AL Uniforms of the 1970s

The Angels didn't stray from the traditional white and grey, but they did make several interesting changes during the early '70s, before settling on their iconic Polyester Pullover look in 1973.

The decade begins with a continuation of the 1969 look, minus the MLB centennial sleeve patch. Both home (white) and away (grey) uniforms are flannel button ups with stylized ANGELS on the chest (red with navy outline at home and navy with red outline on the road). Red stirrups match the bill of the two tone hat, which features the interlocking CA logo and the innovative "halo" at the top of the crown.

The angels upgrade their logo to the lower case "a" with yellow halo on the hat and navy halo on the flannel button up jersey. This "Unicorn" jersey and hat would last just the one year as the transition to double knit polyester gripped MLB.

The Angels ditched the small "a" on the hat after just one season, replacing it with a capitol "A" to match their home scoreboard. The uniforms, however, kept the small "a" font for one more season, while transitioning to double knit polyester. This was clearly a transition year as the jerseys kept the same button up style and lower case fonts. The pants moved to the sansabelt style that would dominate the rest of the era.

The Angels completed the transition to polyester pullover jerseys and "big A" logo. The pants and hats carried on the Sansabelt and "big A" look of 1972. Sticking with the white home and grey away, the jerseys featured front numbers and switched from year to year on whether NOB was included. The state of California with halo patch is featured on the left shoulder. An interesting feature of these jerseys was that the sleeve piping did not reach all the way to the end of the sleeve, leaving a smal

The 1979 uniforms were the same as 1973-78 with the exception of a slightly changed number font and the sleeve piping now becoming a sleeve "cap" by reaching all the way to the end of the sleeves.

The A's have been one of the most (if not THE most) fashion forward MLB franchises ever since Charlie O. Finley took the reigns in 1960. After he spent the '60s changing the team's colors from navy/red to green/yellow (or as he called them, "Kelly Green" and Fort Knox Gold") and moving the team from Kansas City to Oakland, the '70s were spent fine tuning the color explosion uniform options...

The A's entered the new decade with basically the same uniform set as 1969, with a slight change: Finley officially changed the nickname to the A's, adding the 's to the hat and jersey. Unlike most teams, Oakland's set included three distinct colorways: home white; road grey (nicknamed "green mist" by Finley due to it's green tint"); and alternate yellow. The uniforms were made of wool flannel and featured button up vests with multi-colored sanitary socks and stirrups. The hats stayed all green.

The uniforms are the same as 1970, with the exception of the hat billed switching from green to a contrasting yellow. The hat would stay the same for the remainder of the decade (players wore green w/ yellow bill, coaches wore white w/ green bill). The jerseys and pants would not...

This is where things really start to get interesting for the A's uniforms. In 1972, the team joined the wave of converts to double knit polyester pullover jerseys and Sansabelt pants. But with a twist. The A's wore white pants in all games along with either "Fort Knox Gold" or "Kelly Green" both home and away. Except for Sunday home games, when the team busted out the impossibly bright "Wedding Gown White" uniforms for the occasion. Also added for '72 postseason only: front numbers.

The front numbers disappear, but the mix-n-match Sansabelt pants make their first appearance (they would not last long). While they did wear white, yellow, and green pants during the 1973 season, the A's went heavily with the white, only utilizing the colorful pants with their matching jerseys. The green pants would be gone after the 1973 season. But for this one season, the A's would have fully FIVE(!) uniform options.

Minor changes from 1973 to 1974, with the elimination of the all green uniform and the color change on the yellow jersey's "A's" from white to green. This would also be the final season for the rarely worn all yellow uniforms.

By 1975, the A's had dropped both the monochrome green and yellow uniforms and found their groove in the white Sansabelt with mix-n-match polyester pullovers. They would keep this look for the remainder of the decade. The one exception was the 1976 season, when Charlie O added a liberty bell patch to the sleeve in honor of the nation's bicentennial and the team's Philadelphia roots.

The Mariners did not come into existence until 1977, but they managed to have three different looks for those three seasons in the 1970s. Incorporating the blue and yellow colorway with powder blue road uniforms of the 1969 Pilots, the Mariners took this look into the polyester pullover era.

The Mariners joined the American league in 1977 wearing double knit polyester pullovers and Sansabelt pants. Both the white home and powder blue away uniforms featured blue and yellow trim, front numbers, and solid blue stirrups. The solid blue hat featured the classic gold M "trident" logo.

