How a baseball franchise traded Washington for Minnesota to secure a million fans annually
The Minnesota Twins began as the Washington Senators, a team defined by decades of mediocrity and the musical Damn Yankees. Seeking a fresh start, owner Calvin Griffith moved the franchise to the Twin Cities in 1961, lured by promises of higher attendance and a lucrative new television and radio market.
The franchise's history is a study in relocation and rebranding. Founded in 1901 as an original American League team, the Washington Senators struggled for sixty years, winning only one World Series in 1924. By the late 1950s, owner Calvin Griffith faced declining local interest and financial pressure. The move to Minneapolis-St. Paul was driven by a deal guaranteeing one million fans per year for three seasons, alongside the potential to double broadcast revenue.
The team was renamed the Minnesota Twins to avoid alienating fans in either Minneapolis or Saint Paul, a strategy that helped the club quickly establish a local identity. Success followed rapidly, with American League pennants in 1965 and World Series titles in 1987 and 1991. The 1991 series, in particular, is remembered as a classic, featuring a legendary seventh game where Jack Morris pitched ten shutout innings to defeat the Atlanta Braves.
Despite these peaks, the franchise has navigated significant turbulence. The team faced threats of contraction and relocation in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and endured a record-breaking 18-game postseason losing streak that lasted from 2004 until 2023. Throughout these cycles, the team has reinvented itself, from the small-ball 'Little Piranhas' of 2006 to the record-breaking 'Bomba Squad' of 2019, which set an MLB record with 307 home runs in a single season.
The business of the team has also evolved, moving from the Metropolitan Stadium to the Metrodome in 1982, and finally to Target Field in 2010. Ownership transitioned from the Griffith family to Carl Pohlad in 1984, who secured the team's future in Minnesota by outbidding Donald Trump. Today, the Twins remain a central fixture of the region, balancing the legacy of their Washington roots with a modern identity built on decades of Midwestern support.
Source: Minnesota Twins
