Due to the new features portrayed on the Phillies City Connect jerseys, fans have had contrasting opinions on whether or not the jerseys accurately represent the team’s background.
Unveiling their City Connect jerseys in April, the Phillies became one of many MLB teams to reveal their new Nike jerseys for the season. With these jerseys, details such as the color surprised many fans.
“I thought they were going to go somewhere in the direction of a throwback jersey for City Connect, or kelly green with the Eagles, but this is what they ended up going with,” softball coach William McGinley said. “[The jerseys] show not only the city colors of Philadelphia, but the state colors of Pennsylvania.”
The color combination acts as another historical graphic choice made to relate back to the city.
According to baseball coach Josh Myers, the hats are “the best part of this uniform.”
With the city skyline and liberty bell aspects, the hat “really shows the brotherly love,” Myers said.
Many fans hesitated when accepting this new uniform. For freshman Aubrey Wheeler, she believed it was just an issue of the jerseys being “such a significant change from other uniforms.”
Freshman Emilie Brown agrees. “They’re just not good [Philly] colors,” Brown said.
like [the uniforms] should at least have something to do with the red and white of other jerseys that the Phillies usually wear.”
Freshman Cora Richter agrees.
For Richter, when she thinks of Phillies, she thinks of pinstripes. She believes that the Phillies signature red, white and blue helps signify this team.
“I think it’s important to keep the original because that’s what makes it the Phillies. That’s how people know to think ‘Phillies’ when they see red and white,” Richter said.
Switching up jersey styles can be an attention grab, one that McGinley thinks is an effective method to bring in new baseball fans.
“I think it gets a little stale,” McGinley said. “I think we’ve had the red and white pinstripe since the 90s so it’s kind of cool to get something else in there and draw attention to it.”
In order to further strengthen the design choices for future jerseys, Brown suggests that the opinions of fans are considered when searching for colors and designs to include.
According to Brown, “Getting the opinions of fans is super important because they are the ones that are going to eventually make or break how successful the jerseys are.”
Myers feels that whatever new design may come the Phillies’ way, fans will find a way to individualize it.
“We just make it our own,” Myers said. “That’s what Philadelphia does with jerseys, mascots, players, whatever.”