What's happened to MSU baseball's Sunday black uniforms?
Some of the greatest moments in Mississippi State baseball history the last few years have come with the Bulldogs wearing their Sunday black uniforms. There was a walk-off win over Ole Miss, Super-Regional-clinching victories over Vanderbilt and Stanford, as well as a wild comeback triumph over Auburn at the College World Series.
Some fans love them. Others hate them. But there's no denying the Sunday black unis have become a part of Mississippi State lore. So the question is...what has happened to them?
MSU has gone the past two weekends without adorning themselves in black. The last time those jerseys made an appearance was back on March 28 in a loss to Arkansas.
Well for the uniform aficionados amongst us, we now know why thanks to the work of Richard Cross, Brian Hadad and Michael Borkey on SportsTalk Mississippi. MSU baseball coach Chris Lemonis joined their statewide radio program on Monday and addressed why the Sunday blacks have gone missing of late. Here's what Lemonis said:
“They’re not gone. We’ve still got them. Last weekend against Kentucky now, we don’t wear them (because) blacks are worn on Sundays (and Kentucky was a Thursday-Friday-Saturday series). Jake Mangum made sure when I got here, ‘Coach, we don’t wear (the blacks) on the Saturday last game because it’s not Sunday.’ So we didn’t wear them that weekend. We had a brand new pair of gray pinstripes (for Auburn). Our kids kind of came to us and said, ‘Hey coach, we don’t want to wear the blacks this weekend…(The guys in the past) that was another great (MSU) team and (the black uniforms) was a tradition they had, but we’re a different team. We don’t want to fall into that.’ So we switched it up a little bit and they played really good in (the pinstripes). So they’ll get a chance to wear them again for sure. But the blacks are still here. We didn’t throw them out or put them in a trash can or anything.”
Lemonis went on to address his favorite uniform combinations MSU uses currently and expressed his love for the old-school, classic looks – including the pinstripe versions as well as the classic 1985-style jerseys. But he also noted even the black unis held a soft spot because, well, they made some spots look not as soft.
“I like the blacks because they’re slimming,” Lemonis said. “I always felt like I looked a little smaller in them.”
You can view/listen to Lemonis' full interview by CLICKING HERE. Lemonis' portion of the interview starts shortly after the 15-minute mark with uniform talk beginning around the 23-minute mark.
Mississippi State hasn't worn its Sunday black uniforms the last couple of weekends, but head coach Chris Lemonis says the jerseys haven't gone away. (Photo courtesy of Mississippi State athletics)
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