2016 MLB Playoffs

[CS85]

I'm actually not a big fan of the blue alts the Cubs wear.  I think it's an inferior uniform.  Not terrible at all, just not nearly as good as the default home and road.  It was a little more tolerable when they had the red bill on their road caps, but oh well.  There are certainly worse uniforms.

[Ray Lankford]

26 minutes ago, SilverBullet1929 said:

I don't have a problem with what you're saying here. In most cases it's ok if the alts are just different color versions of the primary. Having too many unique elements differing from jersey to jersey is what leads to convoluted messes like the Padres, Brewers, and Diamondbacks. Even quality uniforms have this problem like the Dodgers having piping on the road sleeves and not on the home sleeves. Some consistency is needed at times. Keeping designs relatively similar helps strengthen the identity. There are exceptions to this of course.

I think the best ("best") example of what I'm looking for is the Pirates. They have three different jerseys but they all have the same piping tying them together. And the worst would be the Rangers and Nats, who have three versions of the same jersey.

[OnWis97]

So what's worse?

 

Cubs, a team from the 1800s, winning for the first time in 108 years, in a sport with more traditional uniforms breaking the curse in their blue alts or the Cavs, less tradition but arguably a more clownish uniform, winning their title in the black alts?

 

It's a tough call.  The purist in me wants to say Cubs but I'll say Cavs. The Cavs were wearing a non-team color with a giant team logo.  Those did not really look like basketball uniforms.  The Cubs, while their home uniform's a classic, have never quite nailed the road uniform.  I wish both had been in their primaries, but the Cavs look a bit more ridiculous on the highlights that will be shown for the rest of time.

 

Had the Cubs worn blue at home, that would be a different story.  To win it all in the blues when they could have been in the pinstripes would have been a sacrilege.  

[Ray Lankford]

The Cubs' grey jerseys only date back 20 years so they're not exactly classics.

[JayMac]

2 hours ago, Ice_Cap said:

Still Championship-less too. 

Very good point. So getting rid of it completely has covered all bases (no pun intended there)...racist, ugly, and a mark of mostly mediocrity.

[SFGiants58]

This is the only Cubs grey jersey that I felt the team "nailed," the 1958-68 version (thanks for the screengrab, @Bmac):

 

 

Maybe it would be a good idea to adjust the piping/striping, but it still looks better than any road uniform they've had since.

 

I'm just happy these got retired before the Cubs could clinch in them:

 

[Jungle Jim]

On 11/3/2016 at 7:53 AM, daveindc said:

 

lol. Which one is it? "ST jerseys" or "softball jerseys"? 

How many decades has MLB teams use color jerseys now? They are just as traditional as any other uniform piece. You may prefer the white and gray tops, but what do you think you're accomplishing by continuing to refer to the color tops as "softball jerseys", "ST jerseys", etc? They aren't going anywhere regardless of what you call them.

 

Spring Training jerseys, softball tops, BP jerseys, Little League shirts...they're all synonyms, and useful terms to disparage uniform pieces that deserve to be disparaged.  Just because something is popular or commonplace, doesn't make it tasteful or attractive.  Sports history is littered with uniform trends that came and (thankfully) went.  I'm just hoping this trend goes away someday, as well.  Unfortunately, you're probably right about them not going away any time soon, though.

 

 

[Ray Lankford]

4 hours ago, Jungle Jim said:

 

Spring Training jerseys, softball tops, BP jerseys, Little League shirts...they're all synonyms, and useful terms to disparage uniform pieces that deserve to be disparaged.  Just because something is popular or commonplace, doesn't make it tasteful or attractive.  Sports history is littered with uniform trends that came and (thankfully) went.  I'm just hoping this trend goes away someday, as well.  Unfortunately, you're probably right about them not going away any time soon, though.

 

 

The Cubs have had a blue jersey for the past 35 years or so.

[FinsUp1214]

7 hours ago, SFGiants58 said:

This is the only Cubs grey jersey that I felt the team "nailed," the 1958-68 version (thanks for the screengrab, @Bmac):

 

 

Maybe it would be a good idea to adjust the piping/striping, but it still looks better than any road uniform they've had since.

 

Oh absolutely. I've always thought that to be their best road uniform by far. They could take it completely as-is and replace the current roads with it, and I'd be absolutely thrilled.

 

Plus, c'mon; Banks, Santo, Jenkins, and Williams wore it. Knowing that, you can't help but get the feel-goods seeing it.  

 

 

[Cujo]

20 hours ago, dennisbergan said:

The nerds here think every team should wear white at home and grey on the road 162 games out of the year.

 

They get their feelings hurt when teams in baseball actually have the audacity to wear some color.

 

Not hurt at all. Just suggesting Cleveland mix it up a lil, especially while they were tanking that 3-1 series lead.

 

Like the '07 Rockies and those horrible alt vests. Not sure there was anybody on planet earth who enjoyed seeing those for 20 straight games.

[Cujo]

11 hours ago, CS85 said:

I'm actually not a big fan of the blue alts the Cubs wear.  I think it's an inferior uniform.  Not terrible at all, just not nearly as good as the default home and road.  It was a little more tolerable when they had the red bill on their road caps, but oh well.  There are certainly worse uniforms.

