The Best: The Red Sox are always included in lists of franchises with proud and grand traditions, but even if they are a classic organization, they have mixed it up a little bit over the years. Red hats, for one thing. Changing the lettering on the road unis from blue to red. All in all, I prefer the unadulterated classic, with the navy cap and the blue “Boston” on the roadies. Which, to their credit, they’ve maintained most of the time over the past 75 years.
The Worst: The Red Sox’ flirtation with doubleknit pullovers -- while briefer than most teams’ -- looked particularly bad for the same reason the Cardinals’ did: trying to update a classic. I know some of you feel differently about that, but that’s just because you’re in your 40s and you grew up watching those 70s Sox teams. Sorry, it looked bad. Beyond that, it’s possible to get a bit too literal with a team nickname. Still, the worst Red Sox uniform earns the title less due to aesthetic considerations than symbolic ones. In a word: pinstripes. Could you imagine that today? If the Sox announced a switch to pinstripes the city would be burning by sundown.
Assessment: When I did this a couple of years ago, the only suggestion I had was that they switch back to the blue “Boston” on the road uniforms. Which they have since done. Behold the power of basement bloggers.