Have you guys noticed the coats the MLB umpires are wearing now? They aren't my favorite but I never like the red back panels in the old coats. I always liked the older style, with the powder shirt under the sport jacket. What do you guys think?

which ones are you talking about? they have the ones with white stripes over the shoulders, then they also have a lighter material one with white stripes under the arms and down the side.

speaking of red back panels, i have a +POS PLP1 (official jacket of the minors) and i love the red back panels. it gives more room to move and it looks good too.

No they don't have stripes over the shoulders. They have one horozontal stripe across the front. About right under the arms as you had mentioned. And I do like the idea of having back panels to make room for more movement, it is just that in my personal taste, I dont like the look of the red in the back of it.

Honig's is the official supplier to MLB Umpires, the major league coat is here:

http://www.honigs.com/detail.asp?Cat=2&Sub=42&Item=353

yeah, they have one jacket with stripes over the shoulders and one with the small horizontal stripe and down the side stripes. the shoulder striped one is thicker, whereas the horizontal striped one is thinner. i have a chicago cubs jacket that is the exact same jacket as the horizontal striped umpire one, just that it is a cubs jacket and not black with white stripe.

the link in the above post is for the jacket with the stripes over the shoulder. i havent seen any places that sell the other jacket with the horizontal stripe but they do make that same model jacket for every MLB team (i have the cubs one). good luck finding it if you want it.

and honigs doesnt make the "official" jacket for MLB, Majestic does and you can find that majestic jacket at a few web sites. honigs makes all the clothing besides the jacket.