Some of you might know this piece of Baseball history. But, I've found many don't. I want to get this info out there so we can finally have a true rivalry.
I've never really felt a true rivalry exists for the twins. Sure, there are teams that have heated moments and teams we generally don't like. However, I've never felt there was a true rivalry where both sides of the fans are hating the other side every single game. It's a very low level of hate.
There is a team I do hate and have the proper rivalry feeling inside me towards them. The problem is that I've never felt anyone else has the irrational hated over a game that holds no actual impact in mine or anyone else's life. The White Sox. Most people don't know the 1 piece of history that should burn in them the same way Dallas took away the North Stars. (Fuck Norm Green, btw)
In the late 19th century, St. Paul had a baseball team called the Saints. They played a couple seasons of good baseball. They played in the Western League. The Western League, which was considered a minor league, was allowed to become a major league in 1900 and they renamed the league, "The American League". The owner at the time decided to them move the team to his home town, Chicago. The owner of the St. Paul Saints at the time was a guy named Charles Comiskey. He then decided to change the team name to the White Sox. Minnesota should have had a major league team since the beginning of the American League, but Charles Fucking Comiskey moved the team. Fuck Charles Comiskey.
You notice the White Sox old logo
bears a striking resemblance of the St. Paul Saints logo? They just replaces the t and p with o and x. This is why I have a fire burning against the White Sox and you should, too.
17 comments
I fuckin hate the gords
I’ll never forgive Dallas for the North Stars but I’m down to turn my low-key Minnesota rage at the White Sox if it means we’ll get some actual fan engagement like a proper rivalry should.
They’re so fun to hate because they are so helpless
excellent. fuck norm and fuck charles
Um, the pale hose are definitely our rival. I don’t think there is any doubt about that. Screw those guys.
“Who is in first in our division?”
I hate ’em.
“Who is below us in our division?”
Aww, they’re cute*
*I always hate the White Sox.
This is certainly a good baseball tidbit that most people don’t know, but would you rather have the White Sox franchise rather than our own? Perhaps debatable, but I don’t think I would
Granted yes, doubtful everything would have played out exactly the same if you just drop the White Sox in MN in the 1900s and the Senators move to Chicago in the 1960s, but just for discussion’s sake. The White Sox do have 2 titles way back in 1906 and 1917, but then it’s pretty much virtually nothing at all for the entire rest of their existence other than 2005. The main argument is solely that Minnesota would have had professional baseball 60 years earlier than we did. But at what cost?
I think White Sox are the best thing Twins have to a true rivalry. That said, it’s tenuous at best. There really hasn’t been a team that has dominated this division historically, there’s kind of a carousel. Whereas Cards/Cubs, Yankees/Red Sox, and Dodgers/Giants have had longer to either establish themselves as heated or to build up more bad blood
In an alternate universe the St Paul Saints are 27 time World Series champions with dozens of Hall of Famers. But because of Comiskey they turned into a team that has been super mediocre minus the 2005 season
Washington Nationals
Texas Rangers
And Sioux City should hate both of us.
I hate cleveland more
Really, one of the things you need for a rivalry to pop up in any significant manner is for both teams to actually be good. In the AL Central, you don’t regularly have multiple dominating teams at the same time. If someone is dominating, the rest of the division is in a bad spot. That’s a big reason Yankees/Red Sox, in the 2000’s and 2010’s, was properly rekindled as a rivalry. If one of them was at the bottom of the division, nobody would have cared.
Generally speaking, I find most of the hate goes towards the White Sox. But since one or the other of us is regularly hanging out near the bottom of the division and out of playoff contention by August, it just doesn’t feel good to kick each other while one is down.
Yeah, I mean it’s the White Sox. Would root for any other division rival that makes the playoffs over pretty much any team with 3x their salary except the White Sox.
We don’t need a rivalry. We have enough one sided hatred for the Yankees to fuel a nation.
The white sux for sure
I have always disliked the White Sox the most of any of our division opponents, so I guess I’ve always considered them our biggest rival, at least for me.