Blue Jays to change uniforms for next season

[CS85]

All the jays need (IMHO) is a blue cap with the jaybird on it, and their set would be fine. Not sure where they're going to take this.

[the_fan]

NO NO NO not more RED. WTF is wrong with the Blue Jays designers? I actually got excited when I saw the thread title, now I'm worried it'll be worse than their currents. Call me crazy but, err, I think the Blue Jays colors should be, oh yeah, BLUE. But even I'd rather have black than red. This is much a MONUMENTAL fail. I'm Canadian, and I'm so stinking tired of companies just slappin' a maple leaf on their brand and thinking we're just gonna eat it up cause it's so patriotic. It's sad, and getting to the point where I'm having trouble looking at our beautiful flag without thinking of all the commercialism associated with it.

[Bouj]

Much like the Mets fascination with black, the Blue Jays' distaste for blue is puzzling at best. I understand why they want to emphasize Canada, but just stick with the maple leaf patch. They should be wearing Royal Blue, Columbia Blue, Navy Blue, or some other shade of blue. Because they are the Blue Jays.

I get the feeling that the complaining is useless. Someone at a marketing firm told them to "Canada"-it-up, so it's going to be red & maple leaf-y.

[BBM]

NO NO NO not more RED. WTF is wrong with the Blue Jays designers? I actually got excited when I saw the thread title, now I'm worried it'll be worse than their currents. Call me crazy but, err, I think the Blue Jays colors should be, oh yeah, BLUE. But even I'd rather have black than red. This is much a MONUMENTAL fail. I'm Canadian, and I'm so stinking tired of companies just slappin' a maple leaf on their brand and thinking we're just gonna eat it up cause it's so patriotic. It's sad, and getting to the point where I'm having trouble looking at our beautiful flag without thinking of all the commercialism associated with it.

Well the Maple Leafs successfully integrated a leaf in their design without having to use red, so it's possible the Blue Jays could do it too.

Personally I was always a fan of the late 90s Blue Jays look.

[Jer15]

I've long said that the Blue Jays could've saved themselves a lot of grief about their uniforms if they had just done this

Home

Road

I agree 100%, these are beautiful and I'm fairly confidant that in general, people don't hate the current Blue Jays logo. I'm sure it's just a product of the current uniforms being boring and having almost no blue what so ever in it that upsets people. I also get the feeling that the logos will remain the same (at least there is no word of a logo change in the article, just uniforms) so this would be perfect.

With that said, I'd like to see the Jays use a little red, with dark blue and white. I was a huge fan of the logo the jays used from 1997 to 2002. They also had some of their best alternate uniforms around that time.

[BBTV]

It's dumb that the logo incorporates a "J" when the team is the Toronto Blue Jays. A T would be much more appropriate. The J on the cap and the "Jays" script on the jerseys is sort of similar to how the Ottawa Senators have that dumb jersey with the "SENS" mark on it. That's why IMO that cap will never be good, regardless of what color it's in.

[TheOldRoman]

All the jays need (IMHO) is a blue cap with the jaybird on it, and their set would be fine.

I disagree. They would still have: a terrible cap logo, a terrible home wordmark, a terrible road wordmark which didn't match the home, different terrible fonts on the home and road jerseys, and numbering which inexplicably is in two shades of gray. Everything about the current set is terrible. But you are correct that having a blue cap would make it better.

[McCall]

It's dumb that the logo incorporates a "J" when the team is the Toronto Blue Jays. A T would be much more appropriate. The J on the cap and the "Jays" script on the jerseys is sort of similar to how the Ottawa Senators have that dumb jersey with the "SENS" mark on it. That's why IMO that cap will never be good, regardless of what color it's in.

Exactly. It's usually better to go with a a letter to represent the location over nickname on a hat, but this doesn't even really fall under the nickname. It's just a portion of it. At least teams like the D-Backs and Angels use their teams initial. This is just "hey the blue jay head fits well in the letter J... let's use it!"

