 The Minnesota Twins are a Major League Baseball team based in Minneapolis , Minnesota . The team came into existence in the year 1894, as Kansas City , Missouri franchise in the minor Western League. In 1900 the team moved to Washington , D.C. when that league became the American League. Byron "Ban" Johnson, president of the Western League, changed the name to the American League in 1900 and major league status was awarded a year later. The Minnesota Twins reached the playoffs three times from 1961 to 1970, during the franchise's first 10 years. Sam Mele was named manager in 1961 and in 1965 led the Twins to the AL pennant with sluggers Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva and Zoilo Versailles. Minnesota 's hitters, however, succumbed to pitchers Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series.
In 1969 Minnesota captured the division title under the stormy leadership of first-year manager Billy Martin. The team continued to post winning records through 1971, winning the first two American League West division titles. In 1974 session, Harmon Killebrew marked his final season as they ended the season in 3 rd place with 82-80 record. Tony Oliva retired at the young age of 36 in the year 1976, in his career he won three battle titles and finished his career with a .304 career average. The Twins ended the season 1976 in third place with a record of 85-77. The early 1980s was a bitter season as the team could not perform well. In 1982 the team registered a horrible score of 60-102, and established themselves as the worst team in baseball by getting an embarrassing 16-54 start. After several losing seasons in the Dome, the arrival of 1980s superstars Kent Hrbek and Kirby Puckett electrified the team and sent them to their first World Series. The Twins defeated the St. Louis Cardinals and won the 1987 World Series. The Twins won only nine road games after the All-Star break. The Twins won even more in 1988, but could not overcome the powerhouse division rival Oakland A's. 1989 saw a decline in the win column.
Despite Minnesota finished last in 1990, pitchers Scott Erickson and Jack Morris helped turn the team around in 1991, taking the Twins to another AL pennant. Kelly earned top managing honors as Minnesota defeated the Atlanta Braves in the 1991 World Series. However, the Twins struggled during most of the remainder of the 1990s. In the season 1992, the Twins made a brilliant score by achieving 90 wins despite this brilliant score the team couldn't come up to the expectations as they registered a losing record each year through 2000. The tables turned around in 2001 to 2004 as they complied a string of winning season records since they moved to Minnesota as in 2001 they made a score of 85-77, in 2002 they registered 94-67 record, made a score of 90-72 in 2003, in 2004 they made a score of 92-70 and scored 83-79 in 2005. The Twins performed glorious in the 2000 seasons. Some of the major winnings of the team include six Division Titles, six American League pennants, one Western League pennants and three World Series Championships. |
