Camilo Pascual elected to Twins Hall of Fame

Posted on January 28, 2012 by jjswol

The Minnesota Twins announced yesterday that former pitcher and five-time All-Star Camilo Pascual has been elected to the club’s Hall of Fame. Pascual will become the 24th member of the Twins Hall of Fame when he is inducted during a special on field pre-game ceremony July 14, when the Twins host the Oakland Athletics at Target Field.

Pascual, one of the “Twins 50 Greatest Players” made his major league debut on April 15, 1954 as a Washington Senator with 3 innings of scoreless relief at Fenway Park in a 6-1 loss to the Boston Red Sox. Pascual went on to pitch in 529 big league games over 18 seasons and posted a 174-170 won/lost record while pitching for the Washington Senators from 1954-1960, The Minnesota Twins from 1961-1966, the Washington Senators from 1967-1969, the Cincinnati Reds in 1969, the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1970 and the Cleveland Indians in 1971.

1955 Topps card

Camilo was the first ever Twins All-Star in 1961 and has appeared in more All-Star games than any pitcher in franchise history since 1950, playing in five of six games from 1959-64 and in four straight from 1959-61. He went 145-141 with a 3.66 ERA during his time with the Twins and Senators, ranking second on the franchise All-Time list in shutouts (31), third in strikeouts (1,885), fourth in innings pitched (2,465.0) and fifth in wins (145) and starts (331). He went 88-57 with a 3.31 ERA in six seasons in a Twins uniform from 1961-66, ranking third in shutouts (18), seventh in strikeouts (994), and eighth in wins (88), innings pitched (1284.2) and starts (179). He was the Twins first ever 20-game winner, recording 20 victories in 1962 and 21 in 1963, while leading the American League in complete games, shutouts and strikeouts in nearly every season from 1959-63.

Camilo Pascual is the younger brother of former major league pitcher Carlos Pascual, whose nickname of “Potato” earned Camilo the nickname of “Little Potato”. The “Little Potato” was a workhorse pitcher for the Washington/Minnesota pitching staffs and he possessed good control with an excellent fastball but it was his outstanding curveball that was his signature pitch. Ted Williams was quoted as saying that it was easily the best curveball in baseball at the time. Although Pascual was a workhorse, stories have been told that Camilo enjoyed taking an annual “mini vacation” via the DL each season. Pascual also served as the Minnesota Twins pitching coach from 1978-1980. Pascual has lived in Miami since 1960 and since 1989 he has worked as international scout for the Oakland Athletics, New York Mets, and the Los Angeles Dodgers, for whom he currently scouts Venezuela. Among the major leaguers Pascual has signed are Jose Canseco, Alex Cora, Omar Daal, Miguel Cairo, and Franklin Gutierrez.

Pascual is one of only five players to have played against the Athletics in Philadelphia, Kansas City, and Oakland. Harmon Killebrew is another member of that select group. Camilo is also one of only seven players to play for both the original and expansion Washington Senators teams. The others were Don Mincher, Pedro Ramos, Johnny Schaive, Roy Sievers, Zoilo Versalles, and Hal Woodeshick.

The Havana-native ranks 55th on baseball’s All-Time wins list and is a member of the Latino Baseball Hall of Fame and Cuban Baseball Hall of Fame, ranking second to only Luis Tiant in strikeouts among Cuban born major leaguers. In addition to being selected as a member of the Twins 50 Greatest Players in 2010, Camilo was also selected to the Twins 25th anniversary team in 1986 and the 40th anniversary team in 2000. At 74, Pascual, one of the original Minnesota Twins becomes the oldest living member of the Twins Hall of Fame. The Twins Hall of Fame membership is permanently displayed in the Hall of Fame Gallery on the Target Field Suite Level as well as on Target Plaza.

This selection of Pascual to the Twins Hall of Fame is well deserved and it should have taken place a long time ago. We at Twins Trivia would like to add our congratulations to Camilo on this great honor. Good things come to those who wait but Camilo should not have had to wait this long. You can check out the entire Twins Hall of Fame here.

I grew up listening to WCCO as they broadcast Minnesota Twins games and Camilo Pascual was always one of my favorite players because you knew when Camilo pitched that the Twins had a good chance of winning the game. Back then I could not attend many games in person and hardly any games were on TV so the radio was the place to be if you followed baseball and the Minnesota Twins.

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Big leaguers don’t hitch hike

Posted on January 28, 2012 by jjswol

 

Tom Lundstedt with the Chicago Cubs in 1973

Thomas Robert Lundstedt was born on April 10, 1949 in Davenport, Iowa . Tom grew up in Illinois and played the three major sports in high school and was a good enough basketball player to earn a scholarship to the University of Michigan where he played basketball for 2 years and baseball for three years. Tom was drafted by the Los Angeles Dodgers in 1967 in the 65th round as a catcher but he chose not to sign. In June of 1970, Lundstedt was again drafted, this time by his home town Chicago Cubs in the first round and 17th pick overall and he was on his way to pro ball. Lundstedt worked his way up through the Cubs minor league system and on August 31, 1973 found himself in a Cubs uniform behind the plate catching future Hall of Famer Fergie Jenkins at Three Rivers Stadium. Tom played for the Chicago Cubs in 1973 and 1974. In December of 1974 the switch-hitting 6’4” Lundstedt was traded by the Cubs to the Minnesota Twins for outfielder Mike Adams. Tom ended up splitting the 1975 season between AAA Tacoma and the Twins and ended up only playing 18 games for Minnesota that season. After playing winter ball in Venezuela, Tom had a Minnesota Twins contract waiting for his signature for the 1976 season but the 26-year-old Lundstedt walked away from baseball to open the next chapter in his life.

Are you still baffled by my title of “Big leaguers don’t hitch hike”? If you want to know what that is all about, you will just have to listen to the interview and let Tom tell you that very funny story. Oh, you have to check out that picture that Tom shared with me with he an Tony LaRussa. Today Tom and his bride of 41 years, Char are enjoying life in Door County, Wisconsin. I really enjoyed my time talking with Tom and I hope that you enjoy listening to the interview as much as I did doing it.

If you want to know more about Tom Lundstedt and listen to the interview, just click here.

