
Happy Father’s Day everyone!
• • • • • •
Tom Roddy
This is a picture of my father, Robert Roddy, with his graduating class of physician assistants from Long Island University: Brooklyn. He is the one in the middle of the front row with the big hair and mustache! I was born 6 years later, so never saw him in his white uniform, but he always wore a shirt and tie to the office, until his practice banned the wearing of them about 15 years ago for sanitary reasons. My father passed away rather suddenly last summer and this is my first Father’s Day without him. I inherited my love for athletics aesthetics from him and I have plenty of pictures and stories to contribute in future years! I even designed my membership card in his honor. Thank you for running this feature, especially for those of us still grieving the loss of our best friends.
Tom Roddy
• • •
Kenneth Traisman
U. S. Army Captain Howard S. Traisman, M. D., of Chicago served his country proudly in Korea between World War II and the Korean War.
Ken Traisman
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Michael Stewart
My dad was in the Louisiana National Guard many years before I was born. He also taught military science and history at Fortier High School in New Orleans before becoming a school principal. This was always one of his favorite pictures. I just love the perfect tilt of his hat that was the style in the fifties. Dad loved his wife and family, church, New Orleans, and Mardi Gras. And could the Saints aggravate him! He passed away last fall and we miss him.
Michael Stewart
• • •
Tim Dunn
Phil-
As I’ve shared pictures of my dad in prior years, this year it’s my Maternal Grandfather who gets the nod this year.
Frank Vespa. Immigrated to the US from Italy in about 1905 or so. Among other jobs in his life, he worked as a train conductor in a coal mine. He served in WWI. Attached picture clipping shows him in 1918 at the end of the war, having served in the US Army. He was a bugler, and a recipient of the Purple Heart. Spent lots of time as a boy listening to his stories and having him instruct me on how to be man. Not a day goes by that I don’t think about him.
Tim Dunn
• • •
Christopher Hickey
For Father’s Day 2013 I submitted an undated picture of my dad, Dr. John S. Hickey, in his Holmesburg (section of NE Philly) Ramblers football uniform:
https://farm6.staticflickr.com/5462/9049246041_0ba418ce1a_o.jpg
With help from my eldest brother, I was able to locate another photo of John well before he was “Dad” which I’d like to share today:
He looks younger (and the uniforms seem well worn) in this dated team shot than in one of him standing alone (his uniform looks practically new in that one, his number assignment clearly is). These observations lead me to believe that my father played for Holmesburg for at least 2 seasons, with 1944 probably being his last before joining the Navy and serving in the Pacific theater, returning home to attend medical school and subsequently meeting and marrying my mom and becoming a father to 11 children.
Miss you, Dad.
ChrisH
• • •
George Chilvers
This is my Dad, also called George Chilvers.
He was born in late 1926. so saw service at the end of WWII, stationed in Germany.
The badges are RASC – Royal Army Service Corps, the logistics branch of the British Army, and the shield shows CCG – Control Commission for Germany.
He wasn’t himself sporty, but loved watching cricket on TV, and often used to watch Liverpool FC live.
He was a printer by trade, and passed away in 1985.
One of my favourite colourisations, for obvious reasons.
–George Chilvers
• • •
Zach Weyhenmeyer
Hello,
My Dad, Charles (a computer programmer for 25 years) would always wear the same calculator watch year round. Here he is dancing with one of my sisters at a wedding(with the watch ha). He passed away 13 years ago in April, and my second child (Levi Charles) was born 13 years to date of my dad’s final earth birthday. Happy Father’s Day to all Dads here and in other places…
-Zach
• • •
Michael Altese
My dad, August Altese, white jersey in front on number 42, on the 1940 University of Michigan Freshman Football team. He didn’t make it back to the varsity for various reasons. But did play in the alumni flag football game before the Michigan Spring game in 2014 at the age of 92!
Michael Altese
• • •
max
My father was a drinker and a fiend (to steal a line) but my older brother, my brother is a good man regardless of his exposure to my horrible father (or perhaps because of him? no better role model of what not to do in life exists better than my father). My brother is also an exemplary father to two children, my niece and nephew. He was in the Army for a four-year tour from 1988-1991. He also had an awful hitch in his swing and a terrible double clutch in his jump shot, so let’s focus on his service to our country. My brother is a wonderful father to his children and deserves the happiest of Father’s Days. And whether you run this or not, I am glad I said it.
• • •
Trey Volk
Hi all,
My dad, Jeff Volk, wore this uniform as the QB for the Rugby Panthers (Rugby, ND) in high school (1979). This is actually a figurine cutout! Happy Father’s Day to all dads out there.
Trey Volk
• • •
Joseph Bailey
Here’s a photo of my dad, John Bailey. John owed a auto body shop (which was 15 yards away from our house). John became a Cleveland Browns fan in the late 40’s and passed his love on to his 5 sons. Here he’s wearing his West End Collision work uniform with the John name plate. He and my mom ran West End Collision for 46 years. Not a bad run. He was smoking in this photo but stopped smoking at age 68. He passed away in 2013 at the age of 82. He also served in the Army during Korea, but (fortunately) was sent to Germany. He was a good guy.
Thanks,
Joe
• • •
Tim Bullis
Hi Phil.
This is a photo of my dad, John Bullis, when he was stationed in Morocco with the Air Force in the late 1950s. This was well before I was born, but he was away, serving when my oldest brother was born. He has lots of interesting, and mostly humorous, stories about his time there. I thought this photo was a good one. It’s not great from the standpoint of dad’s uniform, but I like it for UW since it shows a calendar over his right shoulder with what appears to be a rendition of Paul Hornung. On a sadder note, we lost my mom (his wife of 62 years) in January, so this father’s day isn’t exactly the most cheery time for us. In honor of him though, here’s my photo entry.
Cheers to you dad, love you!
Tim Bullis
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Jason Wileman
Hi, Phil!
I’d like to submit the following for Father’s Day, if that’s ok. Thanks a bunch for your consideration. The photo of my dad is attached.
