By CNN
—
Major League Baseball (MLB) plans to modify its uniforms ahead of the 2025 season following complaints from players and fans, according to ESPN.
Per a memo, sent to players by the MLB Players Association (MLBPA) on Sunday and obtained by ESPN, the league’s planned modifications include “a return to larger lettering on the back of jerseys, remedying mismatched gray tops and bottoms and addressing the new Nike jerseys’ propensity to collect sweat.”
The league also reportedly plans to fix the pants, which received complaints throughout the spring for being see-through.
Throughout spring training and the start of the season, players and fans also voiced their concerns about the new jerseys being worn this season, which led to MLBPA executive director Tony Clark sharing his concerns about the pants.
“A lot of the rhetoric is confirmation that the pants are see-through,” said Clark, according to ESPN back in February. “It’s been an ongoing conversation where each day has yielded something new that doesn’t seem to make as much sense as you would like it.
“Universal concern,” Clark added, “is the pant.”
The MLBPA declined to comment, and MLB deferred comment to the players association.
In 2019, MLB, Nike and Fanatics announced a 10-year partnership, and Fanatics began manufacturing on-field player uniforms for Nike in 2020, essentially serving as a subcontractor based on Nike’s design specifications, according to Paul Lukas, a longtime sports reporter and founder of Uni Watch, a website that focuses on sports uniform design.
In the memo, the union absolved Fanatics of any blame on the manufacturing of the uniforms, saying the company “recognizes the vital importance of soliciting Player feedback, obtaining Player buy-in and not being afraid to have difficult conversations about jerseys or trading cards. Our hope is that, moving forward, Nike will take a similar approach.”
Fanatics declined to comment when reached out to by CNN.
The union did place blame on Nike and its debut of the new Nike Vapor Premier uniform this season.
“This has been entirely a Nike issue,” the memo said, per ESPN. “At its core, what has happened here is that Nike was innovating something that didn’t need to be innovated.”
CNN has reached out to Nike but did not immediately hear back.
“We cautioned Nike against various changes when they previewed them in 2022, particularly regarding pants,” the memo added. “MLB had been, and has been, aware of our concerns as well. Unfortunately, until recently Nike’s position has essentially boiled down to: ‘nothing to see here, players will need to adjust.’”