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Home run combo’s

Posted on January 25, 2012 by jjswol

A couple of days ago it was reported that the Detroit Tigers have reached an agreement with free agent 1B Prince Fielder on a 9 year $214 million deal. This deal took place just a couple of days after the Tigers reported they may have lost C/1B/DH Victor Martinez for the season due to a torn ACL. Martinez only hit 12 home runs for Detroit last year but he knocked in 100 runs and he hit .330 while Miguel Cabrera hit .344 with 30 home runs while knocking in 108. The top two home run hitters for the Tigers were Cabrera with 31 and SS Jhonny Peralta who hit 21 long balls. Fielder, playing with the Milwaukee Brewers last season hit 38 while teammate Ryan Braun hit 33 for a total of 71 long balls between them. The big question is how do you keep both of these first baseman in the line-up, Cabrera has already been reported as saying that he can move to 3B but having Fielder at 1B and Cabrera at 3B seems like a real stretch, teams would be bunting left and right. Sure one of these guys can DH but both Fielder and Cabrera are over weight and playing in the field helps to control that to some degree, have one sitting on the bench can’t be a good thing. A home run combo like Cabrera and Fielder made me wonder what kind of power combinations the Twins have fielded over the years. Here is what I found.

Rank Year # Home Runs Player Player
1 1964 81 Killebrew – 49 Allison/Oliva – 32
2 1963 80 Killebrew – 45 Allison – 35
3 1962 77 Killebrew – 48 Allison – 29
4 1961 75 Killebrew – 46 Allison – 29
5 1969 73 Killebrew – 49 Oliva – 24
6 1967 68 Killebrew – 44 Allison – 24
7 1986 65 Gaetti – 34 Hrbek – 31
7 1987 65 Hrbek – 34 Gaetti – 31
7 2006 65 Morneau – 34 Hunter – 31
8 1966 64 Killebrew – 39 Oliva – 25
8 1970 64 Killebrew – 41 Oliva – 23
9 2009 62 Cuddyer – 32 Morneau – 30
10 1984 59 Brunansky – 32 Hrbek – 27
10 2007 59 Morneau – 31 Hunter – 28

 

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Twins roster make-up over the years

Posted on January 21, 2012 by jjswol

Major league baseball roster rules have changed now and then over the years. Beginning in 1957, teams were required to reduce their active rosters to 28 players by opening day, with the final reduction to 25 players coming 30 days later. Starting 1968, the 25 man limit was in effect from opening day, although teams were allowed to carry 40 players after August 31. There was an exception in 1990 due to the spring training lock-out and that year teams were allowed 27 players until May 1 and then had to reduce the roster to 25 through August 31.

In today’s game we know that teams often carry more pitchers on the 25 man roster that they have in the past.  I was curious to see what impacts we could find on Twins rosters going back to 1961. Would I find the Twins carrying more pitchers now then they did back then? Would I find any correlation to roster make-up based on if the team did well in the standings or had a bad year? Did certain managers want more bench players versus pitchers? What did I find?

I found that in the 51 years that the Twins have played ball that the least amount of hitters that the team has had in a single season on the active roster is 17 and that occurred in 1978 and again in 1994, the most hitters that the Twins have had on the active roster in any single season was 25 in 1993. That averages out to 21.18 different hitters/position players each season. As for the pitchers, the fewest pitchers the Twins used any season was 12 back in 1967 and again in 1972. The most pitchers taking the mound in any season in a Twins uniform was 24 and that happened twice, in 2009 and 2011. The average number of pitchers used by the Twins since 1961 is 16.92 per season. If you look at the chart below you can make a case that the number of hitters/position players used each season is staying relatively constant but the pitchers line seems to clearly indicate that the numbers of pitchers that major league clubs (at least the Twins) need each season is a steady upward trend.

Between 1965-1981 the Twins always used between 12 to 15 pitchers with one exception and that was 1978 and that year they used 16 pitchers. The DH came into play in 1973 but that rule change had very little to no impact on Twins pitchers. The Twins used just 16 pitchers each season from 1973-1977.

Why is the number of pitchers needed each season going up? Your guess is as good as mine. Is it pitchers pitching less innings? Are pitchers getting hurt more often? Are managers giving pitchers fewer opportunities to work themselves out of jams? Are teams just less patient with pitchers now then they were in the past? Is it pitch counts? Does it have to do with how the pitchers work out in the off-season? Who knows.

I find it interesting too that there have only been three years when the Twins have had more pitchers on the roster that hitter/position players and that was in 1989 and again in 2009 and 2011. In 2010 the Twins used 21 pitchers and 21 hitters.

Another thing that comes to mind is that “back in the day” there were double-headers being played all the time and the number of pitchers the teams used was down compared to now when there are no schedule double-headers. Strange but true.

So what conclusion can I draw here? Not much other than the fact that the numbers of pitchers used by teams today is greater than what was used in the past but we already knew that, didn’t we?

Something else that we can take away from this is that we need to understand that no matter what the 25 man roster may look like on Opening Day, you can be assured that by the time the season comes to and end, regardless if the Twins finish first, last, or somewhere in between that the Twins roster will change as the Twins use an average of 38.09 players each season.

Still, it was a fun thing to research on a cold January day as the snow falls on the great state of Minnesota. We have not had very much snow or cold weather for that matter so I have little to gripe about there.

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Former Twins infielder Bud Bloomfield passes away

Posted on January 19, 2012 by jjswol

Clyde Stalcup "Bud" Bloomfield in 1964

I found out recently that former Twins and Cardinals infielder Clyde Stalcup “Bud” Bloomfield, 75, passed away on December 21, 2011 at the Countryside Retirement Center in Huntsville, Arkansas after a short illness.

Bloomfield was born on January 5, 1936 in Tulsa, Oklahoma and attended the University of Tulsa and the University of Arkansas where he played baseball. The St. Louis Cardinals signed Bloomfield as an amateur free agent prior to the 1957 season. Bloomfield, an Army veteran, worked his way up through the Cardinals minor league ladder and finally made his major league debut on September 25, 1963 at Wrigley Field as a defensive replacement for 3B Ken Boyer and was waiting in the on-deck circle when the game ended. It turns out that was Bud’s only Cardinal big league appearance.

In December of 1963 the Minnesota Twins acquired Bloomfield from the Cardinals in the minor league draft. Bloomfield spent most of the 1964 season playing for the Twins AAA affiliate Atlanta Crackers but he did appear in seven games for the Twins playing at 2B, SS, and 3B. Bud had one hit as a Minnesota Twin, his only major league hit in his 7 plate appearances. When the 1964 baseball season ended, so did Bud Bloomfield’s professional baseball career.

We at Twins Trivia would like to pass on our condolences to Bud Bloomfield’s family and friends during this difficult time.

Bloomfield’s obit can be found here.

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What is the Twins plan?

Posted on January 18, 2012 by jjswol

GM Terry Ryan

What exactly is the Twins plan going forward? In the past, the Twins have always stressed pitching and fielding. The Twins went into 2011 saying that they wanted to improve their defense and their speed. This past off-season the Twins signed Josh Willingham, Ryan Doumit and Jamey Carroll and none of these players can be seen even remotely as defensive stars or speed demons. On the pitching side they resigned Matt Capps to be their closer and signed Jason Marquis as another “innings eater” starter to replace Brian Duensing whom they want to move to the bullpen.  For middle relief they went after quantity versus quality hoping to catch “lightning in a bottle” by claiming or signing relievers such as Jason Bulger, Jared Burton, Samuel Deduno, Matt Maloney, Aaron Thompson, Daryl Thompson, Casey Fien, PJ Walters, Brendan Wise and Joel Zumaya. GM Terry Ryan also signed players with big league experience such as 3B Sean Burroughs, 1B Steve Pearce, OF Wilkin Ramirez, and catcher JR Towles.

