Baseball's Major League will reportedly alter its garments prior to the 2025 campaign due to grievances.
In a memo sent to players by the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) on Sunday and obtained by ESPN, the league is planning to make some adjustments to the uniforms. These changes include enlarging the lettering on the back of jerseys, matching the gray tops and bottoms, and addressing the issue of the Nike jerseys collecting sweat.
The league is also planning to fix the pants, which have been a source of complaints due to their see-through nature. Throughout spring training and the beginning of the season, players and fans have spoken out about the new Nike jerseys, causing MLBPA executive director Tony Clark to express his concerns about the pants in February.
"A lot of the rhetoric is confirmation that the pants are see-through," said Clark, as reported by ESPN. "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 is the pant."
The MLBPA did not comment on the matter, and MLB deferred to the players association.
The partnership between MLB, Nike, and Fanatics dates back to 2019, and Fanatics began manufacturing on-field player uniforms for Nike in 2020, with Nike essentially serving as the designer. Paul Lukas, a longtime sports reporter and founder of Uni Watch, a website focusing on sports uniform design, explained that Fanatics acts as a subcontractor, basing its work on Nike's specifications.
The union's memo cleared Fanatics of any wrongdoing in the manufacturing of the uniforms, stating that the company values player feedback and is open to difficult conversations about jerseys or trading cards. The hope is that Nike will adopt a similar approach moving forward.
Fanatics declined to comment when contacted by CNN.
However, the union placed the blame for the issues on Nike and the debut of the new Nike Vapor Premier uniform this season.
"This has been entirely a Nike issue," the memo stated, as reported by ESPN. "At its core, what has happened here is that Nike was innovating something that didn't need to be innovated."
CNN reached out to Nike but did not receive a response immediately.
"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.'"
CNN contacted Nike but did not immediately receive a response.
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Source: edition.cnn.com
