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Winning Ugly: A Visual History of the Most Bizarre Baseball Uniforms Ever Worn
Baseball, our national pastime. All fans have great memories of their teams. We also remember those things that we wish we could the errors, the mental mistakes . . . and the ugly uniforms.
In an ode to those eyesores, Todd Radom has collected and chronicled some of the swing-and-misses we've seen on the baseball diamond. Remember when the Chicago White Sox thought wearing shorts in 1976 was a good idea? How about when the Baltimore Orioles wore their all-orange jerseys in 1971? Do you remember the 1999 "Turn Ahead the Clock" campaign? Or the most recent all-camo jerseys of the San Diego Padres?
Yes, there is much to talk about when it comes to the odd uniform decisions teams have made over the years. But just like there's love out there for French bulldogs or Christmas sweaters, ugly uniforms hold a warm place in the heart of all baseball fans, and Winning Ugly is just an ode to our favorites from today and yesterday that bring smiles and sighs to all baseball fans.
Sure they didn't affect wins and losses (unless you mention Chris Sale), but a fan's love and ire goes well beyond the current standings. So whether your team appears in Winning Ugly or not, fans of the sport will enjoy reliving the moments most teams would like to forget.
In an ode to those eyesores, Todd Radom has collected and chronicled some of the swing-and-misses we've seen on the baseball diamond. Remember when the Chicago White Sox thought wearing shorts in 1976 was a good idea? How about when the Baltimore Orioles wore their all-orange jerseys in 1971? Do you remember the 1999 "Turn Ahead the Clock" campaign? Or the most recent all-camo jerseys of the San Diego Padres?
Yes, there is much to talk about when it comes to the odd uniform decisions teams have made over the years. But just like there's love out there for French bulldogs or Christmas sweaters, ugly uniforms hold a warm place in the heart of all baseball fans, and Winning Ugly is just an ode to our favorites from today and yesterday that bring smiles and sighs to all baseball fans.
Sure they didn't affect wins and losses (unless you mention Chris Sale), but a fan's love and ire goes well beyond the current standings. So whether your team appears in Winning Ugly or not, fans of the sport will enjoy reliving the moments most teams would like to forget.
- GenresBaseballNonfictionSports
176 pages, Hardcover
Published May 15, 2018
16 people are currently reading
112 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
March 29, 2019
Growing up a fan of sportscards, the aesthetic beauty of jerseys has always been a shotgun passenger in my appreciation and love of sports. Hockey, football, basketball and especially baseball. To be aware of the “ugly” beauty that hit my eyes in the 1980’s when some all-time great designs were in full force really stuck with me. That’s why I was excited to see designer Todd Radon’s book come out last year. I knew pretty quick that it would be on the “to read” list.
Not only did I get around to reading it - I bought a copy. It’s one of those titles that you just want to have on hand now....and like 50 years from now. I can only imagine how this book will age.
It’s a great discussion on some of the incredible misses when it comes to MLB uniforms. Todd knows his stuff - to an expert level. That comes through in spades. What doesn’t are the huge volume of photos that I was hoping to see when flipping through this book.
This needed to be an even more visual offering that what’s presented. Most chapters have a few pages of text starting off and then a few photo examples reinforcing what’s just been read. I would have loved more the “say dog, see dog” approach. I just feel like there could have been a lot more to offer here.
The writing style was a little bit “mixed” for me. Sometimes Todd paints a really great picture, but other times he tries to hard to be clever. A tough go when it doesn’t quite work.
Overall, this was a fun read - but I was left wanting more. Good information and detail and some stellar pics. Oh...that’s the other thing. A lot of just jersey photos. I would have loved more game action shots. That would have really been impressive.
Baseball fans and jersey lovers will need to check this one out.
Not only did I get around to reading it - I bought a copy. It’s one of those titles that you just want to have on hand now....and like 50 years from now. I can only imagine how this book will age.
It’s a great discussion on some of the incredible misses when it comes to MLB uniforms. Todd knows his stuff - to an expert level. That comes through in spades. What doesn’t are the huge volume of photos that I was hoping to see when flipping through this book.
This needed to be an even more visual offering that what’s presented. Most chapters have a few pages of text starting off and then a few photo examples reinforcing what’s just been read. I would have loved more the “say dog, see dog” approach. I just feel like there could have been a lot more to offer here.
