Minnesota Twins: 5 Reasons to Love the Twins’ new Minor League System
By Otto Johnson
Reason No. 1 to Love the new Minnesota Twins System: The St. Paul Saints
We’ll start with the obvious. The current version of the St. Paul Saints have been a fixture in the Twin Cities since 1993, but the name St. Paul Saints has been around much longer. The original St. Paul Saints were one of the most important minor league teams in all of the United States from 1894 to 1899. They then moved to Chicago to become the White Sox (Seriously).
The second iteration lasted from 1901-1960. They were once again a key minor league team and engaged in the Streetcar Series rivalry with the Minneapolis Millers, seeing Hall of Famers like Roy Campanella, Lefty Gomez, and Duke Snider pass through the system.
When the Minnesota Twins moved to Minnesota in 1961, the Saints moved to Omaha to become the Omaha Dodgers. They folded the next year, clearing the way for the current St. Paul Saints to take form.
The newest edition of the St. Paul Saints has been an independent team since 1993, serving as a cheap, fun way to see professional baseball games at the old Midway and then at the almost brand new CHS Field. Now, Minnesotans will get to see future Twins players on the field.
There are quite a few fans out there who aren’t happy with this move, but I’m absolutely thrilled. As I talked about before, this has really excellent potential. The Saints antics will continue, but we’ll get to see future major league talent just twenty short minutes away from Target Field. This brings me to my next point.