A's... wear the yellow unis today

The A's have worn their green tops, gray tops and white tops.
It's time for the yellow tops.

I love the yellow tops. It harkens back to the Reggie Jackson/Vida Blue/Catfish Hunter/Rollie Fingers years.

And it doesn't say "Athletics", which I always found to be a lame name.
They are the A's, and the uniform says so.

And besides, the A's clinched the AL West in those threads.

Break them out. Beat Verlander in bright yellow shirts.

Let's go A's.

Mixed thoughts on Turn Back The Clock Uniforms in Texas

I am a big fan of turn back the clock nights at stadiums. In fact when the A's and Pirates wore retro uniforms, it was not only one of the coolest games of the 2010 but also THE best local broadcast I ever saw.

Today the Texas Rangers turned back the clock against the California Angels. (Hey, when they wear those unis, you can drop all of the Los Angeles of Anaheim nonsense.)

I have some positive and negative things to say about the threads.

The Angels uniforms aren't bad. I wish they would go back to the dark blue crown when they play on the road and wear the red caps at home.

But I had to look up if they were accurate or not. I never remembered them having the lower case a on the front of the uniform.

(Evidently they did in the early 1970s.)

As much as I like seeing the old uniforms, they did make me appreciate the modern version a little bit more.

The lower case letters on the chest look a little odd. Make them capital letters and maybe you have their away uniforms. (And keep the pants with the built in belts.)

The Rangers?

Oh man, this organization just has had a hard time getting their uniforms right, haven't they?

The Rangers were frequently featured in my "Most Forgettable Uniforms of the Last 30 Years."

And which was the very first forgettable uniform I profiled?

The duds the Rangers wore today!

I know they were going for the frontier feel with the letters. But they are just so unmemorable and so bland.

Even a dynamic player like Josh Hamilton looks boring in them. Don't they look like a uniform that a baseball player would wear in a movie where they didn't get the rights for MLB logos?

Then again their current uniforms are pretty dull.


I wrote about this already, but the bland "TEXAS" front is just lazy. Go back to the red Pudge Rodriguez specials and stay there.

When am I ever wrong about uniforms?

  

The A's and Blue Jays game was great and LOOKED great

The A's and Jays played in front of evidently friends and family in Oakland tonight. And like the game played in front of virtually nobody in Pittsburgh, it was a back and forth game ending on a walk off homer.

The Blue Jays took the lead with 2 outs in the top of the 9th. The A's tied it and won on Brandon Inge's grand slam.

It was damn good baseball.
And it was damn pretty baseball.

After years of wearing ugly or dull or totally unmemorable uniforms, the A's and the Blue Jays finally LOOK like the A's and the Blue Jays again!

The Blue Jays have the bird with the maple leaf back, looking more like George Bell or Joe Carter than they have for a decade and a half. And check out the yellow unis that read "A's" instead of "Athletics."

It's starting to feel like all is right with the world again.

Now break out the dark green jerseys and I will be one happy Sully!

 

THE BLUE JAYS ARE BACK!!!!

Step one to returning the Blue Jays back to glory?

Have them dress like champs.

They have FINALLY dumped the awful JAYS uniform that made them look like a Short Season Single A team.

They have gone back to the distinct and unique look of their glory years.

The Blue Jays have a cool identity. They are NOT a tradition laced team. They are a relatively new team and a foreign team. Why they would have run away from a cool look and feel is beyond me.

I have been advocating returning to the old look for a while now.

Then again, I ALSO said they should have rehired Cito Gaston and they did.

Maybe the Blue Jays should keep listening to me.

They look good. They have some talent and there is a new Wild Card team. Could be some fun times in Toronto.

If you are going to party like it is 1992 and 1993, then DRESS like it is 1992 or 1993!!!

Only thing I would have changed about the Brewers/Diamondbacks game

The Brewers and Diamondbacks finale had everything you could have ever wanted in a Division Series Game 5.

Great pitching. A fabulous highlight reel catch by Chris Young. A big homer by Justin Upton.
A game tying, series on the line safety squeeze. A series winning walk off hit by Tony Plush himself, Nyjer Morgan.

Awesome game.

One objection.
Why couldn't the Brewers be wearing their old bad ass M-B hats for the game?

Isn't Friday "Throwback Uniform" day?

Ah well.
I guess Brewers fans will have to be content with a thrilling 5 game victory and home field advantage in the NLCS.

I am loving the yellow A's uniforms

NOW they are starting to look like the Oakland A's again!
I always liked the solid yellow jerseys that said "A's."

