Tag: Joe DiMaggio

Rocco is the Man

Derek Falvey and Rocco Baldelli (credit MN Twins)

Everyone and their brother is reporting that the Minnesota Twins will introduce 37-year old Rocco Baldelli as their 14th manager in Twins history this afternoon at 3 pm at Target Field. Baldelli becomes the youngest manager in MLB.

Baldelli, a Rhode Island native has spent most of his baseball career (playing, front office ad coaching) with the Tampa Bay Rays organization but he did spend one season with the Boston Red Sox before returning to Tampa. Baldelli was the Tampa Bay Devil Rays first round selection (6th pick overall) in 2006. The Twins had the second overall pick that year and chose RHP Adam Johnson who pitched in a Twins uniform in just 9 games winning one and posing a 10.25 ERA. That turned out to be his total big league career.

When Rocco Baldelli emerged as a young star in the minor-league system of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, he drew comparisons to Joe DiMaggio. Baldelli hit .278/.323/.443 with 60 home runs over parts of seven seasons before retiring at age 29 after dealing with a muscle disorder that often left him fatigued.

Now that the Falvey and Levine administration has all their own pieces in place there are no more excuses. The Minnesota Twins going forward are their team. I am excited about having a manager names that comes from outside the Twins organization but I am not sure I am as excited about hiring a manager with no previous managing experience. It will be interesting to see what kind of a coaching staff he surrounds himself with. 

Bottom line; I am excited about this hire and am willing to see where the Woonsocket Rocket can take this Twins team. Welcome to Minnesota Rocco and good luck!

SABR Bio about Rocco Baldelli by Eric Frost

 

 

The Twins longest hitting streak goes back to 1980

Joe DiMaggio‘s 56-game hitting streak in 1941 is the longest in Major League Baseball history.

In baseball, a hitting streak is the number of consecutive official games in which a player appears and gets at least one base hit. According to the Official Baseball Rules, such a streak is ended when a player has at least one plate appearance and no hits. A streak shall not be terminated if all official plate appearances result in a base on balls, hit by pitch, defensive interference or a sacrifice bunt. The streak shall terminate if the player has a sacrifice fly and no hit.

Ken Landreaux

The Minnesota Twins longest hitting streak, a 31 gamer by Ken Landreaux took place in 1980 starting in a 17-0 loss to the California Angels at Met Stadium on April 23 and ended on May 31 in an 11-1 loss to the Orioles at Met Stadium. During his streak Landreaux had 49 hits in 125 at bats and hit for a .392 average with a .937 OPS.

31 game hitting streak

 

 

Brian Dozier

The longest streak by a current Twins player belongs to Brian Dozier who had a 24 hitting streak at the tail end of the 2016 season. The longest hitting streak in MLB history belongs to Joe Dimaggio who has the famous 56 game streak on the books, a record set in 1941 that most folks say will never be broken.

 

Historic Tinker Field to be demolished

Tinker FieldThe 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.

Here is the story the Orlando Sentinel did on it today.