The Yankees are famously averse to change when it comes to their uniforms. But in a move that qualifies as earthshaking news, at least by Yankees standards, the Bronx Bombers appear to be planning a change to their road greys for this season.
As you’re no doubt aware, the Yanks’ road jerseys have long featured white outlining on the chest lettering and back number, along with decorative trim on the sleeve cuffs. The white outlining and sleeve trim were both added in 1973, when the team transitioned from flannels to stretch knits. But according to a page from the 2024 MLB Style Guide, which was provided to me by a source, the white outlining and sleeve trim are both being eliminated this season:
If this is really happening, it would make a plain design even plainer. But the Yanks could probably sell it as a legacy move, since it matches what the team wore for many decades in the flannel era:
The last time the Yankees tinkered with their road uniform was in 2016, when they tightened up the space between “New” and “York”:
About two months into that same season, they also changed their road batting helmets from glossy to matte. But I’d say these new changes shown in the Style Guide are more significant than those 2016 changes.
One other thing: It’s worth noting that the Style Guide shows the sleeve ads for the Mets and Angels, but not for the Yankees. Before we all get too excited, remember that the Yanks’ sleeve ad was announced as running through 2031, so this is probably just a bookkeeping omission in the Guide, not a sign of the ad’s demise.
To see all my reports on the 2024 MLB Style Guide, look here. I hope to have more MLB news to share soon. Meanwhile, if anyone knows more about the thinking behind these new moves by the Yanks, feel free to be in touch. Anonymity assured, of course.
Finally: To all the Yankees blogs that will be tweeting about this, it would be nice if you could please link to this article instead of just lifting the graphics and saying “per @UniWatch.” Thanks!
Retail Mock-up that appears to line up with the above.
link
This could just be their City Connect Uniform.
Ha! That would actually be kind of awesome. (But no, that’s not what this is.)
I wonder if it has something to do with the new Nike uniform. With the Mets doing the same thing, maybe it has something to do with the fabric? Just a guess.
You mean to say Nike, with all of their supposed design and technology might, cannot properly create an existing uniform from the materials they have at their disposal ?!?!??!!
Would be funny if that was the case, I mean it has gotten to the point that non-uni people will comment to me about the disappearance of shinny gold and silver football pants.
The swoosh is toxic to uniform aesthetics.
I am surprised it took this long for them to go back to this look. There is a joke about the sleeve having a Dallas Cowboys on the 1973 – 2023 jerseys…
Also, it’s had to believe they wore those for 50 years.
Missed a word “There is a joke about the sleeve having a Dallas Cowboys stripe on the 1973 – 2023 jerseys…”
I’m surprised George didn’t pull the trigger on this when he was still alive, having deemed the white trim and sleeve stripe too “disco”.
I always wondered if that change was in the works before he bought the team in ’73 or if he had something to do with it.
We could see this happening when the Dodgers did the same thing. I believe they went to the white outline in the 70’s due to a constraint with the double knits.
Was the white outline also a workaround to avoid having the blue twill bleed onto the white or grey fabric? (If the outlining was achieved via stacked twill)
If that were the case. There would be a white outline on the numbers/logo on the pinstriped home uni, and that’s never been the case.
I believe the issue was just with the road gray uniforms.
Friggin’ matte helmets. They make every team look like a high school team that can’t afford new equipment.
I don’t want matte helmets league-wide, but I do like the Yankees in them…I always thought they looked good during the Flocked – Lid Period too.
As a Yankee fan, I welcome this update! There was nothing wrong with the previous look (with the white), but I love this move, back to simplicity, back to the older look. Great job Yanks!
They should also go back to block numbers, instead of varsity, and set in sleeves, which I think looks better for pinstripes than raglan.
link
My wife planted catnip all around the house last year. Our BIG 20lb male couldn’t wait to go outside and find where some was planted LOL
Why are the colours not accurate in the style guide? The Yankees’ blue is clearly much darker than that.
And I’m surprised Paul refers to the color as black.
Where did I do that?
Ah sorry- I misread “back number” for “black number”. Nothing to see here.
Eliminating the white outlines and sleeve trim is a complete downgrade.
