The Minnesota Twins are professional baseball team from Minneapolis, Minnesota. They play in the American League. The Twins are named after the Twin Cities(Minneapolis & St. Paul). From 1961-1981, they played in the Metropolitan Stadium, 1982-2009 the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, and Target Field from 2010 on. The franchise has won three World Series championships (1924, 1987, and 1991). They have also been named the American League batting champions 18 times.
History
Overview
From 1901-1960 the Twins were named the Washington Nations/Senators. We will start when the Twins name was adopted, 1961. Clark Griffith, Twins owner, tried to name the team after the towns. He tried Twin Cities Twins but MLB objected. Griffith then tried the name Minnesota Twins, and the MLB granted the name. The Twins were allowed to keep its original TC insignia for their baseball caps.
1960s
The Twins arrived in 1961 to Minnesota and were greeted eagerly. They brought some famous players such as Harmon Killebrew, Bob Allison, Earl Battey, and Lenny Green. In their second season in Minnesota they won 91 games, the most since 1933.
1970s
In 1970, the Twins won the division, but would start an eight-year dry spell. Killebrew left the twins with his last season in 1974. Griffith was faced with financial difficulty with the start of free agency. Carew was traded at the end of the 1978 season.
1980s-1990s
In 1980, The Twins moved into the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. They would share this with the Minnesota Vikings for their entire rendition. In 1984, owner Clark Griffith sold the Twins to Carl Pohlad. The MLB All-Star Game was hosted in the Metrodome in 1985. Tom Kelly was the manager of the Twins while they defeated both the St. Louis Cardinals in 1987 and the Atlanta Braves in 1991 to become the World Series Champions. The World Series in 1991 is one of the most best classics of all time. The Atlanta Braves won all 3 games in Atlanta, and the Twins won all four of their games in Minnesota. After the regulation 9 innings, the game was tied 0-0. The Braves pitcher, Morris, had a shutout going until a run was scored in the bottom of the tenth inning for the Twins to claim the 1991 World Series title.
2000s
In 2008, the Twins were tied with the White Sox, forcing a one-game playoff in Chicago. The Twins lost, and did not move on to playoffs. The game location was determined by a coin flip that was conducted in September.
Threatened re-location of the team
The Twins franchise argued that sharing a baseball field with a football team limited the team revenue, and made it difficult to have a top-notch team. There were rumors the team moving to New Jersey, Las Vegas, Oregon. In 2002, the Twins along with the Washington Nationals were nearly disbanded due to their financial weakness. A council negotiated and approved a financing package for a baseball-only outdoor, natural turf ballpark. The cost of the new field (named Target Field) was $554.4 million. A bond of $392 million was offered by Hennepin County. The money would be raised by adding a 0.15 sales tax in Hennepin County. The left over $152.4 million was paid by the owner, Carl Pohlad. Construction of Target Field began in 2007 and was completed in December of 2009. The twins start off the 2010 season in their new stadium with a win.
Radio and TV
As of 2007, the Twins created a broadcast over the radio named the Twins Radio Network. John Gordon and Dan Gladden are the radio announcers. Fox Sports North holds the television rights with Dick Bremer as the play-by-play announcer and Bert Blyleven as the color analyst. Bert is also a former Twins pitcher(1970-1992).