In the past, Twins management has stated that they didn’t want to start camp too early because the players just got bored and burnt out waiting for the real games to begin. The Twins have historically been one of the last teams to report to and start training camp, this year they are one of the first teams to report and start work-outs.

This year the Twins will have at least 25 non-roster spring training invites this year, there will be more players out there than you can shake a stick at. In the past the Twins position has been not to invite too many players in spring camp because there was just not enough playing time and they wanted to give everyone a chance to showcase their talents.

Ron Gardenhire

This year the Twins seem to be desperate, picking up some veteran hitting help even though their defense and speed will suffer, they picked up a slew of relievers hoping that one or maybe two can find their way north to Minnesota. Speed? Gardy felt a need for speed going into 2011 but I have not heard him mention speed once this off-season. When you sign a 38 year old Jamey Carroll who has never had a full-time starting role to be your regular shortstop you are indeed close to a panic situation. Yep, these are desperate and trying times in Twinsville as the team tries to regroup from a horrendous 63-99 2011 season and the team is taking desperate steps to right a ship that is on the shoals of a major rebuilding effort. The problem they have is that Joe Mauer is making a ton of money and they haven’t a clue as to what will happen with 1B Justin Morneau who is coming off his seventh career concussion. Without big comebacks from both of these Twins stars the team has no chance at even finishing near the .500 mark. Ron Gardenhire will have to do his best managing act ever to get this team to win half of their games.

So it will be an interesting spring in Ft. Myers this year and I would expect to see a number of intrasquad and ”B” squad games taking place on the back fields of Hammond Stadium. I will be there to watch the action and it should be fun. The beauty of this time of the year is that we all have hope and no one has lost a game as yet. It just seems to me that the Minnesota Twins are changing gears this year and things are going to be a lot different going forward into 2012 and beyond. So make sure you buy a scorecard when you attend your first Twins game this year.

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I miss the old days of baseball

Posted on January 17, 2012 by jjswol

Francisco Liriano

I know I am getting older but I miss the old days of baseball especially when I hear things like todays announcement by ESPN that the Twins have avoided arbitration with starting pitcher Francisco Liriano by signing him to a $5.5 million deal for 2012. Liriano was terrible in 2011 pitching a total of 134.1 innings and putting up a 9-10 won/lost record with a 5.09 ERA and a 1.49 WHIP. Now days that earns him a $1.2 million raise, in the good old days this would have earned him a 25% cut. That is the way things are today I guess, not only do we accept mediocrity, we actually reward people for it. Sad, just plain sad…..

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Twins take a chance on Joel Zumaya

Posted on January 16, 2012 by jjswol

Joel Zumaya

According to several reports, the Twins have reached agreement, pending a physical of course, with former Detroit Tigers reliever Joel Zumaya on a deal that will give Zumaya anywhere between $800 and $1.7 million depending on him reaching certain incentives. Zumaya worked out for about 20 teams in December and a Twins official told Phil Mackey of 1500espn.com that they had clocked Zumaya throwing 92-94 during the work-out session. Zumaya drew interest from several teams but according to at least one report I saw Zumaya took the Twins offer because it was a major league contract, was guaranteed money and had an invite to spring training. Other reports indicate that the money is not guaranteed so we will see as the details become available. Although the money is not a huge sum, the Twins did not get a “steal” here as Zumaya made $915,000 in 2010 and $1.4 million in 2011 although he sat out the entire season due to injury. With his huge injury risk, I sure would not guarantee $800K.

Guaranteed money or not, this is an interesting signing by the Twins. The injury risk is certainly there but the upside reward if Zumaya can stay healthy is very tantalizing. We need to keep in mind that Zumaya is very injury prone even though several of his injuries are not baseball related and we should not set our expectations too high. I have already hear some comments that Zumaya can slide into the Twins closer role. I would say the chances of that are slim to none and I would be very happy to just get 60 innings out of Zumaya in 2012 and if Zumaya is pitching well and the Twins are not going anywhere come July, I would have no issue sending Zumaya to a contender for a good young prospect.

UPDATE JANUARY 19 – The Twins announced today that the Zumaya deal is official. There are reports floating around the internet that $400K of Zumaya $850K base are guaranteed and if Zumaya makes the 25 man roster out of spring training, he gets the entire $850K. Then there are still incentives Zumaya can reach to get up to $1.7 million based on innings pitched.

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This Day in Twins History – January 16, 2001

Posted on January 16, 2012 by jjswol

In their first year of eligibility,  Kirby Puckett and Dave Winfield are elected to the MLB Hall of Fame. The former Twins are the fourth pair of teammates selected by BBWAA in the same year.

Kirby Puckett who spent his entire career as a Minnesota Twin was a Twins icon from the day he was called up in 1984 until he lost sight in his right eye and had to leave baseball after the 1995 season at the age of 36. Puckett, a fan favorite where ever he went led the Minnesota Twins to World Series championships in 1987 and 1991 and was an All-Star for 10 consecutive years. Kirby Puckett suffered a massive stroke and died on March 6, 2006.

Dave Winfield

Dave Winfield is a Minnesota native and attended the University of Minnesota where he was a star in both baseball and basketball. In 1973, he was named All-American and voted MVP of the College World Series as a pitcher. After his college eligibility was concluded, Winfield was drafted by four teams in three different sports. The San Diego Padres selected him as a pitcher with the fourth overall pick in the MLB draft and both the Atlanta Hawks (NBA) and the Utah Stars (ABA) drafted him and though he never played college football, the Minnesota Vikings selected Winfield in the 17th round of the NFL draft. Winfield signed with the San Diego Padres and the Padres immediately put Winfield in right field and Winfield was on his way to a Hall of Fame career with not a single day of minor league baseball on his resume. Winfield’s 22 year career also included stops with the Yankees, Angels, Blue Jays, Twins, and the Cleveland Indians. Winfield had 3,110 career hits with hit number 3,000 coming at the Metrodome in a Twins uniform.

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This Day in Twins History – January 16, 1986

Posted on January 16, 2012 by jjswol

The Twins trade 2B Tim Teufel and outfielder Pat Crosby to the Ney York Mets for outfielder Billy Beane and pitchers Bill Latham and Joe Klink.

Billy Beane, yes the same Billy Beane who went on to become the Oakland A's GM and main character in the movie Moneyball.

