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A Close Look at an Authentic (Not Replica!) MLB Jersey in Nike’s New Template

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Last month, thanks to the “Hey, we just signed Shohei Ohtani!” press conference, we got our first look at how the Dodgers’ jerseys will look when rendered in Nike’s new tailoring template. We’ve also gotten glimpses at a bunch of teams’ replica jerseys in the new template.

Now someone on Reddit has acquired an authentic Yoshinobu Yamamoto Dodgers jersey — not a replica — and posted a bunch of photos of it. Most of the photos are very high-res, giving us our best look yet what we’ll be seeing on the field this season.

Let’s start by taking a closer look at the narrower placket and the extra seam in the collar (sort of like an old-style sun collar):

As you can see, the placket breaks the “d,” just as we’ve seen before.

As we’ve also seen before, the fabric for the front number is perforated. Here’s a closer look at that:

Now let’s look at the back of the jersey, which shows the lower positioning of the graphics, the more steeply curved NOB, and the slightly smaller NOB lettering and number:

Just as we did for the front number, let’s take a closer look at the perforations on the rear number:

Finally, the Redditor did something interesting by posting a photo of the inside of the jersey — which, oddly, had several loose threads:

Obviously, the loose ends don’t really matter in the big picture, but it’s still somewhat surprising that they weren’t snipped off.

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That’s all I have for now. But I expect to have more MLB news next week — stay tuned.

 

 
  
 

Substack Reminder

In case you missed it yesterday, my Uni Watch Premium article on Substack this week is an interview with David Crabtree, founder of the great ice-design database website TheFaceoff.net, which documents the history of hockey ice graphics, including center-ice logos, red lines, and more.

You can read the first part of the article here. In order to read the entire thing, you’ll need to become a paying subscriber to my Substack (which will also give you full access to my Substack archives). My thanks, as always, for your consideration.

 

 

Can of the Day

Wow, that’s a doozy! Here’s a better look at the areas that are wrapping around the sides of the can:

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Our latest raffle winner is Phil Fleckenstein, who’s won himself a complimentary Uni Watch membership card. Congrats to him, and thanks again to reader Brandon Grimm for sponsoring this one! — Paul

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Comments (30)

    It’s something about the NOB and the MLB logo on the back that just seems….off-centered.

    I submit that it’s not an extra seam in the collar, but extra fabric in the collar, compared to the old pattern. The new collar has the same number of seams as the old collar, but one more layer of fabric.

    It seems odd to me that there is only one template for the whole league’s jerseys. In soccer, manufacturers like Hummel and Adidas offer several distinctly different shirt templates, such that teams in the same league with the same kit maker rarely wear shirts with identical patterns.

    I look forward to seeing the inside stitching of a jersey from a team that has outlines on some of its lettering and numbers.

    Exactly – I thought the trend was to have just one layer for decorations, where different color outlines are screened rather than sewn as separate layers of twill like in the past. This supposedly cuts down the weight of the jersey. Interesting to see that two lines of stitching is being used for everything on the Dodgers uniform so far.

    I don’t think that’s true. A few years ago, there was a move away from multiple layers of tackle twill for names, numbers and wordmarks to a “kiss cut”, but I don’t think game jerseys ever had screened outlines. Replica jerseys, maybe. If that’s true, that’s atrocious.

    Don’t believe that it’s two separate stitch patterns; more likely that it’s the bobbin pattern from a zigzag stitch.

    Came back to say that this is also true. The letters and numbers are sewn to the jersey using a zigzag stitch. So I don’t believe anything that was said to be true.

    I sit corrected – it was hard to make out the zigzag stitch on the front except on the closeup of the red number.

    That’s exactly my reaction in theory, but in practice the perforations don’t seem to be visible at any distance. So maybe it really is as advertised about saving a few milligrams of weight?

    But the NOB and wordmark are not perforated, so that additional 3mg of fabric is probably why the Dodgers will lose again… right, Nike?!

    Sorry, I knew it was missing on Photo Day, presumably to make room for an ad, I didn’t notice that they ever added it back.

    As seen on the picture of the inside of the jersey, why is there a tag with bar code? Are they sure this is authentic on-field? Seems like a tag would never make its way onto the jersey.

    Authentic retail jersey (as opposed to replica retail jersey).

    In other words, the same thing the players wear, but this specific garment was not made for a player to wear.

    Yeah. The ones meant for professional athlete use are what I call “pro cuts.” In the old days of Mitchell & Ness (when it was an actual sporting goods store), they used to sell surplus Eagles pants and some very damaged and/or repaired jerseys. I remember handling one worn by Jason Garrett’s brother, Judd, when he was on the preseason roster.

    Why would the numbers be perforated, but the name not? That’s seems weird to me.

    I can’t tell for sure, but it looks like the front number is a bit thicker than what Ohtani wore at the press conference, which would be a good thing as the Dodgers front number was always a bit large and bold. It also looks to me that the back number is a bit thicker than what they have been wearing, which would also be an improvement. I also kind of like how the front numbers give a bit of a hand cut vibe, like the old time felt numbers. As for “Dodger Blue” it is looking more like Navy at this point.

    In comparing the replicas on Fanatics, it appears the D’backs and Giants are still the cream teams. But i can make out the slightly off-white hue on this Dodgers jersey. That was some early news, right? No snow white unis?

    From what I’ve read so far all the new home unis will have a cream tint to them.
    By your post, it seems the teams who already used cream colors will have a darker cream shade so that they stand out as compared to others….

    Other than the ridiculously narrow placket, the thing that strikes me about these jerseys is how…SIMPLE…they are. Nike, a company that never met an extra seam or unnecessary, oddball fabric cut they didn’t love, gives us jerseys that are the equivalent of the last Majestic retail blanks for team sales. No odd perforated bits. No bum-flap mesh. Nothing. Just the most basic jersey pattern in the world…with an absurd, unnecessarily narrow placket. Weird. At least they gave us the stupid number perforations, so we’d know it was them.
    Still feel like all the back foolishness is coming out of their NBA design division, though…

    Again weird comments. Just look at the NBA jerseys for what the perforated numbers are like. They are simply more flexible. They appear solid from anything further than a couple of feet. Again, just weird to complain about authentic jerseys and functional elements.

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