Style File

Baseball uniforms are so...uniform. Maybe that's why players seize opportunities to personalize them. Take the pants legs. Like women's hemlines, they've risen and fallen more than the stock market over the years. The current vogue is to go to extremes, either very high or way down low. Low riders Barry Bonds (left) and Manny Ramirez snip the elastic from the bottoms of their pants and let them fall down to their shoes. Ramirez says he does it for comfort, but as Dodgers first base coach John Shelby notes, "it's really just a fashion statement."

At the other end of the spectrum is the knee-high look sported by players like the Dodgers' Marquis Grissom (right) and the Yankees' Orlando Hernandez. Grissom and others say their trousers are a tribute to Negro leagues players. "They played hard and wore their pants up high," says Grissom.

In the end, as with all fashion, a player's inseam decision is about individuality. Rangers outfielder Chad Curtis started yanking up his pants legs because he felt long legs were too hot for summer. Now it's become a signature look. Says Curtis: "My kids say it makes it easy to see which one is me."