Today when i saw the Oakland A’s (a baseball team) they were wearing black a white for their uniforms instead of green and yellow
Have they changed their uniforms to this for the season or is this a one day thing?
Welcome to the world of the “third uniform”. Did you like the black uniforms? The A’s sure hope you buy one.
Hey! I actually know this. (AND it’s a pretty good question, Sub.) The answer is yes, they changed them…the ALTERNATE jersey, that is. The team has three jerseys: the green on white home jersey, the green on grey away jersey and (last year) the white on green alternate jersey which this year was traded for the white on black jersey. Why? So if you’re an A’s fan you have to go out and buy more A’s stuff. That’s the only reason, really. Teams do this a lot. The Cincinnati Reds have in recent years dropped and re-added pinstripes and more recently added black to their uniforms as well. The A’s have had three “one day only” uniforms in the last year to my knowledge: Turn back the clock day vs. the Giants (1970’s uniforms dubbed “The Limes vs. the Tangerines”), Turn Ahead the Clock day vs. the Angels (these were dark green and black, with yellow wings and “digital-type” names and numbers,) and July Fourth uniforms that where white with blue and red lettering and a red cap with blue bill (I think). (Everyone liked them but complained that they looked too much like Atlanta’s hats.) The best special uniform day was a preseason game several years ago against the Giants. It was another “Turn back the Clock” day but they turned it way back to like the 1930’s and it was the Oakland Oaks .vs the San Francisco Seals. Everyone had to wear baggy wool uniforms and high socks, it was so neat! I know you could buy replicas of the July Fourth uniforms at the souvineir stands, but the turn back/forward the clock uni’s usually go home with the players, or get raffled off for charity. (If you’re interested you may see what turns up on eBay.)
You can e-mail me if you have any more questions about the A’s. I’m guessing I’m the resident Oakland A’s expert. (I know, I know…That and a buck will get you a 20 minute phone call.)
Lemon Drop Martini: 2 Parts Absolute Citron, 1 Part Cointreau, juice of half lemon. Shake with ice and strain into chilled, sugared martini glass.
Easy there, Bob…I think we all know the A’s need every penny they can scratch up. (I get all my A’s stuff from the thrift store anyway, so I’ll get my black jersey in about 3 years when some kid outgrows his, hahaha) 
Lemon Drop Martini: 2 Parts Absolute Citron, 1 Part Cointreau, juice of half lemon. Shake with ice and strain into chilled, sugared martini glass.
If you’re a “traiditonalist” older sports fan (like me), you may be sorry to see cherished uniforms being changed… especially when the new uniforms are so dang UGLY! Denver Bronco fans were horrified, a few years back, when the beloved ORange Crush uniforms were abandoned.
Problem is, middle-aged white guys like me AREN’T the ones who buy sports jerseys, jackets, hats, etc. The ones who drive that market are teenagers… and modern white teenagers look to black kids, to determine what clothes are “cool” and worth buying. So, teams today are constantly trying new uniforms and new logos, hoping to appeal to the youth market.
And if we middle-aged white guys don’t like it… hey, it’s not as if we were buying a lot of paraphenalia before… wo who cares what WE think?
Once again, I’d like to drop in an advertisement for my local hockey team, with the funniest-yet-coolest logo in the league, the Lubbock Cotton Kings. Practically every month, the Kings release a new special jersey; some of them are mighty cool, but MAN there are a lot of them.
So far, I know of: the standard black ‘away’ and white ‘home’ jersey, the Thanksgiving jersey (orange and yellow, and the Cotton King had a Pilgrim hat on), the Christmas jersey (Santa hat, red and green), the Millennium jersey (all black with silver 2000’s) and the tie-dyed jersey (self-explanatory). They may have released Valentine and St. Patrick jerseys, but I haven’t made it to the coliseum in a while.
Speaking of special jerseys, the Astros have taken this absurdity to a new low this year - with the opening of the ballpark they did the traditional 90’s thing and tinkered with the team colors, but then they went ahead and came up with something like 6 or 7 different uniforms for different games and times and occasions (daylight home games, daylight away games, holidays, etc). They just finished the first home series of the year and wore a different “regular” uniform for each game.
The A’s pioneered the concept of multiple uniforms back in the early 1970s, switching among green, yellow, and white.
The Pirates picked up on the idea in the late 1970s with variations of black, yellow, and white (and with some pinstripes.)
So far, only a few teams have not succumbed to “third jersey” fever, among them the Yankees and the Red Sox. Even the Dodgers adopted them a couple of years ago. It was not a pretty sight.
johnnyharvard–I dunno, I kind of like the new Astros’ uniforms. Of course, I hated when they changed from the disco 70’s striped uniform, and never really took to the silver and black uniform of the late 90’s. The logo still sucks, but at least the colors are attractive. I guess they’ll never bring back the logo of the Astrodome orbited by baseballs, like some atom of Baseballium.
Just to interject my Chicago view…
Being a White Sox fan for my entire life, I’ve only actually seen two uniform styles in my life (the old “dull” Red, White, and dark Blue, you know, where Steve Lyons pulled down his pants at second) and the Black and white style.
But has any team in baseball had more uniforms? They wore Red and white in the 70’s. THEY WORE SHORTS!!!
Bill Veeck – way ahead of his time.
Also, just as an aside, I actually prefer the ChiSox Black alternate Jerseys to the white home or grey road styles…
allanadale:
Nope. I have a book called “Baseball Uniforms of the 20th Century”, which did extensive research into the uniforms worn by Major League teams since 1900, and the White Sox definitely changed theirs the most during their history.
I should mention, though, that it only covers through 1993, so the recent “multiple uniforms” craze was not covered.
Chaim Mattis Keller
ckeller@kozmo.com
“Sherlock Holmes once said that once you have eliminated the
impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be
the answer. I, however, do not like to eliminate the impossible.
The impossible often has a kind of integrity to it that the merely improbable lacks.”
– Douglas Adams’s Dirk Gently, Holistic Detective
Thought so! Thanks! It’s good to know.
It’s also worth knowing that the ChiSox haven’t changed their uniform styles since 1991 when they moved to Comiskey II…
Unfortunately, the White Sox have changed the uniform since 1991,though the basic style is the same.
Ckeller is correct about the Sox having the most uniform changes in MLB history. But any minute change in the uniform counts as a “change,” even when the Yankees where thier little black armband for the latest former-player death, or a patch for the team that hosts the all star game.
The current multi-unfirm trend must be driving them nuts. The White Sox, for example, have home white with pinstripes, home white with pinstripes but no sleeves, and home black, with a regular black cap, or the black cap with the silver bill. Each of these count as a seperate uniform modification under MLB standards.
I think the less said about the Arizona Diamondbacks multiplicity of jerseys, the better.
Unfortunately Bob I have to add one thing about the D’back hats and uniforms. The starting pitcher gets to pick which hat the team will be wearing.
Keith
BobT…I must ask. How many uniforms do the Diamondbacks have? And why are they all so ugly? Especially the black jerseys with the wiggly turquoise lines on the sleeves. Yuckers. If the Giants started dressing like that, I would, mmmmm, be really upset. Orange, black, and white-or-gray are good enough for me, thank you very much.
By my count on the Diamondbacks’ website, there are 12 different jerseys and three different caps. I’m unsure about the pants, I think there are at least 3.
Would that be 72 possible permutations (12 X 3 X 2)?