MLB: Trying to Please Everyone With Nike's 4+1 Rule (Rockies 6/21)

[udubfan19]

road alt kind of looks like a spring training jersey, 'Anaheim' across the front would look better IMO

[coco1997]

On 5/29/2024 at 9:12 PM, udubfan19 said:

road alt kind of looks like a spring training jersey, 'Anaheim' across the front would look better IMO

Eh, to each his own. I personally think the "A" is strong enough to work on the front of a jersey, a la the D-Backs' black alternates. But here's how it would look with the wordmark:

 

 

BALTIMORE ORIOLES

 

HOME:

 

ROAD:

 

HOME ALT:

 

ROAD ALT:

 

CITY CONNECT:

 

Notes:

 

- I feel at least one AL East team should sport a vintage, off-white look, and, other than Boston, the Orioles are probably the best candidate.

- The classic mid-50s to early '70s striped socks return, except on the home alt, where they threw the color balance off. 

- “Baltimore” replaces “Orioles” on the black alt so that three of the team’s four jerseys don’t all use the same script.
- This is a really small detail, but it's always bugged me how the middle stripe on the sleeves of the team's home alt is orange and not white, so I've corrected that.  

- Now that the O’s have switched from black to white pants (except for, apparently, road games), their City Connect set just looks like a variation on their regular black alt, which feels like wasted potential. Inspired by something  @raysox posted on Twitter a few years ago, I went with a brightly colored yellow, red and blue scheme based on the iconic Old Bay Seasoning can design.

- The colorful neighborhood patchwork is now fully visible on the sleeves and pants, unlike the real-life jerseys, which hide it on the interior of the sleeves.

- It might be a bit much having two teams in the AL East whose City Connect jerseys are bright yellow, but I would point out that three of the four teams in the division have either solid black or solid dark navy-blue designs.

 

C&C appreciated, and I hope everyone had a great weekend!

[CLEstones]

On 5/15/2024 at 10:57 AM, coco1997 said:

 

Thank you both! @Coiler, I did something similar to what you suggested for my Cathedral Connect Cubs concept.

 

CLEVELAND GUARDIANS

 

HOME:

ROAD:

HOME ALT:

 

ROAD ALT:

 

CITY CONNECT:

Notes:

 

- The Guardians’ identity is decent enough, but I’ve always found their uniforms to be a bit lacking. Therefore, I added TV numbers across the board, along with different piping on the home and home alt and additional collar trim on the road and road alt.

- I like Cleveland’s City Connect, and while I LOVE the use of racing stripes, I’m not convinced they work on a uniform without a matching jersey and pants. I wanted to go monochrome, and since black and navy are played out at this point, I decided to go all-in on the sandstone color from the “CLE” wordmark.   

- Creme replaces plain white on the front panel of the cap and within the racing stripes and wordmark.

 

C&C appreciated as always! 

 

I really like the City Connect.  The only change I would have is the racing stripes down the side of the jerseys... love it on the sleeves, just not so much on the side of the jersey.  I think one of the best aesthetics in sports is when teams use non-gray "away" colors, like the sandstone in the City Connect.

[coco1997]

On 6/4/2024 at 8:53 AM, CLEstones said:

I really like the City Connect.  The only change I would have is the racing stripes down the side of the jerseys... love it on the sleeves, just not so much on the side of the jersey.  I think one of the best aesthetics in sports is when teams use non-gray "away" colors, like the sandstone in the City Connect.

Thanks! I think the racing stripes along the jersey sides are necessary to maintain the continuity of the look from the collar down to the ends of the pant legs. 

 

WASHINGTON NATIONALS

 

HOME:

 

ROAD:

 

HOME ALT:

 

ROAD ALT:

 

CITY CONNECT:

 

Notes:

 

- Prior to this offseason, the Nats had a solid if not unremarkable identity. The totally pointless and HUGE downgrade to their road jersey made them a necessary inclusion in this series.

- Washington’s new white pullover is simply not good or interesting enough to justify sacrificing their red alternate. That being said, I’m intrigued by the idea of a modern-day team in raglan-style sleeves full-time, and why not the Nats? Raglans would go a long way towards helping them be more than “just another” RWB team, so I kept this look for the primary jerseys.

