The Imperfect's Random Baseball Concepts

[cohenj21]

Boston looks solid, no complaints there. I like the Detroit concept alot, even though it messes with my head quite a bit. Not sure I'm sold on the striped undershirt, but the jerseys, especially the red alt, are pretty cool-looking. Nice job!

[The Imperfect]

#03 // New York Highlanders

At a peace summit to unite the two leagues under similar rules, and establishing the World Series, American League President Ban Johnson lets it known he wants a team in New York. Johnson got 15 of the 16 Major League owners to agree, the lone dissenter was John T. Bush owner of the New York Giants. Johnson arranged Frank Farrell and Bill Devery to buy the struggling Baltimore Orioles and move them to Manhattan. The two new owners quickly secured a piece of land on Broadway between 165th and 168th street and quickly put together a ballpark known as Hilltop Park. Sine the stadium sat on one of the highest points in Manhattan the nickname Highlanders was chosen as the new club's name. The Highlanders took the field for their first game on April 22nd, and lost to the Nats in Washington 3-1. The Highlanders would win their very first game the next day 7-2. A week later facing the Nats again, the Highlanders made their home debut a success with a 6-2 win. That first year was a success for New York, as they would finish a respectable 72-62 under Hall of Fame Manager Clark Griffith. (credit Sportsecyclopedia)

Throughout much of their tenure as the Highlanders, the logo was variations of a stylized N and Y, which lay separately on either side of the jersey's breast. In 1905, the two locked for one season, but not in the way used today. It wasn't until 1909 that the team changed to the familiar interlocking NY (originally designed by Tiffany & Co. in 1877, an insignia that would become the famous New York Yankees "NY" logo was struck on a medal of honor by Tiffany & Co. and issued to the first NYC police officer shot in the line of duty. The Yankees adopted the logo in 1909.) that would be the team logo long after the team became known as the Yankees, and would continue to be the cap insignia until today. (credit Wikipedia)

Obviously, the New York Yankees as they would later become known as, have a historical uniform which is recognized internationally has been for nearly over 100 years. Pinstripes have been the classic Yankees look, but those pinstripes wouldn't hit uniforms until the 1912 season, while the team was sporting a look which including a more royal blue and red along with their signature navy blue and white/gray combos. But like most eventual changes, that look was only around for the season, while the team switched to an all-white home jersey look for the next two seasons. While 2012 is actually the 100-year anniversary of Yankee pinstripes (why aren't they celebrating this!?), the team wouldn't permanently switch to the look until the 1915 season.

There's no way I could do a Yankees, excuse me, Highlanders concept, without including pinstripes. Although the home uniform look was never seen in the years of the Highlanders, I combined eras in a sort of way. I liked the original color combination of 1903, which saw the team in black/white at home and navy/white on the road, but didn't want a white-white color clash at any point, so switched the road uniforms to a gray jersey. So I decided to keep things black/white at home, but going with a black-pinstripe set with the logo on the front left-breast. There appears to be no history of the team sporting black pinstripes throughout time (although the 1912 set looks more black than blue on my screen), so this would be a first for the Highlanders, but hey, it's their first season in the league so literally, anything goes! And certainly a pinstripe home uniform will do well to separate themselves from cross-town rivals, the monopolizing New York Giants!

Another interesting measure I took was not to put numbers on the back of their jersey, but instead have them on the right sleeves, opposite of the jersey logo on the home uniform, while the road uniform includes the interlocking NY logo on the other sleeve as well. As of 1903, New York serves as the only team to not include their uniform numbers directly on the back, but instead only on the sleeves. This is a look I would intend the Highlanders to keep until modernity and conformism sweep the look out of the way.

