First things first: If you’re looking for coverage of yesterday’s NBA leaks — plus a new leak I provided myself this morning — please look here. Thanks.
Now then: Let’s talk about last night’s MLB All-Star Game. The visual theme of the game was clearly DayGlo — DayGlo batting gloves, DayGlo shoes (a shitload of them, as you’ll see in a minute), DayGlo arm sleeves, and a lot more. But here’s the beauty part: That particular color is apparently the same as the green screen behind the plate (or at least close to it), so at one point Charlie Blackmon’s batting gloves were partially blacked out. Too bad that didn’t happen with all the other DayGlo gear.
As for the Twins-inspired caps, I didn’t care for them. Even though some of them looked fine on their own terms (A’s, Jays, a few others), I didn’t like having every team stuck into the same template. And a few of the designs were hideous (Mets, Rockies, etc.).
Other notes from the game:
• In keeping with recent practice, all American League players wore their home whites and all National Leaguers wore their road grays. Since the Marlins haven’t worn gray all season long and also didn’t wear gray last season, that put Giancarlo Stanton and Henderson Alvarez in the unusual position of wearing gray for the first time since 2012.
• The All-Star Game sleeve patch forced David Price of the Rays to wear his Don Zimmer memorial patch on his chest:
• Ditto for the Ralph Kiner and Frank Cashen memorial patches on Daniel Murphy’s Mets jersey:
• At one point they briefly showed Adam Jones of the Orioles in the field, and I could see that he had a small inscription on his cap. Later on I learned that it was “TG19” — a little memorial for Tony Gwynn.
• Dee Gordon of the Dodgers was wearing a Derek Jeter armband and a “WWJD” bracelet (you can’t see all the letters, but it definitely matches this style). I’m sure the “J” stood for “Jeter,” right?
• Jeff Samardzija (voted onto the National League team by the players but ineligible to play because he was traded to the As’s shortly before the game) was introduced with the National Leaguers and wore an N.L. BP jersey and a generic ASG cap. But once the game started, he wore A’s gear and sat in the A.L. dugout, as you can see in the center of this shot.
• Very few high-cuffed players in this game, unfortunately. One of them was Cardinals pitcher Pat Neshek, who wore striped socks.
• How often do you see the shape of a state mowed into the outfield grass?
• Miguel Montero of the Diamondbacks had special bats made. The yellow-blue-red pattern on the barrel mimics the national flag of Montero’s native Venezuela.
• Here’s the pin that was handed out to the media.
• If you care about the players’ walk-up music, today’s your lucky day.
• Someone on the CBS News social media staff had a very bad night.
• And of course there were all the players wearing atypical shoe colors, including Jose Altuve (orange and DayGlo), Charlie Blackmon (DayGlo — sorry, no photo), Starlin Castro (DayGlo), Aroldis Chapman (DayGlo), Tyler Clippard (DayGlo), Yu Darvish (red), Josh Donaldson (DayGlo, plus a matching arm sleeve), Freddie Freeman (normal shoes but with DayGlo laces), Carlos Gomez (DayGlo), Greg Holland (DayGlo), Derek Jeter (white), Adam Jones (DayGlo), Scott Kazmir (gold), Ian Kinsler (DayGlo), Jon Lester (DayGlo), Andrew McCutchen (DayGlo), Glen Perkins (DayGlo), Alexei Ramirez (DayGlo), Aramis Ramirez (DayGlo), Max Scherzer (DayGlo), Alfredo Simon (DayGlo), Giancarlo Stanton (DayGlo), Huston Street (DayGlo), Kurt Suzuki (DayGlo), Mike Trout (rainbow trout-patterned [here’s an in-game look], although for some reason he had changed to orange footwear for the postgame festivities), Troy Tulowitzki (a particularly brutal combination of purple and DayGlo), Chase Utley (light blue), and Adam Wainwright (silver-ish). I’m sure there were others I missed.
One final note: For those who’ve been wondering why today’s entries both had a “jump,” it’s because I wanted to make it easier for someone who came to our home page to see that we had more than one entry today.
(More thanks than I can possibly express to Phil, who was feeding me info all night long. Thanks also to Andrew Cosentino, Brinke Guthrie, and Stetson Pevear for their contributions.)
Apparently, adam jones’ tribute to tony gwynn was the only one during the actual game, either by fox or mlb.
