Winning looks good and losing looks bad, no matter the uniform.
The sharpest unis in the world are lipstick on a pig if the gang wearing them can’t play. (Happens more often than you’d think.)
They’ll never create a jersey that’ll make an “L” look like a “W.”
But if you look sharp (or even just think you do), you tend to play better. Which brings us to Louisiana Tech’s Diamond Dogs, who’ve won the regular season Conference USA championship and looked good doing it.
A bonus, baby.
The Dapper Dogs have a secret weapon here in the formidable duo of trainer/director of baseball operations Dan Takata and associate pitching coach Matt Miller, a former righthanded starter for Tech who punched out 97 opposing batters in 2019 on his way to becoming all-conference and a Bulldog Man, (which translates to Team Captain for Life, nice work if you can earn it).
Looking good, these two dudes.
In his transition from player to coach, Miller drew up a Columbia Blue uniform that Adidas spun into reality in 2021. For a while, it was all the rage; the Dogs couldn’t seem to lose in what they called their Sunday Blues. (There’s a new version now, still sharper than a barber’s blade.)
Meanwhile, in the Uniform Lab, Matt and Dan were cooking up something even more special. For everyone to “wear.”
Shortly after the tornado of April 2019 shuttered J.C. Love Field at Pat Patterson Park, Marucci Sports gifted the Team Without A Ballpark with good-looking T-shirts the Dogs used as batting jerseys. On the front was “Ruston Strong” with an outline of the City of Ruston.
The Dogs get a new set of jerseys every year or two, and our hardball fashionistas started thinking …
What if the team incorporated Ruston into a jersey? After all, it was Ruston who flocked to the new J.C. Love Field at Pat Patterson Park in May of 2021 and took part in what might be the Greatest Two Weeks Running in Tech Athletic History. The Diamond Dogs played 16 straight home games — thank you, Baseball Gods — hosted the conference tournament and the first Ruston Regional, and even though the Dogs lost in the finals of both, The Love Shack turned into something between Woodstock in Cleats and Field of Dreams for those glorious dozen days.
Meanwhile in major league baseball, a trend called “City Connect” had begun. You’ll see big leaguers playing in jerseys with “Cincy” or “Philly” on the front. The Cubs have a “Wrigleyville” jersey, the White Sox a “South Side” top, Detroit some “Motor City” digs. Astros fans know their teams’ “Space City” jerseys.
And so …
Last year the jerseys debuted. Black with “Ruston” in script across the front, big white numbers on the back, and both filled with the red, white and blue of the country’s flag. Also on the back, the blue patch that’s the outline of the City of Ruston. a perfect understated tribute and hat tip to a town that’s embraced a group of guys easy to pull for.
While the jerseys were created more to remember the way the city and area and University reacted as a team to the 2019 tornado, it has grown into more of a tribute to a town from a grateful team, a way of saying “thank you” (as much as one can through a cotton/wool/polyester blend).
City Connect.
Granted, they’ve worked better this year than last, when the Dogs struggled to finish just below .500. (Long, loooong story.) But this year, with those City Connect jerseys good and broken in, with more strikes being thrown and a longer lineup and a chemistry that demands accountability, the Bulldogs are 41-15 overall, 18-6 in the league, and a hearty 26-5 in the welcoming Love Shack.
To paraphrase the late great entertainer/songwriter/musician/stud Glen Frey, Louisiana Tech’s Diamond Dogs belong to the city. They’re a group of seniors led by the last of the Tornado Team, left fielder and Bulldog Man Adarius Myers. Then there’s The Law Firm of McConnell, McCloud & Corona, a trio that remembers playing at Ruston High when the team had no park.
And now the just-right accessories, too many to mention. But they’re all wearing the same thing, like their hearts on their sleeves, and that makes it awfully easy to pull for the guys in the good-looking gear, the ones playing for each other, and for the name on the front of the jerseys.
Contact Teddy at teddy@latech.edu
