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The Infamous 1995-96 St. Louis Blues Alternate Lives!


JeffB

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In 1995-96 the first wave of NHL third jerseys arrived in Boston, Vancouver, Anaheim, Los Angeles and Pittsburgh.

The story goes that there was also supposed to be one in St. Louis, but coach Mike Keenan took one look at it and shot it down.

A single photo was published in a book proved its existence, but that was all we ever saw of it for 20 years.

Until now....

A mad genius on ebay actually produced a run of these dye sublimated bad boys and I've got mine!

The conundrum is, how to customize it? Since they never wore it, no one knows what the plan was for the numbers and letters. I asked my customizers and, since it never made it on the ice, they were never given any specs for it.

In 1995-96 St. Louis was wearing their diagonally striped jerseys with the angled numbers, but I have chosen to not use that since I personally don't believe the team would have used those on this style. I've mocked up every color combination in the style used on their previous jerseys from 1993-94.

So, here they are, all six color combinations submitted for your feedback. So, which one would you go with out of these six?

I'm also leaning toward NOT asking for a nameplate due to the slight change in tones of blue in the shoulder region. The Kings and Ducks did not use plates while the Bruins, Canucks and Penguins did, so there is a precedent for not using one.

 

St%20Louis%20Blues%20unused%20alternate% St%20Louis%20Blues%20unused%20alternate%

#1                                                           #2

 

St%20Louis%20Blues%20unused%20alternate% St%20Louis%20Blues%20unused%20alternate%

#3                                                           #4

 

St%20Louis%20Blues%20unused%20alternate% St%20Louis%20Blues%20unused%20alternate%

#5                                                           #6

 

 

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#2 would be your best choice.  

ETA: Call Custom Crafted and see what they say since they did the jerseys during that time.

Edited by LessThanZero
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3 hours ago, LessThanZero said:

#2 would be your best choice.  

ETA: Call Custom Crafted and see what they say since they did the jerseys during that time.

Agreed. That jersey screams #2. 

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1 hour ago, cjerina said:

I'm not sure whether that was a joke or not, but yes, #2 on both accounts. :D

Then my reputation has not preceded me. 

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You've actually stumbled into a major research project of mine.:blink:

The jerseys would have been used in the 1996-97 season, not 1995-96.  Note the Starter logo on the prototype; they didn't pick up the St. Louis contract until then.

I've determined that the story of Keenan seeing them hanging in the locker room and blowing up simply never happened.  I don't know where it originated from, but it seems to be a fabrication.  This means that there is no full set of jerseys out there.

I've also been in contact with a couple of people who were in the know and would have information about what the actual customization would have looked like, but so far that exact information has been elusive.

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Gotta give props to the people who put up the coin to re-produce those jerseys. It's a clever way to tap into the demand for those avant-garde '95-96 third jerseys.

But with that said, I'm surprised we're here discussing lettering styles for what appears to be unlicensed merch... These seem no different than those reproduction Wild Wing and BK jerseys that have popped up in recent months.

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It's still a fake that uses the Blues, Starter, and NHL trademarks without permission or compensation. 

And a butt ugly one. 

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5 hours ago, Nathan said:

You've actually stumbled into a major research project of mine.:blink:

The jerseys would have been used in the 1996-97 season, not 1995-96.  Note the Starter logo on the prototype; they didn't pick up the St. Louis contract until then.

This is a bit of a fly in the ointment, since Gretzky was only with the Blues for the latter part of the 1995-96 season. If this were truly a jersey that was not set to debut until 1996-97, then I would have to change my customization choice to #16 Brett Hull.

 

Meanwhile, back on topic, what lettering option do you think works best for this jersey style...

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58 minutes ago, AngeloS76 said:

Have you seen this rendition of said item?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/282173594058

Oh man, those note letters really set it off!!

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3 hours ago, AngeloS76 said:

Have you seen this rendition of said item?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/282173594058

My immediate reaction is.... mixed.

On the one hand I can't believe they would have used blue numbers, but on the other hand, that font for the name? Would anyone just make that up? Its kinda, sorta, gotta be real, doesn't it?

Back to those digits, the Canucks, Bruins and Penguins used unremarkable block font numbers, while the Kings and Ducks went off the board with theirs, so there's no way to know which camp the Blues would have been in, but part of me thinks that the more dye-sublimated the design (meaning Duck and Kings), the stranger the font...

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On 10/7/2016 at 0:06 PM, Nathan said:

You've actually stumbled into a major research project of mine.:blink:

The jerseys would have been used in the 1996-97 season, not 1995-96.  Note the Starter logo on the prototype; they didn't pick up the St. Louis contract until then.

I've determined that the story of Keenan seeing them hanging in the locker room and blowing up simply never happened.  I don't know where it originated from, but it seems to be a fabrication.  This means that there is no full set of jerseys out there.

I've also been in contact with a couple of people who were in the know and would have information about what the actual customization would have looked like, but so far that exact information has been elusive.

Nathan, do you have an opinion on this name and number customization?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Never-Used-St-Louis-Blues-95-96-034-THE-TRUMPETER-034-Wayne-Gretzky-Pro-Jersey-sz-56-/282173594061

The 9's are a copy of the Los Angeles Burger King jersey font and the music note name on the back is a font called Melody Maker. I have my doubts about this customization, particularly the choice of the dark blue main coloring.

