Twins in sleevless jerseys

[winghaz]

The Twins are wearing sleeveless jerseys tonight (05/02) against the Tigers. I know they have worn sleeveless jerseys before, but I never got to see them. And they look good. Really good.

It's hardly traditional for the Twins to wear them, but sometimes good looks override tradition. It would be sinful if the Yankees, Red Sox or Dodgers, among others, were to wear sleeveless jerseys no matter how good they look, but it works for the Twins.

[no97]

I had been watching the Cubs game until I read this (and fliped over to see that they are, again, just sleeveless versions of their regular home jerseys). Why not go with a true alt? The "TC" on the left side of the pin-stripes, for one example? What's the point of a sleevless version of the same jersey you already have? Sorry, but I'm not a fan...

Moose

[frozenguy]

The Twins are wearing sleeveless jerseys tonight (05/02) against the Tigers. I know they have worn sleeveless jerseys before, but I never got to see them. And they look good. Really good.

It's hardly traditional for the Twins to wear them, but sometimes good looks override tradition. It would be sinful if the Yankees, Red Sox or Dodgers, among others, were to wear sleeveless jerseys no matter how good they look, but it works for the Twins.

I thought they ditched those things yrs ago!!

[frozenguy]

I had been watching the Cubs game until I read this (and fliped over to see that they are, again, just sleeveless versions of their regular home jerseys). Why not go with a true alt? The "TC" on the left side of the pin-stripes, for one example? What's the point of a sleevless version of the same jersey you already have? Sorry, but I'm not a fan...

Moose

I think it might be because its more comfortable that way but they want to keep the same look.

[BallWonk]

It's hardly traditional for the Twins to wear them, but sometimes good looks override tradition. It would be sinful if the Yankees, Red Sox or Dodgers, among others, were to wear sleeveless jerseys no matter how good they look, but it works for the Twins.

Please explain that statement. The Twins have worn the same uniforms since 1986, and those uniforms are modernizations of the uniforms they wore from 1961-1971. That uniform was itself a variation of the uniform the team wore in Washington in 1959 and 1960, and before that the team has worn navy pinstripes with sleeves almost continuously since 1912.

That's a longer aesthetic lineage than the Yankees, Red Sox, or Dodgers have. The Dodgers and Red Sox have changed their uniforms more in the last century than the Senators/Twins have done. So why are the Red Sox and Dodgers sacred, but the Twins are not?

(As to the pixie vests themselves, I submit that a team whose stadium will subject them to snow-outs two months of each season needs to wear jerseys with sleeves, not vests.)

[RickV]

Jersey vests should be without pinstripes in my opinion. Not a fan.

[spyboy1]

I am completely shocked that they are wearing those again.

The first introduced those jerseys in 2006 (with the Kirby Puckett memorial #34 patch) and, to the best of my research, they wore them only 4 times in 2006 (April 18, June 10, August 11 and Sept. 30) which were all losses and they got the reputation of being bad luck.

They wore them once in 2007 (with the Herb Carneal memorial patch), the first game of a rare Metrodome doubleheader. The game the day after the 35W bridge collapse was postponed and made up on August 31st - another one sided loss. I went to the game and afterwards was in the team offices at the lost and found when Twins President Dave St. Peter walked by. I asked him if that was the only time they had worn the vests that year, and he said yes, and added that I "wouldn't be seeing them again" either, or something to that effect, so I thought they had been dropped permanently.

I also agree that they are a lost opportunity to do something different, like a "TC" logo on the chest, and are simply the home jerseys with the sleeves chopped off.

I've got two in my collection now. A game issued 2007 and recently got a game worn 2006.

I added the turtle neck myself so it would photograph better.

One odd thing about them is that both memorial patches are clearly a size smaller than those worn on the sleeves of the other regular jerseys.

[OnWis97]

I went to the game last night. I saw a (old Angels style) replica for sale and thought "and they don't even wear those any more). I was stunned when the Twins came out in them. I am glad they won, but I hope the 11-1 victory does not lead to them breaking it out more freely.

I'm not a fan of sleeveless, but even so, I could live with it (and I echo the above criticism), if they did not just remove the sleeves from their existing home jersey.

[Sport]

I don't understand these either. If a twins fan really wanted a vest why not just buy a cheap regular jersey and cut the sleeves off? Sillyness.

[dutyfree]

Maybe.....maybe...if they put a TC on it, eliminated the pinstripes, and made the shirt sleeves red..something to change it up a bit....then maybe a vest would work. But as it is, no.

[BBM]

A little OT, but has anyone worn sleeveless jerseys without, you know, anything under them? I mean recently.

[Joshawaggie]

Dang, I thought these were shelved 2 seasons ago. Why bring them back?

[ltravisjr]

I wish I could say I like these. However, the whole sleeveless fad of this decade bothers me because of the way they are cut. The cut nowadays is right over the shoulder. However, in the old days, it was at the collarbone, as in:

To me these just look more traditional and comfortable to wear. Oh well, the trend these days is towards more material so I shouldn't be surprised.

LT

[spyboy1]

I wish I could say I like these. However, the whole sleeveless fad of this decade bothers me because of the way they are cut. The cut nowadays is right over the shoulder.

Ugh, I know exactly what you mean. The worst offender of this is Colorado and their black ones. If the fabric sticks out into the air even a half inch or starts to run down the arm at all instead of sitting on top of the shoulder like in your photo, it starts to look really stupidly space age and becomes a futuristic "Star Trek" effect in a big, fat hurry. It's a Turn Ahead the Clock look.

[VandyDelphia Mike]

A little OT, but has anyone worn sleeveless jerseys without, you know, anything under them? I mean recently.

If anyone can come up with a more recent example than Ted Kluszewski, feel free to do so.

[spyboy1]

What was it with old Ted Kluszewski anyway? He seems like a real showboat who missed his calling in the WWE by being born too soon.

[gosioux76]

Jersey vests should be without pinstripes in my opinion. Not a fan.

Hey, maybe it was trailer park night. Did they hand out mullets at the door?

[Gothamite]

I wish I could say I like these. However, the whole sleeveless fad of this decade bothers me because of the way they are cut. The cut nowadays is right over the shoulder. However, in the old days, it was at the collarbone, as in:

To me these just look more traditional and comfortable to wear. Oh well, the trend these days is towards more material so I shouldn't be surprised.

LT

Yes, but I prefer the modern cut of vests (about the only thing I prefer in modern uniforms). Doesn't need to look like they took their suit jackets off to play ball....

[Gothamite]

And as for old Klu, there is an air of self-promotion about him that I find distasteful.

[zooropean]

I was happy to see the sleeveless. I bought an authentic Joe Mauer one before the start of the 2006 season. So far haven't worn it much since the Twins barely wear it.

There was one start in 2006 which was mentioned on here where Carlos Silva wore the vests with the even more rare red Twins hat. I remember people thought it was stupid to have a red hat with blue sleeves. I do agree without red sleeves it looked kind of silly.

I actually like the whole "TC" emblem idea for the vest (which was the original rumored design). I get the feeling the vests will be the choice of Livan Hernandez for now since he pitched well in them.

I for one am still waiting for the Twins to wear the road blue alt. My fav Twins jersey but they have worn all gray so far this year on the road.