2009 ARCHIVES
Twins Managers
December 30 - The Minnesota Twins have had 12 managers since the team moved here from Washington after the 1960 season. I thought that it would be interesting to see how many games each of them had played at the major league and minor league level before they moved into “management” so to speak and to see if there is any correlation between playing experience and managing a team at the major league level. The games listed below are strictly games played and not coached or managed either in the minors or majors.
Name | Major League Positions Played | Major League Games | Minor League Games |
Cookie Lavagetto ** | 3B, 2B, 1B, SS | 1,043 | 523 |
Sam Mele | OF, 1B | 1,046 | 340 |
Cal Ermer | 2B | 1 | 904 |
Billy Martin * | 2B, SS, 3B, OF | 1,021 | 510 |
Bill Rigney * | 2B, 3B, SS, 1B | 654 | 641 |
Frank Quilici | 2B, 3B, SS, 1B | 405 | 715 |
Gene Mauch | 2B, SS, 3B | 304 | 1,061 |
Johnny Goryl | 2B, 3B, SS | 276 | 1,266 |
Billy Gardner | 2B, SS, 3B | 1,034 | 1,150 |
Ray Miller | P | 0 | 371 |
Tom Kelly | 1B, OF | 49 | 1,143 |
Ron Gardenhire | SS, 2B, 3B | 285 | 659 |
* = Made one All-Star team
** = Made 4 All-Star teams
Bobby Darwin
December 26 - Arthur Bobby Lee Darwin, a 6’2” right handed pitcher was signed by the Los Angeles Angels as a free agent prior to the 1962 season. He started his career in 1962 in San Jose, playing “C” ball where he was 11-6 with a 4.12 ERA in 153 innings giving up only 123 hits, but control was not Bobby’s strong suit as he also walked 149 batters in those 153 innings. Never the less, the Angels called up Darwin to start a game late in 1962 against the Cleveland Indians. With only 26 games of minor league ball under his belt, Darwin started the second game of a double header at Cleveland stadium. It was a tough start for Bobby, he lasted just 3.1 innings giving up 8 hits, 4 walks, and 6 runs, 4 of them earned and he ended up taking the loss. Little did Darwin know at the time but he would not step foot in another major league game for a long time. In 1963 Darwin was waived by the Angels and picked up by the Baltimore Orioles where he toiled in the minors from 1963 through 1968. In 1966 Darwin also had elbow surgery and he was never quite the same pitcher after that. The Los Angeles Dodgers however; still saw something they liked in Darwin and drafted him in the Rule 5 draft in December of 1968. Darwin started the 1969 season with the Dodgers but was ineffective and appeared in only 3 games before being sent back down to the minors. Ready to give baseball, Darwin was asked by a former manager to give up on pitching and to try his luck as a position player. So in 1970 at the age of 27 it was back to single “A” ball and Darwin was working to fight his way back to the major leagues, this time as a hitter. In 1971 the Dodgers called Darwin up for a month or so but he only appeared in 11 games getting 20 at bats while hitting .250 with one home run but the real problem was his 9 strikeouts so he was shipped back to the minors.
It was after the 1971 season that things looked up for Bobby, he found out that he had been traded by the Dodgers to the Minnesota Twins who just happened to be managed at that time by Bill Rigney who was also the Angels manager when Darwin got his first taste of the big leagues, only back then, he was a pitcher. In his first year in Minnesota in 1972, Darwin wins a starting outfield job, hits 22 home runs, (second only to Harmon Killebrew) and he knocks in a team leading 80 RBI’s while hitting .267 but he strikes out a league leading 145 times. In 1973 Darwin hits 18 home runs, knocks in 90, while hitting .252 and again leading the league in strikeouts with 137. In 1974 he hits a career high 25 home runs and knocks in 94 more with an average of .264 but once again he leads the league in strikeouts with 127.The following season, 1975, Darwin struggles along with a .219 average with just 5 home runs in almost 200 at bats and the Twins decide that they have seen enough and they trade Darwin to the Milwaukee Brewers for Johnny Briggs. Darwin’s stay in Milwaukee lasts less than one year before they send him on his way to the Boston Red Sox. Bobby’s stay in Boston is less than a year before they too send him packing, this time to the Chicago Cubs. Darwin gets only a dozen at bats in Chicago before they release him and end Bobby Darwin’s big league career. During his 9 seasons in the majors, Darwin had a 0-1 record with a 10.29 ERA in 7 innings with 6 strikeouts. As a hitter, in 2,224 at bats, Darwin had 83 home runs, 328 RBI’s, 15 steals and a .241 batting average. Not Hall of Fame numbers to be sure but still some decent numbers for a player with an interesting career that started out as a pitcher and turned position player at the age of 27. The man could hit the ball a mile when he connected, but those dang pitchers kept throwing him that danged curve ball. For a couple more interesting pieces on Bobby Darwin, click here and here.
Dean Chance’s Five-Inning Perfect Game
December 24 - by Arne Christensen - On August 6, 1967, Chance pitched five perfect innings in a 2-0, rain-shortened victory against Boston at Metropolitan Stadium. He struck out four to beat Red Sox starter Jim Lonborg. The AP said: “The Red Sox hit only four balls to the outfield, with the longest blows being Jim Lonborg’s drive that backed Bob Allison against the left-field fence in the third inning and Elston Howard’s liner to center in the third. The only difficult play for Minnesota fielders occurred in the fourth when Dalton Jones grounded sharply to Harmon Killebrew at first. He blocked the ball in front of him, recovered quickly, and tossed to Chance, who covered first base for the putout.”
The game took 63 minutes, and “Chance was credited with a complete game in the official pitching statistics.” He pitched an official no-hitter a few weeks later.
23 years later, at 49, Chance was working as a salesman and helped run carnival sideshows. Twins PR director Tom Mee said: “Dean lived life in the fast lane, and when that lane ended, that was it. He’s a happy-go-lucky guy. He burned himself out at age 30, but he lived about 90 years in those first 30.”
Baseball Superstitions
December 20 - There is a nice little story by David Gassko on the www.bookofodds.com site about baseball superstitions and it mentions Frank Viola and the Frank “Sweet Music” Viola banner that hung at the Metrodome when Frankie V pitched. To check out the story just click here.
A look at the top closers in franchise history
December 16 - A successful team needs to have a top notch closer, a pitcher that can come in and slam the door on the opposition game after game. In the past, closers were expected to pitch more than one inning but in today’s game most closers pitch only in the ninth inning. The Twins have been blessed over the years with some very good closers and a strong case could be made that their current closer Joe Nathan, is the best of the bunch. Assuming nothing bad happens to Nathan, he should be expected to break the Twins all time saves record now held by Rick Aguilera early in 2010.
Just as an interesting tidbit, In looking at the Twins top ten closers in terms of saves, only two were left-handed, the same hold true for the Washington Senators/Nationals who also had only two southpaws in their top 11 save leaders.
Nathan
Twins Saves Leaders
| Name | R/L | Years Pitched | Saves | K/BB |
1 | Rick Aguilera | R | 1989-1999 | 254 | 3.27 |
2 | Joe Nathan | R | 2004-present | 246 | 4.38 |
3 | Eddie Guardado | L | 1993-2003, 2008 | 116 | 2.26 |
4 | Ron Davis | R | 1982-186 | 108 | 1.89 |
5 | Jeff Reardon | R | 1987-1989 | 104 | 3.36 |
6 | Al Worthington | R | 1964-1969 | 88 | 2.15 |
7 | Ron Perranoski | L | 1968-1971 | 76 | 1.27 |
8 | Mike Marshall | R | 1978-1980 | 54 | 1.55 |
9 | Bill Campbell | R | 1973-1976 | 51 | 1.76 |
10 | LaTroy Hawkins | R | 1995-2003 | 44 | 1.83 |
Marberry
Senators/Nationals Saves Leaders
| Name | R/L | Years Pitched | Saves | K/BB |
1 | Firpo Marberry | R | 1923-1932, 1936 | 96 | n/a |
2 | Walter Johnson | R | 1907-1927 | 34 | n/a |
3 | Tex Clevenger | R | 1957-1960 | 29 | 1.29 |
4 | Garland Braxton | L | 1927-1930 | 28 | n/a |
5 | Jack Russell | R | 1933-1936 | 26 | n/a |
6 | Dick Hyde | R | 1955-1960 | 23 | 1.04 |
7 | Tom Ferrick | R | 1947-1948, 1951-1952 | 22 | n/a |
8 | Mickey Harris | L | 1949-1952 | 19 | n/a |
9 | Allan Russell | R | 1923-1925 | 19 | n/a |
10 | Pete Appleton | R | 1936-1939, 1945 | 17 | n/a |
11 | Jim Shaw | R | 1913-1921 | 17 | n/a |
This Day in D.C. Baseball History
December 10 - One of baseball's greatest pitchers passed away on December 10, 1946 from a brain tumor. A right-handed power pitcher for the Senators/Nationals, Hall of Famer Walter Johnson won 417 games, the second most games in baseball history, trailing only Cy Young who won 511 games. He and Young are the only pitchers to have won 400 or more games. The "Big Train" was one of the first five members to be elected to baseball's Hall of Fame back in 1936. For more on the great Walter Johnson, click here. You might also want to check out Baseball Digest January 1971 where there is a story called "Walter Johnson greatest pitcher of them all" by Leonard Koppett.
The slick fielding Vic Power
December 5 - Victor “Vic” Pellot Power, one of the most colorful and controversial players of the 1950’s, was born on November 1, 1927 and passed away from cancer on November 29, 2005. Power was the second black Puerto Rican to play in the majors and the first Puerto Rican to play in the American League. He used the name Vic Power during his 12-year major league career, but played as Victor Pellot when he played winter baseball in Puerto Rico.
Power had a 12 year major league career playing for the Philadelphia Athletics (1954), the Kansas City Athletics (1955 – 1958), the Cleveland Indians (1958 – 1961), the Minnesota Twins (1962 – 1964), the Los Angeles Angels (1964), the Philadelphia Phillies (1964), and he finished his career in 1965 with the California Angels. One of the flashiest, best fielding, and most colorful first sackers in baseball history, Power was a free swinger who seldom walked or struck out, averaging just one strikeout every 24.5 at bats, and finished his career with a highly respectable lifetime batting average of .284. Although Power was best known for his fielding, Vic was no slouch at the plate where in his 6,046 at bats he hit 126 home runs, knocked in 658, and scored 765 runs while hitting .284 in 1,627 games. Although not blessed with blazing speed, Power led the AL in triples in 1958 was able to steal 45 bases during his career and once stole home twice in one game. Power was good enough to be selected to the All-Star teams in 1955, 1956, 1959 and 1960. Vic Power won seven Gold Gloves between 1958 and 1964 and had a career fielding average of .994 in 11,285 chances. Although best known as the slick fielding first sacker, Power also played all three outfield positions (115 games), second base (139 games), third base (89 games), and Power even played 8 games at Shortstop. Vic was smart enough not to don the tools of ignorance.
I found a couple of good articles on Vic Power and thought that I would share them with you. The first article can be found on the Philadelphia Athletics Historical Society site and the second story can be found on the Diamond Angle.
A Baseball Fantasy Camp Experience
Bert, Stan, and Harmon
December 3 - Have you heard about the Minnesota Twins Fantasy camp? It is place where we “normal” folks can suit up in a regulation Twins uniform and play with and against former Twins greats. Just think how much fun it would be to sit in the dugout and talk baseball with Harmon or Bert or many other former Twins stars, or maybe, just maybe you will be part of one of the kangaroo courts that supposedly take place.
The camp is run by Stan Dickman and from everything I have heard, he runs a wonderful camp. Stan has assembled another great Pro staff for 2010 -- join Harmon, Tony-O, Bert, Bruno, Frankie "sweet music" Viola, Tim Laudner, Gene Larkin, Juan "senor smoke" Berenguer, Lee "Stinger" Stange, Eric Rasmussen, and Rick Miller in Florida in January. Great baseball, daily gifts, full buffet breakfasts, and lunches in the Clubhouse prepared by a world class chef, George Serra and much, much more.
I personally have never had the opportunity to participate in one of these camps but I have often thought about about how cool it would be, I just need to scrape together a few extra dollars and one of these days maybe I will get that opportunity.
Here is a story that Stan wrote some time ago when he was a fantasy camp participant, today he runs the show. So enjoy it and maybe it will be that final push you need to sign up and be a baseball player for a week or so in sunny and warm Florida in January. Would this be a great Christmas gift or what? For more info on the camp just click on the logo below, but hurry because January is just around the corner.
FIELD OF DREAMS
By Stan Dickman
Le Mars, Iowa – As I entered the locker room of the Minnesota Twins winter home in Ft Myers, Florida, I was met by an individual who looked like he may very well have been a protégé of Abner Doubleday. Wayne Hataway, equipment manager and Twins organization icon, has been with the club since the 60’s. Hataway, a witness to the careers of such Twins greats as Harmon Killebrew, Rod Carew, Tony Oliva, Kirby Puckett, Kent Hrbek and Bert Blyleven, was certainly not going to give “quarter” to me or any one of the other seventy-five campers that were arriving this Sunday morning in preparation for a fantasy week of baseball.
“What’s your name?” Hataway barked at me as I rounded the corner and stood at the threshold of a major league locker room.
“Dickman”, I replied, almost involuntarily.
“Take a look in the third aisle”, he continued, “There’s locker with your name on it and make damn sure you keep it clean!”
As I rounded the corner on the third aisle of stained oak lockers, I was welcomed by what I can only describe as one of the most exhilarating experiences in my life. There, hanging in the fourth locker, neatly pressed, was a set of home and away Minnesota Twins uniforms – with my name on the back! In an instant, all of my dreams of playing major league baseball, hung neatly before me. This, I thought is exactly what had brought me to camp.
What does motivate a 48 year old man to part with hard earned money, just to live out a childhood dream? Maybe it’s no more complicated than the love of baseball. Or, maybe it’s the manifestation of a midlife crisis. Perhaps it’s a natural desire to hang on to piece of his youth, or a longing for a return to a less complicated time. Whatever had brought me on this odyssey, I was happy to be here.
Each year, thousands of fantasy campers from across the country make their own pilgrimage to one of the many major league fantasy camps held each spring in the warm weather destinations of Florida, Arizona, Texas or California. Borrowing a line from the movie “Field of Dream” – “For its money they have and its peace they lack”.
I was fortunate to have been raised in place and time where baseball was at the center of my formative years. In Brunsville, Iowa (population 120) where I grew up, there weren’t many recreational opportunities - but we did have a baseball diamond. Since my chums and I were of the baby boom generation, fielding two teams for our daily baseball games didn’t prove to be much of an obstacle – even in a small town. Every summer day that it didn’t rain, would find us playing a game in the morning, two each afternoon and one more until dark.
In 1961 my parents took my two bothers and I to our first major league baseball game at the old Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minnesota. I was hooked! Baseball went from being a favorite pastime to a passion, and I just knew that I would make my living as a major league baseball player.
After a career that included little league in Brunsville, senior league and American Legion ball in Le Mars, Iowa, college baseball at Westmar College and five years of amateur baseball with the Le Mars Orioles, it became only all too obvious that no one was going to pay me to play baseball. Like most guys in my generation, I finished my playing career on a softball field and later traded my ball and glove for a set of golf clubs.
“Men do not quit playing because they grow old; they grow old because they quit playing.” - Oliver Wendell Holmes
Fast forward to the fall of 2001, now a bonafide couch potato and twenty-seven years removed from my last “hardball” game, I was watching a Twins broadcast on FOX television when analyst Bert Blyleven mentioned the Twins fantasy camp. At the next commercial break, I struggled from the couch to the computer and went to the Twins website to learn more about the camp. Within a day or two I had been contacted by camp organizer, Larry Marino and after about a ten minute conversation, I was signed up for the 2002 camp to be held in January at Ft Myers, winter home of the Minnesota Twins.
In Florida I was to meet some of the most wonderful people that I’ve ever had the pleasure to know. The talent level at this camp truly ran the gambit. There were several former college players, most had played at least high school baseball, but there were some who had not played baseball since their little league days. Somehow, as the week developed, the level of baseball skill really didn’t seem to be all that important. Everyone at the camp had an obvious love of baseball and somewhere in our collective pasts, baseball had made a lifetime impression.
At the Twins camp, the coaches are former major league players, many of whom had played with Minnesota. In my case, I was fortunate to be managed by Baseball Hall of Fame candidate, Bert Blyleven, and Gene Larkin, whose 10th inning single in game seven lifted the Twins past the Atlanta Braves to make them 1991 World Champions.
Day one consisted with a series of hitting, fielding and pitching drills that were led by the former major leaguers. Campers are treated to professional instruction and some incredible “inside” stories from their major league careers. Sunday afternoon, scrimmage games were held to allow the Pro’s to further assess the talent in the camp. Later that afternoon a draft was held and each camper was selected by their Pro coaches and assigned to teams that were announced at dinner that evening.
Dinners were held four of the seven nights that we were in camp and two of those evening events included a Kangaroo Court. Judges, Jim “Mudcat” Grant and Bert Blyleven would levy fines on the campers for such egregious infractions as players not having their jersey tucked in (a challenge for some of the campers who have spent much of the latter part of their careers at the training table), forgetting to wear a belt, talking to an umpire or forgetting to wear a batting helmet to the plate. All of the fines were donated to the Lee County Children’s Hospital in Ft. Myers.
Campers play two games each day and the two teams with the best record for the week meet in the camp championship on Saturday. We played on the same meticulously manicured diamonds used by the Twins for their fundamental drills and inter squad games.
On Friday every camper team plays three innings against an All Star team made up of the former major leaguers in camp. I can tell you from first-hand experience that Bert Blyleven can still throw an impressive curve ball. The All Star game and the camp championship games are both played at Hammond Stadium, which is the Twins major league home field for all of their spring training games.
Without question, the most memorable part of the fantasy camp experience is the relationships that are forged. The Pro’s that participate in the Twins camp were more than approachable and were genuinely concerned about every camper fulfilling their fantasy. For me, an old catcher, that fantasy included meeting former Twins catcher, Earl Battey. Earl’s gone now, but growing up he was my favorite Twin.
One former Twin that made the camp extra special was Dave Boswell. “Bos” was a member of the pitching staff for the 1965 Twins team that played the Los Angeles Dodgers in the World Series. He was also a 20 game winner for the ’69 Twins. He and his wife Lou are two of the most genuine people you will ever meet, and all of the Pro’s in camp are outstanding ambassadors for the game of baseball. It’s important to remember that many of these guys played at a time when a second job in the off season was necessary if they were to feed a family. They played for the love of the game and for the chance to compete against the best in the world. They also share a common objective of continuing to give back to the game that was and remains, a big part of their lives.
It’s now been seven years since my first camp (yes, I’ve been back four more times) and I have made some incredible friendships. Friendships that I count among my closest and most cherished. Even though winning the camp championship doesn’t earn you a discount on next year’s camp, you quickly discover that the desire to compete – at any level – still burns deep. When you share the field with ten or eleven other teammates, and you’re all focused on team success, you naturally develop an esprit de corps. I rediscovered that it had always been those relationships and the thrill of competition that drove my passion for playing baseball.
So, if you’re looking to satisfy that competitive “itch”, you too should consider a fantasy camp experience, and the camp is not a “Men Only” club. Every camp I’ve attended included female player who are among the camps most avid baseball fans. If a camp experience sounds like something you’d like to try, you may just discover what I did. Playing baseball again was an incredible motivator to get off of the couch and get back in the game. And, I believe we can all learn a lesson from that great philosopher and former major league pitcher Satchel Paige who once asked the question, “How old would you be if you didn’t know how old you are?”
