Baseball stirrups
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Stirrups are uniform socks that were commonly worn by baseball players up until the mid-1990s, when players began wearing their pants down to the ankles. Up until then, stirrup socks had been an integral part of the traditional baseball uniform, giving baseball uniforms a distinctive look.
A high sock was needed since baseball pants were "knickers" which, similar to football pants, came to just below the knee. Also, these uniform socks served to display team colors, as well as stripes or other team markings which formed the basis of several team names ("Red Stockings" "Red Sox" "White Sox"). Stirrup socks are worn on top of long white "sanitary" socks. This is because early color dyes in the outer stirrup sock were thought to pose health issues, as well as the fact that the inner, less expensive white sock could be changed more frequently. The stirrup sock lacked a foot, instead having a loop ("stirrup") which fit under the foot and exposed part of the white undersock. Over the years, the stirrup loop tended to get longer, exposing more of the white undersock, thus creating a look that was unique to baseball.
However, by the 1980s many players were pulling the loop so high that only their white undersock and the loop itself showed - the rest of the game sock being hidden by their pants. Although many teams had for years enforced rules so that uniforms were worn "uniformly", including the team socks, increasingly lax regulation of uniform codes by Major League Baseball and its teams eventually contributed to players ignoring the traditional look. By the 1990s the majority of major league players were no longer wearing knickers, but longer baseball pants that entirely covered the team socks (if team socks were worn at all). Although some teams continue to wear traditional baseball stirrup socks, particularly some college teams, another option has been to replace the stirrup/undersock with a "2 in 1" combination sock mimicking the real thing, or simply to wear a single solid knee high sock with traditional knickers.
The trend back to knickers and high socks is particularly evident among youth and high school teams. A few pro players, such as Brian Tallet of the Toronto Blue Jays and Jamie Moyer of the Philadelphia Phillies have been spotted wearing genuine stirrups recently to much fanfare. The minor league Springfield Missouri Cardinals wear a 2-in-1 version of the traditional St Louis Cardinals' game sock that looks very much like the real thing. Some baseball fans feel that because the stirrup socks displayed team colors and patterns, they formed an essential part of the traditional uniform, and should be brought back.
Other sports also use, or have used, stirrup socks, but traditionally wore a white sweat sock over, instead of under, the colored stirrup game sock (eg, basketball, football, hockey).
[edit] Further reading
- Lukas, Paul. "Hosiery History". The Village Voice. June 6, 2001.