Switching to a much more recognized navy/gray combination for the road jersey, this look may be familiar as my 1903 set would feature the wordmark 'New York' across the front, while throwing the interlocking NY logo on the left sleeve as previously mentioned. This is a look the team seemed to first try out in the 1911 season, as an alternate jersey ironically. Previously the team had a seperated 'N' and 'Y' on each breast of the jersey, but in the 1913 season, would fully create the look as the road jersey. But as you can see, the 'New York' wordmark was written in a seemingly serifed font, while they would switch to a sans-serifed look in 1916.

Finally the alternate look is inspired by the team's 1903 road look, which you can see along with their original home uniform in the upper-right hand corner of the concept below. It's a bold look many teams would represent in the early 1900's, a full navy uniform head-to-toe. I took the old serifed 'N Y' logo seen on the team's 1908 season uniform. Out of all the years the Highlander's had this look, I believe '08 featured the best looking 'N Y' letters, and thought the look created a great alternate for a team that refuses to believe it had a navy uniform in it's blood.

The Highlanders had a decent lineup in 1903, but featured very strong pitching. The home jersey below would have belonged to Willie Keeler, right fielder, and one of the league's smallest and best outfielders. He would acquire the nickname 'Hit 'em Where They Ain't' thanks to Keeler's advice to hitters. "Keep your eye clear, and hit 'em where they ain't"—"they" being the opposing fielders; but is more commonly referred to as 'Wee' Willie Keeler. There is much love among old-timers for Keeler, who appreciated his incredible eye for the ball. Keeler's career batting average stands at .341 (14th all-time), while starting off his major league career in 1898 with an average of .385. He hit over .300 16 times in 19 seasons, and hit over .400 once. He twice led his league in batting average and three times in hits. Keeler had an amazing 206 singles during the 1898 season, a record that stood for more than 100 years until broken by Ichiro Suzuki. Additionally, Keeler had an on-base percentage of greater than .400 for seven straight seasons. When Keeler retired in 1910, he was second all-time in hits with 2,932, behind only Cap Anson. He was one of the smallest players to play the game, standing 5' 4½" and weighing 140 pounds (64 kg), resulting in his nickname. Keeler was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1939. (credit Wikipedia)

Keeler had the ability to bunt practically any ball sent his way. He was the impetus for the rule change that made a third-strike foul bunt into a strike out. With Ned Hanlon's Baltimore Orioles he perfected the "Baltimore Chop," in which he would chop the ball into the ground hard enough for it to bounce so high he could reach base before the fielder could throw the ball to first. Bill James has speculated that Keeler introduced the hit and run strategy to the original Orioles and team-mate John McGraw. James found that Boston's Tom McCarthy was the first manager to make wide use of the hit and run. McCarthy then taught the tactic to John Montgomery Ward, who introduced the strategy to Keeler. Keeler had a hit in his final game of the 1896 season, giving him a National League record 45-game hitting streak. This mark was surpassed by Joe DiMaggio in 1941, who had a 56-game hitting streak. In 1978, Pete Rose tied Keeler's single season mark of 44 games. No other player in baseball has ever matched this feat. Keeler also had eight consecutive seasons with 200 hits or more, a record broken by Ichiro Suzuki in 2009. In 1901 when Ban Johnson formed the American League, one of the first acts was to raid the National League and offer their stars big contracts. In 1901, Keeler received offers from six of the eight new American League clubs, including an offer from Chicago for two years at $4,300 a season. Keeler remained in Brooklyn and did not actually jump to the new league until 1903, when he signed with New York. In 1905, Keeler set the Highlanders team record for most sacrifice hits in a season with 42. (credit Wikipedia)

The number '2' as featured on the road uniform belongs to pitcher Jack Chesbro, who would play ten solid seasons in the major leagues, first with the Pirates, then spending the majority of his time with the American League New York club. At the end of the 1902 season, the upstart American League began to entice NL stars to join their league by offering competitive salaries. Chesbro agreed to sign with a new AL franchise, the New York Highlanders, for the 1903 season, for a $1,000 bonus ($26,862 in current dollar terms) to join the AL. The news broke when Jesse Tannehill, who also agreed to join the Highlanders, told Pirates owner Barney Dreyfuss about the planned defection while under the influence of pain medication. When he refused to participate in a postseason series, Dreyfuss released Chesbro from the Pirates. (credit Wikipedia)

