Photo - Aj Mansour (KFAN)
By: Aj Mansour | KFAN.com
@AjMansourKFAN
Minneapolis, MN - The Minnesota Twins held a press conference Wednesday afternoon to confirm the news of their "significant announcement" they alluded to yesterday afternoon.
With MLB Commisioner Bud Selig on hand joining Rod Carew and other Twins alumni scattered throughout the audience, Selig announced that the league has awarded Target Field, the Minnesota Twins and the City of Minneapolis permission to host the 85th MLB All Star Game in 2014.
"It is my great honor to name the Minnesota Twins as the hosts of the 2014 All-Star Game," Commissioner Selig said. "This is especially meaningful to me because of my close personal and professional relationship with Carl Pohlad, who was one of the finest owners in professional sports. The Midsummer Classic will be a celebration of Carl's legacy, one of our game's model franchises and the spectacular Target Field, which deserves to be showcased on this global stage."
"It is an honor for the Minnesota Twins to be selected to host the 2014 All-Star Game at Target Field," said Jim Pohlad, Owner and CEO, Minnesota Twins. "The excitement of having the Midsummer Classic will permeate the Twin Cities and be a great showcase for our region and for our wonderful community asset, Target Field. My father and Commissioner Selig were very close, so we are thrilled to have the Commissioner at Target Field to announce an All-Star Game coming to the Twin Cities."
It's been a while but Minnesota is no stranger to hosting All-Star festivities. In fact, the Twins have hosted MLB's "Dog and Pony Show" twice before and share a special piece of history with the All-Star Game we know and love today.
The Midsummer Classic first made it's way to the Twin Cities in 1965 at Metropolitan Stadium and then returned in 1985 when the All-Star Game was held at the Hubert H. Humprhey. The 1985 All-Star festivities actually featured the first official league sanctioned Home Run Derby with four players from each league taking hacks. The derby that year was won by Cincinnati Reds outfielder and the game ended at 6-1 in favor of the National League.
Minnesota becomes one of 16 locations in the U.S. to have hosted the MLB All Star game on three seperate occasions.
All Star festivities will take place at Target Field in Minneapolis, MN on July 14th & 15th of 2014.
Aj Mansour covers Minnesota Sports for KFAN.com. Feel free to leave comments and questions on this post or others in the designated comment box below. For Twins updates and breaking Twins news, follow Aj on Twitter. @AjMansourKFAN
