Paul here, giving Phil the day off. Remember that patch that the Cards and Royals were gonna wear during their interleague series to support relief efforts for twister-ravaged Joplin, Missouri? It’s turned out to be the biggest MLB sleeve patch in recent memory. Not only that, but the Royals were already wearing patches on both sleeves (team logo on the left, Paul Splittorff memorial on the right), so they’re wearing the Joplin patch in an odd spot.
Meanwhile, reader Caleb Yorks reports that at least six Cardinals went high-cuffed with striped hose yesterday, a hexbreaker move to help break the team’s losing streak. Since they won, look for a repeat performance today.
No woodland creatures were harmed in the making of today’s “Benchies” — or at least that’s the party line (click on the strip to see the full-sized version).
And that’s it for today. I assume many of you will either be spending your day with your dad or at least thinking about him, as I’ll be thinking about mine. In particular, I’ll always remember Father’s Day 1973, which I wrote about several years ago. In case you missed it, look here. Everyone enjoy your time with your families, and I’ll see you tomorrow — Paul
KC couldn’t put the patch on the right chest instead of the left? Putting it on the low side of the rising “Kansas City” script would at least have made it less crowded. Or, move the Splittorff memorial to the chest for a few nights. The Royals are my team and I love ’em, but they really make some openly stupid decisions.
Mick looks great in today’s “Benchies”, I really like his attire ;)
Thanks Ricko!
Agreed! Today’s Benchies was hilarious, great job once again Ricko.
That outfit sure is snazzy too, nice to see it in a strip huh Mako?!
Yikes, Kansas City’s uni is starting to look like s European club hockey team – and the patch itself, looks like something brought to you by IHOP.
link
I agree that the patch is big, but I like it. I’ll give them a pass on size and measure, and allow for good intentins for a good cause. The patch, on it’s own, is not bad I lie it. I like the graphics, and again, I like the cause.
It is a helluva lot better than the hat accessorizations with WS patches and company logos and the rest ….
M.Zupon flip the patches like you said or go with a smaller patch on the side of the cap!
As a resident of Joplin, MO. I could care less if the patch could be seen from space. It is for a great cause and hopefully because of their efforts many people in need will get the help they deserve. Sometimes there are more importanat things than atlethic aesthetics. The patch will be removed and soon forgotten, but the people in Joplin can’t forget as it is something we face everyday as we attempt to rebuild our city.
Do you really think that patch is going to do anything?
Why couldn’t the teams just both give a rather large chunk of money to the city to use however it’s needed? What point does the patch serve? Hey, look at us, we care – while accomplishing what?
I believe they’ll be auctioning off the game-worn, patch-adorned jerseys, with all revenue going to Joplin.
Well I suppose that’s something. I wonder how much they paid to design and manufacture the patch vs how much they’ll actually raise from selling the jerseys.
They’re also auctioning off Joplin hats signed by yesterdays starters for both teams.
The patch itself may not be doing anything per say, but it is what it represents and the attention it brings to the plight of the people of Joplin. And as Pual stated they are autioning off the jerseys, plus they are auctioning off several packages (such as V.I.P. access to a game, etc…)with all proceeds going to victims of the tornado. So yes they are do something, in fact several members of the Cardinals came down here a few weeks ago and donated money in an effort to help rebuild the baseballs fields that were destroyed. Come down here and see the devastation for yourself and you will soon realise every lit bit helps, even if it was an eyesore to you.
But I digress, maybe I’m too close the to the situation to be reasonable about the topic. Sorry for anything that may have seemed like and attack on you or anyone else.
During Friday night’s telecast they were having the auction of several packages including a pitching lesson with Kyle McClellan, some primo seats to an upcoming series, something with LaRussa, and about five others. When I was watching the current bids for each package were between $5,000 and $11,000. They were prominently displaying the logo on the screen every few minutes and it related well to the patch on the jerseys. McLaughlin and Hrabosky had a number of Joplin people in the booth and put them on the air. I felt, for being thrown together, it was very smooth and professional. It being an all Missouri game and disaster, this made me proud and is raising a bunch of money.
That all being said, yes, the patch was not pleasing to the uniform of either team in size or design. But sometimes that is okay. It made it stand out even more. When I first tuned in, the patch was the first thing I saw and made me immediately say “what is that!”. Well I soon found out. I consider it a good piece of bad design and would love to own one of those jerseys. Especially a Royals one with it being in an awkward location.
And finally, more Cardinals going high cuffed! With their required sock stripes, I must say….ABOUT FRICKING TIME!
I think Dan or Jim Hayes said that they made over $100,000 from that auction and all of it went to Joplin.
It’s not real important, but who designed the patch to be so much Cardinals’ colors? Couldn’t the state have been white so it wasn’t a Cardinals patch on the Royals’ blue unis? And why not leave it on for the remainder of the season or until Joplin is reasonably rebuilt? Wouldn’t 25 cents from each ticket sold while the patch is remembering the city be reasonable? How about increasing the ticket price by 25 cents and make the donations matching? That could make around $1,200,000 for the remainder of the season. That’d be nice and pretty easy on every one. #chancesmissed
Thought you might. :)
Well, that was supposed to be a reply to Mako.
