[This post has been updated. An earlier version showed only jerseys and caps. Additional photos and details of the uniform have been added — PH]
Earlier this morning, the Chicago Cubs and Cincinnati Reds — who will be playing in the 2022 “Field of Dreams” game in Dyersville, Iowa — unveiled the jerseys and caps the teams will be sporting for the second edition of the game.
The Cincinnati Reds will be the designated “home” team, and will be sporting a circa-1919 uniform. Here’s a look at the cap and jersey:
During their 150th Anniversary season, the Reds wore a 1919 throwback, and the jersey and cap which were unveiled this morning appear to be identical. We can assume the uniform they’ll wear Thursday evening will be much like the one seen in the link. Pants will have pinstripes.
Obviously, back in 1919, the team didn’t have jersey numbers, so the FOD uniform will make this concession to history.
The Chicago Cubs will be wearing a hybrid uniform. The cap, which is navy blue and features a logo of a bear holding a bat, was worn during the 1914 season.
The jersey is cream, and that style of uniform was worn between 1927 and 1936.
The Reds’ connection to the Field of Dreams game is obvious, as they were the 1919 World Series Champions, defeating the Chicago “Black Sox” in perhaps history’s most famous sports gambling scandal.
Once the full uniforms and details are released, I will have much more to say about these.
UPDATE!
Since the first renderings of the jerseys and caps were unveiled this morning, there are more uniform details to explore. First up, the Reds.
Reds
The team has unveiled the full uniform set, including helmets. All elements have pinstripes, as expected, including the pants. Perhaps unexpectedly, the team has created a custom helmet (to mimic the cap), which is white and includes pinstripes. Unfortunately, at least in the example the Reds released, the pinstripes don’t follow the cap pattern, and take on an odd striping pattern, almost reminiscent of the Bengals.
Here’s a closeup of the helmet:
And here’s a closer look at the wishbone C with “REDS” on the jersey:
Finally, a look at the cap:
As mentioned above, these uniforms are meant to harkback to the uniforms worn by the 1919 World Series Champions. They come close, but as you can see from this photograph, there are some details that were missed (for example, the original had pinstripes that were much closer together). Also note the 1919 team wore a “cadet” collar, whereas the FOD uniforms will be in a modern cut.
Cubs
The Cubs also released some images of their FOD uniforms — unfortunately, none of them show pants, but we can assume they will be in the same cream color as the jersey.
Here’s a closeup look at the Cubs’ wishbone C logo, with bear holding bat logo:
Like the Reds, the Cubs created a custom helmet which matches the cap:
And here’s one more view of the cap:
As also previously mentioned, the uniform is a bit of a hybrid, with a cap worn by the 1914 squad:
While the uniform had a nine year run between 1927 and 1936, a period during which the team reached three World Series (but didn’t win any).
I’ll have full coverage of the FOD game, which is being played on Thursday (7:15 EDT start) on Friday morning.
Big day for the wishbone C
Nothing says old-timey, dead-ball era baseball more than the Nike swoosh.
Pinstriped hats are highly underrated.
Disagree. I prefer the contrast of a color on top of white or gray. I was not a fan of the white & stripes over white & stripes look that seemed to become popular in the 90s.
Simple wins.
Also agree. Pinstripe hats need to be left in the past. Ditto white hats
I still love the caps, and I get it’s tricky adding pinstripes to batting helmets (they look worse when they extend down the ear flaps), but yikes. That helmet is awful. Did try even try? They should have just made it plain white rather than give a give kid a crayon and tell him to draw some stripes on it.
The Reds are basically wearing one of the current sets of the Cubs
The cub on the Cubs hat and jersey is so cute! I also like the Reds uni here. Big fan of bo-hey wait a second. Are those Red Sox numbers on the Cubs jersey? Also, these both are home white-style, which is an odd choice and may not produce enough contrast. I’m not sure I like the fact that both jerseys feature red wishbone Cs on their left breast. Not sure Nike and MLB thought that one through.
Yeah about the contrast. Hopefully the pinstripes can offset that
In the movie, everyone’s always wearing their home jersey, so this could be a nod to that. Remember, the games in the movie are moreso pickup games, so planning home and road doesn’t really happen.
I’ve never watched the movie, so I didn’t realize that. Why did they have the Yanks wear away grays? Maybe they didn’t want pinstripes playing pinstripes. Maybe Hopefully Obbs is correct about the contrast.
