Worth a Thousand Words (or merchandise sales)

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Major League Baseball’s annual Memorial Day camouflage-fest got a bit of pushback yesterday in Kansas City, where at least four Tigers players (shown above, clockwise from top left) — second baseman Andrew Romine, third baseman Nicholas Castellanos, and pitchers Justin Verlander and Alex Wilson — wore red poppies on their jerseys. It was a far more eloquent and tasteful way to observe and respect the holiday than MLB’s kneejerk use of military symbolism. Kudos to all of them, and here’s hoping this approach catches on in years to come.

The Detroit players aren’t the only MLBers who think MLB’s approach to Memorial Day could use some adjustment. Check out this tweet issued yesterday by Dodgers pitcher Brandon McCarthy:

generations of soldiers died protecting our country and its freedoms- don't forget to buy an official baseball hat to say thank you — Brandon McCarthy (@BMcCarthy32) May 29, 2017

But the most bizarre commentary on the holiday uniforms involved that brawl yesterday between the Giants and Nats. As you’ve probably heard by now, the benches-clearing scuffle started when Giants pitcher Hunter Strickland plunked Nats outfielder Bryce Harper with a pitch. That led to this tweet from longtime LA Times columnist Bill Plaschke:

That Strickland threw idiot pitch while wearing cap honoring those who fought for something real is sickening https://t.co/bK9JcNNGdE — Bill Plaschke (@BillPlaschke) May 29, 2017

When assessing a stupid act like plunking an opponent, I’m not sure how the presence of an ugly piece of apparel whose very existence is rooted in crass marketing, cheap emotional pandering, and bad civics somehow constitutes an aggravating factor. But when challenged on his comment, Plaschke doubled and then tripled down.

Only 19 days until the Father’s Day uniforms start appearing, whee!

(My thanks to Jason Bowman, Douglas Ford, Sean Gagnier, Jerry Nitzh, and Todd Pratt for their contributions to this section.)

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Stanley Cup Final(s) Begin(s): The Penguins and Predators kicked off the final chapter in the NHL’s Reebok era last night. A few quick notes:

• As you can see above, the Pens moved their 50th-anniversary patch, which they’d been wearing on their chest, over to the left shoulder in order to make room for the Stanley Cup patch.

• Pens equipment manager Dana Heinze also juggled some of the patches on the coaches’ jackets:

I had the Finals patch put on all the Coaches and Staff jackets as well. Moved the 100 from the front to the arm. pic.twitter.com/p6ufSJ6auZ — Dana Heinze (@RealDanaHeinze) May 27, 2017

• Heinze also removed the NHL centennial decals from his players’ helmets and replaced them with Stanley Cup decals:

Removing the NHL 100 years centennial helmet stickers on all our helmets first then I will put the Finals stickers on pic.twitter.com/YIG1RBnYUN — Dana Heinze (@RealDanaHeinze) May 27, 2017 Stanley Cup Finals Logos going in the helmets pic.twitter.com/DS3smEilsZ — Dana Heinze (@RealDanaHeinze) May 27, 2017

(My thanks to Derek Reynolds for his contribution to this section.)

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A few notes from the weekend: I’ll let these Facebook embeds speak for themselves.

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The Ticker

By Paul

Baseball News : The Indians retired Frank Robinson’s number and unveiled a statue of him on Sunday. They’re the third MLB team to retire his number, following the Orioles and Reds. That ties him with Nolan Ryan, whose number has been retired by the Angels, Astros, and Rangers (from Dave Feigenbaum). … Red Sox players went high-cuffed yesterday in honor of David Price’s first start of the season (from Steve McDermott). … Speaking of Price, he always prefers his caps to be squatchee-free, so I was wondering if that would be the case with yesterday’s one-off cap. Yup. … At least one Nats player was wearing the team’s regular striped pants yesterday, instead of the stripe-less Memorial Day pants (good spot by Patrick Thomas). … Here’s a look back at the history of the Mets’ road uniforms (thanks, Phil). … Interesting note toward the bottom of this item: “Just last week, [Giants] clubhouse manager Brad Grems was talking to a couple reporters who joked about [Eduardo] NuÃ±ez’s helmet always flying off. For Grems, it was a serious matter. He was concerned that NuÃ±ez was being put at injury risk of a thrown ball or contact with an infielder’s knee as he slid into bases. It wasn’t a sizing issue. NuÃ±ez just has an odd-shaped head. So Grems was working on ways to alter the helmet to keep it secure. He added extra padding to it prior to the Braves series” (thanks, Brinke). … Eric Hosmer of the Royals hit a home run last night with teammate Mike Moustakas’s bat (from Lindsey Thomson). … Jake Hall says he found this unusual 1975 World Series cap in an abandoned house. I’ve never seen anything like it. Anyone..?

Pro and College Football News : New helmet striping for the Toronto Argonauts. Regarding the home blue helmets, Wade Heidt notes: “They switched from a white facemask to a blue one, and they added a single blue stripe down the center. The helmet did not have stripes before.” … Former Raiders DB Charles Woodson is happy to see newly acquired RB Marshawn Lynch wearing his No. 24 (thanks, Brinke)…. Bowling Green will wear military appreciation helmets on Sept. 30 (from @Friem13).

Hockey News : The NHL’s new Adidas uniforms, including the inaugural unis for the Vegas Golden Knights, will reportedly be unveiled in about three weeks. … Here are the inaugural uniforms for the AHL’s newest team, the Laval Rocket.

Basketball News : Belgium’s U16 team has no single-digit numbers. Instead, they have 05, 08, and so on. … Roger Bacon High School in Ohio uses reflective uni numbers. “In game film, the numbers are often obscured because of the light hitting them,” says school alum Glenn Riley, who helped design the uniforms. “So we asked the coach, ‘Is this a problem?’ His response: ‘Not at all, I know who our players are.”

Soccer News : The new uniform for Sampdoria — an Italian team based in Genoa — has the team badge on the sleeve, instead of the chest.