There was a somewhat surreal scene last night in Hickory, NC, when Michael Sansone, a relief pitcher for the Salem Red Sox, walked out to the mound to pitch against the Hickory Crawdads.
In case you’re not familiar, Salem is a Single-A team in the Carolina League, and (obviously) an affiliate of the Red Sox. The Crawdads are the Single-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers.
In the bottom of the ninth, with the Red Sox leading 12-3, Sansone attempted to enter the game. There was just one problem: he was wearing his alternate red jersey, while the rest of the Red Sox were in their alternate blue tops.
No worries!
This is the minor leagues, and Sansone literally took the jersey off a teammate’s back to pitch in a jersey that matched his teammates.
Here’s the sequence (sorry for the poor resolution of the screen shots).
Sansone enters the game, sporting a red jersey.
How he even entered the game wearing the “wrong” color jersey is beyond me, but again, this is the low minor leagues. I guess these things happen.
The umpires notice the jersey color mismatch, and get together to discuss it. Meanwhile, Sansone has taken his place on the bump and is discussing strategy with his teammates.
After talking it over, the umpires tell Sansone he can’t pitch wearing a different color jersey than his teammates.
Sansone walks off the mound towards the dugout.
He disappears from the screen for a few seconds, then returns to the mound, carrying a teammate’s jersey (which is hidden in this screen cap):
Sansone puts his “new” blue jersey on, right there on the field of play.
With the new jersey now on and tucked in, Sansone returns to the mound to begin his warmups, as if the red jersey mixup hadn’t even happened in the first place. I LOVE THE MINOR LEAGUES!
You can see the entire sequence in this video posted by the Crawdads.
Yes, tonight's game was briefly delayed as a @salemredsox pitcher came out in the wrong color jersey. Don't worry, the he took one off the back of someone in the dugout and play resumed! pic.twitter.com/vbQQeSHAwV
— Hickory Crawdads (@HickoryCrawdads) April 23, 2025
Even the Crawdads’ social media team was pretty nonplussed about the whole affair.
If you watched the video clip with the volume on, the Crawdads announcer (Brian Rushing) had more than a few uni-related observations. “In Minor League Baseball, it happens,” Rushing said. “Sometimes you forget a jersey, so you’ve got to pull another one on. It just becomes part of the territory.”
Wearing the wrong jersey isn’t unique to the minor leagues. I can recall at least two instances (and there are probably more) where Major leaguers entered a game in the wrong top. But this has always occurred when a team had (or had) two different alternates that are both the same color. Both the Mets (black home/road jerseys)…
…and the Brewers (navy home/road) have had this happen.
But those are at least understandable, as those jerseys differed only in their wordmarks. But this has got to be the first time I’ve ever seen a player try to enter a game wearing the wrong color jersey. Like…how does this happen?
Can any of you ever recall anything similar happening — in any sport at any level? I’m almost bummed the umps made him change shirts!
Have I told you guys how much I love MiLB?
back when the Cubs had two grey jerseys, there was a game where outfielder Junior Lake came out in the “CHICAGO” jersey instead of “CUBS”
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It was the NINTH inning. Was he not watching the game up to that point?
I’m more curious how no one pointed this out to him before he entered the game. Like, if he’s a relief pitcher, he must have been warming up before coming in. Did no one mention it in the bullpen while he’s getting loose? Did he not notice himself sitting in a bullpen of guys all wearing blue jerseys? This is beyond bizarre.
Here is a good video with a lot of fun things in it from baseball.
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Fantastic video
Slinks out to the bullpen, perhaps wearing a jacket: “Please, please, please don’t call on me, my mom is washing my blue jersey.” Ninth inning: “Well shit…”
I’ve heard of red/green colorblind, is there such a thing as red/blue colorblind?
I was wondering the same thing
Sansone should have just told the umps he was checking in as the libero. ;^)
Did the Oakland A’s of the early 70s ever wear mismatched jerseys in the same game, or was it more the coaches that would differ from the players?
Guess he thought he was redshirted.
A different color is one thing, but those instances of major leaguers wearing the wrong same-color jersey just seem like examples of teams that have too many uniform options.