MLB Changes 2020

[BBTV]

It's stupid when helmets don't match hats.  To match, they'd need to either have white helmets and then paint stripes onto them, or just wear red caps.  The white pinstriped helmets would look way more absurd than the already silly white caps did.

[BadSeed84]

 

Diamondbacks should bring back these bad boys.

[BBTV]

32 minutes ago, EddieJ1984 said:

 

Diamondbacks should bring back these bad boys.

 

Every single thing about that uniform looks silly.  

 

1.  White hat looks like something to be sold to fans, not worn on a field. For reasons beaten to death, white hats are silly in baseball.  Looking from the stands, I don't want to see a bunch of white caps running around, and they get all sweaty and dirty.

 

2.  The helmets didn't match.  The literal point of helmets is to be like a hard hat, so it should match.  No exceptions.

 

3.  The team name is "Diamondbacks", not "Diamond Backs".  It's not an ideal name for a team, just due to its length and relative obscurity (it's perfect for a minor-league team where identities are usually super localized) but splitting one word into two is never the right solution.  They nailed it with the A-chest jerseys that they won the WS in.  Those were great.

[VandyDelphia Mike]

In the rare instances that MLB teams took the field in a white cap, helmets weren't white.

 

College level, though - they'll match helmet to hat.  

 

 

[DG_ThenNowForever]

2 hours ago, EddieJ1984 said:

 

Diamondbacks should bring back these bad boys.

 

In contrast to @BringBackTheVet, I agree. The Diamondbacks have rebranded too much and lost their original charm. I don't think their original set was the best in baseball history or anything, but they looked like a consistent, thoughtfully-designed baseball team:

 

I guess these are better than the dotted uniforms they had worn the last season or two, but they're soulless in a way the original set wasn't.

 

 

[BadSeed84]

Diamond Backs is still better than D-Backs.

[mjd77]

 

13 hours ago, EddieJ1984 said:

 

Diamondbacks should bring back these bad boys.

 

Normally I would hate white hats, but this has always been the 1 example I liked.  It just seems to work with that jersey, IMO.

[SilverBullet1929]

I just noticed this today so I wanted to see if anyone can confirm this or am I seeing things and is this intentional or just a happy accident... the 1971 California Angels cap, which I believe was a one year only style, is the lower part of the a meant to be a C for California? 

[Bmac]

1 hour ago, SilverBullet1929 said:

I just noticed this today so I wanted to see if anyone can confirm this or am I seeing things and is this intentional or just a happy accident... the 1971 California Angels cap, which I believe was a one year only style, is the lower part of the a meant to be a C for California? 

 

Now that you mention it, I wonder if that was the intent.

 

[Gothamite]

That first came up a couple years ago, but nobody could ever come up with anything at all supporting it.  Like the “P” some people see in the Padres’ logo, it’s unintended.  That’s not actually a “c”, nor was it intended to be. 

[crashcarson15]

I don’t love the black-heavy away jerseys like I did when I was a kid (they’re more a relic of the era), but the jersey the Diamondbacks won the World Series in was a modern classic, a great fusion of “things appropriate for a 90s expansion team” and “things consistent with traditional baseball design”. It’s one of my favorite baseball jerseys ever — just look how good it looks against the Yankees.

 

 

It’s still a shame they ditched it to play Astros dress-up.

[PrimalCookie]

On 6/26/2020 at 12:24 PM, VandyDelphia Mike said:

 

 

Kudos to them for matching the hat and helmet, but both of these looks would look better with blue/orange hats instead.

[Lumbergh]

On 6/25/2020 at 9:53 AM, WSU151 said:

One day the Reds will realize red and white are the only two colors they need. The black accents look worse as time goes on.

I've been saying this for a while now too. Couldn't agree more. It would be such a clean look and also very unique. I think logically that would be their next step. 

[gosioux76]

On 6/26/2020 at 11:35 AM, DG_ThenNowForever said:

 

In contrast to @BringBackTheVet, I agree. The Diamondbacks have rebranded too much and lost their original charm. I don't think their original set was the best in baseball history or anything, but they looked like a consistent, thoughtfully-designed baseball team:

 

I guess these are better than the dotted uniforms they had worn the last season or two, but they're soulless in a way the original set wasn't.

