How do you feel about alternate jerseys in baseball?

[cephasjames]

Baseball tends to have eras in their uniform design. The obvious example is the 70's and 80's with their bright colors and pullovers. And, while teams have had alternate jerseys throughout history, usually colored rather than the traditional white or gray, alternate jerseys are not only becoming more popular to have but they are being used significantly more often than they used to. I'd say that baseball is currently in the Alt Era of uniforms.

So, I'm wondering how you feel about that. Do you like the alt jersey? Do you like that there is more color in the game? Do you prefer the traditional white/gray unis?

The below article don't reflect my opinion, I'm just posting them to add to the conversation.
MLB alternate jerseys: A brand new tradition that needs to end

While MLB teams’ alternate jersey combinations are intriguing and contribute a tad more color to baseball’s beautiful cathedrals around North America, should teams be allowed to wear alternate uniforms during the same game?

This jersey enthusiast believes that MLB teams should be banned from wearing alternate jerseys in the same game, especially in the postseason.

Two alternates worn on the field at once has ruined the beauty of what the alternate jersey’s original presence on the baseball diamond actually means.

Third Jersey - Wikipedia

[Westheim]

I disagree with the basic premise of the article and I hope the author got some counseling sessions in since he published the piece of trash.

Both MLB teams wearing alternate jerseys in the same game is ruining the tradition of the beautiful game of baseball.

No. It's not. At least not even a fraction of a percent as much as fake runners in extra innings and all the other stupid rules of recent years.

What difference does it make whether the Mets wear whites or grays or blues or blacks? It's still the Mets. It says so on the front of the jersey.

I'd say there are even advantages to blue, black, red, etc. uniforms; it makes individual teams more easily recognizable, and engages the observer more readily; like when the first highlight plopping up on MLB.com is somebody in a brown shirt swinging a stick in slow motion. Immediately, I think "Did Tatis whack another pair?" But if everybody wears the same sterile wound dressings that road grays tend to look like, no immediate connection is made.

...except for the Snakes. They can't make uniforms that are non-ghastly, and should be mandated by law to ONLY EVER wear home whites and road grays.

Also, get that City Connect (?) crap by Nike back into the box it crawled out of. Those uniforms (yellow and blue for the Red Sox??) are truly and horrendously ****.

[Curve Ball Dave]

I don't mind them although I prefer white and grays. What bothers me is when the lettering is the same color as the jersey itself.

[cephasjames]

Originally Posted by Westheim

I'd say there are even advantages to blue, black, red, etc. uniforms; it makes individual teams more easily recognizable, and engages the observer more readily; like when the first highlight plopping up on MLB.com is somebody in a brown shirt swinging a stick in slow motion. Immediately, I think "Did Tatis whack another pair?" But if everybody wears the same sterile wound dressings that road grays tend to look like, no immediate connection is made.

I like to watch MLB compilation videos on YouTube and, when the teams are in whites and grays, I'm constantly having to guess what teams are in the clip. I often look down at the score to see the teams and miss whatever play is being highlighted.

[mytreds]

I like the alternates every once and awhile, and when they are tasteful and conform with the traditions of the club. So jerseys like SFs Orange Fridays is a yes, Boston’s blue and yellow? UAF

[Curve Ball Dave]

Originally Posted by mytreds

I like the alternates every once and awhile, and when they are tasteful and conform with the traditions of the club. So jerseys like SFs Orange Fridays is a yes, Boston’s blue and yellow? UAF

Yep.

[progen]

What amazes me is how much "bling" some players wear, to the point where it's ridiculous. Just about all wear a chain of some sort, and that's fine. And I know in this era, this is a sensitive subject, as Brenly found out when he got suspended, but some do border on the absurd. And it's across the league, and I'm not pinpointing any one player.

Grew up in the 60's and still love the game, but what you see, sometimes it comes off as disrespecting the game, and your opponents. I saw Acuna one day hit a HR, and before he rounded third, he did a little dance. Really! I do like the fact that "hitting" a batter leads to suspensions, but if anything, an act like that calls for a brush back at the least, or oops, the ball hit him "below" the waist. Guess he thinks that's what Atlanta fans want.

I look at guys like Harper, Bogaerts, etc., guys who do their job without any fanfare, hit a HR, jog around the bases, and celebrate in the dugout. I continue to hope that will be the majority moving forward, and not see it slowly disappearing from this great game!

[mytreds]

Yeah and I don’t get the little league hand gestures when someone hits a double either, let alone the antics when you hit a homer. Just jog around the bases dude.

