Yankees make first meaningful jersey update in decades, and it’s awful

The Yankees have made a change to their jerseys that fans are absolutely going to hate.

Love it or hate it, the New York Yankees are a franchise defined by its tradition. Unfortunately, for the past decade or so, tradition and history are really all the team and its fans have to hang the hat on. New York hasn’t visited the World Series since its win in 2009, the first year in the new Yankee Stadium.

Aside from on-field history, there are various traditional and legacy-based items that stand out heavily when thinking of the team in pinstripes. The facial hair and appearance policy is a big one. Their jerseys are another.

While other teams have rebranded and rolled out new jerseys over the years — including gimmicky, new jerseys for the Nike City Connect line — the Yankees have kept it to just two.

You’ve got your classic pinstripes home jerseys and the grey roadies. That’s it.

Furthermore, in addition to the static nature of the jerseys, fans know that the real jerseys are the ones with no name on the back, just numbers. Any jersey that has “JUDGE” or any other name on the back is fraudulent. Bare No. 99 or nothing.

Aside from the patch indicating the jersey manufacturer, no meaningful changes have been made to the uniforms over the years.

Suddenly, though, the team has made a change for the second half of the 2023 season, selling out its tradition for… Starr Insurance?

Yankees adding an advertisement patch is gross and untraditional

I for one won’t stand for this. The Yankees changing their jerseys is something I don’t want to see in the first place. But this change? This is the worst possible change they could make.

Adding player names would be one thing. Selling out the tradition to make a few extra bucks? That’s just plain wrong for the richest team in the league.

Overall for the league, I am a huge fan of advertisement patches. It’s a revenue opportunity for teams that don’t involve passing costs along to fans. That’s a win in my books because it, in theory (in practice is another thing entirely) keeps from ticket prices rising.

The Yankees, though, are another thing. For one thing, the Yankees are my team, so maybe I’m a bit protective. But to cling to the other traditions like no tomorrow, yet put aside the standards for an advertisement is so classic Yankees.

Anyway, I’m with this guy. If it pays for Ohtani, then great. Anything less? Not cool.