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No, I Don’t Plan to Apply for the Job

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The initial reports began circulating early yesterday afternoon: Mets equipment manager Charlie Samuels (that’s him at right, as pictured in the 2000 media guide, before he’d lost a ton of weight on a bet with Piazza’s dad and then gained it all back) had been suspended indefinitely, although the team wouldn’t say why. By the end of the day, the Times was reporting that it was due to his connection to a federal gambling investigation and that he’d likely be fired.

In the five hours or so in between those two reports, I was in touch with a lot of people in the uniform and equipment worlds. Most had no idea why Samuels was in hot water, and none would speak on the record, but all were intrigued by the story.

Meanwhile, assorted blogs and message boards hummed with rumors: Samuels was the source of too many anonymous leaks; the other shoe was finally dropping for Samuels’ hiring of steroid trafficker Kirk Radomski; and so on. My own hunch was much more banal, namely that Samuels was skimming autographed and/or game-used gear and selling it on the side, a fairly common clubhouse racket that can get a guy in dutch with the boss and with the IRS if he isn’t careful. Turns out I was as wrong as everyone else. (Update: I wasn’t completely off the mark after all: The Daily News is reporting that Sameuls is also under investigation regarding “Mets property that went missing from the clubhouse, including hundreds of bats, balls and jerseys.” That article also quotes an investigator describing Samuels as “a spider who sat in the middle of a money web,” which is the kind of quote you rarely see outside of the movies.)

So what does this mean for the Mets’ uniforms? Before we can answer that, we need to establish just what Samuels’s uni-related role was — a role that’s lately been subject to some revisionism.

The common understanding has long been that Samuels chose the uni for each game (I’ve reported that for years, Howie Rose has mentioned it on the radio for years, etc.). More recently, though, team officials have tried to change that narrative. Just yesterday, Mets Police blogger Shannon Shark reported that he’d “been told point blank by the Mets that the starting pitcher chooses the uniform.” And a comment thread on MetsBlog yesterday included this: “[Newsday beat writer David] Lennon said Samuels had nothing to do with selecting [which] unis were worn on a given day.”

That sounded fishy to me, so I double-checked with reader Matt Harris, who’s a former Mets batboy. “Most times it was Charlie [choosing the uniforms],” he wrote to me last night. “In my three-plus years there, some starting pitchers liked certain unis — Johan didn’t like the pins, Pedro liked to wear the black. But it was mostly Charlie. And sometimes it was schedule-related, [like] if we were shining certain helmets, or a lot of times we’d wear blue on getaway day because the players would need to pack black for the road.”

So why would Mets officials try to discourage the commonly held (and accurate!) notion that Samuels calls the daily uniform shots? I see three possible answers:

1. Mets officials were aware of Samuels’s imminent legal troubles and were trying to create some distance between him and the team.

2. Mets officials, who tend to have a very paranoid management style, didn’t like the idea that fans and the media knew about a behind-the-scenes detail like daily uniform selection, so they tried to create a counter-narrative.

3. Mets officials were as clueless about this as they are about so many other things and simply gave out erroneous information.

All of these are plausible. It’s tempting to go with 2, but I actually think 3 is the most likely.

Anyway: With Samuels no longer charting the team’s uniform course, will this mean less black for the Mets? I got lots of e-mails yesterday speculating to that effect, but the fact of the matter is that the Mets wore a lot less black over the past two years anyway. And there’s no guarantee that Samuels’s replacement, whoever it turns out to be, will be any less black-friendly than he was.

It’s worth noting, incidentally, that there was a lot more to Samuels’s job than just picking a jersey and cap each day. Being an equipment manager is serious work, plus Samuels was also the team’s travel director — a major job in itself. I’m in no position to judge his overall job performance, but my general impression, based on years of having his name come up in various conversations, is that most of the people who worked with him (including the players) liked him, and I know for a fact that he was extremely professional and effective about certain aspects of his job.

Most reporters, however, have never cared for him, and several of them went out of their way to reinforce that point to me as yesterday’s events unfolded. My own dealings with him have been limited, mainly because I found him so unpleasant to deal with during my first few interactions with him years ago that I decided to stop bothering with him. Defensive, cranky, irritable — that was Charlie, at least in my experience. Judging by what other reporters have told me, that experience was not unique.

So yeah, I hope his replacement dresses the team in blue caps, blue sleeves, and blue socks for all 81 homes games next year. But more importantly, I hope that person is more open to media inquiries in general and Uni Watch inquiries in particular, because it’s plain ridiculous that I haven’t been able to have a relationship with the equipment manager of my favorite team.

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RIP, Capt. Hook: The Reds and Tigers will both be wearing uni memorials of some sort next season for Sparky Anderson, who died yesterday. Amidst all the Anderson photos that were circulating yesterday, this one stands out. Hard to imagine a skipper with a pipe nowadays.

Reader Tim Betz has an unusual piece of Anderson memorabilia: a pair of Sparky’s 1977 game pants. “I was able to get them when the Reds were clearing out stuff for the move to GABP after the 2002 season,” he says. “I know that they aren’t much, but they are special to me.”

Speaking of Sparky, if you’ve never heard his classic soliloquy on his relationship with the press — or if you haven’t listened to it lately — it’s essential listening. NSFW, but priceless.

