Fan Email of the Week, Vol. 4

All right, hopefully everyone got their fill of the All Star game last night, because we are completely changing gears courtesy of the “Big Dipper”. Apparently this fan rests not in Ursa Major at (10.67 h and +55.38°) but at (38°50′3″N, 77°12′41″W). First one to use their GPS gets my disgust. Use a map, and get a free drink on me.

I like how you guys talk about beards, dip and other overlooked details that give baseball its character and color. How about an entry ranking the all-time uniforms or maybe best current uniforms (although they can’t hang vs. the old school uniforms IMO). Thanks.

Awesome topic Big Dipper, and I am glad you brought this up. Many of those within earshot are well educated in my opinion of the current Nationals design (crap). My personal favorite is the cursive style font, with an slight upward tilt, very similar to the Pittsburgh road grays from 1990 (Note: the city name was returned to the jersey after a 36 year hiatus, while the block Pirates remained on the home jersey). If you look at the history of Washington baseball, you will find the Senators sporting a scripted style for their second go-round in the District. If Teddy Ballgame looks good in it, then it is good for me.

Moving on to the idea of an MLB-wide uniform discussion creates logistical problems in comparisons. Those preferring the old tyme baseball genre will undoubtedly choose the flannels from yesteryear. In contrast, the younger generations are so accustomed to the modern cluttered jerseys that anything other than vibrant colors are too passive. Dewey gets to answer the question, well, because he has more jerseys than I do. Scientific reasoning.

(Make sure to check the links for The Raph’s personal collection of stupendous):

Dewey’s Reaction:

I guess I’m of the old school because after going through all the jerseys I found, it’s the traditional ones that stand out the most. The clean white with bold letters that – for the most part – haven’t changed since the turn of the century. I broke it down to a top 10 of sorts, and it’s the usual suspects. That’s right – The Red Sox, Yankees, Dodgers, Giants, Cubs, Tigers, Braves, Cardinals, White Sox and old Pirates. Classic teams that have been around for a while. And all these hats are great as well. Not a dud in the group. There’s something to be said for a team that has the same color scheme and same jersey that – again, for the most part – is the same years on end. When you can have a true alumni system where generations come back and can see their jersey on new blood its always a good thing. I’m not saying that any change is bad, but keep it in the same ballpark. It’s why certain teams have good fan bases and pride if you ask me.

Some honorable mentions go to the old Phillies (’lil maroon in the mix with that classic P and baseball combo) and the under appreciated Royals. The O’s are ok too (you happy B-More?) but until you have the city going across your chest on the road jersey, you remain an honorable mention. See you in 2010 or whenever.

The worst jerseys aren’t hard to name. It’d be easy to list the ones you all know and love to hate. The 70’s Astros and Padres. The 70’s – Ok, pretty much any jersey worn in the 70’s. But what about the newer one’s that do too much? Like the original Devil Rays with the rainbow theme, the Blue Jays with that T and bird deal they have now (what was wrong with the ‘92 blues I ask?) and the Mo Vaughn Angels pin stripe and wings mishap. And why was it ever considered a good idea to have a too tight tee shirt with no buttons be a jersey? Never again baseball, never again. This is not Arena football. Ugh.

The best hats in the league pretty much follow that same list. Anything with letters of the city is great. Interlocking or Olde English is better. The one exception to the city rule would be the Twins, who brought back – thank God – the old TC hat a few years ago. I also have love for the Mets old orange and blue hats and I hate the new take with the black. It’s like a bad sequel. Same characters but with a lack of the reasons you fell in love with it in the first place. Is it possible for a hat to have a bad plot? Shut it, let’s pretend.

Some others that I appreciate that haven’t been mentioned above are be the A’s and Reds.

The worst hats are similar to the list of worst jerseys. I never understood why teams have to change what works so often. The Padres had something good with the blue hats with the orange and white SD. Now they are silver and, what is that tope? Really… tope??? Huh? I get the Marlins hat. I truly do. I just don’t like it. It’s a fish. I don’t even like to eat fish, why would I like it on my hat. And I appreciate the Rays moving to a much better TB hat, rather than that horrible thing they used to have with the TB and a stingray… why?

Can you guess what’s missing from this entire discussion though? What team didn’t get mentioned anywhere? The Nationals. It’s not that I don’t like the script W. It’s not bad. I even have the hat. I also have the DC hat, which I almost like better (see interlocking letters above). It’s just that it doesn’t stand out to me as a great combo yet. No flavor to the jersey letters at all except the W. Just block blah. Maybe it will grow on me. I don’t know. The fact that the W is from the Senators is a plus, it ties the new and old. And I do think if the jersey font was a similar script it would enhance the whole jersey. Like Raph says, “it just doesn’t match.”

A baseball jersey is not rocket science, but so often it can be over thought. And it is one of the few things where if it looks old it’s probably better. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it – unless you’re the Diamondbacks, just stop everything and get back to me when you don’t look like a garbage. This isn’t the California Penal League.

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So thanks Big Dipper. This post was long, courtesy of Dewey, and I hope we contributed to your lack of production at work. Keep sending in those emails, and we might get to it next Wednesday.