Remember - Growing up is inevitable – growing old is optional!
First annual Twins Turkey of the Year Winner is
November 26 - Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Just for fun I think I will start an annual “Twins Turkey of the Year” award that will be awarded to the Twins player and/or Twins staff member that in my opinion showed his/her true colors during the past baseball season. The initial award winner is none other than pitcher Glen Perkins who I think was a run-away winner this year. The Twins had a great season in their final year under the Teflon roof but Perkins stood out as the “fly in the ointment. It seems that annually Perkins takes some vacation time on the DL and this year was no different.” When he pitches well, he has no complaints but when he has a bad outing then all of a sudden his arm or elbow hurts. Then he supposedly files a grievance stating that Twins management intentionally kept him in the minors to keep him from accumulating time in the big leagues. I don’t know if the Twins were sending Perkins a message or not when they kept him in the minors but it was well deserved. Twins management now states that the team and Perkins have buried the hatchet and that Perkins is ready to pitch for the Twins again this spring. I will believe that when I see it, as I see it, Perkins will be pitching for somebody other than the Twins in 2010. Stick a fork in him, he is done.
Call to the Hall?
November 22 - Three former Twins managers are in the group of 10 finalists on this year’s Veterans Committee managers/umpires ballot at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. The Veterans Committee will vote on Dec. 6 at baseball’s Winter Meetings in Indianapolis, and the results of the vote will be announced Dec. 7.
The 10 candidates on the managers/umpires ballot are: Charlie Grimm, Doug Harvey, Whitey Herzog, Davey Johnson, Billy Martin, Gene Mauch, Danny Murtaugh, Hank O’Day, Steve O’Neill and Tom Kelly. A candidate must receive at least 75 percent of all ballots cast to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2010.
courtesy of twinscards.com
A fan favorite, Billy Martin was named the Twins fourth manager when he replaced the fired Cal Ermer but he only managed the Twins for one season, 1969, but during his one season at the helm, he led his team to the AL Western Division championship. The team finished the season with a 97-65 (.599%) record and went on to lose the AL Championship series 3 games to none to the Baltimore Orioles. Martin was fired after the season, replaced by Bill Rigney and one of the reasons for his firing may have been his decision to start Bob Miller in the third and final game of the AL Championship series. Martin went on to manage the Detroit Tigers from 1971-1973, the Texas Rangers from 1973-1975, the New York Yankees for 1975-1979, the Oakland A’s from 1980-1982, and the Yankees again in 1983, again in 1985, and one more time in 1988. In his 16 years as a manger, Billy Martin managed to win 3 pennants and two World Series titles while compiling a 1,253-1,013 record. Billy Martin died on December 25, 1989.
courtesy of twinscards.com
The thinking man’s manager, Gene Mauch managed the Twins from 1976 to 1980 after replacing the popular Frank Quilici. Mauch led the Twins to a 378-394 (.490%) record in his 5 season and never finished higher then 3rd place. Gene Mauch was replaced as Twins manager by Johnny Goryl. Mauch also managed the Philadelphia Phillies from 1960-1968, the Montreal Expos from 1969-1975, the Angels from 1981-1982 and again from 1985-1987. Mauch managed in the big leagues for 26 seasons and compiled a 1,902-2,037 (.483%) life time record but he was never able to get one of his teams to a World Series. Gene Mauch was the uncle of Roy Smalley who played for the Twins during from 1976-1982 and again from 1985 to 1987. Gene Mauch passed away on August 8, 2005.
courtesy of twinscards.com
Tom Kelly replaced Ray Miller as the Twins manager and managed the Twins from 1986-2001, winning two World Series titles (1987 and 1991) in the process of compiling a 1,140-1,244 (.478%). Kelly, the only native Minnesotan to ever manage the Twins, was born August 15, 1950 in Graceville, Minnesota. Kelly started his managing career by serving as a player-manager for Tacoma in AAA in 1977 but in 1978 he went back to playing. In 1979 and 1980 TK managed Visalia in A ball to division titles both years and won back to back Manager of the Year awards in the California League. In 1981 Kelly was moved up to AA Orlando in the Southern League and led his team to the division title and again pocketed another Manager of the Year award, this time in the Southern League. Kelly managed Orlando again in 1982, winning the first half title. In 1983 Tom Kelly was named the Twins 3B base coach and in the process became the first native Minnesotan to join the Twins managerial staff. TK continued to coach 3B base at the Metrodome until then manager Ray Miller was fired and Kelly was named as the Twins manager on September 12, 1986. Now days TK serves as a special assistant to GM Bill Smith and participates as a Twins spring training instructor.
It will be very interesting to see the final vote totals when the totals are announced on December 7th but to be honest I don’t hold out much hope for TK or Gene Mauch getting elected this time around. Billy Martin on the other hand might have a real shot if for no other reason than his notoriety and the fact that he managed the Yankees on 4 different occasions.
UPDATE December 8 - The results were announced yesterday and two candidates from the 10 man ballot were elected. The new Hall of Famers will be umpire Doug Harvey and manager Whitey Herzog, a former Washington Senator. Election required 75% or 12 of the 16 votes and Harvey had 15 votes and Herzog had 14. Former Twins managers Billy Martin, Gene Mauch, and Tom Kelly each had less then 3 votes.
It happened on November 18, 1966
November 20 - On November 18, 1966 Los Angeles Dodger left-hander and three-time Cy Young Award winner Sandy Koufax shocked the baseball world by announcing his retirement at age 30. Koufax finished the 1966 season with a 27-9 record and a league-leading 1.73 ERA. It was the fifth consecutive season that Koufax posted the National League's lowest ERA, a major league record. Koufax cited an arthritic arm and the fear of permanent damage as the reason for placing himself on the voluntarily retired list. Koufax spent his entire playing career with the Dodgers, posting a 165-87 record in 12 seasons with a career ERA of 2.76. He never played an inning of minor league baseball. Koufax pitched 4 no-hitters during his career, including one perfect game. In 1965 he set the record for strikeouts in a single season with 382. He was named National League Most Valuable player in 1963 when he led the league with a 25-5 record. During the decade of the greatest pitching since the introduction of the lively baseball in 1920, Koufax was baseball's ace of aces. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1972.
I seldom write about opposing players but this man was something special on the mound and he does have ties to the Twins via the 1965 World Series.
Reprinted with permission from 1960sbaseball.com
Forty Years Ago
November 18 - The 1968 Minnesota Twins finished with a 79-83 record under manager Cal Ermer and finished a disappointing seventh in the ten team American League, a full 24 games behind the first place Detroit Tigers and owner Calvin Griffith decided he had seen enough even though stars like Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva, and Jim Kaat had suffered injuries that caused them to miss numerous games. On October 11th he fired manager Cal Ermer and hired the brash Billy Martin who had been managing the Twins AAA team in Denver to skipper the 1969 Minnesota Twins. 1969 would be an exciting season for Minnesota, they had a young new manager and would begin play in the newly formed Western Division of the American League along with the Oakland A’s, the California Angels, the Kansas City Royals, the Chicago White Sox, and the Seattle Pilots. 1969 brought two new teams to the American League, the Kansas City Royals who were replacing the A’s who had packed their bags and moved to Oakland under owner Charlie Finley and the Seattle Pilots who it turns out would only stay in Seattle for one season before moving to Milwaukee and becoming the Brewers.
The Twins 1969 season got off to a rough start for Billy’s boys when they lost their first two games of the season on the road to the expansion Royals, both losses coming in extra innings. They moved on to California and lost their next two games by scores of 5-3 and 4-3 and found themselves in the basement of the Western Division. But Martin got his team on the straight and narrow and the team ripped off 7 wins in a row and took over 1st place. They finished the month of April 13-7 and were sitting on top of the division. From April 26th through July 3rd the team was either first or second in the standings. Oakland came to town on the 4th of July week-end and the Twins whipped Charlie Finley’s boys 3 straight and outscored the A’s 30 to 11 and took over first place, a spot they would keep for the rest of the season. The Twins finished the season with a 97-65 record, 9 games ahead of the second place Oakland A’s. Although Martin had the team running (4th in stolen bases), the team finished first in the league in hits, runs, doubles, total bases, and batting average. The Twins pitching wasn’t too shabby either as Jim Perry and Dave Boswell each finished with 20 wins and threw 250+ innings and Ron Perranoski was great out of the bullpen pitching 119+ innings in 75 games finishing 52 of them and getting credit for 31 saves.
The Twins would go on to lose their first league championship series to the Baltimore Orioles in a 3 game sweep but that is a whole different story that we will talk about in the future. Just a week after losing the final game of the championship series, Billy Martin is fired by owner Calvin Griffith and Bill Rigney was named the Twins new manager. Roy Blount Jr. of Sports Illustrated did a nice story on Billy Martin and the Twins in the July 21, 1969 issue and you can read that story by clicking on the SI magazine cover.
Intentional Strikeout
November 13 - Deceased former Twins manager, Cal Ermer speaking: “We have a play now that we used to use in Chattanooga in 1952, with two strikes, we begin to walk a batter intentionally. After three balls, the catcher is at the side again to catch a wild pitch, but on a signal, the pitcher fires it over the middle. We got big Frank Howard on this. He chased our catcher with a bat. Bob Oldis was a wizard at this play. We pulled it some in 1952.”
Bob Montag, who was listening to Ermer and played for Atlanta that year, spoke up, grinning, with, “Yeah, he pulled it on me.” --- Wirt Gammon in the Chattanooga Times.
Jack Dean “Jackie” Collum
November 11 - Jackie Collum was small in stature (5’7” and 163 pounds) but he had a big heart and a devastating screwball that he turned that into a 9 year major league career. Jackie was born on June 21, 1927 in Victor, Iowa and died at the age of 82 on August 29, 2009 in Grinnell, Iowa. Collum pitched for the Cardinals, Reds, Cubs, Dodgers (in Brooklyn and LA), Twins and the Indians. Collum also spent numerous years in the minors including a couple years with the St. Paul Saints in 1959 and 1960.
Jackie Collum’s stint with the Twins was brief, he pitched for Minnesota in 1962 appearing in just 8 games and had a 0-2 record and an ERA of 11.15 but that was at the tail end of Collum’s big league career. The Twins traded Collum and a player to be named later (Georges Maranda) to the Cleveland Indians in August of 1962 for Ruben Gomez. Collum only pitched in 1 game for the Indians before his major league career ended at the age of 35.
Although Jackie Collum’s time in Minnesota was short, he had a very interesting career and is a baseball legend in Iowa and by clicking here you can read a very interesting story written about Jackie Collum by William L. Sherman for the Field of Dreams chapter (Iowa) of SABR.
GO GO is Gone
November 6 - The Twins announced today that they have traded outfielder Carlos Gomez to the Milwaukee Brewers for shortstop JJ Hardy. Carlos Gomez was the center piece in the Johan Santana trade with the New York Mets several years ago and came to Minnesota along with Philip Humber, Kevin Mulvey, and Deolis Guerra. Gomez is the second player of that group that has now been traded as Mulvey was sent to Arizona in the trade for reliever Jon Rauch earlier this year. Humber and Guerra remain in the Twins minor league system. The fleet footed Gomez never hit enough to win the center field job outright and often looked like he had no clue with the bat but the Twins will miss his speed, his ability to play center field and his unique character.
The Twins outfield was crowded in 2009 with Cuddyer, Span, Young, Kubel, and Gomez all fighting for playing time and almost always Gomez turned out to be the one sitting on the bench. Now it appears that GM Bill Smith and the Twins are finally admitting that they had too many outfielders which I have been saying for over a year on this site. These guys need to come to the ballpark knowing where they will be playing and where they will be hitting and only Cuddyer knew that he would be in right field game in and game out, at least until Justin Morneau got hurt.
JJ Hardy by Pat Sullivan/AP
James Jerry Hardy better known as JJ is 27 years old, about 6’2” and 180 pounds and has been with the Brewers since 2005 but he sat out most of 2006 with an injury. Hardy was drafted by the Brewers in the second round of the 2001 draft and won the starting shortstop job with the Brew Crew in 2005. Hardy has been inconsistent during his career and late in 2009 appeared to have lost his starting shortstop job to Alcides Escobar and was actually sent to the minors by the Brewers this past season for 18 games. The 2007 season was arguably Hardy’s best season when he made the NL All-Star team and hit .277 with 26 home runs and 80 RBI’s. Although Hardy has a .262 career average, he has bounced around hitting .247, .242, .277, .283 and .229 last year. His rate of strikeouts has also increased the last 3 years and in 2009 he struck out once every 4.87 at bats. Hardy is not a base stealing threat as his career numbers are 5 steals in 11 attempts, maybe Gardy can get him running. Hardy has a career .323 OBP and yet most of his Brewer at bats have been in the number 2 spot in the batting order. Actually Hardy’s OBP compares very favorably to Orlando Cabrera and Nick Punto who have an OBP of .322. Nothing to jump up and down about there but Hardy does have some pop as he has shown in 2007 when he hit 26 out of the park and 24 in 2008 but in 2009 he fell to 11 home runs. In the field, Hardy is about average from a fielding percentage perspective.
On the salary front, Hardy made 4.65 million in 2009 and will be under team control in 2010 and 2011. It will be interesting to see what number will be assigned to Hardy as the Twins number 7 is currently being used by someone who I think will not be parting with it in the near future. When I first heard about the trade I was really excited and now that I have had the time to look at the numbers that Hardy has put up, I am still excited but I have to admit I am a bit apprehensive about his average and lack of speed.
Bottom line though, I go down on the positive side of this trade and think it is a very good move because the Twins have plugged a hole at short and traded an outfielder so now the line-up can be more consistent and each player knows his role in the line-up. If Hardy can play up to his ability, then I can live with Punto at 2B if need be but acquiring a 2B would still be nice. Mr. Smith still has work to do, but this is a nice start to the off season.
This day in D.C. baseball history
October 30 - The Griffith era began on October 30, 1911. Check out NationalsPride.com for more information on how it started. For additional information on Clark Griffith just click here and here.
Did you know?
October 29 - That the Minnesota Twins were the first team in history to start measuring the distance of home runs? The practice started at Met Staium in 1963.
or that
Harmon Killbrew hit his first major league home run in a Washington Senator uniform off Detroit Tiger pitcher Billy Hoeft at Griffith Stadium on June 24, 1955 in front of 4,188 fans and hit his last home run off Minnesota Twins pitcher Eddie Bane in a Kansas City Royal uniform at Met Stadium on September 18, 1975 in front on only 3,201 fans.
or that
Harmon Killebrew hit more home runs off former Red Sox and Tigers pitcher Earl Wilson than any other pitcher? The Killer hit 9 out of the park against against Wilson.
or that
Harmon hit 4 walk-off home runs in his career and that 3 of them were against the New York Yankees?
or that
Harmon blasted more home runs (393) in the 1960's than any other player. He led the American League in home runs 5 times during the decade, and almost certainly would have been the 4th player in major league history to hit 400 or more home runs in a single decade had an injury not cost him more than 50 games in 1968. (The 3 players who have hit 400 home runs in a decade are Babe Ruth, Jimmie Foxx and Mark McGwire.) Killebrew ranked second in RBIs for the decade (1,013) and fifth in slugging percentage (.546).
Twins Home Run Leaders by Position
October 21 - I thought that it would be fun to take a look back over the Twins history just to see who the Twins leaders are in home runs at each position. Some of the numbers that I found from the Twins 49 seasons in Minnesota were really a surprise to me and I have followed the Twins since their inception in 1961.
POSITION | PLAYER | HOME RUNS | AT BATS PER HOME RUN |
Catcher | Tim Laudner | 77 | 26.46 |
1B | Kent Hrbek | 293 | 21.13 |
2B | Rod Carew | 46 | 96.74 |
SS | Zoilo Versalles | 86 | 48.23 |
3B | Gary Gaetti | 201 | 24.82 |
OF | Kirby Puckett | 207 | 35.00 |
DH | Matt LeCroy | 53 | 21.40 |
P | Jim Kaat | 14 | 71.00 |
You have to be thinking, this can’t be right, where is Twins all-time home run slugger Harmon Killebrew? But when you look at the numbers you will see that Harmon played 14 seasons with the Twins but he split his time playing four positions, he played 881 games at 1B, 481 games at 3B, 455 games in the OF, and 122 games as a DH. Killebrew smashed 191 home runs as a first baseman, 142 as an outfielder, 129 while playing the hot corner, and 13 more when he was the DH. The Twins currently have some players on the roster like Justin Morneau, Jason Kubel, and Joe Mauer that could be slugging their way on to this list very soon.
When you look at the Washington Sentaors/Nationals numbers from 1901 to 1960 to get a franchise perspective you see how much different baseball is today from its earlier years. I think the one interesting number that jumped out at me here was Roy Sievers and the fact that he hit a home run in every 16.95 at bats when he played the outfield.
POSITION | PLAYER | HOME RUNS | AT BATS PER HOME RUN |
Catcher | Jake Early | 29 | 68.76 |
1B | Mickey Vernon | 121 | 57.27 |
2B | Buddy Myer | 34 | 162.94 |
SS | Joe Cronin | 51 | 70.24 |
3B | Eddie Yost | 101 | 59.51 |
OF | Roy Sievers | 159 | 16.95 |
DH | -- | -- | -- |
P | Walter Johnson | 24 | 96.83 |
It is always fun to look at historical numbers and to do comparisons. I will continue to look at different aspects of Twins and Senators/Nationals history and hopefully you will enjoy reading these articles as much as I enjoy putting them together.
A quick and painful end to the Twins playoff hopes
October 12 - I am not missing in action, just spending a week or so in Las Vegas enjoying some warm weather and sunshine while the Midwest struggles through the cold and snow and the Twins quick exit from the playoffs at the hands of the New York Yankees. To be up front with everyone, I wrote off the Twins early in September and made reservations to go to Vegas. The Twins then got hot and won 16 of 20 and tied for the Central Division title and then beat the Tigers in a one game tie-breaker at the Dome. I think the Tigers collapse has to be one of the greatest “choke acts” in baseball history. Up 3 with 4 games to play and they can’t get it done. WOW! Of course we need to thank the Might Whiteys for their help too. I don’t have a lot of computer time here in Las Vegas so I will write more about the Twins when I get back in town. I did get a chance to watch game 3 here in Las Vegas and I do have a couple of comments that I will leave you with and maybe we can discuss them more in depth a little later. On the positive side I thought that Carl Pavano pitched very well but late in the 6th inning and in the 7th inning his pitches were up and you had to be concerned. One of the biggest questions I have is how can you let A-Rod beat you after he has trashed your team in the first two games? My goodness, just walk him and be done with it. Of course you have to ask what Punto was thinking. But most of all I want to know what Gardenhire was thinking, why was Morales playing? The choices he made late in the game with his relief pitchers were very strange. Why wait to bring in Nathan until after the bases are loaded? Some very strange things happened there for sure. I should be back in town sometime this coming week-end.
2009 attendance third highest in team history
October 8 - With 82 home games in 2009, the Minnesota Twins drew a total of 2,482,248 fans through the turnstiles in their final season at the Metrodome. The Twins averaged 29,466 per game and had 11 dates with over 40,000 in attendance. This marked their highest attendance since 1992 and their third highest total ever. The Twins all-time high attendance high was 3,030,672 in 1988 when they were the first MLB team to draw in excess of 3,000,000 fans.
We can hope that all this plus a spanking new ballpark at Target Field should equal a nice payroll jump for the Twins in 2010 and hopefully some good free agent additions because don’t kid yourself, this team has some holes it needs to fill in spite of winning the Central title this year and advancing into the playoffs. It will be a very interesting off season for the Twins this year, but for now let’s hope that the off season doesn’t start for awhile.
