For Kansas State baseball coach Pete Hughes, nothing beats a good throwback jersey
The bottom floor of Pete Hughes’ suburban-style house feels like a sports memorabilia store whenever the Kansas State baseball coach gets an opportunity to show off his vast collection of throwback jerseys.
This is one of those times.
It’s a sunny summer afternoon in Manhattan, and Hughes is using his phone to give a virtual tour of his walk-in closet, which is home to “more than 100” unique jerseys. He is talking about the highlights of his collection as if they are part of his family. Asking him to select a favorite jersey is like asking him to select a favorite child.
“That’s not possible,” he says.
Instead, Hughes tells you all about darn near every jersey in his collection, starting with the back story behind his vintage Braves jersey that is signed by Tom Glavine and Billy Wagner, his colorful jersey that Nolan Ryan sported while playing for the Houston Astros and his game-worn football jerseys that once belonged to Michael Vick and Tyrod Taylor.
He could go on for hours. His collection is enormous. It includes vintage hockey sweaters, throwback basketball jerseys and retro soccer kits. He has a “snob standard” for quality, so they all feature hand-stitched letters or numbers. He loves rare items and tries to get his jerseys signed. Most of them cost around $150, but he admits he has occasionally splurged. His most expensive jersey cost $650.
Bottom line: If a jersey looks cool, has special meaning and can be purchased online, odds are good that Hughes owns it.
“I have loved these things for a long time,” Hughes says. “I started getting them when eBay came out and my kids used to love the jerseys. I would break them out and wear them all the time until we had a truck coming every day with new purchases and I worried they might get me into divorce court. I have learned to harness my collection, but even talking about right now makes me want to get back into it a little more.”
Over the years, Hughes has found creative ways to metaphorically scratch his collection itch without buying additional throwback jerseys. You can often see it whenever his college baseball teams take the field for games.
For example: The popular throwback-style “Cats” baseball jerseys that K-State unveiled in May weren’t designed by Nike. They were the brainchild of Hughes. He wanted the Wildcats to start wearing a special alternate uniform that looked similar to the vintage “Sox” jerseys worn by the Chicago White Sox. So he created one.
The result was a white jersey with lavender and purple stripes that features the word “Cats” across in big, bold letters across the chest. Though K-State players were unable to wear them this season because of the coronavirus pandemic, they were a hit with fans and have been purchased in large numbers.
Expect more alternate jerseys to follow.
“My whole thought process is, you have go to infuse a little excitement into your program,” Hughes said. “When you are trying to turn a culture around, why not change your brand and change what you look like and get people talking about it? Even if it’s just uniforms, it’s a good thing for your team.”
“The uniforms have been so vanilla around here. We wear standard home whites, road grays and a black alternate. Baseball is a sport where they have always messed around with their uniforms. We should do the same. People love it and the kids go nuts every time you give them something new.”
Hughes also experimented with retro jerseys at some of his previous coaching stops like Boston College and Virginia Tech.
With the Hokies, his team made news for wearing jerseys that make them look like they traveled back to the Astrodome in the 1980s. The team recreated Houston’s old “tequila sunrise” jerseys, complete with colorful stripes and a star. The only difference: their jerseys featured maroon-and-orange colors instead of blue-and-orange colors. Well, that and “Hokies” instead of “Astros.”
Virginia Tech also designed a special military-style jersey under Hughes that mimicked the uniforms worn by the school’s cadets. Those were a big hit on Military Night at the campus ballpark.
“That was a really cool jersey,” Hughes says. “It gave us an opportunity to represent them and show how much we care about the military.”
You can also see Hughes’ love for retro jerseys on the occasional road trip or Thursday afternoon in the K-State baseball office. While other coaches implement dress codes that require their players to wear suits or matching polos, Hughes has been known to ask his team to wear throwback jerseys.
That’s something he did all the time at Virginia Tech and Boston College. He hopes to do again whenever K-State baseball players are allowed to resume practices.
“It was a good way to lighten the mood,” Hughes said, “and for me to see some great old jerseys.”
Hughes isn’t sure what his next jersey purchase will be, but he has been eyeing a retro New England Patriots jersey. Ideally it will have Tom Brady’s name and number on the back. Or maybe he will scoop up a Tampa Bay Buccaneers jersey now that he plays there.
There aren’t many jerseys on his bucket list. The ones he already owns are impressive enough.
Perhaps the jewel of his collection is the re-purposed Georgia Tech football jersey that former Virginia Tech quarterback Tyrod Taylor wore during a 2007 game against the Yellow Jackets.
There is quite a story behind that one.
Four key Hokies players, including Taylor, had their jerseys stolen out of the visitor’s locker room of Georgia Tech’s stadium before their game, forcing VT equipment managers to borrow a few GT jerseys and modify them with black Sharpie markers. So Taylor took the field wearing a white jersey that had the words “Yellow Jackets” and a Russell Athletic logo blacked out. His name was hand-written on the back.
Talk about one of a kind.
That jersey now resides in Hughes’ closet along with many more that might one day serve as inspiration for K-State’s next throwback-style baseball uniform.
