On Tuesday night, the San Diego Padres unveiled not one, but two new alternate uniforms to be worn during the 2016 MLB season along with a new home jersey commemorating the 2016 All-Star Game, which will be held at Petco Park in July.
First, to continue with their tradition of honoring the US military, the Padres will be wearing navy digital camo uniforms during every Sunday home game during the 2016 season.
Just unveiled! The #Padres will introduce new @USNavy digital camouflage jerseys for Sunday home games in 2016!https://t.co/pdE67aUP4I
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) December 1, 2015
Manager Andy Green and James Shields are all smiles over the new Sunday home jersey 😀⚓️👊🏻 pic.twitter.com/1svIder6XM
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) December 1, 2015
But the Padres weren’t content with unveiling one new uniform on Tuesday. Later in the day at a social summit, the Padres revealed their new All-Star Game commemorative jersey, which will be their new home jersey.
A new home white jersey will be worn next year to commemorate the 2016 MLB All-Star Game in San Diego!https://t.co/3LKtGdlwlY
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) December 2, 2015
Good look at the @Padres new home unis pic.twitter.com/0hVYMQcG6X
— Phil Hecken (@PhilHecken) December 2, 2015
And then finally, just for the hell of it, the Padres revealed a new Friday home game jersey, with more yellow and brown than you can shake a stick at.
We’re not done yet!
For every Friday home game in 2016 the #Padres will wear a brown and yellow jersey!https://t.co/20HfWBhITn
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) December 2, 2015
The @Padres new brown alternate – will be worn Friday home games pic.twitter.com/kyNy1KRW9X
— Phil Hecken (@PhilHecken) December 2, 2015
And here are all three new uniforms in one tweet in case you have a short attention span.
https://twitter.com/AllStarGame/status/671894106684067840
The Padres have had an incredibly bland look for a decade, so any changes are welcomed. But it’s not as if the Padres reinvented the wheel here. They dumped the ridiculous “Padres” script that had been plastered across their jerseys since the 2004 season and will be wearing the “SD” logo that had been on their road jerseys in recent seasons, and on the bright side, they don’t look like pajamas like the road jerseys did.
SAN DIEGO, CA – SEPTEMBER 30: Justin Upton #10 of the San Diego Padres, center, leaves the game with two trainers during the first inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers at Petco Park September 30, 2015 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images)
LOS ANGELES, CA – OCTOBER 03: Pitcher Robbie Erlin #41 of the San Diego Padres pitches in the first inning against the Los Angeles Dodgers during the MLB game at Dodger Stadium on October 3, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Victor Decolongon/Getty Images)
The new alternate home jerseys are also going to be showing off “Padres” in a block format, much like the “San Diego” on the road jerseys over the past couple of seasons. It’s worth noting that these road jerseys will return for the 2016 season, as will the pajama-style navy uniforms as an alternate road jersey.
DENVER, CO – SEPTEMBER 18: Wil Myers #4 of the San Diego Padres hits a solo home run against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field on September 18, 2015 in Denver, Colorado. The Rockies defeated the Padres 7-4. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)
As for the camo… well, the Padres have been wearing some form of camo alternate jersey for the better part of two decades. Last year, this was their camo jersey of choice.
(Note: I don’t like camo jerseys at all.)
SAN DIEGO, CA – SEPTEMBER 27: James Shields #33 of the San Diego Padres pitches during the first inning of a baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Petco Park September 27, 2015 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images)
Even the damn names and numbers were difficult to see!
On the bright side, the brown-and-yellow is back in 2016 on a limited basis. Last year, the Padres rolled out their throwback brown pinstripe jerseys for five games, and they were pretty well-received by the team’s fanbase.
SAN DIEGO, CA – JULY 22: James Shields #33 of the San Diego Padres pitches during the second inning of a baseball game against the San Francisco Giants at Petco Park July 22, 2015 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Denis Poroy/Getty Images)
All in all, this series of uniform developments is encouraging for the Padres. Are their new uniforms perfect? No, not by a long shot. But for the first time in years, the Padres actually have something resembling an identity. Their uniforms are much less bland, boring, and monochromatic. Really, who ever thought navy blue and white was a great color scheme for a sports team not named the Yankees (or Cowboys, for that matter) in the year 2015?
I can even live with the camo. At least it’s a different color than the same camo uniform that every team rolls out when they want to adopt a new camo jersey. Now, if only the Padres did this a year ago when they went on their massive offseason rebuilding project. They could have moved *so many* Justin Upton brown-and-yellow jerseys.