My father, Barry Wileman, was a lifelong baseball fan. In high school, he wasn’t allowed to play on the baseball team, so he made his own team with his brother, sisters, and friends, most of whom were much younger. They got so good that they challenged the varsity team to a game and won! He was extremely excited when the Nats came to town in ’05. This picture is of him sitting next to me as Stephen Strasburg pitched his first game in 2010. He sadly passed away in 2015 of lung cancer, but I’ll always remember our games together.
Thanks!
Jason Wileman
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Steve Tilders
Hi Paul and Phil;
Attached is a photo of my 17 year old Dad in 1950. Sorry for the crease.
He grew up in Ridgewood, Queens and they had a neighborhood team (not High School), that played various teams in Brooklyn and Queens.
He was the first baseman, bats and throws right handed (still), and is seated second from the right in the front row, holding a bat in his left hand, for the Ridgewood Vikings.
They were sponsored by a local exterminating company so they were able to buy some pretty decent uniforms for a neighborhood team.
John Tilders
DOB 6/11/33
Thanks very much!
Steve Tilders
• • •
Robert Bosworth
Robert “Bob” Bosworth, in the Navy uniform was my Dad. My grandfather, Howard Bosworth ( I am named after him) is pictured to his left.
Both men taught me so much, an appreciation for laughter, for family, baseball and other things too.
I miss them so very much, but am inspired by things they showed me and they way I have lived because of those lessons.
Love You Dad and Grampa!
Howard Bosworth
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Bud Brooks
This is my father, Francis A. (Bud) Brooks Jr., from Braintree, Massachusetts, in 1948. He served two years in Korea after the war ended. He was a standout baseball player and this is him in an all-star game uniform for a game played at Fenway Park in Boston. He played summer ball for years in New England and New Brunswick. After Korea, he returned to Brown University, played baseball there, and graduated from Brown in 1958. He turned 87 on June 11, has been married 60 years, and has two children and four grandchildren, all living in Dallas, TX.
Thank you,
Bud Brooks
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Brent Fountain
Phil,
This is a picture of my Dad, Al Fountain, and I at Red Sox Fantasy Camp in 2001. It was the only time we were able to work on the field together.
He gave me the love of baseball, Red Sox and umpiring. My Dad started umpiring back in the late 60’s early 70’s when my brother was growing up. He umpired while I was playing ball as well, and continued to work high school, men’s leagues and Little League.
His greatest memories though are when he started going to the Boston Baseball Fantasy Camp in the early 90’s (notice his 1992 trading card). His final camp in 2001, he was named a Hall of Famer. I am so grateful for the memories we created that year. I miss you Dad!
Brent F.
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Stacy Shannon
It’s Friday evening, July 13, 1945, and this is my parent’s wedding reception in Shillington, PA. My dad, Stillman Shannon, was on leave after serving with the US Army 104th Infantry in Germany in WWII. He and my mother were off to Ft. Lewis in Washington state for his probable redeployment in the Pacific.
The jacket was in the house as long as I can remember. While my dad has been gone for the past 11 years, the uniform jacket is now in the collection of the Berks Military History museum in my hometown of Mohnton, PA.
Stacy Shannon
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John Kimmerlein
Hey Phil,
I ran out of photos of my father in uniform, so here’s another of my grandfather, around 1917. He’s on our left. He was a corpsman in the Navy, assigned to the Marines (hence the USMC uniform). As it turns out, the unit he was assigned to did not go to France.
John
• • •
Joe Hernandez
Hey Phil,
My three sisters played Bobby Sox softball (fast-pitch) for many years in the seventies in El Paso, Texas. In 1975, they were all in the same age group and played on the same team. At the team-assignment banquet, the league announced that something had happened to the coach and they asked for a parent to volunteer to take over the team. Being afraid of an unqualified parent stepping forward, my mother volunteered my father to coach and she would serve as manager. That’s them at the far left on the back row. “Pop” is wearing the official white Bobby Sox cotton pullover with maroon polyester pants and his ever-present low-top Chuck Taylor Converse shoes. As most readers know, youth sports is a serious time commitment, especially when you are running the team. So it was the summer that I’ll never forget, because it not only consumed most of my parents’ time, but a lot of mine as well. As the ten-year-old little brother, I was present for all practices and games. Family in the photo: my father Francisco (back row, 1st from left), my mother Armida (back row, 2nd from left), sisters Liz (back row, 5thfrom left), Pat (back row, 6th from left) and Teresa (front row, far left).
Thanks Phil and Paul for letting us share. Happy Father’s Day!
Sincerely,
Joe Hernandez
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Perry Sailor
Hi Phil,
This is my father, Raymond (Al) Sailor, in Panama in January 1942, fresh out of Navy training, on his way to Hawaii and the war. He’s 17 years old. He’d enlisted along with his brother out of a CCC camp in September 1941, two months before Pearl Harbor. Within a couple of weeks of this photo he’d be in Hawaii and soon after that in combat as a landing boat coxswain. A month after his 18th birthday he was landing troops at Guadalcanal. He died in 1988.
Perry Sailor
• • •
Mark Sencich
Hey Phil,
here is my submission for Uni Watch Father’s Day 2019. I’ll give you a brief synopsis:
My Dad, Albino Sencich, wore this incredible kit while playing soccer for Palermo in Italy during the late 40’s early 50’s.
Mark Sencich
• • •
Greg Mays
My dad Glenn Mays as a Wood River Eagle in 1964, his junior season. He would be all-State in football and basketball as a senior, go on to start at NAIA Hastings College, become the all-time leading scorer in Nebraska college history, and turn down a chance to try out for the Knicks after college. None of which he would let me know growing up. Wanted me to find my own path. Happy Father’s Day!
Greg Mays
• • •
John Marretta
My dad, John Marretta in his McKee High School baseball uniform circa 1953. Love the stirrups and all black leather spikes.
John Marretta
• • •
Brandon Baumgartner
Hi Phil-
Here is a photo of my dad (Chuck) before a softball game in North Dakota from the early 80’s. I always thought this was a baseball uniform so I was surprised when he told me this was for his Pabst “sponsored” softball team.
