When it comes to great baseball rivalries or the best rivalries in all of sports look at no further than the Giants and Dodgers. The ill-will between fans, players and ownership crosses decades, a century and the continental United States. This is the longest running and the most storied rivalry in all of baseball history. Both franchise’ date as far back as the nineteenth century, played in New York City and were National League teams. While the rivalry began in New York between the two at the Polo Grounds located in Manhattan and Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, it was suddenly moved to California in 1958. The feud has been fueled by pennant races and playoff runs in which one of these National League teams prevents the other from a bid into the post season. The historical significance of this great rivalry has led to increases in jersey sales and taunting of team jersey pride in each other’s ballparks.

The Dodgers Jersey

Like the most traditional baseball franchises the Dodgers jersey has remained mostly the same for close to 70 years. The home jersey is bright white with the “Dodgers” logo written in blue cursive lettering across the chest, finished with a classic swoosh coming of the “s”. The away jersey is identical except in an off white or grayish color. The jersey first saw the “Dodgers” name across the chest back in 1933 when the color’s team outfit was white with red pinstripes. Throughout the 1937 season, the team wore uniforms outlines in green with green caps before devoting themselves to “Dodger Blue“. The team jersey has remained the same since 1939 with very minor changes, most notably the removal of “Brooklyn” from the “away” jerseys.

The Giants Jersey

Unlike their adversary, the Giants have made many more changes to their jerseys through the years. After the move to California in 1958 they kept the jerseys with bold block print curved across the chest, and orange outlines but obviously changed the “New York” with “San Francisco“. In 1973 the team saw its first major amendment to the jersey by reversing the colors for the “Giants ” logo across the chest. In 1977 the Giants made the switch from the classic button down jerseys to pullovers, keeping up with baseball’s style changes. They then created a new front logo replacing the block lettering with a script font in orange and black and a uniform number placed on the front. The Giants, furthermore, had the same home jersey in black and the road jersey was orange with block lettering “San Francisco” across the front. In 1978 the team would forgo the block lettering and keep the “Giants” script logo on the away jersey as well.

In 1983 the franchise let go of the pullover jersey adopted in the 70’s to go back to the traditional button down style. The same year they also used white home jerseys and gray away jerseys with a new nontraditional block-like typography logo across the chest. Continuing to stay traditional but with a modern appearance in 1994 the team once again changed their logo, this time back to classic jerseys of their history with block lettering. Through the years after the Giants have made only minor changes, keeping with a traditional old school look but with contemporary accents. In 2000 they eliminated the player’s names across the back of the jersey and changed the color from white to cream from the franchises’ early history. The final major change to the Giant’s jersey came in 2001 when they made an alternate style in black. The jersey was identical to the cream ones being used at the time and only used for away games during the 20002 season. The black jerseys were worn with the standard cream (home) and white (away) pants.

Fan Jerseys

Today fans wear their team jerseys with great pride and admiration. Baseball jerseys in general have become a very popular and stylish clothing fashion, from rock stars, hip-hop artists and even grandmothers around the world. The legitimate jerseys sold to the public are the real deal and exactly what the players are wearing on the field. Furthermore, to gain popularity are the throwback jerseys which fans can purchase for any player of any era just the way they were worn in baseballs historical past. Whenever there is a heated rivalry between two great teams, with the Dodgers and Giants, and each has a history of amazing moments, players and fans the team jerseys of today and yesterday will be the most desired. The differences of the teams can be traced right through to their jerseys, the unchanged tradition “Dodger Blue” and the ever changing modern styling of the San Francisco Giants. One thing that cannot change is this unrelenting rivalry, which has woven itself into the fabric of not just baseball history but American culture.

Reviews and tips for getting <A HREF=”http://www.reedstickets.net/the-addams-family-tickets.html“>The Addams Family Tickets for Broadway</A> as well as resources for all New York City entertainment.

I’ve got a guest writer this week to mix it up a little.  The Dodgers are literally going down the toilet and the Giants can’t seem to lose, so it was time to mix it up.

This week, we’ve got a special article on the history of the Dodgers/Giants Jerseys.  I have a contact who helps sell tickets to broadway shows in New York, but happens to know a lot about the Dodgers/Giants rivalry.  The next post will be his and there will be a link at the bottom on where to find tickets to the Addams Family show in New York.  You can also find other show tickets through this link:

http://www.reedstickets.net/index.html

Thanks again Reed for the great history lesson.  Enjoy the post everybody.

Lesson learned from the Dodgers/Giants game yesterday.

No matter how much Giants fans can’t stand seeing you in Dodger blue, if they feel you have cute kids in Dodger Blue…they won’t rip on you near as much.  I had my boy in Dodger blue and my girl in Dodger pink and the Giants fans just melted.  I do love Dodger Stadium, but I now love that AT&T has an area for young kids…it bought me at least one more inning at the game.

