You know a team is cheap when ...

[M59]

I think you should double-check Kansas City, as the Royals are NOTORIOUS for still sending jerseys to the minors. The Phillies roads may be plated for the same reason, as they may wind up in Redding.

The Orioles swithched to direct-sewn letters in 1999, then mysteriously went back to plates for the first series of the 2000 season (first with Majestic)! Oops! They were back to direct-sewn by the second homestand.

[no97]

(You are missing the obvious. It is much easier to work with a smaller pece of cloth to get a high quality of workmanship, than it is to try to make small the movements necessary doing the fine details around the letters.?)

Um, we're not talking about splitting the atom. Sewing on letters wouldn't tax an average home ec student, let alone an experienced seamstress.

(Therefore, do them on a nameplate, then sew the whole thing on. All of a sudden, you maintain the quality of the details, and still get the look on a larger piece.)

"Quality of the details"? What the hell are you talking about? Assembling letters in a straight line?

(Especially with the complex lettering of today.)

LOL! You sir are ridiculous, Take a look at the pics that have been posted in this thread and tell me they're "complex." What a friggin joke.

(In the '70's and earlier with mostly on color letters, it wasn't much of a problem. But add the lettering styles of a team like the early Tampa Bay Lightning, for example, and you see what I mean...)

What does color have to do with it? Either way, you have to sew on a prefab letter to a piece of cloth.

(If everyting were manufactured at once (if, for example, Majestic supplied a team at the beginning of a year, and no roster moves were ever made, call-ups, injuries, trades, etc.) and you could guarnatee you'd never have to add names after the final product was made, it would be a much easier process, but as it is, with team equipment managers interested in a quality product in a timely fashion, nameplates are the easiest way to do so.)

For the last time: this is NOT like getting a custom suit made. It does NOT take days and days to sew letters onto a nameplate or jersey, even if your last name is Valenzuela. Why don't you just concede the obvious? Teams are cheap.

"on color" was supposed to be "one color." I appologise for the typo. I was referring to the complex two and three-color lettering common today.

I stand by my acessment that it is more difficult than "slats7" realizes to sew lettering on. Much more difficult than can be handled by the average "home-ec" student. And again, more difficult for the more elaborate fonts out there today, as compared with 1970, etc. (Of corse, this applies more to NHL or minor hockey than MLB, but there are exceptions)

Just ask anyone on this board who has ordered a customized jersey that has been done poorly. If you have recieved a jersey done wrong, or tried to do it yourself, you know how difficult it is to do properly. I again say, "slats7," if you realy think you can slap a name, lined-up properly, and sew it on to make it look right, in ten minues or less, go ahead. I'm waiting here to see a photo of what your finished product looks like. I highly doubt it will look anything like what any MLB player, or any other professional sports team wears. I would also be willing to bet that an experienced seamstress wouldn't be able to pull that feat off either.

Moose

[ColeJ]

I think you guys have this backwards.  Getting the lettering in place is a pain in the ass.  I believe it is put on a nameplate so when the jersey is damaged, the name can be lifted and moved to the new jersey.

Those were my thoughts exactly, especially when dealing with longer anmes like Encarnacion and Damphoouse and Isringhausen. I don't see it as cheap, I see it as a team spending a few extra bucks to make sure their team looks good

imagine the name "langenbrunner" without a nameplate.

WITH a nameplate, his name still overlaps the armpit stitching. without it, the L and R would be sewn directly onto a big thick seem.

look at that name.

[jWilson4mvp]

I just realized something...what makes them cheap because they use a nameplate? Does it cost all that much less to use another piece of fabric?

[eagles=life]

your right, the phillies are cheap...or they're stupid with their money, signing underachieving high paid players...cough Mike Lieberthal cough...the only smart move made by the phillies since '93, the last time they made the World Series let alone the playoffs, was build the new stadium, Citizens Bank Park...they should definately fire Ed Wade the General Manager...i still love them, but its getting harder and harder every year...

[zer0dotcom]

imagine the name "langenbrunner" without a nameplate.

WITH a nameplate, his name still overlaps the armpit stitching. without it, the L and R would be sewn directly onto a big thick seem.

Exactly. How much easier would it be to put Langenbruner on a name plate, then center it on a jersey,, instead of try to get each individual letter in place on the jersey then attach it?

The answer could just lie in simple fabrication/industrialization processes. For many teams, taking the time to sit down and do each name individually onto a jersey just isn't practical. I can see that taking lots of time, and working with an entire uniform, keeping it in place, can be extremely akward.

