Some pretty unexpected uni news out of Arlington last night. Not only did the Texas Rangers wear their City Connects for the first time this season, the visiting Boston Red Sox broke new uni ground — they wore their red softball tops on the road.
As Phil has covered here at Uni Watch, the Red Sox dropped their navy softball tops in order to retain their yellow City Connect unis while adding a new, yet-to-be-revealed City Connect (it will be the same shade of green as the Green Monster and “controversial,” according to Sawx CEO Sam Kennedy). The navy softball tops, first introduced in 2009, had become a mainstay in the Red Sox’s uni rotation. Notably, the Red Sox wore them while winning the 2018 World Series, and had become a favorite among fans and players — most notably former Sox SP Eduardo Rodríguez, who now pitches for the Arizona Diamondbacks — though, as a Red Sox fan, I never liked them and have always preferred the standard road greys. Last year, the navy softball tops were demoted to Fridays only.
Stay hot, Wilyer! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/2FK5Urhaji
— Red Sox (@RedSox) March 29, 2025
The Red Sox have had a red alternate jersey since 2003, although the current design (with no navy headspoon) was adopted ahead of the 2009 season. The new version of the softball top (as well as the blue “Boston” softball top) came when the Red Sox updated their logos and also introduced their much-derided fauxback road uniforms, which were dropped after the 2013 season. Introduced at the same time was an alternate cap with the hanging sox logo, which was to be worn with the new softball tops, but the cap was worn only a handful of times. However, this cap is still available for purchase, at the same price point as other on-field caps. The style guide still lists the hanging sox cap as the cap to be worn with the red softball top.
Not only was Friday the first time the Red Sox have worn their red jersey on the road, it’s also the first time the Red Sox have worn a road jersey without “Boston” as the wordmark since 1933, according to Marc Okkonen. Since the red jerseys don’t have NOBs, like the Red Sox’s home jerseys (and unlike the retired blue jerseys), it’s the first time the Red Sox have gone NNOB on the road since 1989, when the team dropped their exceedingly generic road uniforms which they’d worn since 1979.
Personally, I don’t think the red softball tops on the road is a good look. The red is too warm and bright, and clashes too much with the grey pants. Maybe it was just a one-off, but it wouldn’t surprise me if this is the Red Sox’s new permanent Friday road game look.
Anyway, what do you guys think? Do you like the red softball top on the road? Should they have just kept the navy one? Should they just forget about the road softball tops completely? Let us know in the comments below.
I don’t inherently hate the look, but I think it does need improvements to work as a road uniform. Maybe it would work better if they created a red jersey that was just a red-navy color swap of the old blue jersey and used it as a road alternate?
I always liked the blue top better than the red. The red looked better with the piping. I have never cared for uniforms in any sport that aren’t current team colors; therefore I dislike most CCs especially the Red Sox. With that said, the red will be a break from the gray. I guess the red will be worn on both home and road Fridays. The Braves and Red Sox wear red on Fridays as part of a national day to wear red in support of the military (Remember Everyone Deployed).
link
“when the team dropped their exceedingly generic road uniforms which they’d worn since 1979.”
You say generic, I say classic. But I’m definitely a “less is more” guy when it comes to uniforms.
The Red Sox looked like the flying tomato brothers out there last night. The Rangers looked worse, with their white tops and black pants. They looked like a local orchestra, or a bunch of cater waiters.
I agree 100%. I always loved the navy letters on the old roads. It pairs so much better than the red “BOSTON” they currently have. I’ll go on record with the highly unpopular opinion that even the hated fauxback navy “BOSTON” looked better than the red rendering. It just doesn’t look right to me to for whatever reason.
Why haven’t teams worn jerseys and pants and caps and socks that are usually “home” unis, and wear them on the road. Nike sure is all for that. Expose cities to a red road Red Sox jersey. Cha-ching! Why not send out the lads wearing the CC costumes to towns out there. Cha-ching! Spread the Gospel of Manfred to the illiterate but well heeled masses. Converts made one credit card swipe (or tap if you prefer) at a time
I can’t recall the matchups, but there WERE a few CC vs. CC games last year actually. So it’s not unheard of for a team to take the CCostumes on the road
Last season we had Braves vs. Rays with both teams in their CCs (link)
Rays vs. Cardinals (link)
Orioles vs. Nationals (link)
There may have been another CC vs CC as well, but were at least three of those last year.
The Red Sox ownership really sucks. The Red Sox are an iconic and historic franchise and they will have two uniforms that are not even their color palette. They’ll have a blue/yellow and a green uniform. Are they trying to complete the entire rainbow? Utterly ridiculous.
Blue alternate on the road, red at home, dump the stupid yellow and light blue cap.
I like it. Boston is amongst the teams with the weaker grey kits. I don’t mind keep grey for tradition, but wearing the red will be a welcome break up from it.
