Good morning, Uni Watchers — it’s Friday! We made it.
I’ve got a fun one for you this morning. Ticker-er Emeritus/contributor/pal Mike Chamernik has for the past several months been crafting a “Question Of The Week,” which has proven to be a very popular feature. But it’s been a while since Mike had a full-length column featured on UW. Well, that ends today, as Mike has returned with a piece that was inspired by comments posted in one of his recent QOTW’s. I’m pretty sure you’re going to like this one a lot.
Here’s Mike…
Right Team, Wrong Uniform
by Mike Chamernik
We’ve all seen many photo galleries of “players in the ‘wrong’ uniform.” Franchise players who spent a year or two with a team they are usually not associated with. The classic example: Patrick Ewing posting up Hakeem Olajuwon… only it’s not the Knicks versus Rockets in the 1994 NBA Finals. No, it’s 2002, and Ewing is on the Magic and Hakeem is with the Raptors. Very jarring.
A slightly different prompt came across recently. I asked what are the most popular jerseys among fans of your favorite teams. CWac19 left a comment saying that some Devils fans wear Martin Brodeur jerseys – but not the black-and-red tops from the Cup years. Instead, they wear the green-and-reds that the Devils wore up through 1991-92, when Brodeur played his first four NHL games. We don’t expect the green-accent Devils era to overlap with the Brodeur era, but it did, briefly.
That got me thinking. What are some of the best examples of players on the “right” team, but in the “wrong” uniform?
I tried to pick some other surprising examples that mirror the Brodeur case. Team icons who wore a uniform from a time period they are typically not connected with. Some are players in the beginnings of their careers, some are toward the end.
Jose Altuve. Famous (and infamous) in the current Astros unis. But he played his first two seasons in black and railroad brick.
Randy Johnson. Won four straight Cy Young Awards in the Diamondbacks’ teal and purple. After a stint with the Yankees, Johnson came back to Arizona to wear the Sedona Red.
Frank Thomas. One of the best right-handed hitters ever is linked with the gothic White Sox uniform. Thomas played his rookie season in navy and red.
Reggie Jackson. Won three titles in the flashy kelly green and gold during the Swingin’ A’s years. But for his last season he returned to Oakland to wear their contemporary uniforms.
Fernando Tatis Jr. The face of the Padres new brown and gold era, Tatis Jr. actually played his rookie year in navy. Same deal with Manny Machado, the club’s home run leader, who signed with San Diego before 2019.
Giannis Antetokounmpo. He’s been a perennial MVP candidate and NBA champion under the Bucks’ current uniforms, but played his first two seasons in green and red.
Charles Barkley. Battled Michael Jordan in the Suns’ very 1990s sunburst unis. While Phoenix adopted these unis for the 1992-93 season, Chuck’s first year in the desert, they actually played preseason games wearing their old unis with the western wordmark.
Gary Payton. Best remembered in either the classic Sonics uniforms or their 1990s rebrand. But Payton also played two seasons with Seattle when they reintroduced green and yellow.
Allen Iverson. Known best for the 76ers black uniforms and for winning Rookie of the Year in red and blue. But AI came back for a late cameo with the Sixers in 2010 when they had changed their look yet again.
Ben Wallace. Became a defensive menace and NBA champion in the Pistons’ red, blue and white. He bounced around a bit to start his career, joining Detroit when the team still had the teal and black horse head motif.
Stephen Curry. Thanks in large part to Steph, the Warriors now have a look associated with winning. His rookie year, though, Golden State was still wearing a uniform set that had only been seen in one playoff run.
John Wall. Emerged as a star with the mid-2010s Wizards, but played his rookie season wearing blue and bronze.
Randy Moss. After seven years with the Vikings, Moss was traded to Oakland, and later to New England. He returned to Minnesota in 2010 after they had altered their uniforms.
Larry Fitzgerald. The Cardinals wore the same uniform design for nearly 20 years, which covered Fitzgerald’s entire career except for his rookie season.
Warren Sapp and Derrick Brooks. They were two of the league’s most destructive players in the Buccaneers’ red and pewter. Tampa Bay drafted them both in 1995, so they actually played their first two seasons in the creamsicle colors.