Chesbro pitched the Highlanders' first game. He finished the 1903 season with a 21–15 record. Chesbro began throwing a spitball in the 1904 season, which he learned from Elmer Stricklett, the inventor of the spitball. Chesbro also began working on a "slow ball". That year, he started 51 games and finished 48 while posting a 1.82 ERA, striking out 239 batters, and recording 41 wins and 48 complete games over 454 2⁄3 innings pitched, setting MLB records for wins, complete games, and innings pitched in a season. That year, no other pitcher in the league won more than 26. Chesbro won 14 straight games from May 14 through July 4, a New York franchise record that stood until Roger Clemens broke it in 2001. His 239 strikeouts remained a team record until Ron Guidry struck out 248 in 1978. On the last day of the season, in a game against the Boston Americans (now known as the Boston Red Sox), he threw a wild pitch in the top of the ninth inning, allowing the winning run to score from third base and causing the Highlanders to lose the pennant to Boston. The ruling on this play was controversial. Even after Chesbro's death in 1931, his widow, with the support of former Highlanders manager Clark Griffith, continued to claim that the pitch was a passed ball, and blamed the winning run on catcher Red Kleinow. Before the 1905 season, Chesbro announced that he had created a pitch he called the "jump ball". He struggled in the 1905 season, registering a 19-15 record. During the 1905 season, Chesbro was involved in the first squeeze play in baseball. At third base, Chesbro mistakenly thought he had received a steal sign from manager Clark Griffith, while Willie Keeler bunted for a hit. As Chesbro scored, Griffith made a note of the play and taught it in spring training the following season. (credit Wikipedia)

Chesbro's 1904 record for games won in a season (41 wins) has stood for over a century, one of the oldest major records in baseball, or in any other sport. Under current playing practices, his record is unbreakable. Chesbro started 51 games that season (plus 4 relief appearances) and pitched 48 complete games, for a record of 41–12. Today, it is uncommon for a pitcher to start even 35 games in a season and complete games are a rarity. The only other 40-win season since 1900 was 40 by Ed Walsh in 1908. Joe Tinker considered Chesbro one of the six toughest pitchers he faced in MLB. Dan Holmes, who runs the Hall of Fame's website, called Chesbro "one of the best pitchers in the game at that time." (credit Wikipedia)

However, Chesbro's induction is considered dubious, as his overall career was overshadowed by his 1904 season. Baseball historian Bill James considers Chesbro to be undeserving of induction to the Hall of Fame. In particular, James compared Chesbro's statistics to those of former Pittsburgh Pirate teammates Phillippe (189–109, 2.59), Sam Leever (194–100, 2.47), and Jesse Tannehill (197–117, 2.80), none of whom are in the Hall of Fame. In his book The Politics of Glory, James charged that the induction of undeserving players created a "second tier" in the Hall of Fame. James claimed that Chesbro was inducted into the Hall of Fame solely on the basis of his 1904 season, even though other pitchers who did not make the Hall of Fame have similar career statistics. (credit Wikipedia)

The alternate uniform featuring the number '7' would have belonged to another one of the Highlanders' dominant pitchers and the club's first ever manager, Clark Griffith. When Ban Johnson, a longtime friend, announced plans to form the American League, Griffith was one of the ringleaders in getting National League players to jump ship. Using the cover of his post as vice president of the League Protective Players' Association (a nascent players' union), Griffith persuaded 39 players to sign on with the new league for the 1901 season. Griffith himself signed on with the Chicago White Stockings as player-manager. He won 20 games for the final time in his career and led the White Stockings to the first AL pennant with an 83–53 record. At Johnson's suggestion, Griffith left Chicago in 1903 to take over as manager of the New York Highlanders. The Highlanders had just moved from Baltimore, and Johnson knew that for the league to be successful, it needed a strong franchise in the nation's biggest city. After a falling-out with the Highlanders' ownership, Griffith was fired during the 1908 season. (credit Wikipedia)

