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All But Two MLB Teams Scrapping Spring Training Jerseys This Year

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If you’ve been checking out photos/videos from your favorite MLB team(s) since Spring Training has begun this year, you have probably noticed how shitty the uniforms look that those teams are no longer wearing “spring training” jerseys. As our pal Chris Creamer has pointed out — and which has become apparent as all squads have reported to ST — teams have been wearing their regular season alternates.

Two teams — the Tigers and Yankees (both of whom do not have alternate jerseys) — are the exception this year. Neither team will have an alternate jersey this season, although the Tigers will be getting a City Connect uniform at some point during the season.

This should probably come as no surprise, as Paul reported earlier this year that the Cardinals were scrapping their Spring Training jerseys this season. At first it seemed the Cardinals were dropping their ST jersey because they need to come under MLB’s new “4 + 1” rule (four jerseys plus one City Connect jersey), and since the Cards already have a home white, road gray, cream home alternate and powder blue road alternate — and will be one of the nine MLB teams to get a CC uni this year — their red ST jersey had to be excised.

Apparently ALL teams, with the exception of the Tigers and Yankees, have dropped their ST jerseys. So now there is no distinction between ST jerseys and regular season jerseys. And this makes sense, since (a) some teams were moving their spring jerseys into the regular season rotation anyway, and (b) the 4 + 1 rule was applying to spring jerseys. Now it’s all pretty much the same thing.

Here’s what the Yankees and Tigers are wearing this spring. And you’ll note that these jerseys are now in Nike’s new jersey template, so it’s not like they are repurposing old stock (also note the ads for each team are present on the sleeves):

In that Tigers photo, you’ll also note the new pants template has eliminated their once iconic belt tunnels (which had already once been altered to accommodate the Jerry Dior logo). Sigh.

Since most teams already have four regular season jerseys (and all but the Yankees and A’s will have, or will be getting, CC uniforms), the elimination of the Spring Training jersey due to the “4 + 1” rule basically was a foregone conclusion.

The Spring Training jersey is becoming yet another casualty of the Nike takeover, even though teams were trending in this direction for the past couple seasons. RIP.

 
  
 
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Comments (40)

    At least with respect to the sad developments with the Tigers and Braves pants, it continues to show that Manfred and his cronies want the sport to be homogenous in how it looks on the field and how it’s played. Manfred despised that the National League played conventional baseball (or at least that the leagues could have separate rules) and he despised that the All Star Game had a variety of uniforms. Any sense of whether pressure will be put on the Yankees and Red Sox to add player names to their home jerseys?

    “Any sense of whether pressure will be put on the Yankees and Red Sox to add player names to their home jerseys?”

    Won’t happen, because it is cheaper without them.

    That the Yankees will not have City Connect uniforms shows me how utterly snobby they are. “Oh, we’re the Yankees, we’re too cool for City Connect unis or having names on our backs. This despite our not having won a World Series in 15 years.”

    Believe me, if I were the Yankees’ owner, I’d dress them in the most garish thing imaginable, just to tick off the longtime fans.

    Neve been a Yankees fan; but they are a classy organization! They are much to classy to wear a hideous CC uniform. The entire CC program is a joke and looks like something you would s in the minor leagues.

    You’re misinterpreting “respect for tradition and a proper sense of aesthetics” for “snobby”, but that isn’t what the word means. And why, if you owned the Yankees, would you dress your employees as garishly as possible? Why would you embarrass your employees and insult a very supportive fan base? I’m not a Yankees fan but I respect the fact that they won’t participate in a stupid vanity project.

    They might as well. All their players dress like clowns now when Steinbrenner decided to put bloody Starr Insurance on the sleeve.

    The Yankees don’t need the gimmicky (ugly) city connect jerseys/hats for their fans & won’t unless forced to buy MLB’s cronies.

    Applaud the Yankees for avoiding those embarrassing Nike CC jerseys. Like it or not (and I do), they are the most famous MLB team by a mile. They don’t need gimmicks and already sell a massive amount of merch.
    Now, if they would just ditch those Starr Insurance patches…

    I despise the ads on uniforms as well. I could understand the owners’ justifications for ads on jerseys, if we weren’t talking about billionaires, but since we are: If an owner can’t afford their toy (team) they need to sell it to someone who can. If teams want to experiment w/their uniforms, more power to them! I think it’s fun to watch. Yankees don’t do that. It’s not snobby, it’s not for economical reasons. They just don’t change their uniforms very often & I love it.

    The Yankees’ WS win drought is actually 14 years, a shorter drought than 19 other teams. 14 years is a long time but I’m sure 27 rings eases the pain just a little bit ; )

    As a person that despises the Yankees, I do have to admire them for standing up to Nike/MLB. As a Cubs fan, it embarrasses me to see them wear those God awful CC uniforms. I feel like I’m at the city park watching our “Industry Softball’ team league. Why does Nike always have to do something, as they refer to as something to do with each “city”? Know what makes me think of the city of Chicago? The Cubs pinstripe uniforms.

