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!!!

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.

I don't approve of all the uniform decisions in the Beltway Series

The rivalry between the Orioles and the Nationals could be pretty cool in a few years if all of their prospects work out... and let's hope by the time both of these teams are good, they've worked out their uniform issues!

What's with the O's hats? Granted, these hats aren't as bad as the ornithology correct bird hats... but it's still kind of lame.



Besides, the Orioles HAD one of the coolest hat logos in all of baseball.

I've been BEGGING the Orioles to bring back the smiling bird hat. If they don't want to have the white front to the cap, then fine. Have it all black with the smiling bird. But neither the boring sideways bird nor the O's say to me Baltimore Orioles.

It's an easy fix, Baltimore.

As for the Nationals... what are these red tops?

You know when you go into clubhouse store for your favorite team and they have toddler uniforms or onesies that aren't exactly the team uniforms? That's what these red tops look like.

That's right... I am saying the Nationals look like toddlers.

I told them to get rid of the cursive W and I already praised their regular home uniforms... so don't mess around making them look like babies.

By the time those babies can walk, with Strasburg on the hill, this could be an awesome clash of talent.

Look the part!

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.

Evaluating The Yankee Warm Up Jackets

My wife thinks I've been obsessing over uniforms on the blog these days. And as usual, my bride is right.

I've criticized the Royals and Rays for their tops and the Indians for their hats while praising the new Pirates uniforms.

But now I am turning my uniform thoughts to a bigger fish. The Yankees.



Wait a second Sully, you might be saying. What can be said about the Yankees uniforms? They haven't changed since the days of Babe Ruth!

Actually during Ruth's playing days they didn't have the interlocking N-Y on their uniform.

Any pictures you see with Babe Ruth wearing the N-Y on his jersey were taken at Old Timers Day after he had retired.

But since the days of Joe DiMaggio and Lou Gehrig, the uniforms, both home and away have remained constant.

The hats are the same...

The home jerseys are the same...

The road unis are the same...

There's no names on the back...

What is there to discuss?

This is Sully Baseball and there is ALWAYS something to pick apart, and for the Yankees it is the warm up jackets which have changed over the years.

And seeing that the managers are usually the ones who wear the warm up jackets, let's take a look at them over the years as worn by some of the best Yankee managers of all time.

MILLER HUGGINS models the 1920s
BLOCK LETTER SIDE BY SIDE WARM UP JACKET

The manager of the first great Yankee dynasty had one of the dullest jackets in their teams history. It was probably an after thought. "Here's a jacket... just sew an N and a Y on them." They didn't have the interlocking NY on it. Yeah I know it wasn't on the uniform but it IS on the hat.

But give them a break. They didn't know how much dough was to be made from merchandising.

GRADE: C


JOE McCARTHY models the 1930s and 1940s
SLOPPY INTERLOCKING N-Y WARM UP JACKET

That's a little better. When the Yankees became the first team to win 4 straight World Series, their manager was wearing a jacket that actually can be identified with the Yankees.

The N-Y matches the hat logo, but it is a little sloppy. It kind of resembles an elementary school art project where they have to cut out the N and the Y carefully... and inevitably isn't even. But at least the effort is there.


GRADE: B

CASEY STENGEL models the 1950s
CURSIVE YANKEES WARM UP JACKET

The greatest Yankee manager of them all guided the greatest Yankee dynasty of all time in a radically different jacket.

The script Yankees never appeared on their uniforms and oddly looked too much like the Dodgers script for my liking.

Also, there is another problem I have with this jacket. They introduced red outlines to the letters and the collars. It is hard to tell from this picture, but it can be seen clearly here. Red does NOT belong on the Yankee uniform.

GRADE: C+

BILLY MARTIN models the 1970s and 1980s
SLICK INTERLOCKING N-Y WARM UP JACKET

Now THIS is a jacket. The right N-Y logo on the chest and the top hat logo on the arm. Only white (no red) on the collar and the sleeves. Buttoned up (or not in the case of this picture with Billy Martin.)

The Yankees regained their glory in the late 1970s with Billy wearing this jacket, yelling "don't you try and intimidate me!" at the umps in the World Series.

The best jacket of them all.

GRADE: A+

BUCK SHOWALTER models the 1990s
ZIP UP SLICK INTERLOCKING N-Y WARM UP JACKET

Buck had to pick up the pieces of the mess that was the Yankees of the early 1990s... and the players strike of 1994 probably cost him his best shot of being a World Series winner. But he brought pride back to the Bronx and looked good in the lighter zip up jacket.

