It's a Mystery Charlie Brown: How could Minneapolis "take the Yankees this year", in 1959

Estil

Okay folks, can you help me solve another Peanuts baseball mystery? This time we go back to April 14, 1959:



As you can see, Lucy is asking Charlie Brown if Minneapolis can "take the Yankees" this year (as if to ask if they can beat the Yankees for the pennant; it turns out the White Sox beat the Yankees, only the second time during 1949-64 that the Yankees failed to capture the flag). But there is just one problem; the Minnesota Twins did not come to existence until 1961 (when the original Senators moved there from Washington)! Now my first thought was that maybe the Minneapolis or St. Paul minor league team at the time was a Yankees farm team at the time. Nope.

So can anyone here solve the mystery? How is it possible for Minneapolis to "take the Yankees this year" if there was no Minneapolis team at the time, and wouldn't arrive until two years later?

mlbfan2

Lucy was pretty inept when it came to playing baseball, right? So, maybe she was clueless when it came to MLB too and she mistakenly thought that the Minneapolis Lakers (an NBA team, back then) were a baseball team.

Darin

Good grief Estil, thats the whole joke!
Why do you think Charlie Brown is walking away with his head down, probably shaking his head.
There is no major league team in Minneapolis!

Estil

Indeed, and I think Lucy is indeed referencing the Lakers, a NBA team. Still it is interesting that it just so happened that Minneapolis would get a MLB team just two years later (and I'm sure in 1959 it was no secret that they were very much interesting in getting one).