SI.com's "Things We Miss in Baseball."

Or how about having pitchers wear jackets when they were on base?

 

They still wear jackets on base. Maybe not in August, but they do.

 

I'll throw in the oldschool umpire chest shields they used to use instead of the protectors they use now.

Also enjoyed these guys as a kid at A's Games. Guess they're still around.

 

There was a time when that'd be half the attendance at the game.

 

Chief Knock-A-Homa.

 

The main one off the list that I miss is the organ music. Ernie Hays was a major part of the experience at the old (not the old-old) Busch Stadium. And I miss the days when ballparks would be named only after the team, the city/location, the team owner, or beer. Parks being named after a pet store or a breakfast juice are prima facie fail. Tho I guess the breakfast juice is less fail than a company whose name came to represent corporate corruption.

 

The old Oakland A's Sunday home uniforms.

 

and his son Knock-A-Single.

 

Yeah, well "Wrigley" and "Busch" were the owners, but they were pretty well-known brand names, too.

 

It's not "in the park," but run-of-the-mill plays without three replays of them on the tube.

Didn't the Yankees come in from the bullpen via a pinstriped Toyota or something one year?

 

Pinstriped Datsun

 

Claasssssy!

Looks like Hideki Irabu wasn't the first Yankee bust to come from Japan.

I'll bet the thing broke down after one (take your pick: Goose Gossage or Sparky Lyle) fart.

Though it's oft-publicized that the Brewers used a Harley as a bullpen vehicle, that was much later in the bullpen car era, and they didn't do it for long.

My recollections of their bullpen cars are giant, gas-guzzling GM "old man" models like a Buick LeSabre or some such beast in the late 70s and early 80s. Usually from Phil Tolkan or Rank & Son.