The Best and Worst Sports Uniforms of All-Time

Best Uniforms

Note - The dates included are the dates that the team wore the uniforms. I tried to find pictures of teams wearing the jerseys as throwbacks because the more recent pictures are of a much higher quality.

Another Note: This list goes 10-1, worst (of the best) to best.

10 - Pittsburgh Pirates - 1999

In 1999, the MLB experimented with "Turn Ahead the Clock" or futuristic looking jerseys... and they all sucked. Except for the Pirates'. The red, which was part of their color scheme until 2002, was familiar but different, the giant yellow pirate bandana went nicely with the yellow undershirts that the players wore. The grey pinstriped pants were also a good match. If you are stuck in 1999, can tell you, however, the jerseys of the future look nothing like you thought.

9 - Hawaii Rainbow Warriors - 2015

These Hawaii football jerseys would've been a few spots better on my rankings, but some further research proved that the throwback jerseys were not entirely historically accurate. I have lost all respect for the "fauxback" jerseys that have taken over sports in the recent years, but these are too good to ignore. Its nice to see the bright, neon colors we see today take a backseat to a nice, all white, old school look with one tone lettering. These jerseys give a nice blend of new and old styles.

8 - Vancouver Grizzlies - 1995-2000

These Grizzlies uniforms have greatly increased in popularity in recent year since the team moved to Memphis from Vancouver. Originally considered an oddball uniform, the unique teal steals the show and the massive, 3D "grizzlies" font takes over the front of the jersey. The totem-pole-like pattern out lining the shoulder, head and right leg holes is also an interesting aspect that pays homage to the native tribes of Vancouver. The fierce looking bear is also a nice touch to a uniform that is quickly becoming a classic.

7 - Oregon Ducks - 1984-1996 

I actually prefer the Hawaii throwbacks over these ones, but Oregon actually wore these in the 80s and 90s. The green and yellow clash, but in a way that is oddly aesthetically pleasing, and the interlocking "UO" logo is a nice vintage touch. The modern day PAC-12 patch on the right chest is a little bit of a downbringer, but these throwback are pretty nice to look at, and a rare bright colored top ten uni. The highlight for me, though, is the image of Donald Ducks climbing through a block "O'' on the sleeve, which Oregon had to get the permission of Disney to include on the original back in 1980.

6 - San Diego Padres - 1980-1984

The Padres are notorious for some of the worst uniforms of all time with the all yellow uniforms of the 70s and the yellow and brown look from the late 80s and early 90s. But what people forget is the nice look they rocked in the early part of the 80s, from 1980 to '84. The legendary Padre font was born, but displayed without the distraction of the yellows, browns, and oranges. While they are included, they took up a much smaller part of the overall uniform, and in the end looked quite nice as an accent. Yet another piece of evidence that simpler is better.

5 - Toronto Raptors - 1995-1998

Purple is a color we don't see enough of in sports. And when we do see it, it is often paired with a secondary color that either takes away from it, or ruins it completely (ahem, Baltimore Ravens). The Raptors seem to be the only team who ever knew how to use it, and perhaps the most famous basketball uniforms of the last 25 years was the result. Nothing says "90s" more than the team name font on the front, and the dinosaur is not too cartoonish. The shorts logos are nice, but they could probably have done away with the zig zag, multicolored pinstripes. But hey, 90s, right?

4 - Atlanta Hawks - 1982-1992

These legendary Hawks uniforms introduced one of the biggest fads of basketball uniforms ever seen - that swooping bar across the front and back of the jersey, and then again on the shorts. This look was repeated by teams like the Sonics and Pacers, and then was gone before 1995. Considering how much is going on, this look is surprisingly simple. Maybe because the colors mix so well, or because of the simple font and logo, or both, but this Hawks uniform is almost as exciting as a Dominique Wilkins dunk.

3 - Denver Nuggets - 1982-1993

Much like the Hawaii jerseys, these Denver Nuggets beauties have a rainbow pattern taking a backseat as an accent. Except these are way better. The rainbow is kind of random for the team from Denver, but the Denver Skyline is a pattern they still use today. Also, the blue is the perfect color for the waistband as well as the arm and head holes, and the number on the upper chest was a revolutionary move by the Nuggets. Made much better by some of the players that donned these in the past, the Nuggets brought these back for the first time in a while in 2016.

