Do you think Major League Baseball...

[Phils Phan]

Should return to athletic wear? I heard some college teams wore them and the kids all loved it!

[GriffinM6]

No. PhantomDreamer caused me to dislike athletic wear.

[Jungle Jim]

Please inform the uninformed. What is athletic wear?

[OnWis97]

Please inform the uninformed. What is athletic wear?

Thanks.

If not for GriffinMarlins's post, I would have no idea what that means, since MLB teams are not wearing formal wear. But maybe it means elastic waists and pullovers.

If so, then I feel this is a legitimate conversation to have, but warning to the OP, please do not post constantly and please do not inundate us with "photo evidence" of how great these uniforms look. Consider yourself warned.

[TheRicSlick]

No. PhantomDreamer ruined them for me.

[rgrn2777]

No. Pullovers and sansabelts belong in the past (70's and 80's). Button down jerseys and pants with belts belong in baseball.

[CubsFanBudMan]

I get it, "Phan."

[BadSeed84]

I could see an argument for pullovers, with like one or 2 buttons at top.

Sadly with how baggy some of the players wear their uniforms, I wouldn't want sansabelts. Plus it had to be pretty thick waistband, just doesnt look that good, keep with the belts.

Pretty much this would be ideal imo (when the bp jerseys were pullovers a couple years ago) just without any side panels.

[infrared41]

Pullovers and elastic belts were mostly awful in their day. They would be mostly awful today.

[mad43dog]

They make them too baggy now

[Jungle Jim]

It pains me that the greatest years in the Cincinnati Reds' history were played in uniforms like this.

[Sean F&F]

Why do we need buttons in baseball?

It would eliminate this:

and this

The Philllies

I have no problem with buttons at all, but it seems weird for athletes to wear and play in button down shirts when you think about it.

[BrandMooreArt]

i think athletes of any sport should be wearing whatever enables them to perform at their best while maintaining a sense of decency. (no speed skater spandex suits)

[OnWis97]

i think athletes of any sport should be wearing whatever enables them to perform at their best while maintaining a sense of decency. (no speed skater spandex suits)

Would that mean the secondbaseman with buttons and shortstop with a pullover?

[BrandMooreArt]

i think athletes of any sport should be wearing whatever enables them to perform at their best while maintaining a sense of decency. (no speed skater spandex suits)

Would that mean the secondbaseman with buttons and shortstop with a pullover?

my honest opinion on baseball uniforms is that the players are currently wearing too much fabric; there's just no need for all of it except to maintain a traditional appearance, which stagnates progression, and cause some problems like posted above. all the major apparel companies have "self cooling" fabrics now, or at least access to them. a rough idea i have is to outfit players with a performance undershirt (adidas climachill example) with a lightweight pull-over vest over it. theres some work to be done with the pants and hats as well. i know when i played baseball the most annoying thing about standing in the outfield was the heavy, hot leather glove and the hat that made me sweat like crazy.

[johnnysama]

I would not mind pullover jerseys in baseball; as I've pointed out before, it makes the most sense, at least from a practical standpoint..... to me, a nice compromise is a V-neck pullover jersey w/a belted trouser. A nice way to meet halfway between traditional and progressive. (That, and the players need to wear their uniforms less loosely; I'm not saying go back to the 1980s tightness, but just make them a bit form-fitting, but allowing for freedom of movement at the same time.)

[uuh70]

Pullovers and elastic belts were mostly awful in their day. They would be mostly awful today.

IMO Stanford looks good in pullovers

[Sport]

It pains me that the greatest years in the Cincinnati Reds' history were played in uniforms like this.

Me too.

A team of the Big Red Machine's caliber should've dressed with more dignity. At least they made one World Series (1970) in these uniforms.

Had the Reds done the right thing and not changed to "athletic wear" in 1972 they'd still be wearing these uniforms. They'd be the red Dodgers.

I actually really like the uniforms they wore during the 1990 championship season. I thought they were a good improvement on the BRM pullovers, but the 1990 World Series was a fantastic matchup visually (and on the field SWEEP) and it would've looked so much better had the Reds not been in dated pullovers, thick pants stripe, and sansabelt pants. The A's dressed the part, the Reds came in looking like little leaguers.

Also the Mariners looked horrible in blue and yellow pullovers and the trident logo is one of the worst logos a team in the four major sports has ever used.

[bosrs1]

No. Pullovers and sansabelts belong in the past (70's and 80's). Button down jerseys and pants with belts belong in baseball.

Bingo. You want athetic wear find another sport to root for.

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

I can think of exactly two instances where a pullover jersey looked good.

(this goes for their jerseys of all three colours)

The Mariners' original pullovers get honourable mention. In all other cases, pullovers are inferior to button-down jerseys, as we saw in the late 1980s when several teams converted to button-down without changing anything else in the design of the jersey.

But nothing justifies waistband pants. All jerseys, including these two pullovers, should be worn with belted pants.

And the comment about the Reds' 1970s uniforms is spot-on: what a shame that they didn't keep the 1970 set throughout the decade.

The same goes for the Red Sox. Even though I didn't appreciate how bad the pullover / waistband uniform was at the time, in retrospect it was terrible, and was unbecoming a traditional team.