To make a corny baseball analogy — because where else to even begin with this? — Major League Baseball tried to throw a change-up with new uniforms by Fanatics for the 2024 season. Maybe it was a genuine effort to rebrand, revamp or revitalize the struggling sport that is America’s pastime. My theory? MLB went with the “no press is bad press” philosophy and struck a deal for jerseys so bad that it would be a talking point that’d put the sport back on the map in the ramp up to spring training and Opening Day.
Regardless of the true intentions, well, at least a lot of people are talking and interested in professional baseball, even if it’s for dismaying reasons at the moment. According to an MLB.com report on MLB’s new jerseys, Nike was tasked with the jersey designs, and Fanatics would produce them in the same factories used by the company they acquired, Majestic. These changes came after years of feedback from players.
Somehow, these are the results they’ve gotten:
My guy Aaron Ryan did a fine piece of work on Fanatics’ MLB uniforms yesterday, but with the imagery that continues to pollute the Internet, yours truly felt compelled to chime in with an update.
Just fair warning that some of these posts come with NSFW language, and that the uniforms pictured contain some unintentionally racy content due to the rather transparent nature of the pants.
The pop culture reference that immediately sprung to mind comes straight from Marvel Studios’ Best Picture Oscar-nominated Black Panther. It’s ringing in my head. Makes me chuckle.
Only we’re not talking about mere footwear. We’re talking the whole kit and caboodle of what MLB players will be forced to wear this season unless drastic measures are taken.
I do feel a little bad for the designers. Was this a last-minute rush job? Are there not enough workers to pump out high-quality jerseys? You’d think with all the Monopoly money flying around MLB to pay Shohei Ohtani $700 million, a sensible effort could be made by the powers that be to get the pros who make the sport go some acceptable attire.
Full transparency, I don’t know how these intricate processes work. I’m not going to drop a bunch of illuminating, inside-baseball nuggets on the inner workings inside of baseball (that sentence will pretzelize your brain). I understand the Los Angeles Dodgers are in position to pay Ohtani that much and not every ownership group has limitless money to spend. You just have to wonder how MLB commissioner Rob Manfred could let this uniform debacle happen.
As you might expect, the reactions about the MLB Fanatics uniforms are pretty damn funny. Whether it’s using Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin’s own tweet against him, or other hilarious pop culture references, Baseball Twitter came locked and loaded for this occasion.
So I guess, uh, a starting point would be to change the damn pants, MLB. This has officially escalated to a players’ union issue. Looks like all those years of feedback and contemplation didn’t do a lot of good to produce the desired results.
We’re so close to the season that you almost can’t turn back at this point. What a debacle. I do have some empathy for the humans involved, but you can’t convince me that every step of the way, MLB wasn’t unanimously signing off on this. That’s on them, and they deserve every bit of heat they’re getting as a result.
