Biggest Upgrades in Sports history

[WSU151]

8 hours ago, Tigers6884 said:

 

Excellent job finding that photo.

 

Similarly for the Orioles:

to

 

was a great upgrade, but the Orioles made too many adjustments with the standing oriole, and going back to cartoon bird was a good choice.

[AgentColon2]

17 hours ago, neo_prankster said:

The NY Jets from this...

To this...

To this...

And back...

 

FTFY

[Morgan33]

Hard to believe the Flames went three seasons without a red jersey.  Their new dark uniform for 2003 brought it back just in time for their return to success and remains the best they've ever looked (in my humble opinion of course).

[oldschoolvikings]

9 hours ago, Jimmy Lethal said:

 

 

They're better. I associated drop shadows with the Niners for years and they looked great on them. Sue me.

 

I feel like I'd have a legitimate case in front of any decent judge.

[M4One]

to

[Morgan33]

A change I didn't think would ever happen.

[Lights Out]

17 hours ago, Morgo said:

A change I didn't think would ever happen.

And still a downgrade from these classics:

 

[SFGiants58]

 

 

I’m not posting the 2013-2014 jersey switchover, because the 2009-13 road uniforms at least used the correct Red Sox lettering and number fonts.

[Stu-BallsOmnicorp]

From this 

 

to this

 

 

to this

 

 

and finally to this

 

[SCalderwood]

2 hours ago, Stu-BallsOmnicorp said:

From this 

 

to this

 

 

to this

 

 

and finally to this

 

 

 

Agreed on all of those.  I had never really thought of the evolution of CHW's "recent" identities, but they really seem to have upgraded each time. 

 

Their current identity has really stood the test of time well.  I think their current identity looks so timeless that if you had told me that their current identity had been one they used for the past 100 years, I would believe you, and yet at the same time it still looks great today.  You definitely could not say that for any of the other looks.   

[Weapon X]

1 hour ago, SCalderwood said:

 

 

Agreed on all of those.  I had never really thought of the evolution of CHW's "recent" identities, but they really seem to have upgraded each time. 

 

Their current identity has really stood the test of time well.  I think their current identity looks so timeless that if you had told me that their current identity had been one they used for the past 100 years, I would believe you, and yet at the same time it still looks great today.  You definitely could not say that for any of the other looks.   

 

Up until recently I thought it was one of those 100 year looks.

[DDR]

3 minutes ago, Weapon X said:

 

Up until recently I thought it was one of those 100 year looks.

 

The current look can basically be traced back to the late 1940s, but there was the dark period with Bill Veeck's pajama uniforms, shorts, huge collars, disco demolition, MLB Logo Man and more before they finally went back to the current look. 

 

So while it's not one of baseball's historic unis, it's at least a modern classic.

[Morgan33]

The logos match on their home and road jerseys for the first time in 10 years.  The scenery-bear should have never been shackled to a roundel in the first place.

 

 

14 hours ago, Lights Out said:

And still a downgrade from these classics:

I don't know about that, though they were certainly beautiful uniforms. 

[rxmc89]

9 hours ago, Stu-BallsOmnicorp said:

From this 

 

to this

 

 

to this

 

 

and finally to this

 

 

I agree except I like the first one when worn with white pants and not shorts.

[Morgan33]

Big respect to the Blues for fixing what Reebok wrecked instead of throwing everything out and starting over like so many other teams.

[VDizzle12]

The best Cleveland update ever:

 

To this...

[Satomiblood]

Fixing the collar design and replacing the secondary logo on the shorts was a huge improvement for this uniform design.

 

2007-2009

 

2014-2015

[H11K]

 

 

 

To:

 

 

[Mac the Knife]

On 4/6/2018 at 2:04 PM, kimball said:

Am I doing this right?

 

 

TO 

 

 

 

TO

 

 

No.  In fact, you're doing the diametric opposite of "doing it right," if there is such a thing.

[Mac the Knife]

On 4/6/2018 at 2:45 PM, Wizza said:

You could say the upgrade was pretty gaudy  but at least the Bengals finally had a look they could call their own. 

 

 

Looking at this from an impartial perspective, and ignoring the "upgrade by going back to something that worked before" model a lot have mentioned here, I can point to this change as the best upgrade by any franchise, in any sport, in any era.

 

When it came out in 1981 (or '82, whichever season works out to Super Bowl XVI; I give up on keeping track), it was immediately seen as completely revolutionary, yet a tremendous upgrade in the team's uniform and overall identity.  I remember the NBC Nightly News doing an entire segment on this new look - and back then kids, ESPN and CNN were both in diapers, so that kind of coverage for anything sports related (a piece on an upcoming Super Bowl or World Series might merit a 5-minute "C" slot segment in a 30 minute newscast back then) - let alone something as theretofore 'meaningless' as a uniform change - was simply incredible.

 

What's sad about this look is that it could have been the Bengals original look back in (if memory serves) 1968.  Paul Brown rejected it on several occasions before (for some reason) relenting prior to the 1981 (or 82, whatever) season.

 

On 4/7/2018 at 12:38 AM, Tigers6884 said:

 

 

I'd actually never seen that top "ORIOLES" uniform before, at least not in a photo.  The hat change was an upgrade, but I'll be honest, I've never cared all that much for what's perceived now as "the Oriole look."  I prefer the older look in this instance.