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Off-Day Fun

We could all use some, right?

A bleacher semi-regular named David decided, beginning last year, to keep track of what color uniform the Cubs wore each day, and whether they won or lost. Monday, he gave me a copy of this year's list. Yes, this is obsessive behavior. I mention this to point out that I am not responsible for this list, only passing it along to you.

If you don't already know this, Cub tradition in recent years has been to allow that day's starting pitcher to choose the jersey for the club to wear. Typically, Carlos Zambrano always chooses blue; Greg Maddux and Mark Prior always choose pinstripes (or gray on the road), and other pitchers vary.

So far this year, the club records with different colored jerseys are as follows:

  • Home pinstripes, 18-19
  • Home blue, 15-17
  • Road gray, 13-16
  • Road blue, 17-18
So basically, the Cubs have not played well no matter what shirt they wear. You're going to say this is "master of the obvious", but it didn't necessarily have to work out that way. In fact, I'd have thought the "road blue" would have done better, because Maddux decided to wear the blue jersey on the West Coast trip in June, to keep up the winning streak there. (It worked -- they won twice with Maddux wearing the blue.)

Thanks to Rob at the 6-4-2 Dodger blog for pointing out that the Cubs have now been one-hit at Wrigley Field five times in the last ten years.

The one that came closest to being a no-hitter was thrown by Alex Fernandez of the Marlins on April 10, 1997. It was brutally cold that day -- 37 degrees, cloudy, windy -- and after Dave Hansen broke up the no-hitter with one out in the 9th, the Cubs loaded the bases on errors by Bobby Bonilla (playing 3B!) and Edgar Renteria, but could not score, and lost 1-0 when Ryne Sandberg struck out to end the game. That pretty much set the tone for the '97 season.

Finally, the recently-concluded series between the Cubs and Dodgers featured both teams wearing jerseys without names on the back, as LA has removed names from both home and road shirts this year.

The Cubs had names on the backs of their home uniforms from 1992-2004 (hmmm... exactly coinciding with Sammy Sosa's tenure with the team... hmmmm...), and prior to that, I remember all NL teams having names on the backs of their road jerseys dating back at least to the late 1970's.

So, the question is: when was the last time, before this week, when a game was played at Wrigley Field when BOTH teams had no names on their shirts?

If anyone out there has a definitive answer to this question, inquiring minds -- who don't have anything better to do on a day off with the Cubs out of the race -- want to know.

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If you've got nothing better to do
you can check this out
"You know what God told the cubs. Don't do anything until I get back!" Pete Rose

by Will71081 @ Bleed Cubbie Blue on Sep 1, 2005 12:37 PM CDT reply actions  

whoops here is the correct link
my random blog
"You know what God told the cubs. Don't do anything until I get back!" Pete Rose

by Will71081 @ Bleed Cubbie Blue on Sep 1, 2005 1:18 PM CDT up reply actions  

let me try again
www.iwuwill.blogspot.com
"You know what God told the cubs. Don't do anything until I get back!" Pete Rose

by Will71081 @ Bleed Cubbie Blue on Sep 1, 2005 1:18 PM CDT up reply actions  

that is really weird though
the way it linked to this blog and then the http address, thats not the way I entered it into the tags.

Oh well, html works in funny ways.

"You know what God told the cubs. Don't do anything until I get back!" Pete Rose

by Will71081 @ Bleed Cubbie Blue on Sep 1, 2005 1:19 PM CDT up reply actions  

The Power of Poop?
Man, you really must be bored.

LOL!

by Al Yellon on Sep 1, 2005 1:20 PM CDT up reply actions  

I am at a computer all day, in between
reviewing documents and what not, I do random searches, there's a lot of crazy shit on the web.

I have a wandering mind.

