Who Wears Short Shorts? MLB in shorts '77 UPDATE 10/2: Cubs, Rangers, Angels, M's Tweaks

[coco1997]

Last year the White Sox honored their 1976 unis but went more conservative by wearing uniform pants rather than their infamous shorts. Probably a good idea.

 

My idea is this: What if the shorts had actually caught on and every team decided to adopt them the following season? Going with this idea, I made concepts for each MLB that existed in 1977 with colored short pants. I'll start out with the pioneering White Sox, who I paired with the Indians. C&C appreciated.

[KittSmith_95]

Innovative and fun! I actually really like this look for Cleveland. The shorts are a funky thing but go nice with the pullover.

[coco1997]

51 minutes ago, KittSmith_95 said:

Innovative and fun! I actually really like this look for Cleveland. The shorts are a funky thing but go nice with the pullover.

 

Thanks!

Here's one that's bound to piss off some people. 

[coco1997]

Here are the Dodgers & Reds.

 

[coco1997]

Here are the A's & Royals. Again, C&C appreciated:

 

[TheGiantsFan]

There's not much to say about this project other than the fact that it's a pretty interesting take on baseball!

 

I'll certainly use that Sox one in my future crossover!

[coco1997]

19 minutes ago, TheGiantsFan said:

There's not much to say about this project other than the fact that it's a pretty interesting take on baseball!

 

I'll certainly use that Sox one in my future crossover!

 

Thanks!

Here are the Tigers & Orioles:

[coco1997]

No more feedback? Oh well, here's the next set:

[Victormrey]

Really interesting concepts. I love the Brewers throwback!

[KittSmith_95]

Most of these are just fun to look at... can I see a Blue-Jays- Expos match-up?

[BenD]

I really like the idea and the concepts, but why is every team wearing white socks?

[coco1997]

4 hours ago, KittSmith_95 said:

Most of these are just fun to look at... can I see a Blue-Jays- Expos match-up?

 

The Expos and Blue Jays will come in due time. I'll probably pair the Jays with the Mariners, as they were the two new expansion teams in 1977.

 

8 minutes ago, BenD said:

I really like the idea and the concepts, but why is every team wearing white socks?

 

This is something I've struggled with. I wasn't sure if the teams would look good with colored socks. You'll notice I gave the A's yellow socks, and I even considered giving the Yankees pinstriped socks. Any suggestions on this topic would be appreciated.

 

In the meantime, here are the Padres & Giants:

 

[coco1997]

Here are the Pirates & Phillies:

[hockey week]

your illustrations are truly excellent. Really, deeply impressive.

 

But I think you're not being anywhere near imaginative with your idea. It seems to be cookie cutter "shorts match the hat, plus white socks" and while that's still new and different, it's not the groundbreaking fun that this idea probably should be. Chicago's shorts were the first attempt. I definitely think if this idea had merit and caught on, that others would try to push the limits and do something new and cool.

 

You really think the Yankees wouldn't go with pinstriped socks? I think pinstriped shorts shouldn't be off the table either, but to do all of them is a bit much. It's also the perfect opportunity to put the Red Sox in red socks. Nobody goes with white shorts? If you're putting this in the late 70s, that seems like there's precedent in tennis with white shorts. I think the Pirates, Padres, and even the Orioles would try something a little more crazy. 

 

I think you need to take a walk on the wild side with this and really push the limits of this idea and get into some of the real fun, because this great series feels too safe.

[coco1997]

4 minutes ago, hockey week said:

your illustrations are truly excellent. Really, deeply impressive.

 

But I think you're not being anywhere near imaginative with your idea. It seems to be cookie cutter "shorts match the hat, plus white socks" and while that's still new and different, it's not the groundbreaking fun that this idea probably should be. Chicago's shorts were the first attempt. I definitely think if this idea had merit and caught on, that others would try to push the limits and do something new and cool.

 

You really think the Yankees wouldn't go with pinstriped socks? I think pinstriped shorts shouldn't be off the table either, but to do all of them is a bit much. It's also the perfect opportunity to put the Red Sox in red socks. Nobody goes with white shorts? If you're putting this in the late 70s, that seems like there's precedent in tennis with white shorts. I think the Pirates, Padres, and even the Orioles would try something a little more crazy. 

 

I think you need to take a walk on the wild side with this and really push the limits of this idea and get into some of the real fun, because this great series feels too safe.

 

Thanks for the feedback, hockey week. 

 

You're right, I have been playing it kind of safe. I will definitely go back and try to rethink a few of the teams. One thing I didn't want to do was come up with new jerseys because there was no precedent for it. I will stay, though, that as soon as I finished Boston I thought, "Hey, maybe they should actually have red socks?"

 

Do you have any other specific suggestions for making the designs more outlandish or interesting?

[hockey week]

I'm no expert on baseball, but I've read uniwatch long enough that I know a little. So I poked around Dressed to the Nines and I'm throwing all sorts of ideas at you. This is by no means a "you should do all of them", just listing out all of the options that I can think of. 

 

I would think some easy options would be to match some shorts to the pants they usually wear - include the side piping and probably add the same piping along the bottom edge.

