Vintage Baseball Team Uniform Redesign

[BallWonk]

I need your expert help! The Chesapeake and Potomac Base Ball Club, a vintage team playing by the rules of the 1860s, played our first games this weekend at the 2006 Chesapeake Cup in Elkton, MD. We managed to advance to the consolation game in the four-team tourney on the strength of a 21-2 loss in the opener, and we proudly won fourth place thanks to a valiant, if rain-shortened 7-inning 21-6 loss. Yours truly completed the new team's first double play.

Anyway, we had one little problem. Not having ordered real uniforms yet (designed with much helpful input from these boards), we all wore our team's official "rookie" uniform of white shirt, blue knickers, and red socks with a red-striped white cap. (We each had regular blue pants turned into knickers for a few dollars at our local cleaner/tailor shops.) But one of the two other teams in the Chesapeake region, the Easton Fair Plays, already wears blue pants, white shirt, and the exact same red-striped white hats. When we played Easton, it was often hard to tell who was on base where, even with them wearing long pants and us wearing knickers and red socks.

At the Tournament

So as we prepare to order uniforms, I'm thinking that an emergency redesign might be in order. We're going to be playing the Fair Plays more than almost any other team, probably four times a year. The other regional team we'll likely play four times a year, the Elkton Eclipse, wear gray shirts with blue shield fronts, blue knickers, gray socks, and gray caps with blue bills. We need to contrast with them, too.

So I've come up with three revisions to our current uniform design. We still need to have a reversible shield to help us form two teams to play ourselves, or to represent either Washington or Baltimore as the situation demands. On two of the revisions, I went with a light blue color for two reasons: 1. It's distinctive; very few vintage teams use it; and 2. Light blue dress shirts are as easy for new members to find as our current white shirts. Below I show the six permutations of my three designs, each paired with the other local team whose uniform is closest in appearance. Please register your opinion in the poll, and I welcome any C&C or suggestions for tweaks.

[BallWonk]

White Shirt, Red Cap

[BallWonk]

Light Blue Shirt, Navy Knickers

[BallWonk]

Light Blue Shirt and Knickers

[VitaminD]

I'd pick the light blue shirt/navy pants combo. The all-light blue uniform looks too much like pajamas. I like the new cap with the navy, and the reversal of the red and white on the other redesign, but I preferred the old caps most of all. I guess the red caps with the white stripes would be the simplest change.

If you made such a noticeable change to an integral part of the uniform, would you still have to change your caps? Teams play each other all the time wearing the same color caps or socks, but if you're wearing light blue tops, you'd stand out clearly enough, right? This would mean switching the tops would be the easiest solution and the fastest to implement.

[leopard88]

I'd pick the light blue shirt/navy pants combo. The all-light blue uniform looks too much like pajamas.

Or like a 1970s away uniform. I, too, would go with the light blue/dark blue knickers.

By the way, I don't know if you saw it, BallWonk, but there was an article in the Baltimore Sun this past weekend about the Elkton Eclipse and the Chesapeake Cup. Here you go.

Baltimore Sun -- Vintage Baseball

[KJTALBOT]

You're bound to run into teams that have similar colors. I wouldn't change too dramatically. I like the idea of a red hat with white stripes. I bet it has more contrast to the white hat with red stripes in person.

[BallWonk]

You're bound to run into teams that have similar colors. I wouldn't change too dramatically. I like the idea of a red hat with white stripes. I bet it has more contrast to the white hat with red stripes in person.

Good points. I've found some photos that show players wearing both white-and-red and red-and-white caps and in fact there is more visual contrast than I expected.

I'm not so much concerned about looking like other teams from time to time, but that we look almost exactly like another team from the same region. For one thing, it can cause confusion when we play them. But on another level, we'll be traveling to Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and probably Ohio for games and tournaments, and so will the other local team we resemble, and we want to create a distinctive presence for our opponents to remember. But we might be able to achieve that with some minimal change, such as the cap or maybe even switching to white or light blue knickers (or, more likely, something I haven't thought of).

Thanks again and please keep the votes and especially the comments coming! We need your keen insight!