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Should we start calling them duck stripes? The common wisdom is that Northwestern came up with Northwestern stripes in 1928. But Larry Bodnovich has found several photos showing that same stripe pattern being worn by Oregon in 1925. Here are two more (dig that primitive down marker in the lower photo).

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So did Oregon come up with this pattern? Or are there even earlier examples? Did Northwestern simply popularize this stripe pattern? When was the term “Northwestern stripes” first coined, and by whom? All of these are worthy subjects for further research.

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Collector’s Corner, by Brinke Guthrie

It’s been 20 years since my favorite baseball team won the World Series (1990, Reds over the A’s — yes, my favorite team has changed since then) So let’s start off this week’s festivities with a little hometown bias.

As for non-Giants items:

• Has there ever been another team that featured cleats in their logo?

• Cowboys fans don’t have much to cheer about these days, so here’s something to cheer them up: some nice 1960s programs.

• I had a lot of Slurpee baseball cups back in the day (cola/cherry smash mix, please), but I didn’t have the scorecard!

• Reader Gabriel Butler doesn’t think this is really a baseball jersey. PL, your thoughts? [The snap buttons, straight hem, and school name on the back make it pretty obvious that this is a basktetball warm-up, as I’m sure Terry Proctor can confirm. — PL]

• Reader Jake Doyle spotted this Satchell Paige pencil clip

• Terrific football bobbles here, here, and here.

• And here’s one from Paul: three New York Nets envelopes!

Seen something on eBay that you think would make good Collector’s Corner fodder? Send your submissions here.

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Uni Watch News Ticker: “I’d never seen a white version of the Jets’ 1980s helmet until I saw this pennant listed in an eBay auction,” says Matt Talbot. “Of course, I snapped it up. I don’t know if it’s a prototype or if the manufacturer took artistic license. Either way, I think its the best Jets helmet I’ve ever seen.” ”¦ Ric Jensen is trying to assemble a list of teams that have worn Spanish-language jerseys in recent years — Gigantes, Cerveceros, Los Bulls, etc. You can send your submissions to him here. ”¦ Philip Caldwell and Gary Streeting point out that QB “no contact” jerseys can also be blue, green, white, and black. ”¦ Sensational item on shirt garters (thanks, Kirsten). ”¦ Michael Orr reports that the Portland Timbers will unveil their new kits on Dec. 9. ”¦ Lately I’ve been seeing lots of people describing certain designs as “a hot mess.” That term has never been more applicable than it is here. That’s St. Joseph High School in Trumbull, Connecticut (with thanks to Tim Snyder, who also spotted a Florida school that wears an Ohio State-inspired uni with Iowa Hawkeye merit decals). ”¦ Here are Tennessee’s new orange hoops uniforms (with thanks to Luke Pellegra). ”¦ Whoa, check out the sleeves on this jacket! “It’s got a Ronald McDonald kinda feel, no?” observes Terence Kearns. ”¦ The Dallas Stars are “studying” the idea of a green jersey, which would be a-ok with me (with thanks to John Muir). ”¦ Here’s a good article about South Carolina’s new basketball uniforms (with thanks to Beau Franklin). ”¦ The “official burger of the Mets” (the very concept of which is ridiculous, but I digress) is an operation called Brooklyn Burgers (which is odd, since the Mets play in Queens, but I digress again). Now Brooklyn Burgers is embroiled in a trademark dispute with MLB and Dodgers over the “Brooklyn” script. ”¦ Joel Mathwig says the Titans’ online shop was featuring this Randy Moss jersey yesterday afternoon. ”¦ Longtime reader and DIYer Ryan Connelly has started a new blog to document his assorted DIY projects. ”¦ According to a radio report I just heard, the “hot colors” next year, and especially next fall, will be green and gray. Which means I’ll finally be in style. ”¦ Chris Wautel noticed something interesting in a Prilosec commercial that’s currently airing: “The commercial features Dave Diehl from the Giants and Anthony Herrera from the Vikings. When DIehl is talking, the team and league logos on his jersey are covered up. Yet Herrera’s logos are fully exposed.” Now, Diehl’s wearing a practice jersey in that shot, not a game jersey, so that probably has something to do with it, but it’s still interesting. In any case, both players full uniforms are shown on this page. ”¦ Yikes! (Bizarre find by Greg “Puck Daddy” Wyshynski.) ”¦ Wrigley Field has a gridiron for the Northwestern/Illinois game on Nov. 20 (with thanks to Joe Coney). ”¦ Another cross-school promotion last night, as Georgia Tech wore Mississippi State decals in memory of Bulldogs player Nick Bell, who died this week. ”¦ Proud papa Morris Levin was putting his three-year-old daughter to bed last night when the following scene unfolded: “I happened to be wearing my Phillies hat. She looks at the hat and she says, ‘Why is the button blue?’ So I told her, “Well, in 1992, they chose to make it blue when they redesigned it.’ She nodded her head and looked at the hat again and said, ‘The P is white… the button should be white too… or red.’ I nodded and I told her that I thought it should be white but that red would work as well.” Touching scene, except why was Morris wearing a baseball cap in the house? ”¦ New anti-concussion helmet for DeSean Jackson. ”¦ The Blazers wore their Maurice Lucas memorial patch last night for the first time. ”¦ The Sabres wore their royal blue alts last night, but goalie Jonas Enroth was wearing the team’s standard navy pants (with thanks to Mike Monoghan). ”¦ Did you know Bob Gibson played college basketball? It’s true! (Awesome find by Paul Nitti.) ”¦ Also from Paul: I love the button-through pockets on this letterman sweater. Sensational sneakers too, no? … Jeez, on top of everything else he does, Dave Eggars also drew/designed this awesome World Series poster (which is based on these great illustrations). Talented fella.