Well – as one of my friends put it…if you can’t score, you can’t win.  The Dodgers pitched great (really liked seeing Dotel hold the score), but they couldn’t score.  The Dodgers look really different with three lead off guys in a row.  If those three can start hitting, the Dodgers could get really fast.

The missing link yesterday in my opinion was Matt Kemp.  He just doesn’t have it.  He’s not hitting well and he didn’t play centerfield very well yesterday either.  I was behind him in the bleachers and more than once he lost the ball in the sun.  I realize it is the sun, but he just seemed to get late breaks as well. 

You should have heard the fans booing him.  Among the comments I heard…

“Hey Kemp, how’s Rihanna?” and “Hey Kemp, Chris Brown hits harder than you do…”  Not a nice one, but they were definitely going for blood with him.

If Ethier can come back hitting and Manny can hit again, the Dodgers can make a good run as they have a solid team now.  Ned Colletti did his job and now they just need the offense to hit.  I read to day that Joe Torre said that he wasn’t worried, that they will hit.  I think that is true.  They picked a bummer time to slump, but I still think they will be in it at the end.  Will they win the division?  Not sure yet….but if they start hitting, they could go far in the playoffs.  I’m calling it now though – the Dodgers and Giants are going to have a dog fight at the end.  Should be fun.

To close, found a great article in the L.A. Times today (click here) on Casey Blake and Ted Lilly.  It seems that all is washed away when you become teammates.  Casey Blake called out Ted Lilly earlier in the year when he was on the Cubs for “cheating” on the mound by not properly stepping on it and getting a little closer to home plate.  Below is the excerpt when asked about his new teammate.

Among the new teammates Lilly met Sunday was Casey Blake, who accused him of cheating when the Dodgers faced the Cubs in May. Blake said Lilly was pitching from in front of the rubber.

“I’ll tell him to keep doing it,” he said.

So long until next time…Frankly I’m glad to see the Dodgers get out of town.

Let’s just start by saying that it should be a “fun” day at the ballpark with my kids after the Giants have humiliated the Dodgers for two games. I’m hoping my cute son and daughter in Dodger gear will help dispel the wrath of Giants fans with me in my Dodger jersey. I’m also hoping I don’t scar them for life so that they never want to go back.

The first game, the Dodgers just couldn’t hit. Casey Blake had a chance and once again just can’t seem to be the clutch game winner.

Last night, Casey Blake came through…but then Jonathan Broxton didn’t. My apologizes to all of you fans as I have definitely gotten lax with Broxton. He seems to have shed his old ways…even against the Giants, so that I stopped telling Joe Torre to not play him in SF. Well, I’ve learned my lesson. He is overworked and the Giants have momentum right now.

Joe Torre – even if it is a 1 run game, DON’T use Broxton. Hopefully Dotel will arrive today. Let him finish it just until you can leave SF. The Giants have his number and yesterday was just embarrassing. It’s one thing to lose, another to give the Giants a highlight that they will replay over and over and over AND over again.

We’ll see how today goes. The Dodgers should win, but they just don’t look sharp. I like all the new signings. They definitely needed the pitching help.

It’s funny to me, that for the first time in a long time, I really miss Manny. I thought he was done, but we need him to come back and stay healthy and help this team. Kemp and Ethier miss him the most.

Well, wish me luck. My wife is a Giants fan so I’m sure she’ll be trying to unbrainwash my kids as we go. I’m worked very hard this week to remind them that “who do we want to win?” THE DODGERS!

Go Blue.

Ready for this one? The last series didn’t matter as much, this one does. The Dodgers are 7 games back, but only 3.5 back of the Giants. If they can gain some ground this weekend, then they can at least be closer to the wild card. They need to at least hold steady until Mad Colletti can add Ted Lilly to the troop. The pitching is strong right now, but he would definitely help the back end of the rotation.

Here’s my take on the games.

Tonight, 7:15 pm Tim Lincecum vs. Carlos Monestarios

I have to again give it to the Freak.  He’s not looking totally sharp right now (on my fantasy team), but I still think he will manage the game better than Monestarios.

Saturday, 1pm Fox

Chad Billingsley vs Barry Zito

I give this one to Billingsley.  He is looking sharp right now.  Zito doesn’t look bad either, but I give Billingsley the edge.

Sunday, 5pm ESPN (Going to the game)

Clayton Kershaw vs. Matt Cain

I give this one to Kershaw.  Kershaw has been really sharp of late and he should be able to beat out “tough luck” Cain. 

As always, the bullpens will come into play, but I like the Dodgers chances this weekend.

As mentioned, I’ll be at the game at 5pm on Sunday.  They changed the time, so be aware of that.  If you want to meet up before the game, shoot me an e-mail at scott@sfdodgerfan.com.

Also, I will be in San Jose on Saturday, so if you want to meet at a restaurant to watch the game down there, again, shoot me an e-mail.

Go Blue.