Red Sox Revision Proves Major League Baseball's Fanatics Problem Is Worse Than Feared

[Alex Mayes]

Major League Baseball has a Fanatics problem, and the Boston Red Sox found themselves right at the center of it in spring camp on February 18. Pictures posted from team picture day showcased a set of home whites that just looked… off.

Upon further investigation, you can tell that the letters on the home whites this year are pressed in the incorrect areas and, as other pictures showed, were inconsistently placed from player to player. What remained on most jerseys, though, was that the D of the word ‘Red’ and the S of the word ‘Sox’ either touched or overlapped the red piping down the center of the jersey altogether. It gave the jerseys the look of a knock-off jersey that could be had for cheap, but with obvious flaws that made it stick out amongst the ones purchased from the team store.

Fan response was quick and loud. The jerseys became almost low-hanging fruit on social media as fans of other teams even began to make jokes about the state of the jerseys in the official team photos. The complaining grew so loud that the Red Sox actually made an official statement regarding the jerseys:

It’s rare for the team to make such a public statement regarding a sudden outcry from fans, but the Red Sox made it clear that the produced versions of the approved designs failed to meet their standard and, in corporate language, placed the blame squarely on Fanatic’s shoulders.

Then, a mere three hours later, that original message was deleted and replaced by a new one:

Well, that strikes a distinctly different tone, doesn’t it? What changed in a matter of hours? I think Tyler Milliken summed it up nicely:

The Red Sox got the call from Fanatics and had to immediately backtrack. The team even called the company an ‘"outstanding partner" throughout the years they’ve been forced to work together. They went so far as to claim that Fanatics, the company that produced the physical jerseys, deserved no blame for the mistakes on the jerseys in the official team photos.

Cut the crap.

Fanatics deserves the blame for the multitude of jersey issues over the last handful of years. They are a company solely focused on profit without caring what we, the consumer, actually things of their product anymore. They’ve essentially monopolized the sports apparel market in the United States to the point that every major professional sport’s merchandise website is branded as ‘A Fanatics Experience’. They are so powerful that the statement, which is likely 100% true, from the Red Sox about how the jerseys didn’t match what was approved, had to be redacted and reworded so the team was no longer pointing the finger directly at the supplier.

What’s even more sad is that Fanatics has made collecting jerseys, something that many baseball fans are passionate about, a hobby of the past. The last time I purchased a jersey was pre-COVID, and that’s saying something. I’ve spoken about my love for MLB and MiLB hats on the Talk Sox Podcast many times, but that collection used to be hats AND jerseys. Now, though? Forget it. Just a base-level jersey from the official MLB store is going for $200. If you want a field-quality jersey? Double it to $400. That amount for a jersey that isn’t signed, game-used, or has any distinguishing marks is beyond insane.

Fine, maybe you’ll settle for a "shirsey" of your favorite player instead. Have fun paying that $50, plus shipping. Talk about daylight robbery.

Fanatics is out of touch with their consumer base and even though the outcry has been loud for years, they don’t seem to care. It’s a shame, because they are both pricing out the dedicated fans of the sport while trying to sell them lesser quality materials. It’s the ultimate form of a sucky catch-22.

And the worst part is that nothing will change. Fanatics' monopoly extends across every major sport in North America. They can hold the Red Sox's Twitter admin hostage, force the team to reword an official press release like Winston Smith in 1984, and continue to shake every penny out of consumers without any fear of ever being punished by the leagues that employ them.

Add this to the ever-growing number of written media logs about how disappointed we are in Fanatics, but don’t expect anything to change until the powers that be in baseball decide to move their money to a different supplier.

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[JoeBrady]

A quarter-inch too close to the piping = first world problems?