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Good morning, Uni Watchers, and welcome to 2025! I hope everyone had a great New Year’s Eve, and — if you made any resolutions — that you’re well on your way to keeping them.
Back in 2023, Uni Watch reader Marc Mayntz came up a really fun infographic featuring the then-current or most recent No. 23 to appear in a game for all 153 MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLS teams. Last year, he prepared something similar for No. 24, but with a few key differences. As the calendar turns to 2025, Marc returns with another new infographic, this time involving the No. 25.
I’ll let Marc take it from here…
Once again, it is my pleasure and honor to create this New Year’s Number Box graphic for the third year running. New Year’s is my favorite holiday because it is the closest thing to a worldwide celebration as we have right now. This year, there are an incredible 200 names across nine North American leagues plus NASCAR, F1, and an Easter Egg for the comm-uni-ty embedded in the image. The ground rules for the selection of names/images are:
1) Only teams that play in 2025 are included. Expansion teams like Portland/Toronto in the WNBA start play in 2026. That said, Justin Kirkland represents the Arizona Coyotes because the team has not technically folded, but is classified as “inactive” and could play in the 2025-26 season, however unlikely that may be.
2) The most recent wearer of the number is on the graphic, not the “best”. This is why Thomas Saggese represents the St. Louis Cardinals and not Mark McGwire, George Hendrick, or Julian Javier. Names were accurate as of Christmas Day.
3) Uniforms are organized by the player’s last name and were selected with historical accuracy, uniqueness, and overall color palette in mind. I did not select the “best” uniform of that team, but rather the uniform that stands out as well as blends in best.
4) Retired numbers are white, with the exception of Gail Goodrich since the Lakers did not have a white jersey in the 1970s. LeSean McCoy’s number is not officially retired, but the Eagles have publicly stated they will not reissue it, which amounts to the same thing. Retired numbers trump most recent, so Eddie Jones does not represent the Lakers.
5) There are 5 teams that have never issued #25 to a player, so the city name is used as a placeholder. Conversely, players with NNOB (Bonds, KC Jones, Torres, Winckowski) do not have their names added unnecessarily.
I hope everyone has a tremendous new year and hope to be back with the 2026 version!
• • • • •
Thanks, Marc! Yet again, a very fun way to get ready for the new year. Please join me in thanking Marc for sharing this excellent project with us!
Uniform Concepts and Tweaks
Time for more Uni Tweaks from the UW readership.
I hope you guys like this feature and will want to continue to submit your concepts and tweaks to me. If you do, Shoot me an E-mail (Phil (dot) Hecken (at) gmail (dot) com).
• • • • •
Today’s concepts come from George Noriega, who has embarked upon an NFL-themed project to “fix” the uniforms for all 32 teams. Today we’ll look at the first two of those.
Hi Phil
(1) For all teams, tweaks would be based off their current templates, so I’m not looking to do complete overhauls i.e. Cardinals, Commanders and Rams would keep their current templates
(2) Mono uniforms are OK i.e. Pats all-blue, Jets all-green, Saints all-black, etc., but also…
(3) No leotard/yoga pants look, regardless of whether pant stripes break the look up
(4) No plain white socks; socks are either contrasting color to the pants or striped
__________
Minnesota Vikings
Home: Purple/purple/white/purple
Away: Purple/white/white/purple
Alt. 1: Purple/purple/purple/white socks with thin/thick/thin purple stripes AKA Purple People Eaters Uni
Alt. 2: Purple/white/purple/white socks with thin/thick/thin purple stripes
Throwback: circa early ’60’s era
Notes: The throwback uni would have a period-accurate dark purple helmet (if the Giants can do it, Multi-billionaire Zygi Wilf can drop the extra bucks needed to outfit the team in the correct helmets too)… period-accurate purple socks with three yellow stripes on the throwbacks.
__________
Los Angeles Rams
Home: Blue/blue/sol/blue
Away: Blue/white/sol/blue
Alt. 1: Blue/blue/blue/white socks with two blue stripes
Alt. 2: Blue/white/blue/white socks with two blue stripes
Notes: Gone are the gradient numbers on the home blues and the weird rubbery accents on the numbers on the road whites…minor change to the blue pants as the white-to-yellow gradient stripe is tweaked to visually match the yellow pants with side-by-side stripes… completely eliminated are the superfluous bone/”dishwater” alternates… with the tweaks, the Rams now look visually closer to the classic “Greatest Show on Turf” era unis but provide a nice updated look for the modern day.
