The MLB/Nike uniform fiasco reached a new low yesterday as a photo of Giants infielder Casey Schmitt began circulating, giving new meaning to the term “balls in play.” According to this post (which erroneously attributes the uni imbroglio to Fanatics instead of Nike), the photo was taken by beat writer Alex Pavlovic, who posted it to his Instagram story. Pavlovic meant to highlight Schmitt’s mustache, but people quickly noticed, uh, something else. Pavlovic deleted the post, but by then the toothpaste was out of the tube. Naturally, someone quickly turned the viral moment into a T-shirt: In a less prurient but no less hilarious development from yesterday, the Guardians tweeted this photo: I mean, come on! The transparent pants may explain why the Padres wore the old pants (you can tell from the belt loops) for yesterday’s spring training opener: The Dodgers wore a mix — some players had the new pants and some wore the old. But their pants were grey, so the transparency issue presumably wouldn’t be as much of an issue. Players’ union president Tony Clark (whose playing career included a uni-notable chapter) has been making the rounds at various teams’ spring training camps and says the pants are a “universal concern” among the players, so it seems likely that this issue will be addressed before Opening Day. (My thanks to Camryn Brown for the T-shirt link.)
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