What the MLB Uniform Fiasco Says About How We Process Reality
What the MLB Uniform Fiasco Says About How We Process Reality
The finger-pointing feels like a symptom of a problem that goes beyond uniforms.
Reminder: Uni Watch’s time on Substack will be coming to a close in late May. After that, I’ll be taking a break for at least a month, and then my Substack will return in the summer with a new name and a new subject focus. To learn more about all of this, including what it will mean for those of you with paid subscriptions, look here. — Paul
As we all know by now, the rollout of Major League Baseball’s new uniforms has been a disaster. I recently responded to that disaster by writing an open letter to Nike, because their design changes are the source of most of the problems. I followed up a week later by writing an open letter to MLB, because they are reportedly the source of one particular problem, plus they signed off on all Nike’s design changes.
I did not write an open letter to Fanatics, which is manufacturing the uniforms at their Pennsylvania factory, because, as far as I can tell, Fanatics is not responsible for most of the problems we’re seeing. This same factory, with the same equipment and the same staff, produced MLB’s on-field uniforms last year, and the year before that, and for many years prior. So nothing has changed on the production side. And the factory has been owned by Fanatics since 2017, so nothing has changed on the ownership side either. The changes have come from the design side, because Nike has rolled out a new tailoring template, new jersey fabric, standardized lettering sizes, and more. As I’ve tried to explain in a series of blog posts, Fanatics is simply following the design specs that they’ve been given (just like they did last year, and the year before that, and so on).
I don’t say any of this as a way of “defending” Fanatics. As a reporter, I’m simply interested in the reality of the situation. And the reality, based on my reporting and my knowledge of how the industry works, is that the Great MLB Uni Fiasco of 2024 is primarily due to changes that have been made by Nike.
Despite this, many MLB fans — maybe including some of you who are reading this — continue to blame Fanatics. I see that position being expressed on social media, on message boards, in articles and blog posts, on podcasts, and elsewhere. This viewpoint seems to be due to many fans having had bad experiences with Fanatics’ retail merchandise. Those gripes may be legitimate (I’ve never purchased anything from Fanatics, so I have no consumer experience with them), but they have nothing to do with the current MLB fiasco. Fanatics’ retail merch is produced mostly in Asian sweatshops, not in that Pennsylvania factory. And like I said, that same Fanatics-owned factory has been producing MLB’s on-field uniforms for years without any problems. The problems started this year because Nike changed the design specs.
When I try to explain this to people — whether in an article, on social media, in the Uni Watch Blog’s comments section, or if I’m being interviewed for a podcast — I’ve been struck by how many people simply don’t want to hear it because they’re wedded to the idea that “Fanatics sucks,” or words to that effect. The exchange, which I’ve had dozens of times over the past two months (most recently just yesterday), usually goes something like this: