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Baseball’s new uniforms are literally violence against fans

Published on 28 Comments on Baseball’s new uniforms are literally violence against fans

Spring training is upon us, but since no actual games have been played yet we need something else to be outraged about while we wait. Tyler Kepner of The Athletic reports that it's baseball's new uniforms: they're a "fashion flop" and an "assault on the eyes."

But even by the end of a thousand word column, I still wasn't sure just what was supposedly wrong with the new jerseys. However, this before-and-after photo should make it clear:

Still confused? Look closely. The new jerseys are slightly off-white and have a little bit smaller lettering. That's the crime against humanity.

Now, some players are also complaining about poor fit and a lighter fabric, and who knows? Maybe they'll change that eventually. But the baseball fashion police aren't griping about that. It's just the slightly smaller lettering and slightly less white fabric.

Baseball fans. I dunno.

28 thoughts on “Baseball’s new uniforms are literally violence against fans”

  4. Rattus Norvegicus

    At least the Giants are not going to sport the Cruise "self driving" car patches this season. When those things went on last year they started losing big time.

  5. Cressida

    As a long-suffering fan of the only MLB team that's never been to the World Series, I suppose I can be pleased at a small bit of recognition from @GomesDaLegend.

  6. makoehler

    They’re made by Nike and Fanatics. Fanatics is notorious for awful quality and they’ve managed to corner the entire market. The shit quality sold to consumers is now impacting players.

    Here’s a story from Defector about their quality:

    https://defector.com/fanatics-ruined-christmas

    It’s a paradigm case of people taking good things and making them worse.

    1. Thyme Crisis

      Beat me to it. In a vacuum, maybe this isn't as big of a deal, but I think there's starting to be some real pushback to Fanatics' monopolization of nearly all physical official sports goods.

    2. Solar

      Fanatics had been making all Baseball uniforms for years, including last's years which players are now claiming they love. This is baseball, the sport most set in traditions, superstition, old ways, and reluctance to change.

      No matter what change, or made by whom, they'll complain because anything that changes the current status quo is always seen as a mortal offense against the sport, even if a few years later everyone loves the change, only for the cycle to repeat itself when the next change comes up.

    3. Art Eclectic

      Seems like yet another entry under "enshittification"

      Also known as the crapification of everything.

      Eventually, everything will be turned into garbage in the name of corporate profits.

    1. different_name

      I don't either, but I've built up context that is useful in understanding how the humans ritualize their reactions to change.

      In this case, you need to know that baseball is deeply reactionary. It was always better last time, these new kids are all the worst, and back then those people knew their place.

      It should all make more sense from there.

      1. mudwall jackson

        baseball teams change uniforms, add new uniforms all the time. sunday home game unis, special event unis, holiday unis. they do it in part to freshen up the look and in part to sell merch. i couldn't even begin to tell you the number of iterations my favorite team has had just in the last 10 years let alone since i began following them in the 1960s. some better than others. the complaint about the lettering makes some sense — smaller=more difficult to read at a distance. the off-white? who cares? a thousand words, get a life.

      1. HokieAnnie

        But beards are better to have when one is playing an outdoor sport. A full grown beard will protect the skin from the sun.

  13. rick_jones

    The new jerseys are slightly off-white and have a little bit smaller lettering.

    A little bit smaller? Try something like 30% judging by the character heights with the Mk I eyeball. (Since the two jerseys have names of different character counts on them)

    They can keep the slightly off-white color, but bring back the larger font for the player name.

  14. Jerry O'Brien

    The names were too big on the old jerseys, and the new ones are fine. Go back a few more years and the names were smaller or completely absent. That's okay. There are always the big numbers and roster lists available to look up names, for anyone who cares.

  16. superfly

    They look like the cheap replicas sold to fans, if you want to read some discussions about the new unis by people who do care about uniform aesthetics, https://uni-watch.com .

    Not saying anyone will be a convert, but it's not trivial to many.

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