Category: General Blogging

This is a general blogging category.

Remembering the Twins first season from 1961 – Week 9

I have been working on a very long term project whereas I do a brief recap of Twins games on my “In This Day in Twins History Pages.” So my plan is to give you a brief recap of the Twins first season as it plays out on a weekly basis. For more info on a particular game you can also click on the date and go to the appropriate “In This Day in Twins History Page” as there you will often get to see some player pictures and supporting documentation. We will see how long I can keep up with it, no promises. So let’s see what we have for week 9.

The Twins start the week with a record of 19-32, a whopping 14.5 games behind the Cleveland Indians who have taken over first place by a 1/2 game over the Detroit Tigers.

Jim Kaat

June 8 – The Twins finally snap their 13 game losing streak when they beat the Baltimore Orioles 3-1 in Memorial Stadium. It is their first win since May 25th and their first road victory in this road trip that started in Washington on the 26th of May. The Twins took a 2-0 lead in the third inning when Jim Kaat led off the inning with a single and Twins lead-off hitter Billy Martin hit his first home run wearing a Twins uniform. The Twins were out hit 10 to 7 but starter Jim Kaat kept the Orioles off the board for 7 innings before running into a bit of trouble in the eighth inning after retiring the first batter. The O’s followed with a double, walk and a single that scored a run and sent Kaat to the showers. Don Lee came in to retire Brooks Robinson and then Chuck Stobbs was brought in and he retired Jim Gentile. Stobbs picked up his second save when he kept the Orioles from scoring in the ninth. It turns out  that it would be his final big league save. Kaat picked up the win, upping his record to 2-5 and he also had a good day with the bat going 2 for 3 with 2 runs scored. Martin also had two hits for Minnesota. The win got the Twins out of the cellar and put their record at 20-32 and in the process gave interim manager Sam Mele his first win as a manager. As an aside, the win also ends the Twins longest losing streak of the season. Box Score

Off the field owner Calvin Griffith was busy also signing Jim Roland to a $50,000 bonus and sending him to Wilson in the class B Carolina League. Jim Roland picture credit to Denver Post via Getty Images.

Continue reading Remembering the Twins first season from 1961 – Week 9

Are Rob Manfred and MLB serious?

It appears that yesterday MLB released another trial balloon offering to play the players their pro-rated pay in 2020 but the season would be only 50 game long. Is this some kind of a stupid and sick joke?

I have stated in the past that baseball is like a marathon and not a sprint. I find it ironic that a game with no clock tests teams in every way possible during its 162 game schedule but time is the final true test in determining the champion. Teams having winning streaks, teams go through pitching and hitting slumps, teams suffer long losing streaks, players get injured and players no one has heard of sometimes unexpectedly rise from the minors to help carry their team to victory. This is what makes baseball such an interesting game.

Now MLB is proposing a 50 game season? What a joke. I know that I miss baseball as do all baseball fans everywhere but who in the heck wants to see a 50 game season? I know I don’t, and I have little to no interest in following baseball and my favorite team, the Minnesota Twins in 2020 if that they don’t play a minimum of 100 games. A 50 game MLB season would be a sham and Rob Manfred and his cohorts should be embarrassed to even throw out a proposal like this.

As for the players side of this, if the players accept this proposal and are willing to play this short schedule and risk their health for this proposal, you are not as smart as I thought.

Minnesota Twins legend Wayne Hattaway gone, just like the game he loved

Wayne Hattaway and Ron Gardenhire in 2014.

A Minnesota Twins legend Wayne Hattaway passed away on April 30, 2020 in Mobile, Alabama after a battle with cancer. Wayne was born in Mobile on February 24, 1940 to Fred and Margaret Hattaway and was the first of the five children, four of which were girls.

Wayne enjoyed baseball as a youngster growing up Mobile and often snuck away from school to catch a baseball game at Hartwell Field, the home park for the Mobile Bears who at that time were in the Southern Association as a AA affiliate of the the Brooklyn Dodgers. One thing led to another and in 1952 the team asked Wayne Hattaway (he was 12 at the time) if he wanted to be their batboy and of course he jumped at the opportunity. Little did Wayne know at the time that his career in baseball had begun.

