2013 MLB Logo and Uniform Changes

[St Louis Cardinals]

maybe the worst full-time alternate today.

Ahem.

I'd say that one is just as bad. But now that you bring them up, the Braves' cream alt is the worst alternate in the game. The navy one sucks, but at least it provides something to the identity, being that it's their only navy jersey. The cream alt takes off the Braves' powerful identifying mark just because and then is cream to be just different enough from the regular home jerseys. The Pirates going with the monogrammed black jersey is bad, but it's not as bad as that piece of crap cream Braves alt.

Really?

You're loco man, because those are beyond gorgeous.

they do look good, but dont see any reason for them as opposed to their regular white homes

They should be their regular homes. I always have thought that Tomahawk under the script on the regular whites is clunky and makes it all look off centered

only a little off center

[TheOldRoman]

I'd say that one is just as bad. But now that you bring them up, the Braves' cream alt is the worst alternate in the game. The navy one sucks, but at least it provides something to the identity, being that it's their only navy jersey. The cream alt takes off the Braves' powerful identifying mark just because and then is cream to be just different enough from the regular home jerseys. The Pirates going with the monogrammed black jersey is bad, but it's not as bad as that piece of crap cream Braves alt.

Really?

You're loco man, because those are beyond gorgeous.

No, they are beyond unnecessary. The jerseys themselves are nothing special, and much worse than the regular home set. They take the defining elements of the Braves' looks (the tomahawk and the triple piping) and strip them. These are the elements of one of the best looks in baseball, and elements of a team which went on an unprecedented run for 15 years. These elements were removed just because, they needed to remove them so there was enough of a difference from the regular homes for people to buy the throwback.

The biggest thing is, aside from these alts being nothing special on their own and much worse-looking than the home set, they drastically bastardize the look. The Braves of the '90s-00s had an iconic look, home and road. The Braves started messing up when they added the red jersey and the awful tomahawk hat. Then they added the crappy navy alts and messed up the road look by wearing the solid navy caps on the road. At the very least, the red jerseys were kept to being worn exclusively on Sundays. However, since they debuted these crappy throwbacks, the reds are worn every Friday at home and the throwbacks are worn every Saturday and Sunday. So that means the Braves only look like the Braves on Mondays through Thursdays at home. That sucks.

As much as I dislike the red and navy jerseys, at least they provide something to the identity at they didn't have before. The throwbacks provide nothing other than a stripped-down home jersey that looks dirty. This would be like if the Cardinals made a jersey without the birds-on-bat. It would be dumb and unnecessary. At least the Cardinals had the good sense to use the StL wordmark on their alt, so it brings something to the identity it didn't have before. These Braves throwbacks just do nothing other than make the Braves look worse twice per week.

[PhlyBoy]

No, they are beyond unnecessary. The jerseys themselves are nothing special, and much worse than the regular home set. They take the defining elements of the Braves' looks (the tomahawk and the triple piping) and strip them. These are the elements of one of the best looks in baseball, and elements of a team which went on an unprecedented run for 15 years. These elements were removed just because, they needed to remove them so there was enough of a difference from the regular homes for people to buy the throwback.

The biggest thing is, aside from these alts being nothing special on their own and much worse-looking than the home set, they drastically bastardize the look. The Braves of the '90s-00s had an iconic look, home and road. The Braves started messing up when they added the red jersey and the awful tomahawk hat. Then they added the crappy navy alts and messed up the road look by wearing the solid navy caps on the road. At the very least, the red jerseys were kept to being worn exclusively on Sundays. However, since they debuted these crappy throwbacks, the reds are worn every Friday at home and the throwbacks are worn every Saturday and Sunday. So that means the Braves only look like the Braves on Mondays through Thursdays at home. That sucks.

As much as I dislike the red and navy jerseys, at least they provide something to the identity at they didn't have before. The throwbacks provide nothing other than a stripped-down home jersey that looks dirty. This would be like if the Cardinals made a jersey without the birds-on-bat. It would be dumb and unnecessary. At least the Cardinals had the good sense to use the StL wordmark on their alt, so it brings something to the identity it didn't have before. These Braves throwbacks just do nothing other than make the Braves look worse twice per week.

