Loading ...Chad’s post on uniforms got me thinking about mid-90s “ice cream man” aka “pajama” uniforms. Actually, I was thinking about Kevin Mitchell in those uniforms, and how ridiculous he looked.
So I decided to take a look at the good and bad of Reds uniforms, through the years, courtesy of the National Baseball Hall of Fame’s Uniform Database and various online sources. In other words, how the uniforms are supposed to look, compared to how they actually did look. The project turned out to be way too big for one post, so here’s a start with the uniforms of my childhood.
1972-92
This is your standard Big Red Machine uniform – simple polyester pullovers. Often ill-fitting and cheap-looking, they were still pretty classy and strangely compelling.
Get a load of that hat, and the ham-handed sewing job on that logo.
It varied only slightly over the years – a red batting practice jersey was adopted in the early 80s, and a stripe was added to the pants a couple years later. The traditional black-only spikes were replaced with red in the late 80s, as the final second-to-last (I forgot facial hair) bastion of the Howsam dress code was chipped away.
These uniforms saw more success than any other. Six division titles, four pennants, and three World Series rings. (Note for the kids: The as-worn uniforms did not include any fine print list of the players’ individual accomplishments.)
Rather than some comical early 80s shot of Dave Van Gorder, I thought I’d offer my favorite Red of all time.
I'm not sure "fitted hat" had the same meaning back then.
This is from ED’s rookie year, and autographed copies are (or at least were once) actually available for $14.99 at his website, HittingFromTheHeart.com. Buy one, to support the Eric Davis Foundation.
Okay, here’s your Van Gorder pic.
Can you believe a career 547 OPS?
Since that again shows the batting practice top, here’s another early 80s catcher in the home whites.
The "hitting catcher." 618 career OPS and a mesh-back hat.
Finally, a Boom-Boom Hume, to show the road uni. (Despite appearances, Tom Kite glasses were not standard issue to 1980s Reds).
Only 92 career saves.
Great stuff. The 70s era uniforms were classy, and we have good memories about those teams…but I just can’t deal with the whole pajama thing. Real uniforms should have buttons.
haha nice, I hated our stinking early 2000’s we looked like freaking candy canes…
oh and chad ur avatar is almost as scary as the real brantly
Ahhh, this is definitely the uniform of my youth! Still love them, even though, yes, the polyester pullover top is (technically) quite tacky. I had a lot of cheap versions of these as I grew up playing knothole.
And I will TOTALLY agree the the pinstripes, sleeveless jerseys, and white pinstriped hats of the 90’s were MISERABLE uniforms. Worst of my lifetime. (The “Bret Boone era” for some reason is what I think of when I picture those uniforms.)
I have to say, even though these were before my time, I really like the look of the uniforms that came just before these — they wore them just from 1968-71, I just learned.
http://exhibits.baseballhalloffame.org/dressed_to_the_nines/detail_page.asp?fileName=nl_1970_cincinnati.gif&Entryid=1157
They were classy and simple, no extra trim or piping anywhere, they had the button-up shirt, and the pants were a little bit baggy. (They wore these in the 1970 World Series vs. the Orioles w/ Brooks Robinson.)
That said, I do like the current uniforms pretty well. Love the red top (which they only use for day home games apparently). Also, I didn’t think I’d like the new font they designed, but actually I do.
I love the old pullover tops. In fact, I wish I could find Chris Sabo #17 one in it now and I’d buy it. So everyone out there, hook me up if you see one!!
Oops, sorry about the long link…
Try this shorter one (goes to the same page as above)…
http://tinyurl.com/Reds1970Uniform
I love love love the 1970 uniforms. They’re the best this franchise has ever worn.
Another thing great about the early 80’s and before were the entirely black shoes.
Agree 100% on the 1970s. One of the PS2 games had that as an alternative uniform a couple years back, and I used it every game.
I got a sweet Eric Davis road pullover on eBay a few years ago. I’m not positive, but think that since the roadie only says “Cincinnati” in plain red letters, they slid through as non-infringing for a while. The lockdown on ordering/customizing throwback jerseys is one of the few really annoying things about MLB.com.
My wife had to go to a seamstress to get “Maddux” put on the back of a Cub jersey for her mom.
The pullover unis sucked. And I think we were the last team to abandon them in the nineties. The one road uni I really liked was the solid gray vest with the black shirt underneath. I wasn’t as big of a fan as the home, white vests with the pin striped hats, but the road vests were “classier” somehow. I liked them.
And I firmly believe that it was the Brave’s early abandonment of the pullover uni that fueled their dominance in the nineties.