
Good morning Uni Watchers, and Happy Hump Day.
Before we get into the uniforms worn in last evening’s All-Star Game, I wanted to bring to your attention a few “late” posts from yesterday, since I know some of you only check in during the morning. We had Five MLS Clubs Unveil “Retro” Alternates, Ticker-er Jamie Rathjen gave us a rundown of the new Virginia Football unis, and there was talk of the MLB All-Star Game returning to the previous format of having all teams wear their regular uniforms in the game itself. Oh, and earlier in the day, Paul made a triumphant return to UW. So, if you missed any of those, please give them a read. Thanks!
Now then.
Ever since the ASG caps and jerseys were released, we’d been trying to figure out simple things, like the actual colors used, and what sort of pants will teams be wearing with the jerseys. I speculated when the jerseys were released that both teams would go mono jersey/pants, and I was proven correct (unfortunately). We also wondered why the particular font was chosen, among other things. Well, it seems that we now have our answers.
Since the game was held in Arlington, TX (home of the Rangers), the unis were designed by Nike and MLB and the typography and graphics are meant to “exude the classic vibes” of Texas with a “contemporary aesthetic.”
Yay. Storytelling!
So the uniforms are meant to represent Texas, or at least the part of Texas in which the Rangers play. Per MLB/Nike, “The design also includes bold color blocking, modern trims and vibrant highlights meant to represent a bridge between the past and the future.”
Let’s look at those unis now.
AMERICAN LEAGUE

Nike/MLB describe the American League jerseys as “having a sandy base” (so, they’re tan). The sleeves of both the American and National jerseys are raglan, and the American used red sleeves. The words “AMERICAN LEAGUE” are also in red spread across the placket, in a sort of “Old West” type font. Sleeve ends have light blue hems. NOB is also in red block lettering, in a radial arch, with a red number in the same font style as on the front lettering. On each player’s left sleeve is a team logo, and on the right sleeve is the 2024 ASG logo nestled atop a credit card ad.



Pants of the AL team have thin red piping down the seams. Both rear pockets were fortified with a thick hem in red.

We’d previously seen both caps, but the AL had a cap with a red brim and rear crown, with a tan front panel which featured each team’s cap logo in red and blue, atop a red and blue stripe. Each cap had a single star rendered in white, and placed on the player’s right side of the front panel. The ASG logo was on the right side of the cap.

Besides the pants and socks, we didn’t know what the helmets would look like. It turns out that each League had a custom helmet designed to mimic the cap, but with a few differences.

It’s a bit difficult to make out, but the batting helmets were painted red with a tan bell shape, and instead of a specific player’s cap logo, each helmet simply had “AL” in blue on the front.
There was also apparently only a single sock option for those who wished to go high-cuffed. The pattern, seen on Aaron Judge below, had (running from top to bottom) an off-white (a different shade from the AL uniform) fading to light blue to red to dark blue, then back to red, light blue and off-white. Both teams were offered this one set of socks, which were (I’m guessing) supposed to match both uniforms. I’ll let you be the judge of that.

NATIONAL LEAGUE

While in different colors, the National League’s uniforms were basically mirror images of those worn by the junior circuit. The NL jerseys were a “navy blue base” (according to MLB/Nike — I’d call it midnight blue, if not black), with light blue raglan sleeves. “NATIONAL LEAGUE” was rendered in the same font face as the AL, and the backs also followed the same style.


Here’s how the same socks worn by Aaron Judge looked with the National League uniform, as seen on rookie phenom Paul Skenes.

Here’s a good look at the helmet design on the NL from the side.

And a look at the top of the helmet. Note the player team logo on the left sleeve as well.

Most catchers also wore custom gear, including the helmet and chest protector seen here on William Contreras.

Or the KC Royals’ Salvador Perez.

And here’s a much cleaner look at the caps worn by the National League. (Closer look)

On each player’s right sleeve was the ASG logo with a credit card ad.
Close up, if you dare.


Players, of course, took the opportunity to wear custom belts and shoes for the game, and they didn’t always match the uniforms.




