Cubs road cap update

[Mingjai]

All that daytime heat is a real beast in April and May. Sometimes in July it's like 78!

In that case, I think that the Cubs, as a charter NL club, should wear wool flannel uniforms and wool caps. It of course would have no effect on the outcome of their season.

[The_Admiral]

There's no good reason to get rid of the Cubs logo. It's not generic at all. It's one of the most recognized logos around, I'd argue.

Using the scavenging bear as a main logo is a categorically awful idea for two reasons.

1) I don't like primary logos that don't have words (looking at you, Red Sox)

2) It's a terrible logo.

Okay, so maybe I was reaching for a reason to slam the coolflo helmets beyond "they look like the Storm Troopers' company softball team," but my point that complaining about the heat in a Great Lakes city is like the Diamondbacks complaining about the humidity. Just say you'll sell more beer at night and keep pushing to annoy the hell out of the people that live in that neighborhood and have to come amidst all that crap some fifty times a year.

[oddball]

I understand the Cubs thinking that the cool flo helmets crack more, but as someone who follows racing, cracking and is not necessarially a bad thing as it dispenses engery. If all that energy is being force into the head and as opposed to a part breaking, what is more important a cracked helmet or damage to the brain. I'd like to see studies on this and other team's studies and opinions on this and doctor's opinions. I'm not saying that the Cubs are wrong, but we need to look into it more. If the holes on the helmet do prove to be weaker and more dangerous, then get rid of them, but I want to see an actual study behind the saftey and the results of cool flo vs. the older style and how many concusions there were. That to me would be a valid reason, not necessarially a cracked or broken helmet.

[TheOldRoman]

I understand the Cubs thinking that the cool flo helmets crack more, but as someone who follows racing, cracking and is not necessarially a bad thing as it dispenses engery. If all that energy is being force into the head and as opposed to a part breaking, what is more important a cracked helmet or damage to the brain. I'd like to see studies on this and other team's studies and opinions on this and doctor's opinions. I'm not saying that the Cubs are wrong, but we need to look into it more. If the holes on the helmet do prove to be weaker and more dangerous, then get rid of them, but I want to see an actual study behind the saftey and the results of cool flo vs. the older style and how many concusions there were. That to me would be a valid reason, not necessarially a cracked or broken helmet.

I imagine they are breaking from players slamming them down, tossing them around, and such. I doubt very many broke by sliding into the knee of the second baseman.

[McCall]

Coolflo helmets are pointless in baseball, IMO. Players may only wear them for a short time for not even half a game. Only 4 or 5 times they go up to the plate. And unless they get a hit and are running to probably more than one base, do the vents really help that much? Hell, they don't even need them that much when they're wearing them. They're either at the plate or on base. They have limited time of running with them. They just felt too much like a gimmick to me. In football, I can understand, since they wear them the entire time they play. But in baseball?

That's why I'm glad my Cardinals never went to them... except the Double-A team here in Springfield, who did switch to them 2 years ago. I still don't feel like they were necessary at all.

[The_Admiral]

The vents are more for branding the helmets as Rawlings equipment than any sort of performance enhancement. I think Rawlings practically admitted as much.

[Discrim]

Okay, so maybe I was reaching for a reason to slam the coolflo helmets beyond "they look like the Storm Troopers' company softball team," but my point that complaining about the heat in a Great Lakes city is like the Diamondbacks complaining about the humidity.

sure...in March. at least Arizona's got dry heat, it gets humid in the summer here

[The_Admiral]

Sure, but Wrigley's proximity to the lake mitigates a lot of that, doesn't it?

[Gothamite]

cooler by the lake....

[Discrim]

admittedly, that's true...I remember being up at UW Whitewater in July for orientation several years ago and thinking I shoulda worn shorts (UWW, in case anyone's wondering, is nowhere near the small lake that gives Whitewater its name).

[CubsFanBudMan]

The Cubs all-blue caps were worn with the road uniforms for the first time last night:

And the non-Coolflo, all-blue helmet:

Opening Day with the alt blues on the road:

I consider it an upgrade, especially when worn with blue sleeves and high blue socks.

[CubsFanBudMan]

Also, this was in UniWatch, but... compare this Ramirez pic with Fukudome above:

It's hard to see, but there is white still above the cub (but not below, so it's not a wrong patch issue, as suggested by UW).

EDIT: From UniWatch:

[BallWonk]

Much as I will miss the old road caps as part of the overall Cubs package -- I like when teams have two caps to give fans an option -- I have to admit that this is a very sharp look for the Cubs. There's a certain, I don't know, crispness to the road uni with the all-blue cap that was missing in the somewhat more whimsical red-billed road cap. This is a nicely executed uniform tweak, and a definite upgrade.

[BBTV]

I thought that the road cap looked great considering they use big red numbers on their gray jersey. Now they should change the numbers to blue with a red outline.

[knox]

I consider it an upgrade, especially when worn with blue sleeves and high blue socks.

Too bad there's not a picture on the news wire of Reed Johnson, who looked amazing last night.

[Sport]

I thought that the road cap looked great considering they use big red numbers on their gray jersey. Now they should change the numbers to blue with a red outline.

That was my first thought. The current roads were designed to go with a red-billed cap. Without the red bill the red numbers look out of place. Even a blue outline around the red would help integrate the two elements more, but I agree blue numbers-red outline would be the way to go.

[CubsFanBudMan]

I've never felt "it was designed" for a red bill... instead, I thought the other way around -- the red numbers helped make the red bill more acceptable. I'll admit there was a certain flow to it, but...

...I don't think red numbers require a red bill -- take the Dodgers, for example. I realize the Cubs also have the back number red, but I still think this way it is limited to a complementary role rather than a dominant one. Watching a game on the road in person, that red bill practically glowed -- it always stood out to me. Reverting red back to just the C makes it fit better with the alt blue -- it feels like it is distributed evenly. (Now if there was a red side panel on the jersey, like Piniella's jacket above... or red sleeves...)

In the case of the gray, the white-outlined red numbers still fit to me because the Cubs cap is a red C outlined in white. On the back it might seem off, but it doesn't to me because (unlike the picture I posted above) you don't normally see both the red bill and the big red numbers at the same time. From the back it mostly looks the same as it ever did. And that look (color combo and of course font) I believe is unique to MLB, making the Cubs instantly recognizable in the grays. Not saying I wouldn't welcome red-outlined blue, but I just think that's one reason why they keep it.

EDIT: The high socks look knox referenced, though not on Reed Johnson: