The Houston Astros "Inauthenticate" Throwback Jerseys

The Houston Astros are celebrating the franchise’s 50th anniversary this season and have planned to wear throwback uniforms for Friday home games. I love throwback uniforms. Mainly because most of the throwbacks teams wear are from the 1970s and ’80s, an era I recall fondly.

There were relatively few uniform changes across baseball during the first half century or so, once uniform numbers were introduced. But along came the 1970s and teams began experimenting. The swinging ’70s brought a whole new assortment of colors, styles and flair to uniforms. The hideous White Sox black shorts and shirts with collars were among the worst. As a kid I didn’t mind the Hawaiian softball uniforms the Astros introduced in 1975. Now, I don’t like them so much. The solid red Indians uniforms that Boog Powell once said made him look like a “big blood clot”? Hated ’em.

But no matter how ugly, how crazy and how politically incorrect uniforms and team names of the past seem today, they are a part of baseball history.

So that’s why I am confused and dismayed why baseball and the Astros have decided to alter history. You see, on Fridays this summer in Houston when the Astros show off their throwback uniforms, they won’t limit the fashion to those candy stripes from the ’70s. They’ll also be wearing throwbacks from the franchise’s original name, the Colt .45s. However, the throwbacks version will not represent the original jersey.

Before the Astros became the Astros in 1965 celebrating the city’s association with the space program, the team was the Colt .45s, commonly known as the Colts. As in the gun, not the equine. And the logo on the jersey featured a colt revolver underneath the word Colts with the C swirling as if the gun were smoking.

MLB and the Astros will have us to believe now that the original uniform did not have a gun depicted on the front. That’s right. The Colt .45 has been removed from the jersey.

Now would I want to name my team after a gun these days? No. Am I a fan of any kind of gun imagery? No. But we can’t really revise history, now can we? We can’t refer to the team as the Colts and put a running yearling on the shirt. And just what is the plan for the caps? Will the players wear the authentic caps with the ‘.45s’ emblem?

If MLB and the Astros want to celebrate the history of the team, then celebrate the entire history, warts and all. If not, celebrate the Astros Era and just wear throwbacks from the 1970s and ignore the Colt .45s Era altogether. But altering the authentic logo on the jersey makes no sense. I guess MLB may have to change the “MLB Authentics” apparel line to “Inauthentics.”

Follow Charlie Miller on Twitter @AthlonCharlie.