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One thing that you may have missed over the weekend (I missed it myself) is that the Rangers’ new alternate uniforms made their on-ice debut. When this design was unveiled a week or so earlier, I said that the jersey crest was too large. What I didn’t realize was that the plus-sized graphics would extend to the captaincy designations.
As you can see above Rangers captain Jacob Trouba’s “C” was so absurdly large that it almost touched the crest. Here’s another view of that:
Alternate captains Artemi Panarin and Barclay Goodrow had a bit more clearance between their “A” designations and the crest, but the letter patches still looked ridiculously large:
The full-face mask is because Goodrow recently took a puck to the face.
Are these letter patches bigger than the ones on the Rangers’ primary uniforms? Let’s take a look:
Interestingly, it appears that the new uniform’s “C” is more or less the same size as the others. It might be a teeny bit bigger, but it feels a lot bigger, in part because it’s only one color instead of block-shadowed, and in part because the design of the Rangers’ primary uniforms gives the letter patches a lot more room to breathe. They really ought to change the new uni so the letter patches are smaller, or in a different font, or something.
(My thanks to Nicholas Huba for bringing this issue to my attention.)
Update to One of Yesterday’s Posts
In case you missed it yesterday, I had a post about how Tigers pitcher Sawyer Gipson-Long visited a children’s hospital while wearing a jersey rendered in Nike’s new template, thus giving us our first look at what the team will be wearing next season. Unfortunately, my post didn’t include a rear-view photo, but reader Steve Vibert has now provided me with the shot shown above, which shows just how low the NOBs will be positioned on these new jerseys. Ugh.
Too Good for the Ticker: Follow-Up!
Last week, in a previous installment of “Too Good for the Ticker,” I ran a photo of the 1925 Furman football team, which wore an unusual bullseye design. That prompted a note from Uni Watch reader and Furman alum Miles Cliatt, as follows:
Rather incredibly, Furman athletics actually has one of those full 1925 uniforms on display in the atrium at Paladin Stadium. Helmet, pants, shoes, pads, everything. I was able to see it up-close and take some photos in October of last year.
Looking at the photos, you can see all sorts of fantastic details in the materials and the equipment, my favorite of which is that the shoulder pads are made with — wait for it — pig bones! They’re arranged in two different patterns; one on top of the shoulders, and one for the front of the chest. Pretty obvious once you realize what you’re looking at. I don’t know if this was common practice back then, but it was news to me.
Faaascinating. Here’s a close-up so you can get a better view:
Miles also had this tidbit regarding Furman’s team name:
Our teams weren’t called the Paladins until 1961. In the ’20s, the football team went by the moniker Purple Hurricane, which, in addition to being a pretty awesome name for a 1920s football squad, sounds like a special circle of Hell designed specifically for Paul Lukas.
Indeed. Thanks for the great info and pics, Miles!
Can of the Day
Simple but very effective. Not flashy but super-handsome. And what a great manufacturer’s name!
i will probably be the minority here, but these would have looked better with blue pants vs their standard reds
I think the dark blue gloves/helmet/socks were too much with the jersey, and just made the pants stand out awkwardly.
The Rangers only ever wear these pants, even though they feature the royal blue and red that often haven’t matched their alternates. I was always annoyed when they wore a jersey with a darker red, or the cream.
Say “boiler solder” ten times fast.
Not difficult at all if you’re pronouncing solder correctly.
HA! I immediately thought “say Good Boiler Solder” three times fast!
The last time I saw that much navy, royal, red, and white all together on a NHL uniform, I think it was the Vancouver Canucks. In this context I don’t think it’s a compliment. I’m more certain that there is no good reason why this alternate look exists
I’m not a huge fan of it either. That said, at first, I really disliked the sleeve stripes (way too busy), but when I see them paired with the stripes on the pants, it sort of works for me. I agree the C and A look way too big, but would be less so with drop shadows.
I do like the navy vs lighter blue look, and perhaps there is room to have the crest shown prominently on an alt given the current home/road sweaters, but all in all, I think this is a miss.
As I suspected, the letters on MLB Jerseys will be a good bit shorter. Looks like maybe a 2″ letter height? I think the ASG jerseys were that way, and I assumed it was a test run for 2024.
Preferences are funny sometimes. I was just ranting to my wife last night about how terrible the Giants looked in a Navy helmet with blue jerseys. But for some reason, I really like the red, white, and royal blue stripes on the navy jersey here. No idea why.
I still don’t like the giant crest in the middle of the jersey. We’re the Rangers, go with the diagonal name. Maybe change it up and go “NEW YORK” like the heritage jersey from the 2010’s.
I like the idea of “New York” on the road jerseys and “Rangers” on the home jerseys like they did in the 70s and 80s. Nice tie-in to baseball and hockey traditions!
Giant Rangers crest and giant C and A are not handsome at all.
And why was the A positioned much further right than the C?
Probably because of the seamlines for the side/underarm panels.
/| – The space the A takes up; due to the oblique angle, the right stroke is essentially vertical, with only the serif at the bottom sticking out any, so it can be pushed closer to that seamline.
// – The space the C takes up: because the top extends further out than the bottom, they likely didn’t want to put the C on top of the seamline, so it ends up closer to the center.
