MLB: Trying to Please Everyone With Nike's 4+1 Rule (White Sox 4/26)

[coco1997]

Happy Opening Day!

This is a series over a year in the making. When Nike’s 4+ 1 rule went into effect prior to the 2023 season, it got me thinking: Taken to its logical extreme, what if Nike not only limited each team to four jerseys, but mandated that number? What would it look like if teams who have historically refrained from wearing alternates, such as the Yankees, Dodgers and Tigers, suddenly had two each?
 

Now, I want to make it clear that I in no way condone such an idea. This is simply a creative exercise to imagine what it would look like if all 30 MLB teams had five uniform options. The truth is the majority of the league isn’t actually impacted by the 4+ 1 rule. As such, I’ll be leaving those teams alone. I will, however, be using this series as an opportunity to fix some things that have always bugged me about a few teams’ looks; no major redesigns, just some tweaks here and there. I also want to avoid teams having multiple jerseys of the same color (which includes their City Connect), which, in some cases, will demand some outside the box solutions.

Side note: Even though I really wanted to launch this series on Opening Day, this project will roll out a bit slower than my previous series, as I'll be waiting on the remaining nine City Connects slated for this season to be unveiled before I tackle those teams. 

PITTSBURGH PIRATES:
 

HOME:

ROAD:

HOME ALT:

ROAD ALT:

CITY CONNECT:

 

Notes:
 

- Pittsburgh gets a new off-white, sleeveless home set that harkens back to the team’s late ‘50s-60 look. The road and road alt are now sleeveless, as well.

- As mentioned in my introduction, I wanted to avoid teams having multiple jerseys of the same color, so the Bucs' current black-on-black alternate is replaced with a new early-mid ‘70s pullover style home alt.

- I simplified the design of the road alt by dropping the strokes around the “P” and numbers.

- The City Connect uses the scrapped "Steel City" wordmark and anthracite color suggested by @GriffinM6. 

 

C&C appreciated! I'll have another team up soon. 

[Coiler]

Not a bad concept, especially the dull gold and coal colors.

 

Although forcing the Yankees to have alternates would probably just lead to them wearing big NY Highlanders throwbacks.

[coco1997]

On 3/28/2024 at 1:33 PM, Coiler said:

Not a bad concept, especially the dull gold and coal colors.

 

Although forcing the Yankees to have alternates would probably just lead to them wearing big NY Highlanders throwbacks.

That's actually not what I have planned for New York. You'll have to just wait and see. 

Up next are the reigning World Series champions!
 

TEXAS RANGERS

 

HOME:

ROAD:

HOME ALT:

ROAD ALT:

 

CITY CONNECT:

 

Notes:

 

- I ditched Texas’ powder blue set (oddly used by the team as a home alternate) in order to make room for a new red alt which uses the home script. As a compromise, I gave the road a slight blue tint.
- The color balance on the home uniforms reverts to the current set’s 2020 debut. My idea would be for the Rangers to be a primarily red team at home and primarily blue on the road. 
- My City Connect design is one I previously shared in my City Connects tweaks thread, based on suggestions from @VampyrRabbit. Changes include switching to a sleeveless jersey, flipping the placement of the “TX” and front numbers and adding a headspoon.

C&C appreciated as always!

[johne9109]

I generally don't like that the Rangers feature different fonts between their home and away, but the fact that each alternate uses each font kinda brings it all together

[Victormrey]

I really like the idea of making the Rangers a red team at home and a blue one on the road, specially with the powder blue uni!

Also, I'm a huge fan of the Pirates sleeveless main set, great job!

[coco1997]

On 4/2/2024 at 10:21 AM, Victormrey said:

I really like the idea of making the Rangers a red team at home and a blue one on the road, specially with the powder blue uni!

Also, I'm a huge fan of the Pirates sleeveless main set, great job!

Thanks!

 

On 4/1/2024 at 12:16 PM, johne9109 said:

I generally don't like that the Rangers feature different fonts between their home and away, but the fact that each alternate uses each font kinda brings it all together

Agreed. I definitely feel the "Rangers" script should have been used on more than just one jersey. 

