While the Atlanta Braves uniforms have remained unchanged for the last four decades (aside from a controversial Nike template that is in the process of being undone), spring training caps and jerseys have been far more transient.
With MLB set to once again reveal new spring training caps, we thought it would be fun to look at what the Braves have worn in the past.
The history of Braves spring training caps and jerseys
Majestic first started manufacturing spring training jerseys in 1982. These jerseys also doubled as batting practice jerseys. The Braves first spring training jersey was a simple royal blue pullover with a white script, a design they more or less kept through 1987. After spring training in 1987, however, the team completely revamped their uniforms, switching back over to the navy and red scheme we know today.
In 1988, the Braves spring training jerseys were a navy base with the red Braves script outlined in white. Unlike their home and away jerseys, the navy spring training jerseys did not include piping. The Braves kept this design, untouched, for the next 15 years.
In 1999, MLB released spring training caps for the first time. Although some teams got fresh designs, the Braves initial spring training cap was simply a mesh version of their navy and red cap.
In 2003, MLB did a complete overhaul of spring training caps and hats, with every team following the same template. The Braves' new spring training cap featured an all navy cap with a red A with a tomahawk running through the A. The bill of the cap was also highlighted in red.
The jersey was similar to the one they had worn from 1988-2002, but now featured red armpits and red piping along the shoulder. It was also a two-button henley style, as opposed to the traditional full-button jersey.
In 2007, Majestic and New Era released a new template for the caps and the jerseys. The new cap was originally navy with red side panels, but in 2008, the team modified the cap to make the side panels navy. The new jersey template was a one-button henley that dropped the rounded-off armpits in favor of side paneling, which ran white to red on the Braves iteration.
In 2010, the Braves got new spring training caps, and in 2011, Majestic updated the spring training jersey template. To an untrained eye, the jerseys looked no different, but the Braves changed to all red side panels, and the jerseys became full-buttoned jerseys, as opposed to the one-button henley.
New Era updated spring training caps in 2013, with the Braves taking an all navy hat with a red A, but changed again along with Majestic in 2014.
The Braves spring training caps introduced in 2014 were reminiscent of the Hank Aaron era lower case A days, with the royal blue being swapped out for the navy. The new jerseys had a bizarre navy front, red back design.
In 2016, MLB again updated their templates. The cap kept the lowercase A, but went with an all-navy cap instead. The Braves opted for an all navy jersey that looked similar to their road alternate at the time, but instead of the script reading "Atlanta", it read "Braves". This would be the last real change to the Braves spring training jerseys, although had sublimated number designs that varied from year to year until 2018.
Spring training hats, however continued to change. Atlanta added a tomahawk cap in 2017 to go along with the navy lower case A, In 2018, they changed just their home spring training caps to a navy and red cap with the lower case A. This lasted through 2019.
In 2020, they went back to an all-navy design, bringing back the uppercase A that had the tomahawk filled in to it.
2022 saw yet another New Era tweak, where the cap design had a trucker-style mesh back. The Braves brought back the A with the tomahawk through it, but this time the entire cap, including the A, was navy, with just the spring training patch and a red outline providing any other coloring. This design only lasted two seasons.
The final change before this season came in 2024. Nike dropped producing spring training jerseys for teams that had met their own self-imposed 4+1 rule, leading the Braves to wear their miscolored navy alternates throughout the spring of 2024. The new caps had a red crown with a navy bill, a first for the team.
In total, the Braves have had roughly seven spring training jerseys, and 15 spring training caps, but as long as Nike insists on a 4+1 uniform rule, the spring training caps will continue to well outpace the jerseys, as New Era continues to cycle through caps every two to three seasons.