July 1, 2017

So I bought some baseball cards for the first time in a long time…

And the three decks I purchased, which I found at a thrift store, included a few memorable and not so memorable Twins:

I was surprised to see Willie Banks (Scott Stahoviak and Mike Trombley, too) and it brought back memories of when the Twins thought the world of Banks. He was drafted 3rd overall by the Twins in the 1987 amateur draft and finally wound up with the club in 1991. As so often happens with top prospects, Banks didn’t amount to much with the Twins. He had a 16-17 record with the team over three seasons and finally was traded to the Chicago Cubs for pitcher Dave Stevens and catcher Matt Walbeck in 1993.

From there, Banks bounced around with several teams until 2002. His career numbers: 33-39 with a 4.75 ERA.

Extra innings…

-The Twins lost badly to the Kansas City Royals on Friday and it’s beginning to feel as though the wheels of the bus are getting a little wobbly. Ervin Santana was not sharp, and he didn’t help his own cause with a throwing error that contributed to a five-run fourth inning. To make matters worse, though, the Twins could muster only three hits and lost 8-1.

-The good news is that Jose Berrios gets the ball for Game 1 of Saturday’s doubleheader, followed by newcomer Felix Jorge for the Game 2 start. Jorge has been called up from Double-A Chattanooga where he was 8-1 with a 3.26 ERA, according to MLB.com.

 

COMMENTS

Hi, I’m Rolf Boone, Twins fan.

I became a fan of the Minnesota Twins after a friendly wager in the early 1980s. I survived Ron Davis, the meltdown in Cleveland, Phil Bradley at the Kingdome and then marveled at a rising generation of stars and two World Series wins in 1987 and 1991. Brad Radke made the 1990s bearable, while Kirby Puckett’s eye injury, exit from the game and eventual death made it almost too much to bear. The new century ushered in more talent — Joe Mauer, Johan Santana, Joe Nathan, Torii Hunter, Justin Morneau — and consecutive seasons of playoff baseball, followed by consecutive seasons of losing baseball. A winning season returned in 2015. So here we are. Go Twins.