Hal Steinbrenner throws cold water on Yankees' City Connect jersey chances

Since the inception of Nike's City Connect program, the assumption has always been that all 30 MLB franchises would get a taste of flash. Want to make your jersey bright yellow and slap your city's nickname on it? That's no problem. Want to wear ... basically exactly what you already wore, add "Los," and sport some blue pants? That's ok! The Dodgers already did it.

At the end of the 2023 season, 10 teams will remain without an alternate design, and it seemed likely that 2024's slate would include all 10 franchises before a reset. Well ... not so much.

The Oakland A's don't currently have a City Connect, and considering how disconnected they are from their, uh, city, it might not be worthwhile to develop one. The Yankees? According to a Hal Steinbrenner radio appearance last week, they, too, might pass. Genuinely, we didn't know passing was an option. Bet the Dodgers wish they knew that!

Despite the ungodly power the Red Sox seem to harness whenever they wear their Marathon Yellows, the Yankees don't seem interested in trying to tap into anything. Steinbrenner told The Michael Kay Show that he has yet to have any substantive conversations about an alternate jersey. If next year was the target year for launch, those conversations should definitely have started already. Hence ... nope.

"I’m not having any serious conversations about doing it. I think I understand the reason [behind the CC program] — and again, I think it appeals to a lot of fans, especially younger fans, and you know, merchandise and all that. But we have not had any serious conversations about doing it. It doesn’t mean I won’t [do it] someday, but I don’t even know how that would look, quite frankly. I don’t even know what the look would be."

Hal Steinbrenner

Yankees City Connect Jerseys probably not happening, per Hal Steinbrenner

Considering that, in Aug. 2021, the Yankees were reportedly "aggressively" pursuing a new alternate jersey, this comes as something of a shock -- and, again, we were not aware a franchise could "pass" on this seemingly mandatory program.

Then again, maybe Steinbrenner was spooked by the Players Weekend jerseys from a few years back, when Sonny Gray wore "PICKLES" on his back in Little League-style attire.

Maybe he was just scared off by what the Pirates unveiled last week and decided to scrap his long-held plans entirely.

A Yankees alternate (blue with white pinstripes?) could be fun, if kept simple.

If MLB was looking for an all-navy jumper with "BX" printed on the front in Comic Sans, though? Probably best they keep kicking the can down the road and let the Giants and Cubs announce their second designs first.