Nike Launches New MLB City Connect Uniform Series

[MJD7]

On 7/5/2021 at 11:32 AM, Htown1141 said:

Time to play the interesting game of “did they actually take inspiration from a design I did 6 years ago?”

 

I mean I feel weird for thinking that these two ideas could be linked somehow, but Nike usually, for better or worse, does something we’ve NEVER seen before. This feels weird.

 

Also, the hat sucks. Like as for the jersey, the weird diffuse fog gradient is dumb and the big ol G is hilariously even dumber. Bad. Booooooooooo. Gross bad dumb bad jersey and even worse hat.

I honestly had never seen this design before today, but I also ended up doing a nearly identical bridge design for a Giants City jersey. I don’t think it’s far-fetched at all to think that Nike came up with this design without seeing either of our ideas, but I do agree with you that it is strange to see Nike use an idea that is not completely original, since at the very least they normally do that.

 

I couldn’t put my finger on what it was at first, but @oldschoolvikings said it:  the “fog” design really looks more like snow. There were other, better ways I think they could have implemented the fog motif if they really wanted to, such as gradually lightening the orange, sort of like they did on the wordmark directly above the jocktag.

 

While there have been some NBA City jerseys I’ve really liked, and even some I prefer to primary sets, there’s not a single jersey of these so far that I’d keep in the rotation, if given the opportunity to drop them. Maybe it’s the tradition of baseball that I’ve been more invested in over the years, or maybe it’s the one-by-one rollout, I don’t know. But I really wish MLB went in a different direction than they have.

[CaliforniaGlowin]

I can only speak from experience. I'm a white suburban computer nerd who has loved black culture since a teenager.  Hip hop was my first musical genre.  I love street culture on sports uniforms and I want more of it.

 

Someone posted on Twitter that if the Giants get a fog jersey, LA gets a smog jersey

[Htown1141]

4 minutes ago, MJD7 said:

I honestly had never seen this design before today, but I also ended up doing a nearly identical bridge design for a Giants City jersey.

Okay that's even more BS, because all those city jerseys were posted onto Uni-Watch! This is an absolute joke.

[BBTV]

1 hour ago, Carolingian Steamroller said:

Yeah Marilyn was all about the life...

 

 

Not sure why you're taking this so personally.  The fact is, the White Sox have never used that font for any writing (on a game jersey) outside of the logo.  Even those old uniforms that you posted show some other olde-timey font used on the cap logo. 

 

I think it's incredibly naïve to think that their rebrand in the '90s was purely about throwing it back, and not at least a little bit about selling caps to a demo that's probably not buying too many of the previous navy/red style.  It's also naïve to think that this city connect jersey isn't at least a little bit designed for the same reason.  

 

It doesn't make anyone a racist to say that, and it also doesn't mean the team is evil for doing it - but it is what it (at least a little bit) is.

[GhostOfNormMacdonald]

17 minutes ago, O.C.D said:

I'm having a hard time understanding your perspective.

 

Are you saying gothic font tattoos have no history of gang affiliation?

Are you saying only racist people think that?

Are you saying they used to have gang affiliation but not anymore?

 

Please help me here

We're having a hard time understanding your perspective. You're hung up on the fact the Sox are using a gothic font because you think it's a gang thing when that's obviously not what they are going for. You're taking a club based in a black part of Chicago and saying that they're trying to appeal to gangs and criminals.  :censored: gets repurposed and reclaimed all the time,  just ask Hindus and Buddhist. And you insisting that black culture in Chicago is intrinsically tied to gangs and criminals is racist. Besides the fact that it's obviously partially inspired by trying to make a full font out of the SOX logo

[Carolingian Steamroller]

@BBTV

 

We are talking about the conflation of Black culture, Hip Hop, and the South Side of Chicago generally with murderous bloodshed. 
 

A tale as old as time.
 

Is there a reason I should not be offended?

[GhostOfNormMacdonald]

4 minutes ago, Carolingian Steamroller said:

Is there a reason I should not be offended?

Oldheads that have gone their entire lives unaware of how stereotypes can actively harm entire communities might feel uncomfortable. Why won't you think of the white middle class?

[BBTV]

7 minutes ago, Carolingian Steamroller said:

@BBTV

 

We are talking about the conflation of Black culture, Hip Hop, and the South Side of Chicago generally with murderous bloodshed. 
 

A tale as old as time.
 

Is there a reason I should not be offended?

