An interview with Calvin Griffith, former owner of the Minnesota Twins. Griffith reflects on what held back the team in past years from gaining a two-million annual attendance and how he is cheering on the 1987 team as they go for pennant.
The team sold out a regular season game for the first time in it’s history during Fan Appreciation Day.
CALVIN GRIFFITH: Well, I tell you, Charlie Johnson, the old writer of the Star Tribune, he was one of the people that got us out here. And his dream was to get to me and he said, one of these days there will be two million people in this ballpark for the [? Twins. ?] So I always felt that the day would come that we would get the two million.
JIM BICKEL: Calvin Griffith moved the Washington Senators to Minnesota in 1961, and despite outstanding teams in the mid and late '60s, the Twins never came close to drawing two million fans. Calvin says part of the reason was that the team played outside at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington. He says this team would not have drawn two million fans this year if they were still playing at the Met.
CALVIN GRIFFITH: I don't think so because we didn't have the accommodations. We didn't have the facilities out there. We didn't have the proper seating. The seats at the Met were way below the standard of a Major League ball club or even a Minor League ball club. You can't have temporary seats with no backs on them and sitting on planks and everything else. Every seat in this ballpark has got a very comfortable, contoured chair and you can be relaxed here.
JIM BICKEL: The Twins moved into the Metrodome in 1982, but they almost moved out again in 1984. Griffith says he seriously considered moving the team to Tampa, but a ticket buyout campaign and the purchase of the team by Carl Pohlad kept the team in Minnesota. Although he no longer owns the team, Griffith says he's still a big fan because many of the members of the team were signed by him.
CALVIN GRIFFITH: I'm just hoping and praying that every game I haven't missed a ball game this summer and I'm not going to miss any, I hope. And I do pull for more now than I did when I was the owner, to do with the fact that I want to see something come of the ballplayers that we brought along.
JIM BICKEL: One of the players that Calvin signed is starting pitcher Frank Viola. Viola won a big game last night against Texas. He says it's been quite a year.
FRANK VIOLA: It just seems like destiny is on [? our ?] side, you know? And we just have to go out and keep on playing like we have and it's going to be a little longer October than we're used to.
JIM BICKEL: Tonight is Fan Appreciation night at the Metrodome. The game was sold out several days ago, marking the first time that's happened in the history of the team. Gifts, including a new car, will be awarded to fans at the game and parking in municipal ramps will be free. Les Straker will pitch for the Twins against Danny Jackson. I'm Jim Bickel reporting.
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