The Boston Red Sox continue to make uniform news this offseason.
First, we learned the team would have two City Connect uniforms this coming season, the first (and so far only) team to do so. The Red Sox will accomplish by getting a new CC for 2025, and will move their original CC uniform to “alternate” status, in order to make room for their new CC.
And in order to make room for their “new” CC alternate, we also learned the Red Sox would be dumping their blue alternate jersey, worn exclusively with their gray pants, going forward.
Finally, we learned the Red Sox’ new City Connect will be green.
As you may be aware, MLB has a new “4 + 1” uniform/jersey rule: teams can have up to four different jerseys (known as the “Core Four”), plus one City Connect uniform. In order to accommodate this, the Sawx needed to ditch one of their four “core” jerseys (home white, road gray, alternate red, alternate blue) in order to move their yellow (CC) jersey to the Core Four. So the road blue jersey is gone for 2025.
But…the Red Sox will actually have five alternate jerseys in 2025, seemingly flouting the “4 + 1” rule. How is that possible?
You may also recall following the horrific terrorist attacks at the Boston Marathon in 2013, the Red Sox debuted their “Boston Strong” alternate jerseys about a week later, on April 20 and 21. Every year since then — with the exception of 2018 when their Patriots Day game was rained out — the Sox have worn the white “BOSTON” jerseys for their annual Patriots Day game.
The team will again wear their “Boston Strong” alternates in 2025.
Obviously, if MLB is requiring teams to operate under the “4 + 1” uniform protocol, the Red Sox are seemingly flouting that rule. They’ll have five, not four, alternates.
In years past, teams were given an exemption to wear “limited use” jerseys/uniforms, meaning they could be worn a maximum amount of five times in a single season. That’s how teams were able to wear special or throwback uniforms, or Negro League uniforms, in addition to their regular uniform rotation. But as we saw last year, no teams* wore special throwbacks or Negro League uniforms (teams like the Angels, who introduced a throwback alternate, had to fit that into the 4 + 1 edict — which they did as they had white, gray, and red jerseys, plus a CC, allowing them to add one more jersey — the throwback). But only the Red Sox were allowed to have a fifth jersey.
* An exception was made for the special Rickwood Field game; more on that below.
Here is the entire uniform lineup for the Red Sox. Interestingly, the “Boston Strong” jersey is listed as their “Alternate 2 Uniform,” while their former CC is now classified as their “Alternate 3 Uniform.” It’s also the first time we’ve seen a City Connect uniform listed as an alternate.
HOME UNIFORM
ROAD UNIFORM
ALTERNATE 1 UNIFORM
(Note also the hanging socks cap, which appears will be a new option this season.)
ALTERNATE 2 UNIFORM
ALTERNATE 3 UNIFORM
Obviously, the “Boston Strong” jersey is special, and has been a part of the Red Sox uniform lineup since 2013. I am firmly in support of the team receiving special dispensation to “violate” MLB’s “4 + 1” uniform rule. But what about the rest of MLB? 2024 marked the first time in decades when no teams wore Negro League throwbacks (and teams like the Royals and Tigers, among others, have been huge proponents of NLB throwbacks, even having special weekends when they were worn). And unless a team had a throwback as part of their “Core Four,” no teams were permitted to introduce special “limited use” throwbacks last year. What makes the Red Sox so special?
This is not a slight against Boston — as I said, I am 100% in support of their wearing the “Boston Strong” jersey one game per season, but why are no other teams permitted exemptions (like Negro League throwbacks)? The only teams to wear Negro League throwbacks (or fauxbacks) last season were the St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants, who wore special uniforms for the “MLB at Rickwood Field: A Tribute to the Negro Leagues” game. But that was a whole huge production, along the lines of the “Field of Dreams” games played in Iowa, for which special uniforms were also worn.
If teams are permitted to exceed the “4 + 1” rule for those games, why, for example, are the Royals not permitted special use uniforms for their planned annual Salute to the Negro Leagues game? The Royals were permitted to wear custom caps, but wore their alternate powder blue uniforms for the game.
I’m sure there’s a rea$on for cracking down on “limited use” uniforms, but this has really been to the detriment of special one-offs (or weekend-offs) teams used to employ. Who among us wouldn’t enjoy seeing throwbacks or NLB uniforms worn once a season?
Good on the Red Sox for continuing this special tradition. It’s just a shame MLB is become a No Fun League when it comes to alternates.
As long as the Sox are permitted to wear their Boston Strong jerseys (in addition to their other four, plus a new CC), there’s still hope MLB will come to its senses and permit other clubs the ability to have special uniforms as was de rigueur only a couple years ago.
Your thoughts?
Seems like the MLB is now speeding ahead towards the NBA realm. The Red Sox wearing Yellow and Green jerseys throughout the year in favor of a team color makes no sense.
