What Seinfeld Can Teach us about Baseball Uniforms

Believe it or not, it’s almost time for those of us involved with baseball to begin thinking about our uniforms for the upcoming season. I come at this from a unique perspective since I am not only involved in the athletic uniform business but also coach a baseball team myself.

Those of us in middle age probably remember the heavy, flannel-like uniforms that we wore as kids and have noticed the evolution in baseball uniforms during our lifetime. Baseball is by far one of the most traditional sports so the "look" of baseball uniforms has not changed nearly as much as the construction of them. With the advent of newer fabrics and printing technologies we don’t have to choose between comfort and durability any longer; we can now have both.

I’m sure that many of you remember the Seinfeld episode where George convinces the New York Yankees to switch from polyester to cotton uniforms; since they would be more comfortable. The plan works great until the cotton begins to shrink and the uniforms no longer fit. In the real world cotton still doesn’t work since it actually does shrink and is not nearly durable enough. We can however now design a baseball uniform that is durable as well as comfortable and is attractive at the same time.

To be honest, if you are playing truly competitive baseball (or softball) your pants are going to take a beating. With the pants in particular we need to be careful in choosing a fabric that will stand up to the abuse that they will inevitably take. With baseball jerseys durability is not as significant. Instead, we need to pay particular attention to matching the jersey fabric with the type of imprinting that will be used.

Basically, there are only 2 types of imprinting that I would now recommend for baseball uniforms: tackletwill and sublimation. For those that prefer the traditional baseball look and feel, heavyweight sewn-on tackletwill lettering and numbers is what you will want. It is extremely durable as well as attractive. The only potential negative is that you are somewhat limited in graphic capabilities and you will need to use heavier fabrics to properly support the weight of the lettering/numbering itself.

Our other alternative is sublimation. This is a lightweight, yet durable, process that is literally “dyed” into the fabric itself. The advantages of sublimation are that we are almost unlimited as far as graphics are concerned and it is extremely lightweight. Because of its weight, we can also use it on some of the newer, lightweight “wicking” fabrics as well as a variety of meshes. Both are extremely comfortable yet cannot support the weight of tackletwill. In my opinion, sublimation is so effective that it basically now renders screen-printing obsolete.

The only real disadvantage to sublimation is that it is somewhat "non-traditional" and will take some getting used to from the "old-timers". There are many upper level teams, including colleges, that are now using sublimation. Either way, tackletwill or sublimation, you can now design an attractive, comfortable yet durable baseball uniform that will give you the best of both worlds. Any reputable manufacturer should be able to offer either of these options to you.

Cisco Athletic is a premium designer of custom sports uniforms, including baseball, basketball, and football.