SI:AM | MLB’s Controversial New Uniforms

Plus, evaluating which NBA teams are legitimate Finals contenders.

Good morning, I’m Dan Gartland. I’m not the biggest fan of monopolies.

In today’s SI:AM:

👕 MLB uniform outrage

🏆 NBA Finals contenders

🏈 NFL winners and losers

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“They look cheap”

MLB players are going to look a bit different when they take the field this season—and not everyone is happy about it.

The league announced yesterday that players will be wearing new “Nike Vapor Premier” uniforms this season. The new threads were “engineered to improve mobility, moisture management and fit, while keeping sustainability in mind,” MLB said in a press release. The uniforms will be more form-fitting but also stretchier, and are designed to wick away moisture. They’re also made from 90% recycled polyester.

But when some players got their first look at the new uniforms at spring training yesterday, they were less than impressed. Jeff Jones, the St. Louis Cardinals beat writer for The Belleville News-Democrat, reported that Cards players were “pretty unhappy.”

“Miles Mikolas says they also don’t fit right; pants are no longer as customized, and the fabric is a very different consistency,” Jones tweeted. He also quoted an unnamed player as saying, “They look cheap.” Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch quoted an unnamed veteran pitcher as saying, “I don’t like them.”

Fans were also upset because they don’t like the design of the new uniforms. The biggest difference is the size of the name on the back of the jersey. Player names are printed in much smaller lettering on the new uniforms, and the text is arched. The difference can be seen most clearly in this side-by-side image of Seattle Mariners jerseys.

But the real reason fans are revolting against the uniforms is probably because of who makes them. The uniforms bear the Nike logo, but they’re not made by Nike. Nike has licensed the brand to Fanatics, which actually manufactures the unis. Fanatics has become a toxic brand among sports fans.

If you’ve ever ordered a piece of apparel from Fanatics you may have experienced some kind of disappointment. There’s an account on X (formerly known as Twitter) called @FanaticsSucks that chronicles all the misadventures fans have with Fanatics merchandise. This Vancouver Canucks fan bought a Quinn Hughes jersey that arrived with No. 34 on the back, rather than Hughes’s actual No. 43. Here’s a Philadelphia Flyers fan who said the nameplate on the back of the jersey started peeling off after wearing it a single time. A bunch of Michigan Wolverines football fans received shirts commemorating the team’s national championship with the design printed completely askew. This fan bought a New Orleans Saints jersey that had “New York” printed across the front. A Green Bay Packers fan bought a jersey that had cornerback Keisean Nixon’s name printed upside down. Here is a Miami Dolphins fan who received a completely blank jersey.

I could keep going. These are not isolated incidents, or even repeated instances of the same issue. In 2020, it began a 10-year exclusive deal to make merchandise for MLB. Fanatics already has a deal with the NHL and will begin making on-ice uniforms next season as part of a 10-year deal.

Many fans don’t associate Fanatics with high quality products and are quick to blame the company for the issues with these new MLB uniforms, even if Nike is the one responsible for the design.

It should be noted that not every player is upset with the feel of the new uniforms. Players first wore them at last year’s All-Star Game in Seattle, and MLB released a video yesterday of several All-Stars praising the feel of the new Nike model when they wore them last July.

But no matter how much some players like the new lightweight fabric, complaints are sure to persist. In a sport as staunchly traditionalist as baseball, any changes to a uniform will be heavily scrutinized. It’s possible that players and fans would have been just as upset with the new look and feel of the uniforms if Nike had handled every step of the process. But licensing the brand to a company with a questionable reputation could certainly have negative repercussions for Nike and MLB.

The best of Sports Illustrated

Darren Yamashita/USA TODAY

• With Chip Kelly having left UCLA for Ohio State, Pat Forde looks back on why college football’s 2018 coaching carousel was such a disaster.
• Rohan Nadkarni ranked the 11 teams with a legitimate chance of winning the NBA Finals.
• Gilberto Manzano wrapped up the NFL season by declaring a few winners (including the Chiefs, obviously) and losers (including the Jets, obviously).
• Bob Harig has the details on Tiger Woods’s new caddie for this week’s Genesis Invitational at Riviera.
• The Warriors reportedly tried to swing a trade for LeBron James before the deadline.
• The Athletics became the first team in MLB history to hire a woman as their primary play-by-play announcer.
• The A’s also reportedly had discussions with the city of Oakland about extending their lease at the Coliseum.

The top five...

… things I saw last night:

5. Rudy Gobert’s laughably bad floater attempt.

4. Roope Hintz’s fake slapshot that totally fooled the goalie.

3. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander telling the Orlando crowd “Go home!” after his step-back dagger.

2. Connor McDavid’s spinning assist.

1. This no-look half-court shot by Paige Bueckers.

SIQ

Wilt Chamberlain scored 41 points on this day in 1966 to become the NBA’s all-time leading scorer, a title he held onto for nearly 20 years. Who held the record before Wilt?

• George Mikan
• Dolph Schayes
• Bob Cousy
• Bob Pettit

Yesterday’s SIQ: Which U.S. Vice President injured three spectators with errant tee shots during a pro-am golf tournament on Feb. 13, 1971?

• Nelson Rockefeller
• Spiro Agnew
• Hubert Humphrey
• Alben W. Barkley

Answer: Spiro Agnew. He was playing in the Bob Hope Desert Golf Classic in the same group as Hope, Willie Mays and PGA Tour pro Doug Sanders. On the first hole, Agnew shanked his tee shot into the crowd, hitting a 66-year-old man in the arm. The ball also hit the man’s wife in the arm. After apologizing to the couple, Agnew returned to the tee and hit an equally errant shot. The second ball hit a 35-year-old woman in the ankle. She was taken to a local hospital for X-rays but quickly released.

Agnew “dropped his driver in disgust after the second shot, ignored the gallery's pleas to try it again and jumped into a golf cart,” The New York Times reported.

This wasn’t the first time Agnew had endangered people at the Desert Golf Classic. The year before, he hit Sanders in the back of the head with a shot, the Times reported. (Why did Sanders agree to play with Agnew the following year, then?)

The rest of Agnew’s round was uneventful, or, as Hope joked, “He did play the last 15 holes in great shape and on the back nine he got a birdie, an eagle, an elk, a moose and a mason.”