Minnesota Twins New Identity

[coco1997]

Initial impressions:
 

- Ditching Kasota gold is addition by subtraction.

- All in all, I really like the new scripts. Combining a new wordmark that evokes the classic script "Twins" with the "WIN" underline from the team's Metrodome-era set is an idea I put forth as recently as a week ago but I didn't expect the team would actually do it. 

- Nice to see the road pins back and I like the way they've been implemented. I appreciate that this helps distance the team a bit more visually from the division rival Guardians, as does the wholesale elimination of outlines around the scripts and numbers. 
- The new "M" cap is unnecessary, and I agree with those who observed that at glance it's too similar to the 2012-18 Marlins' cap logo. 

- R.I.P. Minnie and Paul.
- With the home uniform emphasizing red, I would have liked to see the inclusion of a red crowned cap with navy bill and squatchee as a nod to the team's red caps of the late '70s-mid 80s. As it is, there are no fewer than THREE solid navy caps across the set. Total overkill. 
- The "Twin Cities" alternative feels completely superfluous. It's not bad, but doesn't bring anything new or different to the table other than the "Twin Cities" script which is an idea they could have just saved for the City Connect design. If the thinking behind this set was to recall the team's "rich history" wearing cream, they should have added pinstripes, which at least would have given them a home pinstriped option. Heck, amplify the block "M" by putting it on the front of the jersey as a nod to the team's origins as the Washington Senators. Here's a quick mockup of that idea:

 

 

[simtek34]

29 minutes ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

Are you saying that these pants are not grey? If the Twins are going to wear white pants on the road with the blue jersey, and if they are going to have two distinct road looks (a dignified baseball look, and a Sunday beer league softball look), that knocks the overall grade from me down a peg, to B+. 

 

The Navy Jersey is a Home and Road alternate, worn with the White Pants when worn at home, of course. They'll still wear the M cap with the Navy jersey at home to according to them, give the fans a chance to see the M cap in person.

[McCall]

31 minutes ago, Ferdinand Cesarano said:

 

If the only road jersey were blue, then I would agree that pairing it with pinstriped pants would be weird. But since there is a pinstriped road jersey, then the use of the blue jersey with the pinstriped grey pants would be, in your own comparison, like taking your jacket off.

 

 

The pants shown with the blue road jersey do not have pinstripes.

 

Are you saying that these pants are not grey? If the Twins are going to wear white pants on the road with the blue jersey, and if they are going to have two distinct road looks (a dignified baseball look, and a Sunday beer league softball look), that knocks the overall grade from me down a peg, to B+. 

 

But it's still better than I had expected, and it's still a great improvement over the previous set.

Google, my friend.

[5ss22]

3 hours ago, pluggerplugger1 said:

Just returned home from the Mall of America unveiling and wow there were a lot of folks there! It was awesome seeing everyone energized about the Twins, especially considering how the season ended. Were any other CCSLC-ers at the event?!

I was there. Definitely more people than I expected. It was cool that they brought current and former players for photos.

[GFB]

I think this is really classy and the best the Twins have ever looked. The home uniforms give me old school candy shop vibes, which is a really nice vibe for a team like Minnesota.

 

My only sticking point is that I don’t really understand the idea behind the cream/navy only alternate… while the Twin Cities wordmark is a beaut, it’s a bit lifeless compared to the other uniforms.

[MJD7]

On 11/15/2022 at 4:17 PM, Kg54mvp said:

Uh oh.

 
I’m hearing some bad news. There will only be three uniforms revealed, with two hats..powder blue and the Minnie and Paul handshake logo are gone.

 

so that makes it the;

Home White

Alt Navy

Away?

 

Troubling news to be honest. Not only will traditionalists be upset that the Minnie and Paul logo is gone, but many that love the powder blue will be upset as well.

 

On 11/15/2022 at 7:38 PM, MJD7 said:

This is 100% false, as Twins president Dave St. Peter confirmed that the Minnie & Paul logo will remain, albeit with some "tweaks."

 

The t-shirt leak also strongly suggests that powder blue will be part of the color palette to some degree. 

@Kg54mvp, I'd like to take a moment to apologize and eat my words from earlier, it appears the rumors you heard were nearly spot on. I guess I didn't consider the possibility that President St. Peter would outright lie (or, more charitably to him, simply doesn't have quite the eye for this kind of stuff that we do). 

 

I'll post a full review of the set a little bit later (Spoiler alert: I love it).

