Glory Days T he Twins played their first season in Minnesota in 1961 However they were not a new team Six decades earlier the Washington Senators were one of eight teams that joined the newly formed American League AL The team’s greatest star in those early years was Walter Johnson a sidearm pitcher who threw the ball close to 100 miles per hour Another important person in the club’s history was Clark Griffith He began as the manager and ended up owning the team The Senators won the World Series in 1924 They captured the pennant twice after that in 1925 and 1933 They had some very good players over the years including Sam Rice Goose Goslin Joe Cronin Heinie Manush George Case Cecil Travis Sid Hudson and Mickey Vernon However most seasons the Senators finished at the bottom 6
LEFT Clark Griffith went from team manager to team owner in Washington RIGHT Harmon Killebrew was the team’s top star when they became the Twins in 1961 of the standings In fact a popular joke said that Washington was first in war first in peace and last in the American League By the 1950s Griffith’s nephew Calvin had taken charge of the team The Senators were losing a lot of games and a lot of money Several baseball-starved cities offered to give the team a new home In the end the state of Minnesota won over the Griffith family The team moved to the city of Bloomington in 1961 and played in brand-new Metropolitan Stadium The Senators would forever after be known as the Twins Minnesota held onto some very good players from Washington Jim Kaat and Camilo Pascual were among the best pitchers in the AL while sluggers Harmon Killebrew and Bob Allison led the hitting attack 7
By 1965 the Twins had a lineup that also included Zoilo Versalles Tony Oliva Jim Perry and Mudcat Grant That season they won 102 games and reached the World Series The Twins were known as one of the hardest-hitting teams in baseball In 1967 Killebrew and Oliva were joined by Rod Carew He would win seven batting championships with the Twins In the 1970s top players such as Bert Blyleven Bill Campbell Butch Wynegar and Roy Smalley also wore the Minnesota uniform Despite these stars the team went more than 20 seasons without winning another pennant Many blamed Griffith who was unwilling to pay his players high salaries Finally in 1987 the Twins returned to the World Series Led by Frank Viola Kent Hrbek Gary Gaetti and Kirby Puckett they became champions for the first time since moving to Minnesota In 1991 the Twins won it all again Puckett was the heart of those teams LEFT Kirby Puckett ABOVE Kent Hrbek 9
