The State of the Uniforms is Not Good: An MLB Concept Series

[coco1997]

Great spin on Arizona! I particularly love the Desert Nights and BP jersey. The D-Backs could definitely pull off an all-black look. 

How would it look if you worked copper into the numbers on the home jersey and wordmark and numbers on the road?

[colinturner95]

I know I mentioned updates to the last few teams, but in the interest of keeping this thread on the roll, I offer the next team up:

 

 

Home - Away: This is another carry over from my last series, but if it works why not refine here and there? 

• Headgear - The original plan was to keep the black/black hat around with the black/orange but after seeing them with each other, the all-black felt lifeless compared to the black/orange. So the team's long time hat is ceremoniously retired. 
• Jerseys - Like I mentioned very briefly, these are a carryover from the last MLB series I did. The major changes are to the wordmarks. The San Francisco wordmark now visually matches the Giants wordmark, which changes ever so slightly. Another major change is to the number font, which is a little less ITC Machine-y and more standard. Also the sleeve patch on all the applicable jerseys changes to the Golden Gate Bridge logo. 
• Pants/Socks - Pants slim down the sleeve stripes to a triple stripe. Black and orange socks, both with a simpler triple stripe. 

 

Alternate:

• Headgear - no changes from the home and away
• Jersey - The Giants script returns to the front, decorated in the same drop shadow and outline as the home/away wordmarks. the cream color leaves the stripes. And that's really the major deviations.
• Pants/Socks - Also no changes from home/away. 

Fog: I feel like the Giants City Connect was a few changes and tweaks away from being golden. There's a solid idea there, but the execution missed on spots here and there. 

• Headgear - The hat might actually change the least, but is not without something new. The hat stays orange, but gains a dark grey brim. The SF monogram now features the fog pattern with 3 different greys present. 
• Jersey - No longer a white jersey (which let's be real, how does that imply fog?) but a warmer grey jersey, with a ever so slightly darker grey fade into the fog pattern. The GGB stays on the sleeves, now obscured by the darker fog. The G logo stays, but it itself no longer features the fog, I felt it would be too much with the base now having it. The number font does match the new wordmarks but I felt that it was too big a change for the primary uniforms so it gets used on the pseudo-City Connect uniform. 
• Pants/Socks - The pants seem comparatively tame next to the jersey, until you see that they have the same grey to grey fade. Socks are a simple solid orange. 

Batting Practice:  A lot less subtle but a black to grey fog fade, with a SF lockup that mirrors the wordmarks. Hat is cream/black with the CC "G" outlined similarly. 

 

Hanger Effect: "Through The Fog" in varying color ways on the various jerseys. 

 

C&C appreciated!

[coco1997]

That gray City Connect-inspired design is really interesting. Very clever way to have a traditional road gray uniform in the set without it actually being the road uniform. 

[colinturner95]

 

Home - Away: I really wish I had a better/more concrete plan before jumping into the Mariners. But at the same time, the Mariners feel like a difficult team when it comes to concepts. Or the third option, I just suck at this. The biggest decision I had to make was on the identity. I didn't want to initially go full City Connect but that's the way we go. I also stuck with the team's recent trend of "Past Meets Present" to help get things going. 

• Headwear - The team finally does the smart thing and goes with the navy/teal hat. The new primary logo merges the City Connect "S" with the long time compass. 
• Jersey - a little bit of everything from Mariners history mixes in to make these. Current colors, headspoon piping stick around. The sleeve stripes are adapted from the team's inaugural uniform set's light blue uniforms stripes and the wordmarks and fonts from the City Connect uniforms. The PNW patch also comes over, recolored to fit the team's primary scheme. 
• Pants & Socks - The pants were the lone enigma. The full stripe from the jerseys felt like too much and I wanted more than just a single stripe. So a split double stripes of navy and teal fills that gap. No such issues on the socks, which get the full stripes. 

 

Alternate: 

• Hat - The team's short lived teal hat from the mid 90's makes a return, but with no accompanying helmet. 
• Jersey - nothing more than a color swap of the navy jersey, which there's nothing wrong with that if you ask me. the PNW patch is swapped out for the slightly updated "global" logo. 
• Pants & Socks - nothing largely new, just a teal belt. 