You see, though, the alts look really good. Like REALLY really good. So good that when I saw the current unis last night in the game I thought to myself, "damn, should have went with the alts on national tv." All the damn piping on the current uniforms is overkill. and tomahawk is too big and clunky on the chest, thats why it's different from the Cards. I'm not saying the current unis are ugly, I'm saying they are far from perfect, while the cream alts are damn near perfect. unnecessary or not, the alts just plain out look better.

[BBTV]

No, they are beyond unnecessary. The jerseys themselves are nothing special, and much worse than the regular home set. They take the defining elements of the Braves' looks (the tomahawk and the triple piping) and strip them. These are the elements of one of the best looks in baseball, and elements of a team which went on an unprecedented run for 15 years. These elements were removed just because, they needed to remove them so there was enough of a difference from the regular homes for people to buy the throwback.

to repost the point I made earlier, if there was no other motive, then I would agree that they are totally unnecessary. I really do think that it's paving the way for the phasing out of the tomahawk and other NA imagery. It could turn out that they'll wear them a little more next year, then they'll be the full time the following year, with the current set as an alt, and then eventually that will go away, and be revived from time to time as a "throwback" to the glory years of 14 straight division titles - and 13 playoff failures.

[TheOldRoman]

I don't think they're phasing anything out. They don't currently have any Indian imagery other than the tomahawk, which is an artifact, not something offensive in and of itself. And to the thought that they aren't concerned with doing away with such imagery, they nearly brought back Chief Blow-a-load this year on the BP caps, and that was one year after they debuted these throwbacks. I really think there's nothing to it other than "we already made a red and a blue jersey, how can we get these people to buy another jersey?"

As for the opinion that the Braves' home and road sets are cluttered with the striping and the tomahawk, that's fine to have. However, I imagine the huge majority of people on here as well of the majority of Braves fans would disagree with that opinion.

[PhlyBoy]

By phasing out I don't think he meant because of the native american imagery. Theres tomahawks on the sleeves of the alts. I think he's just saying they are phasing them out because it's time for a better look.

[Chromatic]

The Tomahawk is iconic. It shouldn't be phased out, especially because the name 'Braves' isn't offensive by any stretch of the word, unlike Redskins or Indians for example.

[Noir]

The Mariners are getting new uniforms. It's rumoured the Cubs will get a new set as well as the Padres. Lord knows that Padres are one team that deserves an upgrade.

I certainly hope you're kidding about the Mariners. Cubs could stand for new road unis though, and although the Padres need it, they sadly won't get it.

There were rumblings about the Mariners going cream. They're about to up a near-perfect set.

If the leaked BP's were any indication, the Mariners aren't doing a damn thing.

[Chromatic]

The Mariners are getting new uniforms. It's rumoured the Cubs will get a new set as well as the Padres. Lord knows that Padres are one team that deserves an upgrade.

I certainly hope you're kidding about the Mariners. Cubs could stand for new road unis though, and although the Padres need it, they sadly won't get it.

There were rumblings about the Mariners going cream. They're about to up a near-perfect set.

If the leaked BP's were any indication, the Mariners aren't doing a damn thing.

They better not. They have one of the best looks in the league.

[McCall]

By phasing out I don't think he meant because of the native american imagery. Theres tomahawks on the sleeves of the alts. I think he's just saying they are phasing them out because it's time for a better look.

You are aware your posts are entirely opinion, right? And to be honest, you're probably in the vast minority. They're regular home and aways are some of the best in the league and nearing iconic status. The alt is nothing more than a jump on the cream "throwback alt" train that's running through the league.

[WSU151]

Yeah the Braves white and gray jerseys are near the top of the list in the MLB. The cream jerseys are pretty bad because the hat emblem is pure white, so as a set, the cream just looks off. The first time I saw the cream jerseys in 2012 I thought someone had peed in the laundry. They looked that bad.

[PhlyBoy]

By phasing out I don't think he meant because of the native american imagery. Theres tomahawks on the sleeves of the alts. I think he's just saying they are phasing them out because it's time for a better look.

You are aware your posts are entirely opinion, right? And to be honest, you're probably in the vast minority. They're regular home and aways are some of the best in the league and nearing iconic status. The alt is nothing more than a jump on the cream "throwback alt" train that's running through the league.

You are aware that every single post on these boards is entirely opinion right? That's the point of places like this. to share our opinions. It's your opinion that their home and aways are one of the best. It's mine that they are good but the cream alts are better.

