A new uniform rule in MLB had fans and others up in arms on Friday.
MLB instituted a rule where teams now hold just four uniform choices. In one case, one team had to discard a signature uniform of theirs. The Seattle Mariners removed their recognizable gray road uniform in favor of their navy blue.
“The Seattle Mariners have scrapped their road gray uniforms for 2023 due to Nike and MLB’s new cap of four uniforms per team,” Chris Creamer of SportsLogos.net he tweeted. “Seattle will instead wear their navy blue tops for road games.”
The Seattle #Mariners have scrapped their road gray uniforms for 2023 due to #Nike and #MLB‘s new cap of four uniforms per team. Seattle will instead wear their navy blue tops for road games.
Full details plus a comment from the team right here: https://t.co/ocvlS2umXh pic.twitter.com/QegR6oy8kS
— Chris Creamer (@sportslogosnet) January 27, 2023
Capping uniform choices seems like a very gratuitous move by both Nike and MLB. There are so many great uniform choices out there for teams and limiting it feels extremely counterintuitive.
The MLB world reacted to the news with confusion and irritation.
“What a stupid rule for baseball,” wrote Matt Prehm.
What a stupid rule for baseball. https://t.co/WvZ00D9iNa
— Matt Prehm (@MattPrehm) January 28, 2023
Twitter user Dan Lamb called for a petition to change the ruling.
Can we get a https://t.co/PWwx7Vnv6T petition going to scrap the cream jerseys instead? How can you not have road grays??? https://t.co/p6e1Mm5gFi
— Dan Lamb (@DannyJ0124) January 28, 2023
Pete Blackburn he tweeted, “It was only a matter of time before gray unis stated dying off in baseball. I’m only surprised it took this long.”
It was only a matter of time before gray unis started dying off in baseball. I’m only surprised it took this long https://t.co/9WS9QoK5oU
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) January 28, 2023
Ryan Rosenblatt, meanwhile, was on the opposite side. “Road grays as a standard has always been lame and most teams should be wearing colors. The Mariners are the team finally doing it right,” he tweeted.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Road grays as a standard has always been lame and most teams should be wearing colors. The Mariners are the team finally doing it right. https://t.co/mdqvDCEKHo
— Ryan Rosenblatt (@RyanRosenblatt) January 28, 2023