Et tu Yankees? I never thought I would see the day, but it appears that my worst fears have come true....the New York Yankees have very quietly introduced road jerseys in Majestic's Cool-Base material. By its very nature, Cool-Base is a very thin and cheap looking fabric; letters and numbers almost appear as though they were ironed-on, and white jerseys are practically translucent. As if that wasn't bad enough, there is also the issue of having only one shade of gray and ugly, discolored mesh vents under the armpit.
I thought I had noticed something different about the Yankees road jerseys earlier this season, but it wasn't until this past series against the Angels where I could get clearer views. Below you will notice the tell-tale vents under the arms of David Phelps and Brett Gardner.
Now, all hope may not be lost. It seems that this issue may be based on players' preference because as you can see below, both Hiroki Kuroda and Mark Teixeira, (as well as several other players) are still wearing traditional doubleknits as there are no vents under their arms.
Thankfully, Cool-Base has not yet crept into the home uniforms. The thought of printed-on pinstripes, being able to plainly see the logos on the undershirts of the players, and blank, off-white gaps under the arms is enough to send a tingling chill down the spine of even the most hardened of baseball purists.
THE NEW YORK YANKEES UNIFORM DATABASE
A study of the uniforms and logos of the New York Yankees
Thursday, May 8, 2014
Thursday, March 20, 2014
Spring is finally here!
On the first day of spring, I thought it would be nice to
take a glance at the history of Yankee spring training and batting practice
uniforms. You’ll see I’ve now updated the database with a section on spring/BP uniforms
broken into two drawings – one covering c.1980-1999, and the other covering
2000-2014.
Prior to the late 70’s/early 80’s the Yankees simply wore
road uniforms for workouts and the previous year’s uniforms for spring
training. Around 1980, the Yankees began wearing a double-knit navy top with a
white tackle-twill “NY” logo for workouts and spring training. My research has
pointed to these early jerseys as being manufactured by Sand Knit.
In 1983, Roman Sport produced a V-neck mesh pullover which
was used for only one year. You’ll notice the “NY” logo is much bolder and
distinctive than the logo on regular game jerseys.
From 1984 until the end of the 80’s, Wilson manufactured
navy tops very similar to the original Sand Knit’s. These included tops with
set-in sleeves using the bold logo introduced by Roman Sport and from roughly
1987 on, tops with raglan sleeves and a logo matching the kind on game jerseys.
In the early 1990’s mesh tops were back, once again
manufactured by Wilson with raglan sleeves.
Russell Athletic took over and introduced pullovers with a
two-button Henley design which also added white stripes at the sleeves. This
basic design, including a regular full button-down version was later used by
Majestic Athletic and lasted through the spring of 2002.
In the spring
training games of 2002, the Yankees wore a button-down mesh jersey which was
essentially identical to previous year’s but with the white sleeve stripes
removed.
From 2003-2006 Majestic ditched mesh for their first iteration
of a Cool-Base material. These jerseys were unique for having mesh-like
underarm vents.
Starting in 2007, Majestic introduced two-buttoned pullover
jerseys with colored side panels: white for home, gray for road. The road
jerseys used by the Yankees in the springs of 2007 and 2008 were virtually
identical to the home version, but the side panels were gray and the “NY” was
silver with a white outline.
This changed in 2009, when the road jersey featured “NEW
YORK” on the front in silver with the white outline.
With the exception of the reintroduction of full
buttoned-down jerseys in 2011, and changes in side panels, Yankees spring/BP
jerseys have remained fairly consistent in recent years.
So, there you have it – an abbreviated history of Yankee
spring and batting practice jerseys. The early years of these jerseys were
somewhat difficult to document without many pictures or authentic-used
examples, so if anyone feels they can offer more information and insight on
these jerseys please feel free to contact me so I can alter the information
here accordingly.
Thursday, January 16, 2014
A Few Updates
Well, it has
certainly been quite some time since the database launched – I hadn’t planned
on such a busy summer and fall. I suppose I was a little “burnt out” after
doing the original work, but I wanted to let everyone know about a couple of
updates and some changes coming up in the future.
