City Connect

City Connect is a brand name for a line of alternate uniforms made by Nike, Inc. for Major League Baseball (MLB) teams. The uniforms feature different color schemes, typefaces, and graphic elements compared with the teams' typical home and away uniforms. The uniforms are designed to reflect the cultural aspects of each team's home city.^[1] Of MLB's 30 teams, 20 have a City Connect uniform as of 2023, with an additional eight teams scheduled to debut theirs in 2024. The New York Yankees and Oakland Athletics are the only two teams without a City Connect uniform.

Descriptions[edit]

Nike and MLB introduced the first round of City Connect uniforms during the 2021 season. A second round debuted during the 2022 season, a third during the 2023 season, and a fourth during the 2024 season.^[2]

Introduced in 2021[edit]

Seven teams started wearing City Connect jerseys during the 2021 MLB season.

• Arizona Diamondbacks, sand-colored with black letters and red numbers, and with "Serpientes" in front as an homage to Arizona's Hispanic community.^[3]
• Boston Red Sox, with a yellow base and blue letters as an homage to the Boston Marathon, which normally takes place on Patriots' Day.^[4]
• Chicago Cubs, dark blue with sky blue accents, with elements inspired by the flag of Chicago. The uniform has "Wrigleyville" on the front, in a lettering style similar to the Wrigley Field marquee.^[5]
• Chicago White Sox, in a dark grey shade with white pinstripes and featuring Gothic-styled lettering as an homage to the South Side of Chicago.^[6]
• Los Angeles Dodgers (first design), with a blue cap, jersey, and pants with “Los Dodgers” written on the cap and jersey. Jersey also includes black on the sleeves as a nod to street art culture in Los Angeles.^[7] Cap was revised in 2022, moving the "Los Dodgers" to the side, replacing it with the traditional "LA" logo, and adding black to the brim and button.^[8] In 2023, white pants with blue piping replaced the blue pants,^[9] before being replaced by a new City Connect jersey the following year (see below).
• Miami Marlins, with a red base, white pinstripes, and white letters with light blue trim as a tribute to the Cuban Sugar Kings.^[10]
• San Francisco Giants, with an orange and white design, a silhouette of the Golden Gate Bridge, and a unique fog gradient across the front, sleeves, and numbering of the jerseys. ^[11]

Introduced in 2022[edit]

The seven teams that introduced City Connect uniforms in 2021 would continue to wear them for selected games. Seven additional teams introduced City Connect uniforms in 2022.

• Colorado Rockies, with a green base, purple accents, Colorado written on the front and a special logo on the cap resembling the state's license plates.^[12] In 2023, white pants were added as an alternative during day games, with the green pants being used for night games.^[13]
• Houston Astros, with a navy base, tequila sunrise accents (suggestive of its 70s and 80s rainbow uniforms), "Space City" stenciled in the NASA 'worm' font on the front, and a hat with a planet revolving around a futuristic version of the "H-star" logo, in honor of Houston being home to the Johnson Space Center.^[14]
• Kansas City Royals, with a navy base and powder blue accents, and a stylized "KC" insignia in homage to Kansas City's "City of Fountains" nickname.^[15]
• Los Angeles Angels, with a sand base, red accents and "Angels" written on the front in honor of the beaches in Southern California.^[16]
• Milwaukee Brewers, with a powder blue base, navy accents, yellow and white striping, a grill and bratwurst patch, the team's "Brew Crew" nickname, and the MKE airport code with "414" blended in on the hat in honor of being in Milwaukee during the summer.^[17]
• San Diego Padres, with a white base, pink and mint sleeves, and San Diego on the front in honor of the culture of both the city of San Diego and Tijuana.^[18]
• Washington Nationals, with an anthracite base, pink accents and printed cherry blossoms in honor of the annual National Cherry Blossom Festival.^[19] Before the 2024 season, the Nationals announced that they will retire the current City Connect uniforms at the end of the season.^[20]

Introduced in 2023[edit]

Six teams wore City Connect uniforms for the first time in 2023.^[21]

