You may remember a couple of months ago when I wrote about MLB players’ dissatisfaction with Nike’s uniforms during Spring Training. Players talked about the new jerseys feeling “papery” and looking cheap with lettering that was too small to read. The pants didn’t fit properly and were almost sheer, and teams dealt with shortages of the pants that led them to recycle previous years’ pants — some of which were half a decade old.
Another issue for the players was that Nike was refusing to accede to players’ requests for tailoring, insisting that the new uniforms already offered fits that suited various players’ needs. While the uniform travails didn’t faze some players, others called the situation a “s**t show,” and the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) even weighed in.
Related: MLB’s Uniform Issues Are Catching Nike With Its Pants Down
As the season kicked off, players, fans, and the media noticed even more problems with the uniforms. Greys didn’t match, and embarrassing sweat stains lingered.
One veteran pitcher lamented to The Athletic that “now it’s just like, Eh, it’s just another jersey. There’s no special feel to it. You pick it up and you should feel like you’re putting on a freaking crown and a big-a** fluffy cape, you know what I mean?”
“Do we have the old ones in the back of the closet somewhere we can bring back out?” another player laughed.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported on a memo from the MLBPA to players that indicated that Nike and uniform manufacturer Fanatics will address players’ concerns in time to manufacture next year’s uniforms:
Major League Baseball plans to address its uniform fiasco after changes this spring to the standard jerseys and pants led to widespread complaints from players and fans, according to a memo obtained Sunday night by ESPN.
The prominent modifications include a return to larger lettering on the back of jerseys, remedying mismatched gray tops and bottoms and addressing the new Nike jerseys’ propensity to collect sweat, according to the memo distributed to players by the MLB Players Association on Sunday.
The changes, which will happen at the latest by the beginning of the 2025 season, will also include fixes to the pants, widely panned this spring for being see-through.
“We cautioned Nike against various changes when they previewed them in 2022, particularly regarding pants,” the memo reads in part. “MLB had been, and has been, aware of our concerns as well. Unfortunately, until recently Nike’s position has essentially boiled down to — ‘nothing to see here, Players will need to adjust.'”
While the MLBPA threw Nike under the bus with some quickness, the union had nothing but kind words for Fanatics, calling that company “a great partner with the Players.” The league, the MLBPA, Nike, and Fanatics all refused to comment when ESPN approached them, but Stephen Nesbitt and Mark Puleo provide more analysis at The Athletic.
“It’s worth pointing out what the memo is and isn’t. It is, first and foremost, not a commitment directly from Nike,” Nesbitt and Puleo write. “It is the union updating players on perceived progress to that end. It also is not a promise to return to the uniforms from previous seasons. The Nike Vapor Premier is here to stay, as far as fabric and general jersey design are concerned.”
Are Nike and Fanatics serious about making changes, or is the MLBPA just blowing smoke at the players? We won’t know until next year, but one thing is for sure: the players will be honest about how any new uniforms look and feel.