The lede at Uni-Watch this morning is about uniform games that were One and Done, meaning, the uniforms worn were only worn one time and never again. This happened August 28, 1999 for the Cardinals. For the only time in history (so far), the Cardinals wore a red jersey against the Atlanta Braves.
The jersey was solid red, featuring navy blue piping down the chest and on the sleeves, with a chain stitch embroidered Birds on the Bat patch that was applied to the front of the jersey. Similar to the new Nike 2024 jerseys, the white outline is clearly noticeable, but on the 1999 jerseys the white outline was much more necessary for the red birds to stand out against the red shirt. On the sleeve was an MDA patch, a yearly charitable promotional event the Cardinals used to do every year. Everything else about the uniform was standard, white pants, red shoes, standard red cap. And it was worn for only 1 game.
This is fairly relevant in terms of the new City Connect uniforms that are looming any day now. There is growing speculation based on hints from Bill DeWitt III that it will be a red jersey. As quoted in an interview with Ben Hochman at the 2023 Winter Warmup, BD3 said “Even though we’re a red team and all our fans wear red, we don’t have a red jersey… I won’t spoil it here, but suffice it to say, there will be some red on the [City Connect] jersey.“
If the City Connects are red jerseys, it will be the 2nd time the Cardinals have ever worn a red jersey in a major league game. Even though this won’t be the first time the Cardinals wear a red jersey, this might be the first time since 1956 the Cardinals jerseys do not feature the Birds on the Bat AND do not feature any chain stitch embroidery. However, we’re just speculating at this point.
There are other speculations about the City Connect uniform as well. The font/lettering and branding being used throughout the Cardinals.com system of websites and social media accounts might be a hint as to what the City Connects will have on them, with the best bet being that the jerseys are going to say THE LOU in the font shown below.
At this time we don’t have any real information on what the City Connect uniforms will look like, just speculation. But we do know the Cardinals are currently working on an official Press Release to announce the jerseys, and we know that they are currently gathering historical facts when working on this release. We expect this press release to happen any day now, perhaps in anticipation of Opening Day, or perhaps within the first month of the season.
Cardinals Uniforms & Logos 