They also trade catcher Dave Engle to the Tigers for infielder Chris Pittaro and outfielder Alex Sanchez.  Engle, a .305 hitter as a 26-year-old catcher for the Twins in 1983 and an AL All-Star the following season. Engle came up as an outfielder but was converted to a catcher.

Engle started having throwing issues and his troubles appeared to have begun during batting practice one day when one of his throws glanced off the top of the protective screen and broke his pitcher’s nose. Engle then began lobbing his throws with a pronounced arc. Engle had the misfortune of having a base runner (Alfredo Griffin) stealing a base on one of his tosses back to the mound. He remained in the majors from 1985-89 but caught just 38 more games.

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This Day in Twins History – January 16, 1975

Posted on January 16, 2012 by jjswol

Harmon Killebrew as a Kansas City Royal. Courtesy of the Kansas City Royals.

The Minnesota Twins release icon and future Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew who had played for the Washington Senators and Twins since 1954 after Harmon refused an offer by owner Calvin Griffith to be a Minnesota Twins coach and pinch hitter. Killebrew wanted to play one more season as a DH and signs with the Kansas City Royals and plays one final season before hanging up his spikes for good.

It just does not seem right to see Harmon Killebrew in a Royals uniform. I wonder if when Harmon looked back on his career if he wished that he had decided to pass up that final year.

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Did you know?

Posted on January 13, 2012 by jjswol

That each of the Minnesota Twins 63 wins in 2011 cost the team $1,789,476 based on a payroll of $112.74 million? That is a lot of dollars for each victory but two teams still did worse than Minnesota did although they had a lot more victories. Each win cost the Red Sox $1,797,361 and the Yankees paid $2,089,578 for each win. On the other end of the stick, the lowest cost per win went to the Tampa Rays who only paid $451,138 for each of their 91 wins. The Kansas City Royals were second best with a cost of $508,817 for each of their 71 victories. I guess that something we all can keep in mind when we complain about the Twins payroll. But don’t forget, that while big spending doesn’t automatically guarantee success, lower payroll don’t automatically mean success, either. I guess that is what makes baseball so interesting for the fans and so frustrating for team owners and management. The source for the data here was Ballpark Digest.

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Can Twins bounce back in 2012? What does history tell us?

Posted on January 12, 2012 by jjswol

Our Minnesota Twins are coming off an atrocious 2011 where the team finished 63-99, a full 32 games behind the AL Central Division winning Detroit Tigers and in the process posting the second worst record in all of baseball. But 2011 is behind us now and we look forward to spring and a brand new season of baseball which hopefully will see the Twins back in winning form. In just a little over a month, Twins players from all over the globe will start to congregate in Ft. Myers, Florida to get into baseball shape which I think really means that they will get in a little stretching, jog a little, catch up on the off-season gossip and  start throwing the baseball around and take a few swings with those shiny new bats they just received during the off-season. When a bad season of baseball ends, there is always “next year” and that next year is just about upon us.

Long before baseball was played, back sometime between 1688-1744 the English poet Alexander Pope said “hope springs eternal in the human breast” and no truer words could be said about how baseball fans look at their favorite baseball teams. Forgotten are the numerous injuries, be they real or perceived, the dropped balls, the hitters that couldn’t run out a ground ball, the runners that had brain farts and stood there and watched as the hit and run unfolded in front of them, the fielders that couldn’t throw straight, the pitchers that keep hitting opponent bats, the perplexed pitching coach who wondered why his pitchers couldn’t find home plate even though it was always in the same spot, the manager who had to make up numerous line-ups each day because he didn’t know which of his players were in the mood to play that day, and of course the owner who was left to wonder what happened to his $113 million.

The injuries that plagued the team in 2011 are hopefully healed and with another year of experience under their belts, we all hope the Twins are back and playing baseball the way that Twins fans of today expect. We are not interested in seeing the Twins play ball as they did say between 1971-1986 when they never won more than 85 games and finished as high as second only once, we expect to see a winning team on the field or at least a team that is playing like they want to win versus the 2011 bunch that quit early and often.

So, what does history tell us will happen to the Twins in 2012? I want you to keep reading, but the bottom line is that while miracles can happen, it sure does not look good. The Twins were 31 games worse in 2011 than they were in 2010, 31 games, only once in franchise history had a Senators/Twins team played so much worse than they had the previous season and those were the Washington Senators of 1934 who finished the season 33 games worse with a 66-86 mark after advancing to the World Series in 1933 with a 99-53 record. The following season (1935) they won 67 games, one more than the year before.

So how have Senators and Twins teams bounced back from such dismal seasons? The best the Senators could ever do was improve by 27 games back between 1911-1912 and the best the Twins have done since 1961 is improve by 23 games as the 1965 Twins did when they won 102 games coming off a 79 win season in 1964.

But let’s look at more modern times so we will look at the seasons between 1997 and 2011 because it probably makes for a fairer comparison based on free agency and player movement of today. In the last 15 seasons here is what has happened in the AL Central Division.

The Kansas City Royals worst drop-off was in 2004 when the team finished 25 games worse than they did in 2003. The following season, 2005, the Royals finished 2 games worse. The best improvement that the Royals have shown their fans was when they finished 21 games better in 2003 than they had shown in 2002.

The Chicago White Sox worst drop-off was in 2007 when the team finished 18 games worse than they did in 2006. The following season, 2008, the mighty whitey’s finished 17 games better. The best improvement that the White Sox fans have seen was when they finished 20 games better in 2000 than they had shown in 1999.

The Cleveland Indians worst drop-off was in 2002 when the team finished 17 games worse than they did in 2001. The following season, 2003, the Indians finished 6 games worse. The best improvement that the Indians fans have seen was when they finished 18 games better in 2007 than they had shown in 2006.

The Detroit Tigers worst drop-off was 14 games and it happened twice, once between 1997 and 1998 and again from 2007 to 2008. The following season in 1999 the team improved by 4 games and in 2009 the team improved by 12 games. The best improvement that the Tigers have seen was when they finished 29 games better in 2004 (to a 72-90 season) than they had shown in 2003, but, 2003 was the season the Tigers put up a pathetic 43-119 record.

That brings us to the Twins, whose worst drop-off was 31 games in 2011 from their 2010 season. The biggest improvement the Twins have shown during this 15 year period was in 2001 (TK’s last season as manager) when they finished 16 games better than what they showed us in 2000. In the past 15 years the Twins have improved their record from the previous season 8 times for an average improvement in games won over the previous season of 8 games. On the minus side their record has gotten worse from the previous season 7 times for an average of -11.29 but that is obviously skewed by the big -31 of 2011. If the 2012 Twins could match their biggest improvement of say 16 games as they did in 2001, that still only moves the Twins 2012 record up to 79-83. The Twins have to improve by 18 games just to reach the .500 mark and would have to improve by 27 games to reach the 90 win mark. It does not look promising.

The Twins have improved their previous years mark by 18 games or better on 4 occassions. The feat was accomplished by the 1991 team that improved by 21 games, the 1969 team that improved by 18 games, the 1965 team that improved by 23 games and the 1962 team that was 21 games better than the 1961 team. Four times in 50 seasons, not good odds for sure and remember, an 18 game improvement only takes the team to an 81-81 record, or .500 baseball. The team has lost Joe Nathan, Michael Cuddyer, Jason Kubel, Jose Mijares, Kevin Slowey and a number of bit players but then again, they lost 99 games when they had these guys. I know they added Ryan Doumit, Jason Marquis, Josh Willingham, Jamey Carroll and brought back Matt Capps but how many wins will these guys put in the “W” column?

What this team needs in order to play respectable baseball is for Joe Mauer to step back to earth from the “Twilight Zone” that he was in most of last year and catch 130 games and play 1B and DH for 10-15 more. I see no reason why this can’t happen, Mauer should come out of the gate madder than hell and show everyone that 2011 was a fluke. I will believe that when I see it. The next issue is Justin Morneau, here I am not nearly as optimistic. Justin was just a shell of himself in 2011 and I worry that Justin Morneau’s baseball career is coming to a premature end. That would be so sad as Justin should have many more years in him as a productive Twins first baseman. I hope I am totally wrong about Morneau, but if I was a betting man I would say “show me you still got it” Justin. I hope that Danny Valencia thought long and hard about his baseball career since the 2011 season ended because if he continues to play in 2012 like he did in 2011, he will be receiving his fan mail in Rochester come the middle of May. Valencia might not be the .311 hitter he was in 2010 but he sure better not be the .246 hitter he was in 2011 either. A little more work with the glove wouldn’t hurt Danny either. The Twins outfield is a mess, Willingham is a left fielder and the Twins need him to play right because Ben Revere can’t throw out his grandmother. So that forces the team to play Revere in center which is OK in itself but that means you need to move Span to right field but Span says he wants to play center. In my humble opinion, any outfield with Revere and Span both playing at the same time is a bad thing. I am not sure how things are going to shake out but come the second half of 2012, Joe Benson will be playing in the Twins outfield some where. The Twins signed Jamey Carroll to play short but the man has never had a full-time job in 10 big league seasons and he will be 38 before the Twins open the exhibition season. Is that a move that a contending team makes? We can hope that Tsuyoshi Nishioka comes back to life and show us that he really is a professional baseball player……come on, really, there is a chance. Alexi Casilla at 2B is an enigma but I still have hope for this 27-year-old with parts of six big league season under his belt. The bullpen is a couple of sharp knives short of a complete set and the starting staff of Carl Pavano, Scott Baker, Francisco Liriano, Nick Blackburn, and Jason Marquis would make any manager nervous.

So here it is, you make up your mind, can the Twins compete or will they have to fight and scratch like hell just to reach the .500 mark? Me? Come October, I think we should all be dancing on Target Plaza celebrating manager Ron Gardenhire’s second manager of the year award with a cold drink in our hand if this collection of Twins can win half of their games in 2012. However; if this this team wins 70 or fewer games in 2012, manager Ron Gardenhire may be looking for a job.

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One cool web site

Posted on January 11, 2012 by jjswol

I recently ran across a web site that I had never seen before and I know it is not new, but it is new to me and for someone like myself that enjoys baseball history, www.backtobaseball.com is just plain fun and enjoyable to play with.

Back to Baseball is dedicated towards providing graphical play-by-play for major league baseball games, including all World Series, All Star, and playoff games, as well as most regular season games dating back to 1948. The site includes Greatest Games, as well as search capability to find particular games or plays.

If you are a Twins fan, you can watch any game the team has played in a graphical play by play format. You want to watch the Twins first game ever? It is there for you. You want to watch Jack Kralick pitch a no-hitter, it is there for you. You want to watch games 163 again, they are there for you. They even have a slick search tool that allows you to do all types of searches. I didn’t even realize until the folks from www.backtobaseball.com pointed it out to me but every box score on www.baseball-reference.com links every game back to www.backtobaseball.com . Check it out, I think you will like it.

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This Day in Twins History – January 10, 1984

Posted on January 10, 2012 by jjswol

 

Harmon Killebrew

Harmon Killebrew, Luis Aparicio and Don Drysdale are elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame by the BBWAA. Between these three Hall of Famers, they played for 54 seasons and 5,552 big league games.

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Congratulations to Barry Larkin

Posted on January 9, 2012 by jjswol

Congratulations to Barry Larkin on getting elected to the Hall of Fame.

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This Day in Twins History – January 9, 1961

Posted on January 9, 2012 by jjswol

The new Minnesota Twins and the American Association finally agree on a $500,000 indemnity payment to the minor league for the Minneapolis/St. Paul territory, ending 2 months of negotiations.

The 1960 American Association was made up of eight AAA teams which included the Minneapolis Millers (Boston Red Sox), St. Paul Saints (LA Dodgers), Denver Bears (Detroit Tigers), Louisville Colonels (Milwaukee Braves), Houston Buffs (Chicago Cubs), Charleston Senators (Washington Senators), Indianapolis Indians (Philadelphia Phillies), and the Dallas-Ft.Worth Rangers (Kansas City Athletics). In 1961 the American Association was down to six teams with Charleston being replaced by Omaha and Minneapolis and St. Paul obviously gone.

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This Day in Twins History – January 8, 1991

Posted on January 8, 2012 by jjswol

Hall of Famer Rod Carew

Rodney Cline Carew, who was born in Gatun in the Panama Canal Zone on October 1, 1945 becomes only the 22nd player in MLB history to be voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on the first ballot, garnering 90.5% of the votes.

The left-handed hitting Carew made the Twins team as the starting 2B in the spring of 1967 and went on to win the AL Rookie of the Year award in 1967 and was selected to his first All-Star game that season. Who would know at the time that Carew would be an All-Star for 18 consecutive years, missing out on the All-Star team in only his last season (1985) as an active player. Although Rodney started out as a 2B, a serious knee injury in 1970 started the process of Carew moving to 1B. By the time Carew’s 19 year big league career was over, Carew actually played at more games at 1B than he did at 2B. Carew had a magical season for the Twins in 1977 making a serious run at hitting .400 but finished the season at .388 and won the AL MVP award.

