On the first day of spring, I thought it would be nice to
take a glance at the history of Yankee spring training and batting practice
uniforms. You’ll see I’ve now updated the database with a section on spring/BP uniforms
broken into two drawings – one covering c.1980-1999, and the other covering
2000-2014.
Prior to the late 70’s/early 80’s the Yankees simply wore
road uniforms for workouts and the previous year’s uniforms for spring
training. Around 1980, the Yankees began wearing a double-knit navy top with a
white tackle-twill “NY” logo for workouts and spring training. My research has
pointed to these early jerseys as being manufactured by Sand Knit.
In 1983, Roman Sport produced a V-neck mesh pullover which
was used for only one year. You’ll notice the “NY” logo is much bolder and
distinctive than the logo on regular game jerseys.
From 1984 until the end of the 80’s, Wilson manufactured
navy tops very similar to the original Sand Knit’s. These included tops with
set-in sleeves using the bold logo introduced by Roman Sport and from roughly
1987 on, tops with raglan sleeves and a logo matching the kind on game jerseys.
In the early 1990’s mesh tops were back, once again
manufactured by Wilson with raglan sleeves.
Russell Athletic took over and introduced pullovers with a
two-button Henley design which also added white stripes at the sleeves. This
basic design, including a regular full button-down version was later used by
Majestic Athletic and lasted through the spring of 2002.
In the spring
training games of 2002, the Yankees wore a button-down mesh jersey which was
essentially identical to previous year’s but with the white sleeve stripes
removed.
From 2003-2006 Majestic ditched mesh for their first iteration
of a Cool-Base material. These jerseys were unique for having mesh-like
underarm vents.
Starting in 2007, Majestic introduced two-buttoned pullover
jerseys with colored side panels: white for home, gray for road. The road
jerseys used by the Yankees in the springs of 2007 and 2008 were virtually
identical to the home version, but the side panels were gray and the “NY” was
silver with a white outline.
This changed in 2009, when the road jersey featured “NEW
YORK” on the front in silver with the white outline.
With the exception of the reintroduction of full
buttoned-down jerseys in 2011, and changes in side panels, Yankees spring/BP
jerseys have remained fairly consistent in recent years.
So, there you have it – an abbreviated history of Yankee
spring and batting practice jerseys. The early years of these jerseys were
somewhat difficult to document without many pictures or authentic-used
examples, so if anyone feels they can offer more information and insight on
these jerseys please feel free to contact me so I can alter the information
here accordingly.