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by progen

What amazes me is how much "bling" some players wear, to the point where it's ridiculous.

I wonder how that crap doesn't hit them in the eye on a hustle double.

Oh wait, there's no hustle with showoffs.

[zappa1]

Blings and jewlery should be banned in baseball. No other major sport has it. How many basketball players run up and down the court with their blings swinging? No football players wearing them or hockey players. Wear them after the game, not during. Just what I think. Alternate unis don't bother me one bit.

[cephasjames]

Basketball, football, and hockey are sports with enough physical contact that necklaces could actually be physically hazardous to wear. That isn't the case with baseball.

Should tattoos be banned too? Joe DiMaggio never sported a tattoo sleeve. Or how about certain haircuts? Mullets for instance. Or hair colors? Blue highlights are not natural unless you're Superman in the comics. What about facial hair? Maybe the Yankees have it right.

These are things that are personal forms of expression that literally have no effect positively or negatively on the game being played.

[Boomcoach]

I have to agree with cephasjames, I have no issue with players wearing bling. I like personality in my players. Maybe I will have to turn in my "Old Fart" card for saying that. I also seriously dislike the idea of punishing players showing excitement by throwing at them. Nothing like injuring someone to teach them respect, eh? What's wrong with some self-expression. If you hit a home run, celebrate it! If the pitcher strikes you out next time, he can pump his fist and celebrate it.

In some vain attempt to maintain my OF status, I will say, however, that I would love to see the DH go away.

[zappa1]

I'm watching the Cubs right now in their Wrigleyville jerseys. I like them and have no problem with them wearing them.

[mytreds]

I’m watching the Giants and their Bay Bridge jerseys are disgusting.

[Westheim]

Originally Posted by mytreds

I’m watching the Giants and their Bay Bridge jerseys are disgusting.

Woeful.

[kenyan_cheena]

Marlins black jerseys are terrible. The lettering is so dark you can’t read the jersey number or team name. I couldn’t tell who they were for about 30 seconds when they were playing the Braves recently.

[Syd Thrift]

Originally Posted by zappa1

Blings and jewlery should be banned in baseball. No other major sport has it. How many basketball players run up and down the court with their blings swinging? No football players wearing them or hockey players. Wear them after the game, not during. Just what I think. Alternate unis don't bother me one bit.

What? Football players absolutely wear necklaces and rings and stuff. Often they will take them off because they are a thing that an opposing player can grab, but the fact that you do see a guy grabbing another guy's necklace and then, like, throwing it away or refusing to give it back indicates that yes, indeed, football players do wear them.

This got really far afield, like it wasn't hot-takey enough for y'all to disown alternative jersies (which, personally, I have no problems with either even if I did think those Wrigleyville jersies were duuuuuumb), you had to also disown personal player expression. Mostly though this is the second time in two weeks that I've agreed with cephasjames about something AND I HATE IT.

[Leo_The_Lip]

All I require is that when I turn on the TV, I can instantly know which teams are playing. Uniforms that make that easy are good; ones that confuse me and other viewers are bad.

It is that simple.

[cephasjames]

Originally Posted by Syd Thrift

Mostly though this is the second time in two weeks that I've agreed with cephasjames about something AND I HATE IT.

[Syd Thrift]

ANYWAY, ignoring my horrific agreement with cephasjames on this, one of the things that I like about baseball is all the history, and one of the things that I like about alternate uniforms is that, among other things, it provides teams with an opportunity to let fans remember or discover old uniforms from their own past or their city's past (I bring up the latter because two of my favorite Turn Back the Clock nights in Seattle were when the M's played the A's and they both wore their cities' old PCL unis - the Rainiers and the Oaks respectively - and then the one where both teams wore old Negro League unis - Seattle unfortunately doesn't have a huge history of Black teams but they still wore the outfits of the Steelheads, a club that I think did mostly barnstorming stuff in the mid 40s). Like, come on... why do we have to consign ourselves to where the only place we can see those colorful pullovers from the 70s or those baggy wool jerseys from the 40s and 50s are in old photographs? It's fun and baseball needs more whimsy, not less.

Yeah, the community pride jerseys have mostly been dumb but even there, MLB has introduced those after the great success of similar jerseys in the NBA. There have been a couple of Chicago Bulls unis - the city flag one from a couple years ago and the more recent Art Deco one modeled after the Carbon and Carbide Building - that have been absolutely fantastic and I'd love to see the White Sox (the Cubs have those iconic jerseys but come on the Sox have a long, long history of switching theirs out like every other year) at the very least try to come up with baseball versions of those.