[-Akronite-]

Initial thoughts:

• Scripts are nice
• Navy & cream alt is top to bottom gorgeous, I had wished the Guardians went a similar direction within their set
• Pinstripes are fine, I normally don't like them and find the Twins previous use fairly ugly, but these are subtle enough to work and it's good to limit it to the road set
• M cap is innoffensive but pointless IMO, just wear the TC every day
• In addition to that, I'd use that state outline logo on all the sleeves
• I didn't hate the gold like many others but this looks better

[Kg54mvp]

1 minute ago, MJD7 said:

 

@Kg54mvp, I'd like to take a moment to apologize and eat my words from earlier, it appears the rumors you heard were nearly spot on. I guess I didn't consider the possibility that President St. Peter would outright lie (or, more charitably to him, simply doesn't have quite the eye for this kind of stuff that we do). 

 

I'll post a full review of the set a little bit later (Spoiler alert: I love it).

No worries! Your comment made total sense as I looked at the article again from St. Peter and was convinced the rumors were false.

 

He just better not lead us on again like that!

[5ss22]

15 minutes ago, MJD7 said:

I guess I didn't consider the possibility that President St. Peter would outright lie (or, more charitably to him, simply doesn't have quite the eye for this kind of stuff that we do). 

My assumption is that he meant Minnie & Paul will remain above center field.

[simtek34]

19 minutes ago, MJD7 said:

 

@Kg54mvp, I'd like to take a moment to apologize and eat my words from earlier, it appears the rumors you heard were nearly spot on. I guess I didn't consider the possibility that President St. Peter would outright lie (or, more charitably to him, simply doesn't have quite the eye for this kind of stuff that we do). 

 

I'll post a full review of the set a little bit later (Spoiler alert: I love it).

 

4 hours ago, simtek34 said:

Turns out, thanks to the article on the mothership, that Minnie and Paul aren't quite dead, just being put in the home. While they won't be featured on any uniform elements, they will remain at the Target Field scoreboard. If this is correct, they are presumably gonna modify the wordmark as the one on the Target Field scoreboard has the old Twins wordmark. They are doing renovations currently this offseason, so that is probably apart of that.

 

[jn8]

i just woke up and have read nothing, just seen the pics. 
 

I want to like it. But no matter how much I try to not see it, the way the w runs into the i makes it look like a cursive r. I can’t help but to read it as Turns. 

[seasaltvanilla]

I think they nailed their design brief.  Modern look inspired by (and, crucially, honoring) the past. I get the logic they used to come up with each element, and I appreciate the thoughtfulness displayed in the mothership write-up. The previous rebrand felt like a money grab by cheaply introducing a new color in the easiest way possible, and it never really felt like the Twins. This feels like a vision with passion and respect behind it.

 

The homes and grays are excellent. I think the cleanliness of the whites will really shine in the mid-July sun at Target Field. The understated pinstripes on the grays are a very pleasant surprise. None of the Twins' navy jerseys have ever really grabbed me, but it's nice not to have the headspoon piping. Agree that the throwback Twin Cities jerseys would have been nice in pinstripes, especially if they're understated like on the grays. 

 

The Twins have never had matching Twins and Minnesota wordmarks, so this just continues that tradition. I like both. The TC is better than before. The M star is good in concept, lacking in execution.  I think some combination of the M and STP flags and the MN state logo would feel like a proper replacement for the wonderful Minnie and Paul logo, which is the biggest casualty of all this. Glad to hear it will remain at Target Field, hope it comes back in some form sooner vs later.

 

Like I said last night, this is the upgrade I didn't know I want it, but it really works for me overall. Can easily see it being my favorite set overall in a few years. If Matt Wolff and/or friends are reading, thank you! I appreciate all the thought you put into this.

[jdthrillinger]

the only 2 things throwing me off  are:

 

1. Why does the grey uni not mimic the sleeve patch of the blue  jersey?

2. Why does the grey uni not color flip the name and number on the back from the front like the blue and white jersey do?

 

[Ferdinand Cesarano]

2 hours ago, BBTV said:

Yes - and I prefer a more formal look.  I don't think sports teams should have "casual Friday".

 

Oh, I don't think there should be coloured jerseys at all! (Exception: the yellow and green tops with the "A's" logo on the left breast that Oakland has worn as alts at various times over the years.) Coloured jerseys are for batting practice; when the game starts, you should put on the real uniform — white at home and grey on the road. But I'm just taking the Twins' blue jersey on its own terms, rather than fixating on its lack of justification to exist.

