BigRed75 on SFGiants58 (a tribute thread)

[BigRed75]

Q: What? Another SFGiants58 thread?

A: Well, yes. His work is just too damn good.

I have to say, I came up with this idea during my hiatus when I wasn't even aware of the other threads. And I'm still going to press on, because I'm already invested, time-wise

Q: Why continue? Why not just use what's already done?

A: Put simply, I'm too much of a control freak. I love the guy's designs too much, and I want to get them just right. I've been spending hours on each team! I'm planning on doing everything in his last two threads on the Sports Logo Community board. And I know some people in the other threads have said that they aren't doing designs they don't like. Which is fine, that's their prerogative. No point in spending time on something you don't like. But I'm a completist.

Also, I'm doing the files a little bit different. Because these are not my ideas, not my designs, I'm not putting my maker's mark on these files like I normally would. Instead, I have created a "Designed by SFGiants58" image I've attached to give proper credit where it is due. But, in order to have a little bit of myself, I've added uniform numbers of my favorite players on the backs, where I usually put my mark. And I'd like to share that thinking with you.

And you know how, when teams unveil new uniforms, they usually trot out uncomfortable looking players to model the new duds? Yeah, I'm totally going to do that, too.

Q: Are you taking requests?

A: No. I will get to everything, but I will do it on my time. I'm starting with the Project 32 thread. That alone has 68 distinct concepts, which an average of about five to six different uniforms. So far, I've done ten. Then there's the Defunct Saga, which is still ongoing. I don't know how many different concepts are in that thread but I do know it's twice as many pages long as Project 32.

tl;dr - this will take a while. If you really can't wait for your favorite, make a request in the other two threads on this forum, or search those threads to see if they've already been done.

Q: Can I post my designs in this thread?

A: I would rather you not, unless your name is on the title of this thread Seriously, though, there are other threads where you can post your own SFGiants58-inspired works.

With that said, let's get started!

[BigRed75]

First up is the first team, alphabetically, in the AL East, the Baltimore Orioles. Here's the home uniform and the primary cap. The number on the back is the All-Timer, the great Frank Robinson:



He also did an alternate cap with the classic white-and-black bi-color look, to be worn on home Sunday games:



And here's our model for those two looks:





The road jersey, in classic gray, honors Cal Ripken:





There are also orange alternate looks for both home (Brooks Robinson) and road (Brian Roberts):






And finally, a throwback uniform based on the 1954 inaugural season. The Moose might not have played on those teams, but I wanted to honor him anyway:



I wanted to see what the wunderkind would look in these:

[BigRed75]

Okay, straight up with the Red Sox you'll notice that all the uniforms have the same number, Pedro Martinez. Don't graphic when you're angry, folks! I don't remember all the details, but I do remember being grumpy and thinking that Pedro was the only player on the Red Sox that I like. I think that the Patriots must have beat the Steelers that weekend and I was mad at Boston in general.

Anyway, when I did the "Green Sox" jerseys (which were easy to do at the same time, I only had to make minor changes) I added a bit more variety in the numbers on the back. But that's a story for another time.

Here's the home jersey and primary cap, a classic look:





Road uniforms, notice anything different? It's the spoonbill! Now the home and road uniforms match.





Alternate home uniforms in lovely red:





And alternate road uniforms in lovely blue. The "B" moves off the hat and on to the uniform, and the sock goes to the cap instead:





Finally, a special Friday road jersey, based on the original Boston Americans from the early years of the franchise but using updated Red Sox fonts:

[rjl518]

Awesome BigRed75!
Make SFGiants58 Proud!

[BigRed75]

Thanks for the kind words, rjl518! I hope to do my best

We come now to one of my favorite looks in Project 32, the Indians. Quite a few jerseys here, as SFG58 changed horses mid-stream and switched from a predominantly red to a predominantly blue color scheme. I have created the uniforms for both.

I love this set because he drew heavily from the Spokane Indians identity, which the team designed in collaboration with the Spokane tribe. The uniforms and logo include a Salish-language variant, which the team later made its primary jersey.

SFG58 took that idea and ran with it, redesigning the Indians look. He chose to use the language and imagery of the Penobscot Nation, a Maine-based nation that Louis Sockalexis, the putative namesake of the Indians, was an enrolled member.

SFG58 also appears to have drawn inspiration from the Spokane Indians when designing the team logo. The block C, for me, has always been but a placeholder, something to fill the spot left behind by the dreaded Wahoo. SFG58 kept the block C, but added a two-tone feather, a subtle touch that changes the whole thing in my mind.



Well, enough talk. Bring out the models!

The home have a script that is more reminiscent of the great Indians teams of the '40s and '50s. They also have the feather on the "I" in the home unis and the "C" for the road duds. These uniforms bear the number of Bob Feller, still the best pitcher in Indians history. My grandmother once got his autograph while waiting in line at a bank.



With Feller on the back, it only seems right to have the Indians latest great pitcher model the uniforms. Ladies and gentleman, Mr. Corey...what's that? He was traded where? Texas?
Sonova...oh well, bring out the Beeb, I guess...




