jerseymurmurs

In the 1960s, my father (a baseball player in his younger days) took me and my brothers “out to the ballpark” in North Philadelphia to see the Phillies play at Connie Mack Stadium (opened in 1909 as Shibe Park, it had one of the “grandest facades at any ballpark ever built”). Many years later it was an interesting exercise to sketch and document the exuberance and excitement of the 2022 Phillies (now in a South Philadelphia ballpark) during the recent postseason home-run-and-dance-fest. So many different baseball uniforms! Red pinstripes. Grey pinstripes. Solid cream (a tribute to their 125th anniversary). Solid grey. The retro powder blues. And the design details — underarm insets for ease of movement; side-seam trouser stripes; red belts (along with the player’s number in red on a front belt loop); colorful footwear. The blue star that “dots” the i’s in the script-lettered Phillies logo. The stylized “P” on the caps. All manner of protective gear to cover feet, legs, arms, faces. Hi-tech batting gloves. Special patches sewn on the sleeves for the World Series. Even a jaunty pom-pom-topped knit Phillies hat…