There was less chance to be slightly unbuttoned like Billy in the 1970s, but that wasn't Buck's style. He ran a tight ship and wore a tight jacket in the process.


GRADE: A

JOE TORRE models the 1990s and 2000s
NEW CURSIVE YANKEES WARM UP JACKET

Joe Torre brought stability, class and oh yeah titles back to the Bronx. But he also brought back the era of the cursive logo jacket.

As I said with the Stengel entry, I've never been thrilled with the cursive Yankees (although this time they at least removed the red from it.)

But there is something cynical about how the jacket was introduced. They didn't wear it at all until game 1 of the 1996 World Series. Did they have them sitting in a warehouse, ready to spring them out in front of the biggest audience? What if Baltimore won the pennant that year? Would they wait until spring training? The 1997 playoffs? I say put them back into moth balls.

GRADE: C


JOE GIRARDI models the 2000s and 2010s
INEXCUSABLY DULL BLOCK LETTER AWAY WARM UP JACKET

Look, I get it. Merchandising is king and the Yankees need to sell lots of variations of clothes in order to pay for A-Rod, Jeter and Sabathia. And they don't have tons of alternate uniforms, so they need to mix and match something else... so they have home and away warm up jackets.

But how LAZY is this jacket. How dull. Do you know what this looks like? When a beer commercial wants to recreate a baseball game but they don't want to pay the licensing fee so they make up a boring fake generic bargain basement uniform. That's this jacket. If they HAVE to have the cursive Yankee for the home jacket, then just do the interlocking N-Y on the away jacket.

GRADE: F

So let's get at it Yankees... even as a Red Sox fan I can admit your uniforms look awesome. It doesn't take a big effort to have your jackets also look great.

Hmm... I wonder what uniform I can obsess about next...?

And the award for WORST UNIFORM OF THE 2010 SEASON goes to...

THE KANSAS CITY ROYALS!

It's opening day, possibly the only day Royals fans will show up to Kauffman Stadium and you bust out these dreadful unis?

Seriously?
Not the classic whites?









Not the sleeveless jerseys?













Not the George Brett pull over jerseys?













Not the all blue tops?













Nope... they chose to look like the UNC baseball team (on the same day that Duke won the NCAA title no less!)










And guess what... those uniforms are POWDER blue. There is a color called ROYAL blue. The solid blue tops they used to wear were indeed royal blue.

Come on Royals. Just because you are putting an ugly product on the field doesn't mean you have to LOOK ugly.

THE MOST FORGETTABLE UNIFORMS OF THE LAST 30 YEARS

On this day off, I promised a crazy list and I think I have delivered.

Take a good look at the current Toronto Blue Jays and San Diego Padres uniforms.

They aren't good.

It's not that they are ugly or garish. They are just completely unmemorable.

Someday, and I am guessing that day will be soon, the Blue Jays will abandon the JAYS across their chest jersey for another design. (I've been advocating the throwback jerseys.)

And the Padres will no doubt do their fourth uniform overhaul since the brown and yellow Taco Bell uniforms of the 1984 World Series.

Wait WHAT? you say.
They've changed their uniforms how many times?

A lot... and chances are you have forgotten some of their uniforms.

Which brings me back to my original observation.

Some uniforms are classics and have stood the test of time.

The Yankees, the Red Sox, the Dodgers, the Tigers, the Cardinals, the Cubs and the Giants all wear uniforms that are classic and bring back memories of the past.

Some uniforms are so ugly or unusual that they too have become classics in a different way.

The orange rainbow unis for the Astros, the aforementioned brown and yellow combos for the Padres, the lapels and shorts of the 1976 White Sox and the horrific S-O-X across the chest of the 1983 White Sox come to mind.

And then there are the others... the completely forgettable uniforms. The ones that when you see them in an old clip or on a baseball card you say "Oh man... I forgot they ever wore those!"

This is Sully Baseball... which means I am going to list them.

Setting up a criteria for the most forgettable uniforms, I am only going to include those worn in my baseball watching life. I have no memories of old K.C. Athletics uniforms nor St. Louis Browns jerseys.

I started really watching baseball in 1978... that's my start off point. And these are all uniforms no longer in use.

And again, these aren't the worst... just the blandest and most forgettable.