Blue and yellow are the colors of the Boston Marathon. Green is the color of the ballpark. It makes sense, if you just let it.
Fair enough but they’re still non-traditional colors for the Sox. I’m sure most of the NBA alts have some tenuous storytelling reasons for the colors that they are, too.
Those aren’t team colors though. I am sure in every city you could find a civic element to match all the primary colors, which by this logic allows them to be in use for the uniforms. There is a lot of brick cobblestone streets in Boston, so maybe some burnt orange/red-ish uniforms? I’m sure someone from Boston could give us a city connection to purple and black too if we need more alternate uniforms.
There’s 162 games. Let em mix it up for a few of them.
We’ll know the MLB has officially become the NBA when they re-paint the Green Monster to match whatever uniform the Red Sox are wearing that day.
1. Is the “hanging Sox” patch on the right hand sleeve of the grey road jersey gone?
2. The “hanging Sox” cap has been listed (and sold) as an alternate cap for years, but hasn’t been worn since 2009. Are they actually going to wear it again? Or is it included in official mock ups just to pass the buck like it has been for sixteen years?
As far as item 1 goes, I think that was ditched a couple of years ago.
For item #2, I think you’re right. It hasn’t been worn in any official capacity since at least 2009. Maybe it was worn a handful of times in 2010 but I don’t remember
I’m 100% certain that the Hanging Sox cap has always been there as an alternate cap, just hasn’t been worn in a long while.
In fact, it debuted in the 2009 season.
Does anyone know if the cubs royal
Blue road uniforms are still listed in the style guide, since they weren’t mentioned in the press release in which the powder blue uniforms were unveiled.
That’s a good question, I’d like to know as well. I’m assuming their still there because the new uniforms are CC and not a regular alternate. I think the navy blue Wrigleyville connects were retired. The Cubs royal blue should still be there as the Cubs only carried 3 uniforms and wasn’t at their limited for 4+1 rule. Cubs have had their blue World Series winning jerseys since 1998 and only deactivated them once in 2007 and bought them back in 2008 when they became a road jersey and not worn at home until 2019 for a couple of games.
We usually know during Spring Training, I believe if they’re worn then we know they’re still in the rotation. I believe they are as the new powder blue uniforms are just CCs to replace the Wrigleyville uniforms.
As a Cubs fan, I seriously see them ever retiring the royal blue alternate. They wore those jerseys when they broke the “billy goat curse” in 2016 by winning the World Series. But, I could be wrong.
It was particularly annoying last year that the Tigers didn’t get to wear either of their one-offs from previous seasons – their Negro Leagues Detroit Stars throwbacks (which had been a tradition for decades) or their 1961-inspired “Tigres” Hispanic Heritage uniforms. And the City Connect uniform was their only alternate last year, as the Tigers traditionally have not had an alternate uniform in their rotation.
Yup it really is. What is more annoying is that in their (MLB’s) eyes is because they have TWO navy alternates (one the white D and the other the orange D) it “qualifies” as alternates.
It’s insanely stupid
The Red Sox have used that alternate “hanging socks” hat before (I want to say it may have been used in the 2009 or 2010 seasons — and fwiw, it’s been an option in MLB The Show ever since).
They haven’t worn it in over a decade, so I’m skeptical it will actually be in the rotation this year. If they do add it back into the mix, I like the hat, but I think the logo could benefit from a white outline (like on the “B” in their main hat).
That’s a shame as the navy blue road uniforms were my favorite Red Sawx jersey. I keep saying this but the dreaded boring road grays should be phased out of baseball like the Mariners and Rays have done. I was hoping to see more of a trend of teams ditching road grays in favor of color alternate uniforms which bring out the gray pants a lot better.
The only way this can be salvageable is if the red jerseys are worn on the road now and feature NOB which would be a much better move. Tampa moved their powder blue jerseys as an alternate on the road to contrast with the home uniforms and Mariners the same thing with the teal jerseys. I’m crossing my diggers the Red Sawx do the same thing and don’t go completely boring gray exclusively on the road all season like the Phillies did last season when they ditched their fabulous red jerseys. Mets did the same thing two years ago, that’s why the news of them bringing in a new blue pullover road jersey was such fantastic news.
My hope for Boston is that if that Monster green jersey looks good that it becomes a road alternate jersey option in 2026.
I agree. My team (Giants) wear their road grays 81 times a year and it’s so monotonous. I’d like to see them use their black alternate on the road as well as at home. It’s much more fun watching a game with more color, especially from the road team. The only road grays I actually prefer to the “softball top” is the White Sox. That one is beautiful.
I think this really just lays bare how stupid the 4+1 Rule is. It was always a matter of time before there were exceptions to the rule, and the system fell apart, the same way that the “Statement, Association, Earned, and Icon” system for NBA uniforms broke down. If Boston gets an exemption this year, next year it’ll be someone else, then a few more teams, until the whole league is basically back where it was a few years ago.
