At the least the Twins could hit and score runs in 1996, but that was not the case in the strike-shortened season of 1995. They got their usual offensive support from the likes of Kirby Puckett, Chuck Knoblauch and Rookie of the Year Marty Cordova, but on the mound it was not pretty, despite the... Continue Reading »

The 1996 season looked pretty bleak for the Minnesota Twins. No Kevin Tapani, no Scott Erickson and most of all, no Kirby Puckett, who took a fastball to the face toward the end of the 1995 season and then found himself on the injured list as the new season began on April 1, 1996, at... Continue Reading »

Earlier this season I wrote a short news obit about former Twins player David McCarty who died at the much too young age of 54. For that obit, I tried to find some quotes about him from years ago, and I did, discovering some comments made by former Twins manager Tom Kelly. Kelly had this... Continue Reading »

The Twins got back on track with a second-half-starting sweep of the cellar dwelling Oakland A’s over the weekend, but the three wins did not come easy. In Game 1, they nearly beat themselves. In Game 2, they coughed up a huge lead and in Game 3, the Twins had to rally from a 3-0... Continue Reading »

Nineteen years ago the Oakland A’s were the talk of baseball, a franchise that had seemingly found a magic elixir that allowed them to win and win often with the tiniest of payrolls. A year later author Michael Lewis explained it all in a best-seller called “Moneyball.” Baseball would never be the same. Surprisingly, Lewis... Continue Reading »

Forced to stay home during the outbreak, I finally took it upon myself to repair my Brad Radke bobblehead, which had been missing its left arm for years. It wasn’t like I had lost it, though. The left arm sat on the shelf next to the rest of the bobblehead, waiting to be reattached. Strange... Continue Reading »