jjswol

Why trade Rosario who admittedly had a bad season in the field but knocked in 100+ RBI to play an unproven hitter like Rooker who is a worse fielder than Rosario?

I don't get too excited about/over pickups like this at this time of the year, here today and maybe gone tomorrow if a perceived better name pops up on the waiver wire.

Why the big to-do over a possible home run record? It is only wins and losses that count in my book. A home run record is nice but not as nice as an AL Pennant waving over Target Field.

Nice job John.

Kepler is far from reaching his potential, as he matures he will become a better hitter.

We attended the Miracles vs Dunedin game last nite and here are a couple of take-aways from the game. 1.Royce Lewis is going to be fun to watch. 2. Vladamir Guererro Jr. is huge and slow but the man can HIT! Watching him play 3B will be interesting. 3. Johan Quezada is in his sixth season of pro ball but is only 24. The man is 6'9" tall and last night he was consistently between 95-97 and topped out at 99. He deserves to be in a higher league.

All that really matters is wins and losses.

I was always told that if you can't say something nice that you shouldn't say anything at all, but here...........geez.....

Absolutely agree. The Twins are desperate to keep their fan base and will do anything it takes to hype Twins baseball because they have nothing else right now. It will take a good season from the current Twins team to finally get Joe's shadow behind them.

You can not grade an organization on what you think will happen in the future, you can only grade on what has transpired. In baseball all that counts is wins and losses, no excuses for injuries, suspensions, bad luck, etc., every team has those. Bottom line, this years Minnesota Twins are a failure and deserve an F.

I give him a D and that is being generous. His use of the bullpen has been terrible and his players keep making the same mistakes. Falvey and Levine would be foolish to keep this old war-horse pulling the Twins wagon.

Nice article Seth, thanks for doing it.

Nice story Steve.

Happy Thanksgiving! It is once again that time of the year to select our annual Twins Turkey of the Year winner. This year we get to select our seventh annual Twins Turkey of the Year award winner, who will be lucky number seven? As always we have plenty of blue-chip candidates to scrutinize, analyze, and reflect on. First off we need to narrow the list down to a manageable size. To view the rest of the story that was recently posted at twinstrivia.com please go to http://wp.me/p1YQUj-37Z

Nice job Seth, a fun piece, I enjoyed it. I remember "The Klaw" when he was a Twin, there was a lot of buzz around him.

Yesterday I attended part 3 of a 4 part Wayzata community education class called "Moneyball, Sabermerics, and the Science of Chance. At the session yesterday we had a guest speaker for the entire 1 1/2 hours and it was Andrew Ettel from the Twins Baseball Research department. It was an enjoyable session and the time went by all too quickly. Andrew did a nice presentation on how the Twins employ sabermetrics and answered many questions from the class members. It as a fun session and Andrew did a very nice job.

With the traffic that this site has, a weekly poll of some type might be interesting. To make a poll viable it needs to have raffic and you guys are the only Twins blog that can pull it off. I think polls are fun and interesting and they might add something to your site. I think the one thing that your site has to "watch out for" is that it truly remains a Minnesota Twins blog site and des not become too much of a mainstream Minnesota Twins schill. By that I mean that it is easy to jump in the Twins bed and fall in love with the organization by becoming too close to it and its people. The Twins organization has many wonderful staff members and players and sometimes when you get too friendly, it becomes difficult to write objectively. Overall, you guys do a great job and have to be one of the top baseball blog site in the country, keep up the good work.

