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Fashion police: Who decides what Twins uniform to wear?

Jeff Wheeler, Dml - Star Tribune Star Tribune

Kevin Slowey prefers the blue home uniforms. Last year, Glen Perkins and Nick Blackburn also wore the blue tops, but this year Blackburn is wearing the whites and Perkins says he is flexible.

The day's starting pitcher picks out the uniform for the day, and opinions vary greatly among the Twins' five-man rotation.

By LA VELLE E. NEAL III, Star Tribune

Last update: June 19, 2009 - 4:19 PM

The subject divides the Twins clubhouse.

Kevin Slowey has strong feelings on the issue. Glen Perkins reserves the right to change his mind.

The position players look at those pitchers and roll their eyes.

"I give them grief all the time," outfielder Michael Cuddyer said.

There's only one subject that could cause such rancor in the clubhouse: uniforms. The starting pitcher gets to choose which top to wear, and it has some Twins players shaking their heads.

First, the history. Since teams began wearing alternate uniforms, pitchers had options. The Twins began wearing alternate tops in 1997, when they wore blue and the infamous red. Red tops were worn twice -- with the Twins getting clobbered both times -- before being banished.

The Twins have four different home tops: the standard white, blue, a sleeveless white and a throwback white worn every Saturday home game (pitchers can't choose those days). Pitchers choose between grey and blue on the road. Scott Baker is the only starter to have consistently worn the standard white tops.

"I just like the way the white looks," he said, "and someone else always was going to wear blue."

Nick Blackburn, per the request of a family member last season, wore blue tops but is wearing white this season, as he did Thursday.

But, on this club, everyone can't be the same.

"Our home whites are like a different material than the pants," Perkins said. "So I hate that. It's like wearing a basketball jersey."

The home whites have what apparel manufacturer Majestic describes as a "cool base," designed for warm weather. The blue tops and throwback tops are double-knit. Position players prefer the standard home whites.

Cuddyer doesn't think pitchers should pick the tops.

"The chances are that the starting pitcher is not going to play all nine innings," Cuddyer said. "Yet, he gets to pick what wear for all nine innings. It doesn't make sense to me."

If you get close enough, though, you'll discover that the white -- and the blue pinstripes -- aren't an exact match.

"The material they use for the white ones is just different," Slowey said. "The blue ones are more comfortable."

Cuddyer couldn't resist the comeback.

"You have people like Slowey who ... can't function when it's different fabric," Cuddyer said with a chuckle. "Which is a surprise because he can function with different colors. But he insists that the material messes with him."

Replied Slowey: "I can't explain it, other than that it was a relief that other pitchers feel that way."

LA VELLE E. NEAL III

PITCHERS CHOICE

What uniform shirt Twins starters prefer:

1 Scott Baker: Standard white tops

2 Francisco Liriano: Sleeveless whites

3 Kevin Slowey: Goes with the blue tops

4 Glen Perkins: Flexible, but hates the home white jerseys

5 Nick Blackburn: Switched from blue to white tops this year

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