Although no doubt the current Toronto Blue Jays and San Diego Padres uniforms will be on a future edition of this list.

Giving credit to where it is due... I used the National Baseball Hall of Fame website as my source, specifically the Dressed to the Nines - Uniform Database. It is a wonderful time waster!

THE MOST FORGETTABLE UNIFORMS OF THE LAST 30 YEARS

1972-1982 Texas Rangers

Lots of charismatic players, a few Hall of Famers and managers like Ted Williams, Billy Martin and Whitey Herzog all wore these unis... and I can't still can't remember these threads.

They are just white tops and bottoms, frontier Texas font and nothing at all worth remembering.

The hat is only memorable because it is identical to the Toledo Mud Hens hat that Klinger would wear.

1973-1982 Kansas City Royals (Away Jerseys Only)

The home jerseys are fine, if a little too close to the Dodgers for my liking.

But the away uniforms... the powder blue and block letters... they were so boring that it actually made an impression on a 7 year old Paul Sullivan.

How often does a 7 year old think "Man, those are dull"?

Just to show I am not just picking obscure or bad teams here, the Royals made their first 5 post season appearances with these. They finally won when they changed their road uniform.

Coincidence?

Yes.

1978-1985 Cleveland Indians

Bland block letters. CLEVELAND on the roads. INDIANS on the home. Upper case C on the hat.

It didn't have the ugly maroon tops and bottoms. The hat didn't have the c shaped like a tomahawk. It doesn't have the racist Chief Wahoo.

This could be any minor league team's uniform.

1981-1986 Atlanta Braves

Was there ever a less memorable uniform than the pajama pullovers and the blue caps?

Gone was the lower case "a" to bring back memories of Hank Aaron's 715th homer.

And they hadn't brought back the tomahawk across the chest.

Yeah the Braves won the 1982 Division in these unis, but they sure didn't look exciting. I am sure a lot of people flipped past TBS when guys wearing these threads played in an empty Fulton County Stadium.

These are best remembered as the uniform worn in The Slugger's Wife. In other words they are not remembered at all.

1983 Texas Rangers

I truly did completely forget about this uniform.

For one whopping season, the Rangers of 1983 changed their font to all caps and had an awkward TR on their belly where the number should be.

As far as I know TR means Texas Rangers and not Theodore Roosevelt.

I am guessing these didn't exactly fly off of the rack. If you own one of these, give your pal Sully an e mail at info@sullybaseball.com

1985-1986 Oakland A's

I guess these were the airlock years between the bright green Charlie O uniforms of the 1970s A's and the more stately script Athletics uniforms.

Seeing the team was about to have an identity change, I guess it makes sense to leave the team name off of the uniform all together.

But exactly how much thought was put into the block OAKLAND across the home and away chests?


1985-1990 San Diego Padres

I guess a lot of people complained during the 1984 World Series that the Padres Taco Bell uniforms were kind of ugly. Instead of embracing their ugliness, the Padres took a right turn to dullsville.

They kept the brown in their uniforms, but without the yellow in the cap, it just looked like a boring minor league uniform.

The interlocking SD on the away jersey was a nice idea... but seriously, would you rush out to buy one of these or the brown and yellow Steve Garvey specials?


1987-1990 Chicago White Sox

Between the all red uniforms of the early 1970s, the lapels and Bermuda shorts of the late 1970s and the S-O-X uniforms of the 1980s, the White Sox have had some of the most memorable bad uniforms in history.

Then they went back to their classic uniforms and eventually won a World Series.

But in between they tried out a totally forgettable boring script uniform that featured an unusual cursive C hat.

How forgettable were these? The Official White Sox website has a page devoted to the history of their uniform... and they forgot to include it in their time line!!!!


1987-1993 Houston Astros

Look, if you are going to have an ugly uniform... have an ugly uniform! Don't do it half way!

From 1975 to 1986, the Astros had the Orange Rainbow uniforms that were so garish and so ugly that they came right back around to beautiful. I even owned one! They were distinct... and the Astros played 2 of the greatest NLCS in history wearing them.

But after the 1986 NLCS, they reduced the orange to a stripe down the sleeve but kept the rest of the uniform the same. So now it was just a bland "Astros" and a star.

It's like seeing a coloring book before your kids can color it. Someone throw some orange on those threads!!!!


1988-1992 New York Mets (Away Jerseys Only)

The Mets won a World Series with away jerseys that just said "Mets" scrolled across it. Then in 1987 they changed their away jerseys to a terrific script "New York."

