As you may recall, the Nationals unveiled new road and home alternate uniforms last month. It turns out that they’re also making changes to their home and navy alternate jerseys this season.
The first sign of this came in yesterday’s spring training workout. Players wore the team’s navy alternate jersey, which didn’t have its usual front number. And since the front number had been eliminated, the chest script was no longer positioned at such a steep angle.
The Nats also posted a video on Instagram that briefly shows a clubhouse mannequin wearing the same jersey, indicating what the players should wear that day:
I was wondering if this was just a spring training thing or if the numbers had officially been scrapped. So I asked my 2024 MLB Style Guide source to send me the Nats pages. And sure enough, the front number is gone:
Now, you may recall, the Nats’ home whites have also carried a front number, and have also been afflicted by a ridiculously uphill-oriented jersey script:
And sure enough, it turns out that the front number on the home jersey has also been removed:
It’s odd that the Nats didn’t announce these changes when they unveiled their two new jerseys last month, but whatever — I’ve given up trying to understand the thinking behind such things.
As for the changes themselves: On the one hand, I like front numbers on baseball jerseys; on the other hand, the Nats’ big, clunky numbers were forcing their script to be positioned at an absurdly steep angle. It seems like they could’ve come up with some sort of middle ground — smaller numbers and/or a less clunky font, which would have allowed them to reposition the script while maintaining a numerical presence on the front of the jersey — but on balance, I’d say this is an upgrade.
Imagine that: Positive MLB uni news in 2024!
(To see other Uni Watch exclusives based on the 2024 MLB Style Guide, look here.)
Halle-freakin-lujah!
But I wonder if this positive change was the result of Nike not being able to add front numbers to the navy and white jerseys — rather than as a concession to a less angled script.
Hey Paul, could you confirm that the Braves are changing their navy away piping to red?
You hope a change like this came about because some noticed how bad the old jerseys looked, but it’ll probably come out that it had something to do with Nike’s tailoring on the new template.
The Nats also changed the collar striping orientation on both jerseys.
Personally I don’t see how an “uphill” script is such a terrible thing. Aren’t we all upset at Nike standardizing the NOBs? Why standardize scripts?
The navy alternates used to have asymmetrical piping in which the top layer matched the navy jersey color.
link
Came here to say something to the same effect. Old collar and sleeve piping on the navy alternate was red/white/navy. Now it’s just red/white
I don’t believe the stripe has changed, just the Nike moved the stripe to the end of the sleeve with this new template. The blue part previously was the actual sleeve fabric.
I think I’m in the minority here, but the capitol hat is one of my favorite in baseball and it looked great with the white jerseys. The red cap with the navy script looks bad, just like when the Rangers wear red hats at home link
I think the capitol hat is coming back with the pullovers
Paul,
Is the red curly W back to the primary with the home? The capitol dome hat replaced it previously, which was a huge downgrade.
The “blousing” thing on the sleeves is going to take some time getting used to.
And with that, eliminating the big red numbers on the front of two jerseys, the nats are inching closer toward finally making a decision some 15 years in the making: they are choosing to be a blue team.
Speaking of cool scripts — I see the Mets’ road batting practice cap evokes the script used on the 1987 road jerseys! Kinda confirms the home caps has recalling the 1980s racing stripes.
I like the Nationals’ changes.
I liked the numbers on the front, and the steep script never bothered me, so I would consider this a downgrade. It seems a little strange that they will have a number on the front of the new gray road jersey but not on the other jerseys.
I like numbers on the front as well. The Cardinals removed their front jersey number for a couple of years in the late 90s, and I always thought it looked strange. Like the jerseys were incomplete. I get the same vibe here.
Because the script being positioned at such a steep angle seemed completely unnecessary, front numbers or not. The size and position of the script and the number could have easily been tweaked slightly to accommodate both comfortably. I guess it’s an upgrade on the whole, but it’s achieved by both addition and subtraction.
…or even better, they could’ve stuck with the superior “Curly W” home jersey with number on one side and logo on the other. They unnecessarily created a problem that they then had to fix.
Agreed. The curly W white’s are so much better. So is the script Washington grays. This team has lost its way.
Man those blues are beautiful.
I think the bigger win is going back to the red curly W hat at home. I think its been two years that they’ve used the regular W over the Capitol?
I don’t like that they removed the front numbers, whatever the angle of the script. Just looks weird. Glad to see the red hat back with the script home whites, which, BTW, are better than the old Curly W home whites. The dome hats were OK for BP hats but never liked them with the new home whites. Actually, the hat they should use is the old alt red cap with the blue bill. That one was sharp. They dropped the Curly W red alts, which is a downgrade also.
I am a little disappointed in this change as I have come to embrace all of the Nats’ uniform quirks. Too many caps. No consistency with eyelet and squatchee colors. Multiple shades of navy blue.
I chalked the absurdly angled wordmark as another quirk…and it will be missed.