Twins Trivia

Courtesy of Stew Thornley

Meet pitcher BIll Zepp

William (Bill) Clinton Zepp was born on July 22, 1946 in Detroit, Michigan. Bill was a high school sports superstar playing multiple sports before attending the University of Michigan and playing baseball for the Wolverines. Zepp was drafted by the Braves in 1965, the Tigers in 1966, and the Red Sox in 1967 but turned them all down in order to finish college. Bill then signed a free agent contract with the Minnesota Twins in 1968. Bill only pitched in 40 minor league games throwing just 290 innings over two years before he was called up by the Twins in August 1969. Bill had a very nice season with the Twins in 1970 when he was 9-4 with a 3.22 ERA in 40 games with 20 starts. During the 1970 season, Bill requested to be traded to a team closer to home and the Twins accommodated his request. After being traded to the Tigers in 1971, Bill was injured and only made 16 appearances for the Tigers. Sadly, Bill’s career ended at the age of 24 after only 3 major league seasons due to an elbow injury. Bill pitched in a total of 63 games with 24 starts and had a 10-5 record with a 3.64 ERA in 188 major league innings. Today Bill is retired and enjoying life with family and friends in Plymouth, Michigan.

HIt the "play" button to listen to the Bill Zepp interview

Our next interview is still to be determined. Have you checked out my previous interviews with Jim Kaat, Mike Trombley, Dick Woodson, Dave Boswell, Dick Stigman, Dr. Mike Marshall, Glenn Borgmann, Jerry Koosman, Kevin Tapani, Bernie Allen, Frank Quilici, Sam Mele, Rich Rollins, Tommy Hall, John Sevcik, Ron Davis, Lee Stange, Allan Worthington, Mike Cubbage, Bill Dailey and Julio Becquer If not, you can find them in the Interview Archives.

Interesting fact

August 30 - The Twins newest bullpen addition, Brian Fuentes hasn’t allowed a home run to the last 123 left-handed hitters he has faced, the last was Stephen Drew, September 20, 2008. Source: Twins Game Notes

Most pitching appearances in a season

Dr. Mike Marshall, also known as Iron Mike

August 28 - This is obviously a relief pitcher category but still a lot of fun to look at. There are a couple of guys on this list that obviously threw more innings than most of the other pitchers on this list did. Look at what Bill "Soup" Campbell did in 1976, zero starts, a 17-5 record and 167.2 innings in 78 games, that is more than two innings per appearance. Dr. Mike Marshall is the leader in games appeared with 90 and he threw 142.2 innings. 90 games, that means he appeared in 56% of the games the Twins played that year, just amazing. Heck, both of these guys threw more innings than a lot of today’s starters do. There are some names here that maybe I did not expect to see on a list like this.

If you look at it by decade, it breaks down like this, 60’s = 0, 70’s = 2, 80’s = 0, 90’s = 4, and 00 = 5. I think it shows how much more important that relievers are becoming in baseball today.

Rank

Name

Year

Games

Innings

Starts

Record

Saves

Dr. Mike Marshall

1979

142.2

10-15

Eddie Guardado

1996

73.2

6-5

JC Romero

2002

9-2

Eddie Guardado

1998

65.2

3-1

Matt Guerrier

2009

76.1

5-1

Bill Campbell

1976

167.2

17-5

Juan Rincon

2004

11-6

Mike Trombley

1998

96.2

6-5

Matt Guerrier

2008

76.1

6-9

Bob Wells

1999

87.1

8-3

Bob Wells

2000

86.1

0-7

Know your franchise history

August 22 - The Society for American Baseball Research is a great organization and one of the wonderful projects they have going on is the Baseball Biography Project. One of the many biographies they have completed is about Washington Senator Hall of Famer Leon Allen Goslin, better known as Goose Goslin. Goose was born October 16, 1900 in Salem, New Jersey and passed away on May 15, 1971. Goslin played in the majors for 18 seasons with the Washington Senators, St. Louis Browns, and the Detroit Tigers. Goslin was a slugging clutch-hitting outfielder who had some issues judging fly balls and some say that is how he earned the nickname of “Goose”. Goose Goslin was voted in to the National Baseball Hall of Fame by The Veterans Committee in 1968. Here is a quote from Goose Goslin that I borrowed from Baseball-Almanac.com - "It was just a game, that's all it was. They didn't have to pay me. I'd have paid them to let me play. Listen, the truth is it was more than fun. It was heaven." – Goose Goslin. Take some time and read about this Washington Senators legend by clicking here.

