How to Look Good While Losing.

According to the New York Daily News, the New York Post, and most importantly, Uniwatch, the Mets will adopt a cream tone for their rarely used home pinstriped jerseys. Their uniforms were already scheduled to undergo a major upgrade next year with the removal of the D.O.Z. ads/"Inaugural Season!!!" patch from their sleeves.

Now, while I may be old enough to remember SportsChannel, the bullseye subway token, A&S Plaza, and Abe Hirschfeld's bizarre Post takeover, I'm not old enough to have seen the 1960's uniforms in the flesh. However, a dollop of photo research implies that those uniforms were not cream, but the same stark white the team rocks today.





















What is obvious to us uni-fiends is that no color change can recreate the look of yesteryear, owing both the vast difference in jersey material and photographic technology. We look back on baseball's past through pictures taken on film, which radiate warmth and color's vitality more vividly than digital cameras, as evidenced in Sports Illustrated's vault and excellent sites such as That's My Boy. Coincidentally, Mariano Rivera looks like a robot on this week's SI cover.

Anyhoo, here's my attempt at what next year's unis may look like in cream, using a Pantone shade similar to that used by the San Francisco Giants for their cream home uniforms.
















My two cents is that cream may be better suited to the pinstripe-less jersey. On the broader canvas the cream color would be far more noticeable.





















But what do I know? I think the 1970's era Chicago White Sox shirt-and-shorts look was absolutely brilliant. Well, not necessarily the shorts, but mos def on the shirts. Can't understand for the life of me how pros play everyday in the summer heat in such heavy jerseys.
Thanks to Chris Creamer's Sportslogos.net and Si.com for the source photos.