MLBPA Throws Nike Under The Bus For MLB Uniform Disaster

Getty Image / Brace Hemmelgarn

One of the big stories in the first month of the Major League Baseball season has been the lackluster new uniform design, designed by Nike and manufactured by Fanatics.

Players and fans have universally panned the uniforms. Now, the Major League Baseball Players Association has laid the blame at the feet of Nike and pledged that the uniforms will be changed for next season.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan broke the story of a memo being sent to the league’s players blaming Nike for the issues and saying that the jersey would be fixed next season.

Major League Baseball plans to address its uniform fiasco after changes this spring to the standard jerseys and pants led to widespread complaints from players and fans, according to a memo obtained Sunday night by ESPN.

The most prominent modifications include a return to larger lettering on the back of jerseys, remedying mismatched grey tops and bottoms, and addressing the new Nike jersey’s propensity to collect sweat, according to the memo distributed to players by the MLB Players Association on Sunday.

The changes, which will happen at the latest by the beginning of the 2025 season, will also include fixes to the pants, widely panned this spring for being see-through.

The union informed players of the coming changes in a letter that placed the blame on Nike and the debut of its Vapor Premier uniform, which was advertised for its superior performance but remains disliked by players.

“This has been entirely a Nike issue,” the memo to players said. “At its core, what has happened here is that Nike was innovating something that didn’t need to be innovated

There have been many issues with the uniforms so far. The biggest issues have been with pants that are occasionally see-through and are prone to rip, lettering on the uniforms being entirely too small, mismatched uniforms, and alternate uniforms not having been delivered to teams after  a month of the season has passed.

Look at this quote from Mets centerfielder Brandon Nimmo from Sunday about why the team has not had their alternate uniforms yet this year.

It’s clear that frustration bubbled over to the point that something had to be done on it. Good on MLB and MLBPA for getting the uniform situation fixed.