A Year-By-Year History of AL, NL Jerseys at the All-Star Game and Home Run Derby

The 2023 Major League Baseball All-Star Game and Home Run Derby are happening this week at T-Mobile Park in Seattle, home of the Mariners.

For the Home Run Derby on Monday night, participants will wear their team’s usual home white uniforms. For the big game itself one night later, the All-Stars will wear matching uniforms for each league – the American League in teal with “AMERICAN” across their chests, the National League in navy blue with “NATIONAL” on the front.

SHOP: 2023 MLB All-Star Game American and National League jerseys

This uniform arrangement is quite the opposite of how it used to be.

For twenty-one seasons, from 1997 until 2017, players would wear “NATIONAL” and “AMERICAN” branded jerseys during the Home Run Derby and then switch to their regular team uniforms for the All-Star Game. For a couple of seasons — 2018 and 2019, we only saw the respective league uniforms during the league’s All-Star Workout Day, with players wearing their usual uniforms for both the Home Run Derby and the All-Star Game. The current format — usual jerseys during the Derby, AL/NL-specific unis during the Game, started in 2021.

In this post, I’m taking a look back at each of the American League and National League uniforms that were worn during Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game festivities — regardless of whether it was during the Home Run Derby, Workout Day, or the Game itself.

1997 MLB ALL-STAR – CLEVELAND

The 1997 All-Star Game in Cleveland saw the debut of players wearing unique uniforms during the week (before this, players would wear either their team’s usual uniforms or their batting practice jerseys during the Derby).

During the 1997 Home Run Derby, American League All-Stars wore red jerseys with blue piping down the chest while the National Leaguers wore navy blue with red piping. Both sides had their league name across the front with a secondary All-Star Game logo in place of the second “A” in each. Players wore their 1997 MLB team logos as a patch on the left sleeve and paired the jersey with their standard team cap adorned with a special All-Star patch on the left side.

1998 MLB ALL-STAR – COLORADO

During the 1998 Home Run Derby, both leagues wore jerseys featuring purple piping (in honour of the host Colorado Rockies) down the front of their tops. The National Leaguers wore green, a colour used throughout Coors Field and the 1998 MLB All-Star Game logo, while the American Leaguers wore black. Like in 1997, both jersey wordmarks replaced the second “A” with a design, in this case, a purple mountain peak. The player’s team logo was on the left jersey sleeve, and the 1998 All-Star logo was on the right. Usual team caps (with no patches) were worn with this jersey.

1999 MLB ALL-STAR – BOSTON

When you hold your All-Star Game at historic Fenway Park in Boston, how do you dress your players? In Turn Ahead the Clock-styled designs, that’s how! Each team wore vests with contrasting coloured undershirts and their league name written sideways down the left side of the jersey. An alternate 1999 All-Star Game logo was added to the upper right side, and an additional All-Star Game patch was worn on the left sleeve of the undershirt. The back of the jersey was heavily influenced by that season’s Turn Ahead the Clock promotion with numbers pushed to the left and last names running sideways down the right side.

2000 MLB ALL-STAR – ATLANTA

Doubling down on the Turn Ahead the Clock style here at the 2000 All-Star Game’s Home Run Derby in Atlanta, despite the program being scrapped by the league following one disastrous season a year prior. Both the American and National teams wore the comically-sleeved jerseys infamously worn by Turn Ahead the Clock participants in 1999, paired here with an undershirt of a more traditional sleeve length. Thin piping went from the collar across the front to each armpit with the year of the game “2000” above the National League wordmark and below the American League. Regular team caps were worn with an All-Star patch on the left side.

2001 MLB ALL-STAR – SEATTLE

The league pulled back a bit here in the first year of the new century with a more traditional-styled design for each league at the 2001 Home Run Derby in Seattle. Back to regular jersey cuts, button-up, thick white piping around the collars and down either side of the buttons and around each sleeve. The American League side wore the Mariners’ “Northwest Green” while the National League wore red from the 2001 All-Star Game logo. The nautical rose from the Seattle Mariners logo swooshing around the bottom of the National wordmark and over the top of the American. Again, players wore their usual team caps.