Although he would go on to play another four seasons, one with the Cincinnati club and three with the Washington Senators, he would go on to become the majority owner of the latter team, running the Senators from 1920 to 1955, while not enjoying much success on the ball field but surely living any baseball fan's and advocate's dream. Clark Griffith was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1946. (credit Wikipedia)

If you are interested in a fantastic history of the first couple years of the New York Highlanders existence, check out the following articles...

The House was Built by Johnson and Griffith, Part 1

The House was Built by Johnson and Griffith, Part 2

The House was Built by Johnson and Griffith, Part 3

The House was Built by Johnson and Griffith, Part 4

I hope you enjoy the concept for what it's worth, and also enjoy the lessons in early 20th century baseball history as well!

[cohenj21]

No complaints on the concept, as it is very similar to the Yankees except the alternate, which looks really good. As for the piece before the concept, the amount of effort and research that must have gone into that is really impressive. Major props on that, man.

[The Imperfect]

Here's the home set for Cincinnati while I await, hopefully a few more responses...

[16kid]

That Reds jersey looks really good, this is how I think the Reds should look, great job.

[Philsphan]

I like what you did with the Yankees and Reds! If the Yankees ever have an alternate uniform, I hope it is that Highlanders one.

[The Imperfect]

#04 // Cincinnati Reds

[The Imperfect]

Here is also a preview for the Pittsburgh Pirates...

[cohenj21]

Cincinnati looks great, especially the alternate and its white-billed cap. Solid job there. Pittsburgh also looks promising, looking forward to the rest of the set.

[The Imperfect]

#04 // Pittsburgh Pirates

[cohenj21]

I like the striping, color scheme and overall concept very much. The only thing I would do is change the script on the red alt to white with a blue outline, because the blue doesn't pop much right now. Other than that, solid job and cool series.

[The Imperfect]

#06 // Chicago White Sox

This is definitely a set I'm particularly proud of. I put a good amount of thought into it, trying to represent the old school Chicago White Sox as well as I could in one season's uniforms. Clearly in the original 1903 uniform set, you will see the very basic use of a white/blue color combination, however, SSUR would provide a much darker shade of navy blue you can see used in my concept. For the first ten years of the White Sox franchise history, the team would sport a stylized navy blue 'C' on their uniforms as a mark of recognition. However, the franchise would change face with the introduction of their now infamous SOX logo, which the team would use in different ways between 1912-1938, before switching a bolder version of the logo design now in a bright red, between 1939-1948, which would really stick out on their new uniforms.

I've always thought the logo from 1912-1938 was the best the franchise has ever had, and still looks sexy today. While the team would wear pinstripes on and off between those years with that logo featured on the left-breast nearly every season, I felt the pinstripes look had a more timeless feel to it, with images of 'Shoeless' Joe Jackson popping in my mind wearing these uniforms with a look of absolute aesthetic perfection about it. There was no particular season I modeled the home uniform around, and wanted to keep things very basic and classy. I stayed true to how the pinstripe uniforms would be featured throughout the years, sticking to white sleeves instead of the option of navy, as well as a navy belt and pinstriped hat to match the uniform.