Continue reading Minnesota Twins legend Wayne Hattaway gone, just like the game he loved

2019 was a great year for Twins ownership too

 

The Bomba Squad won 101 games in 2019, taking first place in the AL Central for the first time in nine years, only to get swept by the Yankees in the AL Division Series. The record breaking 2019 season brought about a 16% increase in average attendance at Target Field. More fans watched them on television, too. The Twins posted an average rating of 6.33 on FS North, fourth highest in baseball. The rating was 63% higher than 2018, the second-biggest year-over-year increase in baseball in 2019.

Forbes annually publishes what they perceive to be the values of all the major league baseball teams taking a number of things into consideration. You can find their most current list that was published by going here. Once you are at their site and you see their value ranking list, you can get more detailed information on what makes up a particulars teams value by clicking on the team name. The Minnesota Twins are ranked number 19, a nice jump up from number 23 in 2019 and you can see the detailed info that was collected by Forbes by clicking here. The 8% increase in the Minnesota Twins value from 2019 was only exceeded by the Orioles, Yankees and Nationals who all increased their value by 9%.  In the AL Central division the White Sox are ranked number 14, the Detroit Tigers are ranked number 23, the Cleveland Indians are number 25 and the Kansas City Royals are number 29. As you would expect, the New York Yankees are number one at a team valuation of $5 billion (up 9% for 2019) and the Miami Marlins have the lowest team valuation at $980 million, a drop from a billion dollars in 2019.

You can find historical Minnesota team valuations on my “Payroll page“.

Looks like the Pohlad’s are doing pretty well, Calvin Griffith is probably rolling over in his grave when numbers like this are published. When any team in baseball tells you that they can’t afford to sign one of their stars, send them the Forbes link.

Does anything ever really change in baseball?

It seems like all we have heard the last few years is how the baseball games have gotten longer and we need to find ways to speed up the game. I agree that the games are longer, but is this something new? How about how the game is played today, with the “home run” being king?

According to a article by Charles Johnson in the Tribune on June 11, 1961 they had the same issues and gripes back then. I have followed baseball since the late 1950’s and when I complain about the game I say we should go back to when I thought baseball was more fun, back in the 50’s and 60’s. But Charley is complaining about how the game was played back then. Yes, the games are longer, TV is to blame for some of this, but has the game really changed that much?

I think one of my favorite statements that Charley Johnson makes is –

Strange as it may seem, the spectator’s aren’t leading the fight to find ways and means of shortening their stay in the stands. It’s coming largely from sports writers, players, managers, club and league officials.

Yankee manager Ralph Houk inspects the jacket of Twins manager Cookie Lavagetto prior to the Twins first ever game, played April 11, 1961 at Yankee Stadium. Twins win 6-0.

I couldn’t help but laugh when I ran across this article as I was doing research on the Minnesota Twins 1961 season. Right now I am in mid June of 1961, the Twins just finished a 13 game losing streak and the Twins skipper Cookie Lavagetto has been put on “furlough” by owner Calvin Griffith. What the heck? Who used the word furlough before this COVID-19 business happened? Apparently the Twins did back in 1961.

 

 

Star Tribune Sun_ Jun_11_1961.pdf

Have a wonderful day and stay safe and healthy.

 

 

Twins players with 1,000 or more hits on their Twins resume

Kirby Puckett

The Minnesota Twins have had many great hitters over the years but how many of them have had 1,000 or more hits while wearing a Minnesota Twins uniform? There has been just 14 of them, do you think you can name them all off the top of your head? Grab a pencil and paper and write down their names and see how many of them you can name. Feel free to leave a comment on how you did. When you are all done, click on the link below to see the entire list.

https://tinyurl.com/ya7dprth

Did any of the names on this list surprise you? How many of these players did you get to see play when they were active Twins players? What Twins player didn’t you get to see play that you would have enjoyed watching?

Bob Allison just missed getting on this list with 999 hits while Jacque Jones with 974 hits and Brian Dozier with 928 hits were the others with over 900 hits but under 1,000.

Have a great day and stay safe and healthy during this difficult time as we pass the time waiting for the COVID19 issue to pass.

