A little over a month ago, while casually scrolling social media, I was hit with the Fanatics advertisement for the Yankees “Black Out Jersey” and I found myself scrambling to see if there was breaking news that the Yankees had announced an alternate jersey. To my satisfaction I found that this was not a new jersey (pun intended) for the Yankees, but instead, not to my satisfaction, another cash grab by Fanatics.
Oh, how I assumed that the jump scare and dismay from thinking the Yankees would announce
an alternate jersey was over. Then came April 22nd and The Athletic article when it came to light that “some” players were pushing for alternate jerseys.
More specifically players asked for a road alternate. Additionally, it came to light that Major League Baseball approved the Yankees” “Spring Training Navy Blues,“ if you will, for official game use prior to the 2025 season.
Most fans at this point have declared themselves in the no change camp or have allowed themselves to picture their favorite players in different ideas of a Yankees alternate jersey. Andrew Mearns ran a PSA poll back on April 22nd when the story broke.
About three-fifths of voters preferred no changes and sticking to the home pinstripes and road grays to avoid changing tradition. The poll numbers then saw about an even split on one-fifth each way liking the navy option or a yes but a different version of an alternate.
Credit where credit is due, this is not a new a new story or topic. Going all the way back to 2016, we can find an article by former editor Jason Cohen asking, “Is it time for the Yankees to change their uniforms?” and laying out several different options.
Truthfully, the Players Weekend jerseys and throwbacks from 2017-19 really sparked and fueled the debate amongst fans. Even back in 2019, my colleague Josh Diemert declared “The Yankees should ditch the road gray uniform…sometimes.”
Up until 2023, I would have considered myself in the majority of fans wanting no changes to the powerful, prideful pinstripes and by association the road grays. However, since the Yankees debuted the Starr Insurance patch on July 21st of that year, I have found my position changing. Captain Aaron Judge raised the same point.
Since that “small change,” we have seen another step from tradition each year. In 2024 the Yankees removed the white piping and border on the road grays. Then the 2025 season was the first in almost 50 years that we saw Yankees with beards. I fear the slippery slope mentioned by so many in the comments that would start if the Yankees adopted an alternate jersey has already gone full y=mx+b.
Now that we are at the crossroads of a new generations of player’s wants, and corporate greed smart business practices, I feel it is time to accept the Yankees will play in alternate jerseys 2026 or 2027. After playing in those jerseys, the organization and sponsors will see a boost in sales of said jerseys and then decide they should capitalize on additional alternate jerseys in the future.
The low-hanging option on the clothesline would be to develop a City Connect jersey for the Yankees. The only clubs missing MLB City Connect jerseys are them and the “in-between hometowns” Athletics. I assume the A’s are waiting until their first season or two in Vegas to launch their City Connect jerseys.
After looking through some old ideas, and some options posted by you all on the poll, I was questioning: What if there was a way for the Yankees to create a City Connect jersey without ever playing a game in the Bronx out of those beautiful pinstripes?
Then the idea hit me. The Yankees could do a City Connect jersey and do it in the biggest brother way possible. Here is my thesis: The New York Yankees should develop a City Connect jersey that they only wear in Queens and dub them the Kings of New York edition.
Of course I have an idea for design, but we can get into that in a second. Think about having an “alternate home jersey” to “connect” your city that you only roll out a few times a year at your neighbor’s actual home — essentially a Subway Series jersey for the Yankees. The perfect pinstripes can remain forever in the Bronx as an unchanged tradition, but also gives our players what they asked for and in the big bright New York lights to boot.
OK, if you are still here and want my idea, thank you. Shoutout to possible burner account, Never Forget, who dropped a 9/11 concept and brunog39 whose rules I liked though I did not follow all of them. There have been a lot of people better at design, AI, and Photoshop than me who have given redesign a shot over the years. My idea makes one change.
Instead of being gray, make the road jerseys liberty green. No other changes. Leave the navy New York and numbers the same, just forget to take pennies out of your pocket and wash the road jerseys.
For the less color inclined, liberty green is the color that Aaron Judge started wearing on his accessories, shoes, and the like late during the 2024 season. This color is inspired by the Statue of Liberty, and her oxidized copper.
Since then, several players have started to wear it or a similar color. Cody Bellinger features it on his elbow guard and Jasson Domínguez often wears batting gloves in the color.
I know many have debated players using this color or would have strong opinions about adopting it officially … but let’s look at some pros and compromises. This would make one of the City’s most identifiable colors the Yankees’ official alternate, and further deepen the connection between the Yankees interlocking NY and NYC.
Judge and company have already given the color their stamp of approval by using and continuing to use it. Connection to the City, check. Player approval, check.
The visual appeal could be sold two ways. One, it would be very pleasing to see a wave of this color in opposing stadiums to take the City on the road as fans. The color and the navy words/numbers would also look nice over hoodies in October. Two, if you hate the idea, at least the small change in color hue could be blamed on the Mets and their low-quality cameras and light bulbs at Citi Field.
To truly keep tradition alive fans who are anti-these jerseys could pop the TV over to black and white and have the Yankees’ road grays jerseys back in just a few clicks of the button! Again, under this idea these are only worn a few times a year and only during the games at Citi Field.
Honestly, part of my idea that is more important than the jersey itself is that I think $1 of each of any potential alternate jerseys sold each year should be matched by the Yankees and donated to the City. I’m not going to get political, but using “The City’s Jersey” to make the City better for fans/non-fans alike was all I kept coming back to when trying to think of a way to truly make me want an alternate jersey.
At the end of the day, I still understand why many Yankees fans will never want to see an alternate jersey and honestly, I still have not fully convinced myself that I want one either. Tradition matters. The pinstripes matter. However, one trip to your local sporting goods store shows things are changing, and if alternate jerseys are eventually coming anyway, the Yankees might as well do it in a way that preserves the pinstripes, embraces the rivalry, and reminds the Mets who will always run baseball in New York.
