The Twinkies

After moving to the Twin Cities from our Nation's Capital in 1961 the franchise dropped it's Senators nickname and was rechristened the Twins.  The change of name and scenery along with a bumper crop of rising young stars led to sustained success for the franchise throughout the 1960's.  By the end of the decade the team was still riding high winning the the AL West in 1969 and again in 1970.  It was all about to come crashing down in 1971 as the stars of the 60's began aging faster than Mel Gibson in Forever Young.  The 1970's was a decade of transition and turmoil for the Twins.  The cheap Griffith family did not adapt well to their team aging and the oncoming free agent era.  Throughout most of the decade the sun would rise and set in the Twin Cities around an unassuming star named Rod Carew, who could wake up out of a coma and hit line drives with ease.  Carew, who came up in the late 60's was a great complementary star to the powerful Harmon Killebrew.  When the "Killer" began to fade in the early 70's Carew was looked upon to take the baton.  Carew did what he could, but his supporting cast was less than stellar and he was not a big power hitter like Killebrew capable of carrying a team on his back.  In 1978 he flirted with the magical number .400 for most of the summer before fading and hitting "only" .388.  

If the Twins featured an average at best lineup, their pitching wasn't much better.  Other than Bert Blyleven, the Twin staff featured a potpourri of has been's and never was'es.  In the middle of the decade Bill Campbell emerged as a more than capable closer, but the tightly financed Twins lost him to Boston via free agency.  By the end of the decade the Twins lost their two biggest stars (Lyman Bostock & Carew) to the Angels via free agency.  Bostock was an up and coming outfielder who ran like a deer and had a bat capable of .330 with 20 homers.  Tragically he would lose his life as a victim of a shooting during his first season in California.