The road uniform, however, was based around one particular road uniform the team would sport in 1926, alongside a clean-white home jersey with no pinstripes. The Baseball Hall of Fame website actually features a real life photo of this uniform being worn by Bibb Falk, Earl Sheely, and Willie Kamm (left to right). The piping above the wordmark was so particularly interesting to me, and stood out above any other road sets, and would only be in use for that 1926 season. The look would attempt to make a comeback during the 1930 and 1931 seasons, but would fail to catch on. As you can see, I've taken an element from those two aforementioned uniforms which is featured on the very first Chicago White Sox road uniforms, the old style 'Chicago' wordmark which I feel looks as timeless as the primary logo itself. While the 1926 set featured crossing white-socks on the left sleeve (an element taken to the alternate uniform), my road uniform concept features a re-coloring of the team's logo from 1949-1970, placed on the right sleeve partially above the additional striping I added to match the piping on the collar. The sleeves are to remain white, as Chicago would sport for much of their early history and as I see it a feature true only to the White Sox club in my series. I decided to go white with the belt, since I think it makes mono-chromed uniform's pop, especially in a two-colored palette, not to mention this was a very common trend in the early 20th century for uniforms such as. When it came for the hat, I eliminated half the amount of pinstripes as the home uniform's hat, because it wasn't necessary for keep consistency with any pinstripe pattern on the uniform, but wanted the pinstripes to be a staple of White Sox hats. As for the pants, I threw a matching striping pattern on and threw the primary logo in between hoping it looked pretty good.

The alternate uniform is obviously very similar to the home uniform, but with reversed colors throughout. To my dissapointment, I would learn the White Sox have only worn blue uniforms with white pinstripes twice in their 100+ year history. The first would be in the 1917 season, when the White Sox featured some of the boldest uniforms of their time. You can obviously see a pinstriped home uniform was used that year, but the team also would play in an all-American uniform featuring red on their uniform for the first time since their first two seasons in the American League. This uniform was sported in support of the American entry in World War I, as the Chicago club made it a point to be one of the more patriotic teams of the times, also featuring the American flag arm patch I adopted for my logo for the Boston Americans (a patch worn by only a handful of teams for a season or two). But all mixed up in this set is the blue pinstriped uniform, with in my opinion, a very ugly rendering of the primary logo, a version with white outlines on a jersey full of tight, white pinstripes. Pretty poor execution for a pretty good idea, as I went to the drawing board and put the SOX logo in all white with a navy blue outline to separate itself from the pinstripes. I decided I wanted to keep things pretty clean as well, but couldn't resist adding some flavor with two arm patches, the first being the aforementioned re-colored '49-'70 logo, as well as a redone version of "crossing white socks" featured on the 1926 uniform in the previous paragraph. While I found that original design hard to vectorize for some reason, I decided to try something different and come up with what you see as two socks now facing each other, with the blue three-stripe design I put on each uniform as an order of consistency. The hat was easy-peasy, pretty much just reversing the home hat to match the uniform, while the pants are the same story.

Hope you enjoy!

[generalshepherd141]

Wow, even as a Cubs fan, I love those!

[The Imperfect]

#07 // Philadelphia Phillies

The Phillies easily have the worst uniform history in the major leagues, and had the blandest uniforms for the earliest part of their history.

[The Imperfect]

Just a little bump, any opinions?

[cohenj21]

The gray on red for the red jersey looks pretty cool, actually, but what is that P? Was that a logo that was actually used by the Phillies?

[The Imperfect]

The gray on red for the red jersey looks pretty cool, actually, but what is that P? Was that a logo that was actually used by the Phillies?

It's a logo the team used for one season before switching back to their boring font in the early 1910's or something. I just adjusted it quite a bit in Photoshop to give it some more flavor almost as if the P is baring up for a knuckle-fight.

[cohenj21]

The gray on red for the red jersey looks pretty cool, actually, but what is that P? Was that a logo that was actually used by the Phillies?

It's a logo the team used for one season before switching back to their boring font in the early 1910's or something. I just adjusted it quite a bit in Photoshop to give it some more flavor almost as if the P is baring up for a knuckle-fight.

That's how I saw it as well, it looked like some sort of creature about to throw a punch.

[The Imperfect]

#08 // Cleveland Blues

Here's another I'm very proud of. With a bland name and image, I wanted to give Cleveland something timeless.