The writing style was a little bit “mixed” for me. Sometimes Todd paints a really great picture, but other times he tries to hard to be clever. A tough go when it doesn’t quite work.
Overall, this was a fun read - but I was left wanting more. Good information and detail and some stellar pics. Oh...that’s the other thing. A lot of just jersey photos. I would have loved more game action shots. That would have really been impressive.
Baseball fans and jersey lovers will need to check this one out.
January 6, 2019
This book deserves five stars because it is a perfect baseball uniform book. Todd Radom has all the depth of knowledge you need to discuss this history. But he writes as a fan and child of the 70s. He discusses why the colorful uniforms of the 70s developed, how the trend expanded and why they ultimately went away. He is honest rather than nostalgic about the lack of color in the iconic uniforms of the 50s and carries the narrative beyond the 90s. His love of the crazy double knit era is clear. The thing that puts this book into the five star range though is that he chronicles when good teams make bad decisions (I'm looking at you Pirates Red uniform) and has an entire chapter on the "Turn ahead the clock night" of the late 90s. This is legendary among uni-fans. Radom appreciate the zany creativity of the idea and provides beautiful pictures. In fact the whole book is beautiful, a work of art in and of itself. If you love baseball uniforms or pine for the sans-a-belt pants and pullover shirts of the 70, this is a must have.
August 22, 2020
This book was so much fun. This was a great read, filled with great pics and dripping with nostalgia. If you're a baseball fan, it's well worth the read.
March 29, 2019
Great work @toddradom
March 19, 2019
Precisely what it purports to be, the book is a visual history of the strange diversions in American baseball uniform history.
What drags it down a bit is mostly its organization. Having the photos all in groups following the text makes for a lot of flipping back and forth. It can be tough to internalize written descriptions of old-timey uniforms without some visual context. If some of the pictures had been interspersed with the text, I think it would have worked better. The topic is inherently visual, but it felt like the text was often disconnected to or redundant with the visual sections.
Additionally, the themes of the chapters seemed unclear. It began as a strictly chronological affair, which made sense, but then the chronology went out the window and the author introduced categories of uniform design. Those categories, however, weren't strictly defined and often seemed arbitrary. Given the aforementioned text-visual separation, it was hard to get a grasp of what he was focusing on in later chapters. It didn't help that some chapters were a dozen pages of text, while others were two pages. It felt as though the distinction of nine chapters was an arbitrary theme to fit the baseball motif, but it wasn't supported by the text itself.
At the end of the day, the book works best as a visual history. Feel free to skim the text and relish the photo sections. From that vantage, it will largely fulfill what any likely reader is looking for. Also, the design and the physical material of the book is quite attractive in itself. Considering the subject, I'm not sure if its high aesthetic quality is fitting or ironic.
What drags it down a bit is mostly its organization. Having the photos all in groups following the text makes for a lot of flipping back and forth. It can be tough to internalize written descriptions of old-timey uniforms without some visual context. If some of the pictures had been interspersed with the text, I think it would have worked better. The topic is inherently visual, but it felt like the text was often disconnected to or redundant with the visual sections.
Additionally, the themes of the chapters seemed unclear. It began as a strictly chronological affair, which made sense, but then the chronology went out the window and the author introduced categories of uniform design. Those categories, however, weren't strictly defined and often seemed arbitrary. Given the aforementioned text-visual separation, it was hard to get a grasp of what he was focusing on in later chapters. It didn't help that some chapters were a dozen pages of text, while others were two pages. It felt as though the distinction of nine chapters was an arbitrary theme to fit the baseball motif, but it wasn't supported by the text itself.
At the end of the day, the book works best as a visual history. Feel free to skim the text and relish the photo sections. From that vantage, it will largely fulfill what any likely reader is looking for. Also, the design and the physical material of the book is quite attractive in itself. Considering the subject, I'm not sure if its high aesthetic quality is fitting or ironic.
May 27, 2018
Winning Ugly is a grand review of some of the worst baseball uniforms ever, with a special emphasis on the uniforms of the 1970s and 1980s. The prose occasionally rises above the pedestrian, but the point of a book like this is not the prose. This books exists for pictures of the uniforms and the design commentary.
