Tuesday, June 23, 2009

The story of the Worst Twins Jersey Ever

Ugliest Uniforms ever.

The White Sox have the shorts. The Astros have the orange rainbows. The Twins have the Dairy Queen tops.

In spring 1997, the bright red jerseys were ceremoniously introduced, along with the blue version, as the Twins installment of the money-making scheme that is alternate uniforms.


The Red Jersey was doomed from the start. If it had been Paul Molitor sporting the classy red top, perhaps its fate would have been different. But alas, it was Knoblauch - - which makes you wonder: who doomed whom?

Bad omen aside, the Twins first donned the uniform on April 6th against Kansas City. After finishing 78-84 the previous season, the team was primed for a playoff run in '97. So when they were clobbered 12-2 by the inferior Royals, they blamed it on the red alt jersey.


As the players decided to ditch the red tops altogether, the Twins marketing department insisted that they carry on the long standing tradition of wearing something different during Sunday home games. The team complied.

Despite a decent performance from Brad Radke and an amazing pinch-hit intentional walk by Ron Coomer, the Twins fell to the Rangers 7-3.

After just two games, it was all over. Not only were the Red Things now nicknamed "the Dairy Queen Jersey," but the Twins played slightly more horrible while wearing them. That was enough for Tom Kelly's Twins, and with their pennant hopes dashed, they banished the jerseys forever.

They'll go down in history as the worst thing a Twins player has ever worn on a diamond. Unless you want to count the Turn Ahead the Clock experiment from 1999. And I do.


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

If the Sox can wear shorts, the Brewers should wear lederhosen.

FrontRowSeats

Daymonster said...

I'd buy that jersey. The Twins should have a "turn the clock to present time" day and just wear their regular unis.