The hats and home whites stay the same, but the road powder blues are updated with more yellow on the sleeve and Sansabelt trim. Very subtle change, but a definite upgrade.

The same uniforms as the 1978 season, with the addition of the 1979 Seattle All Star Game patch on the shoulder. This shoulder patch is notable as the first appearance of the next era of trident logo that would become the team's primary logo in 1981. The new logo also made it's way onto the helmets, accentuated by a white front against the blue helmet.

The Senators moved out of Washington for the second decade in a row when they moved to Texas and became the Rangers in time for the 1972 season. Over the next 8 seasons, the Rangers brought the color explosion back to the franchise with some distinctly Texas style uniforms.

During their first Spring Training, the Rangers wore the most boring MLB uniforms of the 1970s. By the start of the season, they had a much more interesting set with matching home whites and road greys featuring red, white, and blue trim on double knit polyester button up jerseys and Sansabelt pants. The symmetry of the "RangerS" wordmark on the jersey is complemented by the Texas-sized T that would mark the cap for the entire decade.

For the 1975 season, the Rangers updated the Sansabelt pants with a wider red/white/blue piping down the legs and updated the jerseys to a "semi-pullover" with two button neckline. They also made their first attempt at adding some pizzazz to the away jerseys with a new powder blue colorway and TEXAS wordmark on the front. The wording was a bit clunky and would be updated a year later. One novelty of 1975 was the few instances when the team wore white pants with powder blue jerseys.

For 1976, the Rangers modified the "Texas" wordmark on the road powder blue jerseys to match the symmetrical Rangers font on the home jerseys. They also added a sleeve patch with 1776-1976 for the bicentennial year. From 1977-on, the patch remained but without the years. Unfortunately, the mix-n-match was gone for good.

The Royals joined the American League for the 1969 MLB centennial and really hit their stride during the 1970s. As a team whose name is a color, there isn't going to be much change in the general color scheme, but the use of first a blue tinted grey, then powder blue in road uniforms was very well done. The royal blue hat with white KC logo has not changed to this day. It hasn't needed to.

The new Kansas City franchise entered their second season with the same uniforms as 1969, less the MLB centennial sleeve patch. The royal blue hat with KC logo remains a classic look today. Both home and away were classic wool flannel with script blue lettering. While the home is a standard white, the away uniforms have a slight blue tint to the grey flannel.

The uniforms stays essentially the same, but the road flannels (which are still tinted a slight blue) get a new block letter font as the team prepares to move into the powder blue polyester pullover era.

In 1973, the Royals moved to polyester pullover jerseys, sansabelt pants, and bright powder blue road uniforms. The team kept the script lettering on the home jerseys and the block lettering on the away. The subtle change to white lettering against the powder blue away jerseys was a really great touch. These uniforms were so well done that the team had not need to make any changes for an entire decade.

As with many other MLB teams, the Minnesota Twins entered the 1970s sporting white and grey button up flannels and finished up the decade with double knit polyester pullovers and Sansabelt pants in bright colors. The Twins made their transition over a three season span that saw a great "unicorn" uniform along the way.

For the first two seasons of the decade, the Twins wore flannel button up remnants of the 1960s with white pinstriped uniforms at home and grey on the road. Both home and away featured the Twins script wordmark with stylized underline and the Twin Cities sleeve patch. The hat was the traditional navy with TC logo in red and white.

The Twins move to double knit polyester and sansabelt, but not yet pullover jerseys. The home white jerseys are a button up version of what the team would wear through 1986. The road greys, on the other hand, are one of the great "unicorn" uniforms in MLB history. Not only would it be the only grey polyester button up the team would wear for 15 years, but it included one of the most interesting one year only (one jersey only, in fact) patches ever, affectionately known as the "floating heads."

The home whites remain unchanged from 1972, but the away uniforms make the permanent (until 1986) switch to powder blue polyester pullover.

The away powder blue uniforms are unchanged for the rest of the decade, but the home whites would undergo a couple more slight updates. For 1974, the Twins finally ditched the button up home jerseys in favor of the more popular polyester pullovers. The coolest upgrade though was in the batting helmets, which featured a tricolor design with navy back, white front, and red bill. Even the TC on the front of the helmet was multi-colored. The rest of the uniform is exactly the same as 1973.

The pants and jerseys - both home and away - stay exactly the same as 1974-75. But the home hats get an upgrade from all navy to bright red crown with navy bill. The away hat stays the same.