The road unis honour Mr. Smile, the man who could probably get himself elected mayor of Cleveland if he wanted to be, Frankie Lindor.



It isn't everyday you get the man himself to model the uniforms, but here we are:



A red jersey is the special Friday uniform for both home and road use. No. 5 belongs to Lou Boudreau. When he was 24 years old, he walked into his owner's office and told him that he thought he could do a better job as a manager than any of the other guys the owner was considering. And he got the job! The stones on this guy, eh?




I mentioned earlier that the Spokane Indians have a Salish-language version of their uniform. Well, SFG58 created an Abenaki-language version of the Cleveland uniform (Abenaki is the Penobscot language) that also includes the Penobscot Nation emblem on the right sleeve. If you want to get the details on how he came up with all of the imagery, here is his post where he explains everything.

For my favorite uniform of the set, I decided to use the number of Rocky Colavito, my mom's favorite player when she was growing up in Cleveland. Not only was he a great player, but he was very handsome. And yes, that meant a lot to a 12-year-old girl, apparently.






The final alternate is a special, once-a-year uniform to be worn on July 5 to honor the man who integrated the American League, Larry Doby. It is a fairly faithful re-creation of the 1947 uniform, except with the Larry Doby Day patch replacing some particulary troubling imagery.





Up next is the Detroit Tigers. However, it will probably be a couple of days, as I want to spend some more time creating new uniforms, and the team I'm working on next has a lot of variants to work through!

[BBGiovanni]

Originally Posted by BigRed75

SFG58 took that idea and ran with it, redesigning the Indians look. He chose to use the language and imagery of the Penobscot Nation, a Maine-based nation that Louis Sockalexis, the putative namesake of the Indians, was an enrolled member.

Thanks so much for doing these, all the concepts are great but he (?) in some cases is a little too faithful to the real-life teams compared to others like the Twins, Brewers, and even Yankees. Which I sympathize with, I love the classics too but I made some Mets and Cubs ones for example, and Boston Bees to replace the Red Sox.



These will be great for the alternate MLB I'm doing as I often rename Cleveland to "Tribe". The Penobscot ones will be great for that! I know you said you won't take requests but I'll suggest? a solid-color alt version without the "Indians" script on it? It could the the Penobscot script or just the cap logo enlarged or whatever you like. If not, never mind, keep on doing your fine work at your fine pace


Also, hat tip for the Doby jersey, that man is utterly and sadly forgotten every April 14 and he played teams that wouldn't have a black player for another 10 years. So thanks for that too

[BigRed75]

Thanks for your comments, BBGiovanni. I'm glad you like the Cleveland uniforms. You're right, I'm not doing requests, if only for the simple reason that I have a queue of 58 more teams to do with an average of six uniforms per team!

I haven't finished with the Astros (although I have finished the THIRTEEN different jerseys!) but I figured it was high time for another post. This time, it's the Detroit Tigers, featuring my most challenging uniform to date!

SFG's main goal with the Tigers was to combine their many designs into one cohesive look. I'm sure most of you know that the Old English "D" that the Tigers use on their jerseys does not match the letter they use on their caps. An idiosyncrasy, to be sure. SFG combined the various different looks of the D into one, and the result is a jersey and a hat that match:



The jersey is in honor of Hank Greenberg, the original Hammerin' Hank and one of my Top 10 all-timers. The model is the Tigers' current slugging first baseman, Miguel Cabrera:


The road uniform has the traditional orange trim and the road hat has the orange version of the Old English D. This uniform is in honor of Captain Hook himself, Sparky Anderson, who one exactly half of the World Series titles in Detroit as he did in Cincinnati.



I chose a young up-and-comer as the model for this jersey given Sparky's proclivity for talking up youngsters' potential. If we're really lucky, he may compare Willi Castro to ice cream!


Now SFG has done a really interesting thing with the alternates - he's basically switched the home and road. Now the alternate home has all the orange trim and goes with the orange D hat, while the alternate road as design sensibilities on a pair with the home uniform, except in gray. And with a faux flannel pattern. Boy was that a pain in the butt to do:



Miguel Cabrera is on the back of the home alternate, but we won't use him as a model. I've put Hammerin' Henry (or Hankus Spankus, if you prefer) on the back of the road alternates (a replica of the 1934-1946 road uniforms). It just seemed right, so let's bring Miggy back out to model those ones instead:




Okay, back to make some Astros hats. Next up, the dreaded/famous New York Yankees.

[Dear Cheese]

This might be a stupid question, but how did you get the player models to show that much of the jersey? I'd really like to be able to see the text on the front of the jerseys in my game, but I can't figure out how you did it.

[anthonywvalentine]

Originally Posted by Dear Cheese

This might be a stupid question, but how did you get the player models to show that much of the jersey? I'd really like to be able to see the text on the front of the jerseys in my game, but I can't figure out how you did it.

File --> Settings --> 3D & Facegen -->

FaceGen zoom = Out (more jersey)
Profile picture zoom = Out (more jersey)

[Dear Cheese]

Awesome, thank you!