Why was Jimmy Piersall’s Red Sox uniform different (note the piping) than his teammates in the movie? I tried looking on line, but couldn’t get an answer. IMDb goofs don’t explain it either.
Thanks.
Interesting. According to the Hall of Fame uniform database, the uniform on the left of the photo would have been the official Red Sox home uniform during Piersall’s career.
Maybe he’s just wearing a 1950’s workout jersey.
In all the Red Sox scenes, his jersey had no piping down the front, and stripes around the collar and sleeves. I’ve read that Piersall disowns the movie for inaccuracies, but everyone else’s uniform was correct. These were definately home jerseys, although the park where filming took place was clearly not Fenway.
Was Perkins so vain that he felt he needed to stand out from the others? The difference is so glaring that it can’t realistically be chalked up to simple oversight, or even sloppiness. I’m really suprised the IMDb trivia/goof specialists don’t have anything on it.
It could simply be the costume designer giving Perkins* something to make him stand out in the scene.
Accuracy is overrated these days. Hollywood knew that you took liberties for the sake of a better story.
*Calling him vain is ludicrous. Perkins was terminally shy; some have suggested he had homosexual affairs because he could never bring himself to ask a woman out.
So sorry you viewed the vainity question as ludicrous. I never met the guy, so I have no idea what he was like in real life. He was clearly the star of the movie, though, and was the focus of every single scene. Giving him a different uniform so he would “stand out” makes no sense, especially when it didn’t advance the plot in any way, the style was never an actual uniform style, and there were obviously many “real” uniforms to chose from.
He may have been the star, but it was only his second film. In Hollywood, in the 50’s, Perkins wouldn’t have had the clout to demand a different uniform, whether or not he was vain enough to try it. I, too, vote for the costume designer, who happened to be Edith Head, who was both vain enough and had enough clout to put the baseball players in tutus if she had wanted to.
Is it possible that Perkins was wearing the only uniform that wasn’t real? That is, assuming this was filmed with the cooperation of the Red Sox, that perhaps the extras were allowed to rummage in a laundry cart and pick out any old uniform that at least approximately fit? (Teams were more casual about that before licensing became a big deal; the White Sox used to give away pieces of old uniforms on Fan Appreciation Day.) Whereas Piersall/Perkins would require a custom made costume/uniform with the correct number and fit?
That doesn’t explain why they didn’t take care to make the costume more accurate, but maybe they just didn’t care.
I read the OP and immediately thought, “I’m sure Paul Lukas has a column about this.” Sure enough…he did mention it in his Uni Watch Blog but didn’t have an answer for it. Probably the first time he’s ever been stumped on a sports uniform question.