Sully Baseball Daily Podcast - May 24, 2013

Despite a light baseball day yesterday, there is a lot to cover in this episode of The Sully Baseball Daily Podcast.

World Series Rings, ugly Patriotic uniforms and the very origin of Massachusetts and New York baseball tensions are the topics.

Andrew McCutchen, Scott Barnes, Jason Grilli and Miguel Cabrera all owned baseball on May 23, 2013.

To see the up to date tally of "Who Owns Baseball?," click HERE. Subscribe on iTunes HERE.

Sully Baseball Daily Podcast - May 24, 2013

 

I love throwback jerseys but...

I almost always love it when teams wear old uniforms.
Even the ugly ones.
The Pirates and A's wore some ugly threads in the 1970s and I LOVED it when they busted them out.

But Holy Crap the dark brown Padres uniforms were UGLY! And yes, they were worse than the yellow ones.

I like the brown and yellow "Kid from Left Field" hats... but holy cow these threads stink.

Then again, as of this writing, they have the World Champions down 1-0.

So who am I to criticize their fashion?

4 1/3 no hit innings from the bullpen?

Not too shabby.
Those orange shirts? Still not a fan.

But as long as the Giants keep winning, then I know my dad is happy.

I am going to get grief for my old camouflage post

To honor the brave soldiers who took out Bin Laden at his hideout Mansion in Pakistan, the San Diego Padres will wear their special camouflage uniforms.

Last year I wrote a blog post where I trashed the uniforms. I took great pains at the beginning of the article to make it clear that I understood they were honoring the military and that I knew the Padres do a lot for the many locals who are in the armed forces. I just thought the uniforms were ugly.

I still do.

But despite my preamble, I still got people writing to me saying "Don't you understand that they are honoring the military?"

Yes. Yes I do.
I was considering taking down that post, but nope. It is up there.

I did go back and write a new disclaimer in bold and italics. I know it will be ignored.

If I take flak, I can handle it. I am not trying to pull a John Steigerwald and be the angry counter arguer.

I just think the uniforms are ugly.
But I am glad Bin Laden is gone. And the brave soldiers who took them out deserve our praise.

Now play ball.

Ron Kittle - Another random card found in my old closet

Rummaging through my old closet, I found this gem from the 1989 Topps Traded Series. Ron Kittle, the 1983 Rookie of the Year, had three tours with the White Sox. One with the horrible SOX across the chest uniforms and the last one with the traditional pinstripe Sox uniform.

This card has him with the totally forgettable cursive C hat after his brief turns with the Yankees and Indians.

I have yet to meet a White Sox fan my age who doesn't LOVE Ron Kittle. The main reason I included Kittle in my Home Grown vs. Acquired White Sox entry was his special place in the hearts of Sox fans. It could be that he helped homer the Sox to the unexpected 1983 West title as a rookie. It could be that he was a humble midwesterner playing for a midwestern team. The fact that he wore glasses made him seem less like an athlete and more like a regular guy who could hit one out. It could be that he was one of those old fashioned right handed sluggers who was swinging from his heels, struck out a lot but could launch it when he got a hold of one.

Whatever the reason, mention his name to a White Sox fan my age and watch for the inevitable big smile.

We should also think about players like Ron Kittle as this Hall of Fame vote will be announced. No, I am not saying the Kitty Man belongs in Cooperstown. But let's take a name that is on the ballot. Just a random name... Oh let's say MARK McGWIRE.

Like Kittle, McGwire exploded onto the scene as Rookie of the Year and helped slug his team to the post season (McGwire did it in his second year.). And McGwire also hit a ton of homers and struck out a lot. By the time Kittle was 28 years old, injuries began to catch up with him. Same with McGwire.

The injuries eventually were too much to overcome and Kittle played his last big league games on August 13th when he played both ends of a double header. He homered off of Mike Henneman that day.

When McGwire was in HIS early 30s, he recovered from his injuries and suddenly became the greatest power hitter of all time and in the Hall of Fame discussion.

Kittle never made a million dollars a season.
McGwire made $11 million his final season alone and earned over $70 million in his career.

Can you imagine if Ron Kittle had injected Lord knows what into his body? If his body were able to recover from his injuries... if his line drives went a little further... if his 20 home run seasons became 30 home run seasons... if he piled up homers into his 30s...

Maybe people would have brought HIS name up in a Hall of Fame discussion. Maybe he could have been cashing $10 million checks.

But then again, nobody looks at HIS stats with suspicion. Memories of HIS home runs are positive.

Nobody questions the validity of his 7 homers that reached the roof top of old Comiskey Park.

Ron now does motivational speaking and now does something super cool.

He makes benches.

I am not kidding, these are cool.

