Skip to content
 
Uni Watch

Apparent Sock Leaks Hint at Six New MLB City Connect Designs

Posted in:
By

Early last March, two leaked sock designs suggested how the Padres’ and Rockies’ City Connect uniforms might look. Those leaks turned out to be accurate. Now, nearly a year later, a new batch of apparent CC sock leaks has emerged.

The new purported leaks — six in all — were brought to my attention yesterday by our own Alex Hider after he saw them posted on Reddit, although I think they were floating around some other platforms for at least a day or two prior to that. Like anything else on Reddit, they should be taken with a grain of salt. But it’s also worth noting that the few MLB sock leaks we’ve encountered over the past few years have all turned out to be legitimate. With those caveats in mind, here are the six designs:

Rangers

I wouldn’t have known this myself, but someone in the Reddit comments says that the Texas/spur logo and rope/lariat-themed striping are shout-outs to the old Dallas-Ft. Worth Spurs, a Double-A team that played in Arlington from 1965 through 1971:

If this turns out to be legit, I’d count that as a plus, because it will mean they’re telling a baseball story instead of a tourism-bureau story. Here’s hoping that’s the case.

———

Orioles

I have no idea regarding the design theme (I was hoping for salt boxes), but at least they’re sticking to the O’s team colors — well, except for that mishmash on the upper foot, which I believe is a map of Baltimore (reversed on the left foot, presumably properly oriented on the other foot).

———

Pirates

Again, at least they’re sticking with team colors — and maybe even using the throwback shade of gold. The lettering around the calves appears to be “BYO,” or maybe just “YOYO.” I ran that by our resident Pittsburgh expert, Uni Watch proofreader Jerry Wolper, but he had no idea what it might signify.

———

Reds

I like those ticking stripes! When I asked our own Alex Hider, who’s a Cincy native, about them, he said, “No idea about the stripes. This is a huge stretch, but to me the ‘C’ logo kinda evokes the layout of Crosley Field.” It does seem like a stretch, but I hope he’s right, because that would be an interesting design theme for them to be exploring.

———

Mariners

Finally, a design I understand — I’m assuming that’s Mount Rainier wrapping around the shins. Looks like they’ve created a new “S” logo, too. Also: The shade of blue matches the Seattle Pilots-themed CC T-shirt that leaked about six weeks ago. (And no, I don’t know why this one doesn’t have the team logo in the lower-right corner like the others.)

———

Atlanta

Again, the “715” and “The A” graphics match the T-shirt leak from last month, suggesting that this uniform will honor Henry Aaron’s record-breaking 715th home run. As I mentioned when writing about the leaked T-shirt, the 50th anniversary of that home run is in 2024, so it still makes more sense for this uni to be rolled out next season, not this season. But we’ll see.

———

Yes, it’s all very silly. And it might not even be legit. But hey, at least we didn’t have to talk about ad patches today!

 

 
  
 

Emancipation Day (Observed)

Twenty-seven years ago today (well, it was actually Feb. 29, but that date doesn’t exist this year), I walked out of my office at Billboard Books for the final time and began life as a full-time freelance writer. I’d been freelancing on the side for a little over two years and decided it was time to take the plunge. Giving up a stable job was a bit scary, but I had to give it a try, because I wasn’t happy with my life or career up to that point and knew I needed to make changes or else I wouldn’t be able to keep facing myself in the mirror each morning.

The flip side to the flexibility I’ve enjoyed since then, of course, is a lack of security. But despite a few rocky moments along the way (like becoming the answer to a trivia question in 2019, which was no fun) and the ever-escalating costs of health insurance ($939/month this year!), for the most part things have worked out much better than I ever could have imagined, in large part because of the wonderful and supportive comm-uni-ty that’s formed around this website. On a near-daily basis, you folks make it clear to me that I made the right choice.

As I like to remind people each year on this date — and also remind myself — the moral of the story is this: If you want to change your life or reinvent yourself, don’t just sit around fantasizing about it. Make it happen! Even if it doesn’t work out, at least you won’t spend the rest of your life wondering about what might have been.

Of course, maybe you already like your life just fine the way it is, in which case more power to you! Either way, thanks for listening, and here’s hoping we all find the path that allows us to become the best version of ourselves.

• • • • •

Our latest raffle winner is Joe Babik, who’s won himself a one-year subscription to my Premium content on Substack. Congrats to him, and thanks again to James Brewer for sponsoring this one. If you’d like to sponsor a raffle, drop me a line. — Paul

Comments (34)

    Paul, congrats on the anniversary, really admirable to take a chance on yourself the way you have, both given the nature of the media industry at the time and today, as well as things like the cost of healthcare. Kudos for the success you’ve had and obstacles you’ve overcome.

    Seattle S and Cincinnati C on those socks are solid designs, Baltimore BAL… not sure who thinks it is a good idea to use airport or scorebug abbreviations on uniforms, but it needs to stop.

    Thanks, Greg — both for the kind words and for the thoughtful commentary you provide here on a near-daily basis. You make Uni Watch a better place!

    Hi there Paul,

    I was away from the community for so long, I wasn’t even sure it was still around. I was so glad to find you here, after all these years. Thank you for that! Uniwatch brings so much to all of us, I, along many others for sure, am very grateful!

    Good on you for having the courage to push through. Hopefully you can enjoy a safe and fun future for many years!