Thanks for letting me share and happy Father’s Day dad!
Brandon Baumgartner
• • •
And finally — not quite a Father in Uniform, but this came in late yesterday (past the deadline, but still…), so I wanted to include it (I’m getting too sentimental in my old age):
Christian Condray
Hello!
So, not to start on a dark note, but, I lost my dad to pancreatic cancer three years ago. A few months ago, my mom brought me a big bag of my dad’s caps. One jumped out to me. It was a St. Louis Blues cap that had to have been from the late 90’s. I decided to make it my good luck charm for the playoffs this year and needless to say, it paid off. He would have loved to have seen us finally win a Stanley Cup, and this felt like me getting to share that with him.
Best regards!
Christian Condray
• • • • • •
That’s all folks! Everyone have a Happy Father’s Day!
By Phil Hecken, on June 15th, 2019 
By Phil Hecken
Readers may recall I featured architecture student/ballpark model builder David Resnik on Uni Watch about a year and a half ago, in which David was interviewed and explained (and showed) his techniques for constructing model ballparks. I’d recommend giving that a quick read to re-familiarize yourselves with today’s featured artist. It’s been a while since last I spoke with him, and much has transpired in that time. David has “rebranded” himself (his words) and his website, and created several new models. He’s extremely passionate about his work, and often works with other clubs to do charity work. We’ll catch up with him again today, with a short Q&A and then take a look at some of his newer and newest work. I asked David if he’d share (and describe) his latest pieces, which follow the Q&A. You can click on any of the photos below to enlarge.
• • • • •
Uni Watch: Hey David, long time no speak. When last we heard from you, you went by a different “name” on Twitter — so you’ve “rebranded.” What’s the new handle?
David Resnik: Hi Phil! Great to speak with you again, and thank you for your time! I rebranded as @StadiumsForAnts.
UW: What made you choose “Stadiums For Ants” and was this your original idea or did someone suggest it?
DR: It’s a play on a joke from the movie Zoolander. In the past when I would post pictures of my work, inevitably SOMEONE would reply with a Zoolander gif and question “what is this, a stadium for ants???”. Which kind of deserves an eye roll, but I decided to own it and take it on as my brand name.
UW: You have some new projects (which we’ll see below). Which of the new parks (Miller Park, Progressive Field, PNC Park) is your favorite?
DR: Its really tough to say. Each of them are fun to work on for different reasons, and I have little parts that I love about them all. Of course as a life long Cleveland fan, Progressive Field and Quicken Loans Arena are near and dear to my little ant heart, but PNC is special because of the bridge/river/skyline, and I am really excited to build the working, movable roof for Miller Park.
UW: It appears, at least to me, the newer ones are getting more detailed. Has this been an outgrowth of your skill progression?
DR: I think so. A lot of it has to do with the skills I am developing in school and everything that goes into that. I would say some of it is also just a product of honing some of my skills. As they say, practice makes perfect.
UW: Tell us a bit about the charity projects: I note the PNC Park and Minute Maid projects have raised over $4,000 for charity!
DR: It has been exceptionally rewarding to be able to work with some amazing charities and to raise money with these projects. Sean Casey and his Pittsburgh organization Miracle League of the South Hills (@MLSH), which is a little league for kids with disabilities, were such a cool partner. The head of the organization Tim Gebhart, who is a HUGE baseball guy, was a true joy to work with. They all helped pitch in with promotion and marketing the raffle tickets, and we raised about $3,000 for them selling tickets at $10 a piece, with discounts if you buy more.
UW: How close is Miller Park to completion?
DR: I think we are about 6 weeks away from a finished product, but I am still working through the mechanics of the roof. As I said, I am pretty fired up about it, but its gonna take some ant-sized engineering to get it right!
UW: When last we spoke, you were in architecture school — have you graduated yet or are you still a student? What are your summer plans?
DR: I have one more year to go to complete the undergraduate degree, and then probably another year and a half to get my masters. Its been a wild ride, and the workload is no joke — but its becoming clearer that I am within reach of where I want to be, and I couldn’t be happier or more proud to say that. This summer I am fortunate enough to be working in a Sports Architecture firm in Downtown Cleveland called O-Sports, which is an arm of Osborn Engineering. Suffice to say, getting to sit at a real-world desk and help design sports architecture all day is genuinely a dream come true.
UW: Would you consider selling any of these now? I know before you weren’t certain. And if you were, any idea what the asking price might be?
DR: You know, I think I would! I’ve been able to develop some of the procedure to cut down the build time, and I think I am ready to take an order or two, if the right price were offered. Bearing in mind these are handmade pieces of art, I think for the right person, I would do it. As far as the price is concerned, I think it depends on which stadium they want. For something like Miller Park with a retractable roof, its going to require more hours. If anyone is interested in discussing, they are free to send me a message on Twitter, Facebook, or through my website.
UW: When did you start adding lights to the ballparks? That is incredibly awesome — what is the process and how long does it take? Are they simply powered by batteries?
DR: Thank you so much! I started trying to work with tiny LED lights on Minute Maid Park, but I think I really figured out how to make them look right with Progressive Field. I had to gauge how many lights per tower/beam were needed to provide enough light to give it the full effect. It probably takes an extra week or two to drill through the base, run all the wires, and solder the LED bulbs. Then they are just run on a simple switch that holds a watch battery stuck to the bottom of the base.
UW: Have you won any accolades or awards for these?
DR: As a matter of fact, I did!! I was kind of blindsided … and completely honored to be recognized by Cleveland Magazine last year as one of Cleveland’s “30 Most Interesting People of the Year”. I dont know how interesting I really am, but I am grateful beyond words that people like my work.
UW: What else is new since last we spoke? I see you added First Energy Stadium — is that your first “football” stadium?
