Why classic All Star Game uniforms for players should NEVER be touched.

[Roy Firestone]

I covered about 15 consecutive All Star games at ESPN. In some of the early years, the players wore the uniforms they played with and seeing those players take batting practice wearing those uniforms was glorious to watch.Over the years I got to see Joe DiMaggio wear a Yankees uniform...Willie Mays wear a Giants uniform, Henry Aaron wearing a Braves uniform. I felt like I was transformed  back in time. It gave me goosebumps. One ASG in Pittsburgh, I saw Brooks Robinson take batting practice wearing his Oriole uniform. I took this picture. I showed it to Brooks years later. He smiled and said, 'Roy, look at the smile on my face. I loved to wear that uniform and take batting practice wearing it." Then he said something that moved me. He said, wistfully, "Thats the LAST time I ever took batting practice wearing my uniform for the Orioles." I believe MLB lost its soul a  little bit when they went for those silly "Beer League" uniforms, and those ridiculous day-glo colors too. Baseball, for me, more than ANY other sport is about tradition and legacy. Those All Star uniforms we saw the other night were almost vulgar, and something close to an insult on the tradition and history of the game.Brooks Robinson is gone now, and so are many who PROUDLY wore those uniforms and made history wearing them.I feel honored that I got to take Brooks Robinson taking batting practice for the last time wearing that uniform. I hear baseball, next year will go back to the tradition using the standard (not those grotesque city connect) uniforms and it will re- acquaint the nation with the uniforms the way they SHOULD look in a classic exhibition.It's never too late to honor the game and the uniforms great players wore doing great things.I just wish baseball would have gotten the message about 10 years ago.

Edited July 18 by Roy Firestone

[UMDTerrapins]

I’d like to see an old-timers exhibition at the all-star festivities. Not a straight game exactly, more of a coach pitch style. Would be fun to see certain guys out there on the field wearing their old uniforms again. 

[Chromehill]

The uniforms this year scream greed.   I can't imagine the little bit of money in the grand scheme of MLB revenue matters.  My wife even commented they were ugly and she could care less about baseball.  

[dystopia]

17 minutes ago, Chromehill said:

The uniforms this year scream greed.   I can't imagine the little bit of money in the grand scheme of MLB revenue matters.  My wife even commented they were ugly and she could care less about baseball.  

The irony is they don’t probably had a net loss just from the people that switched to Netflix upon seeing those hideous things. 

[drjohnnyfever1]

I didn't like the uniforms either.  I thought it made them look like the Steamfitter's Union fast pitch softball teams I saw back in the 70's playing at my elementary school fields.

Even my kids, who have taken a liking to the All-Star festivities and game were like WTF.  I told them they used to were their actual unis when I was a kid, but that the hat had an All-Star emblem added to it.  I think they wore home/away unis too, didn't they - based on if it was an AL or NL town the game was in?

Overall, I thought the whole thing this year was a bit of a failure.  The HR Derby took forever and was weird; plus the train-wreck National Anthem that lead to it was a harbinger of bad things. lol

[Orange]

Love that picture, Roy!! Do you know what hat he’s wearing? 

[Roy Firestone]

1 hour ago, Orange said:

Love that picture, Roy!! Do you know what hat he’s wearing? 

looks like an early 60's , pre-cartoon bird hat. Maybe the 1965 hat.

[Legend_Of_Joey]

One suggestion I’ve heard from people is that if MLB is dead set against the “regular” uniforms in the All Star game, have the players wear the City Connects. 
 

I do miss the old “wear your team” era though with the All Star patch.

[Allan Bryant]

Roy , thanks for sharing your Brooks story, it brings back wistful nostalgia for me .  
Speaking of All Star uniforms , I couldn’t tell which league, which team, which player , etc . After ten minutes , I turned off the TV  . I understand they’re experimenting with various ways , but removing the players’ original classic uniforms doesn’t work . Just my opinion 

[Chromehill]

If that picture was from the Pittsburgh all-star game, it was July 23, 1974, my 8th birthday.

[Roy Firestone]

2 minutes ago, Chromehill said:

If that picture was from the Pittsburgh all-star game, it was July 23, 1974, my 8th birthday.

no it was 1994, almost exactly 30 years ago.

[Tony-OH]

I completely agree Roy. My only hope is that the uniforms this year were so hideous, so terrible, such an abomination that owners will finally force MLB to let their players where their uniforms again. 

As a kid, the best part about watching the All-Star players was watching the Orioles wearing their glorious uniform on the national stage. Plus it was always cool to see an Orioles turning a double play with a Yankee or Red Sox only because they wanted to beat the "hated" National league. 

I'm not sure I've watched an entire All-Star game in a long time and I didn't watch an inning of the last one because once I saw those disgusting uniforms, I had no intention of watching an entire game in them. 

[Morgan423]

I dislike the beer league uniforms as well, but it was also far too chaotic for me back when there were 28 different uniforms running around on the field at once in the same game.  As a kid, I had some trouble telling the teams apart at a glance, and they would often get lost against one another in motion on the field.

If they ever go back to the separate uniforms again, they need to give each team the same colored caps to visually link them together as teams (maybe one team black, one team white because those go with everything to some extent). 

[dystopia]

Am I the only one who roots against the Yankee and Red Sox players during the ASG? Lol don't care who wins the game anymore since it means nothing I just want the O's to do well and the MFY and BOS players to do badly.

[Morgan423]

By the way, going back to club unis is under consideration by MLB currently.

https://apnews.com/article/allstar-game-uniforms-c9761d23b5066b1b760a0d18f85b45c1