    If “only” Yanks and Tigers have ST unis, why are the Phillies wearing their solid red tops? The one eliminated for the 4 & 1 rule.
    For evidence just Google Whit Merrifield in Phil’s ST.

    Any red shirts you’re seeing at spring training are NOT the old getaway red jerseys worn last year — they’re either t-shirts or sweatshirts;

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    this is how the team looks for ST:

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    To figure out why Nike and or Fanatics have decided to make any change, just remember it was to save money. Remove the white trim from Yankees roads? Cheaper. Make NOBs all smaller? Cheaper. Make all front numbers same size? Cheaper, because you can have more teams with same cut of number. Plastic patches? Cheaper. Remove trim off Braves belt tunnels? Cheaper. Standard belt tunnels for Tigers? Cheaper. Chain stitching on patches instead of direct sewn? Cheaper. No chain stitching at all? Cheaper. Cubs ditching trademark symbol on patch? A few pennies cheaper per patch.. Off-white fabric? Probably cheaper.

    Did I forget anything?

    Sleeve piping. Why sew three color lines of soutache a quarter inch above the sleeve ends when the thread in the set-in knit trim that all the jerseys now have can be done in the same colors?

    Back in the olden days, teams wore the previous seasons uniforms in spring training. If that were still the practice, we wouldn’t see the 2024 disasters until the season started!

    I’m basing this on Chris’ tweet. He has a direct line with MLB that neither Paul nor I have … we believe the idea is that anything worn in ST can also be worn in the regular season (not necessarily that it will be worn during the regular season). Except the Tigers and Yankees, who will NOT wear those jerseys during the regular season. If Chris reported it, then we tend to think it’s accurate.

    Now make the caps the same as regular season and I can actually watch a spring training game!

    The Reds are still wearing their ST jerseys in pics they’ve shared on X. It’s in the new template, too. Has it been upgraded to a regular season option? They already have home white, road grey, Red Alt, City Connect. ST Red with Mr Redlegs logo on chest and white piping.

    Technically the Mr. Redlegs jersey is a regular season option, they wore it for one game in 2022. It was the second game of the season in Atlanta, if you remember there were “supply chain” issues with jerseys that season so I’m assuming that was the reason because that is the only time they have ever worn it in the regular season.

    Was about to point this out myself. Feel like the NOBs on the reds have a very distinct Spring Training feel too. I guess it’s debatable whether or not that qualifies but in my opinion, it does.

    I am somewhat surprised at this, spring training / BP uniforms are just more merch to sell.

    My general preference for uniforms would be white/cream at home, gray on the road, and teams get one alt/throwback which should also be white/cream and has to have a specific designation when it is worn (specific day of the week, afternoon games, etc). The only time teams should wear color tops is for spring training / BP.

    Personally I think they settled on a good compromise. Not a fan of the City Connects but as far as the normal uni’s go, I think 4 is a fine number given there are 162 games. Some teams that had up to 6 were getting out of control especially since in some cases, different versions only had slight differences.

    I completely agree that colored alts should be limited to 1 designated day per week, such as Sunday afternoon or Friday night. The Red Sox introduced this policy with their alts for 2024 and I was very pleased as it became a crapshoot which uni they’d wear on any given day.

    Well that sucks. I actually liked having teams wear a different jersey during ST/BP. It also gave us historians and collectors another jersey to collect. Plus they were always interesting because they were a different look and feel than the game day ones. They were instantly unique. I really wish the shitty connect costumes would have excised instead. These new MLB uniform changes blow.

    Another bad thing about this: it probably increases the odds that if a spring training minor leaguer wearing a garish spring-training-like number is called up to the majors, he will keep that number and not be issued a more normal-looking one. A few years ago there was an article about the Red Sox and how they were already doing that, and sure enough we saw even early-season callups wearing numbers in the 60s and 70s.

    The solution for me to avoiding the ugly new uniforms in the cheaper materials with the missing iconic team elements is to watch the games on the radio, as God intended.

    Thankfully I am a Dodger fan so there are 1000s of uniforms that are the same but look better on EBAY and that baseball works better on radio.

    This should open up eyes to the fact that Nike produces garbage. So many swoon over Nike. So hip. So cool. So cutting edge. Hahaha. Yeah, right. They cut corners at every opportunity. Yet charge a premium price for their sweatshop crap.

    The look is cheap, the feel is cheap, these uniforms are supposed to make us feel cheap but favorably priced they are not.

    I don’t know if this was mentioned but the Reds with the Mr. Redlegs head is primarily a ST only jersey, the Reds script red jerseys are used as an alternate both home and the road.

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