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Wins do count

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The long journey of Black Players into MLB

I am always interested in the back stories – some of which are not typical baseball anecdotes. Each year now we celebrate #42 – in fact most of you reading this have already identified Jackie Robinson from his number and we can look at his Hall of Fame plaque and celebrate his strength of character as well as his baseball prowess. And there is no doubt his ten-year career is Hall Worthy. He averaged 6.1 WAR with a peak of 9.7 despite the hate and abuse he endured daily. His career average wa
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The history of Twins DHs

The question is – should we sign Cruz or just let a number of players DH? I thought I would look back at the Twins DH history. I ignore any DWAR since I am only interested in the DH.   Tony Oliva was the first DH. In 1973 he was in 146 games. He hit 291/345/410 and his WAR was 0.7. The next year he was in 127 games with a line of 285/326/414 and 0.4 WAR. 1975 he played 131 games with a line of 270/344/378 and WAR of 0.5. 1976 saw Craig Kusick as the DH – 259/344/432 – 1.5 WAR. In 77 his l
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The greatest games ever

Ted wrote "Arguably the most exciting game the Minnesota Twins have played in nearly a decade, the home team dropped a 14-12 affair last night (err this morning) at Target Field." In his recent post - Yankees blog. So I got to thinking - what are the best games the Twins have played - win or lose?   Do the two extra innings affairs with the Oakland A's count?   Certainly the game seven Jack Morris game is number one. I was there and will never forget it. (Don't tell me Jack isn't a hall of fame
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The Blue Jays seem to be figuring it out

Hubert Humphrey coined the term "cold Omaha" when he said that the Twin Cities would be a Cold Omaha without professional sports. I believe the Blue Jays must have thought they did not want to be a Canadian Minnesota if they did not sign some players and make the club interesting.   Well the Twins are interesting and last year they were winning. Now we do not have Schoop and we hope (and I expect) that Arraez will not regress. We do not have CJ Cron and we hope we have someone to replace his bat
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The Best Twin Right Fielder

Last full time position – Right Field – who fills out the rosters. For me Clemente epitomizes RF, the arm, the bat, the range so who do the Twins have?   In 1961 Bob Allison was there 150 games. He was written about in LF so I will not go into details here. Allison dominated 1962 as well with Tuttle and George Banks getting the other games. In 1963 it was Allison, Jimmie Hall and Wally Post. 1964 Tony Oliva sent Allison to 1B.   Tony Oliva was a dream. I loved to watch him. He was almost perfect
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The Best Third Baseman in Minnesota Twins History

Our best third baseman is another challenge. This completes the infield reviews it is not an easy task to find the best. I might choose Harmon for both first and third and he played so long that he has as many games at both positions as the others that he is competing with.     In 1961 Bill Tuttle played 3B 85 games and batted 5th behind Zoilo. He played one more full time year at 3B before leaving MLB. Bill suffered from cancer that was the result of chewing tobacco and from his playing days un
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The best SS in Twins history?

The best Shortstop in Twins history This is a challenging position. No HOF candidates.     The first year of the Twins Zoilo Vesalles was the dominate Shortstop – 129 games. Jose Valivielso backed him up. Versalles was in 160 games in 1962, 159 – 1963, 160 – 1964, 160 in the World Series year of 1965 when he was the MVP of the league, he dropped to 135 with Cesar Tovar behind him in 1966, 159 in 1967. After developing a Hemotoma on his back, a lifelong condition, his average dropped and he was
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The best of the best - 25 man rosters

What is the roster? This is a real chore - as you might have noticed as I examined each of the positions in the previous weeks.The Bench for the Best in Twins history is made up of people who fill roles and not just the best players of all time. From the bench to the starters I have tried to find the men who would truly represent the Twins best of all time based on where they played and how they fit the roles.   The Bench in today’s game has to have some special qualities. The easy one is backu
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The best manager in the history of the Twins

