As you all know by now, I’m a Mets fan, so the majority of baseball I watch is Mets baseball, and usually those games feature the excellent TV booth of Gary Cohen, who partners with Ron Darling and/or Keith Hernandez. Occasionally there will be a different broadcaster, but it’s usually those three (or Cohen with either Darling or Hernandez). They are a top notch announcing team, and I’ve noticed over the past few years they usually are not shy about sharing their opinions when Mets’ opponents are dressed in City Connect uniforms. As you might expect, their tastes are rather traditional/classic, and they prefer the Mets in white pins at home, and road grays. I’ve noticed them occasionally make remarks about other teams’ CC unis, but they’re never snide or condescending. They’re probably less kind when the Mets wear their own CCs. And they don’t especially like the Mets when they wear their black jerseys.
I often wonder if other broadcasters will comment on other teams’ CCs (and in the few games I’ve seen where a CC is worn, generally they make note of the CC, and that’s usually it). Occasionally they may say something along the lines of “wow, that’s different” or “they don’t look like (insert team name) usually do.” But I can’t ever recall any negative comments about the look.
Such was not the case Tuesday night, when the Yankees were in Seattle and the Mariners were sporting their CCs. I’m not sure the Yankees booth was aware of the Mariners “success” when wearing the royal and black alternates, but they had gone 15-1 this season while wearing them. And with Seattle’s post-season hopes hanging by a thread, they hoped the unis would bring them another “W” against the suddenly resurgent Bronx Bombers.
The Yankees would end up winning the game 11-2 and were firmly in command of the game when this happened:
Yankees booth: “Well the one positive for the Mariners with this loss and if they continue to go on and lose, we might not have to see these hideous uniforms that they’re sporting today” pic.twitter.com/SOJCN7yCiY
— zachleft (@zachleft) September 18, 2024
That’s a bit harsh.
First of all, the Seattle Mariners City Connect is — at least in my opinion — one of the better CC’s out there. But not everyone shares that opinion and that’s fine. But to call them “hideous”?
It’s great that the Yankees stood up to Nike and MLB and flat out told them “we’re not going to be wearing a City Connect uniform.” And yes, the Yankees have some iconic unis, eschewing alternates and basically wearing the same uniforms for the last 80 years.
For those who watch a lot of baseball — I’m now curious — how do your hometown announcers react when the opposing team wears CCs? There are some booths who are very uni-attuned, while others seem to care less about the uniforms and more about the game. As I said, the Mets booth are generally very uni-conscious, and will often reference uniforms worn in the past. Granted, both Darling and Hernandez played for the Mets during the mid-80s and both played more than a decade, so they saw their fair share of different uniforms over the years.
Are your TV (or radio) guys into uniforms? Do they discuss them at length? And if so, are they more opinionated or historical when discussing them?
All this reminded me of an article Paul wrote back in 2018, which discussed the KC A’s kelly green and gold uniforms, and how KC’s lone All Star Game representative was snubbed because of his uniform! To refresh, the pertinent quote is here:
Norm Siebern … was Kansas City’s lone representative on the [1963] All-Star team but did not appear in the game because Yankees manager Ralph Houk [who was skippering the American League squad that year] felt the green and gold uniform would embarrass the American League.
As Paul wrote, “Wow! Pretty amazing to think that Houk would effectively bench an All-Star because of his team’s uniform. Imagine if the same kind of snub had been directed at, say, Bob Watson, who was the Astros’ lone All-Star in 1975, the year that the tequila sunrise uniforms debuted, or at Goose Gossage, who was the sole White Sox All-Star in 1976, when the leisure suit design debuted.”
So uniforms have been the subject of disdain and ridicule for decades — and the Yankees booth dismissing the Mariners’ CC is probably nothing new.
I’d love to have your thoughts on this, and especially would love to know if the announcers for your favorite club(s) are “uni-attuned.” And in particular, how do they feel about the CC uniforms?
The person who said it was Jeff Nelson, 3-time former Mariner (and 2-time former Yankee), so at least you know where he might be coming from with the comment.
Our comments jinxed, haha.
