NEW YORK — The navy blue jerseys have been sitting in the locker room for a while. Players want to wear them. MLB has already approved them for game use. So why haven’t the New York Yankees put them on?
Because this is the Yankees. And nothing happens fast when tradition is on the line. Not even the much-anticipated alternate on-road jersey decision.
A decision on whether the Yankees will debut an alternate road jersey is not imminent, a league source with knowledge of the conversations told The Athletic. Owner Hal Steinbrenner will make the final call. And before he does, there are several factors still being weighed.
This is not simply about players asking for something new. There is a business case to build, a fan base to read and a marketing rollout to plan.
Factors on the table before any decision
The considerations go beyond the Yankees’ locker room. Steinbrenner and those around him are looking at the economic impact of adding a third jersey. They want to know how often it would be worn and in which markets. They also want to understand scheduling, meaning which road games and which opponents would be the right fit for a debut. They are also trying to gauge a fan base that appears divided.
Some Yankees fans want the pinstripes left alone. Others are open to change. The franchise has already tested that divide in recent years. The team added a jersey advertisement patch for Starr Insurance in 2023, the first in franchise history. In 2024, the Yankees ended their longstanding no-beard rule, allowing well-groomed facial hair below the lip for the first time in roughly 50 years. Each move brought pushback. Each move stuck.
The Yankees organization also wants a proper marketing campaign in place before any alternate jersey goes public. An unplanned rollout does not fit the brand. The Yankees would want the debut to be a moment, not a surprise.
Jersey already approved, players already pushing
The push came from the Yankees players. Several of them recently approached team brass about wearing the navy batting practice tops during select road games. The jersey features the words “New York” across the chest in gray letters and numbers with white trim, along with the Starr Insurance sleeve patch.
MLB had already quietly approved the jerseys for game use ahead of the 2025 season. Prior to the 2026 season, the team officially redesignated the jersey from a spring training road uniform to an alternate road uniform, according to SportsLogos.Net. The Yankees could technically use them at any point. They have not.
The Yankees are the only MLB team without a City Connect jersey. The Athletics are the only other club without an alternate of any kind, though their situation is unique given they have no official home city.
Giancarlo Stanton said players have talked about this for years. He was asked about the jerseys before a 4-1 win over the Red Sox at Fenway Park on Wednesday.
“I would be a fan,” Stanton said.
Kay fires back, revenue angle emerges
Not everyone is cheering the players on. Yankees broadcaster Michael Kay addressed the idea on his ESPN New York radio show Wednesday, and he did not hold back.
Kay framed it as a one-way relationship. Players keep asking for things, he argued, while Steinbrenner waits for the 28th World Series title. The beard policy went. Now the jersey push. Kay wanted results in return.
“It can’t be a one-way street. Give me, give me, give me,” Kay said. “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 revenue argument cuts the other way. Every other MLB team sells alternate jerseys. City Connect drops routinely generate millions in merchandise sales overnight. The Yankees, the most valuable franchise in baseball, are the lone holdout. By delaying, the organization is leaving real money on the table. A navy alternate with instant brand recognition would sell fast and sell wide. The question is whether Steinbrenner needs the revenue badly enough to move faster than tradition allows.
A franchise slowly evolving
The Yankees have made small changes to their uniforms before without fanfare. They participated in MLB Players’ Weekend from 2017 through 2019, wearing black jerseys with player-chosen nicknames on the back. In 2020, Nike’s swoosh logo was added to the front of all MLB uniforms, including the Yankees’, as part of a reported $1 billion league deal with Nike and Fanatics.
The franchise also wore a special throwback jersey in Boston in 2012, honoring the 100th anniversary of the 1912 team. These were one-off moments. A permanent alternate is a different matter entirely.
Historically, the Yankees wore navy road uniforms during their earliest years as the New York Highlanders, starting in 1903. The franchise dropped navy long before pinstripes became synonymous with the brand. A full navy alternate was also nearly introduced in 1973. Former team public relations director Marty Appel wrote in his 2001 book that general manager Gabe Paul had mockups created that year. Those designs went nowhere. Now the conversation is back.
The design featured navy blue with white pinstripes and a white “NY” logo. Appel wrote that he nearly fainted when he first laid eyes on them. They never made it out of the Yankees front office. Whether this particular version gets any further than that remains to be seen.
What do you think? Should they make the decision this month?
