The Tuesday Discussion: City Connect Uniforms?

June 4, 2024

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This week we asked our writers to respond to the following:

Should the Yankees join in the City Connect uniform craze?  

Will the Yankees eventually have a City Connect uniform?

Of the uniforms that have already come out, which is the best and which is the worst?

(Here's a list of them all:  https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/39776958/tracking-mlb-city-connect-jerseys-uniforms)

Here are their replies:

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Paul Semendinger - No, the Yankees should not join this silly fad. Will the Yankees eventually have a city connect uniform? Yes, sadly. I don't see them holding out forever. The marketing and money opportunities will be too great. Remember, they have the Starr Insurance patch...

Of the uniforms out there, here's a short list:

Best: New York Mets, Seattle Mariners, Atlanta Braves

Worst: St. Louis Cardinals, Detroit Tigers, Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers (too many to list, so many are so ugly)

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Ed Botti -

Should the Yankees join in the City Connect uniform craze?  No, leave that to the attention staved and tradition bereft other teams in the League.

Will the Yankees eventually have a City Connect uniform? Probably, they now have an insurance company patch on the most famous uniform in sports, so I can see Hal selling out at some point.

Of the uniforms that have already come out, which is the best and which is the worst? I think they are all pretty ugly. However the White Sox “Southside” jersey was not too bad. The Tampa Rays jersey was so ugly I have no words to describe it!

Additionally, those new All Star game uniforms are not too far behind.

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Patrick Gunn - The Yankees should not go all in on a City Connect Uniform until the City Connect Uniforms consistently get better - or MLB/Nike/Fanatics fix their uniform trouble, for that matter. Frankly, most of the uniforms that have come out are too busy with too many details and not enough consistently good designs. It's frustrating because I do think having good alternates is fun, but MLB has not made them so far. So no, I don't think the Yankees should have them but I think they will eventually get one because, well, every team is getting one.

As far as my preferences, my favorite uniform is still the Marlins's red jersey - it's fun and it looks great (honorable mention to the White Sox). My least favorite is Baltimore because they have the elements to work with the color, but it's just on the sleeves. The black is fine but boring, and it could've been more (dishonorable mention for the Nationals which has a similar issue: not enough of the cherry blossoms).

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Cary Greene - If it can be proven that there is a financial benefit to the CC uniforms then why not wear one every now and then? It may spur fans to buy more merchandise and that might help Hal Steinbrenner extend Juan Soto and afford other payroll expenditures. In the postseason, the Yankees should stick with their normal schtick. Younger fans also might gravitate more to the modernized uniforms so it could potentially put more new fans in the seats so I'm always in support of attracting new fans to the game of baseball. 

The bottom line for me is that if there exists some empirical data that shows how all of the teams currently wearing the CC uniforms have had surging attendance and surging apparel sales and the success can be traced to the CC uniforms, then wearing the CC uniforms in a very part time way should be considered. However, if no such data exists, then the idea should be put in the circular file, along with Johnny Damon's lopped off beard and the "Proposal to Allow Beards Facial Hair of all styles and lengths and Long Hair" memo that Hal Steinbrenner's secretary threw out. 

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Tamar Chalker - I wouldn’t be mad if the Yankees did a City Connect uni, but there would be a high bar for that  design. If they just did pinstripes and slightly altered the NY - I wouldn’t think much of it, but a thoughtful design that represents the team’s history and the Bronx could be fun. 

I like the Cleveland one and the Rays one the most I think. 

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Mike Whiteman - Being a Yankee fan for over 40 years, I've appreciated the constant classic look of the pinstripes, and the road grays. If it were up to me, I wouldn't have a Yankee City Connect uniform.

That being said, I think they will eventually give in, and I'll try to keep an open mind about it. 

Of the City Connect jerseys out there, my favorites are the Mariners, Braves, Rockies, and Astros.