The Philadelphia Phillies have announced they will begin wearing an advertisement for Independence Blue Cross (IBX) on their jersey sleeve beginning with their home game against the New York Yankees on Wednesday, July 31.
The patch shows IBX in large blue letters with Independence above placed within a white rounded rectangle trimmed in red.
“The Phillies were determined from the start to find the right pinnacle partner for our coveted jersey patch,” said Phillies Managing Partner and Chief Executive Officer John Middleton in the press release. “Independence Blue Cross has been stitched into the fabric of our community for more than 85 years and is as much of a hometown team as the Philadelphia Phillies. We are excited to celebrate IBX, an invaluable partner for nearly four decades, as our inaugural jersey patch sponsor.”
LINK: Philadelphia Phillies logo and uniform history
This new patch will appear on the sleeve of all five team uniforms. Like most teams wearing advertisements, it will be on the arm of each player which faces the television cameras most often (right-handed hitters/pitchers will wear it on the left, left-handers on the right).
In a bare minimum “thank you” move, the patches worn on the Phillies’ powder blue and burgundy throwback uniform, as well as their blue and yellow City Connect uniforms, will be recoloured to better match the colour scheme of each uniform. I do wish every jersey ad patch was recoloured to match the uniform they’re being worn on, but unfortunately, many companies and teams simply don’t care enough to make this a requirement.
“Independence Blue Cross is the perfect partner for the Phillies,” said Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola in the press release. “I’ll be proud to wear the jersey patch on my sleeve, knowing how committed IBX is to the community, in particular their efforts to strike out ALS. I look forward to being a part of this important work to help those battling this awful disease.”
The Philadelphia Phillies’ addition of an advertisement to their jersey brings the total number of MLB teams wearing ads in-game to 22. As of now, eight teams do not wear such a patch: the Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox, Colorado Rockies, Minnesota Twins, Oakland Athletics, Seattle Mariners, Tampa Bay Rays, and Washington Nationals. Major League Baseball permitted clubs to begin wearing ads on their uniforms starting with the beginning of the 2023 season.
