In a week where a majority of the polls had Mississippi State ranked as the #2 team in the country, the Bulldogs had a couple of real tests in a midweek game at a great Samford program and a home series with top-15 Auburn to see if they could live up to that ranking. Live up to it they did: the Bulldogs swept the midweek, dominated Auburn on Saturday, and out-hit the Tigers on Sunday to claim the series and add yet another series win to their already impressive resume.
The week started with a Tuesday win over Arkansas Little Rock, in which the Bulldogs wore the classic white 85 jerseys. The white 85s, which in my opinion are arguably the Bulldogs’ best, are now 2-0 on the season, after first being worn in a February 26th win over Jackson State.
On Wednesday, the Bulldogs traveled to Birmingham to take on a very solid Samford team, whose season Mississippi State ended in the Tallahassee Regional last June. The Bulldogs broke out some surprise new uniforms for the midweek road game: gray sleeveless jerseys.
With a solid gray base and worn with maroon undershirts, the new sleeveless jerseys feature the M over S logo on the right front chest, with the Adidas logo and player number on the left side. Like most of the Bulldogs’ other uniforms, the back of the jersey has the State of Mississippi outline over the player number; all of the jersey elements (M over S logo, player numbers, state outline) are maroon outlined in white. They were worn with the solid gray pants that were debuted in the Friday game at Florida.
Social media reaction to the sleeveless jerseys was mixed; many just didn’t like the idea of sleeveless uniform. I wasn’t really in that crowd; I don’t think sleeveless baseball jerseys are intrinsically bad, and Mississippi State has worn sleeveless jerseys in the past that have looked good. The original gray pinstripes (99-04) were sleeveless; State also wore sleeveless white jerseys from 2009 to 2014 (Russell versions in 09, Adidas from 10-14).
The week started with a Tuesday win over Arkansas Little Rock, in which the Bulldogs wore the classic white 85 jerseys. The white 85s, which in my opinion are arguably the Bulldogs’ best, are now 2-0 on the season, after first being worn in a February 26th win over Jackson State.
On Wednesday, the Bulldogs traveled to Birmingham to take on a very solid Samford team, whose season Mississippi State ended in the Tallahassee Regional last June. The Bulldogs broke out some surprise new uniforms for the midweek road game: gray sleeveless jerseys.
With a solid gray base and worn with maroon undershirts, the new sleeveless jerseys feature the M over S logo on the right front chest, with the Adidas logo and player number on the left side. Like most of the Bulldogs’ other uniforms, the back of the jersey has the State of Mississippi outline over the player number; all of the jersey elements (M over S logo, player numbers, state outline) are maroon outlined in white. They were worn with the solid gray pants that were debuted in the Friday game at Florida.
Social media reaction to the sleeveless jerseys was mixed; many just didn’t like the idea of sleeveless uniform. I wasn’t really in that crowd; I don’t think sleeveless baseball jerseys are intrinsically bad, and Mississippi State has worn sleeveless jerseys in the past that have looked good. The original gray pinstripes (99-04) were sleeveless; State also wore sleeveless white jerseys from 2009 to 2014 (Russell versions in 09, Adidas from 10-14).
My biggest gripe with the sleeveless jerseys is the fact that the front of the jersey is “backwards.” That is- the M over S logo is on the right chest, rather than the left chest, which is traditional on baseball uniforms. This, I’m sure, is due to the fact that Adidas has been pushing, across all sports, for their logo to always be on the left chest, which in cases like this can cause problems. It doesn’t necessarily look any better or worse for the team logo to be on the right side, it just looks “wrong.”
On the whole, I don’t hate the look. It could be better, but it could certainly be worse, and I like the color balance of gray and maroon. Not terrible for a secondary road look, as long as they don’t replace the gray pins. I actually don’t think Mississippi State has any bad baseball jerseys; as I said when myself and Bulldog Graphics were conversing on Twitter, I would tier State’s baseball jerseys in the following way:
Elite: White 85 / Maroon 85 / White Pins
Very Good: 50s-style White STATE / Gray Pins
OK: Gray Sleeveless / Black 85 (jersey is not bad w/o black pants)
On the whole, I don’t hate the look. It could be better, but it could certainly be worse, and I like the color balance of gray and maroon. Not terrible for a secondary road look, as long as they don’t replace the gray pins. I actually don’t think Mississippi State has any bad baseball jerseys; as I said when myself and Bulldog Graphics were conversing on Twitter, I would tier State’s baseball jerseys in the following way:
Elite: White 85 / Maroon 85 / White Pins
Very Good: 50s-style White STATE / Gray Pins
OK: Gray Sleeveless / Black 85 (jersey is not bad w/o black pants)
In the top-15 weekend series with Auburn, Mississippi State wore their classic maroon 85 over white look on Friday, a game in which the Bulldogs blew a 5-0 lead and lost 6-5 (with the baseball meltdown coinciding with the Men’s Basketball team being upset by Liberty in the first round of the NCAA Tournament… Friday Night was rough).