Super Special: Longtime reader and “Stealing Signs” artist Mark Penxa found yesterday’s entry rather inspiring. Is that great or what? He graciously offered to send me the original, which I’ll be proud to have on my wall.

 
  
 
Comments (156)

    Not only did Bob Gibson play college hoops, he did color commentary for New York Nets games for one season in the early 1970’s when the team played on Long Island.

    I also believe he was involved with the Harlem Globetrotters as well, but I am not certain.

    I grew up on Long Island as a Nets fan in the 1970s, but I have no memory of that. Not saying you’re wrong — just saying I didn’t realize it!

    It was #45… the link since retired by the Cardinals. And yes, Gibby barnstormed with the Globetrotters; ever-honest, he said, “I wasn’t a ‘star’. Can you imagine me as a star on a team with Meadowlark Lemon? No way.”

    The point of that item was not that they wore the alts; it was that the goalie wore the standard/non-alt pants in that particular game.

    Not a big fan of that yellow name plate on the Buffalo alternates. The Buffalo goalie looks weird in those navy pants.

    Didn’t matter what pants Enroth was wearing (and it’s “Jhonas” not “Jonas”, BTW). Can’t see ’em from the bench, which is where he ended up after giving up 3 goals in the 1st period in that game. Also not fond of the yellow nameplate . . .

    It’s Philly’s fault for emulating their early-70s temporary nameplate on the orange jerseys, and then carrying it too far. Now, like the “vintage white” scourge (which Buffalo’s thirds are also guilty of), contrasting nameplates are starting to spread throughout other levels of hockey.

    I think you meant – why was Morris(Levin)wearing a baseball cap in HIS house? If I had a dollar for every time I wore mine in somebody’s house as boy & man, I’d be R I C H. Well, I could at least buy me loads of new stuff ;-) BTW I liked the Phils blue button. AND I don’t know why.

    The article about DeSean Jackson’s anti-concussion helmet is spot on. If the league is really serious about reducing concussions, shouldn’t they mandate the use of these anti-concussion helmets, rather than issue arbitrary fines after supposedly reckless hits are applied?

    /James Harrison fan

    If the NFL admits that it knows that the concussion-reducing helmets are better, it is admitting liability. And no multi-billion dollar company will open themselves up to that kind of backlash.

    The NFL probably secretly wishes all players would wear them, but they can’t mandate that without being held accountable. Otherwise, why didn’t they mandate it when the helmets first came out?

    The whole issue of claiming liability is bogus. The NFL can only be held liable if they know there is a risk but intentionally withhold that information. If the helmets are tested and proven to be safer, the NFL has an obligation to set the standard and mandate that all of its players wear them.

    The NFL currently mandates helmets. Why then arent there a flood of lawsuits from former players who suffer from post concussion syndrome?

    Actually, wouldnt NOT mandating the concussion reducing helmets lead to MORE liability? They are allowing players to use helmets that they know are substandard.

    How does that make sense?

    The assumption you make is that the league forces a player to wear helmets. That much is true, but they don’t mandate what kind, what they are made of, or what impact they can absorb.

    Since the league mandates nothing but wearing helmets, you’re more than welcome to wear a leather cap like the players used to wear. Heck, get a Nerf foam helmet. As long as it meets the minimum safety standards, the NFL can wash its hands of the situation by stating that they are compliant with all safety standards.

    By admitting that the concussion-reducing helmets are better not only states that the league knows that they are better, but that they have had this information for a while. Studies aren’t just created out of nowhere. And if the league mandates safer helmets, player contracts with the helmet makers who don’t reduce concussions would be a whole new ball of wax that the NFL would have to deal with.

    In short, the league is safer to do nothing than to admit anything.

    That “other model” helmet his mother bought, and DeSean didn’t like, was a Xenith. Found that interesting. In the Xenith, I found the “shock bonnet” padding system to be very smart, although the helmet in general has a very cheap flimsy quality about it. Yes, the padding system is very clever, the way it forms to your head by tightening the chin strap is neat no doubt, yet the cylindrical pads probably don’t make it very comfortable for some people. So, the Xenith really is just the same old football helmet with a clever new padding system under the single shell.

    DeSean no doubt will be wearing the Schutt ION now, and there is really nothing new there either. The main thing the ION and Speed helmet offer is added top and crown surface protection with their clever padding, TPU etc… Really, it’s all about comfort and style with these “new anti-concussion” helmets, since they really are variations of the same thing, nothing radically new to mandate.

    Different equipment (outside of stripping players down to 1940s gear) won’t deal with the head injury/brain damage issue.

    Changing the way the game is played will. Of course, the NFL is only sort of interested in that, but their rules/fine system is closer to real action than making players wear different helmets would be.

