Let’s Talk About These New Uniforms
- Thread starter Wingack
- Start date
Hurleys not a fan with some good side by side examples.
https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/red-sox-new-road-jerseys-bad-nike-fanatics-nameplates/
They really do look like jerseys from TJ Maxx. MLB jerseys for decades have been awesome. What a disaster.
https://www.cbsnews.com/boston/news/red-sox-new-road-jerseys-bad-nike-fanatics-nameplates/
They really do look like jerseys from TJ Maxx. MLB jerseys for decades have been awesome. What a disaster.
Agreed. And it was all done because Nike thought that uniforms needed to be “improved” for some reason. Lighter weighted material, smaller letters, ironed on patches. How much improvement does this bring to the athlete? An eighth of a second? Maybe a quarter of a second?
I know it’s been three games, but has it made a bit of difference to any play in any game? How much difference will it make during the year? Probably none.
But the lighter material reasoning is all marketing speaking. My cynical take is that these bullshit Little League uniforms are simply saving Nike and Famatics x amount of dollars every year. Never mind that it makes the players look cheap and chintzy.
Of course MLB and Rob Manfred will go along with this and hope that it will go away and become normalized because it’s another debacle in a long line of foolish gambits to make the owners and their partners a couple of more dollars at the expense of the game itself.
This is another small instance of MLB debasing itself for a dollar that has been going on for ten plus years. Anything not nailed down is for sale.
It really is a pity. Rob Manfred is the worst thing that ever happened to baseball.
how long before the ironed on lettering begins to crack and peel? It would be funny if a player insisted on wearing the same beat up uniform with cracked peeling letters throughout the season.
The details make a big difference. BC football is a prime example; you couldn't see the names on the back when they were an Under Armor school. Plus, with the MLB unis, arching the names on the back versus straight across makes thing even worse.
The Mets broadcast just mentioned that the names on the backs of the uniforms are smaller now because MLB moved the MLB logo down lower on the backs of jerseys so it would be more visible. I hadn't yet heard that that was the reason for the smaller lettering. And it's predictably stupid, unnecessarily creating an annoyance for dumb reasons.
From the fan point of view, the previously larger names on the uniforms were helpful, so you can clearly see who is playing.
Smaller names but a lower MLB logo does nothing for any fan, it just makes it harder to read the player names. But who cares about the fans or what they want? They are just customers, screw 'em.
From the fan point of view, the previously larger names on the uniforms were helpful, so you can clearly see who is playing.
Smaller names but a lower MLB logo does nothing for any fan, it just makes it harder to read the player names. But who cares about the fans or what they want? They are just customers, screw 'em.
Yeah. This is an example of the logo being more important than the game--something that MLB has become very conscious of during the Manfred era.
The plackert (spell? also I think that's what it's called), basically it's the part of the jersey that goes around the neck (the Sox version is visible, it's the red "headspoon" on the front of the home jersey that encircles the neck). Nike made it smaller, because of PERFORMANCE IMPORVEMENTS!, so MLB had two choices: make their logo smaller to fit on the smaller section on the back of the jersey or keep the logo the same size but put it lower on the shirt--which screws up the names on the back of the jersey. Again, MLB took the road that leads to a worse option for the fans (like you said) but you know, now we all know that the Major League Baseball players playing on a Major League Baseball team in a Major League Baseball stadium (non-A's division) are real live Major League Baseball players! If the logo wasn't there, how would you know?
The best part will be when they announce that jersey sales overall have decreased for the first time in x years, and they won't understand why it happened. So they lose money instead of make it.
Totally. This is another text book example of MLB going for the easy cash grab now ("Our uniforms are cheaper to make! We'll save so much money! We're such smart businessmen!") and realizing that any quick money they make ends up costing them more in the long run because who wants to buy these POS jerseys. Sorta like when they decided to save cash by getting rid of 40 minor league teams ("Who wants to pay minor leaguers $1000 a month? I'm losing my shirt over here!") only to realize that those minor league franchises are a life line to a lot of potential fans who don't live super close to major league teams.
This is page one of Rob Manfred's playbook (and why he's such a shitty, shitty leader): take the every single penny you can right now and fuck the consequences.
The Cardinals will not be able to wear their powder blue uniforms until June because of a delay in production and shipping.