DR: It is! I grew up a big Browns fan, and up until very recently, there wasn’t a whole lot to be excited about. Towards the end of last year, with the hype surrounding the team and Baker Mayfield, I thought it would be a good time to give it a shot. So I reached out to Josh Cribbs Foundation to see if they would be interested in partnering up. Josh is actually a Kent State Alum, which is where I am enrolled in architecture school and he even came down to see the model in progress and did a couple of promo videos with the local news. In the end we raised $4,000 for his Foundation and had a blast doing it. Now if only we can convince the team to go back to the original uniforms ;-).
UW: What’s next on the agenda? Have you begun any new stadia yet?
DR: Just Miller Park! I have some of the initial legwork done on a couple of others, so we will see what happens the rest of the summer. As we discussed before, if anyone is interested in buying one as a commission, let me know! I think we could do something on a commission basis.
UW: OK, let’s take a look at your newest work. But before I let you go, anything else you’d like to add?
DR: I just think its incredible that people seem to enjoy these as much as I enjoy building them. Being able to get them into the hands of real fans, and to raise money for worthy causes in the process is icing on the cake. That being said, Miller Park raffle tickets will go on sale in a couple of weeks here, and all the proceeds are going to benefit MACC Fund, which is a local Milwaukee organization that works with childhood cancer patients. I will be updating everyone on Twitter and Facebook as usual, so lets see if we can beat the amount raised last summer!
UW: Great. Thanks!
• • • • •
Progressive Field/Quicken Loans Arena (Gateway District, Cleveland Ohio)
 
When we last spoke, I was in the middle of the ballpark on this one. Since then, I have added the Arena, as well as the surrounding buildings, trees, public spaces, etc. Since the Cavs Ring ceremony and championship banner raising was held on the same night as Game 1 of the 2016 World Series, I decided to use banners/scoreboard images from that night for the entire model, so it is fairly accurate to everything going on that evening. One of the greatest nights in CLE sports history, in my humble opinion. This model also managed to gain me enough local notoriety to be listed as Cleveland Mag.
Many more images here.
• • • • •
PNC Park/Downtown Skyline (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
 
I partnered with Miracle League of the South Hills on this one, which is Sean Casey’s charity. He was kind enough to do some video posts to promote the project, and our raffle raised $3,000 for the charity. I drove the finished product to Pittsburgh to give it to the winner, which was cool, and I plan to do the same with the Miller Park model when its done.
Many more photos here.
• • • • •
First Energy Stadium/Lakefront (Cleveland Ohio)
 
My first football stadium, we partnered with Kent State grad and Browns legend Josh Cribbs and his charity Foundation. We were able to raise $4,000 for his Christmas shopping event where every year he takes at-risk group home kids on an Xmas shopping spree. Josh was also cool enough to stop by Kent State to see the model and do some TV promotions to support the project.
Many more photos here.
• • • • •
Miller Park (Under Construction)
 
Partnering with MACC Fund, which is a local MKE charity that works exclusively with victims of childhood cancer, we will be launching our raffle ticket sales for this in the coming weeks. Links will be available on my website www.stadiumsforants.com, as well as directly at go.rallyup.com/minimillerpark.
Many more photos here.
• • • • •
WOW! Just amazing. Thanks, David, for again sharing your work and for all your charity efforts. If anyone would like to get in touch with him to see about possibly purchasing his work, you can contact him here.
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Kreindler’s Korner
I had the distinct pleasure of featuring the wonderful artwork of artist Graig Kriendler on two occasions over the summer and fall of 2017, and more recently, in August of 2018.
For those who don’t wish to click the links, Graig paints baseball heroes (and regular guys) from the past, and is an immense talent.
Occasionally, I will be featuring his work on Uni Watch.
Here’s today’s offering (click to enlarge):
• • •
Title: “Jim Devlin, 1876” (color study)
Subject: Jim Devlin, 1876
Medium: Oil on linen mounted to board
Size: 5” x 7”
For me, one of the most gripping stories from Ken Burns’ Baseball documentary involved that of Jim Devlin, a pitcher for the old Louisville Grays who was eventually banned for his involvement in throwing games in 1877. He and his three teammates cost their ballclub the pennant that year, and their subsequent ostracizing from the sport was considered the first scandal in National League history.
Jim’s story seems all the more tragic because of the annual letters he submitted to National League President William Hulbert, all of which were in the hopes of being reinstated. He wrote to other dignitaries of the league, including the likes of Charles Chase (club president of the Louisville Grays) and Harry Wright (then the manager of the Boston Red Caps). A letter to the latter still survives to this day.
In said correspondence, he pleaded for help from Wright, explaining that he was in need of any kind of work to support himself and his family, claiming that he hadn’t a dollar to his name. No response ever came, either from Wright or any of the other magnates he reached out to.
Devlin died in October of 1883 from tuberculosis. To read more about the scandal of the Louisville Four, MLB Historian John Thorn’s account is a must-read.
My painting depicts the man a year before those events, with the Louisville Grays in 1876.
• • •
Thanks, Graig! You can (and should!) follow Graig on Twitter.
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Uni Concepts & Tweaks
After being dormant for a while, the Uni Tweaks/Concepts have returned!
I hope you guys like this feature and will want to continue to submit your concepts and tweaks to me. If you do, Shoot me an E-mail (Phil (dot) Hecken (at) gmail (dot) com).
• • •
I received the following e-mail from John Elbertson, who has an Amerks concept:
What’s up Phil?
Here’s what the New York Americans might look like if they were brought back as an expansion team.
For the crest, I kept the shape of the original logo, and added “Hockey Club” as a nod to later “ANHC” versions. The secondary mark is meant to have a throwback vibe to it, complete with the Sons of Liberty stripes on the mask. I’m a sucker for those old goalie masks.
I like incorporating stars into jerseys when it’s appropriate, so I did that here. Didn’t want to go crazy though, so I just put a few on the sleeves. You might have to zoom in, but check out the brain stitching on the NOB. Another throwback element that I really dig.
Overall I think it’s a healthy mix of clean modern style, and the old-fashioned Americana look of the original team.
– John Elbertson
• • •
Thanks John. OK readers (and concepters). If you have some tweaks or concepts, shoot ’em my way with a brief description of your creation and I’ll run ’em here.
