Throwback uniform

The Pittsburgh Steelers of the NFL wearing their 75th year "Throwback" uniforms.

Throwback uniforms and jerseys are one-time or limited-time variations on a sports team's uniforms styled to resemble uniforms from that team's past. They have proven popular in all major pro and college sports in the USA, not only with fans, but with the teams' marketing and merchandising departments. The professional sports leagues began institutionalizing throwbacks as a "third jersey" because of the popularity of selling the "authentics" (accurate reproductions of historical uniforms), and "replicas" (not-so-authentic reproductions) at retail.

Throwbacks were first popularized in Major League Baseball, where teams not only wore renditions of their past styles, but also tributes to defunct minor league and Negro League baseball teams as well. Often, the games where teams will wear throwbacks are promoted as "Turn Back The Clock Nights". The first companies to produce throwbacks for the leagues and sports teams are: Tiedman & Company Sportswear (college football, basketball, hockey + NFL + FIFA World Cup Soccer), Mitchell & Ness (Major League Baseball), and Ebbets Field Flannels (Negro League baseball). All three companies are still in business (Tiedman & Company relaunched in 2009 under the brand name "Tiedman & Formby Vintage Athletic Co.").

Throwbacks also make frequent appearances every season in college football games, National Hockey League games, and in National Basketball Association games.

National Hockey League

Throwbacks were first introduced in the National Hockey League in their 75th anniversary season of 1991–92. At the time, only the Original Six teams wore throwbacks, although they were also used in the All-Star game.

While the NHL had long since replaced the heavy wool sweaters with more modern air-knit jerseys, the patterns for the 75th anniversary throwbacks were consistent with the original versions, with a few exceptions (as noted below). Player surnames were worn on the back of the throwback jerseys, even though this wasn't originally the case (the NHL did not require names on the jerseys until 1977).

The Original Six teams' throwbacks included the following modifications:

• Boston Bruins - circa 1927 through 1931 "shield logo" design in the 2008–09 Bruins regular season

The Bruins' colors were brown and gold during this era, but the throwback jerseys use a "basic black" scheme with a small amount of white and gold trim, with the "shield logo" on the front of the jersey, and the "spoked-B" modern day regular logo placed on the jersey shoulders. For the Winter Classic that they hosted at Fenway Park on January 1, 2010, they wore adapted replicas of the first "Spoked B" logo from 1947-48 on the 1955-58 gold jerseys.

• Chicago Blackhawks - circa 1940 design

The Blackhawks' "barber pole" design was used one more time, in a game against Detroit at Chicago Stadium in January 1994. A circa-1936 design, featuring beige in the color scheme, was used in the 2009 NHL Winter Classic on January 1, 2009 at Chicago's Wrigley Field; it would become the team's third jersey for the 2009-10 season.

• Detroit Red Wings - circa 1928 design

At the time the design was originally worn, the Red Wings were known as the Cougars. They wore their throwbacks again in the aforementioned game at Chicago Stadium in 1994. (The design was also used by Wayne Gretzky's team of All-Stars that toured Europe during the 1994–95 NHL lockout, and by the Adirondack Red Wings as a third jersey). For the Winter Classic in 2009, the Wings donned a modified version of their inaugural 1926 sweater, which featured a single red stripe across the chest with a stylized "D" in the center, along with the current winged wheel logo to the shoulders.

• Montreal Canadiens - circa 1926 design

The Canadiens' red jerseys have changed very little. The differences between the throwback and their current jersey were the crew collar and the duplicate Canadiens logo on the left sleeve. Three "retro" jersey designs from the Canadiens' past were authorized as part of the team's centennial celebration in 2009, including a "barber pole" design of red, white and blue horizontal stripes.

• New York Rangers - circa 1940 design

This jersey was notable because it was of the style the Rangers wore when they had last won the Stanley Cup. (They won the cup again two years later.)

• Toronto Maple Leafs - circa 1940 design

The two-stripe design was used for many years by the Maple Leafs, and after over two decades of the single-stripe design, the Leafs adopted a new version of the two-stripe design the following season.

