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Some Updates on the Chicago Cubs New “Blues Alternate” Uniform

As you are likely aware, on Friday, the Chicago Cubs introduced a new “Blues Alternate” uniform, which I had referred to as their new “City Connect” uniform. While this uniform is, for all intents and purposes, a new City Connect, the team is not calling it by that name. It will be replacing the “Wrigleyville” City Connect uniform the team had been wearing since 2021.

When the uniforms were first unveiled, we got the details for the key parts of the jersey and cap (the storytelling), but we didn’t have a clear view of the pants, nor really the socks or the full jersey back. All those have been revealed now.

Here is the Cubs’ press release:

The new Blue Alternate uniform will make its major league debut Saturday, April 5, and be worn at home on Fridays during the summer months. The uniform will be added to the team’s lineup along with the home white pinstripe and road gray uniforms. The navy Wrigleyville jersey will be retired by the team.

“The baby blues are back. We’re thrilled to revisit this popular colorway, while also paying tribute to the Blues music that has shaped our city’s cultural landscape,” said Jennifer Martindale, Executive Vice President of Marketing and Communications at the Cubs. “This uniform is more than a celebration of the Cubs past; it’s a nod to an iconic Chicago artform. We hope fans enjoy this unique blend of sports and music history.”

The jersey’s chest patch combines details from early Cubs uniforms with typography inspired by blues-era instruments. The sleeve patch features custom lettering within a guitar pick, split by an electric bolt, representing Chicago’s legacy as the birthplace of the electric blues. The custom numerals and nameplate take cues from early generation Cubs designs and decorative flourishes from blues-era typography. The socks reference the beloved blues anthem “Sweet Home Chicago,” accompanied by a six-string guitar stripe.

The Chicago Cubs were the first modern MLB team to wear baby blue in 1941 and again in 1942.

The team then rejoined a growing list of MLB clubs wearing baby blue in 1976, followed by a dated disco-era baby blue road jersey with white pinstripes from 1978-81. The team sported a throwback of this uniform on July 27, 2014, as part of the 100th anniversary of Wrigley Field.

Just to reiterate: this isn’t being called a “City Connect” uniform by the team. Whether this is something “new” or something the Cubs have worked out with MLB isn’t clear. It’s obviously the next generation CC, but yet it seems the team went to great lengths not to use that terminology. But it’s replacing the first CC, it’ll be worn “home Fridays during the summer months,” was given the CC storytelling component, and is joining the home white pins and road grays. The release did not mention the royal blue alternate jersey, although I’ve seen it reported those will also be in the rotation.

But now that we’ve seen some of the details that were available on Friday, here are some new looks.

CAP

NOB TREATMENT

JERSEY PATCHES & FRONT NO.

FULL JERSEY BACK

PANTS

It definitely appears that the NOB is back to being “full size,” as MLB promised this past fall. Unfortunately, I can’t tell if the jersey being held by Dansby Swanson is in the new or old template. The jersey shown for Shota Imanaga looks like a replica or possibly whatever Nike calls the next tier below the on-field authentic, so this new jersey may still have the 2024 tailoring.

But now we’ve seen the full uniform (even the socks, as seen on the mannequin in the last photo).

The Cubs might not be calling this a CC, but a rose by any other name…

Your thoughts?

 
  
 
Comments (45)

    I wonder if the reason that they did not announce the Royal Blue alternate, that they have used for years to b included in their “Lineup”, is due to the fact that they still plan on releasing a true “City Connect” uniform, and are effectively actually replacing the Royal Blue alternate from years past, with this baby blue “Alternate”. We’ll see.

    It’s possible, but MLB nomenclature for this is “4 + 1” — the “4” referring to the “core four” (home, road and up to two alternates) PLUS a “CC” uniform. So, the Cubs, even if they keep the royal blue alternate, still have room for one more uniform (Jersey) — 1) Home pins, 2) road grays, 3) royal alt, 4) “Blues Alternate” … the final one can either occupy the final “core four” spot, or it can occupy the “+1” (CC) spot.

    But no matter where the Cubs “slot” the Blues Alternate, they still have “room” for one more uniform (or alternate jersey).

