In my mind, there's nothing better than a good road grey baseball jersey. Preferably the city name would be written across the chest in script. Piping around the placket is a huge plus, as are front uniform numbers.
I also have idiosyncratic criteria regarding jersey numbers, patches, the player, and size when presented with multiple choices. I almost uniformly don't like any designs from 1970-1990, and I can't afford much pre-1970. There are also certain team biases I have, such as the Yankees, whose memoribilia is better suited to being doused with gasoline and ignited. I dislike overly odd numerical fonts, such as those seen increasingly in the minors, the goofy 7 on Pirates jerseys, and even the current Milwaukee font.
My favorite jersey in the major leagues today is the Detroit Tigers road uniform. Check, check, and check, plus 3 color twill everything, just tremendous. I'd be interested in just about any player no matter how obscure in this design. (Photo by: Chuck Welch, CC License A-NC-SA 2.0)
Other major league road jerseys that I have high interest in include Houston, Baltimore, Cleveland, Oakland, Cincinnati, Kansas City, Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles, and Washington. In the realm of quasi-throwbacks, I like both the Twins and Phillies cream jerseys that they wear these days. I like a lot of different minor league designs, probably ones I haven't even seen yet, even some home whites.
When it comes to hockey jerseys, I have interest in a multitude of designs from the NHL, the AHL, other minor leagues, and Canadian juniors. Again, it all depends on things like colors, size, name, and price.
When it comes to hockey jerseys, I have interest in a multitude of designs from the NHL, the AHL, other minor leagues, and Canadian juniors. Again, it all depends on things like colors, size, name, and price.
*UPDATE (2/14/2021) - I wrote the following in 2010 when I set up this blog that I never followed through on until now. Despite the passage of more than ten years, I don't disagree with any of it. The Milwaukee font referenced below was that bubbly rounded font used as recently as 2019.
Rather than rewrite the above paragraphs, I thought I'd save them for posterity and grade my execution. Sure enough, I made a purchase on New Year's Day 2021 that finally netted me my white whale, the Detroit road grey. From the other list, I have a brick red Houston that you'll read about in the coming weeks and months, but none of the others. I did acquire a cream-colored Twins jersey at the beginning of 2019 and the Phillies cream alternate in August of 2020.
The following are the specific jerseys I hope to acquire at some point. It's basically my eBay watchlist, though in reality I'm opportunistic when it comes to adding to the collection.
Washington Nationals
Contemporary
Contemporary
I'm generally not a fan of solid color jerseys being worn outside of spring training, but I've warmed to them and have a handful in the collection. I first encountered these on racks on the concourse at Nationals Park when I worked in Washington. At the time I balked given the player selection and price points, but I'd like to take another look.New York Islanders
Contemporary
This is something of a white whale as I've been told that GM Lou Lamoriello has stopped release of game worn jerseys to the collectors market. As someone whose fandom of the Islanders was reawakened at the dawn of the Lamoriello/Barry Trotz era, this becomes pretty tricky. It seems there are enough holdovers from the 2017-2018 season that it's still possible.Oakland Athletics
Contemporary
Keeping with the theme described above, Oakland wears a road grey that checks almost all of the boxes and adds interesting sleeve patches. The origin of the Athletics' white elephant mascot is a fascinating story.
Keeping with the theme described above, Oakland wears a road grey that checks almost all of the boxes and adds interesting sleeve patches. The origin of the Athletics' white elephant mascot is a fascinating story.