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.

"G" Whiz

Today in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Jim Stingl's column features an interesting article on a proposed overhaul of the Packers' iconic helmet logo from Charlie Radtke (pictured) of Milwaukee's own Phoenix Marketing Group:

Pitch for new Packers logo faces tough defense

The Green Bay Packers are not - I repeat, are not - thinking about changing their logo or tweaking the team colors.

But Milwaukee marketing executive Charlie Radtke believes it couldn't hurt.

"I think a little freshening up, a little face lift, might be a good idea," he said.

That's probably what Cher and Joan Rivers said in the beginning, too. I cautioned Charlie that this could be like depicting Jesus with a new hairstyle.

"I don't want to see torches and pitchforks, angry villagers, that kind of thing. It's just really an idea I've had for a few years," said the longtime owner of Phoenix Marketing Group, who is perhaps best known for the Sprecher beer logo.

He drew up some Packers designs and sent them to mostly sports writers and announcers. No one paid much attention until I called him back.

He asked me to let you see them. Feel free to tell me what you think. Or you can give feedback to Charlie directly at cradtke2@wi.rr.com.

Central to his idea is adding a B to the iconic G, which showed up on Packers helmets in 1961 and remains there today.

"The G that everybody is familiar with, it really doesn't stand for Green Bay. It really kind of stands for Green. Like the New York Giants don't have an N and the San Francisco 49ers don't have an S. They've got both letters on there," Charlie said, as we looked at his designs on the dining room table of his south side home.

Then there's the green and gold. Charlie would like to see a bluer green, something closer to the Philadelphia Eagles hue. And he favors a true gold over the current mustard, or, if you prefer, and I'm pretty sure you don't, baby-poop yellow.

Ron Wolf, the Packers' former general manager, proposed messing with the colors in the mid-1990s, but it went nowhere. You may know that the Packers used to wear blue and gold many decades ago.

The Lambeau Field denizens don't think anything is broken or in need of fixing.

"As you know, the logo is one of the most recognizable and passionately followed team logos in all of professional sports," said Packers spokesman Aaron Popkey.

Over the years, hundreds of fans and entrepreneurs have approached the Packers with ideas for new logos, colors, jerseys and products, he said.

Charlie is quick to point out that he's a Packer fan and well aware of the team's deep-down tradition around here.

"If the fans say no, absolutely not, I'll respect that," he said.

The video is here, and here are Radtke's three designs (click for larger):


So he wants fan response, does he? Well, this is as good a place as any. Please leave your comments, and I'll see what we can do about joining the conversation.

For my own part, I'm completely in agreement with Radtke on a few points, such as the single "G". "GB" just makes more sense. Of these, I'm rather partial to the bottom version, being the most similar to the current logo. It also fits the oval better - the other two have too much green space above and below, the initials not being fully integrated into the design. And is that middle one Copperplate?

I'd rather use the club's 1960s secondary logo as a springboard:

Hard to improve on Dad Braisher's original designs.

And while I've no problem with metallic gold replacing the athletic gold, I couldn't disagree more with changing the green. To my eye, the Eagles lost something when they moved from kelly green to their current ugly midnight-ish shade. There's an historical precedent for the Packers in bluish green going back to the 1950s, but forest green is a strong, bold color and ought remain.

So there you have it. Not opposed to a re-design, like the idea of using both initials, but not sold on these. But then again, take my opinion with a grain of salt. I'm probably the only Packer fan who was disappointed when Ron Wolf pulled the plug on his 1994 uniform redesign.

Shout-out

Guy Hankel recently posted an excellent article about a game-worn 2002 Kabeer Gbaja-Biamila jersey on his blog White Mesh and Green Durene. Well worth checking out.

His knowledge of recent Packers jerseys is unmatched. There's always a lot to learn from his posts, in this case some of the ins and outs of player customization.

His blog also offers this little tidbit:

I've received word that a nice, 1950's game used Jim Ringo jersey will be offered at auction this fall. 1950's Packers jerseys are very scarce, and if this is the one I've seen before, it's a home jersey dating from 1956-1958. Stay tuned.

