Shining Bright on the Diamond

It’s been over two months since I’ve written anything new for this site. Although I haven’t written a new piece in a while, I’ve been working on other parts of the site. I recently updated the bowl game designs page, the Jordan-Hare field designs, and added many uniforms to the Basketball Uniforms page.

In the time since I last wrote a piece here – about Auburn basketball’s new uniforms – Auburn baseball and softball have both started their seasons, and in turn, revealed new uniforms. First, let’s take a look at the softball team.

Auburn softball added a new orange jersey to the arsenal this season (photo via Zach Bland, Auburn Athletics)

In only the second game of the season, Auburn revealed a new orange jersey. This new orange top is the first time the softball team has worn an orange jersey since the 2010-11 season, when they dumped them, supposedly because the team didn’t like how they looked. This new orange tops features blue sleeve cuffs (cut off underneath the arm because of the template) and a half collar, reminiscent of Nike’s “toilet bowl” collars many NFL teams wore when the uniform contract changed hands in 2012. Auburn has only paired these new tops with the blue pants, and haven’t worn the blue pants with any other combination either. In an attempt to change things up, the team did switch to orange belts and socks for the second game against Tennessee on April 3. Unfortunately, the Tigers lost 8-6, and we haven’t seen this combo since.

A small detail I love about these new jerseys are within the blue areas. The blue cuffs, collar, and inside the numbers all feature sublimated tiger stripes. When I wrote about the softball team’s uniforms last season, I contacted AD Jay Jacobs in regards to the use of TIGERS on their white uniforms. Jacobs replied with the athletic department attempting to brand and promote “Auburn” over “Tigers,” obviously with many schools nicknamed the Tigers across the country, and with two within the SEC. The white jerseys are the only uniforms worn by Auburn athletes that read TIGERS. And the addition of the tiger striped areas to the softball jerseys, as well as the basketball team wearing the same design with their new uniforms, leads me to believe Auburn and Jacobs have loosened their stance on Auburn over Tigers. Hopefully so.

Auburn baseball also revealed a new jersey. Hard to go wrong with a nice vest. (photo via Kenny Moss, Auburn Athletics)

Over at Plainsman Park, the baseball team revealed their own new jerseys. Well, vests to be correct. For the February 28 matchup against then #10 Oklahoma State, Auburn broke out a fantastic white vest – basically the white jerseys with the sleeves cut off. Personally, I think the design looks much better on the vests than their jersey counterpart. The small quirk about these are with the SEC patch. All of the jerseys feature the SEC patch on the left sleeve. But without sleeves, they had to place the patch on the back of the jersey, above the head spoon piping. Which makes it look a bit cluttered on the back.

Auburn baseball has also added a new camouflage hat. The 2012-13 season saw a hunter-orange version of a camodesigned hat. Last year, the disappeared with the new coach in Sunny Golloway. Well, when Golloway was at Oklahoma, his team wore a camo hat and top. This season’s Capitol City Classic against Alabama in Birmingham saw the return of the camo hat, but this time in a navy blue. (Many people have asked if this hat will be available for sale – J&M has ordered them and they should be available soon)

Trey Wingenter sports the new navy-blue camo hat in a win against Alabama
in Montgomery. (photo via Zach Bland, Auburn Athletics)

Now, don’t ever think these teams are done with new uniform additions. The uniform world is ever changing and growing. That, and this photo of the softball team trying on new pinstripe uniforms was sent to me. Just goes to show this stuff will continue for a while.

War Eagle!