Who are our managers and who was the best? I have to say that I have a lot of questions about how to judge managers. They are given a roster to work with, they do not sign players or create the roster, they work with the GM and the GM is not judged like the manager. Right now we play in a lousy division which gives us 19 games a year versus the Royals, White Sox and Tigers plus the best team in the division is far below what the other division leaders do. What would our records be if we were in
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The best First Baseman in Twins history

Best First Baseman in Twins history? This is really tough because 1B seems to be the plug and play position. Can’t run – 1B, no room at DH – 1B. Need a rest 1B. So for the most part slow, lumbering, powerful describes the position, but then there are the exceptions like Keith Hernandez who set the bar for the leagues and Joe Mauer who set the fielding bar for the Twins. But note – Hernandez might have been a fielding whiz, but 1B fielding does not get you into the HOF. So how to analyze 1B? To b
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The Best DH in Twins history

The DH began in AL only in 1973 and Tony Oliva with terrible knees was the first to take advantage of the new position. He was DH in 142 games, Mike Adams 16, Danny Walton 13 and 10 others appeared in various games. 1974 had Oliva 112, Killebrew 57, Terrell 20 and 5 others. Oliva continued with 120 games in 1975, Darwin 19, Hisle 15, Luis Gomez 10 and 15 others got appearances. In `976 Tony O got just 32 appearances, Steve Braun 71, Craig Kusick 79, Butch Wynegar 15 and 8 others.   Tony Oliva 15
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The Best Centerfielder in Twins history

The Best Twins Centerfielder in history? The outfield is a challenge because so many times managers see them as interchangeable parts. But a great Centerfielder must have range and perhaps some flare. The NY press had a great time when there were three teams – and they had Mays, Mantle, and Snider.   Lenny Green Was our first year CF and Bill Tuttle backed him up when he was not playing out of position at 3B. The same two in 1962. Green was traded to the Angels for Frank Kostro and Jerry Kindall
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The best catcher in Twins history

I have been following ESPN’s look at positions and comparing the position’s historically by statistics and currently by ranking the players and putting them in tiers. So of course, since I have been watching the Twins since their Minnesota debut I thought we should do the same things. Like ESPN I will start with the Catchers.     Earl Battey was our first catcher and in many ways was under rated. He was our catcher for 8 of his 13 years in the big leagues – starting with the White Sox and ending
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Ten Moments that shook the sports world

Stan Isaacs chose ten events from his sports writing history that he thinks are significant world events. These are not in order - Munich is his number one on his count down Superbowl I and II The Knicks Willis Reed NBA championship The Amazing Mets World Series Bobby Thompson's "Shot heard round the world" home run Harvard - Yale tie game Secretariat race at Belmont Ali/Fraser - first fight Jets win Superbowl III Bjorn Borg - John McEnroe tennis Wimbeldon The 1972 Munich Olympics He
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Baseball history

strike outs and innings pitched by starters

Does the emphasis on strike outs also commit the teams to the ridiculous 4 – 5 inning starter and a dozen or more relief pitchers per year?  Are we straining the arms by demanding near 100 mph heaters and lots of curves and sliders? I went to Brad Radtke’s baseball reference page.  He pitched 12 years for us and is one of the best pitchers in Twins history.  148 – 139 4.22 era is not HOF worthy, and he cannot be called a great pitcher, but he was a competent competitor for teams that needed

Standing Pat

I have been reading so many lists - the best for the Twins, oh wait, they signed elsewhere. Here are two pitchers who cannot stay healthy, which should we sign? Don't worry they can still get someone. There is still value at the bottom of the list. It is a weekly, if not daily, ritual. But what if they don't sign anyone and look inward?   Let me speculate from I love the young guys to a lineup without a trade or a signing:   Arraez - 2B Lewis - SS Polanco - U Blankenhorn or Gordon - U Donaldson
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SS - your best fielder

