For the A and the Hammer: Atlanta Braves Unveil New City Connect Uniforms

The Atlanta Braves this morning got the 2023 MLB Nike City Connect Uniform series underway by unveiling their tribute to “The Hammer.”

Débuting on Saturday, April 8, at home against San Diego, the new Braves City Connect design throws things back to Atlanta in the early-1970s, bright blue and white, caps with a white panel in the front, Hank Aaron chasing and ultimately eclipsing the Babe.

Much like those Braves teams of the early 1970s, the jerseys will be white with royal blue sleeves with a red and white pattern at the cuffs. Red acting as a trim colour throughout, appearing on the player’s numbers and the team logos. Caps blue with the club’s scripted “A” on the front of the crown on a white swatch.

SHOP: Atlanta Braves City Connect caps, jerseys, and more available here starting April 1, 2023

“The Atlanta Braves are proud to honour Hank Aaron with our City Connect uniforms,” said Atlanta Braves President and CEO Derek Schiller. “We are thankful to Nike, who collaborated with us on the designs as we recognized the impact that Hank continues to have. on our organization while also celebrating the role of the Braves in our community.”

Differences, of course, exist between the 2023 Atlanta Braves City Connect uniform and its 1972-75 home uniform inspiration. Across the front of the jersey, the scripted “Braves” has been replaced with a City Connect-friendly “The A” with “The” in Braves-style scripting, referencing the club’s “For The A” rallying cry. The ends of the sleeves see the original feather design from 1972 replaced with a red diamond acting as if it were the peak of a blue mountain — this is, in fact, the top of a crown, a nod to the “Home Run King” himself. On the caps, the lowercase “A” of the ’70s is now the modern-day Braves’ uppercase “A”, recoloured in brighter blues and reds to match the rest of the set.

They certainly didn’t have jock tags and inner back collar designs back in Hank’s day. The “715” that flashed on the Fulton County Stadium scoreboard following Aaron’s record-breaking home run on April 8, 1974, appears in gold in the inside back collar. At the base of the jersey, tucked into the pants, is “Keep Swinging,” a personal motto of Mr. Aaron’s, along with his uniform number 44. This “Keep Swinging” design appears again, embroidered under the bill of the cap (which is a delightfully retro shade of green).

“The jersey is a modernized classic, celebrating the enduring character and legacy of the one and only Hank Aaron,” read the release from the Braves. “The design pays tribute to the year that Aaron hit home run 715 to break Babe Ruth’s record and solidify his place among baseball royalty.”

The Braves will wear this new set for every Saturday home game throughout the upcoming 2023 season; as mentioned earlier, the first of these games will occur on April 8th when the San Diego Padres come to town.

Jerseys, caps, and other merchandise featuring the Braves’ new 2023 City Connect design won’t be available until April 1st when they can be purchased in person at the Braves Clubhouse Store at Truist Park. Fans can also shop the Braves City Connect collection online starting April 1st at MLBShop.com. A portion of proceeds from Braves City Connect merchandise purchased at the Braves Clubhouse Store will benefit the Henry Louis Aaron Fund.

The Braves are the fifteenth MLB team to unveil a City Connect uniform since the program first launched back in 2021; they are the first of six teams scheduled to release a City Connect uniform in 2023. You can see details on the 2023 City Connect schedule and the teams participating here. At the conclusion of this season, we will have 20 of the league’s 30 teams sporting a City Connect uniform in their clubhouse closet.