9 MLB Jerseys We Never Want to See Again
The City Connect program that Nike began in 2021 has drawn mixed reviews at best. There's a good chance that some of the unique threads that the initiative has produced will find themselves on a list like this one day.
One of the ways to properly judge a uniform is to allow it to breathe, though, because sometimes first impressions don't prove to be final opinions on jerseys.
For example, some thought the gradient uniforms that the Tampa Bay Devil Rays wore when they entered the league in 1998 were too much at the time, but the Rays now wear their original white tops with gradient writing as a home alternate, and they are very popular.
However, there are other uniforms that age like milk, perhaps milk that already had a sour test at the store.
Here are nine uniforms that have been given long enough for us to know that we never want to see them again.
Washington Nationals' DC Alternate Uniforms: 2006-2008
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If playing their home games at RFK Stadium wasn't enough, this not-even-good-enough-for-spring-training alternate made the Nationals look like an expansion team, even if they weren't.
First of all, the last thing baseball needed was another team to bring red to the forefront of their look. Sure, it was a secondary color for the Montreal Expos, but blue and white gave them enough differentiation from most teams.
The Nationals leaning this hard into red just added to a crowded National League, where the Cincinnati Reds, St. Louis Cardinals and Philadelphia Phillies all had it as their primary color. The Atlanta Braves and Arizona Diamondbacks also added red tops around this time as well.
Beyond solid red tops not usually looking good, the interlocking "DC" logo just doesn't work, which makes it that much more perplexing that the Nationals have added it to the sleeve of a new alternate uniform in 2024.
No matter how many times people have made fun of the "curly W" logo and compared it to Walgreens, just remember what the alternative is.
Los Angeles Dodgers Satin Uniforms: 1944
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In 2011, the Los Angeles Dodgers wore the throwback uniforms above.
Amazingly, despite it looking like Clayton Kershaw is seemingly dressed as the clown at a child's birthday party, these were a major improvement over the threads that inspired them.
In 1944, the Brooklyn Dodgers wore satin uniforms, with the thought being that they would be easier for fans to see during night games at Ebbets Field. But the uniforms were so ugly that the fans probably would have preferred not to see them at all.
As hard as it may be to believe, satin uniforms never really caught on in baseball.
Chicago White Sox Collared Jerseys With Shorts: 1976
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During the 1976 season, the Chicago White Sox wore these collared uniforms with "Hollywood shorts" on three occasions, a creation of promoter/owner Bill Veeck.
Obviously, the shorts here are the focus. You don't have to be a uniform expert to figure out that wearing shorts to play baseball is going to do a number on your knees and the exposed skin that would otherwise be covered by baseball pants.
Perhaps not enough attention is focused on just how ugly the tops are, though. The "Chicago" font stinks. The very dark blue collars match with the hat and shorts, but who cares, they look hideous.
Chris Sale did get benched by the White Sox in 2016 after he cut up 1976 throwback uniforms the team was scheduled to wear because he thought they were so uncomfortable that he didn't want to don it for one of his starts, so he made sure the team couldn't. But that was a different uniform from the set.
If it had been the one with the shorts, his position would have been more understandable.
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Kansas City Royals' Turn Ahead The Clock Uniforms: 1998
4 of 9The Seattle Mariners hosted the Kansas City Royals at the Kingdome on July 18, 1998 for what was dubbed "Turn Ahead The Clock Night."
The two teams wore what were considered futuristic uniforms, designed to look like what people in the 1990s believed 2027 would look like.
While the Mariners' tank-top jerseys are so 1990s they are endearing, the Royals should disband before 2027 if they have designs on wearing those yellow vests. The C-3PO-like batting helmets that don't match the awful shade of yellow used for the jerseys stand out as particularly offensive.
When the two teams held a second Turn Ahead The Clock Night on June 30, 2018 at T-Mobile Park, the Mariners wore almost the same uniform. Fortunately, the Royals went with a different look.
Perhaps in 2027, the Mariners and Royals will turn ahead the clock 30 more years and come up with new uniforms for that game.
For the Royals, there's nowhere to go but up from the originals.
MLB Players Weekend Monochromatic Uniforms: 2019
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MLB Players Weekend will be making a return in 2024, but without special jerseys. A look at the monochromatic disaster that was the last event in 2019 gives you an idea of why.
In each matchup, one team wore an all-black uniform, while the other went with an all-white one. If that wasn't bad enough, pitchers on the white-uniformed teams had to wear black hats "because the batters were having difficulties seeing the white ball with the white hat."
The results were as bad as it sounds.
It's not surprising that MLB went five years between Players Weekends after the 2019 fiasco.
Arizona Diamondbacks' Road Alternate Uniforms: 2016-2019
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Until the Diamondbacks go back to purple and teal on a full-time basis, everything will feel like a disappointment.
However, the 2017 uniform refresh the team did was particularly offensive. It came during a period when, inexplicably, sports teams became obsessed with dark gray on dark gray.
The entire uniform set was atrocious, but particularly the gray-on-gray road alternate with a hint of teal.
Fortunately, these uniforms were short-lived. Arizona has since done two more refreshes, and the 2024 one is actually pretty good.
But you know what would be better? Purple and teal returning on a full-time basis after being the D-backs' primary look from 1998-2006.
Oakland Athletics' Black Jerseys: 2000; 2008-2010
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The Oakland Athletics have little going for them at the moment.
However, the one feather still in their A's caps are the green-and-gold color scheme, which will hopefully follow them if they do depart the Bay Area.
So, it was sacrilegious when the A's introduced a black alternate and black cap for the 2000 season. Fortunately, the black alternates lasted just one season in their initial run.
Strangely, the black uniforms returned in 2008, and this time were worn as an alternate for three years before being removed from the rotation in favor of a gold top, much more fitting for the A's.
Too many teams have black alternate jerseys in sports today in general, but it's understandable for franchises that don't have very good uniform kits.
For the A's, it was a disaster, and a third time wouldn't be the charm.
Milwaukee Brewers Navy Blue Alternate: 1994-1996
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The iconic ball-in-glove logo was Milwaukee's primary one from 1978-1993, and it returned in 2020. What happened from 1994-2019 should be a case study for what not to do, though.
From 1994-1996, the Brewers went from ball-in-glove to an illegible "MB" logo that was featured on their caps and the front of these navy blue alternates. There's nothing especially endearing about the "Brewers" script that had to be arranged around the obnoxiously large 1990s logo either.
In 1997, their final season in the American League, the intertwined "MB" logo was removed from the caps and front of the navy jerseys and moved to the left sleeve. The Brewers did a complete uniform rebrand in 2000, but it would not be until 2020 that they brought back the ball-in-glove logo on a full-time basis.
The moral here is don't fix what's not broken.
Pittsburgh Pirates' Red Vests: 2007-2008
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The red vests that the Pirates wore for two seasons were so bad it's almost impossible to even find a picture of them.
After a lengthy search, though, the X account "Best Baseball Unis" provides us with a photo of Zach Duke wearing what's anything but a best baseball uni.
Vests are bad, but in the defense of the Pirates, almost everyone was doing it in the 2000s. But when a team with a typically black-and-yellow color scheme tries to add a red vest, oh boy, do you get some abysmal results.
What about the Pirates are red? Maybe the parrots, but it's hard to make that case when the Pirates have a green parrot as their mascot.
You know who else had red vests that looked similar around this time period? The employees at the Premier Theater in Drake & Josh.
As it turns out, working at a movie theater in the 2000s was a more enjoyable job than playing for the Pirates.
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