The Padres yesterday unveiled new uniforms and logos at an event for select season-ticket holders held at Petco Park. Included in the uniform changes are updated home whites and road grays, along with a new blue alternate uniform with "SD" on the chest. The team's military uniforms will continue to feature the digital camouflage pattern modeled after the U.S. Marines. The club's new secondary logo features the Padres script under skyline imagery of Petco Park. The team has also modified the Swinging Friar logo with updated colors to match the blue and white it currently wears. The new logo will be featured in a patch on the sleeve of the Padres' white jerseys (Padres). Padres President & COO Tom Garfinkel said that the team "wanted to avoid a significant change in the jersey's style or color scheme, specifically a shift back to the brown and gold uniforms of the late 1970s and 1980s." He said that a "vocal minority of fans had expressed their support for those colors." He added that the Padres "plan to wear their throwback brown and gold jerseys on several occasions this season." Garfinkel: "We had a lot of different designs along the way. We still want (the brown and gold) once in a while. We still want to celebrate that." Garfinkel noted that the Padres "spent two years planning the changes with one year allotted to the design process" (NORTH COUNTY TIMES, 11/10). MLB.com's Corey Brock noted the new duds are a "nod to the old uniforms the Padres wore during their Pacific Coast League days (1936-68)." Garfinkel said, "They're not trendy colors or trendy design ... but they're a classic baseball style" (MLB.com, 11/9). In San Diego, Bill Center writes the uniforms "give the Padres a distinctive look." Garfinkel said, "We won't look like the Milwaukee Brewers anymore" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 11/10).
SWING & A MISS? YAHOO SPORTS' Kevin Kaduk wrote under the header, "Yawn: San Diego's 'New' Uniforms As Snoozeworthy As Last Effort." Kaduk: "How bad is this change, which counts [as] the franchise's ninth in the past 25 years? It's so bad that they brought back the wonderfully nostalgic swingin' friar as a secondary patch and even he doesn't evoke any passion or excitement" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 11/9). However, Padres C Nick Hundley said, "I love them. It really goes together a lot better than last year. Last year, I was really excited we got rid of the sand. I think the blue is my favorite. It's a little more old school and a little more classic." Padres P Clayton Richard said, "It's a little more simple, but a classic baseball look. I think the fans will be excited. I know we're excited about wearing" (NORTH COUNTY TIMES, 11/10).
