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The Phillies Are Going to Have to Get Rid of One Uniform Due To Nike Rule

Kyle Pagan

By Kyle Pagan

Published:

via @phillies on Twitter

Once the Phillies debut the Nike City Connect jerseys they will have to give up one of their five current jerseys due to the “4+1 rule” Nike is imposing via SportsLogos.net:

We learned a couple of interesting uniform-related tidbits courtesy St Louis Cardinals president Bill DeWitt III at the Cardinals Care Winter Warm-Up event earlier today.

First, the fact Nike is suggesting Major League ballclubs limit themselves to four overall uniforms plus one City Connect set.

“Nike is now doing all the jerseys — and one thing I’ll point out about Nike is that they have come to all the clubs and said, ‘We really want to sort of streamline uniforms.’ So there’s a model out there that they want to stick to called ‘four plus one.’” said DeWitt III, as transcribed by the St Louis Post Dispatch. “You have four jerseys that you can wear — home, road and two alternates — plus your City Connect when you unveil that.”

The Phils are one of 16 teams that don’t have a City Connect jersey and there is no timetable for the debut, but Nike currently has hit less than Jake Cave. The latest jerseys to meet fan’s rage were the Texas Rangers:

There’s a good chance Phillies fans will hate Nike’s concept. Crossing Broad has learned that Nike’s initial color scheme will be focused around the colors on Philadelphia’s flag:

via Flag of Philadelphia on Wikipedia

If you remember the Red Sox had a similar color scheme and this is how it turned out:

The only thing is, this jersey was designed to honor a tradition with rich history like Patriot’s Day. I would assume the majority of people don’t even know what Philadelphia’s flag looks like. Not to mention the amount of articles in the last couple of years that argue Philly deserves an entire flag re-design. The Inky even called for one less than two months ago.

The more important question is which uniform do the Phillies scrap? Right now they feature the white with red pinstripes:

The creams:

The powder blues:

 

The grays:

 

And the red tops:

You can’t get rid of the white and red pinstripes. It’s a classic look at home. Same goes for the powder blues. That’s a color scheme that has spanned generations of Phillies fans who all agree they’re some of the best jerseys ever created in the city’s history. Personally, I love the cream jerseys. So that leaves the road grays and the red tops that the team uses typically during the last road game of a series. This is tough. Bryce Harper loves the red jerseys. He led the charge to bring them back in 2021:

The grays are a classic road jersey that’s been used since before I was born. But I think they have to be my pick. The Mariners, who will have City Connect jerseys released this season, wore their new road combination during the game last night:

This would be similar to the Phillies wearing the red tops and gray pants. Gray is boring. Every team can do gray. Plus did I mention Bryce Harper loves them?

Kyle Pagan
Kyle Pagan

Kyle writes blog posts and does Man on the Street-style videos all around Philadelphia. He graduated from Temple University (a basketball school) in 2015. contact: k.pagan@sportradar.com

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