The Minor Leagues Have Produced Some Fantastic Jerseys This Year
If you’ve been to minor league baseball games, you know how much fun they are, whether it is the Cowboy Monkey riding the dog, meeting Shooter McGavin, or hanging in the lazy river. But if we’re being honest, the best part of minor league games are the jerseys. Most teams do some wild looking jerseys for some theme nights, and 9 times outta 10, the jerseys look great. Minor league teams will try literally anything on a jersey, I love it.Lets take a look at some of the best (and worst) we have seen, and some we will see later this season.
Kane City Cougars- Class A affiliate of the Arizona Diamondbacks
Love these “Hump Day” uniforms worn by the Cougars, maybe that joke stopped being funny 2 years ago, but still some neat looking jerseys.
This is a great idea by the Cougars, putting fan submitted pictures of military men and women that are currently serving, or have served in war on the shoulders of the jerseys. These will be worn on July 2nd as the Cougars celebrate Military Appreciation night. A+ for the Cougars and their jerseys.
St Lucie Mets- Advanced A for the New York Mets
More Military Appreciation jerseys, and I think these look great. I’m normally not a fan of the camo in jerseys, but the American flag draped across it makes it look a lot better. Toss that classic “Mets” cursive logo over top and you’ve got a winner.
I will never understand this fad in sports. “Star Wars” nights have taken over Minor League Baseball, and I just don’t get it. Decent movies, nothing special, not sure I remember anything that happened in any of them. Darth Vader something, I’m your father this, Chewbacca noises and shit, just not for me. So I’m not sure what this uniform is supposed to be? Some type of space fighter? They don’t look bad at all, I like the colors, just don’t know what they are, C- jerseys.
Reading Fightin Phils- Philadelphia Phillies Double-A affiliate
Featured on Barstool
The Fightin Phils broke these out in Game 1 of their doubleheader on May 22nd, and I have no idea what they are. Apparently the Phils have a crazy hotdog guy who rides an ostrich and throws hotdogs into the crowd? I could get behind that, ostriches are pretty cool, and I do like hotdogs, but these jerseys aren’t for me. I wish I had 4 thumbs, so I could give these jerseys 4 thumbs down.
Again with the Star Wars stuff, at least these don’t look that bad. Everyone knows who Chewbacca is, so I guess this makes these jerseys okay, colors actually look pretty good. These are some of the better looking Star Wars ones I’ve seen. Phils could do a little better with these jerseys.
Now THIS is a good looking jersey, love the old fashioned feeling with these. All the pictures on it reminds me of a TGIFridays or Applebees, something along those lines. These jerseys celebrate the Fightin Phils 50 years as an affiliate for the Phillies, so they threw their 50 greatest Phillies on the jersey. Some old school guys like Larry Bowa and Mike Schmidt, and some more recent guys like Ryan Howard, Jimmy Rollins, Cole Hammels, Aaron Nola, and Maikel Franco.
Again, I don’t understand the hot dog logo, but I think I like it. This is a fantastic hat as well.
Albuquerque Isotopes- Triple-A affiliate of the Colorado Rockies
Nailed these jerseys. Love em. Look at that cheap lawyer, Saul Goodman just ready to lie right to your face. Probably going to lose your case, go visit his crazy brother, then go lay down on that pull-out couch in his office. Cheap looking jerseys for a cheap lawyer. These are perfect though, I really do like em. Just keep it simple.
Indianapolis Indians- Pittsburgh Pirates Triple-A affiliate
Super hero jerseys are also big in the minors, and as much as I’m not a Super hero movie guy, I like most of these. The Captain America ones on the left look pretty cool, the Iron Man ones on the right and below look neat. The Hulk uniforms look like Chris Davis if he was green. And along with the super hero jerseys, they also have a Stars and Stripes uniform in the front, a throwback to the Negro Leagues second from the left, can’t really see it, but from what I can see it looks cool. And the Indians also have their camouflage uniforms, again, not a camo guy, but this isn’t covered in it, and it doesn’t look half bad. Indians did a good job with these.
Midland RockHounds- Double-A affiliate of the Oakland Athletics
Good chance that 50% of the guys who wear this uniform don’t know that this jersey is from “Ferris Beuller’s Day Off”. Love the throwback to this classic movie, wouldn’t have hated if the jersey was just the weird patterned vest, but this will do. Me likey.
West Michigan Whitecaps- Class A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers
I’m not really a zombie guy, but these are cool. The Whitecaps wore these on their “Zombie Night” on June 11th, and I’m a fan of these. I like the giant green Zombie hand coming out of the chest, the bone sticking out of the skin and stitches are a nice touch, and they even had fake zombies walking around the park that night. Kinda cool if you’re into that type of thing.
Cool little jersey here for the millennials, can’t keep em off their phones so they pretty much bring the phone to the jerseys. Throwing emojis all over the jerseys, but my only complaint about these….NO EGGPLANT EMOJI. Everyone knows the eggplant rules the roost. SMH Whitecaps, do better.
Lakeview Blue Claws- Class A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies
These jerseys are DOPE. Nothing better than a little luau bbq in the middle of the summer, a nice sunset in the background with the palm trees there. Some nice floral print on the shoulders and arms, great job on these jerseys.
As much as I liked the jerseys above this one, these Harry Potter night jerseys suck, in fact, Harry Potter as a whole sucks. Why are we celebrating some nerd with a scar? “You’re a wizard, Harry!” no shit he’s a wizard, isn’t he at a wizard school? Books sucked, movies sucked, Emma Watson is the only good thing Harry Potter related. F- so damn hard on these jerseys.
Columbia Fireflies- Class A affiliate of the New York Mets
Not a Prince fan, but these are kinda cool. The Fireflies wore these in honor of Prince as part of their “Purple Game, Purple Game” on June 9th. I feel like these are pretty “Princey” with the purple, weird font and numbers, the little sparkly things on the shoulder, a little pocket square there. These seem to fit Prince pretty well.
Pensacola Blue Wahoos- Double-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds
Fuck yes, these are great. The blue, pink, and green actually go together, makes the logo jump out at you, and check out the old school sunglasses, and mullet on that Wahoo. Plus, they changed their name to the “Mullets” for a night. Great stuff all around, I need a hat and a shirt with that sick ass fish on it.
El Paso Chihuahuas- Triple-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres
Ehh, too much going on here. I get it, Kiss is one of the biggest rock n roll bands of all time, I’m sure my father would like these, but not me. Flames make it look like an old school pinewood derby car, the logo and the picture of the guys on the front is too big. Chihuahuas aren’t the most ideal mascot either. Just not for me, but I can see why people like these.
Stockton Ports- Class A Advanced affiliate of the Oakland Athletics
Huge asparagus guy, love it. Not sure why you would throw them on a jersey, but when your nickname is a port, that is all you can do. These probably win the award for strangest jerseys, but what the hell, I’m in on these. Good job Stockton.
Toledo Mud Hens- Triple-A affiliate of the Detroit Tigers
These are beautiful. If you can’t recognize this jersey, I hope you get stuck in the water tower. I’d ride Epona all the way to the game just to get a glimpse of these bad boys in person. This is what we should be celebrating instead of Star Wars and zombies, Legend Of Zelda uniforms. Part of me thinks a MLB team should adopt these and rock them.
Daytona Tortugas- Class A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds
I know, I said I hate Star Wars and the jerseys that come with it, but not these. These look legit for a few reason. They aren’t just drawn on Chewbacca pictures, or storm fighter trooper things. These have the legit picture of Yoda on them, his lightsaber pops out at you, looks like the movie. I like the way the greens look together, sometimes too much of one color looks bad, but not these. Great job by the Tortuga guys for making these Star Wars jerseys look nice.
Frisco RoughRiders- Double-A affiliate of the Texas Rangers
This is how you do special jerseys. Gameboy jersey is a 15/10. They nailed that off-white color that the gameboy was, and looks like they put Big Hurt baseball on the screen, that game is the GOAT for gameboy games. Ghostbusters jersey is surprisginly awesome too, the slime looks real too, looks like it’s coming right out of the chest. And the Top Gun jersey is an awesome throwback, that Salute to Top Gun night sounds like a good time as well.
Lynchburg Hillcats- Class A Advanced affiliate of the Cleveland Indians
Lynchburg partnered with the Frederick Keys for the ’90s night, and killed it with these Gerald jerseys from Hey Arnold. Probably wasn’t Lynchburg’s idea for this, they just played the Keys on the right night, but regardless, the jerseys looked great. This is what we need to start seeing, Nickelodeon style jerseys from our childhood, literally all of them will look great.
Frederick Keys- Class A Advanced affiliate for the Baltimore Orioles
You may remember last year when the Keys did the Rugrats jerseys, these look just as good. Big old football head on the front, Arnold’s shirt underneath as the sleeves, and that turquoise shirt overtop. I think both of these jerseys came out looking great, can’t wait to see what Nickelodeon show the Keys do next year for their ’90s night.
Bowie Baysox- Double-A affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles
Goodnight, game over. We can all go home. By far the best jerseys out of all the minor league teams, and better than most major league teams, this jersey is awesome. In my non-bias opinion, I think the Maryland flag looks great, it looks even better spread out over future Orioles’ chests. Bowie will be wearing these this weekend, and will be available for auction, your boy may have to break out the checkbook and pick one of these up. Great job by the Baysox for rocking these.
Lehigh Valley IronPigs- Triple-A affiliate for the Philadelphia Phillies
These may be the runway winners for me. I love bacon more than I love dos members of my family, so naturally these uniforms make me feel a little tingle. The IronPigs introduced these a few years back, but decided to wear them every Saturday this season. They look good, the colors run together naturally, they didn’t overdo it with the logo or design, just a nice, crisp, good looking classic uniform. Some bacon strips going the legs is a nice touch too. Very nice looking hat too, big fitted hat guy, may have to add this to the collection.
For one game this month, the IronPigs changed their name to the “Cheesesteaks”. Great idea here, and the jerseys actually looks really good. Thought it would be hard to make a cheesesteak themed uniform look good, but Lehigh Valley did it. Some cheese sauce dripping down the front to spell out “Steaks”, and the hat looks pretty good too. Not sure I would wear it, but I love the idea and creativity of the uniforms. Out of all the franchises, I think the Phillies and their affiliates did the best job so far this season.
I literally could go on and on and on and on about Minor League jerseys, if you have any more, or any good ones that I missed, feel free to tweet em over to me. And shoutout to Alex for helping me gather up a lot of these.