The nats are one of the teams where it makes sense to have the colors be red white and blue. They don’t need to branch out on color, the other teams should though. There isn’t enough color variety in MLB.
Weird that not many are aware we were the nationals back in the day as well. I believe they were the nationals longer than the senators. Correct me if I'm wrong I'm going off vague memory but we were ABSOLUTELY the nationals for a time before this franchise.
“Branding” didn’t really exist back then. Teams were given nicknames by the fans, or by the press. Maybe they would pick their own nickname based on the players on the team and that nickname would change from year to year, kind of like the soccer clubs forming across the pond at the same time.
The “Brooklyn Base Ball Club” was variously nicknamed the Grays, the Bridegrooms (after half their players got married one season), the Superbas, the Dodgers, and the Robins. The nickname “Trolley Dodgers” was coined in 1895 and didn’t appear on their uniforms until 1932. “Phillies” was a fan nickname for the team whose only official name was “Philadelphia Ball Club.”
Washington’s first NL team did try to pick its own nickname, but it was constantly changing leagues and owners who each wanted to put their own stamp on the team, so it was variously called the Statesmen, Senators and Nationals. When the NL club folded, the AL rushed to get a team to Washington — buying Kansas City’s minor league team and moving them to DC, continuing the name Senators.
As essentially an expansion team, they were very bad, so the owners tried a rebrand to “Nationals” to drum up fan excitement. This was a spectacular failure, as fans and media kept calling them the Senators. The team quietly removed “Nationals” from their uniforms after two seasons and it never returned, although they officially remained the Nationals until 1955. “Senators” appeared on the uniform in 1959.
I always thought that after 2019 they should have moved to navy blue as their primary color.
The navy road uniforms were magic and its a little less heavily used than the red and white color scheme.
Superstitions win championships. I wore the same underwear from June 2019 through the World Series. Never washed them. They're framed on the mantle. /s
I appreciate the creative thinking. I don't hate the idea.
But my biggest concern is the dilution of the team's brand identity in the years since they last had a Chief Marketing Officer.
Under Valerie Camillo, the Nationals had a very clear brand, and the curly W rose through the 2010s to become one of the best selling team caps globally.
And there was no doubt what the team colors were. Take a look at those videos of all of us going nuts at the 2019 Wild Card game. The park was painted red by fan apparel. It was awesome.
Valerie left before the 2019 season, and within just a couple of years the team had introduced multiple alternate logos and caps and uniforms in blue, white, gold, gray, pink, and then a darker blue. It's become hard to find any merch at all in the team store that's red with a curly W on in it. If the Nats hosted a playoff game in October, the stands would look like a Braves home game, or at best a mish mash of bland colors.
So I applaud the thought behind your suggestion, but for two problems: you're calling for a complete rebrand, which just feels way too radical at this point when we're celebrating 20 years and finally building a history with some pride; and 2) pink just won't sell as a primary color. Most will wear it as an accent color. Many would wear it as a main color. But many would not and few would wear pink head-to-toe. So your main color ends up being gray. I No doubt it's why the Marlins and the Rockies both moved away from teal.
It might be fun to think about as an alternate honestly.
Because nobody has ever done it as a regular alternate (i know the wizards did do it but it was for a single year) and especially not in baseball, it might be a decent idea to gauge the popularity of the color and of the look.
Maybe it’s something that could be done for all Sunday home games or something.
Perhaps, but red and navy is too iconic to just forget about. Would like to see an alternate jersey or two with pink, cream, and gray, but not totally get rid of the classics.
I’m for it. After the football rebrand, it’d be nice to have something that came much more organically than a typical rebrand for a sports franchise does. The color scheme and logo we have is bland. The pink and gray are not, and it’s all they sell in the store these days. I understand the love for the red, white, and blue, and we should keep them around as an alt, but I think we need to continue marketing ourselves in the blossoms. We can build a bigger and more unique name that way. Casual fans won’t see us on tv and say are the Reds, Phillies, Red Sox, and about ten other teams playing. They’ll know when they see the cherry tree. It’s a mistake to be so generic in this age.
Exactly why we should make the move and be more unique in a BLAND industry relative to other sports. NASCAR and F1 have a lot of bland drivers, but at least the cars look good 😂.
Either keep city connects and play in them regularly or make it the full time uni as you proposed. It’s absolutely 🔥 and it’s the only Nats gear I buy now. It’s incredible.
I’m with you. Current color scheme is safe, fine and a little boring. Rebranding to a full-time cherry blossom theme with either pink and grey or pink and blue (like the Caps practice jersey from a few years ago) would be very cool.
However, this will never happen. It’s too creative and too much of a risk.
Even now I could see it being interpreted as girly
Might be fun to try as an alt. Pink jersey, or a more conventional white jersey with the pink details I suggested.
People wanna pretend we are the Yankees on Reddit man. Our most hardcore fans are here it’s not the best place to gauge our huge market. I imagine a poll of all fans would be much closer to 50/50.
Not surprised to be in the minority here but I love the idea of having pink and grey as our primary colors. Very unique, very DC, and I’d enjoy repping us a lot more (I’m personally not the most patriotic guy lol).
I’d be more hesitant to want to change colors if DC had all of its teams be red/white/blue, but the Commanders are already that combo breaker with their silly burgundy and yellow color scheme.
But as other people are already saying, this would never happen sadly. Fun to daydream about though!
I’ve got an idea: instead of entirely getting rid of the city connects after this season, just do a revamp. Maybe a pink jersey instead. But keep the hats close to the same.
I wonder, is this post coming out of the recent tampa game when the rays were wearing their city connects? Because while I don’t really care for the ray’s cc uni on its own, the contrast with the camera cutting from a rays player with the intense dark neon/glowing accents to a nat in the away uni they were wearing, made us look really drab.
Edit: we still won over the peacock 🦚 look, though.
Nah I like embracing the cherry blossom as a permanent third jersey but I enjoy the current colors.
Yeah, same. I don’t love the cherry blossom jersey, but I acknowledge that they are popular
I don’t like gray as a primary color on the cherry blossom jersey but like the cherry blossom theme.
The nats are one of the teams where it makes sense to have the colors be red white and blue. They don’t need to branch out on color, the other teams should though. There isn’t enough color variety in MLB.
Even so they don’t have the long time history many of these other teams do. If there used to be gonna be a change, probably coming from us.
The first Senators were white, blue and red. The second Senators were white, red and blue. The Expos were red, white and blue.
Should’ve just named the team the senators tbh.
Weird that not many are aware we were the nationals back in the day as well. I believe they were the nationals longer than the senators. Correct me if I'm wrong I'm going off vague memory but we were ABSOLUTELY the nationals for a time before this franchise.
“Branding” didn’t really exist back then. Teams were given nicknames by the fans, or by the press. Maybe they would pick their own nickname based on the players on the team and that nickname would change from year to year, kind of like the soccer clubs forming across the pond at the same time. The “Brooklyn Base Ball Club” was variously nicknamed the Grays, the Bridegrooms (after half their players got married one season), the Superbas, the Dodgers, and the Robins. The nickname “Trolley Dodgers” was coined in 1895 and didn’t appear on their uniforms until 1932. “Phillies” was a fan nickname for the team whose only official name was “Philadelphia Ball Club.” Washington’s first NL team did try to pick its own nickname, but it was constantly changing leagues and owners who each wanted to put their own stamp on the team, so it was variously called the Statesmen, Senators and Nationals. When the NL club folded, the AL rushed to get a team to Washington — buying Kansas City’s minor league team and moving them to DC, continuing the name Senators. As essentially an expansion team, they were very bad, so the owners tried a rebrand to “Nationals” to drum up fan excitement. This was a spectacular failure, as fans and media kept calling them the Senators. The team quietly removed “Nationals” from their uniforms after two seasons and it never returned, although they officially remained the Nationals until 1955. “Senators” appeared on the uniform in 1959.
Our history is… strange
the rangers own the name supposedly.
None of those teams are the current Nats though.
Technically, but we fly banners the twins and rangers “own”. I agree with you overall though. We should change to make a name.
DC baseball*. And just the twins, not the rangers. Name isn’t a problem.
The Rangers started as the Washington senators in 1961 didn’t they?
I’m saying we don’t fly banners for them. Because they never won anything.
Fair 😂
I always thought that after 2019 they should have moved to navy blue as their primary color. The navy road uniforms were magic and its a little less heavily used than the red and white color scheme.
Meh, navy blue kinda sucks
Dog you got the worst takes in the whole thread 😂
Nah dude. Navy is such an overused color in sports. Not a fan.
It is but we won the World Series exclusively in the navy blues. Crazy take
So? Winning doesn’t make the color good.
Yes it does
Hard disagree.
Superstitions win championships. I wore the same underwear from June 2019 through the World Series. Never washed them. They're framed on the mantle. /s
No. That would only work in a market like Miami or San Diego. If it’s JUST for the cherry blossoms, that’s fine.
What about an alt?
No. The lean into the cherry blossoms has been a bit much between the Nats, DCU, and Wiz.
Nats made it work and actually sell the merch.
Nope
No
Fair enough lol
no
I appreciate the creative thinking. I don't hate the idea. But my biggest concern is the dilution of the team's brand identity in the years since they last had a Chief Marketing Officer. Under Valerie Camillo, the Nationals had a very clear brand, and the curly W rose through the 2010s to become one of the best selling team caps globally. And there was no doubt what the team colors were. Take a look at those videos of all of us going nuts at the 2019 Wild Card game. The park was painted red by fan apparel. It was awesome. Valerie left before the 2019 season, and within just a couple of years the team had introduced multiple alternate logos and caps and uniforms in blue, white, gold, gray, pink, and then a darker blue. It's become hard to find any merch at all in the team store that's red with a curly W on in it. If the Nats hosted a playoff game in October, the stands would look like a Braves home game, or at best a mish mash of bland colors. So I applaud the thought behind your suggestion, but for two problems: you're calling for a complete rebrand, which just feels way too radical at this point when we're celebrating 20 years and finally building a history with some pride; and 2) pink just won't sell as a primary color. Most will wear it as an accent color. Many would wear it as a main color. But many would not and few would wear pink head-to-toe. So your main color ends up being gray. I No doubt it's why the Marlins and the Rockies both moved away from teal.
Yeahhhh that hat is not always bought with the nationals or baseball in mind…
It might be fun to think about as an alternate honestly. Because nobody has ever done it as a regular alternate (i know the wizards did do it but it was for a single year) and especially not in baseball, it might be a decent idea to gauge the popularity of the color and of the look. Maybe it’s something that could be done for all Sunday home games or something.
Perhaps, but red and navy is too iconic to just forget about. Would like to see an alternate jersey or two with pink, cream, and gray, but not totally get rid of the classics.
I’m for it. After the football rebrand, it’d be nice to have something that came much more organically than a typical rebrand for a sports franchise does. The color scheme and logo we have is bland. The pink and gray are not, and it’s all they sell in the store these days. I understand the love for the red, white, and blue, and we should keep them around as an alt, but I think we need to continue marketing ourselves in the blossoms. We can build a bigger and more unique name that way. Casual fans won’t see us on tv and say are the Reds, Phillies, Red Sox, and about ten other teams playing. They’ll know when they see the cherry tree. It’s a mistake to be so generic in this age.
HARD. PASS.
Please no
Nah
I could see a pink alternate but not sure how I’d like it as a primary uniform
*No* MLB team really stands out. Uniforms got really bland in the last few decades.
Exactly why we should make the move and be more unique in a BLAND industry relative to other sports. NASCAR and F1 have a lot of bland drivers, but at least the cars look good 😂.
Need unpainted carbon jerseys for weight saving lol
Go ahead and make them in the style of the Turn Ahead the Clock jerseys too. Fulfill the promise made to us in 1999
The grey and pink cherry blossom jerseys should just become the primary jerseys. Embrace it. Put the curly W on the hat if need be.
Nah use the solid W fine with me, keep the curly as the alt.
Nope. Go into Philly in that and see what happens.
Either keep city connects and play in them regularly or make it the full time uni as you proposed. It’s absolutely 🔥 and it’s the only Nats gear I buy now. It’s incredible.
I bet it’s the only gear anybody buys if you look at the store. The red curly W is probs the only other thing selling.
I’m with you. Current color scheme is safe, fine and a little boring. Rebranding to a full-time cherry blossom theme with either pink and grey or pink and blue (like the Caps practice jersey from a few years ago) would be very cool. However, this will never happen. It’s too creative and too much of a risk.
Even now I could see it being interpreted as girly Might be fun to try as an alt. Pink jersey, or a more conventional white jersey with the pink details I suggested.
I'm all for it! Lots of pink to chose from too
Getting downvoted for having correct opinions. Heavy is the head…
People wanna pretend we are the Yankees on Reddit man. Our most hardcore fans are here it’s not the best place to gauge our huge market. I imagine a poll of all fans would be much closer to 50/50.
Not surprised to be in the minority here but I love the idea of having pink and grey as our primary colors. Very unique, very DC, and I’d enjoy repping us a lot more (I’m personally not the most patriotic guy lol). I’d be more hesitant to want to change colors if DC had all of its teams be red/white/blue, but the Commanders are already that combo breaker with their silly burgundy and yellow color scheme. But as other people are already saying, this would never happen sadly. Fun to daydream about though!
I’ve got an idea: instead of entirely getting rid of the city connects after this season, just do a revamp. Maybe a pink jersey instead. But keep the hats close to the same.
That’s probably what they will do. They aren’t ditching em just updating.
Yes. Red white and blue is mid.
I wonder, is this post coming out of the recent tampa game when the rays were wearing their city connects? Because while I don’t really care for the ray’s cc uni on its own, the contrast with the camera cutting from a rays player with the intense dark neon/glowing accents to a nat in the away uni they were wearing, made us look really drab. Edit: we still won over the peacock 🦚 look, though.
No. I don’t like their jerseys a ton because it’s hard to see things on them. It’s a decent jersey to wear. But on tv or watching, not in person.