Twins drop new uniforms, logo at Mall of America
When the Twins started attacking what team president Dave St. Peter called a brand refresh two years ago, one of the options was to bring back the “M” the team wore on its hats during the glory years of the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Instead, they went with something entirely new.
The Twins unveiled a set of uniforms during what was part fashion show and part prep rally Friday in the East Rotunda of Mall of America. A few hundred fans stood in line for seats in front of the diamond-shaped runway, while others filled the balconies on the second, third and fourth floors for a glimpse of the Twins’ new look.
Most notably, the Twins unveiled a new team logo that will appear on road hats this season, a navy cap with white sans serif M and a red diamond-shaped star above it representing the North Star. The traditional “TC” will remain on home caps, but the alternate hat letters are all white.
“Definitely a lot of good options,” said right-handed pitcher Joe Ryan, one of five Twins players who modeled the uniform options on Friday. “They did good work, and I definitely like the new logo. I’m excited about it.”
The uniforms don’t stray too far from Major League Baseball standards, or anything the team wore when it first moved from Washington D.C. to Minnesota before the 1961 season. The team colors are still red, white and blue, and the basics are simple white home uniforms with “Twins” across the chest, and gray road uniforms with muted pinstripes and “Minnesota” across the buttons.
One major change is an alternate home uniform in cream — which has been a popular color for fans — that features “Twin Cities” across the front and two crossed flags on the left shoulder, one each representing St. Paul and Minneapolis. It was modeled by all-star center fielder Byron Buxton and was the last to be unveiled on Friday.
“This is my favorite,” Buxton said. “We lost the cream four or five years ago, so just to be able to bring it back and incorporate both St. Paul and Minneapolis, to have Twin Cities written across the chest, is very unique and shows the unity that the towns have together.”
The Twins’ traditional “TC” hats have always been shorthand for Twin Cities, but the team said the new alternate home jerseys are the first Minnesota pro jerseys to use the actual words.
Spurred by executive vice president for marketing and branding Joe Pohlad, the Twins had been working on the uniforms “for the better part of two years,” St. Peter said. A handful of Twins players first saw them two months ago, then had to keep the secret.
Infielder Jose Miranda said it wasn’t easy; he even had family back home in Puerto Rico asking for new merch, or at least a peek at the new designs.
“I knew this before probably half of everybody in here did,” Buxton said, “so for me it was all about keeping my mouth shut. I knew I liked the uniforms, so it was hard to be quiet for two months and not tell my teammates.”
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