This and That

Max Kepler in WBC in 2012There was a nice piece written about Twins outfield prospect Max Kepler the other day by MiLB.com and if you get a chance, check it out here. The article talks about Kepler’s childhood, the choices he has made and the road that he has taken to try to become a major league player with the Minnesota Twins. The path to the majors for a ballplayer from Germany is a long and difficult one and not just for Max but for his family as well. I have watched Max work hard to improve his skills and I will tell you this, don’t bet against this young man, he is dedicated to be the best he can be and one day he will be a major league ball player, mark my words.

Football season has ended and baseball is just around the corner but March Madness will be starting soon and everyone will fill out one or more “brackets” hoping to cash in either financially or in term of bragging rights. Some fans may even want to wager a few dollars in support of their favorite teams. For all types of sports betting including NCAA College Basketball Betting just follow the link.

The MLB Fan Cave is back for its third season in 2013 and the 50 finalists have been named. The Twins representative is 25-year old St. Paul native, Michael McGivern, an ardent Minnesota Twins fan with broadcasting, social media, and marketing experience. The first round of voting ends on February 13th so take a minute to support your Twins  representative by voting for Michael at http://mlbfancave.mlb.com/fancave/vote.jsp?fliqzid=75d1a1fb9d2844bfba9497e98bde25c8

Tony Oliva with Rod Carew
Tony Oliva with Rod Carew

When I was at TwinsFest recently I ran across a young lady that was part of a campaign to get Tony Oliva elected to the MLB Hall of Fame in 2014. The group has set up a web site at www.votetonyo.com in hopes of accomplishing their goal. I truly believe that Tony deserves to be in the Hall of Fame and I will do whatever I can to help. I would urge all the Twins fans out there to do whatever they can to make this happen. I would love to see all the Twins blog sites out there post a link to the votetonyo.com site to help drive traffic to the site. Stop by the site and see what you can do to help make Tony Oliva a Hall of Famer! I recently did an interview with Eddie Bane who played with Tony and has been around the big leagues since 1973 and this is what Eddie had to say about Tony: “By the way, one additional thought on some of the old-time baseball guys from the 60’s and 70’s. I have asked a lot of former major league pitchers who the best hitter they ever faced was. Of the more than 20 pitchers I asked at least half of them said Tony Oliva. Tony never gets his due as far as the Hall of Fame goes, but those pitchers all remember that swing that I can still picture in my mind. Without those lousy knees that he had Tony O would certainly be a Hall of Fame player”. Thanks Eddie, another reason to vote Tony to the Hall!

German born Navy vet 65-68 and served aboard the Shangri La CVA-38. I run https://Twinstrivia.com, best MN Twins historical web site there is. Stop by daily and check out OTD in Twins history and much more. Live in Minnesota and Florida depending on what time of the year it is.