St. Louis Cardinals fans could certainly use something good in their lives. Fans are fed up with the product on the field, fed up with manager Oli Marmol, fed up with President of Baseball Operations John Mozeliak, and fed up in general with the Redbirds at this current moment. And in fairness, they aren't wrong for feeling that way.
Even after taking 2-of-3 from the Boston Red Sox this past weekend, they were drubbed in the series finale at Busch Stadium and still sit at 20-26 on the season overall. The club is seven games back in the NL Central though they are somehow only three games out of a Wild Card spot despite a -49 run differential on the year for the Cardinals.
So yeah, any good vibes would certainly be appreciated in St. Louis at this point. And Monday's official release of the Cardinals City Connect jerseys had the opportunity to be that. Instead, not only were the jerseys leaked (by MLB!) over the weekend, but the uniforms themselves were not met with the best reactions.
The Birds. The Bat. The Lou.
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) May 20, 2024
Our City Connect story: https://t.co/S2mo0pmQR5#ForTheLou pic.twitter.com/G5bPpEMMjr
Cardinals City Connect jerseys revealed: Fan reaction calls uniforms 'lazy'
While no one is saying that these Cardinals City Connect uniforms aren't perfectly fine in terms of their look, the general sentiment among St. Louis fans and MLB fans alike is that the new threads simply look lazy and failed to do anything special at all.
The Cardinals City Connect jerseys are just SO lazy imo. They had an opportunity to do something cool and of course, they didn’t take it
— Rachael Boyd☀️ (@rachxboyd) May 20, 2024
this may be as lazy as the Dodgers first City Connect but the Cardinals have less uniform variety so I'll let it slide https://t.co/3RGbufyO0l
— just max productions (Hou Chronicle contributor) (@jmproductionsyt) May 20, 2024
My opinion of the Cardinals City Connect
— Josh Jacobs (@joshjacoMLB) May 18, 2024
They aren’t bad, but they aren’t exciting. They could have done much worse though, which is a plus I guess. It’ll be nice to have a red uniform in the rotation.
Grade: C pic.twitter.com/tVcMZ3lY3z
These are incredibly disappointing. They aren't ugly but the Cardinals have one of the nicest and most classic jerseys and these are just lazy. Just like the Dodgers city connects. Could've been so cool and they could've done so much more with them. https://t.co/E3kug8vL6i
— Ari Tata🌙 (IT'S SHO-TIME) (@Ariichiiyoko) May 20, 2024
Just like most everything about the Cardinals right now, these City Connect uniforms are boring, safe and ultimately disappointing. What a waste. pic.twitter.com/OKDvxEvNdH
— Chase Koeneke (@chase_koeneke) May 18, 2024
This gotta be up there with the Dodgers “Los Dodgers” City Connect as one of the most boring. I’m sure there’s a lot more things special about the city of St. Louis to create a jersey that’s not a regular Cards jersey branding “The Lou” 😒 https://t.co/iQJBYXkE9m
— Matthew (@Matthew__Sloane) May 20, 2024
Baseball fans - we’re tired of boring City Connect uniforms and please stop doing the city abbreviation thing
— Herb Lawrence (@Ecnerwal23) May 18, 2024
Cardinals - Say less https://t.co/GrN14e60cI
Ultimately, it's hard to argue with this sentiment. While Cardinals fans might still be excited to get a new jersey to put into the rotation, there was so much more that could've been done with the City Connect versions. What Fanatics and Nike delivered was something incredibly similar to a normal red jersey for the Cards with it simply saying "The Lou" on the front. That's not special.
When you think about the most loved City Connect jerseys, ones like the Atlanta Braves throwback-inspired ones, the San Diego Padres "Miami Vice" uniforms, or even the Boston Red Sox marathon-inspired digs all come to mind. And the one definining characteristic about those jerseys is how different they are from the regular threads we see the team in. Frankly, that seems like the point of the City Connect uniforms, which St. Louis failed to capture with these.
Unfortunately, the Cardinals aren't alone in this. We've seen some uninspiring additions that could've been called lazy in their own right this year, and it's unfortunate that fans are the ones who are being let down by all of this, even more so than the players.