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
Lee Health and the Minnesota Twins agreed to a 10-year partnership Thursday, November 16th that will rename the spring training stadium site in Fort Myers the Lee Health Sports Complex. The complex has been the Twins’ spring training home since 1991. Lee Health is now designated as the Twins’ official Florida healthcare provider. As you might expect, both sides are mum on the financial’s in this new partnership.
The Twins and the club’s six minor league affiliates have called the Lee Health Sports Complex their spring training home since 1991; the 2024 spring campaign will be the organization’s 34th in Fort Myers.
Lee Health Sports Complex, located at 14100 Six Mile Cypress Parkway in Fort Myers, is inclusive of the 8,730-seat Hammond Stadium in which the Twins play spring training home games and conduct select workouts (while also serving as the Mighty Mussels’ home ballpark); five full practice fields (including the home field for the FCL Twins) and two half-fields; a minor league building with locker rooms, training and video facilities; the Twins Player Development Academy, which features a 58-room residence hall for players and staff, dining facilities, recreational spaces, meeting rooms, educational classrooms and the 220-seat Champions Hall; and four community softball fields.
A dirt farmer in Southern Indiana in the year 1924 chose to name his son after a famous baseball player who would someday enter the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Little did anyone know at the time, including that famous player, just how much that decision would mean to that son and the generations to follow. That was the beginning of a love affair with baseball that would identify this family, a love that would begin with the Washington Senators and move on to Minnesota in 1961. Now five generations in, this family allegiance is still very much alive today.
This is a story of the son of that son with the famous name and his love of baseball that was handed down to him. He in turn has passed that love on to his son, who now has a daughter who will hopefully understand this love of the game. Memories are made with the game of baseball, and so many are worth sharing.
As the pages of this book are turned, the reader will begin to recognize many of these memories and hopefully be reminded of memories that are part of their lives. Hopefully, the reader will have a better understanding of how generations of a family can be connected by the threads of a baseball.
There was a special Hammond Stadium Commemorative Section in the Ft. Myers News-Press Sunday paper today and the headline was “Extreme Makeover”. David Dorsey did a number of the articles in the special section and he did a superb job. Maybe his best piece in the section has the following headline – “Ancient Rome inspires entrance.” It talks about the “grand vomitory” and how Dave St. Peter and the Twins had to be convinced to give up some of their best seats behind home plate that brought in about $5,400 in revenue per spring training game. Dorsey also discusses the “Witches Hat” towers with the Populous architect. I am not going to spoil the article for you by telling you what “grand vomitory” means and what “Witches Hat” towers have to do with the extreme makeover.
Seems to be some validity to the complaining that the Twins best paid player Joe Mauer isn’t hitting with runners on base. Joe Mauer had the go-ahead single in the ninth inning for Minnesota on Monday, after he entered the game hitting .171 (7 for 41) in Late Inning Pressure Situations. Over the past six seasons (2008-2013), Mauer hit .339 in LIPS, the highest in the major leagues among players with at least 100 plate appearances.
The Ft. Myers Miracle the Twins High-A team is now calling JetBlue Park their new home for the rest of the regular season and the playoffs as Hammond Stadium undergoes the second phase of their two-year remodeling effort. It will be interesting to see what Hammond Stadium will look like next spring.
The Cedar Rapids Kernels the Twins Low-A club and the Minnesota Twins extended their player-development contract (PDC) through the 2020 season. Another nail in the coffin for those that had hopes of St. Paul landing a Twins minor league affiliation in their new ballpark that is being built.
Minneapolis provided MLB with free rent and discounted services for the All-Star FanFest at the Minneapolis Convention Center when the Twins hosted the 2014 All-Star game.
Ron Davis – Twins pitcher from 1982 – 1986 (courtesy of the Minnesota Twins)
Twenty eight years ago today the Twins traded closer Ron Davis along with minor league pitcher Dewayne Coleman to the Chicago Cubs for relievers George Frazier and Ray Fontenot and shortstop Julius McDougal. Davis was the Twins closer from 1982 until he was traded in 1986. Davis saved 108 games for the Twins but it was the games that he didn’t save that made Davis one of the biggest villans in Twins history. Here is a piece about Davis in the LA Times. The Twinstrivia interview with Ron Davis can be found here.
In the last three weeks Terry Ryan and Rob Antony have been busy house-cleaning and they have cut about $8 million from the Twins payroll. First the Twins traded DH/1B Kendrys Morales to the Seattle Mariners for RHP Stephen Pryor. Then they traded outfielder Sam Fuld to the Oakland A’s for LHP Tommy Milone. Then RHP Kevin Correia was sent out to La La land where he will pitch for the Dodgers and the Twins will receive a PTBNL or cash. Their latest trade has outfielder/DH Josh Willingham headed south to the Kansas City Royals in exchange for minor league RHP Jason Adam. Here is what a KC blog site called Cover the Bases had to say about the deal. Are there still more trades on the horizon? You never know but if I was Jared Burton I might not be too quick to send out my clothes to the dry cleaners. Joe Mauer is now the oldest position player on the team, Wow!
