By Phil Hecken
Today we’ll be taking a look at the eleventh set of uniform submissions for the Lewis & Clark Design-a-Uniform Contest, for the team known as the “Voyagers.” If you’re not familiar with the contest, please give that a read. The contest’s creator, W. Ross Clites will be asking readers to design uniforms for all of the teams in the Lewis & Clark League, and thus far we’ve asked for submissions for all twelve teams. We’ve looked at the “Captains,” “Diplomats,” “Explorers,” “Governors,” “Lookouts,” “Navigators,” “Pathfinders,” “Pioneers,” and “Travelers,” “Voyagers,” and today we’ll see submissions for the “Rivermen.”
One last team has been put to readers for concepts, the Settlers. If you’d like to submit your concept for the final team, the deadline for the Settlers is Wednesday, May 14. Tomorrow, Ross will be unveiling the second half of the winning designs for the 2014 Lewis & Clark Baseball League (exciting stuff), so make sure to check back in then!
At this point I’ll turn it over to Ross, who will go over the guidelines for voting, and then I’ll be back with some final words before we take a look at the entries from our contestants. Here’s Ross (these guidelines will likely accompany each set of voting):
Alright boys and girls, here is how the voting is going to go for each Lewis & Clark Baseball League team:
1. The hierarchy of importance goes primary logo, then uniform design, and then all rest (i.e. hat design, secondary logos, etc.) Cast a vote for the design with your favorite primary logo, first and foremost. Do not fault someone for going outside the design guidelines. Changing a wordmark or adding a third color is not a disqualifier for good thought process.
2. Your votes will take the field of applicants down to a final two per team.
3. We, the LCBL Executive Board will make the final decision on the winning proposal. However — and this is big — design is never complete and collaboration is paramount to success. We will likely settle on a combination of the final two submissions. We might love the logo of one, but prefer the jersey scheme of the other. In this, you will both be winners with full prizes to ensue. The possibility does exist for a total victory, of sorts. One designer could present the best looking jersey, logo, hat, and all the rest. Do not get offended when your submission gets handed back to you with redlined edits. We hate to hand out homework to the winning look, but tweaks may be requested. It is a studio project and not a math equation; the “right” answer takes some massaging of details.
4. With permission from both finalists, our graphics department will meld the two submissions together (if necessary) and place it in our common platform. This is done as a common denominator showcase for all twelve to look uniform when the contest has reached its end.
5. Someone, not even in the top two, could see an element (such as an awesome secondary logo) appear in the final iteration. We would never select the winner based solely on a minor design element, but we will also not let it go to waste. In this, all submissions could be part of a bigger design team. This contest — and frankly this site — was created to identify the best possible combinations of logos and materials in the sports world. This rarely comes from one person’s mind; we will reward any of those that play a part in making our on-field product the best it can be.
Thanks, Ross. A few words about the submissions below:
Some of the contestants sent one single image, others sent multiple images. Some contestants sent descriptions (in some cases, very lengthy ones), others had little or no description. In an effort to make the voting as fair as possible, I have put those who sent multiple images into one single image, and no descriptions of the uniforms will follow.
If you’d like to see all the entries for the RiverMen and their write-ups/descriptions, I have hosted the entire set on Flickr. Keeping in mind Ross’ rules for voting, you may use these as an additional guide in determining which submission(s) you think are the best.
The submissions will be in alphabetical order and voting will follow. You may vote for any three of the concepts below. You may click on any image to enlarge. OK? OK. Here we go:
Matt Blinco:
Brandon Coleman:
Tim Fesmire:
Ryan Foose:
Toby Jaroslaw:
Denver King:
Kevin McLaughlin:
Bryan Molloy:
Bryan Phillips:
Will Sinnott:
Bill Smith:
OK, readers. That’s quite an impressive set of contributions! Now it’s time for you to vote. You’ll be allowed to vote for up to THREE (3) submissions. You may wish to scroll up for one more viewing, and write down your favorites.
