GOOD MORNING! Will new blue City Connect uniforms connect better than Phillies all-burgundy ones?

Twenty years to the exact date Citizens Bank Park opened (April 12, 2004) the Phillies will unveil their new blue City Connect uniforms.

The plan is to wear the uniforms for each of the Friday night home games the rest of the season. April 19 is next against the Colorado Rockies. That Friday night will mean the blue uniforms will surpass the all-burgundy uniform fiasco.

The history book shows the Phillies wore a burgundy uniform on May 19,1979, a Saturday night against the Montreal Expos at Veterans Stadium. That plan called for the uniforms to be part of “Saturday Night Specials” for the remaining home schedule. Bill Giles, then the executive vice president of the Phillies, thought it would be neat to have a solid burgundy uniform with white trimmings.

Well, the burgundy babies were worn for the first and last time that night. Trailing the Phillies 4–0 after four innings the Expos scored 10 straight runs in a 10–5 victory. The defeat wasn’t the main reason but helped.

The immediate overall reaction of the players, fans and media was negative, with many describing the despised uniforms as pajama-like. As such, the idea was “Outta here!” as Harry Kalas would say. “They just didn’t match up to our expectations. They also didn’t fit well,” Giles admitted.

Larry Christenson was the starting pitcher for this “special” night. “I’m getting dressed next to Jim Lonborg, I looked at him and said, ‘check out the Bull [Greg Luzinski].’ Lonnie [Smith] yelled across the clubhouse, ‘Hey Bull, you look like a giant grape.’ Bull didn’t take it as a compliment. Hey, none of us liked the uniforms. We stood out like a sore thumb.”

Once it was decided the uniforms were “one and done,” the Phillies received calls from fans around the country wanting to buy them, according to a May 27, 1979, Philadelphia Inquirer clipping. The Phillies decided to sell them for $200 (jersey, pants, cap) with proceeds going to special needs children in the Delaware Valley.

Three more times a burgundy uniform would appear. Mike Schmidt wore one during the MLB All-Star Tour of Japan following the 1979 season. Christenson wore one for the closing ceremonies of Veterans Stadium in 2003. As part of a 1970s Retro Night the Phillies wore them on July 27, 2019. The result was worse than1979, 15–7 to the Atlanta Braves.

It can be said the burgundy uniforms whiffed big time.