Players in the "wrong" uniforms

[MCM0313]

34 minutes ago, BrianLion said:

 

They wore road grays for the 3 games in Cleveland, and went with the white pinstripes for 2 games and the sleeveless look 2 games in Florida. 

 

 

 

I don't normally like vests in baseball, but those are nice.

[SilverBullet1929]

Does anyone know why the Marlins got a custom teal-colored Jackie Robinson 50th anniversary patch in 97? Only them and the Expos got custom patches. The Expos I understand because the wording on the patch was switched to French but the Marlins only changed the color of the patch. Why didn't other teams get custom colored patches? 

[johnnysama]

Introducing.... Kurt Warner, Green Bay Packer, in 1994 (he's in the center of this shot, wearing #12, later made famous by Aaron Rodgers).

[Bob5151]

1 hour ago, SilverBullet1929 said:

Does anyone know why the Marlins got a custom teal-colored Jackie Robinson 50th anniversary patch in 97? Only them and the Expos got custom patches. The Expos I understand because the wording on the patch was switched to French but the Marlins only changed the color of the patch. Why didn't other teams get custom colored patches? 

This is something I've wondered about too.

[tubby34]

19 hours ago, SilverBullet1929 said:

Does anyone know why the Marlins got a custom teal-colored Jackie Robinson 50th anniversary patch in 97? Only them and the Expos got custom patches. The Expos I understand because the wording on the patch was switched to French but the Marlins only changed the color of the patch. Why didn't other teams get custom colored patches? 

Dodgers got one too. 

[tubby34]

18 hours ago, johnnysama said:

Introducing.... Kurt Warner, Green Bay Packer, in 1994 (he's in the center of this shot, wearing #12, later made famous by Aaron Rodgers).

That's detmer, warner, mark Brunell and Favre in that picture. 

[FinsUp1214]

Hall of Famer two for one! Ernie Lombardi and Joe DiMaggio:

 

 

Though Lombardi did play for the (New York) Giants and get two all-star nods while there, he played much longer with and rose to fame with the Reds. 

 

 

 

[smzimbabwe]

Just because his name came up, and I always liked him: here's Mark Brunell with his 2 lesser known teams.

 

His daughter was recently Miss Alabama and competed in the Miss USA pageant. That makes me feel old.

 

 

 

 

[Cujo]

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

On 28/04/2017 at 9:49 PM, FinsUp1214 said:

Hall of Famer two for one! Ernie Lombardi and Joe DiMaggio:

 

 

Though Lombardi did play for the (New York) Giants and get two all-star nods while there, he played much longer with and rose to fame with the Reds. 

 

Great shot!  This is from the Giants' 1962 Old-Timers' Day.  That Lombardi was in a Giant uniform illustrates the Giants' constant commitment to embracing their history.

 

For Joe, that Giants road uniform was meant to stand in for the uniform of the San Francisco Seals.  Here are all three DiMaggio brothers on that day -- but only Joe gets to wear the cap of his Major League team.

 

 

 

Joe once played in a game -- an exhibition game -- wearing a Red Sox uniform.

 

 

In September of 1946, after the conclusion of the regular season, the Red Sox held an exhibition game against a team of American League All-Stars in order to tune up for the World Series.  But Joe's Yankee uniform didn't arrive, so he wore a Red Sox road uniform at Fenway Park.

 

Another uniform error led to Hank Greenberg wearing a Yankee uniform, though not in a game. [Edit: he might indeed have worn it in an exhibition game.]

 

 

In 1943, an exhibition game was held at the Polo Grounds between teams made up of various active and former players as a means to raise money for war bonds.  The game itself had special uniforms [Edit: maybe not; see subsequent response]; but the previous day's practice was done in the players' own uniforms.  Greenberg evidently didn't get the memo, and didn't bring his Tiger uniform.  So people at the site cobbled together a Yankee uniform (strangely, not a Giant uniform in the Giants' own park -- a reflection of the relative status of the two clubs), and Greenberg wore that for the practice.  This is broadly similar to Reggie Jackson wearing a Mariner uniform for the team picture at the 1979 All-Star Game in Seattle.

 

 

A weird postscript to this story is that the above photo of Greenberg actually got him in trouble with the Tigers a few years later, leading to the end of his Tiger career.

 

In the winter before the 1947 season, the Tigers' owner Walter Briggs saw that photo for the first time.  There were rumours at the time that Greenberg, a New Yorker, wanted to finish his career with the Yankees.  In light of this, Briggs, acting with a petulance and an abruptness that surpassed even Steinbrenner-esque levels, became enraged at the photo, and sold Greenberg to the Pirates.