The seats? Made of bases.

The backs? Made with bats connected by baseballs.


And you can design the benches to have which ever team and which ever players you would want to honor.

You can have the benches shipped to you... or if you live close enough, Ron Kittle will deliver it

How unbelievably awesome is that? Having Kittle show up with the new bench!

And no doubt he would be HAPPY to talk about the past.


So I salute you Ron Kittle.
You showed us all terrific home run power and you did it right.

No wonder Kittle will always be loved in the South Side of Chicago.

How did I miss Throw Back day in San Diego?

Seriously... how did an evening of wearing some of the most notorious uniforms of the 1970s slip under my radar?

The Padres decided to either honor the 1978 season (the ONLY winning season in San Diego before the 1984 pennant) or pay tribute to the late Gary Coleman with the uniforms worn in The Kid From Left Field.


The 1978 Padres, who also hosted the All Star Game, were still going all out yellow and brown... Taco Bell uniforms... which I find ironic because they were owned by McDonald's czar.

And I believe it was the only year they had the small "SAN DIEGO" over the Padres name.

I remember that made an impression on me as a kid as they had the only big league uniform that I could remember that said the whole name on the front.

Not just "SAN DIEGO" or "PADRES." I bet an early version said "THE SAN DIEGO PADRES BASEBALL CLUB OF THE NATIONAL LEAGUE."

I like how the Padres also broke out the correct batting helmets. (Would it have killed the Pirates to have them wear their correct yellow batting helmets with their late 1970s garb?)


















The Padres could have taken the 1978 tribute even further.

They decided to go with the white pants with the brown and yellow top, which was primarily accurate. However, as the image on the right with Dave Winfield shows, sometimes they went yellow bottoms with the brown and yellow top, making the horror complete.

I am not surprised by the Padres decisions to wear white pants. Heck, they wear white pants with their camouflage get up.


The Pirates, being good sports like they were in Oakland for THEIR turn back the clock night, decided to not wear their yellow uniforms. (I guess they would clash and you can't have THAT in a turn back the clock night!)

So out came the thick pinstripes.


In fact the yellow hats, the pinstripe shirts and the black pants made for such a mixed and matched combination that it basically SCREAMED "Hey, it's laundry day. They were the only things clean."

But alas, they brought back instant nostalgia for the 1979 Pirates, which is always a good thing... even if the current team doesn't quite play as gracefully as the We Are Family squad.

So keep it up, folks! Keep turning back the clock... and make sure the Pirates are always involved. It helps their image!

Check out Zach Duke. He is positively Candelaria-esque!

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.

The Padres camouflage uniforms have GOT to go

AUTHOR UPDATE: MAY 2, 2011

I wrote this post over a year ago. I know that tonight the Padres will wear the camouflage to honor the incredible work done by our men and women in uniform specifically regarding the assassination of Osama Bin Laden. As I wrote last night, I think this victory over Bin Laden is a great day for America and I think that the gesture made by the Padres is a tremendous one.

Please do not think I am trying to pull a John Steigerwald and make waves for attention.

All of that being said, I still think the uniforms are ugly.

Now on to the original post...

Before you write in to me saying how insensitive I am and how unpatriotic I am, YES I realize the Padres wear camouflage uniforms to honor the military.

And I also know they do it several times a year, not just Memorial Day.

And I know San Diego is a military town and the Padres do A LOT for our brave men and women in uniform to whom we ALL owe a debt of gratitude.

I know all of that.

But guess what? Sometimes a nice gesture can still blow.
Ever get a lousy present from an earnest relative that was dreadful?
THESE uniforms are the ugly ties given to dads by sincere kids.

Why not have a military uniform that looks more like Naval attire? After all, San Diego is a big Navy town!

I'll say it... these uniforms suck.

They even suck as camouflage! Yeah, the tops will blend in... but how do the WHITE PANTS help you?

If you are going to do camouflage, take a page from the minor league team The American Defenders of New Hampshire.

Folks, they do camouflage and they go ALL THE WAY.

The Royals and Rays are doing powder blue uniforms ALL WRONG

So I guess the Rays read my post about how horrible the Royals powder blue uniforms were.

They must have said "powder blue uniforms? White pants? THAT'S A GREAT LOOK!"

God help us if they face each other wearing these awful threads.

If you are going to go powder blue, go all the way.
Tops AND bottoms...

Like the Cardinals did in the 70s and 80s.













Or the Harvey Wall Banger Brewers












Or the original Mariners uniforms with the Trident hat.













Or the Rangers of the late 1970s













Or the Rod Carew era Twins













Or the Championship Phillies of 1980













Or the Blue Jays of the 1980s












Or the Expos of the 70s and 80s












Or the Dale Murphy era Braves












Or the Royals during their glory years













Those work!

