NOTE: The intent was to send this out on April 21, the anniversary of the Twins first game at Metropolitan Stadium. That didn’t work out for several reasons, but here it is now. ENJOY!
On April 21, 1961, the Minnesota Twins played their first home at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, but the journey to that 5-3 loss to the Washington Senators had been underway for the better part of a decade.
Following the relocation of the Braves from Boston to Milwaukee in 1953, Minneapolis city officials began exploring construction of a new modern ballpark in the hope of doing the same.
There were two minor league parks in the Twin Cities, Nicollet Park in Minneapolis and Lexington Park in St. Paul, but neither was adequate to be a temporary home for an MLB team.
After purchasing 160 acres of farmland in nearby Bloomington, construction would start in June of 1955 and Metropolitan Stadium was completed in less than a year.
Now the search to attract a major league team would begin in earnest.
The New York Giants were the first to show in interest. The St. Louis Browns, Philadelphia Athletics, New York Giants, and Cleveland Indians were all pursued.
Finally, it was the Washington Senators that would choose the Land of 10,000 Lakes as their new home and get ready to move in for the 1961 season.
Multiple exhibition games featuring Major League teams were held at the Met at this time; a game between the Detroit Tigers and Cincinnati Reds was held at the Met in 1957, and a matchup between the Senators and the Philadelphia Phillies was held shortly after the 1958 All-Star break.
Frustrated at not being able to attract a team, civic leaders in the Twin Cities went as far as backing a new major league, the Continental League. The new circuit was to begin play in 1961 with New York, Denver, Houston, Toronto, and other frustrated metro areas unable to attract an MLB team.
In response, Major League Baseball said it would expand by four teams, but even then it looked like Minnesota was going to miss the cut.
When the expansion meetings ended, however, Minnesota had its team.
They weren’t awarded one of the expansion teams, but rather the Washington Senators, owned by Calvin Griffith.
To ease the political backlash of that move and potential antitrust hearings or potentially punitive legislation, the D.C. area was awarded one of the two American League expansion teams.
The franchise Minnesota adopted was a team on the rise, though not by a terribly high standard. The Senators had not finished higher than fifth in the American League since 1946.
The Twins had opened the season on the road with a 6-0 win over New York at Yankee Stadium. Minnesota had a 5-1 record when it was finally time to play in its new home.
Washington had a 3-0 lead, Minnesota rallied to tie it 3-3 but the Senators would score two in the ninth to win it 5-3.
The Twins finished with a 70-90 record in 1961. They would go 91-71 in 1962 and 91-70 in 1963 before slipping back to 79-83 in 1964.
In 1965, Minnesota would go 102-60 and win the American League pennant but falling to the Los Angeles Dodgers in a seven-game World Series.
The Twins entered their inaugural season with more motivation than most sports teams to emphasize their team name. Calling themselves the Twins was more than just a reference to the Twin Cities. It was meant to unify the baseball fans of Minneapolis and St. Paul.
There had long been a rivalry between two Triple A teams, the Minneapolis Millers and St. Paul Saints.
Wanting to appeal to fans in both Minneapolis and St. Paul, the team name was chosen with care. For one, the team was named for Minnesota, rather than either city (unlike the Minneapolis Lakers of the NBA, who had moved to Los Angeles after the 1960 season).
The logo on the cap was an interlocked T and C, rather than an M, which could be mistaken as standing for Minneapolis.
Also, the uniforms had a patch on the left arm which showed players in Millers and Saints gear smiling happily and reaching across the Mississippi River to shake hands.
Illustrator Ray Barton created the iconic image of two players. Barton's obituaries indicate that the artist was told that this work was originally to be used only on paper cups for beverage concessions at Twins games at Metropolitan Stadium.
Whatever the case, Griffith decided to turn the drawing into the team's official logo. How much did Barton receive for his artwork? $15.
Twin bat boys
To hammer home the point of the name, the team hired bat boys who were actual twins.
In addition to the bat boys, the team also selected a pair of twin ball boys, Jerry and James Dempster. They are not pictured.
LIFE’s story on the auditions never ran in the magazine, but the King twins had a moment of national fame on May 1, 1961 when they appeared on the game show To Tell the Truth on CBS. Merv Griffin was the host of that episode
The boys fielded questions from celebrity panelists Tom Poston, Joyce Davidson, Don Ameche and Betty White. As was the case in the auditions, on the show they are alongside other sets of twins, waiting to see if they would be picked.
The other contestant that night was Reg Evans, who rescued John F. Kennedy from a Pacific island.
Number one on that date
What was number one on April 21, 1961?
TV
That week was designated as a “Black Week” by the Nielsen ratings service, so there were no ratings that week.
The top show the previous week was NBC’s Wagon Train, starring Ward Bond, Robert Horton, John McIntire, Robert Fuller, Michael Burns, Frank McGrath, Terry Wilson, and Scott Miller.
Here’s the closing theme, sung by Johnny O'Neill:
Movie
Tops at the box office was The Absent-Minded Professor, starring Fred MacMurray, Nancy Olson, Keenan Wynn, Tommy Kirk, Leon Ames, Elliott Reid, and Edward Andrews.
This is the trailer:
Song
The number one song was Blue Moon by The Marcels.