Rainbow Guts
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Rainbow Guts uniform or the popsicle uniform is a nickname for a series of uniform styles worn by the Houston Astros Major League Baseball club from 1975 to 1993. The colorful uniform style--featuring broad horizontal stripes in red, orange, and yellow across the abdomen--was made possible by the advent of synthetic fabrics and followed the use of bright-colored uniforms by the Oakland Athletics.
From the formation of the Houston Colt .45s in 1962 (the team name was changed to "Astros" in 1965) until 1969, the club wore traditional white home uniforms and gray away uniforms with dark blue as the principal trim color. In 1971, blue was replaced by a deep orange as the main trim color.
In late 1974, the Rainbow Guts uniform was introduced. The cap was white and the lower part of the pullover jersey--from just underneath the chest to the belt--was encircled with red, two shades of orange, and yellow stripes. The chest portion was plain white with the legend "Astros" in navy blue. On the left side was a white five-pointed star trimmed in orange. The rainbow stripes extended to the lower part of the short sleeves and the long-sleeved undershirt was navy blue. Also diverging from tradition, the uniform number was moved down to the front of the right thigh.
But a lawsuit over the team's new logo, a stylized "A" made out of a triangle with a star and a contrail streaking towards the sky, necessitated minor changes in the uniform that would be worn from 1975 until 1987. The white cap became orange, and the white star on the front of the jersey became blue. The star was outlined in orange until 1983, when it was outlined in white.
Upon the introduction of the style in 1975, it became very popular, helping bring the otherwise ignored Houston club to the attention of fans nationwide. The style was eventually adopted by many of the minor league teams in the Houston farm system.
The uniform, made by Sand-Knit and licensed to Cooper for use in Canada, was also adopted by numerous high school, college, and recreational baseball and softball teams. Amongst the prominent adoptees were Seton Hall, Tulane, Louisiana Tech, and Denver University.
In 1980, the Astros adopted a more subdued away uniform, with the rainbow stripes moved to the shoulders and the outside of the sleeves. In 1982, a white home version of this modified style began appearing and in 1987, the original Rainbow Guts home style was dropped completely. The modified style, also adopted by many of the Astros minor-league teams including the Tucson Toros and the Asheville Tourists, lasted through 1993.
Since then, the Rainbow Guts design has been kept alive both on and off the field of play. The Astros have occasionally worn them for Turn Back The Clock games, including one played the final year they played in the Astrodome. Since moving to Minute Maid Park, the uniforms worn in throwback games are usually autographed and then given to randomly chosen fans in the "Jerseys Off the Back" promotion.
However, hip-hop music videos and rap stars have since increased their visibility and popularity. When OutKast and Nelly started wearing the Rainbow Guts in their videos, demand for the jerseys skyrocketed. Sports apparel manufacturer Mitchell & Ness has released several successful versions of the Rainbow Guts jerseys featuring players such as Nolan Ryan, Jose Cruz, and J.R. Richard. These authentic jerseys are of the finest quality and often run upwards of $300. However, numerous imitations started flooding the marketplace in 2002 and 2003. Some Far Eastern knockoffs altered the striping patterns, others altered the color scheme. Even mainstream companies such as the Zoo York skateboard company and P. Miller clothing borrowed from the Astros' look.
