On Tuesday, MLB revealed their uniforms for the All-Star Workout Day, Home Run Derby, and all of the holidays throughout the year that the teams wear special uniforms for (Memorial Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Fourth of July).
Baseball traditionalists will no doubt be angry, as they usually are, but the uniforms are different, and some of them look incredible. They also make use of themed socks from Stance, MLB’s first-ever sock sponsor.
Here are the Home Run Derby and All-Star Workout Day uniforms, which include teal and orange jerseys (hello, Miami!) and orange logos on textured black caps. The underside of the caps’ bills and the socks are also very “Miami” in nature.
These are MLB's Home Run Derby/All-Star workout day uniforms. They are SOOOO Miami. You dig the flower pattern? pic.twitter.com/JzJrhrH6c7
— Big League Stew (@bigleaguestew) April 11, 2017
The caps for the All-Star Game itself are similar to last year’s, with a gold logo and gold star on patterned, colored caps. The All-Star Game socks are still Miami themed, but not as over the top as the Workout Day socks.
Here are the new All-Star game caps from @neweracap and socks from @stance. pic.twitter.com/z5ppoaq8ra
— Big League Stew (@bigleaguestew) April 11, 2017
For Mother’s Day, teams will be going back to pink logos, numbers, and bills on their jerseys and caps, though the caps will be gray and patterned. Pink socks, in two different styles, are also featured.
For Mother’s Day, MLB teams are going pink again. They’ll have two sock choices. The socks really tie it together. pic.twitter.com/1jrWUmI09M
— Big League Stew (@bigleaguestew) April 11, 2017
For Father’s Day, light blue replaces the pink, and the colors are inverted on the caps. These uniforms look great.
On Father’s Day, the light blue-and-grey look is back with subtle changes from last year. More blue, mainly, and ? from @StanceBaseball pic.twitter.com/LCL8xJPOZk
— Big League Stew (@bigleaguestew) April 11, 2017
Memorial Day is Camo Day. The socks and bills of the caps are camo, while the caps and names/numbers on the jerseys are green.
You know the deal for Memorial Day. Camo, camo and more camo. pic.twitter.com/SbiwPObGUN
— Big League Stew (@bigleaguestew) April 11, 2017
The Fourth of July features the stars and stripes plastered on everything, along with red and blue caps with the bill in the opposite color.
Fourth of July is all Stars-and-Stripes, of course. The mismatched socks are a nice touch. Caps have raised LiquidChrome logos. Love/Hate? pic.twitter.com/6Lped8fNDT
— Big League Stew (@bigleaguestew) April 11, 2017
Is this about marketing and trying to sell shit to people? Of course it is! That’s the whole damn point of alternate uniforms! If you’re not a fan of them, that’s alright – you don’t have to buy them, and you only have to see them during games once a year.
The one thing you can definitely say about these alternate uniforms is that they’re not boring. The worst thing that a “special” uniform can be is boring. By mixing in new designs and colors, MLB is keeping that pipeline open and the cash flowing.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to wait for the All-Star rosters to be announced so I can buy a teal Mike Trout t-shirt.