Throw Back Days

Back when I was much more of a baseball traditionalist, I liked those "turn back the clock" days, where old uniforms or old ways of doing things were put into play at a particular game. But not really anymore. I saw an A's/White Sox game recently that had throwback uniforms to 1929, a year the A's won the Series. The granddaughter of Connie Mack and grandson of Jimmy Foxx threw out first pitches.

The uniforms were interesting to look at, but when I looked at the total picture, it wasn't a real throwback attempt. Only the jerseys and pants were throwback. It just didn't look authentic because the uni's were polyester, not flannel with the right bagginess, and the players had their Nike swoosh spikes on, the A's wore their contemporary white shoes. Players also used modern gloves, had helmets, wore shin guards, arm guards, batting gloves, and other modern trappings. And I hate those throwback games where the current helmets are used if they don't fit the uniform. This game, the A's at least used blue helmets with a lone white "A" logo, like it was in 1929.

But the ones that are even worse are those games that use minor league uniforms or other past teams. Watching the highlights on SportsCenter is useless to identify those teams. If somebody broke some all time record or threw a no-hitter during one of those games, I'd hate to see endless replays of somebody who had to be explained every time. Oh, he threw a perfect game, but they were wearing minor league uni's in tribute to something or other.