An interesting layer to this is that the comment was made by Jeff Nelson, a former Yankees and Mariners player who spent something I belive 7.5 seasons playng for Seattle.
Are you kidding me!? At least the M’s aren’t wearing a effing ad on their sleeves.
Not yet…
If tribal casinos are allowed to have uni patches cluttering the jersey, the M’s have a few choices…
Yep, they are hideous. Like basically every other CC. At least MLB hasn’t become the NBA…yet.
Came here to say the exact same thing.
Give it time
Shitty Connect’s are a full blown pandemic in the NBA
Kruk and Kuip in the Giants’ TV both will definitely talk about the CC unis, both the Giants and the opponents. Usually they’re not too harsh on them.
I don’t really care about what some Boomer thinks about pretty much anything, regardless of who they may have played for in their younger years. Same goes for people making blanket statements about how all CC uniforms are “hideous”. That is clearly not true, and such statements indicate that the observer is not judging them based on aesthetic merit.
I’m not sure if it’s due to their Canadian politeness, or a corporate mandate to be positive and accepting, but the Jays’ commentary teams generally seem to love City Connect uniforms.
I’m pretty sure Dan and Buck were given the memo saying “please say these uniforms look great” from Rogers.
I personally do not like the Blue Jays CC’s at all.
Yes, they are a little too positive about the Jays’ CC uniforms. I’m middle of the road – don’t hate them, but they could be so much better.
you don’t care about what someone says about anything because they are part of the baby boomer generation? Hmm, for someone who seems to try to get the different voices and perspectives heard and making this feel like a more inclusive place, this isn’t a good look. being dismissive about age seems to go both ways, when it should go neither. this particular “boomer” is quite a successful person with roots in the gameb and his opinion (yes, it’s just an opinion) is as valid as anyone elses and shouldn’t be discarded due to his age. from a strictly design angle, the black and blue colors used here tend to not go well together, so his opinion actually aligns with many
Nelson was born in late 1966, meaning he’s Gen X.
To millennials, anyone over 30 is derisively a “boomer”. Because they’re the first generation to know everything and everyone before them is dumb and their opinions are invalid. (I’m 48, Gen X for life.)
That’s not millennials…that would be Gen Z…Millennials are 81-96 so they’re all 28-46 ♂️♂️ way to reinforce the OP’s original point by also not bothering to correctly pick generations.
He probably was talking about Gen Z, he just mistakenly used millennial instead.
They claim to be “unique” but seemed largely contrived.
The M’s, Twins, and Phillies use the same color scheme – blue and yellow and seem virtually indistinguishable from a distance. Blue and yellow seems appropriate for the Mariners, none of the others.
Boston also uses blue and yellow, different shades from the afore mentioned batch (to reference the marathon – OK?) as does Milwaukee.
Reds, ChiSox, O’s all in black. TB not all black but some kind of dark grey with 90’s era surf style neon.
Cubs in all dark blue which I guess references a turn of the 20th century uni?
Astros in all dark blue – for reasons.
Dodgers too, but then a new one as the old one was so disliked.
Mets city connects are grey because “Concrete Jungle” and purple for the “7 Train,” eat a satchel.
The less said about whatever it was that Texas came up with the better.
Giants some kind of foggy orange thing. Colorado matches their state license plate.
SD and Miami really really leaned into the cultural in their region. Pander much?
Did I miss any? Don’t really care.
The majority of the fans of the teams actually hate them and see them for what they are – a simple attempt to sell merchandise to people who do “sports fashion.”
I’m not a boomer.
If I have learned anything about sports, it’s that players and announcers have conservative taste when it comes to uniforms, to the degree that many a broadcaster has questioned the integrity of someone who posits the importance of the team’s appearance. On the other hand, I have outré tastes, and tend to root for teams in garish uniforms.
We’ve been conditioned by the cc program’s quality to the point where the Mariners may be relatively not hideous, but i think they still are hideous on their own. White pants and a solid blue hat (or even yellow brim) could save it!
I actually agree with the Yanks on this one…that uniform is hot garbage. The jersey, if it were paired with any other elements, might be okay…but as a whole, it looks awful to me. The black (or super-dark-blue?) pants just ruin it.
