The Minnesota Twins have never donned uniforms quite like this before.
The Twins became the latest team to unveil new MLB City Connect jerseys Monday. Titled “The Ripple Effect”, the blue-dominant digs are an ode to the state of Minnesota as a whole and its geography, known as “The Land of 10,000 Lakes.” The Twins are set to wear the blue-and-yellow jerseys 11 times this season.
“We did this as a State Connect,” Twins VP of Brand Marketing Heather Hinkel said. “We didn’t pick a city, we leaned into the whole state of Minnesota. We really wanted to talk about an experience everybody across our state has had, 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.”
The cap features a royal blue crown along with a yellow bill. Its brim showcases an outline of the state, with water ripples at the bottom. A yellow four-pointed North Star is prominent over the state capital of Minneapolis, where the Twins’ stadium Target Field is also located. A “10,000 Lakes” patch is on the side of the cap, while Northern Lights reflective art is shown on the top portion of the logo. On its underside is a design that depicts Lake Minnetonka, a nod to Grammy-Award winning artist and area native Prince.
The jersey itself mixes several different shades of blue, meant to mimic the state’s combination of lakes. It brings together light and dark hues that are meant to create the illusion of a rippling motion. A white “MN” abbreviation sits on its chest with a “north star” sitting atop it, while the sleeves are navy blue, pink and yellow. On the right sleeve, a loon – Minnesota’s state bird – is featured in a custom patch. As for the pants, they’ll be a solid royal color with pink and yellow striping. Socks will also have the white MN logo, with dark blue primary colors that have lighter lines to mimic a lake’s appearance.
Here are some other City Connect uniforms:
Toronto’s City Connect jerseys have a dark blue base, marking the first time since 2011 that the Blue Jays have had a dark base uniform. The dark blue base is meant to pay homage to the reflection of Lake Ontario when seen at night.
“TORONTO” is written across the chest of the jersey in Canadian red. The font is similar to the styling of the “TORONTO” sign at Nathan Phillips Square while adding in some details from the split font seen on the Blue Jays’ jerseys.
In the background of the “TORONTO” chest plate is an image of the city’s skyline, which is outlined in a bright blue color. The iconic CN Tower, buildings across downtown Toronto and the Rogers Centre, where the Blue Jays play their home games, are seen in the city’s skyline.
The uniform is meant to have a “Night Mode’ vibe, due to the dark nature of the base and the lighter colors across the chess. That vibe continues to be seen on the sleeve of the jerseys, where the traditional Blue Jays’ logo has dark blue and black coloring instead of the usual white, light red and light blue coloring.
There are some other unique details on the jersey. “Diversity Our Strength” is written across the neckline, coming from Toronto’s Coat of Arms.
The caps match the “Night Mode” styling of the uniforms. There’s also a dark blue base with the cap, with a “T” in the middle that’s styled similar to the pillars in Toronto’s City Hall. In the middle of the “T” is a red maple leaf, which, of course, is predominantly featured on Canada’s flag. The city’s skyline is also featured on the brim of the cap, but with a rhythmic heartbeat look.
The pants are also dark blue, but have light blue stripes that run up the sides of the legs.
The Blue Jays’ City Connect uniforms are expected to only make an appearances in home night games.
St. Louis became the 26th team to unveil a special look, making some franchise history in the process when it released its City Connect uniforms on May 21. The jerseys are all red, somehow making it the first time that the Cardinals have ever had a red regular-season jersey. It also has river pinstripes, marking the first time since 1929 that the Cardinals have had pinstripes on their uniforms. The river pinstripes pay homage to the nearby Missouri and Mississippi Rivers.
Instead of the city or team name written across the chest, the Cardinals’ City Connect jersey has “The Lou” written in the middle of the uniform, the most popular nickname for St. Louis.
Similar to the team’s usual jerseys, the Cardinals’ City Connect look has the yellow baseball bat with two cardinals on each side going across the chest, too.
The cap is also all red, with “STL” in white lettering written in the center of it. Of course, “STL” is the three-letter abbreviation for St. Louis.
While the team celebrates its current logo on its City Connect uniform, it also embraced the look it had prior to having the cardinal on the bat featured in its look. The cap and lower jersey font are similar to the jersey font the team used in its 1920 and 1921 uniforms, which were the last seasons when the Cardinals didn’t have a cardinal on a bat logo.
There are a couple of nods to local ties as well. “STL” is written above the Fleur-de-lis with the Gateway Arch stretching over it.
The year “1882” is written inside the collar, commemorating the first year of the ballclub.
Cardinals president Bill DeWitt III called the process of designing the uniforms “fun” and liked that the team is embracing an all-red look.
“We’ve never had a red jersey — even though half of the [fans] have red on, but we’ve always focused on wearing that jersey in Spring Training and batting practice,” DeWitt said, via MLB.com. “We’ve had everything but red on the field, so for me, going red was new. This allows us to be different with something we’ve never done, but also not so radical with a color that’s not a part of the family.”
The Guardians became the 25th team to release a City Connect jersey with the Guardians of Traffic pillars on the Hope Memorial Bridge outside Progressive Field — the same landmark that inspired the team’s 2021 mascot change — providing a major inspiration for the look.
