Twins remove statue of former owner
The Minnesota Twins removed the statue of former team owner Calvin Griffith from the grounds of Target Field on Friday morning.
The team cited comments he made in a speech in Waseca, Minn., three decades ago, as the reason for removing the likeness.
“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,” the team said in a statement.
“His disparaging words displayed a blatant intolerance and disregard for the Black community and they are the antithesis of what the Minnesota Twins stand for and value.”
Griffith owned the Washington Senators and moved the team to Minnesota in 1961. The Startribune reported Friday what Griffith said while speaking at the Lions Club in 1978: “I’ll tell you why we came to Minnesota. It was when I found out you only had 15,000 Blacks here. Black people don’t go to ball games, but they’ll fill up a rassling ring and put up such a chant it will scare you to death. It’s unbelievable. We came here because you’ve got good, hardworking, white people here.”
The Twins’ statement read: “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.”
After Griffith’s remarks, Hall of Fame member Rod Carew expressed his desire to leave the Twins and was traded to the California Angels. He issued a statement on Friday.
“While I’ve always supported the Twins decision to honour Calvin with a statue, I also remember how inappropriate and hurtful his comments were on that fateful day in Waseca,” said Carew.
Carew went on to say he had forgiven Griffith and did not consider him to be a racist.