Calvin Griffith: Minnesota Sports Hall of Fame inductee, Class of 1986

Calvin Griffith started his career in baseball in 1924 as a 12-year old batboy for the Washington Senators, who were owned by his uncle.

Six decades later his baseball career ended as the owner of the Minnesota Twins.

Griffith was born in Montreal but moved from Montreal to Washington, D.C., at the age of 11 to live with his uncle Clark Griffith.

After college, he spent three seasons in the minor leagues before joining the Senators front office. He eventually became a team vice president. When Clark Griffith died in 1955, Griffith and his sister Thelma Haynes inherited their uncle's stake in the Senators and assumed control of the team.

In October of 1960, Calvin Griffith announced he was moving the Senators franchise to Minnesota for the 1961 season. The team changed its name to the Minnesota Twins and became a tenant of Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington.

In their second season in Minnesota, the Twins finished in second place in the American League with 91 victories. The Twins won 91 games in 1963 as well while finishing in third place. After a subpar season (79-83) in 1964, the Twins had a breakthrough season in 1965.

The Twins hosted the All-Star game and won the American League pennant — the first title for the franchise since 1933. The Twins lost to the Los Angeles Dodgers in seven games in the World Series, but following the season, Griffith was named Major League Executive of the Year by The Sporting News.

The Twins continued to win — winning at least 89 games in four of the next five seasons. In 1967, the Twins lost their bid for another A.L. title on the final day of the regular season. The Twins drew 1.48 million fans in 1967 — their best attendance figure for their first 20 years in Minnesota.

After Major League Baseball expanded following the 1968 season, the Twins won American League West Division titles in 1969 (winning 97 games) and 1970 (winning 98 games).

The Twins led the American League in attendance for the decade of the 1960s.

Griffith sold the franchise, which had been owned by his family for 64 years, to Carl Pohlad in September of 1984. Three years later, the Twins won the World Series for the first time. The cornerstones of the team had been discovered, drafted or traded for while Griffith owned the team.

"In terms of knowing baseball, he was par excellence," former Twins catcher Earl Battey told the Minneapolis Star Tribune in 1999. "A lot of people, myself included, respected his knowledge of the game."

Class: 1986.

Sport: Baseball.

Team: Minnesota Twins.