2017 MLB Logo and Uniform Preview

Welcome to the 2017 Major League Baseball season. I don’t know about you but as each year passes, the off-season seems shorter and shorter to me.

I’m not complaining, just noting.

Not a lot of major changes going into the new season, the San Diego Padres the only club to introduce a new home or road uniform, and, well, they’re forgettable. The rest of the league has opted to either make tweaks to existing looks or stick to playing around with their alternate sets. The big change most fans will notice right away is the addition of the New Era flag to the side of every ballcap worn in the league, this change was introduced for the 2016 Postseason so for a third of the teams this will be nothing new.

The New Era logo now appears on all on-field caps (Photo © Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports)

As was the case in 2016 teams are expected to wear special themed uniforms for Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, Father’s Day, and the Fourth of July. Last year these uniforms were unveiled during the first half of April, so you’d have to think we’d be seeing the 2017 set anytime in the next few days.

We’ll go through the changes and any fun uniform plans teams may have for the upcoming season, team-by-team in alphabetical order starting with the…

ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS

The Diamondbacks made adjustments to the colours of the name and number on both of their darker-grey road jerseys and also changed their pant striping to something a little more traditional.

As was the case in 2016 they will be wearing their usual throwback jerseys from the purple and teal days for every Thursday home game

ATLANTA BRAVES

Atlanta will be marking their first season in the brand new SunTrust Park with a special inaugural season patch which will be worn throughout the season on their home white, alternate red, and alternate cream throwback jerseys.

The Braves will also be doing a giveaway of their new Spring Training “Tomahawk” Cap on May 5th, so perhaps they’ll be worn for that game.

BALTIMORE ORIOLES

Baltimore’s Oriole Park at Camden Yards is already a quarter century old, believe it or not, to commemorate this the O’s will be wearing a 25th anniversary patch for their home ballpark, this patch will be worn on all of their jerseys – home, road, and both alternates. Baltimore is also one of several teams making minor changes to their batting helmet, the finish changes from glossy to matte.

The Orioles will be giving away jerseys featuring their team script integrated with the Maryland State Flag to fans for their game vs Toronto on May 20th

BOSTON RED SOX

Boston will be playing in a game in which the St Louis Cardinals will be wearing their 1967 throwback uniforms on May 16th, we’re unsure if the Red Sox will be participating by wearing their own ’67 throwbacks but we would be surprised if they didn’t.

CHICAGO CUBS

The defending World Series champions will be wearing a jersey with gold trim around the logo with gold names and numbers for their pennant raising at the home opener on April 10th and again for when they receive their rings on the 12th, both games are against the Los Angeles Dodgers. We’re also not sure if the Cubs will wear a 2016 World Series Champions patch, the patch does appear on their special gold jerseys but we haven’t been able to confirm if they’ll be worn for the remainder of the season yet. It was not on their road jersey for their season opener at St. Louis last night, maybe just home games only?

A “1908 throwback jersey” will be given away to fans attending the game on June 7th against the Miami Marlins.

CHICAGO WHITE SOX

Like the Orioles, the Chicago White Sox will be switching from glossy to a matte batting helmet, unlike the Orioles the decal on this helmet will now be 3D. It looks pretty awesome, and we’re hoping this is something we start to see more of throughout the league (see: Marlins later in this post).

The White Sox are doing two giveaways relating to their 1917 uniforms, a cap giveaway on July 15th and a jersey on July 29th. You’d hope at least one of those games would see the 1917 throwbacks in action.

Chicago will retire pitcher Mark Buehrle‘s number 56 before their game on June 24th.

CINCINNATI REDS

The Cincinnati Reds have a new green and brown alternate cap which is set to be worn with their camouflage jersey in place of their old all-camo cap. Cincinnati is also the visiting team for a game in Milwaukee in which the Brewers will be wearing Milwaukee Bears Negro League uniforms on August 12th, the Reds will likely wear the Cincinnati Tigers uniforms they’ve worn in the past for such games.

CLEVELAND INDIANS

It’s an odd pairing, but the Cleveland Indians will now be wearing the red cap with a blue “C” with their blue alternate jerseys at home. On the road this jersey is still set to be worn with the all navy blue cap with Chief Wahoo on the front. The “cream fauxback” jersey this cap was worn with in the past has been eliminated from their set.

