NY Mets Uniforms

[powersurge]

Personally, I'd rather see them lose the stupid flippin' pinstripes.

Actually, when the Mets first began play in 1962, they adopted the pinstripes from the Yankees, along with the orange from the San Francisco Giants (who moved from New York City in 1958), and the blue from the Los Angeles Dodgers (who also moved from New York City in 1958).

Thats all well and good...and we all know there's an arrow in the FedEx logo

....but its time they stick with their own identity and lose the pinstripes. They aren't the Yankees, and should do what ever they can to distance themselves from trying to copy their uniforms IMO. I personally don't care where the orange and blue came from, the official colors of New York state are orange and blue so we can associate it with that if we really want to.

I realize the interlocking 'NY' came from the Giants, but as far as most people are concerned, when you see that logo you think 'Mets' not 'Giants'. There will come a time, if its not already here now, that a new generation of baseball fans won't even realize the San Francisco Giants once played in a place called the 'Polo Grounds' in Manhattan.

My dear Mr. Powersurge,

The official colors of the State of New York are Blue and GOLD. The official colors of NEW YORK CITY are Orange & Blue. Those of us here in the Western New York hinterlands choose not to associate with the "Big Apple" and the Muts, the Bronx Bumblers, the deRangeders, and the Knicklebaggers.

Thats what I meant.

Hmm....Didn't know people in Western New York owned computers.

[f-ing palko]

Personally, I'd rather see them lose the stupid flippin' pinstripes.

Actually, when the Mets first began play in 1962, they adopted the pinstripes from the Yankees, along with the orange from the San Francisco Giants (who moved from New York City in 1958), and the blue from the Los Angeles Dodgers (who also moved from New York City in 1958).

This comes up every couple of months. I don't understand why people assume that the Mets' pinstripes were derived from the Yankees. There is no historical indication that this is true. Dodger blue and Giant orange, sure. But it's not as if the Yankees were the only team in MLB with pinstripes in 1962. Pinstripes are a baseball look, not a Yankees look, and it bugs me that people assume the Mets look has anything to do with the Yankees. Its speculative at best. The pinstripes could have been to differentiate them from both the Dodgers and Giants looks, or maybe pinstripes were trendy in the early 60s. Day-glo orange was trendy in the 60s and the Mets ran with it so they were not above looking trendy.

Until I see evidence otherwise, I will assume the Mets took orange from the Giants, blue from the Dodgers, and nothing from the Yankees, because that is what the historical record shows.

[powersurge]

Personally, I'd rather see them lose the stupid flippin' pinstripes.

Actually, when the Mets first began play in 1962, they adopted the pinstripes from the Yankees, along with the orange from the San Francisco Giants (who moved from New York City in 1958), and the blue from the Los Angeles Dodgers (who also moved from New York City in 1958).

This comes up every couple of months. I don't understand why people assume that the Mets' pinstripes were derived from the Yankees. There is no historical indication that this is true. Dodger blue and Giant orange, sure. But it's not as if the Yankees were the only team in MLB with pinstripes in 1962. Pinstripes are a baseball look, not a Yankees look, and it bugs me that people assume the Mets look has anything to do with the Yankees. Its speculative at best. The pinstripes could have been to differentiate them from both the Dodgers and Giants looks, or maybe pinstripes were trendy in the early 60s. Day-glo orange was trendy in the 60s and the Mets ran with it so they were not above looking trendy.

Until I see evidence otherwise, I will assume the Mets took orange from the Giants, blue from the Dodgers, and nothing from the Yankees, because that is what the historical record shows.

Preach on my brotha!

AMEN!

[AceHawk447]

It also helps (and happens as well!) that blue and orange are the city's colors. [447]

[SPORTSDOCTOR]

You are correct without question.

This stupidity about the Mets "adopting" pinstripes from the Yankees is asinine as much as it is totally wrong. Any further claims about this will make said poster(s) look even more idiotic than they already look.

I've said it once and I'll say it until the cows come home, The "Mets classic" uniform (WITHOUT that stupid black drop shadow) is THE BEST suit in the entire major leagues...with the Royal blue cap of course.

Nuff said.

[M59]

Pinstripes are still a**-ugly, regardless of their origin, and the fewer teams that have them, the happier I'll be.

In fact, there are two overriding rules to my collection of game used jerseys: no pinstripes, and no Yankee$.

[Telemundo219]

As a Mets fan (see avatar and sig), I think that should keep the black accent. I actually think the reason it looks so bad is because they're always wearing black undershirts with their unis. It makes the wordmark seem more smudged. But if look at them when they were the blue under their unis, the wordmark comes off looking brighter and the black accent doesn't look bad. They should also start wearing blue undershirts at away games, cut down to one black uni and add a blue one with an orange wordmark, white outline and black shadow.

For comparison, compare this:

to this:

[njmeadowlanders]

Someone doctored this up on another board from 2007:

(I know, I know, there are plenty of pictures of Mets w/ no black out there...but w/e)

[grmuckrakers]

Just my 2 cents....

