Minnesota Twins' New Uniforms Plan to "Take a Step Toward the Future"

[Cody Christie]

Earlier this week, the Twins announced that the team will be rebranding for the 2023 season. What will this mean for the Twins, and how have their jerseys changed throughout the franchise's history?

 

Image courtesy of graphics by Thieres Rabelo

Dave St. Peter told the Star Tribune that the Twins will rehaul all their on-field looks before the 2023 season. These changes will include a new logo, new lettering, and new uniforms. However, the plan is for the colors to stay the same, which may upset some fans that don't like the Kasota gold that has been prominently used in recent years. 

"Our uniforms are going to evolve and take a step toward the future," St. Peter told the Star-Tribune. "There is always a sensitivity to paying respect to the history and the heritage of the franchise, but there's also a desire to move it forward, much like we did in the mid-'80s."

Minnesota used the same uniforms for the first decade the club was in the Twin Cities. In the early 1970s, the club added the famous baby blue road uniform. By the late 1980s, the club switched to a pinstripe look at home and on the road. For one season (1997), the club infamously had a red alternate jersey that the team only wore twice for the entire season.

There were plenty of other alternate jerseys used in the Metrodome era, but the Target Field era has seen some changes. Minnesota removed pinstripes on the road jerseys for the 2010 season and added a cream-colored home alternate. Then some of the most significant changes were made following the 2014 All-Star Game as the team added Kasota gold to the team's uniforms, and pinstripes became a thing of the past.

"The Padres are a great example — they went with a refresh that actually reached back to their origins, but they did it in a really bold, dynamic way," St. Peter also said. "It wasn't just a cookie-cutter of what Steve Garvey wore in 1984. And our goals are the same. How do you pay tribute to that history and heritage but do it in a very modern way?"

Minnie and Paul aren't going to be going away from Target Field. The Twins don't want to lose the franchise's identity that has been formed over six decades. There is going to be a modern spin to the uniforms while also including some classic elements. Will the team use the TC logo or bring back the M logo from the World Series era? Will Kasota gold continue to be part of the color scheme? Will pinstripes be added back to the home or road jerseys? We won't know the answers to those questions until later this off-season. 

Other MLB clubs have also been getting City Connect uniforms, but the Twins aren't scheduled to wear those until 2024. In his interview, St. Peter hinted that the Twins might unveil the City Connect uniforms next year. The Timberwolves have had multiple City Edition jerseys, so the Twins can learn from the good and the bad at Target Center. 

What do you want from a new Twins uniform? Leave a COMMENT and start the discussion. 

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[Unwinder]

One thing I really like about baseball in general, and the Twins in particular, is that old design elements are never really lost. Take the "m" emblem, for instance. The Twins phased it out of their everyday look, but it's still all over on merchandise, all over the graphics the Twins use on the scoreboard and on social media, and the Twins wore it on their hats for spring training this year. Or take a look at the original loopy "Twins" script with the big underline. This was updated in 1987, but since then, it's reasserted itself on retro uniforms, and appears almost as often as the "current" wordmark. I welcome a new take on the brand, because I know that the interlocking TC emblem, the hand-shaking Minnie and Paul, the underlined wordmark superimposed over a baseball, and all the other current brand elements that I like are always going to be in use on some level, and there will always be plenty of retro merchandise and throwback uniforms to showcase them. Nothing's really going away. so why not add something new to the mix?

[LastOnePicked]

Will the new logo be holographic? I was promised by virtually every movie as a child that the 2000s would features holograms everywhere. 

Holograms on the uniforms. Make it happen.

[dberthia]

Not crazy that they mentioned the Padres. They can do much better than that. For my money, you can't beat the cream pinstripes with the cursive Twins script from a few years back.

[Brandon27]

Hopefully bring back M on their hats 

[ashbury]

47 minutes ago, Brandon27 said:

Hopefully bring back M on their hats 

To denote Missouri, or Mississippi, or Montana?  Milwaukee, or Missoula, or Muncie?

[terrydactyls]

Jim Pohlad finally gets involved.  Too bad he hasn't put this much effort into rebuilding the team.

[TopGunn#22]

For my money, the BEST uniforms the Twins have ever had are their original 1961-1971 pinstripe home and cream road.  Maybe it was growing up back then with Killebrew, Oliva, Carew and Tovar, but those uniforms are far and away the best.  The blue Twins script and the blue numbers on the back.  I understand the desire to "modernize" and to switch things up to sell more merchandise, but the Dodgers and Yankees don't do it, so why should we.  At a minimum, just for my satisfaction, they should wear those original jerseys every weekend or every Friday-Saturday-Sunday.  

[Blyleven2011]

Get rid of the baby powder blue and bring back the pin stripes please  ....

[tarheeltwinsfan]

How about using the uniforms which the 1987 and the 1991 teams wore on their journeys to 2 World Championships?  I think I wrote previously about the fact that my hometown is less than 50 miles from Charlotte, which was a Senators/Twins farm team when I was a boy. The Senators used to send their previous year's major league uniforms to Charlotte for the Charlotte players to wear the next year. The uniforms had a large red "W" on the front shirt. The Charlotte team would have the "W" (for Washington) removed from the front and a "C" (for Charlotte) being sewn in place of the "W". I know because the man that did the uniform letter exchange gave me a real Washington Senators' "W" from a real Senators uniform (maybe it was on Clint Courtney's uniform). 

[twinsfan02]

those 2006-2010 home alternates were my favorite uniforms they have ever worn.

[Dave The Dastardly]

I don't care as long as there's a World Series patch on 'em at the end of the 2023 season.

[Steve Lein]

14 hours ago, dberthia said:

Not crazy that they mentioned the Padres. They can do much better than that. For my money, you can't beat the cream pinstripes with the cursive Twins script from a few years back.

Yup, the cream pinstripes are by far my favorite jerseys they have had. Definitely want something like that back!

[Fire Dan Gladden]

IMO, the powder blues are necessary, it is pretty much unique to the Twins.  I am ok with the pinstripes as well.

This is all about marketing and gear sales.  Nostalgia is always a seller. 

[RJA]

I don't mean to introduce an element of discord, but I wish they would have waited a few weeks for this announcement--maybe the end of the World Series--as I think some fans look at an announcement coming so quickly on the heels of the Twins pennant race collapse as a bad look for the FO.  I would have waited, done a little PR work like post season interviews indicating that they were going to go all out to improve the team for next year (and not mention it was all due to injuries), and then tied the new uniforms into the new energy and FO commitment going into winning the division next year.  Just a thought.

I guess I am an old timer because I do love the traditionally styled pinstripes the best.  Time is passing me by I guess :).

[Doctor Gast]

What's most important is focusing on what we did wrong & improve on it. 

Styling is meaningless to me, uniforms are important only if they inspire winning tradition. Pinstripes are the only ones that have brought this to the WS level in '65, '87 & '91. Unless the new uniforms have pinstripes, all this is in vain. If pinstripes are part of the package then I recommend them show clips from the '87 & '91 seasons & WS,to reinstill that winning attitude, that have been missing since they started to think about doing away with the pinstripes.

[Doctor Gast]

4 hours ago, MauerGoat said:

Please tell me this entire paragraph is sarcasm.

Please tell me your statement is sarcasm. Unless you are more into fashion than baseball

[Original_JB]

3 hours ago, RJA said:

I don't mean to introduce an element of discord, but I wish they would have waited a few weeks for this announcement--maybe the end of the World Series--as I think some fans look at an announcement coming so quickly on the heels of the Twins pennant race collapse as a bad look for the FO.  I would have waited, done a little PR work like post season interviews indicating that they were going to go all out to improve the team for next year (and not mention it was all due to injuries), and then tied the new uniforms into the new energy and FO commitment going into winning the division next year.  Just a thought.

I guess I am an old timer because I do love the traditionally styled pinstripes the best.  Time is passing me by I guess :).

My only guess is that they want to get them out there in plenty of time for the Holiday shopping season.

[Unwinder]

7 hours ago, TopGunn#22 said:

the Dodgers and Yankees don't do it, so why should we.

The Dodgers tweaked their official script logo and interlocking LA emblem in 2012, and have been introducing new uniform variants every few years, including this year. The logo changes are pretty subtle, but for all we know, the Twins logo change might be similarly subtle.

[Lasorda_This_Out]

Echoing Blyleven2011, if there is one atom of powder blue in the Twins 2023 uniforms, I'll go full-on Baltimore Oriole's superfan.....

[Doctor Gast]

1 hour ago, MauerGoat said:

You're the one more into fashion than baseball if you truly believe that pinstripe uniforms will take the Twins to the world series. Talk about ludicrous. Uniforms have nothing to do with winning tradition, and to believe otherwise is laughable. 

#1  My intial post states that fashion isn't important which lead me to believe you thought that was sarcasm

#2  I never said that pinstripe uniforms would (automatically) take us to the WS. I said it'd support a winning tradition.

#3  If you think that uniforms have nothing to do with a winning tradition, I suggest you write  letters to teams like NYY, LAD & others that basically haven't changed their uniforms for ages due to this belief, and tell them that they are laughable. And see if they take you serious.

[Game7-91]

They can start with a new soft cover:

[Squirrel]

13 minutes ago, MauerGoat said:

Yes the reason the Dogers and Yankees are successful is because of their uniforms! Unbelievable. This might be the most ridiculous take I've ever seen on this page. 

You claim fashion isn't important but then say that it's a huge part of some teams success...

Stop it. You can disagree with others, but you don't get to call them ridiculous.

[Doctor Gast]

12 hours ago, MauerGoat said:

Yes the reason the Dogers and Yankees are successful is because of their uniforms! Unbelievable. This might be the most ridiculous take I've ever seen on this page. 

You claim fashion isn't important but then say that it's a huge part of some teams success...

To me, fashion in uniforms is a certain outward look, winning tradition in uniforms represents an inward winning attitude.

I claim that fashion in uniforms has nothing do with the teams success but winning tradition in the uniform has a good deal to do with it.

When I was a young boy, I couldn't wait to be old enough to don our city uniform. When I was old enough, I felt much pride & honor putting on that uniform. Much later they decided to change the uniforms, shortly afterwards the team ceded to be. That brought great sadness to me.

 

 

[Fezig]

Have the uniform look like the front office approach to pitching. It will look great for the first five inches and then the next 7 sections will look tattered and torn until the end where it will be completely shredded.

[Paul Pleiss]

Give me a kasota gold top and ditch the red jerseys forever. Put strips on the road grays, and give me the two time WS winning M cap at least on alternate days. Maybe A blue cap with a gold M to pair with the Kasota gold top. Maybe never wear red again. Anywhere. Kasota gold and blue only

[USAFChief]

On 9/28/2022 at 8:50 PM, ashbury said:

To denote Missouri, or Mississippi, or Montana?  Milwaukee, or Missoula, or Muncie?

Mediocre. Mundane. Middling.