Dennis Brackin - Minnesota Twins: The Complete Illustrated History

One of the things I remember about coming to Minnesota was to have the opportunity to play with so many great, nice ballplayerslike Harmon Killebrew, Zoilo Versalles, Camilo Pascual, Dean Chance, Earl Battey, so many more. For me, I grew up here, and Calvin Griffith was like a second father.... So far, Ive been here 48 years. I never expected to be any place that long. I dont know what its like in other organizations, because I have only been with the Minnesota Twins, but I know that here its like a family.... If I had it to do all over again, and the Twins gave me the opportunity, I would do the same thing.

Tony Oliva

I was just happy, first of all, to get the chance to play major league baseball, but getting to play with the team you grew up cheering for in your own hometownthere couldnt be a better way to play big league ball.... Then to be a part of not one but two World Championship teams! Things couldnt go any better than to play your whole career in front of hometown fans. I feel very blessed and very thankful to the fans of not only Minnesota, but of the entire Midwest, and the fantastic Minnesota Twins organization.

Kent Hrbek

The people you met coming to work herefrom the ballplayers to the security guards to the bat boys to people like [team cook and assistant clubhouse manager] Bobby Doreyit was like a family. It was a neat, neat place to come to work. You could go 0-for-4 and boot the ball in the field, but you never had a bad day at the office. The front office and the Pohlad family made you proud to be a Twins player.

Dan Gladden

The Twins organization is a pretty close fraternity in the sense that, from the top of the organization to the bottom of the organization, its run by quality people. And you dont find that in many walks of life, let alone a professional sports organization. From top to bottom, its class. Its very loyal. When youre a Twin, youre a Twin. Granted, its the only place Ive ever been, but talking to other guys in the league, its different over here.

Michael Cuddyer

MINNESOTA TWINS

The Complete Illustrated History

DENNIS BRACKIN AND PATRICK REUSSE

FOREWORD BY HARMON KILLEBREW

First published in 2010 by MVP Books, an imprint of MBI Publishing Company and the Quayside Publishing Group, 400 First Avenue North, Suite 300, Minneapolis, MN 55401 USA

Text copyright 2010 by Dennis Brackin and Patrick Reusse. Photos copyright 2010 by the Star Tribune Corporation, except as otherwise noted.

All rights reserved. With the exception of quoting brief passages for the purposes of review, no part of this publication may be reproduced without prior written permission from the Publisher.

The information in this book is true and complete to the best of our knowledge. All recommendations are made without any guarantee on the part of the author or Publisher, who also disclaims any liability incurred in connection with the use of this data or specific details.

This publication has not been prepared, approved, or licensed by the Minnesota Twins or Major League Baseball.

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Digital edition: 978-1-61060-269-3
Softcover edition: 978-0-76033-684-7

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Brackin, Dennis.
Minnesota Twins : the complete illustrated history / Dennis
Brackin and Patrick Reusse.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 978-0-7603-3684-7 (hardback w/ jkt)
1. Minnesota Twins (Baseball team)History. 2. Minnesota
Twins (Baseball team)HistoryPictorial works. 3. Baseball
MinnesotaMinneapolisHistory. 4. Baseball
MinnesotaMinneapolisHistoryPictorial works. I. Reusse, Patrick. II. Star
Tribune (Minneapolis, Minn.) III. Title.
GV875.M55B73 2010
796.3576409776579--dc22
2009026615

Edited by Josh Leventhal
Design Manager: Katie Sonmor
Designed by Mandy Kimlinger
Cover designed by John Barnett

On the front cover, left: Harmon Killebrew, 1968 (Tony Tomsic/Getty Images); center: Target Field, August 2009 (Craig Lassig/AP Images); right: Joe Mauer, 2009 (Star Tribune staff photo).
On the title page, main: Twins celebrating 1987 World Series victory (Star Tribune staff photo); inset: Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau, 2009 (Marlin Levison/Star Tribune).
On the back cover, center: Target Field scoreboard, 2009 (Wayne Kryduba/Minnesota Twins, 2009); all other images courtesy of the Star Tribune.

Printed in China

CHAPTER 1
Twins Prehistory: Bringing Big League Baseball to Minnesota

CHAPTER 2
The 1960s: A Franchise Comes of Age

CHAPTER 3
The 1970s: Tough Times in Twinsville

CHAPTER 4
The 1980s: Reaching the Top

CHAPTER 5
The 1990s: Worst to First, and Back Again

CHAPTER 6
The 2000s: New Hope and a New Home

APPENDIX
Minnesota Twins All-Time Record Book

I must admit I was really apprehensive when I learned late in 1960 that the Washington Senators were moving to Minnesota. I had played for Indianapolis in the American Association for about a month in 1958, and one of the trips I took was to St. Paul and Minneapolis to play the Saints and the Millers. I learned enough about the Minnesota weather on that trip to know that I just wasnt looking forward to playing in Minnesota full-time.

And it wasnt only the weather. I was a small-town kid from Idaho, and I really enjoyed playing in the nations capital. Plus, the Senators had just started to become a good ballclub. We had made a trade with the White Sox before the 1960 season that brought us Earl Battey and Don Mincher, a pair of quality players. Jim Kaat was a good, young pitcher to go along with Camilo Pascual, giving us a potentially formidable twosome at the top of the rotation. Bob Allison had been the Rookie of the Year in 1959, and I had led the American League in home runs that year.

So, coming to Minnesota and leaving Washington, D.C., just didnt sound like a real good thing to me. But I tell you what, it didnt take me long to fall in love with playing in Minnesota. The people won me over right away. We saw how anxious the people were to have a major league baseball team. The support was just great, and the people were wonderful. To me, the fans of Minnesota are tops.