Fly By Night: Toronto Blue Jays Unveil City Connect Uniform

Starting a new chapter to find what they’re after, the Toronto Blue Jays unveiled their first-ever Nike MLB City Connect uniform tonight.

The new ‘Night Mode’ uniform, as the team is calling it, was first revealed via a video posted to their social media channels. It’s a head-to-toe blue so dark that it genuinely appears to be black. The design aims to capture the “vibrant energy” of Toronto’s nightlife while also making some references to the team’s connection to Toronto and all of Canada.

“The Blue Jays are at the core of the city and those who call Toronto home know how the city comes alive at night,” said Marnie Starkman, Executive Vice President, Business Operations, Toronto Blue Jays, in the press release. “Our new City Connect uniform aims to emulate that ‘Night Mode’ feeling in the vibrant colours, the rhythmic skyline reflecting off the lake, and all the distinct details that make our city so dynamic.”

SHOP: Blue Jays City Connect caps, jerseys, and more are available now! (Canada) (USA)

“Toronto’s City Connect uniform breaks from our beloved lineup of traditional uniforms and introduces a bold new fashion statement that captures the rhythm, culture, vibe, and spirit of the city.”

The Blue Jays City Connect colour scheme is the almost-black “Pitch Blue,” the lighter blue “Hyper Royal,” and the Canada-friendly “Speed Red.” The “Pitch Blue” is inspired by the “hue of Lake Ontario at night.” Longtime readers of our City Connect series may recognize that Pitch Blue and Speed Red were also used for the Texas Rangers City Connect uniforms (those dark, dark pants). Pitch Blue was also incorporated into the now-turfed Los Angeles Dodgers City Connect set. The Cincinnati Reds used “Speed Red” for the “C” logo on their City Connect cap, and the Atlanta Braves retro-heavy “The A” uniform uses “Hyper Royal” quite a bit throughout their design.

Across the front of the jersey, we see the Toronto city skyline emblazoned across the chest. This is meant to symbolize “the pulse of Toronto’s ‘Night Mode'” as well as how the lights of the skyline look when they reflect off of Lake Ontario. The team’s home stadium, the Rogers Centre, is placed directly in the middle of this skyline, just to the right of the giant CN Tower, which rises from mid-chest to the player’s left shoulder.

Placed upon the skyline is “TORONTO” in Pitch Blue with a Speed Red inline and trimmed in the Hyper Royal. This is the first time the Blue Jays will have worn “TORONTO” at home since their old royal blue alternate jerseys in 2003. The Toronto wordmark incorporates a split-style font, as is tradition for the team, and is stylized after the TORONTO sign at Nathan Phillips Square, the site of Toronto’s City Hall. This sign, illuminated in various colours during its own night mode, was first installed when Toronto played host to the PanAm Games in 2015. It has since become a popular photo spot with tourists.

Below the wordmark is the player’s number in a font and colourway similar to the TORONTO lettering. This is the first time a regular Blue Jays jersey has had anything other than the bird logo under the team name on the front since 2011, when the club last had numbers on the front, placed below the arched “TORONTO” of their short-lived road grey uniform of the era.

On the back, player numbers are the same colour and style as those on the front; the player’s name is arched above in Hyper Royal in the standard Blue Jays player name font. On the right sleeve there’s a “hyperized” bird head logo, which is basically the Blue Jays logo re-coloured to match the new colours of this uniform. The left sleeve is home to a green-and-white advertisement for TD Bank. On both sleeves, there are two stripes at the cuff, one red, one royal — these are designed to form a letter “T,” a nod to the Toronto City Flag, which displays the towers of city hall in the shape of a “T.”

Speaking of “T,” the all-Pitch Blue cap showcases a new ‘T’ logo in red and royal, which, like the sleeve striping, is meant to echo the pillars of City Hall from the Toronto flag. A maple leaf, right at the centre, is placed directly upon this new “T” logo to reflect “the Blue Jays playing for an entire nation.” On the inside of the cap, on the sweatband, a second Toronto skyline is featured in red and portrayed as a “rhythmic heartbeat.”

The pants keep this “Pitch Blue” train rolling along with a pair of “Hyper Royal” stripes down each leg. Similar to the striping on a usual set of Blue Jays pants, but also as a continuation of the “T” striping, which begins at the end of each sleeve. The socks are Speed Red with the split-T logo from the cap in the two shades of blue.

SHOP: Blue Jays City Connect caps, jerseys, and more are available at 8am Friday! (Canada) (USA)

Other uniform details you won’t see when it’s worn on the field include the inside back collar, which shows the words “DIVERSITY OUR STRENGTH” in red on blue with maple leaves separating each word; this is from Toronto’s coat of arms, a reflection of the city’s multicultural identity. The jock tag shows the team’s usual wordmark.

***Inside the back collar is “DIVERSITY OUR STRENGTH” from Toronto’s Coat of Arms***

Historically, the Blue Jays have certainly experimented with dark uniforms before. Of course, from 2004 to 2011, the team wore black as their primary colour with black caps and a black alternate jersey, a jarring departure from their traditional look of blue and white. Initially, that set was to be even darker; when first unveiled, the road uniform was dark graphite (nearly black), and much like the new City Connect set, this dark look was intended for both the jersey and the pants. Ultimately, the team scaled this back and wore a more traditional shade of grey once the new season started.

Right now, the plan is for the Blue Jays to wear their new City Connect uniform fifteen times in 2024, appropriately, all for night games, but beyond that, there doesn’t seem to be any pattern to the schedule. They’ll debut tomorrow night when the Pittsburgh Pirates come to town before coming back twice more before the City Week-themed homestand is up.

TORONTO BLUE JAYS 2024 CITY CONNECT UNIFORM SCHEDULE

Friday, May 31 vs Pittsburgh Pirates
Monday, June 3 vs Baltimore Orioles
Wednesday, June 5 vs Baltimore Orioles
Monday, June 17 vs Boston Red Sox
Wednesday, June 19 vs Boston Red Sox
Friday, June 28 vs New York Yankees
Wednesday, July 3 vs Houston Astros
Friday, July 19 vs Detroit Tigers
Wednesday, July 24 vs Tampa Bay Rays
Thursday, August 8 vs Baltimore Orioles
Wednesday, August 21 vs Cincinnati Reds
Friday, August 23 vs Los Angeles Angels
Friday, September 13 vs St. Louis Cardinals
Monday, September 23 vs Boston Red Sox
Wednesday, September 25 vs Boston Red Sox

Fans can purchase their brand new Toronto Blue Jays City Connect caps, jerseys, hoodies, shirts, and more at the JaysShop down at Rogers Centre or online via our affiliate link now (shoppers from the USA can get theirs here).

The Blue Jays are the seventh of nine teams to unveil their City Connect uniform in 2024, with the Minnesota Twins and Los Angeles Dodgers still left to go. Currently, 26 of the 30 Major League Baseball teams have an active City Connect uniform. This year, new City Connect uniforms were unveiled by the Philadelphia Phillies, New York Mets, Cleveland Guardians, Tampa Bay Rays, St. Louis Cardinals, and Detroit Tigers.

SHOP: Blue Jays City Connect caps, jerseys, and more are available now! (Canada) (USA)