Throwback uniform gets trimmed up
The Pittsburgh Pirates held their annual “Negro Leagues Heritage Game” against the Chicago Cubs on Friday night at PNC Park, which could only mean one thing: some truly stellar throwback uniforms. And long before the Cubs scored six in the ninth inning for a wild 9-5 victory, the uniforms provided an interesting moment.
Pittsburgh wore the uniforms of the Homestead Grays, while Chicago chose to honor the Leland Giants — the first black team to play the Cubs way back in 1909.
Chicago’s uniforms came complete with white long-sleeve shirts to be worn underneath the jersey itself. Which is all well and good except, per MLB rules, pitchers aren’t allowed to have any white on their sleeves while on the mound — it would make it too difficult for batters to pick up the ball.
So when Cubs starter Eddie Butler took the mound in the bottom of the first, he immediately had to call for a pair of scissors.
Butler was perfectly aware of the rule, and was ready for the impromptu tailoring. “I was not surprised at all,” he told MLB.com’s Carrie Muskat after Chicago’s victory. “[Home plate umpire Will Little] came out before I finished the warm-up pitches, and said, ‘You’re not going to be able to have that.’ You’re not going to be allowed to wear a white sleeve.”
Still, it was worth a shot: “We had to go out there and see what we could do with it, have some fun with it. We figured it wasn’t going to last long. We might as well try.”