MLB and Nike announce adjustments to player uniforms for 2025 season
Small lettering on jerseys and discoloration due to perspiration are among the issues for players
Major League Baseball's uniform nightmare will soon be over.
Unfortunately, the league won't make changes in time to appease players in the 2024 season. MLB announced Friday that alterations will be made for 2025 to address the concerns players have expressed since spring training.
Two of the biggest issues are smaller nameplates on the backs of the jerseys and pants that don't fit properly, with material that can be see-through. The modified uniforms will return larger lettering for player names and individually customized pants for all players, in addition to better-quality zippers and stitching.
"Player and Club feedback is extremely important to us," MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. "Together with Nike, we listened to our players and as a result, we are addressing their concerns."
According to MLB's statement, Nike is also exploring solutions to jerseys and pants that are slightly different shades of gray in road uniforms and jerseys that become discolored when soaked with sweat. Once the gray uniform issue is resolved, those will be implemented on the field as soon as the second half of the 2024 season.
MLB's move to address the uniform concerns was reported last week by ESPN's Jeff Passan after a memo detailing the changes circulated among the players' association. The players' union placed blame for the uniform issues on Nike and the company's "Vapor Premier" uniforms, which were intended to improve mobility, moisture management and fit.
"This has been entirely a Nike issue," the memo said, per ESPN. "At its core, what has happened here is that Nike was innovating something that didn’t need to be innovated. We cautioned Nike against various changes when they previewed them in 2022, particularly regarding pants."
Fanatics, which manufactures the uniforms under a 10-year agreement with Nike and MLB that began in 2019, initially took blame for the uniform issues. But the company, which has been manufacturing MLB's uniforms since 2017, said it was following Nike's specifications, and the players' association agreed with that assertion.
However, players and fans were immediately outraged about the smaller nameplate lettering, the "perspiration challenges" and the pants that were see-through and tore more easily.
"I know everyone hates them," Phillies shortstop Trea Turner told the Associated Press in March. "We all liked what we had. We understand business, but I think everyone wanted to keep it the same way, for the most part, with some tweaks here or there."