And frankly I just like the name "A's" better than "Athletics." There's something goofy about a team named after a letter and Athletic is such a vague term that I find myself siding with goofiness.

I like that it is a button down jersey with the piping and not the pull over shirt from the 70s.

I know this yellow jersey will be an alternate uniform. But like my love for the new Pirates jersey, I think they should wear it more often than not.

I hope they do the same thing with the green uniforms, like the one that Reggie looked so awesome wearing.

Outfit the A's in the green jerseys with piping down the front and make that the permanent road jerseys.

How cool would they look?


And their regular home jerseys should be like the one Rickey Henderson wore during the 1980s. White jersey, piping, with "A's" on the front.

It has a combination of class and color... which is always a good thing.

OK, enough fashion.

Back to baseball.

OK, maybe the uniforms DIDN'T help the Pirates

I guess I was too quick to give the Pirates (and their bad ass black uniforms) credit for back to back wins.

Who could have seen a 5 run 8th inning from the Cubs? I didn't.
I stand by my original point: The Pirates should wear the black tops for every road game.

The Pirates take the early lead... it's GOTTA be the uniforms!

The Pirates are winning against the Cubs... again.
And once again they are doing it wearing their awesome black top uniforms. I told them to make those their regular road jerseys last year. So far so good with them THIS year.

They've tried everything else to put a winning club on the field (short of drafting well and making smart trades.) Why not keep wearing these cool tops?

How could it be worse than the last 18 seasons?

The Pirates looked good while looking good

The Pirates won their opener. (Why were they playing in Chicago while San Francisco and San Diego are empty?)

And who knows how long they will be undefeated. But they ARE winning the awesome alternate uniforms. Last year, I urged them to make these the permanent road uniforms.

Look like winners and who knows? Maybe they will BE winners?

Just 81 more wins and they will have their first winning season since 1992.

Trust me. Wear the black tops for ALL road games.

Hey Giant fans... wouldn't it have been nice to clinch in those hats?

For old time's sake... seeing the San Francisco Giants finally clinch a World Series title while wearing the orange brim John Montefusco special hats would have been a nice nostalgic touch.

Ah well... I suppose you can't pick how to win it.
As a Red Sox fan, I can tell you that you will attach some nostalgic value to the unis your team wears while clinching.

Part of me wouldn't have mind seeing the Sox win in a red 1970s cap.
But that is just me.

Hey Texas! You want to win dressed like THAT?

I wrote back on June 21st that I am not buying the Texas Rangers.

I've seen too many Rangers teams over the years look damn good until Arlington Texas turns into a kiln and suddenly the pitching staff turns into Shrinky Dinks.

And they finished the first half of the season on a 4 game slide including a sweep by the lowly Orioles.

However, they are making short work of my Red Sox since the All Star break.

They are up by 6 games in the loss column over the Angels.
They picked up Cliff Lee who should give the team a boost (not to mention the bullpen a rest).

They COULD win this Division.

And let's say Cliff Lee wins a pair of games in the Division Series and Colby Lewis or someone steals another game. (As of now the Rangers would play the Rays in the Division Series and have home field advantage.)

And what if they make it to the ALCS for the first time and their powerhouse line up propels them past the Yankees and into the World Series.

And then let's say the 2010 Texas Rangers does the unthinkable and takes out their National League counterparts.

Let's say they do it... and win the World Series.

Do they REALLY want to be crowned champions in these dull uniforms?

Look at them!

Just "TEXAS" on each uni? Really? OK, fine if you want to wear the road grays or dark blue top with Texas, that's fine.

But the HOME jersey with just a boring "TEXAS" across the chest? No "RANGERS"?

That's the most dull uniform decision since the Oakland A's just printing "OAKLAND" in block letters across their jerseys in the mid 1980s.

Now the Rangers have had a checkered past in their uniforms. They have a few entries in my "Most Forgettable Uniforms of the past 30 Years" entry.

And their two main uniform designs before this one are not my favorite.

This uniform with the wild west "Home on the Range" font never did anything for me...

Even someone as bad ass as Al Oliver couldn't make this uniform look good.

Plus, name one memorable moment that happened in these unis that call for nostalgia.

Can't do it, can you?

Nolan Ryan looked awesome in the 80s and 90s throwing no hitters in his Rangers uniform...

Unfortunately he also looked like a Dodger! Those threads are just a little too much like the L.A. home unis for my taste.

So I am clearly not advocating going back to THOSE styles.




This alternate uniform worn by Mark Teixeira in 2006 is cool.