Rod Carew and owner Calvin Griffith frequently disagreed about the salary that Carew was earning with Griffith arguing that Carew was nothing but a singles hitter and Carew arguing that if he wanted to hit for power he could. But it was the ill-fated Lion’s Club speech in Waseca, Minnesota that Griffith made on September 28, 1978 that was the final nail in the coffin as far as Carew was concerned and owner Griffith had no choice but to trade his best player. According to some reports, Griffith first had a trade worked out with the San Francisco Giants but Carew had veto power and nixed that deal so on February 3, 1979 the Twins owner and GM sent Carew to the California Angels for catcher Dave Engle, outfielder Ken Landreaux, and pitchers Paul Hartzell and Brad Havens. Carew finished his career as an Angel playing there from 1979 to 1985.

Rod Carew played in the big leagues for 19 season appearing in 2,469 games finishing with 3,053 hits (2,085 as a Minnesota Twin) and putting up a lifetime .328 average to go along with his 353 stolen bases. Carew stole home seven times in the 1969 season to lead the majors, just missing Ty Cobb’s Major League record of eight and the most in the major leagues since Pete Reiser stole seven for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1946. His seven batting titles are surpassed only by Ty Cobb, Tony Gwynn and Honus Wagner, and equaled only by Rogers Hornsby and Stan Musial.

Carew’s number is retired by both the Minnesota Twins and the California Angels and he is a member of the Twins and Angels Hall of Fame. Today Carew is a part of the Twins organization making special appearances and taking part in the Twins Spring training as a coach each season.

Another look at Griffith’s Waseca speech can be found here in the Waseca County News.

Make sure you check out my Today in Twins History page to see all the Twins news for this day in history because I only blog about some of the items you can find there.

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This Day in Twins History – January 6, 1967

Posted on January 6, 2012 by jjswol

Joseph Haynes, who had been an all-star American League pitcher, brother-in-law of Twins owner Calvin Griffith and Twins vice-president passed away of a heart attack after shoveling snow at his Hopkins, Minnesota home at the age of 49.

Haynes had a 14 year big league career as a right-handed pitcher for the Washington Senators (1939-1940, 1949-1952) and the Chicago White Sox (1941-1948) posting a 76-82 won/lost record with 21 saves to go with a 4.01 ERA in 379 games, 147 of them in a starting role and 53 complete games. Haynes, primarily a curveball and fastball pitcher, was not a strike out pitcher nor was pin-point control one of Joe’s strength’s as he walked 620 and struck out 475 batters in 1,581 innings.

After his playing career ended after the 1952 season, Haynes became a coach for the Washington Senators for three seasons after which he became the team’s vice-president and general manager in 1955, following the death of his father-in-law, Clark Griffith. His widow, Thelma Griffith Haynes, continued to serve as an executive vice president, assistant treasurer, and part owner of the Twins until they were sold to Carl Pohlad in 1985. Her brothers, Sherry, Jimmy, and Billy, were also part of the organization. The Twins pitcher of the year award is named after Haynes and the Joseph W. Haynes Twins Pitcher of the Year award is given annually to the Twins top pitcher.

A more detailed biography of Joe Haynes completed as part of the SABR Biography project can be found here.

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This Day in Twins History – January 6, 2004

Posted on January 6, 2012 by jjswol

Paul Molitor

Paul Molitor and Dennis Eckersley are named to the MLB Hall of Fame by the baseball writers. Molitor, a Minnesota native, played for the Twins from 1996 through 1998 after playing for the Milwaukee Brewers from 1983-1992 and the Toronto Blue Jays from 1993-1995. Molitor got hit number 3,000 as a Minnesota Twin and finished his career with 3,319 hits.

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This Day in Twins History – January 5, 2011

Posted on January 5, 2012 by jjswol

Roberto Alomar, a 12-time All-Star and 10-time Gold Glove winning second baseman, and Bert Blyleven, a 287-game winning pitcher who ranks fifth on the all-time strikeout list, were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Blyleven, who garnered 79.7% of the votes, pitched in 22 seasons with the Minnesota Twins, Texas Rangers, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cleveland Indians and California Angels and compiled a 287-250 record with a 3.31 ERA, 242 complete games, 60 shutouts and 3,701 strikeouts in 4,969 1/3 innings. The right-hander pitched a no-hitter on Sept. 22, 1977 for the Rangers against the Angels and shares the AL single-game record for the longest one-hit complete game of 10 innings June 21, 1976. He, too, was a key part of two World Series champions, the 1979 Pirates and the 1987 Twins.

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This Day in Twins History – January 5, 2009

Posted on January 5, 2012 by jjswol

Minnesota Twins owner Carl Pohlad passed away at his Edina, Minnesota home at the age of 93. Pohlad bought the Twins from Calvin Griffith the teams original owner in 1984 for about $38 million.

A lot of Twins fans disliked Carl Pohlad primarily for two reasons. First, because he agreed to “contract” (eliminate) the Minnesota Twins in 2001 and secondly because many Twins fans felt that with all personal wealth, estimated at about $2.8 billion, that Pohlad should have spent more money on the Twins payroll in order to make them a more competitive team. Regardless of how you may have felt about Carl Pohlad, he did a lot for the Minnesota Twins and he has earned his rightful place in Minnesota Twins history. Pohlad led an interesting life to say the least, here are some of the high points.

Timeline

1915 – Born in Des Moines, Iowa

1942 to 1945 – Fights for U.S. Army in Europe during World War II earning a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star

1946 – Starts first job at consumer finance company in Dubuque, Iowa

1949 – Joins Marquette National Bank in Minneapolis

1955 – Becomes president of Marquette National Bank and its holding company, Marquette Bancshares, Inc.

1960 – Buys Minnesota Enterprises, Inc., a private transit company, and turns it into a huge Pepsi bottling company

1982 – Takes over Farmers & Mechanics Savings Bank and saves it from closure

1984 – Buys and owns Minnesota Twins

1986 to 1993 – Part-owner of Minnesota Vikings

1993 – Serves as chairman of Mesaba Holdings, Inc., the airline that provides small-market flights for Northwest Airlines

 

A nice write-up on Carl Pohlad called “Remembering Carl Pohlad: What Will His Ultimate Legacy Be? ” makes for a good read.

You can find the Minneapolis Star Tribune obituary for Carl Pohlad here.

 

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This Day in Twins History – January 4, 2002

Posted on January 4, 2012 by jjswol

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire

In spite of the Minnesota Twins franchise uncertain future due to possible contraction, Ron Gardenhire is named as the Minnesota Twins 12th manager. Gardenhire, 44, replaces the Twins winningest manager, Tom Kelly who had resigned earlier saying that it was time for him to move on.

Ron Gardenhire was originally a New York Mets sixth round pick in 1979 and debuted with the Mets on September 1, 1981. Gardenhire played in 285 games for the Mets between 1981 – 1985, primarily at shortstop although he also played some 2B and 3B too. The Mets traded Gardenhire to the Twins on November 12, 1966 for the PTBNL and that turned out to be Dominic Iasparro. While the Twins were winning the World Series in 1987, Gardenhire spent the entire season at AAA Portland playing all four infield positions and even taking the pitching mound in two games.

