Calvin - Baseball’s Last Dinosaur
Posted by Rhubarb_Runner on Tuesday, May 29th, 2007 at 6:00 am
SBG: This is the first entry into the SBG Library. I have a copy of this book and have read it. I strongly recommend it for Twins fans to learn about the colorful and controversial history of the Twins' first owner.
[contributed by: Rhubarb_Runner]
Calvin - Baseball's Last Dinosaur, An Authorized Biography
by Jon Kerr
Copyright © 1990 by Wm. C. Brown Publishers
large size paperback, 206 pages, several b/w photos
About the Author: "Jon Kerr is a sports writer for United Press International and has covered the Twins for three seasons, including post-season and World Series. In addition, he has freelanced work for publications including St. Paul Pioneer Press, Twin Cities Reader, City Pages, Minneapolis Review of Baseball and was formerly editor of The Surveyor. Jon received his M.A. from the University of Minnesota in 1978 and is also a member of SABR (The Society for American Baseball Research)."
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Calvin Griffith was the last MLB team owner whose sole income was from the team itself. He was considered by many a cheapskate, but had to pinch every penny in order to keep his Twins teams on the field. His willingness to say what was on his mind constantly got him into trouble, but Calvin was a master at evaluating talent and kept one of the best stocked farm systems in baseball. This biography does a great job of covering Calvin's life, from his adoption by Senators owner Clark Griffith, to his sale of the Twins in 1984, and his life after baseball prior to this death. If you weren't old enough to remember much of the Griffith Era, or would like more insight into the first Twins owner, you can't go wrong with The Last Dinosaur.
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Personal notes:
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During my youth, Calvin reached his nadir in my eyes when my boyhood hero Rod Carew was dealt to the Angels. Calvin's cheapness was brought up, of course, as the reason for the trade, as well as his crassness and accusations of racism. I don't believe Calvin to be a racist, but foot-in-mouth disease can certainly make one wonder sometimes.
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I got the chance to meet Calvin Griffith while attending a Twins preseason exhibition game against the Padres at Jack Murphy stadium in ~1986. Got to shake his hand while loitering around the "players' elevator" after the game, and then ended up walking near him in the parking lot. I meantioned something like, "I was at that game in 1984 where you signed away ownership; that was a sad day." and his reply was something like, "Yes, it was for me, too."
Please drop an email to SBGLibrary (at) hotmail (dot) com if you have a suggestion or a submission for the SBG Library.
Looking to buy this book? Click here: Calvin: Baseball's Last Dinosaur : An Authorized Biography
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Okay, folks, here's where those who've read "Calvin" can add their reviews. Don't forget to bring your library card, and brianS - please stop folding the corners on the pages. Thanks.
I've got several days worth queued up, but I really want to put some of your contributions out there!
I bought a new Joe Mauer bookmark special for this.
Now that I think of it, IS there a Joe Mauer bookmark?
Somebody rush right out and make one. It should just be a picture of a sideburn (landscape). Somebody ring Joe's agent. This would be a great promo for reading -- rush 'em to the kids before they get out for the summer!!!!!
Ha! Yeah, freebies for the libraries to give out to the kids in the summer reading programs. Give 'em that felt feel, while you're at it!
Also, I think a general discussion of Calvin is appropriate. After 23 years of Mr. Burns, people have probably forgot that Calvin was really controversial.
There is a great compare/contrast between Calvin & Carl. Calvin held down player salaries because he had to; Carl holds them down because he wants to. I'm not calling either of them out for doing this. I'd rather be overly frugal than what the Yankees (are trying to) do, but when you have a glut of wonderfully good players, you handcuff yourself when trying to keep them all. In Calvin's day, he couldn't even keep ONE great ballplayer (read: Carew) signed let alone 5 or more (Santana, Mauer, Morneau, Cuddyer, Hunter, Nathan...)
I think an ideal owner would be close to an amalgam of the best of both Calvin and Carl; enthusiastic, knowledgeable ownership with a cool business sense (and $$$'s).
Makes you really wonder what the front office will be like post-Pohlad.
I'm too young to appreciably remember the Calvin Era, so I probably should add this book to my list.
Sidenote to Rhu-Ru and SBG: if you want a handy way to keep track of the SBG Library as it grows, may I suggest LibraryThing?
You know, I'd bookmarked that site to look into it for my other book collections, and I haven't dabbled with it yet. I think that's a great idea, and maybe I'll use this opportunity to delve into it more. Thanks for the idea.
A lot of The Library will be magazines with Twins on the cover (and the respective cover story, if there is one); not sure how LibraryThing will handle that, but I'm sure it could be adapted somehow.
I've been thinking about how to solve this, too. I'll look into a way to integrate a catalog into the WGOM.
One of my recollections of Calvin was that he signed Carew to a 3 year, $600,000 contract, which was essentially Carew giving the Twins a hometown discount. Calvin recognized that he got a deal, but instead of smiling and keeping quiet, he called Carew "a fool" for signing the deal. Oh, Calvin.
Another recollection was his criticism of Butch Wynegar's decision to get married. Said he should take advantage of "free love" afforded to baseball players. Oy.
There's a great line attributed to Calvin when he was giving Tom Kelly (when playing ball, not managing later) some advice, something like, "Tonight, go find yourself a bottle of whiskey and a strange woman, and tomorrow you will be 4-for-4."
I can follow the whiskey and the woman, but why a strange woman?
I believe by "strange woman" Calvin meant one that he doesn't know and won't ever see again. A woman who is a stranger.
Interesting timing on the first library entry.
My grandmother just entered a nursing home this spring. As children went through her collection of stuff, they found this book and thought I would like it. I'd never heard of it before. Though my grandmother (and grandfather, who passed years back) LOVES the Twins, it would surprise me if she had read the book.
Likewise, I just read this book after stumbling onto it at the St. Paul Central Library about 3 weeks ago. I think my favorite part of Calvin was him complaining about how a "crappy player like Jerry Terrell" could be a major leaguer in a speech in Jerry Terrell's hometown.
Hah! Yeah, I remember that part. Calvin just couldn't shut his mouth when he had something on his mind. I think he was lamenting on the poor state of baseball when the talent level was so diluted that someone like Terrell could make a living in the bigs. And it was some event honoring Terrell, I think.
"Calvin just couldn't shut his mouth when he had something on his mind."
I'm sure glad there's nobody around here like that.