MLB power rankings: 30 best baseball uniforms of all time
7. Pittsburgh Pirates (Home)
Established in 1882, the Pittsburgh Pirates have never looked better than they do today – at least, when wearing their traditional white home uniforms.
Casual fans may not know that the Pirates only turned to the current black and gold color combination in 1948. For more than half a century prior, the Bucs used navy blue primarily with red as an accent color. Shortly after making the switch to black and gold, the Pirates found the perfect lettering style for the franchise. Pittsburgh also developed good-looking uniforms – almost exactly the same ones the team uses today – but with vests instead of sleeved jerseys.
The franchise used several styles of its traditional P logo during the first half of the 20th Century, but has stuck with the current version for more than 70 years so far. Throughout the decades, the Bucs have made many changes to their uniforms; some for better and many far worse, but the cap logo has stayed the same.
In the late 1970s, the Pirates were among the many big league franchises to adopt alternate uniform combinations. Sometimes, Pittsburgh wore black or gold tops, which they mixed and matched with black and gold bottoms, as well as one of the ugliest pinstripes ever seen on a major league field. In the 1990s, the Bucs added pinstripes to their road gray uniforms, as well as red as an accent color, both of which were misses.
But, finally, the Pirates looked to the past for their current uniform inspiration, and were actually able to make a small improvement by adding sleeves and appropriate trim to the jersey.