The St. Louis Cardinals rolled out their new Nike City Connect jerseys Monday and enlisted the services of Nelly to help hype up the reveal.
The red tops read "The Lou" with the "STL" abbreviation for the city emblazoned on the caps.
St. Louis Cardinals @CardinalsThe Birds. The Bat. The Lou.<br><br>Our City Connect story: <a href=""> href="">#ForTheLou</a> <a href="">
St. Louis Cardinals @CardinalsWe're from The Lou and we're proud.<a href="">#ForTheLou</a> <a href="">
MLB @MLBThe Cardinals City Connect uniform is HERE 👀<br><br>A city and a team that have been inseparable for over 140 years. The Birds. The Bat. The Lou. <a href="">
Cardinals president Bill DeWitt III said the organization went through "a bunch of iterations" before landing on a final design, per the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Benjamin Hochman. DeWitt added he and team officials wanted to maintain tradition to some degree.
"Nike was pushing us to think outside the box, which is partly what this is all about, but not entirely. And so, (that was) including the birds off. And all sorts of crazy things," DeWitt said. "I think they would probably admit to pushing teams further outside their comfort zone than perhaps many wanted to go. And we see that in certain franchises, where they let (the uniforms) be a complete departure. I just didn't feel like this franchise, given its special place and kind of the hierarchy of uniforms, needed to do that. …
"At the end of the day, I just held firm, saying: 'It's got to have the birds on the bat.'"
St. Louis' City Connects are fairly tame compared to some of the others around MLB.
MLB @MLBThe Phillies' City Connect uniform is HERE 🔔<br><br>Unapologetically Philadelphia, this is an ode to the city's past, present and future <a href="">
MLB @MLBA fit perfect for Colorado. <br><br>The <a href="">@Rockies</a> City Connect uniforms are as cold as the peaks of the Rocky Mountains. 🗻 <a href="">
Texas Rangers @RangersCity Connect too clean. <a href="">#StraightUpTX</a> <a href="">
That's not necessarily a bad thing because there's a reason the Cardinals logo has become so iconic.
Nelly provided an inspiration for the jerseys as well with his 2000 song "Country Grammar." He raps at one point, "I'm from The Lou and I'm proud."
DeWitt told Hochman the line "kind of says it all."
The Cardinals will don their City Connects for the first time Saturday against the Chicago Cubs. They're scheduled to wear the uniforms for 11 games after that.
