Twins players that left us in 2021

As we start a new year in 2021 and hope to get the COVID-19 pandemic behind us and head out to Target Field to watch the Twins play ball I wanted to share a list of former Minnesota Twins players and people associated with the Twins that passed away in 2021. We lost some great ones.

Stan Williams was born on September 14, 1936 in Enfield, New Hampshire and passed away at the age of 84 in Laughlin, Nevada on February 20, 2021.

Williams started pitching in pro ball at the age of 17 in 1954 and threw his last pitch 20 years later in 1974. In between “Big Daddy” pitched in the majors for 14 seasons with the Dodgers, Yankees, Indians, Twins, Cardinals and the Red Sox starting his career as a starter and finishing up in the bullpen. Williams pitched for Minnesota in 1970-1971 putting up a stellar season in 1970 at the age of 33.

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Was Calvin Griffith really a “cheap” owner?

There are a lot of opinions out there floating around about former Minnesota Twins owner Calvin Griffith and the two most common ones are that he was cheap and that he was a racist. I am not going to get into the racist discussion here and now but I did want to share with you a piece of a column that Minneapolis Star Tribune writer Dick Cullum wrote on August 20, 1968.

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Merry Christmas

We would like to wish each and every one of you a wonderful and blessed Christmas.

Minnesota Twins pitching leaders in games started

Back on December 19 in 2006 pitcher Brad Radke announced his plans to retire after 12 season of wearing the colors of the Minnesota Twins. That got me to wondering where the Twins pitchers with the most starts for Minnesota came from.

  1. Jim Kaat had 422 starts with the Twins and was signed by the Washington Senators as an amateur free agent in 1957 long before the draft was instituted and was one of the original Minnesota Twins in 1961. Debuted August 2, 1959 with the Senators.
  2. Brad Radke had 377 starts with the Twins and was an eighth round pick in the June amateur draft in 1991. Radke debuted on April 29, 1995 in three not so stellar innings of relief and started every game that he appeared in after that.
  3. Bert Blyleven had 345 starts with the Twins after being drafted by Minnesota in round three of the 1969 June amateur draft. Bert debuted on June 5, 1970 and all his appearances but three were starts.
  4. Frank Viola had 259 and just one relief appearance with the Twins after being selected in round 16 of June 1978 amateur draft. Sweet Music debuted on June 6, 1982.
  5. Jim Perry had 249 start for Minnesota after being acquired in a trade on May 2, 1963 from the Cleveland Indians for pitcher Jack Kralick.
  6. Dave Goltz had 215 starts for the Twins after drafted in the round five of the 1967 June amateur draft. The Rothsay, Minnesota native debuted on July 18, 1972.
  7. Kyle Gibson had 188 starts with Minnesota after being drafted 22nd in round one of the 2009 June amateur draft. Gibson debuted on June 29, 2013.
  8. Kevin Tapani had 180 starts in 181 appearances in a Twins uniform after being acquired in a trade from the New York Mets in the Frank Viola trade on July 31, 1989. Tapani had debuted with the Mets on July 4, 1989.
  9. Camilo Pascual had 179 starts with Minnesota and was signed by the Washington Senators as an amateur free agent prior to the 1952 season long before the draft was instituted and was one of the original Minnesota Twins in 1961. Pascual debuted on April 15, 1954.
  10. Johan Santana had 175 starts with the Twins after being drafted by the Florida Marlins from the Houston Astros in the 1999 rule 5 draft and then being traded to the Twins for Jared Camp who the Twins had originally drafted in the Rule 5 draft that year. Santana debuted on April 3, 2000.

The other players with 150 or more starts for Minnesota are Eric Milton with 165, Scott Baker with 159, Scott Erickson with 153, Kyle Lohse with 152 and Dave Boswell with 150.

The only pitchers mentioned here today to make a start for the Minnesota Twins at Target Field are Kyle Gibson and Scott Baker.

The only pitcher on this list to spend his entire career in Minnesota? That would be Brad Radke.

