John Miller

Dave St. Peter Interview


 
It has been nine years since the Minnesota Twins have won the American League Central division, only making one playoff appearance in that time. The team has changed from top to bottom over the last few years. Familiar faces like Brian Dozier and Joe Mauer are long gone. Mauer was always a draw for people to go to games, what do the Twins do now to put fans butts in the seats of Target Field? Make the fan experience the best that it can be.
 
When Target Field opened in 2010 fans were excited, people were clamoring for season tickets and the team was a playoff contender. That year attendance reached 3,223,640 people. For nine straight years, attendance has gone down in all but one. The attendance for the 2018 season was 1,959,197. Almost a 1.3-million-person drop-off. “We’ve missed the mark on expectations. That’s a tough place to be when expectations are high and you underdeliver and if you do that routinely over time, it takes its toll,” said Twins President Dave St. Peter.
 
The Twins have relied heavily on the attractions and restaurants in the new ballpark to keep drawing in fans, but the organization knows that fans want to see a better product on the field. “I could make a pretty good case that as poorly as we have played over the first decade in the ballpark we have had more fans in the ballpark most nights than we probably deserve and that speaks to the Target Field experience,” said St. Peter. “You can have a great game day experience, but you also need to have a competitive baseball team.”
 
One way the organization is trying to get fans back in the seats is the implementation of two concession stands located in sections 133 and 237 that are money friendly. There, you can now get a hot dog for $4 and a 12 oz. beer for $5. “So far, it’s been pretty good, well received, lines haven’t been too bad. We need to do a better job of promoting it,” said St. Peter. “You should not have to spend $6 on a hot dog. To me, that’s crazy.” After this year it’s still undecided if they will expand this plan to other concessions stands or cancel it altogether. The Twins know that there are fans out there who want the premium experience right behind home plate and around the dugout, but they are aware that they need to make the game more accessible to all fans to draw in their goal of 2.5-3 million fans per year.
 
St. Peter knows that concessions are expensive. The price of beer has risen to $10.50. Double the price of a standard six-pack of beer. When asked about the increased price of beer St. Peter rebutted, “Bud Light isn’t regular beer?” Bud Light is the beer sold at the two cheaper concession stands. “I will tell you I don’t believe the concessions model inside of sports is sustainable.” However, St. Peter says he knows that most fans will pay up for an expensive beer. “Thank god this year I have a $5 beer to sell you.” If fans want a cheaper beer it sounds like they’ll have to be satisfied with Bud Light.
 
Another way the Twins are trying to draw in fans is with the Twins Pass. The pass is made up of three different packages, for $49 per month fans can go to every game and be in standing room only, for $99 they get an upper level seat and for $149 they get a lower level seat. Every game a fan sits in a different seat. “I think there’s a new generation of fans that aren’t looking for a fixed seat," said St. Peter. “Sales of that have been, I would say have been just okay. This month will be telling.” The Twins wrap up their April schedule against the Houston Astros, the 2017 World Series Champions. That could bring in quite a few fans.
 
The Twins feel this will draw in the 25-year-old to 35-year-old demographic. They’re trying their best to engage that age range according to St. Peter. “It’s critical to get that group engaged any way we can get them engaged. Whether it be via social channels, whether it be inside of the ballpark, whether it be attending a community event or some experiential marketing event. Their level engagement is critical.” Studies have shown that people in that range spend the most money.
 
Even with all the different things the Twins are trying to do to lure fans into the stadium, attendance is not off to a good start. On April 15, the Twins had only 11,727 fans in attendance, the lowest in Target Field history. That’s 3,000 less than the previous record set the day prior. With all the changes to the team, they’ll will have to get back to the winning ways of the mid-2000’s to get fans in the seats.
 
“We still have more work to do. We have to regain a level credibility in this marketplace around our baseball operation,” Said St. Peter.

This is the second winter that Glen Perkins will not be gearing up towards playing in the regular season for the Minnesota Twins after his retirement following the 2017 season. The baby-faced pitcher with a bright smile that fans became used too, is still there, but now, it’s hidden behind a large grey beard. Like every Minnesotan, right now he’s just trying to survive winter, yearning for the days where he would be in Fort Myers for Spring Training at this time. The Stillwater native, who now resides in Lakeville, is at peace with how his career went.
 