Jose Manuel Morales

August 6 - The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is a great organization and one of the wonderful projects they have going on is the Baseball Biography Project. One of the many biographies they have completed is about former Twin Jose Manuel Morales. Jose was born December 30, 1944 in Frederiksted, Virgin Islands. Morales was a catcher by trade but the bat and his ability to pinch-hit was why Jose spent all or part of 12 years in the big leagues with A’s, Expo’s, Twins, Orioles and the Dodgers. Morales was with the Minnesota Twin from 1978 – 1980 and was used primarily as a DH although he played a few games as a catcher, 1B, and even appeared in the outfield for one game. Take a few minutes and read about the Twins original Jose Morales by clicking here.

Most games played by position

July 31 - I just wanted to take a look and see who the leaders for games played at each position by the Minnesota Twins and the Washington Senators. With the way things are in baseball today and players on the move through free agency it is hard to keep the same players for any length of time. The only current player that might have a shot at moving on to the list below in the near future is Joe Mauer and if all goes well that might happen late in 2011 or early 2012.

Position

Games

Name

Games

Name

831

Earl Battey

874

Muddy Ruel

1,609

Kent Hrbek

2,025

Joe Judge

1,128

Rod Carew

1,339

Buddy Myer

1,311

Gary Gaetti

1,625

Eddie Yost

1,112

Greg Gagne

1,445

George McBride

620

Dan Gladden

1,093

Goose Goslin

1,432

Kirby Puckett

1,635

Clyde Milan

1,138

Tony Oliva

1,592

Sam Rice

406

Tony Olvia

Mauer's feat versus a no-hitter

July 27 - In games since 1952, there have been 159 no hitters, including one last night from Tampa’s Matt Garza. During that same span there have been only 23 hitters with five hits and seven RBI in the same game. Strangely enough, two of those occurrences happened against the Minnesota Twins by players that were themselves once Twins. Tom Brunansky had 5 hits and 7 RBI against the Twins at Fenway Park on May 19, 1990 in a 13-1 Red Sox win. Casey Blake also had 5 hits and 7 RBI against Minnesota at the Metrodome on July 5, 2003 in a 13-2 Indians win. Source: Baseball-Reference.com

Most Games Played in a Twins Uniform

Rank

Name

Games Played

Plate Appearances

Harmon Killebrew

2,329

9,462

Kirby Puckett

1,783

7,831

Kent Hrbek

1,747

7,137

Tony Oliva

1,676

6,879

Rod Carew

1,635

6,980

Bob Allison

1,541

5,921

Gary Gaetti

1,361

5,459

Torii Hunter

1,234

4,894

Randy Bush

1,219

3,480

Roy Smalley

1,148

4,675

7/24/10

My Twins all-time starting five

July 14 - I thought that it might be interesting for me to pick my all-time Twins starting 5 pitchers. It turned out to be more difficult than what I had imagined it would be. What do you rank them on? How important is durability versus intimidation for example. Were they the ace of the pitching staff that carried the team to the playoffs? The list would be different if I included pitchers that pitched for both the Senators and the Twins such as Camilo Pascual who had a stellar career and is one of my all time favorite pitchers. The first row of stats are stats with the Twins and the second row are career stats. The Twins stats for Jim Kaat do include a few games that Kaat pitched for the Senators in 1959 and 1960 and the numbers for Johan Santana include the first half of 2010.

