Baby Blues: Toronto Blue Jays debut new/old look powder blue uniform

TORONTO — Vladimir Guerrero Jr., Bo Bichette, Cavan Biggio, and Randal Grichuk represent the future of the Toronto Blue Jays, and now they have the uniforms to match.

The four young baseball stars served as models on Saturday afternoon, showing off Toronto’s new third jerseys, a mix of the team’s classic powder blue uniforms from the 1980s with a modern twist of navy blue hats and accents. The unveiling was part of Blue Jays Winter Fest, with the players stepping out on stage in front of hundreds of fans in the new uniforms.

“Just look at them, they pop,” said Grichuk. “They definitely give a different feel to the Blue Jays and I think it brings back a lot of history. There’s a lot of good that happened in this colour of jersey and it’s good to bring it back.”

All four players discussed the new look on stage, but Guerrero stole the show. The 20-year-old Dominican was asked by Sportsnet’s Hazel Mae what he liked about the jerseys and instead of answering through translator Hector Lebron, he waved the team staff member off and replied in English himself.

“Because I like the way my teammates look,” said Guerrero to cheers from fans and to the obvious delight of Bichette who laughed and offered his teammate a high five.

“We were talking about it before it was kind of planned. He was nervous about it so when he did it, I was pumped for him,” said Bichette.

Guerrero — back to relying on Lebron for translation — said that some of those nerves came from the emotion of seeing the new uniforms that he and other players had been consulted on during the design process.

“I wanted to share. I felt very emotional with the new uniform on. I like it a lot,” said Guerrero. “About getting (Hector) out of the way, I was working on that phrase all day because I really wanted to say it in English to the fans.”

Bichette — who was born in 1998, well after the powder blues were the Blue Jays’ regular uniforms — was also excited about the retro look.

“Just old school feel of it,” said Bichette of the uniforms that will be worn both at home and away. “I’ve never worn anything but grey or white pants my life so I think I think it’ll be pretty cool.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 18, 2020.

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John Chidley-Hill, The Canadian Press