I have been a Red Sox fan for 50 years. Pile the yellow up and set them on fire. I feel certain my opinion of the green CC will be the same as 27 of the past 30 CCs have been awful withe remain three not very good. I do like the Boston Strong jersey and believe it could be worn more, perhaps on Sunday home games. The regular white and gray are very good. The blue alternate was a nice clean look. The red jersey hasn’t looked good since the blue piping was removed over 20 years ago. The hanging sock cap is okay but hasn’t been worn in years. Personally, I wouldn’t mind seeing the red cap as worn for BP and in the mid-70s worn periodically. Maybe on Sunday home games.
As for the “they play 162 games, lets very the look “crowd; I would say no. As it is the gray will be worn 81 times. The other 81 games will be split between the green CC, the yellow CC, the red jersey, Jackie Robinson Day jersey, Military weekend caps (which are part of the uniform), Father’s Day, Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, 4th of July, and possible Spanish night and two to three others.
Wear the regular uniforms, have to alternates to wear once a week and one special occasion uniform such as Boston Strong and forget the rest. If you want to buy a powder blue, pink, yellow green or orange fashion uniform buy away but live this other stuff of the field.
Forgive the bad spelling and grammar.
Hanging Sox cap debuted in 2009, and it was worn on most Friday nights at home with the red jersey and on the road with the blue jersey. It was worn once with the road grays in 2009 in a road game vs. Toronto. Tim Wakefield pitched in that game. It was also worn for Fridays in the first half of 2010, and it was worn only once Friday in 2011. It hasn’t been worn since. I hope it really does return. Also, Cincinnati comes to Boston in July. It’s been 50 years since the 1975 World Series. I would expect the pullovers and Red/Blue caps for at least one game.
I guess I’m for adding a city connect into the core fold if it’s popular enough. But I believe they should have to swap the colors to be consistent with team colors. I’m fine with the city connect being a different color (as long as it relates to something in the city) but adding the Boston marathon colors to the palette is a slippery slope the NBA went down a decade ago. And we all can see how that looks now.
The once a season Boston home jerseys are good. But as for the regular lineup, no need for anything after that red alt.
Grey on the road 100% of the time, white at home 6 days per week, red alts at home on Friday nights. Doesn’t need to be any more complicated than that.
They can send those wretched yellow CC uniforms to the trashcan. My softball team had classier unis. What is it that connects the city to them??
Different rules for different teams. MLB has operated that way for years. Only certain franchises truly matter to the commissioner’s office.
Nike: Here’s the newest CC for (enter team)……Boomer: That’s absolute garbage, I hate it.
Nike : Who’s are demographic? Nike: Not Boomer
Disappointing that they have done away with the Hanging Sox Sleeve Patch.
The Blue Jays were also an exception to this rule. They once again wore their red jerseys on Canada Day in 2024.
Yes. Great call! I had actually forgotten about that (*smacks head*)
The Texas Rangers fall into this camp as well–as the defending World Series champions last year, they wore their gold-trimmed alternates several times throughout the season (I’d guess they probably wore them five times in accordance with the guidelines above).
I would guess that the lack of one-off and limited use uniforms last year was not the result of a rule or enforcement change, but rather of Nike’s supply-chain issues. Remember how many teams didn’t have their alternate uniforms for weeks into the season? I’m thinking that the limited use unis couldn’t be made because they were scrambling to complete those, and any time they did have was allotted to higher-priority items like the Rickwood Field game. If Nike can get the regular unis out sooner, I’m thinking we’ll see a return of things like Negro League throwbacks. Don’t assume a rule change without confirmation.
I’d heard the Padres got an exception to the 4+1 rule so they could wear the brown and green camo jerseys, but they never wore the green version last season.
How is that Nike can’t get all teams dressed in time for opening day with a limited number of uniforms, while it feels like minor league teams have almost as many special jerseys as they do home games with no issues?
I think I have officially passed into the territory of,” I don’t want to get it.”
Teams changed their jersey/team colors routinely in both the American and National leagues between 1901 and the end of WWII.
Everything old is new.
If the Red Sox want to wear green or orange or yellow or purple I say let them. Same goes for any other squad.
Can’t for the life of me understand why the dodgers don’t wear Brooklyn unis on Jackie day, the bosox get this but the dodgers never even consider it.
Maybe because Jackie never wore a “Brooklyn” jersey?
I don’t know any Sox fans over the age of 25 who like that yellow CC atrocity. On the other hand it’s seems the younger generation (I.e., your NBA fans) loves it – which isn’t exactly a glowing endorsement.
I’m not a Sox fan, but I am definitely over the age of 25, and I like the Marathon Alternate.
I might feel differently if it were my team (which is the Mets), but I don’t know any human over 25 who likes the Mets CC, including me.