When Senators owner Clark Griffith passed away in 1955, his son Calvin took over ownership of the Senators, and in 1960, relocated the DC ball club to Minneapolis, Minnesota as the Minnesota Twins, and Charlotte stayed as their affiliate. Throughout the 1960's and early 1970's, the Hornets have had many names pass through the Queen City to play in Griffith Park. Tony "O" Oliva played for the Hornets in 1962-63, Bill Whitby (left photo) played for the Hornets in 1963, 1964, and 1965, Charlie Manuel played for Charlotte in 1968, Rick Dempsey in 1971, Tom Kelly also in 1971, and so on. These players sometimes would also play for other Twins affiliates like the Thomasville Hi-Toms, Wisconsin-Rapids Twins, Wytheville Twins, Tacoma Twins, or the FIL (Florida International League) Twins.  The Hornets were league champions in 1969 and 1971. In 1972, the Minnesota Twins relocated the GCL (Gulf Coast League) Twins from Sarasota FL. to Charlotte as the Charlotte Twins. This did not bode well for the city however, as attendance dropped compared to the previous season. When the

                                             1972 season ended, the Charlotte Twins disbanded, and the Hornets were relocated to Orlando, FL.

                                             as the new Orlando Twins franchise, thus ending the Twins 12 year relation with the Queen City.

Throughout the 60's - early 70's, Griffith Park groundskeeper Buster Sloan lived with his wife and three kids in their makeshift apartment build into the grandstand of Griffith Park.

The two bedrooms and kitchen would be sizzling hot in July and less than toasty in January, and noisy during Hornets games.

12 months a year, Sloan would spend long hard days of work patching the fences, paint the seats, mow the grass, and rake the base paths. When renovations to the grandstands took place in 1972, that meant Sloan's apartment was no longer able to stay, and neither was Sloan. Buster Sloan passed away in 1977 at the age of 65. He had visited the park just hours earlier.