Category: General Blogging

This is a general blogging category.

Players and fans still sparse at CenturyLink

Yesterday I paid another visit to the CenturyLink Sports complex the spring training home of the Minnesota Twins less than a week before pitchers and catchers report and both the players and fans were sparse in number but those in attendance appeared to  be having fun. 

The most recognizable player there was Korean first baseman Byung Ho Park who was recently DFA’d. The players didn’t do much, first they took some infield and then proceeded over to another diamond to take BP. Park blasted a number of balls over the outfield fence and and he certainly got your attention when his bat sent the ball flying over the fence. I think it would be a bad move if the Twins organization lets this guy go, they should show some patience and see what he can do.

Isaiah Aluko

Another player on the field seemed to stand out and appeared to be a man among boys, at least in size alone. Everyone kept asking each other who was this number 74? Larry Corrigan identified him as Isaiah Aluko. Accoring to B-R he is 6’4″ and goes 230 but he seems bigger than that. Last year Aluko appeared in just a handful of games for the GCL Twins and he is 23 years of age. I don’t know if Aluko will turn out to be a big leaguer some day but if you pictured a big league player in you mind, he might look like Aluko.

As always I took a few pictures and will get them loaded out to my 2017 Spring Training picture link that you can find on the right hand side of the page.

I will leave you with a quick trivia question, what player played the most games wearing a Twins uniform but never earned an ejection?

Someone, please throw Falvey and Levine a life-line

What the heck? What is going on there in Twins territory? Just a year after signing Korean first baseman Byung Ho Park to a four-year, $12 million deal, the Twins decide to designate him for assignment. All this after paying a $12.85 million posting fee to win the rights to negotiate with him in December 2015. That is almost $25 million down the tube, owner Jim Pohlad must be proud of his organization.

With spring training starting in less than two weeks this story makes page 10 of the Star Tribune Sports section. WOW! Interest in Twins baseball is dropping faster than President Donald Trump’s approval rating.

Park appeared in just 62 games for the Twins in 2016 hitting just .191 but he did hit 12 home runs. The Twins ended up sending him to AAA Rochester where he played briefly before under-going tendon surgery on his right hand that ended his 2016 campaign.

The question I have to ask is why do this 10 days before pitchers and catchers report for spring training? What’s the point?

All this after the 2011-2012 fiasco with Tsuyoshi Nishioka, I know you can’t live in the past but you should be able to learn from history. Sadly, the Minnesota Twins are quickly becoming the laughing stock of MLB. The old term of doing it the “Twins Way” has a whole new meaning.

What are these guys doing?

clicking on the picture twice makes it bigger

I stopped off at the ballpark yesterday to see what was going on and if some veteran players have started to work out since TwinsFest was behind them.Turns out I saw no players that I recognized but I saw this small group of players along with some Twins staff members setting up some odd-looking devices so I stayed to see what would happen next. 

Come to find out there was a guy there with some electronic equipment to measure reaction and decision times. I watched them as they had a player act the part of a pitcher and then when he lifted his leg the player pretending to be a base runner would take off for the next base and the equipment measured the time from when the pitcher lifted his leg to when the base runner took off. It appeared to also measure the time it took the base runner to cover a certain distance showing how quick they could get to top speed. 

I guess the old stopwatch just doesn’t cut the mustard anymore, these folks are interested in timing things in hundredths of a second. Technology is definitely taking over the game of baseball. I’m not sure if it is good or bad but it is interesting never the less.

A bit later they changed fields and they started what appeared to be reaction times for infielders and outfielders A light would flash for 3/10 of a second and the player was measured on how quick he reacted to that light and went towards a predetermined point. Depending on the color of the light he might need to go either left or right. 

I was hoping to talk to the guy who seemed to run the equipment and find out more about the equipment and the company he represented but I had to leave before the testing was completed.

I took a few pictures and I will try to get them posted on my 2017 Spring Training photos in the near future.

Most plate appearances with zero home runs

The players on the list below had 400 or more plate appearances in a season as Minnesota Twins but hit no home runs. That didn’t necessarily mean they had a bad season, as you can see that second baseman Rod Carew led the American League in batting that year. Al Newman and Ben Revere make the list twice each.

Rod Carew
Rk Player PA HR Year G AB R H RBI BA Pos
1 Rod Carew 591 0 1972 142 535 61 170 51 .318 *4/H
2 Kirby Puckett 583 0 1984 128 557 63 165 31 .296 *8
3 Ben Revere 553 0 2012 124 511 70 150 32 .294 *98/7H
4 Al Newman 521 0 1989 141 446 62 113 38 .253 *456H/7D8
5 Ben Revere 481 0 2011 117 450 56 120 30 .267 *87H/9D
6 Al Newman 433 0 1990 144 388 43 94 30 .242 *465H/7
7 Lyman Bostock 400 0 1975 98 369 52 104 29 .282 *987/HD
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 1/27/2017.