• Atlanta Braves, with a white base, blue sleeves, and red accents, heavily inspired by the team's 1974 season home uniform worn by Hank Aaron when he surpassed Babe Ruth with his 715th home run.^[22]
• Baltimore Orioles, with a black base and white accents. The jersey is inspired by Baltimore and its neighborhoods. The cap features an italic B (commonly used on the Orioles Away Jersey). For the jersey, it features the word “Baltimore” in capital letters and white lettering. On the collar and the piping, it feature the colors and shapes of the neighborhoods of Baltimore.^[23]
• Cincinnati Reds, with a black base and red accents. The jersey features a diamond shape "C" on the cap and jersey. It also features the word "CINCY" (nickname for Cincinnati) across the chest. On the collar it features an Ohio Buckeye and under it is the motto of Cincinnati, "Juncta Juvant" ("Strength of Unity" in English).^[24]
• Pittsburgh Pirates, with a gold base and black accents. The Jersey and Pants colors are similar to the flag of Pittsburgh. The jersey features the abbreviation of Pittsburgh "PGH". The uniform also features a custom print with three elements, the inverted "Y", the astroid, and the check. Inside of the "PGH" and the numbers on the back features a pattern located on the sides of the Three Sisters Bridges.^[25]
• Seattle Mariners, with a dark blue base with yellow lettering and black pants. It features a patch on the jersey sleeve featuring Mount Rainier, as well as the letters "PNW", an acronym for Pacific Northwest. The uniform also features the colors of Amarillo, Rush Blue, and Sundown, representing the inaugural colors of the team, as well as the word "Seattle" across the chest in the lettering style of the city's first Major League Baseball team, the Seattle Pilots.^[26]
• Texas Rangers, a natural, cream-colored top with the “TX” graphic on the right side of the player’s chest. The logo/color treatment is influenced by the gothic lettering of the Dallas Eagles and the “X” includes a spur, a nod to the Dallas-Fort Worth Spurs. The positioning of the graphic and number(s) are consistent with the jerseys the Spurs and Cats wore. On the left chest is a number laid out in speed red. The typography is inspired by the 1920 championship medal won by the Fort Worth Panthers. On the right sleeve is a mythical creature – affectionately known as the Peagle – a blend of the mascots of the Rangers' predecessors, the Fort Worth Panthers/Cats, and the Dallas Eagles. The inside collar of the jersey shows a “4*21” reference to the date synonymous with connecting the state of Texas, baseball in Texas, and the Rangers' origin story. The jock tag features Mayor Vandergriff’s iconic “Dream the Big Dream” phrase. The pitch blue-colored pants match the “TX” graphic on the jersey and feature rope braid piping in a nod to the logo texture of the Dallas-Fort Worth Spurs. On the front left hip is an icon that pays homage to the Dallas-Fort Worth Spurs, the team that played in Arlington and proved the region could support a Major League Baseball team.^[27]

Introduced in 2024[edit]

Eight teams will reveal their City Connect uniforms and wear them for the first time in 2024. The Los Angeles Dodgers will also reveal a new City Connect uniform design during the season.^[28]

• Philadelphia Phillies, with a blue gradient base, white and yellow accents. The uniform's colors are based on the Flag of Philadelphia. The jersey features Philadelphia's short name "PHILLY" across the chest in white lettering. The cap features the Liberty Bell, with the skyline of Philadelphia inside and two stars on each side.^[29]
• New York Mets, with a gray base, purple pinstripes and lettering, and white pants. The jersey features New York City's abbreviation "NYC" across the chest. The cap features the Mets' NY logo along with the Queensboro Bridge, the bridge that connects to the New York City borroughs, Manhattan and Queens. The purple color was inspired by the 7 Line that runs to Citi Field. ^[30]
• Cleveland Guardians
• Detroit Tigers
• Los Angeles Dodgers (second design)
• Minnesota Twins
• St. Louis Cardinals
• Tampa Bay Rays
• Toronto Blue Jays

No City Connect uniform[edit]

The following teams do not have a City Connect uniform.

• New York Yankees^[31]
• Oakland Athletics

Summary table[edit]

This is a summary list of the teams that have worn City Connect uniforms, their reveal dates, their on-field debut dates, their most recent use, the number of times each team had wore total and the total for the current season, and their usage patterns during the 2024 MLB season.

(Updated through April 20, 2024)

Reaction[edit]

Boston.com conducted a poll of its readers in April 2021 and found a polarized reaction to the Red Sox's yellow and blue City Connect jerseys. About 49% of respondents said that they loved the new uniforms, about 36% said that they hated them, and about 9% chose the "I'm speechless" option.^[33] After the Red Sox wore the City Connect uniforms for four consecutive games in September 2021, winning all four, manager Alex Cora said that the team would continue to wear them for as long as they kept winning. "I'm sorry, but if we continue winning, we've got to stay with them," Xander Bogaerts told NESN.^[34]

A columnist for the San Francisco Examiner wrote in May 2022 that the Giants had a record of 12 wins and 2 losses in their City Connect jerseys. Although some fans derided their design as looking like an orange Creamsicle, fans eventually warmed to the jersey, increasingly wearing them to games on Tuesday nights, when the team typically wears their City Connect uniforms.^[35]

Of the first 11 City Connect designs, USA Today's For the Win blog ranked the White Sox's uniform design as the best and the Giants' design as the worst.^[36] In a July 2022 review ranking the first 14 uniform designs, ESPN's Joon Lee described the City Connect program as the league's boldest alternative jersey designs since the Turn Ahead the Clock promotions of the late 1990s. Lee rated the Rockies' City Connect uniforms as the best, and the Dodgers as the worst.^[2]

The Padres' City Connect uniforms generated $240,000 in revenue at the team's official store on July 1, 2022, their first day of sale. The last time the team had introduced a new alternative uniform, in 2020, the team store sold $73,000 worth of merchandise on launch day.^[37]

Upon its announcement in 2023, the Texas Rangers' City Connect design met with polarized reactions from local sports media commentators and fans, particularly about the hybrid "Peagle" mascot that appeared on the uniform tops.^{[38][39][40][41]}

Baltimore's City Connect design drew positive reviews for the colorful interior patterns, and also criticism for its mostly black, unadorned exterior.^[42] The Orioles' players liked the look of their City Connect uniforms.^[43]

Of the 20 designs that were announced during the first three seasons of City Connect, Joon Lee ranked the Orioles' design 20th, noting comparisons to Great Britain's generic uniforms at the 2023 World Baseball Classic. Lee rated the Rockies' design as the best.^[44] Three writers for The Athletic voted on their preferences among the first 20 City Connect designs. The Giants' and Rangers' designs tied for last place; the White Sox were rated as the best.^[45]

See also[edit]

• Major League Baseball uniforms

References[edit]