The major league baseball season is a real grind. There are 162 games in about 185 days (give or take) and that includes travel time, not to mention spring training and the postseason. It's a marathon. Players need to keep chugging along, working through illness and injury while they strive for peak performance. Ability is critical, but if a team isn't durable, it's headed for a long season. Everyone knows that Baltimore Orioles Cal Ripken Jr. holds the major league record for consecutive games played with 2,632. But what is the Minnesota Twins record for most consecutive games played and who holds the record? The Twins record for consecutive games played stands at 319, less than two full season. You may be surprised to learn that the record holder is still playing for the Twins today. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]He's Justin Morneau, the same guy that has not played more than 135 games since 2008. Download attachment: Morneau_Justin_600_321.JPG Posted at www.twinstrivia.com on Sunday January 13, 2013 Let's take a look at the Twins six longest consecutive games played streaks and see who owns them. Some of the "gamers" on this list will probably surprise you. 319 games - Justin Morneau (1B/DH) - Streak started on June 29, 2007 and ended on June 20, 2009. 249 games - Harmon Killebrew (3B/1B, and OF) - Streak started on September 21, 1965 and ended on July 4, 1967. 245 games - Harmon Killebrew (3B/1B) - Streak started on September 23, 1968 and ended on July 7, 1970. 230 games - Gary Gaetti (3B/OF) - Streak started on September 29, 1983 and ended on June 22, 1985. 210 games - Roy Smalley (Shortstop) - Streak started on April 6, 1979 and ended on June 2, 1980. Smalley's streak would actually have stood at 254 and in second place on this list had he not chose to sit out the last day of the 1978 season. 203 games - Cesar Tovar (played all over) - Streak started on September 4, 1966 and ended on May 4, 1968.In the Twins 52 year history of the Twins, only five players have appeared in every game that the Twins played in a season, so it is a fairly rare occurrence with only one player accomplishing this feat twice. The most recent occurrence was Justin Morneau appearing in all 163 games in 2008 and that was 24 years after Gary Gaetti appeared in all 162 games in 1984. In 1979 Roy Smalley played in all 162 games, Harmon Killebrew did it twice playing in 162 games in 1966 and again in 1969 and Cesar Tovar played in all 164 games in 1967. The list of players that have led the Twins in games played over the years is an interesting list indeed. Who has led the Twins in games played the most frequently? That would be Kirby Puckett who did it eight times including five years in a row. 2012 - Joe Mauer played in 147 of a possible 162 games. 2011 - Danny Valencia played in 154 of a possible 162 games. 2010 - Michael Cuddyer played in 157 of a possible 162 games. 2009 - Michael Cuddyer played in 153 of a possible 163 games. 2008 - Justin Morneau played in all 163 games. 2007 - Torii Hunter played in 160 of a possible 162 games. 2006 - Justin Morneau played in 157 of a possible 162 games. 2005 - Lew Ford played in 147 of a possible 162 games. 2004 - Lew Ford played in 154 of a possible 162 games. 2003 - Torii Hunter played in 154 of a possible 162 games. 