Ugly uniform contest: The Padres win!

Ugliest baseball uniform ever?

Players Weekend uniform

From today's NY Times:

The summer has always been baseball’s moment alone in the major sports landscape, without meaningful competition from the N.F.L., the N.B.A. or the N.H.L. As football rumbles ever closer to starting its season, Major League Baseball deserves credit for two August initiatives to increase its appeal...The Players Weekend uniforms are just the opposite: distinctive, not homogenized. The individual touches are charming, including the shoulder patch on which each player can write the name of someone important in his life. Anything like this, with potential appeal to young fans, can only help baseball grow...

Rob's comment:

Wrong! This is what happens when you let the people in the front office get "creative" with your product, like the infamous "New Coke" fiasco in days of yore. Baseball doesn't need to be "promoted" so energetically---or even significantly changed to attract young fans. Leave them alone. When they go to games with their folks, they will love it, along with the hot dogs and the cotton candy. It also sets a good example: thousands of grownups happily behaving themselves.

Leave baseball alone. It doesn't need changes, regardless of how well-intended. That it hasn't changed much in a hundred years is part of its charm. It doesn't need the designated hitter, goofy mascots, and instant replay to challenge calls. Don't like the call? Too fucking bad. Bad calls by umpires are part of the game. That teaches kids an important lesson: sometimes life is unfair, and there's nothing anyone can do about it.

And please don't use Giants in those awful TV ads that have them mugging for the camera, especially when they're 40 games out of first place: The Giants join the Cute Movement.