I updated 1948
to add the proper date range for the use of the Babe Ruth armband in mid
August. I also updated 2012 and added the postseason hat with the postseason
patch on it. I had the hat made already but somehow forgot to place it in the
original drawing, so it is now in its rightful place. The drawings for 2013 are
now up as well. While not the most memorable year performance-wise (considering
the injuries not only to ¾ of the starters but even to the backups of the
backups, the fact that they still won 85 games and were in contention for a
wildcard spot in the last five days of the season is an absolute miracle), on
the uni-front, the Yankees honored Mariano Rivera’s retirement with a classy
sleeve and hat patch during the final home stand. In addition to league-wide
events such as the camouflage uniforms for Memorial Day and the Sandy Hook
Memorial patch for the opening series, the Yankees chose to wear their
white-billed BP hat on August 9th. Whether or not this will be a
recurring practice is yet to be seen; though there have been rumors of all (or
a portion of) teams changing their hats to the BP Diamond material for this
coming season. Every MLB team, including the Yankees, will also be getting new
batting practice jerseys for the 2014 season.
I would also
like to take this time to mention Jerry Coleman, who passed away recently at
the age of 89. Jerry spent his entire playing career with the Yankees and was
the only player to see active combat in both the Second World War and the
Korean War as a fighter pilot. Jerry was also the memorable voice of the San
Diego Padres for over forty years. He will certainly be missed. It’s unclear at
this point if the Yankees will be adding an armband this Year to remember him,
but if anyone deserves such an honor its Jerry Coleman.
Finally, for the past several weeks I have
been working on every batting practice uniform worn by the Yankees since the
late 70’s. My goal is to get these finished and on the database just in time
for Spring Training. Afterwards I’d like to get started on team jackets,
sweaters, and other dugout wear. Additionally, I’ve been working on updating subtle
changes to the NEW YORK script since 1973. So, hopefully there will be a lot more
activity on here as I get things completed, so stay tuned and thanks for all
the support I’ve already received.
Monday, May 6, 2013
Opening Day!
Welcome
to the New York Yankees Uniform Database. The history of the New York Yankees
is resplendent with championships, legendary players, and tradition. The
“pinstripes” are now just as legendary as the players who donned them. If you
were to search anywhere or talk to anyone about the history of the Yankees
uniforms chances are you’ll hear: “the Yankees have never changed their
uniforms,” “they added pinstripes to make Babe Ruth look thinner,” or “They’ve
used the same logo since 1936.”
The
purpose of this blog will be to visually document
the evolution of the Yankee uniform from the days of the Highlanders to Derek
Jeter and the current team. It is my hope that after visiting this database, such claims will be disproved and fans
will be able to better appreciate the rich aesthetic history of the New York
Yankees. While this site is essentially in version 1.0, I will do my best to
provide regular posts covering a variety of Yankee uniform topics; whether it
be hats, jerseys, manufacturers, logos, patches, years, or decades. In addition
to new posts, I will of course be updating the database as new information
becomes available, and I hope to eventually include all batting practice and
all-star game uniforms as well as dugout and team issued gear for each year. Hopefully this site will become the go-to stop for any and all information about the uniforms and design of the New York Yankees. I spent countless hours and days scouring the web for old pictures and examples of game used jerseys in order to document every change and nuance in the uniforms and logos of the Yankees. While I feel that I have done everything that one person can do to ensure the accuracy of this project, if
you notice any discrepancies or have new information on a particular year or
uniform (and can back it up with visual proof) please feel free to contact me.
A
little bit about me: my name is Dan and I am a 25 year old Yankee fan (did it
really need to be said?) I went to my first Yankee game in 1992 and was hooked
from the moment I had to stand on my seat to watch a Danny Tartabull homer fall
into the short right field porch. History and baseball are my two passions in
life and I have dedicated over a year and a half to researching and recreating
the uniforms and logos you will find in the database using only Microsoft paint
and word. The jersey template I used for this project is from Chris Creamers SportsLogos.net; the
number one site on the internet to find and discuss sports logos and uniforms.
With that out of the way, click on one of the database links to the right, explore, and in my best Richard Attenborough impression I'd like to say: "welcome to the New York Yankees Uniform Database."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)