The Rangers have not received their city connect uniforms yet but expect to have them by next Friday.
The Rangers have not received their city connect uniforms yet but expect to have them by next Friday.
This isn't directly about the new uniforms, but check out these $75 hoodies that cover the logos on many of the hoodies. Just an awful company.
https://www.fanatics.com/?query=branded winner pullover hoodie&_ref=p-SRP:m-SEARCH
https://www.fanatics.com/?query=branded winner pullover hoodie&_ref=p-SRP:m-SEARCH
It looks like it's by design, but you would think there should be some sort of standard/uniformity as to how much of the logo is covered and it all looks so random.
Oh man. This is so embarrassing.
And the silence from MLB, Nike and Fanatics is just deafening. They're all really hoping that people (both fans and ball players) are going to forget this. I hope that they don't. What a complete disaster.
They got really lucky he was wearing tights underneath and he didn't slide on his ass.
The enshitification of uniforms by Nike brings us this gem:
Number replaced with a question mark (why?) and the red, white, and blue Phillies are wearing... Marlins colors for some reason?
Number replaced with a question mark (why?) and the red, white, and blue Phillies are wearing... Marlins colors for some reason?
They used a terrible font for the numbers and they're wearing the Marlins colors for the same reason the Red Sox have worn UCLA's colors. That's a City Connect problem, not a "the uniform quality is awful now" problem.
Bryce Harper is the hero we need.
View: https://twitter.com/timkellysports/status/1779277683106496954?s=46&t=mMrkOk7rKfWNeMpEJjJRNQ
View: https://twitter.com/timkellysports/status/1779277683106496954?s=46&t=mMrkOk7rKfWNeMpEJjJRNQ
Nothing to see here...everything is made with the same material as before
We just can't figure out why the pants are ripping on regular slides
This is so freaking embarrassing for the league. Stop being so cheap and go back to the proper uniforms
We just can't figure out why the pants are ripping on regular slides
This is so freaking embarrassing for the league. Stop being so cheap and go back to the proper uniforms
If that’s the toned down version remaining after the lawyers and political folks re-wrote that statement, MLB must be really really pissed at Nike
I'll start by saying that I am a Nike shareholder
As they should be, but I still think it's funny that MLB is completely absolving Fanatics on this. Everyone that has ever bought anything Fanatics branded knows how shitty their products are, but MLB jumped fully into bed with them to make absolute garbage since they had the fastest product line production speeds. Don't think the Mets can blame Nike, or the rest of MLB can blame Nike for the lack of alternate and City Connect uniforms.
Edit:/ Just this paragraph
Also, as far as I know about the small names, larger MLB logo on the back, I believe that guidance came from MLB, not Nike. Unless I'm mistaken
Maybe with Nike providing the entire uniform and design, Nike figured they could blame Fanatics for this fiasco as a way to make them look bad, based on everyone's perceptions? Who knows, but it doesn't 100% surprise me that Fanatics built gear is shit on the field.
Now, the AllStar game was the obviously the smallest of sample sizes, but was this change ever pointed out to the public when the game happened? Did we hear anything from the players at all? Did Nike actually produce them in house, or farm them out to Fanatics for the build?
It's entirely possible I'm totally wrong, but there still seams to be some drama here. Can't wait for the movie
Not sure if this video was posted, but I watched it last month
View: https://youtu.be/lUw3KuETG24?si=Kh8HfX_ZaFzjmElr
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Nike gave Fanatics the instructions on how to make the uniforms, they designed--er I mean "innovated"--them. Fanatics made them exactly how Nike instructed them to do so. The MLB logo on the back was moved because the plackets are smaller (another Nike innovation) and don't fit how they did in previous years' uniforms, so it had to be moved lower on the shirt. The fix for this was to make the names on the back of the jerseys smaller.
I'm not a Fanatics person at all and I wear a lot of Nike stuff, but the blame of this entire mess is Nike who couldn't leave well enough alone. Since they left flannels and went to double-knits almost 50 years ago, baseball uniforms have been fine. There was literally no need to change them. I presume that the reason Nike felt like they needed to do this is because they're Nike and everything continuously needs to be changed. And MLB said sure because MLB (rarely) ever stands up to its sponsors and I would bet that these uniforms are cheaper to produce. If it saves an MLB owner a nickel, but they get a week's worth of shit; they'll take that nickel every single time.
I'm not a Fanatics person at all and I wear a lot of Nike stuff, but the blame of this entire mess is Nike who couldn't leave well enough alone. Since they left flannels and went to double-knits almost 50 years ago, baseball uniforms have been fine. There was literally no need to change them. I presume that the reason Nike felt like they needed to do this is because they're Nike and everything continuously needs to be changed. And MLB said sure because MLB (rarely) ever stands up to its sponsors and I would bet that these uniforms are cheaper to produce. If it saves an MLB owner a nickel, but they get a week's worth of shit; they'll take that nickel every single time.
Thanks for the additional info. I know my take is definitely biased against Fanatics
Are you a big Paul Lukas guy? Can you replace him when he retires?
Are you a big Paul Lukas guy? Can you replace him when he retires?
I read UniWatch every day. And I have to say in the interactions that I've had with him (online), he seems like a really great guy. But I'm not a fan of his writing too much and I'm even less of a fan of the people that commentate on the every day posts. Pedantic and joyless. Nothing is ever good enough. Everything is "stupid". They speak in cliches ("Black for black's sake") while at the same time want original ideas--which they really don't, they just want teams to stay in the uniforms that they had when they first got into sports.
I know that no community is a monolith, but the UniWatch community is a flaming garbage heap. I wouldn't want to meet any of those people anywhere.
Pedantic and joyless is such a good description of the fanatics (pun only semi-intended) in so many of these niche spaces. That weather forum (American WX?), for example, is interesting and useful... but also filled with people *furious* about not getting the maximum amount of snow per storm, joylessly screaming at one another over forecasts.
(Realizes that from the outside, people probably would say the same about us if they read the arguments in the thread about our backup 1B...)
Uh, anyway The Athletic wrote about the uniforms. (There's a line from another article that made me laugh: "They have to go now, like Poochie from The Simpsons.")
https://theathletic.com/5459612/2024/04/30/mlb-uniform-changes-nike/
Lots of quotes from players, including Riley Greene being grateful he was wearing leggings under his uniform pants when they split and Carlos Estevez of the Angels saying that when he wears the pants they feel like someone else's pants. Also, Nestor Cortes of the MFY says he now has to change his uniform top 2-3 times during each start because he sweats through the top so quickly.
As the piece says, making the numbers and letters bigger on the back is a far easier fix than correcting the colors and improving the entire design of the uniform. So we may be stuck with these, in some form. What a mess.
I'm biased against Fanatics as well, but the argument for blaming them here seems largely around a kind of flippant 'responsibility' claim of a low-level Fanatics social media person, which I think is getting way over-interpreted
It really does seem like Nike needed to change things for the sake of changing things
I read that article this morning and I found it interesting that the one of the players quoted was hoping for a return to the original patches too. I didn't think that any ball player really cared about that.
The road gray tops are embarrassing. As soon as someone sweats in those, they become an obvious two-toned jersey.
Saw them in person for the first time last night. It looked like they had got caught in a rainstorm on the way to the plate. My non-baseball fan kid was asking why O'Neil was soaked.
I don't think the pants/jersey are mismatched, I think he has sweated thru the jersey making it darker
May 7th, 7:20 start time in Atlanta and IIRC the game time temp was in the low 80s. I'm not sure about the humidity, but Kutter Crawford was pitching in the first inning and his jersey was already visibly wet. Once summer rolls around we likely won't notice as the jerseys will probably be one solid sweat drenched hue before the game starts.
You have to have a positive WAR for MLB to invest in straight lettering for you.
Not to be "that guy" but the upside down number thing happens all the time, even before the Nike/Fanatic takeover. The UniWatch folks love pointing it out--actually they love pointing out anything remotely wrong ("Did you see that the scorebug on last night's game used the 2023 logo instead of the slightly different 2024 logo? Ruined my night! I hope so got fired for that blunder!), but I digress.
Uh...? I guess he's done this before but let's blame Fanatics for not putting an end to it.
I like the UniWatch is out there but I get Comic Book Guy vibes from them sometimes.
The yellows were really showing through the pants today:
https://www.mlb.com/gameday/746963/video/jesse-winker-called-out-on-strikes-2f7df1
https://www.mlb.com/gameday/746963/video/jesse-winker-called-out-on-strikes-2f7df1