Worst Duds

[Edgy MD]

Worst Uni nominations. To keep things orderly, please nominate one kit at a time, and stick to threads that were in regular rotation, worn at least a dozen or so times by the team in question. It'd be a shame if a classickly bad look that someone nonetheless believed in and stuck with got ranked behind an ephemeral Arbor Day getup that a squad donned once or twice and agreed not to speak of afterwards.



_________________________________________



I'll open with the awful Sox uniform that somehow ended up on the best of pitchers. Everything about it says company picnic softeall. The tricolor hat feels like it came out of the bargain bin after a real team returned them because they didn't turn out right.



The horizontal stripes are whatever the opposite of slimming is.



https://www.rksportspromotions.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/1916-1952.jpg?itok=mvgOZDjI>



Lamarr Hoyt did a lot of cocaine in those threads.



The team's road uniforms were virtually the same except for the gray foundation, but I chose the homies, because they include the white front panel that makes the hat look like a trucker's, and the brightness of the home whites just adds to the shamelessness.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I've always hated those Astros rainbow jerseys. Not only are they absurd looking, but I hated that the uniform number was on the pants instead of the shirt.



https://s.hdnux.com/photos/26/30/21/5866585/23/rawImage.jpg>

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

I actually like those White Sox and Astros uniforms. Definitely not traditional, but not bad designs. (Fun fact, that's not the cap that was supposed to go with those Astros uniforms)



Now the Disney-era Angels uniforms. These are awful!



https://i.pinimg.com/originals/b2/31/27/b231276fdecf8e280f9d5c6b29a98fc6.jpg>

[Ceetar]

I assume you mean after camo. Nothing's worse than camo.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

right we should limit these to "regular" jerseys



+1 on the Disney Angel.



I thought the SOX uni was like the equivalent of "brutalist" architecture. That symbol of the guy with the bat tho was very on-trend 1970s classroom, I remember thinking.



The black unis with the shorts were similarly arresting but in a lot of ways way more classic and ahead of their time on the nostalgia front, and the two of them side by side gave me the impression of the White Sox as a team that just wildly careened from one thing to the next, just too unpredictable.



Astros jerseys make people laugh but as been written about a million times, there's something about the design that's also beautiful and lasting and has been copied and reinterpreted and come back into style. It's the best kind of art.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I think these vest uniforms that the Rockies wore (and maybe still wear?) are particularly ugly.



I hate the flared shoulders and the fact that a black vest goes over a black shirt. The vest thing looked much better when the Reds did it.



https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/6262f19/2147483647/strip/true/crop/512x437+0+0/resize/840x717!/format/webp/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F05%2F59%2F45440d671f4af889928e59bb05b5%2Fsdut-colorado-rockies-troy-tulowitz-20160903-001>



https://thumb.spokesman.com/hbj7IpDSRrI8zYtBd_BMJVggLZE=/400x0/media.spokesman.com/photos/2010/05/15/larkinpic15_05-15-2010_I9IKRA2.jpg>

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

I was very cynical about the Rockies and the Marlins first unis.



Black and purple was a very stupid combo and still is. White and Purple could have been awesome for Colorado.



The early Marlins were worse, using trendy black and even more flavor of the month-ly teal. Could have aped the Dolphins classic look but came off more like a Benetton ad. I liked the fish but the colors were bad and as we know that franchise has struggled with their identity ever since

[metsmarathon]

hmm... i think the sox and astros uniforms are pretty cool. i do agree about the number on the pants being... weird...



i love the reds vests. they just happen to work. the rockies vests are terrible. it's a shame, because their all-purples are pretty sweet.

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

The Cubs road jerseys with the number in the middle. Awful.



https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3266/2571807082_7aab64f8f6.jpg>

[Benjamin Grimm]

That really is weird. It looks like Bob Chicago put his jersey on backwards.

[Edgy MD]

There's a time for debunking. Lez do some more nominating.



