Good Tuesday morning, Uni Watchers. I hope everyone had a good Monday.
Longtime UW reader/contributor/author/stalwart Leo Strawn, Jr. is back today with the third part in a new series he’s calling “The Good, the Bad and the Oddly” focusing on, well, good, bad and odd baseball uniforms and caps he’s encountered over the years. I think you’ll all really enjoy this one! If you missed Volume 1, click here, Volume 2, click here or Volume 3, click here.
Sit back and enjoy — here’s Leo:
The Good, the Bad and the Oddly (Volume 4)
by Leo Strawn, Jr.
I’m Leo…welcome to my world!
As you know by now, I’ve been cleaning out my sports photo files and have been running across some pics that I thought I’d share, along with a question or two for readers. I want to thank everyone who contributed answers and additional info in the comments of Volumes 1-3. Keep it coming!
Last time out, eagle-eyed (maybe cardinal-eyed?) oliver pointed out this Cards jersey is from 1926 WS, not the 1929 season. Pinstripes are blue and logo is higher on the jersey, plus birds are not outlined in black and have yellow beaks.
A reader named City asked about the 1915-16 Yankees pinstripes, thinking they included green with the red and blue. I’ve seen that graphic and tracked it down to this site. There are no photos on that link to confirm there was any green, so take it with a grain of salt. The only photos I’ve seen are the ones I linked to and the one I posted.
Dom Marino and John in KC asked about the cap Chuck Tanner was wearing in this photo from Volume 3. Below are three pics from 1976 spring training, showing that same cap. However, Tanner wasn’t the manager in 1976, Danny Murtaugh was. So, although I don’t have any spring training photos from Tanner’s first season at the helm for the Bucs, I suspect they wore those same caps and uniforms in the spring of 1977 also, minus the sleeve patch.
Also, in Volume 1, I had a question about this Giants jersey. Brett Greenleaf shared a better look at it as well as the plaque describing it as a 1913-14 Giants special they wore while touring the world with the Chisox. This article says Mathewson wasn’t a part of the overseas portion of the tour, but he did play in the States in this jersey. I just realized I had a couple of other photos of that jersey and I thought I would share them, too. All this time, I didn’t know the story behind them or when they were worn. More info and another photo here.
Putting lettering around the neck is certainly unusual. Obviously, the “PP” is for Pittsburgh Pirates on this circa 1913-14 jersey Honus Wagner is wearing.
Another weird one: 1901 Brewers had an “M” on the bill of their cap, not shown in Marc’s database. To be fair, it would have been tough to see details in photos taken at a distance from that era, especially in newsprint.
It’s still weird to me to see the Tigers without an Old English “D”. Pics are from 1903, 1916 and 1920.
Equally odd is seeing Washington wearing an Old English “W” in this 1906 team photo.
Even stranger to me, is plaid. 1916, 1917 and 1928 Dodgers in pic.
[I believe that’s actually “tattersall.” — PH]
1916 also saw the Giants wearing plaid. This is from the latter half of the season after Mathewson had been dealt to the Reds. McGraw doesn’t look happy to have his former ace managing against him.
But even plaid might not top the wearing of shorts. Unless there was an earlier instance of baseball shorts I don’t know about, it started in the PCL. The Hollywood Stars wore shorts in 1950.
That was just another baseball fashion idea that didn’t last, but, unlike plaid, it made a comeback. In this pic are shorts-wearing Sacramento Solons of the PCL in 1975.
Which makes me wonder if Bill Veeck saw a photo of the Solons in 1975 and thought, “I’ve tried a short batter, so why not shorts on batters?” Those 1976 Sox shorts don’t show up in Okkonen’s graphics, but he does talk about them and has a photo of them in his book.
I’m not sure about other seasons in which the Tribe wore Chief Wahoo inside a wishbone C on their cap, but at least in 1957 a patch was sewn onto the cap, rather than the emblem being stitched directly onto the front.
Here’s a rare look at Gaylord Perry pitching in a one-year Padres road jersey.
I like this BP jersey Gary Carter is wearing at the 1983 ASG in this photo with George Brett. Too bad they didn’t wear this in regular season games.
Tim Foli played for Pittsburgh from 1979-81 and again in 1985. This Topps card is from 1981. The Pirates wore mono black during his first 3 years with the Bucs, but not this top and not with black caps. Most likely, this is a batting practice jersey in spring training. Also would have been a good look for regular season games, in my opinion.
I don’t recall who sent this to me or when (my apologies), but the 1977 Pirates pinstripes-over-yellow uniform combo is pictured on the May 30, 1977 SI cover, but not in the database. (Okkonen was limited to the number of uniforms he could put on his graphics due to the layout he chose, so this may be another instance of that.) This was worn in at least one game at Cincinnati. The descriptions on the photos say it was either May 17 or 18. May 17 was a night game, followed by an afternoon game on May 18.
And…another mystery. This interesting Cubs jersey is from 1934. Okkonen’s graphics show the bear logo on this jersey, which was only worn in that season, represented in a different color than the following photo of HOFer Chuck Klein’s jersey.
Sadly, the “C” surrounding the bear is missing, so there’s no way to say for sure what color it was, but the values of the bear and the “C” are similar in the one photo of a player wearing that jersey that I have, slightly lighter than the outline around the letter. The trim is red, white and blue, so it would stand to reason that the outline is also blue. The stitched outline of the bear is washed out, but still obviously blue.
It seems rather extreme for the thread that made up the bear to turn from red to gold in the wash/sun. To me, there doesn’t appear to be a hint of red in the animal. My thought is that the bear was possibly a dark orange that washed out to gold, but was dark enough to appear red at a distance.
What are your thoughts? Do you think the interior of the “C” was red? Or was it possibly gold, the same color as the bear appears to be now or maybe a dark orange that faded to now appear gold?
Cheers!
Readers? What say you?
Could the bear on that Cubs logo be brown? I’ve seen paintings of their earlier (1900s-10s) C-with-bear logo and it’s often brown.
Definitely another possibility. I hadn’t even considered that.
I can’t find any pictures of it now, but I’m pretty sure I’ve seen hand-painted images of the Cubs with that logo and the C is dark blue and the bear is brown. All the throwback jerseys you see of that design have both the C and the bear in dark blue, and when they brought the standing bear logo back in the ’20s and ’30s, putting it inside a wishbone C this time, it was blue.
This great image collection: link
…includes the photos you’re showing us, and shows only blue bears for both the 1900s/10s and again in the ’20s/30s. But… the surrounding years all have contrasting colors for the C and the bear (red/blue). I wonder if it’s a dark brown to contrast with the blue C.
C’mon, Leo. You know the Pirates wore all nine possible jersey/pants combinations in 1977 and ’78, regardless of how many Okkonen had room for, and you know where to find what they wore on a particular date (link). In the case of those SI photos, Getty (as is their wont) has the date wrong. They were taken May 19 at Three Rivers when the Pirates played the Dodgers.
I know Getty’s dates are in error at times. I just looked at the dates listed on Getty and didn’t look beyond those dates on the BucTracker.
If I’m in error (or Getty or anyone else I am using for dates), I want someone who knows to share the correct info. Thanks for that.
For future reference: I focus on Okkonen because I’m trying to fill in gaps and suggest corrections based on photos I have. Dressed to the Nines has been the default source for most of us since its publication in book form. Sadly, there isn’t a baseball site as thorough as GUD is for football. It gets muddy having to scour through several sites to come up with accurate info, at times. I do my best, but sometimes I overlook things (like the “REDS” in Ivy Wingo’s jersey) or trust info that I have that turns out to be less than 100% accurate.
I appreciate all the additional info and digging UW readers do for historical accuracy! I’m only one guy, after all…
Cheers!
Frankly I’m stunned by the number of times the Pirates wore white jerseys on the road. I’m surprised MLB didn’t put the
kibosh to that. However thinking further it must have been cause they always wore
colored contrasting pants and not all white.
They did wear pinstripe tops and bottoms for road games, even when the home team wore the same. Don’t have a link, but the photos are out there. I’ve seen them on this site.
Definitely at least one game (if not more) against the Mets. Lemme see if I can find a pic.
link
link
link
Wow home pinstripes vs home pinstripes, which is even more bizarre !
Sorry I’m so late, but the NL did enter the picture. According to The Sporting News of April 15, 1978, “National League President Chub Feeney has instructed the Pirates not to wear their white pin-stripe uniforms on the road. Feeney feels the whites should be reserved for home teams.”
In 1978, they stopped wearing the white jerseys and pants together on the road, and in 1979, they stopped wearing any white as visitors. (I’m guessing that’s why they dropped the stripes.)
Which makes me wonder if Bill Veeck saw a photo of the Solons in 1975 and thought, “I’ve tried a short batter, so why not shorts on batters?”
If memory serves, Veeck cited the Hollywood Stars as his inspiration for the shorts. He had plenty of chances to see them when he was scouting Los Angeles as big league territory in the 50s during one of his periods away from ownership of his own club.
I’ll never understand why shorts have been tried so many times in baseball. I wouldn’t even play slo-pitch softball in shorts, and that’s a game where you MIGHT see one slide in an entire game. In MLB it’s closer to one slide per player per game.
Wow I remember that Dave Parker SI cover vividly. One of the shames of the death of SI and magazines in general, it was always such a big deal to see who/what would earn the cover each week.
So many great and odd uniforms!
I noticed Honus Wagner was missing a button. So 80 years before the Pedro Porthole, we had the Wagner Window!
