Ranking the Current Japanese Baseball Jerseys

I pretty much agree with you on the PL, except I'd place the Hawks below the Buffaloes, that black and gold is just a hideously amateurish design. The Nike Lions duds sort of look like Chunichi's. Seibu should be wearing Mizuno unis starting 2007. I think the Marines' third "happi" uniforms are quite lame, but management thinks otherwise because they didn't scrap that after the first season.

As for the CL, the MLB copies are boring (Hanshin purposefully designed the road jersey to look like the Evil Empire's), so I give credit to Chunichi, too, for moving away from an MLB copy. And for some reason, I quite like the BayStars uniforms, they're ... cute.

The moment I saw the Hawks' new unis, I thought, what were they thinking? I haven't let go of that thought since then. Especially the cap - it almost seems like they're trying to tell the crowd to quiet down.

I actually like the Hawks and Tigers away jerseys. The Giants and Carp are too much like the MLB counterparts. BayStars' home jerseys are nice also, but their away jersey are bad IMO.

Frankly I think many of the MLB copies look pretty good, except for the faux sleeveless Hiroshima road jersey and the boring Giants road jersey.

I absolutely hate the insipid yellow and white Hawks unis!

Yes, the Tigers have gone for traditional pinstripes and gray jerseys like the Yankees, however there are subtle differences, and the overall look of the Tigers' set is better in my view.

But have you seen old TV footage from the 1970s or 1980s - particularly the Lions' road uniform of the time? A design abomination if you ask me. Both pants and tops were sky blue - looked like they were wearing pyjamas.

I love the throwback jerseys the Tigers used during inter-league home games. I also like the Marines' alternate uniforms with the red in it. I thought it was ugly at first, but they grew on me. It reflects the new attitude of the team.

I really like the BayStars inter-league away uniforms and the inter-league hats that they used.

Without ranking them, I'll say that I like the Tigers and Swallows home jerseys the most, with the Marines, Dragons, and BayStars right behind. I don't like the full-on rip-offs that the Giants and Carp wear, but they are nowhere near as bad as those horrid things the Hawks are forced to wear. The others just look like softball jerseys to me.

I like the lack of grey road uniforms. It's good to see that not every team has to wear them.

Here's my rank of jerseys:

1. Fighters - The coolest and original looking kit.
2. Tigers - Traditional but cool. Love the alternate home kit with the yellow/black collar.
3. Giants - Again, traditional but it works well. I like the kit with "YG" on the chest.
4. Eagles - I love the maroon color.
5. Marines - Solid color scheme. So-so alternate uniform.
6. Lions - I wish they would go back to script fonts.
7. Buffaloes - It's the Orix colors, but I like the font
8. Swallows - Points for cool home jersey. Bleh road kit.
9. Carp - It's the Cincinnati Reds, but not too bad.
10. BayStars - Simple but OK.
11. Dragons - Boring.
12. Hawks - Ugh.

From best to worst:

1. Fighters - these are just great. Original and classy.
2. Lions - nice modern style
3. Dragons - again, nice modern style not quite as sharp
4. Giants - home is unimaginative, but the away is so sharp
5. Swallows - home and away are both great
6. Carp - who doesn't like a jersey that says Carp?
7. Tigers - don't like the homes, aways and retro are good
8. Eagles - okay, but looks a bit "softbally" to me
9. Buffaloes - like the home better than away
10. Marines - most are boring, hate the ones with black stripe
11. BayStars - whites are unimaginative, blues are hideous
12. Hawks - hideous on every level

I tend to agree with everyone on this thread about most of the uniforms except for the Fighters' unis. Those are ugly. The thing about uniforms is, will they stand the test of time? The Fighters' duds are just too modern - they're trying too hard to start a fad with the different colored sleeve. If you look at that uniform 20 years from now, you'll probably laugh and wonder why they ever wore them.