And as they did in 2023, the game’s six umpires wore custom ASG caps, but their regular unis.

I couldn’t find a good close up of the caps, but they had a black brim and back crown, with a white front panel and red and black stripes.
And that’s pretty much the rundown. I’m sure I speak for almost everyone when I say it’s time to end the special uniforms for the game itself, and to return to the simpler days of the 2010s (and back to the 1930s) when participants would wear their regular home or road uniforms for the game. And if you clicked on the link at the top of this page, at the very least, the Commish is at least willing to have a conversation about that. It’s time for MLB/Nike to listen to the fans who’ve hated the game turned into a MasterCard commercial with costumes. Maybe we’ll never get rid of the corporate BS that now permeates the game, but at least we can get the players back in their regular uniforms.
In all honesty, of the four MLB uniforms for each of the leagues in the past four games, these might have been the “best,” but that’s a very low bar to clear.
Hopefully, next year when I write about the 2025 ASG, we’ll be complaining about pants length and custom shoes worn with players’ home or away uniforms, and not another fashion show designed around an exhibition game.
YMMV.
Readers, the floor is yours. What did you think of the unis and should the game return to individual team unis vs. individual team unis?
The MasterCard logo at the bottom of ASG logo on the sleeve looks like a pair of Truck Nutz.
That’s pretty fucking funny.
One thing I noticed about the caps. It seems like most of the caps had the team’s regular cap design with the ASG style. But when Imanaga of the Cubs came in the game, it seemed like his cap had the full Cubs logo instead of the typical C. Did any other team deviate from their usual cap logo?
I don’t know if it was my screen, but the AL colors didn’t seem to have enough contrast. I thought the NL looked better.
Those are all kinds of ugly.
GTGFTS: Aug 10, 1989. The return of Dave Dravecky after cancer surgery. I was watching later than season in Montreal when his pitching arm snapped mid-pitch.
One of the most horrible injuries I have ever seen live on TV. And then, the poor guy got his broken arm broken again during the victory celebration when the Giants won the NLCS.
I can still see it so clearly in my mind 35 years later.
I was also watching live. It was the sound more than anything, it sounded like a Shohei Ohtani home run. People who were at the game say you could hear it from the top deck.
These looked terrible on TV. Some of the sleeve logos were too faint to make out, particularly the A.L. ones, so when a player was at bat, you couldn’t tell what team he was on. And the logos on the hats were difficult to make out. The D on Tigers pitcher Tarik Skubal’s hat was completely lost, as were many others hat logos.
Another Nike botch job. What else is new?
Kill the ASG and City Connect Unis, faithfully recreate a Negro League throwback for each team based upon a team from their rough geographical area, renovate several more Negro league fields, whole league goes Negro League throwbacks the few times a year there’s a special game at those fields. Please and thank you.
Motion seconded. Well part of it. I actually like the CC program in theory (although the execution for many teams left much to be desired). But a connection to the Negro Leagues, with renovation to stadiums across the country, more Negro Leagues throwbacks, and the now integration of their stats into the MLB record books, is something that should be celebrated and expanded.
We’ll compromise. No more ASG uniforms, but every team has to wear its City Connect.
That would be a cluster. Way too many teams in opposite leagues have the same colors for CC. White Sox/Reds, Pirates/Red Sox, Cubs/Twins, etc.
It was a tongue in cheek suggestion.
That said, having different jerseys is not as critical in baseball as other sports, since there is a clear difference between offense and defense and it is an exhibition game after all.
No thanks.
I was at the All Star Village on Monday, and the National League uniforms don’t look red at all in person. Highlighter pink is more accurate.
No matter how much they say it…that is NOT red.
To me, it looks more like the color of Char Aznable’s Zaku II from Mobile Suit Gundam: link
I loved this year’s ASG uniforms, for their retro design and brash colors. Believe it or not, they used the palette of the Miami Marlins, only in greater quantities and added tan for the old West. The front lettering was especially nice, and I liked the number font.
I still don’t get the use of the “bright blue”? If the uniforms would have stayed true to the logo shown at the top of the page, I probably could have understood them a little better.