 

 

[FinsUp1214]

3 hours ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

 

Great shot!  This is from the Giants' 1962 Old-Timers' Day.  That Lombardi was in a Giant uniform illustrates the Giants' constant commitment to embracing their history.

 

For Joe, that Giants road uniform was meant to stand in for the uniform of the San Francisco Seals.  Here are all three DiMaggio brothers on that day -- but only Joe gets to wear the cap of his Major League team.

 

 

 

Joe once played in a game -- an exhibition game -- wearing a Red Sox uniform.

 

 

In September of 1946, after the conclusion of the regular season, the Red Sox held an exhibition game against a team of American League All-Stars in order to tune up for the World Series.  But Joe's Yankee uniform didn't arrive, so he wore a Red Sox road uniform at Fenway Park.

 

Another uniform error led to Hank Greenberg wearing a Yankee uniform, though not in a game.

 

 

In 1943, an exhibition game was held at the Polo Grounds between teams made up of various active and former players as a means to raise money for war bonds.  The game itself had special uniforms; but the previous day's practice was done in the players' own uniforms.  Greenberg evidently didn't get the memo, and didn't bring his Tiger uniform.  So people at the site cobbled together a Yankee uniform (strangely, not a Giant uniform in the Giants' own park -- a reflection of the relative status of the two clubs), and Greenberg wore that for the practice.  This is broadly similar to Reggie Jackson wearing a Mariner uniform for the team picture at the 1979 All-Star Game in Seattle.

 

 

A weird postscript to this story is that the above photo of Greenberg actually got him in trouble with the Tigers a few years later, leading to the end of his Tiger career.

 

In the winter before the 1947 season, the Tigers' owner Walter Briggs saw that photo for the first time.  There were rumours at the time that Greenberg, a New Yorker, wanted to finish his career with the Yankees.  In light of this, Briggs, acting with a petulance and an abruptness that surpassed even Steinbrenner-esque levels, became enraged at the photo, and sold Greenberg to the Pirates.

 

 

 

Wow, I'd known about the DiMaggio and Greenberg ones, but had no idea about Reggie in a Mariners uniform. He kinda pulls it off; makes me wish he'd really played there! 

 

The little quirks in baseball history are one of the elements of it that make it most endearing to me. I could read about these little nuggets all day. 

 

 

[ZipperClub]

Any photos of the special Gameday uniforms for the War Bonds game? 

[San Diego]

JT Snow as a Red Sock. 

 

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

14 hours ago, ZipperClub said:

Any photos of the special Gameday uniforms for the War Bonds game? 

 

Hmm.  I had long believed that there were special uniforms for this game.  But now I am doubting this.

 

 

See this site for more.

 

So, maybe Greenberg did indeed play in the game wearing a Yankee uniform.

[SCalderwood]

On 4/25/2017 at 10:49 AM, SilverBullet1929 said:

It didn't say it's his right uniform, I said it's not a wrong uniform for him. There is a difference. And I did say I'm biased as a Marlins fan since day one. I did agree with your prior post about him. As far as time wearing that uniform, Hough in a Marlins uniform is much like Zobrist in a Cubs uniform and it's hard to call Zobrist in a Cubs uniform wrong even though he's a Ray to most people. 

 

Well, I think is a wrong uniform for him.  I don't think a player wearing a uniform has to be "forgettable" or "blink of an eye" for it to be the player's wrong uniform, at all; in fact I think many of the posts in this thread are quite memorable, and that's why people are posting them.  

 

Since you brought star players into this, I guess the classic example of this is Michael Jordan.  I would go so far as to say that Michael Jordan in a Wizards uniform is practically the epitome of a player in wrong uniform.  That does not mean that Jordan's years as a Wizard were forgettable or unsuccessful; quite the opposite actually, as pretty much every sports fan knows that he played for the Wizards the last two years of his career, and he actually had two pretty good years as a Wizard.  I'm a Wizards fan and I would love to claim that Jordan looked right in a Wizards uniform, but the fact is that he did not, and I am not going to pretend that he did.  The point is that he spent the vast majority of his career in a different uniform, and just rode out the last 2 years of his career in a different, "wrong" uniform ... like Hough.

[MCM0313]

On 4/28/2017 at 10:14 PM, smzimbabwe said:

Just because his name came up, and I always liked him: here's Mark Brunell with his 2 lesser known teams.

