Baseball Stirrups... What's the Deal?

Since the early days of tossing the ole' rawhide, baseball teams around the country had uniforms that involved players wearing stirrups. Indeed, some teams are even named after these laundry items. Red Sox, White Sox. (Intimidating names they aren't, but try changing their names and see what their fans think.)

Yet nowadays, players wear their baseball pants like chef pants-- big and baggy and hanging all the way down to the heel of their cleats, thus covering up any sign of socks at all. What happened there?

In fact I can't even find real stirrups in sporting goods stores-- just those bogus tube socks with a painted stripe down the side. Unreal!

I truly miss the days of bright, bold stirrups. They look like you stand for something. They look like they're part of a well-cut uniform. They accent the uniqueness of baseball.

Silly-looking, perhaps. But dammit, I want stirrups back in baseball.