Blue Jays Rock Powder Blues, We Approve

A Thing of Beauty
(Photo via National Post)

Last night, the Mets got rained out in Atlanta and I found myself in a bar with a few buddies. Upon walking in, I looked up at the many screens in the house and then looked back toward the hostess. Without really pulling it all together, a few things immediately threw me off.

1) Why wasn’t the Yankees game on any of the screens?
2) Why were they playing some ESPN classic Jays-Sox game everywhere?
3) And, finally, why did everyone seem glued to the screen for a game that obviously took place at least 20 years ago?

So, one can imagine my shock when things began to come into clarity. First, we’d unintentionally stumbled into a true Red Sox bar in lower Manhattan. Second, to my absolute delight, the game being simulcast on tens of tubes was an actual contest taking place during the 2008 season from up in Toronto. The key takeaway: the Blue Jays were rocking the sweetest unis I’ve seen adorned by a Major League ballclub in years.

I’m 30-years old, so perhaps MLB is no longer marketing to me. I’m fine with that. But I guess the bigger question is, what is happening to our younger generation? Is black the only pre-requisite uniform color they’ll accept? Last night’s powder blues brought back memories of what baseball players used to look like for me.

Not sure what did it…the aggressive onslaught of powder blue from neck to toe…the pullover-style jersey…the two-toned helmets and hats…or the old school-style blue stirrups and belts…whatever it was, the combination seemed to somehow magically transport me back to baseball yesteryear. Guys looked less juiced, scrappier, more like baseball players. David Eckstein, the ultimate throwback, looked like he could be playing second base in 1982.

I hope to see more of the Jays unis, although some disagree.

C’mon, how much better are they than this?