MLB has plans in place to address the repeated complaints regarding their Nike uniforms after changes this spring to the standard jerseys and pants led to issues brought up by fans and players, according to Jeff Passan of ESPN.
Passan writes, “The prominent modifications include a return to larger lettering on the back of jerseys, remedying mismatched gray tops and bottoms and addressing the new Nike jerseys' propensity to collect sweat, according to the memo distributed to players by the MLB Players Association on Sunday.
The changes, which will happen at the latest by the beginning of the 2025 season, will also include fixes to the pants, widely panned this spring for being see-through.
The union informed players of the coming changes in a letter that placed the blame on Nike and the debut of its Vapor Premier uniform, which was advertised for its superior performance but remains disliked by players.
‘This has been entirely a Nike issue,' the memo to players read. ‘At its core, what has happened here is that Nike was innovating something that didn't need to be innovated.'”
Additionally, the MLB memo made sure to point out that Fanatics, the uniform manufacturer, has made sure to solicit feedback and obtain player buy-in, something that the MLB players' union hopes Nike will also do.
MLB's partnership with Nike
Nike's partnership with the league began back in 2019, when the sports apparel behemoth took over as the league's official uniform supplier as part of a 10-year, $1 billion deal for MLB.
Fanatics also has partnerships with Major League Baseball and the union, both of which have invested in the company and own small stakes.
While the new Nike uniforms debuted at the 2023 MLB All-Star Game, their unveiling and rollout this spring led to significant outcry and general bad publicity. The shrinking of the letter size on players' name plates looks bad and makes it more difficult for fans to read. The pants, which, according to the memo, will “return to the higher quality zipper used in 2023,” have received significant unwanted attention for issues – including what is perceived as see-through fabric, a lack of tailoring and rips and tears that many players thought represented a major dip in quality
“The universal concern is the pant,” MLB Players Association executive director Tony Clark said in February. “Each conversation with the guys is yielding more information. A lot of the rhetoric was confirmation that it appears the pants are see-through.”
Teams like the Cincinnati Reds actually began spring training games in old pants due to a shortage of new Nike ones.
“There are teams that have pants and jerseys,” said Clark. “There are some teams that don’t have pants, there are other teams that are supposed to be receiving certain things before the start of the year, there are others that — in the event they have an issue with the pants and a player needs a new pair — don’t have anything in reserve.”
Hopefully MLB can get this resolved sooner rather than later.
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