Over the past few years, Major League Baseball has come under a bit of criticism for not allowing their players to express themselves. Whether it be from the players themselves policing each other over bat flips, or trying to crack down on individuality when it comes to things like bat knobs and cleats, it seemed like baseball would be stuck in the mud when it came to the idea of letting the players have fun.
It appears that that will be changing for a weekend. While MLB itself hasn’t confirmed, the Boston Red Sox appear to be gearing up for what’s being called a “Players Weekend.” New England sports radio station WEEI reported on this from Boston’s point of view:
According to Yahoo! Sports, MLB is planning a ‘Players Weekend’ from Aug. 25-27 in which players can wear nicknames on the back of their uniforms. During the three days, multi-colored cleats will also be allowed, along with a personalized patch celebrating somebody who was instrumental in their development.
(Red Sox president Sam Kennedy confirmed in an email to WEEI.com that the Red Sox will wear nicknames on the back of their jerseys even though the team typically doesn’t wear names on the back of its home uniforms.)
Indeed, the Red Sox will be hosting the Orioles on that weekend, and this means that we’re actually going to see names on the back of Boston’s home jerseys. Meanwhile, this will be put to the ultimate test in the Bronx — the Yankees will also be playing at home for the “Players Weekend.” Does this mean that we’ll actually see the Yankees put names on the back of their jerseys as well?
The way I see it, if they’ve already participated in pinking-up, blueing-up, camoing-up, and star-spangled-bannering-up their uniforms, then surely letting players put their nicknames on the back of their regular uniforms won’t be too much of a leap for the Yankees at this point.
Either way, I think it’ll be interesting to see things relaxed for a weekend. Although I definitely prefer seeing teams in their regular uniforms, this should be a nice change of pace and it’s also a sign that baseball may finally be open to loosening up a bit. What do you all think? Are you ready to see nicknames on the back of uniforms and some interesting-looking cleats as well? Let us know what you think about this.
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