The World Series begins Friday night in Milwaukee. While it’s impossible to predict what will happen on the field, it’s safe to say that we know what the uniforms will look like. Unless there’s a huge surprise being kept under wraps, they’ll be the same uni designs the Brewers and Rays normally wear, except for the addition of the World Series patch.
That’s how it usually works — but not always. On at least six occasions, big league teams have changed their uniforms for the Fall Classic. Here’s a rundown of those six teams, plus a bonus team that planned to make a uni change for the Series until fate intervened.
1905 New York Giants
As you can see by the little “WS” label in the graphic shown above, the Giants broke out a black uniform — basically a reverse-field version of their standard design — for the 1905 World Series.
Here’s a photo of Giants manager John McGraw wearing the black uni just prior to the start of Game 1:
The player in the center of the photo is Philadelphia Athletics captain Lave Cross, who is presenting McGraw with a little white elephant figurine. McGraw had previously referred to the A’s as a “white elephant” (i.e., an overpriced novelty). The Philly team embraced the derisive moniker, which is why the A’s still wear a white elephant sleeve patch to this day.