Twins Remove Calvin Griffith Statue

I won’t miss the SOB one bit.

Before people forget Calvin’s statue, I wondered if he really was that short.

I’m not heartbroken over its removal, but the Twins should not ignore the history of the team in Washington. The Senators were mostly known for losing. Still, Bucky Harris, Goose Goslin, Sam Rice and “The Big Train” Walter Johnson won a suspenseful 1924 World Series with a 7th game rivaling anything in the Classic 1991 World Series. Check out the silent film news reel. The Griffith family, warts and all, was a big part of this history of our favorite baseball team - In DC and here. Somewhere, in a prominent display case in Target Field, the Senator’s history should be properly honored - mostly honoring it’s players, but a photograph of longtime owner Clark Griffith and his young son Calvin should be included.

I "liked" some comments here and didn't "like" others but it doesn't mean I don't appreciate the opinions or those who made them. Once again, varying viewpoints presented in a logical manner by the audience that is TD.

And I almost hate to say anything more because no matter how well you attempt to write something, what you say can still be interpreted differently depending on the reader. But regardless, a few comments follow.

There is a classic axiom that goes something like: "Those we fail to learn from history's mistakes are damned to repeat them."

I don't know that the removal of this statue, or others, are necessarily right or wrong in any or every particular instance. I'm a pretty smart guy, but I never pretend to know everything. But perspective changes over time. These changes can be personal or public/social. Something that seemed OK or at least innocuous at one time might, over time and reflection, have a different meaning and perspective later. And each and everyone of us has said or done something silly/stupid/regrettable in our lives even though tbere was no ill intent. But as we have learned from our personal mistakes, so can society learn.

To this day, I am a proud, crank up the music and singalong rocker and country boy. I harbor no ill will to anyone based on anything other than maybe we just didn't get along. Period. But I am very glad NASCAR...big fan as a kid and still kinda like it...has banned the confederate flag. In my youth, I had a small confederate bandana tacked to my wall for a time because to me... and this has been widely discussed in recent weeks across media...somewhere along the line that flag meant "rebel", southern charm and rockabilly, Dukes of Hazzard and just having a good time. What and where it came from became distorted. The perception changed. Personal and public reflection is now asking how that happened, and has re-examined history, and decided, rightly so, that you simply re-invent something with such a negative origin, even if, again, there was no ill intent.

And I don't believe in ignoring history or attempting to re-write it. Nor do I believe in knee jerk reaction to simply remove everything and anything that some might find offensive. Then we are talking about censorship and fascism which is a whole different arguement and not what we are talking about here.

We are talking about learning from past, from history, and recognizing that certain public figures, certain public symbols, just really aren't appropriate for a society that wants and needs to grow TOGETHER. Should Calvin maybe have a plaque somewhere in Target Field as the owner and founder of the Twins as part of the team's history? If he doesn't already, perhaps he should. That's not my call, nor am I making a judgement on that. But people learn individually from mistakes and grow. So can/does society. HOPEFULLY.

There was no ill will made by the Twins when the statue was erected, I'm fully confident in that. They didn't make a mistake at the time. But growth and reflection years later allows for change and new perception and understanding. And that's a positive thing. There has been no condemnation to the Griffith family. No personal attacks on anyone. This is a reaction to recognition that we still, unfortunately, have issues in this country that we all wish had disappeared years ago.

Some may see it as merely a gesture. If so, hopefully it is a gesture with heart behind it that will be one more step up the staircase to full enlightenment.

Was mean old Calivin Griffith any worse than the billionaire owners of these franchises today? I'm not just talking about blatant racism. I'm talking about professional sports franchises in general. Billionaire white man screws over a city to build a stadium, pays his workers table scraps, then reaps the big bucks for himself. Sound familiar? It should, because every football, baseball, hockey and basketball team is built the same way. 

It would be interesting to see how a worker's co-op sports team would compete against the rich owner model. The leagues would ban co-op teams, of course. Don't want the world to see how sharing the wealth is good for everybody. 

