Major League Baseball today unveiled the jerseys for this year’s All-Star Game. As you can see above, the design motif is a nod to this year’s host team, the Mariners. The overall feel is very generic, with individual team identities relegated to the right-sleeve patches (and a credit card logo incorporated into the other sleeve patch). In other words, these would be great BP/workout jerseys, but they’re terrible as game jerseys. Sigh.
Although there are no visuals regarding the pants, SportsLogos.net is reporting that the American League will wear white and the National League will wear navy to match the jersey. Yikes.
As previously reported, the caps for both leagues will be pale green and the socks for both leagues will be navy.
More interestingly, the jerseys are being rendered in Nike’s new “Vapor Premier” template, which will be used for all MLB jerseys in 2024. Here’s a not-very-helpful guide to some of the new features:
MLB and Nike began test-driving this template back in 2021, both in spring training and in the minor leagues. The short version is that there are slight differences in the collars, sleeve cuffs, and plackets; for additional details, see my report from 2021.
This isn’t the first time MLB has used the All-Star Game to introduce a new uni element. At the 2005 ASG, they debuted the then-new Coolflo batting helmet, which became the MLB standard the following year.
Man, I must have dreamed that the league got so much blowback when they first switched to league unis over team unis in the ASG that they reversed course. I’m going back to sleep now.
The waves make each shirt look wrinkly.
I really thought the preview images were of wrinkled shirts for a second.
Ugh!!!
Makes us so proud to see our hometown heroes representing us in the All-Star Game wearing….Mariners colors.
As a former seattlite , the like royal, yellow and white is what I associate the mariners with.
Wondering why they went away from using the host team’s wordmark as a template for the uniforms. Like when San Diego hosted, and they used the Padres’ ’80s font and colors for the workout gear. This has Mariners colors but the numbers and word marks look like a leftover from TATC.
Knowing Nike, that’s probably in the story. The font is a nod to the TATC unis. A bit of history imitating art.
… individual team identities relegated to the left-sleeve patches.
Sorry, isn’t that the right sleeve?
Yes, you’re right. Will fix.
Hate where the MLB logo placement sits on the back of the jerseys. They need to be above the spoon seam of the jersey.
“SportsLogos.net is reporting that the American League will wear white and the National League will wear navy to match the jersey.”
So…will that be solid white and navy pants…or will one or both contain this sublimated “wave” pattern?
Either way, it’s gonna look like shite.
How are they getting away with not having advertising patches on either sleeve?
It turns out that the MasterCard logo is included in the ASG sleeve patch: link
The photos I used in this post were of replica jerseys, which don’t show the MasterCard logo. I’ll swap them out shortly.
Presumably because MLB has a price, and no company has met it.
Lee
They should have just re-used the 2001 jerseys from the last time the All-Star Game was in Seattle. A thousand times better. These ones look like they mashed up the Padres’ camo jerseys (barf) with the Astros’ (barf) City Connect font. Barf.
I don’t know if it is the rendering, the specific pattern of this jersey, but these new templates look especially cheap. I know the big marketing speak is how they are lighter weight material, etc. But it just makes them look really cheap and like something you’d wear only a few times before it gets damaged somehow.
EXACTLY!
They remind me of the commercial (Downy?) where the guy is wearing a U-neck shirt that is “half-washed”…
link
So I have a “limited” NFL jersey from the previous template to the new template and can tell you, the version they sell to fans definitely got way cheaper in terms of the way it feels. The old limited NFL jerseys felt almost authentic. Thicker fabric, truly sticked on numbers/names. The new version has thinner fabric and the numbers feel ironed on.
That said, the current replica nike MLB jersey’s already feel pretty cheap so I’m struggling to see, at least by eyesight, how the new template is any different from the old. The authentic versions, sure, you can see the differences in fabric and where certain seams are but looking at the MLB Shop and zooming in, it’s hard to see how the new replicas differ from the current replicas.
I know I’m long past being in the target demographic so my opinion means squat to MLB but the ASG is not worth my time if they are not wearing their team unis. Plenty of other options for me.
So disappointing the way MLB has ruined the All-Star Game for me.
I’m just going to have to get over it.
This game will look great on the radio.
C’mon, everybody…you’re missing the point! By narrowing the plackets, Nike is saving at least $0.11 per jersey, savings that will NOT, I repeat NOT, be passed along to you, the dupe who is buying the damned thing. My slow-motion divorce from pro sports continues. If only the Orioles hadn’t gotten good again ahead of schedule!
I can’t stomach much more of this March dump garbage. They’ll keep shoveling it down our throats as long as people keep buying this crap. I’m about done with it all
“PERFORMANCE TRIMS.
LIGHTWEIGHT.
BREATHABLE.
INSPIRED BY
ON-FIELD JERSEY.”
It’s comforting to know that players will be wearing something inspired by on-field jerseys.
They’re bad
I was watching an old ASG, the NL in their road uniforms, the AL in home and it looked wonderful. The uniforms reflect the time.
I stopped watching the All-Star game after 2021. The whole reason it had held an allure for me was seeing the smorgasbord of uniforms all on the field at once. As Nike entrenches its efforts to turn the game into an unsightly merch dump, I will continue to entrench myself in the “it’s no longer worth watching” camp.
I definitely agree with you, Paul. The MLB released some great ASG BP jerseys back in the day—I actually had one from the 2013 game the Met’s hosted which had the skyline behind the AMERICAN lettering. One of my old favorites.
But what made them great was that you barely got to see them. They were a space to experiment without needing to turn off fans like my father—an “old-timer” who still keeps scorecards whenever he’s at a game.
Now that what used to be the BP jerseys are the actual game jerseys, MLB is going to be losing fans. Fast.
Looks like they scrapped the “mesh” look for the numbers that we saw with the SB Railriders beta test versions which is good. Unless those will appear on the authentics. Hope not.
Any indication that these have those TERRIBLE mesh numbers???
So, the All-Star Game lost a little luster when free agency saw players jumping between leagues, it lost most of the rest its luster after inter-league play began. Now its lost what remaining luster it had since it is now just played to advertise for Nike All-Star Game swag.
What is it with the sports world always defaulting to a water theme with anything Seattle? Yes they have a large port and an ocean but so does The Bay, LA, SD and plenty of others… Originality please
These look like used tissues for a running nose crumpled up and thrown away, fished out of the garbage can and sewn together by Nike. Baseball shirts turning into soccer shirts with buttons is a disturbing trend.