Only one MLB team so far — Arizona — has given us a complete look at how their uniforms will look in Nike’s new tailoring template, which is being rolled out for all teams next season. But Tigers pitcher Sawyer Gipson-Long wore a new-template Tigers home jersey for a recent feel-good appearance at a children’s hospital, so let’s see what we can glean from some photos that that were posted online.
In this photo, you can see that the two lines of placket piping are much closer together than we’re used to seeing:
You can also see the new seam that’s been added to the collar:
There’s no rear-view photo, but you can get just barely see a glimpse of Gipson-Long’s NOB in this next shot. As you’ll see, it appears to be sitting a bit low, because the MLB logo is positioned lower in the new template — below the headspoon piping instead of within the piping — which pushes the NOB lettering down a bit:
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That’s it for now. No real surprises, but I figure any new photos of these new-template jerseys are worth sharing. I’ll keep doing this for other teams if/when new info emerges.
Update: Reader Steve Vibert has found a rear-view photo of Gipson-Long’s jersey, showing the lower-positioned NOB:
(Big thanks to Dan Smith for alerting me to these photos.)
The material looks so thin and cheap. Like those knockoff jerseys you find at Kohl’s or Walmart. Might look better in person, but knowing Nike, I’m guessing not.
They look like the giveaway jerseys they have for the first x number of fans.
Also the narrow button placket (?) makes it look less like a jersey and more like a dress shirt.
Awful
I hate it.
Look at how close to the buttons the headspoon trim appears to be. It looks awful.
As with the change to the “D” that matches the cap – it’s just irritating enough to really bug the crap out of me.
Probably just the lighting…but it looks dingy.
I’m really surprised that MLB didn’t go with similar templates that the NCAA uses with the perforated front/back.
The Tigers need to go back to the old jersey logo. The thinner piping just adds to the white real estate and makes the skimpy logo look worse.
You need a logo with heft and girth to fill in the blank space
The majority of Tiger fans agree with you. Unfortunately righting this wrong isn’t as simple as the oversized D on the hats was.
The name on the back looks way too low. Material looks ridiculously thin. Headspoon is way too narrow. This is ridiculous, and this jersey looks like horseshit.
I’d love to see the back. I’ve got a weird hunch that we’re going to see smaller (maybe 2″?) name letters with 8″ numbers. The seam at the collar makes me think of the ribbed trim some teams used to have on button downs (1983 Orioles, Bo Jackson era Royals).
Todd, you’re right. The Tigers have had 3-1/4″ lettering on their backs for years. Most teams have 3″ NOB lettering. It not only looks smaller, but thinner as well
Hi Steve! Yes, you can really tell the difference in font now with the A and R letterforms. It’s not quite as pronounced with the rest of the alphabet as it used to be, but still different.
“you can see that the headspoon piping is much narrower than we’re used to seeing”
I suppose it’s semantics, but is the piping itself any narrower, or is the placket itself narrower? The piping appears to be the same thickness.
Good clarification there Phil. The soutache trim is the same width. The placket width is quite narrower.
Wording now adjusted. Good point!
Yikes.
Not good when the template changes the placement of the piping *that* much. It’s going to change the whole look and feel of the uniform.
Not good.
Looks very cheap and obviously Nike does not care about that. Paper tissue quality. And that small placket is a crime against baseball uniforms.
Total downgrade of my all-time fave jersey. Looks cheap, and oddly juvenile.
May as well have Garanimals for an ad patch.
-C.
These better make the players play 1000% better to make up for the fact that they look 1000% worse.
I think it makes sense that the jersey manufacturer would look to makes these lighter with better breathability. The Russell and Majestics of the past were quite heavy for a sport played in the dead of summer. Just wish they did better. If they use cheaper materials, make believe you give a sh-t about the little things that seperate an authentic jersey ($350) from a shirt.
When are they going to use some different colors for games. Like to see orange or blue, think about changing things around.
I hope never. Too classic to add color at home.
I think we are used to having the placket be wider, so that looks more natural and better to many of us. If the placket had been narrower all these years, the wider one would look terrible. That being said, I too hate it.
I tend to agree. Honestly when I saw the wider version I thought, wow that’s too wide. Maybe somewhere in between would be better, but as is, I prefer the new width. The other new elements, not so much.
I am dreading seeing the Cubs pinstriped truncated by a dumbass collar
Looks like a cheap knockoff of a Tigers jersey.
Lifelong Tiger fan here. I cannot find the words to accurately capture how much I hate this.
This reminds me of Nike truncating the trim around the shoulder holes on NBA jerseys, and the offset notches on the NBA shorts. It does nothing to improve performance, it is noticeably different than what had existed for decades, and it is nothing more than a way for Nike to scream “LOOK AT ME!” without slapping more swooshes on their clothing.
I’m actually more bummed about the Tigers not keeping their giant NOB letters. The Reds ditched them years ago, now the Tigers. Nothing is sacred anymore.
Few things. What’s clear is, Nike is making baseball jerseys out of the same weave and material they make their soccer jerseys.
I know people are saying it looks thin and cheap and I know it does but consider this. They still have to function. I seriously doubt MLB would sign off if the authentic jerseys were going to rip on the field. So shell out for an authentic and you’re likely fine. I will bet though that the replica version will probably be pretty cheap. The new NFL Limited jerseys are super flimsy compared to the previous template so I’d imagine the same will be true of MLB. Also on MLB Shop they have Shohei Dodgers jerseys up for pre-order and some ASG jerseys and they use the Limited brand for MLB now too.
As for how they look, yeah I do not like the MLB logo below the piping that looks ridiculous. Won’t be as bad on jerseys with no piping but still not great I just don’t understand why they did that.
With the headspoon trim getting reduced, I think it’s time to just be done with the headspoon on all jerseys. I know it’s supposed to look classy and clean and neat, but it often gets overlapped by other elements, so it just seems to get in the way. Just my personal opinion.