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
“Fans mingling at Target Field during a modern MLB game”
For years I tracked Minnesota Twins ticket prices the way some people track the weather. From 1961 forward, I kept a running log of what it actually cost to walk through the turnstiles. It was a simple project with a simple goal: show how the average ticket price crept upward, year after year, era after era, from Met Stadium bleachers to Target Field club seats.
Then baseball changed the rules.
Dynamic ticket pricing arrived, and suddenly the idea of an “average ticket price” became as outdated as a paper scorecard. Teams stopped setting one price for the season and started treating every game — and every seat — like a miniature stock market. Prices rise, fall, and rise again depending on demand, opponent, weather, promotions, and even what’s happening on the resale market. A Tuesday night against a last place club might be cheaper than yesterday, while a weekend series against a contender can jump before you finish typing your credit card number.
Trying to calculate an average in that environment is like trying to nail Jell-O to the outfield wall.
So the article I set out to write — a clean, historical comparison of ticket prices across Twins history — became something else entirely. Because the more I looked at the numbers, the more obvious it became that the real story isn’t just how teams price tickets. It’s how fans use them.
It has been awhile since I posted some old articles from what was known back then as the “Baseball Bible”, or as most of us knew it, The Sporting News. So now and then I will dig through the archives and we can relive some baseball history.
Back when I was growing up The Sporting News was really the only way to keep up with baseball during the off-season. The Minneapolis and St. Paul papers did a good job keeping us abreast of Minnesota Twins news but nothing really about the rest of the teams. With no internet, podcasts, or MLB TV it was a long off season between the World Series ending and Spring Training beginning. I would be interested in your comments if these kinds of things interest you or not. I appreciate it.
After Frank Quilici was relieved of his managing duties when the 1975 Minnesota Twins season ended with a 76-83 record, owner Calvin Griffith offered him a broadcasting position which Quilici accepted. Griffith then gave Gene Mauch a three-year deal to manage the Twins starting in 1976.
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Another trip around the Sun and it is once again time to to look back and remember former Minnesota Twins that have gotten the call to their final resting place. They may be gone from this earth but their memories will always remain.
Jeff Bittiger was born April 13, 1962 in Jersey City, NJ and died on July 19, 2025 at the age of 63 after a lengthy battle with Cancer. Bittiger was originally drafted by the Mets in 1980 but made his big league debut on September 2, 1986 with the Phillies and was signed by the Twins as a free agent in April 1987. He pitched for the Minnesota Twins in 1987 appearing in three games late in the 1987 season. He won his first and only game as a Twin in his lone start for the Twins in a 8-1 victory over the Chicago White Sox. Bittiger went 7 innings allowing 1 run on 6 hits while striking out 5. Bittiger again became a Free Agent after the 1987 season. Bittiger pitched in the majors in 33 games with a 4-6 record with a 4.77 ERA. Bittiger must have loved baseball because he pitched in the minor/independent leagues from 1980-2003, a total of 23 years.
Bill Dailey was born on May 13, 1935 in Arlington, Virginia and passed away on January 11, 2025 at the age of 89. Dailey started his baseball career by signing with the Cleveland Indians prior to the 1953 season and made his big league debut on August 17, 1961 at Cleveland Stadium versus the Boston Red Sox with 4 innings of scoreless relief in a 14-inning 4-3 Cleveland win. The Minnesota Twins purchased Dailey in April of 1963 and he quickly became a folk hero in Minnesota and they even had a song about him called “won’t you come in Bill Dailey”. In his first season in Minnesota he pitched in 66 games, pitching 108.2 innings with a 1.99 ERA and a 6-4 record notching 21 saves. In 1964 he suffered a rotor cuff injury and had to walk away from the game at the age of 29, baseball can be a cruel game. You can find my interview with Bill Dailey in the Interview Archives on this site.
