Yankees announcer says team should win a World Series before breaking longstanding jersey tradition
New York Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay grew up in the Bronx, so he knows all about the Bronx Bombers tradition.
Well, it seems like the Yankees are making their biggest stretch away from it, after it was revealed Wednesday that the Yankees have an official alternate jersey for the first time in its team’s 120-plus year history.
The news came amid reports Wednesday that players had discussed the possibility of a third jersey to wear on the road with team higher-ups. MLB.com reported that that the third jersey had been in the works “for a while.”
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Kay said he “couldn’t care less” if the Yankees deviated from their tradition, but his “problem with this” is that “it can’t be a one-way street.”
Kay said if he were owner Hal Steinbrenner, who “give[s] you guys everything,” he’d tell them to “win me a championship, and I’ll give you things like this.”
“All I’ve seen over these years, ‘Let’s make things great for the players. Let’s give the players everything they want.’ And they deserve to have great things. It’s not an easy job, but they’re well compensated for it. But you pay top dollar, you have a state-of-the-art clubhouse, you travel in style, you stay in the best hotels. OK, great, that stuff should be,” Kay continued.
“But the extra little things, ‘Let us grow our hair longer. Can we wear beards?’ Well then, win me a championship. Because if I’m going to move away from the Yankees and what the Yankees stand for, then I’m going to need something back from you.”
“The players are probably saying, ‘We want to have fun like all the other teams. They have all these wacky uniforms.’ Win me a championship. Maybe that’s the deal. Win me a championship. I don’t think that’s a big ask.”
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The Yankees’ navy blue batting practice tops, similar to their road spring training uniforms, were the ones that were approved to be worn in games.
The Yankees have taken part in wearing different jerseys in the past, including Players’ Weekend from 2017 through 2019, a nod to the 1912 team while playing in Boston on the 100th anniversary of Fenway Park’s opening, and jerseys commemorating the Black Yankees in 1996. The Yankees also wore replicas of their 1921 road uniforms for the first Field of Dreams game in 2021. However, none of those jerseys were ever officially put into the rotation.
The Yankees also remain the only team to have no last names on the back of their jerseys, home or away. They are also only one of two teams, including the Athletics, without a City Connect jersey. The Athletics, currently in Sacramento after their lease in Oakland expired following the 2024 season, are set to begin play in Las Vegas in 2028.
Steinbrenner has been apt to change in recent years. The Yankees added an advertisement patch on their jerseys in 2023, and beginning last year, “well-groomed” facial hair below the lip was reintroduced after a 50-year ban by Steinbrenner’s father, George.
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