The green baseball fields of Arizona and Florida will be awash in green uniforms, green caps and green bases this St. Patrick’s Day. The tradition dates back to 1978, when the Cincinnati Reds showed up for an exhibition game against the New York Yankees in green-trimmed livery (all at a cost of $5,500, a surprising move for the notoriously conservative Reds front office.)
While we are accustomed to seeing a sea of green uniforms in March, it’s a color that’s not been worn by a whole lot of Major League clubs as part of their regular look. Alone among today’s MLB teams, the Athletics have been wearing green since 1963.