Fanatics CEO Thought ‘We F***** This Up’ With MLB Uniform Controversy

The new on-field uniforms this season in Major League Baseball have been a near-constant topic of conversation since they were introduced earlier in 2024.

Nike, who took over the contract to produce the new jerseys several years ago, made a big public relations to-do in 2024 over how innovative and improved the new fabrication and materials were. And behind-the-scenes, their manufacturing partner, Fanatics, was following Nike’s instructions on producing the jerseys.

Then the uniform world exploded. Players hated the new fabric and material, saying it felt cheap and minor league caliber. The names on the back of the jerseys were comically small, pants ripped more easily, there were complaints over how see through the pants were, the gray colors between the tops and bottoms didn’t match, and despite Nike’s claims, the jerseys pooled sweat, easily discoloring uniform tops.

New York Yankees starting pitcher Carlos Rodon. Photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

It was as bad as it gets. And Fanatics took some of the blame, as fans assumed they had messed up construction. According to a new interview with CEO Michael Rubin, he assumed the same thing.

Nike Deserves Much Of The Blame For MLB’s Uniform Disaster

Rubin told The Athletic that his initial assumption after seeing the social media discussion was that his company was responsible,  “My immediate reaction was, ‘We f—ed this up,” Rubin said.

The outrage set off phone calls and meetings throughout Fanatics, at which Rubin confirmed that Nike had told them what to do. Their design and instructions were responsible for scaling back the lettering, reducing stitching on the pants, and using a different type of fabric that it used in uniforms for soccer and track and field. And the embarrassing gray pants? A Nike decision too. The company decided it was “within a level of tolerance” despite being wildly different than the jersey tops.

Rubin said the online discussion, though, was still painful for the company and for him. 

“Any time we have any part in letting a player or a fan down, we feel like we’re losing, right?” Rubin told The Athletic. “So whether we designed a product or not, I’d say it’s still extremely painful. If someone tells you, ‘Hey, jump off a cliff,’ and you jump off a cliff and die — you still jumped off a cliff and died. So I’d say yes, it was extremely painful.”

Fanatics hasn’t exactly earned the benefit of the doubt, because of questionable customer service at times, and a series of public, embarrassing mistakes on t-shirts and jerseys shipped to customers. And their power, influence and reach is only going to grow as they take over producing and designing jerseys for the NHL as well. Given what happened this year, Rubin says they know they can’t mess them up. 

The MLB jerseys were, and still are, a disaster. Even the league has acknowledged they need to make changes, some even this season.

READ: MLB Officially Announces Sweeping Changes To Unpopular New Jerseys

Nike knows it has to get it right, and Fanatics especially knows it has to get it right. Or risk further damaging the sanity of its CEO.