Mariners 2006 BP Jersey

[TheYankeeSlayer]

The turn back the clock night was canceled. I heard something along the lines that they couldnt get the color righ, or that was the word around the ballpark. We did give away a a teal Mariners cap and it was pretty well received by the fans.

[Cianfrocco]

Yes, it was a color issue. I worked for the M's Team Stores, plus some part time work in the accounting office before starting law school this year. The line I heard was that because the authentics back then were made by Russell and the supplier now being Majestic, they couldn't match the color perfectly. That has never stopped other teams doing old jerseys that were made by different manufacturers, but oh well. I had also asked a few years ago before this was ever planned if they would ever do anything like it, and I was told it was too expensive.

And to clarify, the teal jerseys were worn from 1994-1996, though a slight change was made before the 1995 season. The 1994 ones had an extra silver outline around "Mariners," which was removed the next season. It also had the MLB 125th anniversary patch. The 1995 version had a 75th anniversary Negro League patch, and the 1996 version had no special patches, just the Mariners logo patch (which was on all three versions).

The teal hat with a navy bill was the same for all three years. It was only worn at home while the jerseys were occasionally worn on the road with the all blue hats. The teal jerseys were worn at home with both the alternate and regular navy/teal-billed hats. At least once, they even wore the teal hats with the regular white jerseys. No teal helmets were ever made, they always wore the regular home or away helmet, regardless of the jersey.

This was all done away in 1997 when they unveiled the sleeveless jerseys (good looking) and silver-billed hats (not so good looking).

More info than you probably cared to know!

[Gothamite]

More info than you probably cared to know!

Are you kidding? More! More!

[EugeneCoug]

Yes, more!

Staying on topic, the teal brimmed cap that used to be the M's home cap would look good with the new BP jersey. Are the M's planning on bringing it back?

Why did they discontinue it in the first place?

My speculation is that the M's began to allow the starting ptitcher to select the cap at home (just like he could select the jersey) and Moyer, for example, routinely selected the all navy road cap. Eventually more pitchers did the same and the players decided they generally preferred it, so the M's decided they didn't need a cap that was rarely used and the players didn't prefer.

Am I right?

[rfpierce]

I'm not sure if that's right about the caps, but in '95 the pitchers were choosing to wear the teal less and less because during their run for the playoffs they deceided it was "unlucky".

[njpoz]

Why did they discontinue it in the first place?

My speculation is that the M's began to allow the starting ptitcher to select the cap at home (just like he could select the jersey) and Moyer, for example, routinely selected the all navy road cap. Eventually more pitchers did the same and the players decided they generally preferred it, so the M's decided they didn't need a cap that was rarely used and the players didn't prefer.

I don't know for sure, but that generally seems right. The Mariners allowed the starting pitcher to choose the jersey and hat every night, and the teal-brimmed hat was being chosen less and less. I don't remember it ever being worn in a game the last season it was officially part of the uniform options.

I don't personally mind that they phased it out. If they want to bring back a hat with a different color bill, I think they should go with a true green instead of teal, which I never really cared for.

I do, however, treasure my teal Mariners cap with the blue bill, which my dad bought for me at the Kingdome during Game 5 of the 1995 Division series.

[hawk36]

I'm all for the M's bringing back the teal bill and adding more teal to their unis. I disliked the color back when it was trendy, but now it's not used that much AND the M's unis are in need of a spark. A shot of teal would be, GULP, welcomed?

[Gothamite]

I'm not sure if that's right about the caps, but in '95 the pitchers were choosing to wear the teal less and less because during their run for the playoffs they deceided it was "unlucky".

That seems right - I believe that's standard practice with most teams.

[brianmungai]

More info than you probably cared to know!

We want more! We want more!

[TwoRsAndTwoLs]

Just wondering...

How about Take 2 of the 1994-1996 Teal unis, using navy script instead of silver, and the numbers (also navy) from the back of the current alternates? And also bring back the navy hat with teal visor to go with it, because to me that just looks better than the teal cap.

I'm not a fan of those numbers, but if they made them blue on teal, I think I could deal with it. I saw a guy at safeco once who had put the newer numbers in silver on the back of his 1995/1996 jersey. I wanted to smack him, but I didn't, because I'm a peace-loving Seattleite.

[Cianfrocco]

OK, you want more, here you go!

They really started phasing out the teal-billed hats in 2001. They had been wearing the navy road hats at home as early as 1997 occaisonally, but still mostly wore the teal-billed ones until early 2001. That is when they started out winning almost all of their road games and considered the "road" hats to be lucky. They wore them all the way to 116 wins that year, so who can argue. In both 2002 and 2003 they wore the "home" hats twice each year, then officially got rid of them for 2004. Interestingly, though, Freddy Garcia seemed to wear the home hat during BP quite often, though he never chose to wear it for a game during that time.