This is going to come off a lot like "kids these days and their baggy pants", but whatever - when did baseball pants get so long and baggy?

I haven't paid attention to baseball in probably 15 years, but my grandma watches it on TV, so I'm watching it now as I visit her.

When I started playing in the mid-late 80s, everyone from little league to the MLB wore tight-fitting, but stretchy, pants that came down right below the knee. The only decision to make was if you wanted to wear real stirrups or just striped socks (nearly everyone I knew wore striped socks). I guess by ~1990 we could wear knee-pants or ones that came almost to the ankle, but they were still tight-fitting and the socks were still visible.

The MLB pants now, though, are literally bunched up on their shoes, and you can tell that some of them even are long enough that they walk on them. Furthermore, they're as baggy as Hammer pants. I guess all this happened sometime between 1994 and now when i wasn't watching....

4/26/2009 3:39:17 PM

you should see the japanese national team.

4/26/2009 3:44:20 PM

I blame it on manny

4/26/2009 3:53:56 PM

This thread made me curious so I started googling... Seems the MLB wants to crackdown on the overly long pants.

http://www.detnews.com/article/20090327/SPORTS0104/903270415/1129/sports0104/Cause+for+a+pause++Per+MLB+orders++long+pants+to+go+out+of+style

4/26/2009 4:13:43 PM

yeah it's started to get real bad in the past few seasons, probably starting about 2004. i'd probably blame it on the mets, jose reyes seems most likely to be the one that did it.

or maybe manny.

4/26/2009 8:11:26 PM

Quote :

"everyone from little league to the MLB wore tight-fitting, but stretchy, pants that came down right below the knee."

no. wearing little league pants has never been the prevailing style in the MLB.

4/26/2009 8:16:23 PM

4/26/2009 8:17:58 PM

guy behind him (cant tell who it is) is all like "i dont want none-a dat"

4/26/2009 8:18:57 PM

actually in baseball... the uniforms in the 20s, 30s, 40s, etc were all extremely baggy. the shirts came down to mid arm, and the pants were always baggy



[Edited on April 26, 2009 at 8:27 PM. Reason : ]

4/26/2009 8:25:41 PM

Thug

4/26/2009 8:29:39 PM

seriously, the gay tight pants shit probably started happening in the late 70s early 80s

4/26/2009 8:34:43 PM

I remember when Derek Bell was accused of starting this "trend"

the announcer immediately pointed out that he owned "2500 rap cd's" (direct quote)

I immediately stopped listening

4/26/2009 9:26:31 PM

well, back then they were probably all cotton and couldn't stretch, so they had to keep them loose. I suppose they made them tighter when they started using polyester

Maybe my memories are exaggerating how high the pants came up. i guess maybe mid-calf was normal. These are the mainstays of my baseball memories growing up. looks like they come down a little bit more, and are not as tight as i remember:

4/26/2009 9:30:32 PM

Cock looker.

4/26/2009 9:30:39 PM

i wonder if there will be 25 threads with this question for each team on TWW

4/27/2009 10:13:37 AM

So I did a quick image search to see if my memory was working, and the image I searched for is:





great minds think alike, I guess.

4/27/2009 10:17:46 AM

i hate the look of the "new ear" uniform.

i was raised on the pants rolled up past my shins and showing my stirups(sp) thats how its supposed be.

4/27/2009 10:21:59 AM

4/27/2009 11:50:08 AM

its the depression era look -- plz to see baseball players from the 30s

4/27/2009 1:44:39 PM

it pisses me off when i see guys that stretch the bottom of their pants over the heel of their spikes.

Quote :

"I blame it on manny"

i kinda do too, although someone may have started doing it before him. i just don't see why it's so difficult for some of these guys to look professional while they're out there. most other people don't show up to work looking sloppy, so don't do it on a baseball diamond either. if i was an owner i wouldn't allow it. baseball uniforms aren't uncomfortable, and wearing baggy ass pants isn't gonna affect the way you play. it shouldn't be too much to expect people to not look like slobs for 3 hours.

4/27/2009 1:58:56 PM

Just out of curiosity, how did you feel about Arturs Irbe's cobbled-together equipment? Is it unprofessional for him to use something old and beat-up instead of clean and team-colored because it works better? BTW, he used the equipment seen in this picture for four more seasons after it was taken.



Football uniforms vary wildly in cut and fit (and I'm not just talking about receiver vs. lineman, I'm talking individuals) and no one seems to mind. As long as everyone's wearing the uniform, I don't see any issue with professionalism.

4/27/2009 2:27:18 PM

it all depends on the context of the sport.

I think baseball in particular goes for a bit of a classier look, mostly because it is a non-contact sport and not as physically rough as many other sports. So, nice fitting pants are not a hinderance at all, and yes, they do make everything look nicer. Fine, they don't necessarily need to go back to mid-calf or knickers or anything, but then their heels literally run over the ends of their pants, and they have several folds on top of the front of their shoes, there's just no reason for that.


Obviously the same argument can be made, for example, against basketball uniforms, but I'm just not even going there. The shorts they wore back in the 80's are probably not an ideal to shoot for, but they shit they're wearing now crossed the "professionalism" line years ago and never looked back.

4/27/2009 2:40:43 PM

^^ but we are talking about sports that people actually like

4/27/2009 2:54:27 PM

People liking baseball. That's a good one.

4/27/2009 6:51:13 PM

do you really want to break out the baseball vs. hockey numbers? do you?

4/27/2009 6:52:17 PM

I know that no one likes hockey.

That doesn't mean that people like baseball.

4/27/2009 6:53:57 PM