by Lynette Alice

Created on: July 27, 2008   Last Updated: July 30, 2008

The year was 1961 and Major League Baseball was finally a reality in Minnesota. Countless semi-pro and minor league teams called this home as well as a womens professional team a few all black teams although none were officialy recognized Negro League franchises. The Washington Senators owner Calvin Griffith changed all that by moving his team to Minnesota and renaming them the Twins beginning a new era for the team and city. Over the years All Stars, MVP's. and Cy Young Award winners have graced the roster helping bring a pair of World Series titles home. A quick look at franchise history shows why this is a team fans love so fiercely.

The best place to start is the beginning. The Twins 1961 season hardly set the world or league on fire managing to post a 70-90 won/loss record but it did show hope with pitchers Camilo Pascual and Jim Kaat holding down the rotation while Bob Allison and the Titan of Minnesota baseball Harmon Killebrew who clubbed 46 homers showed this was a team on the rise and Met Stadium was in store for some great moments. The following year the Twins improved to the point of finishing second to the always powerful Yankees and Jack Kralick tossed the Twins first no-hitter against the Kansas City A's. The future looked better than ever except that 1964 wound up being a down year filled with injuries. The bright spots were that Killebrew hammered out 49 round trippers and Tony Olivia led the league in batting on his way to being named Rookie of the Year, the first in Twins History.

1965 was the year Twins fans had been dreaming of, almost. They hosted their first All-Star game and ended the Yankee stranglehold on the American League pennant in addittion to Jim "Mudcat' Grant winning 21 games, Tony Olivia winning his second batting title, and shortstop Zolio Versalles grabbing the Most Valuable Player award. The Twins started their first World Series in style taking the first two games from the L.A. Dodgers but in the end fell to Sandy Koufax in game seven. The dream was over but without doubt it was a landmark season in franchise history.

For nearly two decades the franchie experienced lean years, some were promising but never what fans dreamed of. There were many great individual performances mostly supplied by Rod Carew and his seven batting titles. Killebrew continued pounding out home runs, some strong pitching passed through the organization but as a team they just couldn't put it all together at the same time. With the advent of free

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