I miss players wearing their regular uniforms. It was always, IMO, the neat thing about the ASG. Seeing all the different uniforms together on one field.
That’s Nike’s favorite color this year is why.
Would obviously love to see the players wear the regular uniforms. Question though, was the word LEAUGE necessary on the jerseys? Couldn’t it have just said AMERICAN and NATIONAL?
Seeing all the players together in their team colors WAS the All Star Game..
I have zero interest in ASG uniforms and haven’t watched a moment since they started doing this.
Honestly these uniforms looked like uniforms for movies where the production team couldn’t or wouldn’t pay for the likeness of a real jersey.
As far as ranking them I would say it’s 1.2023 2.2022 3.2021 4. 2024 from good to bad. I do like how when you look at the ones from last year you can kinda off hand know where the game happened at becuase of the uniform
I was hoping the pants would match the sleeve colours. That might have made the awful socks less awful – especially for the AL.
As someone who is a Dallas girl and Texas native, these uniforms looked like someone saw a box of Old El Paso taco shells 20 years ago and decided that was the state’s aesthetic. I assure you that it is not.
Even Ft Worth isn’t that “old country”
As a fellow TX resident, this. 100% this.
Nike couldn’t even be bothered to render the players’ own team logo in their natural colors! Instead they used the same colors as the jersey which made them blend in. These uniforms make it tough for viewers to identity those players they don’t know on teams they don’t always watch. Poor marketing of players on MLB’s part.
If only there were a way to more easily identify which team a MLB player was representing….
How exactly do you intend to identify “players (you) don’t know on teams (you) don’t always watch”? And why would you want to?
FOX graphics could have taken care of that. I was stunned how FEW graphics I saw with names of the baserunners, defensive positions, etc.
Especially when FOX knew that the late-game subs were unidentifiable, some overload of graphics would have been appreciated.
I’m confused – is your question a genuine question or is there another reason for asking it? If it’s genuine, people want to know and learn more about the game/teams/players they aren’t always exposed to.
Kinda hard to do that when you can’t see the team names or player names or even numbers from any distance. I wouldn’t have minded the uniforms if they were legible
It was a bit tongue-in-cheek since the only way to accurately identify players if you don’t know their faces would be to see them from behind in their normal team jerseys.
“Both rear pockets were fortified with a thick hem in red.” The term for this is “welted!” If you have a suit with flapless pockets, it’s the same basic tailoring. Kind of a nice touch given the cheapness of this year’s Nike product.
GTGFTU: December 25, 2012 Knicks @ Lakers. Lakers win 100-94. Kobe and Carmelo each had 34 pts.
I follow baseball pretty closely, but I really have no idea what most players look like. I mostly had no idea who anyone was without their correct uniforms for context. Made the game extremely uninteresting.
They look like crap. Glad I passed up watching the game.
The worst part of these ASG uniforms was the fact that I couldn’t tell who played for what team. Since everyone looked the same, I couldn’t tell who played for Minnesota, Detroit or Miami. That there, is what made the ASG special when I growing up. Thanks MLB and Nike for dropping the ball again.
I wish they’d go back to their regular unis but these weren’t the worst ASG getups. Looking at you LA.
Im one of the few that liked the L.A all star unis. To me the dark grey and gold tied in with Hollywood.
The All-Star Game uniforms were great — for a celebrity softball game.
I understand the desire to return to the old way of having players wear their respective team uniforms. What I don’t understand is many of the justifications provided/complaints made by commenters here.
The NBA, NHL, and NFL All Star games all have special uniforms. I don’t see any of the complaints about not being able to identify players/their teams with them. In fact, I barely see a fraction of the same complaints about those leagues’ AS uniforms compared to MLB’s.
I think the reason that you don’t hear that complaint with other league’s All Star uniforms is the MLB was the one and only (minus the few years the NBA did it in the 90’s – a very bad move FYI) league that had their players wear their normal uniforms for the All Star Game.
It’s much easier with MLB, due to most teams having white home uniforms and gray away uniforms. All the other leagues would be a color nightmare.
Aside from the socks and helmets, I actually kind of liked them. The double-lined font almost always seems to look good and gives it more of an old-timey feel. Colors are muted enough to be colorful but not in-your-face. Not that I would buy an all-star jersey, because, why? Caps are kind of cool enough to purchase, though. (Don’t need a new one, so point is moot.)
