The Philadelphia Phillies will wear their City Connect uniforms for the second time Friday, as they host the Chicago White Sox at Citizens Bank Park. If you were looking for the perfect way to describe the polarizing threads, catcher Garrett Stubbs might have found it.
Appearing on Foul Territory, Stubbs was asked to give his thoughts on the uniforms, and did so in a way that only he could.
“I think we look like a very sexy men’s beer league softball team,” Stubbs said. “Emphasis on the very sexy.”
The full uniform set was officially unveiled two weeks ago, with the Phillies wearing them for the first time on the field in a 5-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates last Friday. The plan is for the Phillies to wear these jerseys for every Friday game at Citizens Bank Park, and our working theory is that teams have to wear City Connect uniforms for at least three years.
At best, the uniforms have received mixed reviews thus far. Not only are their critiques of the design, but the Phillies now have four home uniforms and just one road uniform. To comply with Nike’s “4+1 rule,” they had to eliminate their red alternate tops, which had previously been worn for Spring Training and “getaway days” on the road. The red tops were far from universally loved, but they at least matched with the rest of the Phillies uniforms.
For one of baseball’s oldest franchises, it was always going to take a bit of an adjustment period for a bold new uniform designed to appeal to younger fans. Stubbs hopes that the City Connect uniforms ultimately catch on.
“I think and I hope that they grow on us and the rest of the city throughout the year, because at the end of the day, we are going to be wearing them however often,” Stubbs added.
One interesting note is that the Los Angeles Dodgers will become the first team to release a second City Connect uniform in 2024, after wearing a much-maligned design as an alternate for the last three seasons. If the Phillies ever release another City Connect concept, Stubbs has an idea of what the inspiration for it should be.
“I like the story behind each part of the jersey. I think the colors were a little off for me. I was kind of hoping for a full-on [Phillie] Phanatic’s costume out there,” Stubbs said. “That could have been really cool.”
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