 

PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES

 

HOME:

ROAD:

HOME ALT:

ROAD ALT:

CITY CONNECT:

 

Notes:

- When the Phillies announced they’d be retiring their red alternates prior to the 2024 season, I assumed it was because their City Connects would be red. We now know that was wrong. As such, I’ve reintroduced a red home alt for Philly.
- It seems odd for a team not to have an alternate in their primary color, but I also love both of Philly’s home looks as well as their road throwbacks. To make room for the new alt, I combined the team’s two home uniforms into one by making the home set off-white and adding sleeve and collar trim.
- There’s a bit more blue across the board, which is also reflected in the new striping pattern on the road uniform. 
- Sleeve numbers are back, as I wasn’t inclined to sacrifice a classic design feature to accommodate an ad patch. 
- Maybe I’m an easy lay, but I actually like the Phils’ new City Connect uniforms. They’re pretty much the prototypical City Connect design: wildly different team colors, city iconography-inspired logos, “edgy” looking numbers and dark pants. One thing I did feel the need to change was the jersey gradient; I’ve always felt the best uniforms and logos are ones that can be easily recreated with a simple pen and paper, and it’s a bit hard to do that with a gradient. The jersey instead now features the skyline of Philly, a la the cap logo. I also converted the jersey into a partial pullover. 
- Thanks to @MJD7 for helping with the wordmark!

 

C&C appreciated!

[BlueMoon18]

30 minutes ago, coco1997 said:

Thanks!

 

Agreed. I definitely feel the "Rangers" script should have been used on more than just one jersey. 

 

PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES

 

HOME:

ROAD:

HOME ALT:

ROAD ALT:

CITY CONNECT:

 

Notes:

- When the Phillies announced they’d be retiring their red alternates prior to the 2024 season, I assumed it was because their City Connects would be red. We now know that was wrong. As such, I’ve reintroduced a red home alt for Philly.
- It seems odd for a team not to have an alternate in their primary color, but I also love both of Philly’s home looks as well as their road throwbacks. To make room for the new alt, I combined the team’s two home uniforms into one by making the home set off-white and adding sleeve and collar trim.
- There’s a bit more blue across the board, which is also reflected in the new striping pattern on the road uniform. 
- Sleeve numbers are back, as I wasn’t inclined to sacrifice a classic design feature to accommodate an ad patch. 
- Maybe I’m an easy lay, but I actually like the Phils’ new City Connect uniforms. They’re pretty much the prototypical City Connect design: wildly different team colors, city iconography-inspired logos, “edgy” looking numbers and dark pants. One thing I did feel the need to change was the jersey gradient; I’ve always felt the best uniforms and logos are ones that can be easily recreated with a simple pen and paper, and it’s a bit hard to do that with a gradient. The jersey instead now features the skyline of Philly, a la the cap logo. I also converted the jersey into a partial pullover. 
- Thanks to @MJD7 for helping with the wordmark!

 

C&C appreciated!

Had Philly done this for their City Connect instead of the actual result, I swear it would get nowhere near as much hate as they do. Sometimes simple is best, and this works perfectly as an alternation to what could have actually been a good jersey. Nice work!

[coco1997]

On 4/6/2024 at 12:21 PM, BlueMoon18 said:

Had Philly done this for their City Connect instead of the actual result, I swear it would get nowhere near as much hate as they do. Sometimes simple is best, and this works perfectly as an alternation to what could have actually been a good jersey. Nice work!

 

Thanks! I'm not convinced this version would have been that much better received, as I feel the biggest issues most people have with the Phils' new set is the wordmark and wonky numbers style, neither of which I really mind. 

SEATTLE MARINERS

 

HOME:

ROAD:

HOME ALT:

ROAD ALT:

CITY CONNECT:

 

Notes:

 

- It was an odd choice by Seattle to drop their gray road jerseys while keeping their Sunday home fauxbacks, because 1) the team now has gray pants without a matching jersey, and 2) their City Connect set is also blue and gold, which makes the fauxback, in my opinion, redundant. 
- After ditching the team’s Sunday home fauxbacks, I asked myself, “Why can’t Seattle’s primary home uniforms be off-white?” I'm not entirely convinced it works, but you be the judge. 
- The whole set uses a more vibrant shade of teal/seafoam green, similar to the one from the team’s Spring Training caps. The new home cap is also a recolored version of the ST hat, which swaps out the "S" logo for the compass.
- I decided to work up a new road alt design that replaces the “Seattle” wordmark with the “S” logo. I also streamlined the home jersey wordmark by dropping the second stroke around the letters. 
- As I tend to prefer custom style numbers, I restored the M’s’ rounded numbers across the board. 

