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 »

You never know when you’re going to have an unsettling Minnesota Twins moment. As I mentioned in my previous post, I recently opened a 32-year-old pack of Topps baseball cards with a friend and immediately found a Kirby Puckett card, only then to discover that there were two cards stuck together. As I peeled them... Continue Reading »

The Twins have produced their share of players who have won the Rookie of the Year award. There’s Tony Oliva, of course, and his incredible 1964 debut. It was so amazing (look it up, newbies) that he also finished fourth in the AL MVP vote that season. He was followed by Rod Carew (no surprise)... Continue Reading »

The other day I wrote about a Twins’ Billy Martin baseball card that I recently discovered. What I didn’t mention is that I also came across what I will call a Scott Erickson action pack, complete with baseball card, poster and an Erickson action figure. Unfortunately, Erickson has been in the news of late for... Continue Reading »

For eight-plus innings, fans witnessed an all too familiar Twins team, one that struggled to hit with runners in scoring position and left too many men on base. But in the bottom of the ninth, the Twins finally found some offense, scoring three runs to tie the game at 3-3 and force extra innings. They... Continue Reading »

The Twins may have recently struggled with the Cleveland Guardians, but they own the Chicago White Sox and improved to 5-0 against the South Siders this season after an 8-2 rout of the club on Tuesday. The Twins ran away from the Sox with power, hitting five home runs, including two from budding star and... Continue Reading »

The Boston Red Sox beat the Houston Astros again Wednesday night and now have a commanding 3-1 lead in the seven-game series. If you’re rooting against the Red Sox, keep reading. That’s because this is another installment of a time when the Red Sox had no answer for the Twins. It happened in 1977, it... Continue Reading »

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... Continue Reading »