I don't know anything about murderous bloodshed, and honestly I don't know much about the south side of Chicago*.

 

Maybe I skimmed the parts of the thread that may have been offensive - I'm just saying that there may have been an ulterior motive behind the design - to appeal to consumers that may not necessarily be baseball fans, and to get the brand more into pop culture (and let's be honest - the White Sox have never been relevant in pop culture prior to the caps popping up everywhere.)

 

*it's pretty irrelevant, but my only experience in the south side of Chicago was in summer '08 when I stayed in a Holiday Inn and there was a carjacking right outside of my window.  I don't consider that a strike against the south side because that stuff happens everywhere (including down the street from where I currently live), and I had honestly forgotten about that experience until around 5 mins ago.

[O.C.D]

12 minutes ago, NormMacdonald said:

We're having a hard time understanding your perspective. You're hung up on the fact the Sox are using a gothic font because you think it's a gang thing when that's obviously not what they are going for. You're taking a club based in a black part of Chicago and saying that they're trying to appeal to gangs and criminals.  gets repurposed and reclaimed all the time,  just ask Hindus and Buddhist. And you insisting that black culture in Chicago is intrinsically tied to gangs and criminals is racist. Besides the fact that it's obviously partially inspired by trying to make a full font out of the SOX logo

I said gothic style font has a history of gang affiliation. You decided that meant I was talking about black people. You made that connection and imposed it on me. You've created a caricature of my argument and are now arguing against that

10 minutes ago, Carolingian Steamroller said:

@BBTV

 

We are talking about the conflation of Black culture, Hip Hop, and the South Side of Chicago generally with murderous bloodshed. 
 

A tale as old as time.
 

Is there a reason I should not be offended?

I said gothic style font has a history of gang affiliation. I never once said it was synonymous with black culture, hip hop or Chicago. You made that presupposition and put it on me.

 

[BBTV]

Here's something that's funny - I don't wear hats very often, but the only two non-Phillies caps I own are a Tigers navy-on-navy 3930 and a White Sox 3930 that I wear to the gym.  If the Orioles ever market that blackletter B cap, I'll probably get that too.

[Indigo]

1 hour ago, O.C.D said:

No. I have an issue with the whole uniform being gothic font because gothic font has a historical connection with criminality. At no point did I say that criminality is a synonym for being black.

They are not trying to suggest glorifying criminality. They are trying to connect with the Black section of Chicago, the South Side

[Indigo]

14 minutes ago, O.C.D said:

I said gothic style font has a history of gang affiliation. You decided that meant I was talking about black people. You made that connection and imposed it on me. You've created a caricature of my argument and are now arguing against that

I said gothic style font has a history of gang affiliation. I never once said it was synonymous with black culture, hip hop or Chicago. You made that presupposition and put it on me.

 

Are you involved in such gangs? Do you live near some? If not, they you are probably going off of what the rest of us are—common knowledge. Who do the media portray as “gangsters” and “criminals”? If it’s not a Hispanic mafia/crime family, it’s a Black gang in the hood.  Who they associate with gothic fonts? Black gangs. The fact that you assume that they are glorifying gang activity, whether intentionally it or not, is tied to race. The South Side of Chicago is predominantly Black, so they are sell a product that their demographic would buy. 

[sportsfan7]

Man, my dogs ears have really perked up

[Carolingian Steamroller]

1 hour ago, BBTV said:

Maybe I skimmed the parts of the thread that may have been offensive - I'm just saying that there may have been an ulterior motive behind the design - to appeal to consumers that may not necessarily be baseball fans, and to get the brand more into pop culture (and let's be honest - the White Sox have never been relevant in pop culture prior to the caps popping up everywhere.)

 

I'll give a rundown on the timeline. This is backed up by interviews with the people involved, you are free to fact check me.

In 1949, the White Sox switched from the intertwining S-o-x format they'd had basically, in one form or another, since 1912 to a new Gothic style S-o-x (apparently in emulation of Yankees). The would wear that mark (first in black and white, then black and red, then blue and white, and finally red and white) on their jerseys until 1976. 

In 1976, new Sox owner Bill Veeck brought out new blue and white threads along with the horizontal SOX logo and swinging batter logo. Much of that was maintained in the next decade and a half through two changes in uniforms and one change in ownership.

