won in either Washington or Minnesota. The Twins won 89 or more games for four of the next five seasons. Only the injury-plagued Twins failed to contend or finish in the first division. In , sparked by Griffith's off-season trade for 20-game-winner Dean Chance, 1965 acquisition César Tovar, and another brilliant rookie, Rod Carew, who became the team's starting second baseman at Griffith's insistence, the Twins narrowly missed the pennant by dropping the season's final two games to the eventual league champion Red Sox. They also drew 1.48 million fans to Metropolitan Stadium, the high-water mark for their first two decades in Minnesota. Perry, the versatile Tovar, who finished seventh in the AL MVP balloting for 1967 and played all nine positions in a single game on September 22, 1968, and Carew, a future Hall of Famer and seven-time AL batting champion, also figured heavily in the Twins' successful and editions. In 1969, the American League expanded to 12 teams and two divisions, and the Twins promptly won the first two American League West Division championships ever contested. But, on both occasions, the Twins fell to the AL East's Orioles, going winless in ALCS competition. 1971–1984: Decline and rebuilding With the exception of future Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven, who debuted as a teenager in 1970, the team's supply of elite minor league talent began to ebb during the 1970s. Oliva and Killebrew battled injuries and age, and the Twins sank back in the standings for the rest of the decade. The striking down of the reserve clause in 1976 meant the family-owned Twins had to compete with wealthier teams to keep their stars. Griffith was known for being a penny-pincher, as his uncle had been, and was either unable or unwilling to compete with owners who had access to more money. Some of the club's best young players, such as relief pitcher Bill Campbell and outfielder Lyman Bostock, departed as free agents. Blyleven, only 25, was traded to the Rangers for prospects and cash in June 1976 as he approached free agency. Then, in , facing Carew's imminent free agency—and after the Lions Club debacle (below), when the Twins' owner's racist remarks enraged the star player—Griffith traded Carew to the California Angels for a package of prospects. Carew downplayed the significance of Griffith's remarks in later years, stating that he "saw no signs racism whatsoever" when he played for