Early Tampa uniforms: dissolving colors in the lettering, the hat having no identifying information, and the ichthyologically incorrect depiction of the fish with the wings tapering in the wrong direction — making the tail, forced into service to underscore a name that doesn't need underscoring, seemingly come out of the nose.



Add to that a road color that isn't gray, and isn't blue, but something in between.



It all feels like a theme park that doesn't know what it's brand is. Yeah, we're a good place to look at water fauna, but we have roller-coasters and flumes and funnel cakes and a renaissance thing going on too!



[fimg=500]https://metsrostercentral.files.wordpress.com/2022/06/screen-shot-2022-06-10-at-4.44.54-pm.png[/fimg]



An alphabetic insignia would soon make it onto the cap, but not in a good way.



[fimg=500]https://metsrostercentral.files.wordpress.com/2022/06/screen-shot-2022-06-10-at-4.46.45-pm.png[/fimg]



As that fake rock outcropping in the background of the first photo suggests, these unis were introduced at The Florida Aquarium, so I guess, in weird way, they sort of were on brand. I guess I'm not giving enough credit.

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

The Blue Jays, after moving the button-downs and the Jay logo off to the side, had one of the best uniforms in the majors. Then they started screwing it up little by little, with bad cap logos of roided-up birds. Then the team jumped into the abyss with this:



https://www.sportsnet.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Big-Read-Blue-Jays-Bautista-Encarnacion.jpg>



Thank goodness they got back on track.

[Willets Point]

Kind of sad that one of the greatest Mets had to play his entire career here in these nightmares.



https://64.media.tumblr.com/250377919781886087b3003fb843ddb9/tumblr_inline_nz7j3g4T6Z1r9qiw6_1280.jpg>

[Edgy MD]

The Cubs road jerseys with the number in the middle. Awful. https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3266/2571807082_7aab64f8f6.jpg>

It'd make a pretty cool old-timey, leatherhead football look, though.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: That really is weird. It looks like Bob Chicago put his jersey on backwards.

Lol, those are awful. Cubs imo have always been on the "ugly" side of tradional. Like everything they did was a mess ashetically, especially their weird-ass circular composite team photo style that would wind up on their "team" card, like they were a sorority or like existed before anyone thought it was more efficient to take 1 shot of everyone vs. 25 individual shots

[whippoorwill]

Willets Point wrote: Kind of sad that one of the greatest Mets had to play his entire career here in these nightmares. https://64.media.tumblr.com/250377919781886087b3003fb843ddb9/tumblr_inline_nz7j3g4T6Z1r9qiw6_1280.jpg>

Loved these uniforms

[Edgy MD]

Johnny Lunchbucket wrote: Benjamin Grimm wrote: That really is weird. It looks like Bob Chicago put his jersey on backwards. Lol, those are awful. Cubs imo have always been on the "ugly" side of tradional. Like everything they did was a mess ashetically, especially their weird-ass circular composite team photo style that would wind up on their "team" card, like they were a sorority or like existed before anyone thought it was more efficient to take 1 shot of everyone vs. 25 individual shots

One thing really nice touch the Cubs have traditionally done — into latter years, but probably not every year — is to adhere an actual sewn insignia onto their batting helmets, instead of a mere 2D paper sticker.



http://www.chicagosportsmuseum.com/uploads/1/1/0/0/110013823/20160130-181912.jpg>



I never noticed this until the 21st century because I never had a TV with resolution that could pick it up. But from the first moment I realized it, I've hated that the Mets don't do it too.

[stevejrogers]

The Cubs road jerseys with the number in the middle. Awful. https://farm4.static.flickr.com/3266/2571807082_7aab64f8f6.jpg>

Adding white pinstripes made it worse

https://www.tcdb.com/Images/Cards/Baseball/1644/1644-49Fr.jpg>

[metsmarathon]

Willets Point wrote: Kind of sad that one of the greatest Mets had to play his entire career here in these nightmares. https://64.media.tumblr.com/250377919781886087b3003fb843ddb9/tumblr_inline_nz7j3g4T6Z1r9qiw6_1280.jpg>

Just because I disagree with you doesn't necessarily mean that you're a terrible person.



