Inside The Phillies

Did Bryce Harper Wear Last Season’s Jersey Against Pirates?

The Philadelphia Phillies star might have made a statement with his uniform tonight.

Dylan Sanders

Apr 6, 2024; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper
Apr 6, 2024; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Bryce Harper / Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports
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The new uniforms worn by Major League Baseball players this year have been criticized non-stop. A boiling point may have been reached, though, as one of the sports top players might have skipped out on wearing his.

The Philadelphia Phillies and Pittsburgh Pirates met on Saturday afternoon and one of the players might have been making a statement.

Tim Kelly, of Phillies Nation and Bleacher Report shared a picture of his screen during the game that was pointing out Bryce Harper's jersey.

Kelly pointed out that by looking at the last name on Bryce Harper's jersey, you can see a clear difference compared to what they wear for games now. The name that they have on jerseys now is much thinner than the one displayed on Harper's back in the photo.

As of now, it definitely looks as though Harper put on an older version of the jersey that he already owned.

But why do players have an issue with the new jerseys, to the point that they break the rules?

The MLB made a deal with Nike and Fanatics that saw Fanatics begin overseeing the produciton of MLB jerseys. It didn't take long for this change to back fire and force fans and players to speak out about it.

It got to the point where Fanatics founder Michael Rubin had to step in and say something on the matter at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics conference: “This is a little bit of a difficult position. We’re purely doing exactly as we’ve been told, and we’ve been told we’re doing everything exactly right. And we’re getting the s--- kicked out of us. So that’s not fun.”

Complaints range from being see-through, to lower quality mateials to being sewn poorly. Almost any complaint you could have about the change.

Could this be the next major event in the saga of the new MLB uniforms?

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Dylan Sanders
DYLAN SANDERS

Dylan Sanders graduated from Louisiana State University with a degree from the Manship School of Mass Communication in 2023. He was born in raised in Baton Rouge, LA but has also lived in Buffalo, NY. Though he is a recent graduate, he has been writing about sports since he was in high school, covering different sports from baseball to football. While in college, he wrote for the school paper The Reveille and for 247Sports. He was able cover championships in football, baseball and women's basketball during his time at LSU. He has also spent a few years covering the NFL draft and every day activities of the New Orleans Saints. He is a Senior Writer at Inside the Marlins and will also be found across Sports Illustrated's baseball sites as a contributing writer. You can follow him on Twitter or Instagram @dillysanders

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