Ghosts & Grandfathers League Member #1: The Montreal Expos
Bonjour! Bienvenue à Montréal! Puis-je vous offrir un peu de fromage et un air renfrogné? Oui?
As soon as you pass over the border into Quebec, the whole landscape changes.
The Socccer Out of Context project has, so far, seen all 30 Major League Baseball clubs get soccer-style jerseys. So what comes next? Allow me to quote from the very end of my final M.L.B. post, covering the National League East:
Every few weeks or so, as I can, I’d like to do a further S.O.O.C. design from a pool of historic identities. (I’ll start with baseball clubs, but this could go anywhere, really.) Some of these names will have prominent histories; some existed in brief flourishes and are not well-documented. Some are the ancestors of existing professional franchise (i.e., “grandfathers”); others became visual dead ends (or “ghosts”). But all present some really interesting visual opportunities.
So here, I’m announcing the next phase of Soccer Out of Context pieces - a fictional league beyond the American and National, if you will. In fact I’m christening it the Ghosts and Grandfathers League. And I want you to help me decide which clubs are featured.
(The quotes are out of order, but then, this whole TRIAL is out of order!)
A few hundred of you took me up on my invitation by voting in the first G.&G. League ballot, and I can’t wait to get started. But lest I get ahead of myself, before we do, I thought I’d introduce you to the new series, explain a little more about why I’m going in this direction, and provide some more detail about how this continuation of Soccer Out of Context will work.
The entire Soccer Out of Context: Major League Baseball series is complete, and it was a joy to write, design and produce. Thanks to all for for reading. If you haven’t read any Soccer Out of Context work yet, then start here and make your way through. 
And though the majors are now finished, this project continues with the Soccer Out of Context: Ghosts & Grandfathers League series - where classic and forgotten athletic identities are revived with soccer-style aesthetics. You can vote on the first identity here.
Also, I’ve introduced Clean Sheet Co. - a brand new shop to buy original soccer-inspired t-shirts and apparel. We’re starting out slow - our first shirt is made for US Soccer fans, and it’s called The Gadsden - but we’ll be ramping up over the next couple months. Check it out if you like that sort of thing.
More fútbol-style inspiration coming soon.
Well, we made it. This piece covers the last division I’ve yet to look at - the National League East - and it also marks a full trip around the country and around the Major League bases. As of today, all 30 M.L.B. clubs will have received their Soccer Out of Context re-imagining.
“The Void” by Gaps. Gaps are from Brighton, UK, so I’m predisposed to like them. I enjoy this song because it seems like it could soundtrack a late spring night down by the beach (where they’re from) or a whiteout snow storm (where I’m from, currently).
First, Schenectady. Now Albany gets the Town T treatment. Orders for both shirts are now open, for a limited time, here.
Morning Commute, Elevated Line (2013)
A new piece in the Urban Portraits series, and the first of the year. Limited edition prints are available; inquire for details. More pieces in the series are in the gallery.