 

In the late 80's, Sox management started looking for a rebrand as the team was preparing to move across the street to New Comiskey Park in 1991. Market testing with Sox fans revealed the two most popular uniforms were the black and red Gothic S-o-x from the 1950's and the red and white Gothic S-o-x from the 1970's. Other testing showed them that black and silver were poised to become the colors of 90's with the LA Kings introducing a new black and silver scheme right when some guy named Gretzky joined the team. Using black and silver also differentiated the Sox from the crosstown Cubs (which is pretty important to Sox fans). When the new design was revealed in mid season of 1990, the fan reaction throughout Chicago was so positive that they broke out the new uniforms that season. 

Of particular note, Hip Hop performers and especially N.W.A. became enamored with the new black and white caps. Ice Cube has said that the group were fans of the color scheme and the logo. The group wore a lot of team apparel and had been wearing black and white as a broad group aesthetic since at least 1988 with the Raiders and Kings both in LA and both wearing black/white/silver color schemes.

The look rapidly spread through the entirety of hip hop and R&B culture with performers ranging from Public Enemy and Tupac to Aaliyah and KC & JoJo sporting the black and white cap. It was everywhere throughout the industry. It remains an iconic design within the Hip Hop aesthetic worn by performers even if they are not from Chicago (e.g. Kendrick Lamar).

So the cap blowing up in popularity was a huge deal. Famously the New Era factory had to produce only White Sox caps for two weeks to keep up with demand.  It is the main presence the White Sox  have in pop culture (aside from the Black Sox Scandal, which coincidentally is being promoted through the Field of Dreams game this season) and it is deeply rooted in Black culture and Hip Hop.

So yes, it is trying to appeal to an audience that isn't necessarily fixated on baseball but its building on the team's existing cultural connections, both local and global, that go back at least 30 years.

[Carolingian Steamroller]

12 minutes ago, sportsfan7 said:

Man, my dogs ears have really perked up

 

Sorry the old pooch has to deal with this the day after the 4th.

[O.C.D]

1 hour ago, LA Fakers+ LA Snippers said:

They are not trying to suggest glorifying criminality. They are trying to connect with the Black section of Chicago, the South Side

I don't think their goal was to glorify criminality. There are people who see gothic style font and associate it with gangs and criminality because they've seen criminals and gang members with gothic font tattoos. 

1 hour ago, LA Fakers+ LA Snippers said:

Are you involved in such gangs? Do you live near some? If not, they you are probably going off of what the rest of us are—common knowledge. Who do the media portray as “gangsters” and “criminals”? If it’s not a Hispanic mafia/crime family, it’s a Black gang in the hood.  Who they associate with gothic fonts? Black gangs. The fact that you assume that they are glorifying gang activity, whether intentionally it or not, is tied to race. The South Side of Chicago is predominantly Black, so they are sell a product that their demographic would buy. 

Not in a gang. Live close to a city with a lot of gang activity. Gothic font isn't exclusive to black gangs though. White, Hispanic, and  Black gangs have/will use gothic font in their tattoos. I haven't used the term gang activity as a euphemism, dog whistle or synonym for black people or black culture.

[CaliforniaGlowin]

Gothic and graffiti fonts on uniforms reflect the culture, not the negative activity.  These arguments are like Miami heat vice uniforms promoting cocaine use. There are more aspects to the culture than negativity. 

[Old School Fool]

I always thought the White Sox hat was cool because it's black and white and you could wear it with anything since it's neutral colors. That right there is an absolute winner. If i wanna wear a pink suit and a White Sox hat then nobody is gonna stop me. Okay maybe a few people will try to stop me, but it will still be okay.

 

Ironically, the only White Sox hat I own is the throwback batting practice one from 2014.

[FiddySicks]

I kinda hate myself for this a bit, but I think I’m warming somewhat to the sleeve bridges. It’s actually sort of well put together and gives the traditional thin piping outline more of a unique kick. If they could just restrain themselves and use just that pattern on the BP jerseys, or even dare I say the black alt jersey, I think I would be fine with that. The fog nonsense and using the block font G as a logo has gotta go, though (especially considering they already have a cursive g logo that works just fine). 

[_DietDrPepper_]

2 hours ago, O.C.D said:

. There are people who see gothic style font and associate it with gangs and criminality because they've seen criminals and gang members with gothic font tattoos. 

There are people who associate it with gangs and criminality because they unjustly associate black culture with gangs and criminality and criminalize black people.

Let’s also not forget how many black “criminals” are also in jail for non-violent offenses and shouldn’t be in there to begin with.