Day three of our sartorial survey takes us to the National League West where we start off with the World Freakin’ Champs.
The Best: In recent years the Giants have kept a classic look. Not always so in the old days. You know what’s gangsta? Writing “World’s Champions” on your uniforms, that’s what’s gangsta. If the Giants did that for 2011 I would consider dropping the Braves as my favorite team on the basis of pure awesomeness. They had a lot of different looks in the early day, sometimes with pinstripes, sometimes with red. They first went to the now-classic black and orange in 1933. That didn’t stick immediately -- there was more blue and red in their future -- but they eventually realized that it was a good look and settled on it for good in 1947. For the best you can pick basically any year between then and 1976, and from 1994 until the present day. I’ll go with this as the best anyone has ever looked in a Giants uniform, but really, you can’t go wrong. I dunno, maybe it looked better on Willie McCovey. Longer lines and all of that.
The Worst: They’ve gone to plaid! And check out the Yankee-envy they were rocking in 1924. Must have worked because the Giants won the pennant that year while the Yankees stayed home, though I wouldn’t call that a great look for what we now know as the Giants. The late 70s stuff was unfortunate, with the script, black and orange just killing a team that looks best in a timeless ensemble. And that mid-80s-to-1993 look, complete with the bolder, blockier “Giants” on the home jerseys and the interlocking “SF” on the roadies puts me in mind of a 1990s NBA team, and no one in sports looked worse than poorly-dressed 1990s NBA teams. None of those are the worst though. These are. Please banish them now. You looked ridiculous in them, and I don’t care if you think they helped you win it all or not. Go get those plaid jerseys back.
Assessment: I love the cream colored homies. I love the simple lettering. Orange and black -- when used as accent colors only, not the main color -- are really nice. Just a great look overall. Among the best in baseball. Keep it simple. That is, unless you want to go with “World’s Champions” next season. In which case I’d buy two.