Pin-stripes seem like another obvious move, especially for the Yankees, and probably for the Phillies (though the Phils with blue shorts and maroon pinstripe jerseys sounds fun)

Logos would be the other logical step. I would think if you did a Braves entry, that feather on the sleeves would be on the side of the pants, too. The Indians would probably have Chief Wahoo on the front of the shorts on one leg. Orioles could do something similar very easily. 

 

And then some of the "crazy" ideas could simply be following up on bad ideas. Orioles in all orange, Phillies in all maroon, Indians in all red. Part of being realistic is making a few of them bad...but lovably bad. Those weird, endearing terrible ideas.  

 

Then the socks, what if one really traditional team wore stirrup socks? Just stirrups and sanis and shorts. Could be interesting. The other obvious one would be giving some of them stripes. If they were wearing striped stirrups, they should wear striped socks. That would be easy. 

 

There really should be at least one truly crazy idea, and I would think it would be the Buccos. The Pirates wore all sorts of crazy stuff in their mix-n-match set, but using the black-and-gold pinstripes on shorts would look like boxer shorts. What about matching the pillbox hat, and putting horizontal gold stripes on them? That's outlandish but realistic. P logo on the leg, or even one of the more piratical logos with the smiling pirate. 

 

Idk, think outside the box. That's literally ALL the ideas I have, so by no means is that a "you should do all of these", I'm just spitballing to give you something to build on.

I would think the best way to really flesh this out would be to say "what if it caught on?" and use Cooperalls from the NHL and minor hockey leagues as a guide (it got banned in the NHL, or else it probably would've gone huge. Long pants were all over the minor leagues), and do a kind of timeline to the present. Some teams would be real quick to jump on board, some wouldn't. Maybe at some point it would be forced on everybody like a batting practice or cool base uniform so those last hold outs get included. Surely some teams would create a custom jersey to go with their shorts. Doing it over time would allow all sorts of options, with all sorts of uniforms and eras, it could be really interesting., and with your drawing and illustrating, it'd be a fantastic thing to see. 

 

Really and truly, this is a great series, I hope you don't take my late-night rambling as any kind of criticism, because there is clearly a lot of work put into these, and it's amazing work. Whatever you come up with, I look forward to seeing it. Good luck!

[coco1997]

16 hours ago, hockey week said:

I'm no expert on baseball, but I've read uniwatch long enough that I know a little. So I poked around Dressed to the Nines and I'm throwing all sorts of ideas at you. This is by no means a "you should do all of them", just listing out all of the options that I can think of. 

 

I would think some easy options would be to match some shorts to the pants they usually wear - include the side piping and probably add the same piping along the bottom edge.

Pin-stripes seem like another obvious move, especially for the Yankees, and probably for the Phillies (though the Phils with blue shorts and maroon pinstripe jerseys sounds fun)

Logos would be the other logical step. I would think if you did a Braves entry, that feather on the sleeves would be on the side of the pants, too. The Indians would probably have Chief Wahoo on the front of the shorts on one leg. Orioles could do something similar very easily. 

 

And then some of the "crazy" ideas could simply be following up on bad ideas. Orioles in all orange, Phillies in all maroon, Indians in all red. Part of being realistic is making a few of them bad...but lovably bad. Those weird, endearing terrible ideas.  

 

Then the socks, what if one really traditional team wore stirrup socks? Just stirrups and sanis and shorts. Could be interesting. The other obvious one would be giving some of them stripes. If they were wearing striped stirrups, they should wear striped socks. That would be easy. 

 

There really should be at least one truly crazy idea, and I would think it would be the Buccos. The Pirates wore all sorts of crazy stuff in their mix-n-match set, but using the black-and-gold pinstripes on shorts would look like boxer shorts. What about matching the pillbox hat, and putting horizontal gold stripes on them? That's outlandish but realistic. P logo on the leg, or even one of the more piratical logos with the smiling pirate. 

 

Idk, think outside the box. That's literally ALL the ideas I have, so by no means is that a "you should do all of these", I'm just spitballing to give you something to build on.

I would think the best way to really flesh this out would be to say "what if it caught on?" and use Cooperalls from the NHL and minor hockey leagues as a guide (it got banned in the NHL, or else it probably would've gone huge. Long pants were all over the minor leagues), and do a kind of timeline to the present. Some teams would be real quick to jump on board, some wouldn't. Maybe at some point it would be forced on everybody like a batting practice or cool base uniform so those last hold outs get included. Surely some teams would create a custom jersey to go with their shorts. Doing it over time would allow all sorts of options, with all sorts of uniforms and eras, it could be really interesting., and with your drawing and illustrating, it'd be a fantastic thing to see. 

 

Really and truly, this is a great series, I hope you don't take my late-night rambling as any kind of criticism, because there is clearly a lot of work put into these, and it's amazing work. Whatever you come up with, I look forward to seeing it. Good luck!

 

You have some great ideas, @hockey week. Some of them are ones I actually considered. I've got a few ideas in mind for some changes I want to make now, but in the meantime I'll post the next set. I actually have the whole league done, but I've been posting them one at a time in the hopes that I get some feedback for each one. 

[coco1997]

Here are the Braves and Astros. You'll noticed the Astros have uniform numbers on their shorts. C&C appreciated!

[hockey week]

That's awesome, and totally realistic (if a bit high up on shorts). Nice work!

[Ark]

I'd like to see Bartolo Colon in these