Good morning, Uni Watchers, and a Happy Humpday to all.
It was only a year ago when Nike foisted a new MLB uniform template — known as the “Nike Vapor Premier” — on to the scene, making substantial changes to baseball uniforms that no one had asked for. You remember, right? There was the whole standardized pants fiasco, the tiny NOBs, the sweat-stained fabrics, the mismatched grays, and more.
By late April, things has gotten so bad that MLB agreed to make wholesale changes for 2025, while at the same attemping to remedy some problems mid-season. While nothing substantive came of those changes last year, things will be different this time around.
In a great story from The Athletic, it’s been confirmed that “Nike is returning to its pre-2024 template. That means larger letters, heavier fabric, pants tailored to players’ preferences and road grays that don’t wick sweat into nationally televised Rorschach blots.”
Consistent with reforms first announced by the league last May, the changes for this year’s uniforms include:
- Larger numbers and letters for player names on jerseys
- Heavier fabric for road uniforms, with home ones to follow in 2026
- Individualized tailoring on uniform pants, instead of forcing players into one of four preset fits
- Better wicking of sweat on road grays, as well as improved color matching of gray pants and jerseys
You may recall how the uniforms looked last year when players posed for their 2024 portraits.
The see-thorough nature of the white pants may still be a problem for 2025, as MLB apparently won’t be able to have heavier fabric for white pants until next season. But most of the big, remaining issues seem to have been addressed during the off-season.
On the final day of September, MLB had more good news: MLB would return regular uniforms to the All-Star Game. At the same time, MLB began to shed a bit more light on their expected changes for 2025: “Although production timelines will prevent all the uniform changes from being completed in time for the 2025 season, the road grey uniforms made from the 2023 fabric will be ready by Spring Training, and starting in 2026, all uniforms will return to using the previous materials from the 2023 season.”
We’ve already seen some of the changes, with some of them even happening on-the-fly. When the Dodgers signed free agent Blake Snell, he was presented with a 2024 jersey for his introduction — which showed the Dodgers script bisecting the “d” on the jersey.
By the time the Dodgers introduced Kirby Yates, the split letter problem appeared to have been fixed:
We’ve also seen the jerseys have returned to their pre-2024 NOB and number specifications. It’s difficult to tell in the Snell and Yates photos, but the front number is slightly larger this season.
NOB are confirmed to have returned to their pre-2024 sizes.
The reduction in NOB font size was the most puzzling change for 2024. And it seemed like something MLB/Nike could have fixed mid-season, but at least the larger NOB has returned.
Remember this classic moment?
Carlos Estévez saw the old jersey and felt immediate pain pic.twitter.com/vcglVvWke3
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) April 6, 2024
Another huge problem for Nike and baseball wasn’t just the sheer fabric (supposedly, ya know, lighter/faster/stronger or some such) for the pants. Nike also greatly reduced player options for pants sizing. Per The Athletic, “No correction will be more celebrated by players than the return of customized pant fitting. There was an uproar last spring when Nike opted to place players in one of four ‘body-type buckets’ instead of individually tailoring pants. … Fanatics, which manufactures the uniforms, started measuring players in August to get started on the 2025 uniforms, according to MLB, and will visit each camp this spring to make necessary adjustments. The uniforms are on track to be delivered in the windows ordered by clubs, the league said.”
Speaking of Fanatics, you may recall they caught serious heat from fans at the beginning of the whole uniform fiasco, prompting CEO Michael Rubin to state last year, “We’re doing everything as we’ve been told, and we’re getting the shit kicked out of us. So that’s not fun. [The] biggest thing I probably learned is if we’re involved in something, we need to make sure that everybody better be on board. … They got certain players on board, not all players on board.”
Another change for 2025 is the return of embroidered sleeve patches. Last year’s non-embroidered patches looked cheap.
But full embroidery is returning this season, as can be seen on the Chicago Cubs new “Blues Inspired” altenate.
Obviously these changes are welcome and long overdue, and of course, not everything will return to the pre-2024 uniforms this season. There may even be some new issues that will need to be addressed once all players have reported to Spring Training. But so far … so good.
None of this would have happened if MLB didn’t have such a strong players’ union who eventually banded together to force Nike and MLB to address issues they had previously dismissed. It’s both rare and refreshing for Nike and MLB to publicly admit mistakes, and to swiftly bring about needed changes. MLB and Nike initially defended the Vapor Premier design last year, touting the lightness and breathability and insisting that it would soon become widely favored across the league.
They quickly learned that when something isn’t broken, it doesn’t need fixing.
Some players are already in camp and Spring Training for 2025 officially begins in just over a week.
Let’s hope all the changes we’ve already seen (and those that have been promised) are resolved to everyone’s satisfaction. And let’s all hope the 2024 uniform fiasco will prove a lasting lesson for all.
It won’t be long before we hear the two sweetest words in the English language: “PLAY BALL!”
Your thoughts?
GTGFTU
October 25, 2020
Week 7
The debut of the Falcons god-awful gradient uniform.
The one where Todd Gurley accidentally scored a TD which left enough time on the clock for the Lions to go down the field and win the game.
I hope this means the return of script Washington on the Nationals road jerseys, but am not holding out much hope.
To say that these are “pre-2024” uniforms is just inaccurate. The letters, numbers and patches have returned to pre-2024 form, as have the materials (in some cases — i.e., for road grays).
The overall tailoring template, however, is clearly still the 2024 one. The narrow placket and matching headspooning are still there, along with the lower MLB logo (except on pullovers — same as 2024). The Kirby Yates photo clearly shows the “d” is still split (but the front of the jersey just happens to be more closed than in Snell’s photo).
In my opinion, the placket/spooning changes are one of the worst aesthetic own goals in uniform history. Designs across the league, all of which were made for the old split, have been butchered. The Mets split the “e,” the Dodgers the “d,” the Athletics the “l” and so on. It is an eyesore, plain and simple.
In a strange tacit acknowledgment of the trainwreck that the placket split really is, many of the jersey styles marketed to fans by Nike, both this year and last, though keeping the silly spooning, at least adjust the logos to fix the placket split (just look at the Mets’ or Dodgers’ MLB shop pages). It’s ridiculous that fans’ jerseys show the team logos better than the players’ do.
A lot of the changes to uniforms over the last few years have been disgusting (to me), but at least comprehensible. The swoosh on the front and ad patches were entirely predictable, as much as I disliked (and continue to dislike) them. But why mess with the logo of almost every single team? It’s baffling. I can’t see any way it benefits Nike.
Because it doesn’t benefit Nike, but do you know who it does benefit: Fanatics. The changes make the jerseys cheaper to produce especially for retail. Nike gets way too much of the blame when a lot of the specifications probably came from MLB which is heavily invested in Fanatics.
The material issues sure, that’s Nike. But the cut and the changes made for manufacturing (like the names and the placket cut changes) that’s definitely on MLB and Fanatics.
Too often this site focuses only on what is worn on the field, but retail is where it actually matters. On field changes are made in order to make retail production easier because people want them to be the same.
Agree with all points, 100%…
This is a good start for MLB uniforms. Now get rid of the Nike swoosh, ads, and City Connect and all will be right with the world again.
or go soccer style and replace the name with an ad
Actually the more I think about it the more it makes sense to do what they do in Japan especially for teams like the Athletics. Why be the Sacramento A’s or just the A’s when you can be the Oracle A’s or the Wells Fargo Athletics?
Except in Japan those corporations actually own those teams and tend to hold on to them for decades. Whereas corporate sponsors in the US not only change often, but sometimes as a result of a scandal or bankruptcy. It’s embarrassing enough when they have to run out & change the signs on the stadium.
Good on Nike and Mlb for listening to the Players Association and players to get this fixed. You should always own up to your mistakes and try to fix them, not cover them up.
The pic of Kirby Yates is in the same 2024 tailoring as Blake Snell. The photo was taken from a better angle, so you can’t see the split d. The placket breaks have not changed from last season.
An aside, is it just me who likes it when there is snow on the ground for Pitchers & Catchers Day? 6 3⁄4 inches of snow in my backyard this morning. I forgot to put our my Nats flag though.
