The Cubs and Cardinals are playing two games in London this weekend. Here are the key uni-notable details from the first game.
1. Home vs. Home
The Cardinals are the home team for both of these games, so they wore their usual Saturday home uniform. In a surprise (at least to me), the Cubs also wore their home pinstripes, creating a home vs. home matchup. Here’s how it looked in action:
Happer hammers one at London Stadium!@ihapp_1 pic.twitter.com/63drClrEt2
— Chicago Cubs (@Cubs) June 24, 2023
This isn’t unprecedented for a London game. In 2019, the Yankees and Red Sox also went home vs. home. The Sox were the home team for those games, but the thinking was that MLB wanted the Brits to be able to see the famous Yankee pinstripes. Not sure what the rationale was this time around, but it’s an odd way to present America’s pastime to a foreign audience.
It’s not yet clear, at least to me, which uniforms will be worn for the Sunday game.
2. Cap Patches
Both teams wore MLB World Tour patches on the right side of their caps.
3. Right-Sleeve Patches
The MLB Would Tour patch was repeated on each team’s right sleeve.
4. Left-Sleeve Advertisements
The Cubs replaced their usual walking bear left-sleeve patch with a series-specific ad for Advocate Health Care. The Cards kept their existing Stifel sleeve ad, but with a slight twist: They usually alternate it from sleeve to sleeve depending on the player’s handedness, in order to maximize TV exposure, but it’s consistently on the left sleeve for the London games.
5. Helmet Advertisements
Almost all MLB games played outside of the USA and Canada for the past 23 years have featured helmet advertising, and this London series is no different. The ads alternate sides based on whether the player bats left- or right-handed.
(If you want to see a rundown on the uni ads used in previous non-USA/Canada games, look here.)
Also notable: the way West Ham United’s stadium was transformed into a baseball venue for this series. There’s a good overview of that process here.
(My thanks to Tim Dunn for the stadium article.)
Not exactly a uniform detail but I noticed the outfield walls had the measurements in both feet and meters. I don’t think even Toronto does that anymore!
No, but IIRC, the big O in Montreal used to have both measurements. A bit small above the distance-in-feet dimensions, but still there.
The ads alternate sides based on whether the player bats left- or right-handed.
Did they make a mistake? The ad was on the side facing AWAY from the center field camera. You can see on Happ’s HR that the ad is on the side that doesn’t have the ear flap.
The ads alternate sides based on whether the player bats left- or right-handed.
Did they make a mistake? The ad was on the side facing AWAY from the center field camera. You can see on Happ’s HR that the ad is on the side that doesn’t have the ear flap.
It was a weird looking game with both teams in the home whites (technically Cardinals were in their alternate cream uniforms, but they only wear those at home on Saturdays.)
They should have each team be the home team in one of the two games, that way the fans get to see both teams’ home and road sets. Doing it this way is just strange, to show them the game the way it NEVER looks on any other occasion. (It also takes two home games away from the Cardinals, instead of each team only losing one, which us Cardinals fans find a bit annoying.)
Of course, the way the Cardinals have been playing this year, the uniforms were the least of their concerns…yikes, that was a stinker of a game for them.
The Cubs wore pinstripes before the Highlanders did. Maybe MLB thought the Brits should see the famous Cubs pinstripes.
The Cubs don’t get enough credit for their early use of pinstripes. And I remember some trade rumors years ago about the Yankees wanting to get certain players from the Cubs, Marlins, Reds, and one other team, with the writer saying, “they’d look good in pinstripes”. At the time, all the teams the players were already on were wearing pinstripes!
Get ready for those nasty helmet ads. Assume we’ll see that garbage infect MLB within two years.
They’ve had helmet ads on games in Japan for decades. Stop acting like this is a new development. Granted, in the Manfred Era, any bad idea is possible.
Helmet ads on the regular were specifically added to the bargaining agreement last year, planned to debut as an ongoing thing last post season, just as the New Era cap logo debuted during playoffs back in 2016. They disclosed to the press that something (without specifying) had disrupted that rollout last October but I’m going to bet it wasn’t good taste, and it would be another lucky break if we don’t see them throughout the playoffs this year and into 2024. Which, given the Mets current standing, may be my major rooting interest later this year.
That is not quite right. The CBA allows for helmet ads *only in the postseason,* not the regular season. So even if they use them this October, it will only be a postseason thing, not something that carries over to the 2024 regular season.
Keep advertisement off helmets, etc. – this is not an advertising arena- PLEASE!
Cardinals wearing home uniforms that are structured like away uniforms, featuring the city name rather than the nickname. Yes they are cream not gray, but aside from that it is basically Cubs home vs Cardinals road by standard uniform convention.
I do not get it why MLB is interested in staging games in the UK. If you want to expand into Europe, go to the biggest market where there is a tradition of North American sports being followed closely and played in far bigger numbers than in the UK, be it baseball, football, basketball or hockey: Germany. And no, I am not from Germany. NFL games in London makes sense, as fans from all over Europe and beyond flock to the games and playing football has a tradition in the UK, more than baseball. Well, on to the uniforms: those ads on the batting helmets may be traditional in overseas games and in Japan, I think it looks terrible.