And now it’s your turn! Make sure to vote for your favorites and let all of the concepters know what you think of their designs. They all put a great deal of effort into this, so tell them how they did (and lobby for your favorites, if you wish).
Thanks to all the submitters ”” we’ll be back next weekend at which time Ross will reveal the winner(s) and how they will adapt the design for the Lewis & Clark league!
Coming This Memorial Day…
This started out as a ticker item, but it deserves its own section. In a sign of what is to come for all MLB teams on Memorial Day, early yesterday the Mets’ revealed their Memorial Day cap. Note the orange brim (which is for Memorial Day) — and how that differs from the Mets other camo cap, (which they’ve worn with their new camo tops), and which will be worn 4 more times this year (Mets stuff via Shannon Shark of Mets Police).
So, thanks to the militarization of a day we honor our war dead, the Mets have two camo caps this year. Because one is certainly not enough to show the Mets love of our military.
Shortly after the Mets camo was revealed, Paul sent me this showing more Memorial Day camo. Paul adds, “I find it so odd that they keep calling these ‘Stars and Stripes’ caps, even when there are no stars or stripes. It’s like they’re saying, ‘That’s our branding and we’re sticking to it, even if it doesn’t make sense anymore’.”
They’re NOT ‘Stars and Stripes’ caps — they’re CAMO caps, plain and simple — because of the ratchet created five-ish years ago with this promotion, MLB needs to keep feeding the “patriotic” beast. Nevermind that the day isn’t about veterans or our current military, but a day when we give pause and pray for those whose lives were LOST to military combat. I’ve been pissed off about this crass treatment of what should be a somber day for years. Read that if you’re not familiar.
It’s not even worth going off on a rant about the camo caps — they’re not in the least bit attractive, but at least when they’re worn under the guise of honoring the active military (who might actually need camo), I can understand it. When these things are worn on Memorial Day, it’s too much. If MLB wants to honor those who gave their lives in the sacrifice of the United States on Memorial Day, a simple black armband or even a flag affixed to the current cap is a much more dignified way to do it. But then, those actions wouldn’t move more merch, so out come new camo caps (remember, this isn’t even the first year of the camo — they’ve ratcheted it up again). I don’t know if the teams will, “honor the military” again with camo tops (last year, some were so good as to be unreadable — now THAT’S camo for you), but I’m hearing that they will — only it won’t JUST be on white and gray tops — this year they may add the camo lettering/numbering to the softball tops.
Let me make one thing perfectly clear — I have nothing against the military, veterans, or honoring the military per se (we actually have official holidays for the latter, and Armed Forces Day for the former) — but that is NOT what Memorial Day is about — it’s a day to remember the fallen. Teams already do a bang-up job of honoring the military, but conflating Memorial Day with honoring active duty and vets is NOT what Memorial Day is about (it’s also not about barbeques, the kickoff of summer and 50% off sales either, but those ships have already sailed).
I know it will fall on deaf ears to request MLB to ratchet it down and have a simple, somber gesture for Memorial Day. But I won’t stop trying.
U.W.F.F.L. Spring League
UWFFL Spring 2014 – Week 9
By Rob Holecko
We are back with another week of competition in our 2014 Spring Developmental League. Our thanks go out to all of you who took the time to vote last weekend. Today we present to you another full slate of fourteen games to vote on, including this spotlight game, a matchup of undefeated teams, as the Staten Island Swordfish (4-0) travel out east to Newfoundland, eh, to take on the St. John’s Stingers (3-0).
Be sure to head over to https://www.uwfantasyfootballleague.com to vote on the other thirteen games, and we’ll see you next week.