Very disappointing.
I’ve heard other people say the same thing, and I honestly don’t understand it. Gwynn was a great player and, by most accounts, a great man, but why does that make the ASG the proper forum for honoring him?
There were lots of well-deserved tributes to him when he died. But what does any of that have to do with the ASG?
I’m not trying to diminish Gwynn in any way. I just don’t see what his death (or, for that matter, Don Zimmer’s or Frank Cashen’s or Ralph Kiner’s, to cite some other recent deaths in the MLB family) has to do with the ASG.
Well, seeing as he was a 15 time All-Star, many would have thought they would have mentioned him at least once.
Ralph Kiner was an All-Star and Hall of Famer too.
I just don’t see what these deaths have to do with the ASG.
I think the concern (and rightfully so) stems from MLB’s treatment of Teddy Ballgame — he passed (I think) about a week before the 2002(?) game, and not only did they honor him, they named the MVP award for him (which was given out the following year). Steinbrenner died ON the day of the 2010 game and they had a moment of silence for him.
Other peeves: they showed an entire singing (live) of the Dylan cover but couldn’t show a) the Canadian Anthem (at all) or Frank Robinson throwing out the first pitch (shown later on tape). And whoever the hell that country dude they got to sing GBA (also shown in full glory live) couldn’t even hold a tune.
Maybe honoring those who passed shouldn’t be the focal point of the game, but it would have been nice to at least have them mentioned!
Shit, even the Oscars does that.
The Oscars are the culmination of the film industry’s year.
That is not what the ASG is. The World Series, yes — but not the ASG.
Rod Carew through out the first pitch, not Robinson… point still stands.
“Rod Carew through out the first pitch, not Robinson… point still stands.”
~~~
Shit – yes. My bad. I even mentioned that last night on the tweeter. Was FR even there? I know Hammerin’ Hank was stuck next to Bud last night, looking bored to tears.
“The Oscars are the culmination of the film industry’s year.
That is not what the ASG is. The World Series, yes – but not the ASG.”
~~~
Totally fair point — but the ASG is, like the Oscars (or at least it was), “must watch TV for those who don’t normally care about such things” and also a one-night event.
The World Series takes places over 4-7 games and isn’t generally seen by nearly as many non-baseball fans, nor does it (IMHO) have the same national stage as the one night ASG does.
Again, not saying the “lets honor those who passed” tributes belong in the game — but completely ignoring those men, while fellating Jeter and giving airtime to a Dylan cover song (and no Canadian national anthem) AND the horrid rendition of the GBA just shows where Fox/MLB’s priorities are.
And we got plenty of plugs for shitty Fox shows too! But not a single Gwynn mention.
Phil, I’m not defending any of the stuff you’ve called out, most of which was silly or worse.
I just don’t see what any of it has to do with Tony Gwynn, or what Gwynn’s death has to do wtih the ASG.
None of this is uni-related. Let’s please move on.
I’m curious to know if there is actually some rule or specific directive from MLB which requires players to wear their primary whites/greys for the ASG? It really seems silly that it would be the All Star Game of all places, the traditional repository of all that is weird, outré and generally gaudy in sports aesthetics, where MLB would insist upon a conservative approach to what’s an appropriate home/away uniform.
FR was there, you could see him in the commish box when they cut to talk to Selig. Hamerin’ Hank was next to Selig, Frank was in the back row.
thanks.
Thought I saw him, but wasn’t 100% sure.
That was disappointing. No mention of Tony Gwynn, one of the best players ever, but good god forbid we didn’t Jeter’s name about a gazillion times last night.
I honestly don’t see what one thing has to do with the other.
Aside from Adam Jones’s cap-borne shout-out to Gwynn, none of this has to do with uniforms. Let’s please move on. Thanks.
That Marlins picture is Henderson Alvarez, not Giancarlo. Also, the Marlins haven’t worn road grays since 2012, so yesterday marked the first time in 2 years that jersey has been on the field.
Good points. Text now adjusted.
As a sidenote, is anyone else surprised the Yankees haven’t done any sort of uniform memorial for Don Zimmer?
[Raises hand.]
NO! Zim resigned bitterly after the 2003 season, vowing never to speak to George Steinbrenner again. He’ll never get a mention by the Yankees.
Last time I checked George Steinbrenner was still dead.
and his sons run the team.
