Mariners Manager Blames Retro Uniforms For Poor Record

Seattle Mariners manager Scott Servais doesn’t like to lose. I mean, what Major League manager would? So when Servais realized his team was a paltry 1-7 when playing at home on Sundays he could only come to one conclusion…

“It’s all about the uniform, it’s something I’ve thought long and hard about”, Servais said to a group of reporters before their game yesterday. “I appreciate our marketing department and everybody putting out different looks for the Mariners, but as I’ve thought last night at about 1 in the morning, I came to the conclusion that it had to be tied to the uniform. So I’m going to work on that. I’m going to talk to [M’s executive VP] Kevin Mather and see where we can go with that.”

The uniform in question is the Mariners retro-inspired “fauxback” cream uniforms, those ones with the blue and yellow colour scheme added to the modern logos and wordmarks.

Servais was, of course, just kidding around, but it wouldn’t be the first time a uniform took the blame for a bad losing streak. The New York Knicks recently did away with their orange alternates after going winless in their first handful of games wearing them, going further back the Toronto Blue Jays popular white-panel caps met their demise in 1993 after a bad stretch wearing them, and the Phillies kicked their blue alternate caps to the curb after a similar streak in 1994.

What’s Servais’ suggestion then?

“I would like to wear the white pants, with the navy blue top, at home. If that doesn’t work, I don’t know what we’re going to do.”

Pair these with white pants and you've got yourself a winner, says M's manager — Pair these with white pants and you’ve got yourself a winner, says M’s manager

The Mariners haven’t worn navy blue tops at home since 2011 when they read “MARINERS” across the front. In 2012, the wordmark was changed to “SEATTLE” and a teal (Northwest green) alternate was introduced to take its place at Safeco Field.