Playing his whole career with Minnesota Twins was “surreal”. “I went to a lot of games in high school. In the spring, on Wednesday’s, they would have $5 tickets and $1 hot dogs. I still remember as a kid, sitting up in right field watching Tom Brunanski and Kent Hrbek play catch,” Perkins said. He hasn’t taken for granted how lucky he was to be a Twin for his whole career. Not only that, but to make friends with his childhood icons and former Twins as well. It’s every fans dream.
 
The Twins had three 1st round picks in the 2004 MLB draft. They selected Trevor Plouffe at pick number 20, Perkins at pick number 22 and Kyle Waldrop at pick 25. All three players made it to the major leagues. Many first-round picks don’t make the major leagues, the Twins had not one, not two, but three from one draft. For Perkins, being drafted by the Twins was the perfect match. “It kind of worked out that I was getting clumped into that 15-25 range, the Twins had three picks and they like local guys. I got picked to pitch for the Twins, pitch for the organization just out of pure luck,” he said. Perkins pure luck turned into joy for many fans who had followed him since his playing days at Stillwater high school and the University of Minnesota.
 
Throughout his career Perkins only experienced one playoff game playing for the Twins. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to what his most memorable moment on the field was, the 2014 MLB All-Star game in Minnesota. “That night running out on the field, the crowd and all those things, I had said at that time, unless I got to pitch a World Series game at Target Field nothing could top that.” Perkins went on to pitch one scoreless inning, striking out one and collecting the save as the American League All-Stars beat the National League.
 
Collecting saves was not always what Perkins had in mind for his playing career. Being a starter his whole career, relieving did not appeal to him. “My wife had asked me one time if I would ever be a reliever, as I was a starter coming up, I said no. I’m going to be a starter and all that, I’ll never be a closer or anything like that. That was 2008, 2009 and 2010 and all of a sudden four-years later I was closing an All-Star game,” said Perkins. Looking back at it now, Perkins wished he had switched to a reliever earlier in his career.
 
The days off in between starts for a guy who has ADD were quite boring for him and as a reliever he had a chance to be a part of the team every day. “I struggled with going to the field knowing that I’m going to be on my own today and I don’t even know if people would have known if I showed up or not.” Moving to closer was something he grew to love. “This team is trying to get me the ball at the end of the game and that’s a really cool feeling, that’s motivating and I think that’s what kind of helped me succeed as I got into that role,” he said. Perkins went on top be one of most dominant closers for a three-year span collecting 102 saves between the 2013 and 2015 seasons. His success came from a love for analytics.
 
Perkins developed a love for math in his early years and when he found out that baseball had advanced metrics to analyze, he jumped right on it. “There really wasn’t a whole lot of analytics or anything like that when I first started playing and then it was around 2009 when I kind of discovered that there was people talking about and it still was far from mainstream. That’s why I started to learn about pitch trajectories and spins rates,” said Perkins. In 2009, Perkins was already in pro-ball for nearly five-years, but when he found analytics it made baseball “fun” for him.
 
Leaving the Twins never appealed to Perkins, the idea of living out of suitcase throughout the entire regular season was not for him. Not only that, but being with the Twins and in his home state for his entire career was what he wanted most. “It was always cool to me to be able to watch Twins players growing up as a kid in Minnesota knowing that I got to be out on that field having kids in Minnesota watch me play. I think that was more important than money, more important than seeing what other teams were trying to go win with another team. It was always most important for me to stay home.” Perkins wanted to be home with his wife and kids, it was hard enough that he was traveling during the season, but he appreciates the fact he was able to be home more than most players on the team.
 
Perkins agent wasn’t always enthused that he wanted to stay home. “My agent always wanted me to make more money,” Perkins said with a hearty laugh. It didn’t matter to Perkins, home was where he always wanted to be. “I didn’t even want to know what it was like to play somewhere else.”

This is the second winter that Glen Perkins will not be gearing up towards playing in the regular season for the Minnesota Twins after his retirement following the 2017 season. The baby-faced pitcher with a bright smile that fans became used too, is still there, but now, it’s hidden behind a large grey beard. Like every Minnesotan, right now he’s just trying to survive winter, yearning for the days where he would be in Fort Myers for Spring Training at this time. The Stillwater native, who now resides in Lakeville, is at peace with how his career went.
 
