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Happy Election Day 2012! It may be happy for you for many reasons. Maybe your candidate will win. Or, maybe you are just happy that you don’t have to see any more political advertisements on TV for a couple of years. In any case, be sure to take time today to make your voice heard on a ballot.

 

Here are Twins Daily, you haven’t read any articles on the politicians, and you won’t. However, on this election day, I did think it would be fun to take another look at some of the greatest Minnesota Twins players over their 52 seasons in Minnesota. Below, I will list 12 candidates. Of course, there are a handful at the top of everyone’s list, but I encourage you to ‘vote’ in the Comments below. Rank them 1-10, and at the end of the day, we can take a look at see who Twins Daily ranks as the Top 10 Twins hitters of all time. Of course, on your voting ballot today, you can feel free to write-in me (or anyone else). Likewise, if I missed a candidate you would consider, feel free to write him in.

 

With that, here are a couple of charts looking at the top Twins players statistically. These lists are alphabetical so as not to provide any bias.

 

 

[TABLE=width: 441]

Player

Yrs w/Twins

Games

H-AB

2B/3B/HR

Bob Allison

1961-1970

1236

999-3926

167/41/211

Rod Carew

1967-1978

1635

2085-6235

305/90/74

Michael Cuddyer

2001-2011

1139

1106-4072

239/35/141

Gary Gaetti

1981-1990

1361

1276-4989

252/25/201

Kent Hrbek

1981-1994

1747

1749-6192

312/18/293

Torii Hunter

1997-2007

1234

1218-4492

259/26/192

Harmon Killebrew

1961-1974

1939

1713-6593

232/21/475

Chuck Knoblauch

1991-1997

1013

1197-3939

210/51/43

Joe Mauer

2004-Curr

1065

1270-3933

247/20/94

Justin Morneau

2003-Curr

1151

1190-4254

257/16/204

Tony Oliva

1962-1976

1676

1917-6301

329/48/220

Kirby Puckett

1984-1995

1783

2304-7244

414/57/207

[/TABLE]

 

 

I notice that each Twins decade is represented by at least one or two players. In other words, even through some of the bad times, the Twins have always had a hitter or two in their lineup that put up numbers. Here are some more numbers:

 

 

[TABLE=width: 379]

Player

WAR

BA/OBP/SLG

OPS (OPS+)

Bob Allison

28.4

.254/.361/.479

.840 (131)

Rod Carew

60.4

.334/.393/.448

.841 (137)

Michael Cuddyer

10.2

.272/.343/.451

.794 (111)

Gary Gaetti

24.8

.256/.307/.437

.749 (100)

Kent Hrbek

35.7

.282/.367/.481

.848 (128)

Torii Hunter

24.7

.271/.324/.469

.793 (104)

Harmon Killebrew

56.1

.260/.383/.518

.901 (148)

Chuck Knoblauch

36.3

.304/.391/.416

.807 (114)

Joe Mauer

37.0

.323/.405/.468

.873 (135)

Justin Morneau

19.2

.280/.351/.492

.842 (123)

Tony Oliva

39.7

.304/.353/.476

.830 (131)

Kirby Puckett

48.2

.318/.360/.477

.837 (124)

[/TABLE]

 

 

What role does defense play in your vote? The Twins player with the best defensive WAR in their years is Greg Gagne, and he isn’t on this list at all. However, this overall WAR number does include defense which clearly has helped a couple of players and hurt others. I also find it interesting comparing the OPS+ numbers from era to era.

 

So, what is your Top 10? How does your ballot look? I’ll post mine in the Comments section, but be sure to have your voice heard today!