Gardenhire retired as an active player after the 1987 season and started his managing career in 1988 with the A ball Kenosha Twins who finished fourth but had a 81-59 record. Gardenhire then moved up the ladder to the AA Orlando Twins affiliate where he managed for two seasons. Gardy’s teams finished third in 1989 with an 79-65 mark and first the next season, 1990 with an 85-59 record. The Twins then moved Gardenhire up to the big league team where he coached from 1991 – 2001.

Gardenhire has managed the Twins since 2002 and in his 10 big league seasons and 1,621 games as the Twins skipper, Gardy has posted a record of 866-755 (.534) and had led his team to six first place finishes, one second place, two third place and one last place finish (2011).

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Posted on January 3, 2012 by jjswol

BBA RECOMMENDS LARKIN, BAGWELL FOR HALL OF FAME

In the annual polling of members of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance, former Cincinnati Reds shortstop Barry Larkin and former Houston Astros first baseman Jeff Bagwell were recommended for induction to the Baseball Hall of Fame. This is the third year the organization has conducted this survey of the membership.

Larkin, a 12-time All-Star who fashioned an .815 OPS over 19 seasons, received the largest percentage of votes, being named on 84.25% of the 148 ballots cast. This is the highest percentage garnered by any player in the three years of BBA voting.

Bagwell, who hit 449 HR and had a .948 OPS in his 15 seasons in Houston, was selected on 115 ballots for a 78.77% rate. As with the official voting done by the Baseball Writers of America, a player must be named on 75% of the ballots to be recommended by the alliance.

Last year, the BBA recommended second baseman Roberto Alomar and pitcher Bert Blyleven, both of whom were inducted into Cooperstown during the summer. In 2010, no player reached the 75% mark in BBA balloting, the year that outfielder Andre Dawson was selected for the Hall by the baseball writers.

The Baseball Bloggers Alliance’s vote has no impact on the official vote taken by the Baseball Writers of America. However, the BBA has often been a predictor of major awards granted by the writers.

The final voting results are as follows:

Barry Larkin 84.25%

Jeff Bagwell 78.77%

Edgar Martinez 60.27%

Tim Raines 57.53%

Alan Trammell 44.52%

Mark McGwire 41.10%

Larry Walker 35.62%

Lee Smith 33.56%

Jack Morris 32.19%

Don Mattingly 29.45%

Rafael Palmerio 28.77%

Fred McGriff 28.08%

Dale Murphy 16.44%

Bernie Williams 11.64%

Juan Gonzalez 6.16%

Javy Lopez 2.74%

Brad Radke 2.05%

Tim Salmon 1.37%

Bill Mueller 0.68%

Phil Nevin 0.68%

Ruben Sierra 0.68%

Tony Womack 0.68%

Jeromy Burnitz 0.00%

Vinny Castilla 0.00%

Brian Jordan 0.00%

Terry Mulholland 0.00%

Eric Young 0.00%

The Baseball Bloggers Alliance was established in the fall of 2009 for the purpose of fostering collaboration and communication among bloggers from across baseball. The BBA has quickly grown to its current membership of 347 blogs, including some of the most prominent blogs on the Internet, spanning all major league teams and various other general aspects of the game.

More information about the BBA can be found at their website, www.baseballbloggersalliance.wordpress.com, or by contacting the founder and administrator of the organization, Daniel Shoptaw, at founder@baseballbloggersalliance.com.

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How well did Twins rookies perform in 2011

Posted on January 2, 2012 by jjswol

The Twins finished the 2011 season with a 63-99 mark and lots of folks including the Twins management blamed the clubs poor finish or at least a big part of it on injuries and that is difficult to argue as the team used the DL list 27 times. The Twins often brought up rookies to fill these openings. How did these rookies perform?

This past season the Twins led all of baseball in games played by rookies with 493, followed by the Mets with 442 and the Mariners with 403. On the other end of the spectrum the rookies only played in 57 Brewers and 73 Rangers games and you know where these teams finished. If you look at rookie plate appearances, the Twins postion playing rookies had 1,805, way ahead of the team closest to them, the Mariners who sent 1,484 rookie batters to home plate. These Twins position rookies ranked in the middle of the pack in base on balls percentage at 6.9%, ranked seventh best in strikeout percentage at 18.2%, were in the middle of the pack with a .245 batting average, and if you look at WAR, the Twins number was 1.0 with the Nationals the highest at 5.8 and the Rockies the lowest at -1.6 .

Looking at the Twins rookie pitchers as compared to all of baseball , the team used fewer rookies there than most teams did this past season. Twins rookie pitchers appeared in 124 games putting them 11 fewest and Twins rookies threw 169.2 innings, only the rookie pitchers for the Cardinals, Pirates, Cubs, Giants and Red Sox threw fewer innings. These Twins rookies finished with a 5-14 record with a BB/9 of 4.03 and 5.36 K/9, hardly something to shout about. On the other end of things, rookies threw 545.1 innings for the Royals, 527.1 for the Astros, 489 for the Mariners, and 426 for the Braves. These same Twins rookie pitchers posted an ERA of 5.15 trailing only the Giants at 6.40 and the 6.10 Red Sox. The Twins rookie pitchers did not pitch a lot but when they did pitch, they pitched poorly.

I took a look at the Twins rookies as compared to the rest of the American League rookies over the last 10 years and where the team finished and here is what I found.

Year Rookie plate appearances AL rank Rookie innings pitched AL rank Division finish
2011 1,805 1 169.2 13 5th
2010 631 7 88 12 1st
2009 368 11 306.1 8 1st
2008 1,512 2 491.2 2 2nd
2007 520 8 222.1 9 3rd
2006 305 10 376.1 7 1st
2005 1,238 2 246 6 3rd
2004 1,519 1 95.1 12 1st
2003 426 9 130.1 10 1st
2002 962 4 201 9 1st
AVG 928.6 5.5 232.7 8.8 1.9

I am not sure you can reach any definitive conclusions from these numbers like rookies = trouble but they are still fun to look at. For example, the Twins finished last in 2011 when their rookie position players had more plate appearances than anyone but you compare that with 2004 when their rookie position players again led the league in PA’s but the team finished first.

But one thing that you can take away from this is that Gardy and pitching coach Rick Anderson are not big fans of young rookie pitchers based on the fact that the Twins rookie pitchers have been consisently in the bottom half of the division in innings pitched each year averaging just 232.7 innings and a ranking 9th of 14 teams. Twins rookie pitchers have only finished in the upper half of league innings pitched 3 three times in 10 seasons.

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HAPPY NEW YEAR

Posted on December 31, 2011 by jjswol

We wish you and your family a happy and healthy 2012

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Did you know?

