Saturday, May 18, 2013

Major League Baseball unis. Let's start with the classics.

Behold, the Golden Age of baseball unis. Back when they wore their pants at the calf and/or knee and showed those wonderful stripes on their stirrups (if the team had them). Short sleeves and so much chain stitching of the logos and graphics. The script name was a real true baseball script, not like the garbage you see today that teams like the Padres and Rays have trotted out. Everyone wore black cleats (except the A's). A guy looked like a ballplayer! None of this saggy baggy pajamas you see today. All the unis were well designed, unlike the crap that teams like Arizona and Seattle subject us too today. Unfortunately, my own George Hendrick may be the culprit for the low pants of today. He was the first to wear his pants at the ankle...sigh.

Enjoy.































1 comment:

  1. As this article and a few other photo sources successfully illustrate, Major League Baseball in the 1960's was the Golden Age of Baseball. And that's for many reasons. I specialize in the aesthetics of the 60s era, so I'll cover that here:

    Every team played in great ballparks, whether they were in older, classic ballparks (Phillies' Shibe Park, Reds' Crosley Field, Pirates' Forbes Field, Tigers' namesake Stadium, White Sox' Comiskey Park, Yankee's original namesake Stadium, etc) or in more modern parks (Dodgers' namesake Stadium, Giants' Candlestick Park, Astros' namesake Dome, Angels' Anaheim Stadium, A's Oakland Coliseum, Twins' Metropolitan Stadium, Orioles' Memorial Stadium, etc), they were all great, with the exception of the Cardinals and Senators, who I think were aesthetically better in Busch Stadium I (Sportsmans Park) and Griffith Park, respectively. The dugouts and clubhouses were designed and built to serve the very purpose of a simple area for the players to be in, not virtual apartments like today. The overall look of green seats and steel, simple grandstand construction, and on special occasions, red white and blue bunting, made for a timeless atmosphere that anyone can appreciate.

    The players also dressed very well. As a comment on a Uni Watch post says, the jersey and pants are trim but not tight. Button down jerseys with short sleeves and true vests reign supreme. The stirrup socks were at the most ideal proportion of stirrup to sanitary sock, allowing for plenty of white (Or yellow in the A's case) while still giving enough space for colorful and creative stripes. It was pre-double knit so every jersey was soft flannel but you still had an injection of powder blue roads. The cap is not quite the exaggerated high peak but isn’t formless either, with green underbrims for reduced glare (The grass is green too) and leather sweatbands with white reeding. No matter what style a team happened to wear, it was almost guaranteed to look like baseball.

    Teams with classic designs (Yankees, Cubs, Dodgers, Red Sox, Cardinals, etc) and those who experimented with their looks (A's, Pilots, White Sox, Expos, Padres, etc) all looked very elegant, particularly because button-front jerseys and belted pants were still in vogue, giving off a classic, formal vibe, going with the notion of baseball being a gentleman's game.
    The umpires also looked their best, many times being outfitted in dark navy suits, caps, and black ties and dress shoes, with either white shirts, adding to the aforementioned formal and official vibe.

    The players not only dressed well, but the equipment they used, consisting of Hillerich and Bradsby made Louisville Slugger or Adirondack natural-colored ash wood bats; Rawlings, Wilson, or Spalding tan leather fielding gloves and mitts; the aforementioned black (Or white in the A's case) leather spikes; simple-construction batting helmets with one earflap, which just seems to scream baseball to me; and catcher's equipment with simple patterns on the chest protector, shin guards (Both of which preferably in team colors), and the steel bars of the mask, were also simple compared to today, but elegant.

    And that's just the aesthetics of that era-not to mention the caliber of players during that time. But I'll let others cover that. I hope my Heaven is 1960's MLB when my time comes.

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