The Indians will play in at least two throwback games this season, once while wearing their in(?)famous 1977 all-red set on August 12th at Tampa Bay, the team will also be giving this same jersey away to fans at their home game against the Baltimore Orioles on September 9th so… maybe we’ll see them again there. Their second throwback game will be against the Kansas City Royals during which the Royals will wear Kansas City Monarchs uniforms on May 7th, Cleveland will likely wear the uniforms of the Cleveland Buckeyes again.

COLORADO ROCKIES

The Rockies swapped their primary and alternate logos, the “CR” is now the primary mark while the rocky mountain logo has been demoted to “alternate” status. More noticeable is the change to their shade of purple, much more brighter, you’ll see this new purple on all their jerseys, caps, and logos.

DETROIT TIGERS

The Tigers wore two versions of a memorial patch on their Spring Training jerseys for longtime team owner Mike “Mr. I’ Ilitch who died just a few weeks before Opening Day. For home games the patch is blue and white, on the road it has an orange outline.

HOUSTON ASTROS

Houston will be honouring Hall of Famer Jeff Bagwell as well as the 20th anniversary of their division championship by wearing 1997 throwback uniforms at home against the Oakland Athletics on August 19th, previously worn as a throwback in 2012. Houston will also be the road team during a 1977 throwback uniform game against the Seattle Mariners on June 24th, rainbows anyone?

KANSAS CITY ROYALS

Kansas City’s World Champs jersey from last year proved popular so they’re carrying over the idea into 2017, so congrats to the Royals on their back-to-back championship jerseys! The uniform features a blue script with gold trim, a flip of what was worn last year, the jersey is also now an official alternate uniform so it’s likely we’ll continue to see this in future seasons.

The Royals will also wear a memorial patch for pitcher Yorando Ventura who died in a car accident during the off-season. The patch will be worn on the sleeve and feature Ventura’s nickname “ACE” along with his jersey number.

Kansas City will host a Negro League throwback game on May 7th in which they’ll wear Kansas City Monarchs uniforms against Cleveland, who we presume will wear their Cleveland Buckeyes threads.

LOS ANGELES DODGERS

Nothing new for the Dodgers, but they’ll be doing a Brooklyn Dodgers cap giveaway on June 19th against the New York Mets, so there’s a possibility we could see those in the game.

MIAMI MARLINS

Like the Rockies, the Marlins made a minor tweak to their primary logo. The “MIAMI” wordmark is gone, the “M” is now white instead of black. If we didn’t post about it, you’d probably never even notice. None of the changes to the logo will affect the uniform whatsoever, just print and digital media applications.

Miami will be wearing two patches on their jerseys throughout the season, one in memory of pitcher Jose Fernandez who died during the final month of the 2016 season. This patch is the same as what the club wore for those final few games of last season. Miami is also wearing a patch noting that they’re the hosts of the 2017 All-Star Game.

The Marlins will be another club to switch from glossy to matte batting helmets, and like the White Sox they’ll also be swapping out the boring old flat helmet decal for a fancy new 3D logo.

MILWAUKEE BREWERS

The Brewers will be hosting a Negro League tribute game on August 12th when they’ll wear the uniforms of the Milwaukee Bears as they face the Cincinnati Reds (who will probably wear Cincinnati Tigers uniforms) on August 12th.

NEW YORK METS

The New York Mets made changes to their blue alternate uniforms, Mr. Met got the boot from the sleeve of both the home and road versions of this blue jersey, replaced with the Mets primary “skyline” logo. The cap worn with the home alternate jersey has also been tweaked, the orange bill is now blue leaving just the white outline around the “NY” as the only difference between this and the standard Mets cap.

NEW YORK YANKEES

It’s the Yankees so big surprise, no changes to their uniforms in 2017, they will be retiring Derek Jersey’s number 2 on May 14th (Mother’s Day… so pink uniforms?). There’s also a camouflage cap giveaway for their game against Tampa Bay on July 29th, we’ve seen the Yankees wear a camo cap outside the usual Memorial Day schedule before so we’ll keep an eye on this game.

OAKLAND ATHLETICS

The A’s are scheduled to wear their 1997 road uniforms for a game in Houston on August 19th, part of their celebrations to honour hall of famer Jeff Bagwell… and yes, you’re right, aside from the MLB logo on the back collar they’re exactly the same as the uniforms they still wear on the road in 2017.

