Twins remove statue of former owner at Target Field for racist comments
Hall of Famer Rod Carew had gone to an All-Star Game in each of his first 12 seasons with the Minnesota Twins, but after hitting .333 in 1978 he was ready to leave the team.
A comment made by Calvin Griffith, who was Minnesota’s owner at the time, infuriated Carew, who vowed he wouldn’t play another game for the Twins.
This excerpt from Frederic J. Frommer’s book “You Gotta Have Heart, A History of Washington Baseball” recounts Griffith talking in 1978 about why his father moved the franchise from Washington D.C. to Minnesota:
(A)t a Rotary Club speech in Waseca, Minnesota, he said, “Black people don’t go to ballgames, but they’ll fill up a rassling ring and put up such a chant they’ll scare you to death. We came (to Minnesota) because you’ve got good, hard-working white people here.”
The Minneapolis Star called for Griffith to sell the team, and civil rights groups called for a boycott of Twins games. Twins star Rod Carew fumed, saying, “I’m not going to be another (n-word) on his plantation.” Carew was traded after the season to the California Angels.
Carew, who later “patched things up” with Griffith, played seven more years with the Angels, making six more All-Star Games.
Those comments in 1978 spurred the Twins to remove the statue of Griffith, who died in 1999, at Target Field.
“When we opened Target Field in 2010 in conjunction with our 50th season in Minnesota, we were excited and proud to welcome fans to our ‘forever ballpark.’ As such, we wanted to pay permanent tribute to those figures and moments that helped shape the first half-century of Minnesota Twins baseball — including a statue of Calvin Griffith, our former owner and the man responsible for moving the franchise here in 1961,” the Twins said in the statement.
“While we acknowledge the prominent role Calvin Griffith played in our history, we cannot remain silent and continue ignoring the racist comments he made in Waseca in 1978. His disparaging words displayed a blatant intolerance and disregard for the Black community that are the antithesis of what the Minnesota Twins stand for and value.
“Our decision to memorialize Calvin Griffith with a statue reflects an ignorance on our part of systemic racism present in 1978, 2010 and today. We apologize for our failure to adequately recognize how the statue was viewed and the pain it caused for many people — both inside the Twins organization and across Twins Territory. We cannot remove Calvin Griffith from the history of the Minnesota Twins, but we believe removal of this statue is an important and necessary step in our ongoing commitment to provide a Target Field experience where every fan and employee feels safe and welcome.
“Past, present or future, there is no place for racism, inequality and injustice in Twins Territory.”
A Minneapolis Star Tribune story said the reporter at the Rotary Club meeting that night tried to get Griffith to say something positive, so he was asked about Jerry Terrell, who was from Waseca.
“Terrell came into my office in spring training and said he wanted a multiyear contract,” Griffith said, per the Star Tribune. “I told him to turn your ass around and get out of there if that’s what he wanted. It’s a disgrace to major league baseball that Jerry Terrell is on a ballclub.”
Terrell was granted free agency and signed with the Royals. He played in Kansas City from 1978-80.
