TWINS TRIVIA is hopefully a fun and informative site that will help you to better enjoy the Minnesota Twins and their wonderful history. “History never looks like history when you are living through it” – John Gardner, former Secretary of Health
Joseph Haynes, who had been an all-star American League pitcher, brother-in-law of Twins owner Calvin Griffith and Twins vice-president passed away of a heart attack after shoveling snow at his Hopkins, Minnesota home at the age of 49.
Haynes had a 14 year big league career as a right-handed pitcher for the Washington Senators (1939-1940, 1949-1952) and the Chicago White Sox (1941-1948) posting a 76-82 won/lost record with 21 saves to go with a 4.01 ERA in 379 games, 147 of them in a starting role and 53 complete games. Haynes, primarily a curveball and fastball pitcher, was not a strike out pitcher nor was pin-point control one of Joe’s strength’s as he walked 620 and struck out 475 batters in 1,581 innings.
After his playing career ended after the 1952 season, Haynes became a coach for the Washington Senators for three seasons after which he became the team’s vice-president and general manager in 1955, following the death of his father-in-law, Clark Griffith. His widow, Thelma Griffith Haynes, continued to serve as an executive vice president, assistant treasurer, and part owner of the Twins until they were sold to Carl Pohlad in 1985. Her brothers, Sherry, Jimmy, and Billy, were also part of the organization. The Twins pitcher of the year award is named after Haynes and the Joseph W. Haynes Twins Pitcher of the Year award is given annually to the Twins top pitcher.
A more detailed biography of Joe Haynes completed as part of the SABR Biography project can be found here.
Paul Molitor and Dennis Eckersley are named to the MLB Hall of Fame by the baseball writers. Molitor, a Minnesota native, played for the Twins from 1996 through 1998 after playing for the Milwaukee Brewers from 1983-1992 and the Toronto Blue Jays from 1993-1995. Molitor got hit number 3,000 as a Minnesota Twin and finished his career with 3,319 hits.
Roberto Alomar, a 12-time All-Star and 10-time Gold Glove winning second baseman, and Bert Blyleven, a 287-game winning pitcher who ranks fifth on the all-time strikeout list, were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Blyleven, who garnered 79.7% of the votes, pitched in 22 seasons with the Minnesota Twins, Texas Rangers, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cleveland Indians and California Angels and compiled a 287-250 record with a 3.31 ERA, 242 complete games, 60 shutouts and 3,701 strikeouts in 4,969 1/3 innings. The right-hander pitched a no-hitter on Sept. 22, 1977 for the Rangers against the Angels and shares the AL single-game record for the longest one-hit complete game of 10 innings June 21, 1976. He, too, was a key part of two World Series champions, the 1979 Pirates and the 1987 Twins.
Minnesota Twins owner Carl Pohlad passed away at his Edina, Minnesota home at the age of 93. Pohlad bought the Twins from Calvin Griffith the teams original owner in 1984 for about $38 million.
A lot of Twins fans disliked Carl Pohlad primarily for two reasons. First, because he agreed to “contract” (eliminate) the Minnesota Twins in 2001 and secondly because many Twins fans felt that with all personal wealth, estimated at about $2.8 billion, that Pohlad should have spent more money on the Twins payroll in order to make them a more competitive team. Regardless of how you may have felt about Carl Pohlad, he did a lot for the Minnesota Twins and he has earned his rightful place in Minnesota Twins history. Pohlad led an interesting life to say the least, here are some of the high points.
Timeline
1915 – Born in Des Moines, Iowa
1942 to 1945 – Fights for U.S. Army in Europe during World War II earning a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star
1946 – Starts first job at consumer finance company in Dubuque, Iowa
1949 – Joins Marquette National Bank in Minneapolis
1955 – Becomes president of Marquette National Bank and its holding company, Marquette Bancshares, Inc.
