Dig the threads: Special-event uniforms unveiled
Designs anew for Mother's Day, Father's Day, All-Star Game, patriotic holidays
It's like Fashion Week for Major League Baseball uniforms. Not only are you seeing your favorite players and teams in regular-season attire for the first time since the fall, but now you also get a preview of some hot new looks in the months to come.
MLB on Tuesday unveiled its full lineup of special-event uniforms that will be worn during spring and summer holiday weekends as well as special MLB events this season. For the first time, clubs will spend the entirety of each holiday weekend -- Mother's Day, Memorial Day, Father's Day and Independence Day -- in newly designed uniforms.
Photos:Mother's Day | Memorial Day | Father's Day | 4th of July | ASG Workout Day | ASG
Participants in the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game and Gatorade All-Star Workout Day, which includes the T-Mobile Home Run Derby, will wear Marlins-inspired uniforms. The All-Star Game presented by MasterCard will feature new cap and sock designs, and players will were a star on one of their sleeves with a number in the middle of it representing their total All-Star selections. Stance socks join New Era caps and Majestic jerseys as key parts of special-event uniforms, and MLB also worked with Rawlings to create stitching color patterns on special-event baseballs.
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"We've gotten more progressive over the last couple of years, and that's in large part due to all the young stars in the game coming up," said Noah Garden, MLB executive vice president, business. "The All-Star Game had 20 kids under the age of 25 last year, and with these players making such a big impact on the game, they are very fashion-forward. It offered us the ability to have fun with it, be a little more fashion-forward, and they seem to enjoy it."
MLB will again donate its licensed uniform royalties that are connected to charitable initiatives. Proceeds will be donated to Susan G. Komen (Mother's Day), Prostate Cancer Foundation (Father's Day), Stand Up to Cancer (Mother's Day and Father's Day) and MLB Charities (Memorial Day and Independence Day).
Here is a closer look at the special uniforms to come:
Mother's Day Weekend: May 13-14
After their debut last season, Mother's Day uniforms will again incorporate pink into clubs' regular logos, with all caps highlighted by a graphite crown and pink visor. Each club may choose from two different pairs of pink-infused socks. Players have swung pink bats, worn pink ribbon decals and sported pink wristbands on Mother's Day to raise funds and awareness to fight breast cancer since 2006.
Memorial Day Weekend: May 27-29
New Era created a special cap for teams to wear during Memorial Day games for a ninth consecutive year, while Majestic has designed a special matching jersey for the fifth year in a row. This year's uniforms, including the specialty socks, utilize a new ripstop woodland camouflage design. MLB's annual league-wide observance of Memorial Day will honor those who lost their lives while serving their country. MLB again plans to participate in the National Moment of Remembrance, through which ballparks that day will conduct moments of silence and special pregame ceremonies.
Father's Day Weekend: June 17-18
Similar to the Mother's Day theme, for a second consecutive year Father's Day uniforms will maintain the same club marks but also will feature light blue incorporated in the logos. The caps will have a blue shadow tech heather crown and graphite visor. Also like Mother's Day, each club may choose from two different pairs of light blue-infused socks. Players have worn blue ribbons and sported blue wristbands throughout the years on Father's Day since MLB first partnered with the Prostate Cancer Foundation in 1996.
Independence Day Weekend: July 1-4
For the 10th summer in a row, U.S.-based MLB clubs will sport stars and stripes on their caps with red, white and blue LiquidChrome official team logos. For the third straight year, clubs also will wear a matching jersey. For the first time, the socks will also match the rest of the uniform with a stars-and-stripes pattern. The Blue Jays will sport red alternate jerseys with red Maple Leaf caps on Canada Day, July 1.
SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game, Gatorade All-Star Workout Day, T-Mobile Home Run Derby: July 9-10
The jerseys, caps and socks that top prospects will wear for the SiriusXM All-Star Futures Game and that the MLB All-Stars will wear on Gatorade All-Star Workout Day (including the T-Mobile Home Run Derby) will borrow their designs from the Marlins, the hosts of the All-Star Game in Miami. American League jerseys will be primarily blue with a black accent over the shoulders from sleeve to sleeve. National League jerseys will follow the same pattern, but with an orange base. A bold star accented in the Marlins colors with a Marlins tail replaces a letter "A" in the league names. The caps include a honeycomb open-hole black mesh crown with the team logos in orange, a LiquidChrome All-Star Game side patch and a colorful floral pattern on the undervisor. The socks from Stance also feature a colorful floral pattern with notes of green, blue, yellow, red and orange.
All-Star Game presented by MasterCard on July 11
For the fourth consecutive year, New Era, in conjunction with MLB, has created a new cap design theme, representing every club. These feature a gold team logo with differing shadow tech heather-colored crowns and an All-Star Game LiquidChrome side patch. Returning from last year's collection is a set of gold metal stars as the eyelets on the top of the caps' crown. Jerseys will include a new patch on the left sleeves -- a black-and-gold star with a number in the middle that correlates to each player's total career All-Star appearances. A patch of the primary All-Star Game logo will adorn the right sleeve. The All-Star Game socks by Stance have a paint splatter design of blue, orange and black, inspired by the notable Miami art scene.
"Anytime we go into these different cities for All-Star Week, we want to somehow bring out what makes each city special, in the uniforms that we pick for the players to wear," Garden said. "In this case, Miami offered us a good ability to do something with more vibrant colors and the palm trees. Again, we're just trying to make things more special."