MLB unveils ‘Players Weekend’ jerseys and caps

MLB is going to do something fun the weekend of August 25-27.

Yes, fun! Believe it or not. “Players Weekend” is described by MLB this way:

Players Weekend is a player-focused event that will include the players wearing colorful, non-traditional uniforms featuring alternate designs inspired by youth league uniforms. Players will have the opportunity to have a nickname placed on the back of the jerseys made by Majestic Athletic, as well as to wear and use uniquely colored and designed spikes, batting gloves, wristbands, compression sleeves, catcher’s masks, and bats.

During Players Weekend, the players will also be wearing specially designed caps by New Era, and socks from Stance. In addition, players will have the option of wearing t-shirts highlighting a charity or cause of their choice during pregame workouts and postgame interviews.

Several Major Leaguers will serve as Players Weekend Ambassadors by taking an active role in promoting the event, including: Yonder Alonso (Seattle Mariners), Javier Báez (Chicago Cubs), José Bautista (Toronto Blue Jays), Nelson Cruz (Seattle Mariners), Ender Inciarte (Atlanta Braves), Francisco Lindor (Cleveland Indians), Manny Machado (Baltimore Orioles), Anthony Rizzo (Chicago Cubs), CC Sabathia (New York Yankees), Christian Yelich (Miami Marlins) and Chris B. Young (Boston Red Sox). The players will support the event by posting to social media using #PlayersWeekend.

Additionally, during Players Weekend, the right sleeve of each player’s jersey will feature a patch with a blank space for him to write the name of a person or organization that was instrumental to his development. The patch features a new logo that shows a progression of five players increasing in size to demonstrate the process of a player’s path from Little League and youth leagues to Major League Baseball. The new “Evolution” logo, which symbolizes solidarity with local youth baseball and softball organizations, will also appear on the back of each Club’s cap and jerseys in place of the MLB silhouetted batter.

As you see above, Javy Baez and Anthony Rizzo will both be featured “ambassadors” for the sport during this weekend. This is a great way for MLB to promote some of the more popular players in the game, something they’ve needed to do for some time. The Cubs will be playing the Phillies at Philadelphia for those three games, so unfortunately Wrigley Field fans won’t get a chance to see them in person.

After the weekend, the jerseys will be auctioned off at MLB.com/auctions with 100 percent of net proceeds donated to the MLB-MLBPA Youth Development Foundation, a joint effort established in July 2015 by MLB and the MLBPA with an initial commitment of $30 million focused on improving the caliber, effectiveness and availability of amateur baseball and softball programs across the United States and Canada.

This is all a great idea. I can’t wait to see what nicknames Cubs players put on their jerseys, and also who each player will honor on their sleeve patch. Most of the Cubs nicknames are shown here. Couldn’t Tommy La Stella have come up with a nickname?

Also, there’s this:

Good for CJ. He’s one of a couple of players using nicknames we use for them here at BCB.

Here’s a tweet showing one Cubs jersey, as well as one for all teams:

UPDATE: Here are all the Cubs nicknames. Along with TLS (he could have used that!), Jon Lester isn’t playing: