The Road Not Taken: What if Teams Had Gone Ahead With These Prototype Uniforms?

Let's do a deep dive on what might have been.

In last week’s article about NFL throwbacks I’d like to see, I mentioned that I’d soon be doing an article about “What if?” uniforms. So what are those? They mostly involve prototype designs that were produced, and in many cases appeared at press conferences or in other promotional settings, but for various reasons never made it onto the field, court, or ice. That’s what we’re going to look at this week.

I’ve compiled a bunch of these “What if?” designs, mostly from the NFL and MLB, but also a few from the NHL and NBA. While none of them came fully to fruition, all of them could have, and several came very close. Why didn’t they make it across the finish line? In most cases, team officials simply changed their minds; in another case, the team moved to a new city before the prototype design could be used; in another case, the team decided not to move; and in at least one case, there were legal issues.

But regardless of the reason for a prospective uniform not being used, each one represents a tantalizing road not taken, and provides a glimpse into an alternate uni-verse in which the prototype design could have graduated to on-field status.

And hey, it’s not too late for that to happen! Minor league baseball teams sometimes hold one-game “What if?” promotions in which they adopt a team name that was considered around the time of the club’s founding but didn’t make the final cut. There’s no reason Big Four pro teams can’t do something similar with their prototype uniform designs, giving us all a chance to see what might have been — and telling some fun stories along the way.

With all of that in mind, I give you my collection of “What if?” scenarios, broken down by league.

NFL

San Francisco 49ers: The “one-day” (actually six-day) helmet (1991)

On Feb. 13, 1991, the 49ers held a news conference and unveiled the now-infamous helmet design shown above. Response from fans was overwhelmingly (and appropriately) negative, so the team quickly reversed course and went back to their classic “SF” logo six days later (not, as legend has it, the very next day).

But a lot of things had already been set in motion by then. The new helmet was already enshrined in that year’s NFL Style Guide:

Licensees had also been advised of the change:

This is one of the uni-verse’s great stories (you can read a detailed account of it here), and it would be such a blast to see the Niners take it to the next level by wearing the helmet for just one game. Come on, people — think big!