49 Fun Facts About Minnesota Sports

From which city did the Twins franchise relocate to Minnesota in 1961?

Washington, D.C. lost its Senators to Minnesota, got an expansion Senators team the same year, then lost that one too when it became the Texas Rangers in 1972.

The Twins' classic logo shows two players, Minnie and Paul, shaking hands across which river?

Mississippi River. Minnie and Paul stand for Minneapolis and St. Paul, and a giant version of the pair lights up in centre field every time a Twin hits a home run.

Which team did the Twins beat in the 1991 World Series, after both clubs had finished last the year before?

Atlanta Braves. No pennant winner had ever finished last the season before, and the home team won all seven games, the last two on Twins walk-off hits in extra innings.

Which Twins pitcher threw ten shutout innings in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series?

Jack Morris, a St. Paul native, talked his manager out of pulling him after nine scoreless innings, and Gene Larkin's single finally won it 1-0 in the tenth.

Which Twin hit the 11th-inning walk-off homer in Game 6 of the 1991 World Series?

Kirby Puckett told his teammates before the game to jump on his back, then robbed Ron Gant with a leaping catch at the wall before ending it off Charlie Leibrandt.

Which St. Paul-born Twins catcher won the AL MVP award in 2009?

Joe Mauer won three batting titles, more than any other catcher in history, before a 2013 concussion forced him to give up catching and move to first base.

Which team handed the Twins 13 of the losses in their record 18-game postseason losing streak?

New York Yankees. They beat Minnesota in five postseasons from 2004 to 2019, and the streak ended only in 2023, when Royce Lewis homered in his first two playoff at-bats against Toronto.

Where have the Twins played since 2010?

Target Field put the Twins back under open sky after 28 seasons indoors at the Metrodome, behind a facade of Minnesota limestone.

Which team did the expansion Vikings stun 37-13 in their first regular-season game in 1961?

Chicago Bears. The upset came from a rookie quarterback who left the bench to throw four touchdown passes and run for a fifth.

Which AFL team upset the favoured Vikings in Super Bowl IV, the first of their four Super Bowl defeats?

Kansas City Chiefs. They won 23-7 as underdogs of nearly two touchdowns in the last game before the AFL and NFL merged, leaving the rival leagues with two Super Bowl wins each.

What was the nickname of the Vikings' defensive line of the late 1960s and 1970s?

The Purple People Eaters were led by Alan Page, the first defensive player named NFL MVP, who went on to sit on the Minnesota Supreme Court.

Which coach led the Vikings to all four of their Super Bowls?

Bud Grant had already been a champion elsewhere: he played two seasons for the NBA's Minneapolis Lakers, then won four Grey Cups coaching Winnipeg.

Which team beat the 15-1 Vikings in overtime in the 1998 NFC title game after Gary Anderson's first missed kick all season?

Atlanta Falcons. Anderson's 38-yard try would have put Minnesota ten points up with about two minutes left; it sailed wide left, and Atlanta tied the game and won 30-27 in overtime.

Which receiver caught the walk-off 'Minneapolis Miracle' touchdown against the Saints in January 2018?

Stefon Diggs caught Case Keenum's 27-yard pass near the sideline, a Saints safety missed the tackle, and he ran in for a 61-yard touchdown as time expired.

Which Twin Cities landmark now stands on the site of Metropolitan Stadium, demolished in 1985?

Mall of America. After the stadium's last game in 1981, fans tore out seats and pulled down the goalposts for souvenirs, and the mall opened on the site in 1992.

Which team entered the NBA alongside the Timberwolves in 1989, a year after Miami and Charlotte?

Orlando Magic. The Wolves lost 60 games that first season yet set an NBA attendance record, drawing more than a million people to the Metrodome.

Which Timberwolves star won the NBA MVP award in 2004?

Kevin Garnett had come to Minnesota straight from high school in 1995, and his MVP season gave the Wolves the West's best record and their first trip to the conference finals.

Which No. 1 overall pick from 2020 sparked the Timberwolves' revival?

Anthony Edwards took the Wolves to back-to-back Western Conference Finals in 2024 and 2025, and played rival prospect Kermit Wilts in Adam Sandler's basketball film Hustle.

Which Timberwolf had 31 points and 31 rebounds in 2010, the NBA's first 30-30 game in 28 years?

Kevin Love did it against the Knicks for a team that won just 17 games all season, and he had to leave for Cleveland to win an NBA title in 2016.

Which centre led the Minneapolis Lakers dynasty of the late 1940s and early 1950s?

George Mikan dominated so completely that the NBA doubled the width of the lane to move him away from the basket, a change still known as the Mikan Rule.

To which city did the North Stars move after the 1992-93 season?

Dallas. Owner Norm Green moved the team after failing to land a new arena deal, the Stars dropped 'North' from their name, and six years later they won the Stanley Cup.

Andrew Brunette's series-winning overtime goal for the Wild in 2003 was the last ever allowed by which legendary goalie?

Patrick Roy. The Wild had trailed his Colorado Avalanche three games to one, then won Games 6 and 7 in overtime, and Roy announced his retirement a month later.

Which player did the Wild take third overall in the 2000 draft, the first pick in team history?

Marian Gaborik scored the first goal in Wild history and once put five past the New York Rangers in a single game, then left Minnesota to sign with the Rangers in 2009.

Which coach led the Lynx to four WNBA titles in seven seasons, from 2011 to 2017?

Cheryl Reeve took over a Lynx team stuck in a run of losing seasons in 2010 and led it to six WNBA Finals in the next seven years.

Which LSU guard did the Lynx take first overall in the 2006 WNBA draft?

