Major League Baseball will overhaul its uniforms again in 2025 after widespread criticism from players and fans.
The league’s new uniforms debuted this spring and drew immediate pushback.
Fans disliked the shrunken size of the names on jerseys, while players had problems with how the uniforms collected sweat. Both parties also noticed mismatched grays between jerseys and pants.
According to a memo from the players’ union obtained by ESPN, league officials plan to address these issues in the offseason.
“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.”
Though fans have directed their ire toward jersey manufacturer Fanatics, officials from the player’s union singled out Nike for designing the uniforms.
“We cautioned Nike against various changes when they previewed them in 2022, particularly regarding pants,” the union memo said. “MLB had been, and has been, aware of our concerns as well. Unfortunately, until recently Nike‘s position has essentially boiled down to — ‘nothing to see here, Players will need to adjust.’”
Officials from MLB, Nike and Fanatics have not commented on the memo.
• Liam Griffin can be reached at lgriffin@washingtontimes.com.
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