January 22, 2012
Why uniforms matter
From Little League to the bigs, a sharp look can help make the team
Chase Butler shows off the Danbury Westerners uniforms, which were designed with Yankees pinstripes. (photo: Danbury Westerners)
When you think about your favorite teams, what comes to mind? Maybe that stylized “B” if you’re a Red Sox fan, or those classic Yankees pinstripes. The colors, and the uniforms. Fans identify with star players by wearing their jerseys, and show up at ballparks as if they were going to step out on the field to pinch-hit. Uniforms are the most visible association the public has with their team.
The uniform is an important public relations tool, but its impact on the game can go a little deeper than that. They can be a big part of a team’s budget, especially below the level of pro teams and bigger colleges. For the kids in Little League, uniforms are a rite of passage, an outward sign that they are part of a team, possibly for the first time in their lives. For summer collegiate leagues, the uniforms have to fit a limited budget and still stand up to the day-to-day wear of a traveling team.
When Mario Tiani was the general manager of the Danbury Westerners in their inaugural New England Collegiate Baseball League season in 1995, he was looking for professional-grade quality on a budget.
“We did a pretty good job with that first major purchase,” Tiani said. “Costly, but well worth it in my opinion.”
Tiani is now the commissioner of the NECBL, and the Westerners still have some of the uniforms he purchased. They are eco-twill and designed with Yankees pinstripes, probably a reflection of the Yankees fans on the original board of directors, says current general manager and vice president Terry Whalen. And, yes, Whalen confirms they still have some of the old shirts, though the pants are long gone.
“I think it just shows the image that we’re trying to convey and the style of play we’re trying to put on the field,” Whalen said of the design. “And I think it gives the kids an idea that it’s just not another sandlot team. It’s a serious league, from the uniforms all the way through the rest of the organizations.”
It also doesn’t hurt to be associated with a storied major-league team.
“I think that people subconsciously relate to that, if they see that style of uniform, they think of winning teams,” Whalen said. “They associate our teams with the Yankees. So then they have something to live up to.”
At the Little League level, budget is even more important. Brian Wiley, equipment manager and board member of Andover Little League, estimates that out of a $75,000 equipment budget for the spring program alone, more than 50 percent goes toward uniforms. That can add up for a league with 84 teams, especially balanced against the cost of keeping up facilities and trying to build new fields.
“By the time you get a shirt and hat and socks, you’re into 10 bucks a pop,” Wiley said. “That’s 15 kids, so you’re talking 200 bucks a team times 85 teams. It adds up, and that’s just for spring. Then you’ve got summer, then you’ve got fall.”
A lot of teams order uniforms from similar lists of manufacturers, but there can still be a vast difference between what a team winds up with. And it can affect the play on the field.
“You can get what you pay for,” Wiley said. “It’s not so much quality as it is, the cheaper shirts tend to be cotton-based. If it’s hot out, they tend not to be as good as all of those good sports shirts that are out there now. If it’s a hot day, those cotton ones are brutal. They’re soaking wet and they get dirty and they’re not as good as some of the performance Ts. But those cost a lot more money.”
There is also an added cost of buying better uniforms for the older players, a symbol of graduating to the next level of play. And, of course, sometimes the younger levels want to look professional, too. In the Andover league, Wiley said some younger kids noticed they didn’t have the matching socks.
“A lot of the younger kids really wanted socks so they look like baseball players, to have the socks that go with the uniforms,” Wiley said. “So they definitely recognize when they have the whole uniform versus not.”
The philosophy of the uniform is taken to the extreme at the Cooperstown Dreams Park summer tournaments just outside of Cooperstown, N.Y. The program places a high value on tradition — the pants are all knee-length, hats must be worn forward, and the jerseys must be tucked in at all times, even walking to and from games. Every team also gets the same uniforms and wears the same colors, scarlet for home, navy for away.
According to Geoff Davis, director of baseball operations at Dreams Park, the philosophy was created out of respect for the way the game used to be, and to make sure no team has an edge over another. The tournaments are open to anyone, from teams that can afford expensive uniforms to teams that show up in T-shirts.
“By stepping on the field with different uniforms, you’ve almost got that defeatist attitude,” Davis said. “They’ve already got that mental edge, in a way. So by having everybody dress alike and everybody in the same uniform, kind of gives that perception of everybody on an equal playing field.”
The uniforms also are a reflection of what is expected from the players once they step into Cooperstown’s facilities.
“We try not to treat these kids as 12-year-olds; we try to treat them as ballplayers,” Davis said. “It’s more philosophical, and it’s hard to explain how, but you can see it spill over into the baseball side of it. Obviously a uniform is not going to make somebody go from a .150 hitter to a .300 hitter, but it’s just that confidence level. Like I said, you look like a ballplayer, you feel like a ballplayer, you feel like maybe you might be able to play a little better. I honestly believe that.”
That can happen in Little League, too, Wiley says. As a coach, he once bought a team fitted hats and it helped them feel more like a team.
“If the uniforms are sharp looking, if the uniforms are something the kids can identify with, whatever that may be, it can make a more unified team, a team that wants to play together,” Wiley said. “They wear their uniform outside of when they have a game. We’ve done that kind of thing with nice hats, where you buy the kids some custom-fit hats and you see them wearing it everywhere because they recognize it’s a nice representation of the team they’re on.”
And that is perhaps the most beneficial effect a uniform can have.
“To me, the biggest thing is not so much the quality or anything else, it’s something that is unique to them and makes them their own team,” Wiley said. “If they’re all wearing it, it makes them a team and a unit. I think that’s more important.”
This article originally appeared in the January-February 2012 issue of New England Baseball Journal.
Nick A. Zaino III can be reached at feedback@baseballjournal.com