    Congratulations on the anniversary! This blog is such a daily joy for me.

    I couldn’t possibly tell you where, but I feel like I’ve seen “Y”-shaped devices used before to represent Pittsburgh itself as the intersection of its rivers. Just to throw a hypothesis into the world, that’s my guess.

    The thing I despise the most about the CC socks is that we won’t see them on the majority of players. What’s the point of even having them in MLB anymore?

    I like when the City Connect uniforms experiment with alternate colorways. They don’t always work, but it’s fun.

    That said, there was no way the Pirates would change their colors for theirs. It would’ve been a bigger DISconnect from the city if they WEREN’T in the black and gold.

    I have a theory on the Pirates sock design — perhaps it’s not a Y, but design meant to evoke the three rivers of Pittsburgh? The “O” could be a tiny Jolly Roger flag? Pretty silly to incorporate such tiny, intricate designs on a sock, but that hasn’t stopped Stance in the past.

    And re: the Reds socks, the ticks look like they *could* possibly be evocative of the baseball lacing on Mr. Redlegs, though that could be too much of a stretch.

    Maybe but Pittsburgh teams generally list black and gold as their colors, with the socks being even more of a metallic gold than the typical “athletic gold” I don’t think they would say yellow

    A big stretch, but on the Pirates are those maybe not letters? Is what looks like the Y signifying the Point? And there is not a lot of negative space on the “O” … is it supposed to be a tunnel? Like I said big stretch, but I can force myself to see it.

    I also thought the Y could be the three rivers connection at the point. Not sure about the “O” but will be interesting to hear the story they come up with once released.

    Yeah, it’s a stretch. I’m mostly going on it being more square than round then with an opening in it. Who knows, I guess we’ll find out from whatever dumb story Nike comes up with.

    “The lettering around the calves appears to be ‘BYO,’ or maybe just ‘YOYO.'”

    My guess is a P with a hypocycloid, and a Y representing the three rivers.

    I’m trying to match up the Orioles socks with the Baltimore map but I’m having a tough time making a precise correlation. Additionally, I can’t tell what’s going on with the patter behind the BAL lettering. I’ll do some digging on my end to see if I can make any connections! (pun intended)

    Good catch on the Rangers/Dallas-Fort Worth Spurs combo. What didn’t make sense to me was the red/black color scheme since all the Spurs stuff I’ve ever seen used a red/white/blue combo…until I found this.

    link

    I wonder if the red/black is a shout-out to the Dallas Rangers of the 50s?

    I don’t know if there are legalities involved, but I feel that Nike/MLB will miss a GOLDEN opportunity to incorporate the font from Memorial Stadium on the Orioles CC uniform.

    link

    BYO means Bring Your Own? Will visitors to the Pirates games be allowed to bring their own food and drinks into the stadium? Otherwise I have no idea what it means.
    Paul, thanks for the inspirational words. I have come up with so many excuses for not changing my (working) life and it is advice like yours that should give me the final push to look for a job (and a life) that is more satisfying. Paycheck security, sure, but what about being truly happy with what you do in life?

    Happy Emancipation Day (Observed)!

    I wonder how much in sponsorship money it would take (and could the UniWatch community even come close to raising it) to “sponsor” MLB to require the wearing of stirrups with proper blousing. One can dream, right?

    Looks like 4 out of these 6 designs (Seattle, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Texas) could be pretty good! Hoping this means Nike leans more into team/city history for City Connects moving forward, rather than creating a new “storytelling narrative”.

    I have a long-running “Argument” with my significant other on Leap Day babies/ what day they celebrate in “off” years.

    I think your emancipation day, Paul, sort of qualifies with my argument, which is this:

    Any event that occurs on 2/29 should be celebrated on 3/1 of the following year. My reasoning is this: whatever day falls after 2/28 is the actual day whatever occured. So if you were born on 2/29, you should celebrate on 3/1 since 3/1 is the day *AFTER* 2/28.

    Now, at the end of the day I don’t really care what day people celebrate their bday, but technically speaking celebrating something that occured on 2/29 on 2/28 is a day early.

    Counterpoint:
    In leap years, February 29th is the last day of February. In other years, the last day of February is the 28th. Both the 28th and 29th are February. March 1st isn’t.

    That’s my reasoning. When I gave notice at my old job, I told them I’d work through the end of February — which, that year, meant Feb. 29. I consider the anniversary to be the last day of February. Just doesn’t feel right to do it in March.

    YMMV, etc.

    That’s the common refrain from people who argue against my position – and I understand it. However, personally my feelings are my birth day is my birth day it’s not my “month day”. I have zero affinity for October – my birth month, but I do care about the 10th which is my day.

    Again, I do not care what day people celebrate things that’s their prerogative, i just think that technically celebrating on the 28th would be like me celebrating my birthday on the 9th, which is a day before my birthday.

    The Braves are using a “For the A” graphic in their creative content this year that’s right in line with what’s on the sock also. Here’s an example in the bottom right corner of this lineup graphic.

    link

    Paul, congrats on your freedom day anniversary. My parents used to say “if you find a job you love, you’ll never work a day in your life .” From following UW all these years, I think that’s right for you.

    I love the new combination of royal blue (from the 1974 Aaron-era uniforms) and navy (current). I just wish when the Braves celebrate Hank Aaron Weekend instead of wearing the white 1974 jersey, they’d wear the royal road jersey for a change.

Comments are closed.