MLB goes black and white in search of green
Players’ weekend full of personality but uniforms will be black and white
Nigel Tufnel, the dim-witted lead guitarist of the fictional band “Spinal Tap,” is Major League Baseball’s kind of guy. Upon seeing the all-black cover of a new album, Nigel decides that he loves it.
“There’s something about this that’s so black, it’s like, how much more black could this be?” he says, in Rob Reiner’s indelible 1984 mockumentary. “And the answer is: none. None more black.”
None more black. None more white. That is what baseball unveiled Tuesday as the uniform styles for players’ weekend this Aug. 23-25.
For three days, every game in the majors will feature one team wearing all-black against another wearing all-white.
That means black logos and lettering on black caps and jerseys, and white logos and lettering on white caps and jerseys. The pants will be black or white, too.
This is the third iteration of players’ weekend, an initiative from the league and the union that gives players wide leverage to express themselves. The nicknames on the jerseys are fun:
Polar Bear for the Mets’ Pete Alonso, a lightning bolt emoji for Seattle’s Dee Gordon, and so on. The players can choose stylish accessories — cleats, socks, sleeves, equipment — that might pop a little better in contrast to the monochrome uniforms.
But, seriously, all-white versus all-black? It is hard enough to read the names and numbers on
the Marlins’ black-on-black jerseys. (Although it helps to avoid recognition while playing for the worst team in the National League.)
And now, for a three-day slate of games, the whole sport will look almost indistinguishable, with logos, numerals and lettering all but impossible to see.
As grievances go, this is trivial stuff. And, yes, there is clearly some irony in quoting from a 35-year-old movie to make a point about an event geared for kids. But most fans tuning in will be confused by the whole thing, until they realize it is simply a marketing ploy — up to $290 for a jersey and $50 for a cap, available now at the league’s website.
Major League Baseball is a business, of course, and certainly entitled to collect every dollar fans are willing to pay. (Gotta offset declining attendance somehow, right?) But when commissioner Rob Manfred took over in January 2015, he said he had little appetite to make changes to the uniform, specifically in regards to advertisements.
“It’s interesting, there was more chatter about that in the game 10 years ago than there is now,” Manfred said then.
“It’s just not a hot issue for us. I think people have great respect for the way our uniforms look. I don’t foresee that one, I really don’t.”