The Numbers Game

Although pictures of early Packers squads are not uncommon, most tend to be posed team photos, such as this view of the 1931 squad at the beginning of their third consecutive World Championship season.

So while we know what the uniforms looked like from the front, solid blue shirts and socks paired with gold pants, views of the back are few and far between. This leaves a large hole in our knowledge of Packers uniforms - the jersey numbers, worn only on the back from their introduction in 1925 until 1934 (except for the 1929 & 1930 seasons).

This Milwaukee Journal article from Monday, October 10, 1932 provides us with a very rare glimpse of those numbers. The picture was taken the previous day, as 5,500 fans watched the Blues defeat the Portsmouth Spartans at Old City Stadium.

Standing deep in his own end zone Earl Clark, all-American pro quarter, attempted to kick. But Joe Zeller, all-conference guard at Indiana last season, rushed in and blocked the punt. A second later Rose (No. 52 in the picture) fell on the ball (indicated by an arrow) for the touchdown. Zeller is the player lunging forward directly under Clark's foot.

While the Spartans are wearing an oversized version of a common block, the Packers' numbers are thinner, rounded and more stylized. Although I'm very reluctant to judge such things from old photographs, let alone old black-and-white newspaper photos photocopied, bound into a book and scanned decades later, it looks to me as though the numbers are darker in color than those worn by the Portsmouth players. The Spartans' colors were purple and gold, but it seems likely that they wore large white numbers (as the Packers would adopt in 1934).

"Rose" is Al Rose, wide receiver for Green Bay from 1932 through 1936. He was the first Packer to wear number 52 on his jersey, and only for that one season. Rose never really settled on a number - after 1932, he moved to #34 in 1933, #49 in 1934 and #47 in 1935 and 1936.

The most notable Packer to sport the number was Frank "Bag of Donuts" Winters, who wore it from 1992-2002. The longtime center was inducted into the Packers Hall of Fame in 2008.

52 is currently being worn by outside linebacker Clay Matthews.

Ramming the Point Home

Still trying to identify the point when the Packers abandoned leather helmets. We do know that the entire team was wearing plastic shells (at least in some games) by 1952, based on this photo from the Packers' heartbreaking loss to the Los Angeles Rams at Marquette Stadium in Milwaukee on October 12, 1952.

As we've discussed, Gene Ronzani was putting his own stamp on the club, slowly eliminating Curly Lambeau's blue and athletic gold scheme. Here we see Ronzani's green jerseys paired with a metallic gold shell. The result was reportedly something like this:

Not dissimilar to the color scheme Ron Wolf almost adopted in 1994.

Retire the Football Helmet?

In recent years, much attention has been paid to the potential harm suffered by football players in the routine course of their sport. In the past, it has been widely accepted that the price of a football career includes lingering problems with knees, elbows and other joints. Shocking new evidence suggests, however, that football players are putting themselves at risk for severe mental problems.

The NFL's own study indicated that retired players suffer early-onset dementia at a rate four to five times higher than the general population (the League then tried to claim such studies were unreliable). Books have been published on the subject, studies have been commissioned. Last month, Commissioner Goodell was grilled by Congress over this issue.

Even if the League eventually admits that this is a real problem, the question of how to address it remains. Much of the focus has been on preventing these types of injuries by improving the technology. More padding, different types of padding, new shell designs. Special mouth guards.

Today, the Wall Street Journal weighs in with a long and interesting article proposing a different solution. I'm only going to quote an exerpt here, but check out the full article.

SPORTS - NOVEMBER 11, 2009

Is It Time to Retire the Football Helmet?

New Research Says Small Hits Do Major Damage—and There's Not Much Headgear Can Do About It

By REED ALBERGOTTI and SHIRLEY S. WANG

This football season, the debate about head injuries has reached a critical mass. Startling research has been unveiled. Maudlin headlines have been written. Congress called a hearing on the subject last month.

As obvious as the problem may seem (wait, you mean football is dangerous?), continuing revelations about the troubling mental declines of some retired players—and the ongoing parade of concussions during games—have created a sense of inevitability. Pretty soon, something will have to be done.

