State Appeals Court upholds ruling that forces Twins to play Randy Furst Star Tribune Published Jan 22 2002 The Minnesota Court of Appeals today upheld a judge's order requiring the Minnesota Twins to play their 2002 baseball season at the Metrodome. The court's opinion supporting the temporary injunction is likely to be appealed to the state Supreme Court by the Twins ownership and Major League Baseball. The opinion by a three-judge panel, signed by Appeals Court Chief Judge Edward Toussaint, said that Hennepin County District Judge Harry Crump did not abuse his discretion when he ruled that the team must honor a use agreement it signed in October promising to play its 2002 season at the Dome. The Twins are one of two teams believed to be targeted for elimination by Major League Baseball as part of a ``contraction'' plan. The Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission, which operates the Dome, sued to halt the plan. "This is a pretty good thing," Twins outfielder Torii Hunter said this afternoon. "Now we can go out there and expect to play in 2002, and have some fun like we did last year. This year, we want to hold onto first place the whole time.'' The Appeals Court ruling is a clear victory for the commission, but Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig has said he is prepared to wait, possibly into spring training, before deciding whether to go forward with eliminating teams this year. The state Supreme Court is not obligated to take the case, but has said that it reserved the right to hear it. ``Since it appears from the record that money could not compensate the commission for the intangible losses that would result if the Twins breached their promise to play, the district court did not abuse its discretion in considering harm to the public when deciding whether to grant temporary injunctive relief,'' read the decision, written by Toussaint. Toussaint was joined in the ruling by Judges Robert Schumacher and Roger Klaphake. The players union has filed a grievance against elimination, and there also is talk of a lockout or work stoppage in April that could make baseball's current timetable irrelevant. After today's ruling, union chief Donald Fehr said ``hopefully, things will get resolved.'' Asked whether baseball should drop its attempt to eliminate teams this year, Fehr said: ``I'll leave that response for baseball and its lawyers after they've studied the opinion.'' The Twins made several moves to prepare for playing the 2002 season while waiting for the court to rule. In early January, the Twins promoted third-base coach Ron Gardenhire to manager, filling a vacancy left by Tom Kelly's retirement. Team schedules for spring training and the regular season also have gone out.
