Categories: Uniforms

Michael Rubin responds to Fanatics ‘getting s— kicked out of’ over new MLB uniforms

Johan Rojas models the new Nike Vapor Premier uniforms. (Cliff Welch/Icon Sportswire)

Last weekend, a variety of reporters parroted a line about how the only reason that MLB’s new uniform pants appeared to be see-through on photo day for a variety of teams was because of the brightness of the camera lights, pointing to some examples of pants appearing see-through in previous years before the Nike Vapor Premier template went into effect.

OK, but like, what are we blaming when the pants appear transparent — or at the very least, more transparent than their predecessors — in game settings because…

Even beyond the perceived issues with the pants, the lettering on the back of the new uniforms is significantly smaller than it had been. In the words of Michelle Castellanos, the smaller letting makes the jerseys look like “children’s uniforms.”

The uniforms are the brainchild of Nike, MLB’s on-field uniform provider since 2020. However, Nike licenses their branding to Fanatics, who actually produces the uniforms. Fanatics Founder and CEO Michael Rubin, a Philadelphia native, has finally responded, in a rather blunt manner, to the criticism that his company, Nike and MLB have received regarding the new uniforms.

“[This is] a difficult position for us. We’re doing everything as we’ve been told and and we’re getting the shit kicked out of us. So that’s not fun,” Rubin said at the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, per Michael Silverman of The Boston Globe.

Rubin went on to say that he believes Nike ultimately “will be proved right,” in terms of the new uniforms being an improvement over what they were preceded by.

Perhaps players will like the feel of the new uniforms, although there’s plenty of examples of guys who have already given negative feedback about the new uniforms as well. It’s hard to imagine perspectives changing on the smaller font used for the name plates. And if there continues to be examples of the uniforms appearing transparent, this isn’t going to prove to be just a matter of players and fans getting used to new threads.

Rubin acknowledged that given the fiasco this rollout has proven to be, moving forward “if we’re involved in something, we need to make sure that everybody better be on board.”

At least three MLB stars have endorsed the new uniforms, as the league sent out a press release at the outset of Spring Training with Nolan Arenado, Adley Rutschman and Ronald Acuña Jr. touting the improvements made in the new threads. But all three are sponsored by Nike

. Very few people not on the payroll for Nike, Fanatics and MLB seem to be pleased by the new uniforms, which should be telling.