Why would (or should) Zimmer merit tribute by the Yankees? He did nothing of great note during his half-dozen or so years there, and had left the organization more than a decade previous.
Quite honestly, his only objectively “great” achievement was hanging around the game for an exceptionally long time (though in fairness it’s miraculous he had any kind of playing career at all).
Don’t worry…he won’t get one. In fact, in 2003 George allegedly told YES network honchos if they ever deliberately show Zimmer during a Yankee game, they would be fired…and Zimmer sat on the Yankee bench. Zimmer resigned after the season. George was a bit irrational at times. Even though he’s gone, his sons honor him as much as possible and thus will not honor Zimmer.
As a player Zimmer did make the All-Star team at least once. He played for 12 years, which I would call somewhat a decent career. I don’t think anyone is saying he is an all-time great. He was the last Brooklyn Dodger to wear a baseball uniform.
Jim Fregosi passed away this off-season. He had only worked as a scout for the Braves, but Atlanta is paying tribute to him by placing his initials on the outfield wall. Not saying the Yankees have to pay tribute to Zimmer. It would be a nice gesture if they did.
And somewhere along the way last night there was a tribute to several in baseball that passed away. Might’ve been during the pregame. Maybe it was on ESPN before the game.
I sure hope the day glo doesn’t become a trend. It was awful. My question is this, has the All Star Game jumped the shark? I used to look forward to it when it was without all the hype and all the “special” uni stuff, etc. Now it just doesn’t seem it’s nothing more than some sort of marketing ploy.
see my comment below.
I agree James, even though MLB tries to make the game meaningful by rewarding the winning league with home field advantage in the World Series, players seem to be more concerned with their appearance by showing off accessories.
Bad mixture of marketing ploy and prima donnas getting dolled up for a prom.
FYI, Chase Utley cleat link is broken.
Or not. Weird, I stopped getting the error message on the fifth try
Fixed. Here’s the proper link:
link
think all the florescent yellow is too go along with the new line of gloves Nike has coming out later in the year
link
It’s certainly a Nike branding move, but the glove was announced well after the Vapor Trout line of cleats (the one everyone was wearing with DayGlo accents).
I’m sure it’s all coordinated, but the wheels were set in motion weeks ago.
The glove concept itself is interesting but day glo? Come on Nike, you have to be better that this nonsense.
Has it been mentioned that the hat David Price is wearing is the same as the Rays fauxback, just a different logo? I’m not sure if that makes it a fauxfauxback, but I do like saying that.
That Trout-colored pair of cleats for Mike Trout is one of the best special edition pairs I’ve seen in months. Much better than the generic team color/Volt combo Nike made up for everyone else.
Also the Volt arm sleeves are atrocious.
I think I’m gonna set up a filter that changes the term “Volt” to “Nike bullshit.”
Looking forward to seeing what happens when someone mentions GM’s latest attempt at an electric car . . .
Gwynn was mentioned after the game on Fox Sports 1 in a highlight reel of the ten best ASG moments. He was part of number 1, while assisting Ted Williams to the field for his first pitch a few years ago.
I think it’s funny people get annoyed with the day-glo, which isn’t bad, kind of cool, yet no mention of why anyone should care so much that Jeter is leaving the game. He isn’t baseball, and we aren’t all Yankees fans.
which isn’t bad, kind of cool…
You misspelled “looks like total fucking shit.”
As for mentioning the Jeter thing, it has nothing to do with uniforms. Why would I mention that here? There are other sites for that.
Small typo here:
“In keeping with recent practice, all American League players wore their home whites and all National Leaguers wore their home grays.”
I think you meant road grays.
Thanks. Fixed.
Miami should wear the gray roadies more often.
You misspelled “all teams”.
But yeah, I agree that they look good. I moaned about it a couple of years ago, but I hate how the Marlins come out with a new logo with several new colors – and then continue to wear nothing but black. It’s so dull and boring. Even worse for a team that plays in South Florida.
Miami should wear the gray roadies”.”.
The Marlins should wear orange every game on the road; it’s bright and distinctive. Dump the gray jersey from the official list so that the National League can’t force them to wear it in the ASG.
Not sure that’s legal in this day and age. Maybe it was back in the 1980s when the Cubs wore a blue pullover for all road games, but with home teams often wearing colored jerseys, you need to have the option of contrast (which the Marlins do with their orange and black jerseys).
