Design-A-Baseball-Jersey Contest — Here we go…

By Phil Hecken

Today, we’ll begin looking at the first set of entries for the “Design-A-Baseball-Jersey Contest.” To refresh your memory, we began the official MLB jersey contest just over a month ago, with a deadline of August 1st. I’ve finally finished preparing everyone’s entry (there were about 100) and let me tell you, many of them are absolutely outstanding. If you need a refersher about the rules or the contest, please refer to the above-mentioned post.

Once again, huge thanks go out to Alain Nana-Sinkham and Classic Old School for providing the winner of this contest with a custom-made jersey based on their design. Alain will have a very difficult task ahead of him — to narrow all of the entrants down to a final nine — which will then be put to the UW readership for a final vote (hopefully, next week). While Alain will have final say on all the entries, he’ll definitely be weighing your comments heavily in making that final cut, so please make your thoughts known below.

I don’t want to take more than one day on this contest as a main entry, so for the rest of the week, I’ll have a main article and then the next set of entrants will immediately follow — so be sure to check back in each day to see the next set of contestants.

Like all the others, the entrants will be listed in alphabetical order; today we’ll take the first 20 (which takes us from the “A”s and runs through the “C”s).

Good luck to all the entrants, and be sure to give them all a nice round of thanks down in the comments. OK…let’s see our first batch of submissions in the Design-A-Baseball-Jersey Contest:

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Jon Allison: Philadelphia Phillies. In designing a jersey for the Phillies, I looked at their three previous eras and intertwined. I went back to the maroon of 1970-91, to differentiate the Phils from the Cardinals, Angels, Reds, Nats. Founded in 1883, this gives them a classic look akin to the older franchises in MLB.

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Mike Andrews: Cleveland Indians. This fauxback, cream home jersey keeps the current Indians script but with the look of the 1950’s era wordmark (no tail/underline) and adds two color piping around the collar and cuffs. The uniform is capped off with a two-stripe sock and plain red script I on an all-blue hat.

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Chris Antipuesto: San Francisco Giants. Both Giants’ uniforms are classic simplicity, but their away sets needed more funk. The “San Francisco” script has never been used on a jersey and was long overdue. The black chest piping and the super-thick sleeve stripes are borrowed and tweaked from the late-80’s away getups I grew up watching.

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Jeff Bahry: Houston Astros. Growing up in Houston, I was never a big fan of the Astros’ “tequila sunrise” uniforms. My “faux-back” jersey includes design elements that I admired from earlier looks. It includes the traditional color palette, original “shooting star” & “orbiting baseballs” logos and futuristic lettering & numbers.

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Joseph Baker: Arizona Diamondbacks. This is my submission for the jersey design contest. I did the diamondbacks. I like the color scheme of the current uniforms, but i don’t think the overall look feels quite right. I created new shoulder patches for each sleeve. I also incorporated the current hat logo into a new script for the front of the jersey. I picked more traditional numbering and trim to give the uniform a classic baseball appearance. I hope you enjoy my entry.

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David Bloomquist: Washington Nationals. I wanted to redesign the Washington Nationals jersey. I’m not a Nats’ fan,but I really think their current jerseys are weak. I incorporated DC and American icons to create a unique, but not too out-there look.

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David Britt: Atlanta Braves. I combined the powder blue jersey and script (with double outline) of the early 80’s with current striping and tomahawk. I also went with the vertically-arched nametape because Atlanta wore this style at the beginning of the 90’s heyday. No side view because I dislike panels. Replaces red home alts.

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Kevin Callahan: Colorado Rockies. I know that replacing one non-traditional color combo with another may be problematic for some. But, as a lifelong Milwaukee Bucks fan, Green & Red has always seemed fine to me. The other challenge was coming up with something interesting to represent a mountain range. The jagged line serves well.

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Walker Carlson: Washington Nationals. First change: got rid of those awful numbers with the weird gold trim. Second: got rid of the dumb type face for “Nationals”; (which also has weird gold trim) and replaced it with a simple red & “curly W”. Third: replaced thick red-blue-red piping on sleeves and collar with blue piping. Lastly: replaced interlocked “DC” patch with a revamped old senators logo from the 50’s. Made the bat yellow with a red outline, and made the hat red. (What the old logo looked like is below the new one, just for reference).

