It wasn’t an ideal week on the diamond for Mississippi State; it started off with a Tuesday loss to a SWAC team in Texas Southern and ended with a series loss out on the West Coast to Long Beach State. Outside of the wins on Wednesday and Saturday over Alcorn State and Long Beach State, the biggest upside of the week was the uniforms.
In their five games last week, Mississippi State debuted one brand new uniform, wore two favorites from last season for the first time in 2020, and debuted one combination that had never been worn in the current set.
In their five games last week, Mississippi State debuted one brand new uniform, wore two favorites from last season for the first time in 2020, and debuted one combination that had never been worn in the current set.
| To start off the week on Tuesday, the Bulldogs wore the White 85s for the first time in 2020. As was expected, they were worn with the double-striped pants that the Maroon 85s have been worn with this season. The White 85s were already my favorite uniform that the Bulldogs wore in 2019, and with this one small change in 2020, they’ve become even better. With the pants/sleeve/collar stripes matching and the classic 85 wordmark on the chest, this is just an absolutely incredible look, and one that I hope the Bulldogs will wear and win in a good bit in 2020. |  |
In their bounce-back win on Wednesday, the Bulldogs wore the White “State” Pinstripes for the first time in nearly 11 months. The Bulldogs wore the White Pins five times (to a 4-1 record) early in the 2019 season, most recently on March 30, 2019 against LSU, but did not wear them a single time down the stretch in April, May, or June. I’m still not exactly sure what happened there, but regardless, they’re back, and Bulldog fans were pretty universally happy about that fact!
On Friday at Long Beach, Mississippi State played their first road game of the season. I was expecting to see the Maroon 85 jerseys paired with gray pants, which we saw on all road Game 1s last season, but instead the Bulldogs stick with the Maroon 85 over White look for the third Friday in a row. At first this I was not happy about this; I thought it might signal a return to the 2016 through 2018 method of always wearing white pants on the road with maroon tops, which can just look wrong sometimes. Mississippi State did a great job of wearing gray pants on the road last season; the Maroon 85 over Gray look was really good, and I would hate to lose it.
However, it seems likely that the reason the Bulldogs went with white pants on Friday is because Long Beach went with an All-Black look, and white pants provided better contrast than gray would have. Also, on Saturday, new gray pants were debuted that should look great when paired with the Maroon 85 jerseys; I hope to see the Maroon 85 over Gray combination return with those pants for road SEC series.
On Saturday, Mississippi State blew myself and others away by debuting some brand new road gray jerseys that look absolutely fantastic. The new gray uniforms feature the same "State" script on the chest as the white pinstripe jerseys, Maroon/White/Maroon stripes on the sleeves and pants, the M over S logo on the right sleeve, and player names on the back.
The uniforms are very clean and have plenty of consistencies with the rest of the Bulldogs’ uniform set, which I really appreciate. Coach Lemonis, Roger Rodeheaver, and staff have done a really good job crafting a nice and consistent uniform set, and I think all of us fans who care about such things can really appreciate that! And these debuted with a 9-0 win, so that’s always a huge plus!
A few notes about the new gray uniforms:
However, it seems likely that the reason the Bulldogs went with white pants on Friday is because Long Beach went with an All-Black look, and white pants provided better contrast than gray would have. Also, on Saturday, new gray pants were debuted that should look great when paired with the Maroon 85 jerseys; I hope to see the Maroon 85 over Gray combination return with those pants for road SEC series.
On Saturday, Mississippi State blew myself and others away by debuting some brand new road gray jerseys that look absolutely fantastic. The new gray uniforms feature the same "State" script on the chest as the white pinstripe jerseys, Maroon/White/Maroon stripes on the sleeves and pants, the M over S logo on the right sleeve, and player names on the back.
The uniforms are very clean and have plenty of consistencies with the rest of the Bulldogs’ uniform set, which I really appreciate. Coach Lemonis, Roger Rodeheaver, and staff have done a really good job crafting a nice and consistent uniform set, and I think all of us fans who care about such things can really appreciate that! And these debuted with a 9-0 win, so that’s always a huge plus!
A few notes about the new gray uniforms:
- These are at least the 7th gray jerseys in program history (see the graphic below). They are the first not to feature either the M over S logo or full “Mississippi State” script on the chest, and it is the first sleeved, solid gray uniform worn by the Bulldogs since 2015.
- This is the first non-pinstripe game jersey to feature this particular “State” script logo; it was and has been worn on the white pinstripe uniforms from 1966-1974 and from 2017-Present; it’s also currently being worn on the Bulldogs’ maroon BP jerseys this season.
- To my knowledge, these are first ever gray pants with a Maroon/White/Maroon stripe in program history; all previous gray pants have either featured no stripe or a single maroon stripe.
