New Cubs Road Uniform: Navy's Lookin' Fine

Well the downloadable demo mode of Photoshop has sure proved itself useful.  Here you see my edited version of the Cubs' current road uniform, simple but better.

I'm a fan of the home pinstripes and blue alternate jerseys, although it doesn't really make sense that the Cubs only wear the blue one on the road now.  Anyway, the road gray uniform is, let's just say, less than exciting.  So I decided to take it upon myself to do something about it.  Everywhere where 'Cubbie Blue' was on this uniform has been replaced with navy.  Navy is an idea the Cubs tried to implement on batting practice caps and jerseys from 2004-2006 but they didn't do a good job of incorporating it into the scheme.  But the navy here (and on the new navy alternate I will be finished with soon) looks more appropriate.

First, check out the cap.  The Cubs eliminated the red-billed road cap in 2009 because it supposedly was too much of a hassle to use two different caps and helmets.  I think that was a big mistake and the hassle doesn't seem to bother a team like the Astros, who have two different caps, not to mention five different uniform combinations.  So the red-billed cap has returned.  Nothing on the jersey -- the script, numbers, MLB logo, and Cub shoulder patch -- was changed except for that fact that where 'Cubbie Blue' used to be, there is now navy.  The pants are boring too, so I added a red and blue stripe, outlined in black, to the sides.  As you can see, the socks and belt are navy as well.

I'm sure many Cubbie traditionalists would be against these changes, but I'm not touching the pinstripes.  Also, the fact is that while the pinstriped home uniform is one of the most classic in baseball and has stayed relatively the same for many, many years but the road uniform has been changed relatively frequently.  Even just in 1996, this thing that looked to many like a uniform for the Cuban national baseball team was the Cubs' road jersey.  Speaking of change, the navy brings this uniform up to date plenty.

I submitted the photo you see here to a blog website can Uni Watch that analyzes professional sports uniforms; as far as I know, it's probably the largest uniform-themed sports community website in the country.  In a frequent segment called Uni Tweaks, people from all over the country submit their edited 'uni tweaks' and a few are selected to be featured in a blog post.  This uniform edit of mine was selected on Sunday and can be seen on the page here (scroll down to the Uni Tweaks portion of the post).  I didn't think this had a real chance of getting on there, considering the changes I made are much more minor than the changes most people make on this segment.  But soon, the new navy alternate I'm working on will be finished and released and I have higher hopes for that uniform than this one.  Stay tuned for the release of the new one, and Eamus Catuli.