When Twins baseball first came home

After the newly-christened 1961 Minnesota Twins won their first contest in improbable fashion over the New York Yankees, the hot start continued during that season-opening road trip. Sitting at a lofty 5-1 after the East Coast swing, the Twins officially crossed the threshold of their new homeetropolitan Stadiumn Bloomington on April 21. It proved, in three distinct ways, to be a rather odd beginning for the concept of Twins Territory https://www.minnesotagearshop.com/Taylor_Rogers_T_shirt-11. Oddity 1: The team in Met Stadium visitors dugout was the Washington Senatorshe exact team which Calvin Griffith had extracted to create the new Twins in the first place! In a rather head-scratching scenario, the nation capitol didn even go a year without baseball, being awarded an expansion franchise immediately. Imagine, say, the North Stars leaving MN and the Wild skating in the very next winter, and you get the picture. Oddity 2: Despite boasting 30,000+ seats for paying customers, Met Stadium turnstiles only counted 24,606 for that inaugural home opener. Perhaps the novelty of Major League Baseball had yet to sink in for Minnesotans, but the non-sellout crowd is still puzzling (especially on a day that wasn overly cold and no precipitation was recorded). Even the 82 Twins basically sold out the roller-rink/heat furnace/giant marshmallow known as the Metrodome in hat place first-ever baseball game. Met Stadium bleacher views Photo by: Diamond Images/Getty ImagesOddity 3: Star slugger Harmon Killebrew was not in the starting nine Miguel Sano Hoodie. But his presence was not included in any of the Twins/Senators tilts that home opening weekend, so perhaps a nagging injury lost to the sands of time was the culprit. The game itself featured Twins starter Camilo Pascual facing off against Washington Joe McClain. The visitors jumped on Pascual with two early runs from the bats of Gene Woodling and Dale Long. They tag the curveball specialist again in the fourth, with Pete Daley singling in Billy Klaus to run the lead to 3-0. The Twins began a comeback in their half of the fourth, with Lenny Green being hit by a McClain offering and trotting home when Don Mincher launched a deep drive over the CF fence. Mincher as a member of the OG Senators in 1960 Photo by Dick Darcey/The Washington Post via Getty ImagesAfter both starters settled down, the score remained 3-2 into the bottom of the 8th https://www.minnesotagearshop.com/David_Ortiz_Flag-191, when Green got some revenge upon his earlier plunking by depositing a ball into the right field stands. Tie game!With Camilo having been pinch-hit for in the previous half inning, Ray Moore came out of the pen for Minnesota. Unfortunately, he didn live up to his relief moniker, allowing two runs (including a squeeze bunt from pitcher McClain) to allow the visitors to reclaim a 5-3 lead. Not to be deterred in their homecoming, however, the Twins loaded the bases with one out in the bottom of the ninth. But Senator fireman Dave Sisler coaxed a harmless fly ball off the bat of Hal Naragon and got Pete Whisenant to cut at air for the final out. Despite falling just shy of victory in their first Minnesota contest, the Twins would win the next two games against the Nats (as the Washingtonians were commonly known at the time) and take the series.