You trade to fill your needs

Not drafted out of college, Kerry Ligtenberg landed with the Minneapolis Loons of the independent Prairie League, pitching for $650 a month. In 1996, he was one class away from graduating from the University of Minnesota with an engineering degree and likely leaving baseball behind. But the Atlanta Braves took an interest in him at the urging of Loons manager Greg Olson.

The Braves signed Ligtenberg, and assistant general manager Dean Taylor offered to compensate Olson for the find. Olson was practical enough to ask for what his club really needed — 12 dozen baseballs and two dozen bats. A steal of a deal for the Braves, for whom Ligtenberg went on to make 254 appearances over five seasons.

-credit to Anthony Castrovince

They knocked in 100 and scored 100

HOF “Goose” Goslin

Every good baseball team needs those big bopper’s that that can knock in the ducks off the pond and it is even better, when he too, can also score a lot of runs. Those kind of hitters don’t come around too often but the Minnesota Twins/Washington Senators franchise has been blessed with 13 of those types of players and they have accomplished this feat a total of 18 times since 1901.

Hitters like this aren’t always power hitters and they aren’t always high average hitters either. Hitters on the list below have hit as many home runs as 49 by Harmon Killebrew or as few as 5 by Buddy Meyer. Some hit for very high averages like Rod Carew‘s .388 or as low as Bob Allison‘s .266 (which in today’s game wouldn’t be considered low at all.) Six of the 13 are MLB Hall of Fame players.

The first player in franchise history to turn this trick was outfielder Goose Goslin who who actually did it three years in a row from 1924-1926. The Senators won the World Series in 1924 and lost the World Series in 1925. If you want to learn more this Hall of Fame player take a few minutes and stop by here.

Harmon Killebrew

Six Minnesota Twins players have accomplished this rare feat over the years with Bob Allison being the first in 1962 and Michael Cuddyer being the most current player to it it back in 2006. Killebrew and Kirby Puckett are the only two Twins to do it twice.

The MLB career leader’s in this feat are Lou Gehrig with 13, Alex Rodriguez and Babe Ruth with 12, Barry Bonds and Jimmie Foxx with 11 and Henry Aaron with 10.

Franchise players with 100 runs and 100 RBI in a season

The Southpaw Legacy: Celebrating Minnesota Twins’ Left-Handed Pitching Greats

Jim Kaat

Left-handed or “southpaw” pitchers are relatively rare in Major League Baseball (MLB). Approximately 10-15% of pitchers in MLB are left-handed. This scarcity makes left-handed pitchers quite valuable, as they can exploit the platoon advantage against predominantly right-handed hitting lineups.

The Twins have had some good lefty starters over the years like Jim Kaat, Frank Viola, Johan Santana but there have not been very many of them. Historically starters that were left handed did not throw as hard as most right handed starters and were considered as being “crafty”. That seems to be changing now as there are more hard throwing left-handed pitchers than ever.

The Warren Spahn Award is presented each season by the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame to the best left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball (MLB). The award is named after Warren Spahn, who holds the MLB record in wins for a left-handed pitcher with 363.[1] The Warren Spahn Award was created in 1999 by Richard Hendricks, the founder of the Territorial Capital Sports Museum, formerly Oklahoma Sports Museum, to honor Spahn, who resided in Oklahoma. The award has been won by 15 different pitchers through 2024. The winner is chosen based on rankings, which are based on wins, strikeouts, and earned run average. The only Twins pitcher to win this award is Johan Santana who won it 2004 and 2006.

Determining the MLB team with the best left-handed pitchers can be subjective, but one team that stands out is the Los Angeles Dodgers. They’ve had legendary left-handed pitchers like Clayton Kershaw, who has been a dominant force for over a decade, and Sandy Koufax, one of the greatest pitchers in baseball history. Other teams with notable left-handed pitchers include the New York Yankees with Whitey Ford and Andy Pettitte, and the Boston Red Sox with Lefty Grove and Chris Sale.

The most left handed starters the Twins have ever had with ten or more starts in a season were four in 1964 when Gerry Arrigo, Jim Kaat, Jim Roland and Dick Stigman started 88 games between them. In the 64 seasons the Twins have played, there have only been six seasons in which they have had no left handed pitchers with at least ten starts and they were in 1995, 2014, 2018, 2020, 2023, and 2024. See a trend here? In 2024 there were 16 MLB teams with zero left handed starters with at least ten starts.

How many of the Twins lefties on the list below have you seen pitch and who was your favorite?

Minnesota Twins left-handed starters from 1961 through 2024 with 10 or more starts

Senators/Twins franchise left handed pitchers with one or more career starts

Twins Tickets Then and Now: A Journey from the Met to Target Field

Back in 1961, when the Twins first started playing ball in Minnesota, catching a game at Metropolitan Stadium was a straightforward affair. You had three ticket options: a “general admission” ticket for $1.50, a “reserved grandstand” ticket for $2.50, or a “box seat” for $3.00. No extra fees, no hidden costs. Just imagine it—$3.00 back then is roughly $31.67 in today’s money. Now, take a trip to Target Field today and see what kind of ticket that $31.67 will get you after all the fees and extra charges.

