05 March 2010

Minneapolis Millers

Before the Washington Senators moved to Minneapolis/St. Paul to become the Minnesota Twins, the baseball team in Minneapolis was the Millers (so named because the city was famous for flour mills along the Mississippi River that ground the grains from the Dakotas).  Our family moved to Minneapolis in the early 1950s, when the Millers were in the American Association, playing at Nicollet Park (top photo).

One of the most famous players everto play for the Millers was the young man in the lower photo, who arrived in 1951.  He batted .477 in 35 games and was not surprisingly called up to the New York Giants before the month of May was over.

Pix from the Flickr photostream of John McNab.

4 comments:

  1. Thought you might find the link interesting. They make vintage baseball jerseys & caps:
    http://www.ebbets.com/product/MinneapolisMillers1951Home/BaseballJerseys

    ReplyDelete
  2. I can't imagine there's much demand for Mpls Millers jerseys.

    (especially at $185 a pop...)

    ReplyDelete
  3. i have a millers jersey, you might be surprised how many folks are Millers fans out there!

    Also on that team with willie was Ray Dandridge, hall of famer. Hoyt Wilhelm, hall of famer. Not a bad team!

    ReplyDelete