Your uniform-related beliefs

[monkeypower]

Baseball:

White pants at home

Grey pants on the road

Alternate jerseys are greatly appreciated and can be worn as many times as you want but shouldn't be worn for every game of a series

Colour vs colour is fine as long as both teams aren't the same colour or like a black against blue

Hockey:

This isn't a big NHL issue but in the WHL (all I watch due to me living in Calgary) the home and away jersey should be the same template

Vintage white isn't acceptable

The alternate should usually be the recolouring of the home unless there aren't enough colours to switch or if it's a throwback

All jerseys should have waist stripes and sleeve stripes

Football:

TV numbers should be on the shoulders with a logo on the sleeves

Socks and pants shouldn't be the same colour

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

baseball:

* button-down jerseys (exceptions: the A's of the mid-70s looked beautiful with pullovers, as did the early 70s Pirates)

* white jerseys at home; grey on the road (exception: the mid-70s A's had great green and yellow jerseys)

* white pants at home; grey on the road (exception: the 70s A's had white pants on the road for the most part)

* pants with belts (exception: the Swingin' A's once again -- they did a lot right with a completely non-traditional set)

* pants can be baggy or tight; but they must go down only to somewhere between the knees and lower calf

* stirrups must be worn, either high or low

* most teams should use standard number fonts, either varsity or block (several important exceptions: Red Sox, original Expos, Cubs, Blue Jays; but no monstrosities like the several ridiculous fonts that the Brewers have employed, or those that the Astros and Diamondbacks have used.)

* one cap (no exceptions -- sorry, 70s A's; your white manager's/coaches' cap would have to go)

* letter logo should reflect locale OR nickname, not both -- looking at you "CR" (it's aesthetically pleasing; but it bugs the hell out of me -- use C or R) (exception: eMb of the Expos; ball-in-glove of the Brewers)

football:

* solid colour jerseys -- no panels or swooshes (exceptions: shoulder area can be white on coloured jersey, vice versa)

* real sleeves

* varsity numbers (exception: Bears)

* jersey and pants must be different colours, except when both are white

* pants and socks must be different colours

* more teams should wear white at home

* no team wordmark on front of jersey under the NFL logo

basketball:

* shorts no lower than bottom of knee

* most teams should use standard number fonts (I suppose a few exceptions exist -- but get those awful Nets, Kings, and Thunder number fonts out of here)

soccer:

* one team should always be in white -- colour-on-colour matches look terrible to me

* no ads on jerseys (I am militantly pro-player; but I don't care if the lack of sponsor fees would reduce player salaries. The aesthetics are important)

* no league-wide standard for number fonts; this should be up to the team (fonts other than block or varsity don't bother me in soccer as they do in baseball and in American/Canadian football -- maybe because the teams tend to choose wisely)

hockey:

* white at home

* white at home

* white at home

* laces on sweaters

* white at home

* white at home

So wait...Are you an A's fan?

I was a Yankee fan growing up. But, seeing how cool the A's looked -- both with their uniforms and their mustaches -- I adopted them as my second team. And the cool, mustachioed A's against the uncool square Reds (who weren't even allowed to have mustaches!) in the 1972 World Series made the contrast even more striking.

In the first World Series game that I ever saw, Game 1 of the 1972 Series, a player who shares my birthday, Gene Tenace, made history by becoming the first player to homer in his first two Series at-bats. And the team of Bando, Catfish, Fingers, Reggie, Rudi, North, etc. was fascinating to watch. The A's were the standard of greatness while the Yankees were coming out of the "lean years". (Though the Yanks did make a serious run at the AL East title in 1974, and would have met the A's in the playoffs. I remember being pretty excited at that prospect.)

During the 1972 Series I learned of the history of the A's in Philadelphia, as I had been learning of the history of the Giants in New York. So, the A's were my second team; and the Giants were my favourite team in the National League.

I was a Yankee fan then, but not really a Met-hater. (That would come later.) So, even though I was rooting for the A's in the 1973 Series against the Mets, I was doing so not out of dislike for the Mets (you cannot dislike Seaver, Staub, McGraw, WILLIE MAYS, Kranepool, etc.), but out of admiration for the A's.

I continued to view the A's as my second team, even as they sunk to the bottom of the AL West in the late 70s, after Finley sold everyone off. So I was pleased when they revived under Billy Martin (even if we now know that that revival cost several pitchers their careers).

The A's under Billy moved away from their great mid-70s uniforms. But the first home set under Billy was a nice one, the button-down jersey with the piping. (Even though the road jerseys never looked great.) I know that the mid-70s set could not be a main uni today; but I wish they had kept the early-80s home uni for several decades, as they have done with the 1987 design.

I don't care

Well, you asked; so I answered. Do you frequently ask about things you don't care about?