    Since the royal blue jersey was the one they won the World Series in, I doubt they place that one on the shelf. I have an old faded t-shirt version of that jersey that I wore that night. It got folded up nicely and has been retired in a zip lock freezer bag. :)

    I said the same thing! Looks like the Montreal Expos, which have a great look to it, to me at least lol, I like it

    Yea, why is that C broken? These aren’t bad overall but they are very similar to the old Expos road uni. At least it’s something I suppose. They should have just had the C on the hat instead of Cubs.

    It appears that was a stylistic choice by the designers to include a lightning bolt (for electric blues) that started out with a closed “C”, and they didn’t like the way it looked.

    Otherwise I think the look is fabulous. But the guitar pick emblem fails the Paul Lukas “is it stupid?” test.

    1. Wrigleville was awful. Good they’re getting rid of it.
    2. I said it in an earlier comment. The hat looks like something a little league team would wear who were named “Cubs”
    3. As others have said, this looks like the Montreal Cubs.
    4. I love powder blue.

    The jersey Swanson is holding is in the 2024 template. You can tell because you can see the MLB logo is below the seam. That’s been the dead giveaway from what I can tell.

    So, since they’ve figured out how to fit both the bigger names and the below the seam MLB logo, I wonder if the logo will move back above the seam next season as some have said it will. That part I think is still unclear.

    I suppose the other option is just the 2024 tailoring but with the 2023 fabric, rather than a full on return to the 2023 template. I think we’ll know more once we see teams wearing grey this season.

    “The jersey Swanson is holding is in the 2024 template. You can tell because you can see the MLB logo is below the seam. That’s been the dead giveaway from what I can tell.”

    Yes, I’m well aware of that. But I can’t tell if they’ve changed the template for 2025 — look at the Imanaga jersey — that shows the wider placket (NOT used in 2024), but the MLB logo is still below that (whereas prior to 2024 that would have sat above the placket). I know Imanaga’s jersey is a replica, but I’m wondering if MLB, in changing the width as they claim they will, will still have the batterman logo beneath the placket. It seems to me, if they can make the placket spacing larger, they could put the batterman logo back where it used to sit (on the collar).

    That’s what I meant by “new” template. It’s clearly below the collar placket in the Swanson photo, but is the placket thicker (like the Imanaga replica) or is it still small, like the Vapor Premier (or whatever the hell they call it) of 2024.

    Okay true. Looking at the Tucker jersey, that looks like the same smaller placket as last season (at least from the back) so wondering if that’s just staying the same. Unless we’re talking about two different things when we say placket.

    I think the replicas just have a wider placket, I have both the Limited (replica) and Elite (authentic) versions from 2024 and the replica does have a bigger placket so I think that’s it. I’m curious though if some teams are being allowed to wear the 2023 template this coming season because I’ve seen that template being given to players on both the A’s and Red Sox new signings and at appearances.

    I *really* hope they don’t leave the MLB logo in its low position if they go back to full-size plackets. That would be the worst of all worlds; it would shift the name and number even further down than they already are. Any player shorter than about 5’9″ playing for a NOB tam would have the bottom of his number stuffed in his pants and would look like a clown.

    Again, these look fantastic. I was hoping for powder blue pants, but the white pants look good actually, and are offset by the white on the cap. The logo is still fantastic. The player names on the back kind of look navy blue, is that just me? I can’t wait to see these on the field, either way.

    If neither Nike or the team are calling it a “City Connect” uniform than it is not a City Connect uniform.

    But I’ll make a better point why that is so.

    For the majority of the City Connect uniforms, the jersey highlighted either the name of the city, its nickname, or a reference to the neighborhood they played in the city. The few notable exceptions: The first Dodgers iteration (Los Dodgers). The Angels (Angels). The Giants (“G”). The Diamondbacks (Serpentes). The Rockies (Colorado). The Brewers (Brew Crew). The Twins (MN). The Rangers (TX). The Rays (Tampa Bay)

    One could argue that of those 9 mentioned above, 4 referenced the franchise location they identify with (MN, TX, CO, TB) and they have never referenced a city in their name. The Angels are a unique case as they have completely disassociated from the city the play in. It would have been wrong for them to reference either Los Angeles or Anaheim given their current marketing. Which leaves just the Giants, DBacks, and Brewers as teams that reference their franchise name (Dodgers have jettisoned Los Dodgers) instead of their city.

