Tigers slightly change their uniforms and some fans absolutely hate it

Mike Oz

The Detroit Tigers have one of baseball’s most iconic uniforms. Any changes they’d make — aside from MLB’s holiday uniforms — would be minimal at most. But as we learned Thursday, even slight changes are too much for some Tigers fans.

The Tigers announced a tweak to their uniforms for 2018: They’re making the Olde English D on their uniforms and cap match, because they hadn’t in the past. They’re taking inspiration from the team’s 1904 and 1905 uniforms for the new D. Have a look at these before and afters:

(Detroit Tigers)
(Detroit Tigers)
(Detroit Tigers)
(Detroit Tigers)

Not a *HUGE* difference, right? The D on the jersey is the biggest change. The Ds on the caps are also a bit bigger. Here’s the Tigers explaining a little more about the change in their announcement:

Due to varying manufacturer interpretations of the Olde English ‘D’, inconsistent production capabilities and early technology limitations, Detroit Tigers uniform logos have changed more than 50 times since the club was founded in 1901 – including 22 updates to the home jersey. The “cap ‘D’” mark will now be worn on home jerseys and be the sole Olde English ‘D’ logo used on official Detroit Tigers merchandise. Additionally, the club announced the enlargement of the logo on both home and away caps, sized comparably with other Major League team headwear

This move by the ballclub honors a storied tradition and heritage. The ‘D’ had been used on the jerseys of the Detroit Tigers of the Western League in the late 19th century, and it was first used by the Tigers in the Major Leagues in 1904.

You’d think a unified look would make sense and fans would be like, “Ok, fine.” If you think those things, let us introduce you to a place called Twitter, where Tigers fans had these things to say (and these are the ones without curse words):

I understand the attachment that fans have to logos, I really do. But it’s not like the Tigers started using yellow Ds or Helvetica lettering. The Tigers are sticking to their roots and bringing some semblance of unity to their look. It’s not like they’re the Padres.

This fan gets it. Because two if Tigers fans see each at the ballpark this year, one in the new jersey and one in the old, the meeting will still go like this:

More MLB coverage from Yahoo Sports:

– – – – – –

Mike Oz is the editor of Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at mikeozstew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!