Patterns on the diamond

The Sunday open thread on the always-interesting Uni Watch blog noted that “Padres broke out their desert camouflage uniforms.” Since I wasn’t quite so tuned in to team uniform variations in the pre-Uni Watch blog era, I didn’t know the Padres had such uniforms. I also wasn’t sure why they had such uniforms. I’m still not sure when it started, but here’s the “why” explanation from a Padres press release from 2006:

Saturday’s 7:05 p.m. matchup with the Mets marks the Eleventh Annual “Military Opening Day” presented by Northrop Grumman Corporation. The Padres will continue their custom of donning camouflage uniforms, this time wearing a desert pattern worn by troops serving the Middle East. Five thousand half-price tickets, offered to the military community until 24 hours prior to Saturday’s game, are available by presenting a valid military identification card at the Padres Advance Ticket Windows at PETCO Park.

This is an interesting convergence.

One Uni Watch commenter sticks to the aesthetic context, pronouncing the uniforms “friggin’ hideous.” Another goes with the context of, you know, the war: “I guess you have to live in San Diego to appreciate what those camo uniforms mean to us. The Padres do not wear them as a gimic, like so many teams do in the minors. They represent a serious appreciation for the vast military population that is found in San Diego.”

I’m not sure what to say about it. It never really occurred to me that defense contractors would do baseball promotions. But I guess I can’t come up with any reason why it shouldn’t happen. It just all seems a little jarring. Maybe it’s just me.

Update: Mr. Lukas (who I should have checked with, now that I think of it) fills in some details:

“The Padres have been doing the camo thing since ’99 or so, as a tribute to the city’s large military population. It used to be a once-a-year thing; now they do it a few times during the season. Back when it started, they’d just have a camo jersey but stuck with their regular caps, helmets, underlsleeves, etc., so nothing matched. Over the years they’ve slowly added an olive-drab cap, olive undersleeves, olive helmets, etc. They’ve also switched from the green jungle camo to the tan desert camo.

“I’ve always found the whole thing very odd. Like, what if a player wants to be, shall we say, a conscientious objector?”