[thejblee]

I was being sarcastic. You somehow managed to tie all of your baseball beliefs into side comments about the A's. My favorite quote is when you offered an apology to the 70s A's that there white manager's cap would have to go. I'll relay the message to them.

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

I was being sarcastic. You somehow managed to tie all of your baseball beliefs into side comments about the A's. My favorite quote is when you offered an apology to the 70s A's that there white manager's cap would have to go. I'll relay the message to them.

Please do that.

It was the A's that got me started on uniform geekery, noticing how some guys had an "A" on their jerseys which lacked the extra tick on the left leg.

[BrianLion]

- Unless you're the Padres or Canadiens, you shouldn't have non-English words on your jerseys.

- Teal is fine in moderation.

- If your current uniform is vastly different from how it looked in 1985, it's probably not your best look.

- if you didnt have black in your uniform at your franchise's inception, get rid of it.

- Hockey, basketball, and baseball should wear white at home and darks on the road. Football should be the opposite.

- Your team should actually have to have worn the look that it's throwing back to. No throwing back to the Negro League team that was in your city, or another franchise in the same league that left, or just inventing one for the hell of it (Looking at you, Rays).

- Angry animal logos almost always suck.

- Laces on a modern hockey jersey make no sense and look ridiculous.

[Kevin W.]

- Unless you're the Padres or Canadiens, you shouldn't have non-English words on your jerseys.

- Teal is fine in moderation.

- If your current uniform is vastly different from how it looked in 1985, it's probably not your best look.

- if you didnt have black in your uniform at your franchise's inception, get rid of it.

- Hockey, basketball, and baseball should wear white at home and darks on the road. Football should be the opposite.

- Your team should actually have to have worn the look that it's throwing back to. No throwing back to the Negro League team that was in your city, or another franchise in the same league that left, or just inventing one for the hell of it (Looking at you, Rays).

- Angry animal logos almost always suck.

- Laces on a modern hockey jersey make no sense and look ridiculous.

I agree with all of these except for the last one.

[IceCap]

- Unless you're the Padres or Canadiens, you shouldn't have non-English words on your jerseys.

The Canadiens don't have any words on their sweaters.

[Morgan33]

NHL

01) Apron piping is the worst thing to ever happen to hockey jerseys. If it has it it's a bad jersey, period.

02) Phantom shoulder yokes are equally idiotic... Especially when teams but them on a jersey that tries to convey a vintage feel. Looking at you Minnesota... did it twice!

03) Teams established in the 90's should have looks that reflect it. They should not be playing original 6 dress up... Hear me Tampa Bay Lightning?

04) Metallic colours look great on the ice but they should be confined to the jersey crests. Think Tampa and Ottawa's inaugural jerseys. Reason being it's impossible for the colours to look truly metallic when used in the striping.

05) Not all Black For Black's Sake is a bad thing. The Flames logo benefited greatly from it.

06) Not every jersey has to have horizontal stripes but vertical panels look terrible.

07) Front numbers are useless and clutter up the jersey. No place for them.

08) Wordmark logos are the epitome of lazy. A hockey jersey should have a logo on the front. Period.

09) Home and Away jerseys should always match... At least in the striping.

10) Not every hockey team needs to use bloc numbers. Expansion teams should get more creative with their numbers. Wild inaugural set and Colorado Av's come to mind.

11) Flags should NEVER be used as secondary logos... that is just beyond lazy... especially when one of said flags is primarily a colour nowhere found in the team's identity. Can't believe I have to make one of these rules solely based on one team....

12) Sleeve stripes should be straight.... That goofy tapered look RBK came out with looks awful. Several teams are still using it... Islanders, Hurricanes and Canadiens to name a few.

13) When you win a Cup in a certain look, you shouldn't completely ditch it. Nice to see you again TBL...

[BrianLion]

- Unless you're the Padres or Canadiens, you shouldn't have non-English words on your jerseys.

The Canadiens don't have any words on their sweaters.

I'm aware of that, was merely stating that since they play in a bilingual city it would be OK for them. Unlike when the Brewers have Italian Night and have jerseys written in Italian.

[Kevin W.]

I'm aware of that, was merely stating that since they play in a bilingual city it would be OK for them.

But if that's your criterion, then the rule should be applied more broadly. San Diego and Montreal aren't the only bilingual cities in North America.

[BrianLion]

I'm aware of that, was merely stating that since they play in a bilingual city it would be OK for them.

But if that's your criterion, then the rule should be applied more broadly. San Diego and Montreal aren't the only bilingual cities in North America.

My criteria was that their team names are non-English words, thats why I mentioned them. Not sure why I mentioned "bi-lingual" city. It's 5 PM on a Friday, I have skullburn.

