The Chicago Cubs' New Blues Alternates Should Become Their Base Home Uniform

[Matthew Trueblood]

Casting aside a City Connect look that always felt too safe and too faddish, the Cubs almost seemed to be embracing a gimmick when they unveiled new alternate uniforms this winter. Instead, they've found the look they didn't even know they were looking for.

Image courtesy of © Matt Marton-Imagn Images

I understand that, for some, this will be anathema. Many Cubs fans regard the white, pinstriped home uniforms as essential pieces of the team's identity, and a tradition as deep (or at least as important) as the iconic uniforms worn by the Yankees, the Cardinals, the Dodgers and the Giants.

In truth, though, that's never been the case. While the Cardinals' birds on the bat; the Dodgers' trademark script and red numbers; and the Yankees' minimalist, professional look have all undergone very few changes in the last century, the Cubs only started consistently using pinstripes in the late 1950s. Even then, there were many, many changes between now and then—flirtations with piping on the sleeves and collar; a switch to pullovers, and back; and tweaks to the specifics of the logo over the left breast, among other things. The idea that the Cubs have a brand identity as strong as the other flagship franchises of the league has always been a minor delusion.

That said, again, I understand the value of tradition and a certain wariness about big changes, for a team so dedicated to its own history. The Cubs are 150 years old (technically), and Wrigley Field (or parts thereof) is 111 years old. Those years matter; they are a part of what makes the Cubs the Cubs.

In their new Blues Alternates, though, the team has stumbled upon a design that honors that very tradition, without being slave to it. The baby blue color is a callback to the road uniforms of the 1970s, but the pants are a clean white, with a dark stripe—rather than giving in to the pajama-inspired tendency to match colors with the tops, as so many City Connect uniforms do, and as those long-ago road outfits did. The logo on the breast is a stylized reimagining of logos the team used in the 1920s and 1930s, but again, it's not just a reproduction thereof. It looks good to a 21st-century eye, too.

The numbers being in red is a welcome, superior use of their secondary color, compared to decades of Cubs uniforms that were really just blue and either white or gray. The standard, Cubbie bear blue alternates in use for most of the last quarter-century do use red numbers, of course, but that look is clearly and unavoidably an alternate. Its use of the deep Cubbie blue makes it suitable for home or road, but not as a primary home kit. The only other notable use of red in the last 30 years was the red bill the team's caps used to feature for road games, and even that is gone. The Blues jerseys welcome red back into the palette, with pleasing results.

Both the numbers and the lettering of the names are in a font that comes closest to making the whole look feel too retro—but it's graceful, instead. It pays homage to the halcyon days the city enjoyed in the Jazz Age and afterward, with an Art Deco aesthetic that the Wrigleyville City Connects attempted but failed to meaningfully capture.

The hats are a much-needed invigorating stroke, for a team whose sans-serif 'C' caps have looked more bland and blasé than truly classic for the last 25 years. The guitar-pick patch on the sleeve is a fun risk that ties the whole thing closely to something specific, but isn't distracting. The whole visage is just gorgeous. Admittedly, I didn't even expect to like it as much as I do. It seemed a nice change of pace from the City Connects, but little more.

Instead, I'm seriously calling for this: the Cubs should bid adieu to the pinstripes, for good. This should be their home uniform, with the darker blues as available but sparingly-used alternates. Maybe the pinstripes could come out on occasional Sundays, or something, but I;m in favor of leaving the whole look in the past and turning toward a future that still has close ties to that past. The Blues should become the Cubs' new primary identity.

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[Andy]

The uniform is growing on me (not the hat, though). However, a hard no to this suggestion.

Edited April 29, 2025 by Andy

[Jason Ross]

Self confessed uni-nerd here, and you know I love you Matt, but...big no. Not that I don't like the alternates, but for a  few reasons, both rooted in MLB uniform tradition and Cub tradition these aren't good enough as primary uniforms, nor are they proper primary uniforms.