Scott Klingenbeck was born on February 3, 1971 in Cincinnati, Ohio and died on May 20, 2025 at the age of 54. Klingenbeck was drafted by the Baltimore Orioles in the fifth round of the 1992 amateur draft and made his debut in a start against the Detroit Tigers in an 11-5 win in which he pitched 7 innings allowing 3 earned runs for his first big league win. In July of 1995 the Orioles traded Klingenbeck to Minnesota for a PTBNL (who was later announced as OF Kimera Bartee). Klingenbeck pitched for the Twins in 1995-1996 and compiled a 1-3 record in 28 games with an ERA of 8.30. The Twins traded Klingenbeck to the Cincinnati Reds in April 1997. Klingenbeck pitched briefly for the Reds in 1998 before and for their AAA team in 1999 before retiring from baseball.
Andy Kosco was born on October 5, 1941 in Youngstown, Ohio and died on December 19, 2025 at the age of 84. Kosco excelled at every sport as a youngster. By the time he was a senior at Struthers High School, he was a strapping 6-feet-3 and 210 pounds, and excelled in football, basketball, and baseball. He received 44 scholarship offers for football, including ones from powers such as Michigan State and Ohio State, and 27 offers for basketball. “I think I was blessed with a lot of size,” said Kosco. “I ran well and threw well.” Kosco started his career with the Detroit Tigers as a free agent prior to the 1959 season and was released on June 3, 1964 and signed by the Minnesota Twins just three days later. Kosko debuted with the Twins on August 13, 1965 on a team packed with stars that was on its way to the World Series. Kosco played for the Twins between 1965-1967 but could not win a starting job and was sold to the Athletics after the 1967 season. Kosco went on to a number of other teams playing in the big leagues for all or parts of ten seasons with the Twins, Yankees, Dodgers, Brewers, Angels, Red Sox and the Redlegs appearing in 658 games hitting .236 with 73 home runs. If Andy Kosco’s baseball career could be described in a song, it might be the old Hank Snow classic “I’ve Been Everywhere.” Kosco may best be remembered for replacing Mickey Mantle in his final game, it was a memorable moment for Kosco, who often retold the story of taking over for the Yankee legend in his final game.
That guy is switch-hitting Venezuelan shortstop Enmanuel Merlo, who checks in at No. 34 among the ‘26 class. Merlo is expected to receive a $1.5 million signing bonus, according to a sources, one of the heftiest commitments the club has made on the international market in the past decade. The Twins received $7,357,100 in pool money this year, tied for the third-highest allotment. The prospect list however, has 18 shortstops rated ahead of him on the top prospect list. Are the Twins going after quantity versus quality?
The Office of the Commissioner of Baseball announced on January 9th that free agent outfielder Max Kepler has received an 80-game suspension after testing positive for Epitrenbolone, a performance enhancing substance, in violation of Major League Baseball’s Joint Drug Prevention and Treatment Program.
Kepler was signed by the Minnesota Twins as a 16-year-old free agent on July 11, 2009 and made his major league debut with the Twins on September 27, 2015. Kepler played for the Twins from 2015 through 2024 before becoming a free agent and signing with the Philadelphia Phillies where he played in 2025 before again becoming a free agent.
I have followed Max Kepler closely since he joined the Minnesota Twins and he had a very nice career as a Minnesota Twin. Towards the end of his years in Minnesota it was obvious to me that he was no longer the Kepler I watched growing up. I was of the opinion that baseball was boring him since he had achieved his objective of playing MLB and was getting ready to retire. He no longer seemed to enjoy the game and seemed to just be going through the motions. Maybe there was more behind the change than I thought. Good luck Max!
You can’t stop progress, but sometimes we all wish we could. I know that the good old days weren’t always as much fun and good as we say they were, but in our minds they were. Life was both simpler and harder in many ways.
Today many people in the USA are struggling just to have a roof over their heads and be able to put food on the table not to mention being without a job, worrying about medical insurance and many other of life’s problems like ICE pounding on their door. As an immigrant myself I can say that without the immigrants this country would not be what it is today. This country was built by immigrants that worked their butts off and fought to protect this country in many war’s and yet now we treat them like outsiders that don’t belong. They are rounded up by mask-wearing ICE, breaking up their families and being shipped out of this country without a fair hearing. That is not the principles this country was built on.
Granted many of them arrived here through illegal means but since they arrived they have become hard-working people just trying to make a living like everyone else. Many of them have served this country in the armed forces, paid taxes and helped build the communities they live in. Maybe we should just stop this BS and face facts. Sure, some of the immigrants are criminals but so are many of our citizens. They should all be judged in front of their peers, not shipped out of this country in the dark of night in unmarked planes.