Uni Watch News Ticker:
Baseball News: Buried down in this article is a note that having Mr. Met on their alternate blue jersey is a uniform infraction, since Official Baseball Rule 1.11 (e): “No part of the uniform shall include a pattern that imitates or suggests the shape of a baseball.” (nice find by Michael Lopez). … The Southern Maryland Blue Crabs, an independent Atlantic League team, have a new logo (h/t Josh Owens). … “We’ve got some interesting new uniforms in Arizona high school baseball that I thought you might be interested in,” writes George Adams. “This is my school, Saguaro HS. I thought we were early adopters of the 1983 White Sox jerseys and hats and therefore were unique but there were quite a few others who went that route this year. By the way, we went with a green stripe in our stirrups to honor our equipment manager (whose favorite color was green): Liberty vs. Sandra Day O’Connor; Another version of Sandra Day O’ Connor; A yellow uniform featured by Marcos de Niza; Finally, here’s an old school (really old school) uniform by Valley Vista High; As you can see, we’ve got quite a palette of uniforms in the Arizona high school ranks.” … The Red Blue Jays honored their military by wearing red caps yesterday, not camo. Why do the Canadians hate the troops so much? … Sometime-stirrup show-er Brad Miller went high-cuffed in the opening game of a double-header, and low-cuffed in the second half of the double-dip (nice spot by Brock Towler). Says Brock, “He kept that look throughout Game 1, but during the intermission, he changed his mind, reemerging for Game 2 in full pajama pants. This probably isn’t the first time something like this has happened. There are probably instances of players switching during a game. This is the first time I remembered noticing it, though, & thanks to Uni-Watch, it couldn’t have been more glaring.” … ESPN’s Steve Wulf examined MLB bases and how they’ve caused injury. Says Mike, “Full disclosure: tl;dr.” … UK went semi GI Joe with camo hats for the game against Auburn last night (thanks to Chad Back). … Check out this Wilmington Blue Rocks 2014 cap with CAL / CAR All-Star Game logo patch (via Mike Diodati). … Check out these two BEAUTS from Chance Michaels (via Sully): From the Borchert Field archives, a gorgeous 1944 Milwaukee Brewers pocket schedule, and this patch worn on the dugout jackets of the Brewers in 1942! … So glad this fad is back: here’s the Tigers grounds crew wearing zubaz pants (h/t Tim McCabe) — that prompted Clint Schultz to note that the A’s revived the zubaz last year — which they were doing in the 1990s. People: NOTHING GOOD CAME OUT OF THE 90s, OK? And that includes uniform design (*awaits rebuttals from THE Jeff and Jim Vilk*).
NFL News: Usually articles on the Washington football team are reserved for ‘skins Watch, but this one sent in by TommyTheCPA details LaVar Arrington’s efforts to promote himself as a ‘Redskins great’ — which the team isn’t too pleased with, so the team recently sent him a cease-and-desist letter about a flier for his football tackling camps that refers to him as a “Redskins great” and includes a photo of him in a Redskins uniform. While not the biggest dickish move the team has made involving the use of their name, you’d think anyone (especially a former player) who wants to use the name in a positive light would get the green light to do so. … Moments after their names were announced, most of the top 2014 draft picks had mock-ups hitting Twitter of their first rookie cards. Interesting that while the unis were blank, Nike logos were still on there, as were the (very obvious) adidas ‘tread mark’ jersey patterns. … The Lions have failed to update their endzone carpet for the podium. Says submitter Paul Kuzdal: “We can’t even get that right! Lol Same old Lions.” … According to the interweb LeBron already has a Johnny Football Browns jersey (thanks, Mike).
College Football News: Yesterday, BYU officially unveiled their three “home alternate” uniforms, but if you look at this photo, it appears the logo has a raised Y (nice spot by Andrew Lopez).
Hockey News: Here’s an article about a neat little Pittsburgh company that does jersey work for every major professional sports team in town, including the Penguins (nice find by Paul Wood). … An article from the San Francisco Gate firmly places the SJ Sharks loss in the first round on the fact that they wore their alternate black, rather than standard teal, jerseys (scroll down). … A third grader drew a giant Blackawks logo in chalk (thanks Mike). He adds, “Looks really good. He must have had help.”