Matt Ryan. Won an MVP and appeared in a Super Bowl during a long tenure with the Falcons that ended with new uniforms for his last two seasons in Atlanta.
Andre Tippett. Spent the majority of his hall of fame career wearing the Pat Patriot uniforms. His final year was 1993, when the Patriots opted for a drastic rebrand.
Alexander Ovechkin. While he has scored the bulk of his 853 goals in Capitals’ red, white and blue, Ovechkin scored The Goal in the screaming eagle uni.
What did I miss? I’m sure a few good hockey ones.
I left off a few that didn’t feel strange enough. For instance, Michael Vick was the most exciting player in football during the short time he wore the old Falcons unis. Also, Michael Jordan wore the script Chicago jersey only during his rookie season, but it has long been an extremely popular throwback.
Feel free to add more examples in the comments.
Thanks, Mike! Fantastic topic, and you have some great examples of “right team, wrong uniform.” I have one to add, and hopefully the readers will provide us with several more examples.
Tom Seaver. Played for the Mets from 1967-1977, then was traded to the Reds in the “Midnight Massacre,” which is generally considered the Mets all-time worst trade, making M. Donald Grant public enemy #1 for a time. Seaver spent all those years in classic Mets pinstripes. When Seaver came back to the team in 1983, the Mets by that time had changed to their racing stripes, and seeing Seaver in those awful unis was just wrong.
Ok, that’s my contribution! Readers, I’m sure you can provide a bunch more. Fire away!
“Mr. Ranger” Rod Gilbert wearing the John Ferguson/Winnipeg Jets-type jersey that the Rangers wore in 1976-77 and 1977-78.
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I knew I was going to miss some hockey examples
Speaking of Ben Wallace, his #3 is retired by the Pistons, but his very last games for them were as #6, because #3 was some Dwyane Wade fan named Rodney Stuckey. Talk about “right team wrong uniform!” That’s the wrong number!
Hockey, my best examples to add are probably: Jarome Iginla started with the Calgary Flames in #24 and “the pedestal jersey” with all those diagonal motifs, and Jeremy Roenick was a famous Ohoenix Coyote in mostly the peyote Kachina look, but he had a brief return cameo in the sedate Gretzky red jerseys
Mike, I have a Flames #24 Iginla pedestal jersey. People always tell me he never wore that number or jersey until I tell them to look it up. LOL
Trevor!!!
Phil!!! :D
Phil Niekro pitched one game for the Braves late in 1987, the year they went to their modern look. Only game he played in that uniform set.
Good one link
Another one that comes to mind is Dominique Wilkins when the Hawks changed their unis in 92.
link
Good one. I was hoping that he wore the Mutombo-era Hawks uni from the mid 1990s, but he departed Atlanta before then
It’s funny, but for me as a Caps fan, Ovi with the Screaming Eagle is the right uniform.
Also it’s nice to see that Seaver got to wear the best Mets uniform of all time, at least for a season.
Fellow Caps fan here. Mine has to be when Jeff Halpern came back to the Caps but in their current colors, plus he had to wear #15 because #11 had since been retired.
The epitome of jarring for me was seeing Franco Harris in a Seattle Seahawks uni.
Wrong team, though!
Right Team. Wrong Uniform (for him). Harmon Killebrew wearing the Twins baby blues in 1973 and 1974.
Wrong Team. Wrong Uniform. Calvin Griffith allowing Harmon to finish his career with one season (1975) wearing the Royals baby blues.
Evan Harmon in the late 50’s/early 60’s Washington Senators unis looks wrong.
John Elway in the new Broncos uniforms in the late 90s never looked right to me. Right team, wrong uniform. I always wish he won his titles in the old Denver uniforms with the D on the helmet.
Agreed. I think of Elway in the classic Orange Crush unis.
My childhood was the late 1990s so I always picture Elway in the new Broncos unis
I came here to post that. As a long-suffering, die-hard Broncos fan, I was ecstatic over the Super Bowl wins. But I wish they’d done it in their orange crush unis.
Ditto with Dan Marino when the Dolphins changed unis/logo in 1997.
There is one more great Seaver photo! He attempted a comeback in 1987 and wore the road jersey in some simulated games. That’s the only year the team wore the script New York across their chests. On a cool note, the team is wearing that script on their road batting practice caps this season.