Of course, now I’m curious to see exactly how the Rangers align the C and A on their regular jerseys.
That Furman uniform is the star of today’s show. I mean: wow!
I’m just as impressed with the team name “Purple Hurricane.” And I think we found Paul’s outfit for next year’s Purple Amnesty Day party.
I feel many problems with this Rangers alternate that need addressing.
Rangers seem to have trouble finding a good alternate with staying power.
You know how I feel. Just a reminder. The following links show what would be the best 3rd uniforms for the Rangers IMO.
Those 1970’s pajamas are the worst thing the Rangers have ever worn, bringing them back would be a travesty.
Remember, the pajama uniforms were dark blue, not the royal shade the Rangers now have.
I don’t mind the Ferguson jerseys, but I think I like the Winnipeg Jets version a bit better than the New York Rangers version.
Best ideas for Rangers alternate sweater would be the dark blue Lady Liberty jersey and the royal blue Fred Shero sweaters with the “NEW YORK” lettering. But these new uniforms are nice.
I like the Lady Liberty logo – for a third jersey, mind you – and I think it would work so much better with this uni. And I really don’t get the plain numbers and NOBs (the latter looking too much like the Red Wings’ NOBs as a result). A plain font makes sense for a throwback or fauxback (e.g. the 2018 Winter Classic jersey), but for a new jersey, if you’re not doing the drop shadows, it needs a different, bespoke font. Even the Helvetica-esque font of the Ferguson jerseys would look better to me on this than what they’re currently doing.
i will probably be the minority here, but these would have looked better with blue pants vs their standard reds
I think the dark blue gloves/helmet/socks were too much with the jersey, and just made the pants stand out awkwardly.
The Rangers only ever wear these pants, even though they feature the royal blue and red that often haven’t matched their alternates. I was always annoyed when they wore a jersey with a darker red, or the cream.
Say “boiler solder” ten times fast.
Not difficult at all if you’re pronouncing solder correctly.
HA! I immediately thought “say Good Boiler Solder” three times fast!
The last time I saw that much navy, royal, red, and white all together on a NHL uniform, I think it was the Vancouver Canucks. In this context I don’t think it’s a compliment. I’m more certain that there is no good reason why this alternate look exists
I’m not a huge fan of it either. That said, at first, I really disliked the sleeve stripes (way too busy), but when I see them paired with the stripes on the pants, it sort of works for me. I agree the C and A look way too big, but would be less so with drop shadows.
I do like the navy vs lighter blue look, and perhaps there is room to have the crest shown prominently on an alt given the current home/road sweaters, but all in all, I think this is a miss.
As I suspected, the letters on MLB Jerseys will be a good bit shorter. Looks like maybe a 2″ letter height? I think the ASG jerseys were that way, and I assumed it was a test run for 2024.
Preferences are funny sometimes. I was just ranting to my wife last night about how terrible the Giants looked in a Navy helmet with blue jerseys. But for some reason, I really like the red, white, and royal blue stripes on the navy jersey here. No idea why.
I still don’t like the giant crest in the middle of the jersey. We’re the Rangers, go with the diagonal name. Maybe change it up and go “NEW YORK” like the heritage jersey from the 2010’s.
I like the idea of “New York” on the road jerseys and “Rangers” on the home jerseys like they did in the 70s and 80s. Nice tie-in to baseball and hockey traditions!
Giant Rangers crest and giant C and A are not handsome at all.
And why was the A positioned much further right than the C?
Probably because of the seamlines for the side/underarm panels.
/| – The space the A takes up; due to the oblique angle, the right stroke is essentially vertical, with only the serif at the bottom sticking out any, so it can be pushed closer to that seamline.
// – The space the C takes up: because the top extends further out than the bottom, they likely didn’t want to put the C on top of the seamline, so it ends up closer to the center.
Of course, now I’m curious to see exactly how the Rangers align the C and A on their regular jerseys.
That Furman uniform is the star of today’s show. I mean: wow!
I’m just as impressed with the team name “Purple Hurricane.” And I think we found Paul’s outfit for next year’s Purple Amnesty Day party.
I feel many problems with this Rangers alternate that need addressing.
Rangers seem to have trouble finding a good alternate with staying power.
You know how I feel. Just a reminder. The following links show what would be the best 3rd uniforms for the Rangers IMO.
link
link
Those 1970’s pajamas are the worst thing the Rangers have ever worn, bringing them back would be a travesty.
Remember, the pajama uniforms were dark blue, not the royal shade the Rangers now have.
I don’t mind the Ferguson jerseys, but I think I like the Winnipeg Jets version a bit better than the New York Rangers version.
Best ideas for Rangers alternate sweater would be the dark blue Lady Liberty jersey and the royal blue Fred Shero sweaters with the “NEW YORK” lettering. But these new uniforms are nice.
I like the Lady Liberty logo – for a third jersey, mind you – and I think it would work so much better with this uni. And I really don’t get the plain numbers and NOBs (the latter looking too much like the Red Wings’ NOBs as a result). A plain font makes sense for a throwback or fauxback (e.g. the 2018 Winter Classic jersey), but for a new jersey, if you’re not doing the drop shadows, it needs a different, bespoke font. Even the Helvetica-esque font of the Ferguson jerseys would look better to me on this than what they’re currently doing.