Almost a different look for the Yanks on the road

Thanks to the tireless uniform report Michael Kay used to give out on the radio, we all could describe the Yanks’ road uniform in our collective sleep — gray background, New York in blue across the chest outlined in white, yadda yadda yadda. But once upon a time, the Yankees almost changed that design. In a Uniwatch column published last week, uniform guru Paul Lukas with former Yanks’ PR director Marty Appel to discuss the near-change to the Yanks’ road digs.

As Appel described in his 2001 memoirs, he walked into then-GM Gabe Paul’s office to find the sample. “They were the opposite of the home pinstripes — they were navy blue with white pinstripes. The NY logo was in white. Gabe liked them. I nearly fainted,” he writes. “I think my dramatic disdain helped save the day and saved the Yankees from wearing those awful pajamas on the field.”

In his interview with Lukas, Appel rehashes this tale — which happened to take place in Robert Moses’ old office at the World’s Fair grounds — and talks about how his reaction ensured that George Steinbrenner never even saw this abominable uniforms. Interestingly, Lukas notes that the Yanks were the first team to commemorate anything with a sleeve patch, and the mock-up of Jeter and A-Rod in the alternate uniforms is a classic.