The "T" to the side reminds me of the old English D for the Tigers but it isn't the same font or color scheme.

Plus I am a sucker for the sleeveless jerseys.



But the best home uniforms they ever had were from their only Division Title years, 1996, 1998 and 1999.

The red hats. The red piping. The cool wild west font.

Sure it feels a little like the Red Sox uniforms, but the all red motif sets it apart.

Plus they WON in those uniforms. They had 3 MVPs. And they fit the incredibly juiced up bodies of those Rangers clubs.

Bring those back for the second half of the season. Tell Selig it will help sell more jerseys. There's no way he could say no to THAT!

So come, Rangers. If you want to BE a champion, it helps to LOOK like one.

Some more uniform suggestions for the Nationals

The Nationals didn't play a pretty game last night. They let the Mets jump ahead to a 10-1 lead and their comeback fell short as they lost 10-7.

But they LOOKED good playing ugly.

Color me a fan of the Blue Jerseys, DC caps with the American Flag inside the logo.

It is a cool looking design. It isn't overly traditional nor is it trying to connect with a past that the franchise doesn't have.

It's the kind of unique uniform that I wish the Astros would adopt instead of turning their back on their identity.

The one problem I have with the uniforms is I don't think they make good home threads.

To me, dark blue says "road jerseys."

Besides, I like their home uniforms.

It has a cool modern looking font. Isn't a ripoff of anyone else's uniforms.

Although, as I said before, they need to ditch the cursive W and stick with the DC hat. No need to remind fans about the Senators. If they were any good, they wouldn't have left town... TWICE.


But look at these road uniforms!

Dullsvile.

No imagination went into these.

Wow... cursive with a flourish. Man, never seen a uniform like THAT before... unless you count I would guess 75% of all the uniforms in baseball!

Not to get all Civil War on their ass, but ditch the Gray and go with the Blue!

It has its own distinct look and that will go a long way for a team like the Nationals.

They shouldn't look like losers of generations past.

They are a new team and a new identity.

Plus, any nanosecond King Strasburg will be arriving and Bryce Harper will be in the Nation's capital not long after that.

They deserve uniforms fit for superstars.

MAKE THE DARK BLUE UNIFORMS THE REGULAR ROAD JERSEYS!

And short of that, at least make sure when the Nats wear the blue unis, have the batting helmets match them.


Poor Willie Harris looks like he had to borrow a helmet from the other team.

The Pirates Alternate Unis Are Awesome

I've written a few snarky posts about uniforms this year... from the Indians indecision about a hat and the Royals and Rays not getting how to do powder blue uniforms properly.

And I've written a few things about the Pirates... one encouraging... and a few more where I insist that they give out free tickets for the season (I made this assertion twice.)

But with all of this sarcasm and complaining, I think it is time for a positive post.

So I'll say it: The Pirates alternative uniforms are the best alternative uniforms in baseball.

The black top with the yellow P looks terrific. And it doesn't harken back to any specific era... it is just a well thought out piece of merchandising.

It is a hell of a lot better than their ill conceived red tops that they vomited up in the mid 2000s.

Does anyone remember these?

Does anyone own any one of these?

Is this a left handed pitcher or a freshman quarterback?

And I certainly like it better than any of their uniform options with the lame Pirate logo on it.

That Pirate logo has always stunk... as has most of the teams playing with that logo.

Besides, anyone knows that the best Pirates logo was THIS ONE:

The 2010 Pirates have no shortage of uniform options... and they are all good solid traditional uniforms. The black and gold with the old fashioned lettering is all nice.

The white top/white bottom look is a little conservative but fits the Pirates tradition.

I am not crazy about the pinstripe variation, but the sleeveless is good.

It harkens back to the Bill Mazeroski era.

But the black uniform is cool... in fact I would argue that it is a better top than the road unis with PITTSBURGH written across.

I think the black tops should be the regular road jerseys.

I don't that is a radical idea... and the Pirates have had some radical uniforms in the past, including when they last won the World Series in 1979.


How many uniform variations did they have?

Striped tops, striped bottoms...

Black tops... black bottoms...

Yellow tops... yellow bottoms...

Yellow Caps... Black Caps.

It seems like they used a spinner to see what random combination they'd have.

Even the great "Dressed to the Nines" data base missed one combination

The black top, yellow bottom, yellow hat combination wasn't covered in their drawing.

They certainly stood out (and resembled bees in the process.)

I say don't save the new black tops for special occaisions.

Bust it out on the road and look cool in the process.

You may not have a winning product on the field, but that doesn't mean you need to LOOK like a loser.