History of the Minnesota Twins

rdf:langString History of the Minnesota Twins

rdf:langString The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. The team is named after the Twin Cities area of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota. The club was originally founded in 1901 as the Washington Senators, and was one of the American League's eight original charter franchises. By 1903, peace was restored with agreements between the two rival baseball loops on player contract and represented member cities/teams, and the beginnings of a national championship series entitled the World Series. In 1905, the team changed its official name to the Washington Nationals. The name "Nationals" would appear on the uniforms for only 2 seasons, and would then be replaced with the "W" logo for the next 52 years. The media often shortened the nickname to "Nats". Many fans and newspapers (especially out-of-town papers) persisted in continuing using the previous "Senators" nickname. Over time, "Nationals" faded as a nickname, and "Senators" became dominant. Baseball guides would list the club's nickname as "Nationals or Senators", acknowledging the dual-nickname situation. After 61 years in the capital, in 1961, the Senator players relocated to expansion team in Minnesota, called the Twins, being the first major league baseball team to use a state in its name rather than the traditional city. In its 108-year history, the franchise has employed 29 managers and won 3 World Series championships. Seven managers have taken the franchise to the postseason. Ron Gardenhire, manager of the Twins from 2002 to 2014, led them to six playoff appearances, the most in their franchise history. Two managers have won the World Series with the franchise: Bucky Harris, in 1924 against the New York Giants; and Tom Kelly, in 1987 against the St. Louis Cardinals and 1991 against the Atlanta Braves.