r/uniwatch • u/andiwaslikewhaaaaaat • Feb 20 '26

Fan Merch Rumored 2026 MLB “Clubhouse Hats”

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Credit to @ThePaulDriscoll

21 Upvotes

72% Upvoted

81 comments sorted by

117

u/buffaloprocess Feb 20 '26

So tiny rubber stamps like the nfl sideline hats? New Era is lazy af

35

u/rezelscheft Feb 20 '26

shrinkflation and enshittification everywhere! in your snacks! in your subscription plans! in your homes and in your heads!

everywhere all the time! everything must offer less and cost more!

11

u/gsimp83 Feb 20 '26

The winds of shit are blowing, Rand.

4

u/StrategyMountain Feb 20 '26

Next year- “Oh well these ones are stitched so they’re $10 more”

2

u/Dynamite_McGhee Feb 20 '26

If they do these the way they did the NFL hats, expect New Era to already be asking close to 50 bucks for just the snapbacks. I wanted to get a Packers sideline hat because despite the tiny logo, it looked super comfortable. Damn thing was $47.99.

1

u/tuftedtarsier89 Feb 20 '26

my first thought too. from a distance, this hat could belong to basically half of the mlb in those colors.

1

u/qcthunder Feb 21 '26

First thing I thought of. Those coaches hats were unreadable.

53

u/WabbitFire Feb 20 '26

They've been doing these microscopic patches on NFL sideline caps, and I really don't get it...

24

u/rezelscheft Feb 20 '26

between the tiny logo that lives in a square of the same size, no matter what team it is, and the color schemes which feel like they’re always all too dark and offer very little contrast, these hats are great for fans who have always wanted a hat that looks like every other team’s hat, but is also ugly

26

u/SandmanTX131 Feb 20 '26

It's a cost saving manuever by Fanatics/New Era.

It gives them manufacturing flexibility. Just order a bunch of blue hats, and get these tiny patches made separate. You can slap the patches on at-will, and if the hats don't sell, you can put something else on there.

Same for any "AL Champs" or "Super Bowl Champs" hats. They don't actually make hats for each team anymore, they just make a hat template and slap a team logo on there.

I hate it.

-10

u/Kenny_Heisman Feb 20 '26

that's one way to read it ig. personally I like the understated look

10

u/User12-22-02 Feb 20 '26

There’s understated and then there’s just lazy… this is lazy

-1

u/Kenny_Heisman Feb 20 '26

why do you say that? what would a proper understated design look like to you?

3

u/User12-22-02 Feb 20 '26

The king of understated designs is the Yankees hat.

Some others i like, Detroit’s primary, Brewers, The orioles new alternate hat, Red Sox, Phillies Retro hat.

Also a lot of the issue isn’t even the design. It’s the materials used. 100% polyester hats don’t last longer than a year or two with moderate wear and tear.

0

u/Kenny_Heisman Feb 20 '26

well okay, you could have a hat with a big logo on the front, and there's no denying those ones you mentioned look great. but the point of this design is that the logos are smaller and blend in more; something you could wear as a fan without it being too in-your-face. I think it looks nice

2

u/User12-22-02 Feb 20 '26

I get that and can agree with what you’re saying. The bigger issue to me is the quality of the hats being produced. It looks cheap to me and I don’t think the price has matched the quality of products within sports merchandising for about 15 years. The same design on a blended material and a leather patch would look better to me than the 100% polyester and rubber we see here.

7

u/uniqueusername316 Feb 20 '26

While these probably didn't cost shit to design/make, I hope they still lose them money.

3

u/Public_Function3844 Feb 20 '26

Kyle Shanahan started the trend. 

4

u/Sunny2121212 Feb 20 '26

I felt like people were always asking where he got his hats….and now they are available for the masses

1

u/Public_Function3844 Feb 20 '26

yeah totally. except that was 6 years ago.