This country needs to wake up and smell the roses, without immigrants this country will not remain the great country it has been when it welcomed immigrants. There are jobs that go unfilled without immigrants. You say you lost your job because of the immigrants, prove it, show me and tell me how it happened, I would really like to know.
It is time for Congress to come up with a plan that allows the immigrants that are here now to stay here under some type of plan that will allow them to earn legal citizen status over a reasonable period of time. It is time to suck it up and say you have earned the right to stay here. Don’t give me that “they are here illegally crap”. What about all the people that have the dollars to buy their way in to become citizens, is that fair? So you are saying if you are rich you can become a citizen? That is pure BS .
I have ranted long enough here and I will close by saying that this too will pass and we need to look out for each other and take care of each other. If you don’t agree with what I have said here, so be it, that is why we have free speech in this free country.
Andy “Pudge” Kosco, a powerful right-handed hitter who broke into the major leagues with the Minnesota Twins during one of the franchise’s most formative eras, passed away on December 19, 2025. He was 84.
Born October 5, 1941, in Struthers, Ohio, Kosco was a gifted multi-sport athlete who turned down dozens of football and basketball scholarship offers to pursue professional baseball at age 17 signing as a free agent with the Detroit Tigers prior to the 1959 season. One scout who spent a lot of time tracking Kosco’s progress was Edwin “Cy” Williams of the Detroit Tigers.3 Williams began watching Kosco play baseball, football, and basketball around the Youngstown area when Andy was a high-school sophomore and followed him for the next couple of years. Eventually, Williams signed him right out of high school in June 1959 for what at that time was an enormous bonus of $62,500.
The Tigers assigned him to class D ball to start 1959 and he worked his way up to AAA briefly in 1963 where he struggled mightily. Then unexpectedly in June of 1964 the Tigers released him and the Twins quickly signed him and send him to class A ball for the remainder of 1964 . In 1965 the Twins assigned him to AAA Denver and started hitting like a man possessed, hitting .312 with 27 home runs and 116 RBI in 119 games leaving the Twins with no choice but to call him up in mid-August to join a club in the midst of its first great pennant chase. Kosco made his major league debut in Cleveland Stadium as a pinch-hitter and grounded out to second base in a Twins 3 to 1 loss. Kosco went on to play in 23 games but did not make the World Series roster.
The Twins Didn’t Just Lose Games — They Lost Their Fanbase Another 70–92 season. Another fourth place finish. Another October spent watching other teams play meaningful baseball. For a franchise that keeps insisting it’s “competitive,” the results say otherwise — loudly.
Derek Falvey
Someone had to take the fall, and it wasn’t Derek Falvey. He survived — somehow — but Rocco Baldelli didn’t. After seven seasons, he’s out, and the Twins replaced him with former bench coach Derek Shelton, a move that feels more like rearranging furniture than fixing the foundation. Seven of twelve coaches were swept out with him. A purge looks dramatic on paper, but fans have seen this movie before: new voices, same script.
On the roster side, the big splash so far… Josh Bell. A 33-year-old first baseman with a bat that comes and goes and a glove that never really arrived. Seven million dollars for a placeholder. The rest of the offseason has been bargain bin depth pieces. It’s hard to sell “we’re trying” when the front office shops like a team terrified of its own payroll.
Then came the ownership news — the part that was supposed to restore confidence. Instead, it poured gasoline on the frustration. The Twins introduced new minority owners, but the Pohlad family kept control after months of signaling the team was headed for a sale. Fans were told one thing, then handed another. And the surprise twist? Tom Pohlad quietly taking over as control person from his brother Joe, who reportedly didn’t agree with the move at first. If the goal was stability, the execution felt anything but.
Fans were told the team was for sale. Then the story changed.”
So yes, a few questions have been answered. But they’re not the answers fans were hoping for. And the questions that matter most — payroll, direction, accountability, transparency — remain untouched. Will Derek Shelton actually manage, or will the front office script every inning? Will the new minority owners have any real influence? Will Tom Pohlad be visible, engaged, and honest with the fanbase? Will Falvey continue running both the baseball and business sides with no checks and balances?
