ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Internal memos and financial documents related to baseball's abandoned attempt to eliminate the Minnesota Twins should remain under wraps, a court ruled Tuesday.

The Minnesota Court of Appeals upheld a decision denying media access to documents gathered by a public agency during its attempt to stop major league baseball from dissolving the Twins before last season.

The Associated Press, the Star Tribune of Minneapolis and KARE-TV have argued for the right to inspect the information on several grounds.

Judge Jill Flaskamp Halbrooks, writing for the unanimous three-judge panel, disagreed. She said that because of the way a CD-ROM containing 9,000 imaged documents was obtained the "media have no common-law right to access."

The news organizations have 30 days to decide whether to appeal to the state Supreme Court. Their lawyer, John Borger, said an appeal is under consideration.

Joe Anthony, a lawyer for major league baseball, said the court's opinion should discourage further appeal.

The media case is the last vestige of litigation initiated in November 2001 when baseball attempted to fold the Twins and at least one other team. After several court setbacks, baseball officials gave up on contraction and agreed to preserve the Twins at least through this season.

The media organizations contended the public should have a right to pursue claims of access to documents received by government agencies during litigation.

The news organizations also hoped to review a document filed by major league baseball that concerned banking interests of Twins owner Carl Pohlad in which some names were blacked out. That request also was rejected Tuesday.