Votes are lined up to eliminate Twins

Mpls. Star and Sickle (read as Star Tribune) ^ | November 2nd 2001 | Sid Hartman and Jim Souhan

[order_of_reason]

For your discussion...

[OrioleFan]

I will miss the Twins. They were a major source of talent for the entire league, like Montreal and Milwaukee. But I won't miss the Metrodome. There are seats in that place where you cannot see the entire field.

Funny story: I took my youngest daughter with me to a game (Orioles) there when she was about 2. She liked that Gloria Estefan song (1-2-3-4), and could sing it. She was singing it, and a Twins fan asked if she knew any other songs. I said she knew "Take Me Out to the Ball Game". So my daughter stands up and starts singing it at the top of her lungs. When she got to the part "root, root, root for the Home Team", she substituted Orioles, and promptly got booed by the whole section (it was full). She finished the song.

[Phantom Lord]

Wonder if anyone in Minn. (including the owner) are regretting their victory in preventing the team from moving to NC. Either way they would have lost their team, but at least it would continue to exist.

[cibco]

"If the loss of a team doesn't bring disaster (or if it does), we all will have learned something".

Hasn't hurt LA. Maybe the player that got a $260 mil contract and some of his buddies could invest in new stadiums if they are so lucrative. Private, not tax money, should be used for entertainment.

[SES1066]

Several, several years back a group of Tampa investors actually bought the Twins with the upfront declared intention of moving them down to Tampa. The Commisioner and bigwigs of MLB at that time, got together and pressured that buying group to sell to the Pohlad group at basically a cost basis and a promise of a future expansion team. But when the expansion team, Devil Rays, came along, it was awarded to a different ownership group. The leader of the previous group is still suing MLB over this. What goes around, comes around!

[JARthur]

I live in the Cleveland area and when the Browns were moved all kinds of ecominic collapse was predicted. The idiot mayor started out saying it would cost the local economy 30 mill a year and as he got more desperate he ended up saying it would cost in the 100's of millions (don't know where he got his figures). Anyway, other than loosing football, I saw no noticable effect on the city or any of it's services. I am sure some reasturaunts and bars struggled, but overall, nothing changed. When they threatened to take the Indians it cost all of us big money to build the jake, we'll be paying for that for 30 years.

[Stefan Stackhouse]

Major league sports are strictly a big business. People who buy tickets are merely sources of revenue. It makes about as much sense to become emotionally attached to a pro sports team as it does to root for Charmin over Cottenelle.

[hchutch]

There are cities that WANT a major league franchise. Let the Twins move. DO NOT CONTRACT. Good f***ing grief.

If Montreal and Minnesota cannot get their acts together, let Charlotte and D.C. have a shot at it.

[Honcho]

The Marlins deserve it for buying/dismantling a World Series team in '97

You do mean the Washington Senators don't you?

[Non-Sequitur]

There is an article on this subject in this weeks Sports Illustrated that raises a number of questions. Who will pay the $150 to $200 million for the franchies that fold? What about stadium leases, contracts with vendors and suppliers, media agreements, minor league team commitments, who pays for those? What about player contracts, will those still be in force with an entity that no longer exists? What if the Players Association says no? If MLB tries to fold a team the legal battle will keep that team going for years to come.

[general_re]

If the loss of a team doesn't bring disaster (or if it does), we all will have learned something.

It won't. $10 says it won't. For years now, sports franchises have been threatening to move in order to extort stadiums, tax concessions, et cetera, and making claims about economic benefits they brought to the cities where they were located. But when you really look closely, there's just no evidence to back that claim up - if anything, they're a slight net drain on the economies of the cities where they are located.

[RedWing9]

And people around me wonder when I say that I dislike baseball because of the money grubbing players. Players that have as much risk as an olympic pole vaulter.

Now, it seems I have a new hole to aim at...

[hchutch]

Uh... talk to guys like Bryce Florie and Dickie Thon about the lack of risk in baseball.

They have not had a fatality since that guy who was hit in the head, but you are talking 98 mile-per-hour fastballs, line drives, and a lot of stuff that can do nasty things if it hits a human body, particularly in the head.

[GreenLanternCorps]

You are correct, move the Expos to Carolina and move the Twins (Washington Senators 1901-1961) back to Washington. Baseball died in Montreal when the Parti Quebecious started driving out the English speaking population and business to Toronto. And our nations capital deserves to get back the 'Nats.

[hchutch]

I was thinking Expos to DC, Twins to Charlotte. Tell Tampa Bay they have five years to get attendance up, or that team moves to Brooklyn.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I think the NC thing fell through because the NC folks didn't want to tax themselves to support a bunch of millionares, a new stadium, etc. Knowitall Sid Hartman was SURE they'd be gone to the Carolinas, "because the folks in NC were more generous."
'Taint necessarily so, Sid.

[NittanyLion]

Ask Bryce Florie is he agrees with that (granted hockey is much more physical than baseball, but accidents do happen)

[Vigilanteman]

Gotta agree with you. I hate to see the Twins go just because their town refused to give into the new stadium blackmail. The HHH metrodome, like the senator, was a gasbag full of hot air which replaced a perfectly adequate and serviceable stadium.

The only fault Met stadium had was no roof, which came in handy during the harsh weather Minnesota had sometimes. But Boston has just as bad of weather and has lived with the smaller Fenway Park since 1912.

The Twins are charter members of the league. They should stay for that reason alone. Florida has spring training and should have only one major league team, if any.