- These are the 6th different jerseys to be worn in 2020; the Bulldogs wore 8 last season- the teal Alex Wilcox Jerseys are unlikely to return, but it’s likely that one if not both of the gray pins or vests will return, though the Bulldogs have never had three gray jerseys in a single season.
- This marks 2020 as at least the 16th consecutive season with at least one new baseball jersey:
- 2020: Gray Script “State”
- 2019: 7 new jerseys
- 2018: 4
- 2017: White “State” Pinstripes
- 2016: 3 new jerseys
- 2015: 9 new jerseys
- 2014: 5 new jerseys
- 2013: White M over S Pinstripes
- 2012: White 85s
- 2011: Maroon M over S
- 2010: 3 new jerseys
- 2009: 3 new jerseys
- 2008: 2 new jerseys
- 2007: White Block STATE
- 2006: Maroon Script State
- 2005: 4 new jerseys
The final uniform twist of the weekend came on Sunday, when the Bulldogs were not allowed to wear their Sunday All-Black uniforms due to Long Beach electing to wear black themselves. This resulted in Sunday becoming the first Sunday game in which Mississippi State has not worn black since June 3, 2018 against Samford in the Tallahasee Regional, though the Bulldogs would wear black later that day against Oklahoma. To find the last day on which State had a single Sunday game but did not wear black, you would have to go all the way back to March 25, 2018, at Missouri.
So, in lieu of All-Black, the Bulldogs wore a combination that had yet to be worn in the current set: Maroon 85 jerseys with White Pinstripe pants. This has been one of my favorite combinations in the past; most notably, the Bulldogs wore Maroon 85 over White Pins in a win over Indiana in the 2013 College World Series, and that particular version of the combination looked incredible. Overall, this is actually the 5th different iteration of Maroon 85 over White Pins; looking back, I would classify the 2013-2014 version as the best and the 2015 version as the worst.
The 2020 variation is somewhere in-between; it certainly looks good, and I hope State wears it again a few times this season and finally gets another win in it at some point (the combination went 0-3 in 2018. It hasn’t been worn in a win since May 2, 2015 against LSU). However, I think that in the current iteration, the solid white pants work better, especially now with the consistent double stripe on the pants. Still, I’m glad circumstances allowed this combination to see the field, and I hope we see it again at some point!
The Maroon 85 over White Pins combination was the Bulldogs’ seventh combination of 2020, and actually the seventh in the last seven games:
Looking back, this week really reminds me of the week at Missouri back in 2018. Midweeks against Alcorn State and Texas Southern, with White “State” Pinstripes being worn in the Wednesday game. And then Maroon 85 over White, All-Gray, and Maroon 85 over White Pins during the road weekend series, with the only win coming in gray in the Saturday game. Hopefully the Bulldogs can turn things around just like they did that season.
The Maroon 85 over White Pins combination was the Bulldogs’ seventh combination of 2020, and actually the seventh in the last seven games:
- Saturday against Oregon State: White STATE
- Sunday against Oregon State: Nickelblacks
- Tuesday against Texas Southern: White 85s
- Wednesday against Alcorn State: White Pinstripes
- Friday against Long Beach: Maroon 85 over White
- Saturday against Long Beach: Gray “State” Script
- Sunday against Long Beach: Maroon 85 over White Pins
Looking back, this week really reminds me of the week at Missouri back in 2018. Midweeks against Alcorn State and Texas Southern, with White “State” Pinstripes being worn in the Wednesday game. And then Maroon 85 over White, All-Gray, and Maroon 85 over White Pins during the road weekend series, with the only win coming in gray in the Saturday game. Hopefully the Bulldogs can turn things around just like they did that season.
This week, Mississippi State is scheduled to play Southern Miss in Pearl on Wednesday, though weather is a major question for that game. If that game does happen, Mississippi State will be the home team, so expect to see either White 85s or White Pinstripes. This weekend, the Bulldogs play host to Quinnipiac as a tune-up before SEC play begins; expect the Bulldogs to be back in their standard Maroon 85, White STATE, and Nickelblack rotation for that series.
Uniform Models for the 5-Game Week:
Tuesday vs Texas Southern: White 85: #14 Riley Self
Wednesday vs Alcorn State: White Pinstripes: #11 Jordan Westburg
Friday at Long Beach: Maroon 85 over White: #31 Tanner Leggett
Saturday at Long Beach: Gray Script: #5 Tanner Allen
Sunday at Long Beach: Maroon 85 over White Pinstripes: #6 Kamren James
Uniform Models for the 5-Game Week:
Tuesday vs Texas Southern: White 85: #14 Riley Self
Wednesday vs Alcorn State: White Pinstripes: #11 Jordan Westburg
Friday at Long Beach: Maroon 85 over White: #31 Tanner Leggett
Saturday at Long Beach: Gray Script: #5 Tanner Allen
Sunday at Long Beach: Maroon 85 over White Pinstripes: #6 Kamren James
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