An interesting tidbit from Elias
October 7 - Alexi Casilla, who drove in the winning run for the Twins with a single that scored Carlos Gomez from second base, was an unlikely hero. When he came to the plate, Casilla was one of only two players in the majors with at least 200 at-bats and a sub-.200 batting average this season. Casilla's game-winner raised his average to .202 from .198 and left San Diego's Brian Giles (.191) with the unfortunate distinction of being the only player with 200-plus at-bats to finish this year with a batting average "on the interstate."
Twins walk off with the Central Division Title
October 6 - Alexi Casilla became the unlikely hero for the Twins when he delivered a walk-off RBI single in the 12th inning off Tiger closer Fernando Rodney to lift the Twins to a 6-5 victory that gave the club its fifth division title this decade and earned Minnesota a trip to New York to face the Yankees in the AL Division Series which starts on Wednesday afternoon.
The game went back and forth and was an exciting a baseball game as I have ever seen. I wasn’t one of the lucky 54,088 or so fans that witnessed the game in person at the Metrodome but watching the game at home was just as stressful. It turns out that the Homer Hanky waving crowd was the largest regular season crowd ever in Metrodome history and it took place on the final regular season game to ever be played at the Metrodome.
The Tigers jumped out to a 3-0 lead off starter Scott Baker before the Twins chipped away and finally took a 4-3 lead on a homerun by Orlando Cabrera in the bottom of the seventh inning. The Tigers tied the game in the next inning on a Magglio Ordonez long ball. The teams traded runs in the 10th inning before Casilla came up with the game winner in the 12th. Earlier in the game Miguel Cabrera homered for Detroit and Jason Kubel hit one out for the Twins. Five Tigers pitchers threw 193 pitches and eight Twins pitchers threw 198 pitches in the 12 inning affair.
The Twins celebration will have to be a short one as they need to fly to New York and take on those hated New York Yankees starting tomorrow afternoon. But for now, all you can say is WOW! What a ballgame!
According to Elias
October 5 - TWINS STAY ALIVE WITH A POWER SURGE - Jason Kubel and Delmon Young each homered twice and Michael Cuddyer went deep once as both the Twins and the Metrodome lived to see another day with a 13-4 win over the Royals on Sunday. Minnesota's five home runs matched the most they've ever hit in a game at the Metrodome, done four times previously, most recently on June 1, 2004 .
According to Elias
October 3 - Orlando Cabrera scored two runs in the Twins' 10-7 win over the Royals, extending his run-scoring streak to 13 games. That's the longest scoring streak by a Twins player since Kirby Puckett crossed the plate in 14 straight games in 1986. The only other player with a run-scoring streak of 12 or more games since the team moved to Minnesota in 1961 was Rich Rollins (12 games in 1964). The streak ended at 13 when Cabrera failed to score in in the Twins 5-4 win Saturday afternoon.
Did you know?
October 2 - That Twins shortstop Orlando Cabrera is the only active major leaguer who has had at least 100 bases loaded at bats without a grand slam home run to his credit. He almost ended that streak yesterday.
According to Elias
September 30 - I can't believe some of the things that ELIAS can come up with. RARE TWINBILL IN DETROIT Tuesday's day/night twinbill between the Tigers and Twins was the first doubleheader of any kind since 1916 that was played this late in the calendar year between first- and second-place teams from the same league/division with first place on the line - that is, with teams separated by a margin of two games or less.
Former Twins ROY Chuck Knoblauch Accused of Assaulting Wife
Knoblauch mug shot
September 29 - Former Minnesota Twins Rookie of the Year Chuck Knoblauch now faces a felony criminal charge in Texas for an alleged attack on his common-law wife outside their Memorial-area home. Knoblauch turned himself into authorities on Tuesday after investigators obtained a warrant for his arrest. He's accused of beating, then choking his wife during a drunken rage early in the morning of Friday.
Knoblauch was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the first round (25th overall) of the 1989 amateur draft. Knoblauch won the starting 2B job in the spring of 1991 and was a key player in the Minnesota Twins World Championship season in which he also won the American league Rookie of the Year award. After a contract dispute, Chuck Knoblauch was traded by the Twins to the New York Yankees for Brian Buchanan, Cristian Guzman, Eric Milton, Danny Mota and cash on February 6, 1998. Not long after his arrival in New York, Knoblauch started having problems throwing to first base and that eventually led to the Yankees letting Knoblauch go via free agency in November of 2001. The Kansas City Royals signed Knoblauch in 2002 but he only played 80 games there before he announced his retirement.
Chuck Knoblauch was one of more than 100 players who were accused of using performance-enhancing drugs in the 2007 Mitchell Report on baseball's steroids era. Knoblauch later acknowledged using performance enhancers. Additionsl information and some videos can be seen here.
Joe Nathan is Worth the Big Bucks
September 25 - Joe Nathan has been successful in 44 of his 49 save opportunities this season. Nathan’s 243 saves since the beginning of the 2004 ranks first amongst all closers. His 90.7 save percentage ranks second (to Mariano Rivera’s 93.1) but his 1.87 ERA (among closers with at least 160 saves) is the best in all of baseball. Since 2004, Nathan has recorded 512 strikeouts and has a batting-average-against of .182. Some of us had reservations about the Twins resigning Nathan to a big contract but without Nathan, the 2009 Twins team would have been planning their post season activities a long time ago.
This Day in D.C. Baseball History
September 21 - On September 21, 1933 the Washington Senators’ behind the pitching of Lefty Stewart beat the St. Louis Browns 2-1 to clinch the American League Pennant. The pennant was the first for the Senators since they won the 1925 American League Pennant. For the rest of the story, check out Mark Hornbaker's column.
According to Elias
September 21 - SPAN WHIFFS FOUR TIMES FROM THE LEADOFF SPOT - Denard Span was 0-for-4 with four strikeouts in the Twins' loss to the Tigers on Sunday. Span was the first Minnesota player to bat four or more times in one game from the first spot in the batting order and strike out in each plate appearance since Zoilo Versalles on May 18, 1966 (0-for-4, 4 SO), the season after he was named the American League's Most Valuable Player.
According to Elias
September 19 - Joe Nathan earned a save in Minnesota's 3-0 victory over Detroit Friday night. Nathan has now converted each of his last 29 save opportunities against the Tigers, the longest current streak any pitcher has against any opposing team. The last pitcher to convert 29+ straight save opportunities against a particular opponent was Mariano Rivera, who notched a save in 33 straight opportunities against Tampa Bay from 1998 to 2005.
First native Minnesota Twins player
courtesy of the Minnesota Twins
September 13 - Paul Robert Giel was born on September 29, 1932 in Winona, Minnesota. Giel attended the University of Minnesota where he was a star in both baseball and football. For the Gopher baseball team, he was a three-time all-American pitcher and still holds the school record with 243 strikeouts in his three seasons. Football however; may have been Giel’s best sport. As a single-wing tailback, he also played quarterback on offense, punted, returned kicks, and played in the defensive backfield. Giel was selected as the Big Ten’s MVP in 1952 and again in 1953. Giel was selected twice as a football All-American and after his senior year in 1953 the Minnesota Gophers captain finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting to Notre Dame QB Johnny Lattner. Giel was also selected as the UPI player of the year and AP back of the year as a senior. Many years later, Paul Giel was elected as a member of the National Football Foundation Football College Hall of Fame.
The Canadian Football League offered Giel $75,000 over three years, and the Chicago Bears held his National Football League rights. Seven or eight baseball teams, including all three in New York, the Giants, the Yankees and the Brooklyn Dodgers all wanted him. Giel signed with the Giants for a $60,000 bonus, their highest ever at the time. Paul had a “live” fastball, a good slider and an ordinary curveball and needed minor league seasoning, but the rules at the time required such so-called bonus babies to spend at least their first two years in the major leagues. In his major league debut on July 10, 1954 at the Polo Grounds against the Pirates, Giel pitched the ninth inning with the Giants trailing 10-7 and he struck out all three batters that he faced. He played sparingly, appearing in only 40 games in his first two seasons. Giel served as an Army officer in 1956 and 1957 before returning to baseball and the Giants in 1958 that by this time had moved to San Francisco. The Giants waived Giel in 1959 and he was picked up by the Pittsburgh Pirates where he pitched for 2 seasons before being sold to Minnesota in February of 1961.
Paul Giel became the first Minnesota native to appear in a Twins uniform when he came in to pitch in relief on April 15, 1961 against the Baltimore Orioles at Memorial stadium. The Twins were losing to the Orioles 6-0 when Giel was called to the mound in the top of the 5th inning. Paul pitched 3 innings that day giving up 3 hits (one was a two run home run to future HOF manager Dick Williams), 2 runs, both earned, issued a walk while striking out two Orioles.
Paul only pitched in 12 games for the Minnesota Twins before he was traded in a very unusual deal to the Kansas City Royals on June 1, 1961 in what is considered the Twins first ever trade. Giel’s career numbers with the Twins were not all that impressive, he only pitched 19.1 innings giving up 24 hits, 21 earned runs for an ERA of 9.78 while walking 17 and striking out 14. The unusual deal started on June 1, 1961 when the Minnesota Twins traded Paul Giel, Reno Bertoia, and a player to be named later to the Kansas City Athletics for outfielder Bill Tuttle and a player to be named later. He is where things get a little strange, on June 10, the Twins sent cash to Kansas City instead of a player to be named later, nothing special here yet, correct? Well, Kansas City still owed Minnesota a player to be named later and guess who that turned out to be, yup, it was Paul Giel. So in the end Giel was traded to the A’s but they shipped him back to the Twins as their player to be named later. In a manner of speaking, Giel was traded for himself after pitching in only one game for the A’s. Paul Giel never appeared in another major league game after being traded back to Minnesota.
After retiring from pro baseball, Giel served stints as a business manager for the Minnesota Vikings and sports director at WCCO radio. In 1972 Paul Giel became Athletic Director at the University of Minnesota. Giel served as the AD during some turbulent times at the U of M and in 1988 he was let go by the University of Minnesota after nearly three years of controversy that included rape allegations against basketball players visiting Madison, Wis., in 1986. Eventually the players were acquitted and many felt at that time and still feel today that Paul Giel was made the scapegoat and lost his job through no fault of his own. After he left the Gophers AD’s position, Giel spent 12 years as the U of M’s vice president of public affairs and chief fund raiser for the Minneapolis Heart Institution Foundation. Paul Giel was plagued by heart issues late in life and died of a heart attack at the age of 69 on May 22, 2002. It is fitting that a person of this caliber is credited as being the first Minnesota native to play for the Minnesota Twins.
The Man Can Hit
September 8 - A note in todays Twins Press Pass, with his .369 batting average, .435 on-base percentage and .606 slugging percentage, Joe Mauer currently leads the American League in all three categories. Only 12 players have ever led the American League in all three, with the last being George Brett in 1980, of the 12 A.L. players to do it, 10 are in the National Baseball Hall of Fame (Ted Williams - five times, Ty Cobb - three, Napolean Lajoie - two, George Stone, Tris Speaker, Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Jimmie Foxx, Frank Robinson, Carl Yastrzemski, Fred Lynn and George Brett). No catcher in either league has ever led in all three categories at the end of a season.
Know your franchise history
September 6 - Seven years after Jackie Robinson made his major league debut, the Washington Senators played a black ballplayer for the first time on September 6, 1954 and his name was Carlos Paula. Go to This Day in D.C. Baseball History for additional information.
Target Field Construction Photo's
September 6 - Sports Illustrated has some interesting Target Field construction photo's that you can see by clicking here. They are a bit different then the ones I have seen in the past. It is a good thing that the Twins are getting ready to move into Target Field in 2010 because a recent poll by Sports Illustrated of 380 MLB players did not show the Metrodome in a good light. To see the poll, click here. I find it interesting that the top two ballparks are old and obsolete by todays standards.
According to Elias
September 5 - 9 YEARS LATER, TWINS HAVE A 4-ERROR GAME - The Twins' defensive meltdown on Friday night at Cleveland not only contributed to a 5-2 loss, it also ended one of the most impressive (if little-known) defensive streaks in major-league history. The Twins committed four errors in Friday's game, the most errors they have committed in a game since June 21, 2000, when they were charged with four errors in a 7-5 loss at Texas. (Pitcher Bob Wells made two of those errors, Cristian Guzman and Butch Huskey the others.) Minnesota's streak of 1,519 games without a game of four-or-more errors was by far the longest in the history of the major leagues-nearly 400 games superior to the second-longest such streak, 1,136 games by the Rockies.
The Garrett Jones story
September 4 - Garrett Jones was signed by the Twins on May 24, 2002 after being released by the Atlanta Braves who had drafted Jones in the 14th round of the 1999 amateur draft. Garrett toiled in the Twins minor league system from 2002 to 2007 before he finally got that call to join the Twins. Jones made several trips between Rochester and Minnesota in 2007 but appeared in only 31 games hitting .208 in 77 at bats. During his time in Minnesota Jones hit 2 home runs and had 5 RBI's. Jones spent all of the 2008 season in Rochester and became a free agent after the season ended. The Pittsburgh Pirates took a chance on Garrett Jones, signing him in December of 2008 and the rest as they say "is history". Now there is talk of Garrett Jones becoming the National League Rookie of the Year, I think it is unlikely, but it would make for a great story wouldn't it? Chuck Finder, of Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote a nice piece on Garrett Jones recently and you can find it here.
According to Elias
September 3 - Joe Nathan allowed two home runs in the ninth inning in the Twins loss to the White Sox. Nathan had not allowed more than one home run in his previous 448 games pitched. Entering Wednesday's games, only three pitchers had a longer current streak of not allowing more than one home run in a game than Nathan: Chad Bradford (555 games without allowing more than one homer), Alan Embree (527) and Trever Miller (504) .
Know your franchise history
September 3 - On September 2, 1952 a 20 year old Cuban made his major league debut and pitched a one hitter. After pitching in just 4 games for the Senators in 1952, he was traded to the Chicago White Sox for Chuck Stobbs. Eventually he was purchased by the Minnesota Twins from the Boston Red Sox in 1963 but he pitched in relief for the Twins for just over a month before being released and thus ending his 12 year major league career. To find out more about who this pitcher is, go to This Day in D.C. Baseball History.
Part of Santana trade booty sent packing
September 2 - The Twins announced that right-handed pitcher Kevin Mulvey (one of three pitchers along with outfielder Carlos Gomez) acquired from the New York Mets in the Johan Santana trade in 2008 has been assigned to the Arizona Diamondbacks on a waiver claim for cash considerations. The Twins will forward cash to the Diamondbacks in lieu of the Player To Be Named Later to complete the Jon Rauch trade from August 28. The 24 year old Mulvey was originally drafted by the Mets in the second round of the 2006 amateur draft. Mulvey spent all of 2008 and most of 2009 with Rochester and this year he has compiled a 5-8 record in 149 innings with 113 strikeouts and a 3.93 ERA to go along with a 1.389 WHIP. In July, Mulvey made 2 appearances with the Twins against the Oakland A's, pitching 1.1 innings giving up 6 hits and 4 earned runs.
In my mind this is a great trade for Minnesota and Jon Rauch will be a big help in the bullpen for the remainder of this year and in 2010.
Sad to See
August 26 - ELIAS reported today that the Mets announced on Tuesday that former Twins ace Johan Santana will undergo season-ending surgery on his left elbow. Only two pitchers have started more games than Santana since the 2003 All-Star break, when he joined the Twins' rotation. The leaders during that time: Derek Lowe, 209; Barry Zito, 208; Johan Santana, 207; Livan Hernandez, 205; Mark Buehrle, 204. 204.
To me it is always depressing when star pitchers go down but for me, Johan Santana is something special, besides playing for the Twins, I really enjoy watching Johan pitch. I think it is interesting to note too that most of the starts for the pitchers named above came in the American league where the DH exists. Coincidence? Maybe. Get well soon Johan!
Twins Keep Marching Them Out There
August 25 - With Armando Gabino’s start on Tuesday night, he became the 22nd different pitcher used by the Twins this season. The last time the Twins used 22 pitchers in a season was 1995. The club record for pitchers used in a single season is 23, which was set in 1989.
Twins Announce Arizona Fall League Participants
August 24 - The Twins will be sending seven players to play for the Mesa Solar Sox in the Arizona Fall league later this year. The Solar Sox roster will be comprised of players from the Boston Red Sox, Chicago Cubs, Florida Marlins, Los Angeles Angels as well as the Twins. The Mesa team will be managed by Bo Porter who is currently the Florida Marlins' third-base coach. Twins minor leaguers on the squad will include: Chris Parmelee (1b/of), Steven Singleton (inf), Rene Tosoni (of), Michael McCardell (rhp), Alex Burnett (rhp), Spencer Steedley (lhp) and Steven Hirschfeld (rhp). This will be the first year in which clubs can send two players from a single-A affiliate (Parmelee, Hirschfeld). Former Twins outfielder Torii Hunter was selected to the Arizona Fall League Hall of Fame in 2007, Hunter played for Phoenix in 1998. The 2009 AFL schedule can be found here.
August 24 - CUDDYER FIRST TO HOMER TWICE IN AN INNING FOR THE TWINS. Michael Cuddyer hit a pair of home runs during an eight-run seventh inning for the Twins in their 10-3 win at Kansas City. Cuddyer is the only player to homer twice in an inning for Minnesota since the franchise left Washington, D.C. after the 1960 season. The only player to do that for the old Senators was Jim Lemon against the Red Sox at Griffith Stadium on Sept. 5, 1959.
Know Your Franchise History
August 22 - Take a moment and read about Wasington Senators catcher Charles "Gabby" Street's monumental catch on August 21, 1908.
Twins Sign 1st Round Pick Kyle Gibson
August 17 - Baseball America has reported that the Minnesota Twins have signed first round pick Kyle Gibson for $1.8MM. The slot for the 22nd pick was set at $1.287MM so the Twins had to pony up some additional money to get the deal done. Although picked 22nd due to a stress fracture in his arm, many scouts had Gibson rated as a top 5 pick. A nice signing for the Twins, you never want to miss signing your first choice but it appears that several teams may be in that boat this year. Click here for MLB.COM's scouting report on Kyle Gibson.
According to Elias
August 13 - TWINS' JEKYLL-AND-HYDE STAFF - Francisco Liriano led the Twins to a 7-1 win over the Royals on Wednesday, as the Twins' recent stretch of Jekyll-and-Hyde pitching performances continues. Since the All-Star break, the Twins have allowed 1.7 runs per game in their 10 wins (and have not allowed more than three runs in any win), but they've allowed 9.6 runs per game in their 14 losses.
The Sorry State of Twins Pitching
August 12 - The Twins staff has a 5.01 run support average this season, good for the eighth highest in the majors. Of the top 10 teams in run support average only the Twins and Indians have a losing record. That sums it up pretty well doesn't it? Kind of a sorry state of affairs for a team that preaches pitching and defense.
The Twins pitchers make it easy to pick on them now but pitchers go through slumps just like hitters do. I think most of them can turn it around and become respectable again but even at that, this bullpen has some pitchers that really don't belong on a team trying to make the playoffs.
August 9 - Deanard Span went 5-for-5 at Detroit on Saturday night to become the only major league player to get at least five hits in two different games this season. He went 5-for-8 in a 16-inning game on July 3, also against the Tigers. Span became only the third Twins player to have a pair of games with five-or-more hits in the same season, joining Tony Oliva (1965) and Kirby Puckett (1990). (That's right: Rod Carew never had a pair of five-hit games in the same season in his major league career, either with the Twins or with the Angels!)
