Hail to the Chief: How the Twins have fared under each POTUS

This past weekend, the United States of America (finally) crowned a new President-elect, that of course being Joseph R. Biden, who defeated an incumbent run from Donald J. Trump (and lets leave this conversation at that. -TJ) While it remains to be seen how the Minnesota Twins will fare under the Biden administration, it got me thinking about how the team had performed under previous heads of state:

In the early-goings of the Twins Baseball Club, they played well under the leadership of John F. Kennedy (.522 WP; 1961-1963) and Lyndon Johnson (.543; ‘64-’68).

Richard Nixon’s, uh, shall we say “unceremonious” departure from the Oval Office made my data-collection a bit more difficult, but during his interesting tenure in office the Twins were a respectable .506 (‘69-8/9/74). Somewhat surprisingly—as I don’t think of the mid-70s Twins as being all that competitive—but largely helped by a late-’74 push, Minnesota saw an uptick when Gerald Ford took the big chair (.526; 8/10/74-’76).

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After Jimmy Carter took office in 1977, the Twins notched their first sub-.500 WPP under the peanut farmer (.489; ‘77-’80). Things only got worse when Ronald Reagan’s—”the actor?!”— reign commenced (.460; ‘81-’88). Fortunately, the Gipper and the Twins got to meet up at the Rose Garden towards the end of his time at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue (as pictured in the header).

The Twins bounced back during the George H.W. Bush (aka Bush I, Papa Bush, Bush Sr., etc.) years (.523; ‘89-’92) and booked a return White House outing. Sadly, the two Bill Clinton terms proved to be a bottoming out (.431; ‘93-’00), as not one winning season was procured.

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Perhaps the baseball fan-ship of George W. Bush (aka Bush II, Bush Jr, Dubya, etc.) provided a boost, as the Twins escaped their doldrums and played .546 ball from ‘01-’08. Unfortunately, Barack Obama’s message of “Hope and Change” didn’t have the same effect (.453; ‘09-’16) during some truly rollercoaster seasons.

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That of course brings us to the most controversial President to ever be given the command launch codes. Thanks in large part to the ‘19 Bomba Squad, the Twins achieved their best results (.557; ‘17-’20) under Trump than any previous leader of the free world.

Beginning with the 2021 campaign, the Minnesota Twins will see what they can do under Biden & Co. While the team seems set up for both success and stability, one never knows what is right around the corner. So sit back and take your Cup of Joe—it’ll be an interesting ride one way or the other.

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