First, while it's true the Cubs have only truly adopted the pins in the 1950's, it's still nearly 70 years of running that as a primary look. It might not be as unchanged as the Cardinals (though the Cardinals tweaked and messed with the script/cardinal combo from the 20's to the 50's, sometimes ignoring the cardinals all together, other times being more navy heavy than red...etc) but it's been a round for the better part of 100 years as a mainstay. To be fair to the Dodgers, they did not adopt the script+red number until 1952, previously just uysing the script. The Cubs also wore the pinstripes during their WS win. There's something to say about the uniform that breaks the curse and teams tend to keep winning uniforms around.

Secondly, one of the uniform traditions in baseball is that the primary uniform be white. I like an alternative color look here or there as a nice change of pace, but white at home should be primary. There are a few other good rules to follow (for example, road uniforms should be city name, not nickname) but white-at-home feels..sacred to me. 

Lastly, the hat doesn't work. A good hat logo needs no words to tell you who they are. A singular letter is enough. Think of it like this; a good flag doesn't need to say what it's representing as such, the Reds and the Cubs can both have C's on their hats but I know a Cubs C and a Reds C. That the Cubs use a logo on the hat that spells out CUBS is a poor design. It'd be like if the Japanese flag had to write JAPAN on it. (For anyone interested in vexillology, or the study of flags, this is a really amazing Ted Talk on the subject regarding how bad city flags are)

They're a cool change of pace and I like them far better as a uniform than the WRIGLEYVILLE drab navy they rocked the previous years, but I think their a novel rarity other than a uniform designed so well that they work as a consistently good advertisement for team at home. 

[Brian707]

[mul21]

I love the new uniforms and you had me until the last paragraph.  Hard no on these becoming the standard home uniforms.  Although I do disagree with @Jason Ross on the cap logo.

[JBears79]

I love the new blues but no. The pinstripes are great and timeless. No need to get rid of them.

[Transmogrified Tiger]

whatever gets rid of the pinstripes

[Sammy Sofa]

These new ones are awesome but they should only be alternates/road and TT should die of gonorrhea and rot in hell.

[Jason Ross]

30 minutes ago, mul21 said:

I love the new uniforms and you had me until the last paragraph.  Hard no on these becoming the standard home uniforms.  Although I do disagree with @Jason Ross on the cap logo.

The hat itself is fine - the white wall works! What doesn't is the logo on the hat. You can only read CUBS from up close, from any sort of distance it's mush. From far away, the C itself does not necessarily read "CUBS" C so much as it could a Reds-C with the wishboning. It makes it a bit of a mess. It's a word-heavy logo. No other MLB team uses words. 

Instead, the Cubs should use the rocker-bear.

It uses the light blue and pops in the red which ties it all together. It also uses no lettering and words. It's also "faux" back, in that it evokes the old bear logo the Cubs have used in the past giving a connection like the CUBS does (to the CUBS logo they have used with the large C) but without breaking poor design. 

Not only that, the rocker bear would kill it merch wise. I think it's a cohesive look, and it's fun. It's not a primary hat look by any means, but I don't want the alternate blues to be a primary look. They are already kind of jumping the shark with the guitar pick, so have fun. Rocker-bear-hat makes that a better and more cohesive full-uniform while also pushing it squarely into "ALT" territory where it belongs.

[Hot Sauce]

I might be the only one who really dislikes these uniforms. 

[Bull]

Blasphemer!

[JS Smith]

No!  This uniform is about the ugliest one I've seen them wear. I really hope they decide to toss it after the season. 

[Stratos]

New unis are decent.  Not in love with it, wouldn't buy the jersey.

[ryanrc]

Here's my suggestion:
Pinstripes at home after the All-Star game, and in post-season. New uniform at home in preseason and before the All-Star game. The new uniform feels like Spring, the old like Fall. 

This way, you're selling two looks for parts of the year to fans. Win-Win, and nets the club more merch money than a single home uniform, when they make the merch switch mid-season every year.

In addition, make the hat logo change every year, even in subtle ways, to be vintage of that year. 
 

Edited May 3, 2025 by ryanrc