• • • • •
OK readers (and concepters). If you have some tweaks or concepts, shoot ’em my way with a brief description of your creation and I’ll run ’em here.
Guess the Game from the Scoreboard
Guess The Game…
…From The Scoreboard
Today’s scoreboard comes from Brad Shiffrin.
The premise of the game (GTGFTS) is simple: I’ll post a scoreboard and you guys simply identify the game depicted. In the past, I don’t know if I’ve ever completely stumped you (some are easier than others).
Here’s the Scoreboard. In the comments below, try to identify the game (date and location, as well as final score). If anything noteworthy occurred during the game, please add that in (and if you were AT the game, well bonus points for you!):
Please continue sending these in! You’re welcome to send me any scoreboard photos (with answers please), and I’ll keep running them.
Guess the Game from the Uniform
Based on the suggestion of long-time reader/contributor Jimmy Corcoran, we’ve introduced a new “game” on Uni Watch, which is similar to the popular “Guess the Game from the Scoreboard” (GTGFTS), only this one asked readers to identify the game based on the uniforms worn by teams.
Like GTGFTS, readers will be asked to guess the date, location and final score of the game from the clues provided in the photo. Sometimes the game should be somewhat easy to ascertain, while in other instances, it might be quite difficult. There will usually be a visual clue (something odd or unique to one or both of the uniforms) that will make a positive identification of one and only one game possible. Other times, there may be something significant about the game in question, like the last time a particular uniform was ever worn (one of Jimmy’s original suggestions). It’s up to YOU to figure out the game and date.
Today’s GTGFTU comes from Jim Olsey.
Good luck and please post your guess/answer in the comments below.
And finally...
…that’s going to do it for the first post of 2025! Thanks again to Marc for that really excellent (and fun) infographic. Please be sure to give his efforts a shout in the comments.
There should be a few more articles today, including the results of the 2024 Uni Awards that you guys nominated and voted upon, so be sure to keep checking back.
Enjoy the College Football Playoff quarterfinals, also known as the Peach Bowl (Texas vs. ASU), Rose Bowl (Oregon vs. Ohio State) and Sugar Bowl (Georgia vs. Notre Dame), which should all be some excellent uni matchups.
Everyone have a great New Year, and I’ll catch you back here tomorrow morning.
GTGFTS: Game 1, 1969 World Series at Memorial Stadium, Baltimore. Only game Orioles won. Four straight wins for the Mets after this game to win the series.
Happy New Year!
Great job Marc! Appreciate seeing the CFL inclusion. Going with the Obsidian green alternate for the Roughriders!
George, love the upgrade suggestions. I think most of us readers would do a better job designing the uniforms instead of the team officials themselves. One thing about the Vikings uniform. I would switch to a white facemask as my first order of business.
Glad you liked it Wade!
GTGFTU: October 15, 2023.
MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ.
Jets 20, Eagles 14.
First time the Jets ever beat the Eagles in the regular season.
Love the continuation of the year graphic! Well done! I can’t seem to find the browns player, any hints?
Thank you uni-watch and have a happy new year everyone!
Check the “H” section.
This is such great work that I hate to nitpick, but Izzy Abanikanda’s Jets number/NOB are wrong. If it’s meant to be the current uniform it should have the Champion numeral font (with the slanted “2”) and rounded NOB lettering (link); if it’s meant to be the previous uniform it should have the sans-serif numerals (link). If it’s meant to be the 1998-2018 uniform with the standard block numerals (which Abanikanda never wore) it should be in a darker green with serif NOB lettering.
Again, sorry to nit-pick, but OCD is kind of our thing here at Uni Watch….. ;)
Yes, the numbers should have been sans serif. Honest mistake.
What are the 5 teams to never issue a #25?
1) Bay F.C. (only their second year of existence, no one has been issued #25)
2) Golden State Valkyries (expansion team with no games played yet)
3) San Diego FC (expansion team with no games played yet)
4) Toronto Sceptres (only their second year of existence, no one has been issued #25)
5) Utah HC (first year of existence, no one has been issued #25)
Not sure I would compare the Rams concept to “the greatest show on turf”, as the yellow isn’t close to gold. With that said, both the Vikings and Rams looked well. I prefer the first option with the Vikings having stripes rather than stripes and the wide, white thing. The Rams concepts remind me of the days just before the move to St. Louis. Never cared for the gradient numbers and in my opinion the Sol is just to bright. Perhaps it is because of lighting and playing indoors but the yellow/Sol looks like highlighter yellow rather than the shade of yellow worn by past teams or by the Packers.
