Minnesota Twins

Previously known as Washington Senators (1901-1960) Franchise Record: (1901-2023) 9,178-9,875-108 (.482) (1961-2023) 4,955-5,011-8 (.497) Post Season Record: (1924-2023) 36-59 (.379) (1961-2023) 28-48 (.368) World Series Titles: 3 (1924, 1987, 1991) American League Pennants: 6 (1924, 1925, 1933, 1965, 1987, 1991) Postseason: 14 (1969, 1970, 1987, 1991, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2010, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2023) Franchise Players: Bob Allison, Bert Blyleven, Rod Carew, Joe Cronin, Goose Goslin, Kent Hrbek, Joe Judge, Walter Johnson, Jim Kaat, Harmon Killebrew, Chuck Knoblauch, Joe Mauer, Clyde Milan, Buddy Myer, Tony Oliva, Camilo Pascual, Kirby Puckett, Brad Radke, Sam Rice, Johan Santana Retired Numbers: 3 Harmon Killebrew; 6 Tony Oliva; 7 Joe Mauer; 10 Tom Kelly; 14 Kent Hrbek; 28 Bert Blyleven; 29 Rod Carew; 34 Kirby Puckett; 36 Jim Kaat; 42 Jackie Robinson(retired throughout baseball) Ballparks: Metropolitan Stadium (Apr. 21, 1961-Sept. 30, 1981) (45, 919), Hubert H. Humphrey, Jr. Metrodome (Apr. 6, 1982-Oct. 6, 2009) (55,883), Target Field (Apr. 2, 2010-) (42, 035)

Team History

The Minnesota Twins moved to Minnesota for the 1961 season, after leaving Washington, DC, and abandoning their previous nickname, the Senators. The name Twins, and the intertwined TC of some team logos, refers to the "Twin Cities" of Minneapolis, MN and Saint Paul, MN. Originally intended to be called the Twin Cities Twins, a meeting between Calvin Griffith and state officials prior to the move persuaded him to change the team's locational designator to Minnesota, being the first baseball team and one of the first professional sports teams ever to be named for an entire state. In baseball, the Texas Rangers, California Angels, Florida Marlins, Colorado Rockies and Arizona Diamondbacks would follow the Twins' lead, all subsequent major-level Minnesota sports teams would also use "Minnesota" in their name rather than "Minneapolis" or "St. Paul". The team's home park was first Metropolitan Stadium from 1961 to 1981, then the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, from 1982 to 2009. The Twins moved to Target Field, an outdoor ballpark, in 2010.

The Twins appeared in the World Series in 1965 losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers in seven games and won the World Series in 1987 and 1991 against the St. Louis Cardinals and Atlanta Braves respectively. The Twins' 1991 Series against the Braves is considered by many fans and baseball historians to be one of the greatest World Series of all time. In addition to the World Series appearances, the Twins were one of four teams in contention for the American League pennant during the famous four-team race of 1967, and won the first two AL Western Division titles in 1969 and 1970 but fell to the Baltimore Orioles in the American League Championship Series both years. The Twins then fell upon tough times in the early 1980s, when an aging Calvin Griffith refused to spent money on improving the on-field product and threatened to move out of Minnesota before selling out his interests to businessman Carl Pohlad in 1984. The change in ownership had an immediate positive impact. The two World Series wins came under manager Tom Kelly, who stayed at the helm until 2001, but he saw the Twins fall out of contention after their early run of success under his direction. The club was spared from contraction along with the Montréal Expos in 2002, when local authorities threatened to sue Major League Baseball over breaking the lease at the Metrodome. MLB backed down, saving the two franchises as a result.

The Twins immediately went on a fruitful run under new manager Ron Gardenhire, winning the AL Central division title for three straight years from 2002 to 2004, and again in 2006. They lost a one-game playoff to the Chicago White Sox in 2008, but made a great late-season run in 2009 to force a one-game playoff with the Detroit Tigers, which they won. However, all of these division titles were not followed by postseason success: only in 2002 did the Twins win a Division Series, all their other appearances resulting in quick exits. In 2010, the Twins won another division title, and once again fell to the New York Yankees in the first round of the postseason.

Harder times followed, as the Twins fell back to last place in 2011, and remained there for the next few years. Gardenhire was let go after the 2014 season and replaced by local boy Paul Molitor, a member of the Hall of Fame. In Molitor's first year at the helm in 2015, the Twins were surprisingly in contention for the AL Central title for a good part of the year, bringing hope that a return to the postseason was not far away. Indeed, that happened in 2017, when the Twins lost the Wild Card Game to the New York Yankees. A poor season in 2018 cost Molitor his job, but in 2019, under new manager Rocco Baldelli, the Twins won 100 games and a division title. They were again ousted from the postseason by their nemesis, the Yankees, in the Division Series. The Yankees had battled with them all season for the major league home run lead, but the Twins came out on top, setting a new all-time record with 307, with a record five players hitting 30 or more, the leader being DH Nelson Cruz with 41.