Jim Merritt
A lot is being made of King Felix Hernandez and his run of history making starts this season where he has pitched seven innings or more and allowed two runs or fewer. There is even talk of him as a serious MVP candidate. Have any Twins pitchers had a nice run like that? Turns out that Jim Merritt had 11 games in a row back in 1967. This is actually a pretty amazing run by Hernandez, since 1961 there have only been 10 pitchers that have had a streak of 10 games or more that fit this criteria. Check out the list, there are some pretty good pitchers here.
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Streaks of seven innings pitched and two or fewer runs allowed since 1961
Take a moment to check out Bob Gibson‘s numbers in the table above, they are absolutely incredible. His streak was 11 games long, his record was 11-0 and he had 11 complete games with 8 shutouts and a total of three runs allowed. No wonder Cardinals catcher Tim McCarver said that Gibson was the luckiest pitcher ever, he only pitched when the other team was not hitting.
The Minnesota Twins are still on track to have over 2.3 million fans at Target Field this summer. I think as the cooler weather approaches, the state fair gets in full swing and school begins, the attendance will fall off and the Twins will be around the 2 million mark but that is still an amazing mark for a team that has played as badly as the Twins have for the last four years.
So what about Ron Gardenhire and his staff? I think they are history within a week of the season ending. Who will be the Twins new skipper, it won’t be anyone currently associated with the Minnesota Twins today. Who would I like it to be? I think the Twins should swing a deal with the Marlins and bring Mike Redmond in as the Twins manager in 2015. The man had done well with the players he has been given. Will it happen? Nooooooo
I was going to head over to Hammond Stadium on Saturday but it was raining and the wind was blowing so I decided to wait until Sunday and catch the Rochester versus New Britain and Ft. Myers versus Cedar Rapids games. I got there a few minutes before the games started at Noon on a beautiful sunny Sunday in Ft. Myers. Hammond Stadium sat empty and the crowds at each minor league field were small and the players sitting in the stands that were not suited up for these games easily out numbered the fans.
Kyle Gibson
The Twins left Kyle Gibson behind in Ft. Myers so he could pitch in one of these games and sure enough he was the starting pitcher for New Britain. The first two innings went smoothly for Gibson but in the third inning the Red Wings hit Gibson all over the field as he gave up 6 hits and 5 earned runs. In that inning it appeared that everything he threw to the plate was hit hard and Gibson would throw the pitch and high-tail it over to back up third base. To me Gibson looked really frustrated and appeared to have lost his composure. He calmed down after that but an inning or so later he took a hard shot off his left shin but chased the ball down only to throw it wildly to first base. After five innings it was decided that Gibson had enough and he left the game having given up 8 hits and 5 runs. Not exactly what Gibson or the Twins were looking for.
Jeremias Pineda
On the other field a player that caught my attention was outfielder Jeremias Pineda. Pineda who is scheduled to start the season with Cedar Rapids this year was acquired from the Boston Red Sox in August 2012 in the Danny Valencia trade. The 23-year-old Pineda is a 5-11, 175 pound switch-hitter from the Dominican Republic, signed by the Red Sox in 2011. I am not sure how much of a prospect Pineda really is but on this day he stood out because of his speed and hustle. I watched him hit a hard ground ball to third that he beat out easily because of speed and hustle although the third baseman might have made it a closer play had he not waited on the ball. Later in the game Pineda was on first base when the batter hit a routine double play ball just a few steps to the left of second. The shortstop decided to touch second and then complete the double play by throwing to first. Turns out that was easier said then done as Pineda beat the shortstop to the bag at second. Speed and hustle again and it brought a lot of comments and head shaking from both teams.
It was fun to watch these Twins minor league teams play and learn the game. One player who will remain nameless hit a grounder to third that he apparently thought was foul and he didn’t move out of the batters box, turns out it was fair and the third baseman made an easy throw to first for the out. As the batter sheepishly walked back to the dugout it was easy to hear his manager tell him, “it is Sunday today, we are running them all out today”.
I took a bunch of pictures again today and I hope to get them uploaded later today. Not sure if this is my last visit to Hammond Stadium this year or not but I have enjoyed every minute of spring training here in Ft. Myers., almost time to head for home.
