Halloween, Observed.

At least we have clothes on.

Read the pages of NotGraphs and you’ll know I’m a fan of silliness – specifically, getting dressed in funky gear. Over the years, I’ve used my follicular advantage to be outstanding versions of Bob Ross, Kenny G and Disco Stu. Maybe it’s some vain desire to go a little crazy with the afro that draws me to dressing differently.

My re-adopted hometown San Francisco has a tradition called Bay to Breakers. The website says “no alcohol or floats,” but the city is known for civil disobedience in such matters, and really the point is to look kooky and, maybe, run some. Well, for some, the tradition involves no clothes, but to each his own.

The link here is tenuous for sure, but this sort of thing – dressing strangely while performing a relatively normal task – seems like it could be brought to baseball. I know we are discussing ways to change or destroy baseball recently, and it did occur to me that baseball could have more one-off uniforms. Just look at basketball, which has Spanish-language uniforms for one day a season – we’re not talking patches here. The easiest entry point would be some sort of special uniform for Independence Day, but that’s pretty conventional and we’ve already got hats and patches for the Fourth. Though the military-inspired uniforms in San Diego are interesting, and on the right path, there should be more.

There aren’t too many summer holidays to take advantage of, but looking to other cultures might work. The Welsh harvest holiday called Gathering Day happens in early August and has all sorts of corn- and hay-based costumes. Some of the rites seem like fun. In particular, there’s one known as the caseg fedi or harvest mare, in which three men attempt to bring down the last corn sheaf of the harvest from afar. Then it gets good:

However, his task did not end with the cutting down of the sheaf; he was also expected to carry it into the house without getting it wet, past a team of women who would do all they could to throw water upon it. Often the reaper would hide the ‘mare’ under his clothes in order to get into the house past the women, and this could involve the men being disrobed as they tried to enter. If the man was successful, he would receive all the beer he could drink, or a shilling.

We’ve lost our train of thought. The point is – dressing up differently. And it doesn’t have to be by the players themselves (although that would be interesting). It can be about the fans, as we’ve shown with McCann’s Cans. Soccer fans have obviously figured this out already, but you might be surprised that the picture to the left is from a Caribbean baseball game. What if we were to spur some crazy fan fashion in this country by observing Halloween during the season some time? Award the best costumes with a t-shirt, commemorative picture, or, at the very least, some time on the JumboTron?

Going to baseball games is not hum-drum. That doesn’t mean it couldn’t be spiced up with a little sartorial zaniness.