Brace Hemmelgarn/Minnesota Twins/Getty Images
Minnesota Twins fans have to wait no longer.
The team unveiled its City Connect jerseys Monday, with the new threads set to debut in Friday’s game against the Oakland Athletics.
The design is inspired by the state’s nickname as the “Land of 10,000 Lakes.”
“Our uniform is soaked in the blues of our water, with subtle shifts from dark to light and back again, like waves weaving across our lakes,” the Twins said. “Yellow accents shine like a ray of Minnesota sunlight.”
The Nike City Connect jerseys are self-explanatory in that they typically honor the city which a team plays. Heather Hinkel, the Twins’ vice president of brand marketing, explained they took a more expansive view.
“We really wanted to talk about an experience everybody across our state has had,” she said to ESPN’s Anthony Gharib. “And it’s truly that sitting by a water understanding, hearing it come and ripple in and seeing the sunset, that is an experience, no matter who you are, where you’re located, that is something that you can experience and find that sense of peace and serenity around the lake.”
There are smaller elements of the jerseys that reflect distinct features associated with Minnesota.
The North Star is included in the primary and secondary logos. The state bird, the common loon, is profiled on the sleeve patch. The hats even have a subtle nod to one of Minnesota’s most famous celebrities, the late musician Prince.
Betsy Helfand @betsyhelfand
The topographical map of Lake Minnetonka under the brim of the hat is the Twins’ nod to Prince.
Byron Buxton: “I like that part a lot. Just little bitty things like that that kind of make it cool.” pic.twitter.com/GKucfqSEo5
Some fans might be disappointed the Twins didn’t lean more into a Prince-centric theme. The NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves did that one year with their City Edition uniforms, creating something totally unique from their traditional branding.
“People know Prince is from here, but it’s not the only thing our state’s known for,” Hinkel told Gharib. “We actually think our state’s more known for how many lakes that we have. And so we felt like if we were going to tell a first story in our City Connect uniform, that we better double down on the essence of our state. But that’s not to say Prince isn’t off the table for future years.”
