Reflecting on Positives from the Pohlad Family's Ownership of the Minnesota Twins

[Cody Christie]

Fans are often justifiably critical of their local team’s ownership group. However, the Pohlad family has provided multiple positives during their time as the owners of the Minnesota Twins. 

 

Image courtesy of TwinsCentric, LLC

The Pohlad family’s tenure as the owners of the Minnesota Twins has spanned four decades, during which the team has experienced both very high highs and very low lows. Earlier this week, the Twins and the Pohlads announced that the team is exploring selling the team. While criticism is often levied against ownership for a lack of competitive spending, significant positives exist under the Pohlads' stewardship. Let’s examine five key contributions, highlighting how the family has shaped the franchise and the community.

1. Building Target Field
Perhaps the most enduring legacy of the Pohlad family is the construction of Target Field. Opening in 2010, the state-of-the-art ballpark was a game-changer for the Twins. Before its development, the Twins had spent nearly three decades in the Metrodome, a multi-purpose stadium that lacked the charm and intimacy of a hillside cave true baseball venue. 

Target Field, which the Pohlads put up over one-third of the construction costs for ($195 million of the final $555 million price tag) stands as one of MLB’s most beautiful ballparks. It was designed to give fans a classic baseball experience, with stunning views of downtown Minneapolis, modern amenities, and a commitment to sustainability, including LEED certification. The Pohlad family has also invested money to continually improve the fan experience at the ballpark. Target Field has become not just a home for the Twins, but a centerpiece of the Minneapolis sports landscape, hosting events from MLB All-Star Game, college football, and outdoor hockey.

2. Community Impact and Philanthropy
Beyond the baseball diamond, the Pohlads have made substantial contributions to the Twin Cities community. The Pohlad Family Foundation, established by Carl Pohlad in 1993, has donated millions to initiatives to reduce poverty, support youth education, and provide housing stability. These efforts have had a lasting impact on thousands of local families.

In addition, the Twins have been involved in numerous charitable ventures under Pohlad ownership. The "Twins Community Fund" supports local youth baseball and softball programs, ensuring the sport is accessible to kids throughout the region. Earlier this week, the Twins were named one of five finalists for MLB’s 2024 Allan H. Selig Award for Philanthropic Excellence. The team has also been quick to respond in times of crisis, like their 2020 donation to local COVID-19 relief efforts. The Twins are very much a regional team, with fans scattered across the upper Midwest, so some of these efforts might have flown under the radar of those outside the Twin Cities.

3. Investing in Player Development and Scouting
While the Twins have rarely been at the top of MLB in terms of payroll, the Pohlad family has invested heavily in player development. The franchise is known for developing homegrown talent, an essential aspect of small- to mid-market success. Names like Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, and Byron Buxton became household figures thanks to the Twins' well-established farm system. The current front office has rebuilt the farm system to the point where it ranks as one of the best in baseball. There is no guarantee of future success with prospects, but the Pohlads have helped to put the right people in place to make important decisions about the farm system. 

In recent years, ownership has expanded its investment in scouting and analytics, helping the team remain competitive in an era where data is crucial to success. The establishment of the Twins’ Dominican Academy, which opened in 2015, further underscores the Pohlads’ commitment to scouting and developing international talent, which is critical for sustaining success.

4. Bringing Championship Success
The early years of the Pohlad family’s ownership saw two of the greatest moments in Minnesota Twins history, marking the franchise's golden era. Minnesota captured two World Series titles in just five years, a feat that continues to define the franchise. The 1987 championship was a landmark moment, as it brought the franchise its first-ever World Series win, solidifying a sense of hope and pride among fans in Minnesota. The team's resilience during that postseason, particularly with home-field advantage in the Metrodome, became part of their legacy.

However, the 1991 World Series is often regarded as one of the greatest Fall Classics in MLB history. The series went the full seven games, culminating in a dramatic 1-0 extra-innings win in Game 7 over the Atlanta Braves. Kirby Puckett’s iconic walk-off home run in Game 6 and Jack Morris’ legendary 10-inning shutout in Game 7 cemented their places in baseball lore. These moments, along with the contributions of other stars like Kent Hrbek, created a narrative of underdog triumph that still resonates strongly with fans. 

Though playoff victories have been scarce in recent years, these two championship runs serve as a proud cornerstone of the Twins’ identity. Fans continue to draw on the legacy of those teams, with memories of the '87 and '91 squads frequently revived in celebrations and tributes. The Pohlad family, through Carl Pohlad's initial stewardship, helped position the Twins as a team that could rise to the top, and that legacy lives on decades later.