• Wales Conference All-Stars - circa 1952 design (white)
• Campbell Conference All-Stars - circa 1952 design (red)

The stripes running down the sleeves of the All-Star jerseys were wider than those on the original versions.

As other leagues began using throwbacks, interest in retro jerseys increased within the NHL. To celebrate new ownership, the New York Islanders wore a modified throwback design for one game in 1998. The Buffalo Sabres pulled a similar stunt for a game in 2003. The Toronto Maple Leafs also brought back a 1960s-era jersey as a third jersey beginning in 1998–99. In 2003–04, the NHL implemented a Vintage program, allowing several teams to wear throwback uniforms that were specially branded with a vintage "V" patch. The following teams were among those that participated in the program:

• Boston Bruins - circa 1970 uniforms

These were notable as the Bobby Orr-era uniforms. The black throwbacks would replace the gold third jerseys in 2006.

• Edmonton Oilers - circa 1990 uniforms

The current Oilers only wore the white uniforms once, for the Heritage Classic. The Oilers alumni wore the blue version for the preceding MegaStars game. For 2008-09, this uniform served as the Oilers' third jersey and became the team's primary jersey in 2009-10.

• Los Angeles Kings - circa 1987 uniforms

• Montreal Canadiens - circa 1946 (white), circa 1960 (red)

The white throwbacks, similar in design to the red jersey with its blue-and-white stripe across the chest, continued to be worn as an alternate jersey in subsequent seasons. The red throwbacks featured a tie-up collar, a design feature that has seen a comeback in recent years, although it's there strictly for aesthetic purposes.

• New York Islanders - 1972-73

This uniform, from the team's first season featured orange numbers on white trim against a royal blue background, serving as the 2008-09 third jersey, was elevated to their full-time home uniform in 2009-10.

• New York Rangers - circa 1977 uniforms

This uniform featured the team's shield logo instead of "RANGERS" written diagonally across the chest. Ironically, these throwback jerseys were actually newer in design than their regular jerseys.

• St. Louis Blues - circa 1979 uniforms

Their then-current uniforms, introduced in 1998, were at least partially inspired by these uniforms.

• Vancouver Canucks - circa 1977 uniforms

The blue throwbacks would replace their screen-printed red/blue alternate in 2006. These throwbacks served as the basis for Vancouver's new uniforms in 2007.

• Philadelphia Flyers - circa 1974 uniforms

The first two times the Flyers wore these jerseys, the numbers were the same as the old ones. The numbers on the throwbacks worn in 2008-09 are the same as the numbers on their current road and third jerseys. These will serve as the Flyers' primary home jerseys for the 2009-10 season; a white version was used for the Winter Classic at Fenway Park January 1; these will serve as of 2010-11 as their road uniforms.

A few teams also introduced "fauxback" uniform (a term that was coined by Paul Lukas, the creator of the Uni Watch column and blog, for a uniform design not worn in the past, but given the appearance of decades-old vintage) designs as alternate jerseys. The Colorado Avalanche introduced burgundy third jerseys similar in design to the New York Rangers' blue ones, while the Minnesota Wild introduced a red alternate featuring a logo encased in a circle containing the team's name, a feature previously used by the Blackhawks and Pittsburgh Penguins. The 2004 National Hockey League All-Star Game also featured faux throwback designs.

The Bruins, Canadiens, Maple Leafs, and Canucks used their throwbacks through 2006–07. The Buffalo Sabres also wore a throwback blue-and-gold jersey for one season, bringing it back again in 2008-09, and making it their 2009-10 home sweater. Although third jerseys were temporarily discontinued for 2007–08 so that teams could get used to the new Rbk Edge uniforms (third jerseys returned for the 2008-09 season), Boston and Vancouver have adopted new uniforms that are based on their throwback designs.

On January 1, 2008, the Sabres and the Penguins donned throwback uniforms in the AMP Energy NHL Winter Classic at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park, New York, albeit with Reebok's "Edge" design template. The Penguins also used the throwbacks as their third jersey for the 2008–09 season. And as mentioned earlier, at the 2009 NHL Winter Classic, the Blackhawks and the Red Wings wore throwback replicas at Wrigley Field and the Flyers and Bruins donned retro schemes at Fenway Park in 2010. For the 2011 game, the Penguins (1967-68) and their opposition, the Washington Capitals (1974-75) are expected to wear their first seaosn replicates.

