Boston Red Sox: Generations, or alts as slightly alternate history

A while back, maybe a year or two ago, I got to thinking about alt history concepts.  They've been done, but not that often, but somehow, someway I wound up in that exact territory, wondering what alts I could come up with for various time periods.  In every case, the images said it all.  These were originally posted at CCSLC in 2011.

Mighty Fighting Sea Dubs...Santa Cruz Warriors part 1

Ask a basketball fan who doesn't particularly care about uniforms what an iconic uniform looks like, and he'll probably point to the Celtics green the Lakers' gold or the Bulls red.  Ask a uniform fanatic, you'll probably get those three as well.  You'll also get a fourth option: The City.

courtesy warriorsrundown.blogspot.com

This post is about the Warriors.  No, not the Golden State Warriors.

Milwaukee Bucks MECCA third

The Milwaukee Bucks had announced over the summer that they were replacing their rather generic floor with a more distinct hardwood patterned after the old MECCA floor.  In what is such a Bucks thing to happen, however, the only preseason game they tried to play on it was called midway into the first quarter, as the floor wound up being too slick.

In any event, I'd found myself wondering what it'd look like in jersey form, and here it is.

I might have been better served making the numbers white, but oh well.

College to Pro: Russell Wilson

Most of the NFL's star players spent their college careers at one place.  A decent number of others spent time at junior colleges, then transferred to a four year school.  Then there are the rare cases of guys who transferred for one reason or another, such as Russell Wilson.

courtesy seattlepi.com

Though NC State was still wearing the Falcons ripoffs when he first got there, at the end of his time there, the Wolfpack was wearing much plainer fare.  Likewise, Wisconsin hasn't made any major changes to their uniform for a couple decades.  The contrast of both styles with that of the Seahawks' avant garde set was too amusing to pass up.  Hell, in this case I figured the hawk head alone wouldn't be enough, so I worked it into a passable S, then made a left-side version to avoid the "badge of cowardice" that would result.  For NCSU, I brought the 90s wolfpack heads out of retirement, figuring they'd be a good substitute for the wraparound hawk head.  Finally, wolf tails are on NC State's pants.

I recall having a cap with a snarling badger on it in the early or mid 90s, though that logo is rather hard to find.  As I didn't particularly like it anyway, I went with Bucky over a red/black wraparound stripe.  The W's on the pants stripe is a concession to the fact that I couldn't find the paw print I'd originally intended to use.

Chicago Cubs

I know one thing, if I were a betting man, I'd always put money on being able to spot someone in a given Wrigley Field crowd wearing a cap like this (hell, likely every third or fourth fan):

courtesy strictlyfitteds.com

Arizona Cardinals

One thing I like doing in football concepts is modifying traditional elements in some way, and few things scream "traditional football" like Northwestern stripes (the thin-thick-thin stripes worn by the Steelers, Lions, Iowa, BYU, and namesake Northwestern, among many others).  Back in the late 90s, ESPN started airing Arena league games live, and among the AFL's top teams were the Arizona Rattlers and San Jose Sabercats, both of whom utilized Northwestern stripes in what remain the most distinctive manners I've seen, SMU's use of them on their shoulders notwithstanding.  The middle stripe on the Rattlers' sleeves was a turquoise/copper diamondback pattern, much like the Diamondbacks would later utilize, while a sunburst graced the Sabercats' uniform.

Arizona Rattlers courtesy azcentral.com