Those early Twins ticket prices stayed the same for seven years while the team played in Bloomington. And they had some great teams during that time, including the 1965 squad that won the American League Pennant, only to lose the World Series in a nail-biting seven games against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Fun fact: The Twins were considered to have one of the highest payrolls in baseball back then! Calvin Griffith, the owner, is often remembered as a cheapskate today, but things were quite different.

Fast forward to 1981, the last year the Twins played at Met Stadium, and they still kept things simple with just four ticket categories: general admission, unreserved grandstand, reserved grandstand, and box seats. General admission went for $3, and box seats were $7. It wasn’t until 1988, seven years into their stint at the Metrodome, that the first double-digit ticket price of $10 appeared for a lower deck reserved seat. And by 1992, after winning the World Series twice, the $3.00 general admission ticket was gone for good. Can you think of anything you can get today for the same price you could 30 years ago? It’s a tough one!

Things took a real turn in 2006 when the Twins introduced dynamic ticket pricing. It was a game-changer, literally. Now, the price you paid depended on the ticket demand for that game. The person sitting next to you might have paid more or less than you. Ticket prices could go up but rarely went down, since they couldn’t dip below what a season ticket holder paid. It was a win for the team but a bit of a kicker for fans, as ticket prices soared with increasing demand.

The screws tightened further on dynamic pricing, and by 2024, all Twins tickets were dynamically priced from the get-go, whereas before, there had been a base price for a short period. When I couldn’t figure out Twins ticket prices anymore, I reached out to Eddie Eixenberger, the Twins VP of Ticket Sales and Strategy. We had what seemed like a pleasant chat, and he promised to get back to me with some data. But he never did, and my follow-up attempts were unsuccessful. It became pretty clear that the Twins, under Dave St. Peter, had no interest in sharing information about ticket pricing or numbers.

In the past, the Twins made base season ticket numbers available to the public, and local newspapers often wrote about them. Recently, though, when I asked Dave St. Peter for this data, he made it clear that they wouldn’t provide it anymore—at least to me. What’s the big secret? Why shouldn’t the fans have access to this data? The only reason I can think of is that the Twins might be embarrassed by the numbers.

That’s why I didn’t publish Twins ticket price info for 2024 on this site. Imagine my surprise when the Twins rolled out their 2025 ticket plan. It’s a tangled web of rewards and pricing that you practically need a lawyer to navigate. Apparently, the Twins haven’t heard of the KISS principle—Keep It Simple, Stupid!

Twins ticket price history

Former Twins players that passed away in 2024

Another trip around the Sun and it is once again time to to look back and remember former Minnesota Twins that have gotten the call to their final resting place. They may be gone from this earth but their memories remain.

Brant Alyea

Garrabrant Ryerson Alyea was born on December 8, 1940 in Passaic, New Jersey and passed away on February 4, 2024. Alyea, originally signed with the Cincinnati Reds in 1962 but made his major league debut with the Washington Senators in 1965. Alyea was traded to the Minnesota Twins on March 21, 1970 for pitchers Joe Grzenda and Charlie Walters. Yes, the same Charlie Walters that writes for the St. Paul Pioneer Press now days. Alyea, primarily a left fielder played for the Twins from 1970-1971 before being picked up in the Rule 5 draft (rules were different back then) by the Oakland A’s. Brant’s best season in pro ball was in 1970 with the Minnesota Twins. Alyea had a son, Brant Alyea Jr. that played minor league ball for Toronto, Texas and the New York Mets from 1985 to 1990. Brant Alyea played in the major leagues for all or parts of 1965, 1968-1972 appearing in 371 games for the Senators, Twins. A’s and Cardinals.

Continue reading Former Twins players that passed away in 2024

MLB radio and TV history

Major league baseball and how we follow it keeps changing. When major league baseball first started in the early 1900’s, you had to buy a ticket to attend the game. But where is a will, there is a way. Fans that didn’t have the money for a ticket would sometimes go downtown and gather in front of the offices of the local newspaper, where they eagerly awaited the latest scores. When the newspaper received the latest scores from a telegrapher at the ballpark, a newsboy would write the information on a bulletin board, updating it every inning, some newspapers even had someone with a megaphone calling out the updates. It became a place for fans to socialize, as everyone stood on the street in front of their favorite publication, hoping for good news about the game.

For many baseball fans it was not possible to wait around at a newspaper building, which meant their only other option was buying a copy of the newspaper itself. Back in 1915, newspapers published morning, midday, afternoon, and evening editions; and if there was a big sports event (like a World’s Series), there was even a late-night edition with the very latest scores, and when there was what we today call “breaking news” about a major story, there might be a special edition called an “extra.”