Fair point; interestingly enough, on my screen the “sol” color does not look overly bright, so it never dawned on me to make it a darker shade to get it closer to the Eric Dickerson/Kurt Warner shades of yellow as it already *looked* that way. To me, any way.
That being said, there are a few where I tweaked colors to get them closer to a classic look (the Cowboys and their “sea foam” pants, for example), but for the most part it was about ditching certain elements that I (and a lot of the readership, if the comments on Monday mornings are any indication) felt were hokey i.e. gradient numbers, truncated striping, leotard/yoga pants look, and get some of these teams looking BETTER, not necessarily PERFECT.
Using the Phillies CC in this graphic is a sin.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Nice graphic, Marc..,and Happy New Year to you and everyone out there in the Uni-verse!
Had forgotten that the 25 hasn’t run a Cup race since Chase Elliott a decade ago.
I consider 24 a ‘fast’ number, but ‘24 went at a snail’s pace IMO…25 is ‘slower’ looking – who knows how quickly it’ll progress, but I hope it’s a good year for all!
I was surprised too, but at least it was a nice livery to duplicate!
Love the 25’s, but missed seeing pinstripes for Gleber. Wish him well in MoTown.
Pinstripes are reserved for single digit Yankees.
On the one hand, I don’t see the Coyotes coming back anytime soon. On the other hand, nobody on the Utah Hockey Club has worn 25 yet, so…
The NHL has made it crystal clear that UHC has not inherited the Jets 1.0/Coyotes history and Utah is the 33rd NHL franchise.
I, too, find it highly unlikely that the Yotes will come back for 25-26, but we have also seen that the NHL responds well to a billion dollars being laid down for a team at the last moment before schedules are printed…
What a fun graphic! I appreciate your time and effort on this, Marc. Just curious, has their ever been any team that uses a handwritten 2 on their unis? I’ve always drawn my two just like 2, never the “squiggly” kind. I was thinking the Tampa Bay Lightning did back around 1995-96 but research proved me wrong.
By “squiggly,” do you mean cursive?
There have been many custom number fonts, and some look closer to handwritten instead of block printed, but I don’t think an actual cursive number font has ever been employed for professional use.
Honestly, this sounds like a Leo’s World question…
Yes, I guess cursive is what I was going for. There’s probably a minor league team (hockey, baseball, arena league) somewhere at sometime that has done this.
That’s really cool, Marc! My eye immediately drifted to the José Cruz “Tequila Sunrise” jersey, my first favorite #25.
Funny thought, as I was retiring after my midnight celebration, I was singing to myself “In The Year 2525.” Yes, I know we’re still short 500 years, but to see all the repeating 25s, the Zager and Evans moment proved a bit prophetic to seeing your beautiful collage.
Thank you! The Tequila Sunrise was the one that I was most excited to emulate as well.
The Rams should never wear blue pants. If they do, they should go with yellow socks.
Could the MLS please take note of how boring their jerseys look compared to every single other one in this graphic?
Lovely, Marc! A lesser-spotted JEV in there!
Standard league-wide fonts are very common in soccer. That’s one of the few things MLS has done right (not speaking about this particular font choice).
GTGFTS: Game 1, 1969 World Series at Memorial Stadium, Baltimore. Only game Orioles won. Four straight wins for the Mets after this game to win the series.
Happy New Year!
Great job Marc! Appreciate seeing the CFL inclusion. Going with the Obsidian green alternate for the Roughriders!
George, love the upgrade suggestions. I think most of us readers would do a better job designing the uniforms instead of the team officials themselves. One thing about the Vikings uniform. I would switch to a white facemask as my first order of business.
Glad you liked it Wade!
GTGFTU: October 15, 2023.
MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ.
Jets 20, Eagles 14.
First time the Jets ever beat the Eagles in the regular season.
Love the continuation of the year graphic! Well done! I can’t seem to find the browns player, any hints?
Thank you uni-watch and have a happy new year everyone!
Check the “H” section.
