Orioles must rethink sponsored (and likely ugly) uniform patches | READER COMMENTARY
Welcome, David Rubenstein and the new Orioles ownership group. As a 30-year season ticket holder, it was refreshing to hear that winning a World Series championship is a top priority for the new owner (“Rubenstein lays out club priorities,” March 28).
In his Opening Day news conference, Rubenstein discussed the possibility of selling naming rights to Oriole Park at Camden Yards. The practice of selling stadium naming rights has become a commonplace and potentially lucrative revenue stream for sports franchises. Recall that the current name of our baseball stadium was an ungainly compromise between then-owner Eli Jacobs and Gov. William Donald Schaefer. Jacobs vehemently wanted Oriole Park; Schaefer insisted on Camden Yards. Thus, the current moniker hardly rolls off the tongue.
Some sportswriters have come to use the similarly clunky abbreviation “OPACY.” So, a name change is highly unlikely to provoke a fan uprising. Most of us would still refer to the stadium as Camden Yards. Like its northern neighbor Fenway Park, the name Camden Yards evokes an iconic hallowed ground for our nation’s baseball fans.
On the other hand, there is the issue of uniform ads. It was discouraging to learn that the Orioles are in discussions to add an advertising patch to their uniform sleeves (“Orioles expect to add jersey patch sponsor before end of 2024 season,” April 5). Teams hire graphic designers to craft logos and lettering that portray a particular ethos. Jerseys are made attractive so that fans scramble to buy their team’s latest iteration. The current Major League Baseball collective bargaining agreement signed in 2022 allows teams to add advertising patches to their uniforms. So far, the results ain’t pretty.
Too often, the corporate logo colors clash with the uniform. A particularly glaring example is the Atlanta Braves’ patch sponsored by the Quikrete concrete company. Atlanta’s red and blue uniform palette is now marred by a bright yellow patch bearing the image of a concrete bag! I kid you not. And don’t think for a minute that the players are indifferent about their uniform appearance. Orioles players were critical of the small lettering on the new Nike Vapor Premier uniform. They complained that the jerseys look like a cheap “knockoff version” (“Orioles players give mixed reviews of MLB’s new jerseys: ‘It doesn’t feel right,'” Feb. 18). Athletes, military personnel and first responders are taught to keep their uniforms neat and polished looking. A sharp uniform is a reflection of the pride one has in the institution it symbolizes.
I hope that the Orioles reconsider the decision to add a jersey patch sponsor to their uniforms. While doing so, I ask that the decision-makers reflect on a related time-honored baseball adage. It goes, “The name on the front of the jersey represents who you play for, the name on the back of the jersey represents who raised you. Do them both justice.”
— Eugene Wu, Sparks
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