1. Rik Aalbert (Bert) Blyleven – right handed

Seasons

GS/CG

Innings

Wins

ERA

WHIP

345/141

2,566

149

2,035

3.28

1.19

685/242

4,970

287

3,701

3.31

1.20

2. James Lee (Kitty) Kaat – left handed

Seasons

GS/CG

Innings

Wins

ERA

WHIP

433/133

3,014

190

1,851

3.34

1.23

625/180

4,530

283

3,701

3.31

1.20

3. James Evan Perry – right handed (1970 Cy Young award winner)

Seasons

GS/CG

Innings

Wins

ERA

WHIP

249/61

1,883

128

1,025

3.15

1.20

447/109

3,285

215

1,576

3.45

1.26

4. Frank John (Sweet Music) Viola – left handed (1988 Cy Young award winner)

Seasons

GS/CG

Innings

Wins

ERA

WHIP

259/54

1,772

112

1,214

3.86

1.30

420/74

2,836

176

1,844

3.73

1.30

5. Johan Alexander Santana – left handed (2004 & 2006 Cy Young award winner) still active

Seasons

GS/CG

Innings

Wins

ERA

WHIP

175/6

1,308

1,381

3.22

1.09

253/10

1,836

129

1,816

3.11

1.12

Keep up with the latest trade and free agency rumors

Baseball Almanac is my favorite baseball historical site and obviously is also the choice of many others. Baseball Almanac has MORE than 300,000 pages of baseball history, MORE than 900,000 fast facts, original research from recognized experts AND material not found or seen on any other web site in the world. If you are looking for a baseball message board, then Baseball Fever is the place for you. Baseball Fever is one of the most popular online social sites in the world and receives more than 14.7 million hits per month.

Have a great day!

Obama at the bat

An instant classic, make sure you check it out - http://www.angelfire.com/ak2/intelligencerreport/obama_at_bat.html

Wayzata, MN
Updated Friday, September 03, 2010 4:53 AM

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This page was last modified on Thursday, September 02, 2010 10:58:57 PM

MLB.com Game Notes

Get your official MLB Game Notes here, just click on the baseball and then select the team icon for the games notes that you would like to see.

Twins Roster Transactions

Just click on the Twins logo to see their most recent transactions.

Tigers and Twins history goes back a ways!

September 1 - With the Tigers in town and Joe Mauer and Jason Kubel hit by Tiger pitcher Phil Coke and Tiger catcher Avila being hit by Twins hurler Brian Duensing, it brings back memories of the big Twins/Tigers brawl of May 14, 1982. The Twins were in the midst of their worst season ever from a loss perspective as they would finish 1982 with a 60-102 record under manager Billy Gardner. When they arrived in Detroit, they were 2-10 in the month of May and they immediately proceeded to lose the first of a four game series 6-2 to Jack Morris on Thursday, May 13th and with that defeat they dropped into the cellar of the AL West Division where they would stay for the rest of the season.

The following day the Twins sent Pete Redfern (2-4) to the mound against Tigers starter Dan Petry (3-2). The Twins jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the second inning on a couple of singles, a walk and an error. The Tigers came back with one in the bottom of the third and held the Twins scoreless in the fourth. In their half of the fourth the Tigers catcher Lance Parrish doubled and was sacrificed to third by Lou Whitaker. Shortstop Mark DeJohn, who had a total of four hits in his 24 game major league career singled in Parrish to knot the game at 2-2. The next batter was outfielder Chet Lemon and Redfern hit him on the wrist, Lemon charged the mound and the battle ensued. The game was halted for 20 minutes as the umpires sorted things out. When the smoke cleared Lemon was ejected and Redfern had to leave the game with a spike wound to the right foot. Bobby Castillo replaced Redfern and retired the next two batters. The game remained scoreless through the ninth and went into extra innings. In the 10th inning Dave Rozema held the Twins scoreless and Ron Davis did the same to the Tigers in their home half of the 10th. Rozema then retired the Twins 1-2-3 in the 11th inning and Ron Davis took the mound in the bottom of the 11th. Allan Trammell flew out to center for the first out but Lynn Jones singled and then Davis brushed Tiger third baseman Enos Cabell back, words were exchanged and Cabell went after Davis. During the melee Tigers pitcher Dave Rozema suffered ligament damage to his left knee and was carried off the field on a stretcher and eventually required surgery. Twins players stated that Rozema hurt himself trying to kick Twins third baseman John Castino as you can see on the attached video but the Tigers claimed that Rozema hurt himself coming out of the dugout to participate in the brawl. Both Cabell and Davis were ejected and the Twins brought in Terry Felton to pitch. Felton dispatched Tiger Tom Brookens for the second out of the inning but Kirk Gibson hit a two run walk-off homer and the Tigers were the 6-4 victors. The Twins lost the next two games in Detroit, were swept in the four game series and won only one more game that month.

