Baseball colors are older than baseball logos. Four teams, the Reds, Red Sox, White Sox and Cardinals, are named after the color of their socks or their trim. Others got their colors from a city flag, a beer company, a ballpark, a design agency or an owner who simply wanted to stand out. And more than a few spent a decade or two in something else before coming home.
Both World Series teams are a good example. The Rays started in 1998 as the Devil Rays, in a rainbow gradient, switched to navy, Columbia blue and a yellow sunburst when they dropped the "Devil" in 2008, and are now bringing the rainbow back. The Brewers wore navy, green and gold in the 1990s and navy and gold after that, then brought back the 1978 ball-in-glove logo in 2020. Game 1 is Friday, October 23. Here is what both teams will wear in the World Series, and how the Rays are turning back into the Devil Rays.
So we went back to the start for all 30 teams, using each club's own history on MLB.com, the Society for American Baseball Research, the Hall of Fame and newspaper archives. Where the famous story doesn't hold up, we say so. This is the follow-up to How Every MLB Team Got Its Name and the MLB version of How Every NFL Team Got Its Colors.
Quick Facts: MLB Team Colors
- Named after their colors: the Reds, Red Sox and White Sox (their stockings) and the Cardinals (their cardinal red trim).
- From a city flag: the Pirates' black and gold, which come from William Pitt's coat of arms. The Pirates did not wear them until 1948.
- Inherited from another city: the Brewers kept the Seattle Pilots' blue and gold in 1970 because they had less than a week to get ready for Opening Day. The Twins and Rangers kept the colors of the two Washington Senators clubs they used to be.
- Borrowed from two departed teams: the Mets, with Dodgers blue and Giants orange.
- Once a completely different color: the Dodgers wore green in 1937, the Padres spent 1991 to 2019 mostly in blue, and the Phillies wore maroon for two decades.
- Picked from the landscape: the Diamondbacks' Sedona red and Sonoran sand, and the Twins' Kasota gold, named for the stone at Target Field.
- Myths that don't hold up: the Yankees did not add pinstripes to make Babe Ruth look thinner, and the Astros' "tequila sunrise" was designed as a Texas sunset.
AL East
Baltimore Orioles
The Orioles' colors come from a bird, and the bird's colors come from a family crest. Early naturalist Mark Catesby recorded that Marylanders called the bird "the Baltimore-Bird" because the male's orange and black matched the colors of Lord Baltimore's coat of arms. When the St. Louis Browns moved to Baltimore in 1954, they left behind their brown and took the oriole's orange and black. The first spring training was played in converted Browns jerseys. A realistic bird sat on the cap for the first years, and a smiling cartoon bird arrived in 1966 and stayed through 1988. The cartoon bird and the white-paneled, orange-brimmed cap came back in 2012. The colors are orange, black and white. Baltimore Orioles uniform schedule 2026
Boston Red Sox
The Red Sox picked their color before their name. In 1907 Boston's National League club, today's Braves, dropped its red stockings. That December, owner John I. Taylor ordered red stockings for his American League team and called it the Red Sox. Navy came later. The cap has been navy with a red "B" almost every year since 1933, when Tom Yawkey bought the team. The big exception came in April 1974, when Boston tried a cap with a bright red front panel. It was pulled within about three months. Today's colors are red, navy and white, and the red socks are still part of the uniform more than a century later. Boston Red Sox uniform schedule 2026
New York Yankees
The pinstripes are older than Babe Ruth. The Yankees first wore them in 1912, dropped them, and brought them back for good in 1915, the year Jacob Ruppert bought the team. Ruth did not arrive until 1920. The story that the stripes were added to make him look slimmer is a myth, and fact-checkers at Snopes found a February 1912 New York Times item describing the new stripes as a fad the club had picked up from the Cubs. The interlocking "NY" is older still. It was designed by Tiffany & Co. for a New York police medal in 1877. The colors are navy and white, and the home uniform has looked largely the same for about a century. New York Yankees uniform schedule 2026
