Baseball-jersey fashion

The Worcester Art Museum spotlights baseball garb.

Photo of red, white, and orange Houston Astros jersey from 1983 worn by pitcher Joe Niekro

A 1983 Houston Astros jersey worn by pitcher Joe Niekro

Courtesy of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum/Milo Stewart Jr. B-50-83 

Inspired by this spring’s arrival of the city’s minor-league baseball team, the Worcester Art Museum has mounted a new show celebrating the sport: The Iconic Jersey: Baseball x Fashion. Opening June 12, the exhibit offers more than 35 historic and contemporary shirts, along with vintage photographs and trading cards, fabric swatches, and logo designs. On display, for instance, is “Stan the Man” Musial’s 1952 St. Louis Cardinal’s jersey, featuring the team’s bird-and-bat logo, which was hand-stitched (as all the team jerseys were) by workers at the R.J. Liebe Athletic Lettering Company through 2003. There’s the splashy 1983 Houston Astros jersey worn by pitcher Joe Niekro. A simple 2017 striped white top, designed by G Yamazawa and Runaway Clothing, honors the Japanese American players held at the Heart Mountain internment camp in Wyoming during World War II.

What about the uniforms of the new Worcester Red Sox, a Triple-A affiliate of the Boston Red Sox? On opening day at the new Polar Park stadium, slated for May 11, team members will trot onto the field sporting jerseys adorned with the iconic yellow smiley-face holding a bat and clad in red knee socks. Devised by the San Diego-based Brandiose, the logo pays homage to commercial artist Harvey Ball, born and raised in Worcester. Ball originally created the smiley-face for a local insurance company in 1963, dashing it off in 10 minutes and earning $45. Sixty years later, it’s ubiquitous, and now affiliated with a multibillion-dollar sport franchise. Go WooSox! 

Read more articles by Nell Porter-Brown

You might also like

What of the Humble Pencil?

Review: At the Harvard Art Museums’ new exhibit, drawing takes center stage

This Connecticut Mine Was Once a Prison

The underground Old New-Gate Prison quickly became “a school for crime.”

Harvard Film Archive Spotlights Japanese Director Mikio Naruse

A retrospective of the filmmaker’s works, from Floating Clouds to Flowing

Most popular

Two Years of Doxxing at Harvard

What happens when students are publicly named and shamed for their views?

A New Narrative of Civil Rights

Political philosopher Brandon Terry’s vision of racial progress

Paolo Pasco and the art of making crosswords

Paolo Pasco and the art of making crosswords

Explore More From Current Issue

Book cover of "Black Moses" by Caleb Gayle with subtitle about ambition and the fight for a Black state.

Civil Rights in the American West

A new book chronicles one man’s quest for a Black state.

Colorful illustration of woman multitasking with laptop, baby bottle, toy, and checklist.

Motherhood and Ambition in a Pronatalist World

Gen Z is confronting the age-old question of balance—with a new twist.

Johnston Gate

Your Views on Harvard’s Standoff, Antisemitism, and More

Readers comment on the controversial July-August cover, authoritarianism, and scientific research.