This is such great work that I hate to nitpick, but Izzy Abanikanda’s Jets number/NOB are wrong. If it’s meant to be the current uniform it should have the Champion numeral font (with the slanted “2”) and rounded NOB lettering (link); if it’s meant to be the previous uniform it should have the sans-serif numerals (link). If it’s meant to be the 1998-2018 uniform with the standard block numerals (which Abanikanda never wore) it should be in a darker green with serif NOB lettering.
Again, sorry to nit-pick, but OCD is kind of our thing here at Uni Watch….. ;)
Yes, the numbers should have been sans serif. Honest mistake.
What are the 5 teams to never issue a #25?
1) Bay F.C. (only their second year of existence, no one has been issued #25)
2) Golden State Valkyries (expansion team with no games played yet)
3) San Diego FC (expansion team with no games played yet)
4) Toronto Sceptres (only their second year of existence, no one has been issued #25)
5) Utah HC (first year of existence, no one has been issued #25)
Not sure I would compare the Rams concept to “the greatest show on turf”, as the yellow isn’t close to gold. With that said, both the Vikings and Rams looked well. I prefer the first option with the Vikings having stripes rather than stripes and the wide, white thing. The Rams concepts remind me of the days just before the move to St. Louis. Never cared for the gradient numbers and in my opinion the Sol is just to bright. Perhaps it is because of lighting and playing indoors but the yellow/Sol looks like highlighter yellow rather than the shade of yellow worn by past teams or by the Packers.
Fair point; interestingly enough, on my screen the “sol” color does not look overly bright, so it never dawned on me to make it a darker shade to get it closer to the Eric Dickerson/Kurt Warner shades of yellow as it already *looked* that way. To me, any way.
That being said, there are a few where I tweaked colors to get them closer to a classic look (the Cowboys and their “sea foam” pants, for example), but for the most part it was about ditching certain elements that I (and a lot of the readership, if the comments on Monday mornings are any indication) felt were hokey i.e. gradient numbers, truncated striping, leotard/yoga pants look, and get some of these teams looking BETTER, not necessarily PERFECT.
Using the Phillies CC in this graphic is a sin.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Nice graphic, Marc..,and Happy New Year to you and everyone out there in the Uni-verse!
Had forgotten that the 25 hasn’t run a Cup race since Chase Elliott a decade ago.
I consider 24 a ‘fast’ number, but ‘24 went at a snail’s pace IMO…25 is ‘slower’ looking – who knows how quickly it’ll progress, but I hope it’s a good year for all!
I was surprised too, but at least it was a nice livery to duplicate!
Love the 25’s, but missed seeing pinstripes for Gleber. Wish him well in MoTown.
Pinstripes are reserved for single digit Yankees.
On the one hand, I don’t see the Coyotes coming back anytime soon. On the other hand, nobody on the Utah Hockey Club has worn 25 yet, so…
The NHL has made it crystal clear that UHC has not inherited the Jets 1.0/Coyotes history and Utah is the 33rd NHL franchise.
I, too, find it highly unlikely that the Yotes will come back for 25-26, but we have also seen that the NHL responds well to a billion dollars being laid down for a team at the last moment before schedules are printed…
What a fun graphic! I appreciate your time and effort on this, Marc. Just curious, has their ever been any team that uses a handwritten 2 on their unis? I’ve always drawn my two just like 2, never the “squiggly” kind. I was thinking the Tampa Bay Lightning did back around 1995-96 but research proved me wrong.
By “squiggly,” do you mean cursive?
There have been many custom number fonts, and some look closer to handwritten instead of block printed, but I don’t think an actual cursive number font has ever been employed for professional use.
Honestly, this sounds like a Leo’s World question…
Yes, I guess cursive is what I was going for. There’s probably a minor league team (hockey, baseball, arena league) somewhere at sometime that has done this.
That’s really cool, Marc! My eye immediately drifted to the José Cruz “Tequila Sunrise” jersey, my first favorite #25.
Funny thought, as I was retiring after my midnight celebration, I was singing to myself “In The Year 2525.” Yes, I know we’re still short 500 years, but to see all the repeating 25s, the Zager and Evans moment proved a bit prophetic to seeing your beautiful collage.
Thank you! The Tequila Sunrise was the one that I was most excited to emulate as well.
The Rams should never wear blue pants. If they do, they should go with yellow socks.
Could the MLS please take note of how boring their jerseys look compared to every single other one in this graphic?
Lovely, Marc! A lesser-spotted JEV in there!
Standard league-wide fonts are very common in soccer. That’s one of the few things MLS has done right (not speaking about this particular font choice).