But in the period from 1912 onward, there was one other option, although it still wasn’t widely known or widely utilized. There was a growing number of amateur wireless operators (what we today would call ham radio operators), most of whom still communicated by Morse code, but a few were experimenting with voice. And some of these wireless enthusiasts were also baseball fans. They got to know the telegraphers who transmitted the game reports from local ballparks, and whenever there was information to share, they sent it out to their friends.

Students on college campuses also joined in, amateurs were becoming an information conduit for their fellow sports fans. For example, at Tufts College in Medford, Massachusetts, the Tufts Wireless Society, which made its debut in January 1912, soon became known for transmitting the latest football and baseball scores. During the 1912 World’s Series between the Red Sox and the New York Giants, the scores and updates were received and then posted.

In that decade before commercial radio came along, the majority of the fans relied on print journalism to keep up with their favorite team; most major cities had more than one newspaper (Boston in the 1910’s had eight), and every city had its own popular local sportswriters who not only discussed wins and losses; they interviewed local players and gave fans more insight into their favorite team.

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Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone. We hope you are all enjoying Christmas with your families and friends. But, don’t forget all those folks that are out there working today and protecting you and unable to spend Christmas with their loved ones.

2024 Twins Turkey of the Year

With the extraordinarily warm weather we are having in Minnesota where the grass is still green, the water in the lakes is still liquid and Thanksgiving is just around the corner it is hard to believe we are well into the fall/winter sports season. The Minnesota Vikings, Minnesota Wild and Minnesota Timberwolves all doing better than expected, pushing the Minnesota Twins off sports fans radar screens.

That is in spite of the fact that the Twins have announced that MLB will produce and distribute Twins games in 2025 but no specifics pertaining to cost were provided, the Pohlad family announced their intent to explore a sale of the Minnesota Twins, the team fired all three hitting coaches as well as its assistant bench coach, GM Thad Levine decided to pursue other interests and was replaced by Jeremy Zoll, Alex Kirilloff announced he was retiring at the age of 26, the team announced an executive leadership succession plan, to be implemented in the first quarter of 2025 whereas club President & CEO Dave St. Peter will transition to the role of Strategic Advisor; and President, Baseball Operations Derek Falvey will be elevated to President, Baseball & Business Operations. My favorite announcement so far though is the Twins also announcing in a very low-key manner a new (and I think complicated) ticket plan that includes the sale of MYTWINS Memberships and Reward Plans ranging from $600 to $7500. Just another method of of reaching into Twins fans pockets.

All of this with the Twins season ending less than a month ago and the MLB Winter Meetings (December 8-12) in Dallas still two weeks off. We have been very busy here at the home of Twinstrivia.com as we sold our home in Plymouth, MN in mid-October and are preparing to move to Corcoran, MN around Thanksgiving. When you live some place for 38+ years you tend to accumulate way too much stuff including in my case Twins memorabilia and other stuff. I first thought about skipping a Twins Turkey of the Year award this year but that just wouldn’t fair when the Minnesota Twins had an epic collapse that saw them drop from second place all the way to fourth. A 9-18 September had the Twins players calling their travel agents and making new travel plans that included more golf and no baseball. A season like the Twins just had in 2024 requires that a Twins Turkey of the Year winner be named yet again.

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Most games pitched for Twins without a start

Eddie Guardado

Starters no longer pitch the innings they used too and relievers are becoming more important in MLB every year. Yes, their are a few “Ace” starters in the game that make the big bucks but they too no longer pitch deep into games like the starters did in the past.

The role of relievers has changed

Relievers are critical pieces of any baseball team that hopes to contend and play late October baseball. The use of relievers and their value to the team has evolved over the years and today’s major league game requires the pitchers in the bullpen to fulfill certain roles. You have the “closer”, you have your set-up guys that pitch important innings, you have the long guy that comes in to pitch multiple innings, and you have relievers that are used to eat innings, probably when the team is losing. Each person in that bullpen knows their role and when they will probably be called upon to pitch. In the past it was not so clear, it was not unusual for starters to pitch some relief when the game situation called for it.

Another key part of relief pitching is your manager and pitching coach and how they plan out each game to see who is available to pitch and who isn’t based on previous usage. Then of course we have the analytics that comes into play. Back in the day, the manager monitored his starter and he called on the bullpen when he felt the time was right. We can’t forget about rule changes, MLB has changed numerous rules that have had an impact on the use of relievers, roster sizes, etc.

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Analyzing Starting Pitcher Trends: From Aces to Relievers

Walter Johnson

I have followed MLB since about 1956 by buying baseball cards, by listening to baseball games on the radio, by subscribing to The Sporting News and reading whatever box scores I could find. But how things have changed over the years, including pitching. One of the biggest changes has to do with starting pitching.

Starting pitchers used to pitch and hit back in the day. They would start every fourth day but over time the starting rotation changed to four to five. Recently some teams have gone to six day rotations and it is not that uncommon nowadays for games to be pitched totally by relief pitchers. Relief pitchers back then were “injured” starters or starters that for one reason or another had become ineffective.

Continue reading Analyzing Starting Pitcher Trends: From Aces to Relievers