A week or two ago I mentioned a very promising book that I’d just become aware of, Now Batting, Number…: The Mystique, Superstition, and Lore of Baseball’s Uniform Numbers, by Jack Looney. At the time, I hadn’t actually obtained a copy of the book itself, but by now I’ve gotten one and spent some time with it.
The good news: There’s a small mountain of information here, including team-by-team historical roster breakdowns of every MLB team (i.e., if you want to know what number Tommie Agee wore for the White Sox in 1967, it’s in here), all-time “best of” rosters for each uni number (i.e., the greatest players to wear No. 3, No. 7, etc.), an entire chapter devoted to equipment managers, plenty of fun anecdotes, and a lot more. The production values are generally quite high — good color photos, high-quality coated paper, etc. At 545 pages — many of them rendered in relatively fine print — you’re getting a lot for your dough.
The bad news: The writing style often feels slapdash. Transitions range from choppy to nonexistent, as if Looney collected loads of information over the course of many years and then did his best to throw it together without actually smoothing out any of the junctures (which I bet is exactly what happened). There are also factual errors, some of which are pretty glaring: In a single paragraph, Looney misidentifies the year in which Willie Mays joined the Mets (1972, not ’73) and misspells Alejandro Peà ±a’s first name as Alexandro. It’s great that he includes a list of pitchers who’ve worn single-digit numbers, but not so great that his list doesn’t include Wayne Gomes, who wore No. 2 for the Giants in 2001 (easily confirmed in the all-time Giants roster listing just a few pages away). And while some of the photos are great (if you’ve heard about Andy Messersmith’s infamous “Channel 17” jersey but have never actually seen it, it’s in here), more of them seem apropos of nothing, as if they were just put there to fill up space.
Bottom line: If you’re sufficiently detail-obsessive to read Uni Watch, you probably need this book on your shelf. But you’ll likely be annoyed by a few of its flaws. Necessary but imperfect — life is like that sometimes.
Fortunately, there’s another new book on the market that I can recommend with fewer reservations: A Game of Inches: The Stories Behind the Innovations That Shaped Baseball, by Peter Morris. This book isn’t uni-centric per se, but there’s a short chapter devoted to uniforms and a much larger one focusing on the genesis of batting gloves, helmets, catcher’s gear, and other equipment. Meanwhile, if you want to learn the stories behind left-handed catchers, the hidden-ball trick, basket catches, team captains, squeeze plays, peeking at the catcher’s signals during an at-bat, and plenty more, this is the place. The writing is excellent, and Morris spends plenty of time debunking various myths and apocryphal stories that have become entrenched over the years. To his enormous credit, he’s also willing to say, “I don’t know” or “It’s not clear which story is accurate here” on various points — always the sign of a good historian. Don’t miss.
Uni Watch News Ticker: Interesting bit of early-’90s logo creep here — check out those Champion logos on umpire John McSherry’s pant leg and sweater sleeve. … Elastic-less pants update: Last week a reader reported that the Cubs’ broadcasters had mentioned on the air that Scott Eyre had been fined for removing the elastic for his pant cuffs. But now comes this dispatch from reader Lincoln King: “Cubs broadcasters Len Kasper and Bob Brenly reported during the June 23rd Cubs game that Scott Eyre received word that he would not be fined by MLB after all. Instead, he was given a warning.” … Dean Miller has come up with the perfect design for a new Phillies uniform.
Couple quick College World Series notes… did anyone else find OSU catcher Mitch Canham’s Wilson chest protector somewhat unique?
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Also, the entire tournament I’ve been trying to figure out what that white band is around the front of his face mask. It looks like tape, but if that’s the case, what’s it for?
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And last but not least… I went to Oregon Tech, not Oregon State, but this week, I’ve caught it:
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Speaking of books… I picked up a copy of a book you recommended awhile ago (The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America: A Guide to Field Identification), and it’s as good as you said. A great mixture of humor and attention to detail.
What was it about Eyre’s elastic-free pants that made them worse than the dozens of other players who embarrass us with their baseball slacks?
Here’s the book Bill is referring to in his comment above — not about uniforms, but very much in keeping with the spirt of minutiae obsession and systematic classification that informs Uni Watch.
And now I’m going to keep writing a bit in order to fill up the space created by that Amazon link. So: Rick White, who wore double-zero with the link, link, and link, has been claimed off waivers by the Phillies. He’s listed on their web site roster as wearing double-zero, but he hasn’t been in a game for them yet (they went through most of the pitching staff in yesterday’s 12-inning game but somehow managed not to use him), so I don’t yet have a photo of him in his new 00 jersey.
If anyone ever gets the chance to pick up the book titled Baseball Uniforms of the 20th Century you should do so. I know Paul has written about it before. It is an amazing book. It was my preliminary training before UniWatch.
Also if anyone does know of the book, I am curious if the author, Mark Okkonen(sp), has updtated it. My edition only goes up to 1995 or 1996. I would love to see an updated version – hopefully with more color pictures in the team detail pages.