    Me, I’ve got my dad’s complaints about the near extinction of real tackling from 15 years ago aren’t the roots of a possible solution. Make just popping a guy a penalty, require real tackling. A lot of the recklessness would be gone for sure.

    The problem, as in the NHL, lies in the protection. These guys are basically in suits of plastic armor, so they feel invincible. There is a psychological principle underlying this called the Peltzman effect. It basically states that “the hypothesized tendency of people to react to a safety regulation by increasing other risky behavior, offsetting some or all of the benefit of the regulation.” Grapes made the same link back in 2007 and 1999.(the relevant portion comes at 2:35) Above all, if you reduce padding, your body today will hate you, but your brain tomorrow will thank you.

    This effect is now being studied by equipment manufacturers as they reduce shoulder pad and elbow pad size. It won’t stop the head-hunting in the NHL completely, but if your shoulder isn’t as protected as it once was, you’re less likely to lead with it when throwing a hit.

    Agreed. Better helmets won’t actually help this problem unless and until somebody invents a helmet that fits snugly under the skull.

    It’s time to change the game, but that makes people uncomfortable and nobody wants that. So we’ll talk some more about concussions, ignore CTE, and hope that nobody notices.

    I’m not uncomfortable. Change the game. Linemen stand up at the line of scrimmage. You must tackle, not launch yourself at a player. Make it like college and high school where if you fall down untouched, you’re down. Automatic ejection for anyone who hits a ball carrier who’s already down.

    If you can’t enjoy the game with these little tweaks to the rules, go watch that UFC stuff.

    The basketball photo of Bob Gibson is great. Did you know after playing hoops at Creighton University he was signed by the Harlem Globetrotters and played with them for one season. I’m still looking for photos of him in that uni. Another HOF pitcher to play for the Globtrotters was Fergie Jenkins. For a picture of him, see the attached link.

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    In fact, Bob Gibson played basketball well enough that he was offered the opportunity to join the Harlem Globetrotters, according to his bio.

    “I’d never seen a white version of the Jets’ 1980s helmet until I saw this pennant listed in an eBay auction,” says Matt Talbot. “Of course, I snapped it up. I don’t know if it’s a prototype or if the manufacturer took artistic license. Either way, I think its the best Jets helmet I’ve ever seen.”

    Do you know any more details about those pennants? I’ve got the whole set.

    Doesn’t the 1909 Northwestern jersey have a primitive version of their 1928 “Northwestern” stripes? It’s not exact, but the effect is very similar. That might have been an evolutionary step toward the “Northwestern” stripe. If that is the case, then the term should stick.

    -CraigD

    The article also states “as uncovred by the uniwatchblog” the NW hoops team used the stripes in 1915. Case closed.

    Not quite. Here’s what it says in that uniform history page: “as uncovered by link, the pattern was being used for basketball uniforms as early as 1915″

    Basketball uniforms, not Northwestern basketball uniforms — follow the link.

    Interesting. For what it is worth I for one thought those Duck uniforms for 1925 were neat looking and for that era to have that look was one thing that stood out to me. Even the helmets and the helmet strip pattern. If we say the NW stripe began in 1909 that may be hard to fin anything earlier. I was thinking the 1925 date was before 1928. Which it is of course.

    The Northwestern stripe in 1909 is different than the Ducks in 1925. The NW stripe in 1909 was white purple white. Not quite as many stripes.

    If Timmy Lincecum ever becomes a manager, he might be photographed with a pipe a-blazin.

    Accoring to an NBC Sports article, Charlie is also being investigated for stealing from the Mets clubhouse:

    It’s also investigating claims that Samuels used Mets bank accounts to float himself loans, skimmed money on hotel rooms he ordered for players as the team’s traveling secretary and stole and/or sold hundreds of bats, balls and jerseys from the Mets clubhouse. The Daily News reports that Samuels reported income to the IRS many, many times greater than his annual salary. So, hey, no tax beef! Smart planning, Charlie!

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    A buddy of mine worked as an accountant for the Mets for a few years starting in 1986.He passed along this story to me this morning.

    He told me that during the World Series in 86, Charlie was asked to order dugout jackets for all the players and on field staff for a total of 50 or so jackets. A few weeks later my buddy gets an invoice from the vendor for 100 jackets, so he goes to visit Charlie in the clubhouse to ask him about the discrepancy. Charlie tells him that he does that all the time, and that my buddy could buy one of the extras for sixty bucks.

    Being a fairly new employee told his boss the repsonse he got from Charlie, and his boss told him that there was very little he could do about it, inplying that Charlies kind of ran the show.

    Hearing this response from his boss, and wanting to be part of history. My buddy made a second visit to the clubhouse that day, gave Charlie the sixty bucks, and still has his World Series dugout jacket to this day.

    I have never really thought much about it…but reading about this makes me realize that there must be a ton of money to be made by equipment managers or pro-teams. There has to be huge “grey market” for a lot of stuff that they control.

    For example, who was the equipment manager for the Bulls during the Jordan/Pippen days? Imagine having access to all of those game used 23 jerseys!

    A jersey goes missing here or there, who would notice?

    I don’t know if it would be a touchy subject for an equipment manager to even want to discuss publicly, but Paul maybe you can intervies someone like Skiba on the matter.

    Joe Petruccio has added updates to his site since the end of the season and has added a drawing regarding Charlie Samuels.