Twins pitching gives up runs in bunches lately
August 8 - Another day and another loss in which the opposition scores 10 runs or more. In the first 89 games the Twins played prior to the All-Star game the team had a 45-44 record and the pitching staff only allowed the opponents to score 10 runs or more on 7 occasions or once every 12.71 games.
Since the All-Star game, the team has only played 20 games going 8-12 but yet the pitching staff has allowed the opponents to score 10 runs or more seven times or once every 2.86 games. That is about once each three game series.
In the last 20 games the pitching staff has allowed 129 runs, which is 6.45 runs per game. Since the All-Star break the offense has scored 99 runs which equates to 4.95 runs a game.
How do you explain the Twins starting pitching being so bad all of a sudden? Granted the Twins pitching has been troublesome all year but not like it is now. Is it the age of the Twins young pitchers? Have they just thrown too many innings in the last year and a half? Are they just too immature to make adjustments based on how the hitters are attacking them? Is it the Sophmore slump? Or is it just contagious where one pitcher pitches bad and another follows down the same path? They say that hitting is contagious, maybe pitching is too.
The Twins pitching staff has no true leader, oh sure, Joe Nathan is a leader but he is a relief pitcher, granted he is a star closer but he is not a starter. The Twins starters need someone to go out there and show them how it is done start after start, day after day. Baker is probably the best starter right now but he is not a leader at all. Slowey is hurt and out for the season and I don't see him as the man to step up and lead either. Blackburn seems to lead by example but he has had his share of issues recently as well. Perkins....I won't even go there. Swarzak is a rookie with 10 starts and a 3-5 record. That leaves Francisco Liriano but Liriano has shown nothing on the leadership front plus he is pitching like his heart isn't in it. Something is wrong with Liriano and to me it appears to be mental and not physical. I am thinking more and more that the best thing the Twins can do is trade him this off season for what they can get before his trade value decreases even more. There has to be teams out there that would like to take on a "franchise" reclamation project.
Former Twins Manager Cal Ermer dead at 85
August 8 - Former Twins manager Cal Ermer died Saturday in his sleep at his home in Chattanooga, Tenn. after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. Ermer was the Twins third manager replacing Sam Mele after he was let go by owner Calvin Griffith.
I was lucky enough to have spent a little over an hour on the phone with Cal this past February as I was preparing to do a story about him for this site. I found him to be a great story teller even at a time where his memory was starting to fail him. You just knew that Cal Ermer loved baseball because he loved to talk about it. Prior to my call to Cal he did not know me from the man in the moon but he took my call and was very interested in what I was doing with the twinstrivia.com web site. The story I wrote about Cal can be found in the Twins Trivia Archive 2009.
According to Elias
August 8 - Anthony Swarzak allowed seven runs in only one inning of work as the Twins lost to the Tigers Friday night. Swarzak is the second Twins' starting pitcher to allow at least seven runs while pitching only one inning in a game this season (Glen Perkins allowed eight runs in one inning of work against Oakland on July 22nd). Prior to this season, no Twins' pitcher had done that since June of 2001.
Twins Acquire Pavano
Sure hope Carl Pavano doesn't look like this too often on the mound for the Twins
August 7 - The Twins apparently have acquired right handed starting pitcher Carl Pavano from the Cleveland Indians who have been trading everyone in sight the last few weeks. Pavano has a long history of injuries but this year he has not pitched all that badly and he certainly can't hurt the Twins rotation. I doubt he will be around to see Target Field but for 2009 he is a decent addition. To me this smacks of a desperation move by the Twins and GM Smith but with the young staff pitching as poorly as they have been, you have to try something. The Twins still have a huge uphill fight to win the division but at least this is a step in the right direction.
I would guess this means that Liriano or Perkins goes to the bullpen for the immediate future and that is not all bad, either way you take a weak link out of the rotation and maybe help the bullpen where Keppel has shown time after time that he does not belong in the big leagues. Who will the Twins send packing to add Pavano to the roster? I would guess it has to be Keppel.....it just has to be. But when it was all said and done it turned out to be R.A. Dickey who was sent back down to Rochester. Kind of surprising to me I guess, not that Dickey has been that great but he has been put into some wicked spots by Gardenhire and I think deserves to be with the Twins more than Keppel does.
August 3 - ANGELS BATS ON FIRE - The Angels continued their offensive explosion, completing a three-game sweep of the Twins with a 13-4 laugher. Los Angeles won the first two games of the series by scores of 11-5 and 11-6, and collected at least 15 hits in each of three games. The Angels are the second American League team since the 1938 Red Sox (Sept. 4-5) to score more than ten runs with at least 15 hits in each of three straight games. The Indians did so in the interim with 15-4, 13-5 and 17-9 victories over the Brewers at County Stadium (Sept. 4-6 1986).
Catfish's catcher recalls perfect game against the Twins on May 8, 1968
August 3 - With the recent perfect game by Mark Buerhle of the White Sox against the Tampa Rays still fresh in everyone’s mind, maybe it is time to think back to May 8, 1968 when Jim “Catfish” Hunter pitched the 9th perfect game in baseball history and this time the Minnesota Twins were the victims as they lost 4-0 at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum.
Jim Pagliaroni was behind the plate that day and in this article that was written by Rich Zuckerman in May of 2008 he recounts what happened that day and tells you a little more about Hall of Famer Jim “Catfish” Hunter. It is a nice little article and well worth your time, click here to get to the story.
August 2 - Twinstrivia.com photographers were lucky enough to catch some Twins relief pitchers as they left the Metrodome as a group on Sunday afternoon after three straight losses to the Angels by scores of 11-5, 11-6, and 13-4. When asked by reporters why the bullpen pitched so poorly against the Angels they replied that they too, just like their GM, have been working very hard lately. Autograph seekers were disappointed when they looked at the autographs they had just collected to find that they all had been signed the same way, "Best Wishes, Ron Davis". When the autograph seekers asked for their Sharpie's back, the players threw them back to the fans but each and every pen landed way over the head of the fan and out in the street where they were quickly run over by TC as he was buzzing home on his 4-wheeler.
Twins Trade for Shortstop Orlando Cabrera
August 2 - The Twins traded for some middle infield help getting shortstop Orlando Cabrera from the Oakland A’s for minor league shortstop Tyler Ladendorf who was a 2nd round pick in the 2008 Free Agent draft but was not rated as a top 10 prospect in the Twins organization. Ladendorf was in Elizabethton in 2008 and started there again this year but after hitting .410 in 61 at bats was promoted to Beloit. Ladendorf is an athletic player who the A’s see as a possible 3B down the line.
Orlando Cabrera, 34 years old is in his 13th season of major league ball having played for the Expos, Red Sox, Angels, White Sox, and the A’s. Cabrera got off to a slow start with the A’s in 2009 but his numbers are still looking pretty good as he is hitting .280 with 4 home runs and 41 RBI’s to go along with 11 stolen bases for a team that is not a fan of the stolen base. The A’s usually batted Cabrera in the 2 spot and that is probably what the Twins will also do sliding Mauer and the rest of the boys down one slot. Cabrera has probably lost a step over the years but he should be an adequate shortstop for the Twins for the remainder of the season and the added stability of a consistent number 2 hitter to go with a consistent player at short should help the team. Cabrera has won two gold gloves in his career.
Now if the Twins could have just acquired Freddy Sanchez from Pittsburgh, but that is a whole different story and we won’t go there. I applaud GM Smith for making this deal because I think it will help the team on a number of fronts. It is easy to “fall in love” with your prospects and I often think that the Twins consider their prospects a lot more valuable than others may see them. But sometimes you have to sit back and say to yourself, why do we have prospects? The answer seems simple, it is so they can become major league players and help the Twins win, right? If so, then why is it so difficult to trade prospects for someone who is already a proven big league player? I am not saying you trade all your prospects, I am saying that when you have a shot at a division title, and that chance does not come around that often, then you go for it and make some deals if they can help your club over the hump. I am not saying that Cabrera will win the division for Minnesota but he will help the ballclub.
This team still has holes to plug in the bullpen as we have seen recently. Hopefully Smith can swing some deals in August to remedy that situation but it is tougher when the players have to clear waivers. The starting pitching has also been atrocious lately but before we throw them all under a bus let’s see what happens after the sizzling hot Angels leave town. It will be interesting too what Mark Grudzielanek can do at 2B once he is ready to play and from what I hear, that is not far away. When that time comes, who gets sent down or moved, Casilla again?
So how would I rate GM Smith’s actions during this trading deadline? I will be generous and give him a “C” and remind myself that getting Orlando Cabrera to play short is better than getting poked in the eye with a sharp stick.
Know your Washington Senator History
July 31 - The Washington Senators had some bad teams over the years including 5 seasons with 100 or more losses and only 18 winning seasons between 1901 and 1960. That does not mean however; that they didn’t have some great players over the years, one of those great players was Mickey Vernon.
Born James Barton Vernon on April 22, 1918 in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania, Vernon signed as a free agent with the Washington Senators in 1937. A left hander all the way, Mickey stood 6’2”, weighed 180 and played 1B. Mickey Vernon made his major league debut on July 8, 1939, the same year as Hall of Famers Hal Newhouser, Ted Williams, and Early Wynn. In addition to being a slick fielding first baseman, Vernon could also hit, winning batting titles in 1946 with a .353 batting average and again in 1953 hitting .337, winning the batting title by 1 percentage point over Cleveland’s Al Rosen and thus depriving Rosen of the Triple Crown. Mickey played for the Senators from 1939 through 1948 (taking 1944 and 1945 off to serve in the US Navy) before being traded to the Cleveland Indians where he played one full season and part of the second before he was traded back to the Washington Senators for whom he played through the 1955 season before again being traded, this time to the Boston Red Sox. After the 1957 season, Vernon was waived and picked up by the Cleveland Indians. After a 1 year stint in Cleveland, Vernon was traded to the Milwaukee Braves where he played out the 1959 season. In 1960, Vernon spent most of the season as a coach for the Pittsburgh Pirates before being activated in September and finishing his career by playing in 9 games for the World Champion Pirates, giving him the rare achievement of playing in four separate decades.
Vernon was not a real power hitter but he did hit 172 home runs in his 20 major league seasons. Three times, Vernon lead the league in doubles, once hitting 51 two baggers. In his 20 seasons, Mickey Vernon played 2,409 games, had 9,834 plate appearances, 2,495 hits, scored 1,196 times, stole 137 bases, and had 1,311 RBI’s with a career .286 batting average. Twenty years as a player in the majors, seven times an All-Star, but never lucky enough to play in a World Series game.
Vernon like many other players from that era served his time in the service of his country by serving in the Navy in 1944 and 1945 in Hawaii, where his commander was Max Patkin, a onetime pitcher who became a comedian known as the Crown Prince of Baseball. Off the field, Mr. Vernon was affable and easygoing but was known for his stubborn contract negotiations. Team owner Clark Griffith, who often cut a player's salary after a subpar year, called Mr. Vernon "the most difficult man I ever dealt with on the salary question." After his stellar 1953 season, Mr. Vernon told The Washington Post: "If a ball player can't cash in on the kind of a year I had, it's a hopeless profession. . . . Last season was one they can't take away from me. If the Washington club couldn't show any profit, it wasn't my fault. I gave it a pretty good try."
In 1961, after the Washington Senators moved to Minnesota and became the Twins, Vernon was named the first manager of Washington's new expansion franchise. He had little luck with a team of castoff players and unproven minor-leaguers before being fired in 1963 with a 135-227 won-loss record as the Washington Senators manager. After his managing stint with the Senators, Vernon became a coach with the Pirates, St. Louis Cardinals, Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees. He also managed at the Triple-A and Double-A levels.
Many fans believe that seven times All-Star Mickey Vernon belongs in the Hall of Fame, but that honor eluded Vernon during his life time. Mickey Vernon, one of the all time Washington Senator greats passed away on September 24, 2008.
Check out a nice piece that Mark Hornbaker posted about Mickey Vernon that includes a wonderful and informative video about Vernon’s career as a Senator. Click here to see the story and video.
No Feud Like An Old Feud
July 27 - A short but interesting piece by Walter Bingham in the May 1, 1961 Sports Illustrated about the Twins and the traditional animosity between St. Paul and Minneapolis as they open their first season in Minnesota in 1961 . Click on the magazine cover to read the story.
Twins and GM Smith Must Make a Deal
July 27 - When you have a shot to win the division, you go for it. Don’t worry about how you will do in the playoffs; just find a way to get there. As the Twins prepare to play game number 100, the Twins find themselves in third place just 4 games out of the lead in a weak AL Central division, if they were in another division they would probably be double digit games out of first and looking towards 2010 and Target Field. The teams ahead of the Twins, the Tigers and White Sox are not great teams; they both have weakness that have kept them from jumping out to a commanding lead. I think any of the three teams can win; they just need to show some consistency, something all of them have been lacking.
Twins GM Bill Smith has said that he is working hard. I too am a believer in hard work but the bottom line here is results, just working hard does not cut it. I have seen Francisco Liriano, Jesse Crain, Nick Punto and many other Twins working hard but if the results are not there, then the player is not doing what he is paid to do. Smith has been working hard but where are the results? Smith made a big splash right after he got the job when he made the “big trade” with Tampa to get Delmon Young. Now that trade is not looking so great but we all need to remember that not every trade turns out to the winner, you hope it will be when the deal is done, but you win some and you lose some. To me, GM Smith appears to be gun shy, burnt once he is afraid to swing that deal for fear of being on the short end again. I know the Twins ownership in the past has been patient with team management but Carl Pohlad is no longer around and we don’t know how the younger Pohlads will react in the future. I see this as a defining year for Bill Smith and this week might just make or break Smith as a big league GM. It is time for Bill Smith to step up to the plate and at least swing at the pitch instead of watching it zip by for strike 3.
The Twins have been built from within and depend heavily on their own drafted players. Even though only 12 of the current 25 man roster is Minnesota signed and raised so to speak, it is the core of the team with players like Cuddyer, Kubel, Mauer, Morneau, Span, Perkins, Baker, Blackburn, Slowey, Mijares, Crain, and Duensing. The SP that will take Slowey’s place when he has season ending surgery is Anthony Swarzak, another home grown starter. Ok, that is all fine and good, but how many of those young players in the Twins farm system mature into full fledged major leaguers that eventually become core players that will help the Twins win some games? I am not talking guys that will play a year or two and move on, I am talking real honest to goodness everyday players that contribute. Let me ask this, why don’t the Twins trade Ben Revere? You can’t tell me that the Twins would ever consider an outfield of Span, Gomez, and Revere! Revere has to have some good trade value.
I myself am a conservative “glass is half empty” type of guy but as I grew up I was always taught that “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush”. For me in baseball that translates to making a deal for a 2B like Freddie Sanchez even though I have to give up some potential. The way I see it, I can always draft another potential next year and in the mean time I have a 30 year old former batting champion, three times All-Star, and Gold Glove capable 2B hitting number 2 in my line-up. My God, this is a no brainer; get the deal done Mr. Smith. How much more can you hope to get from your minor leaguers then what Sanchez can give you right now? What are the odds you have a 2B in your system anywhere close to Sanchez? You need a reliever too and there are a number of them out there like Heath Bell, Mike Wuertz, Matt Capps, and George Sherrill that are waiting for a new home, Minnesota might be a great place for them. While you are at it Mr. Smith, how about trying to get Ian Snell from Pittsburgh, he is unhappy there and wants to be traded and he might just be a bit late maturing.
I can’t end this story without getting on Gardenhire a little. Gardy has always enjoyed micro-managing and his hunt for the hot hand is really frustrating and irritating. It is ironic to me that Gardy talks about letting the players play and yet he wants to control every aspect of every game. Looking for the hot hand is like timing the market, in the long run you will lose more then you win. The team shows no consistency because Gardy can’t come up with a consistent line-up or batting order. To some degree his hands are tied with the outfield situation as it is with Cuddyer, Span, Gomez, Young, and sometime outfielder Kubel. Gomez has not proven that he deserves to play full time but he is the crown jewel in the Johan Santana deal so he has a longer leash then he probably deserves. Cuddyer, Span, Young and Kubel all deserve full time positions. I know Young has not played up to his capabilities this year but some guys need to play every day if they are to contribute and I think Young is one of them. If you are not going to play Young, then get him out of the doghouse and trade his butt for what you can get. Sometimes you can improve a team through subtraction. Gardy is loyal to a fault, Nick Punto does not deserve to be an everyday player but yet Gardy moves him from SS to 2B hoping that Punto will finally find out what the bat should be used for. I think the Gardy is having a bad year at the helm.
Bottom line, the Twins and that includes Smith and Gardenhire need to make some changes if they hope to move into Target Field in 2010 as the AL Central Division (or maybe even better) defending champs.
July 29 Update - Ian Snell gets traded to Seattle Mariners and Freddie Sanchez gets traded to the San Francisco Giants today. The Twins? They have done zippo so far but they are working hard..........
According to Elias
July 21 - Minnesota's Justin Morneau had two home runs and seven RBIs and Oakland's Matt Holliday had two homers and six RBIs in the A's win over the Twins. It was only the fourth game in major-league history in which a player on each team hit at least two home runs and had at least six RBIs. The other pairs of opponents to do that were Rogers Hornsby (Cardinals) and Butch Henline (Phillies) in 1922, Lou Gehrig (Yankees) and Jimmie Foxx (A's) in 1930, and Albert Belle (White Sox) and Rusty Greer (Rangers) in 1997.
A's starter Gio Gonzalez gave up 11 runs in two and two-thirds innings Monday night but he did not get a loss as Oakland rallied from a ten-run deficit to beat the Twins, 14-13. Gonzalez is only the second starting pitcher in baseball's modern era (i.e., since 1900) to avoid a loss in a game in which he pitched fewer than three innings and gave up at least 11 runs. You don't have to search back very far to find the other instance: the Rangers' Scott Feldman was charged with 12 runs in two and two-thirds innings in Boston on August 12, 2008 he too was not involved in the decision as Texas lost to the Red Sox, 19-17.
10 run leads are just not enough
July 21 - A lot of Twins fans were already in bed confident of another Twins win when home plate umpire Mike Muchlinski called Mike Cuddyer out on a close call at the plate at about 12:38 AM local time on Tuesday morning. Cuddyer was trying to tie the score at 14-14 all the way from second base on a wild pitch by A’s reliever Michael Wuertz. Replays showed fairly clearly that Cuddyer was safe, having slid under the tag from Wuertz but the dirty deed had already been done, the A’s were already shaking hands for a great come from behind victory while Gardy “discussed” the play with Muchlinski.
It was an abrupt end to a game that dragged on for 3 hours and 32 in front of only 10,283 fans in Oakland in a game where each team hit 4 home runs with a grand slam for each side. Neither starter, or reliever for that matter, had anything, Oakland starter Gio Gonzalez lasted just 2 2/3 innings giving up 11 earned runs and Nick Blackburn pitched 5 innings for Minnesota and gave up 7 earned runs on 13 hits. Twins pitchers threw 155 pitches, allowed 22 hits and 3 walks and strangely enough, did not strike out a single A's batter.
With the 14-13 loss the Twins tied their record for largest blown lead in Twins history. The Twins and Frank Viola had a 10-0 lead in the 3rd inning at Cleveland Stadium on September 28, 1984 and lost the game 11-10 but that was in the Ron Davis era and many would say that was not all that shocking. Sports Illustrated did a recap of the game in their October 4, 1984 issue and you can check it out here. If you want to see the actual box score of the 1984 game just click here.
