The Washington Nationals are looking forward to D.C.’s annual National Cherry Blossom Festival a little more than usual this year.
A series of teasers posted to the Nats’ official social media accounts hint at something coming March 29th related to the famous spring celebration with videos and graphics featuring pink cherry blossom petals falling.
Earlier this week, the Nationals Twitter account posted two colour swatches, one titled “DC Bloom” and the other “Silver Slate.” This followed Nats managing partner Mark Lerner said the team would unveil a new alternate uniform on March 29th, one that they had been working with Nike on for the past two years.
Could this be the start of the 2022 City Connect uniform collection? It sure feels that way.
The Nike MLB City Connect uniform program started last year with the launch of untraditional uniform designs for seven teams across the American and National Leagues. It gave us such looks as the Boston Red Sox in yellow, the Cubs wearing “Wrigleyville” across their chests, and the Los Angeles Dodgers in head-to-toe royal blue — pants included.
Washington D.C.’s National Cherry Blossom Festival is held each spring commemorating the gift of Japanese cherry trees to the capital in 1912, two decades before the first organized event was born in 1934. Thousands of tourists head to the city to see the pink petals and enjoy various parades and helium balloons, among other spectacles.
If the Nationals do go forward with this uniform and colour combination, they wouldn’t be the first Major League Baseball team to wear pink on the diamond, before the league-wide annual Mother’s Day uniforms, the Chicago White Sox donned pink caps for a single game on May 10, 2014, for breast cancer awareness.
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In Bloom: Washington Nationals Unveil 2022 City Connect Uniform