It still confounds me that, at the level these guys are playing, and the money that they make, and the coverage they get, and the fame they acquire, that Nike would have the balls to tell them “you may only choose from our 4 pre-approved pants fits”. Are they overpaid? Yes. Is the idolization over the top? Yes. Nevertheless, let them wear pants they’re comfortable in. They deserve at least that. And it serves the game. Nike boasts minute performance increases to justify their choices in tailoring and materials but then forces a player to wear uncomfortable pants?
GTGFTS:
July 26, 1939
Yankee Stadium, Bronx, New York
New York Yankees 14, St. Louis Browns 1
The Yankees scored in all eight innings they batted, first time in club history.
Also, it might appear from the lineup at the top of the scoreboard that the Yanks had Mickey Manthle, Joe DiMaggio and Babe Ruth all in the same lineup/outfield, but no. DiMaggio, yes (#5), but #7 was Tommy Henrich, and #3 was George Selkirk. Seven Yankees wore #3 after Ruth, starting with Selkirk, ending with Cliff Mapes, before the number was finally retired in 1948.
typo; *Mantle
That pic of the cubs new alt is on their hat, not the jersey. Those were never not fully embroidered.
Good catch — used the wrong photo (my bad). Now fixed.
NIKE is taking MLB into NBA land. Multiple jerseys in random colors and styles with no link to that team’s current brand. And because MLB is on this endless quest for relevance, they go along with it. Not sure why players were whining about only four pants sizes. They all wear baggy XL pajamas.
MLB teams used to change their teams colors pretty routinely. All the way from the pre-modern era (1876) thru to about the end of WWII. Some teams found their branding/colors very early (Yankees) other changed their team colors for the final time as late as 1948 (Pirates).
I’m all for it. Mix it up.
Hey Phil, the Rangers patch you’re showing is from a replica jersey. The patches were still stitched, albeit at a lower quality than before
link
Any hope for the Phillies to bring back chain-stitching?
Why is everyone worried about eggs when there is a global heavy fabric shortage?
Nike knew about the see through pants in the spring of 2024 and won’t be able to remedy until the 2026 season? Crazy!
I hate that Texas Rangers flag patch. It is not the Texas state flag. The silver “fringe” doesn’t trace the outline correctly. The blue wang doesn’t make sense. The top stripe is half white and half gray. The star is beveled. What a mess. Considering how much pride Texans have for their flag, I am surprised this has been allowed to persist for 30 years.
I must be one of the few that like the 2024 jersey material compared to what was previously being used. But going back to proper sized names and numbers and embroidered patches is the biggest thing IMO.
I doubt the common retail jerseys will have embroidered anything. Fanatics is too cheap for that. The on field ones always were embroidered.
For $300, you can’t expect embroidery…
Those narrow plackets drive me crazy! They look cheap and amateurish, even on teams who don’t have wordmarks crossing their placket. Really, really bad when there is a headspoon.
Which is probably why the Mets made the regrettable decision to change MLB’s most perfect road jersey and eliminate the placket piping. We’ll see if the 1978-81 collar/sleeve/pants-seam stripes look good with the overall design, but it’s upsetting to have to change perfection.
Yes!
Derivative stuff is derivative. The Mets have rarely used uniform fonts that were designed for them. The jerseys you reference “borrowed” the NY Giants font from 1933-42. Just updated with the “Mets” colors. The Mets home jerseys aren’t much better as they “borrow” the Dodgers vertical arching script in blue (and also explains the misguided use of the underscore on their 1993 jerseys).
I’d be fine if they used the block letter font from 1991 with their new sleeve and pants striping. Or picked a new font that neither the Giants, Dodgers, or Yankees ever did.
Why must the Mets continue to pay homage to two teams that abandoned NYC nearly 70 years ago? The Mets have played nearly the same amount of seasons in NYC as the Dodgers did (while winning more WS) and will catch the Giants soon enough too.
They’ve fixed a lot of things but they still haven’t fixed the lower positioning of the MLB logo, which pushes the NOB and number downward.
All of the above: on the road but not there yet when it comes to repairing the damage done to MLB uniforms in 2024.
Dodgers Jersey may not have been fixed, the D is still bisected and the pictures are at different angles and that may be hiding the issue with split
I found out today the blue alternate jerseys for Atlanta were updated with a much darker blue based on photos taken when pitchers and catchers reported. Turns out the blue jerseys last season were using an incorrect shade of blue and were much lighter than they were supposed to be.