2002 - Jacque Jones played in 149 of a possible 161 games. 2001 - Luis Rivas & Corey Koskie played in 153 of a possible 162 games. 2000 - Cristian Guzman & Matt Lawton played in 156 o fa possible 162 games. 1999 - Todd Walker played in 143 of a possible 161 games. 1998 - Matt Lawton played in 152 of a possible 162 games. 1997 - Chuck Knoblauch played in 156 of a possible 162 games. 1996 - Paul Molitor played in 161 of a possible 162 games. 1995 - Karby Puckett & Marty Cordova played in 137 of a possible 144 games. 1994 - Chuck Knoblauch played in 109 of a possible 113 games. 1993 - Kirby Puckett played in 156 of a possible 162 games. 1992 - Kirby Puckett played in 160 of a possible 162 games. 1991 - Chili Davis played in 153 of a possible 162 games. 1990 - Gary Gaetti played in 154 of a possible 162 games. 1989 - Kirby Puckett played in 159 of a possible 162 games. 1988 - Kirby Puckett played in 158 of a possible 162 games. 1987 - Kirby Puckett played in 157 of a possible 162 games. 1986 - Kirby Puckett played in 161 of a possible 162 games. 1985 - Kirby Puckett played in 161 of a possible 162 games. 1984 - Gary Gaetti played in all 162 games. 1983 - Gary Gaettti and Gary Ward played in 157 of a possible 1962 games. 1982 - Gary Ward played in 152 of a possible 162 games. 1981 - John Castino played in 101 of a possible 110 games. 1980 - John Castino played in 150 of a possible 161 games. 1979 - Roy Smalley played in all 162 games. 1978 - Roy Smalley played in 158 of a possible 162 games. 1977 - Rod Carew played in 155 of a possible 161 games. 1976 - Rod Carew played in 156 of a possible 162 games. 1975 - Rod Carew played in 143 of a possible 159 games. 1974 - Rod Carew played in 153 of a possible 163 games. 1973 - Rod Carew played in 149 of a possible 162 games. 1972 - Bobby Darwin played in 145 of a possible 154 games. 1971 - Cesar Tovar played in 157 of a possible 160 games. 1970 - Cesar Tovar played in 161 of a possible 162 games. 1969 - Harmon Killebrew played in all 162 games. 1968 - Cesar Tovar played in 156 of a possible 162 games. 1967 - Cesar Tovar played in all 164 games. 1966 - Harmon Killebrew played in all 162 games. 1965 - Zoilo Versalles played in 160 of a possible 162 games. 1964 - Tony Oliva played in 161 of a possible 163 games. 1963 - Zoilo Versalles played in 159 of a possible 161 games. 1962 - Zoilo Versalles played in 160 of a possible 163 games. 1961 - Bob Allison played in 156 of a possible 162 games. When I looked back over the entire franchise history going back to 1901 for the Washington Senators I found that there was a true "iron man" who currently is ninth on the MLB all-time consecutive games played list with 829 games. Senators 3B Eddie Yost started his streak on August 30, 1949 and he played in every game through May 11, 1955. That is a lot of games. The current active MLB consecutive game streak is in the firm grasp of Detroit Tiger 1B Prince Fielder who stands at 343 and counting. Actually Fielder has missed just 1 game (September 13, 2010) since September 3, 2008 and if he had not skipped that game due to a stomach virus his streak would be at 669 today. The man has been in the big leagues since 2005 and full time since 2006. Since 2006 he has played in 157, 158, 159, 162, 161, 162, and 162 games. An amazing streak for a man his size. Click here to view the article