Meanwhile, drag away the statue of an old, long dead jerk that once owned the Twins. But let's not pretend that this solves anything. 

 ...without Calvin the twins would not be here...

This doesn't matter one bit. We would have gotten a team here by 1969 at the very latest whether Calvin brought it here or whether someone else did. It wouldn't have been the same team but I reckon each of us here would be just a big of a fan of that team as we are of the Twins.

I think everyone should read Rod Carew's full statement. I lifted this from the Pioneer Press web site.

Rod Carew’s full statement:

“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.

“I first met Calvin Griffith in 1964 when he traveled to New York City to watch me work out at Yankee Stadium. Calvin and longtime Minnesota Twins scout Herb Stein must have liked what they saw as they signed me to a professional contract shortly thereafter. I can tell you when I got to the major leagues with the Twins in 1967, Calvin was my most ardent supporter. He told manager Sam Mele that I was the Twins’ everyday second baseman.  I saw no signs of racism whatsoever.

“In 1977, my MVP year, I made $170,000. When the season was over, Calvin called me into his office, thanked me for a great season, told me that I had made the team a lot of money and handed me a check for $100,000. You could have knocked me over. A racist wouldn’t have done that.

“There is no way I can apologize for what Calvin said in Waseca in 1978. His comments were irresponsible, wrong and hurtful. I recall my response at the time reflected my anger and disappointment.

“Now that more than four decades have passed, I look back on Calvin’s comments and our personal relationship with additional context and perspective. In my view, Calvin made a horrible mistake while giving that speech in 1978. I have no idea what happened that day, but who among us has not made a mistake? I know Calvin paid a heavy price for those comments and I believe his thoughts on race evolved over time.

“When he traded me prior to the 1979 season, Calvin told me he wanted me to be paid what I was worth. 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.

“I have long forgiven Cal for his insensitive comments and do not believe he was a racist. That was NOT my personal experience with Calvin Griffith — prior to or following that day in 1978.”

Are there any rich owners that care for their fans as much as they do their own ego?

We here renamed German street names during WW1 to other names.

We are changing names of a street named after a slave trader and a school named after an obscure Confederate general. Yes, we should get rid of military base names named after traitors who left the union. Should Germany name bases after Hermann Goehring.

What I found interesting was we read about in our school's history books Northern carpetbaggers coming down south as evil people trying to get political offices. What we didn't read about was over a million slaves out of 5 million died within a few years afte the Civil War.

I want our Fathers to quit lying about our history. When 1 million slaves died shortly after the war that is a significant event in our history.

Or why Truman desegregated the army before the 1948 election with black WW2 soldiers being spit on and attacked. The Southerners would rather wash German POW's uniforms and not black soldiers uniforms during the war. I want the history of the church's involvement in racism and not forgotten.

I as a white guy was proud to support the Ferguson, MO protesters against the white power structure against many whites I know. They should have hog whipped the power structure who I'm sure some were good family man.

I don't like it.  It's a knee-jerk reaction to placate the rage of the times.  So throw Calvin under the bus.  The guy's dead, so he doesn't know.  Maybe it'll upset some of his relatives, but who cares about them.  It's not really that big a deal. So, enough about that; I'd like to talk about something else.

Throughout the years, I've been aware of a liberal leftest bent in this publication. I don't like it, but I put up with it, because I love baseball and I love the Twins.  But I'm getting pretty sick of the constant PC push by some (not all) of the main writers on this website.   So, I'm going to take this opportunity to push back with a few simple questions:  How many of the Twins Daily writers are black?  How many women write for you?  Of all the articles and blogs you publish, what the percentage are written by white males?

If you're middle aged, Calvin was racist like our fathers were racist. More than anything, he was ignorant. Certainly his quote about Carew was anything BUT racist, you really have to reach there. I've called a black person an idiot. Is that racist? No, he was being an idiot, and I call all idiots idiot, and usually they are white.  Calvin would have called any white player who was top five in the MLB a fool there.

