When the Cleveland Indians take the field for their three-game series vs. the Kansas City Royals Aug. 23-25, they'll do so not in their traditional white or red jerseys or any other color scheme that has previously been associated with the team.
Rather, the Indians will be donning all-black uniforms -- from caps to socks -- as a part of the third annual MLB Players Weekend.
First introduced in 2017, MLB Players Weekend is an effort between the MLB and its Players Union, which intends to "effectively market the sport's stars and to engage a young audience." In addition to wearing special uniforms -- which have been more colorful in its first two occurrences -- players have had the ability to wear a nickname on the back of their jerseys rather than their traditional last names and use a special sleeve patch to thank somebody for aiding their journey to the Major Leagues.
Other features of the weekend include the ability for players to wear t-shirts supporting a charity of their choice in batting practice and postgame interviews and relaxed social media restrictions leading up to the first pitch.
With the Indians, as the home team for the series, choosing to wear all-black, the Royals will be in all-white, although pitchers on both teams will wear black caps to ensure that batters and umpires can see pitches properly. Gear for the weekend is already available via Fanatics.com and various online retailers and features Francisco Lindor's nickname of "Mr. Smile," Jason Kipnis' alias, "Dirtbag," a peace sign and sunshine emoji for Mike Clevinger and a cookie emoji for Carlos Carrasco.
A full list of the Indians' nicknames from last year's MLB Players Weekend can be found here.
