| Minnesota Twins History:
The year-old American Baseball League (formerly the Western League) declared itself a major league in 1901. To help the league to make a good showing on the East Coast, players from the 1900 Kansas City franchise were used to form a new team in Washington, D.C., the Washington Senators. Clark Griffith took over as manager in 1912. From then until 1960 the Griffith organization operated the team known as first in war, first in peace, and last in the American League". On October 26, 1960, Calvin Griffith, president of the club, made the historic decision to move his club to Bloomington, Minnesota, and the Senators became the Minnesota Twins. Players moving to Minnesota included Harmon Killebrew, Bob Allison, Camilo Pascual and Jim Lemon. On September 26, 1965, the Minnesota Twins clinched their first American League Pennant.
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TIME Magazine, July 20, 1959: Fireworks Factory ...By last week fans who had not bothered to see a game since Walter ("Big Train") Johnson retired in 1927 were hurrying to Griffith Stadium in time for batting practice, and dazzled team officials were saying that attendance for the year would be up 40%. The Washington Senators... were flashing the most exciting attack in baseball... Starting the second half of the season, Washington led the majors in home runs (107), had a good chance of breaking the American League record set by the Yankees in 1956, and, with luck, might even top the majors' record of 221 set by the New York Giants in 1947 and equaled by the Cincinnati Reds in 1957... The muscle comes almost entirely from four men, all right-handers: -- Rookie Centerfielder Bob Allison, 25,... who once swung "like an old lady" according to Manager Cookie Lavagetto, but now has grooved his power so smoothly that he is dubbed "Mr. Downstairs" for his line-drive home runs, stands third in the league with 22. -- Third Baseman Harmon ("The Killer") Killebrew, 22 (TIME, May 25), the sturdy (6 ft., 195 lbs.) youngster from Idaho with the massive shoulders who does not make the new boy's mistake of guessing at pitches. He is "Mr. Upstairs" for the towering drives that put him first in the majors with home runs (30), first in the league with runs batted in (75). -- First Baseman Roy ("Squirrel") Sievers, 32, leading home run slugger in Senator's history with 159 home runs in five years... -- Leftfielder Jim Lemon, 31, a long and lean slugger (6 ft. 4 in., 205 lbs.) who finally shortened his gargantuan batting stride, is tied for fourth in homers (21), stands fifth in runs batted in (61). Those Long Knockers. What makes the feats even more impressive is Griffith Stadium's pasturelike outfield. There are no near fences to invite Chinese home runs; leftfield is 350 ft. away, centerfield 401 ft., rightfield 320 ft.... Washington's late owner, Clark ("The Old Fox") Griffith, relied on bunts, slap-singles, and speed on the base paths... One vestige of Griffith's parsimonious reign: the four sluggers earn some $66,000 (Killebrew gets around $8,000) all told v. $80,000 for the Yankees Mickey Mantle alone. Spotty pitching and butterfingered fielding still keep the Senators in the second division, but no one takes liberties any longer. Says Yankee Manager Casey Stengel: "You can't fool with those long knockers; it's like you keep lighting matches in a fireworks factory." |
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