[fouhy12]

1. You should not being using grey if you already have two colors plus white. Adding grey when you already have two colors generally muddles the look and the color generally isn't seen from most distances because it fades into the white (Hurricanes, Sabres) and there are only some exceptions (Lions, Giants and Patriots to an extent). Grey works best as a secondary color, like on the Raiders, Kings, or Kansas State.

2. Color Balance. When the primary color changes from uniform to uniform, you've failed with an identity. The Texans do color balance extremely well, because no matter what they wear (other than the alt) you can tell that blue is the primary color and red is secondary. The Wild fail at this because if you looked at their home jersey, red is primary, but green is more prominent on the road jersey.

[jigokusabre]

I can't believe I forgot this... but the batting helmet must match the cap you're wearing. I remember seeing the Marlins use Orange caps a couple of games last year, but they still wore black helmets. The Cardinals did the same thing with their blue hats and red helmets.

Also, I have no problem with "heritage" jerseys, but you must put in at least as much effort as the Brewers do. There's no excuse to simply put "Los/Die/il" in front or your team name (except the Mets and Astros, since they're shortened versions of words that still have Met/Astro at the beginning in most any western language).

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

I can't believe I forgot this... but the batting helmet must match the cap you're wearing. I remember seeing the Marlins use Orange caps a couple of games last year, but they still wore black helmets. The Cardinals did the same thing with their blue hats and red helmets.

Excellent rule. The Brewers were the worst with this: they had two caps (which, incidentally, breaks another of my rules), and a helmet that didn't match either one:

Also, I have no problem with "heritage" jerseys, but you must put in at least as much effort as the Brewers do. There's no excuse to simply put "Los/Die/il" in front or your team name (There are a couple of exceptions).

Right. The Brewers, the Giants, the Pirates, and the A's did this best. Every other team's effort was pitiful.

[GangGr33n FTW]

Football only here:

Helmets must match at least the socks or pants. When this fails to occur, ala Saints away yoga look, it looks unprofessional and sloppy. If you look at the Jets and Dolphins (Just as an example), they match the helmet with white, striped socks. This looks really appealing as it kinda wraps the uniform together and gives balance. That's also why I don't mind the ABC steelers road combo. Also, MOAR STRIPED SOCKS

Secondly, striping should match on uniforms, everywhere (pants, helmet, jersey, socks, you name it- Redskins, WHY????). The type should also match (the Patsies should NOT have striped pants and piped jerseys). And if your stripe pattern has say orange in the middle, please keep it that way unless on an orange background. Don't have white-black-white on your jersey and orange-black-orange on the pants. Striping on the pants should match the helmet, unless on a non compatible background where one would use the jersey color in lieu of the non compatible color.

[illwauk]

1. "Throwbacks as alternates" are terrible choice

In a vacuum, I might agree with this; but with leagues putting pressure on their teams to have alternates for merchandising purposes, I'm glad the Yankees, Cowboys and Packers of the world can choose to trot out throwbacks instead of being forced to dilute their brand with an unnecessary alt.

[ksupilot]

NFL:

-No to Solid Black Pants: Looks like you're ready for yoga. Even worse is the Ravens with the black pants and white socks...reminds me of a guy wearing white socks with his tux.

-Match you're friggin colors!: I hate the Jets 50 shades of green unis. Cowboys, you too.

MLB:

-No more roundel logos. Starting to get old now that every team's go to is to through their cap logo in a roundel.

NHL:

-Against pretty much every Islanders alternate jersey they have ever had or ever will have. Their third jersey is always a disaster and an assault on human eyes.

-No to Non-symmetrical jerseys: Hated the Thrashers home uni, glad they are gone. Didn't like the old Pens jersey that had the different sleeve patterns.

[Camden Crazy]

-Names on the back of jerseys should be mandatory for all levels above high school

-For football, only one helmet design per team

[jigokusabre]

1. "Throwbacks as alternates" are terrible choice

In a vacuum, I might agree with this; but with leagues putting pressure on their teams to have alternates for merchandising purposes, I'm glad the Yankees, Cowboys and Packers of the world can choose to trot out throwbacks instead of being forced to dilute their brand with an unnecessary alt.

A Yankees alternate is not terribly difficult to conceive nor would it look particularly out of place. You could easily put the word "Yankees" on either their home or road uniforms, and you're done.

The Packers would look better in a Yellow jersey than they do in their throwbacks. Neither would look amazing, but there you have it.

The Cowboys (and a few other NFL teams) are stuck with throwbacks as alternates because they either don't have a secondary color, or that secondary color is Silver (which never makes for a good alternate).

[Kevin W.]

If the Yankees ever do an alternate, there's a simple solution: a navy blue jersey with a white NY on the chest. That's all you need to do. Same hat, same pants.