Major League Baseball Uniforms - Uniforms

Uniforms

The official rules of Major League Baseball require that all players on a team wear matching uniforms, although this rule was not in force in the early days. Originally, teams were primarily distinguished by the colors of their stockings and the success of the Cincinnati Red Stockings popularized the adoption of sock color as the explicit identity of the club. The 1876 Chicago White Stockings actually wore caps of different colors. In 1882, the National League assigned stocking colors to the member clubs: red for Boston, white for Chicago, grey for Buffalo, blue for Worcester, gold for Detroit, green for Troy, and so on. That year, the league also assigned jersey and cap colors, but by player position rather than by club.

Traditionally, when playing at home, teams wore uniforms that were mostly white with trim in team colors and when playing away, they wore uniforms that were mostly gray with trim in team colors. Aside from the obvious need to distinguish one team from the other, conventional wisdom held that it was more difficult to properly launder uniforms while on a road trip, thus the "road grays" helped to hide accumulated soil. This convention continued well after its original premise was nullified by the issuance of multiple uniforms and the growth of the laundromat industry. Starting in the 1970s, with the advent of synthetic fabrics, teams began using more color in their uniforms, notably the Kansas City Athletics in 1963, the San Diego Padres' unusual brown-and-yellow scheme beginning in 1969, and the Houston Astros' rainbow stripes in the mid-1970s. In the late 1970s, the Pittsburgh Pirates began a trend of multiple combinations of differently colored jerseys and trousers and caps (with the options of black, yellow, and white with pin stripes). At one point in the 1970s, the Cleveland Indians had an all-red uniform.

In his comedy routine "Baseball & Football," George Carlin observes that in baseball, as compared to football, the manager is required to wear the same uniform the players do. However, this was actually not true in the early years of the game. Player-managers were common, but non-playing managers whose realm was strictly the dugout often wore business suits, a common occurrence at the time. Retired players who became managers were more likely to continue to wear a baseball uniform (John McGraw, for example), especially if they were also active on the coaching lines; managers often doubled as third-base coach. By the late 1940s, nearly all managers were wearing baseball uniforms. Connie Mack was the last major league manager to wear a suit in the dugout until his retirement in the early 1950s; however, in contrast to the uniform-wearing managers, Mack rarely if ever stepped onto the field during a game; instead he sent uniformed coaches onto the field when a managerial presence outside the dugout was required.

Starting in the 1990s, MLB clubs began heavily marketing licensed goods, such as caps and uniform jerseys to the public and this has resulted in a wide array of uniforms for each team. Now, some teams have not only a basic home uniform and away uniform, but also special "Sunday game" uniforms and uniforms that are worn only during batting practice and uniforms worn on singular events. From time to time, individual MLB teams have held "Turn Back the Clock Day", regularly scheduled games in which teams donned uniforms in styles their predecessors wore generations earlier (sometimes called "throwback" uniforms), or other antique-style uniforms such as those of Negro League clubs. The Los Angeles Dodgers occasionally use the livery of their original identity as the Brooklyn Dodgers, on special anniversaries or occasions, for example such as in honor of the retirement of Jackie Robinson's uniform number 42 throughout professional baseball (on April 15 - the anniversary of Robinson's MLB debut - entire teams often wear 42). In addition, in 1999, MLB staged "Turn Ahead the Clock Day," in which teams wore futuristic, somewhat strange-looking uniforms, including futuristic or science fiction references, such as the New York Mets being referred to as the "Mercury Mets."

The result is that it is now often difficult to say which uniform is a team's "official" one. For example, from 1999 to 2006 the Cincinnati Reds wore a variety of caps: all red, red crown and black bill, black crown and red bill, and all black, but since 2007, only the all-red (home) and red crown/black bill (away) are used. In contrast from the pre-1970s era, in which there usually was just one home uniform and one road uniform (with certain exceptions, such as Oakland and Pittsburgh's complex combinations), today choices of what combination of uniform elements are worn are now sometimes left up to players. In some cases, aspects of the uniform that are considered official are now rarely worn, such as the New York Mets' blue home cap, with the orange button, which is rarely seen on the field today in favor of an "alternate" black-and-blue cap. The Mets added the orange button on their blue caps in 1995. Through 2010, the New York Yankees, Detroit Tigers and Los Angeles Dodgers are three teams whose uniforms have changed little since the 1930s (only the Tigers, Yankees, White Sox, and Washington Nationals retain the once-common practice of placing the cap insignia on their home whites). The Dodgers (a blue jersey once in 1999) and Tigers (a navy jersey twice in 1995) had worn alternate uniforms in the past, but as of 2010 did not have one (the St. Louis Cardinals have never worn an alternate jersey, but since 1998 have used a different cap, with a modification of their "birds-on-bat" logo replacing the traditional interlocking StL, for Sunday home games). Typically, home uniforms feature the team’s nickname, while away uniforms feature the name of the team’s geographic designation. Currently, the Tampa Bay Rays, Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Philadelphia Phillies, St. Louis Cardinals, and Milwaukee Brewers are the only exceptions to this rule, although the Brewers reintroduced "Milwaukee" on their alternate away uniforms in 2010. These teams feature the club nickname on both the home and away uniforms (since 1900, in 165 seasons - including the Athletics' presence in the city from 1901 to 1954 - the full word "Philadelphia" has never appeared on a Major League jersey). From 1973 to 2008, the Baltimore Orioles were part of this group - the omission of the city's name being part of a largely successful effort to attract fans from the Washington, D.C. area - before returning "Baltimore" to the road jerseys in 2009, by which time their neighbor 38 miles (61 km) to the south once again had a team of its own. As of 2012, only two teams wear their city/state name on their home uniforms, the Texas Rangers and Miami Marlins.

MLB jerseys worn on the field have been made out of double-knit polyester since 1973, and have featured an MLB logo on the back collar since 2000.

MLB on-field caps have featured an MLB logo on the back since 1992. Until 2007, MLB caps were made out of wool, with a gray underbrim having become common by the late 1980s. (The New York Yankees were among the last MLB teams to wear caps with the previously common kelly green underbrim, only switching their caps to the gray underbrim in 1994.) In 2007, all standard MLB caps were made of polyester, with a black underbrim to reduce glare.