I don’t hate the current Brewers current ball-in-glove logo, but man do I prefer the original. It has a certain amateurish charm I just love (the loopier “m”, the off center ball, etc). The new one is just too sleek and industrial for my taste.
One thing that really stands out here is seeing the variations in the neck and cuff trim on the dugout jackets. Just another thing lost in the standardization and genericization of team apparel.
The weird thing is, all of the other logos and wordmarks for all of the other teams shown in this guide appear to be correct. I'm reminded of a few annual trips to Cooperstown I took in the late '90s-early 2000's; there was a room in the Hall of Fame where all of the teams' current uniforms were displayed in locker-cubicles, and year after year, all of the uniforms were kept up-to-date except the Mets'. I think, if memory serves me correctly, they had a 1995 home jersey and a 1993/94 road jersey on display, well past 1998. I just think it's weird to see another context where they get everything right except the Mets.
The inconsistency with the labels is bothering me! Here's what I noticed:
- Baltimore's orange jersey is labelled "home jersey", while their white one has no label.
- The White Sox's black jersey is labelled "secondary jersey".
- Cincinnati's red jersey is labelled "secondary home and road jersey", while the other two are labelled "primary home jersey" and "primary road jersey".
What a trip down memory lane. I love everything about this post. I consider this time period to be on the cusp of a golden age. Logos and uniforms had some consistency and a system, and designs weren't just created to sell merchandise.
Great post! It's cool that such a great wealth of uni information is displayed in a generic 3-ring binder. Don't players and managers just wear hoodies now? I don't see much wearing of jackets.
Wow what a write up on this amazing find Paul! A few specific additional minutiae I loved that didn't get shouted out in your text...
- The various team and league pages showing the different screen printing color plates for logos
- The Toronto away jersey showing the 2nd 'O' encircling a button
- You mentioned in the intro that stirrup was listed singularly and socks in plural, but on the Oakland page the road equipment is listed together in plural ('Road Socks and Stirrups') as there were 2 road stirrup colors
- Also with the news today about the A's buying land in Las Vegas, we will soon see the team in a 4th city though I imagine they will keep their visual identity (mostly) intact
It's amazing how some of these designs are still (mostly) in place today and how timeless they look, while others are *so* dated looking. And as a lifelong Clevelander and Cleveland fan, I have to say that I do not miss Wahoo at all and it's frankly a little jarring to see the old logos rendered in such an official manner. Good riddance!
Yeah just a year or two later and we get some great updates like the Mariners and Angels new sets, the Astros gold and Brewers "Motre Bame". The M's was an obvious winner as they still wear it, The Angels C-A set is underrated and right there with what they wear now as their best ever.
Damn shame that the Phillies' page is missing, since this would've been in that weird in-between period when they had dropped the powder blues in favor of grey on the road, changed over to radial arching for the NOBs, and had changed the number font ever-so-slightly...
Great stuff, Paul! For some reason I can't lay my hands on my 1st edition Mark Okkonen book, but he had the Red Sox road jersey with the headspoon, too. This came up in an earlier UniWatch post (https://uni-watch.com/2019/07/30/the-okkonen-files-vol-5-various-reader-interactions/). Okkonen told me that he used the "official specs from early 1990" as his source. This checks out, because your scan says 1989. Cool!
Love this - more please!
I don’t hate the current Brewers current ball-in-glove logo, but man do I prefer the original. It has a certain amateurish charm I just love (the loopier “m”, the off center ball, etc). The new one is just too sleek and industrial for my taste.
One thing that really stands out here is seeing the variations in the neck and cuff trim on the dugout jackets. Just another thing lost in the standardization and genericization of team apparel.
As bad as the Mets' 1988-92 road wordmark was, the font shown here is clearly different from the actual jersey font, which was Block Condensed, same as the NOB (and same as the Yankees' road wordmark). (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6c/David_Cone_19-K_game_jersey.jpg/1024px-David_Cone_19-K_game_jersey.jpg; see Henderson, Game-Worn MLB Jersey Guide, 8th Ed. (2017), p. 1785) The rounded "O" and "R" letterforms are the most obvious disparity.