Tampa Bay Rays
The Rays have changed colors more than any team in the division, and they are changing back. The 1998 Devil Rays wore TAMPA BAY in a gradient of purple, blue, green and yellow. When new owner Stuart Sternberg dropped the "Devil" after the 2007 season, the team switched to navy, Columbia blue and yellow, with a sunburst off the "R" that made "Rays" mean Florida sunshine as well as a fish. The 2008 team went from last place to the World Series in the new look. Since then, the Devil Rays have been creeping back: a Friday throwback, a rainbow stripe on the City Connect and, in September 2026, a gray road jersey with TAMPA BAY in the old gradient. Tampa Bay Rays uniform schedule 2026
Toronto Blue Jays
The Blue Jays' blue had a sponsor. The Labatt brewery was part of the 1976 ownership group, and Dr. William Mills, who won the draw among the 154 fans who suggested the name, said Labatt's involvement made blue the obvious color. Labatt's best-known beer is Labatt Blue. Red came from the maple leaf, which sits on the logo for Canada. In the 2000s the club moved away from its roots, with black and graphite jerseys and a "Jays" wordmark. For 2012 it went back, bringing blue to its home, road and alternate uniforms and an updated version of the original bird logo. The team said the redesign took about 18 months. Today's colors are royal blue, navy, red and white. Toronto Blue Jays uniform schedule 2026
AL Central
Chicago White Sox
The White Sox's black came from a fan favorite, a 1950s look and the Raiders. Through the 1980s the team wore navy and red. In July 1990, at a news conference at the old Comiskey Park, the club unveiled black and silver uniforms with a "Sox" script. UPI reported that the design drew on the 1959 "Go-Go" Sox and the NFL's Los Angeles Raiders. They were meant for 1991 and the new ballpark, but fans liked them so much that the team switched on September 25, 1990, in the middle of a homestand. White Sox merchandise jumped to the top of MLB sales, and the black cap became a hip-hop staple. The colors are still black, silver and white. Chicago White Sox uniform schedule 2026
Cleveland Guardians
Cleveland changed its name and kept its colors on purpose. When the Indians announced the Guardians name on July 23, 2021, the team said its colors would "remain the same scheme that has been part of our organization for more than 80 years to honor our rich baseball heritage." That meant navy, red and white, along with the red home alternate and navy road alternate the Indians had worn since 2019. The navy cap with the red brim stayed too. The big change was the logo, with a new Diamond C. For 2025, the navy road alternate swapped the word "Cleveland" for the Diamond C, which echoes the team's jerseys from its early decades. Cleveland Guardians uniform schedule 2026
Detroit Tigers
The Olde English "D" is the constant. It first appeared on the road uniform in 1904, and by 1905 a version close to today's was on the cap and both jerseys. The colors around it have moved more than the letter. Navy and white are the base, and orange, the color of a tiger, has come and gone as an accent. The Tigers never published one explanation for orange. Detroit Tigers uniform schedule 2026
Kansas City Royals
The Royals are not named after the color, but they wear it anyway. The 1968 naming contest picked "Royals" for the American Royal livestock show. Royal blue was the natural match for that name, and the club has kept it as its main color since 1969. The first uniforms paired white and gray with royal blue lettering and a royal blue "KC" cap. Powder blue showed up on the road in 1973 and stayed into the early 1990s, the era of George Brett and the 1985 title. Today's colors are royal blue and white, with powder blue as an alternate. Kansas City Royals uniform schedule 2026
Minnesota Twins
The Twins' navy and red came from Washington. The original Senators moved in 1961 and kept their colors, and owner Calvin Griffith's "TC" for Twin Cities went on the cap. The one color with a Minnesota origin story is Kasota gold. It joined the palette in the 2010s, and it is named for the Kasota stone that covers Target Field, quarried near Mankato. The team's 2023 redesign brought a new look but not a new palette. "The colors won't change," team president Dave St. Peter said. Today's colors are navy, red and Kasota gold. Minnesota Twins uniform schedule 2026