1960 – Buys Minnesota Enterprises, Inc., a private transit company, and turns it into a huge Pepsi bottling company
1982 – Takes over Farmers & Mechanics Savings Bank and saves it from closure
1984 – Buys and owns Minnesota Twins
1986 to 1993 – Part-owner of Minnesota Vikings
1993 – Serves as chairman of Mesaba Holdings, Inc., the airline that provides small-market flights for Northwest Airlines
In spite of the Minnesota Twins franchise uncertain future due to possible contraction, Ron Gardenhire is named as the Minnesota Twins 12th manager. Gardenhire, 44, replaces the Twins winningest manager, Tom Kelly who had resigned earlier saying that it was time for him to move on.
Ron Gardenhire was originally a New York Mets sixth round pick in 1979 and debuted with the Mets on September 1, 1981. Gardenhire played in 285 games for the Mets between 1981 – 1985, primarily at shortstop although he also played some 2B and 3B too. The Mets traded Gardenhire to the Twins on November 12, 1966 for the PTBNL and that turned out to be Dominic Iasparro. While the Twins were winning the World Series in 1987, Gardenhire spent the entire season at AAA Portland playing all four infield positions and even taking the pitching mound in two games.
Gardenhire retired as an active player after the 1987 season and started his managing career in 1988 with the A ball Kenosha Twins who finished fourth but had a 81-59 record. Gardenhire then moved up the ladder to the AA Orlando Twins affiliate where he managed for two seasons. Gardy’s teams finished third in 1989 with an 79-65 mark and first the next season, 1990 with an 85-59 record. The Twins then moved Gardenhire up to the big league team where he coached from 1991 – 2001.
Gardenhire has managed the Twins since 2002 and in his 10 big league seasons and 1,621 games as the Twins skipper, Gardy has posted a record of 866-755 (.534) and had led his team to six first place finishes, one second place, two third place and one last place finish (2011).
In the annual polling of members of the Baseball Bloggers Alliance, former Cincinnati Reds shortstop Barry Larkin and former Houston Astros first baseman Jeff Bagwell were recommended for induction to the Baseball Hall of Fame. This is the third year the organization has conducted this survey of the membership.
Larkin, a 12-time All-Star who fashioned an .815 OPS over 19 seasons, received the largest percentage of votes, being named on 84.25% of the 148 ballots cast. This is the highest percentage garnered by any player in the three years of BBA voting.
Bagwell, who hit 449 HR and had a .948 OPS in his 15 seasons in Houston, was selected on 115 ballots for a 78.77% rate. As with the official voting done by the Baseball Writers of America, a player must be named on 75% of the ballots to be recommended by the alliance.
Last year, the BBA recommended second baseman Roberto Alomar and pitcher Bert Blyleven, both of whom were inducted into Cooperstown during the summer. In 2010, no player reached the 75% mark in BBA balloting, the year that outfielder Andre Dawson was selected for the Hall by the baseball writers.
The Baseball Bloggers Alliance’s vote has no impact on the official vote taken by the Baseball Writers of America. However, the BBA has often been a predictor of major awards granted by the writers.
The final voting results are as follows:
Barry Larkin 84.25%
Jeff Bagwell 78.77%
Edgar Martinez 60.27%
Tim Raines 57.53%
Alan Trammell 44.52%
Mark McGwire 41.10%
Larry Walker 35.62%
Lee Smith 33.56%
Jack Morris 32.19%
Don Mattingly 29.45%
Rafael Palmerio 28.77%
Fred McGriff 28.08%
Dale Murphy 16.44%
Bernie Williams 11.64%
Juan Gonzalez 6.16%
Javy Lopez 2.74%
Brad Radke 2.05%
Tim Salmon 1.37%
Bill Mueller 0.68%
Phil Nevin 0.68%
Ruben Sierra 0.68%
Tony Womack 0.68%
Jeromy Burnitz 0.00%
Vinny Castilla 0.00%
Brian Jordan 0.00%
Terry Mulholland 0.00%
Eric Young 0.00%
The Baseball Bloggers Alliance was established in the fall of 2009 for the purpose of fostering collaboration and communication among bloggers from across baseball. The BBA has quickly grown to its current membership of 347 blogs, including some of the most prominent blogs on the Internet, spanning all major league teams and various other general aspects of the game.
