Similar to how the NBA has enlisted its teams, including the Dallas Mavericks, to design a new “City Edition'' uniform each season, Major League Baseball has been asking select teams to create an alternate uniform for occasional use over the last couple of years.
Why do teams have to do this, other than to sell a stadium full of new merchandise? According to MLB.com, “the Nike MLB City Connect program was created in 2021 to celebrate the bond between each club and its city.” The Boston Red Sox, for a striking example, eschewed their historical, classic patterns of red, white, navy blue and gray for a yellow and blue design to mirror the visual theme of the Boston Marathon.
Of course, the Arlington-based Rangers, a franchise that serves as the home team for both Dallas and Fort Worth, must “connect” with a larger geographical swath than the average MLB club. That’s where things get a little odd.
Ladies and gentlemen, we give you…. the Peagle?
In an effort to combine the baseball histories of both Dallas and Fort Worth, the Rangers have created “a mythical creature,” according to a descriptive graphic explainer tweeted out by the team on Monday. The Peagle is a winged creature with a long tail that morphs together the mascots for old-school, and now defunct, minor league baseball teams the Dallas Eagles and Fort Worth Panthers.
Our story. pic.twitter.com/GfSdo4BOCe
— Texas Rangers (@Rangers) April 17, 2023
Another design feature that should annoy any local sports fan is the inclusion of spurs wrapped around a Texas shape. It’s supposed to be a tribute to the Dallas-Fort Worth Spurs, another defunct minor league team from before the Rangers appeared in Texas. We’re not sure how any North Texas sports lover can see this logo and not cringe a bit as it unquestionably will remind us of how the San Antonio Spurs basketball team has owned our Mavericks for the past couple of decades.
The large, kinda-sorta gothic lettering style on the left chest isn’t terrible, but again, there’s a spur added onto that. Enough with the spurs! We get it.
Hating on City Connect jerseys in baseball and mocking the NBA’s many City Edition uniforms have become pastimes of their own. There are some terrible ones spread out across both leagues, but the Twitterverse seemed to enjoy a particularly gleeful brand of mockery when it came time to discuss the Rangers' new duds.
Sports Illustrated led with a headline stating “Baseball World Roasts Texas Rangers for Bizarre City Connect Uniforms.” Included in the piece is a tweet from SI staff writer Matt Verderame simply, but firmly, stating, “These are atrocious.”
Local sports media personalities got in on the action too. But Sean Bass, the host of 1310 The Ticket’s Diamond Talk Rangers post-game show, seems to like the odd tops. “Everything from the waist up is great,” he tweeted, seemingly taking a shot at the dark (very dark) blue pants.
Texas Radio Hall of Famer and 97.1 the Freak host Mike Rhyner replied to another tweet asking for his take. “I like the tribute aspect to the minor league teams of yore … beyond that, they should let the game come to them — a lot of trying a little too hard going on there,” he tweeted.
In a rather enlightening thread, The Athletic’s locally based baseball reporter, Levi Weaver, gave the new uniform a solid breakdown. He expressed appreciation for certain nods to history, but he’s not fully sold just yet, tweeting “I need to see the cream jerseys and dark pants on the field before I make a final call. First thought is I don’t *love* it? But I’ll withhold judgment.”
4. I need to see the cream jerseys and dark pants on the field before I make a final call. First thought is I don’t *love* it? But I’ll withhold judgement. pic.twitter.com/bXBuhlHNqp
— Levi Weaver (@ThreeTwoEephus) April 17, 2023
Craig Miller of The Ticket’s morning show modeled the new jersey on Monday on his Twitter feed before adding further comment during his show on Tuesday. The self-proclaimed "uniform czar" said he thought the jersey and cap were “pretty cool.” He liked the cream color for a home jersey, although he confessed to “not being crazy about” the Peagle.
Miller’s co-host, George Dunham, added the most level-headed, realistic take on the new City Connect uniforms. “Call me cynical, but this is just a way to sell more merch,” he said. “And it will, and the people who are mad about it [the new uniform] will just make the people that like it, like it that much more to the point where they’ll go buy it and wear it to Ranger games.”
