BOSTON — The New York Yankees have worn pinstripes at home since 1915. Their gray road jerseys have been largely unchanged since 1918. For more than a century, those two uniforms have defined the franchise’s identity like nothing else.
Now, for the first time, players inside the clubhouse are pushing to change that. And they are not alone.
Yankees Hall of Famer CC Sabathia revealed on Instagram that he has spent three years lobbying for a Yankees City Connect uniform and even has a mock-up of a proposed design.
On the same week, multiple players told The Athletic they formally pitched team decision-makers on wearing an alternate jersey during select road games.
The proposed alternate: the navy blue batting practice jerseys already hanging in every player’s road locker, featuring ‘NEW YORK’ across the chest in gray block letters, white trim, and the Starr Insurance sleeve patch. The jerseys are worn during spring training road games and, according to a league source, have been approved by Major League Baseball for regular-season use since the start of 2025.
But approval from MLB is one thing. Approval from owner Hal Steinbrenner is another.
The only team without an alternate jersey
The Yankees are the last holdout in a league that has fully embraced alternate uniforms. Every other MLB team has at least a third jersey. Twenty-eight of 30 clubs now wear City Connect uniforms for selected games. The only exception alongside the Yankees is the Oakland Athletics, who are currently playing in Sacramento while awaiting a new ballpark in Las Vegas.
The Yankees have also never put player names on the backs of their standard home and road jerseys. They did participate in MLB’s Players Weekend wearing black uniforms with nicknames on the back, but that remains the only deviation.
Giancarlo Stanton has been the most vocal champion of the alternate jersey push. Speaking before Wednesday’s game at Fenway Park, he framed the conversation around a simple observation: the jerseys are already there.
“Every team has an alternate uniform,” Stanton said. “We have the uniforms. It’s not like we sat in a room and designed it ourselves. It’s here. It always has been.”
Stanton acknowledged he has been talking with teammates about the idea for years and believes the response inside the clubhouse is overwhelmingly supportive.
“A lot of people would be OK with it,” he said. “Each and every person I’ve talked to, they would be good with it.”
Judge: ‘We’ve got a patch on our sleeves’
The most watched voice in the conversation is that of Yankees captain Aaron Judge. Asked whether pushing for a uniform change is a difficult call given the franchise’s tradition, Judge gave a pointed response that stopped the discussion in its tracks.
“Yeah, I’m all about tradition, but we’ve got a patch on our sleeves,” Judge said. “So if you want to talk about tradition, I don’t think the Yankees used to have that.”
Judge was referring to the Starr Insurance logo patch that has appeared on Yankees home and road jerseys since July 21, 2023. That sponsorship deal reportedly pays the Yankees $25 million per season through 2031. It was the first jersey sponsor in franchise history.
Judge was careful to draw a firm line on one point. Whatever happens on the road, he said, the pinstripes at Yankee Stadium are not going anywhere.
“I think we’ll always wear the pinstripes at home,” Judge said. “I don’t think that’ll change. But we changed our road jersey other years, so I guess if we wear the blue, we’ll wear the blue on the road.”
Jazz Chisholm Jr. added his voice to the chorus without much hesitation, offering a short and direct endorsement.
“I love them,” Chisholm said. “I think these are sick. I think alternate jerseys are sick.”
Steinbrenner factor: Beards paved the way
The final decision rests with Hal Steinbrenner, and recent history suggests he is more open to change than his father’s legacy might imply. The Yankees eliminated their nearly 50-year ban on facial hair ahead of the 2025 season, a policy George Steinbrenner had enforced with near-total rigidity since the 1970s.
In 2024, the Yankees quietly altered their road jersey by removing the white outline around the lettering and sleeve trim, returning to a look they wore before 1973. That change was reportedly driven in part by Aaron Judge’s preference.
Speaking about the facial hair policy change, Steinbrenner himself acknowledged the broader principle at stake.
“Winning was the most important thing to my father,” Steinbrenner said. “If somebody came and told him that they were very sure this could affect us getting the players we want to get, I think he might be a little more apt to do the change than people think, because it was about winning.”
Manager Aaron Boone declined to take a position on the jersey question during his pregame media session, but acknowledged the conversation has been ongoing for some time.
“It’s something we’ve kind of talked about loosely for the last couple years,” Boone said. “That’s a decision for someone else. In 2026, a lot of teams have a lot of different uniforms. A decision will be made in some way, shape or form.”
Voices from outside the clubhouse
The push is not limited to current players. Long-time Yankees broadcaster Suzyn Waldman has suggested a design change that would recall the uniform Yankees manager Joe Torre wore during the 1996 World Series victory celebration, a nod to a pinstripe-era design with its own historical resonance.
Stanton acknowledged he does not know whether any player has taken the idea directly to Steinbrenner, but he made no secret of why he is speaking publicly about it.
“Whatever you guys write and if we get a positive reaction,” Stanton said. “It wouldn’t be the end of the world if it doesn’t happen. I’m sure if we were to do it and we play well, then it’s OK. We’ve got to play well regardless.”
For now, the navy batting practice jerseys keep hanging in the road clubhouse locker. MLB has already cleared them. The players want to wear them. The conversation inside the organization has been quietly building for years.
Whether Steinbrenner finally says yes is the only question left.
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