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    Looks like the direction of the field at Wrigley is different than how it was done for Bears games:

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    Last football game at Wrigley was Dec. 1970. Last college game there was 1938 (DePaul).

    Apparently both teams are going to be standing on the LF sideline, which should be interesting.

    That’s how it was when the Packers played at Milwaukee County Stadium – both teams on the same sideline in LF.

    Same deal with the benches for the Vikings at Metropolitan (the Met), the Steelers at Forbes Field, the Chiefs at Municipal Stadium…

    Regarding QB practice jerseys and their various “nontraditional” colors, Josh Freeman and Bucs QB’s wear orange (I’m guessing as a throwback shoutout).

    Well, the Bucs do feature orange in their color scheme, so it makes sense. And don’t all the teams that wear orange use it for their non-contact jerseys?

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    (Heh. Or maybe just the ones that start with B.)

    I was always intrigued as a kid by the correlation of NFL teams whose nicknames start with B and have orange as a team color. Only the Bills and Dolphins broke the trend.

    The Stars need a third jersey: hopefully one that says “STARS,” did ya’ll realize that not a single team in Dallas/Ft. Worth wears a Home jersey that says the name of the team on it, they all say Dallas (or Texas). The Mavericks, Stars, and Rangers do not even have a current jersey set that says the team name at ALL, at home or on the road. In fact the only jersey that says the actual team name is the Dallas Cowboys blue away jersey (it says Cowboys under the collar) but they never wear it because they almost always wear white.

    This madness needs to stop

    The Stars switched their road and alternates this season. They are wearing their normal logo on the road at least. That’s a step in the right direction for them. LOL

    great photo of the late Mr. Anderson in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer. You hosiery people will appreciate it.

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    Land sakes…Seeing Sparky leaping over second and firing a seed to first. Well that’s just like watching Yoda in the prequels doing flips and bouncing off walls like a spry young jedi.

    Just seems odd.

    -CraigD

    That jacket with the striped sleeves is a wrestling warm-up. “126” was (is) one of the weight classes in H.S. wrestling. Gotta love those eBay posters. Duh!

    I loved the story about shirt garters! While I was in the Navy I rarely put my uniform on without them. I always liked the ones with the footstrap, they were much more comfortable. They actually wore the hair off part of both legs I wore them so much.

    Paul, I have to question what former batboy Matt Harris knows about what’s going on with uni-selection this past season. His statement “…or a lot of times we’d wear blue on getaway day because the players would need to pack black for the road,” Has no basis in fact concerning this last season.
    The Mets wore their two-tone caps on all but two getaway games. On July 10th(last game before All-Star break) they wore “The Black,” and they wore black again on August 1st (gm 2 of the dreaded 6 straight gms in black Jul 31-Aug 6). I also believe the Mets have a current practice (new tradition), of dropping off their game caps in a shipping container as they walk back to the clubhouse on getaway days.

    That Jets pennant sure is intriguing. The white helmet is really nice. I like that MUCH more than the green. Wasn’t there a complaint back then with the AFC East’s abundance of white helmets leading to the Jets going green and the Bills going red? Both bad looks, IMHO. Wish the Bills and Pats would take the Jets’ lead and revert to white.

    I think the NFL has enough white helmets. If anything, the Jets should go back to green.

    The NFL has one green helmet (which is far too dark), and 6 white helmets (and an additional 3 worn as throwbacks). Enough with the freakin white.

    what’s the problem with white helmets and gray facemasks?

    not saying every team should have them but you act like they’ve committed some kind of unforgivable cardinal sin … the only teams who SHOULDN’T wear white helmets are teams who refuse to wear white pants…then i’ll agree 100%, it looks stupid

    What? The facemask thing is an entirely different issue.

    As for white helmets, I just think there’s a couple too many.

    6 white
    5 silver
    4 navy
    4 black
    2 gold
    2 red
    2 orange
    1 burgundy
    1 yellow
    1 green
    1 blue
    1 purple
    1 teal (seahawk blue, whatever)
    1 pewter

    What’s wrong with wanting a little less white? Would it be so wrong to have a 2nd green or maybe a powder blue?

    i’ll totally agree there should be more green…but the jets really aren’t a candidate — not because they don’t wear green, but they just look RIGHT in white

    you wanna say there are too many silver helmets, i’ll agree with you — keep the raiders and lions…those are givens…the rest…pats, panthers and dallas — not quite sure what you’d do with dallas — maybe make it more greenish like the home pants? that could be interesting

    you wanna tell me the titans and cardinals (really?) can dump the white? fine…colts and jets really need to be white; i think the chargers could go with something else (gold? navy? powder?) and the dolfins? orange or aqua?

    there are always going to be some teams that will need to share the same color helmet…it’s not a bad thing…i know you (and others) want to make the helmet the focal point, and, since the technology exists, it probably could, much more so than in the past

    i think a much better solution would be to allow teams to wear two different helmets (aside from the throwback) during the regular season

    im not sure why that rule even exists…doesn’t make all that much sense

    I’m not saying that all white helmets are evil, and you’re probably right about there being too much silver too. I’d put the Jets in green, even though you disagree, and I’d probably have both the Panthers & Titans using a light blue. For the Cowboys… how about darkening the pants back to something like they used in the 70’s, and using a matte finish on the helmet to match that color?

