Nationals Baseball: New Unis?

Saturday, January 27, 2024

New Unis?

 Well here’s a shocker.  New uniforms for 2024

I think unless the current uniforms are hated (they aren’t) or the changes are very minor (they aren’t) then fans generally dislike changes. I get it. Why fix what’s not broken?  It’s pretty easy to mess up design so be judicious when deciding to do it. So maybe that’s just it  but in general fans aren’t happy

Personally I dislike both   The pullover is kind of in that 70s Braves aesthetic but with only a logo and not a full name across the white space is too much for me.  The Braves themselves addressed this by making it a button down for their City Connect. Also causing waves is the pumped up use of the busy “block W on a silhouette of the Capitol with stars on either side” logo  it’s nothing fans hate from what I can tell but it’s also not loved making it an odd choice  The interlocking DC is generally more favored and is officially back but has been relegated to arm patch duty.  All this being said - it’s an alternate.  I don’t like it but I do think alternates, if they must be done, should do stuff like this and not everyone will like everything about them.  Generally.

I say that because the team did hit a home run with the cherry blossom alternates. Which for purely “make limited” money reasons won’t be worn after this year.  Dumb!

The road changes might be more an issue because you’ll be seeing them all the time.  Road unis tend to be boring but this takes it to a new level replacing the red script “Washington” with a block blue one shrunk a bit to fit straight across rather than at an angle.  It looks generic.  Uninspired.  

But that’s me   Maybe you are one of the randos Tweeting “Nats brought the fire!!!” For some reason  I’m happy for you   It’s not I’d be buying these* so my opinion matters very little.  Your thoughts? 


*I don’t buy jerseys in general  I have 3   A blank Yankees one received as a gift, a cheap Chris Calloway Giants  one purchased bc it was like $5, and a Quebec Nordiques purchased when I made a valiant effort to like hockey more  didn’t work  still just a very casual fan


8 comments:

Anonymous said...

I can dismiss the alt jersey as "Trying some new things out"... not great, too much white space... but apparently MLB is trying to bring pullovers back.

The road jerseys, OTOH, are boring and a clear step down from the previous jerseys... which were functional and competent jerseys. You generally don't release a big item like "new jersey design" on a Friday afternoon in late January... without the whole "bunch of players modeling it" show if you're really confident about it.

Anonymous said...

When I hit the stadium with my blue DC cap from several years ago, several people will stop me to ask about it. Bringing back the blue "DC" logo was something a lot of people that I talked to wanted. Also, the team was just too red. I would even say it was a problem. I have the official world series away blue jersey - another item people stop me to talk about. I hear you in the whitespace but I love the blue and the return of DC.

Ryan said...

cherry blossom was such a slam dunk, would've been one of the best jerseys ever if the WSH was replaced, definitely will miss those

these new ones are okay, shrug?

Harper said...

My ideal would be the

HOME : Current home design but replace the curly W with the interlocking DC and lean into navy as primary with red as the highlight

AWAY : City Connect jerseys.

HOME ALT : Current Home alternate (red tops with curly W logo)

Anonymous said...

I’m surprised folks are not complaining about the away jerseys basically copying the font/text style of the Baltimore city connect jerseys. The first time I saw them that is where my mind went immediately. Lazy Nike.

Anonymous said...

Overall a downgrade.

City Connect Jerseys are one of the only things this organization has done since winning the World Series that isn't regrettable or downright laughable. So naturally, they're going to do away with that.

Home blues are a reminder of a better time and place. Our best memory of this franchise is in those alternate uniforms with the script Nationals. Glad to see them stay part of the rotation, and would like if they became more a part of our regular look.

Away jerseys got demonstrably worse. Our road greys were kind of plain, but that's what road greys should be, right? The script at least looked like a baseball team's uniform, and had the Curly W in it. Agree with Harper- lean into navy blue more. I'd like if we kept the current road design with a color scheme that accompanies with the home navy jerseys - maybe just edit the script "Washington" to the same typeface as the script "Nationals" on the home.

The new v-necks are horrible. They look like batting practice jerseys designed by Fila.

All a sad ploy by the Nats to drive a few more jersey sales. Just have a good team with a recognizable face or two on the field, and the product sells itself. Yankees have no problem selling apparel with no alternate looks.

Cautiously Pessimistic said...

To be fair to the Nats, the City Connect jersey's being sunset is MLB's doing, not the team. All teams' CC jerseys are on a 3 year rotation. That being said...in my and many other people's opinions on the interwebs...the Cherry Blossom jersey is far and away the best. Like so good that I agree with Harper, make it the road jersey, it's already gray.

And yes, the new road grays are plain awful. Looks like a crappy high school travel team jersey. It's been pretty clear for awhile that the Nats were looking to phase out the curly W, but winning the world series pushed back that transition a bit. Now they're leaning into it more and soon enough it will be Capitol W's everywhere. Which, like, are fine, but are very much Spring Training/BP logos to me, not your main.

ocw5000 said...

The pullover is the classic MLB approach of "here's a good idea for NYC, oh crap, we have to do this for everyone huh" which is why for every Yankees-Mets series you get a Tigers-Pirates or Mariners-Padres "rivalry" series.

The away jersey appears to be an attempt to blend the old, pre-Walter Johnson era WASHINGTON with the 2005 Nats design, which ... is just a terrible idea. Imagine how crisp the 1901 navy on gray would have looked with a splash of red somewhere in the trim or back of jersey or hat brim

https://www.sportslogos.net/logos/list_by_team/992/washington_senators/