Looks like we may have a dreaded “retail leak” of another piece of the Pirates City Connect uniform. 😬
Wouldn’t say the jersey being gold is a foregone conclusion. In comparison to other, already released team shirts in this style, secondary color options are also being… pic.twitter.com/NzsYom0z4e
— Pittsburgh Clothing Company (@PGHClothingCo) May 1, 2023
The Pirates aren’t scheduled to unveil their City Connect uniform until June 22, but we may have gotten a hint about the design via a T-shirt leak that began circulating yesterday.
As noted in the tweet embedded above, the yellow shirt doesn’t necessarily indicate that the CC jersey will be yellow. (Indeed, our first hint about Atlanta’s CC design came from a blue T-shirt leak, and that jersey eventually turned out to be white.) Still, let’s take a closer look at the T-shirt and see what we can glean, starting with the front design:
My first thought: It appears as though the lettering is arched from below, which would match the style of the Pirates’ jersey lettering from 1997 through 2005, plus it also matches the lettering style of a plaque found on the Roberto Clemente Bridge:
Also, if you look closely, you can see that there’s some sort of pattern in the T-shirt lettering:
As Twitter-er Brad Scott points out, that pattern appears to match a symbol found on a light tower at the foot of the Clemente Bridge:
I don’t know what that symbol represents. Anyone..?
Now let’s look at the back of the T-shirt:
I have no clue about the back design, except I’m pretty sure I don’t like the typeface.
I have one major thought about all this: If this uniform is going to include any visual references to the Clemente Bridge, it is imperative that they find a way to incorporate the bridge’s bike lane symbol into the design. Why? Because it’s the world’s coolest bike lane symbol:
Wouldn’t that make a nifty sleeve patch? I’m gonna hold out hope for that until the inevitably disappointing unveiling next month.
(My thanks to Twitter-er @nrkastroll for bringing this leak to my attention.)
Not one, but two Nike swooshes on the front of the shirt. Wow.
I was into this design until you pointed this out. I think you saved me !
I don’t know why I ever have anything other than lowest expectations for these Nike “uniform” reveals. Who in their right mind actually thinks a jersey with PGH across the chest looks good in any way?
Can any Pittsburgh area folks confirm if there is any really significance to this abbreviation? Obviously sports teams in Pittsburgh are abbreviated as PIT. So what is this all about?
Even assuming that PGH is locally relevant, have all good uniform designs been so exhausted that these nonsense abbreviations are the only option left?
“…have all good uniform designs been so exhausted that these nonsense abbreviations are the only option left?” Great question!
PGH is another accepted Pittsburgh abbreviation. It didn’t even register with me that wasn’t universally accepted until I read your comment.
When I left Western PA to go to college in upstate NY (and subsequently settled in upstate NY), I got a rude awakening about so many things that just seemed normal and accepted in Western PA making no sense to people from anywhere else! Some of my favorite examples are our tendency to omit the words “to be” from sentences like “My shirt needs to be washed.” (I would simply say “My shirt needs washed.”), referring to an upright vacuum as a “sweeper”, and pronouncing “orange” as “ornge.” Oddly enough, I don’t think I actually used the word “yinz” much when I was growing up in PA, but I find myself using it a lot now that I DON’T live in PA, albeit mostly in defiance of friends and family that give me a hard time about those elements of Pittsburghese and my Pittsburgh accent that I have retained. To the original point, the abbreviation “PGH” does not look out of place to a Western Pennsylvanian at all.
My old, Michigan-based boss notified me of the whole “needs to be” thing. It is SO part of regular life here that I really have to think hard to let it go.
I remember staying in Westfield NY for a weekend on the Lake. We wanted to make ham BBQ and so I drove to the local Tops market to get some ham. I asked the deli clerk if she wouldn’t mind “chipping” it.
She replied “if that’s what you want” hahaha
So true! Our neighbors growing up (I’m from just outside Philadelphia) were from the 412, and it always sounded off but I couldn’t figure out why. 2 of my partners at work and our office manager all say it and it was like I knew so much about them without having to ask.
PGH is incredibly common around the city, perhaps more so by locals than PIT (which is also the airport code). Literally everyone in Pittsburgh will not bat an eye at PGH being used, nor think it is “nonsense”.
Wasn’t referring to PGH specifically as nonsense, but rather the trend of using three letter abbreviations on uniforms, be it PGH, ATL, CLT, etc.
For an alternative, supposedly fun and local uniform, sure use a city nickname, Hotlanta, Philly, the Burgh, Queen City, Mile High City, etc. It is just aesthetically revolting to throw those abbreviations on uniforms. You abbreviate when, well you need to brevity. There isn’t need for it on a uniform so it looks contrived.
