Today, Major League Baseball and Nike announced the details for the second season of their joint City Connect uniform program.
The Nike MLB City Connect series “celebrates the bond between each Club and its city” by exploring “the personality, values and customs that make each community and their residents unique.” What stood out most to fans with these new uniforms in 2021 was plenty of boundary-pushing and the setting aside of long-standing design styles and traditions for each team — such as the Boston Red Sox dropping blue and red for bright yellow and baby blue.
For the 2022 season, seven new teams are joining the seven already on board from last season. These seven new clubs are the Colorado Rockies, Houston Astros, Kansas City Royals, Los Angeles Angels, Milwaukee Brewers, San Diego Padres, and Washington Nationals. These seven join the Arizona Diamondbacks, Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, Miami Marlins, and San Francisco Giants. They kicked off the inaugural campaign a year ago.
“There’s nothing quite like the bond between baseball fans, their home teams, and their hometowns — and the Nike MLB City Connect series is an ongoing celebration of that relationship,” said Sonja Henning, Nike VP of North America League Partnerships in the press release. “We are thrilled to honour the history of each club while pushing the bounds of what a baseball jersey can be. We hope this series will continue to energize longtime fans — and bring a generation of new ones to the game.”
🛒 SHOP: Nike’s MLB City Connect collection — jerseys, caps, t-shirts 🛒
MLB Authentic Collection partners New Era (the provider of on-field caps) and Stance (on-field socks) worked in collaboration with the Clubs, MLB and Nike to develop the official on-field City Connect caps and socks which, along with the Nike jerseys, created a new, unified head-to-toe design.
While uniform unveiling dates for the seven new City Connect clubs weren’t released, we did get a list of when each of these teams will wear their new look in a game for the first time. The Washington Nationals started things off by unveiling their uniform on March 29 and playing their first on April 9, the Astros followed on April 10th, ten days ahead of its April 20 debut, Kansas City continues things on April 30, the Rockies on June 4, the Angels on June 11, Milwaukee on June 24, and finally the San Diego Padres on July 8.
“The excitement that our fans and players showed last year at each City Connect debut is exactly what these uniforms are all about,” said MLB Chief Revenue Officer Noah Garden. “When we initially partnered with Nike, the incredible energy that we see at each uniform launch is exactly what we envisioned. Nike continues to raise the bar by working with our Clubs on developing these unique designs, bringing each community’s story to life. We can’t wait to see how these next seven uniforms connect with our fans and generate excitement on the field this season.”
🛒 SHOP: Nike’s MLB City Connect collection — jerseys, caps, t-shirts 🛒
Each team in the Nike MLB City Connect uniform program will wear their uniform for a select few games per season for at least three seasons. It is expected that all thirty Major League clubs will eventually join the program, spread out slowly over multiple seasons.