In the hot summer of 1994, when Russell Athletics was the official uniform supplier of Major League Baseball, the New York Yankees suddenly changed their jersey fabric from polyester to more breathable cotton to beat the heat. Yankees players raved about the cotton jerseys in front-page stories.
Louis Poland: “Cotton is king.”
Wade Boggs: “What a wonderful fabric! We can finally breathe.”
Paul O’Neill: “I never thought anything could be so soft and fluffy.”
Thirty years later, Major League Baseball’s (MLB) current uniform supplier, Nike, has launched a new jersey — made from 90 percent recycled polyester — and it’s getting the same rave reviews.
Adley Rutschmann: “It’s much more breathable.”
Nolan Arenado: “It’s almost like wearing my favorite shirt on the court.”
Ronald Acuña Jr.: “The feeling of freedom in the jersey is the best feeling in the world.”
the difference?
Nike jerseys are real. The cotton one is from an episode of Seinfeld.
It’s easy to imagine what Yankees assistant and traveling secretary George Costanza and manager Buck Showalter are now proposing on a Nike pitch: “Imagine that, in a game, your team Five degrees cooler than the other teams. Don’t you think that’s an advantage? They’re cooler. They’re more comfortable. They’re happier — They will play better. “
We have passed 10 days Start reporting Complaints have grown louder about the many missteps in the launch of the Nike Vapor Premier. Here’s what we know and don’t know about MLB’s ongoing jersey issues.
What are players worried about?
Depends on the day. MLBPA executive director Tony Clark said new issues kept popping up as he moved from camp to camp during spring training. The first complaint is about the design and feel of the jersey. Concerns about the pants have since grown. Players complained that instead of receiving fully customized pants, as they had in the past, they were put into one of four body shape buckets and offered pants that fit people with their body type. Many people are dissatisfied.
Then there’s the pants shortage and, uh, transparency thing.
Perspective of what?
Pants. They are a bit see-through.
How about it?
Enough to see the tags and logos underneath the white pants. Enough to make the long tail tucked into the top of the jersey look like a diaper.enough The couple are joking about it. No one is asking for this kind of transparency in baseball.
Scott Barlow welcomes to Cleveland pic.twitter.com/fmGVQBJESR
— Andre Knott (@DreKnott) February 22, 2024
The question is: are these pants more see-through than previous years’ pants?
One source familiar with the process said the fabric of the pants has not changed; another said the material and thickness are the same.This sentiment has been shared Some tweets and stories. However, a spokesman for Nike did not respond to this request. CompetitorAsking for clarification on whether the design of these pants (except for the belt loops) was used last year and, if so, what year the pants were first introduced.
Without clear answers, skepticism seems justified.
Uni Watch’s Paul Lukas, who has written extensively about Nike’s new jerseys on his website and Substack, said he saw “somewhat similar phenomena” in photos from previous photo days. “To me,” he said, “it’s not that serious.”
If these pants had been translucent before, wouldn’t we have noticed?
That seems to be the general consensus on baseball Twitter. For one thing, everything about these jerseys is under greater scrutiny than any jersey in recent memory. On the other hand, this perspective effect doesn’t only appear in studio lighting on photography days.We see players’ underwear Lobby is dimly lit and on the outdoor court as well as.
I didn’t notice it during my team’s game this weekend, though.
You probably won’t!
One reason: Your team may be wearing last year’s pants.
Yes, the team is short of pants. Typically, they have about five pairs of custom-made game pants sitting in their lockers in the weeks leading up to Opening Day, according to a handful of players interviewed. Currently, some teams don’t and some don’t. It’s unclear which company is causing the shortage — Nike, which designs and designs the uniforms; or Fanatics, which manufactures them.
In case anyone was wondering, it looks like the Padres are wearing their old (opaque) white pants and the Dodgers are wearing their new gray pants.
(You can tell by the belt loops.) https://t.co/6TkuGicD43 pic.twitter.com/z12pBWILLY
— Rick Sanchez (@ricsanchez) February 22, 2024
What do MLB, Nike and Fanatics have to say about this?
rare.
Nike and MLB released statements Friday, but neither responded to specific questions about the new jerseys.
A spokesperson for Fanatics declined repeated requests for comment.
Whose fault is this?
The simplest explanation is that, based on the responsibilities established by MLB, Fanatics, and Nike before it became MLB’s official uniform supplier in December 2019, the responsibility falls primarily on Nike. That’s how Lucas sees it. Clark, the union president, sees it that way too. Nike spent four years transitioning from the Majestic Athletics template to the Nike template. So far it has failed.
However, fanatics stole much of the fan enthusiasm for the new kit. That’s because Fanatics dominates the licensed sportswear market and has consistently sold consumers subpar (or worse) products. It’s a reputation that’s earned. In the case of these Nike jerseys, the final product is produced by Fanatics, so any flaws or inconsistencies in stitching, lettering, and patchwork can be attributed to them. But the change in materials and design was Nike’s choice.
What design options are there?
The white uniform is slightly off-white. The pants have different belt loops. Certain embroidery elements can now be printed. As Lucas writes, the fabric looks like tissue paper. On the front of the jersey top, the narrower placket results in some awkward split-letter text on the chest. The back of the jersey has changed dramatically. First, Nike lowered the MLB logo. The handwriting has become noticeably smaller. A uniform number (also smaller in most cases) is perforated for optimal airflow.
“The smaller letters don’t look like the major leagues,” Lucas said, “and there’s no explanation why. That’s what I find surprising and confusing.”
He gave the example of the Indianapolis Colts’ shoulder stripes.
“The shoulder stripes don’t extend as far as they did when we were kids,” Lucas said, “because the stripes are interrupted by seams that didn’t exist when we were kids because they’ve changed the way they sew and cut jerseys. Good Well, I don’t really like this, but at least there’s an explanation I can understand. Form follows function. They gave no explanation for these changes.”
Is there time to change anything before opening day?
It is unlikely that the design will change in any substantial way. It seems that the first priority is to solve the problem of pants fit – as long as there are enough pants.
What would Costanza do?
Cotton Stan.
Cotton breathes.
Polyester, you know, it’s not a natural fiber.
This weekend we found the actor who plays Costanza, Jason Alexander, as a replacement. Alexander declined to be interviewed. His publicist said he wasn’t really a sports fan, so he wasn’t paying attention to Nike’s chaos and therefore didn’t have a strong opinion about the new jerseys.
Well, this is one of us.
(Top photo: New York Yankees/Getty Images)
