Philadelphia Phillies: Ranking Each of the Uniforms in Phils History

Since 1883 the Philadelphia Phillies have used more versions of the letter "P" than any team should ever feel the need to wear.

From uniforms that would make Frank Rizzo proud, to pieces that would make Versace roll over in his grave, the Phillies have experimented with combinations that bring back both fond and repressed memories.

Before their current uniform, it seems like the Phillies had their best success in some of their worst looking uniforms, and vice versa. 

However, the one saving grace for even their worst uniforms has been the players who have worn them.

Even if they looked like they were found at the bottom of Santa’s closet.

Best Formal Piece: 1902

It’s never good when a jersey can be considered an upgrade because it has buttons.

Besides improving on the original string used to close the team’s first jersey, the Phillies 1902 uniform design was also more in line with those found in Baltimore, Cleveland, Boston, Chicago, and Washington.

The Phillies 1902 uniform provided a very formal appearance, while featuring a plain yet bold collar and letter "P" on the jersey.

1902 was one of the first years in which the Phillies home and away jerseys were the same colors; as 1900 and 1901 saw blue and black "P's", respectively. 

1902 is also the last year the Phillies wore the color red until 1911.

The Phillies first pennant winning season, 1915, saw the team wear a similar uniform with a bold "P" on the jersey, but a much smaller collar. 

The Phillies would go on to lose to the Boston Red Sox and their young pinch hitter in the 1915 World Series; an outfielder by the name of Babe Ruth.

At least they finally had buttons.

Best Matching Piece: 1910

When it comes to creating a matching uniform, most teams decide on color schemes that work well together. 

To former owner Horace S. Fogel, these colors were not limited to the logo and jersey the team wore. 

The matching color scheme extended off the playing field.

Thanks to Fogel, the 1910 Phillies uniform featured a green trim on the jersey to match the seats of the Baker Bowl where the Phillies would play that season.

The jersey included an Old-English letter "P" on the front, which was a change from the former bold, plain "P" used in past seasons.  However, this looked much better on the team’s former white jerseys with black trim.

But green?

Believe it or not, this was not the worst decision of Fogel’s career.  The sportswriter-turned manager-turned sportswriter-turned owner once converted Christy Mathewson from a pitcher to a position player.

Mathewson would go on to win 373 games and finish with a 2.13 ERA on his way to the Hall of Fame.

Fogel also tried to change the team’s name to the Philadelphia Live Wires.

A few years later, after accusing the National League of fixing a pennant race and stating that certain World Series games were not played fairly, Fogel was banned from baseball for life.

The Phillies 1910 uniform should have also gotten a lifetime ban.

Best Attempt at a Yankees-Cubs Combination: 1921

The 1921 Phillies were 90 years early in their foreshadowing of future New York Yankees and Chicago Cubs uniforms.

The 1921 Phillies uniforms featured another new logo, this one a red letter "P" inside of a blue circle (similar to current Chicago Cubs uniforms).

Although they were nine years after the New York Yankees, the Phillies wore pinstripes from 1921 until 1923.

The Yankees can be seen wearing pinstripes on their home jerseys as early as 1912. 

However, the Boston National featured pinstripes on their road uniform as early as 1907, and cities such as Detroit, Washington, and Brooklyn used the design for a period of time in 1888. 

The Yankees were not the first team to play in pinstripes.

They were the first team to play well in pinstripes.

The Phillies went 51-103 in 1921, proving that pinstripes does not immediately equal success.

Best Old-English "P": 1925

Talk about indecisive.

By 1925, the Phillies were wearing their fourth different style of "P" in twenty-five years.

However, the 1925 old-English "P" and uniform design was a much better look than the previous green-trimmed jerseys of 1910.

Worn during the National League’s 50^th anniversary “Golden Jubilee” celebration, these uniforms would start a nine year trend of using a calligraphic letter "P" rather than the plain, bold lettering fans were used to seeing.

The lettering was very similar to the style worn by the Detroit Tigers of the time, and the ones currently worn today.

The Phillies 1925 and 1926 uniforms displayed the old-English "P" on both the home and away jerseys.  However, by 1927, the Phillies road uniforms featured a plain front with the "P" displayed in a diamond on the sleeve.

1933 was the last year the Phillies used the script "P".

