Tuesday, December 8, 1998

BY JOHN ERARDI
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Reds' new cap for '99 | ZOOM |

Baseball's oldest professional team no longer sets a fashion trend, but knows one when it sees it.

BLACK.

The Reds are adding that most popular of merchandising colors to their uniforms and caps next season.

They also are going to have a slightly different uniform "look." But the look won't be unveiled until the team's winter baseball festival in early January, the Reds said Monday.

They were hoping to keep everything under wraps until then, but their new black-and-red caps have already begun appearing in local stores, and their 1999 game schedules feature a Mr. Red icon wearing a black-and-red cap.

"Black is very popular from a marketing standpoint," said John Allen, the Reds managing executive. "It's a very popular trim. Red and black work well together. It (the new uniform) looks very sharp."

The Reds worked with Major League Baseball Properties in designing the new uniform.

Reds' caps through the years, clockwise from top left: 1919, 1957, 1975, 1998. | ZOOM |

Not to worry, Mr. Allen tells tradition-bound Reds fans.

"When the team takes the field, there'll be no question it's the Cincinnati Reds," he said. "There's plenty of red in the uniform. We still have sleeve vests, the wishbone 'C' and the pinstripes at home."

He anticipates more changes before the Reds move into a new ballpark in 2003. He said the club is "anxious to get feedback from the fans" once they see the new look at RedsFest. He said the club went back into the archives to study past Reds uniforms.

"We always keep history in mind, (but) we think this is the look of 1999," Mr. Allen said.

The team's most famous uniform piece is its red stockings. They are as old as the franchise, baseball's first. They will remain red.

In 1868, Captain Harry Wright of the Cincinnati Red Stockings designed the first knicker-style uniforms that remain the style in baseball today. In their triumphant summer 1869 tour of the East Coast that inspired the formation of baseball's first professional league, the players and their uniforms were all the rage.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported a group of young women passing in front of the team's hotel on a rainy Sunday evening lifted their long skirts to avoid mud in the streets, many revealing a flash of red stockings.

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