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good morning uniwatch, for me Gretzky always had beautiful nhl uniforms oilers, kings, blues, and rangers. The only one that looks a little goofy on him is 1995 kings third. Maybe it’s novelty now? I am unsure
The colored pants on the Giants uniforms look out of place especially the white and grey. Stick with the brown pants, maybe the blue sometimes. But the grey and white, no thanks.
Funny, but I feel the grey is the best compromise, and helps keep the look in line with the modern era without modernizing it, if you get my meaning. Whereas the blue pants is too much color for me. I’d then invert the top for a white set with a red panel and blue borders and blue pants. I’ve also mentioned this in another thread, but I’d like to see the torso panel as much as 25% taller in order to allow for bigger numbers. Switch to the current helmet and it’s all good with me.
Mike Modano is best known for these Dallas Stars uniforms: link link
But he began his career in Minnesota green, gold, and black: link and ended his time with the Stars with this disappointing uniform: link
Good one! Almost forgot he started in the Green and Yellows.
Pat Lafontaine wore the Sabres black and red goat head jerseys in 96-97 for only 13 games.
Bobby Orr in a Blackhawks uniform.
You missed the point. For yours to work in this category, it would mean that it was “right” for Orr to be a Blackhawk.
A better example would be if Orr wore the Bruins “Pooh Bear” uniforms in his career.
Mike Schmidt made his major league debut in 1971, and the Phillies had gray road uniforms.
He retired in 1989, and the Phillies had gray road uniforms.
The years between, the road shade was powder blue.
I LOVE those road greys that Phils wore from 1989-1991. Such a great look…
+1
Dominic Hasek looks strange to me with the blue Sabres jersey, even though I like that set way better than the goatheds I always picture him in.
Mario Lemieux never looked right in those uniforms the Penguins wore at the end of his career, with the extremely subdued metallic gold. Also, although not really the uniform per se, I always thought that Jofa bowling-ball helmet looked funny on him, but perfect on Jagr. I wanted Mario to always wear that old angular Cooper with the chunky side panels, and for Jagr to always wear the round Jofa with the visor and the mullet, and his jersey tucked in..
What amuses me about Mario’s Jofa 366 helmets is that when the model number was left on the front bumper, he’d scratch off the 3, leaving 66. The Cooper SK2000 is an iconic design, to be sure, but I associate that lid more with the likes of Mark Messier and Chris Osgood. But then, there’s the helmets Mario wore in his comeback; it was really weird to see him wearing a Nike-branded lid (a variation of the Cooper HH3000). He later wore a modernized CCM bucket toward the end of his career.
I enjoy the orange pants the Bucs used to wear. They should bring them back for a game or two.
Re: Giants Century Red
It will never cease to amaze me that teams are unable to make their players wear uniforms correctly, not even for the unveiling photoshoot… Could Daniel Jones and Andrew Thomas have done the favor of pulling up their socks at least for a few shots?
Yao Ming in Houston’s goofy cartoon rocket uniforms.
That’s a good one. Also Steve Francis wore the red-and-white Rockets unis for a year (not sure if he’s memorable enough for this list, though).
Mark Price in the mid-to-late 90s rebrand. As weird to me as imagine LeBron in the same uniforms
Good one!
To a lesser extent Jamie Langenbrunner in 2010-11 when he was traded from the Devils back to the Stars. When I think of his Stars days it’s the late 90s early 2000s jerseys and seeing the occasional Reebok Edge arched Dallas sweater with Lags on it always makes me double take.
Maybe not so much jersey color scheme but style is also a bit jarring to me. For example, seeing several Devils over the years from the late 90s early 2000s come back in the mid 2010s was for sure different. Seeing Jason Arnott, Petr Sykora, and even Brendan Shanahan (although more that he wore the green trim) in the Reebok Edge jerseys always made me chuckle
With the Devils, though, the Edge uniforms don’t strike me as “wrong”, because aside from the tweaks for the Edge “chassis” that were mainly reflected in the shoulders, collar, and hemline, they were essentially the same as their 1992-2007 CCM* predecessors. They even had the proper striping pattern on the collars, even if the stripes narrowed to a point at the front because of the insert panel for the NHL shield. Now, for a player that left before the 1992 makeover, like Shanny, coming back to end his career in the red-and-black era, regardless of jersey make, does seem like the “wrong” jersey for him.