This…
link
…looks SO much better than the Giants “soccer ref” socks.
happy father’s day all
thanks for the day off paul!
peace
PH
More evidence of the importance of merchandise sales in sports. It’s almost as if the Football team is the loss leader. I’ve copied the following couple of paragraphs from the Globe&Mail.
Off it, the Riders posted a club-record profit of $6.6-million, the club announced Saturday at its annual general meeting.
Craig Reynolds, Saskatchewan’s chief financial officer, said in his report the club also $38-million in total gross revenues in 2010.
The Roughriders also received record revenue from ticket sales last year. Not only did the club sell out all of its regular-season games, but total gate receipts were $11.3-million, surpassing last year’s record total by 9 per cent.
Saskatchewan’s season-ticket base continued to grow, increasing in 2010 by 8 per cent from the season before.
The Roughriders’ stellar performance on the field was clearly reflected in their merchandise sales. The Riders exceeded $10.3-million in merchandise revenue, a whopping 45 per cent increase from the record $7.1-million total registered in 2009.
Heck at this point it’s almost circular. You need to sell more to pay for better players… and you need to have better players in order to sell more.
I like the CFL, and it appears the league as a whole is in a stronger position financially today as opposed to the past.
Would like to see the sponsor label removed from the team jerseys, but it may be too late to reverse course on that one.
Has it been determined what the new Ottawa franchise will be called? Also heard Calgary will be wearing a black road helmet this year, unfortunately.
I saw the Black “road” helmet posted here – it is a waste of space. Plain Black helmet, no stripes or trim, simple logo. Looks like the Arkanas State JV team. Waste of time. They could have done alot better with it, or, have done beter by wearing their one good helmet for each game.
Somewhere, somebody likes this. The same people that like the Saints Black Leotard pants, that would be more appropriately worn by Jackass Junior College’s JV team ….
The Stampeders wearing a black helmet? That’s downright un
AmericanCanadian.12 percent of the league already wears a link I’m assuming when Ottawa returns they’ll wear black as well, which means 22 percent of the league will be black-topped. Throw in the occasional link and this new Stamps helmet, and we’re talking a pandemic of black helmet fever. This plague must be halted. After all, if the CFL is the only football you’re going to see this fall, you want to be able to tell the teams apart, eh?
Calgary just needs to ditch the black and proudly wear the colors of the national flag.
movi
with the way most of the cfl unis look, wearing a black lid is the least of your worries
Especially Calgary’s. Used to be my 2nd favorite team. Probably still are, but their unis are by far the worst of the new bunch.
Some teams actually look better than ever these days, for instance Edmonton. But man, the Stamps are almost unwatchable.
According to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Holliday went hi-cuffed in HOF’er Red Schoendienst’s pants. They fit his waist, but were short enough to show his hose. No word on when Red will get his pants back.
link
The Cards and Royals also took BP wearing Joplin HS hats.
8 of the starting 9 for the Rays today are high cuffed with striped stirrups!
Looks like the Royals couldn’t put the Joplin patch on the right shoulder because that’s where the Father’s Day ribbon was supposed to go. The Cardinals have it above the bird on the left side of their jersey.
It’s time to take the team script off the chest. That’s primo space they could use telling people how to feel. And those numbers on the back? One big fuckin’ ribbon. That’s what I see there.
You’ve been warned:
(link)
That’ll be easy whenever the Nats go to pre-WWII throwbacks.
Nice to finally see the Cardinals show their stripes, but seeing socks instead of stirrups seem cheap or 2nd hand. At least they’re not looking like Colby Rasmus did in San Diego, with plain red socks, and pants looking like they were found in the back of the closet.
I really hate the ‘individual discretion’ given to these guys. I really think in a few years someone will decide to play without a cap, and that will spread throughout the league. Then this site will become dedicated to baseball caps and how great they looked, the wonderful logos on them, and the ticker will be filled with items like “guess who went capped last night in Philadelphia” and other such bullshit.
Agreed.
I just posted a fuller description of my design that Paul selected for the ESPN.com Uni Watch feature link.
Thanks again to Paul and everyone who votes for me.
I like the patch, even if it’s a little big, but at least it’s for a good cause. However, KC’s equipment manager needs to get his head checked and put the patches on the right chest of the jersey, not the left. Or, is it even that big of a deal to remove the KC Royals patch (or with the size of it, put the Joplin patch over the Royals patch)?
Hopefully there won’t be another one, but better luck next time, KC.
Today’s Benchies reminds me of the one and only Roman Maroni:
link
That Joplin patch is HUGE for sure but why couldn’t they put a star or something to indicate where Joplin is on the map?
Daniel Descalso was the only one to wear proper hosiery. But at least stripped socks are better than nothing.
link
Anybody hear about the NCAA not allowing Maryland basketball so much logo creep by UA?