Soccer News: “Looks like Bolton Wanderers (England, Football League championship) are getting their elephant back on their shirts,” writes Joe Hollomon. “Personally, I didn’t know they even had an elephant, but a quick search online indeed shows an elephant was part of their crest for at least a few decades. The crest images are near the bottom of this page.” … Judging by the following tweet, MLS expansion side Orlando City SC is preparing to announce its kit (or at least colors), and “boy I bet YOU’RE (Paul) excited!!!” says Markus Kamp. … The leak was reported yesterday, but now it’s official: Bayern Munich have unveiled their 2014-15 home jersey.
College Hoops News: This is a shame: Russ Smith’s jersey from the Cardinals’ NCAA title was thrown in the trash (that sad bit of news comes to us from Josh Claywell).
Grab Bag: Usually the simplest logo is the best choice in design. Usually. But not always. Here’s an example of the latter (thanks, Brinke). Also from =bg=, what happens when a photographer purchases an old Russian space suit in an auction? Sometimes, hilarity ensues. … “Spot the swoosh,” intones Patrick Walsh “Nothing like a Nike logo to reinforce the traditional pastime of…bull-vaulting?” … Pope Francis blesses the Maglia Rosa, the pink jersey worn by the leader of the Tour of Italy, which started in Ireland on Friday. … Gregory Koch writes, “Recently, Rand Paul gave a speech at The Leadership institute in a baseball uniform that said “Republicans” because he went there directly after practice for the Congressional baseball game and didn’t have time to change. Now, Reason, a libertarian-leaning magazine and website, has published an article about whether Rand or Ron did a better job wearing baseball uniforms.” He adds, “On a side note, does the fact that Rand’s jersey said “Republicans” indicate that the team jerseys in this year’s Congressional Baseball game will have party names rather than team names? Or is this just a practice jersey?” … Our Aussie Rules (I think) uni watcher, Leo Strawn, Jr. checks in with here’s the 4th Indigenous Round jumper to be released, Adelaide Crows. “Here’s a shot of the back of the guernsey. That’s 4 down, 14 to go, and with the Indigenous Round slated to begin at the end of May, the remainder of the clubs should start announcing their designs very soon.”
That’s going to do it for today, folks. I’ll be off the grid for the majority of the day (opening the summer place) — so it’s possible there will either be no ticker tomorrow, or Paul will be compiling it. But there will be a full Mom’s day post, so make sure you check back in then.
Follow me on Twitter @PhilHecken.
Peace.
“The modern camouflage pattern on MLB’s new Memorial Day caps is the perfect way to honor the memory of my World War II veteran grandfather!”
–BvK1126
As it’s Saturday and Paul’s not writing today’s entry, I don’t have to suffer through his political nonsense. Instead, I get to suffer through MLB’s.
Dammit MLB, you ruined my Saturday.
And yeah, the “Mr. Met is a uniform infraction” thing has been in the comments here at least ten times. Paul might have even mentioned it once or twice.
Re: camo caps
Don’t overthink it. They may be couching this in terms of patriotism, but it comes down to marketing and making money. You can’t get the lemmings to fork over $35 a pop for a black band sewn onto the sleeve of an MLB game jersey. There are way too many people in love with wearing camo (particularly those who have never served their country), and this allows them to combine their poor sense of fashion with their favorite MLB team. Win-win for all – except the athletics aesthetics crowd.
They could still sell the stupid things without wearing them in a game.
Or they could just wear them in the game (you know, for the patriotism) and not sell them.
Or MLB could just scrap the whole thing altogether and leave camo to the military, where it belongs. (Nah, what am I thinking? That’s just crazy talk..)
If Mr. Met is a violation, so is Mr. Red. Personally, I don’t think either is a violation, as the proximity of the rest of the characters’ bodies takes away any suggestion that they’re baseballs.
The entire rule is just dumb. If you can’t tell the difference between a sleeve patch and the baseball in the pitcher’s hand, how did you make it to the Majors in the first place? And if seeing the ball is that important, why are white jerseys and white balls standard? Shouldn’t white jerseys be banned, or baseballs be neon green?