- I previously shared my Seattle City Connect tweak here, where you can read a breakdown of the changes I made. In short: The black pants are now white, newly added t-bars are inspired by the Steelheads, a touch of red comes from the Rainiers, and the crossed tridents on the cap bill were suggested by @Frylock.

C&C appreciated and have a great weekend!

[BlueMoon18]

2 hours ago, coco1997 said:

 

Thanks! I'm not convinced this version would have been that much better received, as I feel the biggest issues most people have with the Phils' new set is the wordmark and wonky numbers style, neither of which I really mind. 

SEATTLE MARINERS

 

HOME:

ROAD:

HOME ALT:

ROAD ALT:

CITY CONNECT:

 

Notes:

 

- It was an odd choice by Seattle to drop their gray road jerseys while keeping their Sunday home fauxbacks, because 1) the team now has gray pants without a matching jersey, and 2) their City Connect set is also blue and gold, which makes the fauxback, in my opinion, redundant. 
- After ditching the team’s Sunday home fauxbacks, I asked myself, “Why can’t Seattle’s primary home uniforms be off-white?” I'm not entirely convinced it works, but you be the judge. 
- The whole set uses a more vibrant shade of teal/seafoam green, similar to the one from the team’s Spring Training caps. The new home cap is also a recolored version of the ST hat, which swaps out the "S" logo for the compass.
- I decided to work up a new road alt design that replaces the “Seattle” wordmark with the “S” logo. I also streamlined the home jersey wordmark by dropping the second stroke around the letters. 
- As I tend to prefer custom style numbers, I restored the M’s’ rounded numbers across the board. 

- I previously shared my Seattle City Connect tweak here, where you can read a breakdown of the changes I made. In short: The black pants are now white, newly added t-bars are inspired by the Steelheads, a touch of red comes from the Rainiers, and the crossed tridents on the cap bill were suggested by @Frylock.

C&C appreciated and have a great weekend!

Again, good work on this.

Home - More teams should do this! Off-white as a home color just feels right to me.

Road - As much as I slightly hate gray, honestly Seattle is one of those teams I can give a pass for that. It works for them.

Home Alt - This works as a replacement for the fauxback, although I will argue that you could use their original unis in their current colors as the home alt if a fauxback could still be done.

Road Alt - This. Just. Works. I'm not gonna say anything else here.

City Connect - Good call on adding red, but I feel like some red stripes on the pants would make this better.

 

Also, on the Philly City Connect, I feel it's more of the gradient they used (almost like the JAX Jaguars' old helmet) that caused such a negative reception than the lettering.  A decent amount of them have different lettering that works with the design (as Philly's does), and historically gradients haven't been the most well-received (outside of the UTA Jazz's city jerseys for like 4 years), so it's more likely that.

[udubfan19]

23 hours ago, coco1997 said:

 

Thanks! I'm not convinced this version would have been that much better received, as I feel the biggest issues most people have with the Phils' new set is the wordmark and wonky numbers style, neither of which I really mind. 

SEATTLE MARINERS

 

HOME:

ROAD:

HOME ALT:

ROAD ALT:

CITY CONNECT:

 

Notes:

 

- It was an odd choice by Seattle to drop their gray road jerseys while keeping their Sunday home fauxbacks, because 1) the team now has gray pants without a matching jersey, and 2) their City Connect set is also blue and gold, which makes the fauxback, in my opinion, redundant. 
- After ditching the team’s Sunday home fauxbacks, I asked myself, “Why can’t Seattle’s primary home uniforms be off-white?” I'm not entirely convinced it works, but you be the judge. 
- The whole set uses a more vibrant shade of teal/seafoam green, similar to the one from the team’s Spring Training caps. The new home cap is also a recolored version of the ST hat, which swaps out the "S" logo for the compass.
- I decided to work up a new road alt design that replaces the “Seattle” wordmark with the “S” logo. I also streamlined the home jersey wordmark by dropping the second stroke around the letters. 
- As I tend to prefer custom style numbers, I restored the M’s’ rounded numbers across the board. 

