Power of Red: Cincinnati Reds Unveil New City Connect Uniform from Nike

With emphasis placed on the team of the now, the Cincinnati Reds today unveiled their new Nike MLB City Connect uniforms. This typically very tradition-heavy franchise born in the 19th Century is now taking a new, ultra-modern 21st Century approach to its on-field look.

“Just as Cincinnati, the birthplace of professional baseball, sparked the passion of America’s pastime, the Reds City Connect uniforms were developed to ignite the fire and pride in a NEW generation,” read the team’s official release. “Together, fueled by a collective energy, THIS city and THIS team
are lighting the way to what comes NEXT.”

SHOP: Cincinnati Reds new City Connect caps and jerseys available now!

The uniform consists of black caps, black jerseys, and black pants, while the club’s titular red has been brightened while also relegated to trim colour status — an intentional decision made in order to give the red a more dynamic presence.

“Nike taught us that you don’t need a lot of a particular colour for it to be impactful,” said Ralph Mitchell, the Reds’ VP of Communications and Marketing, in a call with SportsLogos.Net. “On one of the calls, they suggested we use the ‘power of red.’ That phrase, the ‘power of red,’ really resonated with us. We wanted them to feel electric; we wanted them to be energetic. The ‘power of red,’ in the form of piping found throughout the uniform, representing movement, representing energy, representing power.”

On the front of the black caps is a re-imagined “new and edgy” version of the traditional wishbone-C, made up of an alternating array of five red and four black wavelength lines “representing the collective energy that connects and aligns all of Reds Country.” The angled shape of the interior of the new “C” mimics that of the club’s new buckeye leaf inside collar logo (more on that later), and the overall height/width ratio of the new “C” is identical to their existing cap logo. A single red line goes across the bottom where the crown meets the visor.

The black jersey features “CINCY” across the front in a matched size mix of upper and lowercase lettering, presented in black with white shadowing in the upper-left corners and red shadowing in the lower right. The Nike swoosh is in red in the upper right; the new wavelength-wishbone C logo is on one sleeve, and the team’s jersey advertiser Kroger is on the other. The five thin red stripes seen in that new logo appear again as striping at the end of each sleeve.

Pants are black with the five red stripes down the side of each leg; the belt is black with red highlights; socks (when exposed) are bright red with the new “C” right on the front.

“We let Nike know pretty early on in the process that this uniform is about the city and this team right now,” Mitchell told us. “The City Connect Program is meant to shake things up a little in a good way. It’s meant to reach new audiences while also inspiring new ones. They encouraged us to think differently and open our minds to the program — being unique, connecting with who we are as a city.”

SHOP: Cincinnati Reds new City Connect caps and jerseys available now!

“Our past is critically important to us for the first professional baseball team, and we celebrate our history like nobody’s business. We’re very proud of that. But this program affords clubs not just here in Cincinnati, but clubs throughout Major League Baseball to take a different approach and look at their identity from a different perspective.”

On the back of the jerseys, we see the player names arched and presented in a similar typeface as what’s used for the new “CINCY” wordmark across the front — unlike this “CINCY” graphic, the player names are single-coloured red rather than black. The numbers, however, are presented in the same black with white and red shadowing as we see on that front wordmark.

The inside collar features a stylized red-and-black buckeye leaf as a nod to their home state of Ohio. Below the leaf is Cincinnati’s motto, “Juncta Juvant,” in white lettering, which translates to “Strength in Unity,” the club says this phrase represents both the team and the “people and communities who rep” the city of Cincinnati.

“We started drawing parallels between this city and this team — it’s a vibrant, energetic city, continually evolving with tons of revitalization,” Mitchell continued. “It’s got so much to offer, same with this team — a young, hungry, hard-working group of players full of energy, chock full of talent all the way through the system. There was an obvious parallel that we wanted to draw between where the city is in the present and where this team is in the present.”

“There’s so much equity in our brand; we don’t change it often for good reason. So when you have an opportunity to extend the brand, it’s refreshing, it’s fun, and it’s something that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed. It’s been a team effort; there are so many people that are making this happen. It’s really cool; I’m so geeked about the launch.”

The new Cincinnati Reds Nike MLB City Connect uniform will make its on-field debut this Friday, May 19, against the New York Yankees. It will then be worn for each Friday home game throughout the season and will continue to be worn in 2024.

Fans can purchase the Reds’ new City Connect merchandise in person exclusively at the club’s official team shop; those of you who are not in the Cincinnati area can grab the new caps, jerseys, t-shirts, hoodies, socks and more online right now, right here.

The Cincinnati Reds are the 18th Major League club to officially unveil their Nike MLB City Connect uniform, following the Seattle Mariners, Texas Rangers, and Atlanta Braves, who had done so earlier this season. The Baltimore Orioles and Pittsburgh Pirates are the other two teams who will join the series during the 2023 season. By the end of the season, there will be just ten of the league’s thirty clubs who do not have a City Connect uniform.

The program was introduced at the beginning of the 2021 season as a way for teams to break outside the norms of their identities and to connect with their city and their fans in a new and different way.

Check out our extensive history of the Cincinnati Reds logos and uniforms here