Also always gotta love seeing George Brett in his mismatched shoes!
The black Pirates jersey in the group shot with Chuck Tanner was never worn in a real game because the wordmark and the number have a white outline. But the Pirates’ black jerseys of 1977-84 did not have a white outline. So that jersey must have been a prototype.
Good eye. Didn’t notice that when I first posted it.
Used to attend a lot of Expos and Braves preseason games in West Palm and they did wear that red for games – unless my brain needs rebooting. The guys from Rush were often in the stands
My favorite band. Saw them in every decade they toured.
Yep to Rush…
Saw them multiple times, brought my teen children to R40 in St.Louis….
What a great and perfect day that was…
GTGFTU: 2002 Week 13, Thanksgiving Day Game. Patriots beat the Lions 20-12 while both teams wear throwbacks. This appears to be the first time New England would wear Pat Patriot throwbacks, and interestingly, they did it on the road.
GTGFTS: 1974 All Star Game at Three Rivers Stadium (one of 2 hosted there, the other was 1994).
And the Tim Foli baseball card is actually a 1982 Topps card. The background suggests that it was indeed shot during spring training, so the picture itself probably is from 1981.
Good catch. Not sure if it was a typo or if I had it listed wrong on my image. Will check later, thanks.
GTGFTU: November 28, 2002, Patriots (20) at Lions )12), at Ford Field, Detroit, MI
I saw the reebok logo on the pants and knew it had to be pre-2012, Nike changeover. At first, my thought was that it was just before, the patriots were regularly wearing these throwbacks starting in 2009. However, upon closer inspection of the Reebok logo, I found it to be blue. On those more recent throwbacks, the logo was rendered in red. This is from an earlier game where the patriots wore these as a one-off throwback before bringing them back on a more regular basis.
In the pic with Gary Carter, George Brett’s wearing different brands of cleats – Saucony on his right and Nike on his left. Is that a thing that he did that only I missed until now?
Hey Leo thanks for sharing those awesome photos.
I agree with everyone who says that it does not make any sense for baseball players to be wearing shorts. I always preferred to keep the dirt on the outside of my uniform.
I shared this photo on a Saints story the other day but for the topic of shorts in sports, it’s the background that catches your eye…
link
I seem to remember seeing NFL refs wearing shorts in preseason games in the 80s and 90s.
I’m sorry, and I know the Getty Images say otherwise, but I’m not convinced that those Parker pictures were taken in Cincinnati. I know the B-R says the May 1977 series was in Cincinnati and the Getty Images says so too.
But, that background just does not look right. Riverfront Stadium’s dugouts had a very distinct dark color about them and a dark gray railing in front. And, look at the crowd, not a speck of red to be seen. I know that for a fact that Riverfront was awash in red after the back to back World Series victories as I was a vendor for SportsService. Might just be me, but I’m just not buying it.
Getty does have date errors frequently. I wasn’t trying to date it, just report on what I had found.
It’s a lot of work to track down newspaper articles, etc., to find accurate info.
Hopefully someone has done that/can do that and find the exact game with dated photographic proof from a newspaper to share.
Man, I love seeing these wacky old baseball photos!
The late 70s/early 80s were such a wild time for baseball uniforms. Gary Carter in an Expos uniform is the archetype of what baseball looked like to me as a kid. High stirrups, blue roadies, almost-tight pants. Many of my tastes have changed, but it’s fun to see these again.
Nowadays I’m more interested in those old baggy uniforms from the early 1900s, but that plaid/tattersall is a little too much for me!
I believe the Cardinals 26 WS jersey had green pinstripes, to match the green stripes on the stirrups. That great Cardinals uniform site describes the green pinstripes somewhere, on one of the pages. I think. Ok, I’m 90% sure…
A thing about Cardinals: the male birds are the classic red we’re familiar with, but the females are a muted green with a tint of red. I don’t know if that’s what the 20’s Cardinals were alluding to, but I’ve always thought the female Cardinal’s shade of green would make an interesting accent color for the football Cardinals uniforms. Maybe one of the many collegiate Cardinal teams can run with the idea. I drew up a CR rendering using the idea years ago – it’s on a hard drive around here somewhere!
you know it, link
I must say, the design was female inclusive: link
On the Pirates: They did indeed wear 76 unis in spring training of 1977. The new uniforms returned to bright gold, so the pillbox worn by Grant Jackson was just for spring training. If my memory is correct, Wilson made the gold uniforms but a Japanese supplier made the chalk stripe whites and the blacks. Lettering and number fonts are different on the golds…..Tim Foli is wearing a BP top…… Pirates wore every imaginable combo through 1979. In 1980 they used solid whites at home exclusively. All black became scarce because tv watchers complained that it was hard to see…..on black and white tv!
Great stuff, as usual.