Inexplicably they changed it the very next year to a generic ugly block letter "NEW YORK" that resembled the Yankees away jerseys.

They lost the 1988 NLCS in these uniforms and devolved from a potential dynasty in the late 1980s to the worst team that money can buy in the 1990s.





1992-2004 Montreal Expos

The Expos were a cool and kind of exotic franchise that I truly miss.

Their announcers spoke French, their logo was unusual and they had the great three color "beach ball" hat and wonderfully understated uniforms.

Then they changed into a more generic uniform. Gone was the beach ball cap and replaced with a single color hat. And they went indecisively with a script with a flourish AND pinstripes.

They spent more than a decade in these bland threads.



1992-1994 San Diego Padres (Away Jerseys Only)

Actually the home uniforms that the Padres introduced in 1992 are my favorite San Diego uniforms. I could do without the pinstripes, but the new color scheme and the two colored S and D on the hats are the best they've ever had. I wish they'd go back to those.

The road jersey was a generic, no imagination, should have been worn by Cool Hand Luke on the chain gang.

In 1995 they changed the uniform and gave "SAN DIEGO" a nice outline, ergo creating the best uniform combination in their team's history. Of course they changed it eventually.


1993-1998 Cincinnati Reds

I know the Reds were trying to go back to traditional uniforms... but I ask why for three reasons:

1. They were only three years removed from a World Series title where the team wore the same unis as the Big Red Machine. Why mess with success?

2. The old fashioned hats and sleeveless uniforms looked anachronistic in the '70s cookie cutter park Riverfront Stadium.

3. Let's face it. Those white hats made the players look like the Good Humor Man.


1993-1994 New York Mets

The Mets wore these uniforms for two miserable seasons. For some reason the standard script Mets now included a flourish underneath it. It never quite looked right... and in its first season they had a big payroll, had Vince Coleman chucking fire crakers at kids and Anthony Young seemed to lose all 103 of their games.

Met fans would like to pull an Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and erase their memories of that season... and those uniforms for that matter.

1994-1996 Chicago Cubs (Away Jerseys Only)

Man, the NL Central around the time of the strike was a division of some lousy threads.

The home jerseys of course are the classic Ernie Banks specials (and they weren't wearing the blue tops with the bear on it... that top stinks.)

But look at that awful away jersey. The script Cubs with a flourish? Can you imagine if the Cubs had finally won wearing that ugly jersey? Could Cub fans even enjoy it?

(Then again, Broncos fans seemed pretty happy seeing Elway with two Super Bowls in the ugly new helmets, so what do I know?)

1994-1999 Houston Astros

The Astros used to have a wacky George Jetson identity. They had a futuristic name, they played in a futuristic stadium with futuristic grass and they had wacky futuristic uniforms.

And for whatever reason (taste?) they decided to abandon the orange color scheme for possibly the blandest and least colorful uniforms since the advent of color television.

Seriously, which ones are the road uniforms?

Granted, not everyone was thrilled with the orange horizontal lines... but maybe a little color to break it up. Perhaps they were emulating silver jumpsuits... which are always futuristic.

1994 Milwaukee Brewers

Now I've already written about this... but it is worth bringing up again.

The Brewers should NEVER have abandoned the M-B baseball glove hat.

The result was the mess of a uniform unspooled in 1994. The M-B interlocking on the hat was too cluttered... as I said before looked like Motre Bame.

As if that wasn't bad enough, on the uniform they included the MB but thought "It's not busy enough!" So they put the M-B in a diamond and then stuck two bats in there just to make it a complete travesty.


1995-1996 Baltimore Orioles (Hat Only)

Remember the premise of this post is uniforms that completely slipped my mind. And in looking through old uniforms I have stumbled across a few that made me actually say "Wow! I have NO MEMORY of that!"

Case in point, the alternate Oriole cap.

It's bad enough they abandoned the smiling bird, but I covered that already.

But they wore gray hats sometime? REALLY? I watched a hell of a lot of baseball in 1995 and 1996. '95 was the year Cal Ripken broke Lou Gehrig's record. They made the ALCS in 1996. And they wore gray hats sometime? Cal Ripken wore that dull cap with the sideways bird during his streak?

I don't think I forgot that... I plum never knew it!


1995-1996 Florida Marlins (Away Jerseys and Hats only)

Fans of ugly baseball uniforms rejoiced with the creation of the Florida Marlins in 1993.

