Name Minnesota Twins (1961–present) Washington Nationals/Senators (1901–1960) Kansas City Blues (1894–1900) (Western League) Other nicknames Twinkies Ballpark Target Field (2010–present) Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome (1982–2009) Metropolitan Stadium (1961–1981) Griffith Stadium (1911–1960) a.k.a. National Park (1911–1920) National Park (1903–1910) American League Park (1901–1902) Major league titles World Series titles (3) 1991 • 1987 • 1924 AL Pennants (6) 1991 • 1987 • 1965 • 1933 • 1925 • 1924 Central Division titles (6) 2010 • 2009 • 2006 • 2004 • 2003 • 2002 West Division titles (4) 1991 • 1987 • 1970 • 1969 Wild card berths (0) None Owner(s): Jim Pohlad Manager: Ron Gardenhire General Manager: Bill Smith The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota . They play in the Central Division of Major League Baseball's American League. The team is named after the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul. They played in Metropolitan Stadium from 1961 to 1981 and the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome from 1982 to 2009. They played their inaugural game at the newly completed Target Field on April 12, 2010.[1] The team was founded in Kansas City in 1894 as a Western League team and would move to Washington, D.C., in 1901 as one of the eight original teams of the American League, named the Washington Senators or Washington Nationals. Although the Washington team endured long bouts of mediocrity (immortalized in the Broadway musical Damn Yankees), they had a period of prolonged success in the 1920s and 1930s, led by Hall-of-Famers Bucky Harris, Goose Goslin, Sam Rice, Joe Cronin, and above all Walter Johnson. Manager Clark Griffith joined the team in 1912 and became the team's owner in 1920. The franchise remained under Griffith family ownership until 1984. In 1960, Major League Baseball granted the city of Minneapolis an expansion team. Washington owner Calvin Griffith, Clark's nephew and adopted son, requested that he be allowed to move his team to Minneapolis and instead give Washington the expansion team. Upon league approval, the team moved to Minnesota after the 1960 season, setting up shop in Metropolitan Stadium, while Washington fielded a brand new "Washington Senators" (which later became the Texas Rangers prior to the 1972 season). Success came quickly to the team in Minnesota. Sluggers Harmon Killebrew and Bob Allison, who had already been stars in Washington, were joined by Tony Oliva and Zoilo Versalles, and later second baseman Rod Carew and pitchers Jim Kaat and Jim Perry, winning the American League pennant in 1965. A second wave of success came in the late 1980s and early 1990s, led by Kent Hrbek, Bert Blyleven, Frank Viola, and Kirby Puckett, winning the franchise's second and third World Series (and first in Minnesota). Through the 2010 season, the franchise has won three World Series championships (1924, 1987, and 1991), and has fielded 18 American League batting champions. Contents 1 Team history 1.1 Washington Nationals/Senators: 1901–1960 1.1.1 Team nickname 1.2 Minnesota Twins: 1961 to present 1.2.1 1960s 1.2.2 1970s 1.2.3 1980s–90s 1.2.4 2000s 1.2.4.1 2006 1.2.4.2 2008 1.2.4.3 2009 1.2.4.4 2010 1.3 Threatened contraction or re-location of the team 1.4 Target Field 2 Current roster 3 Minor league affiliates 4 Baseball Hall of Famers 4.1 Ford C. Frick Award recipients 4.2 Twins Hall of Fame 5 Retired numbers 6 Awards 7 Team records 8 Team seasons 9 Radio and television 10 Team and franchise traditions 11 See also 12 References 13 Further reading 14 External links [edit] Team history Main article: History of the Minnesota Twins [edit] Washington Nationals/Senators: 1901–1960 Washington's Bucky Harris scores on his home run in the fourth inning of Game 7 of the 1924 World Series For a time, from 1911 to 1933, the Washington Senators were one of the more successful franchises in major-league baseball. The team's rosters included Hall of Famers Goose Goslin, Sam Rice, Joe Cronin, Bucky Harris, Heinie Manush and one of the greatest pitchers of all time, Walter Johnson. In the 1924 World Series, the Senators defeated the New York Giants in seven games. The following season, they repeated as American League champions but ultimately lost the 1925 World Series to the Pittsburgh Pirates. After Walter Johnson's retirement in 1927, he was hired as manager of the Senators. After enduring a few losing seasons, the team returned to contention in 1930. In 1933, Senators owner Clark Griffith returned to the formula that worked for him nine years before, and 26-year-old shortstop Joe Cronin became player-manager. The Senators posted a 99–53 record and cruised to the pennant seven games ahead of the New York Yankees, but in the 1933 World Series the Giants exacted their revenge, winning in five