Here at Pinstripe Alley, there's a Matt bias. Matt Provenzano, Matt Ferenchick, and now I'll add one more to the list... matte helmets.
Uniforms are an ever-changing part of baseball. There have been stirrups, hats instead of helmets altogether, and even White Sox players wearing shorts. The Yankees, on the other hand, have remained remarkably consistent, and that's fine by me. The only real change was the road jersey, which was swapped from "Yankees" to "New York". There have also been slight changes to the logo, seen here, but that's just about it.
So that's why matte helmets, in my opinion, are a modest change. They don't mess with the spirit of road grays and home pinstripes, and they actually look retro in that they replicate the dusty finish of a cap in older baseball.
Here are the Pirates' matte helmets, for example:
Pirates using matte black helmets for spring, kinda like the old flocked style (via @740JZD) http://t.co/p7nswMfaSs pic.twitter.com/GVPCW0dAWl
— Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) February 18, 2015
See what I mean? Not only does it look modern, but retro at the same time, if that makes sense. OK, some other good examples are the Padres and Diamondbacks:
New batting helmets are pic.twitter.com/wC8rR24Cev
— San Diego Padres (@Padres) February 18, 2016
The #Dbacks will debut new matte-finish helmets tonight. #OpeningDay pic.twitter.com/m6cVIgMqYN
— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) April 7, 2015
Once again, same deal. Putting aside for a second that the Diamondbacks change their colors and theme every hot second, these are good changes.
Alex Rodriguez even brought back the dusty look by lathering rosin all over his helmet and it looked awesome:
Some players like to gunk up their helmets with pine tar, but A-Rod is using rosin this season. pic.twitter.com/HYMd68YxDl
— Paul Lukas (@UniWatch) April 19, 2015
To be fair this is so he can get some extra grip during an at-bat, but you can't say it doesn't look much better.
Adam Jones of the Orioles even took it upon himself to get a matte helmet, even though the rest of Orioles don't have them. Also awesome:
@UniWatch here are some photos. Jones helmet clearly matte finish, while other O's helmets are not. pic.twitter.com/WrTSoXaF1D
— Tim Martin (@TMar15) March 26, 2016
So to recap, multiple teams have issued helmets with matte finish, individual players have taken it upon themselves to get matte helmets, and I think they're good, so with those three things in mind it's essentially a no-brainer. This isn't some pie-in-the-sky change, like when George Costanza wanted the Yankees to wear all cotton. All I ask is that the Yankees keep up with fashion trends, and this is one of them. So get on it, Yankees, because every time I see that horrid glossy finish, I'll just imagine that during every sunny game, the Yankees will have an extra player: Highly Acclaimed Lens Flare.
Best Visual Effects Oscar Introduced By Highly Acclaimed Lens Flare https://t.co/kWRLNKRffs #Oscars pic.twitter.com/kZ51CkdYEf
— The Onion (@TheOnion) February 29, 2016