Ranking the St. Louis Cardinals' uniforms now that their City Connect has dropped

The St. Louis Cardinals are the 26th team in MLB to receive a City Connect jersey compliments of Nike. This completes their "four plus one" collection that Nike uses for each organization. In order to assist with production complications, Nike is limiting teams to just 4 jerseys of their own choice plus a City Connect design.

They [Nike] have come to all the clubs and said, ‘We really want to sort of streamline uniforms.’ So there’s a model out there that they want to stick to called ‘four plus one.'

The Cardinals have their typical home white jerseys, road grays (sometimes with a navy hat), their "Fauxback" Creams, Victory Blues, and lastly City Connect jerseys. With the dropping of their red spring training jerseys, the Cardinals were able to make room for their City Connects. While they only boast 5 jerseys, the various hat and uniform combinations for the Cardinals make for a total of 7 amalgamations to choose from.

I figured it would be a fun -- and controversial -- exercise to rank these uniform sets. Please remember I'm a humble human being with simple tastes. These are my opinions in rankings, but hopefully a healthy dialogue and debate will ensue.

Redbird Rants' site editor Josh Jacobs did this exercise a few years back, but the introduction of the City Connect jerseys have allowed the conversation to be re-opened.

5. Road grays

These are not bad uniforms by any means. They are a simple design with the classic Birds on the Bat and red "Cardinals" script on the front. The jerseys are typically paired with a red hat, but occasionally the team will wear navy blue hats when their opponent wears red. The grays paired with navy hats made this a tough choice, as that color combination is attractive.

The road gray jerseys are still aesthetically pleasing, but they aren't flashy enough to outrank the others on this list. The logo on the front of the jersey has been around since 1999.

As far as fifth jerseys go for a team, the road grays are among the best in baseball, but they don't stand up to the other 4 that the organization boasts. Personally, I'm a fan of specialty uniforms, so I will place the generic road grays last on this list.

4. City Connects

As I previously stated, I love unique uniforms. The City Connect jerseys are much better than I anticipated, but I do think they could've been better.

I actually thoroughly enjoyed the new City Connect jerseys compliments of Nike. There are plenty of unique elements that fit the city perfectly. While the front of the jersey is obnoxious for three reasons -- it's bland (fitting for the state of the franchise at the moment), it has an annoying slogan, and it's not bold enough -- the rest of the uniform is well designed.

The jersey features river pinstripes -- which could be slightly larger in my mind -- as references to the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. The Gateway Arch and Fluer-de-lis are prominently featured on a patch. The franchise's founding year, 1882, can be found on the inside collar of the uniform. The font on the hat is a throwback to 1920-1921 logos.

Since the retirement of the spring training red jerseys, there has been a gap in the team's primary color. The red jerseys pair nicely with white pants, and now the organization's primary red returns to the field. The hats are simple with "STL" displayed on the front. The font, once again, is a revival of the 1920-1921 season jersey lettering.

If the logo on the front of the jersey were even slightly more bold, the Cardinals' City Connect jerseys would vault to the top of this list in my mind. There are plenty of reasons to tout these jerseys, but the most important part of the jersey, the front, has room for improvement.

While the uniforms could use a little more flash, particularly on the chest, it's a wonderful homage to the history of the city and franchise. The Cardinals will debut these against their divisional rivals, the Chicago Cubs, on Friday May 24th at home. They are available online for purchase throughout the year.

2. Cream Jerseys

I wavered on first and second place jerseys. I love both the cream jerseys that are worn on Saturday home games and the Victory Blue jerseys, but the history of the blues make me want to place them first.

The cream uniform was first introduced during the 2013 season, and it almost immediately became a fan favorite. They are a bit of a "fauxback" with the classic "St. Louis" lettering on the front instead of it reading "Cardinals". The Birds on the Bat are still present. Red trim can be found on the sleeves and down the middle of the jersey.

Those who are history buffs (or general fans of Dizzy Dean) will recognize the font from the 1932 Cardinals jerseys. Those, too, had "St. Louis" on the chest with the classic Birds on the Bat. The cream color is reminiscent of the old home flannel jerseys worn in the 1930's and 1940's.

J.P. Hill of VivaElBirdos called these jerseys "Disney-fied" due to the larger, sillier font, and while I may disagree with him on the appearance of the font, I can agree with him on one point. Hill did compliment the cream and flannel appearance as an homage to the olden days, and I concur with that sentiment.

These cream jerseys blend the old with the new, and the unique color combination of the cream and red are stunning in my eyes. The Cardinals were one of the last organizations to bring in an alternate jersey, but I for one am happy they went with this design.

1. Victory Blues

My personal favorite jersey that the Cardinals have is their "Victory Blue" jersey. These have a similar design to the cream jerseys, but the classic powder blue puts this uniform above the rest. The front of the jersey features the Birds on the Bat with "St. Louis" beneath. Red trim can be found on the sleeves and down the middle of the jersey on the front, identical to the cream jerseys.

These Victory Blue jerseys were introduced in 2019, but an early predecessor can be found in the 1970's and 1980's. Powder blue jerseys were not in use by the franchise from 1984 until the 2019 season, and flashbacks of Lou Brock, Bruce Sutter, and Keith Hernandez came into the minds of every fan.

A blue jersey was present in the 2000's, but it was drastically different than the ones of the 1980's and the new rendition of 2019.

These Victory Blue jerseys are worn during Saturday road games, so it's always a treat to see players trot onto the field donning the throwback uniforms. Once again, combining tradition with flash makes these uniforms the best the organization has to offer.

The delay in production with Fanatics has caused these jerseys to be absent from the rotation up to this point in the year. Hopefully they'll make their inaugural 2024 appearance soon.