And I Hear They're Thawing Out Teddy Ballgame's Head for the Occasion, Too

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Next year marks the Texas Rangers’ 40th anniversary, and the timing couldn’t be better. If they had hit a significant birthday back in, say, 2007, we all would’ve said, “Have they really been around that long? How have they managed to make so little impact on the field or in the public mind?” But at present they’re the two-time defending American League champs, so the throwback retrospective that they announced yesterday feels earned and appropriate.

A few notes:

• The Rangers’ inaugural 1972 home whites featured one the oddest-looking details in MLB uni history: that little ranger’s badge at the base of the R. It’ll be kinda fun seeing that again. (And remember, the R and the S that bookend the chest insignia stand for then-owner Robert Short, as I confirmed in this ESPN column a few months ago.)

• The arching of the letters on the powder blue throwback looks seriously off. Let’s hope they get that fixed. (And for those who have issues with the Rangers wearing powder blue at home, they have a history of doing that, as we determined a year and a half ago.)

• Interestingly, two different versions of the anniversary logo are floating around (note the differences in the “Anniversary” script; click for larger view):

The one on the left was tweeted from the unveiling event by ESPN Dallas columnist Richard Durrett, so it must have been on display somewhere in the room. But the one on the right, which I strongly prefer, is the one they displayed as a patch. Hope that’s the one they stick with. Either way, too bad Rick Perry pushed through that law that says Texas gets to secede unless every new uni element features the state flag. The patch design would be way less cluttered without it.

Oh, and speaking of MLB: New road uniforms on the way for the Rockies, but you didn’t hear it from me. (Instead, you heard it from this guy.)

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Because you can’t spell “Santa” without “Satan”: The clock is counting down to the blessed day when Jesus Claus will bring menorahs to all the little Kwanzaaites, or however that works, which means I’ll finally be able to stop reminding you about the following points:

• If you want to buy someone a Uni Watch membership as a gift, full details on how to do that are available here.

• From now through the end of the year, if you order two sheets of stickers based on your membership card design (that costs $26), you’ll also get a free sheet of Uni Watch logo stickers (a mix of all three colors). Instrux for ordering stickers can be found here.

• Speaking of the circular Uni Watch logo stickers, my recent offer still stands: If you want three of these stickers (one of each color), send a self-addressed stamped envelope to Paul Lukas, 671 DeGraw St., Brooklyn, NY 11217. If you want to enclose a coupla bucks or a barter offering, that’d be nice, although it isn’t required.

• T-shirts, beverage coasters, coffee mugs, and the like are available at the Uni Watch shop on Zazzle.

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