Download attachment: iQCgYonk.jpg Do you have plans to get away from the cold and snow and feel the sand between your toes, the sun on your back, and hopefully catch some Twins spring training baseball in Florida? What better way to forget your problems and get away from it all? Well, if you are going, you might want to raise your credit card limit and keep a tight grip on your wallet or purse, because MLB is looking to help themselves to your money. Even the Twins, who aren't raising spring training ticket prices this year have found a loophole. It's part of a trend. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]Originally posted at www.twinstrivia.com. For instance, the Detroit Tigers apparently have found a new way to gouge a few additional dollars from their most dedicated fans. The Tigers normally open the gates to Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland, Florida two hours prior to home games. However, by that time the Tigers have already completed their batting practice. Baseball fans enjoy watching the home team take batting practice so the Tigers have decided to allow fans to get in early for home batting practice but the fans will be limited to the left-field berm and will need to scratch up an extra $5 for the privilege. Tigers management take on it is that the fans requested it since they could not watch batting practice and now they will be able to do so, if they come up with the bucks. Way to push it on the fans, Detroit Tigers management. If the Tigers were really just doing a good deed they would not charge for the privilege or if they did, or any money they collect should go to charity or to the old-time baseball players pensions. But it is not just the Tigers. Other teams are also looking to take more money from the wallets of their fans. It seems to me that a fan should not be punished if he/she decides to go to a baseball on short notice, but that is not the case if you want to take in an Atlanta Braves game in Lake Buena Vista as their web site states that "A $5 Walk-Up fee will apply to Day-Of-Game purchases." Punish walk-up ticket sales? Calvin Griffith is rolling over in his grave this very moment. (Editors note: And Calvin was hardly opposed to additional bucks.) Other teams like the Pittsburgh Pirates (who have not played .500 ball for 20 years) have come up with a different plan. "Prior to the individual ticket on-sale, fans will have the opportunity to take part in an 'Early Bird' online only pre-sale from January 23-25. 'Early Bird' pricing is different than regular single game pricing and is an alternative purchase opportunity for fans who want to be guaranteed seats to high-demand games." This means that for three days the Pirates allow you to pay more for a spring training ticket that you normally would. I see this as just another way that baseball is looking at additional fees to take in more money from their fans. I sure hope this is not something that spreads like wildfire throughout baseball as spring training is one of the few places where fans get a chance to get close to their team. Now it just seems like baseball is going to make them pay. Fans that attend spring training are the true fan base of any team. They spend their hard earned money to travel to a destination to observe their favorite teams and they should be rewarded by their teams and not punished with extra fees. The Minnesota Twins have made it tougher to get close to some of the fields in spring training themselves and that is a trend that I see getting worse over the years. It probably won't be long before they start charging fans for watching the minor leaguers play their games on the back fields. Baseball should be looking for ways to encourage fans to go to spring training by making it affordable but that apparently is not the case. Look at the Twins spring training ticket prices for example, this is year two of "Value" and "Premium" pricing. The tickets range from $13 for a "value" lawn ticket to $43 for a "premium" Dugout Box seat. Last year 3 of the 16 (18.8%) home games were designated as "premium", this year 6 of the 18 (33.3%) of the home games are classified as "premium" games. So while 2013 is the first time in a number of years that the Twins have not raised their spring training ticket prices at Hammond Stadium from the previous season but they doubled the number of their "premium" games so yes, they will make more money off ticket sales. (YES, $43 is the value pricing. How in the world can the Twins, who are coming off of back-to-back 90+ loss seasons and dropping payroll, charge $43 to watch a team that will not even have big leaguers playing most of the time? The Twins average spring trainng attendance in 2012 was 7,344 which was a drop of a little over 9% from 8,091 in 2011. If you are going to have variable pricing why not come up with a plan that is more fair to the fans? For instance, charge less for these early spring training exhibition games than for games played later in March, because early games feature mostly minor league players with major league players making cameo appearances. Let's take a look at the "value" Twins spring training ticket prices since 2008. [TABLE=class: easy-table-creator tablesorter mceItemTable, width: 100%] [TH=align: center]Ticket type[/TH] [TH=align: center]2008[/TH] [TH=align: center]2009[/TH] [TH=align: center]2010[/TH] [TH=align: center]2011[/TH] [TH=align: center]2012*[/TH] [TH=align: center]2013**[/TH] [TD=align: center]Dugout Box[/TD] [TD=align: center]$38[/TD] [TD=align: center]n/a[/TD] [TD=align: center]$39[/TD] [TD=align: center]$39[/TD] [TD=align: center]$40/$43[/TD] [TD=align: center]$40/$43[/TD] [TD=align: center]Box[/TD] [TD=align: center]$22[/TD] [TD=align: center]$23[/TD] [TD=align: center]$24[/TD] [TD=align: center]$25[/TD] [TD=align: center]$26/$29[/TD] [TD=align: center]$26/$29[/TD] [TD=align: center]Reserved[/TD] [TD=align: center]$20[/TD] [TD=align: center]$21[/TD] [TD=align: center]$22[/TD] [TD=align: center]$23[/TD] [TD=align: center]$24/$27[/TD] [TD=align: center]$24/$27[/TD] [TD=align: center]Drink Rail[/TD] [TD=align: center]$20[/TD] [TD=align: center]$21[/TD] [TD=align: center]$22[/TD] [TD=align: center]$25[/TD] [TD=align: center]$26/$29[/TD] [TD=align: center]$26/$29[/TD] [TD=align: center]Lawn[/TD] [TD=align: center]$12[/TD] [TD=align: center]$12[/TD] [TD=align: center]$12[/TD] [TD=align: center]$13[/TD] [TD=align: center]$13/$16[/TD] [TD=align: center]$13/$16[/TD] [/TABLE] * - 3 premium games ** - 6 premium games Click here to view the article