 

Anyway, the shadows in the photo that I saw made me think that the white pants pictured with the blue jersey were grey.  But now that I know that those pants are white, I can say that I think that the pairing of the blue shirt with those white pants will look worse than the pairing with the grey pinstriped pants. Still, considering that the blue jersey will be the secondary jersey both home and road, paring that jersey with the normal home and road pants makes sense. 

 

But of course my preference in the ideal world would be to get rid of it. The set would get an A+ in that case.

[BBTV]

Is it a camera thing, or are the pinstripes lighter than they are on other uniforms?  They seem way more subtle than the ones on other gray uniforms like the Padres gray-ish ones.

[DarthBrett]

deleted

 

 

[Red Comet]

I really don't see the issue with these uniforms except they may be a bit bland. But, the desire to not be bland is what leads to stuff like the Buffaslug. 

[oldschoolvikings]

15 minutes ago, BBTV said:

Is it a camera thing, or are the pinstripes lighter than they are on other uniforms?  They seem way more subtle than the ones on other gray uniforms like the Padres gray-ish ones.

 

I might be mistaken, but I believe those are dark gray pinstripes on light gray fabric.  Which, if so, is IMO cooler than navy pinstripes, by far.

 

 

[IceCap]

I like most of it, but a few things bug me. The first is the custom number font. I really think for something as scaled back and classic looking as this it needs single layer block.

 

The other thing... I really don't like the M cap. The only cap logo the Twins should ever wear is the TC.

[MJD7]

This rebrand is probably the most personally significant of my life to this point, eclipsing the 2013 Vikings and 2014 Florida State, so I have plenty of thoughts:

 

Updated "TC" Cap

• Seeing it in an official capacity, I now definitely think it's an upgrade over the former logo. Part of me will probably always miss the serifs, and I liked that the line weight of the old "C" was more consistent throughout, but I can see why they made the updates they made. The cap looks a lot better. My first instict was that I'd miss the red squatchtee, but I I actually might like the solid navy.

"M" Cap

• This seems to be the most divisive element of the rebrand, but I've gotta say, I absolutely love it. Plenty of people online are saying it looks like the Marlins, which I understand, but, importantly, it looks like the old Marlins, from a set that only lasted 6 years at that. This is a great update of the Senators "W," whether that was intentional or not, and the star connects it wonderfully with the dual-color nature of the TC.

Home Uniform

• I love it. It's probably my favorite uniform of the set. The solid red wordmark was definitely a bit jarring when it was leaked, but now I'm so glad they went that route. A lot of people seem to be lamenting the loss of outlines, but I applaud the move, as it again connects with the dual-color TC and immediately separates them from the rest of the red/navy teams, while also recalling classic baseball looks (i.e. the Dodgers, Yankees, & Tigers). Also, I love love love the thicker stripes, I've been wanting the Twins to do that for years. The fact that it's consistently navy/white/red across the set makes it even better.

Road Uniform

• I think I've made my thoughts on road pinstripes for the Twins clear, but I can't lie, something about them looks inescapably Twins. I'm glad they flipped the colors of the wordmark & front number, as a red wordmark would have been way too difficult to read. The white in the stripes really pops off of the gray background. The pinstripes being subliminated is a nice touch too, I believe it's a first in MLB.

Home Alternate Uniform

• This one is probably the most lacking for me, as I'm not in love with solely using navy. I think using splashes of red would really help it pop, much like the rest of the set does. I'm not as big of a fan of the "M" & "StP" flags logo as others seem to be. It just makes me miss Minnie & Paul. I'm not sure if anyone else noticed, but below the navy of the sleeve stripe there's a thinner pure white stripe, which is a strange choice... It reminds me of the Rams placing white on their former away jersey, seemingly just to highlight that there is in fact a difference. It won't really be noticeable from a distance though.

Alternate Navy Uniform

• Right now this is my 2nd favorite jersey behind the home white, and it could easily top it at some point. This is where the dual-color, single-layer motif really shines, as it allows both the white & the red to really pop off of the navy background. I'm also really glad they darkened the navy to match the cap, the discrepancy between the two on the old set used to really bug me. Having the "TC" as a patch looks better than I thought it would.

Overall, I couldn't be much happier than I am with this rebrand, as my favorite team finally went the route of the Padres, Blue Jays, & Brewers by creating a modern update inspired by their most classic brand elements. The consistency, cleanliness, and thoughtfulness this time around is so refreshing compared to the past decade of completely disparate uniform designs that each looked like they were designed by different entities.

 

Honestly, this is probably my favorite overall uniform set that the Twins have ever had.