I’d say that anyone who finished their career with the Devils after the 2017 Adizero switch, but played the bulk of their career in the red-and-black CCM and Reebok eras, that Adizero jersey would be the “wrong” jersey. I’ve never liked the changes made, as I feel they were just made for change’s sake.
*Asterisk because they did wear Pro Player-branded unis in 1999-2000, but again, they were otherwise identical to their CCM counterparts
Joe Dumars in teal
Terrell Davis in orange
Giancarlo (Mike) Stanton in teal
Joe Dumars is a good one! I was thinking Grant Hill in the red, white, and blue in his first couple seasons.
Mahorn wore the Teal as well.
Then you have Lindsey Hunter, who played in the Bad Boys style uniforms & the teal uniforms, but was most remembered in the Goin-to-Work era pistons uniforms.
Also, Bill Laimbeer wore a modern uniform in the Shooting Stars competition during all star weekend one year.
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Almost forgot about Mahorn’s return to the Pistons in the late 90s. But then, after that, he went back to Philly for one last trip, in their black and gold unis.
And speaking of the Sixers, circling back to Charles Barkley, he wore the star-spangled, sublimated-print jerseys in his final season in Philly, after the simpler, arguably more timeless, look he wore for his first seven seasons – not to mention he switched from 34 to 32 during that season as a tribute to Magic Johnson (with Billy Cunningham’s permission, since 32 had already been retired for him). So, right team, wrong uniform and wrong number!
Good answers! Dumars is indeed odd, the only Bad Boy to wear teal (I think).
It kinda feels like “Mike” Stanton has become a meme/inside joke, so that’s why I didn’t include the Florida era for him.
TD is good. He did win OPOY in 1996 in the orange unis.
Stanton in teal at the old stadium really is a great pick
One from my hometown. Two for the same player. If you were a long-time Vancouver Canuck it was possible to happen.
Former captain Markus Naslund had most and his best years wearing the navy blue, dark red, silver, and light blue Orca uniforms.
Definitely right team but wrong uniform for him for brief periods at the start (black Flying Skate uniforms) and at the end (blue and green Orca).
link
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I’m a casual NHL fan so it’s weird for me to see the Sedins in the early 2000s Canucks unis link
For the GTGFTS, I think it is at Allegiant Stadium, on December 14, 2023. The final result should be LV Raiders vs. the LA Chargers, with Raiders winning 63-21. Also, love the concept of the article!
Jerry Rice in a Seahawk #80…..Two bad ideas. Related questions: what player in the Big 4 majors has worn the most different uniforms (home, road,alternate, throwback, CC, etc.) in their career? Today on one team they can wear a dozen in a year…but if they have played for several teams it could be a massive number.
Mario Lemieux in the Vegas-Golds before he retired. Spent good chunks of his career in both the Pgh-Gold with the skating Penguin and the Robo-Penguin.
Nick Markakis spent most of his O’s tenure with the real bird on his hat, every time I see a pic of him from his last couple years in Baltimore, I forget he got to wear the cartoon bird. Same with Brian Roberts.
Seaver looks better in a Cincinnati uniform than anything else.
The D-backs need to return to the teal and purple palette yesterday.
I love the Diamondbacks current uniform set and logos. I think I’m all alone there.
Maybe it’s not so jarring because his rookie cards are burned into everyone’s memory, but it’s interesting for me to see Ken Griffey Jr. in Seattle’s pre-1993 uniforms.
He was on my list! Same conclusion, that Griffey was a phenom for the 4 years he was in the royal blue and yellow. Still kinda weird, since he’s so associated with the current logo and unis
A couple of Blue Jays:
When Dave Stieb returned to the Blue Jays in 1998:
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and Pat Hentgen returned in 2004:
link
I totally missed that Stieb retired for five years and then came back!
Good one. Stieb in that awful 98 uniform was the first thing that jumped into my head
Carlos Delgado played for the Jays for a decade but only one season in the graphite and black jerseys (2004).
Joe Klecko, Wesley Walker, Richard Todd, Greg Buttle, a few others in the Namath-era kits in ’77.
