The Surprising Non-Uniformity of MLB’s “VZ” Cap Lettering

Royals catcher Salvador Perez, who hails from Venezuela, had three shout-outs to his homeland written on his chest protector last night (see above). The messages translate to “God bless you VZ,” “We are with you,” and “I love you, Venezuela,” all of which refer to the devastating earthquake that hit that nation on June 24.

Although Perez conveyed his sentiments on his catching gear, most Venezuelan MLB players have been showing support for their countrymen by having “VZ” embroidered onto the side of their caps. The interesting thing, at least to me, is how non-uniform these uniform adornments have been. They’re all on the right side of the cap (the left side is already occupied by the New Era logo, grrrr), but aside from that there’s very little consistency to them. There are lots of different fonts and type sizes, and even the positioning of “VZ” lettering varies quite a bit from player to player, or at least from team to team.

To be clear, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. On the contrary, the variety of “VZ” inscription styles makes the whole effort feel a bit more homespun, less corporate. I’m just surprised — pleasantly so — that the MLB bigwigs didn’t issue precise specs for everyone to use.

As of Opening Day, there were 60 Venezuelan players on MLB rosters — the second-highest total of any non-USA country (trailing only the Dominican Republic’s 93). I couldn’t find photos of every Venezuelan player, but I did manage to piece together a pretty good assortment of shots from 15 teams. This gallery is not intended to be complete or definitive, but it at least gives some sense of the range of “VZ” treatments that have been out there on the field over the past month and a half. Take a look:

One exception to putting the “VZ” on the right side of the cap came on July 4. Since all caps that day had the “USA 250” logo on the right side, Venezuelan players’ caps had the “VZ” on the left — but positioned far back from the New Era maker’s mark:

In addition, at least one Venezuelan third base coach — Rouglas Odor of the Guardians — has been wearing the “VZ” on his helmet:

If you want to contribute to the Venezuelan earthquake relief effort, you can do that via highly reputable organizations here and here.

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Uni Watch, created by Paul Lukas, has been covering the world of athletics aesthetics since 1999. He also writes Inconspicuous Consumption, which is sort of like Uni Watch for everything other than sports.