5. Stability
Owning a professional sports team for nearly 40 years is a testament to stability. The turmoil of the 1990s and early 2000s is not to be ignored, but overall, the Pohlads kept the team familiar and accessible to the fans for most of their years of stewardship. The construction of Target Field cemented that commitment. It wasn’t just a new home for the team, but a declaration that the Minnesota Twins were here to stay. The Pohlads have built a foundation that a new ownership group can build off of in future years.

The Pohlad family has also shown a propensity to keep people in high-ranking positions for an extended time. Since 1987, the Twins have employed only four managers (Tom Kelly, Ron Gardenhire, Paul Molitor, and Rocco Baldelli), and each has won the AL Manager of the Year award. Other members at the top of the front office have stayed in their positions for a significant amount of time to provide more stability. Some other examples include Terry Ryan in the general manager role, Mike Radcliff atop their scouting department, and Dave St. Peter in the president role.

While there are always areas for critique, the Pohlad family’s impact on the Twins and the community has seen multiple positives that will live on after they sell the team. From building one of MLB’s best ballparks to investing in player development and philanthropy, their ownership has left an enduring legacy that stretches beyond wins and losses. As the franchise looks toward the future, the Twins are set up for success beyond the current ownership group. 

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What other positives should be added to the list? Leave a COMMENT and start the discussion. 

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[gunnarthor]

I stopped reading pretty much at the top. They didn't build target field,  they held fans hostage for over a decade,  threatened to move and threatened to dissolve the team, until tax players built them target field. They then kept payroll mostly low anyway.  

 

[VivaBomboRivera!]

We must never forget that before there was Carl, there was Calvin.

[stringer bell]

The Pohlads used the tactics that just about every professional sports owner has used to get a facility. I don't particularly condemn them for it, but I don't think it is a feather in their cap. For three generations, the owners (Pohlads) have mostly stayed out of the spotlight and let their baseball people run the team. I think that is admirable and wise. Behind the scenes, I suppose whoever represented the family has set spending restrictions and sometimes it has appeared to be very shortsighted. However, the payroll cut last year makes more sense in light of the team being put up for sale in the off season.

Also, the timing of the sale announcement indicated the TV deal figured into all of this. I suppose it is much easier to make a sale with a defined amount of TV money coming in as opposed to the uncertainty of the last couple of years.

[Jeff K]

I'll pass on the positives as well.  I like to think that the intense criticism they faced the past 11 months helped push them to this decision.  Please complete the business of selling and go away.

[Blyleven2011]

The pohlad boys inherited a baseball team they had no love for , but had love of money  ...

Their business tactics in making money interfered with bringing a championship to the Minnesota twins fans ...

I'll take my chances on a new ownership that I wish for ...

[HoskenPowell]

They will make a LOT of $$$$$$ when they sell the team.   Quite a return on investment.

They will do much better than their radio station investment worked out.

 

[David Maro]

Eloise loved the team,but when she was gone so was the love.I think everyone in the USA would invest 195 million to have other people give 360 million to give them a stadium.And now they will walk away with about 1.5 billion,life is good if you're last name is Polhad.With any luck when a new owner takes control they waste little time cleaning house.

[tony&rodney]

Is it a possibility to have a moratorium on articles and comments about owners? I will make this my last comment on owners.

[TheLeviathan]

The taxpayers paid for the stadium.

This article was far too long for the headline.

[NYCTK]

5 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

Is it a possibility to have a moratorium on articles and comments about owners? I will make this my last comment on owners.

New ownership is quite literally the most important thing happening with this team over the next 6 months, if not 2 years. What sense would it make to ban discussion about it? 

[AKTwinsFan]

My fondest memories are from the 90s Twins. Being a little league player I just thought I'd try to be a Kirby Pucket. I then played for years as a pitcher (all star a few times). I love MN sports. 

[tborg]

3 hours ago, VivaBomboRivera! said:

We must never forget that before there was Carl, there was Calvin.

Agreed.  At least the Pohlads weren't blatant racists.

[Trov]

I think some fans are thinking the Pohlads are the worst owners around.  I am not saying they are great, but they are far from the worst.  As pointed out Calvin Griffith owned before.  He moved team to TC because he did not like black people going to his games in Washington.  Further, he made rules so he did not have buy as many baseballs, the pine tar rule was for that reason. 

Look at the White Sox owner, he has been terrible for decades.  Look at Oakland, and Pittsburgh as well.  It is possible we get a worse owner, because they are far from worst out there.  Could we get better sure, but we could get even worse penny pinchers that just trying to extract as much money as they can. 

[CRF]

I agree with a few of the previous statements...the only thing good about the Pohlad's is...they aren't anywhere near as bad as Calvin Griffith. 