Download attachment: Eddie_Bane.jpg One of the most hyped, and yet most overlooked, pitchers in Minnesota Twins history is Eddie Bane. Baine grew up in southern California and was offered a scholarship by Arizona State coach Bobby Winkles. Before he knew it he was pitching for the Arizona State Sun Devils. In his three years at ASU (1971-1973), he became a pitching legend. The left-handed Bane went 40-4 with a 1.64 ERA and is still regarded as one of the best collegiate pitchers of all time. He pitched the only perfect game in Sun Devil baseball history on March 2, 1973 against Cal State Northridge, led the nation in strikeouts in 1972 and 1973 and still holds the ASU career strikeout mark. He was named first team All-American in 1973, and in 1994 Baseball America named him to their All-Time college all-star team. In 2008 Bane was selected to the Collegiate Baseball Hall of Fame. Originally posted at www.twinstrivia.com With that track record, perhaps his rapid ascent, and the excitement that went with it, might have been anticipate. The Twins selected Bane with their first pick, eleventh overall in the 1973 amateur draft. A short time later Bane joined a very select group of only 20 players that were drafted and went on to play pro ball directly out of high school or college with no minor league experience. Amid a great deal of publicity and fan fare, Bane made his major league debut as a starter against the Kansas City Royals on July 4, 1973 at Met Stadium. Almost 46,000 fans attended for their first glimpse of the the first round pick pitch. Bane didn’t disappoint that day. He threw 7 innings allowing 3 hits, 3 walks and striking out 3, but manager Frank Quilici took him out after 7 innings with the Twins trailing 1-0. The Twins took a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the 8th inning but couldn’t hold on to the lead and ended up losing the game 5-4. But if the throng thought that was just a first taste of a larger feast, they were likely disappointed. It's probable that overly anticipated first game was the highlight of Bane's professional career. He stayed with the Twins for the rest of the season going 0-5 with a 4.92 ERA in 23 games that included 6 starts. He spent all of 1974 and most of 1975 in AAA Tacoma before getting a September call up by the Twins. He found himself in Tacoma once again as the 1976 season opened but the Twins brought him back to Minnesota in late June and Bane started 15 games and put up a 4-7 record with a 5.11 ERA. That was the last time that Eddie Bane pitched in a Twins uniform. He pitched in Tacoma in 1977. He became a free agent after that season and signed with the Chicago White Sox, but never pitched for them in the majors. In January of 1980 he was traded to the Kansas City Royals but didn't pitch in the majors. He spent time in the Cubs minor league system and pitched in Mexico in 1981 and Alaska in 1982, but his career as an active player was over. Bane's career in the front office had some highlights too. He worked his was through various coaching and scouting roles with multiple organizations in the 80s and 90s. He joined the Tampa Bay Devil Rays as an assistant to the GM from 1999-2003 before joining the Los Angeles Angels as their Scouting Director from 2004 to 2010. With the Angels, he drafted players like Mike Trumbo, Jered Weaver and Nick Adenhart in 2004, Jordan Walden and Hank Conger in 2006, and Mike Trout in 2009. Remarkably, in 4 of those 7 years the Angels didn’t even have a 1st round pick. Inexplicably, the Angels let Bane go after the 2010 season and he became a scout for the Detroit Tigers in 2011-2012. Later in 2012, Bane took the position of Assistant to Player Personnel with the Boston Red Sox where his son Jaymie ,who also attended ASU and pitched in the Angels minor league system, has been a scout since 2006. Eddie Bane had lots of praise for former teammate Tony Oliva. You can find the interview with Eddie Bane here. This interview is just one of the 39 interviews that we have done with former Twins players that you can find on our Interviews Archives page. Bane had a meteoric rise with the Twins and a special place in Twins history at a time when the organization was going through a rough phase. His career didn't have the impact that observers hoped, but that adds to, not subtracts, from his unique spot in Twins history. Click here to view the article

