Finally, the moment a generation of Mets fans have been waiting for: They’re back in black.
The Mets announced on Thursday that the team will be re-introducing a black alternate jersey at remaining Friday-night home games this season, starting on July 30 against the Cincinnati Reds.
A uniform combination that divided a fan base, the Mets originally debuted black uniforms — a black jersey with blue names and numbers piped in white and orange along with all-black caps or a black cap with blue brim — in 1998 and remained an alternate jersey for the team until 2012.
The uniforms are closely associated with the tenure of Hall-of-Famer Mike Piazza, who joined the Mets midway through that 1998 season and helped develop the team into a National League contender for the following three seasons. As Piazza became one of the greatest Mets in franchise history, the team made its first trip to the World Series in 2000 wearing those jerseys.
It was ditched during the team’s 50-year anniversary season which saw a full return to the traditional blue-and-orange uniforms that the team started with in 1962.
But with the takeover of Steve Cohen as majority owner over the winter, speculation about the black jersey’s return quickly began; the flames further stoked by Cohen’s teasing of the matter. Last month, he announced that the team would introduce the uniforms sometime in July.
In celebration of the black jersey’s return, the Mets will give away 12,000 Francisco Lindor black t-shirts to fans on July 30 against the Reds.
The black will also be worn on Aug. 13 against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Aug. 27 against the Washington Nationals, Sept. 10 against the New York Yankees, and Sept. 17 against the Philadelphia Phillies.