The Joe you don't know
July 16 - For those of you that don't get to read the Star Tribune, you missed a great story this past Sunday by Jim Souhan. The story is kind of a behind the scenes look at Joe Mauer. Take a few minues and check it out here.
July 11 - The Minnesota Twins purchased the 28 year old reliever Bill Dailey from the Cleveland Indians on April 8, 1963. Dailey, a 6’3” 185 lbs right hander had only 39 games under his belt, all in relief, when the Twins took a chance on him. It wasn’t until his 12th game with the Twins before Bill Daily got his first save opportunity on May 20 against the Boston Red Sox when he pitched 2+ innings to register his first save as a Minnesota Twin. From this point on, Bill Daily started to become a household name in Minnesota and the upper Midwest. Minnesota had caught “lightning in a bottle” and they used it to their advantage. Dailey became so popular that a song was written about him.
Won't you come in Bill Dailey
Won't you come in, Bill Dailey,
Won't you come in,
We blew a three-run lead.
You do the pitchin', baby, we'll get 'em back,
We like your sidearm speed.
Remember last Tuesday evening,
You bailed us out,
With nothin' but an infield hit.
Camilo's to blame, ain't it a shame,
Bill Dailey, won't you please come in.
Bill McGrane of the Minneapolis Tribune
In 1963 Dailey pitched in 66 games throwing 108.2 innings sporting a 6-3 won-lost record with 21 saves. Bill struck out 72 batters and had an ERA of 1.99 with a WHIP of 0.911. It should also be noted that of those 21 saves, only 3 were of a 1 inning or less variety, so Bill really worked to get his saves. Dailey had a good year with the bat too as he hit .238 with one home run and 4 RBI’s. Bill Dailey finished 23 in MVP voting after the season.
But fame can be fleeting as Bill Dailey found out all too soon. The following year, at the young age of 29, Dailey’s career came to an abrupt end in June of 1964 after he pitched in only 16 games and had a 1-2 record with an 8.22 ERA. After being released by Minnesota, Bill Daily never again pitched in the big leagues. I am not sure if Dailey suffered some type of an injury or not but I will try to find out. In total, Dailey’s career consisted of 119 games, all in relief, with a 10-7 won-lost record, 109 punch outs in 185.2 innings. Bill also had a very nice career ERA of 2.76 and a WHIP of 1.190.
They Said It
July 4 - Here are some fun and interesting quotes pertaining to the Minnesota Twins/Washington Senators that I found in The Sports Illustrated archives.
Frank Kostro, Minnesota Twins utility man: "So far I've played right, left and first base and I'm Polish. Does that make me a utility pole?" - 4/29/1968
Mickey Mantle, injured Yankee, after batting practice at the Minnesota Twins' Metropolitan Stadium: "This is the greatest home-run stadium I've ever seen. If this were my home park I'd hit 90 homers some year." - 7/29/1963
Dick Erickson, head groundkeeper at Met Stadium in Bloomington, MN. asked what his job would be if the Twins and Vikings move into a domed stadium in 1981: "I guess I'll just scrape the bubble gum off the field." - 12/18/1978
Dave St. Peter, Twins president, on having real grass in the ballpark that Minnesota plans to open in 2010: "It will be a great joy to see somebody riding a mower instead of a vacuum cleaner." - 9/24/2007
Sam Mele, to his family after he was fired by the Minnesota Twins: "What are you crying for? All these years you've been saying you'd like to have me home for the summer. Well, that's where I'll be now." - 6/19/1967
Ellis Clary, Minnesota Twins scout, whose team is in the thick of its divisional race despite one of baseball's lowest payrolls: "We've got the only players who'll make more in their World Series shares than in salary." - 8/6/1984
Calvin Griffith, 285-pound former owner of the Minnesota Twins upon running into equally hefty Craig Kusick, a onetime Twins first baseman who now teaches high school phys ed: "You and I should attend some of your classes."
Ron Davis, former Minnesota Twin reliever who had a knack for giving up late-game homers, on the boos he still hears at appearances in the Twin Cities: "When it's 10 years later and they still hate you, that's what you call charisma." - 2/20/1995
Mrs. Laura Quilici, hearing that her son Frank had been named manager of the Minnesota Twins: "Oh, the poor kid. He's going to get an ulcer now." - 7/17/1972
Jim DeShaies, Minnesota Twin pitcher on ignoring baseball tradition and changing his seat in the dugout during teammate Scott Erickson's recent no-hitter: "I think everybody gets caught up in superstitions. But I don't put much stock in them—knock on wood." - 5/16/1994
Tony Perez, Cincinnati Reds coach, on wire-service reports that pitcher John Smiley was unhappy about his trade from the Pittsburgh Pirates to the Minnesota Twins: " John Smiley is going to change his name to John Frowny." 4/6/1992
Don Baylor, Minnesota Twins DH, on why he would say no if George Steinbrenner offered him the Yankees' managing job: "I came into this game sane, and I want to leave it sane." - 10/19/1987
Cookie Lavagetto, manager of the likely last place Washington Senators, after reprimand by Commissioner Ford Frick for saying the Yankees would win pennant by 15 games: "I wanted to get them overconfident so we could beat them." - 4/14/1958
Billy Gardner, Minnesota Twins manager, on outfielder Darrell (Downtown) Brown, who has hit one home run in 591 career at bats: "That must be an awful small town."
Tom Kelly, Minnesota Twins manager, explaining why he made pitcher Pat Mahomes walk off the field with him after pulling him during a 17-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers: "Then we would have to take only half the boos each." - 5/10/1993
Junior Oriz, Minnesota Twins catcher, after teammate Scott Erickson threw a two-hitter for his 12th straight win: "He's unbelievable. He's like that guy in Texas who's 41, or 42, or 43."
Sam Mele, ousted Minnesota Twins manager, asked what he had noticed most about the club this summer: "They got going right after I left." - 9/25/1967
Gene Mauch, Minnesota Twins manager, on having a blood relative, Roy Smalley on his team: "Sometimes I look on Roy as my nephew, but sometimes only as my sister's son." - 5/26/1980
Hal Naragon, Minnesota Twins catcher, on whether Boston's Carl Yastrzemski will turn out to be the Red Sox new Ted Williams: "He's like Ted from the shoelaces down." - 9/18/1961
Gene Mauch, of the Minnesota Twins, who is in his first year as an American League manager: "I've seen more inferior umpiring so far this season than I saw in 16 years as a manager in the National League." - 7/19/1976
Calvin Griffith, president of the Washington Senators, who once promised to keep the club in Washington "as long as I live," in an amendment: "As long as we make a living." - 7/14/1958
Not Such a Tough Cookie
June 30 – A very enjoyable story about the Minnesota Twins first manager Attilo Harry “Cookie” Lavagetto, written by Walter Bingham for Sports Illustrated on May 15, 1961. Maybe there really is something to the Sports Illustrated cover jinx; Lavagetto was fired by owner Calvin Griffith on June 23 after piloting the first year Minnesota Twins to a 25-41 start to the 1961 season. Click on the magazine cover to read the story.
Twins 1997 Home Red Sunday Jersey
June 21 - In 1997 the Twins broke out a new home red Sunday jersey. The jersey was red with navy trim and the Twins logo, player’s name, and numbers were white with navy trim. The uniforms were used for the first time on Sunday, April 6. Brad Radke started the game for Minnesota and was the losing pitcher when the Kansas City Royals trounced the home team by a 12-2 score. The uniforms were again used on their very next Sunday home game on April 27 against the Texas Rangers and again Brad Radke was the starter. The Rangers scored 5 runs in the eighth inning and held on for a 7-3 win. ESPN announcers quickly nicknamed the Twins red uniforms as the Dairy Queen design because the colors closely matched the Dairy Queen advertising signs behind home plate. After just two games, both defeats, the uniforms were deemed to be bad luck by the players and were retired never to be worn by the Twins again. Since the jersey was used in 1997, it had the Jackie Robinson “Breaking Barriers” patch on the right sleeve. You can see what the uniforms looked like by clicking here.
Did you know?
June 20 - That In 1961 the Minnesota Twins became the first team to use the name of their state to identify their team? The Twins, who were the original Washington Senators wanted to appease the fans from both St. Paul and Minneapolis, the Twin Cities. The Twins played their home games in a newly refined Metropolitan Stadium which was located in Bloomington near the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport and was originally built for the Minneapolis Millers of the American Association.
2009 First Year Draft Notes
Twins first round selection Kyle Gibson
June 14 - The 2009 draft is over and the Twins drafted 29 pitchers (including 17 collegiate arms) and 22 position players. The Twins used their first 4 picks to draft pitchers. The 22 position players were broken down as follows, 5 catchers, 8 infielders, and nice outfielders. Of the 51 players drafted, only 22 were not college players which seems to be a lower number than usual. I think it is nice to see the Twins taking college players that have proven they can play at the college level. Now we will see if the Twins can sign 30 or 35 of these players to contracts, particularly their top picks.
With their first four picks of the draft, the Twins took four college pitchers: Kyle Gibson of Missouri, Matthew Bashore from Indiana, Florida's William Bullock and Benjamin Tootle out of Jacksonville State. The Twins top pick Gibson may turn out to be a low risk/high reward pick, but it all depends on Gibson’s arm which has been hurt and has limited his innings this year. There are a number of reports floating around on what Gibson’s problem was ranging from his shoulder to his elbow but the reports that the Twins want to believe are that he had a forearm issue and that it is not a serious problem and that all Gibson needs is rest. We will have to wait and see but it will be interesting to see if the Twins have Gibson pitch this year if they sign him in the near future or if they shut him down for 2009.
Drafting pitchers in the first round has not exactly been the Twins forte since the free agent draft started back in 1965. Let’s take a look at some stud pitchers the Twins have selected in the first round.
2008 – Collegiate RHP Carlos Gutierrez picked # 27 over all – Now a SP in A ball with Ft. Myers.
2005 – Collegiate RHP Matt Garza picked # 25 over all – Came up with the Twins in 2006 and since then was traded to Tampa Bay.
2004 – Collegiate LHP Glen Perkins picked # 22 over all – Has been with the Twins off an on since 2006.
2004 – High School RHP Kyle Waldrop picked # 25 over all – Now a RP in A ball with Ft. Myers.
2000 – Collegiate RHP Adam Johnson picked # 2 over all – Pictched a total of 9 major league games, all for the Twins in 2001 and 2003 and finished wih a career ERA of 10.25.
1998 – Collegiate LHP Ryan Mills picked # 6 over all – Never threw a major league pitch.
1995 – Collegiate LHP Mark Redman picked # 13 over all – Pitched for the Twins from 1999-2001 before moving on. Pitched in 219 major league games through 2008.
1992 – High School LHP Dan Serafini picked # 26 over all – Pitched for the Twins between 1996-1998 before moving on. Pitched in 104 major league games and finished career after 2007.
1990 – High School RHP Todd Ritchie picked # 12 over all – Pitched for the Twins in 1997-1998 before moving on. Pitched in 185 games and finished career in 2004.
1988 – Collegiate RHP Johnny Ard picked # 20 over all – Never pitched in the majors.
1987 – High School RHP Willie Banks picked # 3 over all – Pitched for the Twins in 1991-1993 before being traded. Pitched 181 major league games before career ended in 2002.
1985 – High School RHP Jeff Bumgarner picked # 13 over all – Never pitched in the majors.
1983 – Collegiate RHP Tim Belcher picked # 1 over all but Twins could not sign him.
1982 – Collegiate LHP Bryan Oelkers picked # 4 over all – Pitched for the Twin in 1984 and the Indians in 1986 and his big league career lasted 12 games.
1973 – Collegiate LHP Eddie Bane picked # 11 over all - Pitched for the Twins in 1973, 1975 and 1976 and finished his major league career after 44 games.
1972 – Collegiate RHP Dick Ruthven picked # 8 over all but would not sign with Minnesota.
So would you pay big bucks to a pitcher that you drafted in the first round? The Twins history of drafting pitchers in the first round is not exactly stellar but you never know if that next pick is going to be the next Cy Young.
Now let’s take a moment to review all of the Twins first round picks for the last 10 years.
2008 – High School OF Aaron Hicks # 14 over all – Currently with Gulf Coast Twins in Rookie league.
2008 – Collegiate RHP Carlos Gutierrez # 27 over all – Currently a SP for A ball Ft. Myers.
2007 – High School OF Ben Revere # 28 over all – Currently an OF for A ball Ft. Myers.
2006 – High School OF Chris Parmelee # 20 over all – Currently an OF for A ball Ft. Myers.
2005 – Collegiate RHP Matt Garza # 25 over all – Debuted with the Twins in 2006 and since traded to Tampa Bay.
2004 – High School SS Trevor Plouffe # 20 over all – Playing SS for AAA Rochester.
2004 – Collegiate LHP Glen Perkins # 22 over all – Debuted with Twins in 2006 and currently in starting rotation.
2004 – High School RHP Kyle Waldrop # 25 over all – Now a RP for A ball Ft. Myers.
2003 – High School 3B Matt Moses # 21 over all – Now playing OF for AA New Britain.
2002 – High School OF Denard Span # 20 over all – Starting OF for Twins and debuted in 2008.
2001 – High School C Joe Mauer # 1 over all – Catching for Twins since debut in 2004.
2000 – Collegiate RHP Adam Johnson # 2 over all - Is out of baseball after pitching for Twins in 2001 and 2003 with a career record of 1-3 in 9 games with a 10.25 ERA.
1999 – High School OF BJ Garbe # 5 over all – Released by Twins in 2005 and out of baseball in 2006.
The Cuban Senators
June 9 - A nice story written by Matt Welch a number of years ago for ESPN.com that I think is worth your read. The story is about the Washington Senators ties to Cuban ballplayers such as Julio Becquer, Pedro Ramos, Camilo Pascual, Tony Oliva and numerous others. The relationship of super Cuban scout Papa Joe Cambria and the numerous players he signed to major league contracts is also looked at. The story ends with a “feel good” moment that shows once again that Calvin Griffith was not the ogre that many made him out to be. Click here for the story.
Time for Gardenhire and the Twins to get serious
June 3 - So approximately 1/3 of the baseball season is behind us and the Twins record is 26-27, good enough for second place in the weak Central Division behind the Detroit Tigers. So what does the rest of the year look like for the Twins as they play their final season at the Metrodome? Can we expect to see some playoff baseball at the Dome come October?
In spite of the fact that Mauer and Morneau are hitting the cover off the ball, the team hitting overall is just middle of the pack in the AL. The Twins rank 6th in both home runs and average, 7th in runs scored, and 8th in total bases. Span is doing what a leadoff hitter should but his OBP could stand some improvement. Cuddyer has come on strong but now he has another hand injury. Kubel is hitting over .300 but I would have expected more than 5 home runs from him after 2 months of baseball. Crede is doing what the Twins pay him to do, good in the field and flashes some nice power but strikes out frequently, exactly what I thought we would get when he was signed, a nice addition. That takes us to the weak spots, 2B, SS, and one of the outfield positions.
What about the pitching? As you may have suspected, not so good. In the 14 team AL, the Twins are 11th in ERA, 12th in strikeouts, have given up the 3rd most hits in the league, and only the Yankees and the Orioles pitchers have given up more long balls. On the plus side, the pitching staff as the fewest walks and is 4th in the league in WHIP. The Twins rank 1st in the league in fielding and have only committed 19 errors in 53 games.
So what do I think has to happen for the Twins to contend for a playoff spot? First and foremost I think that Gardy needs to do a better job at managing what he has. The way I see it and I think history supports me is that no team will get into the playoffs with platoons in 3 different positions. I am not a Delmon Young fan but you have to play the cards you are dealt and as much as it pains me to say this, Gardy needs to make Young his full-time left fielder and put Span in center field day in and day out. Gomez’s role is to come in and play defense for Delmon when the Twins have a lead in the late innings. Casilla needs to play 2B every day, either he becomes the player he should be or the Twins will have learned that he is not a regular 2B and they can pursue one in the off season. That leaves the shortstop hole and I have said many times on this site that Nick Punto should not be considered a regular and would lose his job by Memorial Day. Well, he is on the DL and he hasn’t hit a lick. The best the Twins can do at this stage is put Harris at short and let him play or they can trade for a shortstop that can field and hit. The pitching I think will improve, Baker should come around and Liriano is what he is. He is no longer the “franchise” as he was portrayed before his injury. Liriano will be good some days and bad others but he is a serviceable pitcher. Slowey and Blackburn are pitching well. Swarzak is still unproven after only two big league starts but if he can hold his own, I would move Perkins to the bullpen when he returns from his latest injury. The bullpen is not fantastic but is workable assuming that Crain can regain his form. I do think that Gardy has to quit using Crain for more than one inning at a time though. There is no better closer than Nathan.
Bottom line? This team needs some stability and some clear role definition before it gets better and this is the manager’s job. Gardy, (a utility player himself) has to quit “falling in love” with utility players like Punto and Tolbert and play his best players full time. Since we don’t live in a perfect world that means that you have to give up something to get something. In the case of the Twins, they need to give up some fielding to get some more hitting from 3 spots in the line-up that have contributed next to nothing with their bats so far this season.
As for GM Smith, he should be looking to find the Twins a shortstop and if that means giving up some prospects, so be it. The Twins haven’t exactly stolen players in their most recent deals with the Mets and the Rays so maybe Mr. Smith can swing a better deal for the Twins this time. Make it so Mr. Smith!
Sports Illustrated 1961 Pre-SeasonTwins Analysis
June 3 - Let's go back in time, way back to April 10, 1961 and take a peek at the Sports Illustrated pre-season analysis of the new Minnesota Twins as the team prepares to expose the Minnesota and Midwest fans to major league baseball American league style. Click on the magazine cover to read the story.
June 3 - The major league baseball first-year player draft is just around the corner with rounds 1-3 scheduled for June 9, rounds 4-30 on June 10 and rounds 31-50 on June 11th. The Twins first pick comes at number 22 in the first round. The Washington Nationals have the first pick in the draft and are expected to take San Diego State 6’4” RHP Stephen Strasburg. It will be interesting to see if the Nats do pick and sign Strasburg quickly as there are some people out there that think that Strasburg will skip the minors and pitch for the Nats immediately. Wouldn’t that be something? As for who the Twins will pick, who knows, there are numerous mock drafts on the Internet and they all have the Twins picking someone different. For a look at the Twins previous years first round picks, click here.
All-Star Game Voting
May 31 - Have you voted for your favorite Twins for this years All-Star game? If you haven't, you might want to do so. Help to get your favorite players elected to the All-Star team and if you are real lucky, you can win some free Twins tickets to the Twins/Angels game on July 31. Stop by here and vote today.
Twins all Metrodome Team
May 16 - Regardless if you like the Metrodome or not, there have been a number of Twins greats that have played there and called it home. Now you have an opportunity (actually you have 25 chances) to vote for your Twins All-Metrodome team.
I have already voted my 25 times and here is my favorite All-Metrodome team.
C – An easy pick, it has to be local boy Joe Mauer
1B – Kent Hrbek in a tough pick over Justin Morneau
2B – Got to go with Chuck Knoblauch here
SS – Again an easy pick for me, Greg Gagne
3B – One of my all time favorite players, Gary Gaetti
OF – Puckett and Hunter are easy picks, the 3 OF is tougher but I went with Dan Gladden for his hustle
DH – Got to go with Paul Molitor
SP – My three guys are Johan Santana, Brad Radke, and Frank Viola
RP – My two relief pitchers are Rick Aguilera and Joe Nathan
Manager - Have to go with Tom Kelly here
You may not agree with all my picks but that is what makes this fun. Take a few minutes and click All-Metrodome ballot to vote.
