The Los Angeles Dodgers underwent several changes during the offseason, adding to their already deep front office and tinkering with the roster. The club began the season on a seven-game road trip, sweeping the San Diego Padres, but dropping three of four to the San Francisco Giants.
During the seven games, Los Angeles wore their grey uniform with ‘Dodgers’ across the chest, an alternate that was introduced for the 2014 season. The addition was much more subtle than the Arizona Diamondbacks overhauling their uniform options this past offseason.
After spending nine seasons in purple and teal and nine more in red and sand, the Diamondbacks elected to blend the two color schemes. They wore a grey and teal road uniform in the three-game series opener against the Dodgers, which drew plenty of negative reaction on social media.
The Dodgers also unveiled a new uniform option, though it was much more subtle. Their traditional glossy blue helmets were replaced with a matte version, which were worn again on Wednesday night.
The new helmet still features the traditional interlocking “LA” logo, but instead of it being flat on the helmet shell, it’s raised to create a three-dimensional effect. According to Paul Lukas of ESPN, equipment manager Mitch Poole said the Dodgers wanted to give the helmets a personal touch:
“We wanted to go with the matte helmet, but we wanted to make it our own,” said Mitch Poole, the team’s equipment manager. “So we thought we’d go with the three-dimensional look.”
The Dodgers are the first team in baseball to use this type of logo. Ross Yoshida, the Dodgers’ director of graphic design, said the idea came from football helmets:
“Then I thought about football helmet nose bumpers,” said Yoshida, referring to the raised logos used by an increasing number of football teams in recent years. “Nobody had ever done that in baseball. So that was the inspiration.”
Along with the Diamondbacks and Dodgers, the Pittsburgh Pirates and San Francisco Giants are among the clubs who wear a matte-based helmet.
