Uniform Thought

Last week, The Athletic did a story ranking the uniforms of MLB’s sixteen oldest franchises.  Lo and behold, the White Sox came in first, which I guess is a good thing.

 

The current uniform, featuring black pinstripes and “Sox” spelled out on a diagonal in Old English lettering, dates to 1991, the same year Clare was born.  So, she’s never known another uniform.  Lucky child.

 

I came of age with the current uniform’s ancestor, Old English “Sox” and numbers on the back outlined in red, the hat “SOX” spelled out with interlocking block letters on a diagonal, also getting the red outline treatment; call it South Side sublime.  They started playing around with the hat in 1964 and the uniform in 1968.  From 1968-90, the team went through five uniform styles.  Talk about confusing.

 

Oh, and depressing.  It’s a tie for worst, between the clam diggers of Bill Veeck and the “candy wrapper” of the Greg Luzinski era.  For the past few seasons, the candy wrapper has come out of the vault as a Sunday throwback uniform.  Clare loves it, I hate it.

 

I’d like to nominate the 1940s’ uniform as a compromise. No pinstripes, SOX in red lettering with the O and X fitting in the curves of the S.  This is the uniform Ted Lyons and Luke Appling wore, and the uniform Jackie Robinson would have worn had the Sox signed him after a tryout in 1942. 

I can always hope, right?