Baseball Digest archives now available for free online

If you are a baseball fan you must have read and or subscribed to the Baseball Digest at one time or another and now you have a chance to read it again for FREE. Not just current issues but all the issues going back to 1942. Long before the computers, cell phones and the internet came into existence the Baseball Digest and the Sporting News were your go to places to read about baseball and its players. I subscribe to the Baseball Digest Archives but now everyone can access it at no cost. Thank you Baseball Digest!

As fans await the return of baseball on the field, Baseball Digest will unlock its archive and make its complete inventory of more than 800 issues from 1942 through 2019 available for free online.Unlimited access to the archive site at no cost will continue until at least July 15 and fans can take advantage of the free offer by visiting baseballdigest.com/free.

Twins/Senators franchise leaders in games with 10> K’s

Walter Johnson
Results
Rk Player #Matching   W L W-L% ERA GS CG SHO IP HR BB SO Tm
1 Walter Johnson 46 Ind. Games 36 8 .818 0.51 45 45 13 441.1 1 92 513 WSH
2 Camilo Pascual 40 Ind. Games 27 11 .711 1.97 40 30 8 357.0 15 113 448 WSH,MIN
3 Johan Santana 39 Ind. Games 26 6 .813 1.93 39 2 1 289.0 34 45 442 MIN
4 Bert Blyleven 36 Ind. Games 21 12 .636 1.68 36 24 5 306.0 11 66 406 MIN
5 Jim Kaat 19 Ind. Games 17 1 .944 1.50 18 15 3 174.0 8 33 205 MIN
6 Dave Boswell 14 Ind. Games 12 1 .923 2.12 14 8 2 119.0 12 32 157 MIN
7 Frank Viola 12 Ind. Games 7 2 .778 2.23 12 2 0 93.0 8 23 124 MIN
8 Francisco Liriano 11 Ind. Games 6 2 .750 1.48 11 0 0 79.0 3 18 122 MIN
9 Dean Chance 9 Ind. Games 8 0 1.000 1.11 9 8 3 81.0 2 11 97 MIN
10 Jose Berrios 9 Ind. Games 8 1 .889 0.53 9 1 0 67.2 0 6 96 MIN
11 Eric Milton 8 Ind. Games 7 1 .875 1.89 8 2 2 62.0 4 8 88 MIN
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 3/14/2020.

Some pretty good pitchers on this list. One of the items that just jumps out at me is the fact that Walter Johnson gave up just one home run in the games that he pitched and struck out 10> while Johan Santana gave up 34 blasts during his 10> K games. Do you think that Bert Blyleven knows that Johan Santana has more 10 strikeout games in a Twins uniform then he does? If you want to see something interesting click on the Ind. Games link for Walter Johnson and check out how many of his complete games were extra inning efforts.

Checking out Kenta Maeda and his first Twins workout

Twins pitchers and catchers hard at work

I went out to the CenturyLink Sports complex yesterday to check out the pitchers and catchers and to see new Twins acquisition Kenta Maeda in his Twins spring training workout debut. I didn’t see anything extraordinary out there but no question there were more Japanese photographers out there then I have seen since Tsuyoshi Nishioka made his grand appearance back in 2011. I am expecting better results from Maeda then we got from Nishioka.

Continue reading Checking out Kenta Maeda and his first Twins workout

Looking at the Twins single game ticket prices for 2020

The 2019 Twins improved by 23 games over the previous season by winning 101 games under first time manager Rocco Baldelli. Along the way the Twins set numerous team records including scoring an amazing 939 runs and hitting an MLB record 307 home runs. The Bomba Squad had Twins fans excited from game 1 through game 162 and attendance jumped back above the 2.2 million mark making it only the second time since they began play in Target Field in 2010 that attendance has gone up from the previous season. Yes, the Twins made the playoffs but were quickly dispatched in three games in the ALDS by the New York Yankees stretching the Twins losing streak in playoff games to a record breaking 16 games going back to 2004. So what impact did the 2019 season have on Twins ticket prices heading into 2020?

All I am going to say right here is that if you are going to head out to Target Field to watch the winning MInnesota Twins in 2020 you will need to pay a little bit more. If you want to see the details, you can check them on my Twins Ticket Price History page.