I can’t explain the Yankees. All I can think of is the Yankees’ 1910s-era home jerseys weren’t really all that different than their current ones, or were just plain pinstripes, which wouldn’t be easy to market.
What the Red Sox wear is called the McAuliffe font. It used to be worn my several teams. The Red Sox are the only team still using it.
The Cubs actually did use the McAuliffe font in the ’30s before creating their modern one.
The “4” isn’t a very distinctive digit, but I found this: link
Not Red Sox numbers, per se; McAuliffe number font – which the Red Sox still use, of course. I think at least half of the original 16 MLB teams have used the McAuliffe numbers at some point in their existence.
Without stopping work to research it, I would say you’re probably right.
Update on my opinion. No longer like the Cubs look now that it was revealed the buttons don’t go all the way down.
The Reds helmet matches the pinstriped cap! It’s wonderful.
Too bad the helmet striping looks half-assed. The stripes on the crown just seem to disappear around the logo, and the bill has large white gaps where evenly spaced, straight stripes (like on the cap) would look so much better. Still, better than the regular red helmet, but a few striping issues keep this helmet from being an all-time great.
2 light colors with wishbone C’s?? Can we somehow incorporate the Bears into this game too just to really confuse everyone? lol.
No, but I hear that the Cleveland team might slip in there and go completely unnoticed.
link
Two beautiful uniforms for a very contrived and somewhat silly event.
I bought that Cubs cap on my last visit to Wrigley back in 2010.
While not really matching in years (1919 vs 1914) I like the effort put into recreating these uniforms and both hats are beautiful. Would have been even better if they were in the flat style short brim style that was worn during that era. The jerseys are really nice too, even with the swoosh added.
As a throwback, I like the Reds version (except for that swoosh, which looks especially out of place on throwbacks).
It seems strange that the Cubs are wearing a hat from one year, and a shirt from another. What is the rationale for that? Plus, the shirt has conceptually the same exact logo as the Reds. thats also odd. (by itself, I don’t hate the Cubs shirt either).
Lee
Wouldn’t a Reds vs White Sox game (both teams wearing 1919 unis) have made more sense than Reds vs Cubs?
Perhaps, but:
1) The White Sox were in last year’s game
2) The game is one of a three-game series, with a travel day on Friday to get back to Chicago. The Reds and White Sox weren’t scheduled to play each other this year.
One thing’s for sure – having the Cubs wear their full 1919 home uniform would not have helped with the confusion.
link
I have never hated that swoosh more than on the (now) annual Field of Dreams throwbacks.
With all the great uniforms the Cubs have in there history it’s a letdown to see them do a mashup like this. I seems like they really didn’t give it a second to thought. Needless to say the swoosh also ruins the look
It drives me absolutely bonkers that BOTH teams are using the wishbone C. Such a big mistake in my opinion
I hope that is not the actual Reds number font. The 1 they show is usually paired with a 9 that has rectangular, not octagon cutouts. The Knicks 75th anniversary throwbacks had the same issue this year. Whoever designed that font has no sense of font design of uniform history.
I have the ~1910 Cubs all-navy throwback jersey that they wore against the Giants around 2012, and the use of a generic block number font on the back really detracts from it. I wish they had at least use the University Gothic that they put on the backs of those when they wore them in 1997 in their interleague series with the White Sox. It looked so much better.
That Reds helmet is a huge distraction, looks like an afterthought. Oh no, we need matching helmets! Order white helmets and lots of Sharpies! Any lines on these will do!
The pinstripes should not have continued below the horizontal red stripe.
Looks like the Reds uni is fairly accurate from the one in the movie. go to 2:31 of this clip
Is it just me or does the Cubs cap logo look more like a squirrel than a bear?
If you look closely at the authentic version of the Reds jersey is has a “Cadet Collar”. Its subtle though
Read the book … the White Sox play the … Cubs!! WP Kinesella did not write the book as a “what would have happened in a clean World Series between the Sox and Reds”.
So, what about the game between Quad Cities River Bandits vs. Cedar Rapids Kernels?
And the fact that tickets (for a minor-league game, mind) start at $65?
I’ll never understand why designers add outlines to perfectly good letters or images–in this case, the bear on the Cubs hat. Looks like the original didn’t have an outline; thanks for that photo!