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On 10/7/2016 at 2:35 AM, LessThanZero said:

#2 would be your best choice.  

ETA: Call Custom Crafted and see what they say since they did the jerseys during that time.

So, I called Custom Crafted and they told me in no uncertain terms that the sample prototype was immediately rejected by the either the team president or owner (I can't recall just exactly which one he said) before it even got down to the level of coach Keenan, who is often credited as being the one who shot it down. With the jersey rejected so quickly, no customization specs were ever created.

Additionally, I wrote to all the ebay sellers who are selling blank or customized jerseys or kits, and putting all the answers together, the customization you see offered on ebay is just an interpretation of someone else's opinion since there is no actual right answer.

To put it another way, it's not that anything you see is "wrong" because there is not "correct" answer.


I actually love the idea of the musical note Melody Maker font for the names on the back and don't mind the numbers, but I would, since there is no correct answer, go with a different color combination to get away from the blue on blue look myself. Custom Crafted's opinion was they would have likely gone with the standard block font used on the Blues jerseys from 1985-1984 (like I used in my sample pictures at the top of this thread) since the jerseys were so busy like the Bruins and Canucks did with their 1995-96 alternates, but again, that's really just an opinion too, but from someone in the business.

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18 hours ago, JeffB said:

So, I called Custom Crafted and they told me in no uncertain terms that the sample prototype was immediately rejected by the either the team president or owner (I can't recall just exactly which one he said) before it even got down to the level of coach Keenan, who is often credited as being the one who shot it down. With the jersey rejected so quickly, no customization specs were ever created.

Additionally, I wrote to all the ebay sellers who are selling blank or customized jerseys or kits, and putting all the answers together, the customization you see offered on ebay is just an interpretation of someone else's opinion since there is no actual right answer.

To put it another way, it's not that anything you see is "wrong" because there is not "correct" answer.


I actually love the idea of the musical note Melody Maker font for the names on the back and don't mind the numbers, but I would, since there is no correct answer, go with a different color combination to get away from the blue on blue look myself. Custom Crafted's opinion was they would have likely gone with the standard block font used on the Blues jerseys from 1985-1984 (like I used in my sample pictures at the top of this thread) since the jerseys were so busy like the Bruins and Canucks did with their 1995-96 alternates, but again, that's really just an opinion too, but from someone in the business.

I've always said the Keener story made no sense so this kind of clears things up. 

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56 minutes ago, LessThanZero said:

I've always said the Keener story made no sense so this kind of clears things up. 

It only made sense in that Keenan never seemed to like anything, ever. 

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24 minutes ago, mfitz804 said:

It only made sense in that Keenan never seemed to like anything, ever. 

LOL!  NHL network had a show about the Rangers finally winning the Cup after how many years it was, and they had interviewed Keenan as part of it.  He's still a bitter little man even in retirement.

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On 10/14/2016 at 9:44 PM, JeffB said:

So, I called Custom Crafted and they told me in no uncertain terms that the sample prototype was immediately rejected by the either the team president or owner (I can't recall just exactly which one he said) before it even got down to the level of coach Keenan, who is often credited as being the one who shot it down. With the jersey rejected so quickly, no customization specs were ever created.

Additionally, I wrote to all the ebay sellers who are selling blank or customized jerseys or kits, and putting all the answers together, the customization you see offered on ebay is just an interpretation of someone else's opinion since there is no actual right answer.

To put it another way, it's not that anything you see is "wrong" because there is not "correct" answer.


I actually love the idea of the musical note Melody Maker font for the names on the back and don't mind the numbers, but I would, since there is no correct answer, go with a different color combination to get away from the blue on blue look myself. Custom Crafted's opinion was they would have likely gone with the standard block font used on the Blues jerseys from 1985-1984 (like I used in my sample pictures at the top of this thread) since the jerseys were so busy like the Bruins and Canucks did with their 1995-96 alternates, but again, that's really just an opinion too, but from someone in the business.

This is terrific info, possibly historic.  Do you mind if I use this to continue fleshing out my (massive) essay?

The original press release in October 1996 included St. Louis among the teams that would be rolling out an alternate in January 1997.  Keenan and team president Jack Quinn were both fired in December 1996.  When a "reminder" press release went out in early January 1997, St. Louis was no longer listed among the teams that would have an alternate.

I don't know if there was a thought that teams participating in the alternate program would automatically just rubber-stamp whatever design was thrown out there, and that St. Louis marks the sole deviation from this.  What I do know is that there was a breach between the team and the fans that took place around this time, and the Keenan/Quinn purge and the installation of Jim Woodcock in the PR department in early February 1997 marked the beginning of a shift back away from what the Blues had become.  Woodcock was able to get the fauxback alternate proposed, designed, approved, and ready to go in less than six months.

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2 hours ago, JunkyardAthletic said:

This thread reminds me of the guy who called me years back and wanted me to make BK jerseys with the CCM logos on them and I said no...

Some people think making fakes is ok as long as the company is no longer making them. It's still a crime, though. 

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