- A new red alt features the team’s block “W” Capitol building cap logo, which replaces the Walgreens “W” across the board.

- The Nats have one of the few City Connect sets I initially didn’t like but eventually came around to. My original tweak featured a “The District” wordmark and matching numbers, but here I’ve restored the jersey’s actual “WSH” wordmark and beveled numbers. I did, however, keep the dark gray pants from my original tweak.

 

C&C appreciated!

[Victormrey]

That's a great solution for the Nats!

Personally, I love their new home alt with the navy sleeves, but not the template used by Nike, so I think the main set is perfect 

[coco1997]

On 6/8/2024 at 3:47 AM, Victormrey said:

That's a great solution for the Nats!

Personally, I love their new home alt with the navy sleeves, but not the template used by Nike, so I think the main set is perfect 

Thank you!

SAN DIEGO PADRES

 

HOME:

 

ROAD:

 

HOME ALT:

 

ROAD ALT:

 

CITY CONNECT:

 

Notes:

 

- Of any MLB team, the Padres are probably the most warranted in their use of camo, San Diego being a big Navy town. Still, I find camo jerseys tacky in general and would much rather the Friars have a gold home alt instead. 
- The bell-shaped gold front paneled cap returns for the road and road alt. 
-  I swapped out the “San Diego” wordmark for the monogram on the road alt and dropped the white trim for a cleaner look. And, since I’m not big on teams having pants specially designed to be worn with an alternate, the jersey is paired with the pinstriped road pants. 
- Count me as one those who LOVE the Padres’ City Connect set, so the biggest change I made here was switching to a white front paneled cap with magenta bill, the solid mint green look being a little too “fashion cap” for my tastes. The back numbers also now match the style of the wordmark. Everything else stays the same. 

 

C&C appreciated as always, and have a great weekend!

[cubbeblue88]

I honestly wish WSH would keep those city connects. They are one of the best of the bunch. Really dig the San Diego road alt.  City Connect - wish they had some sort of stripes - not entirely sold on the plain white. 

[coco1997]

On 6/10/2024 at 2:13 PM, cubbeblue88 said:

I honestly wish WSH would keep those city connects. They are one of the best of the bunch. Really dig the San Diego road alt.  City Connect - wish they had some sort of stripes - not entirely sold on the plain white. 

Thanks! I never would've thought of putting pinstripes on the Friars' City Connect, but it's an interesting idea. I used navy, both to balance out the vibrance of the mint green, magenta and yellow, and because it's a past team color:

Let me know what you think!

TORONTO BLUE JAYS

 

HOME:

ROAD:

HOME ALT:

ROAD ALT:

CITY CONNECT:

 

Notes:

 

- The Blue Jays have a near-perfect set, but I’m not a fan of their “new blue” introduced a few seasons ago; the blue is too saturated, which forced the addition of navy to the team’s colorway to balance it out, so Toronto’s original, paler shade of powder blue--complete with white wordmark and numbers--returns in its place.

- Softball tops don’t really work with powder blue pants; therefore, the powder blue set becomes the new home alt, and the royal blue jersey is now designated as the road alt, with the wordmark and numbers recolored powder blue.

- The Jays’ new Spring Training cap becomes the alternate cap here.

- I actually like Toronto’s City Connects, so my only goal was to fix the legibility of the wordmark, which is now red outlined in blue with a black insert. 

 

C&C appreciated!

[cubbeblue88]

Love the pinstripe tweak on the SD city connects! Looks fantastic. Also love the minor edits to the Blue Jays design. In my opinion Toronto’s are the best we’ve had in a good long while. 

[Saturn]

On 6/2/2024 at 11:54 AM, coco1997 said:

BALTIMORE ORIOLES

 

 

CITY CONNECT:

 

 

 

I love you.

[Coiler]

The Blue Jays are great, a classic "don't fix too much what isn't broken" uniform.

[FrutigerAero]

On 6/5/2024 at 10:21 AM, coco1997 said:

Thanks! I think the racing stripes along the jersey sides are necessary to maintain the continuity of the look from the collar down to the ends of the pant legs. 

 

WASHINGTON NATIONALS

 

HOME:

 

ROAD:

 

HOME ALT:

 

ROAD ALT:

 

CITY CONNECT:

 

Notes:

 

- Prior to this offseason, the Nats had a solid if not unremarkable identity. The totally pointless and HUGE downgrade to their road jersey made them a necessary inclusion in this series.

