Yankees finally talking alternate uniforms?

The New York Yankees finally joined the 21st century last year when they lifted their decades-old facial hair prohibition, and new uniforms may be next.

Per Brendan Kuty of The Athletic, players “recently pitched higher ups” on one simple change: occasionally wear the navy batting practice jerseys on the road.

Keep in mind that this is far from the Yankees finally joining the fray. Kuty also notes New York changing its road uniform design in 2024, plus adding the Starr Insurance sponsor patch the year before. New York is also one of only two teams that still hasn’t released a City Connect, the former Oakland Athletics being the other.

But in a way, isn’t that a nice compromise in lieu of a City Connect? Let the Yankees don the batting practice jerseys on Sundays, or weekday road day games. A City Connect would be nice, but then you get something gray and plain-looking like the Mets’ (No offense, Flushing fans, and sincere sympathies on this brutal losing streak).

Rather, break out the road batting practice jerseys for one reason: See how they look on TV in a non-spring training setting. If the camera approves? Great. Perfect. Don’t touch a thing. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

And if the uniforms don’t pop on TV, guess what? All the more reason for the Yankees’ creative team to get to work on designing a newer and better alternative. No disrespect to the pinstripes and road grays, but this is long overdue.

We’ve already discussed the lack of City Connects, but also look at the Yankees compared to the rest of baseball. They are seriously the only team to not have a regular third jersey option in rotation. Even the Mets have the sleek and excellent alt-blacks, finally back after over two decades in storage.

It’s the least thee Yankees can do, particularly since they also don’t have a go-to retro jersey. Even the Marlins occasionally don the pinstripes and teal with the black trim. Or the Phillies and their Powder Blues, if that’s more your taste.

The point is that everything is forced to evolve at some point. The Yankees are just late to the party. It’s not a huge problem as those in the comments section may imply. This is just what happens when George Steinbrenner passes away in 2010 and the old guard still hangs around.

In the meantime, letting the Yankees wear their road batting practice tops every so often serves as a good litmus test for the future. At best, it becomes a regular thing. At worst, they design a better option and hopefully get the fans involved.