Jim Kaat web site
May 3 - I recently ran across Jim Kaat’s official web site and I think it is well worth your time to check it out and bookmark it for future reference. It is a very nice web site, informative and well done, exactly what I would expect from Kaat after watching him pitch and announce games for so many years.
Jim was my first Q&A on this site and I spent about an hour on the phone with Jim doing it and he was so easy and fun to talk to, a real gentleman. Like a number of former players have told me, Jim Kaat would make a super baseball commissioner. Enjoy Jim’s site, he has done a great job with it.
Twins first month is just average
April 30 - The Twins don’t play today so they finish the first month of the 2009 season at 11-11, just a ½ game out of the Central Division lead. Then again, they are also just 3 games out of last place where the Cleveland Indians currently reside.
The first month has not been easy as the Twins have been forced to play without their star catcher Joe Mauer who they miss desperately both behind the plate and with the bat. Jose Morales is hitting .349 but he is no Mauer, but then again who is? The top two starters Baker and Liriano are 0-7 combined and have ERA’s of 9.82 and 6.04 respectively. The lowest ERA in the bullpen outside of Nathan‘s 2.57 is Breslow at 4.26 and that is nothing to write home about. Crain is currently on the DL, probably from being used so frequently this early in the season. So let’s take a look at each player and see what kind of a grade I think he deserves for his play so far:
Span = A+ … For his hitting and for playing all over the outfield. Doing a nice job at leading off and has stolen 5 bases.
Morneau = A … Has done what is expected of the teams leading power hitter, on pace for 30+ home runs and about 120 RBI’s.
Morales = A … Has done a great job filling in for Mauer with his bat but his throwing needs work. Deserves this high mark for his play under duress as a rookie.
Kubel = A- … Good job at DH with 4 home runs and second on team in RBI’s and hitting over .300.
Harris = B+ … Has done a good job off the bench and is on pace for about 240 AB’s which is just perfect. Still weak in the field but has a decent stick, just don’t expect to see .350 next to his name come October.
Redmond = C … Has played more then he should due to Mauer’s injury and the warts are showing.
Crede = C- … Off to a slow start at bat, plays nice “D” at 3B but strikes out way too often. Still, he projects to 20 home runs and the Twins will be happy with that and his play at 3B.
Cuddyer = D+ … Disappointing start with his bat and earns the plus only because he plays some nice RF. Cuddy needs to start showing some power again.
Young = D … Hitting a putrid .241 with no power combined with poor outfield play.
Buscher = D … Has not had many opportunities to play but needs to hit better to fill his role as main power on the bench.
Punto = D- … Again showing that he does not deserve a full time role. Can’t hit and has stolen only one base. It is a good thing he can play some defense.
Casilla = D- … My biggest disappointment so far. Hitting just .174 out of the number 2 hole and he has stolen only 2 bases. His play in the field is still top notch.
Gomez = D- … The only reason he does not get an F is that he is a wonderful CF. You can’t steal first base and right now he looks totally lost with his stick. Maybe a little time in Rochester would help his confidence.
Overall the teams hitting gets a “C”, about as average as you can get in my book. The team is hitting .262 and only the WSox, Rays, Royals, and A’s are below them. The team is 12 out of 14 in total bases and 9th in the AL with a total of 13 stolen bases. Granted this is without one of their top hitters in Joe Mauer but it seems to me this team is just not hitting well with runners in scoring position.
The marks for the pitching side are even worse:
Perkins = A+ … Pitching much better than expected although his record is only 1-2.
Nathan = B+ … Again, doing what is expected and probably deserves a better grade but he only has 3 saves so far and has blown one save.
Mijares = B … He has only recently been called up but he looks like he can pitch in the set-up spot and the Twins sure needs someone to fill that role.
Slowey = B …Slowly emerging as a Radke type of pitcher and is 3-0 so far albeit with an ERA of 4.44 that needs to improve.
Blackburn = C+ …Leads the team in innings pitched and has an ERA of 4.02. Still appears to me that he lacks a bit on the confidence side.
Crain = C …Maybe does not deserve a C but he gets the benefit of the doubt for getting out there day after day. Hopefully he pitches a bit less after his DL time expires. Crain should not pitch more than an inning per appearance.
Guerrier = C- …I worry about this guy, Jeckle and Hyde character in my book. You never know what you will get when you see him step foot on the mound.
Breslow = C- … Disappointing start to the season, 6 walks in 6 innings with 5 KO’s just stinks.
Dickey = C- … Do you sense a trend here? The journeyman knuckleballer is doing all he can and he has been brought into some tough spots, maybe deserves a better mark.
Ayala = D+ … Seven earned runs in 11 innings is certainly not what the Twins nor I expected when they signed Ayala.
Liriano = D- …A record of 0-4 and an ERA of 6.04 after 5 starts is not what the “franchise” should have on the books.
Morillo = F …Maybe this recent pick-up doesn’t deserve this low a grade since he was just signed but if you are a major league pitcher you better have more than just a fast ball and your walk total needs to be smaller than your innings pitched total.
Baker = F …The biggest pitching disappointment so far. After three starts he is 0-3, has an ERA of 9.82 and has given up 7 home runs, need I say more?
Humber and Duensing were sent down earlier and both need more time in AAA. Is Humber ever going to be a big leaguer? I am not so sure of that……….
Overall the pitching mark is between a C and a C- and really needs to improve if the Twins are going to be in the race this year. Baker and Liriano need to wake up and smell the roses.
That leaves the manager and again I can’t do much better here, Gardy gets a C also. I think Gardy has mishandled his bullpen and probably caused Crain to go on the DL. The outfield situation remains in a state of flux and I see no way that Gardy can keep trying to shuttle Span, Gomez, Cuddyer, and Young in the outfield and keep anyone much less everyone happy. This outfield situation will lead to more serious problems as time goes along as teammates start to choose among themselves who they think should be playing. The fact that Mauer is coming back will surely make Gardy a better manager. One thing I think the Twins can do is to start running more, just like they did against the Rays recently. Granted, Gardy can’t go out and pitch and hit for these guys but he is the manager so he needs to do just that.
Interesting YouTube clip
April 27 - I found this interesting short clip on YouTube that is an audio recording of the final pitch of the 1965 World Series and a short Vin Scully interview with winning pitcher and Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax. It can be found here and is worth a few minutes of your time.
Minnesota State Lottery has new Minnesota Twins scratch-off
April 23 - I bought my first Minnesota Twins scratch-off ticket at a local Holiday Station the other day for $5 and when I was done scratching off the numbers I was a $5 winner. The new Minnesota Twins scratch-off ticket has prizes up to $100,000 and the odds according to the back of the ticket are 1:3.50, those are better than some other scratch off tickets I have bought.
The nice thing about this Minnesota Twins scratch-off is that you can win some very nice second chance prizes if you are not a winner on the main scratch off portion. You can still go on-line and register your non-winning ticket for a number of great second chance prizes like:
Nine-game lower level season ticket sampler packs (nine prizes to be awarded) Two Champion Club Seat tickets (81 pairs of tickets to be awarded) 2010 Spring Training trip for two to Fort Myers, FL (three trips to be awarded) 2010 in-season trip for two to travel to a Twins road game (three trips to be awarded) Pair of Party Suite passes to the Target Field (42 pairs of passes to be awarded) Twins merchandise prize packs valued at $595 each (1,048 prize packs to be awarded)
Prize Drawings
There will be three drawings for the prizes listed above:
https://minnesota.secondchancebonuszone.com/mlb2009/info.php
Drawing 1 on May 28, 2009 Drawing 2 on August 6, 2009 Drawing 3 on October 22, 2009
For additional information, you can go to https://minnesota.secondchancebonuszone.com/mlb2009 . Give it a try, it is fun to play.
The Twins first game on April 11, 1961
April 11 - The Twins played their first game against the New York Yankees at Yankee Stadium on April 11, 1961 in front of 14,607 fans on a nice 50 degree day. The Yankees were coming off another World Series season but had lost to the Pittsburg Pirates in the 1960 World Series in 7 games due to the famous Bill Mazeroski home run. The Twins on the other hand had just moved to Minnesota from Washington where they had finished 5th in the 8 team American league.
Cookie Lavagetto’s Twins had Pedro Ramos on the mound against the Yankee ace Whitey Ford. Zoilo Versalles the Twins shortstop led off the game with a ground ball to shortstop Tony Kubek who threw to Bill “Moose” Skowron for the Twins first out. Centerfielder Lenny Green also was out on a ground out and Harmon Killebrew was walked to become the Twins first base runner. Left Fielder Jim Lemon was the clean-up hitter but he ground out to Bobby Richardson at 2B and the Twins first inning was history. In the bottom of the first, Ramos retired Richardson and Hector Lopez before Yogi Berra batting in the 3 hole, got the first hit off a Twins pitcher, a single to right field. Ramos induced Mickey Mantle to ground out to 2B and future Twins manager Billy Gardner and after one inning it was 0-0. In the second inning Lemon committed the Twins first error but the Yankees could not take advantage of it and after two innings the game remained scoreless. Both the Twins and the Yankees went 1-2-3 in the 3rd and after 3 innings the game remained scoreless. The Killer led off the 4th inning with the Twins first hit, a single to center but Ford retired the next three batters again keeping the Twins from getting on the board. In the bottom of the 4th Ramos struck out Mantle and Maris back to back before allowing a single to Skowron but Kubek flied out to Green in center to end any possibility of a Yankee score. Billy Gardner singled off Ford in the 5th but Ford retired Ramos and Versalles to end that threat. In the bottom of the 5th Whitey Ford singled off Ramos with one out but Ramos got Richardson to hit into a 5-4-3 double play from Reno Bertoia to Gardner to Killebrew and after 5 the game was still 0-0. The 6th inning was uneventful as both sides went 1-2-3 and the Twins and Yankees were locked in a pitcher’s duel in the Twins first ever game. Ford must have started to tire in the 7th because Bob Allison led off with a long homerun to left, and in the process scored the Twins first run. Earl Battey followed with a double and Bertoia walked. Lavagetto then had Gardner sacrifice bunt the runners along and Ramos, a good hitting pitcher, singled to center scoring Battey and Bertoia and the Twins had a 3-0 lead. That turned out to be the final batter that Ford faced and Ralph Terry came on for the Yankees and Versalles greeted him with a single to center before Terry got Green on a fly out. Killebrew followed with another walk but Lemon ground out for the third out. But after 6 ½, the Twins were leading the hated Yankees 3-0. Ramos retired the Yankees 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning and after 7 the Twins were winning 3-0. Allison led off the 8th with a single of Terry, Battey hit a ground ball forcing Allison at 2B but Bertoia followed with his first homer and after 7 ½ the Twins were up 5 to nothing. Ramos again retired the Yanks 1-2-3 and after 8 the score was Minnesota 5 and New York 0. In the top of the 9th, Jim Coates came on to pitch for the Yankees and Versalles singled to left. Green popped out to Richardson. With Killebrew in the batter’s box, Versalles stole 2B and then stole 3B. Killebrew then hit a sac fly to left scoring Zoilo for the 6th and final run of the game. Dan Dobbek, who had replaced Lemon in left, was hit but a Coates pitch and proceeded to steal 2B while Allison was at bat but Bob ground out to shortstop to end the inning. In the bottom of the 9th Ramos retired Hector Lopez, Yogi Berra, and Mickey Mantle flew out to Allison in right and the Minnesota Twins had won their first game after 2 hours and 27 minutes of play in a 6-0 shutout over the Yankees.
Pedro Ramos would go on to pitch two other shutouts in 1961 but finished the season with an 11-20 record. The Twins would finish their first season with a 70-90 record and a seventh place finish, ahead of only the Angels, A’s, and Senators. But on this magical day after 1 day of play in 1961 the Minnesota Twins were 1-0 and tied for 1st place in the American league. Click on my "Twins Box Scores" page and you can see the actual box score for this game.
Twins split against the Mariners
April 10 - The main idea behind this web site is to write about Twins/Senators history but now and then I will continue to write a little about the present day Twins, I just mention that because I don’t want you to get upset with me that you don’t see me writing daily about how the Twins are doing. Having said that, I still want all of you to keep coming to www.Twinstrivia.com to check and see what might be new on the site today.
I obviously follow the Twins closely and attend about 20-25 games a year and we were out at the Dome on Wednesday and saw the Twins beat the Mariners 6-5 from our regular seats down the first baseline right next to the visitors bullpen. What seemed a little odd to us this year as we looked back towards the infield was how bright the lights seemed to be, I am not sure if they upgraded the wattage or just adjusted the lights but it can be painful looking towards the Twins dugout as the lights seem to shine directly in your eyes.
The Twins won the middle two games and lost the first and last game to what appears to be a bad Mariners team, and Seattle didn’t even have Ichiro in their line-up. When you consider how lucky the Twins were to win game 2 in the bottom of the ninth against Seattle closer Morrow who I think will become a very good closer, Twins management can’t be too happy with the Twins start at home in 2009.
I dislike having to play what I consider to be bad teams at the beginning of the season because these so called bad teams don’t think they are bad this early in the season and they play as if they can win. A bit later in the season these bad teams know they are bad and give up once they get a few runs down or wait for something bad to happen which will cause them to lose. On the other hand, if you play against the good teams early on, I think the opposite happens, they are nothing special right now but as the season progresses they gain confidence and know that they are good enough to come back against any deficit, it is just a matter of time before they take the lead and win the game.
Twins hitting after four games is below average with Morneau, Crede, Gomez, and Punto all hitting .200 and under and no Twins hitter has more than 4 hits. Cuddyer, Crede, and Gomez are striking out at a furious rate and to be honest I don’t expect that to improve very much. Crede I expect to strikeout a lot, some goes for Gomez as he learns to hit in the majors but I expect Cuddyer to do better than he has so far.
Twins pitching is about where I expect it to be at this point in the season with an ERA of 4.25. I think Liriano, Slowey, and Blackburn can all pitch better then they have so far, I think first game “jitters” hurt them all and I would expect better performances from them as we get to their second and third starts. The Twins miss Baker but hopefully they can get him back next week. Outside of Nathan the bullpen has been nothing to brag about but hopefully they too will pitch better in future outings.
I fear that the Twins outfield situation will be a constant source of irritation as Gardy tries to shuffle 4 or 5 outfielders and give them all playing time. You can already sense Gardy’s frustration when he is asked who is playing in the outfield “today”. I was absolutely sure that the Twins would trade Delmon Young before spring training ended but it didn’t happen and now I think the Twins will pay the price. An uncertain line-up causes problems, maybe not today, or tomorrow, or next week, but it will cause problems down the line, mark my words. The Twins are paying Cuddyer too much money to sit him plus he is a very good right fielder so he needs to play. Span is the lead-off hitter and he needs to play. Gomez is the exciting and talented center fielder that is the crown jewel in the Santana deal and why would you hinder his development, so he has to play. Now and then Gardy will put Kubel in left just so he remembers how to play outfield when it comes time for inter-league play. That leaves Delmon as the odd man out, sure, he is not complaining now, but the season is less than a week old and he is waiting and watching to see how things develop. Span had a terrible spring and that had to give Young hope for more playing time but now that the season has started, Span seems to have picked up his hitting and he is on the plus side of .300. As the days progress Young will become more and more disenchanted with his role on this team and he will let Twins management and the media know about his feelings about riding the bench. The problem the Twins and GM Bill Smith have is that the longer they wait and the more disenchanted Delmon becomes because of a lack of playing time the lower the return will be for this young outfielder that many feel still has great potential. The Twins and GM Smith put themselves in this box and they need to find a way to get something of value as quickly as possible for Delmon Young whom they had to part ways with Matt Garza and Jason Bartlett to acquire. Right about now I would take a top notch set-up man and a minor league pitcher to two for Delmon and send him on his way, there is such a thing as addition through subtraction.
Steve Cannon Passes Away at the Age of 81
April 7 - Wow, what a shock this morning when I woke up and heard that former WCCO radio icon Steve Cannon had passed away at the age of 81 after a short battle with cancer. I listened to the "Cannon Mess" for many years as I drove home to Wayzata from downtown Minneapolis after a long days work at Norwest/Wells Fargo. The show was unique every day as you listened to Steve banter between 3-6 with his sidekicks Morgan Mundane, Lash LaRue, and of course the wonderful Ma Linger. Now and then he would tell us about Da Niece and Da Nephew and their escapades. A great Twins and Vikings fan, I think Cannon started the term “Viqueens” and his sports prognostications with Morgan Mundane were legendary. The man was blessed with a golden radio voice, the best I have ever heard, and when you listened to his show it was as if you were sitting across the table and listening to a family member tells you a story. I remember one day someone had asked him why he never took any calls on his show and his response was simple and straight forward, “I have earned the right to run my show the way I want, if you want to talk on the radio, get your own show”. Cannon always did it his way and that is one of the things that really impressed me about Steve Cannon. Steve is gone now but my memories of Steve Cannon will be with me forever. I am sure that when Steve appeared at the pearly gates St. Peter just said, Welcome Steve, the microphone is over there, what time slot would you like? Rest in peace Steve as you have earned it. My condolences to the Cannon family.
If you would like to share your thoughts and memories of Steve Cannon with others, please go to http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http://www.830wcco.com%2FIn-Memory-Of%2F4123966
The major league debut of the great Walter Johnson
Walter "Big Train" Johnson in 1920
March 29 - Walter “Big Train” Johnson was the Washington Senators greatest pitcher and one could make a strong case that he was baseball’s greatest pitcher ever. Today, with the 2009 season opener just a short week away, we are not going to go down the road of who was baseball’s best pitcher but I will instead redirect you to story written by Mark Hornbaker in 2007 about the debut of the great Walter Johnson. You can enjoy the article by going here
Thursday at Hammond Stadium
March 26 - I spent about four hours out at Hammond Stadium today and none of the Twins regulars were around as they have a night game later today against the Pirates on the road. There were several minor league games going on today and the games attracted a number of spectators as well as a number of scouts (Larry Corrigan was the only one I met) and Twins staff like Tom Kelly, Gardy, Terry Ryan, Rob Anthony, and Jim Rantz and several others.
Many of the minor leaguers that were not playing in the games sat in the stands and watched their teammates, sometimes cheering them on and sometimes making fun of an error or obvious mistake. What is cool about watching these games is that you get to stand right behind the fence separating the player’s bench and the fans and you can listen in on what the players talk about after an at bat and the conversations between the coaches and the players. The players are very nice and engage with the fans to a certain degree, particularly between innings. Another cool feature is that there were three games going on and you could watch each game by walking about 20 yards in another direction.
I was lucky enough to get a chance to talk with Assistant GM Rob Antony for about 15 minutes and we discussed numerous players, the Twins outfield and catching situation and the young players like Valencia, Martin, Swarzak, Ramos, and Mulvey. Rob was very honest and forthcoming and I really enjoyed talking with him.
I have a few new pictures from my trip today and I hope to post them this afternoon. We have one more Spring Training game (Monday against Tampa) to go to before we pack up and head for home next Thursday ending our 2 months of fun in the sun here in Cape Coral, Florida. We have watched a lot of baseball, played plenty of golf, done some fresh and salt water fishing, gone beachcombing, enjoyed our pool daily, and did some sightseeing, it does not get much better than that, retired life is great. On top of that, the stock market has been doing pretty well lately too, hopefully that is a trend.