The emphasis of this book is on the jerseys, with occasional commentary on the pants, especially when the pants are decorated or bear numbers. Commentary on caps would have been welcome. While not ugly, why do the Yankees and Tigers (for example) cap logos not match their uniform logos. And there have been times when jerseys were passable but the caps were not. Ah, but I quibble.
This was a most enjoyable review of baseball uniform history.
The emphasis of this book is on the jerseys, with occasional commentary on the pants, especially when the pants are decorated or bear numbers. Commentary on caps would have been welcome. While not ugly, why do the Yankees and Tigers (for example) cap logos not match their uniform logos. And there have been times when jerseys were passable but the caps were not. Ah, but I quibble.
This was a most enjoyable review of baseball uniform history.
May 28, 2018
I have listen to Todd Radom on the ESPN Baseball Tonight podcast every Monday for the past few years stumping Buster Olney with his uniform trivia. I was interested to read this book when it came up on the podcast. It is really a history of baseball uniforms. In general sting back to baseball’s infancy. It is an interesting read if you are into baseball and baseball uniforms over time. I wish there was more on the colorful 1970’s uniforms. The other small complaint was with the pictures of the uniform. All the pictures came at the end of the chapter, at least in the ebook version. I wish they were mixed in the chapter, so I could see the uniforms as I read about them. Overall a very interesting read.
August 14, 2018
So I'm way far behind on my "one book a week" pace, but that doesn't mean I haven't been stockpiling a bunch of stuff and half-reading just as much over the past few months.
This is a fun, entertaining, and brisk overview of the occasionally-ignominious history of MLB uniforms, and my only problem with it is that it doesn't even try to be comprehensive, or aim any higher than its target audience, which appears to be very young baseball fans. In short, it's fun but also mildly annoying.
This is a fun, entertaining, and brisk overview of the occasionally-ignominious history of MLB uniforms, and my only problem with it is that it doesn't even try to be comprehensive, or aim any higher than its target audience, which appears to be very young baseball fans. In short, it's fun but also mildly annoying.
May 10, 2018
Holy cow, do I love this book!
I am a complete sucker for vintage sports uniforms, especially baseball ones. This is like a dream come true.
Big beautiful full color photos of all these sartorial missteps, make this the perfect book to put on your coffee table this spring.
The boys are back in town and they're wearing teal and brown!
It's all so gloriously tacky.
I am a complete sucker for vintage sports uniforms, especially baseball ones. This is like a dream come true.
Big beautiful full color photos of all these sartorial missteps, make this the perfect book to put on your coffee table this spring.
The boys are back in town and they're wearing teal and brown!
It's all so gloriously tacky.
June 1, 2020
A fun, quick read on the odd history of baseball uniforms. It's chock full of photos, and relatively light on text, which makes it a very easy read, but a fairly authoritative (and fun, non-academic) one. If you enjoy the topic and look forward to straining your retinas on the Padres' Burger King looking '70s togs, well, you're in the right place.
November 7, 2020
This is a nice walk down memory lane, but it needs MORE MORE MORE pictures. A book that takes readers through the history of uniforms, both good and bad, should have a picture of every uniform that’s described. This is a good coffee table book but fell just short of being a great coffee table book.
August 16, 2018
Only Todd Radom could color in a visual timeline with prose. Todd's homage to the past and zest for the future hop off the page with colorful photography and an artist's insight into baseball history.
January 8, 2021
Todd Radom, a graphic designer in baseball, authored this sensational book on every team’s uniform throughout the years. Pictures are colorful and vibrant and Todd does a great job on giving the backstory on each uni. A must read for any baseball fan
July 2, 2018
Felt thin, but nice photos
August 29, 2018
A delightful look at the beauty that is ugliness. Though I do question the author aesthetic assessment on a number of these uniform color schemes.
April 10, 2019
A really great book! Just wish there was more of it.
February 13, 2020
I, enjoy this book. I learn alot about the history of baseball. Also how big uniforms play in baseball lore and history
June 4, 2020
A wonderfully fun look at baseball’s past with stories and images of all the many colorful trends and fads the game has known for over a century.
May 30, 2021
Interesting book. I felt it was lacking in some places but overall very entertaining. And reminded me that the 2021 jerseys of today look nothing like the 1999 predictions. Darn it!
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews