Good Thursday morning, Uni Watchers! IT’S OFFICIALLY THE GREATEST DAY OF THE YEAR! Welcome to baseball season, 2025.
Later today, I’ll have my full 2025 MLB Uniform Preview, which will include uni news for all six divisions — five of which have already been published. (If you missed any, here are the NL East, NL Central, NL West, AL East and AL Central.) I’ll have the AL West for you shortly. In addition to all the individual team information, the full MLB Uniform Preview will include a copious amount of uni news not covered in any of the team/division articles.
But before we even get to listen to the umpire intone, “PLAY BALL!” to signify the beginning of the new baseball season, late yesterday some photos of what is purported to be the San Francisco Giants 2025 City Connect jersey were leaked onto the Interwebs. I want to caution at the outset that I have no knowledge of the future CC, but I do know the Giants are definitely one of eight teams who will have a new City Connect uni in 2025. So it is entirely within the realm of possibility that the following leaked images are indeed of the Giants new CC.
Let’s take a look:
Obviously if this is to be the new CC, there is going to be a lot of storytelling involved explaining needed. The jersey appears to be a dark gray/anthracite color, showing what at first I thought were topographic lines, but instead just appear to be somewhat random wave patterns. “Giants” is shown in a white script font, double outlined in dark gray and an orange-to-purple gradient. Each sleeve appears to have a fairly thick orange-to-purple gradient stripe. The jersey has a front number rendered in orange in a font similar to the script.
But take a closer look. While we cannot see what is on the sleeves of the jersey in the picture, take a look at the bottom right of the image. It appears there are multiple jerseys on hangers where the sleeve patch is visible:
That appears to me to be a cartoon image of a baseball glove (similar to the Milwaukee Brewers) which is formed with the words “San Francisco Giants Est. 1958” inside the glove. This very much reminds me of the 1960s San Francisco band posters that were very distinctive in their style. Could the SF Giants new CC be somehow evoking the flower children and counterculture that came to symbolize the 1960s?
As far as what’s on the other side of the jersey flap? I can’t really make anything out of it.
We were also treated to one photo of the back of the leaked jersey:
This doesn’t appear to be whatever Nike bills as their top of the line retail jersey (it looks more like a replica), so the fact that the collar hemming appears larger than normal doesn’t immediately raise a red flag. NOB for all 2025 MLB jerseys has returned to its previous height, so the larger NOB, rendered in orange, could be legit as well.
The rear numbers are white, with the same double outline color and style as “Giants” on the front.
Obviously this leak is just that, and nothing has been confirmed — one way or the other — that this is in fact what the Giants 2025 City Connect jersey will be. As such I won’t give it any more critique. If you guys weren’t already aware, I’m an old Deadhead, so if the jersey does indeed pan out, I may be one of the few who might enjoy it. Time will tell.
For the sake of argument, let’s assume the jersey is legit. What are your thoughts? Do the few elements that we can see give you any clues as to the connection to the City this jersey will attempt to make? Do you agree with my take on the sleeve “patch” that’s only partially visible? Did I miss anything?
Fire away.
[Big tip of the cap to Mike Chamernik for first alerting me to this leak!]
Ugly… That’s all I can say about this.
Thanks, I hate it.
If they are going for a groovy psychedelic look, the sleeve patch is getting there. But the “Giants” script and the number look like some lazy mid-level marketing manager’s attempt at creating “RADICAL” graffiti in MS Paint.
And hey, Giants, D-Backs… only one team in the NL West gets to wear purple, okay?
Agreed. And if they were trying to copy Tampa’s CC vibes, well, they didn’t….I still love those Tampa unis.
You know… Just when you thought that Nike couldn’t produce another crappy jersey, they go ahead and roll out another one. Seriously, you have got to be kidding me? That? That’s what they decided upon? Who is getting paid for this? Wow.
GTGFTS: Angels vs. Tigers, April 19, 2014. I was 9 years old, sitting right behind the Angels dugout, and Hank Conger threw me a ball between innings. I miss those Tigers teams
RIP scoreboard script Tigers sign (as well as the dirt path from the mound to home).
It looks like a crappy one-off, minor league rebrand jersey. Oof.
Bingo! It sure does.
Now that is a San Francisco treat!
The Giants script is fun.
Not a fan of gradients but it’s not overdone on this jersey.
Also, I used to freehand that 1960s style of lettering (the ‘San Francisco Giants Est. 1958’ lettering) when I was a kid. (We called it “mod”.) Extra points for that!
Not a Giants fan by any stretch of the imagination, but I would wear this.
Reminds me so much of the Ghost energy drinks font.
The lightning bolt is a very obvious nod to the Grateful Dead, who the Giants have a long-standing relationship with.
I actually really like it. I don’t know if it will turn out to be real, but it works. There are some considerations: If the jersey is anthracite, it’s possible the pants will be as well.
GTGFTU: 9 Nov 1980, Week 10, Cowboys 35 – 38 Giants.
Yes Amber, that jersey was a two year style, 1979-80. The Cowboys went 1-5 that season in those bad luck jerseys.
The Cowboys never looked better. Their fans should blame the players instead of the uniforms.
That Giants font is a little too close to Comic Sans for my taste.
“A little too close”? It looks nothing like Comic Sans to me.
This Giants fan hates it.
This Giants fan also hates it.
The Giants new CC is somehow better than what they had and a complete abomination. That’s quite the achievement.
I can’t think of a single instance that Nike having improved on the previous version of the CC. At best the Nats made a lateral move. Houston got a significantly worse one. And now this.
This takes what is in my opinion the best script logo ever and reduce it to literal child’s play. It looks like what a kid would make in their first effort of making a script logo in a design app.
When the kids at Nickelodeon design your jersey. I’m guessing the caps will shoot out green slime.
But also, it’s the third CC2.0 release that has the team name (or a truncated/abbreviated version of the team city/name) – Stros, DC, and now Giants.
This is gonna be a huge hit with the 10-14 year old demographic.
GTGFTU: November 9, 1980
Giants Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ
Giants 38, Cowboys 35
Giants: First year of the “GIANTS” uniform without the extra stripes used from 1976-79.
Cowboys: Last year of the old blue uniforms with white numerals and stripes, no hip numbers.
In 1979 and 80 Dallas decided to add white trim to the neck of their Southland jerseys Graf, but still lost in them.
I like the sleeve patch on the Giants jersey, and the idea of a counter culture themed jersey, but other than the patch, it’s not well executed. The font doesn’t invoke the hippie generation to me at all. Looks more like 80s graffiti. And why such a boring font for the name on back? May as well make that crazy too.
I had the same thought about the font. There’s nothing 60s counterculture about it, in my mind. The patch looks like it could be interesting, but I’m really sick of sublimated stripes and patterns. It’s like they tried to do a counterculture theme without ever actually looking at 60s art. It definitely has a MiLB theme night vibe to it.
On the other hand, the Cowboys look AMAZING in the GTGFTU picture.
“There’s nothing 60s counterculture about it, in my mind.”
Agreed, not sure why everyone is calling it “psychedelic”. Scooby Doo is more psychedelic. This is just the JC Penney Christmas Catalog version of psychedelic.
Hmmm…
Well, it’s legible/readable so points there as it passes the utility test.
The lines I feel are going got be rather unnoticeable from further away so they dont really bother me. And I dont particularly mind the font either. I don’t love it but I am not the target demographic so it’s no big deal. It’s also better than what my tigers have going on with their CC’s dollar store Star Trek font.
Not great, but miles ahead of their lost in the fog previous cc. I am curious about what the lids will look like.
I’m not sure what mark they’re trying to hit, but they missed it. It’s astronomically better than the outgoing design – which doesn’t say much – but there are pieces I like (the sleeve patch and the square hem patch) in an overall disjointed mashup of a jersey.
I don’t really see it as much of an upgrade. The previous ones looked flimsy and cheap, these look like they’re trying too hard and also like your “crafty” aunt designed it on her HP desktop.
I can see they’re gong with like a psychadelic vibe, but all this reminds me of is the YouTuber-backed snack foods the kids I volunteer with love.
That’s a really good description. Because I did think “MrBeast” for a split second the first time I saw it. I guess it’s a trendy font choice? But one that’s really only been used for, as you point out, influencer snack food products. It really has no business on a baseball uniform.
I think this one has been designed by somebody not really involved in baseball, the Giants or its fans. That would not be the first time, Nike seems to employ many designers with no interest in professional team sports, judging from the result of most of their output in any league. I really try to clamp down on my complaining (it gets you nowhere) but this is a very ugly jersey indeed. Hope the cap, socks and some white pants may improve this uniform.
It also looks like somebody trying to design something in a Haight-Ashbury counterculture theme without ever looking at a Fillmore West poster.
CONFIRMED: The pants to match will be orange to purple gradient with a thin anthracite stripe. (At least they should do a social campaign for April fools with those pants)
Woof. What an ugly jersey. Doesn’t say groovy 60s at all. Feels more like a 90s snack food. Can we please stop with these nasty CC jerseys? Pretty please.
Setting aside that there’s no reason for it to exist, I don’t hate it, though anthracite is an odd choice if they’re going for the hippie/flower child vibe.
Have any CC leaks ever been wrong? Even if some have been, I think there’s a pretty good track record for leaks being accurate, like over 95%, so I’d wager these are real. I don’t hate it considering the first ones were so atrocious, but I’m about as far removed from SF and the city’s culture as can be, unless you count living in their AA team’s city.
Looks very minor leagueish my local team has a Grateful Dead night and it looks like something they’d wear for That occasion.
If they got rid of the purple, I could look at this and resign that this is (just) ok. But that brings the bigger problem with this whole thing. If the best they can do it “it’s ok”, then what’s the point? Many professional teams have long standing and highly recognizable looks. Why deviate for something that is “ok”? As a giants fan, these are coming in for a fair bit of joking and not much love. I don’t hate the swirly stripes or that it’s a black uni, but if they were going for psychedelic summer of love stuff, color is where it’s at. Why not make it an orange tie-dye uni, and use an actual 60s/70s psychedelic font, or a font inspired by the Grateful Dead (they have collaborated with them many times before). Simple. Easy. And they’d sell a million of them.
If Shaggy, Fred, Velma and Daphne formed a team, they would wear this! Scooby-Dooby-Doo! Perhaps the designer had too many doobies!
As a San Francisco native and longtime Giants fan (1972), I am mostly turned off by these. I’m ok with the gradient. This pattern reminds me of topographical maps of the San Francisco Bay, meaning the bay’s floor. If that’s the case, I like it. I also like the 60s Haight-Ashbury vibe of the sleeve patch. But the jersey would’ve looked a lot better had they kept the original Giants font. I fear what the caps will look like. And, imagine if they go with matching pants! Please, no.
Wake me up when an MLB team actually creates a nice-looking City Coneect uniform. These uniforms are nothing more than an MLB cash grab from those who enjoy buying jerseys—even the ugly ones.
LOL! Someone’s gotten into the stash of acid at Nike again…
Just
Do ItSay No.Looks like something you’d see in the window of a head shop next to the CBD and vape advertisements. Still better than the fog jersey, though.
I know this is contrary, but I kind of love it. It keeps black and orange as prominent colors so it still “feels” like a Giants jersey to me, with the splash of purple a fun addition. It tells a story about SF’s history/culture (however one feels about that), and is infinitely better than the bland/hard to read set they previously had.
Is this something I want to see for a full set? Absolutely not. Does it work as a City Connect is intended to work? I say yes.
The Giants are pretty old school aesthetically and this is a fun change of pace. They limited the previous City Connects to Tuesday home games and they appear to be following the same plan here (with a debut on April 8). As long as it doesn’t become something they were more often than that, then sign me up.
Looks like another cash grab jersey from Nike with no thought or clue on making a good jersey. Nothing would make me happier than mlb cutting ties with Nike and going back to majestic for their jersey needs
the leftmost middle icon in that grid of 9 patch looks to evoke muni, not sure though. as people have said, that front font is what makes it bad. if they used a more grateful dead type font there like the patch on the sleeve with the same (or even more) colors, would’ve been good
If it’s legit, is it better than the previous one? Yeah. But this jersey is like an upgrade from a Yugo to an AMC Pacer.
No thanks. The purple makes them look like some of the Phoenix Suns unis. I hated the creamsicle unis, so these are an improvement, but not worth the change.
This guy made a bunch of samples last year. They were all better than this update. link
Giants uni would’ve been great for 4/20, but they’re not playing in SF that day.