But please... do NOT have powder blue with win stripes like the Cubs of the late 70s and early 80s.

So come on Rays and Royals...

If you are going to do it, do it right.

And if you have any doubts, just shoot me an e mail at info@sullybaseball.com

I know what I am talking about.

Looking good... I guess

Alrighty... the Sox are winning some games.

Granted, they are completely meaningless games. But after going winless for about a week, it's nice to see they can pad their win column.

And let's hope tonight's win was the last one for these awful red uniforms with the hat with socks on them.

Granted it is better to win looking ugly than lose looking good.

But man, these uniforms put that theory to the test.

Worst... Red Sox... Uniform... EVER

They wore these to honor Earth Day?

I think throwing sytrofoam into the mouth of a whale would be a less cringeworthy display than these duds. (Both meanings.)

They were so ugly I didn't want to watch the many highlights.

Yeah Jeff Bailey hit a homer his first time up.
Yeah Big Papi got yet another extra base RBI hit.
Yeah Brad Penny got his second win.
Yeah the Red Sox winning streak is up to 7 and they go into the Yankee series with an identical record as New York and with a world of confidence.

So what?

The uniforms were awful.

They were basically polo shirts with the collars removed.

Plant a bunch of trees and give everyone a reusable bag. But let the Red Sox wear Red Sox uniforms... PLEASE! Weren't those green uniforms for Red Auerbach horrible enough?

Well, at least this game won't open up the "Joba in the bullpen" debate again... oh wait

Oh the wonderful irony.

Joba pitches a solid game as a starter, but doesn't get the win because the Yankees don't have a lock down 8th inning reliever... like Joba.

The Yankees NEED to give Joba some stability and a steady job. This can't help but stoke the flames.

It's fun to watch the Royals so happy, even in those awful unis.

TERRIBLE!

Not Tim Wakefield's performance.
He didn't pitch badly... he just had that one lousy inning.

But the new terrible alternate hats were disgraceful.

I guess the red "B" was just too damn popular, traditional and awesome.

They had to bust out dangling Red socks.

And with the new alternate blue jerseys they just looked like a Gulf Coast League team.

My wife was watching the game with me and said "The blue's don't even go together! They look like someone who went on the road, lost the pants to their suit and tried to find a matching pair of pants... and the colors don't quite match."

That's a pretty horrible insult from the Mrs.

Fans of 1980s baseball, bad uniforms and Pre-Steroid sluggers will want to watch this clip!

Sadly YouTube won't let me embed this clip.

But CLICK HERE and you will get a real 1980s baseball treat.

The clip includes...

- The Oakland A's wearing their gaudy Green Away uniforms with the block OAKLAND across the chest.

- The White Sox wearing those jaw droppingly awful uniforms that I already wrote about. They look even worse when they move! Winning Ugly indeed!

- A view of Old Comiskey Park... which was kinda sorta ugly but also cool

- A 2 out bottom of the 9th homer to tie the game.

- Great "Toaster" graphics for the broadcast.

- The Bull Greg Luzinski is the home run hitter... and he is one of those great, pre-'roids slugger. Just a big muscular borderline fat guy whose sole job is to swing from his heels. Matt Stairs seems to be the last of that breed.


If testing can do anything positive for the game it can bring back the lumber jack slugger or better yet the Steve Balboni fat guy sluggers.

That's not asking for much is it?

Sully Baseball Honors THE HORRIFIC WHITE SOX UNIFORMS OF THE MID 1980s

Man these were horrific.
I would argue they were the ugliest uniforms of all time.

I know some of you will disagree.

Some will say they weren't even the worst White Sox uniforms ever.

Some will bring up the Bermuda Shorts they wore in 1976.





Others will say "What about the lapels?"
And yes, they did have big collars like the one Ralph Garr has in this 3D card.



















But take a look at these duds (both meanings.)
And soak it in.




The SOX across the chest on a top that looks like pajamas.

The white front of the cap that makes it look like one of those cheap hats you'd get at a pizza parlor.

THE NUMBER ON THE LEG!!!








And the batting helmet was a solid blue with the ugly SOX across it.

No uniform screamed out "Short Season Single A Ball!" more.











The worst thing about these unis?
Some great players best known with other teams played in these threads that Gil Gerard would reject on Buck Rogers.






Tom Seaver?

Thanks obscure "Compensation Draft!"


















Carlton Fisk?

Thanks incompetent Red Sox front office who forgot to mail Fisk his contract!
















Steve Carlton?

Well he didn't know when to hang them up.












So while most teams have taken the route of classic looking uniforms, the Staff at Sully Baseball had to tip our hats to a uniform so ugly that they overshadow SHORTS!