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Daniel Carroll: Seattle Mariners. This is a re-invention of the Mariners, abandoning their history, using Seahawks/Sounders colors. The sleeve patch is an anchor with the Space Needle on top of a wave. I chose to emphasize water with this design.

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Kirk Carter: Atlanta Crackers. If the Braves ever have to get on the PC wagon, they should revert to Atlanta’s first baseball team: the Crackers. The jersey is the same color and pattern as the Braves current set, but with front numbers and a new patch/mascot thrown in.

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Daniel Chanelli: San Francisco Giants. Road jersey inspired by the 1933-35 set. Added piping to the front and moved the sleeve piping up a little. Ornate San Francisco script replaces the block lettering, with matching numbers and NNOB. Modernized the original Giants logo and placed it on the sleeve. I’d put this revamped classic up against the Giants current roads any day.

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“ChargerPadre”: Tampa Bay Rays. I wanted to create a jersey for a team that lacked something, and the Rays lack a real away jersey, it uses the same scrip as their home uniform. I wanted to incorporate the same ideas and concepts that the Rays have used on their current uniforms.

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Charlie Charnigo: Baltimore Orioles. Well the look and what inspired it is pretty self explanatory. However this was the first concept I had ever done…when I was 7 with a marker in 75. Now at 42 I can clean it up with Photoshop and with luck maybe get it made.

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Jeffrey Cherewaty: Houston Astros. The Astros’ brick red has never felt right to me. They should be wearing midnight blue and orange. I was shocked by how great the 1965 throwbacks looked this year, so I updated the kitschy ’60s hand-lettered typography and continued the modern Astros’ trend of wearing Texas sleeve patches.

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Danny Corbalis: New York Mets. My concept is to “refresh” the look of the New York Mets home uniform. I used a more modern typeface and added a deeper blue to the color scheme. I also wanted to use the name “Metropolitans”. I kept the elements of the logo but I made them a little more dynamic. And I updated our beloved Mr. Met.

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J. Csikos: Chicago Cubs. Cubs away jersey using the UA faux flannel similar to Missouri. Lettering color matching (no more red on the back), current alt logo on right sleeve. Arched “Chicago” on the front with the arched nameplate on the back.

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Patrick Cummings: St. Louis Cardinals. Mashup of eras featuring my favorite Cardinals components. You’ve got the modern logos and numbers, 1940’s era striping, and the 80’s STL from the batting practice jerseys. Plus it uses “St. Louis”; in place of “Cardinals” on the front. Love the flannel look so it’d be great to replicate that!

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Matt Cunningham: St. Louis Cardinals. I wanted to see what the Cardinals road uniform would look like with their city name. On the bat is a redbird from the last two designs.

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Devin Curry: Colorado Rockies. The “ROCKIES” wordmark forms a mountain range below. Did my best to make numbers and nameplates similar to the front.

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Well, there you have it — the first set of entrants — great start, yes? There are many, many more excellent ones to follow, and I’ll have another batch every day this week. Remember, Alain will have the final say on the “Top 9” but you can definitely try to influence his decision by giving props to the entrants in the comments below. Back tomorrow with set number 2.

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Monday Morning Uni Watch

Now then, there was some football played this weekend. Lets have a quick run-down of those games.

Thursday’s Games:

Colts @ Bills (in Toronto): Bills look as crappy as ever, playing up in Toronto, and sported a special patch to commemorate the event. Colts back to normal road duds.

Patriots @ Falcons: Looks like Tom Brady needs a haircut. Falcons in their least obnoxious unis. And receivers are still wearing bicycle pants without pads.

Friday’s Game:

Eagles @ Bengals: Eagles in white, Bengals in black over white. More bicycle pants.

Saturday’s Games:

Steelers @ Giants: Big Bad Ben is back. The Steelers and Giants are the only two teams with helmet numbers on the front of their helmets, except in the preseason. Steelers have to “earn” theirs. Eli was a spectator — and the new sideline caps look awful, what with the pizza slice design.

Ravens @ Redskins: Kareem Moore was stylin’ in double socks, whilst the Ravens were keeping Donovan under wraps.