But before the debate goes any further, there's a fundamental question that needs to be investigated. Why do football players wear helmets in the first place? And more important, could the helmets be part of the problem?

"Some people have advocated for years to take the helmet off, take the face mask off. That'll change the game dramatically," says Fred Mueller, a University of North Carolina professor who studies head injuries. "Maybe that's better than brain damage."

The first hard-shell helmets, which became popular in the 1940s, weren't designed to prevent concussions but to prevent players in that rough-and-tumble era from suffering catastrophic injuries like fractured skulls.

But while these helmets reduced the chances of death on the field, they also created a sense of invulnerability that encouraged players to collide more forcefully and more often. "Almost every single play, you're going to get hit in the head," says Miami Dolphins offensive tackle Jake Long.

What nobody knew at the time is that these small collisions may be just as damaging. The growing body of research on former football players suggests that brain damage isn't necessarily the result of any one trauma, but the accumulation of thousands of seemingly innocuous blows to the head.

An interesting idea. I've long advocated a ban on the body armor baseball players wear at the plate, for similar reasons. It breeds a feeling of invincibility and allows the batter to crowd the plate. In that case, my concern was more about pitchers losing the ability to pitch inside, not about preventing injuries.

They bring up rugby and Australian Rules football as examples of two sports with similarly violent play, yet only a fraction of the head injuries of the NFL.

Plastic football helmets were first developed by Riddell in 1935. This 1940 article from the Bend (Oregon) Bulletin describes the new plastic helmets to be worn by the University of Minnesota, an early adopter, as "glass-like." Riddell used a trademarked clear plastic they called "Tenite" in their helmets, which were painted on the inside. This would last until the later 1950s, when "Tenite" was replaced by a material called "Kra-lite," which was gray in color. Teams then painted the outside of the helmet to match their desired colors.

World War II diverted the bulk of plastic production to defense and delayed the plastic helmet's introduction to the NFL until the 1944 season.

As the plastic helmet's popularity spread, controversy followed.

The chief complaint, echoed by at least one prominent sports surgeon, was that by shielding football players from impact plastic helmets encouraged more violent play, and the unyielding synthetic surface increased the potential damage done to other players in collisions. Sound familiar?

The NFL, concerned about rising injuries, took the extreme step of actually banning plastic helmets in 1948. This was the announcement, following the League's annual owners' meeting in January of that year:

The ban was short-lived, and was rescinded at the following year's meeting:

Still, some teams held out even after the prohibition was lifted. I'm not aware when the first Packer stepped onto the field in City Stadium wearing a synthetic helmet. Curly Lambeau doesn't appear to have been a proponent, based on team photographs.

The man who personally led the League in innovation with the first team to travel to games by plane, own its own self-contained training camp facility, and have a fight song seemed to be in no hurry to replace his leather helmets. Perhaps he had the same safety concerns.

Even into the 1960s, the controvery lingered:

Since then, of course, helmets have become the most identifiable feature of pro football teams. They have become a visual stand-in for a club (as anyone who has ever seen Monday Night Football can attest). They've become additional logos. Heck, the Cleveland Browns use their helmet as their logo. You don't see this happening with baseball caps.

The NFL recognizes and encourages this helmet branding. In 2002, the Seattle Seahawks submitted a new uniform design to the NFL for approval, including different helmets (one blue, one silver) for home and road.

This road/home split might be common in other sports, but other sports are not Pro Football, and the League rejected that element out of concern that the Seahawk brand might be diluted. The team then held a fan vote to see which helmet would be adopted (blue won).

So the League not only has an interest in denying the connection between repeated hits and early onset dementia, they also have a financial interest in maintaining the helmet status quo.

Where does that leave us? The game has changed relatively slowly around us. Hits are getting harder, and players are getting bigger. I'm not the first one to point out that in 1985 William Perry's 335 pound frame was so out of the ordinary it earned him the nickname "the Fridge." Now fully one-quarter of the league weighs in over 300 pounds.