AL West
Houston Astros
The famous rainbow was meant to be a sunset. In 1975 the Astros hired the ad agency McCann Erickson to freshen up the team's look, and a designer cut colored paper into stripes with a Texas sunset in mind. The "Tequila Sunrise" nickname came later, from Florida Today columnist Shelby Strother in 1980. Navy and orange had been the colors since the Colt .45s in 1962. In 1994 the team switched to navy and metallic gold, and in 2000, with a new downtown ballpark, to brick red, sand and black. When Jim Crane's Astros moved to the American League in 2013, they went back to navy and orange and the old star logo. The rainbow is now an occasional throwback. Houston Astros uniform schedule 2026
Los Angeles Angels
The Angels' red is a 2002 decision. For most of their history the Angels wore blue and red, with a halo on the cap. When the Walt Disney Co. bought the club in 1997, it moved to navy and periwinkle, with a cartoon-style "A" attached to a white wing, and dropped the halo from the cap for the first time since 1970. The look was widely mocked. For 2002 the team went to red as its main color, with a red "A" circled by a silver halo, and won the franchise's only World Series that October. It has kept that cap ever since. Today's colors are red, navy and silver. Los Angeles Angels uniform schedule 2026
Athletics
The A's green and gold came from one owner. Charlie Finley bought the Kansas City Athletics and in 1963 dressed them in what he called Kelly green, Fort Knox gold and wedding gown white. MLB.com says the team needed the league's permission, because an old rule called for white uniforms at home and gray on the road. Finley also added white cleats and pushed the shorter "A's" name. The colors went with the team to Oakland in 1968, and the green-and-gold teams of the 1970s won three straight World Series in them. They survived the move to West Sacramento in 2025, where the club plays at Sutter Health Park ahead of its planned move to Las Vegas. Today's colors are green, gold and white. Athletics uniform schedule 2026
Seattle Mariners
Seattle's teal has a name: Northwest green. The first Mariners, in 1977, wore royal blue and gold with a trident-style "M." On September 18, 1992, the club unveiled a new identity built on navy, Northwest green and silver, with a compass rose over a baseball, created by Major League Baseball's design team. It was first worn in 1993 and fit a decade when teal was everywhere, from Charlotte to San Jose. The Mariners have kept it through the Ken Griffey Jr., Ichiro and Cal Raleigh eras. The old royal blue and gold came back in 2015 on a cream throwback alternate. Seattle Mariners uniform schedule 2026
Texas Rangers
The Rangers' red, white and blue came with them from Washington. The franchise was the second Washington Senators club, and when owner Bob Short moved it to Arlington for 1972, the team kept the Senators' red, white and blue. The first spring jerseys in Texas were converted Senators flannels. The colors also happen to match the Texas flag, which made the move an easy fit. The Rangers joined the powder blue road trend in the mid-1970s and kept it into the early 1980s, and powder blue still shows up as an alternate. In 2023 they won their first World Series in the same red, white and blue. Texas Rangers uniform schedule 2026
NL East
Atlanta Braves
The Braves' red is as old as pro baseball. The franchise began as the 1871 Boston Red Stockings, and its red stockings stayed until 1907, when the club dropped them and the Red Sox picked them up. Navy and red have been the main colors for most of its history in Boston, Milwaukee and Atlanta. The big detours came in Atlanta: royal blue pullovers in 1972 and powder blue in 1980. In 1987 the team went back to button-front jerseys, gray on the road and the tomahawk across the chest, a more traditional look. That is still the basic Braves look today, in navy, red and white. Atlanta Braves uniform schedule 2026
Miami Marlins