They’re black. And they look terrible. As this site pointed out when they were revealed, low-cuffed players look like NFL refs.
On my broadcast Padres broadcast Mark Grant is a big uniform guy. He’s not shy to call out a “tired” look!
I loved when he complimented the new Yankees’ road jerseys. Awesome change but I figured it would go largely unnoticed.
And we have the most hideous CC uniforms of all!
Bob Watson wore that rainbow guts uniform as the lone Astros selected to the ’75 ASG. He was the first NL reserve to appear in that game as a pinch-hiter in the top of the fourth for pitcher Jerry Reuss, who pitched the max 3 innings as the NL starter. Different times.
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Any uniform that ISNT white or grey pants , looks like Bobby Sox m(softball) uniforms. So yes the CC crap is hideous , all of it Except the angels one, Nike has somehow NBA’d Major League Baseball with the cc stuff. When nba comes out with their alternates, they for the most part look like crap and don’t even look like basketball jerseys, same thing here.
“Well the one positive for the Mariners with this loss and if they continue to go on and lose, we might not have to see these hideous uniforms that they’re sporting today”
Says you!
I like these CC’s – the hat especially…it’s so difficult to pair up blue and black, but the (trident) M’s executed well.
I’ll take ‘em over the compass slob they wear day after day.
The Yankees have THE most overrated broadcaster in Michael Kay and the rotating door of “expert” commentators there are.
I think the yanks are also among the most overrated unis as well, personally. People give them so much love for “never changing”, and I appreciate that quirk about them, since they are in a minority of one there. But never changing doesn’t mean their uniforms are anything special. If nothing they are staunchly committed to some of the most uninteresting uniforms in the league (and this year they made them slightly less interesting). I don’t give them any credit for skipping the CC program, because all that is is an alternate uniform, the design of which they could have been in total control of. They DID however get on the uniform advertisement bandwagon, and that’s nothing but a money grab. They literally sullied their “untouchable” home and away sets for money, but wouldn’t add a harmless alternate to the rotation (even if it would have made them a little more money). Half credit at best for principles. Full credit for historical stubbornness (that’s a good thing in their case). No credit for uniform design.
This is the second straight year that MK has worked games *in* Seattle.
I expected Ruocco or another YES fluffer to do play-by-play there.
Yes, some CC unis are hot garbage but some are actually not bad. I actually like the Mariners CC jerseys. The color and the letter font are a nice nod to the Mariners’ early days and to the Pilots. It’s the pairing of them with black pants that I don’t care for. When paired with white pants, it’s a much better look. Ditto for the Pirates and Rockies and their CC jerseys.
I think they would look great with white or grey pants, but I’d love to see them with blue pants with a yellow stripe. and put a yellow brim a d squatcho on the hat, or blue brim with a yellow squatcho. then its perfect for me.
John Schriffen and Steve Stone in the White Sox TV booth have been critical of several CC’s, but especially the Tigers’.
Man, imagine getting benched because of your uniform that you have literally no choice but to wear! What a crazy time. 1963, literally 3 years before the MLBPA was established. AFAIK all performance bonuses about the ASG are for “making the team” (that’s a lower bar than “getting into the game”), so even though you wouldn’t have an unfair labor practice (ULP) where the player got his money, the union guys would totally be notice of any future shenanigans like that.
I don’t follow baseball, so no clue on the opinions of our announcers.
As far as the Mariners CC goes, I would never wear black slacks to a Blue and Gold Banquet. I would have been deducted many a point. Light blue is the only blue I like paired with black.
As a Mariners fan, this is 100 percent the right take. Abolish all CC’s.*
*Except for Miami’s, which is far superior to its current look.
And, of course, the Marlins are retiring their CCs next season.
The Cleveland tv team seems high on the Guardians CC uniforms. Can’t say I blame them, the Guardians seem to be one of the best. I’ve also seen red and white versions circulating the knock off market that look pretty good.
It’s actually a marked improvement over what they normally wear. My only beeves are (of course) CLE, the use of the crummy C on the hat (rather than the same font as the jersey), and that it’s a texture pattern instead of a solid blue top.