I wasn’t a fan of the day-glo, but I’m past getting worked up over it. What upset me was that everybody got the same flipping color regardless of who was wearing it!
Day glo yellow + Dodger blue? Travesty. I think Harold Reynolds even mentioned how ridiculous it looked on Adam Jones with the O’s orange.
How tough would it have been to have day-glo orange for Jones? Day-glo green for the A’s players.
Day glo yellow + Dodger blue? Travesty.
Actually, I think the Dodgers players all wore their regular blue shoes.
Puig has a bracelet on, I’m pretty sure.
link Gray cleats.
Also, has anybody used that stuff in an actual game? I could see a batter making a case that day-glo on the pitcher, shortstop, second baseman or centerfielder is a distraction.
Quite a few guys (Puig being one of them) wear DayGlo accessories (bracelets, sunglasses frames, soles of shoes), but it’s against MLB uniform rules to feature them as prominently (shoes, arm bands etc.) as they do in the ASG.
Back in the late 90s, early 2000’s, players used to always wear flashy white shoes for the ASG, because they couldn’t for the regular season (Oakland excepted) — shoe colors (and sleeves etc.) need to be consistent/ “uniform” across the entire team.
Not sure which was worse: the nauseating neon or the caps. The Tiger, Yankee and Dodger caps looked especially bad to me.
However, the Blue Jays’ hats looked pretty good.
Since not every player wore neon, I’ll go with the caps (with some exceptions…Baltimore, Toronto and Minnesota are hard not to like, and those Pittsburgh and Indians caps looked good too).
I like the “jump” format.
Didn’t notice during the game, appears that Nike link playing with day-glo.
Do you think with those tacky hats they were wearing, they are setting the table for League uniforms for the game instead of the players wearing their teams unis? I hope not!! That is one the reasons I watch the games to see all the different unis, especially during introductions.
Do you think with those tacky hats they were wearing, they are setting the table for League uniforms for the game instead of the players wearing their teams unis?
Yes.
No, I don’t think MLB would be foolish enough to abandon decades of tradition of having players wear their team uniforms for the game.
No, I don’t think MLB would be foolish enough to abandon decades of tradition to implement the Designated Hitter, or divisional play, or interleague, or wildcard playoffs, or well-nigh abandoning day games . . . .
You know one of the teams in the very first All-Star Game wore league (and not team) uniforms, right?
The caps would’ve been tolerable if the AL all had white panels and the NL all had gray with all teams either having three colors or just two. Consistency!
I agree it would’ve been a step up if they’d been that consistent. Granted, it would’ve only been a step up from elephant dung…
Maybe the dayglow will be used in the future as a green screen background for digitally imposed ads on TV. Ugh!. Ref – vidcap of Charlie Blackmon’s sweatbands. I don’t know if they technology works dynamically though.
Trout’s orange shoes worn postgame are his flats, or “trainers” as they call them. Most guys after they’re taken out of games change out of their cleats. You see starting pitchers on their non-pitching days wearing them in the dugout all the time.
I hate all templates…their only purpose is to quickly get a product out with little design required to maximize profits at the expense of aesthetics, tradition and creativity.
I noticed a Blue Jay wearing a florescent yellow/green arm wrap a few weeks ago vs. the Yankees. Don’t know how that fits into the color scheme of the team.
Anybody ?
link
Ugh. Bad link.
link
It looks like Jeter’s cleats may have actually been link and not white. It was mentioned on the broadcast that Target Field uses a new lighting system that is much brighter than at most ballparks which could explain why they appeared white. In his pre-game link it looks like you can see some of the custom designs.
I sent New Era a tweet and told them that they had ruined the ASG for me. It sounds dramatic, but it was definitely true. Every time they cut to someone else I would just say “GOD!” because it seemed that each cap was worse than the last. It honestly made the entire game hard for me to watch. The day-glo is terrible, but I’m just hoping it will be a fad. The hats, however, worries me more. I’m afraid that this is the new norm. Having on-field ASG caps every year that just look atrocious.
If the All-Star Game looks anything like the Futures League game in the coming years, then I’ll stop watching. But I don’t think MLB is dumb enough to go in the direction of having players in templated uniforms.
I only tuned in briefly, but it JUST happened to be when Fernando Rodney was on the mound, with his hat askew. It just made it look a whole lot worse.
