baseball: why can't both teams wear white?

[slats7]

I understand that you need two diff jersey colors in football 'cause you might throw it to the wrong guy, but what's the rationale in baseball? It certainly doesn't matter that the batter is wearing white, but does a white jersey on the basepaths present a (real) problem?

[RVZ]

This summer I played a baseball team that had almost the exact uniforms as us. Sometimes when you field the ball and look up to throw it might confuse you as to who's who. I doesn't sound like it would but in the heat of the game it might.

[officeglenn]

I'd imagine it would be tough for fans in the middle to upper levels of a stadium to pick teams apart if they were both wearing white. Plus there are TV considerations, and possibly even the umpires' jobs would be a little easier with contrasting colours.

[OnWis97]

I'd imagine it would be tough for fans in the middle to upper levels of a stadium to pick teams apart if they were both wearing white. Plus there are TV considerations, and possibly even the umpires' jobs would be a little easier with contrasting colours.

I went to a Brewers/Padres game once when both teams were wearing blue alts. It drove me up the wall.

[lilgump]

they dont even need to, because white and gray are fairly close anyways, but far enough apart that you can tell the difference.

[logodawg]

The reason for the white home and gray away dates back to the early days of the MLB.

Back in the 1800s, teams, like now, went on week long or longer road trips. Unlike the home teams, the away teams had nowhere to wash their uniforms (keep in mind that this was went washing your clothes was a VERY laborous task) so they would wear gray because it hid the stains better.

[southpawstu19]

if i recall in the early ninties the astros away uniform was pretty much white, just a slight shade darker then their home threads

[cajunaggie08]

if i recall in the early ninties the astros away uniform was pretty much white, just a slight shade darker then their home threads

Yea, they were, but there was so much orange and red and yellow on them there was no way you could confuse them for the other team

[ElwoodCuse]

The reason for the white home and gray away dates back to the early days of the MLB.

Back in the 1800s, teams, like now, went on week long or longer road trips. Unlike the home teams, the away teams had nowhere to wash their uniforms (keep in mind that this was went washing your clothes was a VERY laborous task) so they would wear gray because it hid the stains better.

Not to mention they held water like crazy (a far cry from Dri-fit and Under Armour and all that). Sweating in those babies was like going for a swim in jeans.

[VandyDelphia Mike]

if i recall in the early ninties the astros away uniform was pretty much white, just a slight shade darker then their home threads

Compare road to home. I guess the card on the right is outdoors in the home whites because of spring training, or it's just a really bright day when they took Mike Simms' baseball card picture in the road peaches ...

[OnWis97]

if i recall in the early ninties the astros away uniform was pretty much white, just a slight shade darker then their home threads

Compare road to home. I guess the card on the right is outdoors in the home whites because of spring training, or it's just a really bright day when they took Mike Simms' baseball card picture in the road peaches ...

A friend of mine thought that they only had one uniform. But I always thought their road was just a very pale grey.

[Discrim]

actually, those roads were cream. think the shade the Giants use for their homes.

That tidbit, I found out on these boards...I still got a collection, and like OnWis' friend, I thought the Stros had only one uniform for a long time , and I was sorta relieved when they got new unis and I could actually tell road from home

[ElwoodCuse]

Seriously. You'd think they'd at least put "Houston" on their roads from that era.

[Bernd]

Well, the simple reason why both teams can't wear white is because that's what the rules stipulate.

Rule 1.11 ( (2) A league may provide that each team shall have two sets of uniforms, white for home games and a different color for road games.

[Intimidator85]

That's a good question. I guess there would be no harm if both teams wore white. I can remember a Cubs-Royals interleague game a few years back where both teams wore blue tops, and I don't think any trouble came about. It won't be hard to distinguish between the two teams, as most likely each team would either have on different colored hats or have different colored numbers on the jersey. Yet, if the rules say you have to have a different color, then there's nothing wrong with that, either.

[paynomind]

Baseball is interesting in that they really dont need uniforms at all for fair game play, and yet even the manager wears a uni.

I played baseball for years, and when we'd practice, guys batting and running would be in the exact same practice set uni, and it never bothered anyone, from what I could tell. Didnt bother me.

[BallWonk]

You'll never confuse the batter with the catcher. But in the arc of the basepaths the defensive team has four players. Load the bases, and suddenly there are five guys from the batting team in that same arc: three baserunners and two base coaches. In the abstract, it seems simple to tell the pitching team's players apart from the batter. But when you array nine guys, all wearing similar uniforms (like Phillies roads and Nats home unis) in little clumps along a short arc, and then demand that thousands of spectators hundreds of feet away keep track of which players are from which team, it becomes clear why it is a good idea to make the players from each team wear contrasting uniforms.

If I were emperor, I would rewrite MLB's uniform rule to specify that, on a color wheel with white at the center and every other color, including a slice of the pie for pure gray, radiating outwards from lightest to darkest, the visiting team can wear whatever it wants so long as the color of its jerseys falls in the outside two-thirds of the wheel. Gray would be fine, but it would have to be at least 33% gray, dark enough that even in bright sunshine a spectator 500 feet away would instantly discern the difference between a player in an otherwise identical white shirt and the player in gray standing a few feet apart. And that any team wearing anything other than white at home becomes the visiting team for the purposes of game and bats first in each inning.

[nym1231]

Last season, I was watching the Braves play the Brewers in Milwaukee.

The Brewers were wearing throwbacks to the Milwaukee Braves. Here, both teams were wearing white jerseys with Braves written across the chest.

To me, this was extremely confusing.

[paynomind]

BankWonk, i was with ya... until you consider:

...how much freaking time in baseball is spent STANDING AROUND. If, as a spectator, you can't figure out who is batting by the announcer's voice booming in your ear, the gi-normous lcd display showing his face in the outfield, and the scorebaord, then not only are you not paying enough attention to the game, you are obviously not smart enough to understand it.

Should hats or helmets be different colors? I might be able to fall for that, so you can tell that the guys who are sprinting between bases are not the same as the guys with the gloves, standing on bases, awaiting throws.

I'm not convinced that anyone playing, or really watching the game could possibly be confused.

[-kj]

Last season, I was watching the Braves play the Brewers in Milwaukee.

The Brewers were wearing throwbacks to the Milwaukee Braves. Here, both teams were wearing white jerseys with Braves written across the chest.

To me, this was extremely confusing.

I somehow doubt that Atlanta was wearing their white jerseys on the road.