See the New Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame

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This morning, the revamped Packers Hall of Fame opened to the public, and we're seeing some great views of what's in store for visitors to Lambeau Field.

The new museum displays are very impressive.

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Gone are the old plaques; each inductee is now represented by a sculpture of a football.

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It's a stunning representation, even more impressive close up. Each football is engraved with the inductee's name, picture, years with the team and year of induction.

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Jeff Ash of the Green Bay Press-Gazette has suggested that these football sculptures would make excellent souvenirs if the Hall of Fame should ever sell them.

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I think he's on to something there.

The reminds me a little of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, which ditched its plaques about ten years ago in favor of staggered rows of busts. Using footballs, however, emphasizes the team nature of the game. From a distance, it's all a unified whole. Only when you get close can you see the individuals comprising the team.

Of course, there's a lot for uniform fans to like. This is the new locker room section:

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How could they get these reproductions so right and yet the new 2015 on-field alternate uniforms so wrong?

Of course, it's not all reproductions. The authentic Don Hutson jersey is still on display:

© Jeff Ash, used with permission

I think my favorite area has to be this overhead display of Packers uniforms, arranged in a chronological timeline:

© Jeff Ash, used with permission

As you move from right to left, the figures appear to be throwing a pass, and you advance through the highlights of the team's uniform history from the earliest days to modern times:

© Jeff Ash, used with permission

I'm a little jealous; the effect is one I was planning to use for a lithograph to celebrate the team's Centennial in a couple years.

© Jeff Ash, used with permission

There are two items of note I see in this tableau, which we'll address in separate posts.

Overall, the new Hall looks outstanding. Can't wait for my next trip to Lambeau Field.

Ol' Blue Eyes is Back

Well, after all the waiting, the third jerseys (and related merchandise) have arrived at the Packers Pro Shop.

Jerseys are currently being offered in two flavors, Authentic and Replica. Authentic jerseys have cuffed sleeves and tackle-twill numbers:

Replicas have loose sleeves and silk-screened numbers:

Also available, as one might suspect, is a whole range of merchandise and casual wear. From helmets to genuine authentic sideline gear, casual wear to tchochkes galore.

As a fan of the blue and gold color scheme (and pretty much anything which helps raise awareness of the Packers' long and glorious pre-Lombardi history), I approve, although it's a little disappointing that much of the throwback merchandise is wholly inauthentic, designed entirely in the 21st Century for a modern audience and bearing little to no resemblance to anything actually found in the period.

There is a certain justification for this; as the concept of "brand identity" was not yet in vogue in the 1920s. Teams never foresaw the merchandising boom which drives and defines the modern game, and consequently many of today's hallmarks have no historical antecedents.

To that end, I understand the decision to conflate elements from different points of the 1920s into one identity system. The 1929 jersey doesn't carry with it a contemporaneous logo, so we reach back to 1921, and "ACME PACKERS" side sits by side with the much-later jersey.

Still, there's no reason that the Packers couldn't have used the actual period wordmark. The original, as we've seen, was a bold sans-serif, gold letters across the navy jersey.

The contemporary merchandise uses a few different wordmarks, none of them particularly close to the original.

There is one product, however, which is worth special mention.

This Acme Jersey Tee, from throwback jersey manufacturer Mitchell & Ness, is "designed to replicate the original 1929 jersey." Aside from their annoying tendency to slap their logo on everything they can, it's a pretty good throwback.

The number on the front is comprised of two letters of felt appliqué:

This could be the first commercially available 1929 throwback jersey. Pity they don't offer number customization; there are four members of that 1929 Blues club in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and Curly Lambeau's #20, Johnny Blood's #24, Cal Hubbard's #39 or Mike Michalske's #36 would be so much better than the generic double-zero.

Beautiful. And as close a replica as you're likely to see of the actual jersey, worn by the Packers when they captured their first World Championship eight decades ago.

You might not be able to play like Johnny Blood, but at least you can dress a little like him.

From Humble Beginnings

This is the very first Green Bay Packers team:

GREEN BAY "PACKER'S" (sic) 1919

Standing: Nichols, Powers, Coffeen, Martin, Sauber, Martell, Leaper, Ladrow, DesJardien, Zoll, Muldoon, Rosenow, Petcka, G.W. Calhoun Center: Lambeau Lower Row: Abrams, Gavin, McLean, Bero

The 1919 Packers dominated Wisconsin's semi-professional football scene, winning their first ten games by a staggering combined score of 565-6. The Racine Iroquois were the only team to even score against Green Bay's mighty Blues, scratching out six points (trimming the Packers' lead in the game to a mere seventy points). The Packers would meet finally their match in the final game of the season, when the Beloit hometown ref called back three Packer touchdowns and the mighty Blues fell to the Beloit Fairies (named for their sponsor, the Fairbanks-Morse Company), 6-0.

Curly dressed his boys in navy shirts and gold pants, reminiscent of his Notre Dame alma mater. Helmets, for the few who wore them, were unpainted leather.

That's Packers co-founder George Whitney Calhoun looking sharp in his very cool bow tie. Curly sits front and center with the ball. These men could now have known it at the time, but their eleven games in 1919 were the beginning of a glorious tradition. They were the first representatives of the most successful pro football team in history.