“How can we make this more boring?”
I hope this trend of removing the white outline extends to the Tigers road grays. That one has always bothered me.
Exactly! I’ve never liked white outlines on grey jerseys, so this is definitely a change I would make.
Better not spread to the Phillies away grays!
I like it on the Phillies jerseys, and I didn’t mind it on the Yankees. I think when it’s the third color though, like the Tigers, it’s too much.
I wouldn’t worry – navy on gray shows up better than red on gray. The white outline is more necessary for the Phillies.
Between this and the Mets black jersey news, is this the worst day in history for white outlines on New York baseball uniforms?
I was 9 years old in 1973 and my little league team, called the Mets, was invited onto the field at Shea before the Mayor’s Trophy Game vs. the Yankees. Believe it or not, I remember 50 years later, that I thought at the time that the Yankees had fancier sleeves than I thought and it was cool.
I find it interesting that the style guide has the Angels’ and Mets’ advertisement patches but not the Yankees’. I forget how many years were locked in with that ad, but last year was the first and I don’t think it was for just one year. If there is truly no ad anymore, color me thrilled!
Yes, I was puzzled by that as well. I’ll add a note about that.
Also: Ad was announced as running thru 2031. link
Would they dare try a faux flannel at some point? That would be killer.
Go full Costanza, Yankees!
I know that Under Armour had been doing that for a time; I am surprised it has not caught on.
I could see that happening. The Field of Dreams game unis had a slight heathered pattern, so it’s something that’s possible
I’m surprised you didn’t mention the Droste effect on the Service Sam can!
I’m so stupid! Was so into the verse and the weird/charming spokescharacter that I didn’t even pick up on that!!
Service Sam is almost too much to take in. Great design + poetry!!
Is it league wide thing niw eliminating white outlines? First Mets, now Yankees
Reminds me of the Red Sox, circa 1986, when the team had “BOSTON” in simple navy blue letters on their gray away jerseys.
Yeah Detroit had similar ones in the 60s.
That said the most underrated change for the Red Sox was when they switched undershirts to Red it really changed the feel of the uni.
I chuckle when I see the B O STON version.
I’ve been hoping for the removal of the white piping for YEARS. Glad this move is happening.
Maybe, just maybe — the City Connect will be a gray jersey with YANKEES on the front like 1927 to 1930?
I was silent but hoping for the same! And I agree that is one City Connect I could stomach. That, or the rare green/red/blue road pinstripes.
Major upgrade for the Yankees. Loved it when the Dodgers eliminated the white outlines, too. The Dodgers could use a bolder font on the names and numbers both home and away, similar to what the Royals do on the home uniforms and similar to the way it looked on Dodgers uniforms in the early-to-mid ’70s. Hopefully, the Yankees use a bold font, too.
Agree on Dodger fonts…I do think, based on pics of 2024 jersey, the back numbers are a bit bolder.
This is ugly and pointless. Only to sell jerseys that no one will want.
How do these changes increase jersey sales?
This needs to be said people… the Yankees road uniforms are not good. The pinstripes are iconic and among the greatest uniforms in all of sports, the grays have just been around for a long time.
IIRC, Gabe Paul was confronted with just such a uniform in 1972, deemed it too plain, and added the white details and stripes. It had everything to do with losing the warp & weft pattern in the grey flannel. I consider it a wash and am glad the Yankees aren’t averse to change.
I love this change. Good on you, Yanks.
The Yanks might be well-advised to go with a number font of their own design, one that evokes the McAuliffe type without copying it. Something like the Reds wore in the 1990s.
The removal of outlines for both New York teams, could it possibly driven by template/material update ?
I remember the Yanks wearing those road unis when I was a kid. I think the white outline around the numbers and letters looks better but I’m okay with them going back to the plain blue.
Reminds me of when the Red Sox did this in 2012 – always disliked that look on more modern jerseys.
Will have to wait and see
Hmm, so as a Yankees die hard, I *think* I welcome this movie. In theory and concept I do, but I need to see it on the field in a modern setting before I fully embrace it.
