On March 30, 1990, less than three seasons after winning the World Series, the Minnesota Twins played their final game at Tinker Field, ending seven decades of Major League Baseball at the historic grounds. Facing the Astros, Minnesota lost 11-1 despite two hits by Kirby Puckett, and spring training ended with no fanfare or farewell. During Tinker Field’s final fifteen games of Major League Spring Training that March, ten National Baseball Hall of Famers appeared there: Sparky Anderson, Craig Biggio, Wade Boggs, George Brett, Gary Carter, Pat Gillick, Barry Larkin, Tommy Lasorda, Eddy Murray, and Kirby Puckett, joining more than a hundred other Hall of Famers who had played there before them. Tinker Field continued to host Minor League Baseball until 1999, though the city’s athletic interests shifted from baseball toward the NBA, stadium events in the neighboring Citrus Bowl, and later MLS. The foresight of Joe Tinker and the Orlando Athletic Association in 1923 to build the city through sports and recreation helped attract Major League Baseball, world-class venues, and athletic competition of all levels, and Orlando continued to enjoy a rich legacy of professional athletics, growth through sports, economic development, and generations of memories shaped by that history.