The sorry state of baseball today

Ever since I started following baseball almost 65 years ago, I have been led to believe that you need to have great starting pitching to win it all. Is it true or is this been a falsity all along? I have been fortunate to watch some great starting pitching over the years and I still wish I could have seen the great Walter Johnson pitch in person but those kinds of starters are disappearing. Ace starters are getting paid big bucks but at the same time they are quickly becoming as extinct as dinosaurs.

Here is my problem. Baseball pitching today is about throwing less than 100 pitches, don’t face the line-up a third time around, openers, and bullpen games and God knows what else they will dream up. You pay the starters huge dollars and then you don’t let them pitch. Aren’t starter’s supposed to be your best pitchers? Starters have been throwing over 100 pitches and going through the opposing lineup multiple times in games since baseball started and now all of a sudden that is not a good idea?

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Twins complete 2022 coaching staff with two additions

The Minnesota Twins issued a Press Release yesterday stating that they have made two more additions to their coaching staff bringing it to ten, this apparently completes the coaching staff at this time. Along with manager Rocco Baldelli, the 10 coaches will be managing/coaching their 25 man roster which brings the ratio closer and closer to two players for every coach. Back in 1961 the Twins skipper had three coaches to help him.

The new additions are Hank Conger a former major league catcher and Luis Ramirez. Ramirez, 48, has spent the last 16 years in the Twins organization, serving as pitching coach/coordinator at various levels, most recently as a Double-A Wichita pitching coach in 2021. In addition to the new hires, the Twins shifted some of their coaches around and these changes are noted in the attached Press Release.

TWINS-PRESS-RELEASESDownload

Congratulations to Tony Oliva and Jim Kaat on selection to HOF

Congratulations to Tony Oliva and Jim Kaat on finally getting that call to the Hall that you should have received many years ago. Well deserved and we all thank you for the wonderful memories. The numbers speak for themselves, nothing more needs to be said on why these two gentlemen belong in the MLB Hall of Fame.

Byron Buxton and Twins agree to an extension

Byron Buxton has good reason to smile. Credit to Brace Hemmelgarn – MN Twins

Yesterday afternoon as I was watching the Minnesota Vikings vs the San Francisco 49ers football game the news broke that the Minnesota Twins and Byron Buxton had reached agreement on a seven year extension worth about $100 million. I have to say that I was very surprised, I fully expected that this would not happen and that the Twins would be trading him to a team with deeper pockets that could afford to take such a gamble and not be hurt if Buxton got the big bucks but couldn’t stay healthy.

I like Buxton as a player but I have always been bothered by the fact that he could not stay healthy and for me a player sitting on the bench because he is not healthy enough play is worthless. It makes no difference if it is bad luck, bad karma, or whatever, if you can’t play you bring no value. There have always been players across all sports that spent more time in the training rooms than they did on the playing fields. It is what it is.

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2021 Twins Turkey of the Year

Happy Thanksgiving everyone

Time seems to have gotten away from me and it was only in the last few days that I realized it was that time again, time to pick another Twins Turkey of the Year. This years winner will be number 13. So far we have only had one repeat winner and that was President and CEO Dave St. Peter who took the honors in 2013 and again in 2019.

With the 2021 Minnesota Twins expected to do well and go deep in the playoffs by their fans and the so called baseball experts and then to see the team finish 73-89 and in last place in the American League Central Division you would have to think that there were more turkeys then you could shake a stick at. You would be right.

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Twins Milestone Home Runs from 1961-2021

Over the years the Minnesota Twins have hit 8,591 home runs since they started play in 1961 through the 2021 season. Let’s take a look at some milestone home runs, who hit them and where did they hit them. You might want to take note that the Minnesota Twins won 10 of these 12 games.

#1 was hit by Bob Allison on 4-11-61 at Yankee Stadium off Whitey Ford in a Twins 6-0 win in the first game they ever played.

#100 was hit by Bob Allison on 7-19-61 at Wrigley Field off the Angels Ron Kline in a 6-0 Twins win in game one of a DH.

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