TK does it all
Damn Senators
March 18 - I had received a book called “Damn Senators” as a Christmas gift but had not gotten around to reading this book until a couple of days ago. I was so intrigued with the book once I started reading it that I read it in two afternoons as I sat out by the pool here in Cape Coral, Florida enjoying the warm and sunny weather that only Florida can provide at this time of the year. The book was written back in about 2003 by Mark Gauvreau Judge who wrote the book about his Grandfather, Joe Judge who played first base for the Washington Senators between 1915 and 1938 before wrapping up his career with the Brooklyn Dodgers and Boston Red Sox in 1939 and 1940. Joe was not a power hitter as we see in first basemen today but instead was a slick fielder that hit for a career average of .298 and stole 213 bases along the way.
Although the book was written about Joe Judge and his wonderful career, its primary focus is on the 1924 Washington Senators World Championship season, the one only time that the Washington Senators were the world champions of baseball. The team was then owned by Clark Griffith and the book has some very interesting stories about Griffith and how he worked and to build that championship team. The book goes at great length to detail the Hall of Fame career of the great Walter Johnson who many say to this day was the greatest pitcher that ever threw a baseball in the major leagues. It talks about how Johnson was a very low key modest individual but who was a lion at heart once he took the mound. The relationship between he and Ty Cobb is outlined and it talks about the friendship and respect between the two even though these two individuals could not have been any more different.
It is very interesting too how it came to pass that the Senators beat the New York Giants in that 1924 World Series when all hope appeared to be lost. I could tell you more but I don’t want to ruin it for those of you that will go out and read this book. If you want to learn a little more about the history about the Washington Senators who became our Minnesota Twins in 1961, you should either buy a copy of this book or check it out from your local library, it is a fun and informative book that you will enjoy.
Just another day of practice
March 18 - I was out watching the Twins practice on Tuesday and to be honest there was not a lot of the regulars around, most of them had gone on down the road to City of Palms Park to play the Red Sox. But Gardy was around and he and Tom Kelly were out on one of the back fields hitting ground balls to Nick Punto who would field the ball and throw to Matt Tolbert who was learning to play 1B under the tutelage of TK. They worked Punto and Tolbert pretty hard and they were very positive with their comments but when it was all done, Tolbert mush have asked for an assessment of how he did at first and TK didn’t mince words when he said that he did OK but he still had a long ways to go to make all the plays and to play 1B the way it should be played, typical TK. I don’t think TK does it to be mean, he just tells it how it is.
I am surprised at how TK tries to interact with the fans that watch practice by joking with them and just talking to them. He asked one of the kids that were watching, maybe an 8 or 9 year old to join him on the field during the practice and when the boy walked up to him, TK asked how many of these baseballs laying here on the ground here at 1B can you pick up? The little boy was pretty shy and kind of indicated he didn’t know so TK said, pick up as many as you can and carry them over to Gardy over there. The little boy picked up about 6 balls and did as he was asked and when he got back to TK, he is told to grab another armful and again deliver them to Gardy. When the little boy comes back again, TK asks, are you good for one more trip? Again the little boy carries more baseballs over to Gardy. Apparently bored the little boy then decides that he has had enough and walks off the field, without a baseball. I would have thought that for all that work he could have at least gotten a practice baseball; I guess you have to learn at a young age that life is not fair.
As Gardy walked off the field he stopped for some pictures and autographs and chatted with the fans, in no apparent rush. I got a good picture of Gardy that I will put on my picture site soon. After he finished up with everyone I walked with Gardy as he was leaving and I asked him if he could tell me who had surprised him with their play this spring. He said that Danny Valencia was hitting very well and had caught his eye and he said that outfielder Dustin Martin had played very well and was really running around out there before he hurt his shoulder here recently. Then Gardy said he had to hustle and get over to City of Palms to play the Sox.
Most of the AA and AAA players had gone to Port Charlotte to play Rays teams so there were not many high level minor leaguers around either. I did get a chance to watch Aaron Hicks, the Twins first round draft pick last year hit a little BP and he hit a few line drives but he is certainly not a power hitter, at least at this stage of his career. I also watched him running the bases a bit and he does appear to be very quick and pretty athletic.
Twins lose to the Reds 1-0
March 14 - It was a beautiful night for a an outdoor ball game at Hammond Stadium on Friday night as the Twins took on the Cincinnati Redlegs. The temperature at game time was 73 with a clear sky. The Twins only play two nights at home this year and the first was on opening night. The Twins advertised fireworks for this game, but the only fireworks that Twins fans were able to enjoy were the fireworks after the game and they lasted about 5 minutes, there wasn’t even any “boomers” at the end. The fireworks ended kind of abruptly and the music kept playing so we were all waiting for the next batch of fireworks but there were none so the fans started to file out of the stadium for their drive home.
Baseball under the lights with the temps in the 70’s is great; I hope that we get to enjoy some games like this at Target Field next year. The grass seems so green, the lights add a magical touch to everything and the white uniforms just sparkle on the player’s backs. When a pop-up is hit high in the air it looks so white and oh so small as it quickly falls back to earth.
But back to the game, Francisco Liriano started for the Twins and was doing very well; as a matter of fact I leaned over to my wife in the third inning and told her that Francisco sure looks dominate tonight. I had barely gotten the words out of my mouth when you heard a loud crack of the bat and you just knew that ball was lone gone and indeed it was, a long blast to left off the bat of former Tampa Bay outfielder Johnny Gomes. It turns out that was the only scoring that either team did and the Twins dropped to 8-5 for the spring. Liriano was impressive in his 3 1/3 innings giving up 3 hits and striking out five. Twins pitchers Crain, Breslow, Jones, Humber, and Henn kept the Reds scoreless the rest of the way. Henn, the lefty who pitched the ninth walked one and struck out one was very impressive. I was amazed that he got it up to 94 a couple of times on the radar gun; I did not think he threw that hard. Maybe he can help the Twins sometime this year. Micha Owings and Ed Volquez were both very impressive for the Reds and held the Twins to 3 hits in 7 innings striking out 6. Former Twins hurler Mike Lincoln threw one inning of perfect relief before giving way to the final Reds hurler Viola who got the save. Former Twins outfielder Jacques Jones played in the outfield and was 0-3 and he didn’t look good swinging the bat at all. Crede made a very nice play at third and I think Twins fans are going to really like Joe’s defense at third base.
What’s up with Joe?
March 10 - So what is ailing Joe Mauer? The situation with Joe has been handled very strangely this past off season. First Joe has kidney related surgery about 2 ½ months ago and everyone said no problem; Mauer will be ready to go when the season starts, no worries. Then as we get deeper and deeper into spring training Joe is still working on the back fields and once he starts to swing a bat and catch some bullpen the word is that Joe’s back is bothering him again and now he is scheduled for an MRI on Wednesday and Twins management is quickly backing off there “no concern” policy.
So let’s do the hypothetical thing here, what happens to the Twins line-up, bench and roster if Mauer starts the season on the DL? Who would be the starting catcher? Redmond? Mike could probably fill the slot for a couple of weeks but that is about it, he is not a young pup anymore. Even if that was true, who would the Twins use as the back-up catcher? Would it be Jose Morales who has had a taste of the big leagues, or would it be Wilson Ramos the young up and coming stud catcher who still has a lot to learn but who can hit circles around Redmond and Morales. That assumes that Drew Butera does not have a shot at the job and the way I see it and he shouldn’t. Some very interesting decisions would have to be made if Joe is out for any length of time. I am not even going to discuss who the Twins would have to put into the 3 hole in the batting order.
Too early to worry? I don’t think so, and everyone will be waiting for that medical report. Is it just me or does there seem to be something that happens to Joe to keep him from playing a full season every other year or so………. I sure hope I am wrong but I am afraid that where there is smoke there is usually fire.
What President threw out the first pitch?
March 6 - How did the tradition of the president throwing out the first pitch get started? In the Senators/Nationals 63 home openers since, a dozen presidents have done the honors 45 times, from front-row seats or from the mound, making them 46 for 64 overall (.719). Pretty reliable. Mark Hornbaker who writes for Nationalspride.com talks about this in a short story he wrote back in April of 2007 and you can check it out right here.
World Baseball Classic
March 4 - Keep up with the latest comings and goings in the WBC simply by clicking on the WBC logo. Keep up with how the Twins players and Twins minor leaguers are doing. So who do you think will win the event this year? Does the USA have a chance? Do all the other countries that are participating take this event way more seriously then USA players do? Do the rules make sense, should Nick Punto be playing for Italy? If you want to know more about the WBC, just click on the World Baseball Classic logo.
Twins and Senators Nicknames
March 2 - I just aded a new page to the web site called "Twins Nicknames" and you might want to check it out. I thought that adding a list of nicknames of past and present Twins players as well as some older Washington Senator nicknames would make for some fun reading and some cool recollections. If you have other nicknames we can add to the list, please drop me a line and I will get them added.
My first spring training game of 2009
February 28 - I caught my first spring training game this season on Friday when my wife and I went out to watch the Twins battle the Yankees at Hammond Stadium. The game started poorly for Twins starter Scott Baker who seemed to be high with many of his pitches and wilder than normal and after two innings the Twins trailed the boys from the Bronx 3-0. But the Twins fought back and seemed to catch fire when Jason Kubel pinch hit a home run that you knew was gone as soon as you heard the crack of the bat. The New York crew was made up primarily of minor leaguers and I think the only regulars that saw action were Posada (who was a DH and did not catch), Nady and Swisher. Ian Kennedy started for the Yankees and looked good as he gave up a hit, a walk and he struck out three. I think what everyone was looking for in this game was how the Twins new 3B Joe Crede would start his Twins career. Crede didn’t get a hit and what struck me was how the Yankees pitched Crede, everything was low and away. Crede did not play 3B in this game as he was the DH but I look forward to watching him play third base. I was surprised at how big Crede really is, he is a big guy. He is listed at 6’2” and 230 but he looks taller than that. For an early spring game it was fun and entertaining. There were a lot of Yankee fans in attendance and many of them were more than a little miffed at some of the calls that went against the Yankees in the ninth inning. I think there was room for argument on the last play of the game at first base but the umpires were off the field in no time flat, I think they had an early dinner engagement and the last thing they or probably either manager wanted at this stage was an extra inning game. When the dust had cleared the Twins had won 5-4 and were 3-0 for the season.
Another visit to Hammond Stadium
February 26 - Yesterday I decided to go out to the stadium about 10 AM and catch the Twins practice before their home opener on Wednesday night against the Red Sox. When I got there I found a few fans and no players, none at all, not even anyone playing catch on the back fields. A lesson learned I guess, but without access to the Twins inside scoop like the regular press has it can be a hit and miss proposition sometimes.
But I don’t give up easy so I went out again this morning knowing that the Twins had an away game with Cincinnati so I was expecting to find a lot of the regulars left behind and that is exactly what happened. When I got there, Morneau, Young, Casilla, Cuddyer, Crede, Redmond and a number of others were taking batting practice. I guess these veterans had earned the right to skip some of the spring training bus rides. So there was no Gardy to run the show but TK was keeping things moving.
The Twins bring in some of their past stars to do a little spring training coaching and today I saw Rod Carew and Paul Molitor. When they players and coaches leave the field they usually have to walk through a gauntlet of fans looking for autographs and pictures. Most of the players and coaches stop, chat with the fans a little, sign some autographs, pose for some pictures and move on, but not Mr. Rod Carew the Hall of Famer. Today Carew just blew past everyone and his eyes never left his shoelaces and he didn’t utter a word. He reminded me of someone walking through a dairy barn barefoot making sure they didn’t step into a “cow pie”. Geez what a grump, Carew was a good player and maybe he is a good coach but he still lacks basic human relations skills that would make him one of the Twins fans favorites. Paul Molitor, who is not exactly as outgoing as Harmon Killebrew at least stopped, signed and posed for some pictures. Even TK who I always thought was a major grump as a Twins manager stopped and chatted with fans and posed for a picture with some kids. Believe it or not, he told the kids to smile, who would have “thunk” it? But you know who stayed out there the longest and signed until the last fan was satisfied? It was Justin Morneau; he must have been out there for a good half hour signing everything in sight and posing for anyone that asked. How cool is that? You know he was ready to call it a day and get in the clubhouse but he stayed out there until all the cards, balls, and bats were signed even when he knew that a number of them were for going to be put up for sale before the ink had dried. That is why Morneau is such a popular player; he knows how to treat his fans the right way. Thanks Justin, I was very impressed.
The Best Fantasy Baseball Game Out There
Are you a fantasy baseball fan? Then you need to read this. The best fantasy baseball game today bar none is the National Fantasy Baseball Championship. This game offers you anything you are looking for in a fantasy baseball game but the big carrot of the game is the $100,000.00 over-all prize if you can beat the best of the best. You can pay as little as $125 or as much as $5,000 to own and manage your team; it all depends on what game you want to play, how you want to draft, and how much you want to spend. This will be the 6th year for the NFBC and I have played in this game since it started. My best finish to date has been as a league winner and a 10th place over-all finish. You need to know that if you play this game you are competing against some of the very best fantasy baseball players in this grand old US of A..
There are many choices of games to play but the main game involves simultaneous drafts in 4 different cities (New York, Chicago, Las Vegas, and Orlando). The rules and options are too long for me to talk about here but you can check them out on their web site at www.fantasybaseballchampionship.com . This year additional games have been made available and now you can participate by attending a draft at one of the four cities I mentioned, or if you wish, you can play on-line, or you can even participate in the big game by drafting over the phone.
I have to tell you that the best thing about the NFBC is the team of management that runs the games. I have played fantasy baseball since the early 1980’s and I have never played in a more professional league where the management works so closely with the players to provide the participants the most fun and the best possible product. Integrity is top notch and you can be assured that if you win, you will be paid in a timely manner. We all know how important it is that the game be honest and fair for all participants. One of the main rules to ensure that everything is on the up and up is that the NFBC has a “no trades” policy. You draft your team and then pick-up free agents through-out the season by bidding for each free agent with your free agent pool dollars. No chance for any collusion here. Another fun part of the NFBC are the message boards where NFBC players and guests talk baseball, solve the world’s economic problems, and tell everyone how great they are and how everyone else is “dead money”. Don’t let these some of these blowhards scare you off, new participants are winning leagues every year. If you don’t believe me, check out the lifetime standings section.
If you have any interest in fantasy baseball what so ever, check the NFBC out at www.fantasybaseballchampionship.com and if you see something you like, sign up and play because I know if you try it once, you will be hooked forever. You think you know your baseball, then come on down and join right up, tell them that John Swol sent you….
Twins Comings and Goings
February 21 - So Bill Smith finally landed that 3B in Joe Crede that he said that the Twins did not need since he was happy with Buscher and Harris. Crede is a very nice addition for both his bat and his glove plus the Twins got him on the cheap, just a $2.5 million base with incentives based on at bats that could pay him up to $7 million. Where he will bat is still undetermined but I see projections all over the board from the 5 hole to the 8 hole.
Now the hot rumor is that the Twins have made an offer for relief pitcher Juan Cruz in a sign-and-trade deal with Arizona. Again, if the Twins can add him to their bullpen he will be a plus; it will be very interesting to see what Minnesota has to give up.
That still leaves some unfinished business for Mr. Smith; he still needs to clean up the outfield situation where he has too many players and not enough positions. I have talked to a number of people and most of them feel that the Twins will not move any of them but will mix and match them getting all of them some at bats. The logic behind keeping them all is that Span, Gomez, and Young make very little money and the Twins can afford to keep one of them on the bench. I don’t see it that way at all, you need to play your best players as much as possible and good players need to play regularly, not be taken out of the line-up when they go 0-4 with 3 strike-outs. If the Twins mix and match then Span, Gomez, Cuddyer, Young, and Kubel will all be unhappy. If you bench one of these guys then you have another unhappy scenario, The Twins are not the Yankees, the Twins like a happy clubhouse and happy players. Delmon Young has to be traded and I think the Twins brass realizes that and will make a move before spring training is done. The Twins should be able to get a nice starting pitcher for Delmon, someone that they can put in their rotation because I just don’t see Perkins making it in the rotation for very long before an injury strikes him down. I think Bonser has been their ace in the hole if a rotation spot opened up but now with that sore shoulder, who knows what is in store for the Boof man.
Watching the pitchers and catchers on day 2
February 18 - I went out to Hammond Stadium again on Monday to watch the second day of Twins pitchers and catchers working out, the position players will not report until later this week but a number of position players are here and working out on their own on the back fields.
As for the pitchers and catchers, they are going through the normal playing catch, doing pitcher fielding drills, getting some throwing in and doing some running. I have not seen Bonser throwing at all and the word is that he is shut down due to a sore shoulder. I was surprised to see Pat Neshek out there running around with the other pitchers but I did not see him play catch or throw. I had a chance to observe RA Dickey throwing to Mike Redmond and he had a couple of nasty looking knuckle balls and after his session was over with Rick Anderson observing, Anderson told Redmond that he caught a few more of Dickey’s throws today than he did yesterday, good job.
Peter Gammons was out at Hammond yesterday with his crew and spent at least half an hour talking to Craig Breslow, you wonder what those too had to discuss for that time. I did not get a chance to talk to Gammons as I got tired of waiting for him to finish up with Breslow but I did get a chance to talk to one of the crew and he told me that they were doing their tour of Florida spring training sites and that their main interest here in Twins camp was Joe Mauer and his surgery since the Twins have made no major free agent moves or trades to speak of this year. Speaking of Mauer, my only sighting of him yesterday was as he rode a golf cart from the major league locker room to the minor league workout facility on the back fields. I followed the cart and stayed there for about 15 minutes but Mauer never came out of the minor league locker room facility.
Not too much else real exciting but it was fun to watch Gardy and Steinbach play first base and field the balls and lob them over to the pitcher covering first base. They were both looking a bit ragged and moving slower and slower as practice progressed but Gardy always has something funny to say to each pitcher and they run over to cover the bag and he had the fans going. I got a few more pictures that you can see here.
Former Twins outfielder Ted Uhlaender dead at the age of 68
February 15 - Former Minnesota Twins outfielder Ted Uhlaender passed away from a heart attack on Thursday at the age of 68. Ted Uhlaender was born in Chicago Heights, Illinois on October 21, 1940. Ted signed as a free agent with Minnesota in 1961 and was a September 1965 call-up and appeared in 13 games but was not eligible for the World Series against the Dodgers. Uhlaender became a starter the following season and was a regular through 1969 when he was traded to the Cleveland Indians after the season ended. Uhlaender played for the Indians for two seasons before he was once again traded, this time to the Cincinnati Redlegs where he finished his career when the 1972 season ended. Uhlaender was a very good defensive outfielder and had a career batting average of .263 with 36 homeruns in 898 major league games.
In later years, he worked for the Arizona Diamondbacks and New York Yankees. He spent two years with the Giants, became Cleveland's first base coach in 2000-01 and then returned to San Francisco as a scout and has worked for them in that capacity since 2002.
Ted had a daughter (Katie), who races for the U.S. Olympic skeleton team and is eyeing her second Olympic berth in Vancouver next year. Uhlaender was diagnosed with bone marrow cancer last year. I would like to pass on my condolences and best wishes to the Uhlaender family.
Twins Spring Training Pictures
February 14 - If you are intersted in viewing some of the pictures that I have taken out at Hammond Stadium this spring at the Minnesota Twins spring training camp, please click on Twins Trivia Spring Training pictures. I hope to add pictures on a fairly regular basis and I hope you enjoy them.
March 11-26 - Some new and updated photo's here.
