Red Sox: Grading special event uniforms for 2017 season

Jun 19, 2016; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Red Sox starting pitcher David Price (24) delivers against the Seattle Mariners during the first inning at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 19, 2016; Boston, MA, USA; Boston Red Sox starting pitcher David Price (24) delivers against the Seattle Mariners during the first inning at Fenway Park. Mandatory Credit: Winslow Townson-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Boston Red Sox and MLB unveiled Special Event uniforms for Mother’s Day, Memorial Day Weekend, Father’s Day, Independence Day, and the Home Run Derby.

The Boston Red Sox have a variety of different uniforms, from their home whites to road grays, as well as the occasional red jersey’s the team was sporting through spring training. Those are the uniforms we’re used to seeing, although there are a few tailored for certain holidays and events.

Special Event uniforms have become an annual tradition in Major League Baseball. The concept is great, I have no problem with the tributes, but the designs can be questionable. At times, overdone with pink, camo, or stars and stripes.

SportsLogos.net released images of these special event uniforms for each MLB team across social media this week, giving fans an early glimpse of this year’s styles.


Here’s my thoughts on each Red Sox uniform.

Mother’s Day

The Mother’s Day uniforms always play second fiddle to the pink bats, cleats, and wristbands. The uniforms become kind of an afterthought. But this season Majestic and New Era were slightly more aggressive with the pink.

The jerseys are very clean. Majestic does a nice job year to year with the pink Mother’s Day uniforms. They have the pink lettering and navy blue piping and the color scheme goes very nicely together. I’m glad it’s never been overdone with too much pink. The subtle touches look good.

However, I am not a fan of the hats. Grey hats just don’t do it for me. It has somewhat of a heathered look to it. It just doesn’t look authentic enough for a Major League game in my opinion. New Era has probably made something similar to it in past years and burried it in the “Fashion Hats” section.

Grade:

Jerseys: B+
Hats: C-

Memorial Day

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The Uniforms for Memorial Day have been consistently great. Guys are decked out in all kinds of camo year after year. This year’s fit makes me go “eh”. It’s tough to change up the design year after year when you’re limited to camo on jerseys and hats. But in my opinion, if it’s not broken, don’t fix it. Unfortunately, that’s bad business for New Era and Majestic.

The Jerseys are pretty nice, the military green is a great color. I prefer the grey jerseys to the white ones, the dark green just looks a little cleaner on grey in my opinion. Additionally, the star patch on the sleeve is a nice touch.

Once again, the hats are pretty bad. I’m never a fan of a design on the brim unless its underneath the hat. The camo on the brim is just unnecessary. If the hats were just military green, I would probably be a big fan.

Grade:

Jerseys: B+
Hats: C

Father’s Day

Love this fit. MLB rolled out this idea last year and I love it. Carolina blue is a great color, especially in the summer.

The jerseys are sweet. I might even consider buying one. Like I said the carolina blue is great and nice to change up the look from the navy and red.

The hats are heathered like the Mother’s Day one’s but I just like these better. At first I did not like the grey brims but they’re growing on me. I’m not sure there’s a better alternative. At first I thought white would look pretty cool but I like it as is.

Grade:

Jerseys: A
Hats: A-

Independence Day

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If I’m not mistaken, I believe the Independence Day uni’s were the first of the special event uni’s (either Independence Day or Mother’s Day). I remember one year when New Era made the white hats, with the stars and stripes logos, and the red or blue brims.

The jerseys are not too bad, nothing to complain about. Stars on the “RED SOX” on the front and on the back numbers have a pretty cool design to them. I don’t really have anything to complain about on them but I just feel like they have been better in years past.

The hats are pretty awful. They’ve got a shiny material for the logo called “Liquidchrome” instead of the embroidary. It looks really bad and hokey in my opinion. Additionally they’ve got the heathered look on the rest of the hat which I don’t love. Just bad design all around in my opinion.

Grade:

Jerseys: B
Hats: F

Home Run Derby

What I usually look for in a nice Home Run Derby uniform is just something that looks similar to the team jersey but isn’t a carbon copy, or a throwback style, like in San Diego last season. With the year in Miami, they went all out and it is great.

The jerseys are nice, aqua blue with black sleeves. They don’t copy the Marlins uniforms in any way but you can tell its definitetly Miami. The star on the “A” is a great touch and gives the jersey a nice touch. I don’t love the black sleeves, personally, I would’ve just left the aqua blue alone.

The hats are sick. All black with the scaly design is just perfect. And then the white and orange logo pops right off the black backdrop. The best part though, is underneath the brim.  It has a floral design that is also on the socks. If it were on the outside of the brim it would ruin the look, but it just looks sick underneath the brim.

Grade:

Jerseys: B+
Hats: A+

Next: Red Sox Prospect Luis Ysla

I love the special edition uniforms, even if it is just a marketing ploy by Majestic, New Era, and the MLB to get people to buy even more merchandise. It pays tribute to things that we as fans hold near and dear to our hearts. Country and family, and baseball is having fun with making them special and uniforms are the best way to do that.