BOSTON – Pinstripes at home, grays on the road. The Yankees’ uniform choices have remained largely consistent for decades, other than a few minor alterations.
That may be about to change.
Yankees players have been suggesting that the team expand its options to include navy blue batting practice tops, which could be worn for select road games during the regular season.
Major League Baseball approved the navy blue alternates for game use prior to the 2025 season, according to a Yankees spokesperson. Exactly when they’ll make their debut remains to be seen.
“I think we’ll always wear the pinstripes at home,” Yankees captain Aaron Judge said. “I don’t think that will change. But we changed our road jersey other years. So I guess if we wear the blues, we’ll wear the blues on the road.”
The Athletic reported on Wednesday that several players have been pitching higher-ups about the idea. Before Wednesday’s game at Fenway Park, Giancarlo Stanton said the suggestion has been voiced “for a few years.”
“They’re always in our locker, but we don’t wear them,” Stanton said. “So why not? … It wouldn’t be the end of the world.”
Stanton said he’s also in favor of the team adopting a City Connect jersey – the Yankees and Athletics are the only two remaining teams without one.
“I think we should do that, too,” Stanton said. “There’s a lot of tradition here. The most iconic jersey there is in sports, pretty much. But that doesn’t mean that every once in a while you can’t change something up.”
The batting practice tops feature “NEW YORK” across the chest in gray letters, with numbers on the back in white trim. The Yankees wear them frequently on the road during Spring Training.
“It’s 2026. A lot of teams have a lot of different uniforms,” manager Aaron Boone said. “A decision will be made in some way, shape or form, but again, it’s something that has been loosely talked about from time to time for a couple of years now. So what comes of it? I’m not really sure.”
Managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner has signaled an openness to change in recent years. Last spring, the club adjusted its decades-old grooming policy, which forbade players from wearing beards.
There have also been recent overhauls of the in-game entertainment at Yankee Stadium, including music and sound effects that accompany nearly every pitch. Many of those suggestions have been player-driven; Judge recently said he’d prefer it to be even louder.
At Judge’s urging, the Yankees modified their road uniforms in 2024, removing the white outline and sleeve trim for a more retro look, similar to the one the club wore in the '21 Field of Dreams Game.
“I’m all about tradition, but we’ve got a patch on our sleeves,” Judge said, referring to the Starr Insurance advertisements that first appeared in July 2023.
The franchise once wore navy road uniforms during its early years as the New York Highlanders, starting in 1903.
Though the Yankees have largely stuck to their traditional look, drastic fashion changes have been considered over the years, as author Marty Appel wrote in his 2001 book, Now Pitching for the Yankees.
According to Appel, once the club’s director of public relations, general manager Gabe Paul had a set of mockups created in 1973. Appel recalled being shocked to see them in the team’s offices.
"They were the opposite of the home pinstripes," Appel said. "They were navy blue with white pinstripes. The ‘NY’ logo was in white. Gabe liked them. I nearly fainted."
Just try to picture Thurman Munson, Reggie Jackson and the rest of the 1977 Yankees dressed in something like that. Actually, if the current players have their way, you might not have to wait much longer.
“It’s not changing; we have the uniform,” Stanton said. “It’s not like we sat in a room and designed it ourselves. It’s here. It always has been. It’s not like we’re reinventing the wheel.”