In a move that will have baseball purists clutching at their pearls (and reaching for their sunglasses), the Boston Red Sox and Major League Baseball unveiled new yellow-and-powder-blue uniforms on Tuesday that contain no red whatsoever.
The first release in Nike’s new “City Connect” series, the uniforms pay tribute to the Boston Marathon and Patriots’ Day with a marathon bib patch featuring the city’s 617 area code on the left sleeve.
Emblazoned with “Boston” across the front in a font that calls back to the finish line of the marathon that is held in the city each April, the jerseys are admittedly “audacious,” according to Red Sox communications manager Bryan Almonte. But, as he explained to The Boston Globe, they were intentionally designed to be non-traditional as well as acknowledge the often-muted voices of Boston’s Black and Brown communities and recognize the city’s historic racial divide.
“We should be using this uniform to unite communities in Boston,” Almonte, who is Domincan, told the paper. “So [it was about] trying to find those voices from Black and Brown people that aren’t heard. This was an opportunity to be like, let’s empower those voices and identify who can tell the story of Boston in a way that it hasn’t been told before.”
The Red Sox will wear the yellow-and-blue uniforms for the first time on April 17 and 18 against the White Sox, but will switch back to the traditional “B Strong” jerseys they have worn since the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013 on Patriots’ Day itself.
“We understand that for traditionalists, this may not work for them and we’re OK with that,” Red Sox chief marketing officer Adam Grossman told ESPN. “We get it. This is not meant to replace our crisp whites. That’s not what this is about, but it’s about connecting and having other people look at us differently, especially younger more diverse crowds. We embrace that, and it’s important to acknowledge and celebrate that, and that’s what this represents.”
Get ready for more City Connect uniforms as Nike will debut fresh looks for the Chicago White Sox, Chicago Cubs, Arizona Diamondbacks, Los Angeles Dodgers, Miami Marlins, and San Francisco Giants later this year. The rest of the league’s franchises are working individually with Nike to create uniforms tied to their city’s personality and community and every MLB team is expected to have a City Connect series jersey by the end of the 2023 season.
More Like This
Whether you’re looking to get into shape, or just get out of a funk, The Charge has got you covered. Sign up for our new wellness newsletter today.