Uniforms add color to debate

By David Mullen

The evolution of the baseball uniform is as old as the game. Numbers did not appear on baseball jerseys until 1929, and names were not included until 1960, but it was easy to identify the home and away teams. The home team wore white, and the away team wore dark colors — primarily grey — because they had limited or no access to laundry facilities, and the dark color could hide dirt and grass stains. 

More vivid uniform colors were introduced in the 1960s, credited to the Kansas City Athletics, in part because of the increase in color televisions in American homes. Early color TVs had color variances except for yellow. The A’s and Pittsburgh Pirates began wearing uniforms with yellow accents.

Synthetic fabrics were introduced in the early 1970s. New teams like the Montreal Expos, San Diego Padres, Kansas City Royals and Milwaukee Brewers turned up the color volume. The renegade Oakland A’s of the early 70s made bright uniforms an anti-establishment statement. And who can forget the rainbow stripes of the Houston Astros, despite attempts to do so. 

Recently, Chicago-based Digital Third Coast was commissioned to do a study on the most popular baseball team uniforms, logos and colors by PlayUSA (playusa.com), a gaming information website. “Their core audience obviously is a lot of sports fans, so the impetus for them is to put more fun and conversation content information on their website, not just gambling stuff,” said Matt Zajechowski, content strategist for Digital Third Coast. 

Major League Baseball keeps specific sales data close to their sleeveless vest, but sales of licensed merchandise are more than $3 billion annually. But who wears uniforms and who is the target audience? Kids? Adults? Rappers? “It’s a controversial topic we talk about,” Zajechowski said. “Some people feel that after a certain age, adults shouldn’t really wear jerseys or [at least] shouldn’t wear them outside of going to a game. I think they [uniforms] are targeted toward a younger generation.”

 The best baseball uniforms have been the basis of debate on sports pages to sports talk shows to sports bars for generations. Digital Third Coast surveyed 2,000 MLB fans across the country and asked them to rank every MLB home uniform. Among respondents, 63 percent were male and 37 percent were female with an average age of 35. “We polled people in every market and tried to get as close to an even number in all markets,” Zajechowski said.

Respondents were only asked to rate the home uniform of each MLB team, not the away or alternate jerseys. The repugnant monochromatic uniforms worn on “Players Weekend” in August or the hideous Nike “City Connect” uniforms, that have connected with no one, were not included.  

In the survey, the Texas Rangers home uniform ranked 10th least popular in baseball. The team colors (red, white and blue) and logo were middle of the pack, ranking 15th and 14th most popular in baseball, respectively. That seems fair for a team that has made so many unspectacular uniform modifications in their 50 years of existence.

The Chicago Cubs and New York Yankees were ranked as the top uniforms, and consistency plays a role. The Cubs’ home uniform has virtually stayed the same since 1958, and the Yankees “pinstripes” have had only slight alterations to their home uniforms since 1912. Third on the list is the Boston Red Sox, which has remained classic since the early 1900s. In a related note, nearly one-third of fans “hate” the Nike Boston “City Connect” jersey and want them “chucked in the barrel.”

The Chicago White Sox and St. Louis Cardinals were next in the uniform rankings, even though the White Sox have gone through several looks over the years, including tops with collars and bottoms that stopped above the knees. The intricately stitched, script Cardinals logo is baseball gold. The Cincinnati Reds, Colorado Rockies, Los Angeles Dodgers, Baltimore Orioles and Atlanta Braves rounded out the Top 10.

“I think when you look at the Top 10, everyone but the Rockies I can see an argument for,” Zajechowski, a longtime Tigers fan, said. “There are a lot of classic logos and jerseys. In the Cubs, Yankees, Red Sox, White Sox, Cardinals, Reds, Dodgers, Orioles and Braves, I can see valid cases. The Colorado Rockies is totally surprising for me to see that they made the Top 10.”

The Rockies, which came into the league in 1993, use black, white, silver and purple as their primary colors. They were the first team to wear purple pinstripes, as if that is something worthy of note. The air is thin in Denver, so maybe turning purple at home makes sense after all.      

 The top spot for best team logo goes to the Toronto Blue Jays, which is sacrilege. It was irreverent enough when the Blue Jays won our World Series in 1992 and ’93. 

Although the Blue Jays’ logo has evolved over the years, the blue jay and the Canadian maple leaf have been part of the logo since the late 1970s. The Yankees, Orioles and Cubs were next, followed by the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Arizona Diamondbacks? 

 It seems like fans may have been out in the sun too long. Arizona also finished fourth in best team colors, which are red, sand, black, teal and white. I would yell “Pick one!” but you don’t want to rattle a Diamondback. And as if that weren’t confusing enough, snakes in Arizona can change color as if they don’t have enough colors already.

The biggest travesty is the Minnesota Twins uniform finishing last of the 30 teams. They have two giants on their sleeve shaking hands across the Mississippi River, bonding Minneapolis and St. Paul. Note to fans, the classic TC logo stands for “Twin Cities,” not Tom Cruise or Tucker Carlson. Figure it out!

The Seattle Mariners, Padres, Brewers and Pirates also finished at the far end. Despite the non-bias nature of the survey, it appears that team identity, like team payrolls, give the larger media markets an advantage. “To see Pittsburgh, the Padres and the Brewers towards the bottom was surprising,” Zajechowski said. “Media markets have some effect. But no one wants to see their logos near the bottom.”

In search of a silver — or red, white or blue — lining, the Rangers having the 10th least popular uniform does not look so bad after all. “Last in the league, but 20th in the closet!” can become a rally cry for 2021 season.