“The design also includes bold color blocking, modern trims and vibrant highlights meant to represent a bridge between the past and the future.”
Is there honestly not one single person at Nike who read that and said “What a complete load of shit. Is that really the best explanation we could come up with the justify these terrible designs?”
I hate the socks Judge is wearing, but even with terrible socks, his high cuffs look so much better than Soto’s pants all bunched up at his ankles.
Simply repeating what you want people to believe, whether it’s defensible or not, has become the cornerstone of modern corporate marketing… and ethics.
The Ringer described the AL uniforms as “the color of dijon mustard” and I can’t unsee that now. They also correctly pointed out that the NL unis were somehow even worse.
The AL uniforms just look like 70s-80s pantyhose.
I found the red on the American league uniform, looked more like pink to me. A true mess.
That “red” in the AL unis was a crazy shade. Depending on the lighting, they looked bright red, orange and sometimes even a little pinkish. In all the photos in this story the color looks orange. The light blue was a weird contrast to the “red”. It was an interesting color combination, but not right for the all star game.
I know it’s sacrilege but I do like the current format of team uniforms for HR Derby and league uniforms for ASG. Maybe that’s because the HR Derby is more interesting for me at this point. But it also makes logical sense that in the Derby you represent yourself and your team and in the game you are playing for your league.
Unfortunately, the ASG uniforms of late have been pretty terrible. I get that they’re not for me (late 30’s), but I can’t imagine kids being into these ones either. I just think back to the late 90’s early 2000’s and remembering how they seemed mostly nice. Even though I know they were hideous, I even liked the Fenway futuristic ones because at least they were trying something innovative.
Things went downhill when they started just using whatever the spring training / BP template was (first I remember was the weird stripe/panel from shoulder to underarm and thin piping along front of sleeve).
About the nicest thing I can say about this year’s uniforms is at least they didn’t have color contrasting side panels.
I really didn’t like this year’s all star game uniforms, the tan and the bright hot red was not very aesthetically pleasing for me, the midnight navy and bright blue was somewhat more palatable. Hopeful there is enough negative press that it makes Manfred change his mind and restore regular team jerseys for the all star game.
Majestic had it right when they were manufacturing the batting practice jerseys for the all star games, each one had design elements of the host team and the jerseys were distinct enough without looking too garish.
Maybe for next year’s ASG, MLB/Nike could use the Turn Ahead the Clock designs as the template for the uniforms???
Feel free to discuss???
Yeah these didn’t work. It’s the bigger problem with Nike as a whole though. It’s not necessarily the CCs, the All Star unis and the like. It’s that quality stinks. The fashion choice are in general lousy and can’t even hold a candle to their NBA counterparts. Take the questionable fashion choice, they structurally flawed as uniforms. They need to put more effort into finding ways to seamlessly connect with the fans and produce stuff people want to wear.
I mean it’s not going well for them, their stock price is in the toilet so hopefully something changes.
No more ASG (or CC) uniforms for MLB please. The idiosyncratic and arcane nature of baseball does not combine with semi-snazzy uniforms made for casual fans and tourists. Leave that to the NBA. Not only is the NBA much more appealing to an international (and younger) audience who may like anything new, basketball is more of a motion game where it is easier to concentrate on the action than on the ugly uniforms. This is much harder with a stop-go game like baseball where ugly uniforms burn into retinas. Also, NBA uniforms are tank tops and shorts. A full MLB uniform is a bigger canvas to mess up.
They need to stop using the hot colors and match the uniforms to the game logo. That would have been an improvement. Seattle looked good last year because the uniforms told you it was Seattle. Every design has an inspiration. It doesn’t need a story though. ture red and navy would have made these look much better.
It appeared that a least on a couple of American League players the pants didn’t really match the jerseys, but that’s par for the course for this season of uniform debacles.
