Minnesota Twins: The Team of Two Cities

The Minnesota Twins baseball team holds the distinction of being the first ever ball club to use the name of a state instead of a city. The Minnesota Twins name was actually created to represent two of the cities in Minnesota, the cities of Minneapolis and the city of St. Paul, the so-called "Twin Cities" of the state. This is pretty evident in the use of the TC logo on the Minnesota Twins uniforms and on the team's mascot when the team first began. The TC, of course, was meant to symbolize the "Twin Cities" designation. These days, however, the team is using the letter ‘M' in place of the TC logo on its uniforms, and thankfully, the St. Paul side of the team did not mind such a change.

The name of the Minnesota Twins actually set a precedent for other states, although during the time of the naming of the team, the use of a state name was unheard of. Other teams that followed the use of a state name for a ball club include Texas for the Texas Rangers, the Florida Marlins of the State of Florida and the Arizona Diamondbacks, to name but a few. Some years back, the Minnesota Twins did return to using the TC logo on one of their newer uniforms starting in 2002 to keep the Twin Cities spirit alive.

The merger of two of the original baseball teams of the state of Minnesota, namely the St. Paul Saints and the Minneapolis Millers, into the team known as the Minnesota Twins is represented in a cartoon representation of the union. The cartoon depicts the representation of both original teams in an image of twins shaking hands while standing over the Mississippi river, the famous river that runs through both of these cities that share the Minnesota Twins baseball team.