The latest wave of baseball fanaticism comes courtesy of Nike and Fanatics, whose collaboration on this year’s Major League Baseball uniforms have left legions of fans sputtering over things like fonts, plackets, and logo placement. The devil is in the details, and the details look pretty bad. Jerseys include off-colors, names too small, and poorly made logos. Baseball players and fans alike have made their disdain for these new jerseys extremely loud—many begging their respective teams to change the uniforms as soon as possible.
At first glance, it might sound like petty baseball players groaning on and off about an extremely minute part of their careers as professional athletes—one of the most luxurious occupations anyone could possibly imagine.
And then there’s the pants. Now, let’s take the MLB’s word for it, that this year’s much-maligned Nike-designed, Fanatics-produced uniform pants—the one’s players call “see-through,” the ones they drag reporters to their lockers to feel, the ones they are trying to get away with not wearing—are the same as last year’s pants.
Recent photos have come out of Shohei Ohtani and other superstars alike wearing the new uniforms, and one thing is for certain—nothing is left up to the imagination. The latest advertisements and photoshoots portray the pants in all of their glory; it’s obvious that they are made from awful material that at the slightest movement, unveil anything and everything these players have to offer. We should feel the most bad for teams with white pants.
Both MLB and Nike said in statements that they would continue to work together and with the players to adjust the fit of the uniforms. Neither company addressed the pants question directly, but people familiar with the process insist the fabric is the same as last year’s.
On the other hand, Phillies right fielder Nick Castellanos reasons, “We know when we’re being lied to. Just say straight up, ‘Listen, we wanted to save some money here. This is how much we’re saving with the quality of uniforms. An old uniform and the old stitching cost us this much, and we’re saving this amount of money’ And then our next conversation would be, ‘Okay…if you’re saving that much money, where are you putting it into the game?’
Debacle over the uniforms is a smaller part of a longer, ongoing war between the MLB Players Association and the MLB as a whole. Similar controversies include the league’s refusal to let players unionize (specifically within the minor leagues), provide proper benefits, pre-arbitration bonus pools, and the minimum salary. The one through line in the relationship between the players and the league is that there is obviously no semblance of trust between the two. Players often feel that there is not enough transparency concerning the allocation of funds and benefits.