More information about the BBA can be found at their website, www.baseballbloggersalliance.wordpress.com, or by contacting the founder and administrator of the organization, Daniel Shoptaw, at founder@baseballbloggersalliance.com.
The Twins finished the 2011 season with a 63-99 mark and lots of folks including the Twins management blamed the clubs poor finish or at least a big part of it on injuries and that is difficult to argue as the team used the DL list 27 times. The Twins often brought up rookies to fill these openings. How did these rookies perform?
This past season the Twins led all of baseball in games played by rookies with 493, followed by the Mets with 442 and the Mariners with 403. On the other end of the spectrum the rookies only played in 57 Brewers and 73 Rangers games and you know where these teams finished. If you look at rookie plate appearances, the Twins postion playing rookies had 1,805, way ahead of the team closest to them, the Mariners who sent 1,484 rookie batters to home plate. These Twins position rookies ranked in the middle of the pack in base on balls percentage at 6.9%, ranked seventh best in strikeout percentage at 18.2%, were in the middle of the pack with a .245 batting average, and if you look at WAR, the Twins number was 1.0 with the Nationals the highest at 5.8 and the Rockies the lowest at -1.6 .
Looking at the Twins rookie pitchers as compared to all of baseball , the team used fewer rookies there than most teams did this past season. Twins rookie pitchers appeared in 124 games putting them 11 fewest and Twins rookies threw 169.2 innings, only the rookie pitchers for the Cardinals, Pirates, Cubs, Giants and Red Sox threw fewer innings. These Twins rookies finished with a 5-14 record with a BB/9 of 4.03 and 5.36 K/9, hardly something to shout about. On the other end of things, rookies threw 545.1 innings for the Royals, 527.1 for the Astros, 489 for the Mariners, and 426 for the Braves. These same Twins rookie pitchers posted an ERA of 5.15 trailing only the Giants at 6.40 and the 6.10 Red Sox. The Twins rookie pitchers did not pitch a lot but when they did pitch, they pitched poorly.
I took a look at the Twins rookies as compared to the rest of the American League rookies over the last 10 years and where the team finished and here is what I found.
Year
Rookie plate appearances
AL rank
Rookie innings pitched
AL rank
Division finish
2011
1,805
1
169.2
13
5th
2010
631
7
88
12
1st
2009
368
11
306.1
8
1st
2008
1,512
2
491.2
2
2nd
2007
520
8
222.1
9
3rd
2006
305
10
376.1
7
1st
2005
1,238
2
246
6
3rd
2004
1,519
1
95.1
12
1st
2003
426
9
130.1
10
1st
2002
962
4
201
9
1st
AVG
928.6
5.5
232.7
8.8
1.9
I am not sure you can reach any definitive conclusions from these numbers like rookies = trouble but they are still fun to look at. For example, the Twins finished last in 2011 when their rookie position players had more plate appearances than anyone but you compare that with 2004 when their rookie position players again led the league in PA’s but the team finished first.
But one thing that you can take away from this is that Gardy and pitching coach Rick Anderson are not big fans of young rookie pitchers based on the fact that the Twins rookie pitchers have been consisently in the bottom half of the division in innings pitched each year averaging just 232.7 innings and a ranking 9th of 14 teams. Twins rookie pitchers have only finished in the upper half of league innings pitched 3 three times in 10 seasons.
Most Twins fans know that current Minnesota Twins manager Ron Gardenhire played for the New York Mets between 1981 – 1985 playing in 285 games, mostly at short but he also played some second and third base. Hitting was not Gardy’s strong suit as he posted a career average of .232 with 4 home runs, walking 46 times and struck out 122 times in 777 plate appearances. But did you know that Gardy “owned” the Hall of Famer that everyone called “Lefty”? You better believe it, the right-handed hitting Gardenhire had 30 at bats against Carlton over the years and had 11 hits including a home run and put up a cool .367 batting average and .387 OBP against the hall of famer. Lefty did manage to strike out Gardy 8 times. On the other hand, Fernando Valenzuela faced Gardenhire 12 times and all Gardy got for his efforts was one base on balls.