On Saturday, the 50s-style white STATE jerseys were worn for the first time since the February 22 game against Southern Miss; the jerseys entered the game with a 3-0 record, while freshman pitcher JT Ginn entered the game with a 5-0 record on the mound. After a 15-2 shellacking of the Tigers, the STATE jerseys were 4-0, Ginn was 6-0, and the Bulldogs had evened up the series. Mississippi State is now 10-0 while wearing white uniforms in 2019 (4-0 in white pins, 4-0 in white STATE, 2-0 in white 85s).
Sunday’s rubber match was the first Sunday SEC game of the season for the Bulldogs, and fit the qualifications for a “nickelblack” Sunday perfectly. In a crazy game that featured 21 hits from each team, an 11-5 Auburn lead at one point, and Mississippi State scoring a run in each of the 8 innings they came to the plate, the Bulldogs pulled out a 20-15 win to win the series and finish the week with a 4-1 record.
The Sunday win gave the updated all-black uniforms a 3-0 record in 2019; Mississippi State now has a 12-3 all time record in all-black (8-3 in 2018, 1-0 in 2015). While many (myself included) would rather see one of the Bulldogs’ incredible white looks (pins or 85s) on Sunday, the “nickelblacks” clearly have a superstition about them that will keep them in the Sunday slot for the foreseeable future.
On Saturday, the 50s-style white STATE jerseys were worn for the first time since the February 22 game against Southern Miss; the jerseys entered the game with a 3-0 record, while freshman pitcher JT Ginn entered the game with a 5-0 record on the mound. After a 15-2 shellacking of the Tigers, the STATE jerseys were 4-0, Ginn was 6-0, and the Bulldogs had evened up the series. Mississippi State is now 10-0 while wearing white uniforms in 2019 (4-0 in white pins, 4-0 in white STATE, 2-0 in white 85s).
Sunday’s rubber match was the first Sunday SEC game of the season for the Bulldogs, and fit the qualifications for a “nickelblack” Sunday perfectly. In a crazy game that featured 21 hits from each team, an 11-5 Auburn lead at one point, and Mississippi State scoring a run in each of the 8 innings they came to the plate, the Bulldogs pulled out a 20-15 win to win the series and finish the week with a 4-1 record.
The Sunday win gave the updated all-black uniforms a 3-0 record in 2019; Mississippi State now has a 12-3 all time record in all-black (8-3 in 2018, 1-0 in 2015). While many (myself included) would rather see one of the Bulldogs’ incredible white looks (pins or 85s) on Sunday, the “nickelblacks” clearly have a superstition about them that will keep them in the Sunday slot for the foreseeable future.
This week, the Bulldogs have a Tuesday game with Mississippi Valley State before another huge home weekend series, Thursday-Saturday against top-20 rival LSU. Going to be another exciting week at the Dude!
Uniform Models for the Auburn Weekend:
Tuesday vs Little Rock: White 85: #15 Jake Mangum
Wednesday at Samford: Gray Sleeveless: #4 Rowdey Jordan
Friday vs Auburn: Maroon 85 over White: #11 Jordan Westburg
Saturday vs Auburn: 50s-style White STATE: #3 JT Ginn
Sunday vs Auburn: Black 85 over Black: #8 Dustin Skelton
Uniform Models for the Auburn Weekend:
Tuesday vs Little Rock: White 85: #15 Jake Mangum
Wednesday at Samford: Gray Sleeveless: #4 Rowdey Jordan
Friday vs Auburn: Maroon 85 over White: #11 Jordan Westburg
Saturday vs Auburn: 50s-style White STATE: #3 JT Ginn
Sunday vs Auburn: Black 85 over Black: #8 Dustin Skelton