Fans of Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game, I have some news for you. Starting with next year’s Mid-Season Classic, players will wear their usual team uniforms again during the All-Star Game (still paired with a special cap)
MLB’s All-Stars wore their standard team uniforms right up until 2019, with a commemorative cap added to the usual team jersey design from 2014 to 2019. Starting with the 2021 game and going up until the 2024 game this past summer, players wore matching AL or NL-themed uniforms, much to the dissatisfaction of baseball purists (and, um, me too).
From the league:
MLB has decided that players will once again represent their “hometown” teams for the game itself, as was the case from the 1930s through 2019.
Players selected for next season’s All-Star Game will wear a special All-Star uniform during Gatorade Workout Day and the T-Mobile Home Run Derby the day before the All-Star Game, though players actually competing in the Derby will wear their primary home uniforms. MLB is working with New Era on the game cap for the All-Star Game.
MLB announces changes to uniforms for All-Star Game, regular season (MLB.com)
As the snippet up there reveals, players will still get special AL or NL-themed jerseys, but as was the case from 1997 to 2019, they will only be worn during the pre-All-Star Game festivities, such as the Home Run Derby and Workout Day. I covered the history of these AL and NL uniforms previously here.
Fans have been quite vocal about the loss of seeing players wear their usual team uniforms in the All-Star Game. For me, a baseball uniform fan, it was always a cool sight to see all the different team designs together for one night. Also, as a fan of a team that doesn’t get much exposure on the U.S. national stage, seeing my players wearing my team’s uniforms on the big networks was something I took a lot of pride in growing up. I’m happy to see them return!