- Washington’s new white pullover is simply not good or interesting enough to justify sacrificing their red alternate. That being said, I’m intrigued by the idea of a modern-day team in raglan-style sleeves full-time, and why not the Nats? Raglans would go a long way towards helping them be more than “just another” RWB team, so I kept this look for the primary jerseys.

- A new red alt features the team’s block “W” Capitol building cap logo, which replaces the Walgreens “W” across the board.

- The Nats have one of the few City Connect sets I initially didn’t like but eventually came around to. My original tweak featured a “The District” wordmark and matching numbers, but here I’ve restored the jersey’s actual “WSH” wordmark and beveled numbers. I did, however, keep the dark gray pants from my original tweak.

 

C&C appreciated!

Huh.  Something about those Nationals home and away uniforms really gets the "USA" theme done in a really good way without being gaudy.  Nicely done, this would be a solid look for them.

[coco1997]

On 6/13/2024 at 2:00 AM, Saturn said:

I love you.

 

 

On 6/12/2024 at 3:34 PM, cubbeblue88 said:

Love the pinstripe tweak on the SD city connects! Looks fantastic. Also love the minor edits to the Blue Jays design. In my opinion Toronto’s are the best we’ve had in a good long while. 

 

On 6/13/2024 at 9:58 AM, Coiler said:

The Blue Jays are great, a classic "don't fix too much what isn't broken" uniform.

 

17 hours ago, FrutigerAero said:

Huh.  Something about those Nationals home and away uniforms really gets the "USA" theme done in a really good way without being gaudy.  Nicely done, this would be a solid look for them.

Thank you! 

 

MINNESOTA TWINS

 

HOME:

ROAD:

HOME ALT:

ROAD ALT:

CITY CONNECT:

 

Notes:

 

- Segregating navy and red for their 2023 redesign implied (to me, at least) the two colors are meant to be co-dominant, which means the Twins should have a red alternate—as they did from 2016-22—but they don’t. The new red alt is based on the one worn by the FCL Twins. This left the “Twin Cities” alt as the odd man out.
- The above being said, the “Twin Cities” alt is simply too good to discard entirely, so I poached elements of it for other jerseys in their set. With three of the four other AL Central teams using plain white home uniforms, I feel there’s room for the Twins to be the “off-white” team of the division, so the home uniform reflects that, and the “Twin Cities” script now appears on the road alt. 

- The home cap is now red (a la the Twins teams of the late '70s-mid '80s) while the road "M" cap features a white front panel. Part of my rationale for this was to try to make the Twins look as different from the Guardians as possible while working with a similar color scheme. 

- Since the Minnesota stage logo is featured so prominently on the City Connect, I replaced the Minnesota silhouette logo on the home and road with the twin flags logo from the Twin Cities alt.  
- Inspired by @Victormrey, the tittles above the “i’s” in “Twins” and “Twin Cities” are now North Stars.
- As I mentioned in another thread, the Twins’ City Connect is less than the sum of its parts. For my tweak, I swapped yellow for green, which would hopefully quell the criticisms that the design looks too much like Milwaukee or Seattle. These particular shades of blue and green are used by the Timberwolves. 
- The placement of the “MN” leaves the rest of the jersey looking too empty, even with all the “ripple” patterns. My solution was to enlarge the logo and move it front and center, similar to how other teams (Pirates, Mets, Guardians) have used airport/railway codes in large letters on their City Connects. 
- I replaced the “ripple” patterns (which don’t read well on TV, as we saw last night) with wavy lake pinstripes, a la the Cardinals’ City Connect jerseys. 
- Lastly, the Minnesota cap logo and loon sleeve patch switch spots.

C&C appreciated!

[Paul Lucas]

Way to take the Jays’ amazing set and somehow manage to make it better. Also, I like the changes to the Twins. Lovin’ this series!!!

[mcrosby]

On 6/11/2024 at 12:08 PM, coco1997 said:

Thanks! I never would've thought of putting pinstripes on the Friars' City Connect, but it's an interesting idea. I used navy, both to balance out the vibrance of the mint green, magenta and yellow, and because it's a past team color:

 

As long as the Dads' City Connect is as wild as it is, why not try those pinstripes on the white panel of the hat too?

