Carl Pohlad: 1915-2009

Death will eventually come to us all, but when I go, I hope it’s in my 90s with a couple of billion bucks in the bank.

I’ve read a few Carl Pohlad retrospectives since yesterday afternoon. Some had nice things to say about his ownership of the Twins, some not so nice. The way I see it, with very rare exceptions, no man is truly good or bad, so as is almost always the case, there’s much to fill each side of the ledger when it comes to Pohlad. On the one hand, his stewardship of the Twins coincided with a couple of world titles. Yes, there was an eight year lull from 1993 through 2000 in which Minnesota was awful, but since then they’ve been very competitive. As things stand now, the Twins are a solid organization poised to compete again this year, and to move into a nice new home next season.

On the other hand, Pohlad first tried to sell the twins off to North Carolina interests, then contract them after years of pocketing revenue sharing money and not spending all that much on talent (that eight year lull came from somewhere). Oh, and that stadium? Paid for by the good people of Minnesota, despite the fact that no matter what the death certificate says, there’s a decent chance Pohlad died of krugerrand poisoning.

So yeah, kind of a mixed bag. As we all are.

If you’re looking for something more expansive — and cutting — check out this remembrance in the Pioneer Press.


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The Common Man
15 years ago

I wrote about this last night (http://the0common0man.blogspot.com/2009/01/carl-pohlad-1915-2008.html), and basically came to a similar conclusion as you, Craig.  Essentially, in small or large part, Carl Pohlad and his decisions have played a large part in my development as a sports fan, and in the way I view journalism and people in power (back in the ‘90s, the entire Minnesota newspaper industry was in the bag for the Pohlads).  And I wonder if Pohlad’s machinations helped drive the cynicism and skepticism that created the baseball blogosphere, and eventually The Hardball Times.  Maybe that’s crazy.

Pete Toms
15 years ago

I’ve read a handful of Pohlad “retrospectives” since last evening, and they all pretty much contain the same themes….save for the one I just scan read at MLB.com.  I wasn’t going to look at it but I was curious to see what sort of a spin they put on the passing of one of their most controversial owners….not surprisingly, no mention of the nasty stuff….still a good site for transactions news…