Special things can happen when people and circumstances come together in the right way.

That’s what the Auburn Baseball program has taught many fans over the last month.

After struggling through the conference schedule and tournament, Auburn seemingly had to earn their way into the NCAA Tournament with a win or two in Hoover. Now, they’re heading to Omaha for the fifth College World Series in program history.

It’s been twenty-two years since Auburn’s last appearance in 1997. Only a few players on the current roster were even born the last time Auburn played in Omaha, Nebraska.

To celebrate the return to the College World Series, let’s take a look back at Auburn’s history – particularly the uniforms – of Auburn’s four trips to the homeland of college baseball.

1967

Auburn made its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament in 1963 and wouldn’t see postseason play until the 1967 season. Led by Paul Nix, the Tigers had to fight through West Virginia, Florida State, and Clemson (twice) to advance out of the District 3 Regional in Gastonia, North Carolina.

Auburn went 2-2 in Omaha, defeating Ohio State and Rider, but falling to Stanford twice.

The Tigers’ uniforms were beautifully simple in the 1960s. Unique to the time period, the jerseys included a zipper down the middle rather than the conventional button setup. A simple arched “Auburn” wordmark sat on the chest and a single-color number on the back. A relatively thick stripe ran down the pant leg. As noted by Kevin Ives on Twitter, there was actually an inconsistency in the wordmark font. Quality control then isn’t nearly what it is today, so these things often popped up.

I could only find one photo of one uniform for this season, which isn’t entirely unheard of. Auburn did, however, pair the single uniform with two different hats. The more commonly used hat, at least per the available photos, was one that featured a thin orange A outline in white. The other cap featured a much more square A logo.

You have to wonder how often the wrong cap made it on the field. In fact, the team photo shows one player sneaking in the square-A hat when the rest of the team is wearing the thin-A.

1976

The Auburn baseball team would see a tournament drought after their first Omaha appearance, not even playing in the postseason again until 1976 – nine years later. Auburn was sent to the South Regional in Tallahassee, Florida, to face Florida State (you can see where this postseason rivalry began), Middle Tennessee, and Jacksonville. The Tigers defeated the JU Dolphins 7-5 to advance to Omaha to for the second time.

Things weren’t too great this time around, as Auburn went 0-2 in the College World Series. The Tigers fell 9-4 to Clemson and 9-4 to Maine to be sent home way too early.

As far as the uniforms go, these might be my favorite of the bunch. Auburn truly channeled their 1970s and mimicked many of the professional baseball uniform looks of the time. All three jerseys found were pullover tops (Auburn once again avoiding the button-fronts). Each had large stripes around the sleeves and the white pants had a large stripe down the pant legs. The Tigers even broke out the powder blue colorway for their road uniforms!

The white and orange tops had the AU logo and number aligned on the top half of the jersey, which is always an interesting look. Even more intriguing is the AU logo itself – the A and U are connected rather than the outline break between letters.

1994

Auburn would make the NCAA Tournament a few more times without reaching the College World Series – 1978, 1987, 1989, and 1993. But it would be nearly two decades before Auburn returned to Omaha. Auburn would travel to face another rival as Clemson hosted the East Regional. The Tigers would defeat Virginia Tech, Old Dominion, Clemson, and Notre Dame en route to the Regional title.

Once in Omaha, Auburn again struggled against the best teams. Auburn would lose in the first round to eventual champion Oklahoma. Miami would knock Auburn out of the next round.

The Tigers’ uniforms were rather traditional in design but inconsistent across the elements. It created an interesting wardrobe, though. Head Coach Hal Baird was obviously a fan of the vest style during his tenure, and thus outfitted his team in one this season. The vests were simple with just an AU logo on the front, but the undershirts featured the decorations. The sleeve cuffs showcased a nice set of stripes.

An orange-only AU logo sat on the left sleeve. The right sleeve had some sort of patch above the cuff stripes, but it was difficult to make out any details.

Auburn also wore a nice set of grey road unis, with the beautiful script wordmark. Note how the A is different than the current script – I want to detail script differences more in a future post. Another AU logo was worn on the sleeves, but the left sleeve was home to a new detail – a manufacturer logo.

