Nationals Add World Champs Patch to Jersey

The Washington Nationals are the champs, and they don’t want anyone to forget it.

Throughout the upcoming 2020 Major League Baseball season, the Nationals will wear a patch on the right sleeve on each of their six(!) jerseys. The patch is the generic 2019 World Series Champions logo created by the league rather than the Nats own recently-revealed World Championship logo.

For those new to baseball, this is no longer an uncommon practice. It was first done by the New York Giants in 1906 to celebrate their victory over the Philadelphia Athletics a year prior:

The 1906 New York Giants were the first to advertise their World Series win on a uniform

The Cleveland Indians followed in 1921 and the St. Louis Cardinals in 1927.

1921 Cleveland Indians, wearing uniforms celebrating a 1920 World Series

Following the ’27 Cardinals, the baseball world would have to wait nearly 80 years for the next team to boast about a championship, that was the 2004 Florida Marlins who brought the practice back for good:

In 2004, the Florida Marlins added this 2003 World Champions patch to their jersey

The Red Sox didn’t follow suit in 2005, but the White Sox and Cardinals did. Aside from Boston (who only wears it for their opening game) and the New York Yankees, every World Series Champion since then has followed-up their victory with a commemorative patch worn throughout the next season.

San Francisco has added a World Champs patch 3 times, here’s what they wore in 2013

There’s also the more modern tradition of wearing a gold-trimmed jersey when the team gets their championship rings, usually for the team’s Home Opener. Of course, Kansas City loved their gold-trimmed jerseys so much they tweaked the design and made them a full-time alternate, still being worn today. We likely won’t see the Nats version of this until we’re a little closer to the start of the season.