The good news?  The Phillies are FINALLY bringing back those sweet looking powder blue uniforms that they wore on the road from 1973-1988.  Actually, if you wanna get technical, the jersey that Kent Tekulve is wearing in the above picture (with the zipper) was worn from ‘73-’86, while the ‘87-’88 seasons had the button-up top.  Being that the newer version of the tops will probably be designed by Majestic, I’m gonna go ahead and assume they’ll have the buttons like the ones in the late 80’s.

The bad news?  Unfortunately, they are only scheduled to wear them for one night – in Milwaukee — during one of the Brewers cool little retro weekend promotions.

Brewers.com beat writer Adam McCalvy’s Brew Beat blog has the scoop (via Miller Park Drunk):

1970s Retro Weekend
May 14- 16 vs. Phillies

May 14: Brewers to wear reproductions of the home 1972-77 uniforms with “BREWERS” in royal blue block letters on the front of the jerseys and the yellow “M” logo on the cap.  The Phillies will be wearing light blue uniforms worn on the road throughout most of the 1970s.

I highly suggest the Phillies wear their old school gear in August when they have their annual 70’s retro night at The Bank. (HOT PANTS!)  Even though it’s been 20+ years since they’ve worn them*, a nice chunk of the gear sported at the games still has the old maroon & blue colorway, so they might as well take advantage.

HEAR ME, PHILLIES?

After the jump, a couple more pics of Schmitty and Juan Samuel showing off the button-up version.

Read more »

Since roughly 70% of my posts here at The Fightins revolve around Sarge Matthews, it’s no secret that I have what some might call an unhealthy obsession with the guy.  Because of this so-called “unhealthy obsession”, I’d like to think I’m somewhat of a Sarge Matthews historian, and any chance I get, I like to absorb more information about him.  So imagine my excitement when I moseyed on over to Paul Luka’s fantastic Uni Watch site this morning and saw a giant Sarge Matthews jersey posted at the top of the page. 

I’ll give you a second to imagine…

Done? Good. 

Now take a peek at this 1983 jersey from the Sarge and tell me if you spot anything out of the ordinary:

You see it!  How fucking cool is that?  Here’s Paul Lukas to explain:

That smudge on the right sleeve is a little sergeant’s pin — a reference to Matthews’s nickname, Sarge. [...]

“The jersey’s current owner said he received it from Matthews with confirmation that the pin was worn during the 1983 season,” says Jared Wheeler, who displayed the jersey in the Philly baseball history exhibit he recently curated. “He also had a photo that confirmed this, but I was unable to get a shot of that to send to you.”

There you have it, folks.  The man wore a cot damn SERGEANT’S PIN while he played.  If that’s not dedication, I don’t know what is.

Sarge Matthews, we salute you sir.

Rank Has Its Privileges | Uni Watch

For the first four months of the 2009 season, the defending World F. Champion Philadelphia Phillies wore a patch on the right sleeve of their home jerseys to commemorate the momentous occasion that occurred last October. As far as I knew, it was supposed to stay there for the duration of the 2009 regular season.

But when the Fightins’ returned from their brief West Coast trip this Tuesday, that not-so-subtle reminder was nowhere to be found (Click to enlarge):

The picture on the left is from the July 25th Saturday afternoon game vs. the Cardinals at CBP. They wore it the following day as well, but like I said, when they took the field on Tuesday night, the patch disappeared.

So far there has been no word from the Phillies as to why they decided to get rid of it, but I imagine it’s supposed to symbolize the team putting 2008 behind them so they can focus on winning another World Series this year or some shit. Good for them. I always thought it looked a little amateurish anyhow.

(via Uni Watch)

To honor the memory of the late Jackie Robinson, every major leaguer will be sporting the jersey #42 during tonight’s games. On top of that, a select few Nike-sponsored ballplayers will be wearing a special edition of the Ken Griffey, Jr. signature “Swingman” cleat with Jackie’s silhouette lasered on the side and number ‘42′ stitched on the back. The All-Star shortstop for the Phillies will be one of them.

Have a look:

***

Other players to wear the cleat include: Ken Griffey, Jr. (obvs), Torii Hunter, Carl Crawford, Ryan Braun, Orlando Hudson, Curtis Granderson, Cameron Maybin, Adam Jones, Billy Hall, Derrek Lee, and David Wright.

That would be so sweet if the lil’ Ryan Howard on the Adidas batting gloves was wearing personalized batting gloves and then that even lil’er Ryan Howard was wearing personalized batting gloves and so on…

ENDLESS RYAN HOWARDS!

Site News: Sometime early this morning, The Fightins dot com welcomed it’s 1,000,000th visitor since we began on May 23rd, 2008. Party at the ‘Tard’s house!

This is why you should always proofread your jersey before purchasing:

Photo: Flickr/NickSixers

A couple weeks back, it was leaked that the Phillies would be wearing some sharp, gold-trimmed jerseys on Opening Night in honor of their World Series-winning 2008 season. Well, it was only a matter of time before those greedy capitalists over at Major League Baseball made the jersey available for purchase, and it’s all yours for the low, low price of $184.99 (plus shipping!).

According to the Phillies online store, it will leave their warehouse in 2-3 weeks.  So, by my calculations… carry the 3… you should receive your brand-new jersey in the mail around April 10th.  Five days after Opening Night!

At least the Cool Base nonsense doesn’t look as bad as it did in the drawings.

Yesterday, while we celebrated the feast of St. Patrick by wearing shamrock buttons and getting shitface drunk, the Phillies continuted their yearly tradition that most other teams have since copied by wearing green hats and uniform tops.   It’s always a great way to remind everyone how close we actually are to the regular season, so it’s something I look forward to each year.  Unfortunately, yesterday’s game wasn’t televised, so I figured I should at least honor the day by posting visual evidence of the event.  Here it is:

Brett Myers had his best start of the spring by lasting 5.2 innings, striking out 7, walking none, allowing 4 hits, and most importantly — zero runs. Lookit how svelte he is!:

Chase Utley played in his second Grapefruit League game of the spring, going hitless in 4 plate appearances with 2 walks.  Judging by this pic of Utley sprawled out on the grass, it doesn’t look like the hip is a problem anymore:

Even the fans got into the St. Patrick’s theme in Clearwater yesterday.  Perhaps the finest customized celtic creation of the bunch was this Victorino jersey with a not-so-subtle Irish touch:

And finally, courtesy of Zolecki is the Phillies lone lefthanded reliever, Scott Eyre, taking a break from the action by copping a squat on the Bright House Field rooftop — DON’T JUMP!:

Images courtesy of David Maialetti/Daily News

Word on the street is, your WFC Phillies will be sporting some stylish gold-trimmed pinstriped jerseys for their season opener on April 5^th against the Braves.   Besides the outlined gold “Phillies” on the front; the player name & number on the back and the number & World Series Champions patch on the sleeves will also be accented.

Check ‘em out:

News comes direct from Uni Watch via Phinally Philly via Nittanydelphia.

As the Phillies stood around numberless getting their pictures taken today, Charlie Manuel was out on the field committing an egregious crime against sports fashion by wearing his road gray pants with his white pinstriped home jersey.  What’s the matter Charlie, couldn’t you find an alternate blue cap to go with it?

(That was just a little highbrow uni-humor for you.  You’re welcome.)

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go shoot off an e-mail to Paul Lukas.

Photo courtesy of The Inquirer

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