. The Best Team Money Can Buy covers baseball’s most polarizing and entertaining team in recent years without newspaper reporting deadlines. “How does the [The Best Team Money Can Buy] compare to Moneyball?” The Duluth Public Librarian asked me after I checked out the new book by former ESPN reporter Molly Knight. I explained my excitement. “Basical, this book is about baseball, but you do not have to be a fan to understand it. From what I have read in some of the reviews, it's extremely behind
I got a text from a fellow Society for American Baseball Research, SABR, member Anthony Bush. He said that there was a little known museum in downtown Duluth, Minnesota that had a baseball exhibit. I was surprised that an old church of Christian Science is now a little museum and located about a 5 min walk from my rental house. The Karpeles Manuscript Museum is named after a Denfeld High School Graduate who made his fortune in real estate. The Karpeles is a too well kept of secret in Duluth, whe
Ever wondered how the jockstrap was invented? Or how about the evolution of catching balls with bare hands to the gloves of today? In it was said that shaking hands with a catcher without any protection was like “shaking hands with walnuts.” Sports Illustrated writer and Bloomington, Minnesota native Steve Rushin wrote about the jock strap, how Americans were more skilled throwing grenades compared to their European allies because of baseball and more historical oddities. The book is called 34-T
One of my favorite people to follow on twitter for baseball news and analysis is Jay Jaffe of Sports Illustrated. He used to write for Baseball Prospectus and while there he developed a metric Jaffe War Score System. The baseball fan’s favorite website Baseball Reference explains Jaffe’s metric. “JAWS measures a player’s Hall of Fame worthiness by comparing him to the players at his position who are already enshrined, using advanced metrics to account for the wide variations in offensive levels
Before there was Jackie Robinson, there was Hank Greenberg. Although Jackie Robinson was African American, Hank Greenberg was Jewish,but still encountered racism during his Detroit Tiger playing days before Robinson debuted in 1947. Many Jews in Detroit and around the country refused to buy Ford Cars because of the founder’s philosophy. They also comforted themselves with humor, telling Henry Ford jokes like the one where a fortune-teller informs Ford that he will die on a Jewish Holiday. “ Whic
Why is there a need for a Metrodome baggie wall in right field? Do we have to remember that the Twins played 27 years in the Teflon Palace? For fans, there is nostalgia and of course two World Series titles, where the Twins won all 8 World Series games at home. Target Field ushered in a new era of outdoor baseball, modern day amenities, the iconic Minnie and Paul Logo in centerfield, a green batter’s eye with 14 spruce trees and slightly similar dimensions of the Metrodome. Those dimension and t
I really hold back what I would like to say about then payroll arguments here. The fact that people don't accept the amount taken in dictates the amount going out requires one of two things. Extreme financial ignorance or fanatical bias that prevents the acceptance of something some basic. I did not change the argument. It's the same idiocy over and over. Do you really want to be on the side that suggests revenues does not determine spending capacity?
At this point in the pre-season, I’m just so happy to be seeing games again, I don’t care about the Twins record in 2023. I think they’ll win it all, unrealistically speaking 🙂