The Minnesota Twins have a legacy of representing their entire state rather than just their home city, and their new "City Connect" jerseys take this tradition to heart. The Twins' latest uniforms embrace a "State Connect" concept, paying homage to the Land of 10,000 Lakes.
The new uniforms, unified around an azure blue hue, reflect the central role of water in Minnesota. Accented with yellow belts and cap brims, the design evokes the sun shining over a lake. These uniforms will debut this Friday and be worn 10 more times throughout the 2024 regular season, primarily on home game Fridays.
"It's cool that they're different," remarked Joe Ryan. "It's cool to get away from what our normal uniforms look like. They did a good job with that. It will be fun to see what works and doesn't work with cleats and have a little bit of our own personal flair in there."
The design, developed over two years, embodies the "Ripple Effect" tagline. The intention was to go beyond a simple visual representation of lakes and to capture the serene, ripple-like impact lakes have on Minnesotans' lives.
"We really feel like that’s what the Twins do: We create positive action and we hope that that ripples out throughout the community," said Heather Hinkel, the Twins’ vice president of brand marketing. "So that’s the story we’re going to be telling, along with the jersey."
The dark blue caps with yellow brims feature a new insignia in the shape of Minnesota, outlined in yellow. The logo includes a North Star motif placed at the Twin Cities’ location, with the Northern Lights reflected in a lake’s water line.
"Really honing in on kind of what Minnesota stands for, where the water reflects the sky," Hinkel explained. "It doesn’t necessarily say Twins, but it really speaks to Minnesota."
The caps also feature a "10,000 Lakes" decal and a topographical depth map of Lake Minnetonka under the brim—a nod to Prince’s iconic "Purple Rain" movie line.
The jersey tops feature a sublimation pattern with various shades of blue and black striations, representing lake ripples. Instead of a traditional wordmark, the chest patch displays a white “MN” logo with the North Star motif, emphasizing the entire state rather than just Minneapolis and St. Paul. A loon logo on one sleeve, with baseball stitching for eyes and the North Star as its beak, adds another unique element.
The solid blue pants with neon yellow belts and multi-colored piping along the sides unify the look from head to toe. The piping, incorporating yellow, black, white, and pink, represents the varied colors of a sunset.
"That’s to reflect the hues of the sun setting over the lake," Hinkel said. "When you get that great sunset, it’s not just bright yellows. There’s some pink hues in there, so we’ve added the piping here."
While this year's iteration uses blue pants, the Twins are considering white pants for future seasons.
The Minnesota Twins have once again demonstrated their commitment to representing their state with pride, blending tradition with modern design in their new "State Connect" uniforms.