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Let’s Unbox the Rangers’ City Connect Promo Package

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As you surely know by now, the Texas Rangers unveiled their City Connect uniform on Monday. In a not unrelated development, a package arrived yesterday at Uni Watch HQ. Inside was the box shown above. And what was inside that box? Let’s take a look:

I have to admit, that’s a fun package. Now let’s take a closer look at the items that were inside the box, beginning with the cap (which, interestingly, has a blue underbrim):

Then there’s the jersey, which is a replica, so it doesn’t have the front number, which seems like a really big departure from the actual jersey design:

Then there’s this little sheet, which repeats info and pics from this web page (which, incidentally, is the same page linked by the QR code shown near the beginning of the unboxing video):

Then there’s this promo booklet, which is actually quite nice and includes some cool old photos:

And then, for some reason, there’s a USB cable. I have no idea what that’s for. If it’s supposed to connect to a particular device, that device was not included in my promo box: Update: I now see that there’s a little port on the side of the box, which I hadn’t noticed before. So the cable is for charging the LED lights.

While I was taking these photos out on the porch, my upstairs neighbor/landlord walked by. “What’s that logo?” he asked. When I explained that it’s supposed to be a “TX,” he just kinda blinked and shook his head.

I tried on the cap and jersey, just for the hell of it:

———

And there you have it. I’m keeping the USB cord (I figure you can never have too many of those) and the light-up box (I can repurpose that for a gift), but the rest of this stuff is ticketed for the annual year-end raffle, so you’ll be seeing it again in December.

My thanks to the Rangers for giving away this stuff that I in turn can give away to Uni Watch readers!

 

 

 
  
 

Cans of the Day

There’s something very nice about marketing that doesn’t try too hard. “It’s Good” — so simple, so appealing, so much better than the usual over-the-top hyperbole.

It’s worth noting that Bradshaw’s also produced this very entertaining can:

• • • • •

I’ll be busy for most of today because I have to pick up a friend who’s having hand surgery, take her home from the hospital, pick up her meds at the pharmacy, and generally be available to help her out. Play nice while I’m away, okay? I’ll be back tomorrow, when we’ll see the much-anticipated unveiling from the Arizona Cardinals! — Paul

 

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Comments (45)

    I am going to guess there is a USB port somewhere on the box to recharge the battery for the lights. I have a Tool CD that included a cable for that reason.

    Big props to Texas for sending that kit to you!

    And yes, I wish they had included a number on the front as well as the back.

    It’s a great uniform and I particularly like the light shirt—dark pants combo, something that is far too rare in baseball (but was worn in the 1870s!). The Chiba Lotte Marines had something like it in the mid-2000s. I’m looking forward to seeing it in action.

    Nice packaging for one of the worst unis of all time. I’d ask to be traded before wearing that. Yeesh.

    Not bad for a City Connect, except the black pants. I really hate dark pants in a baseball uni, whatever the jersey may be, but especially with a light top.

    The logo looks more like a T on the actual cap and the actual jersey than in the digital photos we saw Monday (or the print matter in the box). It’s still not good, but it’s not as bad as I’d expected. And it’s still by far my favorite current Rangers uniform.

    Paul, does Nike send stuff like this to you often? What sort of relationship do you have with the company, if any? Do you have a contact in the promotional department, in the design department?
    It just seems funny to me that they send you a kit like this, which is clearly done to garner or maintain a positive relationship, and yet their brand as far as designing new uniforms is almost always opposed to the ethos of uni watch.
    I mean I get it is just something they do as promotional thing to you as the leading journalist on uniforms, but at the same time, wouldn’t it be more helpful for them to actually take into account the things you write about prior to releasing so many awful and pointless uniforms.

    Nike didn’t send this to me — the Rangers did. They got in touch a few weeks ago, confirmed my address, and so on. (They did not share any pre-unveiling info about the design, however, so I didn’t know what the uni looked like until the unveiling.)

    Gotcha. That makes more sense. I think the light up box and the inclusion of the marketing speak sheets had me certain it was a Nike thing. Definitely makes more sense it was the Rangers, and feels like something they’d send to various VIP ticket holders. Comes off as a far better promo from the team than the manufacturer.

    I still think you should have to be named after your city to have a City Connect uni.

    Yeah, but if you brand yourself as “Texas” and have a generic “Texas” logo, it increases your customer *ahem* fan… Base by quite a bit! Why limit yourself to one city?!

    My first instinct is to compare the Texas/Houston locators to the Florida (Miami)/Tampa Bay locators, but circumstances are different. I recommended the Rangers wear a “Dallas” CC uniform and got blasted by Arlingtonians and Fort Worthers. There is genuine enmity between the cities. The Texas locator was an obvious compromise.

    How does the shirt actually feel to the touch? How about when it is on? Do the patches and logo feel awkward because they do not flex and move the way the rest of the shirt does.

    Does it feel substantial or is it light due to potential Texas heat.

    Man that swoosh just looks so prominent and out of place all at the same time. Love the winged panther. Would look great on the hat in stead of the goofy font TX.

    The fabric feels fine, at least as synthetic fabrics go. Since it’s a replica, the graphics are thin/screened/etc., not stiff.