In my opinion, the best uniforms in any sport are the ones that teams can wear for years and years, like those of the Yankees, Red Sox, Tigers (home), Braves, etc. in MLB. That's why my list would go like this:

1. Giants - however, the road "YG" ones need a little tinkering. I liked the road "Tokyo" unis the best. The "Yomiuri" didn't work either. It's rumored that the Giants will overhaul the unis before the start of next season.
2. Tigers - especially the retros. The road unis are classic. The home unis are OK, much better with the black caps instead of the old white caps.
3. Marines - classic look all-around. The alternative ones are a little over the top though. Overall, this team looks good. Should drop the pink though.
4. Swallows - home ones need tinkering but road unis are nice. They took a page out of the Cleveland Indians' look (and admitted it!) when they designed the road duds.
5. Carp - good classic look, although I liked the previous look better (piping around the neck). They need to change their caps though.
6. Dragons - unusual look (not seen in MLB), but works OK. It's unfortunate that they dropped the red in their color scheme though. I like the caps.

7 through 12 - Lions, Eagles, BayStars, Hawks, Fighters, Buffaloes (in no particular order) - it's time to go back to the drawing board for these teams.

Thankfully, the Lions are apparently getting a new look next season. The Eagles' color scheme is ugly (USC pulls it off nicely though), and like the previous poster said, they look like a slow-pitch softball beer league team. The BayStars' uniforms never looked good, but they've basically had the same unis since 1993. Time for a change if you ask me.

Where did you hear that they will overhaul the Giants unis? Both unis, or just the away? I agree with you that I did not like the Yomiuri ones, and that the Tokyo ones were sweet, but I like the YG ones. Maybe they'd be good as the alternate. I just think it's a nice break from what almost every uniform is in essence, a word across the chest. That one instead has a logo, and it's a classic logo at that. I actually think they're a fair amount like the home NY Yankees unis, minus the pinstripes of course, and those are almost universally thought of as great.

I read about the Giants' plans to overhaul the unis last week on Nikkan Sports' web site. The article said that the Giants will end their contract with long-time uniform supplier Descente and will start wearing uniforms made by Adidas. Adidas will start supplying the uniforms, practice gear, etc. for the Giants and they are working on a new design for the team. It sounded like they'll have a new look for both home and the road. Descente had supplied uniforms for the Giants since their inception - a total of 75 years.

Without ranking them here, I say I like the Tigers' pinstripe uniforms the most, then the Dragons' uniforms which look like the Dodgers' uniforms; and I like the Hawks' uniforms also, unlike a lot of others (I think they're unique and different).

My least favorite jerseys are the Rakuten Eagles' red jerseys and the Yomiuri Giants' gray jerseys.

I agree that the Giants should go back to the Tokyo jerseys and ditch those Yomiuri efforts. Wasn't the reason they changed them in the first place that they (or Watanabe) considered themselves to be "Japan's team" rather than just Tokyo's? Well, those days are over what with the "new" teams up in Hokkaido and Sendai and a resurgent Hanshin dominating the whole Kansai area.

I think they should put more emphasis on them being a Tokyo team, and changing the Jerseys might be a good place to start.

With regard to the Jerseys:

Best - I think the Yakult road uniform is the finest, with honourable mentions going to the Dragons (slick and simple design) and Eagles (I like the color).

Worst - gotta say the Tigers' home jersey. Looks like it was designed by a bunch of elementary school students (that font!).

In watching the Marines the last few days I am deeply troubled by their caps. They really looks goofy. Uniforms are OK, but the hats have got to go.

It looks like some big pink bird just flew by the stadium, if you catch my drift.

Why all the hate for the Eagles? I like the Eagles' road uniforms; that burgundy color isn't often seen in baseball these days, at least not since the Phillies stopped using it in the 1990s. Plus the number is nice and big and you can see it from far away; it must be an inch or two taller than the similar one used by Yokohama.

They could improve by writing "Eagles" (or better yet, "Sendai") on the road jerseys instead of the company name. They already have a patch on there to advertise the parent firm.

Come to think of it, what's with all the advertising on jerseys? I thought it was forbidden, but then a few years ago you started seeing Konami ads on the Giants' practice uniforms, and now the Tigers have Joshin ads on their game shirts. The Buffaloes seemed to have some kind of deal with the Acom loan-sharks; did that carry over to the new Orix team?

Advertising on uniforms is ugly. Bad enough that the stadiums are infested with it. (Rakuten in particular!)