Month: January 2020

Twins HOF voting by fans not what it is cracked up to be

On January 24th the Minnesota Twins announced that former Twins first baseman Justin Morneau has been elected to the club’s Hall of Fame. Morneau will become the 34th member of the Twins Hall of Fame when he is inducted during an on-field pre-game ceremony at Target Field before the Twins host the Chicago White Sox on Saturday, May 23. This is all well and good because Justin Morneau is certainly deserving of the honor.

However; one player that stands out in my mind that played for the Minnesota Twins from 1965-1972 that has been left out of the Twins HOF once again is Cesar Tovar. Tovar passed away in 1994 at the age of 54. Cesar Tovar entered the Venezuelan Sports Hall of Fame in 1996 and the Venezuelan Baseball Hall of Fame as part of its first class in 2003. He is still remembered as one of the greatest players in the history of his nation’s winter league. As Tony Oliva said of their days with the Twins, “If we’d had nine players like him, we wouldn’t have needed any others.” Yet as we enter 2020 Tovar is still not in the Minnesota Twins HOF, what an injustice!

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Did you know?

Chief Baseball Officer Derek Falvey, Josh Donaldson and manager Rocco Baldelli of the Minnesota Twins pose for a photo as the Twins introduce Josh Donaldson at Target Field on January 22, 2020 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Hannah Foslien/Getty Images)

According to mlbtraderummors.com – The Minnesota Twins for signing Josh Donaldson: Minnesota also received revenue-sharing and didn’t exceed the luxury tax threshold, so signing Donaldson put the Twins in position to give up their third-highest draft selection.  However, the Twins are actually giving up their fourth-highest pick in the 2020 draft, which is their third-round selection.  The Twins’ actual third selection is their pick in Competitive Balance Round B, but those picks aren’t eligible to be forfeited as compensation for QO free agent signings.

How did the 2019 Twins hitters compare to other Twins teams?

2019 Minnesota Twins

We all know that the Bomba squad could hit home runs, after all, they hit an MLB record 307 of them in 2019. But just for fun here in mid-winter let’s take a look and see who Rocco Baldelli’s boys ranked as compared to the other 58 Minnesota Twins teams going back to 1961. Those folks over at Baseball-Reference.com or going to help us do just that.

Continue reading How did the 2019 Twins hitters compare to other Twins teams?

Josh Donaldson coming to Minnesota

Josh Donaldson while with the Atlanta Braves in 2019. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

I was watching the MLB channel last night when they interrupted their programming with breaking news that the Boston Red Sox and manager Alex Cora had mutually agreed to part ways after the previous days bombshell of the “caught stealing” penalties dropped on the Houston Astros by MLB. Then just a few minutes into that, they had more breaking news, this time the report was that a source (turned out to be MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand) had reported that third baseman Josh Donaldson had agreed to accept a four-year deal with Minnesota for $92 million guaranteed, including an $8 million buyout of a $16 million club option for a fifth year.

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1961 Minnesota Twins baseball primer

Back in early December I ran across a newspaper special insert that the Star Tribune had put out with their Sunday edition on April 16, 1961 that was over 100 pages long and was intended to introduce professional baseball to folks in Minnesota and the upper Midwest. The 100+ pages of course included a lot of advertisements but they in themselves are cool to look at and see how prices have changed over the years.

I finally have gotten the insert into a PDF format and I think Twins fans young and old will really enjoy it. It is a cool peak back into Twins history when life was a lot simpler and baseball was more fun. One of the funnier articles I found was a piece telling women how they should dress to attend a baseball game, don’t miss that one, it will make you laugh or maybe just scream. The ads will bring back memories of companies and businesses long since gone. Oh, and the prices of merchandise will astound you. One of the things that surprised me was as ad for a TV that had a remote, I didn’t know they had remotes back then, I thought we kids were the remotes.

1961 Twins start play.PDF

Did you know?

Bill Veeck, the former owner of the Browns, White Sox, and Indians, was well-known for his promotions and ideas, which included a pinch-hitting midget, an exploding scoreboard, and putting players’ names on the back of their uniforms, the innovative Hall of Famer is also responsible for breaking the color barrier in the American League, signing Larry Doby in 1947 to play for Cleveland.

  • Mike Pelfrey (2006-17) has the most career starts (256) without throwing a shutout.
  • A.J. Pierzynski is one of only 10 players to catch 2,000 games in the majors.
  • Three players have won the Batting Championship without hitting a home run, Ginger Beaumont (1902 Pirates), Zack Wheat (1918 Robins), and Rod Carew (1972 Twins).
  • Four pitchers have won 25+ games in a season, yet they didn’t win the Cy Young Award: Juan Marichal (1963, 1966, 1968), Jim Kaat (1966), Mickey Lolich (1971), and Fergie Jenkins (1974). Now days wins don’t seem to matter in Cy Young voting.
  • The durable reliever LaTroy Hawkins pitched 21 seasons for 11 clubs, and his 1,042 appearances rank 10th all-time.
  • Back in 1928 in an effort to speed up the game and add more offense, National League president John Heydler proposes the concept of a designated batter for the pitcher. The American League opposes the idea and the NL withdraws the proposal before Commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis is asked to break the deadlock.

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Former Twins players that passed away in 2019

As we start a new year in 2020 I wanted to share a list of former Minnesota Twins players that passed away in 2019. We lost some great ones.

Pitcher Greg Booker appeared in 161 big league games over 8 seasons with three different teams. Booker spent about 6 months with the Minnesota Twins in 1989 appearing in 6 games, all in relief. Booker was “Trader” Jack McKeon‘s son-in-law.

Outfielder Lenny Green played in the major leagues for five different teams over 12 years. Green, a Korean War veteran was with the Washington Senators from 1959-1960 and became a Minnesota Twin when they moved to Minnesota and became the Twins after the 1960 season. Green was the Twins opening day center fielder when they began play in 1961. The Twins traded Green to the Angels in a three-team-trade in June of 1964. Lenny Green has always been in my list of top 10 Twins players.

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Thank you, thank you very much

2020 will be my 14th year of blogging about the Minnesota Twins and their history as Twinstrivia.com albeit on a couple of different platforms. I started my blog to have something to do that I would enjoy after my retirement from Norwest/Wells Fargo in April of 2007 where I worked in IT for 38+ years.

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Former Twins infielder Ted Lepcio passes away at the age of 90

Ted Lepcio

Thaddeus Stanley Lepcio was born in Utica, New York on July 28, 1929 and passed away on December 5, 2019 at his home in Dedham, Massachusetts. The right-handed hitting Ted Lepcio was not a baseball superstar but he loved baseball and always wanted to be a big league player. He achieved that goal and played in the major leagues for 10 years playing second base, third base and shortstop for five different big league teams.

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