Change is difficult. Sudden change doubly so. The modern game has evolved slowly over decades to become the bone-jarring contest it is now. Any attempts to suddenly alter it will be met with great resistence. But as NPR's Scott Simon put it, "Modern polycarbonate helmets have let players weaponize their heads." That just can't be sustained.

Something will have to be done. Surely there's a middle ground between eliminating helmets altogether and continuing down the gladiatorial path. Perhaps streamlining helmets, making them strong enough to reduce one's own injuries but not so much so that they cause injuries in others, can be that ground. The league can still slap logos on the sides, but players won't have to pay such a terrible price to play the game they love.

Hell Bent for Leather, Part II

Titletown Nostalgia recently added this little gem to its collection:

1940's Packers game-worn leather helmet w/"Packers" branding

This may very well be the only 100-percent authentic leather helmet game-worn Green Bay Packers helmet in existence. The rocks-solid evidence of "Packers" branded on the front of the shell is the single, most important feature of this piece. We guarantee this brand is original and "P-A-C" is visible on the helmet. Due to a rough economic time of the 1940's, this helmet, as presumably all helmets were recycled for additional use. This particular piece was probably used by East High School, a team that wore red and white. Heavy use is exhibited, but the "Wilson" interior padding is still present. Another significant portion of this helmet, attesting to its authenticity is the proper gold (yellow) paint that can be seen under the white paint. Also, the proper holes and style is represented on this piece, when compared to many 1940's Packers photos, including the shells used in the 1944 Championship Game at Yankee Stadium.

I might take some exception to the notion that it's the only one in existence - the Pro Football Hall of Fame has at least two in its collection (from Hutson and Canadeo), and the Packers Hall of Fame has several as well, and there's at least one in private hands that lacks the "PACKERS" branding but still comes highly rated by MEARS, one of the few such authorities I trust. But that's a minor quibble. This is an exceedingly rare artifact, made all the more so by the remnant of the brand, and a very interesting story.

The original gold paint is still visible under the coats of white:

The first few letters of the team branding appear faintly across the forehead.

A collector could take this in one of two directions. I myself would keep it exactly as-is, white paint and all, but it could be restored to its original glory. Wonder what that would do for its collectible value? Some items, such as stadium seats and the like, are routinely restored and traded on the collectibles market. I'm not familiar with any restored helmets, but that could have more to do with the relative scarcity of leather helmets.


All photos copyright Titletown Nostalgia. Go check out his site, and buy lots. He's one of the good ones.

Confirmed Sighting

The only good thing I can say about yesterday's debacle in Tampa is that I finally have photographic evidence of the Packers' new high-tech skinsuit jerseys.

Nick Barnett was wearing one.

You can see the new construction - compare it to A.J. Hawk's jersey with its spandex side panel:

If I can bear to watch the tape, perhaps we can get a better look at it. I'm particularly interested in the sleeve stripe treatment - might be time to do something about it.

Auction Gold - 1950s Jim Ringo jersey

The rumors were true. A late 1950s beauty has come up for auction, giving us an extremely rare look at the Packers' pre-Lombardi uniforms:

LOT: 3 Jim Ringo 1957-61 Packers Game Worn Dureen, Rare Midnight Green, Stylematched, Team Repairs

Jim Ringo was a professional American football player, a Hall of Fame center and coach. He was a ten time Pro Bowler during his career. When coach Vince Lombardi took over the Packers in 1959, Jim was the only already-established All Pro on the roster. Lombardi built his offense around Ringo. The Packers drafted him in the seventh round of the 1953 NFL Draft out of Syracuse University. Ringo was considered vastly undersized at 211 pounds. He was not, however, unfit for the role, using his outstanding quickness and excellent technique to build a 15-year NFL career, including 11 seasons with the Packers, as one of the game's best centers. Ringo was a member of the Packers' NFL Championship teams of 1961 and 1962, but was traded to the Philadelphia Eagles in 1964. He is best known as a coach for creating the dominant Bills offensive line of the early-mid '70s, called the Electric Company, in support of running back O.J. Simpson. He returned to Buffalo as the Bills offensive coordinator and offensive line coach in 1985. He held the positions until his retirement after the 1988 season. He was a 10 time Pro Bowler from 1957-1965 and in 1967. Ringo was named to the NFL 1960’s All Decade Team. He was also a 6 time 1st Team All Pro and a 3 time 2nd Team All Pro. Ringo was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1981. Ringo is considered one of the best to play the game at the Center position.

