In 1961, Minnesota gained its first professional sports team when the Washington Senators moved to Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington and became the Minnesota Twins. The team enjoyed relatively quick success, winning the American League pennant in 1965 behind the hitting of Tony Oliva and Harmon Killebrew, and the pitching of Mudcat Grant and Jim Kaat. The Twins lost the World Series that year to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The team didn't make another trip to the World Series until 1987, when they became Word Series champions…a feat the Twins repeated in 1991.
By 1987, the Twins moved into the Metrodome in Minneapolis. The team's move to that domed stadium was controversial, as would be its move to Target Field in 2010. Both projects were preceded by years of debate and controversy over whether public investments in stadiums were worthwhile.
Nine Twins players have have had their numbers retired: Harmon Killebrew (3), Tony Oliva (6), Joe Mauer (7) Kent Hrbek (14), Bert Blyleven (28), Rod Carew (29), Kirby Puckett (34), and Jim Katt (36).
November 14, 1997 - MPR’s Martin Kaste reports that in the aftermath of the Minnesota lawmakers' vote to defeat the Twins stadium bill (voting 84 to 47 against the package), Governor Arne Carlson has offered a eulogy of sorts, seeing it as the "last, best hope" to keep the baseball team in Minnesota.
November 14, 1997 - A collection of excerpted commentary from Minneapolis residents being interviewed regarding news that the Minnesota Twins could be leaving after failure to secure a new stadium deal in Minnesota legislative session.
January 27, 1998 - MPR's Cara Hetland reports from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where the Minnesota Twins are utilizing a caravan to hopefully draw crowds to ballpark as the team fights for a new stadium… while at the same time cutting team player payroll and dealing with talk of selling/moving team. Players admit it's tough to sell tickets for what may be a lame duck season.
February 3, 1998 - The Twins stadium is alive again at the State Legislature…just two months after lawmakers killed it. The stadium's chief cheerleader this time around is State Senator and gubernatorial candidate Roy Terwilliger, who says he has a plan Minnesotans will like a lot better than anything the Twins proposed last year.
February 5, 1998 - Baseball commentator Kevin Hennessey reviews the Chuck Knoblauch trade. The Twins second baseman and four-time All-Star was traded to the New York Yankees for $3 million and four minor-league players.
February 19, 1998 - MPR’s Martin Kaste reports that Governor Carlson has asked Major League Baseball to give Minnesota one more chance…and one more year, to try to save the Twins. Debate continues at the Capitol on how that could happen.
February 19, 1998 - MPR’s Martin Kaste reports on end of another stadium bill at State Capitol. The sponsors of the latest Twins stadium plan threw in the towel, as the bill's author, Harris DFLer Loren Jennings, announced he was withdrawing the plan from consideration, just hours before a crucial committee hearing.
March 26, 1998 - MPR’s Bob Collins reports on a Ramsey County judge considering whether to order the Minnesota Twins and Major League Baseball to submit over 30 years of documents to Attorney General Skip Humphrey, whose office is investigating whether a threatened move of the Minnesota Twins to North Carolina violates federal anti-trust laws.
April 21, 1998 - Off the field, forces who are trying to keep the Twins from moving to another state won a victory after Ramsey County District Judge Margaret Marrinan ruled that Minnesota Attorney General Skip Humphrey can proceed with his investigation of Major League Baseball.
May 5, 1998 - On the day of the North Carolina public vote on baseball subsidies, MPR sports analyst Howard Sinker discusses it and the future of the Minnesota Twins. Sinker also answers listener questions. Programs begins with report from MPR's Martin Kaste in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.