For years baseball played with shortstops that could cover a lot of ground and if they hit well it was a bonus - Marty Marion and Ozzie Smith made the hall like this. Mark Belanger was the glue of Earl Weaver's championship Orioles and Zoilo Versalles brought the Twins to their first World Series.   Now we masquerade SS with all the shifts but still we look at Lindor and Correa and other great gloves with great arms as prototype shortstops. Notice how many professional athletes began as Shorts
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Spring training, baseball accidents and stories

I started out to explore Spring Training stories, but soon got caught up in a lot of the strange stories of baseball and had to share some of them. The stories are part of what makes baseball fun.   Spring Training is about getting ready for the season, but that does not mean this collection of athletes can’t generate some stories that might cause you to scratch your head from Ryan Klesko straining his back picking up a lunch tray – what was he eating? To Wade Boggs getting hurt pulling up his b
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Spanish Flu, Coronavirus and Baseball

In 1918 Spanish Flu became the last act in the horrible loss of life that had been WWI, "By the time it had spread across the United States, the deadly event had killed an estimated 675,000 Americans."   If you wonder why the world is reacting so vigorously to Corona think about this from MLB.Com history - "In just 15 months Spanish flu killed, according to best estimates today, between 50 million and 100 million worldwide. It infected an estimated 500 million people around the world, about a th
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So Long Bill Buckner

A nice note from CNN:   Say the name Bill Buckner, and what do you think of? Probably a baseball rolling under his glove and through his legs. And that's just not fair. Buckner, who died yesterday at age 69, was an elite hitter, winning a batting title with the Chicago Cubs in 1980 (hitting .324), and he was an All-Star in 1981. He managed to hang around the big leagues for 22 years, an accomplishment in itself. But he'll always be associated with that fielding error in the 1986 World Series tha
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sixty

Somehow I am trying to get my head around sixty games - and I keep coming up with the number 60 must have some significance or the curmudgeons that rule baseball might have taken the players options like 104 games. And of course 60 is the magic number - It is Babe Ruth.   Sorry but 73 is a number I have to look up to remember Mr Bonds, maybe I need steroids to improve my memory. And Mark McGwire your 70 was really fun because you and Sammy smiled every day, but it was like a fantasy game and we
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SI covers - baseball history sampler

Once upon a time I had the first copy of SI with Eddie Mathews on the cover - my third favorite player after Aaron and Spahn, but my mother did what hundreds of mothers did - cleaned house and threw it away. But for decades SI was the go to source like TD is today.   Going through my old collection of magazine covers I was struck with the fun stories and insights that these covers give. I have posted this series of covers because it captures our 1987 World Series victory and Toronto which featur
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Should we trade or shouldn't we?

I am always curious about trades – do they work in the short run, long run or not at all? How do we judge the Twins trades? I am not interested in the end of the career moves of Killebrew and Thome, but rather the movement of players who will have a career that goes on for a few years after the trade. Most likely the balance between good and bad will even out after a number of years, although David Ortiz will always be a thorn in the Minnesota Twins field. But then Ortiz was not traded - we cut
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Sano and Judge

I posted the following comment in the discussion of Lynn’s White Sox game: When I look at the lineup I see such a gap at 4.The guys filling in the 3 - 4 - 5 spots are doing great, but with Morrison still trying to find the Mendoza line we really need Sano to give us a big bat.Of course we need a Sano who learns to strikeout a lot less.When I look at the Yankees big boppers you can see how it really changes the game, but they also have a better approach.   Sano with 506 Ks in 1220 ABs wastes so m
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Rule V mania

Yup, we could lose a lot. Our guys are really good. The rest of the MLB teams are salivating to get the Twins prospects!   Rule V happened today - Wander Javier did not happen today. None of the players we had available went anywhere until the second round of AAA Rule V when 24. The Tigers took 2B Brian Schales (Twins).   So, yawn, another big Rule V day went by and the overall impact was zilch. There were a number of pitchers taken by poor clubs with nothing too lose. Good luck to them and
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