Offered here is a VERY RARE long sleeve blue-green style Packers jersey of HOFer Jim Ringo. There are only 3 known Packers blue-green durene style jerseys known, let alone from a HOFer. Sewn on the left front tail is the “Sand Knit Athletic Knitwear” tag with a size “46” flag tag and the “DENIS SPORT SHOP” local distributor tag. Sewn on the front, back and both sleeves is the player number #51 done in gold tackle twill. The long sleeves contain the Packers traditional gold sleeve stripes. The durene jersey is hammered with use. It contains 12+ team repairs. This IS THE ONLY RINGO of this style. It was obtained directly through the Ringo family. The jersey has been style matched to his 1958 Topps football card (#103).

Here's the 1958 card to which they've style-matched this jersey:

With the exception of puttering about on their message boards, I'm not very familiar with Game Used Universe. I presume that they have some documentation from the Ringo family.

I really like the design. It's simple and clean, with a distinctive color palette. The Northwestern stripes, named for the university which invented the thin/thick/thin stripe design in 1928, give it a dash of style. The "TV numbers" on the upper sleeves were a relatively recent uniform innovation, having been first adopted by the Packers in 1956, the year before this design made its debut.

And just look at these repairs:


"Hammered with use" is an apt description - this jersey is stitched together like Frankenstein's Monster.

It also gives us a good look at the Sand-Knit tagging. Denis Sport Shop is still in business in Ashwaubenon, not two miles south of Lambeau Field.

Unfortunately, we cannot infer much about the jersey's color from these pictures. That's a shame, because the distinctive blue-green color of the Lisle Blackbourn era is much-discussed but infrequently seen. Most of the photos from this period are either black and white or hand-tinted and not much help for our purposes.

Perhaps the eventual winner will be able to help us out with better photos.

I do have to take issue with one element of the item description - I'm not sure why the auction house has designated this "1957-61". This jersey couldn't have been worn any later than 1958, as the following season would be the first for both new coach Vince Lombardi and his signature uniform design. Still, it's a beautiful exemplar of an unusual style, and if the provenance is as good as we are led to believe it should fetch a significant price.

Dress for Success

Ladies and Gentlemen, your 1959 Green Bay Packers!

This is the first team photo of the Lombardi era. It's also very rare in that it's one of the few in which Vince Lombardi and his coaches actually appear. For the rest of Lombardi's tenure in Green Bay, team photos were for players.

I also love the travel blazers the men are wearing. Dress like professionals, play like professionals.

The future is (Almost) Now

Breaking news - we have a leaked photo of the NFL's design team working on the 2010 uniform template:

No, the NFL isn't becoming Rollerball.

At least, not yet.

But the new skintight uniforms have been cropping up all around the League, including in Arizona:

That's Anquan Boldin on the left, modeling the newfangled version, and Leinart on the right in last century's technology. The most obvious difference is the material, but Leinart's relatively loose sleeves will be cropped and capped the same as Boldin's once he gets issued his new shirt.

Of the teams wearing the new jerseys, few are more high-profile than the New York Football Giants. Watching them, we can see one issue with the jerseys - the Reebok logo on the sleeves flakes off during the course of a game, leaving a faint residue in its place:

The Jacksonville Jaguars have been having similar issues with their prototypes:
Personally, I don't consider this "ghosted logo" a design flaw so much as a beneficial side effect. I wouldn't mind a tonal manufacturer's logo at all.

Other "quirks" of the prototypes, however, might be considered more problematic.

So that's what happens when you put stretchy numbers on stretchy fabric. Not pretty.

