MLB Players Weekend to showcase unique nicknames, colorful uniforms

By Sun-Times Wire

Baseball fans, meet “El Mago,” “Zorilla,” “YoYo” and “Mal Tiempo.”

On Aug. 25 to 27, the newly created Players Weekend will showcase the personalities of major-league players with colorful, youth-league-inspired uniforms and raise money for youth sports.

Instead of having their name on the back of their uniform, players can display their nickname. Fans will see the Cubs’ “El Mago” (Javy Baez) and “Zorilla” (Ben Zobrist) and the White Sox’ “YoYo” (Yoan Moncada) and “Mal Tiempo’’ (Jose Abreu).

The Cubs, who are in Philadelphia that weekend, will wear a navy blue pullover jersey with power-blue sleeves and white piping. Their hat is powder blue and feature the angry-cub logo used from 1979 to 1993.

The Sox, who will be home against the Tigers for the promotion, will wear a black pullover jersey with red sleeves and white piping. Their hat is red with “SOX” in black.

The colorful uniforms don’t end there. Players can use uniquely colored and designed spikes, batting gloves, wristbands, compression sleeves, catcher’s masks and bats.

Players also can wear shirts highlighting a charity or cause of their choice during pregame workouts and postgame interviews. Merchandise from the weekend is available now at MLBshop.com.

Also during Players Weekend, the right sleeve of each player’s jersey will feature a patch with a blank space for him to write the name of a person or organization that was instrumental in his development.

The patch features a new logo that shows a progression of five players increasing in size that intends to show a player’s progress from Little League to the majors. The “Evolution” logo, meant to represent solidarity with youth baseball and softball organizations, also will appear on the back of each team’s cap and jersey in place of the MLB silhouetted batter.

Game-worn Players Weekend jerseys will be up for bidding at MLB.com/auctions, with proceeds donated to the MLB-MLBPA Youth Development Foundation, which helps improve amateur baseball and softball programs in the U.S. and Canada.