    When I saw that jersey my thought was, “I hope I win that in the annual raffle!”

    I wasn’t crazy about the cap in the promo photos, but I like it a lot more seeing it on you–not sure if it’s the lighting or what, but it’s a hat I wouldn’t mind wearing….my total lack of affiliation with Texas notwithstanding.

    I think they were trying to get a better review out of you.

    My mind hasn’t been changed, at least. I still think they’re hideous.

    Thanks Rangers!

    I may be in the minority… but I like this uniform. Finally a logo that isn’t “corporate clean,” the number font looks good, we don’t have a lot of black pants in baseball so it isn’t cookie cutter BFBS, and there are some cool drtails.

    I actually like these quite a bit, and ordered the cap and the Uni looking T-shirt.

    They have a TX logo with some Texas-y aspects like the spur and barb and a number using the font from an old team that played there before the Rangers. The rest are just some patches. I could see people complaining their a little tame, but I don’t get the animosity. I MUCH prefer them to the Astros and White Sox for example.

    “I MUCH prefer them to the Astros and White Sox for example.”

    It’s funny how opinions vary so widely on the CCs. And that’s fine. I think these are almost meant to evoke strong feelings, one way or the other.

    For example: In 2021, I ranked the ChiSox CC’s as the best. link

    In 2022, I ranked the Astros CC’s as the worst. link

    In September of last year I partenered with Michael Cooperman to survey his Gen Z students in ranking the CCs. They had the ChiSox as the best, and (shockingly, at least to me), the BoSox were ranked last. Astros were next to last. link

    I think people (like all of us) who are looking at the City Connect program as a whole tend to have a negative opinion of the uniforms, but my guess is that the individual uniforms are better received by local fanbases, which is probably what MLB/Nike is aiming for.

    That may have something to do with why there are such wide ranging opinions of the program as a whole.

    I think that’s exactly right. Two of my three teams have CC unis at this point, and while I think the Nats cherry-blossom unis are pretty widely appreciated, or at least general opinion doesn’t seem wildly out of line with Nats fandom on them, the Brewers CC unis are a mess but local fans (myself included!) have, ahem, connected with them pretty well. Like, I see a lot of Brewers CC caps and t-shirts here in southern Wisconsin. Anecdotally, I estimate that I see about as much CC merch being worn as I see regular 2020 update team merch.

    “… but my guess is that the individual uniforms are better received by local fanbases…”

    I think you’re right based on what I see in Houston. The Space City thing was unpopular here but I see them being worn EVERYWHERE as I move around the city.

    That was very cool of the Rangers. I still don’t love the design, but I love that they paid their respects to the king of the uni world by doing this…

    The only thing wrong is the TX font. It mashes everything together so its almost unrecognizable. They did a great job telling the history of pro baseball in DFW with the uniform though and the Pangle is cool!
    I believe some of the promo shots the Rangers did were even taken at the FTW Cats old stadium.

    I’m with you on this. I like the white over black pants as a change up from what we usually see. If the TX didn’t look so much like a stepped on spider this would be one of my favorite CCs

    Interesting that the past two city connect caps (Atlanta and now Texas) have deviated from the standard black undervisor found on other on-field caps. Fitted cap collectors almost unanimously hate black UVs, and many even refuse to wear caps with a black UV, so I wonder if MLB/New Era is moving away from black UVs with hopes of selling more authentic caps (or maybe they’re realizing that the green and grey UVs especially look much better).

    I said it yesterday and I’ll say it again, as a Rangers fan, I absolutely love it. If they changed the pants to match, I would 100% support having this as the actual uniform and ditch the blue vs red debate.

    Although it sucks, I understand why they don’t put a number on the front for the retail version. But to not do it for this promo just seems plain lazy.

    Promo booklet has a 1955 Cats season ticket box seat card.

    It says “This ticket is transferable. Use it frequently.” But it also says “Not good for admission.”

    How do these things work? You take this “ticket” to the box office to get a real tearable ticket for admission?

    4.20 on the collar, in tribute to that great Texas-based movie “Dazed and Confused,” would be a lot cooler … alright, alright, alright.

    Cool that they sent it to you. I think the hat looks much better here than it did in the release shared a few days ago. The very dark blue looks good, and I’m seeing a dark wash denim vibe, which is kind of old school Texas-ish
    I still don’t love the logo. I think they just tried too hard (I see a TX-R-maybe a D) it’s just a bit of a jumbled mess.

    I can’t explain why, but the T looks more like a T to me on the actual artifacts Paul received than it does in the print and digital imagery. Still, I see IX, FR, and an ampersand before I see TX. I think that’s because the crossbar on the T is both too short and doesn’t extend far enough to the left; and also because the T and the X are nested tightly together but don’t appear to come from the same typeface. Heck, the top and bottom of the X look like they’re drawn from different typefaces.

    This uniform would be a grower if it weren’t for the messy logo. Nike is just always making me scratch my head with their choices. It seems they don’t put any work into some uniforms, looking at the US Soccer men and women, and yet with some of the City Connect looks they make weird choices. If Nike wants people to think Texas, maybe make “TX” clear, as long as it’s not the batting practice logo from their generic gas station-looking hat.

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