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 Guess The Game…
from the scoreboard
The game has returned! At least for a trial basis, but I got a lot of positive response to its return, so we’ll see how long we keep this one going.
Today’s scoreboard comes from “Interesting hank”.
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).
This one probably rates a 2 out of 10 on the difficulty scale. It’s a small shot of the scoreboard, but an iconic image — and you can easily make out enough of it to determine the game.
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!):
If you guys like this, and want to continue this as a weekly feature, let me know in the comments below. You’re welcome to send me any scoreboard photos (with answers please), and I’ll keep running them.
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The Ticker
By Anthony Matthew Emerson
Baseball News: Check out the T-shirt Phil Niekro is wearing in this great pic from the Braves locker room in the 70s (from Al N. Kreit). … Redleg Radio, a podcast for Reds fans, discusses MLB uni ads at the 38 minute mark of their latest episode (thanks, Alex). … Paul basically had to ignore the entire Twin Cities Area last night, as the Twins gave away purple jerseys for “Prince Night” (thanks, Phil). … The Jays played the Astros in Houston last night, which meant you could pick up both Craig and Cavan Biggio’s jerseys at the pros shop. Meanwhile, members of the Biggio family wore Frankenjerseys, with tequila sunrise shoulder yokes, natch (from Ignacio Salazar). …The Durham Bulls wore Durham Lollygaggers unis last night, a reference to a joke from Bull Durham (from Gregory Baxter). … Back in the 90s, Sonoma County, Ca., had an independent baseball team called the Sonoma County Crushers. Their mascot was the Abominable Sonoman. I love independent baseball (from Jason Morgans). … This shot of the 1917 Congressional Baseball Game is absolutely stunning. Love the “Democrats” and “Republicans” pinned to the unis. … Auburn’s College World Series patch is weirdly high on their sleeves (from Zach Roberts). … Seeing as Auburn is making their just their fourth trip to the CWS ever and first in 22 years, here’s a look at what Auburn wore the previous three times to Omaha (from Clint Richardson). … University Liggett, a K-12 prep school in Michigan, has unis that are all red on the front and all blue on the back. Strange (from Burrill Strong).
NFL/CFL News: Some early phantom championship merch: here’s a pin proclaiming the Pats as Super Bowl XXXI Champions (from Mike Malnicof). … As part of the CFL’s move to New Era, the Hamilton Tiger Cats’ unique pants numbers have been eliminated. A shame (from Wade Heidt). … The Jaguars have a display of all their previous helmet designs in their lobby, including their unused white helmet from the initial reveal (from Kevin Mericle).
College/High School Football News: The Kansas and Missouri high school all-stars played a game, with the Kansas players wearing KU colors and the Missouri players wearing Mizzou colors (from Ryan Atkinson).
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Hockey News: In the new Netflix documentary Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story, guitarist Mick Ronson briefly appears on screen wearing what appears to be a 1970-73 California Golden Seals jersey. Obviously, there are many differences between the jerseys the Seals actually wore and the jersey Ronson was wearing — most obviously, the short sleeves. But Cody Pernu notes some other discrepancies: “the yoke appears to be white (compared the hockey Seals’ yellow), and it lacks the full, white hockey collar. This clip can be placed to 1975, which is a couple years after the Seals ditched the lace-up collar (possibly also seen in the photo, minus the lace).” Faaaaascinating. The scene can be found at 1:08:45 in the film. … The logos of teams in the upstart Interstate Hockey League have been released (from John Cerone). … Some street sweepers in St. Louis have been adorned with Stanley Cup Champions livery (from @MrMichael21).
Soccer News: Last night, Brazilian men’s national team wore white shirts with blue shorts for the first time since their infamous loss to Uruguay in the 1950 World Cup Final (from Bill Radocy). … ESPN has a rundown of everything the USWNT needed to bring for their trip to France (from Chris Cruz). … The amazing Twitter account @_BandsFC posted pics of c. 1996 Coke cans featuring the crests of Bundesliga and La Liga teams yesterday. … River Plate’s home kit has been leaked (from Josh Hinton). … Also from Josh: the MLS All-Star Game kit has been leaked. … The following are all from Ed Żelaski: New home kit for English Championship side Brentford FC. … Italian side Genoa has signed a kit deal with Kappa. … English League Two team Doncaster Rovers’ home kit has been released. … Fellow League Two club Mansfield Town also released their home kit yesterday, which will be worn for the next two seasons.
Grab Bag: Syracuse is sticking with Nike for the foreseeable future (from many readers). … Speaking of ‘Cuse, AD John Wildhack has hinted that new unis are forthcoming (from @GenerationInk). … Business Insider had an okay-ish article about the “secret messages” of some logos and unis (thanks, Phil). … Yesterday, we had a piece on the proposed livery for the new Air Force One. Today, presidential historian Michael Beschloss tweeted that John F. Kennedy picked the font for the “UNITED STATES OF AMERICA” lettering on the plane because it resembled an early printed version of the Declaration of Independence (from Kevin Fleming). … Yesterday’s sub-lede about LSU’s 1940s winged L track unis reminded Steve Johnston of Lyons Township (Il.) High’s own winged L track unis. … Fast Company has an article about the changes in logo trends in 2019 (from Andrew Horne). … Here’s a curious one: Hunter James Hook thought the new UMKC logo and identity was awfully familiar to player-created “teambuilder” logos (scroll to bottom of page) from the video game NCAA Football 10, first posted online in 2009. You be the judge.
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By Paul Lukas, on June 14th, 2019 
The 2019-20 NHL campaign will be the Canucks’ 50th season. They unveiled a commemorative logo (shown at right) earlier this year, and yesterday they unveiled their new uniforms.
Actually, check that — they only unveiled new jerseys. This is a trend that’s gotten out of hand, as an increasing number of teams don’t pretend that their uniform programs are anything other than a front for their merchandizing programs. They even referred to the new designs as their “50th season jersey collection” (emphasis mine), which is the word typically used by apparel companies for their new clothing lines. Sigh.
