Uni watch: It's Code Red for the Pirates

I don't know exactly what font that is, but it's definitely the old-school helmet-number font. Just about everybody had those numbers on their helmets in the '60s.

 

The Wizards jerseys are bad, but the mismatched shorts make them look like a CBA team.

 

Obviously, red is the new black for baseball.

Years ago, the uniform types were griping about everyone going to black. Now, it's red. See Pirates, Diamondbacks, Astros, Braves and undoubtedly others.

 

I love threads about threads. And seeing a "Homer in The Gloamin'" reference made my afternoon...thanks, B-Dub.

Vests are fine but those Bucs alts suck. I know the logo has a little red in it and that Pittsburgh used to have a blue-red scheme back in the day, but those aren't excuses. Pirates=Clemente/Stargell. Black and gold=Colors of Pittsburgh Charmion Teams.

And yes, Texas should go back to using red as a primary color and blue as a trim color. The blue-themed Rangers have generally sucked. At the very least, Texas should lose the lame attempt at having black in its scheme. The black shadowing on the home unis makes the lettering look blurry from a distance. Plus, it's just dumb.

 

Talk about someone who's been forgotten over time: Gabby Hartnett. Before Johnny Bench hit the scene, Hartnett (who was never, ever gabby) was the greatest catcher the National League had ever seen.

- In 1930, hit .339 with career highs of 37 HR and 122 RBI. His home-run record for catchers wouldn't be broken for 23 years, when Roy Campanella hit his 38th in 1953
- An All-Star for six years; in the 1934 game he was the catcher when Carl Hubbell fanned Ruth, Gehrig, Foxx, Simmons, and Cronin in succession
- NL MVP in 1935, batting .344 (third in the league), topping NL catchers in assists, double plays, and fielding average, and led the Cubs to the pennant
- Homer in the Gloamin' -- 'nuff said.
- Retired with 1,790 games behind the plate, breaking Ray Schalk's all-time record
- His 236 HRs, 1179 RBI, 1912 hits, and 396 doubles were also records for catchers
- His bat and catcher's mask were the first artifacts sent to the newly constructed Baseball Hall of Fame in 1938.

RIP Gabby.

 

I'm not sure why everyone is up in arms about the Pirates new red jersey when they will be rendered irrelevant three to four weeks after opening day.

 

Don't mind the vest look... love the vest look. But the move to red is just idiotic. It's like when the Cardinals had powder blue road unis back in the day. Really, I'm not surprised, because only someone in St. Louis would think that there was anything blue about a cardinal.

25-plus years of gold/black is enough of a tradition not to spring red jerseys on people.

 

Check the last page. Black/gold on the Pirates unis goes back to exactly 1948. A 59-year tradition, not 25.

 

Sorry for my ignorance, but it just furthers my point.. it's entrenched enough not to spring red unis on people. Red has been part of the Cubs' color scheme since almost forever, I imagine. Yet they (hopefully) won't be unveiling red alternates any time soon. Just stick with the colors that you're known for.

 

Well, not to belabor the point, but red was a part of the Pirates' primary color scheme for a half-century, and it's been a secondary color for part of the last decade.

What they're going to this season is an extreme exaggeration, but it's not like it's a completely random change in the team's color scheme. There IS plenty of tradition to it in Pittsburgh, though not the kind that you or I would remember first-hand.

 

While we're on the subject of Pittsburgh-area teams and their uniforms ... did anyone check out Tyler Palko and H.B. Blades in the Senior Bowl today?

They wore interesting helmet designs -- with the script "Pitt" insignia and double-stripe down the center, just like those worn by Marino and Dorsett except that the base color of Palko's and Blades' helmets were shiny-gold instead of the mustard-yellow worn in the 70s-early 90s.

 

Damn, I missed that? Suddenly, I feel compelled to see whether I can catch some Senior Bowl highlights when I get home tonight. I miss that script "Pitt" so much that I asked for that retro t-shirt last year for my birthday -- mustard yellow shirt, blue letters. Awesome, awesome shirt, to say the least.