Short-lived style

[sox83cubs84]

Actually, it isn't the style so much as the supplier of the style.

When Russell got the MLB uniform contract in 1992, most teams hooked up, as did Seatlle...at least initially. The M's, however, did not care for the Russell attire, and, about a month into the season, received a different order from Rawlings that was used til season's end.

The photo shown below is of the Mariners' Matt Sinatro Russell home gamer from that first month. Russell's jerseys for Seattle in '92 carried no year/set/player ID tagging, and entailed both home and road gamers, both of which were replaced by Rawlings unies.



Dave Miedema

[Insomniac186]

Very interesting! I always wondered when Russell contract. When did Majestic take over?

[xpress34]

Dave -

Your description of the Russell tagging (or lack there of) is consistent with the inconsistencies of Russell tagging throughout their run of making the Rockies jerseys!

Insomniac -

Yes, Russell became a supplier of Major League uniforms in 1992 but they did not have an exclusive contract. Many teams continued with Rawlings and some went back to Rawlings like Dave's example with the Mariners.

The Majestic 'movement' took place in 2004 or 2005. I'm pretty sure it was 2004. They had been supplying BP jerseys for some time but when they made their deal with MLB, they got an Exclusive contract to be THE maker of MLB uniforms.

In 2002 - 2004 when I was working for Nike, they had just started making baseball Pro-Fit, Pro-Dri, etc and Nike was in contract talks with MLB to try and become the official Jersey (they had already done NBA, NFL and a few NHL (Olympics)). Although not given the 'jersey' contract, they have made headway with their Dri-Fit and Pro-Fit and Pro-Dri undergarments becoming the MLB standard for most teams.

All the best -

Smitty

[sox83cubs84]

Very interesting! I always wondered when Russell contract. When did Majestic take over?

After Rawlings no longer was a supplier of MLB uniforms, the 2003-04 seasons found the 30 teams split between Russell and Majestic (who began their stint as Rangers supplier). As of 2005 Majestic became the official uniform supplier for all 30 teams.

Dave Miedema

[Insomniac186]

Thanks for the info, guys! I'm still learning about jerseys.

[MarinersFan34]

Bringing up this old post from the past to perhaps glean more info.

After looking through a few other old threads regarding the M's and the 1992 season I've found that they got a set of Russell Athletic jerseys to start the season with and after a few weeks (up to a month) they switched back to Rawlings for the rest of 1992.

The picture below shows Kevin Mitchell during a spring training game since his pants are home whites and he's wearing the home blue top. The manufacturer logo on the right sleeve is missing though.



It doesn't seem like they'd need to cover up a Rawlings logo when several other cards in 1992 clearly show it. They don't appear to be touched up/airbrushed. So did they decide during spring they didn't want the RA jerseys? It doesn't make sense to go with a missing manufacturer logo in spring then use a RA for the first month of regular season for BP, then switch back. Then again, just because it seems illogical that doesn't mean it isn't what happened.

I guess my overall questions is this, were they issued a set of RA BP tops and if they did, when were they used.

[Juicyfruit66]

I had always heard that they tried out the new Russell jerseys but they felt so bad that some players switched back to their old rawlings jersey. I owned a retail intera mariners jersey and it did indeed look kind of crappy, the blue piping turned purple.

[sox83cubs84]

Bringing up this old post from the past to perhaps glean more info.

After looking through a few other old threads regarding the M's and the 1992 season I've found that they got a set of Russell Athletic jerseys to start the season with and after a few weeks (up to a month) they switched back to Rawlings for the rest of 1992.

The picture below shows Kevin Mitchell during a spring training game since his pants are home whites and he's wearing the home blue top. The manufacturer logo on the right sleeve is missing though.





It doesn't seem like they'd need to cover up a Rawlings logo when several other cards in 1992 clearly show it. They don't appear to be touched up/airbrushed. So did they decide during spring they didn't want the RA jerseys? It doesn't make sense to go with a missing manufacturer logo in spring then use a RA for the first month of regular season for BP, then switch back. Then again, just because it seems illogical that doesn't mean it isn't what happened.

I guess my overall questions is this, were they issued a set of RA BP tops and if they did, when were they used.

1992 cards would, by and large, have 1991 photos, and Rawlings did use logos that year, as they were the contracted MLB uniform supplier. In 1992, any manufacturers other than the new contracted supplier (Russell) couldn't use sleeve logos on game jerseys, ncluding Wilson, Rawlingsand Goodman, as they had no official deal with MLB. On BP jerseys, Majestic was the only company besides Russell that could add sleeve logos.

Dave M.

[Phil316]

1992 was Kevin Mitchell's only season with Seattle so that picture would be from 1992 spring training. I know in some instances card companies edit out logos.


The 1992 Blue with "Mariners" across the front BP/Spring training jerseys are hard to find. If ever I find them they are always Russell Athletic and show little to no use. I have owned at one time a Omar Vizquel, Randy Johnson, Edgar Martinez, Mike Schooler and a couple others. I was under the impression they used these and the gray ones in spring training only. Not during the regular season.

In 1992 they introduced the pullover with zipper front mesh style with the M's baseball logo for use during the regular season.