Span has been warned that he will be fined $1,000 by the league after he was caught with his pants over his shoes during a series in Baltimore last season.

YES!!!!

now if only the league would go one step further and make them pull up high enough to show calf.

this is one of my alltime pet peeves.

Sloppy trousers could cost Span

Mariotti knew it all along.

I think the $1 million Manny is contributing to charity as part of his new contract is actually an advance payment for uniform violations in the next two years.

This is one of my pet peeves, too.

Isn't the point of having team members wear uniforms that they be, you know, "uniform?" Either require every player to wear his pants down or up or in between, but the idea that everybody should choose how his uniform looks is absurd.

Where's Smitty to comment on this?

Either require every player to wear his pants down or up or in between, but the idea that everybody should choose how his uniform looks is absurd.

how about wearing your cap at a jaunty angle?

villageidiom FTW.

how about wearing your cap at a jaunty angle?

I read this as "cup". Yes, that's wrong.

who cares how they wear them? as long as they're not on my lawn...

Calf-high socks, preferably with stirrups, caps with curved bills facing straight forward. Home whites and road grays, while we're at it; no garish alternates.

How will this affect his Hall of Fame chances?

It's about time somebody did SOMETHING, but as usual, too little, too late. The standard ought to be that pants are worn no lower than half way between the knee and ankle. Provide umpires with tape measures and instruct them to use them whenever in doubt or if an opposing manager challenges, with the player being ejected if they are not in compliance. Once again, SIMPLE!! If King George can get away with forcing haircuts and shaves, this should be easy......

Sloppy trousers? Sounds like a digestive issue. More fiber, less sugar.

The Cincinnati Reds used to have something like this in the 70's when players used to pull up their stirrups so high that they looked like a stripe.

The Reds said that the stirrups had to stay down low (to show the team colors). They also mandated no visible logo's on the cleats, they had to be solid black.

Reds players had their moment of rebellion when they made the All-Star team and, since they were beyond the reach of the Reds organization, they pulled up their stirrups and wore (usually white) logo-bearing cleats.

i know it makes me sound like an old f@rt, but the low trousers make them look really stupid. they don't look like 'ballplayers'. i liked watching bonds play; i like watching ramirez play. but god, their uniforms look ridiculous.

You really want players to all wear their uniform pants the same way? Easy. Bottom of pant leg = bottom of strike zone, unless bottom of pant leg is above the knee. Bringing back the stirrups will be a little tougher.

You really want players to all wear their uniform pants the same way? Easy. Bottom of pant leg = bottom of strike zone...

Well, Vladimir Guerrero could still keep wearing his pant legs all the way down.

I don't know why you guys get so exercised about this. I prefer the Jim Thome-style high pants too, but allowing the players to flash a bit of their own personal style is a good thing, as is allowing natural trends to take their course.

I like that baseball styles change over time. I don't want the teams to be locked into always wearing 1948-type flannels. Someday we'll look back at a game from 2008 and marvel at the fact that the players were wearing their pants so low, just like we'd look back at a game from 1998 and wonder if goatees were mandatory.

You know what gets my goat?

Tattoos, earrings, necklaces, sunglasses, batting gloves, and batting helmets. Why, these pussies even wear mitts!!

EDIT: And don't even get me started on the forward pass!

What's kind of funny about this is that in all ways except the low pants, the absence of stirrups, and the occasional alternate jerseys, unis today are much more "traditional" than they were in the 1970s and 1980s. When I began following baseball as a kid, we had the tight pants, the thin-line stirrups, the powder blue and multi-colored unis, zippers, colored and white shoes, and the elastic waistbands. Even the 1970s Reds even kept those last ones.

Now, the unis are worn baggier, the powder blue is gone except for some retrostuff in KC and Toronto, everybody has belts and buttons, a lot of teams wear black shoes again, and there is a lot of gray and white with teams wearing the alternates once or twice a week.

I personally think strirrups look better than no stirrups, since I am used to them from my childhood, and I am with flournoy on the gray/white road/home thing, but it is not something I think about much.

My "pet peeve" is the alternate black jerseys some teams wear, even if black is not one of the team colors.

Hey, as long as the pants are covering the ass, I'm good. I can't believe I'd have to say that, but geez, I sort of wonder what the point of pants even is nowadays.

Get off my lawn!

Why, these pussies even wear mitts!!

Well, since the first baseball mitts appeared around the mid-1870's, I'd say that line probably sounded more like:

"Why, these honeyfugglers even don feminine accoutrements upon their dainty, child-like hands."

Where's Smitty when you need him?

Oops -- didn't read the Repoz lead in.

And how dare he make such an un-Repozian, obvious reference!!

Back when I played baseball, which they called rounders in those days, we put green pills in our coffee. Made us feel more awake than we really were. So when that featherknocker Tyrus Cobb slid into our face with his sharpened spikes, we'd punch the hell out of him. He was too dumb to care since he was from Georgia. The peanut state. Peanuts, now there's a story...

It seems like there's more concern about the clothes they wear on the team flight than the uniforms they wear on the field. If I owned a team, my players could wear whatever they damn well pleased during travel but on the field, they'd wear the same uniform. I'd let them have the choice between long or short sleeves under the jersey and low, mid, or high top cleats but that's about it. And if they want to grow long hair and a beard, that's okay too. Wear the same uniform as your teammates and I'll even let you sit around on my lawn.

I actually like that baseball was the least fascist of the big 3 leagues about its on-field dress code.

What's kind of funny about this is that in all ways except the low pants, the absence of stirrups, and the occasional alternate jerseys, unis today are much more "traditional" than they were in the 1970s and 1980s. When I began following baseball as a kid, we had the tight pants, the thin-line stirrups, the powder blue and multi-colored unis, zippers, colored and white shoes, and the elastic waistbands. Even the 1970s Reds even kept those last ones.

Now, the unis are worn baggier, the powder blue is gone except for some retrostuff in KC and Toronto, everybody has belts and buttons, a lot of teams wear black shoes again, and there is a lot of gray and white with teams wearing the alternates once or twice a week.

A few years ago, the Giants wore uniforms from the 20's or 30's. As it turns out, REAL "old school" uniforms makes Manny's baggy pants look like control-top pantyhose. Jason Schmidt had to change back into a normal uniform because he was being blown off the mound.

What's kind of funny about this is that in all ways except the low pants, the absence of stirrups, and the occasional alternate jerseys, unis today are much more "traditional" than they were in the 1970s and 1980s.

good point. i guess that's why it galls me so much. the players are one fashion shift away from looking the way i like them to look. like i said, its just one of my pet peeves ... it isn't going to chase me away from the ballpark.

I prefer powder blues to grays on a lot of teams, the Missouri teams in particular, just as long as they wear belts and button-down jerseys.

I don't like the long baggy pants, but I don't know if they ought to make a rules about them. I just never understood how they could feel comfortable when you play. Seems like playing in trousers that get under your spikes.

I don't know what it says about me that upon reading this headline all I could think about were trouser snakes and sloppy seconds.

No, wait, I do know.

I'm just surprised no one is posting as "Denard's Sloppy Trousers" by now.

Span just wants to show off his tramp-stamp.

The first thing I thought of upon reading "sloppy trousers" was that video of George Brett telling a visibly uncomfortable player the story of the last time he #### his pants in vivid detail.