Here is some video of the two brawls that took place. Towards the end of the video you can see Tiger pitcher Dave Rozema come flying in from the left hand side of the screen and try to kick Twins player John Castino. You can see a second short video with Tigers manager Sparky Anderson expressing his view of the situation by clicking here.

Twins bring in another closer

courtesy of Los Angeles Angels

August 27 - The Twins announced today that they have acquired 35 year old left-handed closer Brian Fuentes from the Los Angeles Angels for a player to be named later (to be named by October 15). Fuentes had 23 saves in 27 opportunities with the Angels this season after leading the AL in saves in 2009 with 48. Fuentes, nicknamed T-Rex, had a 4-1 record in 39 games with an ERA of 3.52 and a WHIP of 1.20 to go along with 39 strikeouts and 5 home runs allowed. Gardenhire has stated that Capps will retain the closer role and Fuentes will be primarily a set-up guy but he will get some closing opportunities if Capps is used too many days in a row. This is Fuentes’s tenth big league season and he does have 186 lifetime saves pitching for the Mariners, Rockies, and the Angels. So now the Twins have ties to 4 closers if you count Nathan who is out for the year in Rauch, Capps, and Fuentes. Fuentes will be available for Saturday’s game so a roster move will be required, probably after today’s game against the Mariners. Fuentes has about $1.89 million due him this year but he will probably not meet the required 55 games finished to trigger his $9 million vesting option for next season. Sure looks like the Twins are “going all in” this year.

Twins claim Randy Flores off waivers

courtesy of Colorado Rockies

August 25 - With Glen Perkins as the only lefty in the bullpen due to injuries, the Twins announced today that they have claimed Randy Flores (6’ and 190 lbs) off waivers from the Colorado Rockies. Flores is a 35 year old situational lefty who has been in the big leagues with the Rangers, Rockies (twice) and the Cardinals. Prior to being waived by Colorado, Flores, in his 8th big league season appeared in 47 games but only pitched 27.1 innings and allowed 22 hits and 13 walks while striking out 18. In addition, Randy had a 2-0 record with a 2.96 ERA and a WHIP of 1.28 and opponents were hitting only .224 off him. But, Flores does have a career ERA of 4.60 and a WHIP of 1.56. Flores will be a free agent after this season. Flores is on the way to Texas and should arrive later tonight and be ready to go on Thursday. The Twins will probably make a roster move after tonight’s game to make room for Flores.

Thome ties major league record

August 18 - Jim Thome hit a walk-off home run for the Twins against the White Sox last night. It was the 12th walk-off home run of Thome's career, tying the major league record shared by Jimmie Foxx, Mickey Mantle, Stan Musial, Frank Robinson and Babe Ruth. The last former White Sox to hit a walk-off homer against the Minnesota Twins was Harold Baines on May 4, 1999.

Slowey throws 7 no-hit innings

August 16 - It was an interesting afternoon at Target Field today as I watched the Twins beat the Oakland A’s 4-2 yesterday and in the process sweep the A’s and extend their winning streak to four. The Twins took a 1-0 lead in the third when Kubel hit a ground rule double with two runners on base and had the ball stayed in play the Twins would have scored a second run.