Also, why are we calling them softball tops? Jerseys that aren’t white, cream, or grey have been a thing for over 50 years. And alternate jerseys have been a regular for about 25. Colored jerseys are apart of baseball and you sound really pretentious when you try to dismiss them as “softball tops”. You don’t even sound witty. I watch a decent amount of softball and I can tell you plain, colored full-button jerseys with simple arched lettering is a much more common sight in baseball than softball
We have been calling colored alternate tops “softball” tops for years at UW and that nomenclature will continue. We use shorthand descriptions for things (see the glossary at the top of this page) and softball top is one of those terms. It’s neither pretentious nor dismissive to use the term “softball” top in lieu of “alternate dark colored jersey” every so often.
You can just say “red jersey”, “alternate jersey”, “dark jersey”, “colored tops”, or literally anything else. You have plenty of descriptors besides “softball tops” which is such a common remark made to insult a jersey.
Calling a colored jersey a “softball top” is dismissing the fact they are real baseball jersey, because you are qualifying it with a completely different sport. As if to say, “These jerseys don’t really belong in baseball, and are apart of something else.” And that sounds so pretentious to act like dark jerseys aren’t “real” baseball jerseys.
““softball tops” which is such a common remark made to insult a jersey”
If you want to consider “softball tops” to be an insult, I’m not going to try to stop you. It’s NOT meant as an insult, but rather a way to describe a “look” that is more consistent with the look of a softball league.
And yes, pretty much since the Oakland A’s made kelly and gold tops over white pants de rigueur 50 years ago, teams have been wearing alternate colored tops (aka softball jerseys). But for the 100+ years before that, baseball uniforms were (and still *mostly* are) a matching uniform top and bottom color. Almost every team has an alternate colored jersey (softball top) now (some have two or more!), and many of those have only been introduced in the past couple decades. The more jerseys a team wears, the more valuable they are at retail. And let’s face it: MANY alternate tops have been introduced in the past couple decades almost solely so they can be sold to fans as authentic merch.
Is it still a “real” baseball jersey? Of course, but it’s still what we will call a “softball jersey” on occasion. No slight is meant by this, but if you perceive it as such, then that’s on you.
It will continue to be synonymous with “red jersey”, “alternate jersey”, “dark jersey”, “colored tops”, or literally anything else.
YMMV
The reason baseball teams starting wearing colorful pullover jerseys in the ’70s was because of the popularity of league softball. They were intentionally mimicking softball tops.
one thing phil got wrong in his mlb preview was saying the dodgers don’t have a dark alternate.
They don’t have a dark alternate they wear during the regular season. The Yankees and Tigers technically have two dark alternates, but they don’t wear them in the regular season either. They only use the dark alt for Spring Training, but that’s NOT the regular season. I don’t include any only-Spring Training jerseys as alternates.
so it doesn’t count in the “4+1” then?
MLB may count it as an alternate (in fact, it’s considered “Alternate 1”) in terms of the 4 + 1, but I don’t if they don’t wear it in the regular season.
If they ever wear the blue tops in the regular season then I will absolutely consider it as part of their uniform rotation. But until they do, I don’t count it.
Few thoughts from a Red Sox fan
1. I assume the new setup will be yellow = home alt, red = road alt.
2. I am not a fan. while I think only one colored alt is needed (3 uniforms total), and I’d prefer the red over the navy, I hate the yellow and heavily prefer the navy over yellow. My ideal setup, for all teams, would be home white, road grey, colored home alt for Friday nights. That’s it. No need for more than 3 uniforms (in any sport).
3. Since the City Connect is inevitable, I actually hope it’s a pullover like the Mets alt. My least traditionalist baseball opinion is that I love pullovers from a retail perspective. I wear jerseys to games and I like the feel of the pullover over button down. So hoping for a pullover City Connect, only way I’d consider buying it.
Phil, is it common for MLB teams to disregard the style guide? I am asking because the Red Sox did not wear the “hanging Sox” cap last night. I had thought that cap had returned to the style guide for 2025. Wouldn’t someone in the Boston organization have made that happen?
The style guide is literally that: a “guide”
It’s more for the jersey & cc aspect. While MLB cracked down on teams who wanted to exceed the 4 + 1 (there are only a few “limited use” jerseys, like the Sox “BOSTON” white jersey and the Blue Jays red “Canada Day” alternate), but they’re much less stringent when it comes to mix/matching of caps. Witness the number of times the Pirates wore caps that didn’t correspond to their jersey last season (particularly with their CC mix/match).
Opening day with the Braves was the same thing: the style guide showed the team would wear the blue/red cap with the road gray jersey, but they wore solid navy caps with it. (link)
I would expect the BoSox to pair the hanging socks cap with the red jerseys at some point, but just because they didn’t last night doesn’t mean that alt. cap isn’t still part of their cap rotation.
