Tribe Uniforms

With the season just a day away, I think now is a good time for a quick discussion of the Indians' 2011 uniforms. Paul Lukas over at UniWatch has already gotten the ball rolling, but I think a fan's perspective is fun as well. Let's go left-to-right.


Blue Road Alternate
Just a great-looking jersey, and that's all there is to it. Lukas rates the move to replace the old red script "I" on the navy cap to a Chief Wahoo as Good - I say it's Excellent. Bye bye, Script I.

What I haven't been able to locate, unfortunately, is the legendary Indians' Alternate Purple jersey favored by Bucko.


Cream Home Alternate
Can someone please explain to me why this isn't just white? Or, for that matter, why it exists at all? The cream looks stupid. The new red cap with navy "C" is a definite downgrade from the red "C" on navy background hat of last year, and as Lukas points out, the INDIANS on the chest is too big. So they've taken my already least favorite uni and given it by far the club's worst hat. Lukas calls this mildly stupid - I call it bad and really think they should just scrap the whole mess.


Gray Road
Classic road grays, Wahoo on the sleeve, Major League-style block lettering of CLEVELAND, and the navy cap with the red C. I want one of these. Lukas says Good, Francis says AWESOME.


White Home
Inasmuch as this is what I typically sport at most Tribe games I attend and the design hasn't been changed for 2011, I'm awarding this a Good rating. Lukas gives this a seriously stupid for the Indians not going back to the 1990's style script "Indians" without the silver outline. Frankly, I simply don't agree - I think the silver trim looks cool and the old design a bit bare, plus silver makes us even better aligned with the colors of PBR. Regardless, I don't think such a minor difference on a classic look warrants a "seriously stupid" rating.

Lukas points out that the Indians may have a bit of an identity crisis in terms of their jersey and color selections, and I think he's on to something. My simple solution is to totally scrap the home cream and the red hat. That leaves us with white, gray, and navy uniforms, and three navy caps - two with Wahoo and one with a red block C. Win, win, win.