Adding to Brooks and Sapp in Creamsicle, Mike Alstott (1996) and John Lynch (1993-1996) also started their careers with Bucco Bruce on their helmets! Links: Alstott link
Lynch: link
I love the Creamsicle/Bucco Bruce uniforms. But they did NOT fit the personalities who made up the late 1990s/2000s Bucs
Shaun Alexander for the Seahawks in 2001, in Original Seahawks uniforms looks odd.
Also love the blue pants look on the Giants 100th anniversary uniforms. Makes it looks much better
Shaun Alexander and Matt Hasselbeck were in the royal blue
Randy Johnson just doesn’t look right not wearing the purple and teal with the vest top. They should go back to this. If they don’t want purple, just drop the red and make teal (turquoise) the primary color. Red and turquoise isn’t a good look.
Pee Wee Reese played his final season as a Los Angeles Dodger. Conversely, Sandy Koufax played his first few years as a Brooklyn Dodger.
Right team, wrong stadium: Kent Hrbek’s first month in the big leagues was the Twins final month playing home games at Metropolitan Stadium.
George Brett in the Royals’ early-’90s road greys that replaced the powder blues: link
Dan Fouts’ rookie year, when the Chargers still wore the white helmets:
link
Dwight Gooden in the Mets’ 1994 uniforms with the tail under the wordmark: link
Manny Ramirez in Indians’ “Major League”-era unis: link
(Probably same goes for Albert Belle, Kenny Lofton and Carlos Baerga)
Harry Carson in the Giants’ late-’70s uniforms: link
Al Kaline in the Tigers’ early-’70s road pullovers: link
Stan Musial in Cardinals unis with the name on back: link
Also: Len Dawson as a Dallas Texan: link
Also Also: Terry Bradshaw in Steelers’ road uni with white pants: link
Phill Simms’ rookie year in 1979: link
Fouts in the white helmet, that’s wild
Love those early Frank Thomas White Sox uni’s they should definitely throwback to those.
The Sox have soooo many uniforms in their history that the 1987-90 edition gets lost in the shuffle. I agree, they’re great
No, no, no. Those were Reinsdorf’s attempt to make the Whote Sox look like the Dodgers. The current set is just fine.
I have the 87-90 edition ranked between the current home and road unis link
A few more baseball ones:
Lance Berkman on the 1999 Astros link
Ryan Braun on the 2020 Brewers link
Torii Hunter on the 2015 Twins link
Jose Bautista on the 2010-11 Jays (Maybe not that weird, because that’s when he became a star) link
Some NBA examples, that might not be *that* odd:
Anthony Davis on the New Orleans Hornets link
Kevin Durant’s one season in Seattle link
Dirk Nowitzki’s first few season in the Mavs cowboy hat-era unis link
Kevin Garnett as a rookie link
Kevin Garnett in his last year link
Two more for the Magic:
Penny Hardaway in 1999 link
Tracy McGrady in 2004 link
KD was the one I came to the comments for.
NFL extras:
Chad Johnson in the Bengals uniforms, before all the crazy side panels link
Joe Burrow in the Bengals uni with all the crazy side panels link
Jerome Bettis’s first year with the Steelers was their last year with the block numerals link
The one that always pained me, especially given the team’s… let’s say “eclectic” uniform history, is seeing Tony Gwynn Sr. in the 2001 bland as hell Padres home unis, which were just blue and white; no orange, no pinstripes, nothing. Add in that 2001 was Tony’s last year before retiring, and it just feels so wrong.
I forgot there was a period between the Padres’ blue and orange and the complete redesign in 2004
Ugh. 2001-2003 was our “softball” period; pretty universally derided by the fanbase. That said, the resulting redesign gave us our “Pert Plus” shampoo set, which, while it did some interesting things (the sand-colored away unis, for example), ultimately taught the team the wrong lessons, hence the return to ANOTHER bland as hell set in 2017.
Thankfully, we have our current sets restoring normalcy to the Padre Uniform world.
This is a bit of a fringe case, but Derrick Henry in the old Titans unis his first 2 seasons (2016-17). I still think that set was better, but for myself (and many fans) we think of King Henry from 2018 on with the navy blue Titans helmet, when he averaged 1500 yards per season for 4 years.
And one that JUUUUUUST barely doesn’t count since he never saw the field in them, but Tom Brady in the alarm clock Buccaneers unis, since he signed with them a few weeks before the new set got unveiled.
