OT: Detroit Tigers (Real throwback uniforms, circa 1979) @ Tampa Rays (imaginary throwbacks)
Tune in to FoxTV now for "Throwback Night" at Tropicana Field. Tigers are wearing the road grays w/orange and blue stripes of the late 70's and 80's and look good in them. The Rays didn't exist then, so they had to come up with something that looks like a hybrid Blue Jays/Astros/Padres concoction. Actually, all things considered, not too awful-looking.
Love the Tiger uniforms. Reminds me of the glory days of the '80s.
The Rays look like a couple of 70's jerseys puked on each other.
These are the Tiger uniforms of my childhood. I wish they still wore them.
I agree. Those teams were special and baseball was special. To me you can throw money at all the free agents you want and maybe find a World Series once in a while, but you can't top teams like 87 (and 06 for that matter) where a team that's undertalented puts it all together for a ride of a season.
Love the jerseys. Not a fan of the hats.
Just saw a shot of Porcello's hat.
I agree. Not good. I prefer the old-school, white Olde English D.
Why not just wear the regular away cap, since that's what the Tigers wore back when they wore these uniforms?
(Random factoid: for a long time, the Tigers were the only franchise to wear separate home and away caps. The orange D cap has been around for decades.)
Pardon my idiocy here, but I don't think I'd be jamming my hand into that water to play with the fish.
I can picture my all-time favorite player, Alan Trammel, rockin that uniform while turning two with Sweet Lou.
Rays = joke. Seriously, nothing says "poser merchandise whores" than having "throwback day" when you're a 15-year-old expansion franchise.
Which also made us merchandise whores. Never liked those, either.
Our UTL jerseys used actual motifs that we'd worn before (the big M and the stripes), just not at the same time.
Tampa tonight is wearing something containing no design elements it's ever worn before.
But they're inspired, not actual "throw back" jerseys. Not saying it's exactly the same, just bringing up a point with the OP, who coincidentally agrees.
I suppose "imaginary throwbacks" roughly equates to "inspired". Coincidentally or otherwise...
... and never even wore the "throwback" uniforms.
I think they're one of the best run franchises in the league. And they've gotta do something to make money because they're in the bottom 5 of attendance in MLB despite having one of the better teams in baseball. They do alot of theme or gimmick nights in Tampa.
I feel bad for Rays fans because not only do they have the worst stadium in the nation, their stadium is in a terrible, terrible location that makes it tough to see a game.
View Larger Map Not an easy ball park to drive to from many places.
Yep. Been here five years, been to three games. They've been talking about a new ballpark for years; hopefully something will come to fruition soon. They are a very likeable ballclub. Mayble they'll do something in Tampa, near Raymond James.
I work next door to the Trop. That is an ugly stadium for sure, but it is pretty easy to get to.
Fielder might have just broke Hellickson with that line drive.
Too bad, too, because we were tagging him big time. Every ball this inning has been hit hard. That made me cringe, though. Guy will have a bruise the size of Rhode Island.
did the Flint Tropics become a baseball team?
Ask Dukes
Pretend throwbacks for a team too young to have real throwbacks.
We live in an absurd world.
I love Joe Madden, and I really think he had a huge part in this. He does a lot of fun stuff with the Rays. I do want to purchase one of the hats that they are wearing.
If Madden did have something to do with this, I half expect them to take the field in pajamas or Star Wars gear one night.
wow just tuned in to the online feed and thought I saw Dan Petry out there.... those TB jerseys are something.
http://www.vipbox.tv/watch/58692/1/mlb-:tampa-bay-rays-vs-detroit-tiger…
It could be worse. They're only pretending that they're 18 or so years older than they really are.
Imagine if they decided to make faux-1920s jerseys.
These block-letter throwbacks are what I grew up with too til I was maybe 12, but I like the cursive ones better. Still, it's very cool to see the throwbacks. In a way I see them and it's like nothing ever changed.
to the Copacabana throwbacks, instead of the Tropicana throwbacks...
...How the real, current Tiger road uniforms...
...are themselves throwbacks, to the '50's...
...and that there were later road uniforms, most memorably the ones from the sixties...
...but also the ones from the seventies (for which they needlessly cluttered up the cap logo for tonight's throwbacks)...
Are the current jerseys the first to have numbers on the front, or did the '50s uniforms have them as well? That's one thing I don't care for about the current ones. It'd look cleaner without the numbers.
The old uniforms didn't have them, and this is how I know. Really one of the best websites going, answers almost any uniform question you might have.
Really interesting. I had no idea the club briefly ditched the classic home uniform, as it did in 1960:
There must have been a negative reaction to this change, because they went back the next year.
I have to admit, I never knew the Tigers had ever gone away from the home "English D" uniforms, even though I've looked at that website several times over the years. It surprised me to see that the Tigers, who have always been traditionalists when it comes to uniforms, dared stray, even for just a year. With such a well-defined, classic home uni, I sure hope they never again make that mistake.
Yup. In fact the white outline was there all throughout the '70s and early '80s.
That's the way it looked in the 70's...
I hope everyone recognizes the All-Time Tiger Greats wearing those various style road uniforms. Eveyone here will recognize the first one (Verlander) and the double-play combo in the last shot (Trammell and Whitaker), but how many of you know player #2, from the 50's? I'm even willing to guess that there might be an MBlogger or 2 who doesn't recognize the depicted player from the 60's in shot #3...
I know #3 for sure - when I was little, I used to think a type of batteries were named after him.
#2, I drew a blank on at first but then I remembered - I knew him as #3's old broadcast partner on WDIV...
Yes, none other than George Kell
Did anyone else catch the photobomb by Quintin Berry of Verlander while he was being interviewed? It may or may not have been intentional, but either way it was superlative. Just a notch below Bosh rising from the dead in front of Lebron James during his post-game.
Yes, I did. It was solid.
Meanwhile, Porcello is having himself a solid start here. Tigers really need that out of him.
lovin the Tigs throwback... actually dig the Rays unis too
Tim McCarver "earth, wind, and fire" reference: Finish your beer.
Need to find some extra base power, on pace at the moment for less HR's than the 2003 team. Please get some XBH with men on base.
Those jersey bring back a lot of childhood memories of watching games on WDIV.
The Rays uniforms sort of serve as a combination of the old Padres and Braves uniforms from the late 70s / early 80s. Blech.