New All-Star game shirts are in: Can’t they do better?

Fresh Major League Baseball All-Star game T-shirts from Nike are available online and, boy, do they need some work. As Can't Stop the Bleeding asked pointedly, who were the marketing wizards behind "I Play For The National League: We Will Win"? And just who is the target demographic here? Tony La Russa's NL starting lineup? There's a shirt for the American League, too. It's just as weak. Going for the "choose your side" theme makes sense, but I can't imagine Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City being filled with fans wearing these.

I much prefer our photoshopped job on the right-hand side of the above picture (even though, yes, the NL has won the past two Midsummer Classics.) Overall since 1988, the AL is 18-5-1, and this season marks the 10th anniversary of the infamous All-Star tie at Miller Park, when commissioner Bud Selig shrugged and a meme everyone loves — "This Time, It Counts" — was conceived. Now that's something that needs celebrating!

Nike made two other T-shirts for this line (real ones, not like "I Pray For The National League" — that's fake) and those slogans are much better. "It's Not Over Until October" is a little more inspired, and "It's Not A Break" nicely dovetails with "This Time It Counts." (For all I know, these phrases aren't new. But they should be marketed ahead of "We Will Win," which fans also can see in TV commercials.)

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