Fitted in Black - The History and Impact of the Chicago White Sox 1990 Rebranding

[The Talented Allen Ripley]

Up until 1990, the Chicago White Sox had no historic visual identity, having gone through numerous incohesive uniform redesigns over the decades, with changes to team colors, logos, and fonts being implemented seemingly on a whim. It reached its ugly zenith with the notorious sailor/disco collars of the late '70s, a set that even included shorts on three occasions instead of pants. That hideous look was followed by the 80s beach blanket uniforms, which were more popular in comparison (how could they not be?), but those were quickly replaced by a boring button down and belted set with standard baseball script lettering across the chest.

And then came 1990. Suddenly everybody was wearing a black Sox hats with Olde English script, and popularized by an unlikely source: hip-hop fashion. The video below is a 20-minute documentary that will be fascinating to you if you like baseball, uniform design, marketing, hip-hop, or -- in the case of @John Marzano Olympic Hero and Ice Cube -- porcelain dolls. The White Sox have maintained the same look for over 30 years now, and in the capricious world of sports marketing that we live in today, their logo and uniform can truly be considered a classic.

View: https://youtu.be/Xn1a51gNUU4?si=NbmNmtvq1_HAbpPy

 

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

The video below is a 20-minute documentary that will be fascinating to you if you like baseball, uniform design, marketing, hip-hop, or -- in the case of @John Marzano Olympic Hero and Ice Cube -- porcelain dolls.

You know me so well.

I haven't watched the doc yet but there was an article making the round earlier this week that the person responsible for the White Sox update brought a few of the proposed uniform changes to a block party and had guests come into his house to check them out. All of them loved the black and silver stuff.

And I loved that rebrand too. In 1991 armed with my birthday and summer job money I marched down to the Fox Run Mall and bought myself the new away White Sox jersey. It was like $120, by far the most I've ever paid for any stitch of clothing up to that point, but it was so awesome I just had to have it. The clincher was the secondary logo, it was awesome in its simplicity. It's one of my favorite looks of all time.

 

[Humphrey]

I believe they debuted the road grays in a series with the Sox at the end of the 1990 season, wanted to get a head start on merchandising for 1991. The series that included the famous Brunansky catch.

 

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

I believe they debuted the road grays in a series with the Sox at the end of the 1990 season, wanted to get a head start on merchandising for 1991. The series that included the famous Brunansky catch.

That's true. I don't think that happened before or since.

If you came of baseball age in the early to mid 80s, the White Sox' uniforms were a complete mess. I really dug their unis from 87-90 (with the curly-cue C on the hat -- which I can't seem to find anywhere) but the stuff they wore after 90 was a quantum leap forward. I remember seeing Ice Cube wearing a White Sox hat and being like, "Now they made the big league."

The strange thing about the White Sox was even though they played in the same city as the Cubs, they never had their own image. The Cubs were traditional, they played in lovable old Wrigley, they lost but were cute about it. The Sox just seemed, I don't know, but they just didn't seem to be from the same city. Comiskey looked broken down and busted, their uniforms were always changing for the worst, they didn't have an Ernie Banks type of dude to galvanize fans. They were one of the oldest teams in the American League and it seemed like they just got an expansion franchise in 1975.

The dichotomy between the two teams was vast, way more than other teams that share a city or region: Yankees/Mets, A's/Giants or Angels/Dodgers.

 

[Comfortably Lomb]

I really dug their unis from 87-90 (with the curly-cue C on the hat -- which I can't seem to find anywhere)

Lol, they put their uniform numbers on their pants:



I like the "C" and SOX logo. Aside from the numbers on their pants the uniform isn't terrible, but I'm getting a minor league vibe from it. If you told me these are the Columbus White Sox or something I'd believe you.

 

[Lose Remerswaal]

The strange thing about the White Sox was even though they played in the same city as the Cubs, they never had their own image. The Cubs were traditional, they played in lovable old Wrigley, they lost but were cute about it. The Sox just seemed, I don't know, but they just didn't seem to be from the same city. Comiskey looked broken down and busted, their uniforms were always changing for the worst, they didn't have an Ernie Banks type of dude to galvanize fans. They were one of the oldest teams in the American League and it seemed like they just got an expansion franchise in 1975.

this is great analysis.

 

[Zedia]

The red uniforms on all the guys in my old baseball card collection seems weird. But then again, this is awesome:

 

[54thMA]

Up until 1990, the Chicago White Sox had no historic visual identity, having gone through numerous and incohesive uniform redesigns over the decades, with changes to team colors, logos, and fonts being implemented seemingly on a whim. It reached its ugly zenith with the notorious sailor/disco collars of the late '70s, a set that even included shorts on three occasions instead of pants. That hideous look was followed by the 80s beach blanket uniforms, which were more popular in comparison (how could they not?), but those were quickly replaced by a boring button down and belted set with standard baseball script lettering across the chest.