I think the Mets home pinstripes and gray roads are among the best and most traditional in all of baseball, basically what they wore when they first stepped on the field in 1962.

I don't mind the whites as an alt, but I don't like that they seem to have become the main home set.

I don't like the black jerseys -- and especially think the road black jersey and gray pants combo are too dark. The home black jersey and white pants doesn't look as bad, but I'd rather see the black go away althogether.

If they must have some black, I think the road cap with the blue bill is OK.

Johan Santana would look very good in any Mets uniform they want to put him in, even the Mercury Mets!

[McCall]

As much as I despise the Mets, they could very well have one of the best uniform sets in MLB if they would just ditch the black and make a few moves, maybe ditching even the drop shadow, though without the rest of the black, the drop shadow doesn't seem quite so intrusive. But here are my suggestions, probably without the drop shadow:

ONE HAT: Only need the one game hat (The usual blue with orange NY for those who can't figure it out)

- Home: As great as the pinstripes look, the whites with blue piping should be their home. Goes with the aways better, and kinda sets them from the Yankees a bit. (Without drop shadow on lettering and numbers)

- Aways: The Same, minus the drop shadow.

- Sunday Pinstripes: Keeps them in the set, and also can be used on Holiday or other special event games.

- Alternate: Blue jersey that I've done a quick concept for (Only one, either with white piping or orange piping):

Do this and they'll be... well, unfortunately still the Mets, but they'll look a lot better.

[Telemundo219]

Someone doctored this up on another board from 2007:

(I know, I know, there are plenty of pictures of Mets w/ no black out there...but w/e)

I think the reason I'm so supportive of the black dropshadow is that it gives some defintion to the uniform. As in this pic, the workmark looks sooo plain and boring and puts the whole jersey design down. A lot of black might be bad but a little black for a dropshadow or hat, is actually, I believe, good.

[The_Admiral]

From a distance, blue, orange, and black sort of mix into magenta. The black just gets in the way, for me, personally.

[infrared41]

Go with this at home, the gray on the road, lose the black, and be done with it.

[SmoothieX]

For comparison, compare this:

to this:

One has a hot chick in it. The other has Willie looking like he ate a bad lunch.

[Gothamite]

The "Yankee pinstripes" thing is widely reported (and not just on the Internet). Call it one of those urban legends that won't die. Myself, I would desperately love it to be true, since I want them to abandon them in favor of the solid-white-with-piping, but I've never found any actual evidence to support it.

I think the reason I'm so supportive of the black dropshadow is that it gives some defintion to the uniform. As in this pic, the workmark looks sooo plain and boring and puts the whole jersey design down. A lot of black might be bad but a little black for a dropshadow or hat, is actually, I believe, good.

The black drop-shadow muddies the wordmark by swallowing up the white space within the "s" and "e". It makes the wordmark much harder to read (as the Dolphins admitted this season with their navy drop-shadow).

One could make the case that a black outline would add definition, but that's not what the Mets have. It's a result of the black being slapped on to an already-designed uniform, not meshing with what they had before.

That's why they need to return to the classic blue and orange. Sell merchandise in black if you want, but restrict it to the gift shop and keep it off the (Citi) field.

[BallWonk]

The Mets should go for a much simpler and classic uniform design WITHOUT black accents. It would be congruent with the look of their new classic looking retro park.

And if the Mets were any organization other than the Mets, we could hold out reasonable hope that what they should do and what the will do will eventually align. Alas, this team's front office seems to lack both the sense and the class to do any such thing as make their uniforms not suck.

But here's a rumor worth starting, because it would represent such a significant uglification that Mets observers might believe it:

To go along with their new, throwbacky park, the Mets will change their uniforms to resemble an old sepia-toned black-and-white photo. So the new team colors will shift the orange to a light brown, the blue will darken to navy and become an accent color, and black will become the team's primary color alongside light brown. Home uniforms will be cream, not white, and on the road the team will use dark tan (much less bright than the Padres) instead of gray. The thinking is that the Mets will then look like an old photo or TV broadcast, something no team has done before, and it will make the Mets the worldwide go-to team for vintage-style merchandising.

Spread that baby and see if it pops up in panicky Mets fan blogs next spring.

[BBM]

I wouldn't mind if they kept the black accents, or hell, kept a black alt jersey. But I think the home whites (both) and the road greys should ONLY be worn with the blue cap / blue socks. They can still wear the black caps with the black alts if they want. IMO this would clean up their look and still keep people with black replica jerseys happy.

[Joshawaggie]

The Mets ditching black come 2009? HA! I would venture to guess they would factor it in more prominently, they just seem to be embracing it a lot, which sucks.

[Gothamite]

Actually, this past year they virtually eliminated it from their ads around town - lots of bold orange and blue graphics.

[patsox]

I wouldn't mind if they kept the black accents, or hell, kept a black alt jersey. But I think the home whites (both) and the road greys should ONLY be worn with the blue cap / blue socks. They can still wear the black caps with the black alts if they want. IMO this would clean up their look and still keep people with black replica jerseys happy.

That is a simple enough compromise until they get an entirely new set of uniforms. I like your thinking here.