By Tim Kelly, Sports Talk Philly editor 
Wednesday, the Philadelphia Phillies announced they will wear their powder blue throwback jerseys for to-be-announced Thursday games at Citizens Bank Park.
While many fans are excited to see the team mix in the powder blue alternates more frequently, the news didn't draw universal praise. Some, such as SportsTalkPhilly.com's historical columnist Matt Albertson, don't like that a team that has existed since 1883 seems to recycle the same two or three throwback jerseys, ignoring the rest of their history. Others find it curious that the Phillies plan to wear their powder blue jerseys, which were traditionally road jerseys, for home games. And then there's another crowd of people that may have appreciated powder blue jerseys with powder blue pants in 1980, but don't think the look has aged well since.
In any event, the Phillies have worn a unique combination of threads throughout their existence. Here's a look at some other throwback jerseys the team could wear:
1933 Home Jersey
(Marc Okkonen/Baseball Hall of Fame)
Nothing quite says "throwback" like the jerseys that the Phillies wore at the Baker Bowl during the final season of Hall of Famer Chuck Klein's first stint with the team.
In the event that the Phillies would wear these jerseys, it would be interesting to see what they would do with the hat. Perhaps they would simply stick with the blank hat in the attempt to be as historically accurate as possible. However, people aren't going to line up to buy blank red hats. If the Phillies took the logo from this jersey and also put it on the hat (perhaps a pillbox hat?), they would probably sell quite a few of the hats. It's possible that this jersey simply looks better with a blank hat, though, because the "P" on the jersey may speak for itself.
Side note: The Detroit Tigers have one of the nicer home jerseys in the sport, and it looks fairly similar to this. I've long advocated that the Phillies replace their current red alternate jerseys with a white jersey, like this, that features their "P" logo on the heart. It would be interesting if they used this jersey as inspiration for that, but updated it with their current logo.
1934 Home or Away Jersey
(Marc Okkonen/Baseball Hall of Fame)
Disclaimer: these jerseys are an acquired taste. The hats, which feature my personal favorite "P" in red, on top of a blue hat, are very nice. Whether you like both, only one or neither of the jerseys is up to you.
Personally, I appreciate the multi-colored lettering on both jerseys. I probably prefer the grey jerseys – and since the powder blue jerseys, which weren't home jerseys, are in play, there's no reason this couldn't be – but I think the white jerseys look better with the blue hat and high blue socks.
It would be interesting to see how the grey road jerseys, which have white and red writing across the chest, would look with the 1950s red and white hat (pictured at the top of the article), which features the same logo.
1938 Home Jersey
(Marc Okkonen/Baseball Hall of Fame)
Is this a cool jersey? Absolutely. Is it one that I could ever see the Phillies wearing in a game? Nope, because the "P" on the left side of the chest looks too much like a Pittsburgh Pirates logo.
The most redeeming part of this jersey might be the patch on the left sleeve. The biggest criticism of this jersey is that, at least by modern standards, it doesn't feel like a jersey the Phillies would wear. However, this patch, which features William Penn on top of City Hall throwing a baseball, is pretty Philly:
There was an updated version of this jersey worn in 1942 that was all white and had the same "P", only this time it was in black. Though this jersey featured a cool World War II related patch, the Phillies wore the jerseys in 1992, and there wasn't much to like about them:
1944/1945 Blue Jays Throwback
(Marc Okkonen/Baseball Hall of Fame)
Over two decades before the Toronto Blue Jays existed, the Phillies, coming off of eight consecutive seasons of losing at least 90 games, flirted with changing their name to the Blue Jays. That never happened, but it did lead to perhaps the coolest jersey in franchise history.
On the left sleeve of both the home and the away jerseys was a Blue Jay. The hat was nearly identical to the ones worn in 1938, except the "P" was white, rather than yellow, making it much more aesthetically pleasing. Finally, the font on the front of the jerseys was very similar to what the team wore in the 1950s, though it was written more on a slant, as you'll see below. The other major differences between this and the popular 1951 jerseys are, of course, that the font is written in blue, and the home jersey, while still white, doesn't feature pinstripes.
Since there is now another team in the league called the Blue Jays, it's unclear if the Phillies would be able to wear these throwbacks in a game, especially if they hoped to keep the Blue Jay on the sleeve, which is perhaps the best feature of the jersey. The Phillies play the Blue Jays in late August in Toronto. There is precedent for the Phillies wearing throwbacks away from Citizens Bank Park, as they have worn the aforementioned powder blue jerseys in Milwaukee before. The issue with wearing these jerseys in Toronto is that it would look like the Blue Jays were playing the Blue Jays.
1951 Jersey
(Marc Okkonen/Baseball Hall of Fame)
Personally, this is my favorite throwback jersey. It, of course, isn't drastically different than what the Phillies wear now, but it's still nice to mix in. The Phillies have done just that in recent years, including wearing the home jerseys against the St. Louis Cardinals on Father's Day 2015.
Both of these uniforms feature the slanted "P" hat, as well as the slanted "P" on the front of the jerseys in "Phillies." The patch, while not as special as some others that the Phillies have worn throughout their history, still adds something to the jersey, as it features a ball inside a glove that's inside a diamond.
Since the Phillies have now set the precedent of wearing throwback jerseys that were traditionally worn on the road at home, there's no reason the team couldn't also now wear the 1951 away jerseys at Citizens Bank Park.
