I echo what Rich said. The Gerry Davis are the best. If you work 100+ games a year, go with the GD.

Also agree with Rich on the Honig's Ultimates, they are junk. I've never tried the poly-wools, I've seen them and they look very good. Just too expensive for me.

I tried the Smittys, too. What is the half moon stitching on the plate pants all about? I guess it's for reinforcement, but looks like crap.

And as a side note, I did speak with a lady at Gerry Davis today inquiring about an end of summer sale or something. She said that wasn't happening this year.

MLB doesn't use heather gray.

I can see that i thought they were charcoal also, but I have GD charcoal and the ones they wore were lighter than mine - wonder which brand they use?

I would like to have that color compared to mine ... or maybe it was the bright lights that just made them look lighter.

Thanks for the info

David

Charcoal vs heather gray
 

:rolleyes:I could buy NEW pants for what I would have to pay to have them dry cleaned, in one season. May be 2 pairs.
During summer ball, they get soaked and smell so bad, they can only be worn once, and need to be washed.

Me too. My pants get worn once and then washed on a quick setting.

The GD polyester pants are darker than the Honig's poly wools. Pretty easy see at the plate meeting, but only us geeks will know once you're on the field.

I've been putting a few pair of my poly wools in the "hand wash" cycle of my washing machine, in cold water, and hanging them to dry. Then I hit them with an iron. Not as sharp as the ones I rotate to the dry cleaners, but pretty close. I use the dry cleaned ones for "big" games".

The GD charcoal pants have their place, and are fine. They don't match other folks brand of charcoal, but are starting to be ubiquitous in some areas. Plus, they're very stout, and have that neat, elastic waisband.

We've only been allowed to wear charcoal here for two years, so that's all I've bought the last few years. Just prior to that I bought a couple of pairs of Cliff Keen heather greys. I take care of my gear, and while these pants are comfortable and durable, they did "go pink" on me after a couple of seasons.

I do have some older +POS heather pants that don't seem to have discolored at all, and they were laundered, used and handled the same as all the others.

I have a car with a medium grey interior and where the sun shines through the back window, the rear seats are getting a pinkish hue! That does lead me to believe that sunlight plays a part in the fading process. I have heard others speculate that washing (chlorine or detergent) plays a part and others say that drying (heat) causes fading.

The charcoals I have are Cliff Keen and Smitty's. The CK's seem a little darker than the Smitty's. Kind of hard to tell without comparing them side by side with new pants, but they both do seem to have lightened a hair after two seasons. The CK's, when the light hits them just right, sometimes give me the impression that they have a brownish tint. Maybe that's a combination of pink and dark grey?

Back awhile ago I wondered if I could dye my old heather pants, to restore the color and maybe make them look like charcoal grey. A little research showed me that this wasn't a practical idea. Apparently, to dye polyester you need some sort of special industrial strength dye and the dying process has to be carried out at extremely high temperatures in a high-pressure vessel. Trying to do this at home would probably blow up your house! If you use the plain old "Ritz" sort of dye available in most stores, the dye will not adhere and will simply wash out when the pants are laundered.

Here's what's aggravating about Charcoal Grey. Gerry Davis, Honigs, Official Choice and Smittys are all different shades of grey. I'm not buying different sets to match my partner. Personally I like Honigs. I don't think spectators, players or coachrs are anal enough to see our pants don't match.

Agreed.

It's just us geeks what get in a tizzy about the color of our pants.