In a rare instance of a sports league putting its fans’ wishes over profit, MLB announced that it is eliminating the All-Star Game-specific uniforms it has utilized since 2021.
Instead, players participating in the Midsummer Classic will once again be wearing their hometown team’s respective home or away uniforms, although they will continue to wear an All-Star Game-specific cap, according to MLB.com’s Anthony Castrovince.
Per Castrovince:
Players selected for next season’s All-Star Game will wear a special All-Star uniform during Gatorade Workout Day and the T-Mobile Home Run Derby the day before the All-Star Game, though players actually competing in the Derby will wear their primary home uniforms. MLB is working with New Era on the game cap for the All-Star Game.
While players and coaches had previously donned their own teams’ uniforms in the All-Star Game since the 1930s, MLB switched the league-branded uniforms for the exhibition in 2021, which marked its first All-Star Game under its current contract with Nike. The All-Star Game-specific uniforms received immediate and sustained pushback from fans, both due to their fashion forward designs and a preference to see teams’ own uniforms represented at the event.
The elimination of the All-Star Game-specific threads wasn’t the only uniform-related news that MLB announced on Monday. Additionally, the league revealed plans to increase the sizing of the lettering on its full-time jerseys, return to the previously used materials that players had requested and allow for pant customization. MLB’s uniforms came under heavy scrutiny in 2024 as they moved from the previous Majestic template to one created by Nike (but that was produced by Fanatics), which seemingly saw cheaper materials, smaller jersey numbers and even mismatched pants, drawing the ire of MLB players and fans alike.
According to Castrovince, those changes will begin to take place in 2025, but won’t be fully implemented until the 2026 season. Based on the reaction that this past season’s uniforms resulted in, it will be well worth the wait for many.
[MLB.com]