Retro RFH Batty Gym Suit Home Run — Rumson-Fair Haven Retrospect

A reprise in honor of the girls, baseball season and not having to wear these horrific mandatory gym suits anymore! Strike! The suits are out! Phew! Remember the fun and the horror with us … (Be sure to CLICK on one photo to enlarge and scroll to fully experience the horror. Ha!)

It’s just plain batty! Batter’s up at RFH as baseball season is in full swing. But, looking back at some RFH 1970s games, you have to wonder when or why, exactly, there was ever a season of the ol’ gym suit, baseball or softball aside.

Really. Ponder it. Those things that made girls look like Stay Puff marshmallows, or, worse, a big baby with a onesie that had enough space for a diaper or, well … you get the picture.

And you know well how it felt to suit up in that thing, if you were a teen or pre-teen of the era. What were they thinking??

It’s likely, in this RFH grad’s mind, that the inventor of this fashion and functional recreation wear failure either had a haunting by a marshmallow or the Pillsbury Dough Boy. Or, perhaps, the designer of this disaster got got pummeled with lots of gooey roasted marshmallows by a bully. Maybe he or she (dare I say) just had some twisted desire to see young girls en mass suited up in major fashion faux pas, or, rather, style slaughter.

Here’s the thing. The suits were not comfortable. They unsnapped all the time, the lovely elastic legs cut into the skin. And they were just plain ugly. Many a parental note to be excused from gym was forged just to avoid wearing these things. And, oh, so many were left in lockers to, hopefully, rot.

So, the Retro Pic(s) of the Day is an ode to the ol’ all-American baseball season and bad gym clothes.

Tell us how you felt about those lovely outfits. Recognize any of these RFHers? Batter up! Strike on the gym suit!

— Elaine Van Develde