Nike Launches New MLB City Connect Uniform Series

[MJD7]

Alright, I honestly love these.

 

I'm so glad to see a team finally adopt the reverse pinstripe look, and the Sox were the perfect choice for it. As was said earlier in the thread, it's a perfect way to maintain the "innovativeness" their brand used to have while sticking close to the classic look.

 

They should switch to this number font full-time tomorrow. I love it, it's easily my favorite part about the uniform.

 

I'm not a huge fan of the minor details like the pattern or the cap logo, and the wordmark is alright, but in the bigger picture, this is easily my favorite of the City Connect jerseys so far, staying close to the recognizable brand while bringing baseball's aesthetics more into the present day.

[Kevin W.]

I love everything about this jersey above the belt.

 

YOU. DO NOT. DO. SOLID COLOR. PANTS. MATCHING. THE JERSEY.

 

Seriously, that look works just fine in softball but unless it's gray or white (or sand in the Padres' case) don't do the softball look. It looks awful in powder blue (every single time, no exceptions) and it looks awful here.

[BBTV]

34 minutes ago, Kevin W. said:

I love everything about this jersey above the belt.

 

YOU. DO NOT. DO. SOLID COLOR. PANTS. MATCHING. THE JERSEY.

 

Seriously, that look works just fine in softball but unless it's gray or white (or sand in the Padres' case) don't do the softball look. It looks awful in powder blue (every single time, no exceptions) and it looks awful here.

 

Now that there's a new skin and new features, can we finally get a thumbs-down icon so I can simply click that rather than having to post how much I disagree with this post?

 

I don't think all color-on-color looks would be acceptable, but black on black - and with pinstripes no less - is very reminiscent of the classic men's suit and is certainly formal enough to look acceptable on a major-league field.

[Ridleylash]

If the alternative to black pants on a black jersey is a baseball team looking like they have white boxers on with a black shirt and black socks, I'll take the all-black look lmao

[pepperbb]

1 hour ago, Kevin W. said:

I love everything about this jersey above the belt.

 

YOU. DO NOT. DO. SOLID COLOR. PANTS. MATCHING. THE JERSEY.

 

Seriously, that look works just fine in softball but unless it's gray or white (or sand in the Padres' case) don't do the softball look. It looks awful in powder blue (every single time, no exceptions) and it looks awful here.

I mean High profile college teams do same color jersey/pants and have been tasteful and not over the top. White Sox got it right with all black, but its no different then teams like the Phillies and Cardinals going all Sky blue... both of which that color isn't even part of their scheme, but still looks good.

[LakeShow24]

2-1 so far in the City Connect series (Boston's got the dud).

 

I'm looking forward for the Dodgers one in August (please be good).

[selgy]

The font is just too much

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

 

23 hours ago, LA_Angels said:

I feel as if Black Pants is a first for MLB, could be wrong.

 

23 hours ago, Marlins93 said:

Pretty sure Pirates have done it, although not with pinstripes.

 

I believe that the 1890s Baltimore Orioles of the National League had some black uniforms, even thought I cannot find an example.  But John McGraw brought the idea over to the Giants, who wore black jerseys and pants for a few seasons.  Here are McGraw and Matty in the 1911 uniform.

 

 

 

 

 

11 hours ago, Kevin W. said:

YOU. DO NOT. DO. SOLID COLOR. PANTS. MATCHING. THE JERSEY.

 

Seriously, that look works just fine in softball but unless it's gray or white (or sand in the Padres' case) don't do the softball look. It looks awful in powder blue (every single time, no exceptions) and it looks awful here.

 

I agree with the sentiment.  And I almost agree with the assertion about the powder blue, which looked terrible on the Phillies, Twins, Mariners, Expos, and Blue Jays, and looked painfully embarrassing on the Cardinals.

 

But there was indeed an exception.  Maybe it doesn't count because it was slightly darker than the other teams' powder blue, but this is a great look for the Royals on the road:

 

 

By contrast, the team's latter-day use of this colour at home, paired with white pants, looks awkward.

 

Also, the new Sox alt uniform won't be the first time the team has worn dark-coloured pants.  They had an all-blue uniform for the first couple of decades of the 20th century.

 

 

 

And the Cubs did, too; here is Frank Chance in 1911, pictured next to John McGraw in the standard Giants' white home uniform.

 

 

 

 

You will of course recognise the Sox' wordmark in the previous shot from the late-1970s uniforms.  That set had jerseys and pants in both white and blue, and they were worn in all combinations, including all blue.

 

 

I won't say that I liked the all-blue combination.  But this set really looked nice when either the jersey or pants (or both) were white.  So for me the white-over-blue combination constitutes a rare example of a good use of dark-coloured pants.

 

 

The only flaw in the set was that the collar didn't go all the way around the shirt, but consisted of just a couple of wings on the front.

[Gothamite]

16 hours ago, MEANS said:

I'm surprised that these aren't as bad as I expected and with a few tweaks could actually be nice uniforms.

-"Southside" needs to be more legible it can read at a quick glance as: "Smithside"

 

isn’t “South Side” supposed to be two words anyway?  Do Chigacoans really collapse it into one?  

 

[Quillz]

My first thought: I didn't know it was "Southside." I always thought it was "south side." But I'm not from Chicago, so I don't know.

 

My second thought: actually not that bad. I recall the Yankees back in the 1970s were considering doing a reversed road jersey (navy blue with white pinstripes). I actually like how this looks. Especially the number font, wouldn't mind that being adopted full time.

 

I'd say alongside Miami, this one is pretty good. I also wonder if that means the Cubs will embrace "Northside?"

[Gothamite]

Yes, all-dark uniforms were a thing in the early days. And then the Sox tried to bring them back in the first deliberately retro-styled uniform. 

 

The Milwaukee Brewers unveiled an all-blue road uniform in 1942 and got laughed off the diamond.  Teams would catcall from opposing dugouts and they changed to gray roadies the following year. 

[Quillz]

1 minute ago, Gothamite said:

Yes, all-dark uniforms were a thing in the early days. And then the Sox tried to bring them back in the first deliberately retro-styled uniform. 

 

The Milwaukee Brewers unveiled an all-blue road uniform in 1942 and got laughed off the diamond.  Teams would catcall from opposing dugouts and they changed to gray roadies the following year. 

The Brewers didn't exist in 1942.

[Gothamite]

2 minutes ago, Quillz said:

My first thought: I didn't know it was "Southside." I always thought it was "south side." But I'm not from Chicago, so I don't know.

 

I’ve been to Chicago enough, and I’ve always seen it as two words. 
 

https://chicagostudies.uchicago.edu/sides

 

2 minutes ago, Quillz said:

My second thought: actually not that bad. I recall the Yankees back in the 1970s were considering doing a reversed road jersey (navy blue with white pinstripes). I actually like how this looks. Especially the number font, wouldn't mind that being adopted full time.

Your recollection is correct.  Fortunately the Yanks didn’t do that - they made enough changes as it is, and all for the worst. 

 

2 minutes ago, Quillz said:

I also wonder if that means the Cubs will embrace "Northside?"

That is an interesting point.  
 

And FWIW, that should be two words too.  

[Gothamite]

4 minutes ago, Quillz said:

The Brewers didn't exist in 1942.

 

[DEAD!]

12 minutes ago, Quillz said:

The Brewers didn't exist in 1942.

This was not the Seattle Pilots version he's talking about.

South Side should obviously be two words. I wonder if the White Sox just did not want two upper case S' s and or did not want an empty space? 

[SFGiants58]

17 hours ago, the admiral said:

MOD EDIT

MOD EDIT

 

As for the all-black design with reversed pinstripes, I love it! A splitting of the words and the normal cap would make it better, but I love reviving an ancient kind of design. If only the Giants would bring back the all-black look one day...

[The_Admiral]

42 minutes ago, Quillz said:

I also wonder if that means the Cubs will embrace "Northside?"

 

I don't expect it. The White Sox have have superserved their side of town more than the Cubs have theirs, and while the Cubs have always been more of a regional/national team than the White Sox, the words "South Side of Chicago" mean more to people beyond the city, for better or worse, than the North Side does. I would expect the Cubs to do something with the city flag, as if no one's tired of that yet.

 

But let's be perfectly clear about what this is, which is a jersey for and about black people, and not in any way I'd describe as particularly edifying. It's a reflection of a reflection, wherein the Sox monogram became popular in hip-hop culture, so then these designers built around it and created a wordmark and number set that looks like a tattoo for people in gangs. What other local association are people meant to draw from "Southside" [sic] in cumbersome blackletter type? the header of the Tribune? No, get real. It's a baldly cynical attempt to profit from the South Side's reputation for rampant gang violence, pretending to be some warts-and-all embrace of a bad situation just to sell overpriced jerseys. It rubs me the wrong way. Of course, I've never cared for the Sox' green St. Patrick's Day stuff for the Irish side of the fanbase, either, but this feels more exploitative. 

[SFGiants58]

On 5/29/2021 at 7:23 AM, the admiral said:

But let's be perfectly clear about what this is, which is a jersey for and about black people, and not in any way I'd describe as particularly edifying. It's a reflection of a reflection, wherein the Sox monogram became popular in hip-hop culture, so then these designers built around it and created a wordmark and number set that looks like a tattoo for people in gangs. What other local association are people meant to draw from "Southside" [sic] in cumbersome blackletter type? the header of the Tribune? No, get real. It's a baldly cynical attempt to profit from the South Side's reputation for rampant gang violence, pretending to be some warts-and-all embrace of a bad situation just to sell overpriced jerseys. It rubs me the wrong way. Of course, I've never cared for the Sox' green St. Patrick's Day stuff for the Irish side of the fanbase, either, but this feels more exploitative. 

EDIT: Retracted 100%

[Krz]

Common’s song is called “Southside” not “South Side”. 

[The_Admiral]

Well, Common isn't a publication with a style manual, is he?