In recent years, CCM, now owned by Reebok, has made additional replica throwbacks available for sale, in addition to those in current use. 1992 throwbacks such as Detroit's and Chicago's were among those reissued, while others included older-era jerseys of current NHL teams the Phoenix Coyotes, the Colorado Avalanche, the Dallas Stars, and the New Jersey Devils when they had played in their former markets of (Winnipeg, Quebec City, Bloomington, MN, and Denver). The much-maligned "Flying-V" uniforms of the Vancouver Canucks were also reissued.

National Football League

Throwbacks were introduced in the NFL in 1991 at retail through the NFL Throwbacks Collection. The rights to produce the vintage apparel was limited to six apparel licensees, including Tiedman & Company Sportswear (exclusive to jerseys), Riddell (helmets), Starter (caps), Nutmeg Mills (sweatshirts), and DeLong (jackets). The NFL teams actually wore mesh versions of the old uniform styles for the first time during the 75th anniversary season of 1994. The designs varied widely in their accuracy:

• While no attempt was made to simulate obsolete leather helmets which were phased out in the 1950s, teams simulating uniforms from the era of leather headgear simply removed all decals and striping from their regular hard-shell helmets.
• A rule imposed by the AFL-NFL merger in 1970 adopted the AFL's policy of all jerseys displaying the player's last name on the back side. This practice was not part of the NFL officially until after the merger, but in order to keep consistency with current rules, the names were placed on the back side of all throwback jerseys.
• In most instances the fonts and typestyles used were only approximate matches at best.
• The Arizona Cardinals, Chicago Bears and Pittsburgh Steelers wore reproductions of uniforms that pre-dated large numerals on the front of jerseys, so instead smaller numerals were worn on the right shoulder.
• The Dallas Cowboys and Buffalo Bills received some criticism for their portrayal of their throwbacks. The Cowboys wore their early 1960s uniforms with their current helmet, while the Bills wore their then-current uniforms with the old "standing buffalo" logo in white on their red helmets, in place of the current blue "charging buffalo" logo. Later that season, the Cowboys used the "double-star" uniform, which could be considered an updated version of the 1960s jerseys. Ironically, both teams have since adopted these throwbacks more accurately as alternates, with Dallas now using the original, plain star helmet and Buffalo using the original red "standing buffalo" helmet on white background, as well as wearing the AFL-era jerseys as opposed to the Jim Kelly/Marv Levy-era jerseys. The New York Jets also received similar criticism for using their throwback logo on their then-current green helmets; when they adopted the throwback design full-time in 1998, they also went back to their original-style white helmets. The Bills and Cowboys did the same when they adopted their retro unis.
• The Miami Dolphins, New Orleans Saints, Seattle Seahawks, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Indianapolis Colts and Cleveland Browns hadn't had major uniform redesigns up to that point or only made subtle changes, as the Seahawks and Buccaneers had joined the league just 18 years earlier. The Seahawks and Buccaneers have also since redesigned their uniforms in 2002 and 1997, respectively, while the Dolphins made some minor updates in 1997 and the Saints in 2000.

All the teams were informed that they would be wearing the Throwbacks during Week Three of the season. Some teams continued to wear theirs throughout the season. The San Francisco 49ers wore replicas of their 1955 uniforms in their Super Bowl XXIX victory. The uniforms were well-liked enough that the 49ers brought them back, in slightly modified form, for 1996-1997. In 1998, the gold pants from before were returned, in more modern form. In 2009, the team debuted an updated design of the 1980s uniforms that won them four of their five Super Bowls.

Both of the NFL's New York City teams' throwbacks proved so popular with their fans that the teams returned to wearing them full-time soon afterwards: The Jets' replicas of their 1968 uniforms (with a darker shade of green than before), and the Giants' 1961 uniforms, with the lowercase "ny" instead of the underlined uppercase "GIANTS" - which was retained as a secondary logo - imposed after moving to East Rutherford, NJ. Both teams have modernized the 1960s decals for their current primary corporate logos.

