Nike reportedly wants only four jerseys per MLB team

Jan 30, 2023 - 3:00 PM

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The Atlanta Braves wore seven jerseys last year to my best recollection. Those were the home whites, the road greys, the road navys, the Friday night reds, the Sunday cremes, the throwbacks of the 50s, and the gold numbered whites given only to the World Champions. That number will be four this year.

There is no press release from Nike that stated the change. Nike has abandoned their Twitter account. Nike has long since quit Facebook. Their Instagram page has been removed. So I guess they sent MLB a fax.

There is one caveat to the four jersey limit. Teams may add the City Connect jersey to the list. So if they choose, the Braves can roll out in some garish Nike-created mistake. I’m curious if they won’t limit adding insignia to the jerseys. I have grown a fondness for the pink and blue ribbons on Mother’s and Father’s Days. There’s no reason not to throw a “Los” on the uniform to recognize Spanish speakers.

My one question to this is why? I don’t understand what purpose this limit serves. You can have 3000 of the ugliest pairs of sneakers but MLB teams only get four jerseys? Why are you trying to limit options? I thought the point of having multiple jersey options was to invite people to purchase one of each or to pick whatever style they liked. Perhaps this is a cost-cutting measure. Earnings are basically flat from one year ago. So maybe this might save workers’ jobs? The stagnant earnings hasn’t stopped Nike from launching a four-year 18-billion-dollar stock repurchase program, however.

If it were up to you, which four jerseys would you keep?

Photo by Kevin D. Liles/Atlanta Braves/Getty Images

Home whites

You can’t go wrong with this option. A clean red, white, and navy works well with baseball.

Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports

Road greys

We don’t see these a lot. The starting pitcher gets to select the uniform on the road. The grey uniform seems to run a little hotter than the navys.

Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Road navys

The road navys are the Braves navy with red numbers. I was not a fan of the first iteration of the road navys. They were monochrome with only the white outline of the jersey numbers. If the starters like them, I have no problem.

Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

Home Friday reds

These have striking red with blue lettering and white outlines. It’s hard to imagine this going away.

Jason Getz-USA TODAY Sports

Home Sunday creme

This takes to the home whites to another level. The red Braves logo bordered in blue really makes this pop.

Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

Throwbacks

These are really so solid. Every time the Braves wear these, it reminds me of Hank Aaron.

These are the choices. We have probably seen the last of the throwbacks for now. Personally, I would trade the home whites for the creme ones right now. The whites are traditional but the creme ones are just money.

If the Braves official jersey page is any indication, we will get home whites and reds, and road greys and blues.