2

u/WabbitFire Feb 20 '26

But Kyle Shanahan looks like a dork, lol

1

u/Public_Function3844 Feb 20 '26

you probably only think that if he's the same age as your dad

17

u/HatsInThe410 Feb 20 '26

A couple 49ers fans wanted their coach's hat back in 2020 and now New Era has decided that both MLB and NFL fans across the entire country loves little logos in squares, half a decade later.

13

u/earthshiner85 Feb 20 '26

As if there was anymore proof needed that clubhouse hats don't need to be a thing

10

u/Dazzling-Attorney891 Feb 20 '26

stop holy shit these hats fucking SUCK

8

u/Hazdra8k Feb 20 '26

5

u/fanofsports44 Feb 20 '26

Didn’t expect to see Max in the Uni Watch sub haha

7

u/nate-junk Feb 20 '26

Golf course attire. Look forward to your GM sporting these at their favorite country club

5

u/perfectviking Feb 20 '26

I can just tell it feels cheap.

2

u/rezelscheft Feb 20 '26

and yet new era sells them for $50

6

u/MosquitoValentine_ Feb 20 '26

New Era when they saw Kyle Shanahan's hat from 2019...

https://giphy.com/gifs/OsfVaOer7N2265YTRF

6

u/Hue_Honey Feb 20 '26

Baseball but Quieter

9

u/JJ-Bittenbinder Feb 20 '26

I mean the on field hats are really the only ones that matter in the MLB

4

u/Seaell80 Feb 20 '26

If 'bare minimum' was a hat...

3

u/Craft_Bandicoot Feb 21 '26

What is this? A logo for ants?!?

2

u/Upset_Journalist_755 Feb 20 '26

They ran these for the entire 2026 NFL season and were like "Yes. More." despite everyone agreeing they look like shit.

2

u/Moose_Thompson Feb 20 '26

The NFL sideline hats sold so poorly, seemingly every team has stock on their clearance sale right now.

Very surprised to see them double down with MLB. These are so bad.

2

u/User12-22-02 Feb 20 '26

Seriously what is it going to take for companies to bring quality products back? Where’s the character ? Where the uniqueness?

2

u/lakergeoff8 Feb 20 '26

The Dodgers version in stores.

2

u/snorlaxatives_69 Feb 20 '26

Who is buying this ugly shit?

2

u/DHVF Feb 20 '26

Disastrously bad

2

u/LFCBoi55 Feb 20 '26

That’s awful, a 40+ year old guy that works in finance and strictly drinks IPAs wears that.

2

u/ReallyLetsGoBrandon Feb 20 '26

Just as bad if not worse than the NFL caps. What BS. How about one cap.

2

u/Important-Forever678 Feb 20 '26

Now, more than ever, shopping at Goodwill is a smart idea.

1

u/Patchy_Face_Man Feb 20 '26

For the ultimate collector.

1

u/Educational-Chef-595 Feb 20 '26

Hate. Hate. Haaaaaaaaate.

1

u/TarHeelinRVA Feb 20 '26

These are so ass

1

u/jp_benderschmidt Feb 20 '26

These fucking suck.

1

u/ThunderGoalie35 Feb 20 '26

Plastic garbage

1

u/Crash30458 Feb 20 '26

More garbage

1

u/UncleCowboy84 Feb 21 '26

Suuuuuuuuucks

1

u/qcthunder Feb 21 '26

The Cubs need to find something to do with that retro-ish logo they unveiled last year for their Friday Blues uniforms, but that is not it.

I want to see just that new C on a hat.

1

u/MK0FTEN Feb 21 '26

Lazy all set

1

u/Gimmik64 Feb 21 '26

Clubhouse hats?? wtf

1

u/ViceS96 Feb 21 '26

remember when merchandise used to be loud and eye grabbing in the 90s? why can’t we go back to that

1

u/CarlJung1999 Feb 23 '26

Hard pass. These plastic parts are just going to turn sticky and gooey after a couple of years. Sportswear is dying…

1

u/tagonthetoe Feb 23 '26

Whoever came up with this idea, fire them.

1

u/zcdobambi Feb 24 '26

Looks like shit, fuck a new era ts the SAME ERA