"You know what God told the cubs. Don't do anything until I get back!" Pete Rose

by Will71081 @ Bleed Cubbie Blue on Sep 1, 2005 1:22 PM CDT up reply actions  

Do the yankees
have numbers on their road jerseys?

by victor @ Bleed Cubbie Blue on Sep 1, 2005 1:01 PM CDT reply actions  

Sorry about that
I meant names, not numbers. Obviously they have numbers. Man, what a dumb mistake. :-(

by victor @ Bleed Cubbie Blue on Sep 2, 2005 3:27 PM CDT up reply actions  

The Yankees...
have numbers, but no names.

But the Cubs had names back then.

by bison on Sep 1, 2005 1:06 PM CDT reply actions  

Correct...
... I was looking for the last time BOTH teams had no names.

The Yankees were undoubtedly the first visiting team to come in to Wrigley Field (in June 2003) without names on the back since the '70s.

by Al Yellon on Sep 1, 2005 1:13 PM CDT up reply actions  

I was answering Victor's question...
yours, O Blogmeister, is a much harder one.

by bison on Sep 1, 2005 1:18 PM CDT reply actions  

I would guess the Giants
Whatever their last date would have been.  IIRC the Giants removed names on their road jerseys this year.
The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

by scareduck on Sep 1, 2005 1:40 PM CDT reply actions  

Nope, I'm wrong
Still there.
The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.

by scareduck on Sep 1, 2005 1:52 PM CDT up reply actions  

That site says...
... the NL required all teams to have names on their road jerseys in 1979.

So, it would have to be a 1978 team -- the Mets are as good a guess as any.

Now that we have narrowed it down, any other NL teams not have names on the back in 1978?

by Al Yellon on Sep 1, 2005 2:03 PM CDT up reply actions  

I have received some research...
... that indicates that the Mets were indeed the last NL team to put names on the backs of their road jerseys, due to the NL rule passed requiring them beginning in 1979.

Thus, the last game before August 29, the first Cub-Dodger game this year at Wrigley Field, which featured two "nameless" teams, was on October 1, 1978, the last game of the 1978 season, between the Cubs and Mets.

by Al Yellon on Sep 3, 2005 8:33 AM CDT up reply actions  

for 5 cents
i would guess the last bears game approx 1969, as the question did not specifically say "baseball".
:)

by dc60123 @ Bleed Cubbie Blue on Sep 1, 2005 2:20 PM CDT reply actions  

Football at Wrigley Field...
... the last game played there was in 1970.

You can win a bar bet with this trivia question: What stadium has hosted the most NFL games ever?

The answer is Wrigley Field. Yes, even now, 35 years after the last game there.

by Al Yellon on Sep 1, 2005 5:55 PM CDT up reply actions  

In a more perfect world....
...where I handled certain (only a few) aspects of daily life, and by that, I mean ruling them with an iron fist so strong it made Stalin look like Buddah, the following rules would be imposed:
  1.  The Cubs wear grey away jerseys on the road.  Period.
  2.  At home, they wear white with blue pinstripes.  Every time.  With limited exception.
  3.  That exception being Sunday games, when they may wear the blue alternate jersey tops, whose sole purpose, as everyone knows, is to sell more merchandise.
Note:  the post says more perfect, not perfectly perfect.

That is all.  Return to your daily activities.

by drone1047 @ Bleed Cubbie Blue on Sep 1, 2005 2:44 PM CDT reply actions  

I HATE BLUE JERSEYS
sorry. had to let it out. i hate it when teams wear these ugly solid color shirts with pinstripe pants. i think it looks AWFUL.

the yankees dont need any uni gimmicks. neither do the cubs. PINSTRIPES AT HOME, GRAYS AWAY. I'm always disappointed when i turn on the tv to watch the cubs (i live in los angeles) and they aren't wearing the pinstripes. i grew up on the pinstripes.

period. IMO.

by cephyn on Sep 1, 2005 3:53 PM CDT up reply actions  

Agreed
Even though I own an Aramis Ramirez Blue jersey.  

(It was 35 bucks on eBay, I couldn't NOT buy it.)

"Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true!" -Homer J. Simpson

by Whitebacon on Sep 1, 2005 6:32 PM CDT up reply actions  

Yeah...
... I have a Prior blue jersey myself, got it on sale for $50. Like you, I couldn't NOT do it.

by Al Yellon on Sep 1, 2005 9:50 PM CDT up reply actions  

Drone for Czar!
I have occasionally ranted about the Cubs hideous blue pajama tops...I am glad that at least in this corner of Cubdom, my sentiments are widely shared.

Drone has it exactly right. Whites and Grays. I would countenance the Sunday Blues, if that compromise were necessary to banish the Ugly blues for the remaining six days.

Right now, since 3 of the 5 starters in the current rotation wear the blues home and away, ugliness abounds.

I do not think it is an insignificant point. WHich teams in MLB look the classiest? Answer: Yankees/Red Sox/Cardinals/Braves/Dodgers. The teams with classic, white and gray unis. You may notice that these teams are also historically winning teams.

If you hired a lawyer to represent you in court, would you want him to dress in an Armani suit or a Jimmy Buffett Hawaiian shirt?

The Cubs blues are the ugliest uniforms in baseball. Ditch them!

by perseman on Sep 1, 2005 5:07 PM CDT up reply actions  

The Red Sox
wear red jersey's as well sometimes.
"Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true!" -Homer J. Simpson

by Whitebacon on Sep 1, 2005 9:13 PM CDT up reply actions  

The Red Sox red jerseys...
... at least match their team color.

The Braves' red shirts are just plain weird.

by Al Yellon on Sep 1, 2005 9:51 PM CDT up reply actions  

when one considers...
los bravos win division title after division title after division title, weird may indeed be the way to go.

by dc60123 @ Bleed Cubbie Blue on Sep 2, 2005 6:20 AM CDT up reply actions  

Are you suggesting...
... that the Cubs wear red jerseys?

by Al Yellon on Sep 2, 2005 8:52 AM CDT up reply actions  

if it is the difference
between ending and perpetuating the drought, the answer is "you bet your bippy".

by dc60123 @ Bleed Cubbie Blue on Sep 2, 2005 10:54 AM CDT up reply actions  

My guess
Howabout the last time they did a turn-back-the-clock game? Did both teams have names on their unis?"
Corey Patterson, please go be potentially good somewhere else.

by Ross on Sep 1, 2005 3:44 PM CDT reply actions  

The Cubs....
... have never done a turn-back-the-clock game at Wrigley Field.

by Al Yellon on Sep 1, 2005 4:45 PM CDT up reply actions  

because the White Sox thought of it first?
Off topic: Have they ever participated in a road TBTC game?

by bison on Sep 1, 2005 5:42 PM CDT up reply actions  

Yes, they have....
... but only because the then-NL office leaned on them -- the Phillies really wanted to do it.

The Cubs wore 1945 road jerseys ... the starter was Mike Morgan. He got my undying respect for using an old-fashioned windmill windup on the first pitch of the game.

I'm in a rush or I'd look up the date. It was a Sunday in Philly in 1992 or 1993 -- maybe someone else can find it.

by Al Yellon on Sep 1, 2005 5:54 PM CDT up reply actions  

Al is arguing with himself...
... that is kind of surreal.
Corey Patterson, please go be potentially good somewhere else.

by Ross on Sep 2, 2005 12:14 PM CDT up reply actions  

And yes....
... I realize that he really wasn't arguing with himself, but you could kind of read it that way.

And now, I am replying to myself. I need to get a life.

Corey Patterson, please go be potentially good somewhere else.

by Ross on Sep 2, 2005 12:18 PM CDT up reply actions  

looks like it's
contagious.

by dc60123 @ Bleed Cubbie Blue on Sep 2, 2005 1:52 PM CDT up reply actions  

OK! OK!
I'm posting a game thread now!

Looks like you guys need one!

by Al Yellon on Sep 2, 2005 3:17 PM CDT up reply actions  

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