Before 1991, no team changed uniform colors and styles more than the Chicago White Sox. During the 1970s, the team went from grey/blue to powder blue and red to navy and white, changing fabrics, styles, and logos multiple times along the way. Here's what the progression looked like...

The White Sox were the first modern team to wear powder blue (in 1964), and by the end of the '60s, they had moved on to a blue tinted grey flannel away uniform with white lettering on the front spelling out both the city and team name and number on left chest. These uniforms were what they moved into the new decade with, including blue hats with with white "SOX" logo, blue sanitary sox under white striped stirrups, and home uniforms with blue SOX logo on the left chest and number on right chest

1971 was one of the biggest cosmetic changes in a history of them for the White Sox. While red had been used as an accent color a few times in the franchise's history, it had never been used like this. The new hats utilized the same white "SOX" logo, but on a bright red background. Both the home and away flannel jerseys featured zippered fronts: home white with red pinstripes; away in powder blue. The home jersey featured a logo patch on the left sleeve while the away jersey had a number patch.

After completely changing their look in 1971, the White Sox joined the double knit polyester revolution in time for the 1972 season. Other than the material, the uniforms - both home and away - were exactly the same. Notice the White Sox roundel logo on the bright red stirrups.

Bill Veeck (as in wreck) purchased the White Sox following the 1976 season and went "retro" with turn of the century style uniforms that included faux-collar un-tucked double knit polyester jerseys, old-timey fonts for city, name and numbers, high pants, and striped socks. Funny thing is that these turned out to be the most '70s uniforms of them all. For '76, they tried out white hats for a week and shorts for 3 games in August. Neither were well-received, disappearing as quickly as they arrived

The ill-fated white hats and shorts are gone, but the White Sox are not giving up on the mix-n-match collared/un-tucked jerseys, short pants, and striped socks. The navy & white color scheme goes from top (navy hat with white block lettered SOX) to bottom (white socks with navy stripes that changed slightly each season). In the middle was the same white and navy pants and jerseys, worn in multiple combinations.

The American League moved into Canada in 1977 with the powder blue clad Blue Jays. The home uniforms would remain the same for the first 12 seasons, but it took a few years to perfect those road powder blues. As for the hat, a royal blue hat with white front and logo incorporating a bird, a maple leaf, and a baseball are about as cool as it gets.

The Blue Jays came out of the gate with the perfect home uniforms - white double knit polyester pullovers and sansabelt pants with royal and powder blue trim, logo on front center of jersey, and their unique "split letter" font that will always be associated with this franchise. The road uni's, however, took a few years to perfect. In this inaugural season, the powder blue kit matched the home whites, except with a solid blue TORONTO above the front logo.

The hats and home uniforms stay the same, but the Blue Jays decide to try something different with the font on the front TORONTO wordmark and back numbering. This was actually a pretty cool look with blue numbers/letters bordered in white. However, it was not the split letter font and would not last.

The Blue Jays finally figure out which direction they want to go with the road powder blues, changing the front wordmark from "TORONTO" to "BLUE JAYS" and making the whole uniform match the home whites, just in reverse colors. Both the home and away uniforms from 1979 would last through 1988.

The Seattle Pilots left 1970 Spring Training and landed in Milwaukee, becoming the Brewers just in time for the start of the season. Their original flannel uniforms were adapted from the Pilots uniforms, bringing the blue & yellow colorway and powder blue flannels to Wisconsin. During the remainder of the decade, the franchise would make changes to the look and logo, but keep their awesome color scheme.

The last minute change of venue meant that the newly christened Brewers had very little time to come up with a new identity. So, they just made minor alterations to the Pilots blue hat and white home / powder blue away flannels, changing the yellow S on the cap to an M (and eliminating the "scrambled eggs"), while fixing the jersey lettering to read BREWERS both home and away (all blue caps at home, yellow away with the e's in lower case. All other front numbers/logos were removed.

With an entire year to prepare for their second season in the American League, the Brewers made minor changes to their already awesome uniforms. Both home and away jerseys were upgraded with front numbers. The home jerseys also had a slight change made to the sleeve piping, eliminating the yellow multi-stripes in favor of a thinner blue and yellow piping.

The Brewers moved to double knit polyester pullover jerseys and sansabelt pants in 1972. Sticking with home white, powder blue away, and solid blue hats with yellow block M, the team also adjusted the front wordmark to matching blue with yellow border block letter BREWERS both home and away.