2 - Dallas Cowboys - 1960-1965, 2004

The Cowboys don't really do much with their uniforms, which were pretty hard to leave off of my list, except that every once in a while, usually on Thanksgiving, they bust out the star shoulders. These were worn in a long sleeve form back in the 60s when football uniforms were long sleeved (I guess?) and they were brought back for one season in a more modern form as a regular alternate in 2004. Navy and white have become one of my favorite color pairings, since the Rams dropped the gold, the Chargers came out with the new "LA" logo sans yellow, and the Cowboys started wearing these again. Only a few things could ruin this jersey, which are prominently displayed in the above image. A helmet that doesn't match the corresponding jersey color, a captain's badge, and those stupid reflective lines on the collar above the NFL logo.

1 - New York Yankees - 1943-present

Less is more, kinda like this sentence.

Best of the Best - Houston Astros - 1975-1986

One of the most heavily disputed uniforms in sports lands the top spot on my list. Although they completely disregard my simple is better guidelines, these very well may be the best uniforms ever. The ''tequila sunrise'' colors are a thing of charm, and the navy blue is a perfect match. The number on the pants is a big throwback thing, but my attention is drawn to the iconic Astros star. The one thing the 'Stros could change for when they throw back with these is to ditch the current logo helmet, and go back to the orange hats and helmets they actually wore.

Worst Uniforms

Note: This list goes 10-1, best (of the worst) to worst.

10 - Atlanta Hawks - 1995-1999

The Hawks are the only team to make an appearance on both my best and worst lists, and they start us off with a sad attempt at a possibly cool uniform. They tried for a fade effect, from black to a darker red to a bright red, their main color. In doing this, they ended up fading from black to dark red, but the shorts abruptly picked up randomly at a way lighter color, and then fades back down towards black. Besides that disaster, the font doesn't fit and the bird look way to detailed and realistic, too much so for a sports logo, in my opinion.

9. Denver Broncos - 1960-1965

The Broncos brought these back in 2009, during the NFL's celebration of the AFL, and then again in 2013. The idea is not a bad one, but these jerseys are. The brown and yellow make me think Padres, but missing is the third accent color to set the two off from each other. Also, the yellow was aborted on the helmet, and I can tell you for a fact that the AFL had no rule on how many helmet designs you could have (besides, the NFL hadn't even made that rule yet). But the worst part of all is the socks, with vertical stripes of the two contrasting colors. The Broncos had a version where white replaced the yellow and it is not only tolerable but actually looks quite nice. For the sake of the audience's eyes, they probably should have thrown back with those ones instead.

8 - Baltimore Orioles - 1971-1974

So, the Broncos' color rush jerseys... oh wait. These are BASEBALL UNIFORMS! The baseball world has seen a few monochromatic (google it) uniforms in its days but perhaps none as strange as the Orioles all orange look in the early 70s. No, they did not wear these every day, but still on numerous occasions did they don the orange on orange look. There is not much for me to break down with these, just take a few seconds to look at the image of legendary pitcher Jim Palmer in his jumpsuit baseball uniform.

7 - Golden State Warriors - 2013-2015

Pinstripes do not belong in basketball. The Warriors obviously thought they could pull it off, and they couldn't. The pinstripes are not the sole problem however. So, let's review the three main issues - 1. The pinstripes. 2. The fact that there are pinstripes on the shorts but not the jersey. 3. The jersey has sleeves. Remember the basketball jersey fad from the Hawks' jersey in the Best Uniforms list? Well, sleeved basketball jerseys were the latest fad, and this is the root. The Warriors brought it in with these in 2013, and we saw them until 2017. Nike finally put them to rest after taking over, and yes, that is Steph Curry wearing Nikes.

6 - Philadelphia Phillies - 1979

For just a few games, the Phillies, who have perhaps the least creative team name in sports, went mono-red, and it was disastrous. They basically made a new uniform, instead of just adding color to the pants like the Orioles, but rather re-did their top, to match in multiple ways (color included) the pants they introduced. The "P"logo is actually pretty cool, but the thick, white trim is weird, as is the fact that I looked up and wondered for a second who put a picture of a ketchup bottle in my article.