Just wanted to chime in that using “Hotlanta” is an obvious sign of an outsider. Not sure how often PGH or PIT comes up in regular conversation, but ATL is usually interchangeable with the name of the city.
Yep, PGH is the city’s historic abbreviation. I’ve seen people, generally not from Pittsburgh, abbreviate the city as “PIT”, but as others have pointed out, PIT is the airport. It generally goes thus:
PGH – the city
PIT – the airport
PITT – the school
Really tired of abbreviations, airport codes, area codes, etc.
can we all agree the airport code for Charlotte needs to never be used for anything sports related again.
Sure … next time, they’ll go with “Douglas.”
Get you an embarrassing airport like St. Louis and you won’t have to worry.
This is my immediate reaction whenever I see them as well.
I don’t hate this
Local Yinzer here; As far as I know there’s no significance to that grate pattern from the bridge. It’s not even a design local designers try to incorporate in local merchandise. However, that question has piqued my interest and I may reach out to some local bridge folks and see if I can find any additional info if the Nike release doesn’t comment on it.
I have abandoned all hope that any CC unis will be any thing other than bad.
Completely accurate. Utter lameness all around, even the Seattle and Atlanta ones.
I think “PGH” has some local cache in a IYKYK kind of way, but I’d stop well short of saying that there’s anything really special about it. Personally, I use it instead of PIT because the airport code is too similar to the university.
I’d rather that it show up on a jersey than “PIT,” “412,” or even “Steel City.” So that part I like. The font is awful, though.
I doubt 412 will be anywhere on this uniform. Shop 412 C&D’d Pitt with the quickness when they put the area code on a VISOR SHIELD!
I would probably be first in line to buy a “Steel City” jersey, for obvious reasons.
Yinzers across the front or GTFO.
The ‘Burgh
I count a total of 4 swooshes visible:
2 on the front of the shirt
1 inside collar
1 on price tag.
The shirt looks so thin and cheaply made, that is in no way worth the $40 price.
A DIY shirt would be less expensive, higher quality, and most likely, more aesthetically pleasing.
Might be a gray area, but it looks like a 5th swoosh in the logo next to the bottom left tag swoosh. With this logo link
Do you regularly sport clothing with the tags still on?
We’re counting the logo on the pricetag now? Smh
In Cleveland, Pittsburgh is affectionately known as Pittspuke. That fond appellation was coined some 40-50 years ago by legendary sportstalk icon Pete Franklin.
“Composed of meats” — a slightly more appetizing ancestor of “meat-flavored food product”.
The NOB font on the Pittsburgh City Connect uniforms gives me strong “Star Trek: The New Generation” vibes. Seems very out of place on a baseball uniform.
Somewhat ST:TNG…more suited for TATC than CC to me.
YMMV.
I have absolutely no idea what this comment means outside of CC (city connect, I presume) haha
the area codes and airport codes are getting out of control. once the charlotte 49ers became CLT it was over. pgh? oh well go ptes!
Every time I see CLT used as the Charlotte identifier, I think of this quote: “Yes, it’s true; Michael Scott is using an online dating service. And I’ve come up with the perfect username: Little Kid Lover.”
I’m late to yesterday’s party…
Linda and Gloria would like to wish Caitlin a belated happy birthday.
I’m surprised nobody referenced two turntables and a microphone on that pizza sign (apostrophe catastrophe).
PGH looks more like an obscure party drug or some social media abbreviation like LOL or OMG. This t-shirt may only be attractive to locals so in that sense it is a succesful CC design. I agree with Paul, we need that cool bike lane sign on this shirt. Nike, take notice and execute!
Struggling to figure out how “mince meat” can be concentrated. I guess the sauce it’s packed with?
The numbers look wild to me. The Pirates use those exaggerated serifs as a key design element in their logo.(forgive me if this isnt proper terms) The numbers look like they inverted the serif and took a bite out instead of adding a flourish.
Take this picture, change “National” to “Bridge City,” and start counting money.
link
Took me 5 seconds to think of the idea and 5 minutes to track down the image.
How can so many people be so well paid to be so bad at their job?
Another Yinzer chiming in: “PGH” is indeed the common way to abbreviate the city’s name, much like people from Minneapolis use “MLPS”. In fact, I cringe whenever I see someone use “PIT” or even worse “Pitt”.
See, for example: link
But Pitt is it!
Dumb when they changed that to Pittsburgh for the University unis.
One of the advantages Stevie Wonder and Ronnie Milsap have is that they will never be afflicted with these shirts.
You wish the people making these CC jerseys had 1/1,000,000 the imagination of the guy who made Clutchers Stadium…
The font for NOB on the shirt looks like the same font from the turn ahead the clock promotion jerseys from the late 90’s.
No, actually, it doesn’t: link
They do appear to share a lower-case “n,” but to my eye that’s where the similarities end.