But while all of this is interesting, what does it mean for the Packers? The short answer: I really don't know. I can provide lots of documentation about the jerseys worn by players on other teams, but the Packers are harder to figure out. Giants equipment director Joe Skiba reports that a handful of Packers are testing the new design in games this season, as opposed to the entire roster of the Jags and Giants.

Not having the Sunday Ticket package, I've had to pour over game photos trying to figure out who's wearing them. The cloest I've been able to find is this photo from last week's game, featuring backup tight end Jermichael Finley:

So is this it? I'm not entirely convinced. The "protruding clavicle" look, created by stretching elastic material over shoulder pads, is usually a pretty good sign. Add to that the tighter-than-normal sleeve caps, and the truncated sleeve stripes which tend to be less horizontal on the current uniforms.

Counter that with the color - the new material is more matte than spandex, resulting in a duller finish and more muted color. The wrinkled numbers, such a dead giveaway on the Giants, don't look all that different from the customized jersey he was wearing in the 2008 season:

If anyone can help me with screengrabs or photos from this season, please let me know in the comments. These new uniforms are scheduled to be implemented in 2010, so expect more testing as the season goes on.

(hat tip: Uni Watch for the screengrabs)

"Ice Bowl" Pennant, 1967

MEARS

This simple yet effective pennant in green and gold turns up from time to time in Packers collecting. It features a rather generic-looking player wearing what could be a home Packers uniform, save the plain gold helmet (no Braisher stripes).

It was sold at Lambeau Field for one game only - the 1967 NFL Championship Game, commonly known as the Ice Bowl for the frigid gametime conditions. Concessionaires would have had to have braved a wind chill approaching 50 below zero to sell these pennants in the stands.

It isn't surprising, considering the Ice Bowl's hold on football fans' imaginations, that this style of pennant usually fetches a pretty good price at auction.

In the Pink

This past weekend, The NFL followed the lead of other sports leagues in raising cancer awareness through splashes of color.

On October 4th, selected players on each team around the league took the field wearing pink accessories - cleats, gloves and wristbands. The Packers did the same for their Monday Night Football Game.

This is similar to a promotion that Major League Baseball's been doing for the past several seasons:

Above: the Brewers' Bill Hall wears a special wristband and swings a pink bat on May 14, 2006, as part of MLB's annual Mothers' Day breast cancer awareness promotion.

The league also added its special event logo to the back of each helmet, just to the right of the NFL shield.

They're hard to make out in the photo above, so here's a closer look at the decals.

The Packers don't use the NFL's officially-designated Captain patches in the regular season, but those teams that do were sporting pink versions:

The pink extended to the sideline caps, as all teams wore their regular caps adapted with pink bills and the NFL pink ribbon logo seen on the helmets.

(And yes, that's a special customized cap so McCarthy has a place to keep his Sharpie.)

The event wasn't limited to uniforms and sideline gear - the logo made its way onto the field, the goalpost padding and even the kicking ball. See the NFL's gallery of images for details.

I don't know how I feel about the whole idea. It's hard to oppose anything anti-cancer, but on the other hand I don't like the idea of teams using their uniforms to make any kind of political or cultural statement. Not a big fan of showy over-the-top memorials, either. I don't even like it when players scrawl messages on their shoes or eye black. As a one-off, it seems okay. My concern would be if this becomes an annual event - and hey, if it doesn't, then the cancer wins! - or if they follow baseball's lead and add powder blue accessories for prostate cancer. Because you're not pro-prostate cancer, are you?

Baseball is one thing. In a season of 162 games, taking one or three to honor various causes doesn't seriously dilute the teams' visual identity. But football clubs only take the field sixteen times in the regular season. Even a couple "special" games can damage a team's cohesive identity. There's a reason the NFL vetoed Seattle's home-and-road-helmet idea in 2002.

I'm all for raising awareness. Hand out ribbons, do stadium promotions, make public service spots with the players, have the clubs and league donate tons of money. Just be very careful about messing with the uniforms.