The jerseys have the abbreviated term for Cleveland, “CLE,” in big letters across the chest. The style of the wordmark and jersey numbers is similar to the Art Deco style of the Guardians of Traffic pillars, appearing to be etched in stone to match the pylons at the base of each statue.
The jersey tops are blue with a texture that appears like the Berea Stone that was used to carve the Guardians of Traffic pillars. Meanwhile, the sides have red, white and blue braiding with a texture similar to what’s seen in the middle of the Guardians of Traffic pillars. The stripes were also inspired by Cleveland’s uniforms from the 1990s.
Other features include “THE LAND,” Cleveland’s nickname, being displayed above the tag. It also has “1901” written inside the neck, which is the year the franchise was established.
The primary “C” logo on the Guadians’ regular caps remains the same for the City Connect look. However, they have a white base in the front, a blue base in the back and the “C” logo is colored red, keeping with the team’s tradition of having red, white and blue as its uniform colors.
The Guardians are expected to wear their new alternates in every Friday home game for the remainder of the season, but could also wear them on other days as well.
The Tigers became the 24th team to unveil the alternate look, releasing their City Connect uniforms on Monday, May 6. They embraced the city’s history with the automotive industry. The uniforms have “MOTOR CITY” written across the chest, the most common nickname for Detroit, in a similar automotive-inspired font to the one that the Detroit Lions‘ NFL uniforms bore until recently.
That served as the all-around theme for the Tigers’ City Connect uniforms. Tire tracks shaded in electric blue run down the middle on both sides of the jersey.
There’s an arm patch as well, which is similar to the “M-1” road signs seen on Woodward Avenue in Detroit. The 21-mile-long road runs from the center of Detroit and up North to Pontiac, earning the moniker “Detroit’s Main Street.” Comerica Park is among many of the notable things located along Woodward Avenue. The patch also has Detroit’s 313 area code, with the “1” being bolded to further emphasize the “M-1” road sign.
The ballcaps have the city’s name, simply saying “DETROIT” across the front. But there are a pair of other notable features. Tiger eyes are on the bottom side of the brim. They also have a tag that looks similar to a VIN tag you would see on a car. The Tigers’ VIN tag reads as “DET190135456884.” The numbers represent the year the Tigers were established (1901) along with the four years they won the World Series (1935, 1945, 1968, 1984).
The tiger eyes that are on the bottom of the brim of the cap are also seen above the tag of the jersey.
To help further embrace their local roots, the Tigers had rapper Eminem take part in the unveiling of their City Connect uniforms. Eminem is a Detroit native and avid fan of the city’s sports teams, and recently appeared with NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to help promote the 2024 NFL Draft.
The Phillies were the first team to unveil their City Connect uniforms this season. “PHILLY” is written across the chest in white coloring while the uniform’s colors resemble the city’s flag. The cap’s logo is the Liberty Bell with the same coloring as the city’s flag, which has Philadelphia’s skyline placed within the logo.
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The Mets introduced their City Connect uniforms in April. It’s a base gray uniform with “NYC” stitched on the front and the Queensboro Bridge on the hat. The jersey also has a black patch on the arm with the Mets logo in pink lettering.
[Read more: New York Mets release ‘City Connect’ jersey with new color scheme]
Tampa Bay unveiled its City Connect uniforms on April 29, becoming the 23rd MLB team to embrace the alternate look since the Nike-backed brand launched in 2021.
The Rays’ City Connect uniforms have “Tampa Bay” written across the chest in neon coloring, a similar look they had on their road jerseys in their first three seasons as a franchise (1998-2000), to go with the dark base. It marks the first time the Rays will have their city name written across their chest since 2007.
Tampa Bay’s skater culture inspired some of the look. The flames coming off each letter on the nameplate on the front of the jersey include flames, which are meant to honor street art and skate media, such as “Thrasher” magazine. Gradient accents cover the sleeves and pants of the uniforms, purposely making them asymmetrically as a symbol of doing things differently.
The Rays wanted to capture the feel of what it’s like to be in Tampa Bay, displaying a look of what people see when they’re in the city and calling it “Grit and Glow.”
The Rays honored some local landmarks with their caps and logos. The main logo on the caps features the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in the outline of a sting ray. A second logo has three palm trees and a pelican. The palm trees logo replicates the mark seen on Florida Historical Makers, such as Perry Harvey Sr. Park, Florida’s first public skatepark. The other logo is a stingray on a skateboard, further embracing the city’s skater culture.
“It’s also something we think that we have in common as an organization,” Walsh said of Tampa Bay’s skater culture in the statment. “We have demonstrated that, that you’ve kind of got to be willing to go against the grain and have some courage and disrupt. So I think it’s exciting that there’s that overlap, too.”
The Rays will debut the uniforms in their three-game home series against the New York Mets this season. They’ll wear the alternate look in every Saturday home game after that.
Other teams set to unveil City Connect uniforms in 2024
- Los Angeles Dodgers (will release their second look after releasing first look in 2021)
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