A modest proposal for a new Cubs road alternate jersey

I’ve never been a big fan of the Cubs’ current road alternate jersey, the one that’s all blue with the walking bear inside a big “C”. I’m a traditionalist when it comes to uniforms: white or pinstripes at home, gray on the road.

I acknowledge that many people do like the blue alts and of course, it was worn for the biggest Cubs moment in over a century:

Getty Images

So I definitely understand the affinity some people have for the blue jersey.

Last August, the Cubs participated in the Little League Classic in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. The Cubs won the game 7-1, but more importantly for this article, they wore uniforms that were an instant hit:

MLB Photos via Getty Images

The Cubs and Pirates both wore uniforms that were supposed to evoke what kids wear in Little League games, and in my view they were a huge success. (The Pirates jerseys, in a similar format, had “THE BURGH” on the front.)

At the top of this post is my modest proposal. The Cubs, in conjunction with Major League Baseball, should adapt the Little League Classic jersey and use it as a road alternate. Replace the word “CUBBIES” with “CHICAGO” and you have a jersey that is classic, yet modern. They could even keep the blue alternate and wear it from time to time, but also wear the “CHICAGO” alternate as seen in the photo illustration of Javier Baez at the top of this post. It features a lot of “Cubbie blue,” yet still has a fair amount of the traditional gray that’s been a constant for road uniforms in baseball for decades. Incidentally, if you don’t know why gray was chosen for a road uniform color, it’s because in the early days of baseball, teams didn’t often have facilities to wash uniforms on the road and it was thought that gray uniforms would not show the accumulated dirt as much. No joke.

Anyway, Cubs, there you have it. A proposal to marry a bit of the traditional with a bit of the new and have a cool-looking new road alternate. Perhaps for 2021?

Here’s a larger version of the photo illustration of my proposed Cubs alternate road jersey that appears at the top of this post.

Photo: Alex Trautwig/MLB Photos via Getty Images. Photo illustration: Mike Bojanowski