Major League Baseball is an American sport that is steeped in tradition.
From the length of games to the number of innings a pitcher is left on the mound, baseball has been struggling to keep up with the modern fan's ever-shortening attention span.
Now, those fans might be getting even more agitated at the recent changes. Even if the fans feel the new uniforms, it is already apparent that many players are not.
Nike Vapor Premier
According to Fox News, the new Nike Vapor Premier uniforms are slated to premiere for the 2024 MLB season and have recently been revealed as pitchers and catchers show up for spring training.
The reviews have been mixed thus far. Some players like the way they feel compared to uniforms from last season. However, the look is coming under fire.
According to pitchers Miles Mikolas and Rich Hill, the new unis look "cheap" because the last names on the back and the numbers on the front are noticeably smaller.
Also, some say the jerseys are visible when tucked into the new pants. No other sport is as meticulous about uniforms as Major League Baseball, and the fact that one can still see a jersey even if tucked in is a big-time problem for some.
However, MLB's senior vice president of global consumer products, Denis Nolan, is not one of them. He feels they're great.
"In acquiring Majestic and its MLB uniform manufacturing facilities in Easton, PA —which have been making player uniforms for nearly two decades—Fanatics has consistently produced world-class uniforms, including every Nike-branded MLB on-field jersey and all City Connect gear since 2020," Nolan said, via MLB.com.
Another global consumer exec, Stephen Roche, said that the jerseys' respective color schemes match up 100% for the first time.
"That was all part of the tightening up the entire process," Roche said. "Clubs were able to approve how everything matched Nike's standard colors. For the first time, we had a uniform where all the colors matched exactly with the hats and the on-field colors. They had always been close, but they weren't exact. Now they are."
The league office released notes stating the jerseys have increased elasticity, 25% more than last year. The league also stated they've tested the uniforms on hundreds of players before debuting them in last year's All-Star game to rave reviews.
Nike body-scanned over 300 players to get the ideal fit."It was a very technological approach to outfitting players," Roche said. "Everything was performance-driven."
