The Best: The 70s and the early 80s were a disaster for so many teams, but man, I really like the old Harvey’s Wallbangers look. Lose the pullovers if you must -- that’s what they do for throwback day now -- and I suppose the powder blue is negotiable, but the Brewers without pinstripes, yellow accents, and that mitt logo on the cap just aren’t the Brewers to me.
Worst: I don’t like what they wear today. It looks like a uniform designed by a focus group. It’s stock baseball clothing: “Tasteful, Inoffensive Ballclub #2" or something. Milwaukee is a city with a colorful history and citizenry. Their uniforms should have a some pizazz. More to the point, at one time they sported a definitive look that was unmistakably their own and which no one had a problem with that I’m aware of, and they shouldn’t be rocking any other looks. Oh, and since we’re going with the entire franchise’s history, can we stipulate that the Seattle Pilots looked terrible? To the extent we have any affection for those duds -- including the scrambled eggs on the cap -- it’s misleading nostalgia based on our love of “Ball Four,” not because they stood up on their own merits.
Assessment: I know some Brewers fans have a prickly relationship with the Yount-Molitor era uniforms, thinking that embracing them is to look backwards rather than forwards. But really, it’s just clothes. As long as they’re looking ahead on the important stuff -- who to hire how to build their team -- I think they can be excused for returning to their classic look. Not that they will. Just wishin’.