Emerald City: I feel like I haven't done a vintage white fauxback in a minute so this scratches that itch. Simply put, this uniform celebrates the MLB history of Seattle, Pilots and Mariners. Also, while I rail against the team's current vintage white uniform and then offer this one, my logic is this: if the Mariners are going to use blue and yellow, do a true throwback. 

• Headgear - A hat and helmet based on the Pilots' one year hat, with a single color new S, with a contrasting stripe where the hat and brim adjoin. 
• Jersey - very much based on the Pilots uniforms, with the pilots stripes on the sleeves, now in teal and navy. For the first time in Mariners' history (I think, I did my best with research ) a logo + number combo on the front. Logo being the global logo and the teams IRL number font. 
• Pants & Socks - A faux-elastic waistband coming from the Mariners' uniforms in the late 70s-80s. No stripes on the sides. Socks match the stripes on the sleeves, just in one color. 

Hanger Effects - H/A/Alt - "SODO MOJO" . Emerald City - "Emerald City Baseball". Simple and Easy.

 

Batting Practice - The hat takes this years' tri-color but uses the trident. The tops mix in the Turn Ahead the Clock uniforms with a little bit of the dugout jackets from the 90s and touches of the new uniforms. 

 

C&C welcome!

 

[coco1997]

Love this Seattle redesign! I do have a few notes:

 

- Lighten up your shade of silver just a bit. The current shade bleeds into the teal when the colors touch. This is most evident on the BP shirt. 

- The compass shrouds too much of the "S" on the cap logo.  How about using the unused City Connect logo instead?

- I'd probably just use the compass instead of the full roundel on the front of the Emerald City jersey. 

 

All in all, this is great. I'd probably want to see that BP cap worn for some regular season games, too. 

[MJD7]

I've been meaning to catch up commenting on this thread, so I might as well do so now!

 

• Diamondbacks
  • I've always been more partial to the brick red for Arizona, but you do a nice job with the color scheme here. I'd always be in support of them going back to the triangular stripes, as well.
  • I especially love the turquoise alternate (naturally ), and the "Desert Nights" alternate is super cool. 
• Giants
  • I probably prefer the team's real-life wordmark, without the adjustments, but your version doesn't look bad, per se.
  • I also prefer the all-black hat for them, but I appreciate the boldness to go with the orange brim full-time.
  • The Fog alternate is a really creative take on the City Connect concept, that's my favorite part of this set for sure. The one thing I would say about it is that a dark gray like that evokes smoke to me more than it does fog, I wonder if a super light gray might be more effective? I don't know if the white of the Giants' actual CC evokes fog, but I definitely feel the light gray they paired with it does.
• Mariners
  • You're absolutely right, the Mariners are a tough team to design for. They're one of only two teams I had to redesign for my most recent series, because (like the other team, the Rays), they have a beautiful color scheme that unfortunately gets minimized alongside an outdated logo set.
  • Going with the City Connect logo set in the regular color scheme feels like the right way to go, as I of course concepted that myself as well. Your version is very nice, I like the combination of the headspoon piping with the throwback sleeve stripes, it's a solid way to combine the old and the new.
  • I do agree with @coco1997 that the compass obstructs too much of the "S," to where it's difficult to read. I'd make it smaller or go with the trident "M" full-time.
  • As with many teams in this series, my favorite design is the special alternate, the "Emerald City" uniform. I would have never thought to put the roundel on the front chest, but it looks great there. The updated font on the roundel also does wonders to make it feel less dated. I'll always be a fan of the Mariners using Seattle Pilots inspiration, as well.

Can't wait to see some more teams!

[colinturner95]

We reached the end of the teams that have a perfect game, and we now start with the no-hitters, resetting the clocks back to the early 20th century:

 

 

Home - Away: I feel like this is applicable to most teams in baseball and I'm saying it a lot, but I could have left them pretty much as is and been happy with the result. In my previous series, I brought in a lot of the 70s feel with the double stripes on the sleeves, even made gold the primary road uniform. This time around, I feel like I was a lot more reserved and traditional, but there's nothing wrong with that. 

