Twins remove Calvin Griffith statue from Target Field

The current social changes taking place around the world lately have prompted many cities or citizens to remove statues of individuals that represent terrible times in history, such as the Confederacy or Christopher Columbus. The Minnesota Twins decided it was finally time to take action regarding one of their statues at Target Field this morning:

The organization had the statue of former Twins owner Calvin Griffith removed from the Target Field plaza this morning. As you may know, Griffith was known for making racist remarks, more specifically in Waseca in 1978 when talking about why he moved the Washington Senators franchise to the Twin Cities:

“I’ll tell you why we came to Minnesota. It was when we found out you only had 15,000 blacks here. Black people don’t go to ballgames, but they’ll fill up a rassling ring and put up such a chant it’ll scare you to death. We came here because you’ve got good, hardworking white people here.”

He went on to make remarks about Twins player Rod Carew accepting a salary figure below his talent level, calling him “a damn fool”. Of course, and rightfully so, Carew did not take too kindly to Griffin’s remarks and the Twins were forced to trade away a legend of a player before the 1979 season.

The Twins have shown to be a community-oriented ballclub. The removal of the statue of the former owner - no matter what his role was to bringing a baseball franchise we have grown to know and love - reflects upon the commitment the organization has to its community.

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