By JOHN P. WISE
MyFox National Editor

An old "Seinfeld" episode references one's familiarity with one's equipment. In the Cleveland Indians' clubhouse this summer, no one is more familiar with the team's equipment than Tony Amato.

Amato is the team's equipment manager, and he said it can be pretty costly to outfit a Major League baseball player, let alone an entire team.

A company called Majestic is the official uniform supplier for all MLB teams. If you're a veteran and you've been traded, the new team's equipment manager can just call Majestic and get your sizes and have new gear in two days.

"We have a lot of backup uniforms on hand here in the clubhouse, and I'll take some extras with me when we're on the road," Amato said. If you're joining the squad on the road, the home team likely will have a seamstress somewhere in the building, and will sew your last name onto your new jersey for just $3.50 per letter.

Majestic gives each team $150,000 in gear at the beginning of the season, Amato said.

"It doesn't take long for us to go through all of that," he added.

It's not just hats and uniforms. Majestic's outfits include: Game jackets, cage jackets, polar fleeces -- is this a J. Peterman catalog? -- T-shirts, pants and several different jerseys.

"We have six different jerseys plus four backups, so each guy really has 10 different jerseys at about $100 a pop," Amato said.

Speedy Grady Sizemore probably will need a patch or two on a pant knee this season; that will cost $8. Need a new pair of game pants entirely? The price is $60.50, Amato said.

You can't read a story about sports apparel and not see the word Nike. The swoosh gives each MLB side at least $50,000 in undergarments, like those Dri-Fit shirts and sliding shorts.

Hatmaker New Era gives each team a $20,000 credit before the season. After that, the team pays $11.25 for a game hat and $11 for each batting practice hat.

Teams don't provide the players with batting gloves, spikes or mitts. These days, everyone seems to have an endorsement deal thanks to the Jerry Maguires of the world. So the players can tell Nike and Adidas or Mizuno, "You complete me."

The Indians wear an all blue gym sock or soccer sock. Twin City provides them at $3.20 a pair. Amato said the squad goes through a lot of those.

Teams pay for the bats their players use, and the Indians get about 80 percent of them from Louisville Slugger and Rawlings. Slugger's cost between $46 and $63, depending on the wood type, and Rawlings' bats range from $41 to $58. Amato said slugger Travis Hafner could use as many as 100 bats this year.

"I ordered him two dozen bats for the spring and another six dozen for the rest of the year," Amato said.

Rawlings also is in the mix when it comes to batting helmets. The outfitter gave the Indians 50 of them, but after that, each will cost $38. But Amato said he doesn't expect to order many of them.

"A lot of guys don't like the shiny new stuff," he said. "The days of polishing helmets are long gone."

Amato said Sizemore began this year with the helmet he used last year. He's been sporting a brand new one lately though because he lost the old one during a recent series at Florida.

Ballplayers, known as a superstitious lot, are seldom in a rush to replace a pair of game pants that might have a hole in the knee or rear.

"Guys will tell me to patch them up instead of giving them a new pair," Amato said. "By the end of the year, you'll see some guys playing with holes in their pants."

And be careful when handling a few of the guys' game caps. Trot Nixon, an original Boston Red Sox Dirt Dog, only uses one hat. Others share the same preference, but that could very likely change at the time of the next batting slump.