• Headgear - the Pirates have never worn a black/gold hat in a regular season game (at least to my short and sweet research from the mother ship) and that doesn't change. In a departure from my own personal preferences, the all black felt like the stronger look. The only real change is the outlined logo becomes the featured logo. 
• Jersey - so like I touched on above, last go around, the 70's stripes made a return with some tweaks but I really didn't wanna go back to that. So in reality, the real life designs don't go too far away. Only real changes are the additional headspoon piping, sort of a homage to the 77-79 pullovers that featured the two color pinstripes. and the Pirates wordmark goes back to the 80-96 style, which is just a a little condensed and taller, and I overall liked it more. 
• Pants | Socks - No real changes to the pants. Now I said I didn't want to bring back the 70s again, but I sort of did in a way. While the gold pants stay locked in the vault, the black pants do stick around (if you count them from the City Connects) and would be available for the 3 main uniforms. Socks go to a classic triple stripe. 
• Hanger Effect - "RAISE THE JOLLY ROGER" combed with the skull and crossed bats from the team's alternate logo from the late 90s

 

Alternate:

• Headgear - gold and black hat with the outlined P on the front. 
• Jersey - a color flip of the white jersey, with a new PGH wordmark styled in the team's font. 
• Pants | Socks - same as the home/away

Clemente Day:  With the primary uniforms remaining pretty traditional, a wild 4th uniform felt out of place. So instead the Pirates honor one of their greatest players with permanent throwbacks to be worn on or as close to Roberto Clemente Day as they can. I personally associate him more with the vest uniforms than the pullovers so that's what gets the nod. 

• Headgear - Nothing more than just going back to the solid gold P on the front of the black hats. 
• Jersey - So technically I'm violating my 4 uniform hard cap by doing this but both the home whites and away greys would be available, depending on where the series is that falls closest to the day. But it's back to the 60s era vests with black undershirts, 
• Pants | Socks - Not a massive departure from before, with the same styled triple stripe down the sides. Sock stripes shed an outline and get placed on stirrups.
• Hanger Effect - A good quote from Roberto that I felt fit the spirit of the uniform, plus his signature. 

Batting Practice:

• Hat - A modern-ish take on the pillbox stripes, featuring the skull and cross-bats, now outlined like the P logo, on a black and gold hat. 
• Tops - Took the same style design off the hat and onto the chest, this time adding the Stargell Stars to represent the World Series' won by the Pirates. 

C&C welcome!!

9 hours ago, MJD7 said:

Mariners

• You're absolutely right, the Mariners are a tough team to design for. They're one of only two teams I had to redesign for my most recent series, because (like the other team, the Rays), they have a beautiful color scheme that unfortunately gets minimized alongside an outdated logo set.
• Going with the City Connect logo set in the regular color scheme feels like the right way to go, as I of course concepted that myself as well. Your version is very nice, I like the combination of the headspoon piping with the throwback sleeve stripes, it's a solid way to combine the old and the new.
• I do agree with @coco1997 that the compass obstructs too much of the "S," to where it's difficult to read. I'd make it smaller or go with the trident "M" full-time.
• As with many teams in this series, my favorite design is the special alternate, the "Emerald City" uniform. I would have never thought to put the roundel on the front chest, but it looks great there. The updated font on the roundel also does wonders to make it feel less dated. I'll always be a fan of the Mariners using Seattle Pilots inspiration, as well.

Can't wait to see some more teams!

 

After looking at it again, yeah the compass got a little too big. I was also trying to do my own thing when it came to adapting the City Connects since you, me and @upperV03 have all done similar designs so I wanted to make sure mine could be unique as possible. I'll try and revisit them and work on the color shades which is something @coco1997 pointed out. 

 

9 hours ago, MJD7 said:

 

• Giants
  • I probably prefer the team's real-life wordmark, without the adjustments, but your version doesn't look bad, per se.
  • I also prefer the all-black hat for them, but I appreciate the boldness to go with the orange brim full-time.
  • The Fog alternate is a really creative take on the City Connect concept, that's my favorite part of this set for sure. The one thing I would say about it is that a dark gray like that evokes smoke to me more than it does fog, I wonder if a super light gray might be more effective? I don't know if the white of the Giants' actual CC evokes fog, but I definitely feel the light gray they paired with it does.

Can't wait to see some more teams!

 

That was my concern with the Giants. I wanted to go for a warmer shade of grey specifically because I felt like it would be less smokey, but now I'm thinking it worked in the opposite. 

 

 

[verbi]

pirates bp uni tough, v cool