Like many other baseball teams, the Twins have categorized their tickets the last few years into value home games, select home games, and premium home games or categories similar to this. The value games are the lowest price and then the select games are usually about $2 more and finally on the high-end we have the premium games that are about$3 more than the select and $5 more than the value games. I thought it would be interesting to see how the Twins designated their tickets since 2009 so here is what I found.
YEAR
Value games
Select games
Premium games
2009
60 (74%)
14 (17%)
7 (9%)
2010
27 (33%)
39 (48%)
15 (19%)
2011
22 (27%)
36 (44%)
23 (28%)
2012
20 (25%)
38 (47%)
23 (28%)
It appears to be getting tougher and tougher to find “value” games year after year. These so-called “value” games were once upon a time the going price for attending a baseball game. In 2012 only 25% of the Minnesota Twins home games will be “value” games, the remaining 75% of the tickets are marked up as “select” or “premium games”. Like many other businesses, baseball is looking to raise revenue but doesn’t want to irritate the fan base by raising ticket prices so they just pick certain games that they categorize differently and charge a higher price for them. This is just a fee that is not called a fee. Baseball assumes that the general public is too dumb to realize what is going on. Who or how games are determined to be “value”, “select”, or “premium” at the beginning of each season would be interesting to know. These higher fees for “select” and “premium” games do not apply to season ticket holders here in Minnesota. Let’s do some math for the fun of it and let’s start with a couple of assumptions, first that the Twins have about 25,000 season tickets sold for each game and that the capacity of Target Field is 39,000 as a nice round number. That means you have about 14,000 tickets sold to the general public for each home game. So, if you have 38 “select” games in 2012 these 14,000 tickets at a $2 premium over a “value” game would bring in an extra ($2 x 14,000 x 38) $1,064,000. If you look at the 23 “premium” games in 2012 these 14,000 tickets at a $5 premium over a “value” game will bring in an extra ($5 x 14,000 x 23) $1,610,000. The numbers I am using I think are very conservative so the total extra dollars brought in through this ticket categorization are very likely higher that what I have here. These kinds of things just frustrate me to no end, ticket prices are already based on seat location meaning that better seats cost more and I understand that but why should I have to pay more to see the Yankees or the Cubs play or why should I pay more because the game is being played on a Saturday night? The Twins are no better and no worse at this than the other MLB teams but in my mind this is just not right. It is these kinds of things that cause baseball fans to jump off the home team bandwagons and stay off until the team is a winner. The bad part is that the teams don’t want to spend money to get good players unless they have the fans support and the fans don’t want to spend their hard earned money watching a crappy team. So it becomes a “what should happen first scenario”.
So what happens over the next few years to the “value” games? They are already down to just 25% of the home games. I guess when the “value” games drop to next to nothing, the “value” category will be eliminated, and the “select” category become the lowest price category and a new category for the high-end will be invented and called something like “platinum” and the game goes on. MLB best be careful, their ticket prices in all these new stadiums are getting out of hand. In most cases the taxpayers are footing a huge chunk of these ballpark costs and it will be sad when the fans get priced out of going to watch their home team play in a ballpark that they paid for to begin with.
I understand that baseball is entertainment and that salaries are extraordinary in the entertainment industry but when does it reach a point of no return? The average salary for a Twins player according to USA Today in 2011 was $4,509,480 and we are talking about a team that lost 99 games. The Kansas City Royals had the lowest average in 2011 and that was still at $1,338,000 and the Yankees were of course the highest with a $6,756,300 average.
I know this blog won’t change anything but writing it does make me fell somewhat better knowing that I have gotten it off my chest. I just hope that Twins fans in 2032 will still be able to attend a Twins game in person at Target Field and get to enjoy baseball the way it should be enjoyed, outdoors at your local ballpark in person. Hell, by then everyone will probably have some kind of igadget that puts everyone out in the field of play so we all get the same view as the players do.