They wore TEAL HATS! TEAL HELMETS! They had a big Marlin jumping over their name. They were truly ugly.

Then just two seasons later, they muted their home jerseys adopting the black hats. Yet, they kept the teal caps, but only for the road uniforms.

Don't they know that you have the colorful hat for home and the dark cap for the road?

1995-1996 Milwaukee Brewers

The final two seasons of the M-B hat were just as bad as the first.

But here's the forgettable part:

Did you remember the Brewers had a green bill on their away cap?

You did?

To quote Joe Wilson, "YOU LIE!"


1997-2001 Anaheim Angels

The California Angels uniforms of my lifetime were always cool. The A with a halo on it and the lower case letter looked good on Reggie and Rod Carew (but not Fred Lynn, but that is just me.)

And then in the mid 1990s, they brought back the CA on their hat for their best ever uniform.

Then Disney bought the team from the Autrey's the name was changed to Anaheim and this uniform was vomited on the field.

Angel wings on the hat? An overly busy "ANGELS" logo across the chest with pinstripes working against it? It gives me a headache looking at it. It isn't even worthy of a fun Hall of Shame a la the White Sox shorts or the Brown and Yellow Padres unis.

It's just a horrible example of marketing people trying to design a new uniform and failing miserably. I went to Angels Stadium this year... didn't see ONE of these hats or uniforms.

1997-1999 Milwaukee Brewers

Man the Brewers had a run of forgettable uniforms... and I will argue that the 1997-1999 uniforms were the most forgettable of my lifetime.

The bland M hat.

The lifeless uniforms.

These look like uniforms they would use in a beer commercial where they couldn't get the rights to MLB logos and want to have a generic looking team play.



1997-2000 Pittsburgh Pirates

The Pirates have always been pretty reliable in their uniforms. They currently wear the sleeveless uniforms and black caps that Roberto Clemente or Ralph Kiner could have worn.

And in the late '70s during the We Are Family title years, they were wonderfully wacky with the different uniform combinations and the flat caps with the Stargell stars.

But in the mid '90s they altered the font of PIRATES, making the P and S bigger and giving it a curve like the Giants uniforms of the late 1980s. And like the 1995-1996 Orioles, they inexplicably would alternate to a gray cap that I have no memory of.

Then again, the 1997-2000 Pirates were hardly teams of legend.




1997-2003 Toronto Blue Jays

Why do teams mess with uniforms that are already working???

The Blue Jays had a cool logo and unusual fonts on their uniforms... and they wore those during the George Bell years and the back to back World Series titles years...

You know, their GLORY YEARS!

So naturally they altered the cap to have the Blue Jay sitting in a giant maple leaf. Yeah, we know you are from Canada.

The cool font from the original jersey was scrapped... and the hat even had an awkward red bill.

People love the old uniforms. DON'T MESS WITH SUCCESS! (And have more retro jersey nights!)


1998-2000 Arizona Diamondbacks

Supposedly manager Buck Showalter had a hand in designing these uniforms.

Yeeesh! Nothing screams "Arizona Fall League" more than the DIAMOND Back home jersey.

Plus could we have SOME consistency in the color scheme? Or did Showalter have a thing for Purple... and Teal... And Black... And Orange?

By the time Showalter was canned, they mainly played with the A on their chest and mercifully the cumbersome DIAMOND Backs home uni was phased out.


2001-2007 Tampa Bay Devil Rays

The original Tampa Bay Devil Rays uniform was so ugly that the Walt Disney Company (the people who brought you the wings on the Angels hat) fudged history in the movie The Rookie.

Jim Morris in real life wore the laughable pajama top with the Ray on it, but in the movie he wore the lower key "Tampa Bay" jersey that they started wearing 2 years later.

While the new uniforms were no longer embarassingly ugly, they were flat and generic. It didn't even say DEVIL on it and hid the swimming ray under the RAYS. Like the Astros before them, if you are going to have an ugly uniform, embrace it... don't do it half assed.


So there you have it. A closet full of forgettable tops and bland hats.

Granted with a few exceptions these were uniforms for teams that weren't any good. But the Royals, Astros, Orioles and Diamondbacks played in October in these threads.

But if any of you readers wear any of these often, please e mail me at info@sullybaseball.com.

First one who doesn't know me personally to e mail me a photo wearing one of these jerseys gets a prize!