Minnesota Twins remove statue of former owner Calvin Griffith from outside Target Field

[mac56]

Source: Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

The Minnesota Twins removed the statue of former team owner Calvin Griffith from outside of Target Field.

"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 that are the antithesis of what the Minnesota Twins stand for and value."

The team made the decision after internal meetings following the May 25 killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis. Friday's announcement of the removal came on Juneteenth, the anniversary of the end of slavery in the United States in 1865.

In a speech to a Lions Club in Waseca in 1978, Griffith said Rod Carew was a "damn fool" for playing for as little as he pays him and the Twins decided to come to Minnesota "when I found out you only had 15,000 blacks here."

Read more: https://www.startribune.com/twins-remove-calvin-griffith-statue-citing-racist-statements/571365382/

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

1. Calvin Griffith was a dick in many respects.

I'm surprised he wasn't called out for this particular aspect of his dickishness years ago. (Actually, I'm not.) I didn't know they had a statue of him at the ballpark, but they shouldn't have, and it's good that it's gone.

[marble falls]

2. What Carrew had to say:

Carew, who said he would never sign another contract with the Twins after Griffith remarks, said in a statement released by the team: "I understand and respect the Minnesota Twins decision to remove the Calvin Griffith statue outside Target Field. While I've always supported the Twins decision to honor Calvin with a statue, I also remember how inappropriate and hurtful his comments were on that fateful day in Waseca. The Twins did what they felt they needed to do for the organization and for our community. While we cannot change history, perhaps we can learn from it."

But Carew also said that he had long forgiven Griffith and that he doesn't consider him a racist.

"When he traded me prior to the 1979 season, Calvin told me he wanted me to be paid what I was worth," Carew said. "Later that year the Angels made me the highest paid player in baseball. A racist wouldn't have done that.

"In 1991, the first person I called after I was told I had been elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame was Calvin.

[RussellCattle]

3. "When they go low, we go high" Carew was/is a class act.

[marble falls]

4. A real class act.

[rurallib]

5. That is for sure - a great player and a class act.

I was going to make some snarky comment about Griffith, but after reading Carew's statement I will leave it be.

[RussellCattle]

10. Your holding back is for the best of reasons. Good for you.

[ProfessorGAC]

11. Carew Could Have Hit A Curve all...

...with a cuestick!
His eye was that great.
He hit .328 for his career! 34th all time, but nearly his whole career in the 4 or 5 man rotation era. Plus, relievers so a lot of the other 33 might not have hit .329 or better like they did in earlier times.

[rurallib]

12. I actually met Carew before a game at the old Met

Mrs. Lib and I went up for a few vacation days. Must have been 1977. We were there for a 4th of July game. The field was in terrible shape as they had had a soccer game on that field the night before. Then it rained on the 4th.

IIRC, Carew was hitting @.410 at the time. He was having an unbelievable year.
So we went way early. Players were stretching and just hanging. Our seats were right behind their dugout in the second row. There were maybe a hundred in the stands. Attendance was terrible that year and that night.

We are sitting there and all of a sudden a player steps up on the short concrete wall by the dugout, steps up on the dugout and then steps into the box seats. He climbs over the seats in front of us and sits down next to my wife and starts up a conversation.

I was at a loss for words for a few minutes then finally unlocked my jaw. We chatted for @ 10 minutes. Then he said he had to get back on the field. He autographed my 'Rod Carew' model glove and then left.

Sadly the autograph faded, but the memory lives on.

[ProfessorGAC]

13. Cool!

I'm not a memorabilia guy, with one exception.
I have a never used Spalding baseball with the sigs of Billy Williams, Ernie Banks, & Ron Santo. My 1st, 2nd & 4th favorite players on the 60s Cubs. (Glenn Beckett was #3, but I never got to meet him.)
I'm pretty sure they were signed in 67, 66, & 68.
I still have the ball, and since it's in a clear plastic sphere, the sigs look pretty much like the day they were signed.
There was a picture (signed) of me & Billy at a Buick dealership, but alas, that picture is parts unknown.

[mountain grammy]

7. A better man than most

loved baseball back then. Carew was one of my, and everyone elses, favorites.

[marble falls]

8. Better'n me. I would have had to thumbed my nose.

[Wellstone ruled]

6. Rod was more than a class act.

He was our Park Board as well as our 10-12 year olds Traveling Team Banquet Key Noter for several years.

Best record for on base percentage in the Majors. Known for his "seeing eye singles".

[generalbetrayus]

9. Having grown up in Washington, D.C. and a nearby suburb during the 60s,

I can assure you with great confidence that there are no Calvin Griffith statues to pull down in D.C.

[Polybius]

14. Ty Cobb still stands though

His racism was KKK level.

[RussellCattle]

15. As a baseball fan who hates Ty Cobb, even though he never played in my lifetime....

....and only grudgingly acknowledges his achievements on the field, I've got to say that I'd get behind any effort to tear down his statue wherever it may be. I'd say let's leave U.S.Grant's statue be, even though he owned a slave, and go after the true racist.

Crazy though it may seem, I just read the Wikipedia entry for Cobb and it paints him in a much better light later in life. Something as a reformed racist and a benefactor of education. Who knew.

[Jimbo S]

16. Reminds me of a story

https://www.baseball-reference.com/register/player.fcgi?id=hill--002elm

When I was a kid, I would spend a week each summer with my grandparents and watch the Twins 'A' level club play each night. They had a black player who spent *seven* seasons with this Class A minor league team, led the league in HR multiple times, but the Twins would just not promote him.

https://mwlguide.com/biography/hill.html

[olddad65]

17. So when does the NFL force the Washington DC franchise

To stop using a racial slur for the teams name?

[mac56]

18. Or the CFL with the Edmonton Eskimos