Whoa yeah, great call for Henry link
It’s strange, Mike Evans played 6 seasons in the alarm clock unis, but it’s still odd for me to think of him wearing those link
The Mets paired the black and blue caps and black undershirts/socks with their gray road unis starting in 1998, but for a brief time they still wore their blue caps and blue undershirts/socks with the road unis.
You’d be hard-pressed to find pix of Mike Piazza not wearing the black and blue helmet with the road uni since that was the standard road uniform his entire run with the Mets, but at least once in 1998 he wore blue on the road. link
I was wondering if Piazza had a crossover with the Mets in non-black
Yup, June 1, 1998 link
A pair of NBA centers in their rookie seasons:
Yao Ming in the pajama pinstripes and to a lesser extent, Dikembe Mutombo in the rainbow skyline.
I actually picture Yao in the navy cartoon Rockets unis. It was his rookie season when he was the new big thing (literally, I guess)
Joe Burrow his rookie season wore those awful bengal unis. He also tore his acl so it wasn’t for many games.
Ryan Tannehill his rookie season still had the jumping dolphin.
CJ Stroud will probably fit this in 10 years
Haha yes I thought of Stroud for the future edition of this.
If we’re going down that road, Jared Goff played his first three seasons in a mixture of the Rams’ St. Louis set (or a bastardized version of it anyway) and the classic Rams blue-and-yellow; his last year on the team was the first year of the Rams’ current set. Likewise, he played his first three years in Detroit in the Lions old set, and is now in the new one.
Good one with Goff
Conversely, Matt Stafford played his last few seasons in Detroit wearing the unis they just got rid of link
Also, Aaron Donald’s first season was for the St. Louis Rams… though they pretty much had the same unis up until 2020
Jeff Bagwell with the old school Astros rainbow shoulder uniform. link
Biggio too!
Kent Tekulve and Dave Parker were famous in the 1979 World Series wearing the mix and match unis.
Both of them started their careers in the previous set the Pirates wore in the early 70s.
link
Jim Thome, came back to Cleveland in 2011 with slightly new home and alternate uniforms and a different road uniform. The Sedin twins also started in Vancouver under the burgundy Canucks look for a few years before they went back to blue and green.
Tom Seaver with the henley-style jerseys that the Mets wore in the early 80’s.
He never used it in a game, since the Mets switched to the racing stripe unis in 1983, but for one brief moment, Seaver wore it. link
I can’t post a link, but Ray Lewis/Jon Ogden in the Baltimore Ravens gothic “we have to change this helmet because we stole the design” look.
Yes link
This might be a minor one, or a once you see it you can unsee it situation… YMMV
I always think of Dan Marino wearing the old-school “realistic” Dolphin helmet. His last 2 seasons, they changed the helmet logo to the cartoon dolphin.
I mean, they were both dolphins wearing football helmets. I don’t think of the pre-97 dolphin as especially “realistic”, it was just a very messy logo that looked like it had been xeroxed 30 times to get to its final state that they then cleaned up and stylized in the manner of so many 90s sports logos.
Mike — Thanks for the shout-out. Happy to be the inspiration for this particular topic!
How about Michael Strahan in the LT-era Giants uniform?
Appreciate you chiming in, getting the ball rolling!
Yeah I definitely picture Strahan in the “ny” logo, not the GIANTS logo link
While it’s a bit strange, Strahan basically played half his career in the ’90s Giants uniform, half in the “ny” set. So not sure if it counts.
Yeah, agreed.
Similar thing with Roy Halladay. I picture him in the black/gray Jays era, not the old Toronto unis link
But he played his first 6 seasons in them.
Cam Neely played his final season with the Bruins when they re-designed their unis in the mid-90’s. So Cam Neely in the Pooh Bear happened! And it was the one season where they wore the Pooh Bear with a white helmet.
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Theo Fleury in Flames Reebok gear
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My friend has a Charles Barkley Starting Lineup figure wearing the old Western Suns uniforms. The first time I saw it I just thought Starting Lineup screwed up, but yeah, he actually wore the unis in the preseason. Starting Lineup must have gone to production with the Charles Barkley/Suns figure so early they didn’t have anything else to go on regarding their new unis.
