MLB Uniform Uprising: Bryce Harper wears pre-2024 Phillies cream jersey during Saturday’s game against the Pirates
In yesterday’s 4-3 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates, Bryce Harper was dressed noticeably different than the rest of the Phillies lineup. The cream jersey that Harper was wearing was actually cream and the name of the back was much better than what we have seen this season across Major League Baseball.
Harper was obviously rocking a pre-2024 MLB jersey – which marked the first sign of the a potential player uprising against the new Nike and Fanatics MLB jerseys.
Bryce Harper wears ‘old version’ of Phillies cream jersey
Back in March, Fanatics CEO spoke at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference and touched on the long-going controversy about Major League Baseball’s new uniforms for the 2024 season.
The Nike Vapor Premier uniforms made their debut in 2024 and dating back to early Spring Training, they have been heavily criticized by players and fans alike.
During his appearance Rubin touched on the jerseys saying that Fanatics has been getting the brunt of the blame for the new jerseys, which wasn’t really fair since they were simply the manufacturers based on Nike’s design.
Michael Rubin on MLB’s new Nike uniforms, manufactured by Fanatics:
(The Athletic) “We’ve purely been doing exactly as we’re told — we’ve been told we’ve done everything exactly right — and we’re getting the s— kicked out of ourselves every day right now,”
“That’s not fun. Normally when I get beat up it’s because I actually did something wrong.”
“In this particular case, Nike designs everything, hands us a spec and says, ‘Make this,’” Rubin said. “We have made everything exactly to the spec. Nike and baseball would say, yes, you’ve done everything we’ve asked you to do. Part of changing a uniform is people get uncomfortable, and it takes time (to adjust).”
“Rubin said he thinks Nike’s uniforms will be regarded as an improvement over time.”
It’s not often I agree with Rubin however, he’s spot on here. Nike was responsible for the design and “blueprints” of the Vapor Premier uniforms while Fanatics was serving solely as a “subcontractor” to produce them.
Read More: Who’s to blame? New MLB jerseys spark widespread criticism from players and fans alike >>
The difference in uniforms from 2023 to 2024 show glaring changes to every Major League Baseball jerseys and pants and have been deemed to be “cheap” and “knock-off” quality.
Read More: “Everyone hates them…” – Trea Turner on new uniforms in 2024 >>
In comes Bryce Harper during the Phillies weekend series against the Pirates, and it looks like we have the first sign of players pushing back on the horrible new uniforms that they are being forced to wear.
Early in the season, Phillies fans saw first hand how bad the name plates are compared to year’s past. We also witnessed how Nike and Fanatics botched the “parchment” or “cream” Sunday alternate jerseys for the Phillies, which now appear to be see through and more of a “piss yellow” than what we had before.
Harper wearing an older jersey wasn’t really touched on much and there hasn’t been much word on whether or not he’ll be fined for not wearing a 2024 version of the Phillies cream jersey.
Honestly, I hope nothing comes of it and more players start to take Harper’s rebellion and spread it across MLB dugouts. The new uniforms are embarrassing and the more players come out against them, the faster Major League Baseball will be forced to make necessary updates.
Join The Chase
This Post Has 0 Comments