Twins Jersey Script

[BallWonk]

Twins merchandise store Dome Plus has a couple of obsolete "authentic" Twins jerseys on discount. As I'm running out of room for patches on my current 2001 Twins authentic home jersey -- I've stuck just about every patch the Twins have ever worn on the thing; authentic-jersey purists here would suffer spontaneous cranial implosion if they ever saw it, so I will not post pics -- and I'm thinking about picking up one of the Dome Plus surplus jerseys to start afresh. But I notice that the photos of both obsolete home "authentics" have a feature I've never seen in an authentic Twins jersey: The home script splits the "W" across the placket, with the "I" to the right of the buttons. My 2001 Twins jersey has the "I" directly in line with the buttons, with the "W" unbroken to the left of the placket. And photos of current authentic Twins jerseys at mlb.com also have the unbroken "W" and button-centered "I".

So are these legit? Have the Twins been splitting the "W" and putting the "I" off center in recent years (such as, say, 2005 and 2007)? I know that Dome Plus has had some issues with authenticity in the past -- for example, they sold pirated Herb and 34 memorial patches in the wrong colors as "authentic" a couple years back.

[Audiodrama]

This photo of Joe Mauer is from September 2008, and shows no split in the "W":

[BallWonk]

Hmm. You're right. Here's a photo of Santana in a 2005 home jersey:

With the "I" centered on the placket and the "W" unbroken. But why then would Dome Plus have jerseys that violate such basic lettering layout? I mean, breaking the "W" makes the fake jerseys harder to make. I get why people make and sell fake jerseys, but it always surprises me to see crooks who go out of their way to make their jobs harder.

Of course, maybe there's an innocent explanation here, which would be entertaining to learn. Making the Twins home script any wider across the chest does almost require splitting the "W" and moving the "I" off center. As would putting authentic Twins home lettering on a non-Twins blank jersey, even if "authentic," since the button-centered "I" requires shifting at least one of the buttons from its standard location.

Did Majestic have any quality control issues with the lettering placement after taking over the Twins contract from Rawlings? I did see some QC issues on authentic Majestic Twins jerseys at the Twins Pro Shop the year after the contract change, when they still had a lot of the Rawlings authentics on hand for comparison. I saw Majestics with the centered "I" and relocated button, for example, but no velcro behind the "I", so the front of the jersey was humorously flappy. But I don't recall seeing the Twins script applied to a non-Twins jersey with the script shifted to accommodate the too-close buttons.

[Sc8b]

Yeah, I got a 2005 Santana (with the 40th anniversary patch as pictured) while at the Metrodome (in '05), and the "w" is unbroken, so these aren't legit.

That is odd though; maybe you should shoot them an e-mail?

[JayJaxon]

According to the 'MLB Game Worn Jerseys of the double-knit era' PDF file I downloaded from mlbstyleguides.com, the 'W' is always unbroken.

[BallWonk]

Thanks, Sc8b and jayjackson3. I've emailed Dome Plus with a question about the jersey lettering. Oddly, they also show the 2008 "authentic" home with the split W and off-center I. Very odd. I'll post any response from Dome Plus here.

[JayJaxon]

I e-mailed the actual guy that created the jersey reference guide because I am very curious about this myself. If he doesn't have an answer right away, I can get one for sure. I'm a member of the Society for American Baseball Research....so SOMEBODY knows!

[logoman]

One thing you may want to take into consideration is the size of the jersey. If the sample jersey shown is, say, a size 40, it may be the lettering is too large for the smaller size jersey. It is also possible that it is just very sloppy photoshop work.

[BallWonk]

Here's the response I received from Dome Plus:

The images were just supplied by Majestic. Thus, they are not necessarily exactly the way the jerseys are made. We hadn't heard from anyone that there were issues with it and we just used the Majestic images since it is a challenge to photograph white items well.

We'll see if we can get a better picture so there is less confusion.

I have to say that while I have seen some funny business going on with patches and other minor merchandise clearly being pirated at Dome Plus, I've never seen any problems with caps or jerseys when I've been in the store. (I go in whenever I'm in Minneapolis, which is about once every other year at this point.) And indeed it does appear that Dome Plus is reusing a number of identical "authentic" jersey images. So the "we got funny photos from Majestic and never noticed it" story is at least plausible, especially given the quality control issues I saw with Majestic Twins jerseys when they took over the contract. Perhaps Majestic did mock up the split-W jerseys when they took over the contract, and have been reusing some photos from that time for minor independent suppliers.

[Joshawaggie]

No matter where the picture came from, it is still veryy odd to see the 'W' split. I'vve never seen that, and as to why anyone would split the dub is beyond me, considering the 'i' is in the middle, with no splitting involved.

[BallWonk]

The manager at Dome Plus got back to me again in follow up to my question and says that he's checked all the authentic Twins home jerseys he has in stock and they all have the "I" in "Twins" centered with the buttons and the "W" fully on the right side of the jersey. So the jerseys are real; it's the photos from Majestic that are fishy.

This is an interesting mystery, but I fear that without a personal contact at Majestic, I'm unlikely to be able to learn anything more on my own.

[oddball]

I may be wrong, but I swear that I've seen a jersey with the "w" split on a player. I could be wrong on that.

[Zack845]

Often times Watch manufacturers will intentionally have things 'off' in some of the initial press photos to make it more difficult for counterfeiters from being able to replicate the new products. It could be similar to this here. The photos show something that isn't true, to allow people to more quickly pick out fake products in the world. Just my .02

The manager at Dome Plus got back to me again in follow up to my question and says that he's checked all the authentic Twins home jerseys he has in stock and they all have the "I" in "Twins" centered with the buttons and the "W" fully on the right side of the jersey. So the jerseys are real; it's the photos from Majestic that are fishy.

This is an interesting mystery, but I fear that without a personal contact at Majestic, I'm unlikely to be able to learn anything more on my own.

[TC]

Absolutely fake. That actually looks quite ridiculous.

[LEWJ]

Yea I don't think it's legit. But I would love to see this jersey you speak of, with all the patches.

[BallWonk]

I may be wrong, but I swear that I've seen a jersey with the "w" split on a player. I could be wrong on that.

If anyone, that would have been Chuck Knoblauch. Or Nick Punto. But all the photos I can find of either man wearing a Twins home jersey shows the normal script with the jersey splitting between the "W" and the "I". Not saying you're wrong, but I would tend to think that if anyone's jersey required a split "W", it would be a tiny guy like Knoblauch or Punto.

[The_Admiral]

i'll split your w

[tajmccall]

Yes, but its most important what you do with it once you do.