[BBTV]

I don't think they're phasing anything out. They don't currently have any Indian imagery other than the tomahawk, which is an artifact, not something offensive in and of itself. And to the thought that they aren't concerned with doing away with such imagery, they nearly brought back Chief Blow-a-load this year on the BP caps, and that was one year after they debuted these throwbacks. I really think there's nothing to it other than "we already made a red and a blue jersey, how can we get these people to buy another jersey?"

As for the opinion that the Braves' home and road sets are cluttered with the striping and the tomahawk, that's fine to have. However, I imagine the huge majority of people on here as well of the majority of Braves fans would disagree with that opinion.

By phasing out I don't think he meant because of the native american imagery. Theres tomahawks on the sleeves of the alts. I think he's just saying they are phasing them out because it's time for a better look.

No, I meant exactly because of the imagery. They're not under any fire (that I'm aware of), and other than the chant that the fans do, I don't think that too many people would lump them in the same category as the indians and Washington's football team, but it's possible that they're simply deciding that they don't want to even be on anyone's radar, no matter how far off the map they currently are.

The BP cap does contradict all of this, so I don't know. It's just a theory.

[Gothamite]

The crossed-tomahawks patch, which was created solely for the purpose of going on the cream jersey's sleeve, also tends to indicate that "phasing out the tomahawk" wasn't really part of the motivation behind that jersey.

[BBTV]

Hmmm... forgot about that.

Well, while my hypothesis is certainly looking like it will be proven wrong, just for the sake of not giving up, I'll argue that it's possible that it's all part of the phase out.

Maybe they want it to fade away without anyone noticing. As long as it's a patch, subconsciously the cream jersey isn't a total identity change. Then if it becomes primary, the patch gets replaced by an anniversary patch or something. Then it's just gone, and nobody other than we will notice. It just gets smaller until it disappears.

I mean... maybe?

[Gold Pinstripes]

I am disappointed that the Pirates are going to stick with wearing their black jerseys so much in the playoffs. It's such a bad jersey, maybe the worst full-time alternate today. The monogram is bad, the front number placement is awful, and their numbers are horizontally compressed for some reason to account for the double outline. Also, they are worn with the most pointless alternate cap ever, and come at the expense of their regular home and road jerseys, which are both among the best in the game. The Pirates should put the home wordmark on a black jersey, with all characters in yellow with white outlines. Then wear them no more than twice a week.

Anyway, baseball brought back the stupid "postseason" patch caps, and they look as bad as last year. The font is too thin, and I think the colors change when the hat gets sweaty, so the "postseason" font is illegible except from a dead-on shot of the side of the hat. Also, they put "postseason" patches on the sleeves this year. It's really dumb. Patches for the World Series are understandable, but it's silly to have them for the regular playoffs. And "postseason" has no significance. That word isn't burned into our psyche. Fan colloquially call them the playoffs. Baseball needs to stop with that.

The black alternate with the monogram has been so popular, I'll be surprised if the current ownership ever changes that style. The white outline really does help the design "pop", and you'll notice the alternate "P" design shows up frequently by itself in other forms, be it on TV or merchandise. While this has been out since 2009, I believe, it has become linked with the return of playoff baseball. The club was respectable in 2011 and 2012, before the breakthrough season today. The new pirate logo should simply replace the 1997 one on the sleeve for the 2014 season.

[McCall]

The white outline is unnecessary and muddles the gold. The NOB are so much clearer and bolder because of the lack of white outline. And the cap is the most pointless in MLB. The primary cap is a classic and does not need any outlining around the P. Gold is very noticeable against black on its own.

[Gothamite]

Agreed on all counts.

The Pirates have one of the best caps in the majors - they don't need an alt, especially one so similar.

McCall, I didn't realize that their NOBs were sans-outline, but you're right.

The NOBs look so much better, read so much more clearly, than anything on those jerseys with their stupid double outlines.

[TheOldRoman]

I don't think the numbers are at all unclear. The outlines don't muddy things, in my opinion. However, 1) it's strange that the black outline is so thin, while the white is very thick. 2) For some reason, they horizontally compress the numbers to accommodate the outline. Those numbers look terrible because they're far too narrow. They should just use the normal width font in yellow with a white outline. The A's do it on the green jerseys, and those are legible.

[Lights Out]

I like the black jerseys the way they are. Sure, they'd be cleaner without the white outlines, but those don't ruin the look for me. I'd also love to see them make a yellow version based off these: