Sarah

I think Thome will get it, he was a feared slugger in both leagues for many years. Johan Santana is my favorite Twins pitcher but even I don't think he should get into the Hall of Fame. His peak was amazing but it was so brief. Even though he wasn't playing for the Twins any more it was kind of sad to see his career derailed by injuries.

I agree about Greg Gagne! 2001 was pretty fun too - that was the year both Hunter and Mientkiewicz both won Gold Gloves and after the dark ages of the late 90's it was fun to watch them both break through on the national defensive scene. But Buxton's season this year was ridiculous.

No, I agree with this. I don't think he will win but I remember saying earlier this season that Dozier is a better second baseman than people give him credit for. And he's out there busting it every day - I can't remember a game this season when he didn't play. Nice to see him getting some recognition for this underrated part of his game.

“Sure, we knew about racism – met it every day. But we loved playing ball and that field wasn’t black or white, just beautiful green grass. It treated everybody the same.” Negro Leaguer Joe Scott As one of the official reviewers for the Twin Cities Film Fest, I am provided with advance screeners for many of the movies selected to be shown at the annual October event. One of the best parts about it is discovering films that I may not otherwise see. Such is the case for “Legends of the Road,” a new documentary making its Minnesota premiere on October 23 and highlighting the story of students from Chief Sealth High School in Seattle and their classroom project: to uncover forgotten stories of baseball barnstorming from the early 20th century and then plan and execute a summer long re-creation of this era with a 5,100 mile, 71 day trip done on bicycle while playing 33 games along the way. If this sounds like an extraordinary film that any baseball fan would enjoy, it is. For two years, these public high school students made more than 15,000 phone calls and conducted nearly 500 phone interviews with black barnstormers, their opponents, Ex-Negro League players, baseball historians and others to shed light on a part of, not just baseball history, but American history. According to the film, the students compiled more information on black baseball player movements in the western United States and Canada than both the National Baseball Hall of Fame and the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum had at the time…combined. Minnesota is mentioned twice in the film – when Buck O’Neil comes to visit one of the female students asks him if there were any women playing. Without hesitating, O’Neil mentions St. Paul’s Toni Stone, adding “Toni Stone could play.” Also, during the biking trip it lists game #25 as being played in Mankato. The logistics and documenting of the second part of the project, in which participants covered twelve states and provinces, was also the work of these ambitious high schoolers. Opponents faced included semi-professional clubs and American Legion teams and the trip was funded with business sponsorships. After losing their first game 14-0 and making six errors, they finished the trip with a winning record. “People wanted to see a different brand of baseball – we invented the double steal and the drag bunt,” Negro Leaguer Hank “Pistol” Mason says in the film. In addition to the interesting anecdotes gleaned from the interviews during the movie, baseball fans are sure to enjoy the closing shot of the credits in which the ballplayers emerge from the corn at the Field of Dreams in Dyersville, Iowa. “Legends of the Road” will be making its Minnesota premiere at the Twin Cities Film Fest on Monday, October 23 at 3:30 pm at the Showplace Icon Theatre in St. Louis Park. Filmmaker Gary Thomsen and Negro Leagues Museum President Bob Kendrick are scheduled to be in attendance. There will also be a book signing and pre-show Q&A prior to the show beginning at 2 pm including Minnesota authors Frank White (“They Played for the Love of the Game”) and Conrad Kerber and Terry Kerber (“Mayor Taylor: The Inspiring Story of a Black Cyclist and the Men Who Helped Him Achieve Worldwide Fame. To purchase tickets, visit their website.

Same old story...nothing that a pitcher (or five) wouldn't fix. As Earl Weaver once said - do you know what you do when you think you have enough pitching? You go out and get more pitching. Of course you could say this about pretty much any team, not just the Twins!

It's times like this that I always think of the Bill Mazeroski quote from when he hit the home run to beat the Yankees in the 1960 World Series - someone asked him what he was thinking about when he was rounding the bases and he said all he could think was "We beat the Yankees! We beat the Yankees!" Some things never change... I would rather play the Yankees in a one game playoff than in a series. It's baseball, in one game anything crazy can happen. Yes I realize that means something crazy could happen to beat us but that would be par for the course... Well, the Cubs won the World Series last year so hope springs eternal.

Thanks spycake - interesting to hear this.

I also thought the base runner should have been ejected (it looked pretty blatant to me and he would have been safe if he were to slide) but I wasn't sure if that was just my bias because I'm a Saints fan and their catcher had to be helped off the field after that play, since he was jumping to catch the throw he had no way to brace and protect himself from the collision. I did ask an umpire who mentioned something about voluntary release - I'm not a technical expert either but it may refer to the fact that however long he held the ball when he let it go it wasn't voluntary so that may be why the runner was called safe. Always something new to learn in this game.

If anyone wants to watch an interesting play, it happened in the top of the 4th of the Saints last home game of the season last night. I won't recap the whole thing here, but it led to a benches clearing brawl and I want to ask an umpire the legalities of the whole play. Pleffner (Winnipeg) was at the plate, Romanski was at second and Abercrombie was on first. If you go to the Saints home page and click on video it brings you to the American Association web page where you can view replays from past games.

What I remember is Twins fans booing AJ when he came back with the White Sox. Maybe it was mostly because he's a bad ass and was with the White Sox but I remember thinking we shouldn't be booing him, we should be thanking him - that was not only arguably the greatest trade in Twins history, it also allowed Joe Mauer to take over as catcher. I'm guessing we'll see Joe Nathan in the Twins HOF at some point. Still remember when I got my picture taken with him at Twins Fest after he had been traded to us but before he had played a game, hard to believe that was 13 years ago. But when I was listening to Michael Cuddyer's HOF speech I was remembering reading an article about him and the headline was something like "Top Twins prospect also does card tricks." Yes, I am getting old...

It was fun when the Saints had the All-Star Game at CHS Field last year because you got to see some Can-Am players and learn about the teams that you don't normally see.

I was at the game on Sunday and the Saints left 10 runners on base. I think they were tired from Saturday's game. I've had a chance to watch both the Lincoln Saltdogs and Winnipeg Goldeyes this season and they have good teams. Wish I could get to more games this summer but the road construction and traffic is impeding my path to CHS Field, ugh!

Thanks - this is one of those things that I assumed but interesting that they are trying to quantify it. Not surprising to see that they are mostly outfielders and back in the day Rickey Henderson was also an outfielder.

I love Californians. If I had a dollar for every time someone visited in the summer - yeah, come back in January...but that's just me being snarky. Welcome to Minnesota, Royce.

Sorry if this has been covered before but does anyone know what the record for a position player pitching in one season is? It seems like you might see it once, maybe twice in a season...

Nice work on these Matt, crazy to think it's been almost 20 years since David Wells's perfect game. I definitely remember watching that one on TV.

I want to try the shrimp boil, that sounds good. I need to investigate if they still have the cucumber mint lemonade at the Andrew Zimmern stand, that was (of course) overpriced but very refreshing on a hot day. As far as pizza, they used to have Pizza Luce at the stand in the outfield - if they still have that it's much better than the Papa John's pizzas at the regular concession stand. If you want to get a whole pizza it costs about $35 - my friends still chuckle about that...although if you add up what you'd spend buying concessions separately maybe it's not quite as overpriced as everything else.

I agree - I was there a few years ago, it's an easy trip from the Twin Cities and the ballpark is nice. I saw Max Kepler in the game I attended, fun to remember that.

I think it's a good deal if you already work downtown and have parking available or it is similarly convenient for you to take advantage of this. The X factor is the weather (Yeah I know you could say the X factor is the weather for anything outside) - if it's 60+ and sunny for most of the home games during April and May it's a good deal, but during most of the seasons so far at Target Field games during April and May have been brutal. And I don't think finding a seat will be a problem. :-)

In what may be the only time I’m ever in the men’s restroom at CHS Field, I took in the world premiere of “Safe at Home” last night, Mixed Blood Theatre’s new show about baseball, race and immigration. The story takes place prior to game seven of the World Series and centers on whether a Dominican pitcher scheduled to start the biggest game of his career will instead use the platform to protest the game and take a political stand.The show is divided up into nine “scenes” (or shall we call them “innings”) scattered throughout the ballpark, each with their own story to tell: in one, an Irish and Latino vendor argue about the profitability of selling beer versus churros; in another, the owner of the team (and newspaper publisher) discusses the merits of “responsible journalism” with the reporter ready to break the story prior to the game. As a baseball fan, I thought the scene between the umpire and the MLB executive was particularly well acted and fascinating as they discussed exactly how this would play out if it actually happened in a game. The story is definitely topical and the issues resonate, especially with the choice of using a baseball game as the backdrop to the simmering issues presented as opposed to, say, a football game – after all, baseball is the national pastime with a deep history inextricably linked with our struggles as a nation. The show itself is a technical achievement – groups of 25 are guided to different areas in the ballpark by an usher to watch separate seven minute scenes that run like clockwork throughout the evening. (At the performance I attended, our usher shared that he has learned a lot about baseball in working on this play, saying, “I’ve learned that the ball is round.” I think he was kidding.) It also takes theatre fans outside their comfort zone as you’re standing up in sometimes cramped quarters while the drama takes place right in front of you. Attendees seemed unsure as to whether they were supposed to clap at the end of each scene so we did what Minnesotans do – we just stood their awkwardly until the usher directed us to the next scene. I have enjoyed many Saints games at CHS Field (and if you haven’t been there yet you really should check them out this season) so I knew I would appreciate my surroundings. As the show serves as a veritable tour of the ballpark, I caught myself a couple of times paying more attention to that than watching the show – during the scene in the clubhouse, my eyes drifted to the “Hall of Saints” pictures located above the lockers. “Oh yeah, I remember Rey Ordonez played for the Saints,” I caught myself thinking, and then, “wait a minute, there’s a show going on here. Focus!” I give credit to the writers and director that they kept the drama flowing even as you’re being shepherded periodically throughout the ballpark onto the next scene. The acting is strong throughout and that may be the one regret I had about the show – at the end of the 90 minute performance you’re ushered into the Saints dugout and back through the stands to leave the ballpark without the chance for the actors to take a bow and show your appreciation for their work. But this is a minor quibble, if you’re a baseball fan this is a fantastic opportunity to see an entertaining new show in a beautiful setting. The pre-show gathering spot is in the Securian Club (the enclosed and heated space along right field) and while you’re outside briefly to travel from scene to scene, they all take place indoors. The show only runs through Sunday, so for more information about performance times and tickets, visit Mixed Blood’s website. Click here to view the article

In what may be the only time I’m ever in the men’s restroom at CHS Field, I took in the world premiere of “Safe at Home” last night, Mixed Blood Theatre’s new show about baseball, race and immigration. The story takes place prior to game seven of the World Series and centers on whether a Dominican pitcher scheduled to start the biggest game of his career will instead use the platform to protest the game and take a political stand. The show is divided up into nine “scenes” (or shall we call them “innings”) scattered throughout the ballpark, each with their own story to tell: in one, an Irish and Latino vendor argue about the profitability of selling beer versus churros; in another, the owner of the team (and newspaper publisher) discusses the merits of “responsible journalism” with the reporter ready to break the story prior to the game. As a baseball fan, I thought the scene between the umpire and the MLB executive was particularly well acted and fascinating as they discussed exactly how this would play out if it actually happened in a game. The story is definitely topical and the issues resonate, especially with the choice of using a baseball game as the backdrop to the simmering issues presented as opposed to, say, a football game – after all, baseball is the national pastime with a deep history inextricably linked with our struggles as a nation. The show itself is a technical achievement – groups of 25 are guided to different areas in the ballpark by an usher to watch separate seven minute scenes that run like clockwork throughout the evening. (At the performance I attended, our usher shared that he has learned a lot about baseball in working on this play, saying, “I’ve learned that the ball is round.” I think he was kidding.) It also takes theatre fans outside their comfort zone as you’re standing up in sometimes cramped quarters while the drama takes place right in front of you. Attendees seemed unsure as to whether they were supposed to clap at the end of each scene so we did what Minnesotans do – we just stood there awkwardly until the usher directed us to the next scene. I have enjoyed many Saints games at CHS Field (and if you haven’t been there yet you really should check them out this season) so I knew I would appreciate my surroundings. As the show serves as a veritable tour of the ballpark, I caught myself a couple of times paying more attention to that than watching the show – during the scene in the clubhouse, my eyes drifted to the “Hall of Saints” pictures located above the lockers. “Oh yeah, I remember Rey Ordonez played for the Saints,” I caught myself thinking, and then, “wait a minute, there’s a show going on here. Focus!” I give credit to the writers and director that they kept the drama flowing even as you’re being shepherded periodically throughout the ballpark onto the next scene. The acting is strong throughout and that may be the one regret I had about the show – at the end of the 90 minute performance you’re ushered into the Saints dugout and back through the stands to leave the ballpark without the chance for the actors to take a bow and show your appreciation for their work. But this is a minor quibble, if you’re a baseball fan this is a fantastic opportunity to see an entertaining new show in a beautiful setting. The pre-show gathering spot is in the Securian Club (the enclosed and heated space along right field) and while you’re outside briefly to travel from scene to scene, they all take place indoors. The show only runs through Sunday, so for more information about performance times and tickets, visit Mixed Blood’s website.

I went to the Gophers baseball game last weekend and agree with the comments here - I found the storage container-type dugouts and the no dirt infield kind of bizarre but other than that it was a perfectly fine place to watch indoor baseball. Much better than being outside in March...but I do agree about the concessions, they cost more than the game ticket. I parked in the lot kitty corner across from the stadium that is skyway connected although I didn't see how you'd get up there from the concourse so I figured it wasn't open for these games. It was just a short walk across the street though so pretty convenient and I think it was $7 to park. My high school baseball team is playing a game there in April so I'll be back.

I will find out next weekend as I'm going to the Gopher baseball game at US Bank Stadium. Love going to the new Siebert Field when the weather cooperates too, it's a beautiful ballpark. The construction around it was a bit of a pain last year but they did let you park for free around the ballpark since the parking was limited so that was nice. Not sure if they are going to let people do that this year, I guess we will find out.

I also went to the original old timers hot stove league banquet on Monday (which I think is technically a Twins Caravan stop even though it's in the Twin Cities) which featured Trevor May, Byron Buxton, Derek Falvey and Thad Levine. They were great - Kris Atteberry asked Trevor May about what he is trying to do to stay healthy and when he mentioned Pilates Atteberry said, "I think this is the first time in the history of this banquet that Pilates has been incorporated into the conversation." Also Kris asked Derek and Thad if they get mistaken for each other and they said when they were doing a satellite interview with MLB Network they had ear pieces in before the interview started and they could hear the guys in the control booth saying, "Wait, which one is which? Is Falvey the guy on the left?" And Derek said his favorite part was when one of the guys said, "Oh, Falvey is the guy with the chubby cheeks." John Anderson from the Gophers was also there and talked about how he is interested to get into US Bank Stadium for some baseball games. I'm looking forward to seeing how it is configured and plays for baseball too! And as far as none of us looking like Brad Pitt...we're baseball people not supermodels. :-)