2002 MLB ALL-STAR – MILWAUKEE

Everyone remembers the 2002 MLB All-Star Game for how it ended in a tie when both clubs ran out of players following a few rounds of extra innings (back when an idea like “start the inning with a runner on second!” was considered making a mockery of the game). But one night prior, the All-Stars gathered at Milwaukee’s Miller Park for the Home Run Derby. Both the AL and NL All-Stars wore wordmarks scripted across the jerseys in the same style of font used by the host Milwaukee Brewers on their uniforms. The NL side wore gold with blue piping (a pairing the Brewers themselves would use as an alternate jersey about a decade later) while the AL wore navy blue with white piping.

2003 MLB ALL-STAR – CHICAGO

The 2003 Home Run Derby uniform was a throwback to a style previously worn by the host Chicago White Sox. The American League wore white, the National League in black – White Sox colours, of course. The jerseys featured their respective league names across the front, arched in a Tuscan-style typeface, much like many White Sox jersey styles over the previous century, most recently from 1976 to 1981. Each jersey incorporated the piping and underarm striping used across the then-new league-wide batting practice jersey cut. Players wore their usual team caps.

For this game, Major League Baseball had initially announced that the players would wear these uniforms during the game itself (rather than their usual team uniforms). Fans and players pushed back, and the league listened; these uniforms were suddenly limited to the 2003 Home Run Derby, and players continued to wear their team’s uniform during the All-Star Game… for another 18 years (but that’s a story for another day)

2004 MLB ALL-STAR – HOUSTON

Down in Houston for the 2004 Home Run Derby, the (then home) National League side wore a white jersey with red elements rather than the more Astros-friendly “Brick red.” The American Leaguers were all about the Astros of the era with black jerseys and sand-coloured wordmark and logos.

These jerseys were great overall for incorporating elements of historic Astros uniforms, despite ignoring the “Tequila Sunrise” look of the 1970s. The National League used a shooting star design in tribute to the Astros of the 1960s and the American League wore a simple star in the lower left, just as the Astros of the 1980s had done. Both clubs incorporated the Astros racing stripes on each sleeve, again worn on the club’s 1980s uniforms.

2005 MLB ALL-STAR – DETROIT

The 2005 Home Run Derby was clearly Detroit Tigers inspired with the National Leaguers wearing orange and blue, and the American League wearing navy blue with orange and white trim. Both leagues had alternate coloured side stripes and a single stripe down each sleeve, much like the batting practice jersey style of the time. A neat addition for this year was each Home Run Derby participant wearing the flag of their home country as a patch on the front of their jerseys, giving fans a taste of things to come with the first-ever World Baseball Classic just a few months away.

2006 MLB ALL-STAR – PITTSBURGH

Another batting practice jersey template for a global stage for the 2006 Home Run Derby in Pittsburgh. True to their hosts, the clubs wore Pirates-themed jerseys with the National League in yellow jerseys and the AL in black with yellow and red trim (remember kids, the Pirates wore A LOT of red in those days). Once again, players wore their usual team caps with their league uniforms, but it would be the last time they’d do so.

2007 MLB ALL-STAR – SAN FRANCISCO

The 2007 Home Run Derby in San Francisco was, of course, very Giants-themed, with the AL in orange batting practice jerseys and the NL in black. Across the front of each jersey is a league wordmark incorporating the towers of the Golden Gate Bridge, both using the letter “I” to shoot up over their neighbouring letters. This was also the first year players did NOT wear their usual team caps for the Derby, with both sides wearing jersey-colour-matching lids with the same wordmark logo across the front.

2008 MLB ALL-STAR – NEW YORK

In the final season at Yankee Stadium, the league’s All-Stars showed up in July to put on a little show. For the Home Run Derby, players wore very Yankee-esque uniforms, though sadly, no pinstripes. The American League side wore Yankee blue batting practice jerseys with “AMERICAN” across the front, a red star dotting the “I” and the famous rooftop design of Yankee Stadium spanning across the top of the wordmark, caps matched the colours and again used the same logo. The National League went in a similar direction but on a grey pullover top instead. Though it isn’t shown here, NL players wore a grey cap with the same logo as the jersey.

2009 MLB ALL-STAR – ST. LOUIS

Now here’s a good-looking Home Run Derby uniform. For the 2009 game in St. Louis, players wore Cardinals red in the National League, Cardinals blue in the American League, and a logo across the front in Cards-style script with a yellow baseball bat and the Gateway Arch dotting each “I” with a star. As if that wasn’t enough, the National League side wore baby blue stripes up each side of their jersey. The 2009 Home Run Derby is the first time teams wore a unique design for their caps instead of just copying the jersey script, both the AL and NL wore the scripted first letter of their uniform wordmark with a pair of stars on either side.