Meanwhile, the fans have spoken with their wallets. Season ticket renewals are dropping. TV subscriptions are being canceled. Many fans feel misled — told the team was for sale, only to watch the Pohlad’s reverse course and bring in minority partners instead. A growing segment of the fanbase believes the only way forward is for the Pohlad’s to sell entirely. Until then, they’re choosing not to show up.
The Twins enter 2026 not just at a crossroads, but on the edge of losing an entire generation of goodwill. The front office can talk about “process” and “sustainability” all it wants, but fans are tired of buzzwords. They want honesty. They want investment. They want a team that acts like winning matters.
Right now, the burden is on the Twins — not the fans — to prove they deserve their support.
I would like to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and I also hope that you remember all the troops that are out there serving and protecting our country.
Greg Thayer, a right-handed pitcher who appeared in 20 games for the Minnesota Twins during the 1978 season, passed away on December 12, 2025 in St. Cloud, Minnesota. He was 76.
Born October 23, 1949, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Thayer’s baseball journey began in earnest at St. Cloud Tech High School and continued at St. Cloud State University. Thayer attended St. Cloud State on a football scholarship, where he played quarterback and helped the Huskies win a conference championship in 1970. He also played three seasons on the baseball team, leading the Huskies to a conference championship in each of his three seasons on the diamond. He was named all-conference honors in 1971 as a pitcher and outfielder. He was inducted into the St. Cloud State Hall of Fame in 1994 in football and baseball.
His professional career started when the San Francisco Giants selected him in the 32nd round of the 1971 June Amateur Draft. It was a modest draft position, but it opened the door to a steady climb through the minor leagues.
A Long Road Through the Minors
Thayer spent his early professional years in the Giants’ farm system, pitching for several affiliates as he worked to refine his command and durability. After his release by San Francisco in April 1973, he signed with the Minnesota Twins later that year, beginning a second chapter in his minor league career. Over the next several seasons, he pitched at multiple levels of the Twins’ system, earning a reputation as a reliable organizational arm who took the ball whenever needed.
Reaching the Major Leagues
Thayer’s persistence paid off on April 7, 1978, when he made his major league debut for the Twins at the Kingdome against the Seattle Mariners. In that first outing, he threw three innings, allowing two hits and two earned runs while striking out three and walking four. It was the kind of gritty, workman-like appearance that would define his brief time in the majors. He earned his only major league victory on May 6, 1978, in Baltimore, when he pitched 5.2 innings of shutout relief as the Twins scored seven runs in the ninth to rally for a 8-7 victory.
During his time with the Twins during the 1978 season, Thayer appeared exclusively in relief, logging 45 innings across 20 games. He finished the year with a 3.80 ERA, 30 strikeouts, and a 1–1 record — solid numbers for a bullpen arm on a team searching for stability.
After the Twins
Thayer’s final major league appearance came on June 26, 1978, against the Milwaukee Brewers. He was sent back to the minors at the end of June and he never returned to the big leagues. His partial season with Minnesota represented the culmination of years of determination and quiet professionalism. Thayer spent the 1979 season in the Twins minor league system and then he turned up in the Toronto organization in 1980. There is no transaction in B-R documenting the move.
Following his playing career, he contributed to the Sauk Rapids, Minnesota sports community as a baseball coach for many years. He also loved spending time with his friends and enjoyed being out in nature, often combining both as an avid fisherman and bird hunter.
A Place in Twins History
For fans and historians who value the full tapestry of Twins baseball, Greg Thayer’s story is a reminder of the countless players whose contributions may not have made headlines but still mattered. His journey — from Cedar Rapids to St. Cloud, from a 32nd round pick to the mound at Metropolitan Stadium — reflects the perseverance and pride shared by so many who have worn a Twins uniform.
Greg Thayer is survived by his son and daughter, Andy (RaeAnne) Thayer of Golden Valley; Stephanie (Paul) Schlangen of Sauk Rapids; grandsons, Frederick & Walter Schlangen; and brother, Jeff (Kathy) Thayer of Spring Lake Park.
He is preceded in death by his parents and wife Christine.
Greg Allen Thayer’s obituary as well as a beautiful video can be seen here.