I thought that the balls had some sort of mud applied to them so they weren’t as stark white as when first removed from the box, no?
Even competition-level table tennis has a “no white shirt” rule.
See also: the Brewers “ball in glove” logo and the 1980s Phillies logo.
To answer The Jeff’s question, yellow and orange baseballs were tried in spring training decades ago, but tradition won out and the balls remained white.
I have always thought the Cardinals’ “birds on bat” chest logo is a lot more distracting to the pitcher than any sleeve patch with a baseball is distracting to the hitter.
I’m surprised MLB lets St. Louis get away with it, actually.
The Mets logo patch which has been worn on and off since 1962 suggests a baseball…is that a violation?
link
It is (mostly) blue, but the rule doesn’t say anything about the colors of a baseball, only the shape. This is technically a violation of the rule.
I think you are right…the rule is obviously not enforced that vigorously…when was it implemented?
I think you have to read “shape” a little broadly, maybe as “form.” But the burgundy Phillies nicely illustrate how the rule has been understood and enforced. The Phillies kept the baseball-stitch squiggle on their caps, where it was so small a detail (like the Brewers ball-in-glove logo, or the current Mariners cap logo) that there was never a chance of confusing the batter or a runner. But the Phillies chest insignia did not have the baseball-stitch squiggle, since it was about the size, shape, and color of a baseball. So it was at least theoretically possible for it to confuse a batter or a runner.
A ball-shaped insignia on the chest is a potential problem for both batter and runners. But on the sleeve, it’s only a potential distraction for the batter. So the solution would seem to be for teams to move the Mr. Met patch to the pitcher’s non-throwing-arm, and problem solved.
Are you suggesting that righties wear the patch on their left sleeve and lefties wear it on the right? That is not a uniform then. Just remove Mr. Met…he belongs on toddler jerseys, not MLB jerseys.
IIRC, the Phillies chest insignia did have the baseball-stitch squiggle when those burgundy ‘beauties’ made their debut in 1970, then that element disappeared sometime before the 1980 season. It then re-appeared, presumably in the 1980’s (when they ditched the zipper tops and went with buttons? When they got rid of the powder blues?)until the 1992 redesign.
I posted this the other day and got no response. Here is a pic of a 1970 Topps Washington Senators team card showing the team wearing BLUE caps and stirrups.
link,!rIFI4iv5uRZBSSFu6k+sg~~_35.JPG
Nothing from this era shows them wearing anything other than red caps and stirrups. Ideas?
-Jet
Link is messed up, try again:
link
My guess Jet is the error in the printing process of those cards, especially for that era. I remember cards from later in the 70s with colors off a bit. Also, the nature of that team card makes a difference, it doesn’t stand out the way of an individual player would.
With the blue caps and stirrups and the angled script lettering across the chest, these Senators uniforms look like foreshadowing of a uni set that the franchise would wear after relocating to Texas.
link
People: NOTHING GOOD CAME OUT OF THE 90s, OK? And that includes uniform design (*awaits rebuttals from THE Jeff and Jim Vilk*).
My marriage, my son, and the TV show Theodore Tugboat came out of the 90s. So I’ll rebut that part.
But when it comes to uniform design, fashion and music, you’ll get absolutely no argument from me. ’75-’85 is where it’s at, man.
At least the Mets, Marlins, Astros, and Giants camo caps could plausibly pass for hunting gear. If I hunted, and liked any of those teams, I’d dig those caps.
Otherwise, this whole thing is devoid of redeeming virtues, including aesthetic value, patriotism, and respect for Memorial Day.
“If I hunted, and liked any of those teams, I’d dig those caps.”
You do hunt. For fish.
True, and I also shoot guns, but I don’t shoot guns at the fish, and that makes all the difference. I’m strictly a catch and release fisherman – I debarb all my flies – so when I go after animals and fowl in the same spirit, I call it “hiking” and “birdwatching.” Which I often do while wearing my all-camo Nats cap, hypocrite that I am.