    I guess the main point is just that we have as many white teams as we could possibly need… and as I was responding to Marc’s comment, there’s absolutely no reason the Bills or Patriots need to add to it.

    …and I’d be perfectly fine with a few teams having home & away helmets. I could definitely see the Chargers alternating between navy & white or the Steelers with black & yellow.

    Paul, To say that skimming/selling autographed or game used gear is fairly common is totally inaccurate and an insult to the overwhelming majority of equipment/clubhouse managers. You should know this.

    Exactly. I said it’s “fairly common.” Which it is.

    Also, I didn’t say it’s done exclusively by clubhouse managers; I said it was “a fairly common clubhouse racket.” Batboys and clubbies get fired for it, etc. Is it rampant? Nah. Does it happen? You bet.

    I understand it happens. I thought “fairly common” was a little unfair.My point was the majority are honest men who work insane hours.

    Hmmmm. I’ve got an autographed Reds team bat from oh, say, 97. I wonder where it came from. I know! The clubhouse! Same for my treasured-so-soft-it-must-be-spun-from-the-looms-of-the-gods red Coolmax© T with ’46’ faintly written on the tag (Pete Schourek) and my amazingly cool and now long gone red/gray/white Nike Air Zoom Turf’s which fit like…a…glove.

    The issue for the Mets is not the color black or blue, it is green. Black gives the licensing arm that many more products to sell. Until that well dries up and the Mets see diminishing returns where it is not incrementally adding to the coffers, there will be black hats, jerseys, tees for YEARS.

    Given that Nike breaks a black jersey out for teams in college with NO black in the official color schemes, this will continue. Money is a powerful thing. BFBS should really be BF$S.

    Charlie Samuels leaving will not have an impact on whether the Mets wear black. I do think with the hiring of Alderson that “Jeffey” will have a diminished role in the player personnel area and I can also see that he would want to have some say of what goes on in all other aspects of the organization- why not the laundry room? Want to get rid of black, go after Wilpon.

    On a side note, anybody know where I can reach Charlie, I want to put a c-note on the Giants on Sunday…

    I read some stuff on Twitter from fantabulous cartoonist Michael Kupperman about getting stiffed on payment for work he did on Eggers’ THE BELIEVER magazine. I have no doubt that it’s true (that’s not a claim a well-known professional such as Kupperman would put out willy-nilly), but I hope Eggers had nothing to do with it.

    Regarding the “no-contact” jerseys for QBs, on the Cardinals the offense wears white jerseys and the defense wears red jerseys. So Kurt Warner isn’t even wearing a “no-contact” jersey.

    link

    Sparky Anderson’s death popped a childhood memmory of mine from the 75 world series. If you read the story in the link regarding the indoor practice at Tufts University, there is a photo out there of Sparky leading the team off the bus at Cousins Gym in Medford. The picture was on the front page of the Medford Mecury. I could swear the bus was a MBTA (public) bus which makes the story funnier.

    As a 10 year old back then, the fact that a team from the in process world series practiced in your town was a big deal.

    I like Mark Penxa’s art. I do not care for his confusion of “it’s” and “its,” however.

    I assumed that was a deliberate poke at Paul and his concern with apostrophe catastrophes. I own a few Penxa works, and along with one drawing Mark sent me an “outtake” from the original Stealing Signs series; the outtake had a grammar mistake, which I assume is why it didn’t make the cut. The few examples of grammatical mistakes in the series appeared to represent spoken vernacular in the “voice” of the subject, not errors by the artist.

    Hey, Paul, it’s your wall that you plan to hang it on. I’m guessing you’ll get a little worn-out from pedantic visitors (like us!) pointing out the error. “It’s not really a mistake, I’m pretty sure, but a kind of a send-up of crazed obsessives on proper apostrophe deployment.” No doubt you’ll make it snappier.

    I’d guess that Jude has it right: unintentional error. Good thing Mark doesn’t read this stuff.

    My favorite quote from the World Series Game 1 illustrations:

    “We didn’t exactly want to go to Philly. We’re Rangers fans. We’ve already endured a lot.”

    Wild speculation not so much about Mr. Samuels personally as about anyone in his position: If an equipment manager were involved in gambling, and if he did have sway over what uniforms his team wore on any given day, wouldn’t that give him a unique ability to signal to gambling interests? Now, to be truly effective, such a racket would have to have others in on the take – the equipment manager can send a signal by dressing a team in black caps instead of blue, but he would have nothing to signal unless a player or coach were also involved to fix the game. But say you wanted to know whether a given player were playing hurt or still suffering from a nagging injury or whatever; that’s information the equipment manager could know that the press might not and that the equipment manager could therefore signal by choice of uniform. You know, like, if the Mets wear blue caps the day before Johan starts, then Johan’s shoulder is still tight or whatever.

    Pretty far-fetched, but at least plausible enough for fiction, and the thing is that actual crime is usually more far-fetched than crime novels give credit for.

    i know guys like that…i grew up with them…i was the fat kid they wouldn’t let play.

    sit down, fat boy“…that’s what they’d say…”sit down, maybe you’ll learn something” … well, i learned something alright

    Another thing the equip manager might know is whether a given player is using illegal equipment on a given day – is a batter using his corked bat today, or does the pitcher have the emery patch on his glove today, or whatever. What I don’t know is whether a uniform signal about the state of a given player or team would help gamblers betting on that game; or do gamblers need inside info signaled further in advance than the national anthem?