But it wasn’t long before I looked at the scoreboard to verify what I was thinking, Slowey still had not given up a hit and he was looking pretty sharp. Couple that with some nice fielding plays behind him, like the leaping grab Repko made in left in the top of the 6^th inning and things were going well for Slowey and the Twins. As the game progressed into the 6^th and 7^th inning Slowey started to labor a bit but he still had a no hitter on the board after 7 innings and the Twins were still leading 1-0. In the bottom of the 7^th Jim Thome hit a 3-run home run, a rocket shot to right field and suddenly the Twins were up 4-0.

Would Slowey come out to pitch in the 8^thinning? At this point he had walked 3 A’s, hit one, and another A’s batter reached base on a throwing error by shortstop Casilla. His pitch count was sitting at 106 which is usually the end of the line for a Twins starter in recent years. I’m wondering if Gardy pulls him in the middle of a no-hitter. Jon Rauch was warming up. Slowey had skipped his last start on Wednesday due to a tender elbow. All signs pointed to Slowey not coming out to pitch in the 8^th but still in the back of my mind I hoped he would. Then the bullpen gate opened and Rauch was headed for the mound. I did what my heart told me to do, I gave Gardy and Rauch a resounding boo! Then with one out Rauch gave up back-to-back doubles and the no-hitter and the shutout were gone. I gave Rauch a couple more boos for good measure.

I understood the situation, but I wanted to see a no-hitter, having never witnessed one in person I wanted to cross that off my bucket list but it was not to be today. As I sat on the bus that was taking me back to the Cty Road 73 Park & Ride I thought about what had transpired and I realized that I had nothing to be upset about. Long term this is probably the best thing for Slowey’s health but…….. this was a shot at a once in a life time event for most pitchers. Looking at it from Gardy’s perspective, it was a no-win situation but he took a tough stand and made the hard decision, you have to give the man credit for that. Like I said, it was a fun and interesting day at the old ballpark today and things like this are what make baseball the game it is.

PAVANO 15 WINS IN 24 STARTS

August 14 - Carl Pavano improved his record to 15-7 in 24 starts for the Twins. The last Minnesota pitcher to reach 15 wins in so few starts was Brad Radke in 1997. Radke was 15-5 through 24 starts that season. Source: ELIAS

Twins extend deal with 1500 ESPN

August 10 - The Twins announced today that that they have extended their agreement with 1500 ESPN Twin Cities to be the team's Twin Cities metropolitan area radio affiliate through the 2012 season. The two-year agreement with Hubbard Broadcasting, which owns the station, allows for 1500 ESPN to broadcast all Twins regular and postseason games and at least 25 Spring Training games.

I think it is a terrible decision to extend the contract with 1500 ESPN. Many Twins fans listen to the games on the radio and there are many more that would listen if the station could provide a signal that went out farther than 1500 ESPN’s property lines. As many others have said for years, the signal strength of the station is just plain terrible. I don't understand why if the Twins want to be first class organization why they go with a second tier minor league radio station. They have a top notch ballpark and a very good team and still they go the cheap route and put their games on 1500 ESPN. Why not go back to WCCO were they belong? WCCO’s signal is so much better in quality and strength that there really is no comparison.

In addition to a bad signal, the pregame and post game announcers leave a lot to be desired. When I listen to 1500ESPN I feel like I am listening to a bunch of announcers that are still in broadcasting school learning how to become professional announcers. 1500 ESPN pre and post game announcers don’t seem to understand baseball at all, I have never seen a bigger bunch of band-wagon jumpers then at 1500 ESPN. If the team goes into a short slump, the announcers rip everyone in site, if the Twins win a couple of games in a row you would think the Twins are the best team that baseball has ever seen.

I can’t believe that the Twins did this, going from WCCO to 1500 ESPN a few years ago was a terrible mistake but here they had an opportunity to fix the problem and they still dropped the ball. I would love to hear why the Twins keep choosing 1500 ESPN over WCCO. The money can’t be that much different, what’s the real reason Mr. St. Peter?

How sad is it that less than 10 miles due west of Target Field and I can barely get a signal as I walk on the Luce Line trail?