And one of the last years the team had a good uniform idea for over a decade.

Best Use of Team Nickname: 1934

It seems as if, by 1934, the Phillies were finally bored with only seeing a letter on the front of the team’s uniform.

For the first time since 1900, the team’s jersey displayed more than a just a letter "P."

Both the team’s home and away jerseys featured the name "Phillies" on the front.  The team’s 1933 away jerseys were the first to display the full team nickname. 

The "P" in the nickname was filled with white coloring on road jerseys, as well as the underline beneath it.  The home jersey featured a different coloring of the "P" and underline.

The team’s road jersey was much darker than in previous years, but the Phillies decided to keep the red stripe that had been used on the team’s pants since 1927.

1934 was also the year Philadelphia decided to repeal its blue law, allowing the Phillies to play later in the afternoon on Sundays (cities such as Chicago, Cincinnati, and St. Louis had allowed baseball on Sunday since 1902).

The Phillies 1935 uniform saw only a slight variation in script and road color.  These were also the uniforms worn by the Phillies when they played the Cincinnati Reds in major league baseball’s first ever night game.

Best Tribute to Philadelphia: 1938

At first glance, it appears as if the Phillies went through a we-hate-the-color-red phase in 1938, and again from 1942 through 1945.

However, the 1938 Phillies at least had a decent excuse for ditching the color.

For one season, the Phillies decided to wear the city of Philadelphia’s colors of blue and golden yellow.

This color scheme lasted for the 1938 season before the color red was brought back for the 1939-1941 seasons.

One season may have been too much for these colors.

The team’s home uniform featured a golden yellow "P" on the jersey front while the road uniform displayed the team’s nickname in the same color.  The road jersey design was the same one that had been used since 1934.

The jersey could have been worn by the Pittsburgh Pirates and no one would have known the difference.

The city of Philadelphia must have felt honored.

And then asked that the color be changed back immediately.

Best Plain and Simple Piece: 1942

No one knows what exactly the Phillies were thinking.

For the 1942 season, the team decided to change its name to the Phils.

Apparently, they thought this meant they had to wear arguably the most boring uniforms ever created.

The 1942 home uniform was the same design that had been used since 1938, only this time with a dark blue "P" on the chest.  The dark blue was the third color used by the team in five years.

The road jerseys read "Phils" across the front in what may be the least appealing design ever worn.

In 1942, the Phillies finished with a 42-109 record.  They remained in last place from the third game of the season until the end.  Their highest winning percentage was .342.

Blame it on the uniforms.

Best Candidate for Worst Secondary Nickname: 1944

For the 1944 season, the Phillies wore a jersey not too different from the one worn by today’s team. 

Except for a blue jay on their sleeves.

Before the season, the Phillies ran a contest to give the team a secondary nickname.  The woman that won decided on the name "Blue Jays."

So, for the 1944 and 1945 seasons, the team decided to once again ditch the color red and go for both home and away jerseys that displayed "Phillies" in blue. 

Blue hats were also worn. 

Blue socks were worn, too. 

In addition to a blue jay on every player’s sleeve.

After 1945, students at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, did the Phillies one of the greatest favors ever given when they signed a petition saying that the team had stolen their school’s logo.

By 1946, the blue jay was gone and the color red was back in the Phillies’ uniform.

This is the last time the Phillies would have trouble with a blue jay until 1993.

Best Future Home Day Game Piece: 1948

Look familiar?

The Phils current home day game uniform is nearly identical to their 1948 home jerseys, with a slight modern touch.

The Phillies 1948 uniform was the first time since 1937 that both their home and away jerseys displayed "Phillies" across the front while utilizing cream, red, and blue colors.

These would also be the last Phillies home jerseys to not include red pinstripes for the next 58 years.

In 2008, the Phillies unveiled these same jerseys with slight modifications as part of the team’s 125^th anniversary.  The jerseys are worn by the Phils during all home day games. 

Thankfully, today’s uniform does not include the blue, white, and red striped socks that the 1948 team wore.

The jerseys were selected by the Phillies because 2008 marked the 50^th anniversary of Robin Roberts’ and Richie Ashburn’s rookie debuts with the team.

2008 would turn out to be a memorable year for the Phils, too.

Best Use of Pinstripes: 1950

If it’s not broke, don’t fix it.  And the Phillies haven’t for over sixty years.