2010 MLB ALL-STAR – ANAHEIM

I’m a sucker for a navy blue, red, and yellow colour scheme, so it’s no surprise that I enjoy the wordmarks across the front of the 2010 Home Run Derby uniforms particularly well. Hosted by the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, the logos incorporate the Angels-style typeface as well as the gold halos that had been worn by the team from 1971 to 1992. A step backward for cap designs, as each side wore the 2010 MLB All-Star Game logo on their batting practice domes.

2011 MLB ALL-STAR – ARIZONA

A return to full button-up jerseys! A very Arizona Diamondbacks-heavy design for the 2011 Home Run Derby in Phoenix. The AL All-Stars wore Sedona Red, the National League went black, both wore a sand-coloured wordmark across the front of their jerseys in Diamondbacks jersey font, a baby blue star dotting each eye. Caps returned to the style first introduced in 2009, with the first letter from each jersey wordmark featured on the front.

2012 MLB ALL-STAR – KANSAS CITY

How could you go wrong with powder blue in a Home Run Derby? Hosted by the Kansas City Royals, the 2012 Derby saw the American Leaguers wear a powder blue jersey with a matching powder blue cap, a nod to the uniforms worn by the Royals on the road from 1973 to 1991 and then again, at the time, recently re-introduced as an alternate uniform in 2008. The league name arched across the chest with a crown worn over the first letter. Cap logos got a little more creative with each league initial placed inside the shield used in the Kansas City Royals logo. The “C” you see on Matt Kemp’s jersey above is because he was the captain of his Home Run Derby team, a concept which didn’t last terribly long.

2013 MLB ALL-STAR – NEW YORK

Back to New York for the second time in six seasons, this time saying “hello” to a new ballpark rather than “good bye” to an old one. The Mets hosted at their relatively new CitiField stadium with players wearing royal blue and orange jerseys for the Home Run Derby. Each club’s wordmark incorporated the New York skyline across the top as well as a bridge along the bottom – both of which are nods to the long-used New York Mets logo. The caps this season went with white front panels, blue and orange around the rest of the crown and on the visor. The logo on the cap was the Mets logo with the league initial within it.

2014 MLB ALL-STAR – MINNESOTA

The first domino falls as the league institutes custom cap designs for the All-Star Game itself. This carries over to the Home Run Derby as players wear re-coloured versions of their individual team caps to match their league jerseys better. Both sides wore the colours of the host Minnesota Twins with the AL wearing red and the NL in navy blue.

2015 MLB ALL-STAR – CINCINNATI

We’re in Cincinnati so red and black are the main players in the 2015 Home Run Derby uniforms. Contrasting coloured sleeves with a wavy-wordmark across the front mimicking the style from the 2015 All-Star Game logo. What’s the best part? Why, the second letter of each league’s name wearing a red and white pillbox cap, of course! As was the case in 2014, players are wearing a re-coloured version of their usual team caps to match the jerseys.

2016 MLB ALL-STAR – SAN DIEGO

The 2016 Home Run Derby uniform is the gold standard for how a uniform for this event should look. Ridiculously fun and dripping in retro goodness. Hosted by the San Diego Padres, the Home Run Derby uniform in 2016 incorporated absolutely nothing from the 2016 All-Star logo and instead went all-in by bringing back the uniforms worn by the 1980 to 1984 Padres. The NL in brown with gold sleeves, the AL in gold with brown sleeves, both sides with an all-lowercase league name across the front trimmed in orange and a re-coloured team logo patch on the left sleeve. Note the sudden inclusion of the Home Run Derby logo on the right side, the only downside to this design as the logo was a terribly mismatched pink and silver. Caps continued the fun with Padres-style wordmarks across the front customized for each player’s team (I still wear my “blue jays” cap from this style regularly).

2017 MLB ALL-STAR – MIAMI

We go from going all in on a classic uniform everyone loved to a (then) modern design that folks weren’t particularly fond of. The Miami Marlins-hosted 2017 Home Run Derby wore the same jersey font used by the Marlins of the time and their heavy orange and black colour scheme. A bit of a throwback in terms of Home Run Derby jersey designs as the second “A” in each league name is turned into the All-Star Game logo (see twenty years earlier in 1997). Unfortunately, the American League side wearing that rarely-used Marlins blue did nothing to inspire the team to break it out on their regular uniforms; we’re still waiting for it here six years later. This is the last time players would wear a special AL or NL jersey during the Home Run Derby.