    Every other team that participated either referenced the city they play in (and the Brewers did this with their hat MKE). Southside, Wrigleyville, The Lou, PGH, WSH, CLE, Motor City, Space City, NYC, Philly, Cincy. Or used the city name outright. Miami, Boston, Baltimore, Toronto, Los Angeles for the Dodgers 2nd attempt.

    So by that rationale, the dominant feature of a “City Connect” uniform is a reference to “The City.”

    These jerseys have “Chicago” in a sleeve patch but the front of the jersey, the main reference point, has “Cubs.”

    It’s not a City Connect uniform, but rather an alternate just like they have explained.

    I’m sure the people over at UBS are loving the free advertising.

    I wonder if this wording means MLB/Nike is nixing the “City Connect” phrasing — perhaps it’s been associated with too many disastrous uniforms.

    Spot on analysis. It has a bad ring to it for too many fans for MLB and Nike to continue calling it City Connect.

    In general, it’s limiting as well. The NBA has already played out most reasonable “city connections” at this point with the city editions anyway, so having another team dip into that creative pool drains it even quicker. While this does have a connection to the city, it’s far more creatively liberating to say “let’s come up with AN alternate uniform for each team that goes beyond simply rendering their standard template in a different color.” But, hey, we can still sit back and watch all the alphas argue over why this DEFINITELY IS or DEFINITELY ISN’T a city connect without more than one scrap of hard evidence, as if it even matters.

    Tried a longer post that didn’t take.

    It’s not a “City Connect” because the jersey front says “Cubs” and not a reference to Chicago.

    Of the existing 28 City Connect uniforms all but Arizona (Serpentes), San Francisco (G), Brewers (Brew Crew), and Angels (Angels) reference either their city name, nickname, airport code for the city, the section of the city where they play, or the geographic location they claim (as they have never used a city name: Minnesota, Colorado, Tampa Bay).

    It’s a “City Connect” because it references the “City.”

    Maybe the lack of City Connect wording is a harbinger of franchises pushing back on the league/Nike

    I love it in every detail. The sweatshirt of the cub holding a guitar instead of a bat is very good as well.

    Looks too much like an Expos jersey. The C looks like a commercial toilet seat. I do like the cap and the dugout jacket but man that city sure loves its 6-pointed star!

    Cool idea, terrible execution. It looks like an old Rangers or Expos jersey, as many have mentioned. And it just screams “YEE-HAW!” to me in the worst possible way. Probably the old Western typeface that is comically un-Cublike and definitely not Chicago. The “Blues” signifiers are WAAAAY too subtle to be noticeable without the team’s explanation. And of course, if you go baby blue, you go all the way (cue Badfinger followed by The Raspberries). Typical of the Cubs to take something that could be cool, and turn it into something ugly and stupid instead.

    I like these more than a majority of what appears on this website. I really like this jacket and was showing it off someone and noticed the mannequin is also wearing a hoodie. It has a super cute cub holding a guitar logo!

    How is it possible that this jersey and cap is already available to purchase but none of th he Guardians new jerseys or the new hat is available yet?

    Not a bad uniform. Wonder if they’ll ever bring back the road cap with the red bill. I thought it matched nicely with the rest of the road uni.

    The main problem with these jerseys is the fact that they have blue lettering with red numerals and both have white outlines. (The road jerseys have the same problem).

    Blue numbers/letters with red outlines elevate them from really lousy to pretty OK.

    I mean I get why people see the Expos in this jersey, but there are MANY differences.
    link

    If there’s one good thing to say about the white pants, it’s that they look like the same design that they wore in the 1930s, when they had plain white uniforms with no pinstripes. In 2014, one of their throwbacks was to this 1937 design. I love pinstripes, but I’d also love a vintage 1930s alternate in pure white.

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