The weird thing is, all of the other logos and wordmarks for all of the other teams shown in this guide appear to be correct. I'm reminded of a few annual trips to Cooperstown I took in the late '90s-early 2000's; there was a room in the Hall of Fame where all of the teams' current uniforms were displayed in locker-cubicles, and year after year, all of the uniforms were kept up-to-date except the Mets'. I think, if memory serves me correctly, they had a 1995 home jersey and a 1993/94 road jersey on display, well past 1998. I just think it's weird to see another context where they get everything right except the Mets.
Great observation - as a lifelong fan I can only say, once again, “That is so Mets.”
This had to be from 1992; That was the year the Phillies ditched the maroon for red. And no Rockies or Marlins.
The inconsistency with the labels is bothering me! Here's what I noticed:
- Baltimore's orange jersey is labelled "home jersey", while their white one has no label.
- The White Sox's black jersey is labelled "secondary jersey".
- Cincinnati's red jersey is labelled "secondary home and road jersey", while the other two are labelled "primary home jersey" and "primary road jersey".
What a trip down memory lane. I love everything about this post. I consider this time period to be on the cusp of a golden age. Logos and uniforms had some consistency and a system, and designs weren't just created to sell merchandise.
Great post! It's cool that such a great wealth of uni information is displayed in a generic 3-ring binder. Don't players and managers just wear hoodies now? I don't see much wearing of jackets.
This is awesome. Thanks for putting together!
Outstanding. Thanks for taking the time to take all of those photos.
My favorite part is that the Reds uniform color is slightly different than the logo color.
The kerning on the Astros wordmark is so weird. There's no rhyme or reason to it.
Wow what a write up on this amazing find Paul! A few specific additional minutiae I loved that didn't get shouted out in your text...
- The various team and league pages showing the different screen printing color plates for logos
- The Toronto away jersey showing the 2nd 'O' encircling a button
- You mentioned in the intro that stirrup was listed singularly and socks in plural, but on the Oakland page the road equipment is listed together in plural ('Road Socks and Stirrups') as there were 2 road stirrup colors
- Also with the news today about the A's buying land in Las Vegas, we will soon see the team in a 4th city though I imagine they will keep their visual identity (mostly) intact
It's amazing how some of these designs are still (mostly) in place today and how timeless they look, while others are *so* dated looking. And as a lifelong Clevelander and Cleveland fan, I have to say that I do not miss Wahoo at all and it's frankly a little jarring to see the old logos rendered in such an official manner. Good riddance!
Yeah just a year or two later and we get some great updates like the Mariners and Angels new sets, the Astros gold and Brewers "Motre Bame". The M's was an obvious winner as they still wear it, The Angels C-A set is underrated and right there with what they wear now as their best ever.
Damn shame that the Phillies' page is missing, since this would've been in that weird in-between period when they had dropped the powder blues in favor of grey on the road, changed over to radial arching for the NOBs, and had changed the number font ever-so-slightly...
https://tse3.mm.bing.net/th/id/OIP.sApHTni9LF_eac1BitwsDwHaJM?pid=ImgDet&rs=1
https://th.bing.com/th/id/R.f51d49a0bfb17e6d5a6f0dd682442ab3?rik=Uo7oQauwfTSgqw&riu=http%3a%2f%2fwww.bestsportsphotos.com%2fsc_images%2fproducts%2ft_49663.jpg&ehk=lyqOv8IdUVggviR6GM35r3U3lb9YhVORcHhBB9BNECE%3d&risl=&pid=ImgRaw&r=0
https://th.bing.com/th/id/R.f10dd0ca507472e8142b59ef59d9badf?rik=rn3AabXPWpkvNw&riu=http%3a%2f%2fcdn.bleacherreport.net%2fimages_root%2fslides%2fphotos%2f001%2f088%2f173%2f1403356_display_image.jpg%3f1310436981&ehk=COejwtOd7xnXowqyRqMRkMVT1WJvvSU%2fe13oxBpbi1A%3d&risl=&pid=ImgRaw&r=0
Great stuff, Paul! For some reason I can't lay my hands on my 1st edition Mark Okkonen book, but he had the Red Sox road jersey with the headspoon, too. This came up in an earlier UniWatch post (https://uni-watch.com/2019/07/30/the-okkonen-files-vol-5-various-reader-interactions/). Okkonen told me that he used the "official specs from early 1990" as his source. This checks out, because your scan says 1989. Cool!