Uni Watch reader Adam Foxman plays in a 16-inch softball league. If you’re not familiar with 16-inch softball (also called mushball, and several other names), it’s played primarily in Chicago, where Foxman lives. As Wikipedia explains, the game “is a variant of softball, but using a larger ball that gradually becomes softer the more the ball is hit, and played with no gloves or mitts on the fielders” (which explains why Foxman is bare-handed in the photo shown above).
Anyway: Adam’s team is called the Pancake Batters, and he was charged with the task of coming up with some new uniforms for this season. He presented his teammates with several design options to choose from:
The little home plate-shaped butter pat is a nice touch, no?
Adam was hoping that his teammates would choose the tequila sunrise-inspired design (“The stripes also work as pancake stacks and syrup,” he points out), and that’s exactly what happened. Here’s how the finished product turned out:
And here are some gameday photos:
Congrats to Adam on creating a fun design for his team. Go Cakes!
I need this! Great uni design!
That is an incredible execution of an AWESOME idea. Adam, you are a friggin hero!
There are affiliated baseball teams that arent this clever with their identities
Definitely. This guy is an instant UW HOF’er. I want one of these jerseys for myself…
What Wes Anderson movie is this from?!
What fantastic unis! As someone who has been trying to design some for our (conventional) softball team, I would love to know details about where Adam got these made and what program he used to design them.
I would also kill to play some 16-inch softball. It’s softball and cricket’s love child!
Hi Akul, I’m Adam
We got these made from a company called Clubhouse Athletic. They were extremely flexible with the process and were the cheapest option we looked into. Also the jerseys have a very nice weight to them, they don’t feel cheap.
I used Rhino for the vector linework and Illustrator to color and refine. Then exported to .eps for the Clubhouse Athletic.
Order a clincher online! It’s a fun ball to throw around.
Hi Adam.
Thanks so much for all the helpful info! I’ll check out Rhino and Clubhouse Athletic.
And I will definitely be ordering a clincher!
This article is the clear winner for the most return on investment.
Great job Adam, those are incredible.
Love that home plate butter pat!
Late to this party, but I love love love these! I know you don’t have official pants, but I’d love to see these paired with black (or even orange or gold!!!) pants and contrasting color socks/stirrups.
Great job!
you are lucky if everyone wears the jersey, let alone the dog with the works.
if you order a ball, use the heaviest bat you can swing, and ALL bats are legal, even baseball bats. it’s like bowling, the heavy ball sends pins flying, the pink ball bounces off even though you threw twice as fast.
I have been umpiring 16″ softball 6 times a week for pert near 20 years, in leagues of various sort from Hyde park to rogers park and I can honestly say I have never, NEVER NEVER NEVER heard any player call it “mushball”. honestly never, no Chicagoan would. the thing is rock hard out of the box, and will still be solid after a game.pregame BP balls are the mush, not game balls. and what it does to the fingers of serious players, they would be insulted if you referred to their game as msuhball. I’m just saying, its just called softball in Chicago, or 16″ when you have to differentiate. we don’t play that 12″ BS very much here, it’s for squares who feel the need to overcompensate with their 500 dollar bats.
Hence my tape job haha. I’ve broken a pinky bad and jammed a few over the years
An instant classic! Brilliant! Bravo
Awesome jersey
mushball sounds like a blast of an adult league
Great look! I play in an adult league here in Seattle, and we are also the pancake batters! No uniform, but I do wear knee high pants with my Uni Watch stirrups!
No way! I swear we didn’t didn’t steal the name intentionally haha. We just tried to think of a punny name at the time
Well done, Adam!
Those are some great looking jerseys, maybe even better than what some professional teams wear. It looks like you don’t have caps to go with them, but man, a black cap with that pancakes & crossed bats logo would make the whole thing totally epic! And if you were going for an entire uniform, and finished it off with matching pants and stirrups, THAT would be an absolutely amazing look.
Also, I’m now hungry for pancakes.
Sorry for the discouraging word, but I would be embarrassed to wear something like this in some rec league. Especially the pants. The jersey’s not bad, but when you combine it with those pants, your team would be a laughingstock. Come on, it’s beer-league softball.
You probably could have just not commented then. I bet they’d be embarrassed to have you on their team.
Great jersey, I would wear it every single day.
I would very much be interested in buying one of these–feels like a good fundraiser for the team.
Amazing work! Funny how it takes a team like the Arizona Cardinals 3 years (or whatever) to come up with their lousy, uninspired new look while ordinary guys like Adam who actually care are killing it. Well done.
As one who has maintained a Rainbow Guts design blog, I approve of this message.
There has to be a “Clinchers” in this league. Unfair if not.
If only for the headline “Clinchers flip Pancake Batters, 16-11”