Rams @ Browns: Hmmm…Browns in brown, at home, but at least the Rams wore gold pants, their best road look. With the new jersey cuts, they may just as well wear tank tops. And, shouldn’t they finally remove the “AL” patch?

Chiefs @ Buccaneers: Chiefs sticking with their red & gold striped socks with the red jerseys (which I think they should wear with both the red AND white tops), while the Bucs went mono-white again. Something just doesn’t work with that look — maybe they need pewter pants, or pewter socks…or something.

Dolphins @ Jaguars: fish Mammals in white over aqua (a great look), but what’s with the tape all over Brandon Marshall? Never seen that before. Jags still having different jersey cut issues.

Texans @ Saints: Saints in white at home, with gold pants, and the golds still don’t match. Texans in blue over white is definitely their best look.

Jets @ Panthers: Carolina in all white is a great look, but they’re another team with shoulder loop issues. Kickers & QB’s (and some receivers) look good, but everyone else is horribly truncated. Why can’t they give everyone loops?

Raiders @ Bears: Bears in blue and Raiders in white is always a classic matchup. Did I mention I hate the pizza slice sideline caps?

Lions @ Broncos: Broncos break out the crush (more bicycle pants) while the Lions uni is actually starting to grow on me. Just lose the black and fix the fonts, and it’s close to perfect.

Cowboys @ Chargers: Cowboys have a super long NOB. Funny how light (and lenses) work — in some views, the ‘boys pants almost look silver, and in others, not so much.

Packers @ Seahawks: Clearly, Pete Carroll is having an effect, as the Hawks again refused to go monochrome. Such a marked contrast to what may be the game’s greatest road uni. Bicycle pants again.

Yesterday:

Vikings @ 49ers: Welcome back, grandpa. I’m sorry, but this is a really shitty uniform. Favre deserves better. And did he rip his sock or his that some kind of newfangled underlegging? More bicycle pants — and how come Favre is exempt from the pizza slice cap?

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And now a quick word from Paul: As you may have noticed, we have a new sponsor in the left sidebar — StickerYou, a maker of high-quality vinyl decals. They have an easy-to-use interface that makes it simple to design your own sticker sheets. Check them out and, as always, thanks for supporting Uni Watch’s advertisers.