As a result of the NFL modifying its rules to allow teams to wear alternate jerseys in 2002, throwbacks still make occasional appearances. The Thanksgiving Classic games hosted by the Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys have been a showcase of throwbacks in recent years. The Bills, San Diego Chargers and Cowboys traditionally wear their early 1960s throwbacks twice each season.

The Cleveland Browns throwbacks are based on a uniform/helmet combination that first appeared in 1957 when Jim Brown was drafted.(Players Numbers appeared on the side of the helmet that year.) The Browns began wearing their throwbacks in 2006 as part of the team's 60th Anniversary. They only wear them once per season.

Of note, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, who drastically changed their uniforms and team colors in 1997, never wore their orange throwbacks from 1997-2008. In 2009, the team wore their throwbacks for the first time in against the Green Bay Packers on November 8 to debut the "Buccaneers' Ring of Honor", and will do so again in 2010, on December 5 against the Atlanta Falcons.

The San Diego Chargers wore their 1960s style powder-blue uniforms with white helmets as alternates from 2002–2006 and in 2007 adopted a modified version as their full-time uniforms. Meanwhile the San Francisco 49ers wore their 1980s-style home red uniforms as throwbacks in 2002 (in 2005 the team re-designated them as alternate uniforms to be worn 1-2 home games a season). The team also petitioned the league to wear the throwbacks on the 2007 season opening night, as a tribute to their late former head coach Bill Walsh. For the 2009 season, an updated design based heavily on the 1980s throwbacks was debuted by the 49ers, which was combined with the team's current modern logo. On September 16, 2007, the Pittsburgh Steelers, celebrating their 75th season, wore a variation of their older early '60s uniforms that featured gold helmets with black stripe, black jerseys with gold numbers and stripes, and white pants with black-and-gold side stripes as they hosted Buffalo. They wore them again on Monday Night Football on November 5 against Baltimore. The Steelers enjoyed immense success in both games, winning each handily (26-3 vs. Buffalo, 38-7 vs. Baltimore), in direct contrast to the team's struggles when they wore those jerseys originally. On November 11, 2007, The New York Giants, wore their red uniforms against the division rival Dallas Cowboys. The New York Jets wore their New York Titans replica jerseys twice - once at home against the Philadelphia Eagles, and once against their divisional rivals, the Miami Dolphins.

The Eagles wore their powder blue and yellow throwback jerseys during the home game against the Lions on September 23, 2007. Though the Eagles had a big 56-21 victory, these particular Throwbacks were criticised as being very unattractive. During Sunday Night Football on NBC that week, Keith Olbermann named the Philadelphia Eagles the "Worst Persons in the NFL" for their blue-and-yellow throwback jerseys, citing "Throwbacks? Try throw-ups!". The blue and yellow uniforms, which are the same colors as the flag of the City of Philadelphia, were used by the Eagles, and their predecessors, the defunct Frankford Yellowjackets franchise, until the 1940s when the more familiar pre-Jeffrey Lurie era kelly green was introduced. The kelly green throwbacks from the 1960 season were wore for the 2010 season opener vs. the Green Bay Packers to commemorate the 50th anniversary of when the Eagles beat the Packers to win the 1960 NFL Championship.

For the 2009 season, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the founding of the American Football League, the eight charter members of the AFL wore throwback uniforms from the early 1960s on select "Legacy Weekends." The Dallas Cowboys, also celebrating their 50th anniversary season, wore throwback jerseys for some games. Additionally, the Lions dropped their much criticized black alternates in favor of the popular 1940's and 1950s throwbacks (plain blue jersey, silver pants and helmets) in 2008.