[bean5302]

Carl Pohlad and the Pohlad brothers have always been considered generous and good people to those who know/knew them. They have also been very philanthropic in Minnesota, and they have provided a lot of stability to the franchise so I do think that's worth something as well.

The Pohlad's have certainly been better owners than a few who controlled Minnesota Franchises... Norm Green, Red McCombs, Calvin Griffith, Glen Taylor (IMHO)...

I don't think there's any doubt in my mind the ownership could have sold the team in the mid-2000s and that a move would have followed and been successful had ownership abandoned MSP. Owners can't be expected to lose money, and the Twins had been trying for over 15 years to get a new stadium. That's generally past the limits before a sale/move actually occurs IMHO.

There has been some success, and the Twins' ownership hasn't been cheap at the level of the Guardians, Pirates, Marlins or terrible owners who foolishly inject themselves into the roster operations of a franchise like the Rockies or Angels. They just haven't been an aggressive ownership group looking to grow the brand and hold upper management accountable for failure. It's ironic, they're not great businessmen in that sense, but they keep pointing to the need to run the team like a business.

Overall, I'd put the Pohlads as maybe lower mid-tier. You know what you're going to get. A generally competitive team during the regular season, but without the true investment to be a World Series threat.

[Woof Bronzer]

26 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

Carl Pohlad and the Pohlad brothers have always been considered generous and good people to those who know/knew them.

Tell that to the families whose farms Carl foreclosed on, or the employees whose livelihoods were ruined in Carl's corporate raider days when he would take over a company, fire everyone and strip it for assets. Carl made his fortune on the misery of others.  

[Dave Borton]

7 hours ago, Cody Christie said:

the Pohlads have made substantial contributions to the Twin Cities community.

The assets of their named foundation and non-profit (Twins Community Fund) represent about 3.5% of family wealth. The family may well donate beyond that amount to other non-profits.

You can judge for yourself about their personal generousity or lack thereof by assessing against your own personal giving, particularly if you had wealth of $3.4 billion.

[bean5302]

26 minutes ago, Woof Bronzer said:

Tell that to the families whose farms Carl foreclosed on, or the employees whose livelihoods were ruined in Carl's corporate raider days when he would take over a company, fire everyone and strip it for assets. Carl made his fortune on the misery of others.  

Myths and legends. I hate this kind of stuff because it's nothing more than rage-induced character assassination using twisted information. He was born in 1915 and grew up dirt poor helping his mom wash laundry to put food on the table. The great depression started in 1929 when Pohlad was 14. He spent a couple years working as a go-fer for a bank where he did small time tasks around the office and he delivered collection letters, but by the time he graduated in 1933, he had been recruited across the country to play college football. You think he owned the bank when he was in high school...

[Mike Sixel]

My recollection is that they were among the most generous to employees during Covid, unlike some other teams. That seems like one thing I can admire. 

[farmerguychris]

When looking back, I sincerely believe they simply looked at the team as an investment.  Nothing more, nothing less - if we win, great, but if we make a lot of money - now there's something to be happy about.

Hopefully the next owner recognizes the potential to do more than just increase their net worth and really cares about winning, demonstrated by their investment in the team.

 

[Woof Bronzer]

13 minutes ago, bean5302 said:

Myths and legends. I hate this kind of stuff because it's nothing more than rage-induced character assassination using twisted information. He was born in 1915 and grew up dirt poor helping his mom wash laundry to put food on the table. The great depression started in 1929 when Pohlad was 14. He spent a couple years working as a go-fer for a bank where he did small time tasks around the office and he delivered collection letters, but by the time he graduated in 1933, he had been recruited across the country to play college football. You think he owned the bank when he was in high school...

Where did I say he owned a bank in high school?  The "small time tasks" you hilariously reference were foreclosing on loans and sell off the repossessed assets - unpleasant things the banker didn't want to do himself.  Carl didn't own his own bank until decades later.

No comment on his corporate raiding?  Most of his tactics are illegal now.  Carl and his buddy Irwin Jacobs left a lot of destruction in their path.  Sorry, can't get behind the "Carl was a good guy" revisionism.  

[NYCTK]

2 hours ago, bean5302 said:

Myths and legends. I hate this kind of stuff because it's nothing more than rage-induced character assassination using twisted information. He was born in 1915 and grew up dirt poor helping his mom wash laundry to put food on the table. The great depression started in 1929 when Pohlad was 14. He spent a couple years working as a go-fer for a bank where he did small time tasks around the office and he delivered collection letters, but by the time he graduated in 1933, he had been recruited across the country to play college football. You think he owned the bank when he was in high school...

