Michael Kay Fires Back At Yankees Players Wanting Alternate Uniforms

The New York Yankees might be moving on from yet another tradition.

Roughly a year after changing its facial hair policy, the Yankees are considering adding an alternate uniform to its rotation. Several players want to wear their navy batting practice jerseys for occasional road games.

As of this moment, the Yankees wear their classic pinstripes for home games and gray uniforms for road games. The thought of them having an alternate uniform seemed ridiculous prior to this season.

With that being said, Yankees play-by-play announcer Michael Kay discussed the possibility of the 27-time World Series champions wearing alternate jerseys. Let's just say he didn't hold back during Wednesday's episode of his ESPN New York radio show.

"It can't be a one-way street. Give me, give me, give me. Hal Steinbrenner says, ‘Well, give me a championship. Give me the 28th title I want. I'm spending $350 million in payroll. Give me that, and maybe I'll give you other stuff.' All I've seen over these years, ‘let's make things great for the players. Let's give the players everything they want.' And they deserve to have great things. It's not an easy job, but they're well compensated for it," Kay said, via Awful Announcing.

"But you pay top dollar, you have a state-of-the-art clubhouse, you travel in style, you stay in the best hotels. Ok great, that stuff should be. But the extra little things, ‘let us grow our hair longer, can we wear beards?' Well then, win me a championship. Because if I'm going to move away from the Yankees and what the Yankees stand for, then I'm going to need something back from you."

Yankees stars share their thoughts on the new jerseys.

When asked about the Yankees adding alternate uniforms to the mix, Aaron Judge had this to say: "I'm all about tradition, but we've got a patch on our sleeves."

Giancarlo Stanton, meanwhile, made it clear that he's in favor of wearing navy jerseys for select road games.

"A lot of people would be OK with it, for sure," Stanton said, via The Athletic. "I don't know each and every person. But who I've talked to, yeah, they would be good with it."

Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner will make the final decision on these jerseys.

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This story was originally published April 23, 2026 at 7:16 AM.