Posted on December 29, 2011 by jjswol

Ron Gardenhire

Steve Carlton

Most Twins fans know that current Minnesota Twins manager Ron Gardenhire played for the New York Mets between 1981 - 1985 playing in 285 games, mostly at short but he also played some second and third base. Hitting was not Gardy’s strong suit as he posted a career average of .232 with 4 home runs, walking 46 times and struck out 122 times in 777 plate appearances. But did you know that Gardy “owned” the Hall of Famer that everyone called “Lefty”? You better believe it, the right-handed hitting Gardenhire had 30 at bats against Carlton over the years and had 11 hits including a home run and put up a cool .367 batting average and .387 OBP against the hall of famer. Lefty did manage to strike out Gardy 8 times. On the other hand, Fernando Valenzuela faced Gardenhire 12 times and all Gardy got for his efforts was one base on balls.

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Twins Tickets – Value, Select and Premium

Posted on December 28, 2011 by jjswol

Wait, is that one of the Pohlad's?

Like many other baseball teams, the Twins have categorized their tickets the last few years into value home games, select home games, and premium home games or categories similar to this. The value games are the lowest price and then the select games are usually about $2 more and finally on the high-end we have the premium games that are about$3 more than the select and $5 more than the value games. I thought it would be interesting to see how the Twins designated their tickets since 2009 so here is what I found.

YEAR Value games Select games Premium games
2009 60 (74%) 14 (17%) 7 (9%)
2010 27 (33%) 39 (48%) 15 (19%)
2011 22 (27%) 36 (44%) 23 (28%)
2012 20 (25%) 38 (47%) 23 (28%)

It appears to be getting tougher and tougher to find “value” games year after year. These so-called ”value” games were once upon a time the going price for attending a baseball game. In 2012 only 25% of the Minnesota Twins home games will be “value” games, the remaining 75% of the tickets are marked up as “select” or ”premium games”. Like many other businesses, baseball is looking to raise revenue but doesn’t want to irritate the fan base by raising ticket prices so they just pick certain games that they categorize differently and charge a higher price for them. This is just a fee that is not called a fee. Baseball assumes that the general public is too dumb to realize what is going on. Who or how games are determined to be “value”, “select”, or “premium” at the beginning of each season would be interesting to know. These higher fees for “select” and “premium” games do not apply to season ticket holders here in Minnesota. Let’s do some math for the fun of it and let’s start with a couple of assumptions, first that the Twins have about 25,000 season tickets sold for each game and that the capacity of Target Field is 39,000 as a nice round number. That means you have about 14,000 tickets sold to the general public for each home game. So, if you have 38 “select” games in 2012 these 14,000 tickets at a $2 premium over a “value” game would bring in an extra ($2 x 14,000 x 38) $1,064,000. If you look at the 23 “premium” games in 2012 these 14,000 tickets at a $5 premium over a “value” game will bring in an extra ($5 x 14,000 x 23) $1,610,000. The numbers I am using I think are very conservative so the total extra dollars brought in through this ticket categorization are very likely higher that what I have here. These kinds of things just frustrate me to no end, ticket prices are already based on seat location meaning that better seats cost more and I understand that but why should I have to pay more to see the Yankees or the Cubs play or why should I pay more because the game is being played on a Saturday night? The Twins are no better and no worse at this than the other MLB teams but in my mind this is just not right. It is these kinds of things that cause baseball fans to jump off the home team bandwagons and stay off until the team is a winner. The bad part is that the teams don’t want to spend money to get good players unless they have the fans support and the fans don’t want to spend their hard earned money watching a crappy team. So it becomes a “what should happen first scenario”.

So what happens over the next few years to the “value” games? They are already down to just 25% of the home games. I guess when the “value” games drop to next to nothing, the “value” category will be eliminated, and the ”select” category become the lowest price category and a new category for the high-end will be invented and called something like “platinum” and the game goes on. MLB best be careful, their ticket prices in all these new stadiums are getting out of hand. In most cases the taxpayers are footing a huge chunk of these ballpark costs and it will be sad when the fans get priced out of going to watch their home team play in a ballpark that they paid for to begin with.

I understand that baseball is entertainment and that salaries are extraordinary in the entertainment industry but when does it reach a point of no return? The average salary for a Twins player according to USA Today in 2011 was $4,509,480 and we are talking about a team that lost 99 games. The Kansas City Royals had the lowest average in 2011 and that was still at $1,338,000 and the Yankees were of course the highest with a $6,756,300 average.

I know this blog won’t change anything but writing it does make me fell somewhat better knowing that I have gotten it off my chest. I just hope that Twins fans in 2032 will still be able to attend a Twins game in person at Target Field and get to enjoy baseball the way it should be enjoyed, outdoors at your local ballpark in person. Hell, by then everyone will probably have some kind of igadget that puts everyone out in the field of play so we all get the same view as the players do.

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This Day in Twins History – December 26, 2005

Posted on December 26, 2011 by jjswol

Four-Time All-Star relief pitcher Jeff Reardon is arrested on robbery charges after holding up a jewelry store in Palm Springs Gardens‚ Florida‚ a town he has lived in without incident for 20 years. “He said it was the medication that made him do it and that he was sorry‚” said policeman David O’Neill. Reardon had a son who died of a drug overdose several years ago. In late August 2006, Reardon was found not guilt by reason of insanity. Two court-appointed psychiatrists, along with two defense psychiatrists, will testify that Reardon was under the influence of a dozen prescription medications and that there was no reasonable explanation for the robbery. You can read a story that ESPN wrote about the incident by going here.

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This Day in Twins History – December 25, 1989

Posted on December 25, 2011 by jjswol

Popular former Minnesota Twins player and manager Billy Martin dies in an automobile accident in Binghamton,  New  York at the age of 61. Billy served as the Twins fourth skipper during the 1969 season and led the Twins to a first place finish only to lose to the Baltimore Orioles 3 games to none.

Alfred Manual Martin played in the major leagues with the Yankees from 1950-1957, Kansas City A’s in 1957, the Detroit Tigers in 1958, the Cleveland Indians in 1959, the Cincinnati Reds in 1960, and the Milwaukee Braves and Minnesota Twins in 1961. Martin, 33 at the time, only played in 108 games hitting .246 for the Twins before retiring as an active player. The feisty Martin managed the Twins in 1969, the Detroit Tigers in 1971-1973, the Texas Rangers in 1973-1975, the New York Yankees from 1975-1979, the Oakland A’s from 1980-1982 and the Yankees again in 1983, 1985, and 1988. In sixteen years and 2,267 games as a manager, Martin had a 1,253 and 1,013 won-lost record while winning two pennants and one World Series title.

I had written an earlier article about Billy that you can see here.

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