Anyway: Here’s a uni-by-uni jersey-by-jersey look at the new designs, with the usual caveat that we need to see it on the ice and the added caveat that it’s hard to assess a jersey, on or off the ice, without the context of the full uniform. For most of the photos, you can click to enlarge.
Home (old on left, new on right)
On the plus side, thank god they finally got rid of the embarrassing chest lettering. On the minus side, I’ve never liked the orca, changing the shoulder patches from blue to white makes them stand out too much (looks so clunky), and I still hate the collar.
Road (old on left, new on right)
Same comments as above, although in this case I think the recolored shoulder patches are too faint. The contrasting patches worked better on the old white jersey than on the new blue one.
Stick-and-rink throwback (old on left, new on right)
The Canucks haven’t had a throwback in the Adidas era, so the “old” photo shown above is the Reebok design they had as part of their uni set from 2008 through 2017. As you can see, they’ve changed the crest’s background to white, which matches the original 1970s design, and I like how the green trim new version looks more like a “C.”
But they’ve really amped up the green striping and removed most of the white trim. As you know, green is my favorite color, but this feels like too much. Interestingly, this article includes the following quote from the team’s art director, Max Young: ““We used to have a rule, for many years, that green and blue never touched. There was always white separating them. We’ve kind of gone away from that now.” Too bad.
Flying skate throwback (old on left, new on right)
The Canucks have never worn this design before as a throwback (well, once as a one-off, but not as an true alternate that was part of their regular uni set for a given season), so the “old” photo shown above is a game-used 1990 jersey. We’ve known for nearly a year that they’d be reviving this one, and for the most part it appears that they’ve been faithful to the original. Not bad, although I would’ve preferred to see the flying V.
Hometown newspapers (or, really, any newspapers) tend to have pretty boilerplate coverage of uniform unveilings, but The Vancouver Courier has a pretty good assessment of this one. Sharp, well-written — recommended.
(My thanks to Phil for that last link.)
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Meanwhile, over on the hardcourt: The Warriors played the final game in Oakland last night. Granted, this has never been the most uni-traditional team, from the numbers in the cable car to being the first modern NBA team to wear sleeves, but I still find it a bit surprising that they wore their BFBS alts for their Oracle finale.
I was surprised by how many people asked me if this was the first time in Finals history that neither team wore their team name or city name. No, silly — the first time that happened was six whole days earlier, in Game Four.
Once the game ended, several people also asked me if the Raptors were the first team to win the title while wearing a jersey without their team name or city. How soon they forget!
Congrats to the Raptors and their fans (including SportsLogos.net’s Chris Creamer, who lives outside of Toronto), who’ll have a small uni change to enjoy next season.
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Click to enlarge
How aboot that: Interesting moment in yesterday’s Women’s World Cup match between Brazil and Australia, as Brazilian forward Marta scored a goal and then celebrated by lifting up her foot and pointing at a symbol on her boot — the symbol for gender equality in sports.
According to soccer writer Tim Stillman, “Marta has turned down all boot sponsorship deals to wear this symbol” and “Her most recent boot sponsorship deal expired last summer and she has gone without a sponsor for the last year or so to make this gesture at the tournament.” Good for her.
(My thanks to @ohhhsourry for pointing me toward this one.)
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Click to enlarge
Stirrups aren’t the only things with wings: Love this late-1940s shot of the LSU track team, which at the time used a winged L! Dig the uni-numbered shorts, too.
(Big thanks to @valleyshook for finding this photo and to Chas Kelly for bringing it to my attention.)
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Ich bin ein Uniopoliser: Twitter-er @JasonRL78 reminded me yesterday about something I’d once known but had long forgotten: There’s a town in western Ohio called Uniopolis! I actually wrote a couple of grafs about it way back in 2006, when the blog was just a few months old, but at some point that knowledge became lost in the dark caverns of my mind.
As you can see, Uni Watch has changed a bit since those days, but one thing I wrote back then still holds true today: There needs to be a Uni Watch party in Uniopolis. Unfortunately, it’s a very small town (and getting smaller — the current population is 222, down from 256 when I wrote about it 13 years ago), and it apparently doesn’t have any drinking establishments. But surely there must be some Uni Watch readers in western Ohio who could organize a gathering in a nearby town, no? We could add it to our list of 20th-universary parties taking place on June 29!
This really needs to happen. Because let’s face it: If you’re reading these words, we’re all from Uniopolis.
Meanwhile, speaking of the uni-versary parties on June 29 (and June 27 for those of you in Paris), here’s the updated map and spreadsheet showing all of the parties that have been scheduled so far. Still nothing west of Des Moines, oddly — come on, you Mountain and Pacific Time Zoners, step up!
I should note that the Atlanta party, which will take place at Smith’s Olde Bar, is shaping up as a particularly good shindig. Reader Jason Von Stein, who’s organizing that one, plans to have a uniform contest (wear your best jersey — or a full uni!) and a trivia contest. Live music, too. Here’s that gathering’s Facebook page.
Remember, if you want to organize or attend a gathering in your city, contact party coordinator JohnMark Fisher.
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Click to enlarge
IMPORTANT national holiday reminder: With Canada Day and Independence Day both now just around the corner, our Canada Day shirt, stars/stripes shirt, and stars/stripes tank top are just the things to enhance your holiday enjoyment (or at least enhance the number of quizzical looks from your friends and family members).
Word to the wise: Based on Teespring’s usual production and shipping times, you need to order now if you want to get them in time for the holidays with regular non-rush shipping. Okay, end of sales pitch.
But wait, one more sales pitch: We had briefly been sold out of the adjustable version of the Uni Watch Classic Cap. I’m happy to report that adjustables are now back in stock, and we’re also fully stocked on all fitted sizes from 7 to 8. ordering details here.
Okay, now end of sales pitch.
