Rainbow Guts
Encyclopedia
The Rainbow Guts uniform (sometimes called the Creamsicle uniform or Tequila Sunrise 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 or on the shoulders--was made possible by the advent of synthetic fabrics, and followed the use of bright-colored uniforms by the Oakland Athletics
in the 1970s to take advantage of color television.
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 and unpopular at the same time. "Creamsicle" and "Spaceball" were some of the terms used to refer to the uniforms, especially when paired with the team's white shoes.
teams in the Houston farm system. In fact, except for the short-season Single-A teams, Astros farm teams routinely wore Rainbow Guts jerseys with the inception of the uniform style.
Not all of the uniforms were orange and red; the Charleston Charlies and Dubuque Packers had horizontal stripes in various shades of blue. One Charleston uniform broke the mold of most Rainbow Guts uniforms in 1979 when the shoulder portion of the jersey was yellow instead of white.
The uniform was eventually adopted into the Medalist/Sand-Knit catalogue as the UltraStripe model, and was licensed to Cooper for use in Canada. Through the catalog, the uniform style was adopted by numerous high school, college, and recreational baseball and softball teams. Amongst the prominent adoptees were Seton Hall
, Tulane
, Louisiana Tech
, and the University of Denver
. One unique feature of Medalist's operation for team outfitting was that they would make trainer/coaches shirts with the same striping style as the rest of the team when a uniform set was ordered. Instead of a two-color V-neck, however, the trainer/coaching jersey sported a wide butterfly collar.
and the Asheville Tourists
, adopted this style full-time.
By the late 1980s, Medalist/Sand-Knit had altered the original Rainbow Guts pattern slightly for its recreational baseball and softball clientele. Instead of the usual nine-stripe pattern, the four colors were displayed in seven stripes. From the bottom hem of the jersey, the four colors used were displayed in ever-narrowing stripes. But then, the first three colors were displayed in reverse, giving rise to the term Tequila Sunrise
. One can also distinguish the Tequila Sunrise pattern from the Rainbow Guts pattern by looking at the collar trim. While the original Rainbow Guts uniforms had invariably a two-color collar, the Tequila Sunrise pattern had a three-color trim on the collar elastic in five distinct segments.
The Tequila Sunrise pattern never made it into the professional ranks, since the Astros dropped the original Rainbow Guts pattern completely in 1987; the team wore cream-colored rainbow-shouldered uniforms on the road, white at home. The rainbow-shouldered style lasted through 1993.
Since 1987, the last year the Astros wore Rainbow Guts, the 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.
Hip-hop music videos and rap stars have increased their visibility and popularity. When OutKast
and Nelly
started wearing Astros throwback jerseys in their videos, demand skyrocketed. Sports apparel manufacturer Mitchell & Ness
has released several successful versions of the Rainbow Guts jerseys featuring players such as Nolan Ryan
, José Cruz
, and J.R. Richard
. These authentic jerseys are of the finest quality and often run upwards of $300. But 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 designers such as Willie Esco, the Zoo York
skateboard company and P. Miller clothing borrowed from the Astros' look.
Besides Astros "Turn Back The Clock" games, the Rainbow Guts pattern has been used recently by baseball teams such as the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, New Orleans Zephyrs, Rockford Riverhawks, and Gateway Grizzlies, none of whom ever had the UltraStripe pattern in their uniform histories. The Las Vegas Wranglers professional ice hockey team wore a version of the uniform, but with long and puffy sleeves. The baseball teams of Virginia Tech and the University of South Alabama wore these uniforms during the 2009 season. A high-school varsity baseball team in Preston, Idaho sported them during their 2009 season as well.
The Rainbow Guts uniform was immortalized in celluloid during the 1977
film The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training
. In the climactic baseball game between the Bears and the Houston Toros, held in the Astrodome, the officials tried to call the game while the Astros - played by César Cedeño
, Enos Cabell
, Bob Watson and J.R. Richard
as themselves - began to enter the dugout in their Rainbow Guts home uniforms.
Houston Astros
The Houston Astros are a Major League Baseball team located in Houston, Texas. They are a member of the National League Central division. The Astros are expected to join the American League West division in 2013. Since , they have played their home games at Minute Maid Park, known as Enron Field...
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...
club from 1975 to 1993. The colorful uniform style--featuring broad horizontal stripes in red, orange, and yellow across the abdomen or on the shoulders--was made possible by the advent of synthetic fabrics, and followed the use of bright-colored uniforms by the Oakland Athletics
Oakland Athletics
The Oakland Athletics are a Major League Baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics are a member of the Western Division of Major League Baseball's American League. From to the present, the Athletics have played in the O.co Coliseum....
in the 1970s to take advantage of color television.
From Colt .45s to Astros
From the formation of the Houston Colts in 1962 (the team name was changed briefly to "Colt .45s", and finally to "Astros" in 1965 with the opening of the Astrodome) 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.Introduction of the Rainbow Guts
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 striping pattern was a distinct nine-stripe pattern: from the bottom of the jersey, the four colors used were displayed in ever-narrower segments. Above the fourth stripe (the only time it was on the body of the jersey), the first three colors appeared again in 1-inch stripes, then the first two colors were reversed in 1-inch 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 and unpopular at the same time. "Creamsicle" and "Spaceball" were some of the terms used to refer to the uniforms, especially when paired with the team's white shoes.
Notoriety and influence
The uniform helped bring the otherwise ignored Houston club to the attention of fans nationwide. The style was eventually adopted by many of the minor leagueMinor league
Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities. This term is used in North America with regard to several organizations competing in...
teams in the Houston farm system. In fact, except for the short-season Single-A teams, Astros farm teams routinely wore Rainbow Guts jerseys with the inception of the uniform style.
Not all of the uniforms were orange and red; the Charleston Charlies and Dubuque Packers had horizontal stripes in various shades of blue. One Charleston uniform broke the mold of most Rainbow Guts uniforms in 1979 when the shoulder portion of the jersey was yellow instead of white.
The uniform was eventually adopted into the Medalist/Sand-Knit catalogue as the UltraStripe model, and was licensed to Cooper for use in Canada. Through the catalog, the uniform style was adopted by numerous high school, college, and recreational baseball and softball teams. Amongst the prominent adoptees were Seton Hall
Seton Hall University
Seton Hall University is a private Roman Catholic university in South Orange, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1856 by Archbishop James Roosevelt Bayley, Seton Hall is the oldest diocesan university in the United States. Seton Hall is also the oldest and largest Catholic university in the...
, Tulane
Tulane Green Wave
Green Wave, the nickname of the sports teams of Tulane University, was adopted during the 1920 season, after a song titled The Rolling Green Wave was published in Tulane's student newspaper in 1920. From 1893 to 1919, the athletic teams of Tulane were known as the Olive and Blue for the official...
, Louisiana Tech
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs and Lady Techsters
Louisiana Tech Bulldogs and Lady Techsters refer to the sports teams of Louisiana Tech University. The teams compete in Division I of NCAA sports. Since 2001, LA Tech has been a member of the Western Athletic Conference. LA Tech adopted Bulldogs as its nickname in 1900, the first of the four FBS...
, and the University of Denver
Denver Pioneers
The Denver Pioneers are the sports teams of the University of Denver. They play in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I, with most teams participating in the Sun Belt Conference. The Western Athletic Conference will become Denver's primary sports conference on July 1, 2012.The...
. One unique feature of Medalist's operation for team outfitting was that they would make trainer/coaches shirts with the same striping style as the rest of the team when a uniform set was ordered. Instead of a two-color V-neck, however, the trainer/coaching jersey sported a wide butterfly collar.
Toning down the pattern
In 1980, the Astros adopted a more subdued alternate gray away uniform, with rainbow stripes relegated to the shoulders and the outside of the sleeves. In 1982, a white home version of this modified style began appearing. Many of the Astros minor-league teams including the Tucson TorosTucson Toros
The Tucson Toros are a professional baseball team based in Tucson, Arizona, in the United States. They are owned by Tucson Baseball, LLC with Jay Zucker as chairman of the board. Sean Smock is the team's general manager....
and the Asheville Tourists
Asheville Tourists
The Asheville Tourists are a minor league baseball team based in Asheville, North Carolina, USA. They play in the Class A South Atlantic League and have been a farm team of the Colorado Rockies since 1994....
, adopted this style full-time.
By the late 1980s, Medalist/Sand-Knit had altered the original Rainbow Guts pattern slightly for its recreational baseball and softball clientele. Instead of the usual nine-stripe pattern, the four colors were displayed in seven stripes. From the bottom hem of the jersey, the four colors used were displayed in ever-narrowing stripes. But then, the first three colors were displayed in reverse, giving rise to the term Tequila Sunrise
Tequila Sunrise (cocktail)
The Tequila Sunrise is a cocktail made in two different ways, the original and the more popular concoction...
. One can also distinguish the Tequila Sunrise pattern from the Rainbow Guts pattern by looking at the collar trim. While the original Rainbow Guts uniforms had invariably a two-color collar, the Tequila Sunrise pattern had a three-color trim on the collar elastic in five distinct segments.
The Tequila Sunrise pattern never made it into the professional ranks, since the Astros dropped the original Rainbow Guts pattern completely in 1987; the team wore cream-colored rainbow-shouldered uniforms on the road, white at home. The rainbow-shouldered style lasted through 1993.
Legacy
Other sports teams have had uniform touches from the Rainbow Guts look. The Milwaukee Bucks wore uniform tops and shorts with the pattern on the side panels, and used the full tops for their warmup jerseys in the 1980s. The University of Wyoming did the same.Since 1987, the last year the Astros wore Rainbow Guts, the design has been kept alive both on and off the field of play. The Astros have occasionally worn them for Turn Back The Clock
Throwback uniform
Throwback uniforms and jerseys are one-time or limited-time variations on a sports team's uniforms styled to resemble uniforms from that team's past. They have proven popular in all major pro and college sports in the USA, not only with fans, but with the teams' marketing and merchandising...
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.
OutKast
Outkast is an American hip hop duo based in East Point, Georgia, consisting of Atlanta native André "André 3000" Benjamin and Savannah, Georgia-born Antwan "Big Boi" Patton. They were originally known as Two Shades Deep but later changed the group's name to OutKast...
and Nelly
Nelly
Cornell Iral Haynes, Jr. , better known by his stage name Nelly, is an Grammy Award winning American rapper and actor. He has performed with the rap group St. Lunatics since 1993 and signed to Universal Records in 1999. Under Universal, Nelly began his solo career in 2000 with his debut album...
started wearing Astros throwback jerseys in their videos, demand skyrocketed. Sports apparel manufacturer Mitchell & Ness
Mitchell & Ness
Mitchell & Ness Nostalgia Co., is a sports apparel company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania owned by Adidas which purchased the company in November 2007. Mitchell & Ness was established in 1904, and is the oldest sporting goods company in Philadelphia...
has released several successful versions of the Rainbow Guts jerseys featuring players such as Nolan Ryan
Nolan Ryan
Lynn Nolan Ryan, Jr. , nicknamed "The Ryan Express", is a former Major League Baseball pitcher. He is currently principal owner, president and CEO of the Texas Rangers....
, José Cruz
José Cruz
José Cruz Dilan is a former Major League Baseball outfielder. He is also the former first base coach for the Houston Astros. During his 19-year baseball career, he played from 1970-1988 for three different teams, playing primarily for the Astros...
, and J.R. Richard
J.R. Richard
James Rodney Richard is a former right-handed starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played his entire career, from 1971 to 1980, with the Houston Astros....
. These authentic jerseys are of the finest quality and often run upwards of $300. But 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 designers such as Willie Esco, the Zoo York
Zoo York
Zoo York is a style and social philosophy inspired by the New York City graffiti art subculture of the 1970s. Its name originates from a subway tunnel running underneath the area of the Central Park Zoo...
skateboard company and P. Miller clothing borrowed from the Astros' look.
Besides Astros "Turn Back The Clock" games, the Rainbow Guts pattern has been used recently by baseball teams such as the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, New Orleans Zephyrs, Rockford Riverhawks, and Gateway Grizzlies, none of whom ever had the UltraStripe pattern in their uniform histories. The Las Vegas Wranglers professional ice hockey team wore a version of the uniform, but with long and puffy sleeves. The baseball teams of Virginia Tech and the University of South Alabama wore these uniforms during the 2009 season. A high-school varsity baseball team in Preston, Idaho sported them during their 2009 season as well.
The Rainbow Guts uniform was immortalized in celluloid during the 1977
1977 in film
The year 1977 in film involved some significant events.-Events:*In the Academy Awards, Peter Finch, Faye Dunaway and Beatrice Straight win Best Actor and Actress and Supporting Actress awards for Network....
film The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training
The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training
The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training is the 1977 sequel to the feature film The Bad News Bears.This film picks up the Bears' career a year after their infamous second-place finish in the North Valley League. However, after winning this year, they are left reeling by the departure of Buttermaker...
. In the climactic baseball game between the Bears and the Houston Toros, held in the Astrodome, the officials tried to call the game while the Astros - played by César Cedeño
César Cedeño
César Cedeño Encarnación is a former center fielder in Major League Baseball who played with the Houston Astros , Cincinnati Reds , St. Louis Cardinals and Los Angeles Dodgers . He batted and threw right-handed....
, Enos Cabell
Enos Cabell
Enos Milton Cabell, Jr. is a former third baseman and first baseman in Major League Baseball who played 15 seasons with the Baltimore Orioles, the Houston Astros, the San Francisco Giants, the Detroit Tigers, and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Cabell is a cousin of center fielder Ken Landreaux.Cabell was...
, Bob Watson and J.R. Richard
J.R. Richard
James Rodney Richard is a former right-handed starting pitcher in Major League Baseball who played his entire career, from 1971 to 1980, with the Houston Astros....
as themselves - began to enter the dugout in their Rainbow Guts home uniforms.