I find it funny that you insisted that you think dark jerseys are real baseball jerseys, but you also insinuate that the only reason they exist is to sell merch. Which is blatantly untrue. Think of all the small college baseball teams who don’t sell any merch and notice how they still have colored jerseys. Remember when the Phillies brought back their red jersey a few years ago because the players got sick of wearing only grey on the road. Sure there is financial incentive, but that isn’t the only merit of having dark jersey
And don’t pretend it’s just me who thinks “softball tops” is an insult. In every other space I’ve been in, softball top is used describe an ugly jersey that doesn’t look like a baseball jersey. I’m pretty sure there is an old quote when the Braves introduced their 1972 blue pullovers, an opposing player heckled them by saying “Fast pitch or slow pitch?”
But if you really don’t mean it as an insult, I think that’s as good a sign as any to stop using that term. Not just because it could be interpret as an insult, but because it is just wrong. As you said, the dark on light pants look has existed for 50 years and have been regularly apart of the uni set for 20. That is well long enough for it to be an established baseball thing. It isn’t even the signature softball look. You do see dark on light in softball, but you see dark on dark and light on dark just as often. But, you suggest that it’s ok to keep calling them softball tops because they have only exist for 50 years compared to 100+. But with that logic, does that make it correct to modern day jerseys “flannels”?
I’m sorry to keep bothering you about this issue, but it seems incorrect to publish an article calling a normal baseball jersey a “softball top” all but 3 times (not occasionally)
Today’s piece was authored by Anthony, not me. He has free reign to use whatever terms he wants.
He used a term that’s in the UW glossary. If you have an issue with that, that’s fine. But it’s a term Paul had used (as have I) for decades, and we’re going to continue to use it.
Thanks for all the feedback! It’s genuinely appreciated, but let’s move on, k?
Riley, I’m with you on that particular term and dislike seeing it used repeatedly on this site. Colored jerseys predate the invention (in 1887) of softball:
link
…and for some reason the repeated use of the word “tops” rather than the standard “jerseys” irks me too. I’m in agreement with Paul and Phil on a lot of traditionalist things, but with this one piece of slang I’m with you and not our hosts.
piping in to say I agree with Riley on “softball tops”. it sounds dismissive, and as far as I can tell, it’s always meant as a negative association. what sounds more dismissive is the general tone of “this is how we’ve always done it, you should just deal with it”. love the work that Paul did here, but this is not some sacred element that must be preserved.
you can go on calling them what you want, but now you know some don’t agree with you.
Call me crazy, but I like it when a team with red in its name wears the color red.
That’s perfectly sane.
I like this look, which is weird to say because I’ve never liked this red jersey for the Sox and I always favored the blue road jersey.
Turns out I just didn’t like the red jersey *at home* for the Sox. IMO the Sox should only wear white at home.
I like it too, and I like the return to NNOB on the road. BOSTON would look better than RED SOX, but they don’t *really* need to make a second red alternate jersey for that purpose. If they’re not going to wear navy on the road, I say wear this one.
Today it looks like a mistake. Give it time, it might look like every other alternate look out there. But I miss the principle of BOSTON on the road.
I loved the idea of the faux-backs, with no red trim on the letters. Too bad they said “never mind.” If I could find my colored pencils and some free time, I’d go back in time and see what I could tweak from those
Watching the Sox for the first time this season(I work nights). Did anyone notice that the “Hanging Sox” sleeve patch has been removed from the gray road jerseys?
It’s not a bad look. It reminds me of the navy blue road jerseys of the Chicago Cubs of the 80’s.
The Red Jerseys are markedly better than the blue tops. I prefer the road grays, but 81 gray games is dull. I don’t mind mixing in the red.
Like the Red Sox red jerseys but they were better with the navy piping. Wearing them on the road is fine. I’m a huge fan of teams that have a color in their location name or team name wear that as their primary color. Imagine the Browns not wearing Brown. Not possible. There was a time Green Bay didn’t wear green but I think in primitive times you could probably only buy blue jersey.
I like the jersey but even better with BOSTON on it in navy and red hats with a navy B, both with a white outline. Mix it up between grey and red. It sure looks better that the current blue jersey of the Mets.
Don’t car for the red. Their navy blue top were one on the only decent solid color jerseys worn. If they can’t wear blue they should just stick to gray on the road all the time. There are other teams that do that now, like NYY, LA, DET and PHI. The red isn’t a good look on the road especially without the NOB. Dump it.
It took a while for me but the Yellow CC’s have grown on me. I also love the road blue and home red but after seeing the red’s on the road I think they made the wrong choice on which to keep and which to ditch. MassLive reported last week that the Sox plans are to wear White at home Sunday-Thursday, the new CC’s on Friday night, and the Yellow on Saturdays. On the road they’ll wear grey every day except for Friday’s where they’ll don their red jerseys.
Also I could be wrong but I thought I heard the hanging Sox hats have been on the style guide for years, but haven’t been worn on the field since 2009.