Minnesota Twins Pitchers Are Our 2024 Hosiery Heroes!

Good Thursday morning, Uni Watchers! I hope everyone had a good Hump Day.

The Minnesota Twins rolled into town (New York) this week, for an interleague series against the Mets (and I caught Tuesday night’s game with Paul). I don’t watch a lot of out-of-market games, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen the Twins play at CitiField Shea before Tuesday evening. So, admittedly, I’m not as “up” on their uniform proclivities as some teams. Of course, I am quite familiar with Chris Paddack, whom Paul lovingly dubbed MLB’s Hosiery Hero.

But Paddack didn’t pitch in the Mets series, and unfortunately, I missed Monday’s game when the Mets lit up the Twins 15-2 (I was at Curling League Night), when Twins pitcher Simeon Woods Richardson started the game. Little did I realize that Woods Richardson — who always cuffs his pants — wore stirrups!

Now, a pitcher (or any player for that matter) wearing actual stirrups is a fairly rare event, and one to be celebrated by those of us who appreciate the vestigial apparel that is the stirrup.

I was watching yesterday’s matinee, however, when something even more awesome occurred. Let me present you one Pablo López, who was on the bump for Minnesota yesterday:

WHOA! Not only was López sporting a pair of red striped stirrups, he paired them with navy sannies! Stirrups with color sanitary socks is probably my favorite look in all of baseball — and pretty rare in and of itself. Only a few teams have ever tried this look, most famously the Oakland A’s, but it was also done by the White Sox, Padres and Giants in the 1960s/1970s.

So the Twins not only have Woods Richardson AND López sporting stirrups, they also have the original hosiery hero doing the same. When is the last time a team had three starting pitchers who were all stirrup-clad? It’s got to be at least 25 years, no? And these guys are doing it of their own volition (as opposed to, say, those who rock the ‘rups for a throwback game).

But how is it that we never noticed this phenomenon before? Because it’s actually fairly recent.

Chris Paddack has been sporting stirrups for a couple years now, going back to at least 2022. But the others? Surprisingly, both seem to be recent converts.

Woods Richardson is a rookie, but for his entire tenure with the Twins he has gone high-cuffed. But for most of his early starts, he simply wore Twins-branded Stance socks.

But he also worked in a few other looks, depending upon the uniform the team was wearing. For Armed Forces weekend, he wore camo, and for the City Connect, he worked in a pair of navy/yellow socks.

Likewise with the Twins “real” City Connect (“Twin Cities”) uniform, he sported special “throwback” socks.

But in the start prior to being lit up by the Mets, something different happened. Against the Phillies, on the 23rd of July, he sported a pair of plain navy stirrups!

As previously noted, he also wore them against the Mets. Here’s hoping he keeps it going (I don’t know whether he’s superstitious, or even just a little stitious) and doesn’t let one bad start alter his hosiery.

Paddack has been his usual gorgeous stirrup-wearing self this year when he’s pitched. He will repeat different stirrups over different starts, but he’s had a nice variety so far. Here’s a sampling…

The sole exception — at least that I was able to find — was one start in the “Twin Cities” uniform where he wore solid socks. That came on April 10, against the Dodgers.

But what about Pablo López, who wore the blue sanis/red stirrups against the Mets yesterday? He too has always gone high-cuffed, but he started out the season wearing, almost exclusively, navy blue socks.

Then, on June 18th, he went with some striped socks.

Then, on June 29th, he upped his game a bit more, breaking out a pair of plain navy stirrups with white sanis, a look he replicated on July 10th.

But in between those two starts, on July 5th, the Twins wore their CC uniforms, and López went into overdrive! He broke out a pair of yellow and white striped royal stirrups, which he paired with yellow sanis!

(If there is ever a way to make the Twins CC look better, this is certainly a great start.)

But he must have liked that look because in his start on July 20th (another CC game), he went with yellow stirrups with three white stripes, and paired those with royal blue sanis!

I have to say, I much prefer the initial CC look to the most recent one, but either looks fabulous.

That led up to the look he wore yesterday — the red stirrups with blue sanis.

So the Twins now have a triumvirate of starters who are stirrup-clad. I can’t say for sure whether Paddack had anything to do with it, but I’m sure he was at least an inspiration.

Will any of the other Twins starters now follow suit? Will it be possible for an entire series to be thrown by starting pitchers in stirrups? We can only dream.

In a year full of pretty much awful MLB uniform news, it’s heartwarming to know there are still some guys who Get It™.

What do you guys think? I know not everyone here has as much reverence for the stirrup as I (or Paul), but doesn’t this now make the uniform more complete? Yes, stirrups no longer serve the purpose for which they were originally intended (and pretty much didn’t once the dying process was improved to the point where sanitary socks were no longer necessary). But baseball with all its tradition kept the stirrup well into the 1990s, when it became de rigueur to wear pants down to the shoes. We’re slowly but surely moving back to more players going high-cuffed, but very few have returned to the stirrup/sani look.

Do you folks like the stirrup look? Would you want it to make a comeback? Or do you prefer high-cuffers who simply wear socks? Or, for you younger readers who basically grew up with everyone wearing pants down to the ankles, do you like the look at all?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on our newest Hosiery Heroes.