It's alot easier to have one guy make the actualy letters, one guy spells the name on a nameplate, another guy sews the name plate onto the jersey, another guy adds the numbers. In mass production, that method sounds alot easier than you sit down and sew on each individual letter, and if you mess up, take them off one by one, or discard the jersey and start again.

Thats just an example, I have no clue how they do it for the pros, or for team shops, or jersey retailers. In terms of getting a uniform looks for all a team's jerseys and getting it to look right, using a nameplate just seems the most efficent and practical way to go.

That doesn't mean it's the only way to go

[STL FANATIC]

"Quality of the details"? What the hell are you talking about? Assembling letters in a straight line?

Baseball jersey lettering is pretty much all arced (note: not arched, though the Braves do that). So yeah, it's quite a bit harder than a straight line.

[DEAD!]

Bush league, is having a weird (not necessarily bad) logo like the Montgomery Biscuits, the Dayton Storm logo, the Lansing Lugnuts, the Fresno Grizzlies uniform set, the play of the Chicago Cubs over the last 97 years ..... You want to talk about cheap? Cheap is a team not investing in their team like the D-Rays. Cheap is a team not willing to pay a dime for their stadium. Cheap is date at McDonald's.

Factories probably make a whole bunch of nameplates for one player, then when an order comes (team or consumer) to make a jersey for that player, then the factory can make a work order for that and the jerseys can be out the door in a day. I say it's more about efficiency for the manufacturer than anything.

[Roger Clemente]

It's also a lot less costly if you screw up a name on a nameplate than if you have the letters sewn directly on the jersey.

One thing I find nifty about arched nameplates is that you can just start laying the letters on the arch, and then once you've got the name in place, just cut off the ends of the arch and you can center it easily onto the jersey.

--Roger "Time?" Clemente.

[tp49]

Arguably the cheapest team of all time the Montreal Expos stiched the name directly on the jersey. This after checking my Authentic Vlad Guerrero road jersey I bought at the Expos Boutique in 2002.

[mavrxboy2]

well what can you expect? Theyre the expos. They went down the drain anyway.

[Cujo]

So I guess that makes the Yankees even cheaper since they don't use names at all.

[sj32]

I am fairly certain all but one NHL team uses a nameplate (Red Wings)

I think Colorado and San Jose also don't use nameplates...I'm pretty sure those are the only teams whose names are arched rather than sewn across.

As I think Puckguy mentiones, San Jose wears nameplates. Colorado also wears name plates. (click here for photographic evidence)

Somebody mentioned Los Angeles as one NHL team that does not wear nameplates. I think the Rangers used nameplates in the mid 90's but have gone back to having names directly sewn on the jerseys.

In the mid 70's (when NBC had the TV contract), teams would put names on nameplates and wear those on nationally televised games. When the game was not on TV or televised locally, off came the names. Some teams (maybe all) had only one nameplate - so you would see the Flyers wearing white nameplates on their orange jerseys.

Since we haven't had NHL training camp in about a year and a half, maybe somebody can answer a question. Do the Red Wings still put names on a straight nameplate with block lettering in the preseason?

[BBTV]

Since we haven't had NHL training camp in about a year and a half, maybe somebody can answer a question. Do the Red Wings still put names on a straight nameplate with block lettering in the preseason?

Read the thread...

[sj32]

Since we haven't had NHL training camp in about a year and a half, maybe somebody can answer a question.  Do the Red Wings still put names on a straight nameplate with block lettering in the preseason?

Read the thread...

I read the thread - I wanted to know if it was still the block letters on a straight nameplate or if they at least started making an attempt to come close to the regular season jerseys.

[NJTank]

It does no matter it depends on the skill of the sewer

[illinirox1]

Or, do you think it would be easier to grab one of the nameplates you already made up while you waited ont he shipment, sew a box, and viola, the jersey is ready? Oh, Johnson needs a smaller jersey? Quick rip stitich,a nd sew another box. Easy.

It's voila not viola. Viola=instrument.

[sj32]

Here's an idea I'm surprised never caught on. In the late 70's / early 80's, there was a company that advertised in Baseball Digest (and maybe Sporting News) selling velcro naming kits. You would sew a velcro nameplate (they offered straight or arched) on the jerseys and then stick the reverse velcro letters on the nameplate.

[epper]

Or, do you think it would be easier to grab one of the nameplates you already made up while you waited ont he shipment, sew a box, and viola, the jersey is ready? Oh, Johnson needs a smaller jersey? Quick rip stitich,a nd sew another box. Easy.

It's voila not viola. Viola=instrument.

Or...

[winghaz]

That's Frank "Sweet Music" Viola.

And what sweet music he was for us Twins fans.