Are the Mets City Connect Jerseys the Best in the MLB?
When I think of sports teams, the first thing that comes to mind is usually the uniforms, especially when I was little. Whichever uniform looked the coolest would be my favorite team.
In 2021, Nike and Major League Baseball partnered to make jerseys representing the cultural aspect of the teams’ respective cities, hence the name “City Connect Jerseys”.
Teams came out with jerseys, some good and some bad. As a Mets fan, I wondered when my team would get their jersey.
Me and all the other Mets fans had to wait until 2024.
2024 rolls around, and The MLB and Nike announce the next batch of City Connect uniforms will be revealed in 2024. The Mets were on the list and were scheduled to get their jerseys in the first month of the season.
I was ecstatic.
Since the Yankees refused to get a City Connect Jersey back in 2021, the Mets had the opportunity to make some unique jerseys that represent all the New York City boroughs instead of just Queens.
On April 19th, The Mets revealed their City Connect uniforms, which were met with mixed reactions.
The Mets went with a gray jersey with black pinstripes that has NYC in bold black letters in the middle. This was controversial because fans thought it was too like a Yankee jersey.
I disagree.
Mets fans also didn’t like that it is said NYC instead of Queens. While these fans have a point, the Mets play in Queens, not the Big Apple itself. But at the end of the day, Queens is in New York City, it was a great idea to use the name that gained all the traction.
Each City Connect jersey has neat hidden “Easter eggs” that link it to the city, and the Mets’ jersey has a lot of them.
The first one is in the pinstripes I mentioned earlier. They are designed to look like the diamonds and circles that make up the NYC subway system.
The black sleeve patch with a hint of purple is a NYC subway token. The purple represents the 7-Line train, the subway you take to the Mets stadium, Citi Field.
The jersey and hat (we’ll get to the hat later) have a lot of purple outlines on the jersey representing the 7-Line train, but it’s just the right amount of purple. Not too much purple where it becomes overwhelming and overpowering, but not too little to make the jersey look bland and like a Yankee jersey.
Now to the Mets City Connect hat, which happens to be my favorite hat in Major League Baseball.
The Mets went with a dark gray hat with a black Mets logo outlined in white. The key feature of the hat is the Queensboro bridge stretched across the front of the hat (this also appears on the jersey and the pants).
My favorite feature of the hat is on the inside. Hidden behind the concrete jungle-style brim is the New York City subway system. Its bright colors are on a map inside of your head. This is by far the most unique feature of this hat.
So, are these the best City Connect jerseys in the MLB? Yes and no.
Even though I’m a Mets fan I can say that these aren’t the best City Connect uniforms, although they turned out surprisingly well. But the City Connect hat is my favorite MLB hat to this day.