Except in this case. As ridiculous an attempt to be ‘hip' or whatever that the black uniforms were, they were fricking awesome. Maybe only because of the piazza Mets, and others who wore them. But I love the black unis.

[Edgy MD]

More nominations.



Like lets consider last year's (and this year's, for all I know) Marlins road uniforms. A charcoal black/gray foundation with dark, poorly contrasting chestplate, name-on-back, and numbers-on-back, predicting the zero-contrast disaster that would the year's Players' Weekend uniforms. Despite all the identifying information, the players were rendered indistinguishable from one another, and the team and the city they were actually representing was something of a mystery also to anybody tuning in late.



[fimg=448]https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/w_2000,h_2000,c_fit/https%3A%2F%2Fcalltothepen.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F1279020498.jpeg[/fimg] [fimg=300]https://www.cloudjerseys.com/upload/ttmall/img/20201226/3a51087a3f78ec44eff747f25eb4354c.jpg[/fimg]





The only entity that doesn't seem ashamed of their identity is Nike.

[Willets Point]

=metsmarathon post_id=95668 time=1655001208 user_id=83]




Just because I disagree with you doesn't necessarily mean that you're a terrible person.

[Marshmallowmilkshake]

I liked the black uniforms in moderation. But they went overboard, and black became the dominant color -- even screwing up the classic pinstripes.



Talking about screwing up. The 1979 Atlanta Braves. The team was caught between two looks. They kept the classic lower-case a cap -- and even road uniform with the feather sleeves from the Aaron record-breaking era. But for the home set, they added red pinstripes and red outlines and stripes around the collar and sleeves.



A terrible look. Then they started with new caps and no pinstripes, but keeping the pullovers and beltlessness -- and power blue road uniforms.





https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/dzgAAOSwvmNbGwfa/s-l500.jpg>



http://exhibits.baseballhalloffame.org/dressed_to_the_nines/images/nl_1979_atlanta.gif>

[batmagadanleadoff]

In 1982 the Mets introduced their racing stripes uniforms --- but on their road uniforms only. The home racing stripes wouldn't debut until the next season, 1983.



[FIMG=555]http://exhibits.baseballhalloffame.org/dressed_to_the_nines/images/nl_1982_newyork.gif[/FIMG]



[FIMG=444]https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fvault.si.com%2F.image%2Ft_share%2FMTY5MDk4MzYwNTQzODQ3ODk5%2F43398---cover-thumbnail-image.jpg&psig=AOvVaw0M2SUObo2ja9pceduxOmlk&ust=1655220028396000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAsQ3YkBahcKEwjg34-h3ar4AhUAAAAAHQAAAAAQBA[/FIMG]





Met for 1982, only, Tom Veryzer, in the Mets home uni, sans racing stripes:



[fimg=444]https://img.comc.com/i/Baseball/1983/Topps---Base/496/Tom-Veryzer.jpg?id=f36654e6-4349-4fe1-94c2-cf7411447fe8&size=original[/fIMG]

[Frayed Knot]

=batmagadanleadoff post_id=95876 time=1655133680 user_id=68] The home racing stripes wouldn't debut until the next season [1983] ..

[MFS62]

The White Sox Shorts Uniform:

https://www.foxsports.com/stories/mlb/40-years-ago-today-the-white-sox-wore-shorts-for-a-gamehttps://www.foxsports.com/stories/mlb/40-years-ago-today-the-white-sox-wore-shorts-for-a-game



I know. Worn for only three game (not in regular rotation), but still gets my vote.



Later

[Edgy MD]

Yes, the shorts have already come up.



And several times now, it's been stated that the idea was to steer clear of kits that only appeared ephemerally and were not part of a season-long rotation.



