Good Tuesday morning, Uni Watchers. I hope everyone had a pleasant Monday.
Before we jump into last night’s Home Run Derby (HRD), I want to let everyone know that a very special guest will be joining Uni Watch later this morning around 9am and you won’t want to miss it. So be sure to check back here.
NOW.
As has been the custom for several years, HRD participants wore their regular home uniforms, complete with special All-Star caps. Needless to say, each participant looked better last night than their respective American League and National League teams will tonight. Not all HRD prospects wore their team’s ASG practice caps, but several did. I actually quite liked them.
This is Bobby Witt from KC:
You’ll notice that Witt was wearing a pair of strange socks (a sort of green-brown Stance sock, with some sort of floral print). He wasn’t alone. Jose Ramirez of the Cleveland Guardians was also wearing them. They’re apparently supposed to look like cowboy boots (or a cowboy boot design – your experience may vary).
Here’s a more detailed look:
The other participants all wore low-rise pants, although Atlanta’s Marcell Ozuna had ’90s-style cutoffs that showed what looked like dark blue socks. Is this a hint at what socks the NL will be wearing tonight?
Several players had special bats for the derby, such as Gunnar Henderson of the Baltimore Orioles.
If teams had a logo, it was worn on the sleeve facing the back, while the usual team advertisements were removed from the sleeve facing the front. These were replaced by Derby-specific sponsor advertisements.
Here’s a more detailed look at this ad, if you’re interested.
I mentioned that I liked the caps, but I was surprised to see that the stripe pattern on the Texas cap was reversed (red/white/blue vs. blue/white/red) compared to the colors of the sleeve stripes.
Non-Derby participants, such as players and pitchers from HRD participants (and bullpen catchers selected for HRD duties) all wore uniforms with their teams’ usual advertising patches (if any).
Not all baseballs were the standard “white” color: a special magenta and white ball was thrown in as a bonus. This was, of course, a nod to the game’s announcer.
Before the major league derby, there was also a high school HRD last night. The players wore uniforms that looked a lot like the Texas Rangers City Connect. The ones with high cuffs wore red socks (!), a look I quite liked.
Those wearing High School HRD caps wore the Rangers’ CC caps (and pants), but they had custom cream jerseys that simply said “High School Home Run Derby.” The jerseys were pullovers. These jerseys were not entirely ad-free, as the patch featured a small advertisement for a credit card company.
As is now almost de rigueur, each player wore a personalized belt.
We always I don’t know what pants either league will be wearing with their “AMERICAN LEAGUE” and “NATIONAL LEAGUE” jerseys tonight, but we did get our first glimpse of the ASG jersey on real people—in this case, several kids who gathered around the players during breaks. I believe—though I still can’t say for sure—that the jersey the National League will be wearing is midnight blue (though it could be black). I guess we’ll find out soon enough.
Here’s a good look at the underside of the Dodgers ASG cap. Note the sublimated star pattern.
There was an entire circle of cameras set up around the batter’s box, just on the grass outside the circular dirt area of home plate.
Like last year, the kids on the field, hoping to face non-dingers, carried billboards for the event announcer.
Reminder: Big Uni Design Contest – ONLY TWO DAYS LEFT!
In case you missed it, the University of Hawaii and Uni Watch are teaming up for a women’s basketball uniform design contest.
All the details are here.
Applications will be accepted until Wednesday, July 17.
The grand prize winner will receive a $1,500 cash prize, round-trip airfare to Honolulu and accommodations for the basketball game scheduled for January 25, where the winning design will be worn and showcased to hundreds of thousands of fans around the world.
Guess the game from the scoreboard
Guess the game…
…According to the notice board
Today’s bulletin board comes from Rory Granger.
The principle of the game (GTGFTS) is simple: I will publish a scoreboard and you simply identify the game represented. In the past, I don’t know if I have Never I have you completely stumped (some are easier than others).
Here is the scoreboard. In the comments below, try to identify the match (date and location, as well as the final score). If something remarkable happened during the match, please add it (and if you were AT the match, well, bonus points for you!):
Please keep sending me those pictures! Feel free to send me pictures of bulletin boards (with answers please), and I will keep posting them.
Guess the game from the uniform
Based on a suggestion from a long-time reader/contributor Jimmy CorcoranWe introduced a new “game” on Uni Watch, which is similar to the popular “Guess the Game from the Scoreboard” (GTGFTS), except this one asked readers to identify the game based on the uniforms worn by the teams.
As in GTGFTS, readers will have to guess the date, location and final score of the match from the clues provided in the photo. Sometimes the game should be quite easy to determine, while in other cases it can be quite difficult. generally be a visual clue (something odd or unique about one or both uniforms) that will allow positive identification of one and only one possible game. Other times, there may be something significant about the game in question, such as the last time a particular uniform was worn (one of Jimmy’s original suggestions). It’s up to YOU to determine the game and date.
Today’s GTGFTU comes from Jordan in love.
Good luck and feel free to post your guess/answer in the comments below.
And finally…
…that’s it for the beginning. I’ll have one or two more posts later, but as I mentioned at the beginning, you’ll definitely want to come back around 9am, because we’ll have a very special guest post.
Have a great Tuesday everyone (and enjoy the MLB All-Star Game tonight – I’m cautiously optimistic that the uniforms won’t be complete crap, but we’ll find out in about a dozen hours). I’ll be back tomorrow morning with a full ASG recap and more!
Until there…
Peace,
PH