On March 29, 2022, the Washington Nationals released their Nike City Connect Cherry Blossom jerseys. These jerseys are the latest in the line of a series of jerseys by Nike which deviate from a team’s typical colors and uniforms and attempt to connect with the culture and history of the cities in which the team plays.
The National’s jerseys have received some of the most positive feedback from fans out of all of the City Connect Jerseys that Nike has released. Last year the teams that released Jerseys were the Dodgers, Cubs, White Sox, Red Sox, Diamondbacks, Marlins, and Giants. Some of these Jerseys, particularly the Dodgers and Cubs received negative feedback on account of their failure to deviate much from the teams’ traditional jerseys and really invest in the cultural heritage of two very rich cities and two teams with significant baseball legacies.
The Washington Nationals, however, received almost unanimous support for their uniform design which is uncommon in a city full of bitter sports fans, who are not used to winning. Just two months ago, DC sports fans gave very mixed reviews on the Washington Football Team announcing their new name and uniforms the “Washington Commanders.” Many DC fans were unhappy with the name and across social media, fans expressed frustration with the name. The National’s new jerseys received the opposite reaction.
The Nationals typically wear jerseys with Red, White, and Blue insignia, and a “Curly W” logo, oftentimes compared to the Walgreens logo. However, their new jerseys have a smokey gray background with a black flower silhouette pattern, a white WSH abbreviation in block letters across the chest, and pink cherry blossoms just under that logo. There is a cherry blossom tree drawing above the hip, and a pink DC flag on the sleeve. The hat features a boxy W, paying tribute to the Senators that were the baseball team in DC for many years until the 1960s, along with cherry blossom petals.
These jerseys pay homage to the Washington DC Cherry Blossom festival, which occurs in late March or early April every year, as the cherry blossom trees along the tidal basin reach their peak bloom. The festival brings droves of tourists to the area every year, a city in bloom and coming to life as the flowers unfold, their pink buds signaling the end of a bleak gray winter and showing to the world that spring has sprung in our nation’s capital in a dramatic and beautiful fashion.
When thinking of our nation’s capital, many think of partisan politics, business, government, monuments, museums, and everything they saw on their eighth-grade field trip to DC. The Nationals have plugged into the monuments and historical aspects of their city, with spring training hats featuring the US Capitol Building, their colors matching our nation’s flag, a bald eagle mascot, and racing presidents during the fourth inning along the warning track every game. They now instead plug in with a cultural aspect of the city that many are not aware of and bring attention to a joyful season for DMV (DC, Maryland, Northern Virginia) residents.
The Nationals’ released these new jerseys for sale with much fanfare at the Team Store outside the ballpark on the morning of March 30. The National’s broadcast company, MASN’s correspondent Dan Kolko rode in a carriage pulled by the Budweiser Clydesdales down N street as hundreds of fans were lined up along the sidewalk, itching to get their hands on the new jerseys and related merchandise.
The Nationals debuted the jerseys opening weekend against the Mets in their 5-0 Loss to the New York Mets Saturday, April 9th and continued repping the threads in their first win of the season on Sunday, April, 10. The Nats will most likely wear the jerseys twice a month, similarly to the Gold world series champions jerseys from 2020. The jerseys are a much needed positive note for a team in full rebuild mode, they will be a highlight in what is looking to be a bleak season for the Nats.