5 - The Rest of the MLB Futuristic Jerseys - 1999

If you go back to the very first uniform I reviewed, the Pirates' TATC uniform, you'll see that I mentioned that other teams tried them as well, and I also mentioned that they all sucked. Well, low and behold, here they are. Although some are not pictured in the original renderings, 20 of the 30 wore one at some point, the Mariners being the first. Some of the ugliest, in my opinion, were the Mets' ( above on the right ), D-Backs' (first rendering second from left), and Rockies (above, right). Umpires wore silver uniforms, and entire ballparks were transformed 30 years into the future. Unsurprisingly, the promotion was considered unsuccessful. 

4 - Pittsburgh Steelers - 1934-1943

The oldest football uniform on either of my lists, the Steelers' "bumblebee'' look is one that they still bring back once every so often. Every time they do, we are all reminded of how horrible it is. The jersey pattern is bizarre, and the boxes around the numbers was something unique, definitely in a bad way, to these uniforms. The gold-but-thankfully-not-metallic pants are kind of random as the color doesn't appear on the throwback the Steelers wore last year. Then I realized the original leather helmet that they wore with these in the 30s and 40s was that color, and that they apparently didn't have enough effort to make a blank, tan helmet (yes, they did throw back with this before the one helmet rule). The socks, which resemble the Broncos' socks from number 9 on this list, are also pretty awful.

3 - Cleveland Indians - 1976-1979

Slugger Boog Powell (pictured) said after wearing these pink-red pants and jersey said that he looked "like a Bloody Mary out there."  Never mind what I said about the orange, this is the worst mono-colored uni in baseball history, and its not all that close. The crooked arrow font, combined with the signature 70s belt-less waistband (displayed nicely above by Powell's largeness) are bad enough on their own, but the all-one-color look just pushes it over the edge. Also, I've been looking around and I have seen no evidence of the Indians ever having this color in one of their logos, almost like they were going for the color of the Phillies mono-red, but missed, and ended up with more of a pink look. Powell's face in the picture above says it all.

2. Montreal Canadiens - 1912-1913

Dubbed the "Barber Pole" uniform, this Canadiens' throwback, which they wore for only one season, and brought back only once, look like a colorblind man set out to make some Steeler bumblebee jerseys. Not much to analyze here, but I will say that this does look remarkably similar to a barber pole, which in case you didn't know is that spinny cylinder that hangs outside a barber's shop. Also, through research I discovered that "CAC" means "Canadien Athletic Club, which is a league that the Canadiens were a part of before joining the NHL.

1. Vancouver Canucks - 1979-1986

Hockey jerseys are called sweaters, and this one has a "V" around the neck. So... this leads me to believe that the Vancouver Canucks invented the V-neck sweater. Just kidding, the sweaters were invented in the 20s, while these jerseys didn't make their debut until 1979. Regardless, these have to be the worst hockey jerseys of all time. Its easy to say that the giant "V"s that cover the uniform stand for Vancouver, where the team is from. Then, you look again and you wonder if that is the case, or if it's just a stupid design. Well, it's both, it does stand for Vancouver, and it is a stupid design. It's a win-win, or a lose-lose if you ever have to look at this thing again.

Worst of the Worst - Chicago White Sox -1976

Who knew the Bulls used to be named the White Sox, that's a funny name for a basketball team. Never mind, that is the baseball team, the White Sox, wearing shorts. Let me say it one more time. A baseball team wearing shorts. But why would they do this? It was just another devious entertainment plan by White Sox owner Bill Veeck, who employed a 3'7'' pinch hitter and held the infamous Disco Demolition Night (Google that too) among other things, all to sell more tickets, mostly because the White Sox were so bad, they weren't. The shorts only lasted three games but those were the three of the four most attended games at Comiskey Park that year. Many thought, and continue to think that the players shut down the uniforms due to leg injuries from sliding, but only minor scratches and bruises were reports by the players, and it was the General Manager Roland Hemond who put a stop to the most atrocious uniforms in history. The Sox tried to throw back with them in 2016, replacing the shorts with pants pulled up really high, but pitcher Chris Sale thought otherwise, and cut them up with scissors and that was the end of that, hopefully for good.

Honorable Mentions

Honorable Mentions - Best

(University of Alabama Football 1947-present, Chargers 1960-1965, Eagles 1960-1989, Buccaneers 1979-1994, Lakers 1966-1999) 

Honorable Mentions - Worst

(Bucks 1995-1999, Rays 1998-2001, Syracuse University Basketball 1991 jersey with 1995 shorts, Grizzlies 1972-1974, Notre Dame Basketball 2013)