I was lucky enough to spend a couple of hours at Hammond Stadium this morning as the Twins pitchers and catchers continue going through their paces and prepare for the season ahead. I spent some time watching coach Terry Steinbach work with a bevy of catchers as they spent time practicing the “pitch out” and how best to get into the proper throwing position to get that runner before he reaches the next base. There was no goofing off, the players listened to every word and when Steinbach’s expectations were not met he wasted no time stopping the drill and pointing out the issue and how to correct it.
The hitters don’t report for a couple of days but the injuries and medical issues have already started. Jason Bartlett who is fighting to make the team sprained an ankle the other day that has slowed him down but he seems to be fighting through it. Matt Guerrier is coming off surgery and the team is limiting him on what he can throw and it sounds like he might not be game ready until the second week of March. Darin Mastroianni‘s ankle still is not 100% and he is not participating in any early drills but he told me the other day that he hopes to be ready to go in about 2 weeks. Pedro Florimon had an appendectomy earlier this week so he will be on the sidelines for 2-3 weeks. Minor league pitcher and spring training invitee Edgar Ibarra has been sidelined with Hepatitis B and is not participating in any drills until he recovers and of course we all know about the struggles GM Terry Ryan is fighting through.
Max Kepler
I had a chance to spend a few minutes with Max Kepler today and he is looking good and enjoying everything about early spring training and is anxious for the hitters to report and for spring training to get officially underway. Sounds like Max is going to focus on the outfield more this year now that his arm injury is behind him. I was able to ask him a couple of questions and you can listen to them here.-
The improvements to the ballpark itself, primarily the new concourse that encircles the stadium is going gangbusters and by all reports it will be finished soon. When I first saw it earlier this month I thought they had no chance of getting it done in time for ST games. It still in not open to the public and workers are still busy with the finishing touches but it will be a very nice addition to the ballpark. The new agility field on what used to be part of the parking area is also nearing completion but I still don’t know what an agility field is. To me it looks like a fenced in pile of dirt with sod on it. But what do I know.
The complex is starting to get cleaned up a bit from all the construction debris and equipment and landscaping is taking place in various parts of the complex. It will be interesting to see how fans will react to the new parking lot that is located behind the softball fields and will either be a long walk to the ballpark or a shuttle ride. I wonder what the shuttles will be like?
What up with Anaheim owner Arte Moreno? He has a gold mine out there and he still isn’t happy. Sounds like he wants the right to develop 155 acres around Angel Stadium and he wants to pay $1 to lease the land for 66 years or he will start looking for a new stadium in another city. What a jerk, hope the city doesn’t let him get away with that crap. You can read more about this here.
I took a few more pictures today and will try to get them uploaded to the 2014 Spring Training Pictures link on the right hand side of the page as soon as I can.
I was excited to get my first look at the changes that are taking place at Hammond Stadium this year and yesterday I went out there to see what was going on. For the most part it is a construction area and kind of messy and muddy in parts of the complex but work is going on everywhere.
The main changes to the ballpark itself are the new concourse that encircles the entire ballpark and the new “grassy knoll” in the left field corner. The grassy knoll appears finished but the concourse is definitely a work in progress. With the work underway, the new concourse is obviously not accessible to the public at this time so it is not possible to get pictures from there and to see what the field of play looks like from the concourse.
The area between field 5, the Twins batting cages, The Twins bullpen and the field with just an infield is a construction area so access there this spring might be questionable. This was a spring training gathering place for fans over the years and a prime autograph location but I am not sure it will be available this year. It is really too early to tell.
I bought tickets to a couple of spring training games and they told me to try to get to the ballpark early because the parking area has been changed due to the construction in the area. The parking areas on the right as you first drive in have not changed but as you get closer to the minor league complex the construction has eliminated many parking spots. The folks selling the tickets said they do not expect that the parking area will be cleaned up by the times games start so that could make things interesting but they do expect the concourse to be completed. From what I see of the concourse, I would be surprised if that is done by the time the Twins play the Boston Red Sox on March 1st.
I saw a few minor league players on field 3 hitting but I did not see any Twins players working out at all. I did see Kyle Gibson walk by and later I ran into Jared Burton and Glen Perkins and asked them if I could take a picture but they said “not today, a bad day for pictures today” and they kept on walking back towards the Twins clubhouse. Kind of unusual for Burton because he is usually willing to stop and talk with fans, maybe they had a bad day or they were just upset about having to walk through some muddy construction on their way to the clubhouse.
Nate Roberts walked by and I asked if I could take a picture and he was kind enough to stop and pose for me. We chatted briefly and he went on his way. Seems like a very nice guy and if you are a Duck Dynasty fan you have to like the beard that Roberts is sporting.
All toll I probably saw a dozen or so players today and about as many fans. Some were looking for autographs and others were there to buy tickets. The funny thing was when I asked if they were Twins fans, more said Red Sox then anything else. It sure was good to be back at spring training again and I am sure there will be more players and more fans when I stop by in the next few days for another visit.