games. Following the loss, the Senators sank all the way to seventh place in 1934, and attendance began to fall. Despite the return of Harris as manager from 1935–42 and again from 1950–54, Washington was mostly a losing ball club for the next 25 years, contending for the pennant only during World War II. Washington came to be known as "first in war, first in peace, and last in the American League",[2] with their hard luck being crucial to the plot of the musical and film Damn Yankees. In 1954, the Senators signed future Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew. By 1959, he was the Senators' regular third baseman, leading the league with 42 home runs and earning a starting spot on the American League All-Star team. President Calvin Coolidge (left) and Washington Senators pitcher Walter Johnson (right) shake hands following the Senators' 1924 championship After Griffith's death in 1955, his nephew and adopted son Calvin took over the team presidency. He sold Griffith Stadium to the city of Washington and leased it back, leading to speculation that the team was planning to move, as the Boston Braves, St. Louis Browns and Philadelphia Athletics had all done in the early 1950s. By 1957, after an early flirtation with San Francisco (where the New York Giants would eventually move after that season ended), Griffith began courting Minneapolis-St. Paul, a prolonged process that resulted in his rejecting the Twin Cities' first offer[3] before agreeing to relocate. The American League opposed the move at first, but in 1960 a deal was reached: The Senators would move and would be replaced with an expansion Senators team for 1961. Thus, the old Washington Senators became the Minnesota Twins. [edit] Team nickname The Washington franchise was known as both "Senators" and "Nationals" at various times, and sometimes at the same time. In 1905, the team changed its official name to the "Washington Nationals." [4] The name "Nationals" appeared on uniforms for only two seasons, and was then replaced with the "W" logo for the next 52 years. The media often shortened the nickname to "Nats." Many fans and newspapers (especially out-of-town papers) persisted in using the "Senators" nickname. Over time, "Nationals" faded as a nickname, and "Senators" became dominant. Baseball guides listed the club's nickname as "Nationals or Senators," acknowledging the dual-nickname situation. The team name was officially changed to Washington Senators around the time of Clark Griffith's death. It was not until 1959 that the word "Senators" first appeared on team shirts. "Nats" continued to be used by space-saving headline writers, even for the 1961 expansion team, which was never officially known as "Nationals." [edit] Minnesota Twins: 1961 to present The name "Twins" was derived from the popular name of the region, the Twin Cities. The NBA's Minneapolis Lakers had re-located to Los Angeles in 1960 due to poor attendance which was believed to have been caused in part by the reluctance of fans in St. Paul to support the team.[citation needed] Griffith was determined not to alienate fans in either city by naming the team after one city or the other, so his desire was to name the team the "Twin Cities Twins",[citation needed] however MLB objected. Griffith therefore named the team the Minnesota Twins. However, the team was allowed to keep its original "TC" (for Twin Cities) insignia for its caps. The team's logo shows two men, one in a Minneapolis Millers uniform and one in a St. Paul Saints uniform, shaking hands across the Mississippi River. The "TC" remained on the Twins' caps until 1987, when they adopted their current uniforms. By this time, the team felt it was established enough to put an "M" on its cap without having St. Paul fans think it stood for Minneapolis. The "TC" logo was moved to a sleeve on the jerseys, and occasionally appeared as an alternate cap design. Both the "TC" and "Minnie & Paul" logos remain the team's primary insignia. As of 2010, the "TC" logo is on the cap as their cap logo. [edit] 1960s The Twins were eagerly greeted in Minnesota when they arrived in 1961. They brought a nucleus of talented players: Killebrew, Bob Allison, Camilo Pascual, Zoilo Versalles, Jim Kaat, Earl Battey, and Lenny Green. The Twins won 91 games in 1962, the most by the franchise since 1933. The Twins won 102 games and the American League Pennant in 1965, but they were defeated in the 1965 World Series by the Los Angeles Dodgers in seven games (behind the World Series Most Valuable Player, Sandy Koufax, with a 2 – 1 record, including winning the seventh game). Heading into the final weekend of the season in 1967, the Twins, Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox, and Detroit Tigers all had a shot at clinching the American League
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