Donald Trump almost bought the Twins in the 1980s

Donald Trump is in the news a lot these days because he's running for president or something, but the guy has actually been around for awhile, as anyone who grew up watching Home Alone II can attest to. Sometimes it's weird looking at something someone did the past when they are now much bigger in the present. Thus is the case with author Jon Kerr, and what he wrote about Donald Trump and former Twins owner Calvin Griffith in his book, "Calvin: Baseball's Last Dinosaur".

Long story short: Donald Trump tried quite hard to buy the Minnesota Twins from Calvin Griffith in the 1980s.

Trump invited Calvin Griffith to New York City to wine and dine him. As Kerr wrote:

"I had the thrill of my life going through Mr. Trump’s towers there and seeing all those million dollar condos he had," remembered Calvin with almost child-like innocence. "Whoooeee! It was so superb it was unbelievable. Johnny Carson has a condo there."

Even more unbelievable would be the financial discussion that followed, with Trump making an offer reported at $50 million. Today that would be almost $123 million.

"It was a lot of money no question about it," said Calvin. "I never thought I’d get in a room talking about the kind of money he was talking about. It was more than (Carl) Pohlad ever offered, definitely."

As we all know, however, it was Carl Pohlad who would become the new owner. Calvin Griffith sold the team to the Pohlads for less money than Donald Trump offered, and no matter your political leanings, thank god for our sake. Trump would have likely blown up the early '80s roster—the roster that went on to win two World Serieses—in favor of big-name free agents. Furthermore, Trump would have likely moved the Twins out of Minnesota. There would likely be no Twins now, at least as we know them.

Just interesting in retrospect...

You can check out the rest of Jon Kerr's blog on the matter here, or buy his book, "Calvin: The Last Dinosaur in Baseball" here.