Earlier this year, Sox broadcasters Dave O’Brien and Kevin Youkilis were discussing the Mariners City Connects. O’Brien was pretty critical of them, but Youkilis said “I think I’m the only one who likes them.”
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Interesting that the Yankees are the only team to not go CC and also their announcers just ripped another teams CC. I dont think that is a coincidence. As a Phils fan I cannot stand watching the Friday games because it is almost like the announcers get paid to drop CC into the broadcast as much as possible. So my impression has always been that the announcers are told to promote the CC uniforms.
Dan Dickerson, Tigers radio play-by-play, always makes a point to describe each teams uniforms during the game. “Baltimore in their home whites tonight with the white panel cap.” I’m sure he’ll say something along those lines tonight since I’ll be listening in. He definitely paints the picture and I appreciate it.
The Cubs’ Pat Hughes doesn’t same. Uniform descriptions even have their own advertiser on Cubs radio! Cleveland’s Tom Hamilton will also give a quick description, right down to the trim colors.
The Yankees are too elitist and snobbish to have a CC jersey.
They wouldn’t sully their wardrobe with an alternate uniform. They’d much prefer to sully their wardrobe with a corporate advertiser ($$$$).
“Yankees TV Broadcaster Not a Fan of Mariners City Connect Uniforms.”
In a related story, most non-Yankee fans are not fans of the Yankee TV broadcasters.
That said, I listen to a lot of MLB games from just about every market and the reactions to the CC’s have largely mirrored the Uni-Watch comments. Most of the time it is trying to understand the storytelling aspects (Cleveland’s seems particularly vexing for some reason), but Seattle’s opponents have, at least to my ear, been largely complimentary about acknowledging the Pilots and Trident M’s.
Three cheers to Nelson! The uniforms are hideous! If it wasn’t for Texas, the uniform would be the worst. The term BFBS goes for baseball as well as other sports. While I dislike the entire CC program, black or dark navy pants are terrible. Maybe black is ok if it is part of your teams colors such as Baltimore or Pittsburgh, for for the most part black shouldn’t be used especially for pants. A bold color such as royal, should be paired white or off white. Royal and black go together as good as a T-Bone and buttermilk.
My biggest issue with the CC program is that they draw attention to the uniform rather than the game. The uniform should compliment the game not vice versus!
Here in St. Louis, the announcers sometimes mention, but never criticize, other teams’ CC uniforms.
The number one complaint about the Cardinals’ CC uniform is “The Lou.” It reminds people of “the loo,” which in the UK is the bathroom. I love our CC uniform!
Most of the CC’s are trashy looking, The NBA started the whole mess and MLB followed. I agree the Yankees uniform is boring and overrated. But I like that they don’t have any alternates. Their road unis look to drab without the white outline.
He too used to those boring outdated uniforms his team wears that puts viewers to sleep.
As a lifelong Yankees fan, I watch almost every Yankees game. While Michael Kay is the Yanks’ regular day-to-day broadcaster, Jeff Nelson doesn’t do it very often. I don’t know the exact numbers, but I’d estimate he does fewer than 10 Yankees games per year. So I don’t think he should be considered a “regular” Yankees broadcaster.
The Yankees broadcasters don’t talk about uniforms very often. I do recall they mentioned the new road unis at the beginning of this season (favorably). I can’t recall any other specific occasions in the recent past where they talked about either team’s uniforms.
That said, I couldn’t agree more with Nelson’s comment about the Mariners’ CC uniform. I think they’re among the worst CCs in the league, and I feel like they physically hurt my eyes to look at. If I had to put my finger on one specific thing, I guess it would be the pairing of the blue jersey with the black pants. I agree with others’ comments that they’d almost certainly look better with white (or light) pants.
When our seven-year-old son played on a coach-pitch Little League team, the uniforms were very similar to the Mariners’ city connects. I can’t get that image out of my mind.
The Yankees have an insurance company on their sleeve. So anyone associated with the Yankees (and I am a Yankees fan), probably should keep their mouth shut about other team’s uniforms.
The Yankees feed their fans this nonsense about how the pinstripes are sacred and refuse to have an alternate uniform, but then they sell that real estate to the highest bidder (and an insurance company no less). What a joke.