- I previously shared my Seattle City Connect tweak here, where you can read a breakdown of the changes I made. In short: The black pants are now white, newly added t-bars are inspired by the Steelheads, a touch of red comes from the Rainiers, and the crossed tridents on the cap bill were suggested by @Frylock.

C&C appreciated and have a great weekend!

they just don't look right in cream, but the CC is definitely better than the current mess.

[coco1997]

On 4/12/2024 at 12:49 PM, BlueMoon18 said:

Again, good work on this.

Home - More teams should do this! Off-white as a home color just feels right to me.

Road - As much as I slightly hate gray, honestly Seattle is one of those teams I can give a pass for that. It works for them.

Home Alt - This works as a replacement for the fauxback, although I will argue that you could use their original unis in their current colors as the home alt if a fauxback could still be done.

Road Alt - This. Just. Works. I'm not gonna say anything else here.

City Connect - Good call on adding red, but I feel like some red stripes on the pants would make this better.

 

Also, on the Philly City Connect, I feel it's more of the gradient they used (almost like the JAX Jaguars' old helmet) that caused such a negative reception than the lettering.  A decent amount of them have different lettering that works with the design (as Philly's does), and historically gradients haven't been the most well-received (outside of the UTA Jazz's city jerseys for like 4 years), so it's more likely that.

Thanks for the feedback! I really appreciate it.

 

On 4/13/2024 at 8:59 AM, udubfan19 said:

they just don't look right in cream, but the CC is definitely better than the current mess.

Yeah, I'm not 100% sold on it, either. I was really just trying to combine Seattle's home and Sunday alts into one design, as I did with Philly.

 

CINCINNATI REDS 

HOME:

ROAD:

 

HOME ALT:

 

ROAD ALT:

 

CITY CONNECT:

 

Notes:

 

- The Reds get a new home throwback based on their 1936 look, which embraced the team’s “Redlegs” nickname.

- Pinstripes return to the home uniform to set the new throwback jersey apart a bit more. I think I've determined this is my all-time favorite look of Cincinnati's. 

- Black is scrubbed from the four main uniforms, both to produce a cleaner look and to make the color unique to the team’s City Connect set.

- Cincy's Spring Training jersey is reportedly listed in MLB’s 2024 Style Guide as “Alt 2,” which means it could technically be worn during the regular season. To my knowledge it never has, but I think I prefer it to their other red alt, as it reminds me of this great look from 1956 and would make the script “Reds” exclusive to the throwback.
- The City Connect tweak is one I previously shared, the only real change being the wordmark and numbers now match the style of the cap logo. 

C&C appreciated! 

[Victormrey]

Great work for the Mariners!  Your set is just perfect. Also, the red looks great on the City Connect uni!

 

The Reds' designs also look really good. I love the home uni with pinstripes and the tweaked CC wordmark.

[FrutigerAero]

On 4/17/2024 at 8:48 AM, coco1997 said:

Thanks for the feedback! I really appreciate it.

 

Yeah, I'm not 100% sold on it, either. I was really just trying to combine Seattle's home and Sunday alts into one design, as I did with Philly.

 

CINCINNATI REDS 

HOME:

ROAD:

 

HOME ALT:

 

ROAD ALT:

 

CITY CONNECT:

 

Notes:

 

- The Reds get a new home throwback based on their 1936 look, which embraced the team’s “Redlegs” nickname.

- Pinstripes return to the home uniform to set the new throwback jersey apart a bit more. I think I've determined this is my all-time favorite look of Cincinnati's. 

- Black is scrubbed from the four main uniforms, both to produce a cleaner look and to make the color unique to the team’s City Connect set.

- Cincy's Spring Training jersey is reportedly listed in MLB’s 2024 Style Guide as “Alt 2,” which means it could technically be worn during the regular season. To my knowledge it never has, but I think I prefer it to their other red alt, as it reminds me of this great look from 1956 and would make the script “Reds” exclusive to the throwback.
- The City Connect tweak is one I previously shared, the only real change being the wordmark and numbers now match the style of the cap logo. 

C&C appreciated! 

I like the one with the red pants

[coco1997]

On 4/18/2024 at 10:14 AM, Victormrey said:

Great work for the Mariners!  Your set is just perfect. Also, the red looks great on the City Connect uni!

 

The Reds' designs also look really good. I love the home uni with pinstripes and the tweaked CC wordmark.