Spoiler alert: Billionaires don't get to be billionaires by being good people, especially in community banking. Yet here you are getting all defensive because some deceased billionaire keeps getting disparaged. 

Carl Pohlad was basically Mr. Potter from It's A Wonderful Life. The fact that he made some philanthropic donations (solely for tax benefits almost certainly) doesn't change that. 

Why are there so many people on this board that keep carrying water for the quintessential evil billionaire? 

I keep having comments deleted because...it’s too mean or whatever. But I'll keep saying it because it remains true...

[Jocko87]

6.  Sold to the right group at the end.  Grade TBD.

If you have a one dimensional view of a complicated 40 year period of which you have minimal details, you are the problem.

I think @bean5302 summed it up pretty well.  I give them a lot of credit for things like taking care of everyone during COVID but to be able to do this they have to be responsible with other expenses in the first place.  It's quite obvious liquidity was always an issue and that's tough to manage.

It's complicated, but on the whole it certainly could be worse.  If they sell well, to someone that can go to the next level, they will be looked upon pretty well overall after some time passes.

 

[Rod Carews Birthday]

56 minutes ago, Jocko87 said:

 

If you have a one dimensional view of a complicated 40 year period of which you have minimal details, you are the problem.

 

I completely agree with this viewpoint.  It's easy to come up with things that a person can agree or disagree with, but the combination of those things is really the truth.  I'm certain that the Pohlads are not saints, but I'm equally certain that they are not the personification of evil that some would  suggest.  Over the course of the last 40 years, they have done many things that have benefited people, whether employees, the community, or just fans.  I think that they deserve a measure of credit and respect for that, along with some criticism for their perceived shortcomings.  It's not black and white, just shades of gray.  The attempts to get in one more jab at them are a little over the top at this point. 

[gunnarthor]

1 hour ago, NYCTK said:

Why are there so many people on this board that keep carrying water for the quintessential evil billionaire? 

I suspect less of their posts get deleted. But you're right. The Pohlads are pretty petty people and I'll be glad to be rid of them even though the next owner is likely just as bad. 

[Richmond Dude]

Here's my take on the Pohlads.  Calvin Griffith was going to sell the team and it looked very likely that it was going to be moved to St. Petersburg.  Pohlad bought it and said that this was the community where he grew up and he looked at the team as a community asset.  He promised not to move and he didn't.  He also promised not to take money out of the team, but that he wouldn't lose money on the team, either.  He did those two things, too. 

When it became obvious after the 90s that model wasn't going to be sustainable, he tried to get his friend Bud Selig to contract the team.  Once that didn't work out, he did spend more, or at least more effectively, and pushed for a better stadium and revenue stream and got it.  He died before Target Field opened, so we don't know how he would have spent the new revenue from the stadium, although we do know what his sons did with it.

Bottom line:  through it all, somehow the Twins are still here and in a good position to do well in the next several years, which is exactly how their young MLB players and farm system looked the last time they were sold.

[Bodie]

On 10/11/2024 at 7:55 AM, Jeff K said:

I'll pass on the positives as well.  I like to think that the intense criticism they faced the past 11 months helped push them to this decision.  Please complete the business of selling and go away.

Maybe we'll get ownership as competent as the Vikings,  T'puppies or North Stars... and zero championships in my lifetime!

Sorry, maybe as competent as the Wild, that'd be better!

 

[Squirrel]

Moderator note: While I get that this article, specifically the headline, seems troll-ish, keep your posting respectful toward one another and stop with the personal attacks. Report posts if you feel they are over the line, but don’t add to the noise,

[bean5302]

20 hours ago, NYCTK said:

...Why are there so many people on this board that keep carrying water for the quintessential evil billionaire?...

I don't know Carl Pohlad. In fact, I don't know any of the Pohlad family, and I don't care about them any more than another random person on the street. I do know Carl Pohlad received 3 purple hearts, 2 bronze stars and an oak leaf cluster in WWII for valor and conduct. I do know he saved the Twins from being moved to St. Petersberg, FL before most of the people posting stuff about him were born, and he ran the team like he said he would. I do know his ownership brought 2 World Series Championships to the Twins, which are the only championships in one of the major 4 sports Minnesota has ever won.

There's also the fact he was involved in baseball's contraction plan which would have contracted the Twins, and he clearly tried to manipulate the public into building a new stadium to stave off a North Carolina sale which was extremely unlikely to ever happen. He also engaged in legal, but underhanded business practices which landed him in hot water, politically.

There's a difference between criticizing people based on truthful information versus spreading blatant misinformation to try and destroy them publicly. Doing the latter weakens the credibility of anybody doing the former in my opinion. Also, this topic was labeled "reflecting on the positives."