[JohnnySeoul]

I've long said that the Blue Jays could've saved themselves a lot of grief about their uniforms if they had just done this

Home

Road

Dear god no....HORRIBLE!!!!

[McCall]

I've long said that the Blue Jays could've saved themselves a lot of grief about their uniforms if they had just done this

Home

Road

Dear god no....HORRIBLE!!!!

It's an improvement over the current junk, but still is not anywhere near what they should be. Might I add an all-blue would be better than these two.

[Ted Cunningham]

It's dumb that the logo incorporates a "J" when the team is the Toronto Blue Jays. A T would be much more appropriate. The J on the cap and the "Jays" script on the jerseys is sort of similar to how the Ottawa Senators have that dumb jersey with the "SENS" mark on it. That's why IMO that cap will never be good, regardless of what color it's in.

Wasn't there some talk (maybe a few years ago now; I'm fuzzy on the time) in one of the big MLB season threads about how it was ridiculous that not only did the Rays adopt a very ambiguous identity but the Blue Jays had diluted theirs down to seeming to want to be simply the "Jays?" You talking about that script, BBTV, reminded me of that. The only reason I really remember the discussion was because it struck me how both of those teams with those weak identities (not that the Blue Jays have as ambiguous an identity as the Rays now, but if they were to move that way) would both rhyme with each other and be in the same division. Haha.

I'm all for the Blue Jays working their national identity into their uniforms. I think the maple leaf on the sleeves that they have now is classy. (It'd be even classier if they'd lose all outlines and just have the red right on the uniform.) For those of you who are Canadian, is that OK, just having the leaf out there? I know that (even though no one is supposed to) the whole flag is used on uniforms in the US. It's not like we have just a star as a representation of the country on non-national team uniforms.

They should blow the whole thing up and start over really. Being a traditionalist, I think they should make it clean and simple with some piping and a nice and loopy cursive script or two. Keep the red limited to the maple leaf patch and then go bluejay blue and black the rest of the way.

[epper]

I'm very scared about this. The current set isn't amazing, but it's not hard on the eyes either. It does need more blue, that is for sure.

In my opinion, they never should have switched from the Clemens-Era unis:

I love the World Series-Era unis as much as the next diehard Jays fan, but they did need to be updated and would look dated if they were full-time today. This set's touches of red (not too much), the use of two-tone blue while still keeping their signature "split" lettering style, the perfect cohesive set between the home-road-alt. They were a great, great set.

One thing I'm most terrified about: admittedly I don't know what MLB's rules are regarding corporate sponsor logos on jerseys, but I guarantee if teams start doing this, Rogers will lead the charge. I would not be suprised if this ends up as a sleeve or hat patch on the Jays unis in the next 5-10 years.

[Lee.]

Keep the light blue, use graphite and red for accents, stay far away from navy. Unique color palette, relevant to the team and its location, everyone's happy except people who post here.

[evanmaldonado]

Royal Blue alt, Royal Blue hat, and a road one with a black brim. That's really all the Jays need IMO

[tBBP]

I myself have never actually had an issue with the current birdhead/J logo (I've long thought it clever that they used the letter "J", which could have the double entendre of the word "jay"), nor the team colors, as shown in those two caps above...but, like most others, I do have, and have had, an issue with the execution of the rest of those uniforms. The biggest sticking point is the near-complete lack of the color blue...and it's actually a unique shade, one we don't see all that often. And, there's ornithological precedent for that shade of blue as well as the gray color.

This is an actual blue jay. And, as you can see, those colors are plenty present in the actual bird (along with the black). I say the Jays stick to that shade of blue and gray, use a little black as a trim if they feel like they must, and just leave the red out...unless they want to do so in the form of a patch, which I could live with--but I think any kind of maple leaf patch would look better and be much more creative in the team colors. I can do without the current mismatched fonts they use for home/away, but I also wouldn't want a full-on return to the early-'90s, or even mid-90s look, either. That set epper posted above should be the basis of a new look, but with just a few slight tweaks/updates (nothing crazy, though).