Plans to renovate City of Palms Park (the old Red Sox facility) and bring the Washington Nationals to Fort Myers appear to be on hold, if not dead because Ft. Myers can’t meet the costs the developer has proposed the city pay to renovate the stadium. The Nationals, who train at Space Coast Stadium in Brevard County, have been looking elsewhere to move their spring training operations. Hopefully that changes because it would be nice to see another team in Ft. Myers.
If you want to see some of the pictures I took at the ballpark on Tuesday, you can find the link called 2014 Spring Training on the right hand side of the page.
The Minnesota Twins spring training home from 1961 – 1990 is scheduled for demolition some time in the next 60 days. The Twins left Orlando after the 1990 season and moved their spring training home to Hammond Stadium in Ft. Myers prior to their 1991 championship season. Numerous teams including the Minnesota Twins had minor league teams that played in Tinker Field as part of the Florida State League and the Southern League.
The ballpark was built-in 1923 at a cost of $50,000 and named for former Chicago Cubs player and Hall of Famer Joe Tinker. It hosted the Cincinnati Reds for spring training in the 1920s, and the Brooklyn Dodgers for two seasons in the 1930s. The Washington Senators and later the Minnesota Twins held spring training camp there from the mid-’30s until 1990. Numerous Hall of Famers including Harmon Killebrew, Rod Carew, Bert Blyleven, Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio and Jackie Robinson have played there. Tinker Field’s history isn’t limited to baseball, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke at a civil-rights rally there in 1964.
On May 14, 2004, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places but now it is slated to be torn down in the name of progress. The main reason? The renovation of the Florida Citrus Bowl stadium, which abuts the baseball field, includes a larger enclosed concourse that will encroach onto Tinker Field. The ballpark will lose about 80 feet of its outfield, putting the outfield fence as close as 240 feet from home plate.
For me personally,it is sad that Tinker Field will soon be torn down as it is the first place that I ever attended spring training when I spend a few days there back in 1971 watching the Twins go through their spring paces.
David Dorsey of the Ft. Myers News-Press provides you with a short but informative video on how the improvements to Hammond Studium are coming along. Phase One of a two-phase, $48 million project is scheduled to be completed Feb. 15, just in time for when Minnesota Twins pitchers and catchers report for spring training duty. It sounds like they will be working right up to the last-minute to get it ready. You can watch the video right here.
Twins Spring Training tickets went on sale on Saturday, January 11th and the Twins really changed things up this year on the types of tickets they sell. Here is what the Twins are doing this year.
Location
Season Tix
Value
Premium
Dugout Box
$38
$40
$43
Home Plate Box
$22
$27
$30
Diamond Box
$20
$25
$28
Home Plate View
$19
$25
$28
Field View
$17
$23
$26
Bullpen Zone
N/A
$23
$26
Left Field Drink Rails
N/A
$14
$17
Lawn Seating
N/A
Left: $12 Right: $14
Left: $15 Right: $17
Scoreboard Pavilion
N/A
$18
$21
Grandstand
N/A
$16
$19
Party Porch
N/A
$18
$21
Right Field Bullpen
N/A
$16
$19
Right Field Drink Rail
$21
$26
$29
View Twins Seating & Pricing – Premium pricing applies to the 3/5, 3/6, 3/9, 3/13, 3/22, and 3/28 games.
I had written a piece last year on spring training tickets prices that you can check out here and you can see for yourself how Twins ticket prices and categories have changed over the years. Increasing or changing the ticket seating categories allows a team to increase their ticket prices without actually telling their fans that the price to see a spring training game has gone up even if the team has been a cellar dweller for the last three seasons. I am looking forward to getting down to Hammond Stadium to check out the improvements for myself.
The Twins held a groundbreaking yesterday to mark the beginning of the Phase I renovations to Hammond Stadium and the Lee County Sports Complex, the team’s spring home. The $48.5 million renovation will transform the Lee County Sports Complex and Hammond Stadium into state-of-the-art facilities designed to enhance the fan experience and strengthen the team’s player development program. Designed by Populous, construction will be managed by Manhattan Twins Joint Venture (a partnership between Manhattan Construction Company, Chris-Tel Construction and Casey Construction), is expected to be totally completed in time for Spring Training 2015. The project is split into two phases.
Phase I will be completed by the spring of 2014 and includes –
A new residential player development academy
Renovations to the Minor League clubhouse and administrative areas
A new Gulf Coast League playing field
A new agility field
Completion of a 360 degree boardwalk and concourse at Hammond Stadium, including new berm seating in left field
Expansion of Hammond Stadium’s seating capacity of 8,000 to 9,300
A new parking lot
Phase II is scheduled for completion by February 2015 and includes –