The home uniforms stay exactly the same, while the road powder blues add some extra yellow accents on the front of the hat and the sanitary socks. A wonderful job of improving the small details to really bring the most out of your uniforms.

The Brewers performed a major overhaul of their uniform designs - without changing their color scheme - prior to the 1978 season. The home whites get new royal blue pinstripes and a solid blue wasteband on the sansabelt. The road powder blues ditch the yellow sanitaries, but get a new script Milwaukee wordmark on the jersey front. The hats stay the same colors (all blue at home, yellow front away), but add one of the great logos ever - the MB ball & glove. Plus, white front helmets!

One does not necessarily think of the Cleveland baseball team as one that changes uniforms a lot, but during the 1970s, this team was willing and able to make adjustments to their look nearly every season. Some were upgrades, some not so much...

Cleveland moved into the new decade by changing their uniforms for the first of six consecutive seasons. The 1970 look was actually quite eye-catching with wool flannel pinstripes at home and grey on the road, both featuring "3D" clock lettering as well as back numbers. Team name on home and city on away jersey, both featured a navy hat with red wishbone C trimmed in white.

In one of the more perplexing uniform moves of the 1970s, Cleveland kept the exact same uniforms and hats from 1970, but changed the color and font of the letters and numbers from "3D" red with white and navy trim to a boring navy block lettering. Luckilly, it only lasted one season.

Cleveland changed everything about the 1971 uniforms except for the boring block letter font. Both home white and road grey switch to double knit polyester pullover and sansabelt. The hats go back to the late '60s style red hat with navy wishbone C, while the stirrups go back to red with navy and white stripes. But, the boring block INDIANS on the front of both jerseys makes this first attempt at polyester look more like pajamas.

The two years of boring block letters were worth the wait as Cleveland introduces the "Caveman" font on both the hat and the jersey. The hat and striped stirrups go back to a navy base, while the polyester pullover and sansabelt uniform is basically the same as 1972, but with the upgraded INDIANS caveman wordmark. Plus, the coaches' hats had white piping. As they have done throughout the early part of the decade, the franchise continues to take baby steps toward the coming brilliance.

The 1974 uniforms were exactly the same as the 1973 set, but with the addition of a special red polyester pullover jersey for use on special occasions. The red jersey was worn with the white sansabelt pants and would lead to more mix-n-match options in the coming seasons.

The 1974 experiment with red jerseys went so well that Cleveland decided to do away with the grey uniforms and add red bills to the navy hats. They also added a navy jersey as well as the game changer: red pants! The team went mix-n-match with the white pants under each of the three jersey colors. The red pants were worn with the matching red jersey only - except for one mystery occasion when they wore the navy jersey atop the red pants.

One of the great mysteries of the latter part of the 20th Century is why exactly Cleveland dropped the caveman fonts and mix-n-match uniforms after only five seasons. What came next was a more generic font, both on the hat logo and the jersey wordmark. The grey returns, including grey sansabelt worn with the navy polyester pullover option, plus the city name returns to the road grey uniform. And striped stirrups. Taken by itself, this was a very nice set.

The Orioles enjoyed a decade of excellence - both on the field and in the fashion department - as they made their way through multiple variations of basically the same hat and uniform style, using their orange and black color scheme in several awesome iterations.

The Orioles carried their wool flannel (home white and road grey) uniforms with orange front numbers and black hats with orange bills from the late '60s into 1970. The hat featured the popular smiling bird logo, the home jersey has script "Orioles" and the road jersey has script "Baltimore." The finishing touch is the black, orange, and white striped stirrups.

No team has sported a wider array of uniform styles than the 1971 Orioles. To start the season, the team wore the same uniforms as they wore in 1970. But as the season moved along, the Orioles introduced both a new double knit polyester home set with sansabelt as well as an all orange set supplied by Brooks Robinson Sporting Goods for special occasions. Then, they busted out a new road grey polyester set with reversed sleeve piping that was only to be worn for the 1971 post season.

The double knit polyester home white uniforms introduced midway through the 1971 season continue (through 1988 in fact), with the special all orange set making a couple more appearances before being dropped for good. As for the road grey set, the 1972 team wore a slightly altered version of the 1971 postseason set. The jersey kept the script Baltimore wordmark, but switched the sleeve piping back to match the home sleeves.

