Okay, so I wasn’t planning to post anything this weekend, but some amazing stuff has come in, beginning with a Logo Creep Alert from reader Jeremy Whiting, who’s noticed that the University of Michigan baseball team may have set the record for the most swooshes per athlete: two on each shoe and one each on the helmet, the jersey, the back of the pants, the back of the cap, the undershirt collar, and — get this — the belt (one guy even appears to have gone out of his way to make sure his belt swoosh is exposed, instead of being hidden behind a belt loop). And check out the catcher’s chest protector, which is double-swooshed. As you can see in the photo shown at right, not even the bat boy is safe. His T-shirt kinda says it all, no? Maybe they should just make that the team’s jersey and get it over with.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Pitchers continue to run afoul of MLB’s ban on Nike’s dot-patterned undershirts. On May 23, Jeff Nelson of the White Sox made his season debut wearing black sleeves with silver spots (it’s hard to see, but you can sort of get an idea here) and was told by ump Jim Joyce that the undershirt would have to go. So he went down into the clubhouse (another really crummy screen-grab, sorry) and re-emerged a few minutes later wearing proper sleeves (thanks to Steve Johnston for for the tip). Then on Friday night, Pedro Martinez pitched the first inning of the Mets/Marlins game wearing dot-patterned black sleeves and was then confronted by ump Bill Miller as he walked off the mound. When he came out for the bottom of the second inning, the offending portions of his sleeves had been snipped away. … Further evidence, as if you needed any, that pro athletes aren’t exactly brain surgeons: When Carlos Beltran struck out to end the game on May 25, he wasn’t wearing his batting gloves. According to a report in Newsday (kindly forwarded by Dan Herr), Beltan “hit without batting gloves, possibly for the first time in his career, because he broke the strap on one of them in the on-deck circle and decided to quickly toss aside the other.” Yeah, there’s a bright move — crucial situation, game on the line, so go up there without your gear. Would someone please explain to Beltran that he won’t be called for delay of game if he goes back to the dugout for another pair of gloves? … A week or so ago I mentioned how NFL officials wear uni numbers, plus small letters designating their position (as opposed to NCAA officials, who just wear big letters). But Doug Brei points out that NFL crews used to wear position-specific nameplates back in the early 1980s, an experiment that was, thankfully, short-lived. … Always a nice touch to see a catcher wearing white tape on his fingers, so the pitcher can see the signs better (although not as cool as when Ramon Hernandez painted his fingernails white a few years back — anyone got a photo of that?). … Major pants damage on Aaron Hill Friday night. … I’ve written before about unbuckled belts in the NFL (there’s a whole column devoted to that topic here), but it’s rare that you see a loose or untucked belt flap on the baseball diamond, as Jeff Francis was exhibiting on Friday night. Think he’ll get a call from Nike about putting that exposed leather to logo-intensive use?