"The doors opened, and Chuck turned to my dad and said, 'You take the short one,' " Pohlad said. "That was my mother."

Minnesota Twins owner Carl Pohlad was remembered as a brilliant businessman, a resolute competitor and "the man who saved Baseball in Minnesota" as he was laid to rest. But mostly, Pohlad was embraced as a father and grandfather "who cared more about relationships" than wealth, son Bill Pohlad said.

More than 1,000 dignitaries, politicians and ballplayers gathered at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis to honor Pohlad, who died Monday at age 93. But the friends and acquaintances witnessed a distinctly intimate service, delivered almost entirely by sons (all three of whom eulogized him) and grandchildren, and dedicated to Pohlad the family man.

"My parents considered having a close family to be the single most important thing they did," Bob Pohlad said of Carl and Eloise, who died in 2003.

He grew up poor in Iowa, and his first job was sweeping floors in a bank. Only a few years later, he had created a partnership that was buying banks, the beginnings of a career that branched into many different businesses and made him one of the wealthiest men in America.

"He lived the American dream," Bill Pohlad said. "He made so much from so little."

But he was best known for buying the Twins in 1984, a relatively small investment but a "great competitive challenge," Bill Pohlad said, that brought him great public visibility -- and not all of it positive.

He became "the owner you love to hate" to some fans and news media members, Pohlad said. "Whether that really bothered him, no one can say. But he never showed it. He was enthusiastic about the Twins to the end."

And they toward him, too, judging by their attendance at the funeral. Several current players, along with manager Ron Gardenhire, appeared in the pews, and former Twins such Tony Oliva, Paul Molitor, Bert Blyleven and Harmon Killebrew were also in attendance.

"Giving a ticket to a child, or getting an autograph from Kirby (Puckett) or Kent (Hrbek) for a young fan," son Jim Pohlad said, "nothing delighted him more."

He had vast wealth, his sons said, but didn't care about flaunting it. Mostly, he enjoyed running his businesses and worked hard to make them a success.

"He didn't care for long vacations," Bob Pohlad said. "Once we went to Europe as a family. ... Six countries in five days."

Pohlad served as an infantryman during World War II and enjoyed telling his children bedtime stories about his Army days. His favorite tale, Bill Pohlad said, involved finding an abandoned house and deciding to take a bath, when he heard footsteps a floor below. Those footsteps eventually came up the stairs, "until he could feel a breath on the back of his neck. He turned and ... well, memory fades about the ending," Pohlad joked.

Pohlad and his wife grew close to their caregivers as their health declined, and Bob Pohlad recognized them by name, asking them to stand so he could thank them. Those personal attendants became a part of the extended family during the couple's final years at their Edina home, he said, and the Rev. Ralph Gorman, who presided over the services, recalled how Pohlad included them whenever Gorman would visit him.

" 'Girls, girls, it's time for church,' he would say," Gorman recounted. "Then the discussion would begin over who needed confession more."

Roman Catholic Archbishop John Nienstedt said he didn't know Pohlad as well as several priests in the parish but found it appropriate that Pohlad owned a Baseball team.

"He covered his bases well during life," Nienstedt said, "and now he's going home again."