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Uni Watch News Ticker: Starting off today is Evan Shanley who shows why Iowa State will be getting a new floor at Hilton Coliseum. That’s the gym floor with volleyball nets still up, floating on 10+ feet of water. Also, at this link is a short video talking about the damage at Hilton. … Hadyn Green informs us of this competition from the Warriors (a rugby league team that sadly has be called the “Vodafone Warriors” most of the time) are having a design-a-uni competition. Hadyn says, “Maybe your readers can raise the standards a little.” … Larry Granillo reports a wooden statue of Jackie Robinson was on display in Nationals Park in April and someone tackled/attacked it, breaking it pretty bad. The Nationals don’t seem to be helping the artist with insurance or anything. And here’s something about the making of the statue. … Scott Fendley found this on Jonah Kerr’s blog. Says Scott, “What I dug are the stirrups on Perez that go right into the piping of the pants. That and Youppi almost injures two Expos during the celebration.” … In the spirit of SEC football, Jeff Brunelle thought he’d send this over: Even the Bama lacrosse team makes sure they’ve got classy threads. … David Vines saw the item in Friday’s ticker about the Branca sleeve patch, and hecame across this old ad featuring the Dodgers and Giants. The Giant player is clearly wearing the sleeve patch while the Dodger either isn’t or its obstructed. Very odd. Unfortunately, “I don’t have any answers about the patch’s significance,” he adds. I believe we ascertained it was the NL’s 75th Anniversary Patch (more info here). … Jack Wilson already gave us a look at the new K-State Uniforms, but here’s a better look at them. … Ryan Kluever was watching CMT today before work and noticed that Jennifer Nettles is “ruppin” in Sugarland’s new video. Says Ryan, “Now that is the best looking person in ‘rups in a while.” I have no idea what any of this means. … In more news we cannot possibly live without knowing, Paul Lukas announces that Ron Artest is changing numbers again. … Pacific Rim correspondent Jeremy Brahm reports Marty Brown who was managing with the Hiroshima Toyo Carp in 2006 got ejected for throwing bases. Here is the video. After the incident, the Carp actually came out with two different T-shirts, I throw bases and My manager throws bases.They even wore them during BP and sold them to the fans. … Kenn Tomasch notes the Miami soccer team wore throwbacks on Saturday, part of it’s effort to return to the Strikers for 2011. … “USC East?” asks Terry Mark. “My high school alma mater, Memorial High School in Elkhart, Ind., debuted their new uniforms last night and boy do they look familiar. As you can see from the picture, they were pretty much lazy in selecting a new visual identity.” … Chance Michaels saw this experimental 1940-41 batting cap in the current MEARS auction and thought we might be interested. … Doug Keklak saw the USA Today Super 25 and asks, “Damn, is no one original anymore? I count 7 of the top 25 teams in the country poaching logos or strong design elements from college or pro teams.” I have a feeling Warren Central won’t be wearing that for much longer. … More from Doug, who is very quizzical these days, and inquires, “is it me, or are this dude’s pants hiked up too high (they look like they’re cuffed too!)” … Still more from Kek, and this time it’s good news — Kiner’s Korner is back on SNY. … It’s been noted that the Colorado Buffaloes will be wearing throwbacks at home all season and speculated that names will be removed from both home and road jerseys. This may be a sneak peek (thanks to Matthew Robins). … With all the Cavaliers changes, Johnny Bruno noticed something that doesn’t quite add up. If you look at the new home and away jerseys they have that basic block font as well as the new floor. But if you look at the new primary logo as well as all the other alternate logos, they have the old font that was on the old jerseys and old floor. Johnny just found this sort of peculiar and thought it was worth noting. So he decided to make a new primary logo. Great job. … Alex Higley noticed on Saturday, (8/21/10) Matt Holliday was wearing a non-vented batting helmet. On 8/18/10 he was wearing a vented helmet and Alex believes he has been all season. Anyone know the reason behind the switch? … Alex also wonders if the D-Backs wore black to prevent Ubaldo Jimenez from wearing his favorite vest. … “Some Memphis city-league all-star team, I guess,” says Don Gale. “Nice assortment of hosiery.” … Damon Liddiard went to an Orem Owlz (a California Angels rookie league affiliate) game and was surprised to see not just one mascot (Hootz), but also a female companion mascot (Holly). “Is this a thing that small league teams do?” asks Damon. “I’ve never heard of it.” … Because the world needs another purple baseball uni, Max Sellman‘s girlfriend picked this up for him at a thrift shop in DC. Pretty cool he thinks, good quality too. Sorry for the weird pictures, but its ravens purple for sure. … “Cool look for the Fed,” writes Brinke Guthrie, “Only he can pull this one off.” … Jamison Nash was watching the Fox Chicago Bears-Raiders pregame show Saturday, and saw that the Raiders promo helmet they had on their desk was fitted with a black facemask instead of the usual gray. At the end of the show, the credits said that the helmets were provided courtesy of Riddell. Says Jamison, “Seems like a strange mistake for the manufacturer to make — unless there’s going to be a change I haven’t heard about.” … Instead of lazily sticking a “Los” on their jerseys, the Oakland Atleticos dropped an “H” added an “O” instead. … Great screen grabs from Bill Kellick spotted a Brent Adams FNOB and Ray Brown’s unusual facemask, both from a 1977 Bills/Falcons game. … Everyone’s doing the “design” contest — Michael Sullivan noticed The Wilmot Wild, a new Junior Lacrosse team is having a design the uni contest. … You know how the Yankees have four different logos? FlipFlopFlyBall has taken a look at that in it’s own inimitable way.

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That’s all for today — back with more MLB jersey contestants tomorrow (and throughout the week). If you didn’t yet vote in the “Best MLB Home Uniform” poll, go here & scroll down. After sprinting out to a big lead early on Friday, the St. Louis Cardinals have fallen a few percentage points behind the Detroit Tigers. More than 3,700 votes cast so far, so it’s a pretty big gap between first and second. Yankees a distant third and the rest of the field is basically fighting for show.

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With each game I play, each season I play, everyone would agree with me, I’m running out of chances. — Brett Favre