Can't wait.

Subtle Changes Redux

Well, there they go it again.

Last year, it was black cleats instead of white. For this season, the Packers have made an even more subtle change to the uniforms, adding player numbers to the back of the helmet.

Here's a closer view from the preseason:

There is a certain logic about it; there are situations when you may wish to make it easier for players to quickly identify their helmets.

Although the Packers have gone without helmet numbers for the past fifteen years, they were a part of the team's uniform for decades before that. In the early 1950s, they were hand-written on the front of helmets:

By the Lombardi era, the team was marking helmets with military-style stenciled numbers, as seen here on Bart Starr's helmet (post-quarterback sneak in the Ice Bowl):

I have read that these numbers were made by running a marker over the stencil, but haven't seen any conclusive evidence to confirm this. Judge for yourself.

In the 1980s, the Packers switched from stencils to green Dymo tape, seen here on a Mark Shumate 1985 gamer:

The Dymo tape was in use as late as 1993 or early 1994, as we can see on Ty Detmer's helmet in this photo with Mark Brunell:

It appears to have been dropped by the 1994 season.

Since then, no numbers. Until now.

The new helmet numbers use the same font as those on the jersey, and appear to be printed on a clear decal laid atop the white stripe.

ESPN.com's Paul Lukas believes this is the first time a team has ever put two-digit numbers in the center of a helmet stripe. In the Lombardi era, double-digit numbers straddled the stripes while single-digits were placed within the white center stripe:

I like the numbers, but the back of the Packers' helmets are getting ridiculously cluttered. Part of the reason that the numbers look so sharp on the Lombardi-era helmets is that they were alone back there.

I guess I can understand the NFL logo, but think it's time that the flag be removed. Nobody doubts the unfaltering and boundless support that the NFL, the teams and the players have for our troops. And do we really need the warning label? Can't they move it to the inside, or can't the players just sign some sort of waiver and free up all that space?

Crying Uncle

Okay, I officially give up.

If I try to keep track of all the misleading Favre "Game Issued" 1994 throwback auctions on eBay, this blog will consist of nothing else.

Nothing wrong with buying and selling these Grey Flannel throwbacks, so long as everybody is aware of what they're getting. Too many of these listing omit or obscure the details.

Suffice it to say that if you are presented with the opportunity to buy a Brett Favre team-issed 1994 throwback, home or road, it isn't. The real ones are so rare, relative to the fakes, that you're never going to actually see one.

Auction Gold: The Caped Crusaders

Picking up from an earlier post, this is an exceptional look at one of the Packers' sideline capes which saw service for years, making its debut as early as the late 1940s (but no later than the early 1950s), in the Packers' then-proud blue and gold colors, and continuing to see game action through the middle of the 1960s:

1950s/60s Green Bay Packers Game-Worn Sideline Cape

The Green Bay Packers are one of sport's feel good stories. When the NFL first assembled, it was created with town teams in mind. Big cities didn't start gaining clubs until a few years later. Nobody believed the small town of Green Bay, Wisconsin would have enough to keep a professional sports team. Well the state banded together and helped the Packers become the smallest professional franchise in sports.

This oversized yellow and navy blue Packers sideline cape was used in the 1950s and also during the beginning of the Lombardi era. Since the capes were not player specific any number of legends may have slipped it on. Babe Parilli, Jim Taylor, Bart Starr or Ray Nitschke are just a few of the Packers who may have worn this offering. Heavy wool lining is featured on the inside to help combat those cold Wisconsin winters. "PACKERS" is proudly displayed across the back in single-color mustard yellow tackle twill. A Wilson manufacturer's label is into the collar along with a suspended "Large" size flag tag. It appears that "20" is written on the collar although we cannot confirm who it was issued to. To our knowledge the Packers did not issue capes to specific players at the time this was worn.

This cape was auctioned off by American Memorabilia just about two years ago. It drew only one bid, for a hammer price of $1,902. A fantastic bargain for this piece of Packers' history.