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News June 10, 2024

Baseball in England? New Era Attempts Bipartisanship Across Rivalries

Last weekend’s MLB London Series was a success for baseball, but some fans were left confused by New Era’s merchandising.

By  Phineas Hogan

They do it differently in England. From using the metric system and eating baked beans for breakfast to driving on the wrong side of the road, some British traditions don’t quite compute with Americans and vice versa.

Major League Baseball and the National Football League have made concerted efforts to bring their professional sports across the pond and integrate American and English cultures, and they have been largely successful. But there’s one thing the British haven’t quite grasped – deep-seated, bitter baseball rivalries, and they’ve proven it with recent promos.

The Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Mets, two teams and fanbases that have never, and will never, get along, faced off last weekend at London Stadium as part of MLB’s London Series. To celebrate, New Era dropped merchandise honoring both teams.

Though the series was a strong show of unity between the two countries, the promos extended an olive branch that wasn’t asked for and definitely not well-received.

Who was the audience for this one? Phillies and Mets fans can’t agree on much, but they have found common ground in disgust for this shirt. It’s sacrilegious for a fan of either team to sport the logo of their rival, but to have both on the same shirt? Blasphemy.

The jacket is considerably worse, as one would hypothetically wear this item with multiple outfits, maybe multiple times a week.

New Era sold non-bipartisan merchandise from its flagship store on Carnaby Street in London that was well received, but the neutrality of some of the pieces was still off putting for die-hard fans, as explained by X user Dave Shaw of @UKPhillies.

The MLB London Series was a success for all parties involved. The Phillies and Mets both won a game of the two-game stint, baseball fans from the northeast U.S. and the U.K. got to enjoy a game in an unusual venue and the Phillie Phanatic, along with Mr. and Mrs. Met, got to visit Buckingham Palace.

New Era won, too. Although its baseball merch may have been a little revolting for opinionated fans, its pieces depicted the purpose of the event, to expand baseball’s reach across borders, and allowed neutral fans to express their neutrality. Even if it’s a little weird.