While other teams keep adding more and more to their uniforms, I love that the Yankees are removing elements. Plain? Sure. But also a refreshing change from the rest of the uni-verse.
Now if only we could eliminate that tacky Starr Insurance patch on the sleeve.
The difference between the ’15 and ’16 neglects the mention that the NEW YORK letters also seemed to be made slimmer.
I don’t think that actually happened.
So THAT’S what makes the pre-2015 ones look better. I was thinking, boy, that larger space between NEW and YORK sure looked better. Nice and bold. But the new letters are skinnier it seems, with the same size white outline.
I just compared two Yankees away jerseys I have, one with the wider space between NEW and YORK and the other with the narrower space and the letter size seems to be about the same. It’s the arching that’s slightly more radial on the version with the tighter spacing.
Massive, massive upgrade. I’ll regard the Yankees as having an attractive uniform set – maybe B-minus, middle B – if this is real. The white outlines and the incongruous sleeve trim have always rendered the Yankees roads as amateurish beer-league jerseys for me, exhibit 1 in my case that the Yankees have below-average uniforms closer in quality to Miami than to St. Louis. The home uniform is still a mess, but this is a huge upgrade. Props to the Yankees for opting for simplicity and elegance against the modern trends of rococo busy-ness.
Confession – I’ve been on this planet for 59 years and I never noticed how strange the K is on the Yankees’ jersey. Now I can’t unsee it, and it BUGS me.
Agree! The lower stroke of the K joins the upper stroke when it should (obviously?) join at the vertical stroke on the left.
I love this move. I think it has something to do with HDTV and these 70″ screens that people have. The single colors pop a lot better on the jerseys than they did in SD with the picture so sharp.
Ah, it is the Yankees. Let them have their minimalist look. Maybe they should get rid of the NY logo as well, as they took it from a medal designed by Tiffany. Just pinstripes and an advertiser, blank navy hat. Most of their fans would not notice or care, as long as they win the title evey year and beat Boston.
This is addition by subtraction to me. I’m all for this move.
For all those who believe the uniform itself has to do with “winning,” or “lucky” or what have you.
Who wants to take a bet right now that *if* the Yankees win the World Series this year, more than a few will attribute it to changing the road unis?
I really enjoy the look! Looking forward to seeing it in a game but I don’t think there’s any reason to believe it won’t work. I liked when Boston last had this type of look in 2013 as well, though that’s more drastic and could understand it being more of a polarizing choice than this one.
FINALLY… removing the white back-drop is overdue! I believe I read that the feeling was the white outline would look better on 1970’s TV broadcasts. I thought the popularity of the “Field of Dreams” uni would have led to this change happening sooner..
Speaking of that uni, I wish the Yanks would bring by the modified McAuliffe font they used.. Of course, I’d love to see them go back to the original McAuliffe numerals they used up until 1946 on BOTH home and road jerseys!
Love this change!
The simplicity looks so much better on actual textured flannel. I prefer the white-outlined new York and sleeve stripe on the modern fabric jerseys.
You can’t tell with the number 5 in the example, but will the Yankees be keeping the serif number font on the road unis, or will they be going back to sans-serif like in the pre-1973 era?
Example: link
The number 5 in the guide is definitely the Yankees current Wilson Varsity font. The sans serif, or block numbers, would not have the squared edges shown.
Just don’t put names on their backs. It makes Yanks more unique.
Paul, you and Uni Watch are credited in an article by Pete Caldera on the USA TODAY app about the Yankees jersey changes. Didn’t know if you were aware.
What’s funny is that they unironically look like the grey unis the Red Sox wore from 2009 to 2013
I never realized the change they made in 2016 to bring the words closer together. It almost looks like one word now…NEWYORK. Hate that!
If they are going to tarnish their uniform with some disgusting insurance company, then it’s hypocritical not to have a City jersey like everyone else. Or put names on the back. Or have some archaic policy about how players wear their hair.
How about navy blue shirts and white pinstripe pants
I would like if the Yankees add 3rd Jersey, the gray with Yankees on it instead of New York. I believe I remember seeing the Babe in gray jersey with “Yankees “ instead of New York. I think he wore both grays.