Playing his whole career with Minnesota Twins was “surreal”. “I went to a lot of games in high school. In the spring, on Wednesday’s, they would have $5 tickets and $1 hot dogs. I still remember as a kid, sitting up in right field watching Tom Brunanski and Kent Hrbek play catch,” Perkins said. He hasn’t taken for granted how lucky he was to be a Twin for his whole career. Not only that, but to make friends with his childhood icons and former Twins as well. It’s every fans dream.
 
The Twins had three 1st round picks in the 2004 MLB draft. They selected Trevor Plouffe at pick number 20, Perkins at pick number 22 and Kyle Waldrop at pick 25. All three players made it to the major leagues. Many first-round picks don’t make the major leagues, the Twins had not one, not two, but three from one draft. For Perkins, being drafted by the Twins was the perfect match. “It kind of worked out that I was getting clumped into that 15-25 range, the Twins had three picks and they like local guys. I got picked to pitch for the Twins, pitch for the organization just out of pure luck,” he said. Perkins pure luck turned into joy for many fans who had followed him since his playing days at Stillwater high school and the University of Minnesota.
 
Throughout his career Perkins only experienced one playoff game playing for the Twins. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to what his most memorable moment on the field was, the 2014 MLB All-Star game in Minnesota. “That night running out on the field, the crowd and all those things, I had said at that time, unless I got to pitch a World Series game at Target Field nothing could top that.” Perkins went on to pitch one scoreless inning, striking out one and collecting the save as the American League All-Stars beat the National League.
 
Collecting saves was not always what Perkins had in mind for his playing career. Being a starter his whole career, relieving did not appeal to him. “My wife had asked me one time if I would ever be a reliever, as I was a starter coming up, I said no. I’m going to be a starter and all that, I’ll never be a closer or anything like that. That was 2008, 2009 and 2010 and all of a sudden four-years later I was closing an All-Star game,” said Perkins. Looking back at it now, Perkins wished he had switched to a reliever earlier in his career.
 
The days off in between starts for a guy who has ADD were quite boring for him and as a reliever he had a chance to be a part of the team every day. “I struggled with going to the field knowing that I’m going to be on my own today and I don’t even know if people would have known if I showed up or not.” Moving to closer was something he grew to love. “This team is trying to get me the ball at the end of the game and that’s a really cool feeling, that’s motivating and I think that’s what kind of helped me succeed as I got into that role,” he said. Perkins went on top be one of most dominant closers for a three-year span collecting 102 saves between the 2013 and 2015 seasons. His success came from a love for analytics.
 
Perkins developed a love for math in his early years and when he found out that baseball had advanced metrics to analyze, he jumped right on it. “There really wasn’t a whole lot of analytics or anything like that when I first started playing and then it was around 2009 when I kind of discovered that there was people talking about and it still was far from mainstream. That’s why I started to learn about pitch trajectories and spins rates,” said Perkins. In 2009, Perkins was already in pro-ball for nearly five-years, but when he found analytics it made baseball “fun” for him.
 
Leaving the Twins never appealed to Perkins, the idea of living out of suitcase throughout the entire regular season was not for him. Not only that, but being with the Twins and in his home state for his entire career was what he wanted most. “It was always cool to me to be able to watch Twins players growing up as a kid in Minnesota knowing that I got to be out on that field having kids in Minnesota watch me play. I think that was more important than money, more important than seeing what other teams were trying to go win with another team. It was always most important for me to stay home.” Perkins wanted to be home with his wife and kids, it was hard enough that he was traveling during the season, but he appreciates the fact he was able to be home more than most players on the team.
 
Perkins agent wasn’t always enthused that he wanted to stay home. “My agent always wanted me to make more money,” Perkins said with a hearty laugh. It didn’t matter to Perkins, home was where he always wanted to be. “I didn’t even want to know what it was like to play somewhere else.”

This is the second winter that Glen Perkins will not be gearing up towards playing in the regular season for the Minnesota Twins after his retirement following the 2017 season. The baby-faced pitcher with a bright smile that fans became used too, is still there, but now, it’s hidden behind a large grey beard. Like every Minnesotan, right now he’s just trying to survive winter, yearning for the days where he would be in Fort Myers for Spring Training at this time. The Stillwater native, who now resides in Lakeville, is at peace with how his career went.
 
Playing his whole career with Minnesota Twins was “surreal”. “I went to a lot of games in high school. In the spring, on Wednesday’s, they would have $5 tickets and $1 hot dogs. I still remember as a kid, sitting up in right field watching Tom Brunanski and Kent Hrbek play catch,” Perkins said. He hasn’t taken for granted how lucky he was to be a Twin for his whole career. Not only that, but to make friends with his childhood icons and former Twins as well. It’s every fans dream.
 
The Twins had three 1st round picks in the 2004 MLB draft. They selected Trevor Plouffe at pick number 20, Perkins at pick number 22 and Kyle Waldrop at pick 25. All three players made it to the major leagues. Many first-round picks don’t make the major leagues, the Twins had not one, not two, but three from one draft. For Perkins, being drafted by the Twins was the perfect match. “It kind of worked out that I was getting clumped into that 15-25 range, the Twins had three picks and they like local guys. I got picked to pitch for the Twins, pitch for the organization just out of pure luck,” he said. Perkins pure luck turned into joy for many fans who had followed him since his playing days at Stillwater high school and the University of Minnesota.
 
Throughout his career Perkins only experienced one playoff game playing for the Twins. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to what his most memorable moment on the field was, the 2014 MLB All-Star game in Minnesota. “That night running out on the field, the crowd and all those things, I had said at that time, unless I got to pitch a World Series game at Target Field nothing could top that.” Perkins went on to pitch one scoreless inning, striking out one and collecting the save as the American League All-Stars beat the National League.
 
Collecting saves was not always what Perkins had in mind for his playing career. Being a starter his whole career, relieving did not appeal to him. “My wife had asked me one time if I would ever be a reliever, as I was a starter coming up, I said no. I’m going to be a starter and all that, I’ll never be a closer or anything like that. That was 2008, 2009 and 2010 and all of a sudden four-years later I was closing an All-Star game,” said Perkins. Looking back at it now, Perkins wished he had switched to a reliever earlier in his career.
 
The days off in between starts for a guy who has ADD were quite boring for him and as a reliever he had a chance to be a part of the team every day. “I struggled with going to the field knowing that I’m going to be on my own today and I don’t even know if people would have known if I showed up or not.” Moving to closer was something he grew to love. “This team is trying to get me the ball at the end of the game and that’s a really cool feeling, that’s motivating and I think that’s what kind of helped me succeed as I got into that role,” he said. Perkins went on top be one of most dominant closers for a three-year span collecting 102 saves between the 2013 and 2015 seasons. His success came from a love for analytics.
 
Perkins developed a love for math in his early years and when he found out that baseball had advanced metrics to analyze, he jumped right on it. “There really wasn’t a whole lot of analytics or anything like that when I first started playing and then it was around 2009 when I kind of discovered that there was people talking about and it still was far from mainstream. That’s why I started to learn about pitch trajectories and spins rates,” said Perkins. In 2009, Perkins was already in pro-ball for nearly five-years, but when he found analytics it made baseball “fun” for him.
 
Leaving the Twins never appealed to Perkins, the idea of living out of suitcase throughout the entire regular season was not for him. Not only that, but being with the Twins and in his home state for his entire career was what he wanted most. “It was always cool to me to be able to watch Twins players growing up as a kid in Minnesota knowing that I got to be out on that field having kids in Minnesota watch me play. I think that was more important than money, more important than seeing what other teams were trying to go win with another team. It was always most important for me to stay home.” Perkins wanted to be home with his wife and kids, it was hard enough that he was traveling during the season, but he appreciates the fact he was able to be home more than most players on the team.
 
Perkins agent wasn’t always enthused that he wanted to stay home. “My agent always wanted me to make more money,” Perkins said with a hearty laugh. It didn’t matter to Perkins, home was where he always wanted to be. “I didn’t even want to know what it was like to play somewhere else.”