 

On 4/19/2024 at 2:05 AM, FrutigerAero said:

I like the one with the red pants

Thank you both!

NEW YORK METS

 

HOME:

 

ROAD:

HOME ALT:

ROAD ALT:

CITY CONNECT:

 

Notes:

 

-  The Mets’ newly unveiled City Connect set prompted me to make a few previously unplanned changes to New York’s current set, the biggest being the removal of pinstripes from the team’s home uniform. This was done so that 1) the Mets can look as different from their crosstown rivals as possible, and 2) the pins are now unique to the City Connect. 
- Despite orange being part of their colorway, the Mets had not one but TWO blue alternates for most of the past decade. Here, the team finally gets an orange alt (similar to their 2013-14 “Los Mets” jerseys) which replaces their awful new black “throwbacks.” I was never big on the Mets in black to begin with, yet the changes made to that design actually have me longing for those original jerseys to return.   
- Because the City Connect also uses a Tuscan style “NYC,” I decided to bring back the Mets’ 1987 script “New York” for the road and road alt. 
- Yesterday I shared my City Connect tweak here, so here's a quick summary: More purple, matching pants, and an extra pop of white on the roundel and sleeve trim. 

C&C appreciated and have a great weekend!

[maxwasson]

On 4/20/2024 at 10:38 AM, coco1997 said:

 

Thank you both!

NEW YORK METS

 

HOME:

 

ROAD:

HOME ALT:

ROAD ALT:

CITY CONNECT:

 

Notes:

 

-  The Mets’ newly unveiled City Connect set prompted me to make a few previously unplanned changes to New York’s current set, the biggest being the removal of pinstripes from the team’s home uniform. This was done so that 1) the Mets can look as different from their crosstown rivals as possible, and 2) the pins are now unique to the City Connect. 
- Despite orange being part of their colorway, the Mets had not one but TWO blue alternates for most of the past decade. Here, the team finally gets an orange alt (similar to their 2013-14 “Los Mets” jerseys) which replaces their awful new black “throwbacks.” I was never big on the Mets in black to begin with, yet the changes made to that design actually have me longing for those original jerseys to return.   
- Because the City Connect also uses a Tuscan style “NYC,” I decided to bring back the Mets’ 1987 script “New York” for the road and road alt. 
- Yesterday I shared my City Connect tweak here, so here's a quick summary: More purple, matching pants, and an extra pop of white on the roundel and sleeve trim. 

C&C appreciated and have a great weekend!

 

Nicely done Mets jerseys! I don't think I've ever seen the Mets have a script "New York" on their aways before, but maybe I haven't been paying to attention to recent uniform changes enough. 

[BlueMoon18]

1 hour ago, maxwasson said:

 

Nicely done Mets jerseys! I don't think I've ever seen the Mets have a script "New York" on their aways before, but maybe I haven't been paying to attention to recent uniform changes enough. 

No that's not on you. They last used a script New York in '94.

[coco1997]

16 hours ago, maxwasson said:

Nicely done Mets jerseys! I don't think I've ever seen the Mets have a script "New York" on their aways before, but maybe I haven't been paying to attention to recent uniform changes enough. 

Yep, @BlueMoon18 is correct. The road script I used was worn only in 1987, and the last script "New York" used by the Mets was in 1994.

 

CHICAGO WHITE SOX

 

HOME:

 

ROAD:

 

HOME ALT:

 

ROAD ALT:

 

CITY CONNECT:

 

Notes:

- The less said about the current state of the Chicago White Sox the better, but they do have great uniforms, so at least they've got that going for them. 

- No MLB organization celebrates or rewards mediocrity quite like the White Sox. Case in point: Since 2013, the team has regularly worn throwbacks of the 1983 team, which not only did not win a championship but didn’t even reach the World Series. If the South Siders want to honor an historical team actually worth celebrating (and who also had great uniforms), and with the '83 throwbacks seemingly being shelved this year, they should make the 1917 throwbacks the new Sunday home alt.
- The primary uniforms now use actual white stocking befitting the team's name, and the thick black & white stripes return to the road pants where they belong.
- I switched to a white script and numbers for the road jersey both as a nod to the team’s great 1969 look, and because they play off the white socks a bit better. 
- The City Connect trades in silver for red, which evokes the team’s past as well as the local Bulls and Blackhawks. 

C&C appreciated as always!