2013 World Baseball Classic

[RoughRiders99]

Could anybody please explain why some of the countries aren't using their national or flag colors in their uniforms?

Like for example, Japan's colors should be red and white, yet they have blue in their set.

Also, Italy is green, white and red. They have blue in their set.

Would like some clarification here. Thanks.

[Legend]

RoughRiders, Italy always uses blue for their national teams. Savoy blue(azzuro), was the color linked with the royal dynasty that unified Italy in the late 1800's. It has been used in the soccer kits for years, and is used in any national sport they play in.

[Legend]

Love the Canada hat too, don't get the hate for it.

I want a US and Italy hat for sure, been meaning to get one of each for some time.

(Sorry for the double post).

[AndrewPF]

Japan's soccer team wears blue as well. According to Wikipedia:

Japan uses blue and white rather than red and white due to a superstition. In its first major international competition, the 1936 Summer Olympics, Japan used a blue kit in the match against Sweden and Japan won the match by a score of 3-2.

Perhaps other Japanese teams just wanted to keep things consistent and use blue to build a brand and identity for Japanese sports at large.

[TBGKon]

Legend covered Italy, but see below for Japan & Australia.

With its national flag only having white and red, Japan's choice to wear blue may seem odd.

But like a number of other countries, athletic colors are not specifically tied into the colors of the flag, as they are in this country.

Today's opponent for the United States in the Women's World Cup final, Japan's use of blue has not always been consistent.

The men's team wore blue jerseys in its first major international competition, the 1936 Olympics. It won its first game against Sweden 3-2.

The national soccer federation took that as a good luck sign, according to the website soccerjerseysclub.com.

The team has worn a variety of uniforms, including red and white jerseys in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Poor qualification results for the World Cup and the Olympics sent the red jerseys packing.

The men's team now holds the nickname of "Samurai Blue," while the women's team is known as "Nadeshiko Japan," which is a kind of pink flower.

Australia's athletic teams don green and yellow to symbolize the golden wattle, the floral emblem of the country.

[Mingjai]

And of course the Dutch wear their national color of orange because of national hero William of Orange, though orange no longer appears on the Dutch flag. Apparently, the Dutch flag used to be orange-white-blue, but the orange was slowly replaced by red for uncertain reasons.

From Wikipedia:

After 1630, the orange stripe was gradually replaced by a red one, as paintings of that time indicate. Since there was likely no political reason for introducing a non-orange motif in the flag, the probable reason is that orange and blue are faint colors and more difficult to distinguish than red and dark blue, especially at sea. Another explanation is that the orange was originally made of a blend of yellow and red vegetable dyes, with the yellow colour fading out first, leaving a red strip.

The orange-white-blue flag, however, continued to be flown as well and in later times formed the basis for the former South African flag. It is also the basis for the flags of New York City and Albany, New York.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_flag

[IceCap]

And of course the Dutch wear their national color of orange because of national hero William of Orange, though orange no longer appears on the Dutch flag. Apparently, the Dutch flag used to be orange-white-blue, but the orange was slowly replaced by red for uncertain reasons.

From Wikipedia:

After 1630, the orange stripe was gradually replaced by a red one, as paintings of that time indicate. Since there was likely no political reason for introducing a non-orange motif in the flag, the probable reason is that orange and blue are faint colors and more difficult to distinguish than red and dark blue, especially at sea. Another explanation is that the orange was originally made of a blend of yellow and red vegetable dyes, with the yellow colour fading out first, leaving a red strip.

The orange-white-blue flag, however, continued to be flown as well and in later times formed the basis for the former South African flag. It is also the basis for the flags of New York City and Albany, New York.

http://en.wikipedia....wiki/Dutch_flag

The House of Orange still rules the Neatherlands. Hitler, however, is the reason that the Dutch no longer use the orange/white/blue version of their flag.

Both the orange/white/blue version and the red/white/blue version were used almost interchangeably, and neither one was given official status over the other for the longest time. That was until the 30s. A Dutch fascist party influenced by Hitler's Nazis, the National Socialist Movement in the Netherlands, co-opted the orange/white/blue version as a party symbol. Queen Wilhelmina, as a sign of opposition to the rise of fascism, signed a decree making the red/white/blue version the only official flag of the country.

[rmered]

Legend covered Italy, but see below for Japan & Australia.

With its national flag only having white and red, Japan's choice to wear blue may seem odd.

But like a number of other countries, athletic colors are not specifically tied into the colors of the flag, as they are in this country.

Today's opponent for the United States in the Women's World Cup final, Japan's use of blue has not always been consistent.

The men's team wore blue jerseys in its first major international competition, the 1936 Olympics. It won its first game against Sweden 3-2.

The national soccer federation took that as a good luck sign, according to the website soccerjerseysclub.com.

The team has worn a variety of uniforms, including red and white jerseys in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Poor qualification results for the World Cup and the Olympics sent the red jerseys packing.

The men's team now holds the nickname of "Samurai Blue," while the women's team is known as "Nadeshiko Japan," which is a kind of pink flower.

Australia's athletic teams don green and yellow to symbolize the golden wattle, the floral emblem of the country.

Australia's teams wear Green and Gold because when first formed as a country in 1901, most times they played sport it was against England, who had combinations of Red White & Blue depending on the sport.

So Australian chose Green and Gold and have worn it ever since.

The only exceptions are clash kits, though there was a move to use Navy Blue more often, but this was regarded as being un-Australian.

[Bouj]

MLB Shop has most of the BP jerseys up to go with the game jerseys for the WBC teams. Surprise: there's a template.

[dabest13]

Some shots from the games in Asia:

[dabest13]

ooof!

[MJWalker45]

MLB Shop has most of the BP jerseys up to go with the game jerseys for the WBC teams. Surprise: there's a template.

Bigger surprise! The batting practice jerseys look better

[ltjets21]

Why does everyone wear majestic uniforms and Japan just kinda does their own thing with Mizouno?

[walkerws]

Personal preference for Japan and Korea.

[illini1]

Why does everyone wear majestic uniforms and Japan just kinda does their own thing with Mizouno?

I believe Korea wears Nike uniforms also. They did in the last WBC at least.

[hormone]

Are these game unis just glorified BP jerseys or is it because they might not be a huge seller? These are customized authentic at $120 where the MLB jerseys are more than double the price.

[dabest13]

Will Canada be sticking with UnderArmour in the main tournament or was that just for the qualifers?

[sportstar1212]

Canada is wearing Majestic in the tournament.

[Bouj]

Are these game unis just glorified BP jerseys or is it because they might not be a huge seller? These are customized authentic at $120 where the MLB jerseys are more than double the price.

The game jerseys are the current MLB BP template, and the WBC BP jerseys are the old BP template (for teams wearing Majestic).

I imagine it's because they don't sell a ton of the authentics and they can keep costs down this way. Plus they can showcase the design.

[illini1]

Japan's soccer team wears blue as well. According to Wikipedia:

Japan uses blue and white rather than red and white due to a superstition. In its first major international competition, the 1936 Summer Olympics, Japan used a blue kit in the match against Sweden and Japan won the match by a score of 3-2.

Perhaps other Japanese teams just wanted to keep things consistent and use blue to build a brand and identity for Japanese sports at large.

I'm surprised Japan doesn't use red. Red is a very popular color in Asia. If I remember correctly a couple years ago a Premier League team got an Asian sponsor and considered changing their color from blue to red because it was more popular in Asia.