Holiday weekends are going to be a little extra special this summer, as Major League Baseball has unveiled its new line of Special Event uniforms for the 2017 season. The uniforms cover the four major holidays during the season as well as what will be worn for the All-Star Game and it’s Home Run Derby/Workout Day.

Unlike in 2016 (see all the 2016 uniforms here) when the uniforms were worn on the date of the holiday only, this year they will be worn throughout the entire weekend for each of the four holidays represented: Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, Father’s Day, and the Fourth of July/Independence Day. Each of the Mother’s and Father’s Day uniforms will be worn twice, for the Saturday and Sunday, while Memorial Day will get three games extending over to the Monday, the Fourth of July is on a Tuesday this year so they’ll each be worn four times (Saturday-Tuesday).

The process began last February, the design of the entire set a result of a massive collaboration and co-operation between four different companies responsible for outfitting every Major League player – New Era focusing on the design of the cap, Majestic Athletic the jerseys and pants, Stance takes care of the socks, and Major League Baseball oversees the entire operation.

So, what’s new?

‣ The inclusion of the special Stance sock designs is the big change here, each of the holidays getting their own unique look, some a little more unique than others (just be sure to check out the All-Star designs in this post).

‣ With uniforms being worn across multiple series’ some teams were forced to make home and road sets for each of the holidays.

‣ The introduction of a “heathered” pattern to most of the new caps introduced today.

‣ The reduction in the amount of camo used, and an entirely new version of it on the Memorial Day set

‣ Fourth of July caps feature new raised “glossy” logos.

‣ Caps for the Home Run Derby made of a new, very lightweight material

Things to look out for, the Milwaukee Brewers are using their retro ball-in-glove logo for everything, they’ve also replaced their modern “Brewers” script with “Milwaukee”. The Cleveland Indians will not be wearing their “Chief Wahoo” alternate logo on any of these jersey sleeves, instead you’ll see the block “C” logo they’re definitely not (wink) moving more-and-more towards. The Toronto Blue Jays will be following the American crowd for most of these events, the largest exception being Independence Day which will see them doing their own thing entirely, while Memorial Day has them with just a minor change versus the rest.

So, let’s go through all of that in chronological order in incredible detail starting with…

MOTHER’S DAY

Uniforms to be worn Saturday, May 13th and Sunday, May 14th

This year’s Mother’s Day set features a graphite cap with pink visor and pill, and a pink-and-white version of the usual cap logo on the front of the crown. (Note: The D’Backs will actually wear the “A” logo on their cap, not the snake head as seen in the photo above)

Jerseys are similar to last season, they’re white or grey depending on where the team is playing that weekend with each team’s usual jersey wordmark re-coloured pink and graphite. Numbers, stripes, and all sleeve patches are also re-coloured pink, white, and graphite.

Teams (not players) will be able to choose between one of two sock designs, either an all pink design or one which is graphite on the top with some pink on the lower half.

A look at the Mother’s Day cap and jersey design for every team in 2017, for a larger view just click the image itself:

All of Major League Baseball’s proceeds from the sale of their Mother’s Day merchandise are donated to Susan G. Komen and Stand Up To Cancer.

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Jump ahead two weeks and we’re at it again, this time we go green for St. Patrick’s Day!

MEMORIAL DAY

Uniforms to be worn Saturday, May 27th through Monday, May 29th

We’ve got a new camouflage style this year, no longer using the USMC design the league is now going with what they’re calling “ripstop woodland” camouflage. The use of camouflage has been downplayed versus previous seasons, now appearing only on bill of cap and on the new Stance socks; there’s no camo anywhere on the jersey.

Caps are olive green with each respective team logo re-coloured black and green, the visor features the new ripstop woodland camo pattern. On the side of each cap are five black stars representing the five branches of the United States Military. The Toronto Blue Jays caps will instead have four maple leaves on the side in place of the stars.

Jerseys are either white, grey, or Arizona Diamondbacks. As the Memorial Day weekend extends through to a Monday, many of these teams will be going from home to road (or vise-versa) during this uniform series and therefore require both a home and road version of the set; in these cases their cap remains the same for both the home and road games. Note there’s no camouflage anywhere on the jersey, just a re-colouring of everything to flat green; the five stars from the cap are carried over to the sleeve:

Unlike Mother’s Day, Memorial Day will see only one sock design option. Quite simply, it’s the new camouflage pattern carried over from the cap visor.

A look at the 43(!) different Memorial Day uniforms to be worn between May 27th and 29th this year, click on the image below for a much larger version of it:

As always, all of MLB’s proceeds from the sale of the Memorial Day caps, jerseys, and socks will be donated to MLB Charities — which are used to support programs for military veterans and their families.

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FATHER’S DAY

Uniforms to be worn Saturday, June 17th and Sunday, June 18th

You gotta figure fans of 1980s road baseball uniforms really look forward to Father’s Day each year. While the jerseys remain relatively the same as last year the caps now have a blue shadow tech heather crown instead of the old all-graphite crown and visor.

Jerseys are once again white, grey, or umpire graphite depending on if it’s a home or road game. Team wordmarks, patches, names, and numbers have all been re-coloured to powder blue and graphite. The lone exception being the San Francisco Giants who for some reason (*cough* the Dodgers *cough*) would rather not be predominantly blue.

Like Mother’s Day there are two sock designs for teams (again, not players) to choose between. The designs are identical to those worn on Mother’s Day just with the pink re-coloured powder blue.