Awards

• American League MVP:
  • Walter Johnson 1913
  • Walter Johnson 1924
  • Roger Peckinpaugh 1925
  • Zoilo Versalles 1965
  • Harmon Killebrew 1969
  • Rod Carew 1977
  • Justin Morneau 2006
  • Joe Mauer 2009

• American League Cy Young Award:
  • Jim Perry 1970
  • Frank Viola 1988
  • Johan Santana 2004
  • Johan Santana 2006

• American League Rookie of the Year Award:
  • Albie Pearson 1958
  • Bob Allison 1959
  • Tony Oliva 1964
  • Rod Carew 1967
  • John Castino 1979
  • Chuck Knoblauch 1991
  • Marty Cordova 1995

• American League Manager of the Year Award:
  • Ossie Bluege 1945 (Major League)
  • Sam Mele 1965 (Major League)
  • Tom Kelly 1991
  • Ron Gardenhire 2004
  • Ron Gardenhire 2010
  • Paul Molitor 2017
  • Rocco Baldelli 2019

Famous Feats

• Perfect game:
  • none

• No-hitter:
  • Walter Johnson: July 1, 1920
  • Bobby Burke: August 8, 1931
  • Jack Kralick: August 26, 1962
  • Dean Chance: August 25, 1967
  • Scott Erickson: April 27, 1994
  • Eric Milton: September 11, 1999
  • Francisco Liriano: May 3, 2011

• Unassisted Triple Play:
  • none

• Four home runs in one game:
  • none

• Two home runs in one inning:
  • Jim Lemon: September 5, 1959
  • Michael Cuddyer: August 23, 2009

• Hitting for the Cycle:
  • Otis Clymer: October 2, 1908
  • Goose Goslin: August 28, 1928
  • Joe Cronin: September 2, 1929
  • Mickey Vernon: May 19, 1946
  • Rod Carew: May 20, 1970
  • Cesar Tovar: September 19, 1972
  • Larry Hisle: June 4, 1976
  • Lyman Bostock: July 24, 1976
  • Mike Cubbage: July 27, 1978
  • Gary Ward: September 18, 1980
  • Kirby Puckett: August 1, 1986
  • Carlos Gomez: May 7, 2008
  • Jason Kubel: April 17, 2009
  • Mike Cuddyer: May 22, 2009
  • Jorge Polanco: April 5, 2019

Further Reading

• Charlie Beattie: "The Legacy of Twins Legends: Killebrew, Carew, Puckett, and Mauer", in Daniel R. Leavitt, ed.: Short but Wondrous Summers: Baseball in the North Star State, The National Pastime, SABR, Number 42, 2012, pp. 88-92.
• John Bonnes: "The Minnesota Twins Story", in Daniel R. Leavitt, ed.: Short but Wondrous Summers: Baseball in the North Star State, The National Pastime, SABR, Number 42, 2012, pp. 56-62.
• Dennis Brackin and Patrick Reusse: Minnesota Twins: The Complete Illustrated History, MVP Books, Osceola, WI, 2010.
• Clyde Doepner, Stew Thornley and Jerry Stebbins: The Minnesota Twins Through Memorablilia, Nodin Press, Minneapolis, MN, 2015. ISBN 978-1-935666-68-4
• Aaron Gleeman: "Top 50 Players in Minnesota Twins History", in Daniel R. Leavitt, ed.: Short but Wondrous Summers: Baseball in the North Star State, The National Pastime, SABR, Number 42, 2012, pp. 81-87.
• Aaron Gleeman: The Big 50: Minnesota Twins, Triumph Books, Chicago, IL, 2018. ISBN 978-1-6293-7542-7
• Doug Grow: We're Gonna Win, Twins!, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, MN, 2010.
• Thom Henninger: The Pride of Minnesota: The Twins in the Turbulent 1960s, University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, NE, 2021. ISBN 978-1-4962-2560-3
• Kent Hrbek and Dennis Brackin: Kent Hrbek's Tales from the Twins Dugout, Sports Publishing LLC, Champaign, IL, 2007.
• Francis Kinlaw: "Prelude to a Pennant: Twins Baseball 1961-64", in Michael J. Haupert, ed.: Baseball in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, The National Pastime, 2024 Edition, pp. 58-59.
• Herm Krabbenhift: "From Kralick to Lopez and Carew to Polanco: Interesting Aspects of the Pitcher's Cycles and Batter's Cycles Achieved by the Minnesota Twins", in Michael J. Haupert, ed.: Baseball in the Land of 10,000 Lakes, The National Pastime, 2024 Edition, pp. 60-64.
• Daniel R. Levitt: "A Surprising Disappointment: The Minnesota Twins of the Late 1960s", in Daniel R. Leavitt, ed.: Short but Wondrous Summers: Baseball in the North Star State, The National Pastime, SABR, Number 42, 2012, pp. 71-75.
• Stew Thornley: Minnesota Twins Baseball: Hardball History On The Prairie, The History Press, Charleston, SC, 2014. ISBN 978-1626193819