 

While I do wish the blue alts had a little more going on, like red/white trim (ala their 80s blue uni), they're totally acceptable -- especially now that they've clinched a World Series while wearing them.

 

However, that NL sleeve patch does nothing for me. I'd much rather see a Cubs primary logo patch or anything Cubs/Wrigley related.

[The_Admiral]

The 58-68 road script is the best (honorable mention to the 1991-1993 one because I <3 slab serifs) because it gets the blue-red color distribution right and is the only lettering that feels like it remotely matches the Cubs' numbers, which are theirs and theirs alone. The piping is a problem because it looks too red for a blue team. I'd drop all that.

 

I can't get too bent out of shape about the Cubs winning the World Series in blue because, for one thing, MY CHICAGO CUBS FINALLY WON THE WORLD SERIES WOOOOOOOOO, but also because the grey jersey, with that ugly road script and red numbers and white outlines everywhere, is no great shakes itself. If they had a grey jersey with that '60s script and used the same lettering and numbers as the home jersey, yeah, I'd hate to see that get shelved in the World Series, but as it is I'm dealing with the whole thing just fine.

[Unocal]

I think in the case of the Cubs and the alternate unis, it seems to be pitcher specific.

 

Until game 7, they only wore the blue unis in the postseason when Arrieta was pitching.

 

I watched a LOT of Cub games this year and checked out GettyImages. From what I gathered, I hear that sometimes it's the pitcher's choice.

 

Arrieta and Hendricks always wore those in road games. (Only time I saw Jake in a grey Chicago 49 all year was at the All-Star Game, when ironically he didn't pitch)

 

Lackey only wore them twice all year- in April- when  he pitched. He got shelled at Cincy/Arizona and didn't pitch in them again on the road.

 

Lester sometimes pitched in both, but stopped wearing the blue alternates after July 24 until game 7 (And coincidentially, he went on an insane stretch of great pitching after that).

[IceCap]

On 2016-11-04 at 3:42 AM, Thomas said:

I feel the bandwagon is very strong in this one! There are 2,5 mil. people in Chicago, and half of them are White Sox fans?

half a million people in Kansas City and 3 mil in the whole state. 

And cubs merchandise will sell at least sell 8 times as much? It seems like everyone  everywhere suddenly was a lifelong cubs fans, and/or had a 90 year old relative who went to wrigley as a toddler.  

I'm sorry people are having fun.

[Thomas]

Just now, Ice_Cap said:

I'm sorry people are having fun.

But fake fun is lame, then it's just another excuse to get drunk. There definitely are many bandwagon fans this year, and way too many sob stories.  

[IceCap]

4 minutes ago, Thomas said:

But fake fun is lame, then it's just another excuse to get drunk. There definitely are many bandwagon fans this year, and way too many sob stories.  

Why do you care? Sports are inherently silly. Even the most authentic fans out there place a lot of emotion on the success or failure of a private company that plays a game. 

And hey, I'm not criticizing. I do it too. I'm just saying that sports, at its most basic level, is irrational and a means to have a good time. 

If people want to have a good time by jumping on the Cubs' bandwagon? All the power to 'em.

 

Personally? I'm not a Cubs fan and won't pretend to be one. I do like a good story though, and the Cubs ending a 108 year drought is a good story. 

[jsp34]

On 11/4/2016 at 2:42 AM, Thomas said:

Cubs gear is on pace to do $30 million in online retail sales alone in the first 24 hours, which would be roughly eight times what fans spent on those official site for gear of last year's Kansas City Royals championship team. Factoring in sales from the local market, sources say the Cubs' first 24 hours of sales should approach $70 million in retail sales, which would make it the hottest postgame championship market of all time.

 

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/17965234/chicago-cubs-championship-gear-already-setting-merchandise-records

 

I feel the bandwagon is very strong in this one! There are 2,5 mil. people in Chicago, and half of them are White Sox fans?

half a million people in Kansas City and 3 mil in the whole state. 

And cubs merchandise will sell at least sell 8 times as much? It seems like everyone  everywhere suddenly was a lifelong cubs fans, and/or had a 90 year old relative who went to wrigley as a toddler.  

 

Don't forget most of us who live in the suburbs of Chicago are Cubs fans. I went to the parade and rally along with packed cars on the metra yesterday too. And of course there is the history too.

[Unocal]

As for the alternate on alternate matchup.... little bit of overkill if done way too much.

 

Alternate vs. regular uniforms can be a nice thing when done correctly:

 

 

I didn't mind the Indians alternate unis when they were at Wrigley though (since obviously the Cubs don't wear blue at home anymore).

[Coast2CoastAM2006]

I'm pretty sure if the Cubs came out wearing the Big Tent Isle Clowns uniforms and still broke managed to break a 108 year drought, no one would bat an eye. Only thing that matters is the final W. How they look winning the final W is for us to bicker among ourselves about. 

[Around the Horn]

On November 4, 2016 at 0:50 PM, SFGiants58 said:

This is the only Cubs grey jersey that I felt the team "nailed," the 1958-68 version (thanks for the screengrab, @Bmac):

 

 

Maybe it would be a good idea to adjust the piping/striping, but it still looks better than any road uniform they've had since.

 

 

Yes without a doubt! The alternate should also be a blue version of this.