The NY Yankees' Pinstripes - Understated Power, and a Classic American Icon

[Kibbee Nayee]

Quoted entirely from Scott Ham of The Bronx View for his original research....

The New York Yankees uniform is one of the most icon uniforms in all of sports. Ever wonder where the Yankee insignia came from?

I did. So I did a little research.

The famous interlocking NY that resides on the current Yankee uniforms dates back to 1877. It was created by Louis B. Tiffany for a medal presented to the first New York City police officer to be shot in the line of duty.

In 1907, the symbol was adopted for the then called New York Highlanders by owner Bill Devery. Devery, as it turned out, was a former New York City police chief (here's hoping he actually paid for the rights!). The Highlanders adopted the symbol and added it to their plain white uniforms.

In 1912, another radical shift happened. The plain white uniforms were adorned with dark blue pinstripes. The look didn't stick however and was abandoned at the end of the season. Two years later, though, the pinstripes returned and became a fixture of the uniform and would remain for the next one hundred years.

There was still some tinkering though. In 1917, it was decided to take the interlocking NY off of the uniform and just leave it on the cap. The cap had gone through many a design change, including pinstripes on the hat itself, until 1922 when they finally settled on the navy blue with an interlocking NY. It wasn't until 1936 that the interlocking NY insignia finally returned to the uniform where it would remain for good.

Today, the uniform is largely unchanged. And just like in the early 1900s, the uniforms today are made in the USA. Early uniforms were made of wool rather than cotton. Cotton would have been less expensive and probably more comfortable for the players but was mostly used and associated with work clothing. Baseball teams instead decided to make their uniforms out of wool which would supposedly elevate the teams above the working class and into a higher status.

Today, all of the uniforms are made out of polyester, which is even more breathable than cotton. They are manufactured in the USA by Majestic Athletic, who in addition to making their official on-field jerseys, also produce replicas, and custom name jerseys that can be purchased by fans so they can dress just like their favorite stars.

[The Hersch]

Polyester is more breathable than cotton? Why is it, then, that when you wear polyester clothes for a couple of hours you stink to high heaven, but not when you wear cotton? (This is why I never wear polyester clothing. I don't like stinking very much.)

[darkstar965]

Polyester is more breathable than cotton? Why is it, then, that when you wear polyester clothes for a couple of hours you stink to high heaven, but not when you wear cotton? (This is why I never wear polyester clothing. I don't like stinking very much.)

With you on the personal preference for natural fibers but, for uniforms, all polyester isn't alike. Some are actually quite quick-drying and breathable. There has been significant innovation with textiles over the past 10-15 years.

[DonRocks]

My MIL (from France) thinks the American $1 bill exudes power. She looks at it, and thinks "power, security, strength, might, etc." I feel the same way when I see the Yankees' pinstripes - I hope they never are so foolish as to make any substantial changes to that uniform. It exemplifies Major League Baseball, just like the $1 bill exemplifies America to my MIL.

We now have a thread on the Mets - it's past time we had a thread on the greatest team in the history of perhaps any American team sport, with a deferential nod to the Celtics.

[Kibbee Nayee]

My MIL (from France) thinks the American $1 bill exudes power. She looks at it, and thinks "power, security, strength, might, etc." I feel the same way when I see the Yankees' pinstripes - I hope they never are so foolish as to make any substantial changes to that uniform. It exemplifies Major League Baseball, just like the $1 bill exemplifies America to my MIL.

We now have a thread on the Mets - it's past time we had a thread on the greatest team in the history of perhaps any American team sport, with a deferential nod to the Celtics

I conur. the pinstripes are iconic for baseball and for 'tradition'....and they enforce that look with the additional requirement for no facial hair and no long hair. When you look at the Yankees, even today when hipsters and millennials are trickling into the game, they still look like a baseball team is supposed to  look.

(Notice when someone like Dustin Ackley gets traded to the Yankees, or a few years ago when Johhny Damon signed with the Yankees, they hold little Twitter events where their hair gets cut and their beards get shaved....)

[DonRocks]

(Notice when someone like Dustin Ackley gets traded to the Yankees, or a few years ago when Johhny Damon signed with the Yankees, they hold little Twitter events where their hair gets cut and their beards get shaved....

They can't have facial hair? My goodness, I hope they never trade for Jason Werth - nobody would recognize him.

[DonRocks]

Here is the video of Vin Scully calling Hank Aaron's 715th home run.

You might wonder why I'm including this video in the Yankees' Pinstripes thread, but in it, Scully mentions that the reason the Yankees came up with the pinstripes is to make Babe Ruth look slimmer!

[The Hersch]

Quoted entirely from Scott Ham of The Bronx View for his original research....

The famous interlocking NY that resides on the current Yankee uniforms dates back to 1877. It was created by Louis B. Tiffany for a medal presented to the first New York City police officer to be shot in the line of duty.

Note: This is a correction to Scott Ham of the Bronx View, and not to our own Kibbee Nayee.

There are at least two errors in this origin-story for the Yankees' interlocking NY logo. It wasn't created by "Louis B. Tiffany", as I don't think any such person existed. It was created by Tiffany & Co., but the individual designer is not known. It may have been, but probably wasn't, Louis C. (Comfort) Tiffany, who is not much known for this type of thing. So that might count as two errors rather than one. The other error, which should be kind of obvious, is that a medal awarded in 1877 would be for the first New York City police officer shot in the line of duty.

See this NYT article by Richard Morgan, especially the correction at the end.

One interesting nugget I stumbled on in my perfunctory research for this post is that Louis Comfort Tiffany was the great-grandfather of supply-side evangelist George Gilder.