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).
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October 3, 2002 - MPR's William Wilcoxen previews playoff baseball’s return to Minnesota as the Minnesota Twins host the Oakland Athletics in Game 3 of their first-round playoff series. The last post-season baseball game at the Metrodome was the Twins' Game 7 victory in the 1991 World Series. This year's team hopes to recapture some of the Twins' postseason Metrodome magic.
October 4, 2002 - Well, there is one epidemic that the state doesn't need any statistics to confirm... Twins Fever. 55,000 baseball fans will fill the Metrodome for Game 3 of playoff series against Oakland A’s. If previous post season games are any indication, the noise those fans make will give the Twins a big advantage.
October 7, 2002 - What do MLB Commissioner Bud Selig and the Oakland A's have in common? Both failed to eliminate the Minnesota Twins in 2002. Behind a dominating performance from starting pitcher Brad Radke, the Twins beat A’s 5-4 in the fifth and deciding game of the divisional playoffs. The Twins now advance to the American League Championship Series.
October 7, 2002 - An excerpt of Garrison Keillor speaking about his serious case of "Twins Fever" during during A Prairie Home Companion show.
October 7, 2002 - Lavelle Neal, who covers the Twins for the Star Tribune, talks about the Minnesota Twins winning American League Division Series against Oakland A’s…and what lies ahead in American League Championship Series against Anaheim Angels.
October 8, 2002 - Gordon Wittenmyer, who covers the Minnesota Twins for the St. Paul Pioneer Press, provides commentary of American League Championship Series. He says its difficult to predict how the series will play out.
October 8, 2002 - MPR's William Wilcoxen reports from outside the Metrodome, where crowds are gathering for Game 1 against the Anaheim Angels in the American League Championship Series.
October 8, 2002 - The Minnesota Twins head into the American League Championship Series against the Anaheim Angels after surviving the threats of contraction and a players' strike. The excitement around the hometown team is generating new interest in ballpark plans…and the issue figures to resurface next year when a new governor is sworn in.
October 8, 2002 - Only one team stands between the Minnesota Twins and a spot in baseball's World Series. At the Metrodome, the Twins will take on the Anaheim Angels in the opening game of the American League Championship Series. The winner of the best of seven series will face either the Saint Louis Cardinals or (Braves/Giants) in baseball's Fall Classic.
October 9, 2002 - As the Minnesota Twins battle the Anaheim Angels in American League Championship Series, MPR's Tom Scheck reports that many fans both inside and outside the dome are engaging in peculiar habits to ensure that the Twins will keep winning all the way through the World Series.