Major League Baseball / American League - Boston Red Sox

Boston Red Sox To Modify Uniforms for 2003

Something up sleeve: Sox' uniforms may see bit of red

by Tony Massarotti
Saturday, January 18, 2003

Since purchasing the team last spring, Red Sox officials have been searching for ways to move from the red and into the black. And so beginning this year, the Sox may very well go from the blue and into the red.

And it will all be done in the name of green.

The color of money.

Though the alterations are expected to be relatively minor, Red Sox vice president of public affairs Charles Steinberg confirmed yesterday that the Sox are considering changes to their apparel for the 2003 season. The only apparent change being eyed to the actual game uniform is a switch from blue undershirts to red ones - the players refer to these as "sleeves'' - though the Sox are also pondering a switch in batting practice jerseys and team jackets from the traditional navy blue to scarlet, their customary shade of red.

Steinberg also acknowledged that the Sox are considering alternative game jerseys, something that many other teams have incorporated into their wardrobes. Those jerseys, too, might be red and would be worn on weekends, holidays and the like.

"There have been discussions, but they've been peripheral,'' Steinberg said. "There has been no discussion and there is no desire to alter the traditional uniform. There have been discussions about the batting practice jerseys and the spring training look, but they've been peripheral. I don't think we're all the way there yet.''

Over the years, changes to the Sox uniform have been met with some resistance and have not always been so well-designed. In the early 1970s, for instance, the Sox wore caps in which the panels were alternating colors, giving the appearance that players were wearing beach balls on their heads. The team scrapped those caps before the end of the season.

Though the Sox briefly wore knit uniforms with red caps (and a blue visor) during the mid-1970s, they returned to their current, traditional uniforms in 1979. The team took another somewhat controversial step in the late 1980s when they added player surnames to the backs of their traditional gray road jerseys, something the club still practices.

While Steinberg stressed that the Sox were "augmenting and not substituting'' their apparel, the additional attire would obviously give the team more merchandise to market to fans at souvenir stands and stores. Those possibilities fall in line with structural changes to Fenway Park that would create more seating and generate more revenue for ownership, which paid $700 million to buy the team last year.

Generally speaking, Sox players wear batting practice jerseys primarily during spring training and only during pregame workouts during the regular season. Jackets are worn over uniforms in the dugout and the bullpen during the regular season, however, which means pitchers will literally be seeing red when manager Grady Little steps to the mound with the intention of lifting them from the game.

The Sox are also believed to be considering a scenario in which they would wear red team jackets at home and blue ones on the road.

Reached by phone yesterday, one Sox player mused at the changes, playfully suggesting that the bright red jackets and batting practice jerseys will have their advantages.

Cracked the player: "We'll be visible from space.''

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