Major League Baseball

See also: Baseball uniforms and Major League Baseball § MLB uniforms

In 1990, the Chicago White Sox wore replicas of their 1917 World Series uniforms against the Milwaukee Brewers as part of the White Sox celebration of the final season at Comiskey Park. During the game, the scoreboard and public address system were turned off, and the lineups announced with a hand-held megaphone. Since then, these games have proven popular not only among team fans but also with viewers of TV highlight shows. ESPN, for the highlights of the 1990 game, sped up the highlights and showed them in black and white. The team then adopted a modified version of the 1959 "Go-Go Sox" era jerseys for the first year at U.S. Cellular Field in 1991, having kept that design since and winning the 2005 World Series in that design, ending an 88-year World Series championship drought.

With the introduction of Interleague Play, when the Atlanta Braves played the Boston Red Sox for the first time in a regular season game in Boston in 1997, the teams wore uniforms that traced back to the initial season in which each team adopted the current nickname, the Braves wearing road uniforms from the 1912 season with the word 'BOSTON' and the Red Sox wearing 1908 uniforms with a large red sock with the word 'BOSTON' in white on the sock. It was the Braves' first official game against the Red Sox since the team moved to Milwaukee after the 1952 season. Braves manager Bobby Cox went on record as being firmly against his team being identified as 'Boston' by their uniforms.

Some throwback nights featured the Oakland Athletics wearing one combo or another of the gold/white/green uniform set it featured in the 1970s and 80s, or the Pittsburgh Pirates' black-and-gold combo from the same era - on June 26, 2010, they did so against one another, with Pittsburgh in black and Oakland in gold. In 2003 the St. Louis Cardinals hosted the Baltimore Orioles with teams wearing retro St. Louis Cardinals and St. Louis Browns (the predecessor to today's Orioles, which moved to Baltimore for 1954) uniforms, respectively. The scoreboard that day said "Browns" and the stadium announcer played along with the fantasy as well. A recent (2006) throwback day saw the Houston Astros revert to their orange-and-red Rainbow Guts uniforms, also from that same era. Also, the Milwaukee Brewers, in recent years, have resurrected their old 1980s pinstriped uniforms with the old ball-in-glove "mb" logo on the caps for use as an alternate uniform. In 2008, the Toronto Blue Jays unveiled their new "Flashback Friday" powder blue throwback uniforms, similar to those worn in the 1979 season. The Cleveland Indians throwbacks are usually worn once a year in July and normally are based on their uniforms from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s. (Most notably, their 1974 "All Red" Home Uniforms.) They have also worn uniforms based on the 1948 Indians in honor of Larry Doby who was the first African-American player in the American League with the Indians.

In 2003, in commeration of the 100th anniversary of the first modern World Series, the two participants in that game (the Boston Red Sox and the Pittsburgh Pirates) met in a 3-game Interleague series at PNC Park in Pittsburgh. While the Red Sox took two of three of those games with both teams wearing their standard uniforms, the one the Pirates won was meant to replicate their matchup in the 1903 World Series with both teams wearing 1903-era throwbacks. Although baseball teams did not have uniform numbers at the time, to keep with the current rules numbers were put on the backs of the otherwise-accurate throwbacks. The JumboTron screen was left with a static background, and the scoreboard had the different team names at the time: the "Boston Americans" and the "Pittsburg Pirates". The stadium crew at PNC Park also did other 1903-era activities such as using a megaphone for announcements.

In the 1999 season, MLB turned the throwback uniform concept on its ear with a series of "Turn Ahead the Clock" nights. It was inspired by an independently-held promotion on July 18, 1998 at a game between the Seattle Mariners and the Kansas City Royals. During those nights, teams would wear uniforms as they might be envisioned in the year 2021. Twenty-two teams ultimately participated over 13 different games in 1999, with some teams wearing the uniforms more than once. The promotion proved unpopular, and has yet to be repeated since.

In 2006 the New York Mets, in honor of the 20th anniversary of the 1986 World Series, held a "turn-back-the-clock-night" and wore their 1986 uniforms, and in 2009 played three games of a four-game set against the San Francisco Giants in a "fauxback" jersey based on early 1900s New York Giants' jerseys with a giant "NY" on the chest. (When the expansion Metropolitans were added for the 1962 season, the team's colours and cap logo reflected the team as a replacement for the two National League teams in the New York region that had moved to California, with blue for the Dodgers and both orange and the cap logo on the caps for the Giants.) In 2008, the Philadelphia Phillies adopted a alternate uniform based on their 1948 uniforms, but with modern graphics on an off-white color background.