Oakland is also doing a jersey giveaway on July 15th featuring a white jersey with the “Oakland” script across the chest. With the team looking to really amp up their “Oakland Pride” this could be a jersey they end up wearing in a game.

PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES

Philadelphia is throwing back to 1983 on July 7th at home against the San Diego Padres, both the Phillies and Padres will wear the retro uniforms for the game.

The Phillies will be wearing a memorial patch to honour former manager Dallas Green who died just this past week. The Phillies typically wear their memorial patches on their chest just over their heart, while there’s no photos of the patch yet we’d expect this to be the same for this one.

PITTSBURGH PIRATES

Pittsburgh, like the Reds, are changing the cap worn with their camouflage jersey. The Pirates will now wear a brown cap with a black and gold “P” on the front when they take the field with their camo uniforms every Thursday home game.

SAN DIEGO PADRES

The Padres continue to insist their uniforms must be boring and nothing worth remembering, the team will have new home and road jerseys both of which are just as exciting as every other uniform they’ve worn over the past 15 or so years.

San Diego will once again do their “Wayback Wednesday” series, this year for three games June 14th, August 2nd, August 16th. In years past this has been a throwback to the 1998 style blue-and-orange uniforms. The Pads will will brown and yellow 1983 throwback uniforms when they visit the Philadelphia Phillies on July 7th.

SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS

A small but welcome change to a San Francisco Giants uniform in 2017, their alternate black jersey will see the “SF” logo on the chest now all in orange instead of in previous years where it was black trimmed in orange.

SEATTLE MARINERS

Seattle is celebrating their 40th anniversary so we’ll see a 40th anniversary patch on all of their uniforms throughout the season, there will be a re-coloured version of this patch to match their “fauxback” uniform worn Sundays at home. The 40th anniversary celebrations will also see 1977 throwback uniforms worn at home against the Houston Astros on June 24th.

On August 12th longtime Mariners DH Edgar Martinez will have his number retired.

ST LOUIS CARDINALS

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of their 1967 World Series championship, the St Louis Cardinals will be wearing ’67 throwback uniforms at home against the Boston Red Sox on May 16th. We’re unsure if the Red Sox will also be wearing their throwback uniforms. The Cardinals uniforms worn in this game will also feature a special patch noting the 50th anniversary of their title.

St Louis is also changing their batting helmet logo to the 3D style.

TAMPA BAY RAYS

The Rays will be doing their annual “1970s faux-back” game, this time however they’ll be wearing the road version of these uniforms (worn previously at Chicago in 2012). This game will be played against the Cleveland Indians who will be wearing their all-red 1977 uniforms on August 12th.

TEXAS RANGERS

UPDATE Apr 3/17: Texas is changing their batting helmet to matte and adding a 3D logo.

On July 8th the Texas Rangers will be holding a Turn Back the Clock game during which they will be giving out powder blue throwback jerseys to fans. We’re assuming these same jerseys will be worn on the field by the players when they face the Los Angeles Angels that night. There’s also a 1972 cap giveaway on April 20th which could also be a game they wear throwbacks during.

Hall of Famer Ivan Rodriguez will have his number retired by the Rangers on August 12th.

TORONTO BLUE JAYS

The Blue Jays will be celebrating the 150th anniversary of their home nation by wearing an all red-and-white version of their usual set for every Sunday home game in 2017. There’s not a single trace of blue on the entire uniform from the cap all the way down to the shoes. Caps will feature the maple leaf logo seen on their Spring Training and batting practice set. This is an alternate uniform and plans are to keep it around beyond 2017. This uniform will also be worn on Canada Day and again on July 30th for Canada Baseball Day.

Good news: their retro-inspired cap featuring a white front panel is now an official “alternate” cap, previously it was just a specialty cap so that’s a good sign that we’ll see this fantastic cap more often in 2017 than years prior. No indication yet on when the team plans on wearing the cap.

WASHINGTON NATIONALS

We go from one patriotic set to another, this time south of the border where the Washington Nationals introduced two new caps, one blue, one red, featuring a stars-and-stripes design on their usual “Curly W” cap logo. These new caps join a new white jersey with this same “W” on the left side of the chest.

That’s it for 2017, and yes, we plan on doing our daily uniform tracker again this season so keep an eye out for that. Go Jays!