Tag: Sports Illustrated

Kent Hrbek and the 82 Twins

February 7, 2010 – The 2010 baseball season is just about upon us and we can’t wait to see what the Twins new ballpark, Target Field, will be like. But before that can happen, baseball fans all over Twins territory want to hear that local boy and AL MVP Joe Mauer will sign a long term deal to stay in a Minnesota Twins uniform. Twins fans love Joe Mauer and not only want him to stay but they expect him to stay and spend his entire career in Minnesota.

If you think back to 1982 there was another local boy by the name of Kent Hrbek that was just starting to make a name for himself in the Twins new stadium at the time, the HHH Metrodome. Hrbek also had the option to leave as a free agent later in his career but he chose to stay in Minnesota and play his entire career in front of his hometown fans. Back on July 5, 1982 Sports Illustrated published a very nice story about Kent Hrbek and the 1982 Twins and if you have a few minutes to spare, take the time to click on the SI cover and check out the story written by Steve Wulf, you won’t be sorry.

What “they” said about Bert in 1976

January 31, 2010 – An interesting story about Bert Blyleven written by Pat Jordan in the June 14, 1976 issue of Sports Illustrated magazine. It is a fun read and I hope you enjoy it. I wonder what Bert would say about that story today? To read the story just click on the Sports Illustrated cover.

Slick

January 5, 2010 – I recently ran across a story about manager Billy Gardner and the 1984 Twins written by Ron Fimrite in the September 24, 1984 issue of Sport Illustrated that I really enjoyed and I bet you will too. Billy Gardner played in 1,150 minor league games and 1,034 major league games and that is not counting the games he coached or managed.

Billy signed with the New York Giants prior to the 1945 season and started his quest for the big leagues with class “D” Bristol. Gardner made his major league debut on April 22, 1954 at Pittsburgh’s Forbes Field in a Giants 7-4 loss to the Pirates but Billy who came in to play 2B late in the game was 1 for 1 in his first big league game. After being sold by the Giants to the Orioles, Billy went on to play for the Senators, Twins, Yankees, and finally the Red Sox where he played in his final major league game in 1963. Billy played in the minors in 1964 before moving in to coaching and managing in the minors from 1965 through 1980.

In 1981 Calvin Griffith gave Billy a shot at managing the Minnesota Twins when he hired Gardner to replace Johnny Goryl. Slick managed some really poor Twins teams for several years before the 1984 team made a nice run at the title before finishing in second place. A poor start in 1985 ended Billy Gardner’s Twins managing career when he was fired and replaced by Ray Miller. Gardner finished his Twins managing career with a 268-353 record. Billy surfaced in the majors again in 1987 when he piloted the Kansas City Royals to a 62-63 record before being replaced by John Wathan. Billy Gardner was a player’s manager and it is hard to find any player who had bad things to say about the man they called Slick, Whitey, and Shotgun.

Forty Years Ago

November 18, 2009 – The 1968 Minnesota Twins finished with a 79-83 record under manager Cal Ermer and finished a disappointing seventh in the ten team American League, a full 24 games behind the first place Detroit Tigers and owner Calvin Griffith decided he had seen enough even though stars like Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva, and Jim Kaat had suffered injuries that caused them to miss numerous games. On October 11th he fired manager Cal Ermer and hired the brash Billy Martin who had been managing the Twins AAA team in Denver to skipper the 1969 Minnesota Twins. 1969 would be an exciting season for Minnesota, they had a young new manager and would begin play in the newly formed Western Division of the American League along with the Oakland A’s, the California Angels, the Kansas City Royals, the Chicago White Sox, and the Seattle Pilots. 1969 brought two new teams to the American League, the Kansas City Royals who were replacing the A’s who had packed their bags and moved to Oakland under owner Charlie Finley and the Seattle Pilots who it turns out would only stay in Seattle for one season before moving to Milwaukee and becoming the Brewers.

The Twins 1969 season got off to a rough start for Billy’s boys when they lost their first two games of the season on the road to the expansion Royals, both losses coming in extra innings. They moved on to California and lost their next two games by scores of 5-3 and 4-3 and found themselves in the basement of the Western Division. But Martin got his team on the straight and narrow and the team ripped off 7 wins in a row and took over 1st place. They finished the month of April 13-7 and were sitting on top of the division. From April 26th through July 3rd the team was either first or second in the standings. Oakland came to town on the 4th of July week-end and the Twins whipped Charlie Finley’s boys 3 straight and outscored the A’s 30 to 11 and took over first place, a spot they would keep for the rest of the season. The Twins finished the season with a 97-65 record, 9 games ahead of the second place Oakland A’s. Although Martin had the team running (4th in stolen bases), the team finished first in the league in hits, runs, doubles, total bases, and batting average. The Twins pitching wasn’t too shabby either as Jim Perry and Dave Boswell each finished with 20 wins and threw 250+ innings and Ron Perranoski was great out of the bullpen pitching 119+ innings in 75 games finishing 52 of them and getting credit for 31 saves.

The Twins would go on to lose their first league championship series to the Baltimore Orioles in a 3 game sweep but that is a whole different story that we will talk about in the future. Just a week after losing the final game of the championship series, Billy Martin is fired by owner Calvin Griffith and Bill Rigney was named the Twins new manager. Roy Blount Jr. of Sports Illustrated did a nice story on Billy Martin and the Twins in the July 21, 1969 issue and you can read that story by clicking on the SI magazine cover.

Target Field Construction Photo’s

September 6, 2009 – Sports Illustrated has some interesting Target Field construction photo’s that you can see by clicking here. They are a bit different then the ones I have seen in the past. It is a good thing that the Twins are getting ready to move into Target Field in 2010 because a recent poll by Sports Illustrated of 380 MLB players did not show the Metrodome in a good light. To see the poll, click here. I find it interesting that the top two ballparks are old and obsolete by todays standards.

No Feud Like An Old Feud

July 27, 2009 – A short but interesting piece by Walter Bingham in the May 1, 1961 Sports Illustrated about the Twins and the traditional animosity between St. Paul and Minneapolis as they open their first season in Minnesota in 1961 . Click on the magazine cover to read the story.

Not Such a Tough Cookie

June 30, 2009 – A very enjoyable story about the Minnesota Twins first manager Attilo Harry “Cookie” Lavagetto, written by Walter Bingham for Sports Illustrated on May 15, 1961. Maybe there really is something to the Sports Illustrated cover jinx; Lavagetto was fired by owner Calvin Griffith on June 23 after piloting the first year Minnesota Twins to a 25-41 start to the 1961 season. Click on the magazine cover to read the story.

Sports Illustrated 1961 Pre-Season Twins Analysis

June 3, 2009 – Let’s go back in time, way back to April 10, 1961 and take a peek at the Sports Illustrated pre-season analysis of the new Minnesota Twins as the team prepares to expose the Minnesota and Midwest fans to major league baseball American league style. Click on the magazine cover to read the story.