Recently we posted about the god awful yellow uniforms that the Boston Red Sox wear as part of MLB’s city connect series. We noted there were references online about how popular these bright yellow jerseys were with the fans.
“Ok, we get it. People like the yellow”.
When we read these responses we thought “are Red Sox fans really embracing this alternative uniform?!!?!”
We are not in Boston, but based on friends in the Boston area we did not get a sense that the yellow uniforms were a fan favorite. In addition, there is not any publicly available sales data that breaks down Boston Red Sox jersey sales by color, so we are not sure how anyone could make the above claims about the popularity of the yellow uniforms. With nowhere else to go we asked AI. We realize this is a step up from anecdotal evidence but it is better than nothing. Here is a ballpark (pun intended) estimate based on MLB merchandising trends, adjusted for the Red Sox jersey lineup (home whites, road grays, alternates and City Connect yellow). Percentages and unit figures assume a total of 100,000 jerseys sold annually as a convenient baseline.
| Jersey Color | Estimated Units Sold | Percentage of Total | Notes |
| White (Home) | 55,000 | 55% | Iconic “RED SOX” script—consistent bestseller |
| Red (Alternate/Throwback) | 20,000 | 20% | Popular for fan nights, player alternates |
| Navy Blue (Alternate) | 15,000 | 15% | Sleek look for younger demographics |
| Gray (Road) | 8,000 | 8% | Less worn off-field, but still a staple |
| Yellow (City Connect) | 2,000 | 2% | Limited edition, spikes around Patriots’ Day/Marathon |
Well 2% is not what we would call “popular”. Okay, so perhaps AI is not the best source. Then let’s go right to the guys that actually wear the uniforms and see what they have to say about the yellow uniforms per this YouTube clip.
In this very unscientific survey, 13 Red Sox players rated the home whites just ahead of the blue alternatives and ranked the yellow city connect dead last with a total of seven strike outs. Not even among Red Sox players is this uniform popular.
| Uniform | Home Run (best) | Single (next best) | Strike Out (worst) |
| Home White | 6 | 5 | 2 |
| Blue Alternative | 5 | 4 | 4 |
| Yellow City Connect | 2 | 4 | 7 |
Unless there is something in the non-public jersey sales data that we do not know about, we can only conclude that the Red Sox marketing department forgot to put an “un” in front of the word popular to describe their yellow jerseys.
Baseball Purist 
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