 

His daughter was recently Miss Alabama and competed in the Miss USA pageant. That makes me feel old.

 

 

 

 

He won a Super Bowl ring as Drew Brees' backup on the Saints. Not that that's a "right" uniform for him by any means - his only right uniform is the Jaguars'.

[SilverBullet1929]

4 hours ago, SCalderwood said:

 

Well, I think is a wrong uniform for him.  I don't think a player wearing a uniform has to be "forgettable" or "blink of an eye" for it to be the player's wrong uniform, at all; in fact I think many of the posts in this thread are quite memorable, and that's why people are posting them.  

 

Since you brought star players into this, I guess the classic example of this is Michael Jordan.  I would go so far as to say that Michael Jordan in a Wizards uniform is practically the epitome of a player in wrong uniform.  That does not mean that Jordan's years as a Wizard were forgettable or unsuccessful; quite the opposite actually, as pretty much every sports fan knows that he played for the Wizards the last two years of his career, and he actually had two pretty good years as a Wizard.  I'm a Wizards fan and I would love to claim that Jordan looked right in a Wizards uniform, but the fact is that he did not, and I am not going to pretend that he did.  The point is that he spent the vast majority of his career in a different uniform, and just rode out the last 2 years of his career in a different, "wrong" uniform ... like Hough.

I'm gonna get ripped a new one for this but I don't think Jordan in a Wizards uniform is "wrong." Of course his right uniform is the Bulls but I feel like there's a middle ground between right uniform and wrong uniform. Like if there's a third level of uniform that's neither right nor wrong. Where it's recognizable and not odd looking even though it's clearly not the right or best uniform. I feel like wrong uniform is one that most regular fans didn't even know existed and in general people do know that Jordan played for the Wizards. To me wrong uniform most fans kinda go "woah when did that happen? I didn't know he played there!" And that's like Hank Aaron in a Brewers uniform, Piazza on the Marlins, and Frank Thomas on the A's. So in that sense, in my opinion, Jordan in a Wizards uniform isn't the best definition of wrong uniform. 

[UnclearInitial]

Ronaldo in an England shirt

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

13 hours ago, SilverBullet1929 said:

I'm gonna get ripped a new one for this but I don't think Jordan in a Wizards uniform is "wrong." Of course his right uniform is the Bulls but I feel like there's a middle ground between right uniform and wrong uniform. Like if there's a third level of uniform that's neither right nor wrong. Where it's recognizable and not odd looking even though it's clearly not the right or best uniform. I feel like wrong uniform is one that most regular fans didn't even know existed and in general people do know that Jordan played for the Wizards. To me wrong uniform most fans kinda go "woah when did that happen? I didn't know he played there!" And that's like Hank Aaron in a Brewers uniform, Piazza on the Marlins, and Frank Thomas on the A's. So in that sense, in my opinion, Jordan in a Wizards uniform isn't the best definition of wrong uniform. 

 

 

This is a good point.  I agree with this distinction, that there is a middle ground between a "right" and a "wrong" uniform.  

 

And I also agree that the "wrong" uniform is one which makes you say "whoa, when did that happen?"  But Hank Aaron with the Brewers is not a good example of this.  Aaron's return to Milwaukee with the Brewers was huge news, and it is a well-known part of his story.  He was on an American League All-Star team; and every home run he hit with the Brewers was national news, as it set a new record.  Aaron's stint with the Brewers does not compare with Piazza/Mariners, Thomas/A's, Killebrew/Royals, or any of the others that were truly forgettable footnotes to history.  I would say that Aaron with the Brewers fits into that first category you identified: neither right nor wrong.

 

Likewise Charlie Hough with the Marlins.  He threw the first pitch in team history, and he was extensively interviewed in the leadup to the club's debut.  So, while Hough's right uniform is the Dodgers uniform, the Marlins uniform is not wrong for him.

 

Finally, in agreeing that the Wizards uniform is not wrong for Jordan (while not being right, either), I will go a step further and say that the same applies to his White Sox and Birmingham Barons uniforms.  No one seeing pictures of him in those uniforms says "whoa, when did that happen?" Everyone knows he played for those teams, as there were few sports stories bigger at the time. So those uniforms, while not equal to his right uniform of the Bulls, fall into the intermediate neither-right-nor-wrong category.

[SilverBullet1929]

1 hour ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

Aaron's stint with the Brewers does not compare with Piazza/Mariners

Woah Piazza was with the Mariners? When did that happen? How come I've never seen pics of this?