I resign in shame.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Edgy MD wrote: I'll open with the awful Sox uniform that somehow ended up on the best of pitchers. Everything about it says company picnic softeall. The tricolor hat feels like it came out of the bargain bin after a real team returned them because they didn't turn out right. The horizontal stripes are whatever the opposite of slimming is. https://www.rksportspromotions.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/1916-1952.jpg?itok=mvgOZDjI> Lamarr Hoyt did a lot of cocaine in those threads. The team's road uniforms were virtually the same except for the gray foundation, but I chose the homies, because they include the white front panel that makes the hat look like a trucker's, and the brightness of the home whites just adds to the shamelessness.

I never liked those Sox unis. I remember reading, when they were first unveiled, some positive reviews about the duds, and how they were futuristic and forward-thinking. I'm still wondering where that future is because here I am, 40 years after those Sox unis debuted and I still haven't seen that future. Maybe it already passed. Or maybe it still hasn't even arrived yet. I'll keep a look-out, though.

[Edgy MD]

Depending on the context, I'm OK with numbers on the thigh. It can be totally sexy, but still have a professional function. And I like the Astro rainbows, even though it clearly is a cousin to the Sox look. But I've got little good to say about that Sox kit. It looked like a stupid uniform for big jiggly weekend softballers flailing away and Ron Kittle and Greg Luzinski certainly did nothing to dissuade that impression. If I was playing against a team in that uniform, I would say, "Looks like we're going to be playing a bunch of assholes."



Even the number on the thigh, despite my charitable thoughts in that direction, makes little sense. A dark number across the midsection of an Astros uniform would've gotten lost, so the thigh has an argument for itself. The Sox had a clear field to work with across the midsection, but they went below the belt.

[batmagadanleadoff]

Let's talk some 1972-73 Padres duds.



[FIMG=444]https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fmiro.medium.com%2Fmax%2F1400%2F1*BjYVwj0HHoBCwqtaX4SweA.jpeg&psig=AOvVaw2zdhRWOJLScawTe_88G1_K&ust=1655229701684000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=2ahUKEwiBt7Kkgav4AhUSMlkFHW75A_YQ3YkBegQIABAN[/FIMG]



[FIMG=444]https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.pinimg.com%2Foriginals%2F6c%2F13%2Feb%2F6c13eb92dd7552a5d1a6d5daaf692b1a.jpg&psig=AOvVaw3M_CFBh8IS2Y7iUCSLbT4u&ust=1655229763791000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=2ahUKEwjsloHCgav4AhXYEGIAHRnmBeQQ3YkBegQIABAN[/FIMG]



When they came out, I thought they were the goofiest unis I'd ever seen. Padres in those duds looked like big bananas. Later in the decade, whenever I'd read about disgruntled Padres superstar Dave Winfield regularly mocking his team's uniform history, these are the unis I immediately thought of.



But here's the thing. I love these unis today. Maybe in a retro way. Maybe in a nostalgic yearning for the past sort of way, when I could play Strat-O-Matic baseball all day long and nobody was paying $50.00 for a pack of baseball cards, which in 1972, was a goddamn fortune. I wouldn't mind it if the Padres wore those unis today on a regular basis. But only the Padres. I wouldn't want the Mets to wear an orange version of those unis. But I'm fine with the Padres because in my mind, they're associated with brown and yellow and garish unis. It's a part of their heritage and I hated those decades when they strayed from the brown and yellow and wore blue. Or "sand" (or whatever that color was called).

[Edgy MD]

Heritage is the right word. And that's why nobody bitched when variations on the seventies designs became the design foundation for the PetCo All Star Game.



Heritage, as Southern MAGA demonstrates ever day, can be a dangerous word used to justify all sorts of horseshit, but I agree that it lends credibility to otherwise garish-looking kits. Clearly many others do also.



The White Sox have no such excuse.



I love the Pirates pillbox hats, and I agree completely with every team that barely wore them in 1976 and almost nobody wore them after. But the Pirates made it their own and won a championship in them.



I imagine the 1986 championship has given the Mets orange piping far more forgiveness than they might otherwise garner. Same with the 2000 pennant and the black tops. While I may feel less charitably toward those changes, I understand those who feel moreso.



I can defend all sorts of things that were going on when I was 13. Some of those defenses might even make sense.