1950 marks the first season in which the Phillies started wearing red pinstripes on their home jerseys.

Besides a slight upward tilt to the name "Phillies" on the front of the jersey, and red stars dotting the i’s instead of blue, the 1950 uniforms are nearly identical to the current design worn by players. 

Except for one tricky difference.

 The 1950 Phillies jersey featured a third letter "L" that was hidden when the jersey was buttoned.  When buttoned, the jersey clearly read ‘Phillies’ across the front.  However, when left open, the Phillies decided they didn’t want the right side to only read "Phi", so they added a third "L" to create "Phil" on one side and "llies" on the other.

Creative genius.

Both the team’s home and away jerseys saw minimal change until 1970.

The Phillies would win the second pennant in franchise history in these uniforms.

However, with the Phillies recent string of success, it seems as if these uniforms are part of two different winning eras.

Maybe pinstripes do equal success.

Best Use of Maroon: 1970

The Phillies 1970 uniforms made it clear they were attempting to wear every different shade of red available, while seeing how many different ways they could style the letter "P."

1970 was also the first year the Phillies put numbers on the front of the jersey.

These home jerseys would remain the same for the next 21 seasons, while the road jersey design would stay the same but see a color change.

The Phillies hats during this time featured a white letter "P" with a baseball in the center.  Some jerseys also featured this logo.  This is still one of the Phillies most creative images.

The Phils would enjoy their most success to date in these uniforms. 

They played in two World Series in these uniforms; winning the championship in 1980.

The Phillies also wore these uniforms when they moved into Veterans Stadium in 1971.

Unfortunately, Veterans Stadium would see some of the Phillies worst uniforms.

Best Use of Powder Blue: 1973

The Phillies road uniforms from 1973 to 1988 provide evidence that the Phillies may have actually used every shade of red available.

So they turned their attention to the color blue.

Most fans seem to have a love-hate relationship with these uniforms.  However, the fact that the names Schmidt and Carlton appeared on the back of them might take the sting away.

Wearing powder blue uniforms is like watching Charles Barkley’s golf swing; it’s going to be memorable.

However, there is one aspect of the Phils uniform that may overshadow the color.

As of 1986, the Phillies were still wearing zipper-front jerseys. 

The Phillies were also one of the last teams to stop wearing zipper-front jerseys. 

Better late than never.

Whether it’s the color itself or the success the team had while wearing it, the powder blues are forever a part of Phillies history.

The only way these jerseys could have their legacy cherished even more is if Frank Rizzo inspired them.

Best Uniform to Be Nominated as Worst Uniform of All Time: 1979

The words "all", "maroon", and "uniform" should never be said in the same sentence.

Let alone become a reality.

For one night in 1979, the Phillies took the field wearing an all-maroon uniform.

Their jerseys were maroon. 

Their pants were maroon. 

Their hats were maroon. 

Fans faces when they saw the uniforms also had a maroon tint to them.

The uniforms were known as “Saturday Night Specials,” as the Phillies planned to wear them every Saturday for the rest of the season.

However, after wearing them one time, the team received so much negative feedback that they never wore them again.

Unfortunately, the images from May 19, 1979 still haunt some fans.

Let’s all be thankful that HDTV wasn’t around yet.

Best Uniform After a Century of Changes: 1992-Present

After over a century of using every combination of red, blue, and the letter "P" they could think of, the Phillies settled on their current uniforms in 1992.

And a fine choice they are.

The Phillies currently have three jerseys: a home, an away, and a home day game alternate.  All three closely resemble those worn between 1946 and 1969.

The current jerseys feature blue stars dotting the "i's" in "Phillies" across the chest, but still include the red pinstripes in home jerseys. 

The color scheme used by the Phillies is similar to that of the Angels, Reds, and Nationals.

The Phillies are one of six teams that do not have their city, state, or region on the front of their road jerseys (the Angels, Brewers, Cardinals, Rays, and Marlins are the others).  The Phillies have never had a jersey that displayed the name "Philadelphia" on it.

The Phillies are also the only team that displays the player’s number on the sleeve rather than a logo.

The Phillies have had some of their most success in these uniforms.

This means that pinstripes and powder blue uniforms have been a part of some of the Phillies best seasons.

This does not mean they should ever be worn together.