A look at the entire league, again take note of the San Francisco Giants and how they danced around looking too much like the Dodgers here:

All of MLB’s proceeds from the sales of Father’s Day jerseys, caps, and socks will be donated to the Prostate Cancer Foundation as well as to Stand Up to Cancer.

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INDEPENDENCE DAY

Uniforms to be worn Saturday, July 1st through Tuesday, July 4th

While Jeff Goldblum is off battling the aliens, we’ll be busy firing up the grill watching the game on our tablet and seeing these red, white, and blue uniforms take the field.

Right off the bat you’ll notice the new material used for the cap logo, instead of being embroidered on as they’ve always been we’re getting what they’re calling “LiquidChrome”. A shiny new material featuring each team’s logo in silver with an American flag pattern. I took a look inside the crown of these caps, it appears these patches are glued on for those who care to know such things. The crown is either blue or red, team decision, with the “heathered” pattern we saw on the Mother’s and Father’s Day caps.

For the 29 American teams your jersey will be either white, grey, or regret graphite. Jersey wordmarks, numbers, and names all incorporate a new waving flag stars and stripes pattern and have been re-coloured red and blue as have all team sleeve patches. On the right arm is an American flag patch (no, it’s not backwards, pretend the player is a flag pole).

Socks get interesting; one leg will feature a field of white stars on blue, the other will have red and white stripes. A look at the unmatched pair, when worn together forming an American flag inspired design:

You may have noticed that Fourth of July weekend swallows up Canada Day this year as this event begins on July 1st. The plan I’ve been told is for the Toronto Blue Jays to wear their new patriotic red and white alternate uniform for their games on July 1st and 2nd, while the Boston Red Sox (who will be their opponent on these dates) will wear their “USA!” uniforms but with a Canadian flag patch on the cap on July 1st. For the Jays games on July 3rd and 4th the team will switch to their usual blue alternate jerseys with a Canadian and American flag patch on each sleeve and an “Independence Day” styled cap just with the U.S. flag pattern removed from the logo.

A look at the entire league in their patriotic colours:

All of MLB’s proceeds from the sale of the Independence Day collection will go towards supporting military veterans programs and their families.

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ALL-STAR FESTIVITIES

The special event uniform series finishes at the halfway point of the season because everything from here-on-out is serious baseball. The MLB All-Star Game will take place in Miami, Florida this July and if there’s any franchise and city in this league which invites creative design, you better believe it’s the Miami Marlins and South Florida.

HOME RUN DERBY

On July 9th and 10th the league will hold it’s usual set of All-Star related events, and while everyone rightly focuses on the Home Run Derby there are a couple of other occasions in which these uniforms will be worn: the SIRIUSXM All-Star Futures Game, Gatorade All-Star Workout Day, and of course the aforementioned T-Mobile Home Run Derby.

Caps will be black and made of a “Honeycomb open-hole mesh” crown, I tried one on, they’re quite light and very breathable. I’d consider myself a traditionalist but I found this new pattern to be fairly interesting and wouldn’t mind at all seeing it used for Spring Training in the future. The side of the cap has the 2017 All-Star Game logo in the new LiquidChrome style also seen on the Fourth of July caps, team logos re-coloured orange, black, and white.

Under the visor? Pure Miami Marlins:

Jerseys are blue for the American League and orange for the Nationals with shoulders and sleeves in black for both. The 2017 All-Star Game patch on the right sleeve and the team logo patch of the player, re-coloured in orange and blue) on the left:

That pattern from under the visor on the cap carries over to the socks to be worn with this set, yeah, check these beauties out:

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2017 MLB ALL-STAR GAME

Finally we have the All-Star Game itself which still has its players wearing their usual home or road jerseys, a tradition which we hope lasts forever. The caps, however, haven’t been so lucky, replaced now with a special All-Star design for the fourth consecutive season.

Caps this year are black, red, green, navy, or royal blue depending on whatever colour a particular team usually wears and all appear with a heather pattern on the crown and visor. Team logos have been re-coloured gold and an All-Star Game patch is on the side also in gold. The eyelets have little golden stars around each of them and the pill on the top of the cap is metallic gold.

Jerseys are the standard team uniform, the player signature on the front of the jersey has been removed for 2017 and instead of featuring their number of All-Star appearances via individual stars near the bottom, a star patch with their number of All-Star Games will be placed on the sleeve. Check it out:

Just a heads up that I’m told the star patch will appear slightly smaller on the actual in-game jerseys.

You may have caught a glimpse of the sock design two photos up, here’s a better look:

Yes. One orange, one blue. No those aren’t options for each team, that’s the set, one leg orange and the other blue. That’ll be an interesting sight to see. I do love the palm tree design… but then again as a (pre-kids) regular attendee of the Grapefruit League, I’m a bit of a sucker for anything warm and Florida.

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Uniforms aren’t the only element getting a new look for each of these special events, we’ll also have special Rawlings baseballs with coloured stitching, lettering, and logos.

We’re going to finish this up with just what these post needs, more photos!

If you click on any of the thumbnails below it will take you to a detailed look at every special event cap and jersey on a team-by-team basis in case you wanted to see how your favourite ballclub will look for each of these holidays.

I’d like to thank Major League Baseball for again having me down to their offices to get a first-hand look at all of the new caps and jerseys, this post wouldn’t have been nearly as comprehensive without that opportunity.

Thanks for reading and please share!