This is the second winter that Glen Perkins will not be gearing up towards playing in the regular season for the Minnesota Twins after his retirement following the 2017 season. The baby-faced pitcher with a bright smile that fans became used too, is still there, but now, it’s hidden behind a large grey beard. Like every Minnesotan, right now he’s just trying to survive winter, yearning for the days where he would be in Fort Myers for Spring Training at this time. The Stillwater native, who now resides in Lakeville, is at peace with how his career went.
 
Playing his whole career with Minnesota Twins was “surreal”. “I went to a lot of games in high school. In the spring, on Wednesday’s, they would have $5 tickets and $1 hot dogs. I still remember as a kid, sitting up in right field watching Tom Brunanski and Kent Hrbek play catch,” Perkins said. He hasn’t taken for granted how lucky he was to be a Twin for his whole career. Not only that, but to make friends with his childhood icons and former Twins as well. It’s every fans dream.
 
The Twins had three 1st round picks in the 2004 MLB draft. They selected Trevor Plouffe at pick number 20, Perkins at pick number 22 and Kyle Waldrop at pick 25. All three players made it to the major leagues. Many first-round picks don’t make the major leagues, the Twins had not one, not two, but three from one draft. For Perkins, being drafted by the Twins was the perfect match. “It kind of worked out that I was getting clumped into that 15-25 range, the Twins had three picks and they like local guys. I got picked to pitch for the Twins, pitch for the organization just out of pure luck,” he said. Perkins pure luck turned into joy for many fans who had followed him since his playing days at Stillwater high school and the University of Minnesota.
 
Throughout his career Perkins only experienced one playoff game playing for the Twins. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to what his most memorable moment on the field was, the 2014 MLB All-Star game in Minnesota. “That night running out on the field, the crowd and all those things, I had said at that time, unless I got to pitch a World Series game at Target Field nothing could top that.” Perkins went on to pitch one scoreless inning, striking out one and collecting the save as the American League All-Stars beat the National League.
 
Collecting saves was not always what Perkins had in mind for his playing career. Being a starter his whole career, relieving did not appeal to him. “My wife had asked me one time if I would ever be a reliever, as I was a starter coming up, I said no. I’m going to be a starter and all that, I’ll never be a closer or anything like that. That was 2008, 2009 and 2010 and all of a sudden four-years later I was closing an All-Star game,” said Perkins. Looking back at it now, Perkins wished he had switched to a reliever earlier in his career.
 
The days off in between starts for a guy who has ADD were quite boring for him and as a reliever he had a chance to be a part of the team every day. “I struggled with going to the field knowing that I’m going to be on my own today and I don’t even know if people would have known if I showed up or not.” Moving to closer was something he grew to love. “This team is trying to get me the ball at the end of the game and that’s a really cool feeling, that’s motivating and I think that’s what kind of helped me succeed as I got into that role,” he said. Perkins went on top be one of most dominant closers for a three-year span collecting 102 saves between the 2013 and 2015 seasons. His success came from a love for analytics.
 
Perkins developed a love for math in his early years and when he found out that baseball had advanced metrics to analyze, he jumped right on it. “There really wasn’t a whole lot of analytics or anything like that when I first started playing and then it was around 2009 when I kind of discovered that there was people talking about and it still was far from mainstream. That’s why I started to learn about pitch trajectories and spins rates,” said Perkins. In 2009, Perkins was already in pro-ball for nearly five-years, but when he found analytics it made baseball “fun” for him.
 
Leaving the Twins never appealed to Perkins, the idea of living out of suitcase throughout the entire regular season was not for him. Not only that, but being with the Twins and in his home state for his entire career was what he wanted most. “It was always cool to me to be able to watch Twins players growing up as a kid in Minnesota knowing that I got to be out on that field having kids in Minnesota watch me play. I think that was more important than money, more important than seeing what other teams were trying to go win with another team. It was always most important for me to stay home.” Perkins wanted to be home with his wife and kids, it was hard enough that he was traveling during the season, but he appreciates the fact he was able to be home more than most players on the team.
 
Perkins agent wasn’t always enthused that he wanted to stay home. “My agent always wanted me to make more money,” Perkins said with a hearty laugh. It didn’t matter to Perkins, home was where he always wanted to be. “I didn’t even want to know what it was like to play somewhere else.”