A bunch are on eBay for like $20
How about Sir Charles in the wrong 76ers uniform…and wrong number:
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Al MacInnis wore the old Hull & Oates Blues uniforms during preseason in 1994. They switched to the infamous Gretzky-era jerseys for the regular season.
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Jim Abbott. Left the California Angels in 1992 when they were wearing their classic Haloed A unis, returned in ’96 when they were in their extremely short-lived block script “ANGELS” unis (with the “CA” wordmark on the cap…basically a throwback to the early years of the franchise.) And of course, a year later they’d change their name to the Anaheim Angels and have yet _another_ short-lived uni set, but Abbott never played in those.
Darin Erstad played his first year for the “California” Angels
Great piece! One that only a Boston Bruins fan would appreciate or understand is David Krejci in the old Bruins jerseys that they did away with in 2007-2008. He wore it for 7 games at the end of the 2006-2007 season.
link
Kirby Puckett in Twins pullover unis: link
Barry Bonds in Pirates’ pillbox cap: link
Eli Manning in Giants’ pre-2005 road jersey: link
First one that comes to mind for me is Julio Franco. He spent six seasons (1983-88) in Cleveland in the Tribe’s “Major League” movie uniforms, then came back in ’96 & ’97 after team went with the script “Indians” uni that brought them much more success than the previous set.
Long-time Tampa Bay Lightning forward link in 1999-00 and wearing #8 rather than #4.
That’s Vincent Lecavalier. The link ate my description. LOL
I get why Curry is on here since the Warriors only wore the navy and orange look during his rookie year. However, I see a decent amount of other Warriors fans in Curry jerseys from that year (especially since Mitchell and Ness has been producing them for at least 5 years) so even though I don’t really picture Curry that way, it doesn’t throw me off like a Randy Johnson type example. Generally, there’s a better argument for ones like Johnson as opposed to players who wore something else as rookies since photos of players as rookies get circulated a lot so we get used to seeing odd uni pairings
Curry was the most borderline, for sure. The Warriors brought those unis back as alternates a few years ago link
Luc Robitaille in his rookie season – link
Scott Niedermayer in the oft-forgotten black Mighty Ducks alternate uniform – link
Another Warriors one that is wild is pre-sobriety Chris Mullin in his first two years in the old style GSW jerseys with long hair instead of the high and tight hair with the Run TMC jersey. Honestly surprised Warriors went as late as 88 with that look.
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Oh! Mullin also played very briefly in the navy lightning bolt era too! link
Mmmm! I didn’t notice Mullin closed his career with the lightning bolt Warriors.
Chris Webber did, too link
Deion Sanders in a falcons jersey always surprises me when I am flipping through/sorting trading cards.
For sure, when they still wore red link
Keith Hernandez as a Met in the unis with racing pinstripes, that’s all he ever wore on the field, but in 1994 he wore the uni with the tail under the wordmark for a photo shoot (possibly acting as a spring training coach that year?)
Unfortunately I can’t find a pic of the front of the uni, but it’s the 1994 unis because of the MLB 125th Anniversary patch on the right sleeve.
Also notable is that the pinstripes on the jersey appear to be darker than the ones on the pants. link
I’m a very casual hockey (and casual LA Kings) fan so it’s weird for me to see Anze Kopitar in the purple accent unis link
Same for the rest of the core Stanley Cup guys: Quick, Doughty, even Dustin Brown.
Conversely, Luc Robitaille in the 80s purple and gold in his first two seasons (86-88), and in the black and purple (98-01 and 03-06). I always see him as a King in the Gretzky-era black and silver (88-94 and 97-98).
A couple of guys who are meaningful in Red Sox history:
Tony Conigliaro sporting the red cap during his 1975 comeback link
Jerry Remy sporting the red cap for his first season after joining the Sox in 1978 link
While still his ‘right’ team, seeing Bruce Matthews suitied up for the Titans is somehow very ‘wrong’ :
link
More so than say, Eddie George, Steve McNair or Frank Wycheck.
…wearing the Oilers uniform.
Sorry, but I must dissent.
I’m pretty sure Paul will back me up here – the Sonic Green and Gold is never wrong, under any circumstance :)
Im old enough to recall the days when NASCAR Cup cars had fairly consistent paint schemes week to week.