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The Ticker
By Anthony Matthew Emerson
Baseball News: Red Sox P David Price did not have the MLB150 patch on his right sleeve during last night’s start (from Jonathan Shaw). … Speaking of the Sox but not uni-related, here is an absolutely amazing article about Fenway’s organist (from @walbergLines). … Also not uni-related, ESPN has a cool story about MLB’s various changes to baseballs (from Mike Chamernik). … Players for the Delmarva Shorebirds, Single-A affiliate of the Orioles, wore pants from at least three different manufacturers last night (from Billy King). … The Wisconsin Timber Rattlers, who are becoming the Wisconsin Udder Tuggers on June 20, need help naming their cow mascot. … The American Association’s St. Paul Saints are wearing jerseys with “Ope” on them, a reference to the Minnesota accent (from Nick Hannula). … The CanAm League and Frontier League are playing an All-Star Game against each other tomorrow and are giving away a commemorative coin to mark the occasion (from John Cerone). … Vanderbilt players went HSOB — that’s home state on back — for their College World Series warm-ups (from Phil Bergman). … Royal Key toured Stanford’s equipment facility (from Griffin T. Smith). … These Little Leaguers have the 2019 Marlins logo on their shirts and and the 2012-2018 logo on their caps (from Billy King). … The A’s still have their gold alternates as part of their uni set, but they haven’t worn them even once this season because the pitchers haven’t chosen to wear them (thanks, Phil).
Football News: Reader Jacob Ventura notes that when the Patriots unveiled their first Flying Elvis uniforms in 1993, LB Andre Tippett was wearing a sock design that the team never ended up wearing on the field. … Good Morning America was broadcast live from Philly yesterday and had former Eagle John Runyan on. Runyan gave customized Eagles jerseys to the hosts, including former Giant Michael Strahan. Strahan returned the favor by giving Runyan a customized Giants jersey. …
Here’s some rare photos of Clemson with purple paw helmet stickers, worn from 1985 to 1988 (from @ClemsonUniforms). …
Hockey News: Remember yesterday’s sublede about various rec league hockey teams calling themselves the Hat Trick Swayzes? Brad Pramberg found a 2011 article about that phenomenon. … Brad Gillies notes that the Stanley Cup Champions caps have the Fanatics logo on the side, rather than the New Era logo. Considering Fanatics is literally just a retailer, not a manufacturer, it’s like if Kohl’s had their logo on the hat. Maybe the team’s logo should be the only logo on the hat! … These 1996 Rochester Americans unis absolutely deserved the Calder Cup and maybe even the Stanley Cup, too (from Derek Weber). … The Orlando Fire Department’s hockey team has some gorgeous Ottawa Senators-inspired sweaters (from Kyle Speicher).
NBA News: The New York Times says that “Oracle” is the perfect name for the NBA’s oldest arena (from Mike Chamernik). … Bruins fans (rightly) freaked out when Zdeno Chara played in the Stanley Cup Final just days after breaking his jaw. But it wasn’t the first time it had happened in Boston sports: Celtics F Gerald Henderson played the day after he broke his jaw in the middle of the 1980 regular season and wore a neck brace on the floor! (From Antonio Losada.)
Soccer News: Yesterday’s Ticker mentioned that the French top league Ligue 1 would be renamed as Ligue 1 Uber Eats. Now it turns out that every match ball will be delivered to the pitch by an Uber Eats driver (from many readers). … Charleston Battery wore home kits and Atlanta United wore road kits in Atlanta for the US Open Cup. The match had originally been scheduled to take place in Charleston (from Gregory Koch). … DC United will wear Pride kits on June 26 (thanks, Jamie). … New away kits for Brighton & Hove Albion of the Premier League (from Adam Vitcavage). … The Dynamo’s stadium has a new corporate name that’s close to the old corporate name (from Ignacio Salazar). … This article (in Portuguese) reveals that from 2020 onward, the Brazilian women’s national team’s crest will only carry stars for World Cups the women’s team has won. The crest currently features five stars, for the five World Cups the men’s team has won. Brazil has — as of this writing — not won a Women’s World Cup (from Raul). … New away shirt for Middlesbrough FC (from Ed Zelaski). … Also from Ed: New home shirt for Hull City. … The design of Botswana’s new kits sort of makes it look like the players are wearing faux neckties (from Lucan Denfield). … New kits for PSV.
Grab Bag: University of Missouri-Kansas City has a new mascot, the Roos (from several readers). … The 2020 Kentucky Derby logo has been released (from Ben Garner). … The USGA has added a trophy to caddie bibs to signify players who are former champions (from Chris Howell). … President Trump’s proposed new Air Force One livery looks similar to his own private jet (from @verbDC). … Is this a new Carrier Dome logo? (from @GenerationInk). … If you know where to look, you can find all sorts of demonic, anti-Christian messages in a Monster Energy can — or at least one person thinks so (from James Gilbert).
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The glove-repair auction winner is Michael Gray, who’s gotten himself a complete glove re-lacing/reconditioning and a glove-leather wallet for a bid of $150, with the proceeds going to Uni Watch. Congrats to him, and my repeated thanks to Jimmy Lonetti of D&J Glove Repair for donating his services.
By Paul Lukas, on June 13th, 2019 
For all photos, click to enlarge
With the deciding game of the Stanley Cup Final(s) taking place in Boston last night, it turned out to be a very good day for cross-sport promotions, beginning with the scoreboard on Fenway Park’s Green Monster (shown above), which spelled out a nice “We Want the Cup” message prior to yesterday’s Rangers/Bosox game.
Here’s how it looked from a greater distance:
For good measure, the Sox also put the Bruins logo behind home plate:
Over at the Bruins’ arena, New England Patriots wideout Julian Edelman and Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman, who’s from a Boston suburb, whipped up the crowd while wearing Red Sox jerseys with No. 34 — number of former Sox star David Ortiz, who was injured in a shooting earlier this week:
But the cross-sport gestures weren’t limited to Boston. Back in St. Louis, the Cardinals’ costumed mascot, Fredbird, supported the Blues by wearing a jersey with the Cards’ namesake bird perched on a hockey stick instead of a bat. I really love this:
As for the game’s outcome, let history record that the first St. Louis Blue ever to lift the Stanley Cup in triumph was captain Alex Pietrangelo:
Congrats to the Blues and their fans. Just don’t ever try that color guard nonsense again, okay?
