Should Missouri’s MLB Teams Ditch The Road Grey Uniforms?
As a child who became a baseball fan in the 1970s, grey uniforms on the road weren't necessarily standard for all Major League Baseball teams.
For example, The Royals played in both the 1980 and 1985 World Series with powder blue road jerseys. In 1982 the Cardinals were wearing powder blue road jerseys in that World Series. Their opponents, The Phillies, and Brewers in those World Series wore powder blue road jerseys as well. In 1985, however, the Cardinals had just switched back to the road greys when they faced off against the Royals.
That was right around, or just before the powder blue road uniforms seemed to largely fall out of favor, and grey for road games came roaring back. It's also around the time the pullover jerseys tended to go away in favor of the button-down jerseys and a more traditional look.
It's also around that time when some of the more suspect, or wild, major league baseball uniforms went away. I'm talking about the White Sox 80s-era clown suits and the Astro's rainbow uniforms.
In a new guest post on the Uni Watch website, Paul Lukas turns his column over to reader Bud Parks who, in some cases is advocating teams ditch their road grey uniforms. So is Parks advocating the Cardinals and Royals dump the road grey jerseys? Yes.
Parks advocates that the Royals drop the road grey jersey and just wear the blue alternate that they wear on the road. He says this is an easy call because those jerseys are already worn on the road, and they carry the city name vs. the team name.
As for the Cardinals, Park's advocates, they make the powder blue alternates that carry the St. Louis version of the logo their primary road jerseys. He points out that the team's road grey jerseys carry the team name, not the city name so he likes that too.
As for the powder blues being used as primary road jerseys, I don't think that'll be the norm for most teams. Why? Fans of the teams like it. Whether you're a Royals fan, a Cardinals fan, or a fan of other teams doing the same thing, since the powder blues carry a nostalgia factor those are going to be used as home alternates for the foreseeable future because of the fan connection.
As for something like the Royal blue Kansas City jerseys being used as a primary road jersey and the greys going away. I suppose it could happen. Aside from perhaps the Yankees, Red Sox, and Dodgers -- are any team's road grey jerseys so traditional anyone would care if they go away?
The Cardinals' grey road jerseys do have a lot of history behind them. Yet, it's not like people speak of the Cardinals uniforms with the same reverence as they might the Yankees, Red Sox, or Dodgers. I like the Cardinals uniforms, yet I like the home whites and the powder blue jerseys better than the greys.
As for the Royals, if anything, I like the royal blue Kansas City-lettered jerseys more than the grey version. Yet once again, if you ask me to rank the uniforms they have, I'd put any of the Kansas City jerseys under the home whites and powder blue alternates.
Oh, and does it really matter at this point? Between powder blues, home whites, and a variety of alternate uniforms, throwbacks, and City Connect jerseys that get tweaked and changed with a fair amount of regularity, you never really know what your team is going to wear on any given day anyway.
As fans, we've gotten spoiled too. You can get authentic jerseys, game-worn jerseys, replica jerseys, t-shirt versions, batting practice jerseys, not to mention fashion jerseys the team will never wear. In fact, I saw a nice Royals pinstripe jersey at Walmart the other day. I couldn't decide whether I thought it was cool, or ridiculous. One thing is for sure, they'll all be sold by the end of the season.