    Two high school soccer teams in Delaware wore jerseys with the same “B+” (pronounced “Be Positive”, I believe) logo on them to support a local charity.

    Photo can be found on the organization’s Facebook page:
    link

    And here’s a news story about the game that mentions the unis:
    link

    Also, check out the blue turf.

    On the subject of wearing baseball caps in the house, I do it fairly often, but if I’m wearing one, I always take it off for mealtime.

    More specifically, I take it off if I’m sitting down for a meal with the family. I usually don’t bother if I’m just grabbing a sandwich for myself or if I’m dishing out mac & cheese for the kids.

    If I’m doing some serious cooking, I’ll typically wear a hat. One of the only times I’ll wear one backwards. Maybe the only time, since I don’t do much umpiring anymore, and I never did get a short-billed cap.

    Uh-oh… Chris Kluwe of the Vikings just tweeted that they’re pulling out the purple pants and will be doing their Grimace impersonations on Sunday:

    link

    Any chance we could have that equipment manager arrested too? Personally, I think the purple pants are a secret code to Vegas gambling rackets to let them know that the Vikes are going to lose by more than the point spread. Coincidentally, the white pants mean the same thing.

    This is why the Mets are evil…too many uniform choices = too much temptation.

    With the Yankees, it’s simple and pure. Pinstripes at home, grays on the road.

    :)

    Nah, there’s really no chance for legally actionable consumer confusion between Walgreens and the Nats. It’s not like anyone will be so confused by the logos that they’ll try to get their prescriptions filled at Nationals Park instead of Walgreen’s. In fact, the Nats logo is probably a benefit to Walgreen’s, since any goodwill fans attach to the logo could subconsciously lead a person to favor Walgreen’s. There’s a reason mom-and-pop stores and independent contractors in NYC so often rip off the Yankees logo! The Wegman’s thing is a much more legitimate legal claim, and one I’d definitely try to litigate were I Walgreen’s, since Wegman’s offers vastly superior pharmacy services. If a customer goes to Wegman’s by accident to fill his prescription on account of logo confusion, Walgreen’s is never getting that customer back.

    A shame Wegman’s didn’t go back to their link instead of “updating” it with an anodyne modernization. Also a shame that the Wegman’s across the street from me still has that awful 1970s-2000s logo where the W is just an upside-down lowercase “m”. I have to look at that thing every day; I’d much rather see the script.

    Dare I say as a Nats fan that after watching them I often want to hit up a Walgreens? FWIW I often get teased by Phillies fans about my Walgreens baseball caps.

    As a Nats fan, after watching a Nats game, I often want to knock over a Walgreen’s. But that sort of pointless violence is best left to Phillies fans.

    The term “anti-concussion” is dangerous in itself. As a football coach for over a decade, I can tell you there is no such thing. Concussions are not a standard thing. I have seen players take hits that cracked a shell and played the rest of the game with a new helmet, and I have seen guys barely grazed that just go lights out. It is the players brain that decides whether there will be a concussion or not…not a helmet. None of the helmet manufacturers will use that term because of liability issues, and this guy will be wearing a helmet, that although improved, is far from concussion proof.

    “because it’s plain ridiculous that I haven’t been able to have a relationship with the equipment manager of my favorite team.”

    Seriously? Are you kidding me?

    Let me rephrase: It is plain ridiculous that the only sportswriter who covers the uniform/equipment beat on a full-time basis, who has good working relationships with equipment mangers on many teams in many leagues, can’t even have a working relationship with the equipment manager on his favorite team, which is headquartered a few miles from the writer’s house.

    That seemed perfectly clear to me the first time around (taken in context, of course) … you done real good.

    ^ Well said.

    If anybody else said that, yeah, probably just a shade on the ridiculous side. The one-and-only Paul Lukas? Not your average cat in the uni-world, donchya know.

    re: cleats in the logo…

    Not as a free-standing design component, but in the Orioles’ classic bird-swinging-a-bat logo the bird’s cleats are prominently on display.

    Re: “cleats in the logo”, here’s a comment/question:

    I grew up playing baseball in the ’70’s and ’80’s, and we wore “spikes”. I was taught that baseball players wear “spikes” and football players (and other sports) wear “cleats”. The material used to form the “spike” or “cleat”, i.e. metal, plastic, rubber, was irrelevant. It was a clear distinction, and it has bothered me for years to watch baseball or read about baseball and see the word “cleats” used to describe what, to me, are absolutely, unequivocally “spikes”.
    Does anyone else know about this, or do I have grievance to air with my father at this year’s Festivus?

    It’s a fair point, but the lines have become blurred in recent years because 10 guys on the same team can be wearing 10 different kinds of footwear.

    When I hear “spikes” it think of track & field/cross country footwear, because they actually do have little spikes on them, and because that is what the people involved in the sport called them. Baseball has always been cleats to me, granted I’m a younger guy. The main reason being I wore soccer cleats for every sport I played growing up; soccer, baseball, and football.

    I thought the same thing. Maybe they turned it to avoid that one corner getting so close tot he dugout.