I think I'm pretty sensitive to the situation going on, but I'm uncomfortable removing the statue of our club's founder simply because he was ignorant like most everybody of his generation. Let's save our outrage for those doing overt harm, or we will tire out before anything of substance gets accomplished.  And yes, I understand the insipidness of latent racism.

Removing a statue does not remove the history. I’m fine with removing the honor. It doesn’t change what’s already been. I think it’s also okay to stop saying, ‘Well, that’s just the way it was then,’ and acknowledge the behavior as wrong in order to correct behavior today, imo..

Removing a statue does not remove history yes, but you've hit the nail on the head when it comes to the militant radical left in this Country. They do indeed intend to remove history and re-write it to fit their current agenda. No Country on earth has done more to make amends for its historical sin than the USA. The militant left will never let us off the hook, and must re-write history because the political racist force in this Country back in the day were all democrats. When do all the Robert C Byrd statues come down?

Maybe someone should have asked Rod about the statue? If he wanted it down, take it down. Mr. Carew was my childhood hero, and I'll take his word for it on Calvin.

The militant left will never let us off the hook, and must re-write history

This has been said many times already, but apparently it has to be said again:

NO ONE IS REWRITING HISTORY.

History can not be rewritten. What happened happened and what did not happen did not happen. Erecting a statue can not change history. Removing a statue can not change history.

In my view the people whom you refer to as "the militant left" are attempting to reveal and understand history, not rewrite it. And based on what is learned action can be taken as indicated.

Calvin Griffith hired more African-Americans as major league baseball players than this current management would even think of. Actually, current management of the Twins do not seem to want more than one at a time on the team. Perhaps they are virtue signaling to cover their own racism.

Good. 

Let's start examining Herbie, how about Harmon.....why not?? Washington and Jefferson have become fair game....

If the Twins think the symbolic message of tearing down a statue is espousing equality for all, they don't have a clue. The Twins have been accused of being a very white organization even through the Polhad's tenure. Look at the minor leagues and look in the stands.

They are kissing ass and succumbing to the prevailing political pressure. All of corporate America is doing so.........it's good business.....that's all.

If CG made these comments 42 years ago why did the Twins honor him with a statue 10 yrs ago? I really was not impressed by the Twins this week. First they make a big announcement about how much $ they are giving to certain "charties" which front political parties, and now about the statue, with more to come....I don't think highly of businesses that give money to be "seen" or feel important. Do things in life that are right, when situations happen, not when it makes You feel better. As a fan it appears that MN treats our players well. I don't choose my favs based on race, it's about character and talent on and off the field. I hope our players want to be in MN as much as we want them here?

I skimmed the OP and didn't see the part about the "chant" which I'd forgotten about. Trust me, we used to make fun of him for that. I don't really care about statues, take his down. But what I do know is if social media was around for Calvin's generation, pretty much everybody, except for the one guy's dad, would be caught saying things that are totally inappropriate. My mother was the least racist person I knew and taught me about bigotry, but she still said things that could be considered ignorant or possibly racist, even though she would be appalled if someone implied that. Because she was of a different generation.

But she raised a kid who is taking this very seriously, and if we want the change to come, we just can't be militantly reactionary to every slight in the past. Not because it was right or excused as part of the way things were, but because there are a lot of people who are partially but not all in on the cause, and you don't want to lose them.

Sure, tributes to traitors and slaveholders and murderers must be destroyed. And wrongs that are occurring in real time (there are lots still after Floyd) and Calvin-like statements we hear now must be immediately condemned. But there is a line when it comes to the past, not because Uncle Joe needs to be honored for his comments, but because you will lose people. Right now I know Trumpers who are appalled at recent events. We need to keep these people's attention with current atrocities. I guarantee there are a number of people who, just based on the current Calvin thing, will no longer pay attention to what is happening in this regard. Pick your battles. This is too important.