The orange uniforms are gone and the front wordmark on the road grey jerseys has been altered to match the script "Orioles" from the home white jerseys. These button up jerseys and sansabelt pants would make up the core of the Orioles uniform set through 1988. For 1973-74, the hats remained the black hat with orange bill and smiling bird, and there were no alternate jerseys. Both of these would soon change...

The home white and road grey stay the same, but the hats change, adding a font white panel that helps accentuate the smiling bird logo. Plus, the Orioles add an alternate polyester pullover jersey in orange to be worn with the white sansabelt pants. To go with this alternate uniform, Baltimore adds a special all black with orange front panel version of the smiling bird hat. This hat would last just the two seasons.

All jerseys and pants stay the same, but the orange front caps are retired, leaving all three uniform combos topped by the tri-colored hat.

The Red Sox started and ended the decade with some of the most boring uniforms in MLB. But in between, Boston fans enjoyed some of the more interesting polyester pullover era uniforms.

The Red Sox have never been known for cutting edge uniforms and the plain white and grey wool flannel with no trim and traditional navy hat with red & white B logo did nothing to dissuade one from this sentiment. The home white featured a stylized RED SOX in red with navy trim while the road grey had a block BOSTON in navy with red trim (this red trim being the main redeeming factor). The one really cool touch was the striped stirrups, which the Red Sox hung onto longer than most teams.

An interesting bridge year in Boston where the Red Sox start the season wearing the 1971 uniforms and finish it wearing the 1973 uniforms. The navy hat with red B trimmed in white stays the same. The new double knit polyester pullover jerseys with sansabelt pants are unique in that they do not feature sleeve piping or stripes - just a red and navy trim at the neck. The home white jersey features a RED SOX wordmark while the road grey reads BOSTON, both in a red fancy font with navy outline.

The Red Sox 1973 uniforms were exactly the same as the uniforms they introduced midway through the 1972 season. Polyester pullovers with sansabelt and navy hats.

The same home and away uniforms as 1973, but with the controversial addition of a home Sunday set that included a brighter white jersey and pants, solid red stirrups, and a red front panel on the navy hat with a navy B trimmed in white.

The Sunday special uniforms (including the hats) are gone, but the full-time hats are upgraded with all over red crowns and navy bill. For part of the 1975 and 1976 seasons, the jerseys had a Massachusetts Bicentennial patch on the sleeve.

The Red Sox set baseball fashion back decades when they dropped the awesome polyester pullovers and sansabelt pants for one of the most boring uniform sets in MLB history. The home white uniforms become a polyester version of the 1971 button ups, while the road grey takes it another step by eliminating all trim and color with just a navy block BOSTON wordmark. Even the hats go back to the plain navy with red/white B.

The Tigers have done such a great job with their iconic Old English D logo that they haven't had much need to change their uniforms over the years. The interesting part of the Detroit look is the dichotomy between the home whites and road greys. There were two variations in the 1970s, here they are...

The Tigers enter the new decade with the same wool flannel uniforms that they performed so well in during the late 1960s. The home white features navy trim at the neck and button placket with the traditional Old English D on the left chest. The road grey features no trim with basic block lettering DETROIT in navy across the chest. What redeems these jerseys is the addition of the player number on the right sleeve. Both home and away feature the traditional navy hat with white Old English D.

The Tigers made only one uniform change during the 1970s. For the 1972 season, the team made the switch to double knit polyester. That was the only change for the home whites. For the road grey though, everything changed from the hat (the D logo is enlarged in orange with white outline) down to the stirrups (navy with white and orange stripes). In between, orange, white, and navy trim is applied to new pullover jerseys and sansabelt pants. No team has ever had more contrast between home and away

The 1970s were about experimentation and change (when it came to baseball uniforms). The Yankees are not. But if you like tradition, the Yankees home pinstripes and road grey is for you. The Yankees did have one nice creative touch during the decade: the 1973 sleeve patch - an homage to 50 years of Yankee Stadium - was a great patch.

on the navy NEW YORK across the chest.If there is one team that belongs in wool flannel, it's the New York Yankees. As the decade begins, that's what they are wearing. If you have seen one Yankees uniform, you've seen them all. Home whites feature navy pinstripes with navy NY on the left chest. Road greys feature no trim

The Yankees switch to double knit polyester for the 1973 season. Besides the material change, the road grey jerseys get white trim on the NEW YORK wordmark and navy/white piping on the sleeves. The home white pinstripe jerseys get the special Yankee Stadium sleeve patch for 1973 and go back to the traditional look thereafter.