Yankees to wear nicknames on jerseys from Aug. 25-27
On the weekend of August 25th to the 27th, Major League Baseball announced a new event called "Players Weekend", where players get to wear nicknames on the back of their jerseys and let their "personalities shine through".
Players will wear custom jerseys for the event, and will use that weekend to honor those who were influential to their development in reaching the Major Leagues.
For this event, the Yankees are going into uncharted territory; for the first time in 115 years, the historic franchise will wear names on the back of their jerseys. But they won't wear just any name; Aaron Judge and Gary Sanchez, for example, will be known as "All Rise" and "Kraken".
All of the jerseys will be donated after the weekend and 100 percent of the proceeds will be donated to the MLB-MLBPA Youth Development Foundation, which focuses on improving the caliber, effectiveness and availability of amateur baseball and softball programs across the United States and Canada.
"Any time you can benefit and help people out in any way, that's what we're here for, to inspire people and help people out," Judge said regarding the Players Weekend event. "We're all blessed to be in this situation to play Major League Baseball. Anything we can do is pretty rewarding."
Here are the following nicknames the Yankees chose for Players Weekend:
Aaron Judge: All Rise Gary Sanchez: Kraken Aroldis Chapman: The Missile Luis Severino: Sevy Masahiro Tanaka: Masa Didi Gregorius: Didi Starlin Castro: All-Starlin Jacoby Ellsbury: Chief Chase Headley: Head Clint Frazier: Red Thunder Todd Frazier: The Toddfather Dellin Betances: D-Dawg Michael Pineda: Big Mike Brett Gardner: Gardner Aaron Hicks: A-A-ron David Robertson: D-Rob Austin Romine: Ro Ronald Torreyes: Toe Chad Green: Greeny CC Sabathia: Dub Jordan Montgomery: Monty Adam Warren: Rocket Sonny Gray: Pickles
This isn't the first time Major League Baseball altered the official jerseys for a cause. In 1999, MLB had the "Turn Ahead The Clock" event, where 22 Major League Baseball teams donned what they believed baseball uniforms would look like in the future.
Regarding the nicknames, I would have gone in a different direction for a few players. David Robertson could have easily been "Houdini" given how many times he successfully gotten out of jams. I would have tweaked Aroldis Chapman's nickname and called him the "Cuban Missile". And regarding Gardner, I'm humored he decided to go with his just his last name; personally, I would have went with "Gardy Party". Then again, Gardy parties do get a little crazy to the point where players end up losing their teeth, so I could see why he decided not to go that route.