2018 MLB ALL-STAR – WASHINGTON

The custom league jerseys took a big step back in 2018 when they were relegated to the All-Star Workout Day. Players competing in the Home Run Derby that Summer in Washington were instead wearing their usual home white team uniforms. At the same time, those non-participants watched from foul territory wearing these Workout Day uniforms. As you’d expect for a game played in the capital of the United States, they went a little patriotic, with red, white, and blue uniforms featuring the league names scripted across the front in a font inspired by the Washington Nationals’ navy blue alternate uniforms (heck, the National League set here was the same wordmark minus the “s” at the end and slightly tightened up). A USA flag pattern was added to the inside of the lettering, and a red, white, and blue-themed logo patch was added to each left sleeve.

2019 MLB ALL-STAR – CLEVELAND

Relegated to Workout Day for a second season, the league uniforms for the 2019 All-Star Game in Cleveland were suddenly sleeveless with the AL in red and the NL in blue. Both sides wore wordmarks across the front incorporating a guitar, inspired by the 2019 All-Star Game logo and Cleveland’s status as the birthplace of rock and roll. Team logos were added to the upper left corner of the jersey.

When it appeared the AL/NL jersey was at its lowest, when our guards were down, they made their move…

2021 MLB ALL-STAR – COLORADO

No longer just for the “Workout Day” and blowing right past the Home Run Derby. Say hello to your actual MLB All-Star Game uniforms. Yup. Finally succeeding where they previously failed in 2003, the league got their wish and individual team uniforms from the Game were gone, replaced with these league-wide designs for the 2021 All-Star Game in Colorado. American League players wore head-to-toe navy blue (pants included), and the National League wore white. Every player had their individual team logo on the upper left corner of their two-buttoned jerseys, the team abbreviation stacked vertically behind it in red. A re-coloured American flag was added to the left sleeve of every player, with the Canadian-based Toronto Blue Jays players adding a Canadian flag to the front. Caps were black with re-coloured individual team logos on the crown and a purple star behind it.

Fans weren’t happy, and certain members of the media (cough) expressed their disappointment, but hey, Nike’s got deep pockets.

2022 MLB ALL-STAR – LOS ANGELES

An interesting update to the league-wide uniforms in the All-Star Game proper for 2022, hosted by the Los Angeles Dodgers, as clubs now wore their usual team designs but re-coloured to all match one another. Perhaps a compromise between what the league wanted and what the fans wanted? Uniforms were gold and black with the story being the gold represented the glitz and glamour of nearby Hollywood. The AL All-Stars wore graphite, near-black jerseys with matching pants. Caps were black with team logos re-coloured in gold and black and a single star added, randomly placed on a team-by-team basis.

2023 MLB ALL-STAR – SEATTLE

And here we are in 2023, the All-Star Game in Seattle this season, players wearing a uniform that seems to fit more in with what we’d expect to see at a Home Run Derby back in the 2010s. The team jerseys feature just “AMERICAN” or “NATIONAL” across the chest rather than their team name or logo, with team logos pushed off to the right sleeves. The jerseys, coloured to match the host Seattle Mariners, incorporated a wavy pattern to pay tribute to the nature of the Pacific Northwest region. Caps are mint-coloured with the team logos on the crown and mountain peak-styled striping on the sides.

SHOP: 2023 MLB All-Star Game American and National League jerseys

So where do we go from here? It feels like Nike and MLB are all aboard this train no matter how many fans stomp their feet about it.

If I had my way and didn’t have to worry about retail sales, marketing contracts, and the like, players would be wearing their usual in-season uniforms during the game, no question. It is not only a pretty fantastic way to show off all thirty of your team’s jerseys in one shot in front of a large audience (that’s gotta be good for sales, right?), but as a fan of a team that doesn’t get a lot of exposure on national U.S. television, it’s exciting to see players wearing my team’s uniform in these games!

I suppose if we HAVE to do unique All-Star uniforms, the 2022 method is how to do it in my opinion… But 2023? It’s likely the least exciting way possible for the big game itself (but hey, they’d be great as Workout Day jerseys!). I’ve got my fingers crossed that they’re fine-tuning and listening to fan feedback; let’s see what we get for the 2024 All-Star Game in Texas.