The 1966 White Sox' Powder Blue Caps—Three Innings and Out

The Chicago White Sox famously wore shorts for four games in 1976. They introduced the first commemorative sleeve patch in MLB history, in 1907. They were the first MLB club to feature names on the backs of their uniforms. They have worn navy blue uniforms with white pinstripes, zippered jerseys, and untucked, wide-collared jerseys. And for one Spring Training game on March 24, 1966 they metaphorically and characteristically stuck a small toe in the water of uniform experimentation.

While I haven't found any photos from that game, we can certainly speculate about what the overall effect would have been.

The White Sox had gone to powder blue uniforms two season earlier, in 1964. Selected as a nod to the influence of televised games (Charles O. Finley's Kansas City Athletics had adopted their Kelly green and gold color scheme one season earlier,) the powder blues were seized upon by a number of MLB teams within a few years.

The Chicago Cubs were the first MLB club to wear powder blue road uniforms, introducing them on June 30, 1941 in a game against the Cincinnati Reds. A September 25, 1941 Sporting News article wondered if the Cubs players liked the "baby blue" uniforms, and went on to pose the following question: "Have the Cubs developed a paintywaist inferiority complex?"

The Brooklyn Dodgers were next up, wearing powder blue satin uniforms for select night games in 1944—the last MLB club to wear that color until the 1964 White Sox.

Powder blue headwear finally made it into a Major League game in 2010, when the Kansas City Royals first wore their short-lived light blue alternate caps. But for three innings on a March day in Orlando, Florida, the Chicago White Sox were once again sartorial pioneers.