Secrets of the City

Listening to KFAN all day, and haven’t heard a thing about it.

Strib update on Pohlad’s death:

http://tinyurl.com/9k4jl7

De mortuis nehil nisi bonum

Any guess what the name of the new Twins stadium will now become?

As stingy as Carl was with the Twins, at least he wasn’t a Calvin Griffith. Kudos for winning two world championships with a couple of great Triple-A teams. Those two rides to the top were way fun.

rumor is his year-end financial statements are what finally did him in.

MPR has this too.

I guess the stadium now belongs to those who bought it – the living residents of Hennepin County.

Who was the new KSTP weathergirl on New Year’s Eve/New Year’s Day? What a babe.

So, Matt I’m wondering, did you tune into KSTP on New Year’s Day because you saw her in New Year’s Eve? That would be a little unsettling.

I wish Pohlad could have lived to see the stadium done. But most of us don’t get to choose our time.

That’s De mortuis nil nisi bonum, Kurtis.

No, I just don’t remember which day it was.

Was anyone able to confirm whether Carl was able to take it with him?

Speak ill of the dead at your own risk.

Behind every great fortune is a great crime. The man made his fortune exploiting struggling farmers during the depression. Gave us a fantastic twins stadium that he will never see in his mortal being. RIP Carl.

Supposedly the banker in Sweetland was partially based on Carl.

‘Supposedly the banker in Sweetland was partially based on Carl.’

I had Will Weaver as a writing professor in college. I don’t have any indication to believe this is true. Could be true, but I’m skeptical. The banker in Sweetland strikes me as an archetype, and the banker archetype is well established.

‘Behind every great fortune is a great crime.’

Pithy. He was a loan collector, which is different that being an ‘exploiter’ of some stripe. But whatevs. He was a very good baseball owner.

‘Kudos for winning two world championships with a couple of great Triple-A teams.’

Those were very good teams, nothing AAA about them.

@108: Oh, I don’t know about that. The ‘91 world championship Twins were at the bottom of the league the year before. The ‘87 Twins were pretty much the same crew of has-beens, also-rans, and good-potential that Calvin sold to Carl in 1984. If any one person deserves credit for getting those two teams into gear it would be Tom Kelly; not Carl Pohlad. (And much credit should also go to Andy McPhail.)

Carl wouldn’t open the checkbook any wider than was necessary to put a team on the field. Hence, year after year the Twins struggled with pitching and relief.

Then, again, Carl was no Calvin. Thank god.

I loved the Rolls Royce story Soucheray read on the air today.

Will’s written a few baseball books, so he must be a Twins fan and might be a Twins fan.

Will’s a craftsman for sure.

Yes I am very familiar with the worst to first mythologies that have sprung up around the Twins.

The 86 team had Kirby Puckett, Gary Gaetti, Frank Viola, Bert Blyleven, Kent Hrbek, and Greg Gagne (a VERY good shortstop) The 87 team had them and Jeff Reardon. They were not has beens, and they were not underpaid. This idea of Carl not opening the checkbook, which has gotten trotted out frequently over two decades, is bunk. Its really bunk as it pertains to your example.

The 91 team had some of those guys and Jack Morris. Very similar story.

Pohlad was a good owner. Calvin was a good owner. I don’t blame either for not mortgaging the ball club to pay for salaries their revenue couldnt pay.

Don’t forget Jefferson. He was a good owner too…to his slaves. And Bush was a good President…for Karl Rove’s family.

I bet the family tries to milk more money out of the state for that boondoggle of a craptacular small weenie park they are bilking eh building and we are paying for.

I think Raindog is trolling for an invitation to a game when the park opens.

Thank God he wasn’t a STEINBRENNER!!! He was a good owner…RIP, Carl!

I, for one, welcome the money Mr. Pohlad surely left to pay for the Hennepin County Twin’s new stadium. Thanks, Carl.

Then are you going to also thank all the people of Hennepin County who Carl extorted to build his personal play pen?

From the Strib:

Pohlad earned a reputation as an emotionless guy who could efficiently collect loans.

To me it sounds like he was a heartless bastard.  Good baseball man but likely won’t be seeing the Pearly Gates.

I half expected a headline like “Twins Owner ‘Contracted’ By Grim Reaper.”

Good baseball man but likely won’t be seeing the Pearly Gates.

Me either, and I wasn’t even a good baseball man.

I like where this thread is going…

“Good baseball man but likely won’t be seeing the Pearly Gates.”

That’s not your call, Dougie.

How do you know Rat?

I may be the earthly manifestation of St Peter. Stranger things have happened.

It may not be Dougie’s call, but sounds like a good prediction, nevertheless.

“Stranger things have happened.”

Offhand, I can’t think of anything stranger than that.

“I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.” –Jesus

Then again, when you have the kinda money Carl had, you can afford to buy a bigger needle..

Bob,

Did you lose your day job?

Since you can’t take anything with you, Carl Pohlad left this world a pauper like everyone else.

If you need another philosophy to doom the old man, think of the Egyptians. Before entering heaven you stand before a scale, Your heart is on one side, and a feather on the other. If you’re heart outweighs the feather, you don’t get in.

HA-HA! That’ll teach him to extort my money for a fucking stadium.