A visit to Hammond Stadium before Spring Training starts
February 11 - I spent several hours out at Hammond Stadium yesterday checking out what was going on out there just a few days before pitchers and catchers are scheduled to report, there must have been 20-25 players out there on one of the minor league fields. There were some Twins there like Boof Bonser, Brian Buscher, Michael Cuddyer, and Scott Baker. There were players like Brian Buchanan who I think is going to camp with the Royals, Matt Garza from Tampa made a splashy entrance and went around hugging a number of the Twins players, Korey Feiner a former Twins farm hand was there with his brother Kevyn. There were a number of Twins minor leaguers there too that I did not recognize, it is hard without uniforms and numbers to go by. The boys did some stretching, played catch, did some hitting, took some infield, and they all spent a lot of time talking and getting reacquainted. Brain Buchanan hit a number of long fly balls, some caught at the fence and a couple went over. Brian Buscher appears to be working real hard and was all over the place. Boof Bonser spent more time talking then he did working and he appears to have found some of the weight he lost last year. Michael Cuddyer looks leaner and he says he is healthy, focused and ready to play baseball. It was a great time out there with maybe two dozen fans and about an equal amount of players. At this point there are really no security guards around and fans can wander all over as long as they stay out of the field of play but that will all be changing shortly. I had a great time watching the players, taking a few pictures and talking baseball with some of the fans that were observing the action. I hope to get out there on a regular basis and will let you know what I see and what I may hear.
Luis Ayala to join the Twins BP Staff
February 8 - It appears that the Twins have reached agreement on a contract with relief pitcher Luis Ayala and all that remains to be done before the Twins announce the deal is to validate the medical exam results. Ayala is 31 years old and is a 6’2” 170 pound right hander with five years of major league experience who has pitched for Montreal, Washington, and the Mets. Last year was the worst year of Ayala’s career when he split the season between the Nationals and the Mets and had a 2-10 record and a 5.71 ERA with a WHIP of 1.45. In the 75+ innings that Ayala threw, he struck out 50 batters and walked 24. Previous to 2008, Ayala worst ERA was 3.19 and his worst WHIP was 1.29.
It will be interesting to see how Ayala fares against American League hitters but I think that 2008 was an aberration and that Ayala will return to be the reliable relief pitcher he was prior to last season. Ayala walks a few more batters than what make the Twins brain-trust happy so it will be interesting to see how that situation develops as we all know how the Twins feel about free passes.
A lot of Twins fans are already down on this deal as another of those cheap free agent signings that does nothing to help the team that the Twins have been notorious for doing in the last few years. But I really think this is one of the Twins better signings in recent years. Now if the Twins could get a 3B, oh my oh my!
The Twins Third Manager
February 6 - Calvin Coolidge Ermer was born on November 10, 1923 in Baltimore, Maryland and was known as much for his ability to play soccer as baseball. For seven years, he coached the College of Baltimore’s soccer team in which the team won four championships. He joined the U.S. Marines where he spent his time playing for their team and when his hitch was up, he went into professional baseball. Ermer recalls that his parents were concerned when he chose baseball because they didn’t think he could make a good living. Ermer’s career in baseball has spanned over 60 years but yet he played in only one major league game and that was on September 26, 1947 as a Washington Senator at the age of 23. Ermer played second base and was 0 for 3 that day. But Cal knew the game of baseball and his destiny was coaching and managing and not playing the game he loved. Ermer played and managed in the minors handling Senators/Twins farm clubs over five different decades: 1947; 1950-57; 1965-67; 1974-76; 1978-85.
Ermer as Denver Bears manager
On June 9, 1967 with the Twins playing uninspired .500 baseball, Calvin Griffith fired manager Sam Mele who had led the team to the World Series in 1965 and brought Ermer up from the Twins AAA affiliate Denver Bears of the Pacific Coast league where he had managed since 1965 to manage the major league team. Ermer still remembers to this day one of Calvin Griffiths questions before he gave him the job and that was “Do you play Pinochle”? You can’t manage the Twins if you can’t play Pinochle said Calvin. The Twins play improved and late in the season the Twins and Ermer found themselves in a four team pennant race with the Tigers, White Sox and the Red Sox that went into the final week-end of play. The Twins needed only one win in their final two games against the Red Sox at Fenway Park but the Twins lost both games to Boston and lost their chance to go to their second World Series in three years. Jim Kaat still says to this day that this was the best Twins team ever assembled and had he not hurt his arm early in the game against the Red Sox that the Twins would certainly have won the game and the pennant. Dave Boswell mentioned basically the same thing when I did my Q&A with him.
Ermer with his friend Jim Lemon
The 1968 season was a struggle even though the Twins started the season winning their first 6 games. The nail in the coffin so to speak occurred when Harmon Killebrew suffered a serious injury in the All-Star game at the Astrodome where his manager Cal Ermer happened to be coaching for the American League. Killebrew returned in September but only hit 4 home runs before the season came to an end and the Twins finished with a 79-83 record. The season was a disappointment to owner Calvin Griffith and the day after the 1968 season ended, he decided that a change was needed so Griffith hired Billy Martin to become the Twins fourth manager and fired Cal Ermer as manager and gave him another job in the organization.
Ermer with one of his former players, Sal Butera
Cal coached and managed minor league teams for the Pirates, Yankees, Phillies, and the Tigers. As a minor league pilot, Ermer won 1,906 games, losing 1,728 (.524) over 26 seasons. Along the way, Ermer had major league coaching stints with the Orioles, Brewers, and the Athletics. Ermer’s only stint as a major league manager was with the Minnesota Twins and he compiled a 145-129 record and is one of only five Twins managers to post a career winning records as a Twins manager. Ermer also scouted for the Twins and several other teams over his 60 year career. In August of 2008, the Chattanooga Lookouts dedicated the AT&T Field Press Box to their former Lookouts manager Cal Ermer.
I had an opportunity to spend about an hour talking with Cal on the phone about a week ago and we had a wonderful time talking baseball. Today, Cal Ermer is living in a senior living center in Chattanooga, Tennessee and is working on a book about his career in baseball. Now 85 years old, Cal is having some memory issues but he is looking forward to attending each and every home game of the Chattanooga Lookouts when their 2009 season begins.
Bud Selig was paid $17.47 million in 2007
February 5 - I just can’t pass up commenting on the Associated Press article I saw the other day stated that Bud Selig made over $17.47 in 2007 which is more than all but three major league players made that year. The three players that made more than Selig were A-Rod, Jeter, and Giambi, all Yankees, wouldn’t you know it. The $17.47 million was up 3 million from the year before so I guess we can assume that at that rate that he made about $20 million in 2008.
How can this be justified? How can the baseball commissioner be making that kind of money? What does Bud Selig do to earn his pay? Let me see if I can list some things that Selig probably does to earn the big bucks in no particular order of importance.
Attends baseball games periodically Meets with local politicians in cities that he thinks need new stadiums to convince them to back the new stadium plans Throws out the first pitch to start the season in some ballpark Decides when and if an All-Star game should be ended as a tie Testifies before congress that MLB has a handle on the steroids situation Adds a couple of teams to the playoff pool every now and then Attends Hall of Fame induction ceremonies Will travel on some situations to be on hand for the breaking of a long standing baseball record Rubber stamps any idea that the baseball owners might agree on Refuses to realign the teams to divisions that make common sense Practice his signature until he gets it right so that it can be transferred to the baseballs
OK, I have racked my brain and I can’t come up with much more than what I have listed here, I probably missed one or two but you get the point. I don’t think I have listed $17 million dollars worth of value here, do you? I know people including myself that would do this job for a lot less and just possibly might do it better. But, the owners wouldn’t go for that because they have Bud Selig right in their hip pocket just like most guys carry their wallets.
Let me see here, the economy is in the tank, people are losing jobs left and right, families are losing their homes and here we have the commissioner of major league baseball making money faster than GM can probably lose it. The average fan can’t afford to take his family to a baseball game and yet Selig makes this kind of money? How can you justify that Mr. Selig? I don’t want to hear that the owners think you deserve it, what have you done to justify this huge salary? Tell me….
Here is what I think Mr. Selig, you tell the owners that with the way the economy is today that you can’t accept their generous offer of $17-$20 million a year but you will be honored to continue as commissioner of MLB for $100,000 a year. A lot of people can only dream of $100,000 a year but I am willing to go along with that amount as long as you have the rest of your salary donated to the players retirement fund for those older players that are not getting the nice retirement packages that today’s players will be getting. That seems like a fair deal to me, those former players gave you what you have today so it should not be too much to ask for you to reward them in this small way. What do you think Commissioner Selig, are you up for the challenge? Just think how much better you will sleep at night!
Super Bowl is history, it is time for baseball
February 2 - I arrived in the Ft. Myers area yesterday and will stay here for the next two months soaking up the sun, playing a little golf, doing some fishing, and hanging out at Hammond Stadium watching the Twins as they go through yet another spring training. It is always fun to see baseball again after a long and cold winter and I hope to get some good pictures and maybe provide a little of my insight on how the Twins are doing.
Like many others, I watched the Super Bowl on TV last night and although I was disappointed that the Cardinals did not win, I thought that it was the best Super Bowl game that I can remember. Did you catch that new Twins ad that debuted during the Super Bowl? I did not see it here in Florida since it was local ad but if you missed it, you can see it right here. After the ad is complete it shows some of the "out-takes" that did not make the final ad.
Several days ago, KSTP the Twins radio home and the Minnesota Twins announced that the KSTP will broadcast 25 Twins spring training games this season beginning with the February 25th Twins Grapefruit opener against the Red Sox. Some of the games supposedly will have a unique format with possible interviews with uniformed personnel and others may take calls from the listeners. It is nice to hear that Twins fans will be able to listen to the boys of summer as they prepare for their final season at the Metrodome.
As far as I am concerned, baseball and radio go together but I don’t think that KSTP is the radio station that should be broadcasting the Twins games this year or any year for that matter. WCCO did a great job for the Twins for so many years and I am still disgusted that the Twins left the “Good Neighbor”. Why do I dislike KSTP? I have two main complaints about KSTP, first is the lack of range, I live less than 12 miles from the Metrodome and unless I point my radio in just the right direction I can’t get the game, when I do get it, the signal usually fades in and out. Dang, it is so irritating to hear Gordo say “and here comes the pitch, Morneau swings and it is a long fly ball to……………..static! How frustrating is that? I can usually be found walking and enjoying the Luce Line trail on summer evenings, before KSTP came along I could listen to the Twins on WCCO on my little arm band radio, but not since the Twins moved to KSTP. My second reason for my problem with KSTP is their pre-game show, up until the time they hand it off to the John Gordon and Dan Gladden team and their post game show. These shows are boring and so unprofessional I seldom if ever listen. The shows are more of a venting and a blood-letting then they are a good honest look at the team and its management. I can’t wait for the Twins/KSTP contract to run out and I hope that the Twins move Minnesota Twins baseball back to WCCO where it belongs. I am not the only Twins fans out here that feels this way, maybe it is time for the Twins to do a serious study and survey of their fans to determine where on the radio dial they want to find Twins baseball and if it should be returned to “830” where it rightfully belongs.
The Last of the Pure Baseball Men
January 16 - It was a sunny and cold day in January and I was researching some historical Minnesota Twins information on the Internet when I ran across a wonderful story about Calvin Griffith, the original owner of the Minnesota Twins and the man responsible for bringing professional baseball from Washington to the Midwest and to the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. It made no difference that Metropolitan Stadium the ballpark that the Twins would call home was actually miles away out by the airport and located somewhere out amongst the cow pastures in a suburb called Bloomington. Sadly, today that stadium is gone and now occupied by the Mall of America and the Twins are playing baseball on the concrete floor within the confines of the domed and climate controlled Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome.
The story “The Last of the Pure Baseball Men” was written by Michael Lenehan and published in the August 1981 Atlantic Monthly. Although a rather lengthy article, it is a fun and informative read as it looks at the life and times of the legendary Minnesota Twins owner Calvin Griffith. The story covers Calvin’s life and to a great degree I think explains why Mr. Griffith ran the club as he did. The article mentions many of the Twins former players and talks about their relationships with Calvin. Calvin Griffith has been gone now for a number of years and Carl Pohlad who bought the Twins from Calvin also recently has passed away.
I think as you read the article you can’t help but go back in time and picture in your mind what baseball was like in the 50’s, the 60’s and the 70’s. Back when players played for fun and pride and not the almighty dollar. Back when you knew that the players you watched come up from the minors would play for the home team for years to come unless they were traded. Sure, you had spring training hold-outs, but you didn’t have arbitration and the constant talk of how much an up-and-coming star was going to take to sign or you will lose him to free agency and the larger market teams. I am not condoning some of the practices of the owners back then because they obviously were unfair and you could argue they got what they deserved but now I think the pendulum has swung a bit too far to the players side. From my perspective as a baseball fan, baseball is still the best sport but the greed from both the ownership and the player’s side is wearing my patience a bit thin.
As I look out the window, it is a beautiful sunny day albeit a -5 degrees here in Plymouth, Minnesota and I can’t wait to hear the crack of the bat as the baseball goes flying out of the ballpark when spring training opens for MLB in just a few short weeks. In the mean time, take a few minutes and check this story about Calvin, his family, and his Minnesota Twins. In a way this is really a fitting time for this story, the article was originally written in 1981 as the Twins prepared to open their final season at Met Stadium and today we find ourselves in the same position as the Twins are getting ready to open their final season, this time in the Metrodome before they move to Target Field and play out door baseball once again in 2010.
You can find “The Last of the Pure Baseball Men” written by Michael Lenehan on his web site by clicking on his name, I hope you enjoy the article as much as I did.
Here is what I think the Twins should do
January 13 - So here it is, mid January and we are just a little over a month away from the Twins opening spring training and all remains quiet on the Twins front It has been a very quiet off season for GM Bill Smith and the Twins. Adam Everett, Nick Punto, Eddie Guardado, and Dennys Reyes became free agents after the 2008 season ended. Everett ended up in Detroit and Punto resigned with Minnesota and based on what Gardy is saying it looks like he will be the starting shortstop. Guardado appears to have garnered some interest from the Rangers and rumors have Reyes possibly going to the Mets. The Twins only other signing is knuckleballer R.A. Dickey and the odds of him making the team are slim at best.
I don’t see Punto as the shortstop come Memorial Day, either he will be hurt or his bat will be hurting the team so bad that Gardy will be looking at other options to play short.
But let’s talk about 3B, what are the Twins going to do there? Smith says he is fine with a platoon of Brian Buscher and Brendan Harris at third but I have not heard Gardy come out in favor of that idea. Looking at the available free agent 3B, the pickings are pretty slim; there is Joe Crede and Ty Wiggington. Joe Crede who we are all familiar with as he has played for the Mighty Whities for a number of years and he had done his share of damage against the Twins. I think that Crede made about $5.1 million in 2008. The major down side with Crede is his bad back and the turf in the Dome certainly would not help that situation. Joe has only played in a total of 144 games in the last two years combined. Crede is good in the field but his errors jumped way up last year so that is a slight concern too. Wiggington made about $4.35 million with Houston and the Astros did not tender him a contract. I just don’t see the Twins going after Wiggington based on his defense and the money he is looking for. Between these two I would prefer Crede and can live with him as the Twins third sacker if Minnesota could sign him for 1 year plus an option on a “low base high reward” contract that will pay him the big bucks if he stays healthy and knocks in some runs and shows some power. But I don’t see the Twins doing that right now. There are 3B like Beltre in Seattle, Atkins in Colorado, Cantu in Florida, Encarnacion in Cincinnati, Hall in Milwaukee, Blalock in Texas, Mora in Baltimore, Figgins in Los Angeles and Kouzmanoff in San Diego that I believe are all available if the right offer comes along but many of these guys come with warts too. If I had my druthers, Blalock would be my third choice and I think he could be had for Glen Perkins, I would think long and hard about that deal but I would probably do it. My second choice on the list is Garrett Atkins from Colorado but I think his price would be higher; again I would send Perkins and also include a couple of decent ceiling low minor league players. My top choice for the new Twins 3B would be Kevin Kouzmanoff from the Padres. Kevin hit only .260 last year but I think he is a much better hitter then that. He played in a pitchers park and still hit 23 home runs and knocked in 84 runs while scoring 71 for a bad San Diego team. The 6’1” 210 pound right handed batter will be 28 in July and is just approaching his prime and he has 2 full years of big league experience behind him. So here is what I would do, I package Delmon Young, Glen Perkins, and Ben Revere and send them top San Diego for Kouzmanoff and Heath Bell a right handed relief pitcher who can be the set-up guy the Twins are looking for. This is a trade that helps both teams, the Twins improve with a 3B that they desperately need and a set-up man they also need. The Padres are rebuilding again and they can fill the 3B hole by moving Chase Headley there and they have holes all over their outfield so Young can move right in and take over and Revere can certainly contend for an outfield spot also. By doing this deal the Twins also solve their outfield problem and can play Cuddyer, Gomez, and Span every day with Kubel as the DH. I am not sure what kind of a message that Gardy was sending and to whom when he said that Span, Gomez, and Cuddy should be playing every day but I think it is obvious to everyone even though Twins management will not admit it is that Delmon Young is not the type of player that the Twins are looking for. Young swings at the first pitch way too often and this is not the Twins way. Add in the fact that he does not listen or take instruction well and you have a man on the way out of Minnesota. Cuddy, Gomez, and Span are all better outfielders than Young and they all need to be in the line-up somewhere. The Twins are not like the Yankees or Red Sox where they can afford to have an everyday player like Young sitting on the bench so the best choice is to trade him for something the team needs. I know it is tough to admit that the swap with Tampa Bay was not a good deal but we need to get over it and move on with life. When you make trades, some turn out great and some don't, the trade with Tampa was one of those bad ones that sounded great when it was made.
So you ask why do I seem to include SP Glen Perkins in every trade offer? It is because I think that Perkins will never start 30 games for the Twins and the odds of him getting through an entire season in the starting rotation without sustaining some type of an injury are very low. Long term I do not see Perkins as a starter, I think he is better suited for the bull pen. So let’s package Young and Perkins and trade them before their value decreases.
So Mr. Smith, let’s get this deal done and give us Twins fans something to get excited about as we prepare to attend the Twins Fest in a couple of weeks and get ready for Spring Training and baseball in 2009.
World Baseball Classic
January 7 - Once again it is almost time for the World Baseball Classic. This will be the second time this event has been held. The first World baseball Classic was held in 2006 and the Dominican Republic beat Australia 6-4 for the title. Sixteen teams including the USA will be battling for the championship this year. The first game is on March 5 in the Tokyo Dome between China and Japan. Games will also be played in Mexico City, Toronto, San Juan, San Diego, Miami, and the finals will be played in Los Angeles between March 21 -23.
A number of Twins including Justin Morneau and Jesse Crain (Canada) Joe Nathan (USA), Nick Punto (Italy), and Jose Mijares (Venezuela) may be competing. A number of Twins minor leaguers may also be found on some rosters. Bert Blyleven will be the pitching coach for the team from Netherlands. It should be fun to follow again this year. If you want to know more about the WBC, just click on the World Baseball Classic logo.
Twins owner Carl Pohlad passes away at the age of 93
January 5 - My condolences to the Pohlad family and to the entire Twins organization. I can't say that I always agreed with Mr. Pohlad but then again what fun would life be if we all agreed on everything. Mr. Pohlad did come through and buy the Twins at a time that the Minnesota Twins needed to be saved and for that I thank him and his family. I think what I will remember most about Mr. Pohlad is his loyalty to the people that worked for him and the fact that he hired who he thought was the best person for the job and then he let them go about their tasks with little to no interference.
Baseball is a business and Carl Pohlad knew how to make money but I think the Twins were more then that to him, I think he and Eloise really enjoyed the game and the characters that were part of baseball. It is sad really that Mr. Pohlad will never get to see the Twins play at Target Field, something that he worked so diligently for over the years.
So Carl, thanks for the memories, some good and others not so good, but you will be missed and for me you will always remain an important character in Twins lore for ever more.