Sports Belle manufactured athletic uniforms for years, including Tennessee’s football uniforms, but they’re uncommon for Auburn. The only other instance I’ve seen this logo was for the women’s basketball team during this era.

The blue uniform is the most interesting of this set, personally. Auburn would return to the pullover style of jersey with a look very reminiscent of the 1976 set. The cuff and collar stripes create a great color balance on the blue body. Also, what looks to be a paw print appears on the left sleeve. Not often you see Auburn using that design.

For the CWS games, Auburn wore their white vest and grey road uniforms. The vest featured the 1994 College World Series patch, while the grey did not.

1997

A three year gap between CWS appearances is obviously the best in Auburn baseball history. Even more impressive is that Auburn reached the NCAA Tournament in two of those seasons, with 1996 being the exception. Auburn would once again travel to Tallahassee for Regional play, along with Florida State, Marist, Western Carolina, UCF, and South Florida. The Auburn-Florida State rivalry stepped up a level this time around, as Tallahassee native David Ross hit a walk-off homerun to keep Auburn alive. Auburn would come back the next day and defeat Florida State again for the regional title.

Much like the first trip, Auburn was bounced out of the tournament by Stanford, a team the Tigers would again face twice. Auburn went 1-2 this time around. A win over Rice was sandwiched by the two Stanford defeats.

The 1997 season featured the largest selection of uniform combinations in Auburn’s four trips to Nebraska. The Hal Baird staple vests were still in rotation, this time with a slightly different AU logo, colored placket and headspoon piping, and no decorative features on the undershirts. Auburn wore also wore a white jersey that matched the vest, but also included the SEC patch, Russell Athletic logo, and player names.

The wardrobe would mix up a bit with the orange and blue tops. A very different script was used for the orange jerseys, in which “Tigers” was rendered in a very Minnesota Twins-esque style. For the blue jerseys, “Auburn” would return in yet another different style script. In fact, I couldn’t find any photographs that showed what the A looked like, so the mockup shown is simply an educated guess.

I would assume a grey jersey was also part of this set, as I was able to find a photo of the orange jerseys paired with grey pants. Gotta love the blue/white/orange pants striping.

Auburn would wear the white jerseys for all three Omaha games, which also included the 1997 CWS logo patch on the sleeves.
I also love this photo of Tim Hudson wearing a jacket on base. The weather was a bit cool for the Rice game – temperatures stayed in the 50s throughout the game.

2019

CWS patch now adorns the left shoulder. (image via Auburn Baseball)

After over two decades, the Auburn Tigers are finally back to the College World Series! This season has truly been an uphill fight for this team, but they started putting it together at the best time possible.

Uniform-wise, this season has seen the most baseball uniform combinations in Auburn history. The Tigers have already worn 18 different combos, with more to come with the addition of the CWS patch.

Auburn took an unprecedented approach and wore their camouflage hats during the Regional and Super Regional rounds. The Tigers went 5-1 over the last two weekends, all while wearing the camo hats.

With baseball being the superstitious sport it is, the camo hats are unfortunately sticking around for the College World Series. The Auburn Baseball Instagram account shared a behind-the-scenes look at CWS Media Day on Thursday. The Tigers were wearing the dreaded caps with the orange jerseys featuring the CWS patch.

If I had to guess, I would imagine Auburn patched and packed the orange, white, and grey jerseys along with the white and grey pants. With two guaranteed games for the Tigers, I expect to see 20 combos on the season, if not more.

Here’s how Auburn has fared this season in the 18 different hat/jersey/pant combinations:

The batting helmets now feature two memorial decals – Lee County Strong for those affected by the March tornadoes and an RB design honoring the late Rod Bramblett.

The 2019 College World Series kicks off on Saturday, but Auburn doesn’t hit the field at TD Ameritrade Park until Sunday night. The CWS has two if-necessary games scheduled for Saturday, June 22, which incidentally is my wedding. So, Auburn, please advance to the finals without that last game! Or make sure you get the late slot. Thanks!

The Auburn Uniform Database showcases nearly 180 combined years of Auburn athletic uniforms, including the entire Under Armour collection of Baseball uniforms. The seasons above have been added to the Baseball Uniforms page, so be sure to check all of those out.

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