I was quite disappointed when Rusty Wallace went from Midnight to the Blue Deuce. Sigh.
Both Johnny Bench (link) and Pete Rose (link) played for the Reds before the Big Red Machine/pullover era.
When I think of Dale Murphy, I always picture him in this:
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…not this:
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Not bad, but Murphy played 3 and a half seasons in the contemporary Braves unis. More than I expected
I was on the Hawaii football team the year before the Sugar Bowl, and went to that game to see my (former) teammates realize their accomplishment.
The mono-white we wore that night never sat well with me and I always hated that many of the guys I played with who were program icons ended their careers in an absolute garbage look. The pants even looked up close like they were purchased on clearance at Sports Authority the morning of the game.
When I see clips of that game I definitely say to myself “that wasn’t us.”
I don’t think anyone solved Gtg by the uni. 7/11/24. This was the White Sox last year at Comiskey. They did a manual scoreboard, old timey anounc
Should be 1990 of course, not 2024.
…er with a bullhorn, etc. Lost a marathon extra inning game to Milwaukee. This was the origin of the concept of retro uniforms and nostalgia themed games.
Aaron Judge, Yanks, 2024 no white accent on lettering and numbers, no sleeve piping.
Eddie Murray in his late-career (96?) return to the Orioles in their “ornithologically correct” bird era
I’d argue Larry Fitzgerald was in the wrong uniform for most of those 20 years and wore the right one for his rookie year.
How about
Tony La Russa, rookie with the Kansas City A’s in 1963 (34 games as an 18 year old)
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and
Tony La Russa, Manager with the Oakland A’s in 1988
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Joe Thomas wore those the short lived browns redesign at the end I believe.
Bill Russell and Sam Jones were closely identified with the serifed ‘CELTICS’ lettering for much of their careers, but their last season was spent with the current non-serifed and vertically arched ‘CELTICS’ wordmark.
Also, Rajon Rondo wore the current ‘BOSTON’ wordmark on the green uniform in his last season; he spent most of his career sporting ‘CELTICS’ on that green uniform.
There’s also Arvydas Sabonis in the silver-accented Blazers uniforms they debuted in his final NBA season; he spent a majority of his career wearing the late Drexler-era jerseys.
How about Tony Parker in the Admiral-era jersey in his rookie year, then he wore the Wemby-era jersey in his final season with the Spurs. Manu Ginobili also wore the Wemby-era jersey in his final season.
Steve Nash is best known in the gray-accented Suns purple uniforms they wore in the 2000s, but he started with the sunburst jerseys during his first Suns stint.
Bill Russell and Sam Jones wore the non-serifed vertical-arched ‘CELTICS’ wordmark jersey in their final season. They’re more associated with the serifed version. Rajon Rondo wore the green non-serifed ‘BOSTON’ jersey in his final year with the team; he wore the ‘CELTICS’ green jersey for most of his career.
Tony Parker wore the Admiral-era jersey (one with just silver trim on the numbers) in his rookie year, and the Wemby-era jersey (the modernized Spurs wordmark) in his final year. Manu Ginobili also wore the Wemby-era jersey in his final year. David Robinson wore the Duncan-era jersey (one w/ the added trim on the numbers) in his last season.
Steve Nash was most associated with the Amar’e-era Suns jersey with gray accents in the 2000s, but he wore the sunburst jerseys of the Barkley era in his first two seasons.
Eddie Murray was most notably known wearing orioles cartoon bird and pullover in late 70s early 80s.
But he returned to orioles in 96 wearing the Ornithologically Correct Bird
Jim Bunning in the Phillies rebrand in 1971.
I went looking for a good example of an Eagles great who played on both sides of the Kelly/Midnight switch, but unfortunately, Brian Dawkins and Troy Vincent got to the team right after the switch, and Cunningham left right before, so the best option I have is someone who non-Eagles fans might not remember that well in Bobby Taylor.
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Ichiro in the Mariners cream-colored Sunday alternate uni in 2018. He couldn’t have worn it more than once or twice before he soft-retired a month into the season.
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Although they didn’t see the field, there are lots of photos of Reggie White and Brett Favre wearing the 1984-1987 Packers uniforms (with the “G” on the sleeve) during early ’90s practices.