I think a photo of your camo Nats cap by Great Falls is in order.
“NOTHING GOOD CAME OUT OF THE 90s”
Were you around for the 80s? Culturally the WORST time in history.
Love what y’all do on this site except for your annual anti-American rant about Memorial Day. How about you focus on sports, Commie?
Hi, Clay. Sense you want to play the game that way, how about I just point out that I think you’re the “commie” because you don’t understand anything about Memorial Day and how to appropriately celebrate it, you don’t show proper respect for our nation’s military dead, and you disrespect our current military members by promoting a culture that co-opts and cheapens their uniforms by wearing them as fashion.
Sincerely,
A proud American and supporter of our armed forces
Damn right.
*Since (not “Sense”). Ugh. My rants or so much better without the typos.
…Aaaaaannnnd there’s a typo in post to correct my previous typo. My rants *are (not “or”) so much better without the typos. (Sigh.)
If any major league has ever needed a rule like 1.11(e), it’s the NBA and have it used for the primary logos of its teams.
But how would we know what sport we were watching if the teams didn’t put basketballs in their logos?
“Really old-school uniforms” for a high school established in 2006. Oh, Arizona, you make me laugh…
Saguaro (with a G) wasn’t the only one going White Sox. Try this combo from Bradshaw Mountain, which is in Prescott, outside of the Phoenix metro: link – yup, red/pink mohawks too (for playoff bonding, apparently).
Usually the simplest logo is the best choice in design. Usually.
Says who? Show me the scientific report that demonstrates this overwhelming propensity for the simplest logo to outshine all others. I don’t mean to be snitty, but seeing such a fatuous generalisation posing as some law of design has kind of set me off. There’s nothing inherently better about a minimalist design, minimalism just happens to be what’s de rigueur in commercial design at the moment. It’s nothing but pretentious wank – attempting to pass off fashionable snobbery as natural law and furthermore it says nothing about design or aesthetics and everything about the kind of people whose purpose in life isn’t to create anything new or culturally significant, but rather to just enforce this arbitrary, elitist orthodoxy. Or, as in this case, pretend that indiscretion against these rules automatically makes someone avant garde or revolutionary. It doesn’t, and the fact that this is little more than just another generic corporate branding demonstrates that.
Seriously, if it were Nike coming out with this we’d be calling it out for the bullshit that it is. Pretty little narratives of “mavericks” are meaningless. In fact they’re worse than meaningless, they’re propaganda. They’re about trying to convince you that what you’re seeing is something other than what you’re seeing.
Jeez, having a bad day? Why not overreact about something that actually means something to anybody.
Not that I want to feed the beast or anything, but as an alternative to the crap camo on Memorial Day, if MLB has to do a special hat, how about plain olive drab or khaki instead? Just a thought.
The whole digicamo thing pisses me off. Aside from being entirely modern (so apparently MLB is only recognizing the post-9/11 war dead?), regardless of what its effectiveness may be in the field, it looks like rubbish in a civilian application. I mean, they could at least mix in camo patterns of wars past… some Woodland, Tiger Stripe, or even Chocolate Chip.
Okay, yeah, I’d better shut up now.
It has nothing to do with the uniforms, but I got a chuckle out of the Arizona HS baseball game of Sandra Day O’Connor v. Liberty. Can’t say I am a student of the Supreme Court, or know a lot about her judicial record–but it struck me as funny.
Oh, that’s the names of the high schools? I read that about four times in the ticker and finally gave up.
Pink caps for the White Sox tonight — first 10,000 women received pink scarves. Honoring cancer survivors, etc.
Wait — the team is wearing pink caps? Or they’re just giving them out…if so…holy shit
N/M – I see it’s a team thing. Very interesting…
At least they didn’t go with pink uniforms, as minor league teams often do.
At least they didn’t go with pink uniforms, as minor league teams often do.
Give them a year or two.