We’ve been asking for MLB to embrace individuals more and better promote their stars. So they give us Players Weekend:

Major Leaguers will let their personalities and passions shine like never before when the newly created Players Weekend takes center stage during all games from Friday, Aug. 25, to Sunday, Aug. 27. Those are just 20 of the nicknames that players across all clubs will wear on their backs while sporting colorful, non-traditional uniforms featuring alternate designs inspired by youth-league uniforms.

MLB and the MLB Players Association announced jointly on Wednesday that Players Weekend will be a player-focused field festival of sorts, different than anything seen before at the top rung of the sport. In addition to nicknames on the backs of jerseys made by Majestic, players can wear and use uniquely colored and designed spikes, batting gloves, wristbands, compression sleeves, catcher’s masks and bats.

During Players Weekend, the players also will be able to wear specially designed caps by New Era, and unique socks from Stance. Players also can wear T-shirts highlighting a charity or cause of their choice during pregame workouts and postgame interviews. The same authentic jerseys, tees, caps and socks are available now at the MLB.com/shop.

Additionally, during Players Weekend, the right sleeve of each player’s jersey will feature a patch with a blank space for him to write the name of a person or organization that was instrumental to his development. The patch features a new logo that shows a progression of five players increasing in size to demonstrate the process of a player’s path from Little League and youth leagues to Major League Baseball. The new “Evolution” logo, which symbolizes solidary with local youth baseball and softball organizations, will also appear on the back of each club’s cap and jerseys in place of the MLB silhouetted batter.

I… don’t hate this. Is it a little bit forced? Yeah, sure. But during a 162-game season there’s plenty of room for this sort of thing. The Phillies’ jersey is truly horrific, but the hat is fine, and some other jerseys aren’t bad:

Baseball needs a larger culture shift than just one blowout weekend, though. They’d be better served by loosening some uniform restrictions – socks, undershirts, and so on – and other conventions from a time gone by. Here’s the rule I’d use: If Mike Schmidt goes on a back in my day sermon as a result of a change, then it’s a good one. Basically you want to offend Schmidt. And my guess is that Schmidt will be very offended this entire weekend. Which is a start. I may watch for that reason alone. #pissoffschmidt