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Twenty two years ago, replacement players almost opened the baseball season

Twenty two years ago, the 1995 Opening Day that no one wanted loomed over Major League Baseball. The reason? After the games were completed on August 11, 1994 major league baseball players went on strike forcing MLB to cancel the remaining games in 1994 and for the first time since 1904 there was no World Series. I remember how disappointing it was back then and I hope that we never see it happen again. What is Fall without the World Series? Not to mention how it messed up my fantasy baseball league with me at the top of the standings.

As spring training approached the majority of the teams signed replacement players, players that had retired, career minor league players and anyone that could pitch or hit a baseball was signed. A few major league players crossed the picket lines and some active minor league players also thought the risk was worth the effort. Wannabee baseball players all over the country left their families and jobs behind to see if they could become the new stars of major league baseball. A few teams said they would not play with replacements and some major league managers and coaches said they wanted no part of this charade. 

Some replacements received a reported $5,000 at the beginning of spring training with a bonus of $20,000 if they made it to Opening Day. Salaries reportedly were set at $115,000, with each team permitted to have three players making $275,000.

Continue reading Twenty two years ago, replacement players almost opened the baseball season

A quick visit the CenturyLink Sports Complex

With a little extra time on my hands this morning I took a quick trip out to the CenturyLink Sports Complex to see what might be going on out there. I had low expectations of what I would see out there this early in January and those expectations were met.

I arrived about 10 A.M. and the parking lot was pretty much empty, maybe two dozen cars were parked in the hot sun. The spring training ticket window (yes, just one) was open but there was no one buying any tickets, as a matter of fact the entire time I was there I didn’t see anyone buy any tickets. As I walked past the ticket window I saw Pat Reusse head towards the Twins clubhouse and we exchanged pleasantries as we passed each other. The Twins maintenance crews were busy, a couple of guys were power-washing the sidewalk, others were raking, fertilizing the fields, and adjusting sprinklers.

Glen Perkins

I walked to the back fields and they were empty so I chatted briefly with a friend that was out there and finally I saw my first player as Glen Perkins came out to play long toss with rehab coordinator Lanning Tucker. He did that for about an hour and went inside. A couple of other players came out one or two at a time to throw the ball around but I didn’t recognize any of them. There were also a few players that I didn’t recognize starting to do some running on the agility field and I snapped a few photos. About 11:15 A.M. or so things quieted down and I headed back to the condo.

A pretty quiet day and things will pick up each day but I don’t expect to see a lot of players until after Twins Fest is over. I will get the few photos I did take posted in my 2017 Spring Training link in the next day or so. 

 

Baseball Cards

I started collecting baseball cards back in the late 1950’s. I didn’t collect cards because I thought they would be worth some money some day, I collected them because I loved baseball and we had no TV so the only way I had to see what these players looked like was through baseball cards or a picture in the paper now and then. I also collected baseball cards because they showed all the stats that a player had accumulated as he worked his way up from the “D” leagues to the big leagues. Today’s cards don’t have that, a damn shame I say.

On top of all that, if you happened to get a star player you had bragging rights with your friends. A favorite card could be anyone, it could be a star player, a player from your favorite team, or in some cases a player became a favorite of mine just because I liked how he looked on his baseball card. Oh the trades, we used to trade baseball cards every day during baseball season. Today fans follow MLB Rumors on the internet to hear about a big signing or a big trade, we made our own big trades day after day. I remember how tough it was to trade a favorite card even if it was for a card you really wanted. There was a life lesson to be learned when we traded those cards, you never get something for nothing.  If you want something bad enough you have to be willing to give up something valuable to get it. Later on in life I learned it was called “opportunity cost”, any time you want something or want to do something there is an opportunity cost, you have to give up something to get something else. A valuable life lesson learned by trading baseball cards.

Continue reading Baseball Cards

Know your Minnesota Twins closers

The folks at Baseball-Reference.com describe a save as follows: 

A save (abbreviated SV or S) is a statistic awarded to a relief pitcher, often called a closer, who enters the game under certain conditions and maintains his team’s lead until the end of the game. The save rule was first adopted for the 1969 season and amended for the 1974 and 1975 seasons. Baseball researchers have worked through the official statistics retroactively to calculate saves for all major league seasons prior to 1969.

The first save credited to a Minnesota Twins pitcher occurred on April 16, 1961 long before the save rule was actually in existence in 1969.

Continue reading Know your Minnesota Twins closers

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all. We thank you very much for stopping by our site regardless if you are a first time visitor or a regular at Twinstrivia.com. We hope that 2017 will be the best year of your life and that the Minnesota Twins can put things back together again and show us some winning baseball.

The beginning of a new year is always a fresh start and filled with hopes and dreams. The sun is shining on the white snow today with the temperature pushing the 30 degree mark, it is one of those Minnesota “Top Ten Weather Days as those weather forecasters like to say. But I still can’t help thinking about the green grass, the home-plate umpire yelling “play ball”, the ball hitting the catchers glove, and the crack of the bat when it meets the baseball and sends it flying out towards the scoreboard in deep center.

Maybe the Minnesota Twins can turn things around give us a reason to cheer for the “winning” Twins. Baseball Opening Day is just 93 days away folks!