The Los Angeles Dodgers can afford to pay baseball great Shohei Ohtani $700 million.
But apparently, they can’t find him a decent pair of pants.
The biggest story at the start of MLB Spring Training isn’t about the players; but rather, what they’re wearing. Nike, the league’s official uniform supplier, decided to change the jersey model this year.
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The differences are…not aesthetically pleasing. Enlarged, stitched player names are out, and small letters are in.
One of MLB’s biggest problems is the league’s lack of star power. So Nike decided to make the players even more anonymous, and MLB went along with the design.
Now, the league is facing a torrent of backlash.
The new offerings just don’t look good. Authentic jerseys retail for hundreds of dollars.
But these ones look like they were found in the bargain bin, or taken out of a video game.
Nike isn’t the only culprit. The company Fanatics manufactured the unpopular look.
In addition to small lettering, the uniforms don’t appear to be made from strong material. The pants are see-through.
Maybe the execs at Fanatics were confused, and thought they were creating baseball pants for a gay Halloween party, or something.
As Ohtani demonstrates, the pants reveal nearly everything.
The see-through pants will certainly make games more… interesting. Bold move.
— Butch – – from Boston (@617Butch) February 21, 2024
That’s not to say we’re complaining. We’d love to get an enhanced view of our favorite players’ assets.
It was memorable when former Oakland A’s catcher Sean Murphy popped out his derrière to bump the ball and take first base. But the moment would’ve been even better if we could really see his gluteus maximus at work.
Perhaps for that reason, players aren’t thrilled with the thin material. Angels reliever Carlos Estévez was one of many players who told The Athletic he can’t stand the new threads.
“When I wear my pants, I feel like I’m wearing someone else’s pants,” he said.
Teammate Tyler Ward said he could see the pants ripping if Estévez started flexing (tell us the bad part, again)?
Ward has plenty of complaints himself.
“It looks like a replica,” he said. “It feels kind of like papery. It could be great when you’re out there sweating, it may be breathable. But I haven’t had that opportunity yet to try that out. But from the looks of it, it doesn’t look like a $450 jersey.”
The Angels outfielder is far from the only player to complain about the jerseys’ discounted feel. The grievances were flowing at Cardinals camp.
Even Nike athletes are voicing their displeasure. Cubs shortstop Dansby Swanson (great ballplayer name) is unhappy with how the franchise’s iconic logo is depicted.
“With some of those things, it’s like this makes a Cubs uniform a Cubs uniform. It doesn’t need to change,” he said. “I think that they will probably have to end up figuring out a way to kind of go back to what it used to be.”
Perhaps that’s already happening. The Fanatics’ customer service team is already making amends with displeased players and customers.
Seattle Mariners infielder Michael Chavis, who posted an unflattering Instagram story, elicited the crisis team response.
With regular season games nearly six weeks away, Nike and Fanatics have plenty of time to correct their error. But before they do that, maybe Derek Jeter ought to wear a pair for good luck.
The Yankees great made our imaginations run wild when he admitted to slipping on a teammate’s gold thong to break out of a slump.
With these new see-through pants, onlookers would able to see how much heat their favorite players are truly packing.
That’s a home run for us, but a swing and miss for the players themselves.
Yes, actually. Which is weird.
— Pete Abraham (@PeteAbe) February 21, 2024
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Fahd
Seems like someone has a big quality control problem, and whoever is in charge of this at MLB should be fired.
CatholicXXX
It’s for breathability. Players likely complained about chafing etc
still_onthemark
The Atlantic has a good story about this. Every MLB team used to have different local producers for the uniforms. Over the years, MLB standardized everything and now Nike and Fanatics control the entire official uniform market, they rake in $400 (!) per uniform for a cheap-looking and cheap-feeling product, but they say the players will love how it performs IRL on the field. We see one player here reserving judgement about that, he says okay maybe, we’ll see.
But another problem is the fans who buy the ‘real’ uniforms but not to play baseball in. They don’t like spending $400 for a flimsy-looking uniform that doesn’t “look” authentic to them even though it is.
And… (the Atlantic doesn’t mention this but I will!) … SOME depraved gay baseball fans have a sexual fetish about uniforms and insist that their longtime sex partners put a baseball uniform on before servicing them. Not that there’s anything wrong with that! And don’t ask how I know this.
linedrive
I can’t believe The Atlantic failed to report the depraved gay part! That would have been a fun read. 😀
Agility
“When I wear my pants, I feel like I’m wearing someone else’s pants,” he said.
This has to be my favourite quote of all time.
winemaker
Seven hundred million dolars for a bseball player, is this for real.? And the sad thing top attorneys and medical doctors and who do life changing work can’t earn this kind of gelt in on year, outrageous!
Kangol2
You’re a conservative so you should appreciate the power of the market, no matter how absurd it is, right? Just look at the gross wealth and earnings inequalities sloshing around your beloved San Francisco and the effects that inequality has had on housing, employment, etc. Tech titans who’re running platforms that are destroying this society earn far more, obscenely more in many cases, than cancer researchers, fire people, teachers who are teaching the next generation of Americans, people caring for elderly people, etc.
dgsea06
From the looks I’ve seen of MLB players, this is much ado about nothing…just as it should be.