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

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.