The Tampa Bay Rays have worn many throwback uniforms in their short existence. Most of these have been events in which they wear the uniforms of other local professional teams in the Tampa Bay area, such as the St. Petersburg Pelicans of the Senior Professional Baseball Association (worn in 2008), while the opposing team wears a throwback jersey of their own team from the same era of the Rays' throwbacks, such as the Houston Astros' "Rainbow Guts" (worn during the series in which the Rays wore the Pelicans uniforms). In 2009, however, the Rays wore their own throwbacks for the first time in a game against the Oakland Athletics. The uniforms commemorated the inaugural 1998 Devil Rays season. Oakland also wore 1998 throwbacks. The night coincided with a "90s Night" promotion by the Rays, including a post-game concert by Smash Mouth. Their most recent addition to the throwback jerseys were from the 1971 Tampa Tarpons, a now-defunct team from the then-Class D Florida State League affiliated with the Cincinnati Reds. In August 2010 the Rays wore these uniforms in a game against the Baltimore Orioles, who wore their rare all-orange uniforms from the 1970's.

The San Diego Padres have also worn multiple throwback uniforms. Pre-1969 designs have represented the Padres of the Pacific Coast League. During the 2010 season, throwback uniforms were worn during all Thursday home day games. Multiple designs and color schemes were used, including the 1969 "first major league season" brown and gold, 1984 "first World Series" white with gold lettering and brown trim (and "RAK" on the sleeves for then-recently deceased owner Ray A. Kroc), and a 1990s era white with orange-trimmed blue lettering (while these were the accurate Padres jersey of the period, the design is also very similar to that of the New York Mets, as the owners of the team at the time were investors from New York). All of these were fairly accurate representations of the team's uniforms and colors of the period, and in most games the visiting team wore throwback uniforms of a similar period. For example, at the final home game on September 30, the visiting Chicago Cubs and the Padres both wore 1984-era jerseys, in tribute to the 1984 NLCS, in which the same two teams played against each other.

National Basketball Association

In the 1996–97 NBA season, the NBA celebrated its 50th anniversary by introducing throwback jerseys, known as "Hardwood Classics". The Toronto Raptors were notable for wearing the uniforms of the long-defunct Toronto Huskies, an original BAA team. The Chicago Bulls wore script-logo throwbacks from the beginning of Michael Jordan's career. Some of the throwbacks that were introduced in this season have been brought back on more occasions since, notably the Golden State Warriors, whose throwback placed the players' numbers inside an angled cable car (a reference to San Francisco, where they had played in the early years in California).

In more recent years, throwback jerseys in the NBA have recalled some of the more gaudy uniforms of the NBA and the ABA, ranging from the aforementioned Warriors uniforms, to the Detroit Pistons' lightning bolt uniforms of the Dick Vitale era of the late 1970s, to the Miami Floridians throwbacks worn by the Heat, and the Cleveland Cavaliers' 1980s era jerseys worn by Brad Daugherty, Mark Price, and Ron Harper as well as uniforms based on the early and mid-1970s. In contrast, the New York Knicks often wear throwback uniforms from the 1970s and 80s that are understated by comparison. The warmups and uniform shorts of that era feature an "interlocking NY" identical to the one worn by the New York Yankees on their caps and home jerseys. Most "Hardwood Classics" jerseys worn by current players for games, however, are based on modern fabrics, and not the classic fabric designs of the past. The Los Angeles Lakers wore throwback short-shorts in 2007 for one game. Kobe Bryant complained, saying, "I feel violated. I feel naked. It's one thing to see those old guys wearing them on film, it's another to actually wear them". The Philadelphia 76ers began wearing throwback jerseys from their championship season of 1982-83 in 2007-08 to honor the 25th anniversary of their championship. They were so popular that the Sixers kept these jerseys for next year, and reverted to their old logo (modified with a newer "6") for the 2009-10 season.

The Orlando Magic are notable for wearing the same throwback design at least twice; their black pinstriped throwback was used in 2003–04, 2006–07 and 2009–10 seasons. They also wore the blue pinstriped throwbacks in 2004–05 and the white pinstriped throwbacks in 2005–06. The New Orleans Hornets and Memphis Grizzlies were also notable for wearing throwbacks of the New Orleans Buccaneers and Memphis Pros, two long-forgotten teams in the old American Basketball Association.

The usage of throwback uniforms even inspired some NBA teams to acquire elements used from old uniform designs in creating new ones. For example, the Atlanta Hawks, Milwaukee Bucks, Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors reverted back to their original color schemes while adding some accent colors to create a more modern look, while the Magic, Hornets and the Charlotte Bobcats revived the use of pinstripes on their uniforms. The Utah Jazz are re-using their classic note logo and a similar (though not the same) color scheme, and also plan to adopt a similar uniform design to what they originally wore from 1974-1996.

Other North American sports

Manny Harris and DeShawn Sims of the 2008–09 Michigan Wolverines vs. Ohio State in 1989 Michigan Championship throwback uniforms (1-17-2009)

In 1921 a baseball game held at Rickwood Field as part of the Semicentennial of Birmingham, Alabama was played in "old-style" uniforms and according to "the rules of the games as they were in 1872.". Since 1996 Rickwood Field has been the site of the annual "Rickwood Classic", a regular season Birmingham Barons game in which both Southern League teams wear uniforms honoring some period of their respective histories.

The Philadelphia Wings indoor lacrosse team ditched their silver, red, and black uniforms for a game to wear their original orange and white jerseys worn in the early 1970s from the original National Lacrosse League. For the 100th anniversary of the rivalry between Johns Hopkins and Maryland in men's lacrosse, both teams wore special retro jerseys. During the 35th anniversary of women's field hockey at Dartmouth College, the Big Green are wearing a special harlequin-design throwback uniform.

The Texas Longhorns college football team wore throwback uniforms for a single game during their 2005 national championship season as a way of honoring the past. The throwback jerseys were similar to jerseys worn during their 1963 National Championship season under Coach Darrell K. Royal.

The University of Virginia's football team wore throwback uniforms in a single game on September 6, 2008, in honor of Virginia's teams from 1984 through 1993. The university's athletic department termed the game a "Retro Game" instead of using the term "throwback."

Also in 2008, on September 12 in Toronto and October 10 in Winnipeg, the Canadian Football League's Toronto Argonauts and Winnipeg Blue Bombers wore replicas of the uniforms the teams wore during the 1950s. Toronto's jerseys were a light blue in colour, with dark blue striping on the sleeves and the team's old "Pull Together" football-as-a-ship logo on the shoulders. The Blue Bomber jerseys were a dark blue in colour, with gold sleeve stripes. The team's 1950s-era logo was on the front of the jersey, just below the V in the neck. A special CFL "Retro Week" logo adorned each jersey as well, that logo being a take-off of the maple leaf one used as the league symbol from 1954 through 1969. This became an annual tradition starting with the 2009 campaign with all teams putting on replica of 1960s uniforms each team wore. The Saskatchewan Roughriders have also worn a popular throwback uniform since 2007 in addition to the league wide movement to wearing the uniforms of the designated decade. The Roughriders wore these throwback uniforms and helmets in the 2009 Grey Cup Championship game.

For the 2009 and 2010 seasons, as part of Nike's Pro Combat program, several college football teams, including Ohio State and Oregon State wore throwback-inspired uniforms.

International

The throwback uniform concept is also popular with various sporting clubs internationally, and are often used to celebrate a team's heritage much like their use in the United States.

Australian Rules Football

The Australian Football League features an annual "Heritage Round" that uses the concept. After the inaugural 2003 heritage round St Kilda used their heritage guernsey as their away uniform from 2004 till 2006. Also in 2003, Port Adelaide angered Collingwood by wearing their traditional black and white "prison bars" guernsey which was also the same colours as Collingwood. Collingwood’s anger was considered controversial seeing as Port didn't even play Collingwood in that game. In the intervening years Port have worn Heritage Round designs based on numerous other colours and designs the team wore previously to 1902 when they changed to black and white.

