Chris Creamer

chriscreamer

Sports logo and uniform guru, enjoys extremely random sports facts. Founder and operator of SportsLogos.Net since its establishment in June 1997.

Recent Posts

Practicality Trumps Accuracy with Chicago’s ’72 Throwbacks

Posted by Chris Creamer under Uniforms And Logos on May 09, 2012

The Chicago White Sox entered the 1972 season as a franchise in danger. They only narrowly survived a relocation attempt to Milwaukee and were now in the sights of the City of Seattle which was licking its chops at the idea of a Major League Baseball club returning. A regular at the bottom of league attendance charts, the White Sox averaged only 5800 fans per game in 1970 – even those sad-sack Montreal Expos never drew so few fans over the course of an entire season.

But something happened in 1972, things just started to “click” in all the right ways.  Newly acquired first baseman Dick Allen hit .308, with 37 homers and 113 RBI’s to claim the American League Most Valuable Player Award and starting pitcher Wilbur Wood threw 20 complete games, going 24-17 with an ERA of 2.51 and was named The Sporting News’ AL Pitcher of the Year.  A 20-year-old kid by the name of Goose Gossage also stepped onto a Major League field for the first time to kick off his Hall of Fame career.  Slowly but surely fans started showing up at the ballpark again.

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In-Depth: The Orioles 2012 Design Changes

Posted by Chris Creamer under Uniforms And Logos on Apr 25, 2012

The 2011-12 MLB off-season was one of the best in recent memory for new branding with the absolutely superb upgrades in Toronto, Baltimore, and New York.  While nearly all sport logo and uniform changes are traditionally met with a negative response, these three had overwhelmingly positive reviews from the baseball community.

Why all of a sudden did we see such fantastic design decisions made by these clubs?  I like to think that the rise of social media is a main reason. Fans and teams have never been able to interact with each other at the level they are today – teams are hearing what fans are looking for and they are actually listening (for the most part anyways… after all, the Padres still aren’t wearing brown uniforms now are they?)

So here we are, three weeks into the 2012 Major League Baseball campaign and we’ve had plenty of opportunity to see each and every one of the new uniforms in action. This week I’ll be taking a detailed look at one of the star changes for this season, the Baltimore Orioles.

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Red Sox, Yanks Go Back to 1912 to Honour Fenway

Posted by Chris Creamer under Uniforms And Logos on Apr 23, 2012

This past Friday the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees met up at Fenway Park, one-hundred years to the day that those same two teams played to open up the stadium for the very first time back in 1912.

The Red Sox went all out in their 100th anniversary celebrations for the historic New England ballpark, inviting over 200 former Red Sox players to take part in pre-game ceremonies.  Legends such as Carl Yastrzemski, Carlton Fisk, Johnny Pesky, and even Jose Canseco paraded around the field wearing (ugh) replica Boston Red Sox jerseys with (double ugh) player names on the back of the jerseys.

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Astros win a gunfight with Major League Baseball

Posted by Chris Creamer under General on Mar 14, 2012

The great debate in the uniform world over the past week was Major League Baseball’s opposition and refusal to allow the Houston Astros to wear a gun on their 1962 Houston Colt .45s throwback jerseys.

The Astros had planned on wearing the retro uniforms as part of their 50th anniversary celebrations for home games on April 10th and April 20th of the upcoming season.

In response to the fan confusion to the lack of the gun on the jersey, Astros owner Jim Crane deflected, placing blame solely on Major League Baseball in his responses to those who complained.

MLB responded quickly to the public gaining knowledge to their decision and allowed the Astros to use the weapon imagery all while still maintaining their disapproval in using the firearm. The Astros wasted little time and announced the gun would return to the jerseys the day after MLB’s announcement.

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Baseball’s Leapin’ Logos

Posted by Chris Creamer under General on Feb 29, 2012

It’s February 29th, otherwise known as “Leap Day” despite the fact that leap years are the only years to NOT leap over any days.  Seems wrong-ways-round to me, but then again I’m not a calendar expert and I wasn’t signed on to write posts about such things.

Let us celebrate Leap Day by taking this once-every-four-years opportunity to look at baseball’s leaping logos starting with the best source of logos, the Minors…

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Even More Legendary Players in the “Wrong” Uniform

Posted by Chris Creamer under General on Feb 15, 2012

Yup, that’s Pete Rose wearing the caps of eight different Major League clubs, and most baseball fans would know that aside from the Philadelphia Phillies, Pete never played a game for any of those teams.

No, he didn’t lose a bet.

The above photo is from a Sports Illustrated article circa 1979 (props to Twitter user @LobShots for the graphic) when Pete Rose was deciding which club he’d like to sign with, giving the caps of his top eight preferences a try… I must say he looks the happiest as a Yankee, a shame they couldn’t get him in pinstripes for the photo – it would have suited him a little better.

Last week I took a look at some of the greatest players in Major League Baseball history wearing the “wrong” uniform, Babe Ruth in a Dodgers uniform, Yogi Berra with the Astros, and so on.  Because I only got a chance to feature a small fraction of the players I wanted to, we’re spillin the wrong uniform fun over into a second week, let’s get at it!

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Legendary Players in the “Wrong” Uniforms

Posted by Chris Creamer under General on Feb 08, 2012

New York's Lou Gehrig shaking hands with Boston Braves outfielder Babe Ruth, 1935

Say the name of any legendary baseball player and the team they played for instantly comes to mind… Yogi Berra? New York Yankees. Hank Aaron? The Braves. Harmon Killebrew? Minnesota Twins.

The image of most of these legends are so strongly associated with a single team that the idea of them playing elsewhere isn’t even considered.  But it happens.  In fact the three players mentioned above – Berra, Aaron, Killebrew – all ended their careers playing for another franchise.

Crazy thought, isn’t it?

They’re not alone, some of the biggest names in baseball history had a season or two playing in an unfamiliar big league uniform, in this weeks article I’ll be taking a look at some of the game’s best ballplayers playing in the “wrong” uniforms.

We’ll start things off with “The Babe”…

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