Download attachment: smalley_roy_uniform.jpg The history of Twins switch-hitters goes back to the first game the Twins played, but it was the last guy you would expect. In baseball, a switch-hitter is a batter who can bat from the right side or the left side, depending on whether the pitcher is right- or left-handed. Most curveballs break away from batters hitting from the same side as the opposing pitcher, so they're often harder to hit than those from the opposite side. History tells us that most right-handed batters hit better against lefty pitchers and left-handed batters hit better against right handers. This so-called platoon benefit is why managers use pinch-hitters and LOOGY's and why some players want to become switch-hitters.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] ~~~ Posted earlier at Twinstrivia.com | TWINS TRIVIA is hopefully a fun and informative site that will help you to better enjoy the Minnesota Twins and their wonderful history. ~~~ Switch-hitting at its best Switch-hitters have been around forever, it seems; yet according to sources that I have researched, only about 6% of baseball batters have been switch-hitters. You have to wonder why, if switch-hitting is such an advantage, haven't more of baseball's best hitters been switch-hitters? The best career batting average for a switch-hitter is .316 by Frankie Frisch, who currently ranks 71st in batting average all-time. Some of the best switch-hitters of our time are Chipper Jones, who hit .306 and Pete Rose who hit .303. Detroit Tigers DH Victor Martinez has a career average of .302 making him the highest active switch-hitter. In addition to the players I just mentioned, you have to add Mickey Mantle, Eddie Murray, Roberto Alomar, Bernie Williams, George Davis, Lance Berkman, Tim Raines and Chili Davis to the list of switch-hitting greats. Switch-hitting and the rulesA question often asked is "Can a batter switch from right to left or left to right during an at-bat?" The rule that seems to apply is 6.06( which states that "A batter is out for illegal action when he steps from one batter’s box to the other while the pitcher is in position ready to pitch." Based on that, it appears you can switch from one batter's box to the other as often as you want so long as you do it before the pitcher gets in to his pitching position. Twins switch-hitting history The Twins currently have four switch-hitters on their 25 man playing roster, C Ryan Doumit, SS Pedro Florimon, OF Aaron Hicks, and utility man Eduardo Escobar. In the Twins' 53 years of existence they have had 62 players who were switch-hitters but not all of them actually batted and we will touch more on that later. The Twins first switch-hitter was a pitcher, Pedro Ramos. Ramos pitched and batted (1 for 4 with 2 RBI) in the Twins very first game when he and the Twins shut out the New York Yankees 6-0 on April 11, 1961 at Yankee Stadium. The first Twins switch-hitting position player to appear in a game was SS Marty Martinez when he had an at-bat against the Yankees at Met Stadium on May 30, 1962 in game 2 of a doubleheader. Martinez actually appeared in 3 earlier games as a Twins but was used strictly as a pinch-runner by manager Sam Mele. It wasn't until 1976 that the Twins had a regular position player switch-hitting and that year they had two, rookie catcher Butch Wynegar and SS Roy Smalley. The Twins are playing their 53rd season and there has been only one year, 1973, that they