"Heritage Round" has recently been taking on themes based on certain eras. The 2006 round was based on the 1980s and the theme of 2007 to be based on the 1970s. This creates an awkward situation for Port Adelaide who were disallowed by the Collingwood Football club and the AFL to wear their SANFL Black and White "Prison Bar" guernsey from the 1980s due to overshadowing the branding of Collingwood's Black and White Stripes, although a deal has been done since that will allow Port Adelaide to wear the "Prison Bars" at all future Heritage Round matches played in Adelaide. Collingwood itself wears variations of its signature black and white stripes as worn in the relevant era.

The West Coast Eagles donned the WAFL State of Origin guernsey for the 2007 1970s round as they did not exist until 1987. Likewise, the Adelaide Crows, formed in 1991, have worn SA guernseys as well as guernseys combing the Crows' colours with those of SANFL teams.

Baseball

The Lotte Giants of the Korean Baseball Organization has "Again 1984/1992" day once per month in commemoration of their league titles from those respective years. The team dresses in their old baby blue jerseys as well as their old cap, complete with the old logo. The "Again 1984/1992" games are usually the most popular games of the year in Busan, with the stadium as well as the throwback merchandising usually selling out fast. Due to this success, starting in 2008, other teams in the league such as Doosan Bears and Samsung Lions have started to incorporate a similar style of throwback day as well.

Association Football

'Retro shirts' as they are known in the United Kingdom, are also sometimes used in association football, albeit (as with the NFL) with modern fabrics. In 2005-06 Arsenal changed their home colours from their traditional red and white to a variant of maroon known as redcurrant as a commemoration of their final season at Highbury Stadium; this colour was the same shade the team had worn when they had moved to Highbury in 1913. Redcurrant still plays a part in their kits; an alternate kit being worn features redcurrant pinstriping as of 2009-10.

Manchester United wore a replica of their jersey from 1958 during the Manchester derby game against Manchester City in the Barclays Premier League on February 10, 2008 at Old Trafford to mark the 50th anniversary of the Munich air disaster four days earlier. United also used the traditional "One to eleven" numbering scheme rather than using squad numbers. For the 2009-10 Premiership, the team is wearing modified replica of the first uniform worn at Old Trafford a century earlier.

More authentic reproductions of kits from the past have become popular fashion items, especially jerseys linked to successful or memorable teams. When France won the 1998 World Cup, their uniform was reminiscent of the design of the 1984 team with a red horizontal stripe across the chest.

When the United States men's soccer team took the field between 1999 and 2001, their plain white uniform with a thick V-neck collar looked reminiscent of the U.S. Soccer Federation's first uniform worn in 1916.

France and Brazil played a "throwback" game in the Stade de France in 2003, with lace-up collars and the Brazilian team wearing an unfamiliar white top.

For the 2009-10 Premiership in England, newly promoted Burnley wore modified replicas of their 1960 championship kits, when they competed in the then-First Division.

Cycling

When Lance Armstrong won his fifth Tour de France championship, in 2003, his U.S. Postal Service-sponsored team wore a special jersey sporting the old U.S. Mail logo from the 1970s for the final day of the race. This was not technically a throwback jersey, as the team itself did not exist in that era, and had only been affiliated with USPS since 1998.

Cricket

In February 2005 at Eden Park, Auckland, Australia and New Zealand contested the very first Twenty20 cricket international match. Both teams appeared in retro 1980s style tight fitting one day international uniforms without team names, numbers or sponsors logos. The Australians wore their original "yellow and gold" whilst New Zealand were in "beige" inspired by the Beige Brigade sports fans. The game was played in a light hearted manner with both teams sporting 1980s style head bands, moustaches and hairstyles.

See also

• Mitchell & Ness
• Special paint scheme - "Retro" paint jobs found their way into NASCAR in the 1990s

External links

• ESPN Page 2 looks at Major League Baseball throwbacks worn in 2002
• NHL Uniforms.com, visual history of NHL uniforms
• NFL 75th Anniversary Throwbacks
• AFL Heritage Round