Major League Baseball Eschews Bright Colors for Players Weekend
Click here to read the full article.
Major League Baseball is going monochromatic.
For Players Weekend, an annual event where all 30 teams wear different uniforms and sport nicknames on their jerseys, the color palette will be either all-white or all-black.
More from WWD
From Aug. 23 to 25, players will wear uniforms created specifically for the weekend-long event with jerseys by Majestic, caps by New Era Cap and socks from Stance. Each home team decided which color it will wear and the visiting team will wear the other uniform option. Pitchers on teams wearing white uniforms will wear black caps to ensure umpires and batters have clear visibility of each pitch.
For the first time, a Rawlings batting helmet will also be part of the festivities with the headgear decorated in either matte white or black to match the uniforms.
Players have also selected nicknames for themselves to be added to backs of their jerseys, and are given the opportunity to design, wear and use creatively colored and decorated equipment including bats, spikes, batting gloves, wristbands, compression sleeves and catcher’s equipment. A patch honoring Tyler Skaggs, the Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher who died last month, will also be available for players to wear on their uniforms, if they choose.
Some of the more interesting nicknames include Polar Bear for New York Mets slugger Pete Alonso; El K for Toronto Blue Jays third baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr., and Three Kids for Milwaukee Brewers’ center fielder Lorenzo Cain.
Over the weekend, players are being encouraged to use their own phones to capture images of themselves and others that they can share on their own social media channels as well as those for MLB and their teams.
Following the games, the jerseys and helmets will be auctioned off by MLB with all proceeds donated to the MLB-MLBPA Youth Development Foundation, a joint effort established in July 2015 by MLB and the Players Association with an initial commitment of $30 million that works to improve the caliber, effectiveness and availability of amateur baseball and softball programs across the United States and Canada.
This is the third year MLB has held Players Weekend.
Sign up for WWD's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