    Back in ye olde tymes, part of the south end zone actually was link.

    Nowadays, link in that corner because they have added seats just to the east of where that dugout ends and they built out the brick wall so it’s flush with the front of the dugout.

    Northwestern put up a graphic when it was first announced:

    link

    Yes, the field it turned 90 degrees from the Bears days there, and yes, both teams will be out in left field. Also, whoever made the graphic was also able to “purplize” the crowd!

    link

    I don’t think there was enough time between the decision to wear them and game time for Miss St. to send decals. (Possibly Miss St. sent them the old ones). If you search for the decals you’ll only find ones featuring the old logo available to the general public.

    link

    It’s not unusual that a team will change their logos but take their time phasing out the old one (in case the new one isn’t liked, to avoid making inventory obsolete, or because of licensing issues). So it makes sense that they would still be selling or have in stock the old logos.

    I’m glad Georgia Tech did it I just wish the game result wouldn’t have been so bad for us (losing a game we were dominating/ losing our Sr. QB for the season (he may be able to play in a bowl game)).

    I also wish I could have seen what the decal was as I was limited to watching it in my apartment on my $20 thrift-store bought TV. Would have been nice to know about the sentiment the team was showing during the game instead of wondering whether it was a ‘N’ or ‘M” (and what it stood for). RIP 36.

    i miss the uni’s the Mets wore in ’86. particularly, the home jerseys with those brilliant stripes running down the sides. i recently bought a replica for my cousin who’s a huge fan (via MLB Cooperstown Collection) and i gotta say, they still look amazing today(pardon the pun).

    and im a Yanks fan.

    If by awful you mean link, then link. There is not an angle at which those uniforms are anything other than sweet. Same goes for the link and their link. link too. It’s a uni feature that it’s an absolute crime a couple of teams don’t wear right now.

    If not the Mets, who should absolutely go back to racing stripes, then I’d nominate the Nats, Indians, Astros, or the new-look Miami Marlins for racing stripe adoption.

    Paul, where do you stand on branding rights, like with MLB and Brooklyn Burgers. Anecdotally, it seems you dislike the giant entities going against small businesses. To what degree do you think fonts and emblems and logos should be protected by the leagues. Is there a line that can safely be drawn? You’ve articulated very thoughtful arguments on other issues–I’m curious about where you stand on this one.

    Leaving aside the legal specifics of this case, which I’m not equipped to assess, I have very little sympathy for the Dodgers having any claim to anything Brooklyn-related, given that they deserted the borough more than half a century ago. Yes, they may own the trademark to this or the copyright on that, but fuck that. You ran out on us, you broke our hearts, you lose any legitimacy when it comes to Brooklyn.

    But at the same time, I’m really tired of every brand under the sun trying to latch onto Brooklyn like the name is some sort of all-purpose badge of authenticity. I mean, really, what the hell does “Brooklyn Burger” even signify? Brooklyn isn’t known for burgers — it’s known for hot dogs. And Brooklyn Burgers aren’t sold at retail outlets, aside from stadiums and arenas, so it’s not like the brand has any history or cred. It’s a bogus brand created by a meat wholesaler specifically to service the live sports market.

    To those of us who actually LIVE in Brooklyn, this whole thing reeks. Screw the Dodgers, and if I want a burger I’ll grind up some chuck and make one myself.

    Big news that I’m sure will make Paul want to vomit. The Vikings are reportedly going to go purple on purple Sunday according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune. They report that this is the first time they’ve done this since December 17, 2007.

    Maybe the simplest answer is the correct one.

    My theory – Samuels wasn’t using uniform choices to signal gamblers. Instead, bookies were taking bets on which uniform would be worn on a given day, and Samuels was the inside source.

    You can bet on anything these days, right.

    Found another amazing story. Oregon’s basketball team, not to be outdone by it’s football program, has unveiled their brand new floor for the upcoming season. In one word: disaster.

    link

    I’m not sure what’s going on. Is the floor bleached out? Is that the deal? Are there fraternity letters? What is it?

    There are trees surrounding the court. Because Oregon has a lot of trees in it. I think. Here’s part of their official statement:

    “Its inspired by our beautiful tree-covered region and the UO 1939 NCAA Championship basketball team nicknamed the ‘Tall Firs.’”

    I suppose it’s unique. But to what end?

    That’s…ah…um…

    No.

    From a distance it looks like a big bleach stain. Once I saw the details up close, I softened my opinion on the floor, but not by much. As you said, Ben, it seems as if the hoops team doesn’t want to be outdone by the football team. Makes me shudder to think what the football team will do to counter.

    I feel a floor tweak coming on.

    Hmm, and instead of the usual arrows by the yard-line numbers, they could have little pine trees pointing towards the goal line.

    not such a far-fetched idea Jim, ASU used to have pitchforks next to the numbers at Sun Devil Stadium.

    Here is a closer photo of the court’s design(s): link

    Here is a closer image of the mid-court logo: link

    The arena is named after the late Matthew Knight – son of Nike’s Phil – who died in a scuba accident.

    Here is a video of Nike’s Tinker Hatfield talking about the court: link

    I like it better than a giant bank logo or soda logo. Also, it reminds me of the Pittsburgh Pisces: link

    I think Tinker was watching Bob Ross re-runs when he came up with the design: link

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