(My thanks to Mark LaFountain, @ohhhsourry, Corbin Ceeds, James Beattie, and Phil for their contributions to this section.)
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Dubs come clean on new logo: A few days after SportsLogos.net broke the news about trademark filings indicating some upcoming logo tweaks for the Warriors, the team officially acknowledged those changes yesterday.
In addition to the adjustments shown above to their primary logo, the team also distributed a list of additional press notes, which includes the news that the team’s shade of blue will be slightly darker. The color change, along with the other adjustments to the primary logo, is evident side-by-side comparison — outgoing logo on the left, new logo on the right:
Ditching the Copperplate Gothic font is clearly a plus. The new custom font is nothing special, but at least it passes the “First, do no harm” test. I’m agnostic about the tweaks to the bridge and the new shade of blue (which seems to have been accompanied by a new shade of yellow, although the team didn’t specifically announce that).
The one thing I’m really disappointed by is that the yellow circle is now centered within the blue circle. It used to be slightly north of centered, a nice bit of off-registration that I really enjoyed. Ah well.
(My thanks to Ryan Leong for the press notes.)
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Click to enlarge
Is the green for St. Hat Trick’s Day? : So this is pretty great: There’s a hockey team in Brandon, Fla., called the Hat Trick Swayzes.
Actually, upon further inspection, there are apparently a lot of teams with that name, so maybe it’s one of those hockey clichés that I just missed the boat on. I still like it!
Now we just need a Star Trek-themed hockey team (the Hat Trick Stewarts), a The Prisoner-themed hockey team (the Hat Trick McGoohans), and a basketball-themed hockey team (the Hat Trick Ewings).
(Thanks to Jon Campbell for letting me know about this one.)
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LAST CALL for the glove-repair auction: Today’s the last day for this auction. In case you missed it earlier in the week, Jimmy Lonetti of D&J Glove Repair is generously auctioning off a full glove re-lacing and reconditioning, plus a glove-leather wallet, with the proceeds going to Uni Watch.
This is a $150-$175 value, with the bidding starting at just $75 — perfect for Father’s Day. Bids must be entered by 7pm Eastern tonight.
For full details, look here.
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The Ticker
By Paul
Baseball News: Good story on why baseball stadiums are all a little bit different (from Andrew Cosentino). … Here are this year’s Little League World Series uniforms. … As part of “What Could Have Been Night,” the Holly Springs Salamanders will become the Hushpuppies on Saturday (from Scott Turney). … Hmmm, anyone ever seen these Astros jerseys before? (From Kenneth Turner.) … The bank that uses the name of the Braves’ stadium as a giant advertisement has merged with another bank, and now the new/combined bank has a new name, which will presumably have implications for the ballpark (from Mike Chamernik). … Negro Leagues throwbacks upcoming for the West Michigan Whitecaps, who’ll dress up as the Grand Rapids Black Sox on June 25 (from @packjowers). … The Lehigh Valley IronPigs will become the Jawn on July 7. … Yankees OF Clint Frazier likes turning his sneakers into cleats (thanks, Phil). … If there’s one thing I like, it’s a ballclub with “Fruit Bowl of the Nation” on the back of their jerseys. That’s an American Legion team from Yakima, Wash., in 1950 (from Greg Mays). … Pirates C Elías Díaz wore the wrong cap last night. Of course, it would only be visible when he removed his mask, but still.
Football News: The Titans will retire Steve McNair’s No. 9 and Eddie George’s No. 27 at their Sept. 15 home opener (thanks, Phil). … The Broncos have a new 60th-season logo, but a team spokesman tells me that it will only be used for promotion and marketing — not as a jersey patch or helmet decal. (Note that there was a slightly different (and definitely worse) version of this logo circulating yesterday. That version is not the version that the team is using.) … Here’s a shot of Bills RB Joe Cribbs wearing a grey facemask in the 1981 playoffs. The team had blue masks at that time (good spot by Johnny Garfield). … Looks like Toledo has new uniforms. “Different striping,” notes @msocka29.
NBA News: The Warriors’ rally towels for Game Six of the NBA Finals will include a shout-out to injured teammate Kevin Durant (thanks, Brinke).
Soccer News: Queens Park Rangers’ stadium is getting a new name, but not because they’ve sold the name to a corporation. Instead, they’ve given away the name to a charity (from James Gilbert). … The daily download from Josh Hinton: New leaks for Schalke and Real Sociedad; legit releases from Villarreal Western United FC and Grimsby Town; new sleeve badges for Copa America; and a Thai shoe brand has copied Adidas’s Predator Mania 2002 World Cup boots. … Idiocracy writ large, part 37,264: Thanks to a naming rights deal, France’s Ligue 1 will be known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats. Yes, really (from rileycakes08). … Here’s a thread that provides a detailed critique of Real Madrid’s new number font (from @jason3thousand).
Grab Bag: There’s a new song about the Astrodome — called, appropriately, “Astrodome” — and its video features all sorts of cool vintage footage from the onetime Eighth Wonder — baseball, football, rodeo, and a lot more. Recommended (from Dave Landesberg). … Good story on Tiger Woods’s famous tiger headcover (thanks, Brinke). … New logo for the University of Manitoba. … Amusing article about how men at gyms wear towels over their crotches while working out. … President Trump has said he wants to change the paint scheme of Air Force One, but a Congressional committee may block his ability to do that. … New rugby league jersey for New Zealand (from E.P. Conrad). … Strong piece of media criticism and analysis from Deadspin’s Tom Ley, who wrote about how The Ringer further blurred the increasingly fuzzy line between advertising and editorial content by “integrating” State Farm ads into its NBA Draft package. The jaw-dropper, at least for me, is that State Farm “sponsored” the assists statistic for every player listed. Recommended reading (from Ryan Atkinson).
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Our latest raffle winner is Richard Hill, who’s won himself a Uni Watch TATC shirt. Congrats to him, and my repeated thanks to Jerry Kulig for sponsoring this raffle.
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