Skip to main content

Luv ya blue


Nostalgia is a funny thing. What was once mediocre, or even disliked, becomes a sentimental landmark of a certain time and place.

I'm one of the few baseball fans who doesn't care much about retro uniforms, but I do sit up and take notice when the uniforms of the '70s and '80s are worn by current players. These are the uniforms that I knew as "the way uniforms are supposed to be" as I was growing up, even though there is no clothing designer in the country today who would consider the Astros' tequila sunrise unis as the template for baseball wear.

Baseball teams broke out their clothing freak flags in the 1970s and even those teams who weren't willing to go as far as the Astros, Padres, Pirates and Oakland A's, ventured into converting their traditional gray uniforms into -- *gasp* -- powder blue.

The powder blue uniforms became so pervasive during the '70s and '80s that uniform traditionalists like the Yankees, Dodgers and Red Sox stood out as stodgy. Half of each league appeared to be wearing powder blue uniforms during this period.

The phenomenon began with two teams in the 1960s.


The Montreal Expos started out of the box with powder blue uniforms. Those were the road unis of choice from the very first season. The White Sox, meanwhile, started wearing bluish road uniforms as early as 1964 (still not the first though as those who know Brooklyn Dodgers history are aware). Chicago abandoned those blue-tinged unis in the late 1960s before returning to them again in the 1970s, and then abandoning them again.

The Seattle Pilots also wore baby blues in 1969 before handing the color off to the Milwaukee Brewers.

But the golden age -- or shall we say the "true blue age" -- of powder blue uniforms was the mid-to-late 1970s into the mid-to-late '80s. When I think back on those baby blues, which I didn't really care for and was glad the Dodgers didn't wear, I tend to think of the late '70s and early '80s. But I wanted the cards to confirm it.

How many cards are showing players in powder blue uniforms in Topps sets from 1974-91 (when powder blues were at their peak in popularity)?

I started a-counting.

1974: 131
1975: 95
1976: 99
1977: 108
1978: 152
1979: 118
1980: 146
1981: 189
1982: 164
1983: 204
1984: 192
1985: 150
1986: 101
1987: 69
1988: 52
1989: 39
1990: 29
1991: 25

Here it is on a line graph:


The powder blue uniforms peak in the 1983 and 1984 Topps sets, which were featuring the 1982 and 1983 baseball seasons, respectively. That makes sense to me. If I had to pick THE powder blue uniform year of all years, it would be 1982, and part of that is because the 1982 World Series was the second all-powder blue uniform series in three years (1980 being the first).

My counting is probably not super accurate just because the photo quality wasn't great in the mid-to-late '70s (there are some cards, such as the 1978 Dusty Baker, in which the player looks like he's wearing blue, but we all know the Dodgers did not do that then), so I had to rely on the Dressed to the Nines site for confirmation. I let that site be the determining factor for several cards, particularly the Brewers, who seemed to wear powder blue uniforms, according to the card images, long past when Dressed to the Nines said they quit (after the 1984 season).

I want to look at this year-by-year a little bit more just to get some other thoughts out of the way.


1974


The 1974 set reflects the addition of the first '70s teams to wear powder blue uniforms aside from the White Sox, Expos and Brewers.

Those teams were the Phillies, Royals and Twins. The Twins went with a pale blue that sometimes makes it difficult to determine on cards whether they are wearing powder blue or gray. But the Phillies and Royals dove in full force with bold baby blue. Those two teams, probably right along with the Blue Jays, are the ones I most associate with powder blue unis. They made up the first all-powder blue World Series in 1980 and the Royals were one of the last teams to stop wearing powder blues in 1991.

1975


Who are the powder-blue crusaders? The ones who appear consistently in powder blue? Whose card career is basically defined by their powder blue get-up?

George Brett has to be right at the top, wearing powder blue on his very first card and then still wearing it into the late 1980s. Others that I noticed over and over: Brett's teammates Frank White and Hal McRae and catchers Bo Diaz and Alan Ashby.

1976


The powder blue uniform became such a way of life by the mid-1970s that Topps even color-coded its design around the powder blue for certain teams in the '76 set. The Royals feature that beautiful Houston Oiler Luv Ya Blue color on their cards -- see how well it goes with Vada Pinson's card. And the Expos feature a lighter shade of blue for the name bar.


1977


The number of teams wearing powder blue road uniforms expanded greatly in 1976. In the American League, the Rangers joined the crowd. In the National League, the Cubs and Cardinals added the color as well. Their uniform updates are all featured in '77 Topps.

The 1977 Topps set also marks the first time that a player was airbrushed from head-to-toe into a powder blue uniform as Topps took a photo of Doyle Alexander wearing Yankee pinstripes in Yankee Stadium and added blue whitewash to make him look like a Texas Ranger.

1981


By the 1980 season (shown in 1981 Topps), the teams wearing powder blue included the Expos, Phillies, Royals, Twins, Brewers, Cubs, Cardinals, Rangers, Mariners, Blue Jays and Braves. Atlanta joined the group in 1980. This was the high point for the number of teams wearing powder blue. That probably explains why two powder-blue teams reached the Series that year, and it probably explains this:


I didn't think I could find a shot of an entire team in powder blues. The powder blues were used as road uniforms and who poses for their team picture in road uniforms?

Well, the Cardinals do. Because it's the Powder Blue Era. Look how proud they are. And look how sad Whitey Herzog is because he's wearing white.

1983


The 1983 set marks the dawning of a new kind of wear: softball-top jerseys.

Best as I can determine, these debuted in MLB in 1982 as they are all over the 1983 Topps set. (Here, Mickey Hatcher wears his top untucked while taking batting practice -- don't let Joe Simpson see this).

The softball tops would eventually overtake wearing powder blue uniforms. But for one glorious period in the mid-1980s, teams mixed-and-matched their softball tops with powder blue bottoms.


1984


The 1983 and 1984 sets show the most powder blue and the '84 set gives you a taste of what's coming with the very first cards in the set. Cards #1 through #6 are season highlight cards and there is someone wearing powder blue on all but one card. Rickey Henderson, because he's Rickey, is the outlier.


1985


The '85 set marks the end of the powder blue era for several teams. According to Dressed to the Nines, the 1984 season is the final year for Milwaukee, St. Louis and Seattle wearing powder blue (the Cubs stopped after 1981).

It gets tricky after that for some of those teams, though.


Dressed to the Nines will tell you this is not powder blue. Must be an optical illusion.


1986


Fat tub of goo in powder blue.


1988


Possibly the greatest powder blue card of all-time appeared in the 1988 Topps set. There were just 52 powder blue cards in this set, but that's probably because everyone was scared to wear it after seeing Bo and this card.


1991


By the 1991 season, only the Expos and the Royals were wearing powder blue uniforms and then they quit doing it after that season. I didn't bother going through the 1992 set, partly because it's not complete and I don't have time to look at all those cards online.


Today, you only see powder blue uniforms on some sort of retro night. Honestly, I don't really miss them, even though I grew up with them. And the modern ball players somehow just don't look right wearing that uniform style that is now 30-to-40 years old.

I probably should like those uniforms more considering how much I liked the Houston Oilers because they wore that color in the late 1970s. But then Earl Campbell wasn't draped head-to-toe in it.

Comments

steelehere said…
Curious what you think of the Tulsa Drillers (the Dodgers Double-A team) jerseys. Very 70s Astros-esque.

http://drillers.milbstore.com/store_contents.cfm?store_id=78&dept_id=733&product_id=104833
Jeremya1um said…
How many ‘92’s are you missing? I’m working on a package for you, and I could easily get you close to having the complete set, if not, finishing it.
night owl said…
Haven't a clue. Not really a set I'm focusing on.
Old Cards said…
Wow! Quite an analysis. Great work, but give me stodgy anytime.
kcjays said…
I grew up seeing the Royals in powder-blue uniforms. Never my favorite, but I guess I got used to it. Never really thought about all the other teams that wore it also. Interesting.
CaptKirk42 said…
At the time (late 70s) of the road blues unis I didn't mind them too much except one of those all blue all-star games when they stood out. Now I am glad most teams have road grays, not baby blues. There are the few exceptions like Royals, Brewers and Blue Jays where I don't mind them returning to the blues even teams that use blue as one of their main colors are OK, but when the White Sox had red and white as their main colors blue road unis looked odd.
GCA said…
A little color is nice. I get bored with white and gray with only the cursive nickname across the chest. Mix it up a little, please!

Are your sets in binders? You can sure count stuff across a decade's worth of sets in a short time!
Stack22 said…
George Brett is the powder blue king? I won't argue that, but I did go back and check out a certain former Expo for comparison.

By brand Wallach is shown in powder blue the following years:

Topps: '85, '86, '88 All-Star, '89 (blue pants, red b.p. top), '90, '91, '92 (blue pants, blue windbreaker)
Fleer: '82 (blue pants, red b.p. jersey), '85, '86, '88, '89 (blue pants, red b.p.), '90, '91
Donruss: '83, '84, '85, '87, '88, '91, '92
Upper Deck: '89, '92
Score: '88, '89, '90, '91, '92

AdamE said…
I don't care for the retro uniforms much either. But what I would love to see is the return of the windbreaker. Not just a regular windbreaker but the shiny satin, button up, stripes at he top, and stripes at the bottom windbreaker.
EbeSPN said…
The 88 Topps Molitor is actually gray but it sure does look blue from that picture.
Mark Hoyle said…
Amazing amount of research. I always loved the White Sox early 70’s baby blues
Nick Vossbrink said…
Fun post. By the time I got introduced to baseball only four teams were still wearing blue and I kind of thought it must be a Canadian thing.
I have a 2004 Fleer Greats of the Game card of Bo Jackson also in a powder blue jersey. Better yet, the card is a blue parallel.
BaseSetCalling said…
On cards today, the Brewers probably make the most routine Powder Blue appearances, occasionally a Phillie too.

Only other example I can think of is 2013 Derek Holland
Fuji said…
I'm all turned around. If you or anyone else asked me when the Powder Blue Era peaked, I would have said the mid to the late 70's. Never would have guess 1983. Sad thing is... 83T is one of my favorite sets and I'm completely drawing a blank trying to visualize a player wearing a powder blue jersey right now. Then again... it's 5:41 in the morning and I'm still half asleep.
Josh D. said…
I strongly approve of any post that include Quisenberry, Bo, and George Brett. Very nice.