[coco1997]

1 hour ago, mcrosby said:

As long as the Dads' City Connect is as wild as it is, why not try those pinstripes on the white panel of the hat too?

Not a bad idea. Here's how that would look:

 

 

On 6/15/2024 at 7:39 PM, Paul Lucas said:

Way to take the Jays’ amazing set and somehow manage to make it better. Also, I like the changes to the Twins. Lovin’ this series!!!

Thanks, man!

 

LOS ANGELES DODGERS

 

HOME:

ROAD:

 

HOME ALT:

 

ROAD ALT:

CITY CONNECT:

 

Notes:

 

- Sorry Dodgers, I don’t care how rich you are, no team needs two gray road jerseys. To that end, I ditched the “Dodgers” version and restored the team’s late '90s-early 2000s road look with white trim. 
- The road alternate is a fauxback based on Brooklyn’s 1944 baby blues, while the team gets a new home alt featuring their LA monogram.

- Neither of the Dodgers’ City Connects have been particularly great, but at least the new design has some more going for it. For my tweak, I went with dark blue pants, as most people were probably expecting them to, and, since I’m not sold on the “galaxy of stars” Funfetti/sprinkle pattern, I kept the Dodger Stadium-inspired colors confined to sleeve and pants trim, as I also did for my Cathedral Connect concept. Lastly, I opted for an off-white cap inspired by this one I found on MLBShop.com. Big thanks to @MJD7 for helping out with the number font!

C&C appreciated! Just a handful of teams left before we wrap up the series!

[maxwasson]

On 6/18/2024 at 10:27 AM, coco1997 said:

Not a bad idea. Here's how that would look:

 

 

Thanks, man!

 

LOS ANGELES DODGERS

 

HOME:

ROAD:

 

HOME ALT:

 

ROAD ALT:

CITY CONNECT:

 

Notes:

 

- Sorry Dodgers, I don’t care how rich you are, no team needs two gray road jerseys. To that end, I ditched the “Dodgers” version and restored the team’s late '90s-early 2000s road look with white trim. 
- The road alternate is a fauxback based on Brooklyn’s 1944 baby blues, while the team gets a new home alt featuring their LA monogram.

- Neither of the Dodgers’ City Connects have been particularly great, but at least the new design has some more going for it. For my tweak, I went with dark blue pants, as most people were probably expecting them to, and, since I’m not sold on the “galaxy of stars” Funfetti/sprinkle pattern, I kept the Dodger Stadium-inspired colors confined to sleeve and pants trim, as I also did for my Cathedral Connect concept. Lastly, I opted for an off-white cap inspired by this one I found on MLBShop.com. Big thanks to @MJD7 for helping out with the number font!

C&C appreciated! Just a handful of teams left before we wrap up the series!

 

I like the tweaks you made to the Dodgers' city connect uniforms, also didn't know the Dodgers once had a powder blue alt. 

[coco1997]

20 hours ago, maxwasson said:

I like the tweaks you made to the Dodgers' city connect uniforms, also didn't know the Dodgers once had a powder blue alt. 

Thanks! Those Dodgers baby blues are some of my absolute favorite uniforms ever. 

 

COLORADO ROCKIES

 

HOME:

ROAD:

 

HOME ALT:

ROAD ALT:

CITY CONNECT:

 

Notes:

 

- Prior to the 2024 season, the Rockies retired their sleeveless black jerseys, which had the distinction of being the last full-time vest in the league. I hated those jerseys, so my solution was to introduce a new, sleeved road alt with the “CR” monogram in place of the “Colorado” wordmark.

- As I mentioned with the Padres, I’m not big on teams having pants specially designed to be worn with an alternate, so the purple jersey is paired with the pinstriped home pants.

- Purple is now undoubtedly the primary color of the home and road uniforms, and the “CR” replaces the “ROCKIES” wordmark on the home jersey.

- The numbers on the home alt are recolored from black to silver for better contrast. 

- I hate that Colorado wimped out and switched from green to white pants the second year of their City Connects. For my tweak, I restored the green pants, converted the jersey from a button up to a partial pullover, added purple/gold/red sleeve & pant stripes to mimic the cap logo and made the back numbers purple for improved legibility.

 

C&C appreciated!