Young shares July AL Player of the Month award

August 4 - Major League Baseball announced that Twins left fielder Delmon Young has been named American League Player of the Month for July, along with Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Jose Bautista. It marks the first time since August of 1999 that the Player of the Month award has been shared, Young led the American League in hits, batting .434 (46-for-106) with six home runs, 12 doubles, one triple, six home runs, 17 runs scored and 30 RBI during the month of July. Delmon safely in 23 of 26 games and had 16 multi-hit games. Young finished just one RBI shy of Kent Hrbek’s July record of 31 set back in 1984. Source: MN Twins Presspass

According to ELIAS

August 2 - Francisco Liriano tossed seven innings in Minnesota's two-hit shutout of the Mariners yesterday. In doing so, Liriano extended his streak of consecutive innings without allowing a home run to 85, the longest for a Twins pitcher since Juan Berenguer authored a 93.2 inning homerless streak spanning the 1987 and 1988 seasons.

Twins trade for All-Star closer Matt Capps

Getty Images

July 29 - The Twins have announced that they have acquired right handed closer Matt Capps (6’2” and 245) from the Washington Nationals in return for one of their top prospects, catcher Willie Ramos and LHP Joe Testa. Some reports also have the Twins getting $500K in the transaction.

The Twins have also announced that Jon Rauch will be moved to a set-up role and that Capps will take over closing duties. In 47 appearances with the Nationals this season, Capps was 3-3, 2.74 (46.0 IP, 14 ER), allowing 51 hits with nine walks and 38 strikeouts. His 26 saves (30 opportunities) were the fourth most in the National League and seventh most in all of baseball. Capps was also selected to the 2010 National League All-Star team.

Ramos, arguably the Twins best prospect has spent most of the 2010 season at Triple-A Rochester. In 71 games with the Red Wings, he batted .241 (67-for-278) with 14 doubles, five home runs and 30 RBI. Ramos did spend a few games with the Twins earlier this year. This is probably a good deal as Ramos will get a chance to take over as the Nats catcher versus being stuck in the minors behind Twins all-world catcher Joe Mauer who is going nowhere in the near future.

According to ELIAS

86 HITS OVER LAST FIVE GAMES

July 29 - The Twins have 86 hits over their last five games. The last major-league team to have that many hits over a five-game span was the 1950 Red Sox, who had 90 hits over five games from June 4-8. The Red Sox batters who led the way during that five-game stretch were Al Zarilla (13 hits), Walt Dropo (12), Johnny Pesky (12), Bobby Doerr (11), Ted Williams (11) and Vern Stephens (10)

TWINS ARE ROAD WARRIORS

The Twins have won five straight games, all on the road, and scored at least six runs in all of them. It's only the second time since this team moved to Minnesota in 1961 that they have had such a streak. They also had a five-game streak in September of last season.

Some interesting Twins bullpen tidbits

The Twins bullpen leads the league in ERA at 3.16 while the Royals and the Mariners are at the other end of the spectrum at 4.51.
Strangely enough, only the Orioles and Indians with 19 and Mariners with 21 have less saves than the Twins do with 22. The Rangers lead the AL with 33 saves.
The Twins bullpen is last in the league in strikeouts with 194 while the Rangers bullpen has struck out a league leading 263 batters.
Only the Rays bullpen has given up fewer runs (103) than the Twins bullpen has at 105. On the other end of things the Orioles bullpen has given up 166 runs.
Opponents are hitting .248 off of Twins relief pitchers, about middle of the pack.
Only the Mariners (257), White Sox (258), Rays (262), Angels (262), Yankees (262) and bullpens have thrown less innings then the Twins pen has at 273. This compares with a league leading 315 innings pitched by the Orioles bullpen.
Twins relievers had thrown 25 gopher balls, only the Tigers (19), White Sox (22) and Rays (23) have given up fewer round trippers.

The above statistics are through July 25.

