Sharing the history of matching team jerseys, like the baseball jersey, with your team can help the group understand the importance of looking the same. The obvious answer to the question of why it is so important to all look the same is to distinguish one team from another quickly and effectively. The brain responds to color rapidly and can categorize and make decisions based on what it sees. But team psychology goes further than that. Other than the simple answer of telling team members apart, wearing matching jerseys creates a cooperative environment that players can be proud of. Marketers can brand team jerseys, like the color blue automatically makes Los Angeles residents think of the Dodgers. There is a rich history behind the team jersey that is worth learning about. Anything from baseball to volleyball jerseys are used to create team spirit among the players.

Tribes, Kingdoms and Nations have competed with each other for thousands of years over land and resources. In the heat of battle it was necessary to avoid friendly fire and wearing a distinguishing uniform was a method of doing this. Like the Olympic Games starting in Greece, organized sports were a way nations peacefully settled matters without the costly expense on wars on their people, land and treasuries. Now in the modern era, this psychology is apparent in sports fans that religiously support their local sports teams.

The New York Kinckerbockers baseball team was among the first recorded sports teams to wear uniforms in the United States in 1849. European soccer teams also wore uniforms since the late 19th century. Mass production of the uniform began in the mid-1900s as sports popularity was on the rise. Nearly every city had their own sports teams, so mass production of anything from softball pants to soccer jerseys was a necessity. Amateur, scholastic and professional teams all took to the jersey to define themselves.
Using the Jersey as a marketing tool began somewhere in the 1960s when the nation’s Major League baseball formed the Major League Baseball Properties to ensure exclusive rights to protect the styles of these uniforms legally from being sold by other companies. Since the 1990s, exact replicas have been sold as a source of income by the demand of sports fans. Sports uniforms have also been used by corporations as advertising billboards, and in the professional sports world, companies will spend thousands of dollars to have their names shown on team uniforms.