Old news at this point, but still very much priceless and worth repeating: the Giants’ starting pitchers will be rocking stirrup socks this season as a symbol of unity.
I’m sort of an old-school baseball fan. I think I read and write more about baseball players from a hundred years ago than I do about people who are still playing, so I guess it all makes sense. Part of the old-schoolness is a love of stirrup socks. The Dressed to the Nines online exhibit has plenty of information on socks if you want it, but suffice it to say — and you’ll have noticed this if you’ve been around long enough — that the stirrup sock has sort of disappeared from baseball. A few guys still wear them (Jamie Moyer, Juan Pierre), but they’re not nearly as common as they used to be. The solid high sock is also fairly uncommon these days (Mike Timlin). Most guys prefer the shoe-length pants today. I do not. Stirrups were good enough for Nolan Ryan and they’re good enough for you, dammit. That’s just me, though.
I love the stirrup sock look, and I love that the Giants pitchers are doing this. Now this is something that (for me) will make Giants games more fun this season — no Barry Bonds for the announcers to focus on, and now some of the guys will be rocking stirrup socks. I can’t complain about that…at least until Vin Scully spends an entire inning talking about them. Fifteen minutes on Sandy Koufax’s stirrup socks might be enough to make me wish Vinny would talk about Omar Vizquel instead.
I do wish Barry Zito’s desire to wear orange sanitaries with black stirrups would be granted, though. That would rule. Wouldn’t be the worst combination ever (Rollie Fingers).
Paul Lukas has a post about this, with pictures, over at Uni Watch.
Stirrups make a comeback with starters [SFGiants.com]
Dressed to the Nines: A History of Baseball Uniforms [National Baseball Hall of Fame]