And then came 1990. Suddenly everybody was wearing a black Sox hats with Olde English script, popularized by an unlikely source: hip-hop fashion. The video below is a 20-minute documentary that will be fascinating to you if you like baseball, uniform design, marketing, hip-hop, or -- in the case of @John Marzano Olympic Hero and Ice Cube -- porcelain dolls. The White Sox have maintained the same look for over 30 years now, and in the capricious world of sports marketing we live in today, their logo and uniform can truly be considered a classic.

View: https://youtu.be/Xn1a51gNUU4?si=NbmNmtvq1_HAbpPy

Thanks for posting that video, it was great.

That black Sox hat with the olde English script is the only non Boston based professional sports team hat I've ever owned.

I bought my fitted hat in........................1990 and I still have it.

 

[John Marzano Olympic Hero]

Lol, they put their uniform numbers on their pants:

View attachment 71181

I like the "C" and SOX logo. Aside from the numbers on their pants the uniform isn't terrible, but I'm getting a minor league vibe from it. If you told me these are the Columbus White Sox or something I'd believe you.

View attachment 71182

The numbers on their pants was a hold over from the beach-blanket bingo Sox jerseys of the mid 80s. The Astros had pants numbers too.

You can make out Ozzie's 13 on his left hip.

Any day you can see Jose Cruz in a tequila sunrise uniform is a great day.

 

[snowmanny]

Hadn't thought about Jose Cruz and the 1980 nlcs in awhile. He/that was something else.

 

[Humphrey]

The White Sox have had in my fan lifetime 4 home unis that were essentially the same, white w/pin stripes with a number on the right chest, "Sox" diagonal on the left.

Only difference was the pin stripe and lettering color: Navy, Royal (briefly, late 60s, when the team was awful), Red; and, for 30+ years, black.

I actually liked the red best, being a big Dick Allen fan.

I wonder if these unis will last longer than the Sox do in Chicago, given they are beating the moving out drums again.

 

[Montana Fan]

Assume these are in the video but posting here for posterity. August 8th, 1976.

 

[runnels3]

Those are fabulous. Thank you Bill Veeck.

 

[Comfortably Lomb]

The shorts get all the attention but the jersey is very strange too. It's a v-neck pullover and has a massive collar, sort of, because the collar actually stops at the shoulders and doesn't go around the back. It's almost like they added epaulettes stripped of ornamentation to the shoulders.

 

[bankshot1]

I always like the cap design of the interlinked S O X letters from when I first started watching baseball 65 years ago.. When the White Sox went to a red cap in the 70s it was an easy decision to add that cap to my modest Red Sox hat collection.

 

[Sad Sam Jones]

The White Sox were my 2nd team in the days of The Big Hurt, Black Jack and Tim Raines... as an Indians fan back then, I always needed another team to root for that might play meaningful games after Memorial Day and it was before realignment made them division rivals. In 1992 I bought a replica 1919 jersey that I still wear a couple of times each year... it got a few compliments last year when I was visiting Chicago and last month in Cooperstown. It might be a replica, but at this point it's pretty much an antique itself.

 

[103mph Screwball]

As a young kid and teenager in the 90s, Frank Thomas was one of my favorite non-Red Sox players. I remember my dad took me to the Hall of Fame ~93 and left with one of the black fitted White Sox hats.

 

[jose melendez]

In 1996, I wore a Red Sox t-shirt in Germany, and a young woman asked me if I was in a gang.

It was ausgezeichnet.

 

[jose melendez]

Assume these are in the video but posting here for posterity. August 8th, 1976.

View attachment 71207

How do you slide in those?

 

[Red(s)HawksFan]

How do you slide in those?

Carefully.

And on your belly. Corollary of the Tim Raines principle.

 

[Red Right Ankle]

How do you slide in those?

Very carefully

 

[Red Right Ankle]

Dammit

 

[Humphrey]

How do you slide in those?

Add to that, in reference to them playing several times a year at KC, "on Astroturf". MLB infields might be soft enough to not cause a lot of raspberries, but not that glorified asphalt!

 

[Rudi Fingers]

Add to that, in reference to them playing several times a year at KC, "on Astroturf". MLB infields might be soft enough to not cause a lot of raspberries, but not that glorified asphalt!

1976 also happened to be the year that they removed the Astroturf infield (installed in 1969) from Comiskey and made it all grass again.