How did I miss Throw Back day in San Diego?

Seriously... how did an evening of wearing some of the most notorious uniforms of the 1970s slip under my radar?

The Padres decided to either honor the 1978 season (the ONLY winning season in San Diego before the 1984 pennant) or pay tribute to the late Gary Coleman with the uniforms worn in The Kid From Left Field.


The 1978 Padres, who also hosted the All Star Game, were still going all out yellow and brown... Taco Bell uniforms... which I find ironic because they were owned by McDonald's czar.

And I believe it was the only year they had the small "SAN DIEGO" over the Padres name.

I remember that made an impression on me as a kid as they had the only big league uniform that I could remember that said the whole name on the front.

Not just "SAN DIEGO" or "PADRES." I bet an early version said "THE SAN DIEGO PADRES BASEBALL CLUB OF THE NATIONAL LEAGUE."

I like how the Padres also broke out the correct batting helmets. (Would it have killed the Pirates to have them wear their correct yellow batting helmets with their late 1970s garb?)


















The Padres could have taken the 1978 tribute even further.

They decided to go with the white pants with the brown and yellow top, which was primarily accurate. However, as the image on the right with Dave Winfield shows, sometimes they went yellow bottoms with the brown and yellow top, making the horror complete.

I am not surprised by the Padres decisions to wear white pants. Heck, they wear white pants with their camouflage get up.


The Pirates, being good sports like they were in Oakland for THEIR turn back the clock night, decided to not wear their yellow uniforms. (I guess they would clash and you can't have THAT in a turn back the clock night!)

So out came the thick pinstripes.


In fact the yellow hats, the pinstripe shirts and the black pants made for such a mixed and matched combination that it basically SCREAMED "Hey, it's laundry day. They were the only things clean."

But alas, they brought back instant nostalgia for the 1979 Pirates, which is always a good thing... even if the current team doesn't quite play as gracefully as the We Are Family squad.

So keep it up, folks! Keep turning back the clock... and make sure the Pirates are always involved. It helps their image!

Check out Zach Duke. He is positively Candelaria-esque!

Hey Texas! You want to win dressed like THAT?

I wrote back on June 21st that I am not buying the Texas Rangers.

I've seen too many Rangers teams over the years look damn good until Arlington Texas turns into a kiln and suddenly the pitching staff turns into Shrinky Dinks.

And they finished the first half of the season on a 4 game slide including a sweep by the lowly Orioles.

However, they are making short work of my Red Sox since the All Star break.

They are up by 6 games in the loss column over the Angels.
They picked up Cliff Lee who should give the team a boost (not to mention the bullpen a rest).

They COULD win this Division.

And let's say Cliff Lee wins a pair of games in the Division Series and Colby Lewis or someone steals another game. (As of now the Rangers would play the Rays in the Division Series and have home field advantage.)

And what if they make it to the ALCS for the first time and their powerhouse line up propels them past the Yankees and into the World Series.

And then let's say the 2010 Texas Rangers does the unthinkable and takes out their National League counterparts.

Let's say they do it... and win the World Series.

Do they REALLY want to be crowned champions in these dull uniforms?

Look at them!

Just "TEXAS" on each uni? Really? OK, fine if you want to wear the road grays or dark blue top with Texas, that's fine.

But the HOME jersey with just a boring "TEXAS" across the chest? No "RANGERS"?

That's the most dull uniform decision since the Oakland A's just printing "OAKLAND" in block letters across their jerseys in the mid 1980s.

Now the Rangers have had a checkered past in their uniforms. They have a few entries in my "Most Forgettable Uniforms of the past 30 Years" entry.

And their two main uniform designs before this one are not my favorite.

This uniform with the wild west "Home on the Range" font never did anything for me...

Even someone as bad ass as Al Oliver couldn't make this uniform look good.

Plus, name one memorable moment that happened in these unis that call for nostalgia.

Can't do it, can you?

Nolan Ryan looked awesome in the 80s and 90s throwing no hitters in his Rangers uniform...

Unfortunately he also looked like a Dodger! Those threads are just a little too much like the L.A. home unis for my taste.

So I am clearly not advocating going back to THOSE styles.




This alternate uniform worn by Mark Teixeira in 2006 is cool.

The "T" to the side reminds me of the old English D for the Tigers but it isn't the same font or color scheme.

Plus I am a sucker for the sleeveless jerseys.



But the best home uniforms they ever had were from their only Division Title years, 1996, 1998 and 1999.

The red hats. The red piping. The cool wild west font.

Sure it feels a little like the Red Sox uniforms, but the all red motif sets it apart.

Plus they WON in those uniforms. They had 3 MVPs. And they fit the incredibly juiced up bodies of those Rangers clubs.

Bring those back for the second half of the season. Tell Selig it will help sell more jerseys. There's no way he could say no to THAT!

So come, Rangers. If you want to BE a champion, it helps to LOOK like one.