Home Run Derby

In 2008, the Toronto Blue Jays and Kansas City Royals are going to do something that no baseball team has done since 1991.

They’re going to break out the Powder Blue Uniforms. Mind you - they’ll be only occasionally be used as home alternate uniforms, but that’s a feat in and of itself. I don’t think anyone’s ever worn the powder blue in their home stadium before.

The Royals will be wearing blue shirts (with white pants) while the Blue Jays will go completely retro and bust out the baby blue from head to toe. The Jays will also bring back their old logo, a pullover jersey, and their old two-color cap. I have one of those hats. I love it.

There’s no word yet as to how often the Royals and Jays will do this in 2008, but the vibe is that they’ll do it enough that they petitioned MLB to add the uniforms to their regular cache of kits.

The St. Louis Cardinals have worn powder blue throwbacks in road games twice (2005 vs Tampa Bay and 2007 vs Milwaukee).

Considering that we’ve hardly seen powder blue for the last sixteen seasons (and the fact that no one under the age of 21 likely has any memory of powder blue baseball) let’s take a trip down memory lane and revisit the teams that dared … to wear blue.

Prepare yourselves for a trip when the blue wasn’t just in the azure sky over the field. And watch out for lots of polyester pullovers and stirrups.

Chicago Cubs (1941-42, 1978-81)

The Cubs were the first team to wear road blues - way back in the early 1940’s. Isn’t it fitting that a team from Chicago (home of the Blues) would be the first to wear blue?

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any photographs of the blue vests, so the online awesomeness that is the Baseball Hall of Fame’s Dressed to the Nines exhibit will have to do.

And they did it twice.

Not as nice the second time around, as they wore pinstriped blue kits in the late 70’s. Those are some hideous pajamas.

Brooklyn Dodgers (1944)

With the advent of night baseball, the Dodgers tried a Baby Blue satin uniform. My guess is that the satin was supposed to reflect the lights and blind the opposing team or something.

That’s Leo Durocher’s jersey and some other guy’s pants. The combo sold at auction for $15,692 in 2006. That’s a lot, until you consider they were probably designed by Hef.

Chicago White Sox (1964-68, 1971-75)

For years, the White Sox seemingly had new uniforms and colors every other year. So it stands to reason that they would catch the powder blue bug. They did. Twice.

The first go-round in the 1960’s was unmemorable, but the Sox’ blue/red combo in the 1970’s was pretty cool. It’s one of the few powder blue/red combos that don’t make me want to hurl.

Seattle Pilots (1969) / Milwaukee Brewers (1970-1984)

The expansion Pilots were only around for one season in Seattle, but they did it in blue. With yellow trim - which isn’t that bad.

Right before the 1970 season, the Pilots packed up for Milwaukee under the guidance of used car salesman Bud Selig, who kept the robin-egg blue uniforms and slapped “Milwaukee” on them - and kept the blue until 1984.

Hey Robin - wear those pants a little tighter.

Montreal Expos (1969-91)

Twenty-three years. The Expos wore their blue road unis for 23 years - longer than any other club.

Some might have called the Expos’ outfits as brutal eyesores (and they were - the red clashes horribly with the blues), but when the Expos dropped the blue in ‘92 and went with those gray kits, it was a sad day for baseball.

Philadelphia Phillies (1973-88)

Hall of Famers Steve Carlton and Mike Schmidt wore the blue in Philly. Accented with maroon. Again, I don’t like the red/powder combo.

Minnesota Twins (1973-86)

The Twins were color-blind as well, combining the powder blue with red trim that just didn’t work. Even with dark navy accents this is hideous.

Kansas City Royals (1973-91)

Whereas a lot of other teams’ blue uniforms were eyesores, the Royals powder blue uni’s were accented with royal blue and white.

And they worked. This is the standard for powder blue uniforms.

And it always will be.

St. Louis Cardinals (1976-84)

I don’t mind these St Louis unis. Until you see that hideous waistband.

Why the Cardinals don’t break out completely red uniforms is beyond me. Whoever heard of a blue cardinal?

Texas Rangers (1976-82)

Someone will have to explain why the Rangers went blue. You don’t see many henley shirts as baseball uniforms.

Seattle Mariners (1977-84)

When Seattle got a second expansion team (to replace the Pilots) they went right back to the color scheme that the Pilots took with them to Milwaukee.

Only this time it was polyester instead of wool. And way more seventies.

Toronto Blue Jays (1977-88)

Much like the Royals uniforms, the Blue Jays’ old blues don’t look so bad. Less classic than the Royals, but at least there’s no red trim to clash with the powder blue.

They’re near perfect.

And that logo and unique font still kick ass.

It’s still way better than that slate gray that the Jays (they’re hardly Blue anymore) wear on the road now.

Atlanta Braves (1980-86)

For a few years, the Braves had basically the same color scheme as the Royals. But these Atlanta uniforms are eyesores. Maybe it’s the two-tone script “Atlanta.”

Personally, I can’t wait to see the Royals and Blue Jays wear the powder blues again.

American football team carolina panthers represents both north and south Carolina. They are members of south division in NFL, chicago bears belong to north division of NFC whereas cincinnati bengals can be found playing for north division of NFC.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 28th, 2007 at 1:15 pm and is filed under 2008 MLB, Blue Jays, Braves, Brewers, Cardinals, Cubs, Dodgers, Expos, Mariners, Phillies, Rangers, Royals, Twins, Uniforms, White Sox. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.