Federer’s gettin’ fancy at Wimbledon…
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take two…
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Is that Federer’s custom logo on the jacket pocket? Never seen that before. Surprised it’s not a big swoosh.
from various newspapers…
Federer was wearing a smart white jacket that had been made for him by his kit manufacturers, Nike, with a crest that included a tuft of grass, the Swiss cross, the symbol for his Leo star sign, an F for his surname, and three rackets which represent his three Wimbledon titles. As much as Federer liked the jacket, he is hoping that he will require some tailoring in a just over a fortnight’s time, adding one racket to the crest.
sharapova last year sported a business style warm up suit as well…
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I found it a little odd that in the Royals vs. Brewers throwback game, the Royals stuck with blue helmets although their jerseys were red and white. (no picture)
I found a good pic of ARod wearing the Nike Sphere MVP batting glove we were talking about the other day…..
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I’ve noticed some people are having trouble posting links in the comment sections, so here’s a quick tutorial…
If you want a link to display like this:
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Use this code:
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You can also just copy and paste the link and it will display as a clickable link. Also, please refrain from using “url” tags and putting your links inside of parenthesis
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[quote comment=”1605″]If anyone ever gets the chance to pick up the book titled Baseball Uniforms of the 20th Century you should do so. I know Paul has written about it before. It is an amazing book. It was my preliminary training before UniWatch.
Also if anyone does know of the book, I am curious if the author, Mark Okkonen(sp), has updtated it. My edition only goes up to 1995 or 1996. I would love to see an updated version – hopefully with more color pictures in the team detail pages.[/quote]
Okkonen’s book is brilliant, but it only goes up to the 1993 season, and as you mentioned, hasn’t been updated since.
espn.com’s Ivan Maisel is running a feature on the best college football players for each number 1-100.
any link to that feature?
The feature is on the main page of espn.com about half way down under “Must Read”, it is actually a pop-up that you can’t link to (or I don’t know how to) he is currently up to number 40, he adds 20 a day all week.
Here is the link to the numbers feature:
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Heard snippets about how the women players have to be more conservately dressed at Wimbledon but no articles – anyone have anything?
Also, first glance of sharapova in that warm-up suit reminded me of link in “Empire Strikes back”..
I’ll be watching here “in the bashement of the schienche building”
I have a hard time believing that EPSN is having trouble coming up with a single adequate player to be the best to have worn #29… and while I can’t say that I can think of one, SURELY with the combined brain power of all Uni-Watch readers, we can come up with SOMETHING.
Post if you find anything.
[quote comment=”1634″]I have a hard time believing that EPSN is having trouble coming up with a single adequate player to be the best to have worn #29… and while I can’t say that I can think of one, SURELY with the combined brain power of all Uni-Watch readers, we can come up with SOMETHING.
Post if you find anything.[/quote]
Johnny Bright is a College Football Hall of Famer who wore #29.
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The wifebeater is pure genius. Pure, absolute genius.
Why is the wifebeater funny? I have no idea what it means.
link the wifebeater is funny (and sad).
One brief uniform note from tonight’s Cardinals – Indians game here in St. Louis:
The pitching matchup of Anthony Reyes vs. C.C. Sabathia, besides being another chance to look at Reyes’ high socks, also features contrasting cap-wearing styles from the starting pitchers.
Reyes wears a flat-brimmed cap; Sabathia wears his cap tilted to the side.
Spain is the second team (like the Ukraine) to continue wearing the same uni and lose in the round of 16.
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[quote comment=”1649″]Spain is the second team (like the Ukraine) to continue wearing the same uni and lose in the round of 16.
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But the Ukraine won…
Wow, sorry. I guess I’m tired. :)
So, correction: Spain is the first team to wear the same uni in it’s first four games and lose in the last one.
Sweden & the Netherlands both changed for their fourth and lost. Italy changed for their fourth but won. Germany, Portugal & Ukraine kept the same uni and continued to win. They are the only three that are left to have worn the same uni in every game played. We’ll see how they fare this weekend. (Interestingly, none play each other)
[quote comment=”1638″][quote comment=”1634″]
Johnny Bright is a College Football Hall of Famer who wore #29.
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In that game v. Oklahoma A&M, the broken jaw Bright suffered was the result of a deliberate attack by a Cowboy player who apparently took exception to the color of Bright’s skin.
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As I recall, LIFE Magazine ran a series of photos showing the attack. It was graphic and sickening.
Usually I love reader submissions, but I find the Brett Meyers “wife-beater” jersey design to be TOTALL INAPPROPRIATE AND TASTELESS. We’re talking about a 240-lb. athlete (and former boxer!) who repeatedly hit his 120-lb. wife with a CLOSED FIST AND DRAGGED HER DOWN THE STREET BY HER HAIR. Someone needs to explain to me how this is fodder for jokes!
[quote comment=”1775″]Usually I love reader submissions, but I find the Brett Meyers “wife-beater” jersey design to be TOTALL INAPPROPRIATE AND TASTELESS. We’re talking about a 240-lb. athlete (and former boxer!) who repeatedly hit his 120-lb. wife with a CLOSED FIST AND DRAGGED HER DOWN THE STREET BY HER HAIR. Someone needs to explain to me how this is fodder for jokes![/quote]
If this player did what he’s alleged to have done, there is certainly no reason to make a joke of it.
Wife-beating is NOT funny. It ranks up there with child-molestation ….
While wife-beating is abhorrent, it comes nowhere close to child-molestation. Sorry.
I just got Looney’s book today and picked up instantly on a pretty funny error – apparently Dustin Hoffman pitched for the Red Sox in 2002 wearing Dustin Hermanson’s number 31.