To Get Butts In Seats, Sox Should Show Some Legs

By JoshMogerman in News on Jan 20, 2013 7:00PM

The White Sox have always struggled to fill their park. Next year, like every year, they will try an assortment of promotions to draw fans to the Cell. Fireworks. Dog Days. Mullet Night. Bobbleheads. Elvis Night. They are all in the mix. And as Chuck reported this week, the Sox will wear throwback 1983 uniforms every Sunday to pay homage to the AL West champion “Win Ugly” squad that began to bring respectability back to South Side baseball.

That last tactic that excites us. Everyone loves throwback uniforms, especially in baseball, where history is so much a part of fandom. But if you are going to celebrate baseball history with uniforms, why not celebrate the uniforms that made history? We humbly call on the team’s marketing honchos to dig just a little deeper into the vaults.

To 1976.

That is the year of Bill Veeck’s uniform masterstroke. Ginormous floppy collars. The only jerseys designed to go untucked in MLB history. And for three glorious games, shorts. Chuck’s great post on these dashing duds from August included this quote from Veeck:

“We may not be the greatest team in baseball, at least not for a few years, but we’ll immediately be the most stylish team in the game.”

Stylish may have overstated it a bit, but we think the time has come for a real retro revival of the South Side sartorial splendor. And the '76 uniforms at once bring the glam of the decade's fashion (yeah, that sounds weird, we know, but the world of high fashion continually flirts with an all-out disco-era embrace) while offering something you would just as likely see on a “clincher” league 16” softball diamond.

Come on Brooks Boyer, if you want butts in the seats have the players show a little leg. People would travel to see these unies in action. Chicks like guys with nice legs. Dudes love the idea of seeing players try to slide in shorts (both Cubs and Sox fans!). Everybody wins (except maybe Kenny Williams who might have trouble grabbing free agents in the off season). If you are going to celebrate winning ugly, do it looking really ugly!