For some reason, that particular design looked even MORE skewed than Rodney’s normal look.
Also, Buck and Company didn’t mention the supposed reason he does that (honoring his dad), saying he thinks it throws off the hitter.
It sure as hell throws me off. I hate that.
Also, I was more hypnotized by Josh Donaldson’s batting gloves than his day-glo volt green gear. The “non white” parts of the glove were the type of material that transitioned from almost a teal green like in the picture linked to in the article to gold depending on how the light hit the gloves. I had a hard time watching anything else while he was batting.
link
Hahaha, have to love the close mindedness. Day glo didn’t look bad at all, and certainly didn’t affect how the game is played. For Jeter, was just saying if we are going to pick apart the game, let’s pick apart the game, not just the players choice of personal colors for a game.
Hahaha, have to love the close mindedness. Day glo didn’t look bad at all, and certainly didn’t affect how the game is played.
(1) Nobody said it affected how the game was played.
(2) Dismissing anything you disagree with as “close-mindedness” is a handy rhetorical reflex, but it doesn’t amount to much of an intellectual position.
For Jeter, was just saying if we are going to pick apart the game, let’s pick apart the game, not just the players choice of personal colors for a game.
This would be a good point — except that, as you know, this website is all about things like the players’ color choices and is not about things like Jeter’s hero treatment. In other words, we’re NOT “pick[ing] apart the game”; we’re just talking about the visuals.
P.S. I sent you an email last week. Didn’t hear back. Did you receive it?
I don’t understand all the ‘hate’ for the Jeter love fest last night. He’s been the face of baseball for a while and in an era with all these cheaters, he’s done it the right way.
Full disclosure, I’m a Yankee fan, and Jeter has been my favorite player for the last 20 years. That being said, I loved when they did the same for Ripken. The All-Star Game is the perfect place to celebrate baseball’s great players/people.
Pure speculation that Jeter didn’t cheat…
This Jeter shit has nothing to do with uniforms. Let’s please stay on-topic and leave this other stuff for the other websites. Thanks.
Wake me up before you DayGlo …
link
jitterbug
Chuffed to see a shout-out to our country’s teachers at the beginning of the game, where I expected to see a knee-jerk salute to America’s armed forces.
The templated hats looked better than I would have guessed, but it was still a bush league move.
Not all teachers are heroes; not all heroes are teachers…
I would not mind at all if link became the permanent road cap for the Cardinals.
Not sure if this DayGlo is going to last. Check out Robby Alomar circa 1992
link
Seeing the Pirates with their ASG caps reminded me of the mid 70s Padres.
If only the Padres wit their ASG caps reminded us of the mid 70s Padres.
Highlighter colors should be reserved for use on items that deserve critical attention. Important points in a report… school crossing signs… safety vests… those kinds of things.
The way these product makers – I won’t even dignify them by using their names – use these highlighter colors is what bothers me. It was the same thing in the World Cup with those neon yellow and orange shoes. The message being sent, as I read it, is that it’s not the game, nor the players that are important – it’s these companies’ products that are the most important thing we need to see, to the point of distraction from everything else.
And that’s terrible.
Here’s how to stop the day glo madness…
All little league, high school, college, semi pro, softball teams ban gear that is a color that is not of their team’s colors. Therefore no one would want to buy day glo cleats and batting gloves thus Nike has no reason to have ASG players wear these blights.
Unless Nike starts sponsoring lots of teams whose colors include day glo.
I’m sure I missed why these bright colors are referred to by a corporate name and not “neon” or “fluorescent”.
if you are a fisherman, you just call it “chartreuse”
it is a trend that will go away. My sand volleyball team was going to make dayglo/safety green tanks for our team jerseys but decided not to. I am very happy we did not.
To me it is a chicken v. egg issue. Are kiss acting spoiled because they see uni changes like Nike Vomit Bullshit at the ASG… or is the uni landscape a product of children growing into professionals?
As a school teacher I understand how the secondary school landscape allows kids to push bounsaries and discover themselves. I am shocjed though at how much money is spent on how they look, but not how they play. In the 90’s there was noone to teach us about stirrups, or blousing. The only uni changes we card about were crimping the bill and writing our names/numbers on the underside.
I love individuality, and the only true conformists are nonconformists (who conform to the idea not to conform to others), but can we not have arenas for Uniformity, too?
Kids… not kiss.