October 15, 2010 – A nice article about Harmon Killebrew written by Barbara Heilman for Sports Illustrated’s Baseball issue back in April 8, 1963. A nice piece, it is well worth your time and you might even learn a few things about the Twins greatest slugger that you never knew before. Just click on the Sports Illustrated cover to read the article
Category: General Blogging
This is a general blogging category.
A nice season for Delmon Young
October 3, 2010 – After hitting his 20th home run Wednesday night at Kauffman Stadium, Delmon Young joins Justin Morneau (2008), Torii Hunter (2007), Michael Cuddyer (2006) and Kirby Puckett (1988) as the only players in club history to hit at least 20 home runs, collect at least 40 doubles and drive in at least 100 runs in a single season. Among those five, Morneau and Puckett are the only players to finish those seasons with a plus-.300 batting average. Source: Twins Press Pass
Homer Hanky History
October 1, 2010 – Do you remember 1987 and the first time that the Homer Hanky made its appearance? Check out this first hand recollection by Tim McGuire who was managing editor of the Star Tribune at the time. The story is a fun read and worth a few minutes of your time and it may even surprise you as to how it all came about. Click here to see the story.
Gardy wins game number 800
September 21, 2010 – Twins Manager Ron Gardenhire won his 800th game today in the Twins 6-4 win over Cleveland and now has a career record as a manager of 800-648. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the last manager to reach 800 wins in 1,448 decisions or fewer was Davey Johnson. Johnson reached 800 wins in 1996 in his 1389th decision (800-589). The active manager with the fewest decisions to 800 career wins is Mike Scioscia (1452 decisions, 800-652). Congratulation to Gardy on a job well done!
1995 “Replacement Players”
September 16, 2010 – When the major league baseball lockout of 1994 dragged into the spring of 1995, the owners announced that they would start the season with “replacement players,” made up of minor leaguers and even some current or former major leaguers were willing to cross picket lines. Those that did would be ineligible to be members of the Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA). These players do not pay union dues, but will receive full pension benefits from MLB. They also can use the Player’s Association’s grievance procedure. They do not receive a share of the collective royalties from the sale of baseball merchandise, such as baseball cards, but are free to make their own deals (this is why Rick Reed and others only appear on Topps cards as they have historically only signed individual players rather than work with the player’s union).
The strike was settled before any “regular season” games were played in 1995 and these replacement players were sent packing. There is a nice write-up on Baseball Almanac about this situation and the list of players that participated and that have seen major league service since that time. There are four players on the list with ties to the Minnesota Twins and one of the four actually played for the Twins the last two seasons, Ron Mahay. Oddly enough, Mahay was an outfielder at the time and didn’t start to call the mound home until 1996. The other players that were replacement players and played for the Twins were Chris Latham, Damian Miller, and Rick Reed.
The list on Baseball-Almanac is probably not all-inclusive as you can find various lists on the internet that name other players and I have seen former Twins Junior Ortiz and Dan Mastellar also listed as replacement players. The fact that some players played under an “alias” makes it even more difficult to determine a complete list of these replacement players.
It was a tough time and each of these players had their own reasons for crossing the picket line and I am not here to judge if what they did is right or wrong, you can only say that they did what they thought they had to do for themselves and their families in a stressful time for all. Mark Beech did a short piece for Sports Illustrated back in 2002 showing some of the consequences for players that did cross the picket line that you can read here. Hopefully we will not see another situation like this in our lifetime again.
Tigers and Twins history goes back a ways!
September 1, 2010 – 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 (since taken down) 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.
There was some video of the fight but MLB Advanced Media had it taken down. Towards the end of the video you could 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 most pitching appearances in a season
- Mike Marshall – Twins pitcher form 1978 – 1980 and known as “Iron Mike”
August 28, 2010 – 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mike Marshall | 1979 | 90 | 142.2 | 1 | 10-15 | 32 |
| 2 | Eddie Guardado | 1996 | 83 | 73.2 | 0 | 6-5 | 4 |
| 3 | JC Romero | 2002 | 81 | 81 | 0 | 9-2 | 1 |
| 4 | Eddie Guardado | 1998 | 79 | 65.2 | 0 | 3-1 | 0 |
| 4 | Matt Guerrier | 2009 | 79 | 76.1 | 0 | 5-1 | 1 |
| 6 | Bill Campbell | 1976 | 78 | 167.2 | 0 | 17-5 | 20 |
| 7 | Juan Rincon | 2004 | 77 | 82 | 0 | 11-6 | 2 |
| 7 | Mike Trombley | 1998 | 77 | 96.2 | 1 | 6-5 | 1 |
| 9 | Matt Guerrier | 2008 | 76 | 76.1 | 0 | 6-9 | 1 |
| 9 | Bob Wells | 1999 | 76 | 87.1 | 0 | 8-3 | 1 |
| 9 | Bob Wells | 2000 | 76 | 86.1 | 0 | 0-7 | 10 |
Thome ties major league record
August 18, 2010 – 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, 2010 – 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 6th inning and things were going well for Slowey and the Twins. As the game progressed into the 6th and 7th 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 7th 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 8th inning? 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 8th 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.
Twins extend deal with ESPN 1500
August 10, 2010 – 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?