The Marlins have had three color schemes in 33 years. The 1993 Florida Marlins wore teal, a trendy color at the time thanks to the Charlotte Hornets and San Jose Sharks, and a nod to the ocean. MLB Properties designer Anne Occi suggested black and silver as accents. Black slowly took over. In 2012 the team became the Miami Marlins and moved into a new ballpark with a bright orange, yellow, blue and black look. Under the Derek Jeter-led ownership, a new identity arrived for 2019: Caliente Red, Miami Blue, Midnight Black and Slate Grey. The team said the palette reflected Miami's streets and neighborhood flags, and its lettering nods to the 1950s Havana Sugar Kings. Miami Marlins uniform schedule 2026
New York Mets
The Mets' colors are a tribute to two teams that left. When the Mets were born in 1962, New York had lost the Dodgers and Giants to California four years earlier. The new club took royal blue from the Dodgers and orange from the Giants. The colors also match the New York City flag, which is blue, white and orange. Cartoonist Ray Gotto won the logo contest, and his first concepts were drawn in pink and black before the team asked for orange and blue. Black was added in 1998 and dropped for the 50th anniversary in 2012, then returned as a Friday alternate under Steve Cohen in 2021. New York Mets uniform schedule 2026
Philadelphia Phillies
The Phillies spent two decades in maroon. In 1970 the club moved to a dark burgundy, with a stylized "P" logo, and paired it with powder blue road uniforms from 1972 to 1988. The 1980 World Series champions won in that look. In 1992 the Phillies went back to a brighter red, with red pinstripes at home, new gray road uniforms and a Liberty Bell in the logo. The powder blues are back as an alternate. Today's colors are red, white and blue. Philadelphia Phillies uniform schedule 2026
Washington Nationals
The Nationals' red, white and blue came from Montreal, in a different order. The 1969 Expos wore red, white and blue, with a cap whose crown was split into all three colors and a logo combining an "M," an "e" and a "b." We could not find a source from 1969 explaining why the club chose those colors. When the Expos moved to Washington for 2005, the team kept the same three colors but made red the lead color, paired with navy, and used a curly "W." The club has not published a color story beyond that. Today's colors are red, navy and white. Washington Nationals uniform schedule 2026
NL Central
Chicago Cubs
The Cubs set a uniform trend the Yankees copied. The Cubs are generally credited as the first big-league team to wear pinstripes, and a February 1912 New York Times item described the Yankees' new stripes as a fad that came from Chicago. The team's colors are Cubs blue and red, with a bear cub on the uniform by 1908. The team says it was the first modern club to wear baby blue, with powder blue road vests in 1941 and 1942, and it wore all-powder-blue road uniforms in the 1970s. In 2025 baby blue came back as the Blues Alternate, a tribute to Chicago blues music. Chicago Cubs uniform schedule 2026
Cincinnati Reds
The Reds have worn their name since 1869, when the Cincinnati Red Stockings went 57-0 in high red socks. Red has been the color ever since, even when the name was not, during the Redlegs years from 1953 to 1958. In 1956 the team added sleeveless vests, inspired in part by first baseman Ted Kluszewski, who cut the sleeves off his jerseys to free his biceps. Black came in as a trim color in 1961 and became a main color for the first time in 1999. Today's colors are red, black and white. Cincinnati Reds uniform schedule 2026
Milwaukee Brewers
The Brewers' blue and gold were an accident of the calendar. On April 1, 1970, a bankruptcy judge cleared the sale of the Seattle Pilots to Bud Selig's group, and Opening Day was less than a week away. Early Brewers marketing had used red and navy, but there was no time for new uniforms, so the team kept the Pilots' royal blue and gold and swapped the lettering. Those colors stuck. In 1978 the team added the ball-in-glove logo by art student Tom Meindel, who won a contest with 1,932 entries and was paid $2,000. The team went to navy, green and gold in 1994, then navy and gold. In 2020 the ball-in-glove came back as the main logo, in navy and gold with a ring of royal blue. Milwaukee Brewers uniform schedule 2026
Pittsburgh Pirates