Seimone Augustus was Rookie of the Year in 2006 but endured five straight losing seasons before the Lynx won their first title in 2011, when she was named Finals MVP.

Which Lynx star stepped away at her peak in 2019 to help free a wrongly convicted man, whom she later married?

Maya Moore had won four WNBA titles and an MVP award with the Lynx when she left; Jonathan Irons walked free in 2020 after more than two decades in prison, and they married soon after.

The Gophers play which Big Ten rival for the Little Brown Jug, one of college football's oldest trophies?

Michigan. After a 6-6 tie in 1903, coach Fielding Yost left his team's 30-cent water jug behind in Minneapolis, and Minnesota made the Wolverines win it back.

What is Floyd of Rosedale, the trophy Minnesota and Iowa play for?

A bronze pig. In 1935 the two states' governors cooled bad blood from a rough game the year before by betting a prize hog; Minnesota won Floyd, and the bronze copy replaced him.

What did the Gophers reclaim from Wisconsin in 2018 to end a 14-season losing streak?

Paul Bunyan's Axe is carried downfield by the winners to 'chop down' the goalposts, a ritual the Gophers finally got to perform in Madison after their 37-15 win.

The Gophers were crowned 1960 national champions before losing which bowl game to Washington?

Rose Bowl. The final polls came out before the bowls back then, so Minnesota kept its national title despite the 17-7 defeat, then returned a year later and beat UCLA.

Which Gophers coach and St. Paul native led the 1980 US Olympic hockey team to the Miracle on Ice?

Herb Brooks had been the last player cut from the 1960 US team that won gold; twenty years later he took nine of his own Gophers to Lake Placid and beat the Soviets.

The Metrodome hosted a Super Bowl, two World Series, an MLB All-Star Game and which college championship event?

Final Four. The Dome staged the 1991 World Series, the Super Bowl in January 1992 and the Final Four that April, three of American sport's biggest events in about six months.

What brought down the Metrodome's inflatable roof in December 2010?

Heavy snow from a blizzard tore three roof panels open, and the Vikings' next home game had to be moved to Detroit.

Minnesota United's nickname and crest come from which bird?

Common loon. It is Minnesota's state bird, which is why it sits on the club's crest and gives the team its nickname, the Loons.

What is Minnesota United's soccer-specific stadium called?

Allianz Field opened in 2019 on the site of an old St. Paul bus garage, after the club spent its first two MLS seasons borrowing the Gophers' football stadium.

Minnesota's Muskies and Pipers each lasted one season in the late 1960s in which upstart league?

American Basketball Association. The Muskies left for Miami after one year, and the reigning-champion Pipers arrived from Pittsburgh, lasted a single season, then went home.

Which slugger, signed as a teenager in 1954, became the Twins' all-time home run leader?

Harmon Killebrew was a 17-year-old in Idaho when one of the state's US senators, a regular at the team's games, urged its owner to send a scout to see him.

Where did the North Stars play their home games?

The Met Center in Bloomington was where North Stars centre Bill Masterton suffered the only fatal on-ice injury in NHL history in 1968; the league's perseverance trophy bears his name.

Which rookie did the Minneapolis Lakers draft first overall in 1958?

Elgin Baylor took a last-place team to the NBA Finals as a rookie; owner Bob Short later said the club would have gone bankrupt without him, and in 1960 it moved to Los Angeles.

Which manager led the Twins to both of their World Series titles in Minnesota?

Tom Kelly was a 36-year-old coach handed the job on an interim basis in September 1986, and he won the World Series in his first full season in charge.

Which Vikings quarterback was traded to the Giants in 1967 and later returned?

Fran Tarkenton cost the Giants four high draft picks in 1967; Minnesota traded to get him back in 1972, and he quarterbacked three of its Super Bowl teams.

Minnesota's PWHL team, winner of the league's first two Walter Cups, took which name in 2024?

Frost. The team won the first Walter Cup as plain PWHL Minnesota in May 2024, was given the Frost name that September, and then won the Cup again in 2025.

Which team did the Lynx beat 111-52 in 2017, then the most lopsided game in WNBA history?

Indiana Fever. Minnesota scored 37 straight points during the rout, also a league record at the time, and went on to win its fourth title that autumn.

Who bought the Lynx and Timberwolves from Glen Taylor, becoming their owners in 2025?

Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore first struck the deal in 2021; Taylor later tried to call it off, saying they had missed a payment deadline, and they had to win an arbitration ruling before taking control.

Which Twin Cities team played in the original NASL from 1976 to 1981?

Minnesota Kicks arrived from Denver in 1976 and were an instant hit, averaging more than 23,000 fans a game in their first season, yet the club folded in 1981.

Which rival bid did Bill McGuire's group beat to land Minnesota's MLS franchise in 2015?

The Vikings owners, the Wilf family, wanted a team for their new football stadium, but MLS chose McGuire's group, whose partners included the owners of the Twins and Timberwolves.

Which Oasis song do Minnesota United players and fans sing together after home wins?

Wonderwall. The singalong began on team bus rides around 2010, led by a guitar-playing assistant coach, and the club's supporters now go by the name MNWonderwall.

Which Gophers team went 41-0 in 2012-13?

Women's ice hockey. The Gophers won the 2013 NCAA title unbeaten, and their winning streak reached a record 62 games before North Dakota ended it that November.

Which UFC and WWE star won a 2000 NCAA wrestling title as a Gopher?

Brock Lesnar had been runner-up the year before, and in 2004 he walked away from WWE to try out for the Minnesota Vikings despite not having played football since high school.