That's just my two rusted Lincolns on the matter...tear it apart however you wish.

[vman]

I have no issue with the current set, but if they're going to add more blue, I want to see something simple like this. The logo is fine and shouldn't be touched for the fifth time in 20 years. I for one hate pointless button-up jerseys, so a simple pull-over is what I'd go with. I added shoulder numbers to give a semi-hockey influence to them, since some want more Canadian content. I suppose a subtle sublimated maple leaf could be incorporated here too, similar to last years TFC uniforms.

[the_fan]

I'm very scared about this. The current set isn't amazing, but it's not hard on the eyes either. It does need more blue, that is for sure.

In my opinion, they never should have switched from the Clemens-Era unis:

I love the World Series-Era unis as much as the next diehard Jays fan, but they did need to be updated and would look dated if they were full-time today. This set's touches of red (not too much), the use of two-tone blue while still keeping their signature "split" lettering style, the perfect cohesive set between the home-road-alt. They were a great, great set.

I totally agree, the WS set was awesome for it's time but in 2011 wouldn't really work. Those look modern enough for today while not trying to be "hip" with the stupid black. I certainly don't mind a bit of red, the blue is georgeous as usual, and I love that logo. Only thing I would change is to make the red on the road script a little thinner, sticks out a bit too much compared to the blue for my taste.

[JohnnySeoul]

What exactly does the leaf have to do with a bluejay? Yes, Canada..we know where Toronto is located.

[McCall]

I have no issue with the current set, but if they're going to add more blue, I want to see something simple like this. The logo is fine and shouldn't be touched for the fifth time in 20 years. I for one hate pointless button-up jerseys, so a simple pull-over is what I'd go with. I added shoulder numbers to give a semi-hockey influence to them, since some want more Canadian content. I suppose a subtle sublimated maple leaf could be incorporated here too, similar to last years TFC uniforms.

This is MLB, not Little League.

I think the set before the current, an update mid-90's with full placket piping wa the best look. Replace the t-bird logo with the update jayhead, minus the giant leaf behind it an ditch all the red except for maybe a leaf patch on the sleeve, and you would have their best look. Unfortunately it's not a "historic" look for the team so they probably won't go back to it.

[IceCap]

I honestly don't get the hate for the new look. They all look great, even the unused graphite jerseys. They're the Toronto Blue Jays, not the Canadian Blue Jays. If people want more red/another maple leaf, they can add a small leaf to the back or side of the cap, otherwise things are great as they are. Don't forget how horrible and childish they looked after the original re-brandings in '97 and '03, which aged extremely poorly and quickly. The current ones are modern, sleek and look good on the field. There's no need to change it up yet again just because some people think there's not enough blue or Canadian content(and don't get me started on those that have issues with them dropping the word "Blue" from the wordmark. Everyone calls em the Jays here. The Blue is redundant).

The new look is horrid. First, I will take issue with dropping the word "Blue" from the wordmark. It doesn't matter what people call them, the team's official name is the Toronto Blue Jays. Using just "Jays" looks, as BBTV alluded to, minor league.

I have the same problem with the J/bird cap logo. Emphasizing the J, hence emphasizing the fan nickname over either the location or actual name, is just amateur. I don't mind the current bird head, but pairing it with that horrible J ruins it. The alternate T logo is just as bad, as the Blue Jays have little history using T-based cap logos. On top of that the T just looks like toothpaste.

The colour scheme is also out of whack. Blue, black, graphite, and white could work, if blue was emphasized. Blue, however, has been downplayed to the point where the whole identity just looks bland.

The wordmark is overly bevelled, emphasizes a fan nickname, the cap logos are terrible, and the colour scheme is bland. It's certainly a "modern" look. Sleek? Not so much.

I'm not going to jump to conclusions about the new look based on a vague article that doesn't reveal any actual information. I'll just wait for the unveil. I am disappointed that they aren't just returning to the World Series era set though. That was a fantastic look that could easily stand on its own today.