I sort of liked the old CC, despite legibility issues, and wondered if it was homerism because I was a Giants fan, but on seeing this, clearly not, as I think this is awful.
I know we are in a world where sports team play fast and loose with team colours, but the Giants have fully embraced orange since the move to San Francisco and it is part of their DNA. I liked that their main 3 colours are orange, black and white, and the old CC just dropped one of these colours to keep on brand, but with a good twist on it.
As others have said, this looks like something a minor league team would wear as a one-off – it certainly does not look like a Major League Uniform.
So, first thoughts about the leaked Giants uniform. That sleave patch is absolutely incredible, and a must keep.
The rest, I am completely whelmed by it. It is not good, or bad, or even so bad it becomes good again. It is a serviceable uniform that does it function, adequately.
I didn’t think that the City Connect could get worse- but if the Giants CC uniform doesn’t kill the promotion- nothing will.
A few things make me suspicious (hopeful?) but I don’t doubt that this is legit. First: there’s no stupid slogan on the inside of the collar. Second: there’s jock tag extra logo is a mighty feeble edition even by CC standards. Third: that weirdo logo on the opposite side of the jock tag. Other CCs have nothing over there. Four: I have read recently that the giants intended to merely alter the previous CC for this new iteration. Again, this should be an orange tie dye uni with a more suitable font if the hippie culture is what they are going for. At best this feels like a giveaway promotion uni design for a theme night.
Good analysis, Dave. I have no idea whether this is legit or not, but based on previous leaks, almost all have been later confirmed as legit. There are indeed several “red flags” (some of which I already noted) that give me pause. But we’ve seen other CC “leaks” where we first said “NO WAY this is real” only to be disappointed later that said leak was indeed legit.
I believe I wrote in one article or another (probably the one where it was officially announced that eight teams were confirmed to be getting new CCs this year) that the Giants themselves announced there will be “some changes made to the current version of the City Connect jersey” in 2025. This (to most of us) isn’t “some changes to the current version” but an entirely new jersey altogether.
If the leak is indeed legitimate, I would imagine the Giants will be unveiling their new CCs pretty soon.
Yeah, I am operating under the assumption that these are legit because most or all of these leaks going back to the start of this CC program have been legit, and so far there is no degree of crappiness or preposterousness that would make a jersey unlikely as part of this program. As a giants fan, I wish this was better and it makes me appreciate the previous edition much more. Particularly as it has always been a few tweaks away from good. For one thing, if the entire jersey were heather grey (LIGHT heather grey), it would feel more like Karl the fog, and the white to orange gradient would be completely visible, or if they kept them white and changed the gradient to silver or light grey to orange then the whole gradient would be visible.
” Particularly as it has always been a few tweaks away from good. For one thing, if the entire jersey were heather grey (LIGHT heather grey), it would feel more like Karl the fog, and the white to orange gradient would be completely visible, or if they kept them white and changed the gradient to silver or light grey to orange then the whole gradient would be visible.”
Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln…
Reminds me of those crappy coogi/graffiti Brooklyn Nets city edition unis.
This is so bad. And not because it’s poorly designed Deadhead bait. But because the typeface looks like something that came with a free “7000+ Fonts and Free Design Tools” CD-ROM in the 90s.
Also, the Giants didn’t need another black jersey.
Boston College baseball has new 1960’s throwbacks. The BC logo on the jersey and the cap are completely different.
link
This thing reminds me of those jerseys the motocross guys wear.
I’m guessing the wavy lines on the jersey will be storytold (I just made up that word) as the isobars on a weather map showing the winds off San Francisco Bay…or some such nonsense. And that weird logo/jock tag thing on the lower right of the jersey. I’m still trying to wrap my head around that. It looks like the inscription on the golden disc that was on the Voyager satellite.
groovy
Will they be starting games that they wear them at 4:20 pm?
As s Giants fan these CC jerseys are hideous! I would rather have the Fog CC jerseys everyone complained about. As of now the only decent one have been the Astro’s ones.
If you’re going for a Summer of Love look I mean just go full tie-dye! Also the summer of love was in 1967 so 58 years later celebrating it seems weird. But, “58” was the year they moved to SF and there’s now a 58 Social Club at the ballpark. I mean that’s a hell of a way to connect it all together but there you go.