The Pirates came late to black and gold. The colors come from the coat of arms of William Pitt, the British statesman the city is named after, and Pittsburgh's flag uses them. The NHL's Pittsburgh Pirates wore them in 1925 and the Steelers from 1933. The baseball Pirates wore other colors, including blue and red, for decades before switching to black and gold in 1948, a few years after a new ownership group bought the club. Since then black and gold have been the Pirates' colors through the pillbox caps of the 1970s and the mix-and-match "We Are Family" team of 1979. Today's colors are black, gold and white. Pittsburgh Pirates uniform schedule 2026
St. Louis Cardinals
The Cardinals are named after their color, not the bird. Before 1899 the club was the Browns, for its brown stockings. That year new owners Frank and Stanley Robison switched to uniforms trimmed in cardinal red, a fan reportedly called it "a lovely shade of cardinal," and the name followed. The birds came later, with the birds-on-the-bat logo in the early 1920s. Navy shows up on the cap and trim. The Cardinals wore powder blue on the road in the 1970s and 1980s and brought it back as a Saturday road alternate in 2019. Today's colors are cardinal red, navy and white. St. Louis Cardinals uniform schedule 2026
NL West
Arizona Diamondbacks
The Diamondbacks gave up purple for the desert. The 1998 expansion team wore purple, teal, copper and black, with purple pinstripes, and won the 2001 World Series in them. After the 2006 season, new team president Derrick Hall wanted a more modern look, and said, "You're just not going to get everybody to wear purple." The new colors, unveiled at a Scottsdale fashion show, came from Arizona's landscape: Sedona red, from the red rocks around Sedona, and Sonoran sand, from the desert, with black as the accent. Teal has since come back as an accent. Arizona Diamondbacks uniform schedule 2026
Colorado Rockies
The Rockies are purple, black and silver, and the popular explanation is "America the Beautiful." Katharine Lee Bates wrote "purple mountain majesties" after a trip to the top of Pikes Peak in 1893, and the Rockies' purple is often described as a nod to that line. It is a good story, but we could not find a team statement from 1993 that says so. What we know is that the expansion club picked a color almost no one else in baseball wore. Colorado Rockies uniform schedule 2026
Los Angeles Dodgers
Dodger blue is younger than the Dodgers. Brooklyn wore a mix of colors over the years, and in 1937 the team wore kelly green. Larry MacPhail took over in January 1938 and brought in royal blue, first seen in an exhibition against the Yankees that April. The franchise has been blue ever since. The red number on the front of the home jersey is a TV idea. Club president Walter O'Malley added it in 1952 so viewers watching on black-and-white television could tell players apart from the front. The uniforms were reportedly made for the 1951 World Series, which Brooklyn missed after Bobby Thomson's home run. The colors are Dodger blue, white and red. Los Angeles Dodgers uniform schedule 2026
San Diego Padres
The Padres' brown is the color of a friar's robe. The team is named for the Spanish Franciscan missionaries who founded San Diego's first mission, and its Swinging Friar mascot made brown the obvious choice. From 1969 through 1984 the Padres wore brown and gold, a look fans called "mustard and mud." They swapped yellow for orange in 1985 and dropped brown for blue in 1991, later moving to navy and sand. Fans kept asking for brown. After polling fans, the team announced in 2019 that it would return to brown and gold for 2020, with brown pinstripes and brown caps. Today's colors are brown and gold. San Diego Padres uniform schedule 2026
San Francisco Giants
The Giants have worn orange and black since their New York days, and they brought the colors west in 1958. Fans call the team "the Orange and Black." We could not find a team or newspaper source that explains who picked orange or why, so we will not guess. What we can say is that the Mets took the Giants' orange in 1962 to win over the fans the Giants left behind. In San Francisco the details have shifted: orange jerseys in the late 1970s, and cream home uniforms that arrived with the waterfront ballpark in 2000. Today's colors are orange, black and cream. San Francisco Giants uniform schedule 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do the Yankees wear pinstripes?
