Players’ Weekend is supposed to be a time for MLB’s finest to expre s themselves with clever nicknames, designer cleats and other sanctioned Preston Tucker Jersey “look at me” attire. But theself-expre sion in 2019 iscamouflaged in a hideous monochrome sea of fabric.We got our first look at the uniforms in action on Friday afternoon with the Nationals and Cubs, and, ohboy, there’s a lot to discu s. I’ll get to that in a minute.”Inspired byplayers style choices when they are away from the field, the fashionable monochromatic uniforms allow for each custom acce sory design to stand out more than ever before,” MLB announced in its news release Aug. 6.MORE: OK, sounds reasonable enough. I admit that I didn’t have an opinion at Michael Brantley Jersey the time of the announcement.Perhaps that’s because everythingfocused on the jerseys either all black or all white which areunremarkable, but harmle s. But the jerseysaren’t the problem.It’s the execution where MLB failed because the jerseys are overshadowed bythe pants and helmets, which combineto create a jarring,abysmal total package for each team.We’ll start with the black ones.A darkmonochrome top is fine on its own, but paired with same-color dark pants and a dark hat/helmet?It’s just bad. Really, really bad. Even the belt is black, eliminating the po sibility of even a brief reprieve from the ugly samene s andmaking for a continuous ocean of darkne s from head to (almost) toe.Not to mention that the black pants look more like skinny jeans, or maybe church pants. It’s all just an odd sight.The white unis have i sues too. The jerseys are fine and the pants are fine, as the combo looks much more Jimmy Wynn Jersey like a traditional baseball uniform. But the helmets wreck the whole thing.These all-white noggin covers look like old, leftover rec-league relics from the ’80s. Because they’re so different than what we normally see, a viewer’s attention is likely to go right to the head. Look at that giant white head! (Interestingly, the Cubs didn’ Jake Marisnick Jersey t wear their “official” white Players’ Weekend hats on the field Friday, optingfor their normal one instead).In both cases,the designer cleats, socks orfancy batting gloves do stand out but not in a good way. The contrast only draws more attention to the greater failure. And I’m gue sing fans will spend more time this weekend talking about Hector Rondon Jersey how they don’t like the uniforms than noticing the individual expre sion they’re supposed to facilitate.Players’ Weekend is a great idea. It’s a nice change of pace, and baseball needs more allowances of self-expre sion. But MLB whiffed this year. Considering uniforms offered a much more pleasing aesthetic,it might be good to be le s binary in the 2020 approach.It’s definitely a small thing to complain about, but it’s also ironic that MLB chose to celebrateself-expre sion with uniforms that are, well, uniform in the worst way.
