McGwire's Steroid Admission & the Heavier Load

THERE'S BEEN A LOT OF TALK and anger towards Mark McGwire since his admission to using steroids during the bulk of his career, and much of that anger is justified. There's nothing like rooting so hard for a guy only to find out that he was a fraud. Baseball fans have been left with feelings of anger, sadness, disappointment, betrayal and other negative feelings juxtaposed against these incredible memories of greatness from 1998. It's impossible to reconcile the two types of feelings. One thing is sure, McGwire's admission only puts additional pressure on guys like Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens to come forward and admit their wrongdoing.

2010 BP Caps

MLB recently announced their new authentic batting practice caps for 2010. These are slightly different from the previous years cap that featured the small side panel arch. I thought I'd post some of the interesting ones here for discussion:

The Rangers cap is probably the cap that takes full advantage of the new style, the white piping and the red side panels on the bill.

 

The Rays cap made me hesitate. MLB teams have routinely shied away from pastel colors as being less-aggressive, so this one definitely stands out. I'm not as fond of it, but it's a bold move, and at least it'll keep heads a tad cooler in that Florida summer sun.

The Tigers road cap is my personal favorite. The orange against navy has always worked so well for Detroit, and this is just another example of that. An orange bill with navy side panels would have been primo.

The Braves cap is also a nice cap, but doesn't fully commit to fully extending the white piping down the bill. Still, it's a nice classic look.

As classic as this Indians cap looks, it doesn't at all utilize the style of the cap, so the piping appears awkward. A missed opportunity.

 

The A's cap is not all that different from the Tigers road cap, but my pet-peeve with it is the logo. The double outline on the logo is a no-no in my opinion. All it does is make the logo look fuzzy. Terrible.

Andre Dawson, Hall of Famer '10

Farewell #51

Vintage LIFE Baseball Photos: Donn Clendenon

RECENTLY I CAME ACROSS some vintage LIFE baseball photos on Google Images, including this outstanding image of former New York Mets Donn Clendenon. Having been born after the '69 Mets made history, looking at a photo like this is the closest I'll ever get to experiencing baseball before my day--the wool, the felt letters, the high sleeves, the tiny wristband, the thin cap. But it's quite obvious that the photo needed a bit of optimizing in order to make viewers feel as if they're standing right there next to Mr. Clendenon. So I decided to optimize the photo using three adjustment steps in Photoshop that I typically use with vintage photos in order to get more accurate colors. These steps aren't necessarily all that I would use to optimize a photo professionally, but they help give me a quick look at a photo's restoration potential. This is not a tutorial, but rather a quick step thru of the process leading to the final result.

STEP 1: Adjusting light levels

STEP 2: Adjusting Color Balance

STEP 3: Adjusting Saturation

After

Before

(NOTE: It is not my intent to use these photos without permission, but rather through what I consider to be "fair use", I'm posting these photos for those who share an appreciation of vintage baseball photography. For this reason, I have posted smaller, low-resolution photos than the originals.)