The Yankees first wore pinstripes in 1912 and brought them back for good in 1915. A 1912 New York Times item described them as a fad borrowed from the Cubs. The story that they were added to make Babe Ruth look thinner is a myth, since Ruth did not join the team until 1920.
Why are the Mets orange and blue?
The colors honor the two National League teams that left New York in 1957: blue from the Brooklyn Dodgers and orange from the New York Giants. They also match the New York City flag.
Why are the Pirates black and gold?
The colors come from William Pitt's coat of arms, by way of Pittsburgh's flag. The Pirates switched to black and gold in 1948, after the NHL's Pirates in 1925 and the Steelers in 1933.
Why are the A's green and gold?
Owner Charlie Finley introduced Kelly green, Fort Knox gold and wedding gown white in 1963, when the team was in Kansas City. The colors stayed through the moves to Oakland and West Sacramento.
Why are the Padres brown?
Brown is the color of the Franciscan friars' robes. The Padres are named for the missionaries who founded San Diego. They wore brown from 1969 to 1990, left it for blue, and returned to brown and gold in 2020 after fan polling.
Why did the Astros wear rainbow jerseys?
In 1975 the ad agency McCann Erickson redesigned the look, and the designer had a Texas sunset in mind. A Florida columnist nicknamed it the "Tequila Sunrise" in 1980.
Why are the Dodgers blue?
Larry MacPhail brought in royal blue in 1938, after a 1937 season in kelly green. The red number on the front of the home jersey came in 1952, so TV viewers could identify players.
Why are the Brewers blue and gold?
In 1970 the team had less than a week between buying the Seattle Pilots and Opening Day, so it kept the Pilots' royal blue and gold. The ball-in-glove logo came in 1978 and returned as the main logo in 2020.
Why did the White Sox switch to black?
The team unveiled black and silver uniforms in July 1990, drawing on the 1959 Go-Go Sox and the Los Angeles Raiders. Fans liked them so much that the switch happened that September instead of waiting for 1991.
Why are the Rays navy and light blue?
When the Devil Rays became the Rays after the 2007 season, the team dropped its black, green and rainbow look for navy, light blue and a yellow sunburst. The rainbow is now coming back, on a 2026 road jersey and a Devil Rays throwback.
Why are the Rockies purple?
The most common explanation is the line "purple mountain majesties" from "America the Beautiful," written after a trip up Pikes Peak. We could not find a team statement from 1993 confirming it.
Which MLB teams are named after their colors?
The Cincinnati Reds, Boston Red Sox and Chicago White Sox are named after their stockings. The St. Louis Cardinals are named after the cardinal red trim on their 1899 uniforms, not the bird.
The Bottom Line
Baseball's oldest colors came from socks, and they never left: the Reds, Red Sox, White Sox and Cardinals still wear the colors in their names. Many of the rest came from one owner, like Finley's green and gold or MacPhail's Dodger blue, or from a deadline, like the Brewers' borrowed Pilots uniforms. The pattern since the 1990s is the same as in the NFL. Teams that chased trends, from the Padres' blue to the Diamondbacks' purple and the Astros' brick red, tend to come back to something older. The Rays are doing it right now, on the biggest stage of the year.
More MLB Coverage
- 2026 World Series uniforms: what the Rays and Brewers will wear
- Are the Rays becoming the Devil Rays again?
- How every MLB team got its name
- How every NFL team got its colors
- MLB uniform tracker 2026: every jersey, every game
Team color histories via each club's official history on MLB.com, the Society for American Baseball Research, the National Baseball Hall of Fame, UPI, ESPN, Todd Radom and local newspapers.