According to ELIAS

July 23 - The Twins defeated the Orioles, 5-0 on Thursday, raising their record against Kevin Millwood to 9-0. That's the most victories without a loss by any team against an active pitcher, breaking a tie with the Dodgers, who are 8-0 against Matt Cain. The Senators/Twins franchise won its first nine or more decisions against only three other pitchers: Sid Monge (their first 10, 1975-1981), Ted Blankenship (1922-1925), and Gordon Rhodes (1929-1933).

Twins call up Anthony Slama

MLB Pressbox

July 20 - After the ugly 10-4 loss to the Cleveland Indians last night at Target Field, the Twins demoted pitcher Alex Burnett who has been getting hit hard the last month or so after a solid big league start. To replace Burnett, the Twins promoted right handed reliever Anthony Slama. In 43 appearances with the Red Wings this season, Slama was 0-1, 1.71 (52.2 ip, 10 er) with 23 walks and 33 strikeouts, and an opponents' batting-average-against of .164 (30-for-183). Twins bloggers have been clamoring for a Slama call-up for several weeks so now we will get to see what all the huppla is about.

MIA

July 19 - Have you seen this man? Clay Condrey, otherwise known as the “Twins Invisible Man” was signed by the Twins back in January for about $900,000 to bolster the bullpen. The 6’3” right hander with a sinker, cutter, curveball, changeup, and a four-seam fastball was targeted for a key role in the Twins pen but to date the man has not fired a single bullet in a Twins uniform in a game that has counted. Now there is talk that he will have season ending surgery and may never appear in a Twins uniform. You spin the wheel on some of these free agents and sometimes you come up with a dud, I think Bill Smith has that sinking feeling.

Know your franchise history

July 18 - The Society for American Baseball Research is a great organization and one of the wonderful projects they have going on is the Baseball Biography Project. One of the biographies they have completed is about Hall of Famer Richard Benjamin Ferrell who was born on October 12, 1905 and passed away on July 27, 1995. In 1947, after 18 major league seasons with the Browns, Senators, and Red Sox, Rick Ferrell retired as the longest playing catcher in the American League. His record 1,806 games would stand for more than 40 years, surpassed finally by another Hall of Famer, Carlton Fisk in August 1988. A stout defender and choosy batter, Ferrell was an eight-time All-Star who caught a rotation of four knuckleball pitchers for the 1945 Washington Senators team that lost the American League pennant in the final week of the season. Take a few minutes and enjoy a trip back in time and read about this baseball catching great by clicking here.

Did you know?

July 16 - That the first All-Star game Home Run Derby was held at the HHH Metrodome in 1985? The rules were way different back then. When the derby first began in 1985 each player received two turns at bat with five outs per turn at bat. Any swing that was not a home run was an out. This format allowed for the possibility of ties. The derby started out as a contest between the two leagues, with each league having an equal number of players. At the first derby there were ten players (five per league). The NL was represented by Dave Parker of the Reds, Dale Murphy of the Braves, Steve Garvey of the Dodgers, Ryne Sandberg of the Cubs, and Jack Clark of the Cards. The NL had 16 home runs with Parker leading the pack with 6. The AL was represented by Jim Rice of the Red Sox, Eddie Murray of the Orioles, Carlton Fisk of the White Sox, Tom Brunansky of the Twins, and Cal Ripken Jr, of the Orioles. The AL had 17 home runs with Rice, Murray, Fisk, and Bruno each hitting 4 and Ripken added 1.

According to ELIAS

July 15 - The Reds, currently in first place in the N.L. Central Division, have the easiest remaining schedule in the major leagues based on the combined won-lost records of their remaining opponents and weighted by the number of games against each team.

Easiest remaining schedules: Reds (opponents combined winning percentage is .464), Cardinals (.473), Astros (.476), Mets (.482), Twins (.484). Among the contending teams, the Dodgers have the toughest remaining schedule based on the same formula. Toughest remaining schedules: Orioles (.541), Dodgers (.523), Diamondbacks (.521), Blue Jays (.518), A's (.517).

TWINS TRIVIA is hopefully a fun and informative site that will help you to better enjoy the Minnesota Twins and their wonderful history.