have not had a switch-hitter step into the batters box. On the other hand, they had nine switch-hitters (Cristian Guzman was the only starter) at one time or another on their 1999 team that finished 63-97. Twins switch-hitting pitchers Looking at the Twins 62 switch-hitters, eleven of them were pitchers and claimed to be switch-hitters but only Pedro Ramos, Jim Perry, Dan Serafini, JC Romero, and Joe Mays actually set foot in the batters box. The other six, Stan Perzanowski, Darrell Jackson, Pete Filson, Jason Ryan, Pat Neshek, and Eric Hacker were switch-hitters only on the back of their baseball cards because they never batted in a Twins game. Jim Perry hit five home runs as a Twin. "Home Runs from Each Side of the Plate In One Game" Club The Twins switch-hitter with the most home runs is Roy Smalley. He hit 163 career home runs and 110 of them were when he was a Minnesota Twin. The "home runs from each side of the plate in one game" club is relatively exclusive but three of the members were Twins. Roy Smalley accomplished that rare feat twice, once against the Boston Red Sox at the Metrodome on May 30, 1986 and once earlier in his career as a New York Yankee in 1982. Chili Davis became the second Twin to join the club when he did it against the Royals on October 2, 1992. Ryan Doumit became the third Twin to do so when he too joined the exclusive fraternity against the Royals on July 22, 2012. Chili Davis hit a home run from each side of the plate 11 times in his illustrious 19 year playing career. Just for comparison's sake, Mickey Mantle did it on 10 occasions. Leaning Right One oddity that seems to stand out is how few of the switch-hitters employed by the Twins over the years were left-handed throwers. If you exclude the 11 switch-hitting pitchers from the list you are left with 51 switch-hitters and only one of the 51 threw left-handed; the other fifty were right-handed. Kind of strange. The lone left-handed position player was John Moses. But keep in mind that John Moses, an outfielder by trade, pitched in 3 games for the Twins. Twins best switch-hitters So let's take a look at the Twins top switch-hitters. There is no good way to rank them so I will list all the Twins switch-hitters that have 1,000 or more plate appearances in a Twins uniform. The chart also shows positions played, games played, home runs and batting average. All the numbers on this chart are their Twins career numbers. Many of these players played for other teams too, but those numbers are not included here. For this story I am only interested in their numbers as Minnesota Twins. [TABLE=class: easy-table-creator tablesorter mceItemTable, width: 100%] [/TH][TH]Name Positions PA Games HR AVG 1 Roy Smalley 6,5,3 4676 1148 110 .262 2 Cristian Guzman 6 3538 841 39 .266 3 Butch Wynegar 2,5 3188 794 37 .254 4 Nick Punto 5,4,6,8,3 2707 747 12 .248 5 Gene Larkin 3.9.5.4 2670 758 32 .266 6 Denny Hocking 4,6,8,5,3 2455 876 25 .252 7 Al Newman 6,4,5,8 1876 618 [/TD][TD].231 8 Alexi Casilla 4,6,5,8 1764 515 11 .250 9 Chili Davis DH,9,3 1163 291 41 .282 10 Luis Castillo 4 1036 227 3 .299 11 Matt Walbeck 2 1008 275 8 .230 [/TABLE] There are some interesting numbers and players on this chart. About half the players were starters and half were utility players. It is no surprise that Smalley is the leader in home runs or that Chili Davis is second on the list. The real surprise is that Christian Guzman ranks third on the list. Click here to view the article

Download attachment: 1961-Twins-ticket-rain-check-stub.jpg Today, February 16th the Twins began selling single-game tickets. The last couple of years the phone lines and web site was overrun and there were sometimes long delays in getting your tickets purchased. Based on the Twins poor showing the last two seasons and low expectations for 2013 I don't expect long waits to purchase your tickets this year. To me, the question is should you buy your single-game tickets when they go on sale on Saturday or do you wait? The current quoted price for single-game tickets is only good from February 16 through February 22 because on February 23 demand-based pricing kicks in. Haven't heard about demand-based pricing? The Twins started that policy in 2012 and here is how it plays out in 2013. [PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]Posted at www.twinstrivia.com earlier. Beginning February 23, single game ticket prices in all seating sections will be determined on a daily basis according to current market demand. Prices may fluctuate upward or downward based on real-time market conditions. So the question is, will one get better value by purchasing tickets now or once the season begins? I guess it all depends on how well the Twins play and what the weather is like. Personally; I just find it irritating that the published single-game ticket price is only good for 1 week before the first spring training game is even played. I guess I am old school. You can certainly argue that it is better to sell more tickets even if they are sold at a discount. The customer benefits because he gets to see the baseball game and the team benefits because they get the fan in the ballpark where it is likely he will spend additional dollars on food and possibly merchandise. Of course, it also mean that now going to a baseball game is like buying an airline ticket; each person on that flight is going to the same destination but each of them may have paid a different fare. I have a problem with that. The other issue I see is that in order to keep the season ticket holder base happy the team has to sell the demand-based tickets at a higher price than what the season ticket holders pay or that becomes a huge issue in itself. Thus, the demand-based tickets can only be lowered to a certain price base level. But on the other side, if all is going great, the team can jack up the price of the ticket to whatever the market will pay. I see little risk and high reward for the team with demand-base pricing and to me it is another gimmick that costs the fans. The Minnesota Twins have been here since 1961 and over 81 million fans (through 2012) have come through the turnstiles at the Met, the Metrodome and now Target Field. I thought it would be fun to take a look at Twins ticket prices going back to 1961 when the ballclub played their first game at Metropolitan Stadium. I did a lot of research on Twins ticket prices and here are some interesting nuggets that I found. In 1961 the Twins had 3 price categories, a box seat went for $3, reserved grandstand went for $2.50 and general admission was $1.50. In spite of owner Calvin Griffith's miserly reputation, he did not raise ticket prices until 1968. Even then, he only increased box seats by 50 cents and reserved grandstand by a quarter. Keep in mind that the Twins played in the 1965 World Series during this period and still did not raise ticket prices. Think that would happen in today's world? Not a chance. By the time the Twins were getting ready to move into the brand new Metrodome in 1982, they had completed 21 years at Met Stadium. The team had implemented ticket price increases just 8 times with the cheapest ticket going from $1.50 to $3.00 and the highest priced ticket jumped from $3 to $7. In the 23 full seasons that Griffith owned the Twins from 1961 to 1983 (1984 does not count as the team was sold mid-season) he raised ticket prices 9 times (39%) and kept ticket prices at the previous rate on 14 (61%) occasions. During Griffith's reign the average ticket price went from $2.33 to $6.00, an increase of 157.51%. The Twins were sold to the Pohlad family in mid-season in 1984. Pohlad's first full year as team owner was 1985 and his teams played in the Metrodome for 25 years from 1985 through 2009. During the Pohlad era in the Metrodome the Twins raised ticket prices 18 times or 72% of the time. They made no change to the ticket price 4 times (16%) and they lowered ticket prices on 3 occasions (12%). The first drop took place in 1987 when the ticket price dropped 4% as the average ticket price went from $6.25 to $6.00 based on a $1.00 drop in lower left field seats. The second average ticket price drop occurred as the team entered the 1996 season when the average ticket went from $10.86 to $8.67 - but this is kind of deceiving. The Twins added one new ticket category and dropped two high-priced categories, selling them as season tickets only. These category changes dropped the average ticket price when the ticket prices never actually changed. The third drop in average ticket price occurred as the Twins went into the 2002 season fresh off the "contraction" fiasco. However, there was an outrageous 53.58% average ticket price increase the year befor. Maybe the Twins realized that they over did it the year before, who knows? Bottom line, under the Pohlads, from 1985 through the 2009 season (and all in the Metrodome), the average Twins ticket price went from $5.50 in 1985 to $30.25 which is an increase of 450%. Between 1961 and 2005 the Twins had anywhere from 2 to 7 different pricing categories each season. Dynamic/variable pricing showed up in 2006 and the price categories jumped to 16, in 2009 it jumped to 24, in 2010 with the move to Target Field it more than doubled to 57 , in 2011 it crept up to 60 and in 2013 it jumps to 95. I set up a new page on my site called Twins Ticket Price History so if you want to see a year by year look at Twins ticket prices, some charts and tables showing ticketing information, and some ticket images including some interesting "phantom" tickets, stop by and check it out. Click here to view the article