 

 

 

I never cared for the purple and teal of the original set. It always felt like too much of a late '90s novelty, and not befitting a team in the desert. But the shift to red/black was an extreme overcorrection. I think a good solution is to embrace the turquoise alternates: It's a novelty, but one that's regionally relevant, and it's just subtle enough to not be tacky.

[Old School Fool]

On 6/26/2020 at 9:35 AM, DG_ThenNowForever said:

 

In contrast to @BringBackTheVet, I agree. The Diamondbacks have rebranded too much and lost their original charm. I don't think their original set was the best in baseball history or anything, but they looked like a consistent, thoughtfully-designed baseball team:

 

The funny thing about this picture is that those are the Phoenix Suns modeling the uniforms and not anybody from the Diamondbacks.

 

From what I can tell from left to right, it's Danny Manning, Danny Ainge, Wesley Person, Paul Westphal and Kevin Johnson. This means the picture was taken in either 1995 or 1996 based on the players which means there was no Diamondbacks players to model the uniforms. The teal hat didn't even make it to the field either.

[TBGKon]

21 minutes ago, gosioux76 said:

 

I never cared for the purple and teal of the original set. It always felt like too much of a late '90s novelty, and not befitting a team in the desert. But the shift to red/black was an extreme overcorrection. I think a good solution is to embrace the turquoise alternates: It's a novelty, but one that's regionally relevant, and it's just subtle enough to not be tacky.

Agreed, something about that desert red and light turquoise really goes together.  Toss in the black and sand for accent and thats a good combo.

[Digby]

44 minutes ago, Old School Fool said:

 

The funny thing about this picture is that those are the Phoenix Suns modeling the uniforms and not anybody from the Diamondbacks.

 

From what I can tell from left to right, it's Danny Manning, Danny Ainge, Wesley Person, Paul Westphal and Kevin Johnson. This means the picture was taken in either 1995 or 1996 based on the players which means there was no Diamondbacks players to model the uniforms. The teal hat didn't even make it to the field either.

 

Thank you for this. I both couldn't recall a teal hat (though I kinda like it) nor a time when Danny Ainge played for the D'Backs. (The Jays however...)

[TheOatsMustFlow]

1 hour ago, Old School Fool said:

 

The funny thing about this picture is that those are the Phoenix Suns modeling the uniforms and not anybody from the Diamondbacks.

 

From what I can tell from left to right, it's Danny Manning, Danny Ainge, Wesley Person, Paul Westphal and Kevin Johnson. This means the picture was taken in either 1995 or 1996 based on the players which means there was no Diamondbacks players to model the uniforms. The teal hat didn't even make it to the field either.

 

 

There's not much evidence that I could find but the teal hat made it on field at least once. One of my favorites.

[AndrewG70]

14 hours ago, Old School Fool said:

 

The funny thing about this picture is that those are the Phoenix Suns modeling the uniforms and not anybody from the Diamondbacks.

Back when those uniforms were unveiled, the Diamondbacks didn’t have any players yet. So they had members of the co-owned Suns model them.

[schlim]

The Diamondbacks and Devil Rays always felt odd and almost as an afterthought as expansion teams.

 

When the Marlins and Rockies entered the league in '93 there were cities bidding against each other for the two slots (I remember reading the Sporting News and hearing about Buffalo's bid). It seemed like a true open ended process that ended with baseball selecting the two best cities (even writing that makes my younger self feel very pollyanna).

 

When '98 expansion came around, it just seemed like baseball said, 'here's two more teams, and they both have convoluted names and identities'. Then Arizona ended up with 54 uni combos and Tampa got a gradient logo.

 

Edit:

Here's a look at the 1993 expansion process, which was drawn out and started in 1985:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1993_Major_League_Baseball_expansion

The 98 expansion actually  had 27!!!! applicants, but only lasted a year:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_Major_League_Baseball_expansion