I want them to go back to wearing their actual team uniforms. I’m ok with appeasing the corporate world by letting them supplant the team’s regular ad patch and putting the ASG ad patch on instead. It’s not ideal, but there really isn’t any going back on that now.
Any idea why some clubs had their white logo (Phillies) on the caps and others did not (Tigers)?
love what you’ve done with the site, Phil. However, when the title says this is a review, I felt a lack there, it’s instead a detailed description. Or is that what you meant by “review” – that you’d review the elements in great detail (much of which has been done before in other posts). Part of why I like reading is hearing your perspectives and assessments. I found myself skipping the somewhat tedious descriptions to get to your assessments of the diff elements. All good if that’s not the direction you want to go though!
Sorry if “review” didn’t meet your definition … perhaps overview would have been a better term. But I wanted to go through all the elements of the AL/NL ASG unis as if they were being unveiled for the first time…and to a certain extent (helmets, pants, socks), those were new. I try to always give my own thoughts about the uniforms after the rundown (overview/review), and I did, albeit not in as much detail as you might have liked. I thought these were the best of the four ASG uniforms, but I hate the fact that they’re introducing specific in game unis for the ASG. Were last night’s duds good (or at least acceptable) as uniforms? Yes. Did they belong in this game? No.
Nice recap Phil. I don’t care for the colors and if you are going to use an old-timey looking western font, do not go with vertical arching. It just looks wrong to me.
ASG specific uniforms are a good idea. They just keep getting the design wrong. I think it’s because they focus too much on the host city. And like with the CC, try to tell a story with every detail.
The NL and AL have classic old school logos. Lean into those! You can still had a blend of modern touches and throwback vibes. Keep them basic, red, white, and blue. If you nail the design, you can stick with it for a few years. Add a patch for the host city on the sleeve.
The visual aesthetics was better than 2021-22-23…and that means it sucked. The way they ran ASG’s before Manfred took the money was best run of any major sports…
I don’t hate the sets but they do look like something the kids would wear in the Little League World Series.
While I didn’t particularly care for the uniforms overall, I loved the detailing on the back pockets. I’d been hoping to see something like that since noticing contrasting pocket flaps on I don’t remember which throwback uniform a few years back. I don’t imagine pocket flaps will make a comeback considering uniform manufacturers are trying to make their materials thinner and lighter, so this is the next best thing.
I also noticed that Elly De La Cruz had a sliding mitt with a cowboy hat motif on it:
link
He’s worn quite a few different ones this year, but this one appeared to be an ASG special.
I’m fine with having an ASG uniform — though it does sacrifice something MLB had that was special compared to the other leagues — but for the love of God design a uniform that doesn’t look like it was designed not to violate anyone’s copyright.
can we come to some kind of compromise here? how about these not-so-great unis with each player’s team cap OR each player’s team unis with a special all-star cap?
Being the first All Star game in Arlington since ‘95 (I was not able to attend that one, and the events before the Event has grown since then. I’m a collector of retail authentic jerseys and some game worn/ team issued items. When they announced Arlington was getting the 2024 game, I was extremelly excited. I was a fan of the batting practice all star jerseys that had been the norm before changing it to be the game uniform. Overall the first 2 attempts, very underwhelming. I liked the jerseys themselves for Seattles All Star game. I was excited to see what could be done with several sources of inspiration in the area. I thought, even if they just use the Rangers current colors it should be easy to make an awesome jersey for both leagues that would till tell the story that only the person who told us the story got lol. Once the actual uniform was shown I was in shock. All of the decisions appeared to have been done just to get something done. Then make some font change to start the story about the area it was telling, which other than old western font there was no other story to tell. Overall I liked the National Leagues colors but expected ‘more’ from the rest of the jersey. The font was fine but the way it was done didn’t give it that special game feeling. The American League uniforms was basically designed from an old potatoe sack filled with apples, why? Nike and MLB mailed this one in just for the money grab and in doing so stole a moment that local designers could have used to show what they could do.