A decade after Cookie Lavagetto suspected the New York Giants were up to no good during the 1951 season — and was later famously captured on film sitting next to a bawling Ralph Branca after that history-making October loss — Lavagetto found himself in Minnesota, manager of a newly relocated team called the Twins. During... Continue Reading »

In October 1951 Bobby Thomson hit baseball’s most famous three-run home run, a blast that capped an amazing come-from-behind season that finally erased a season-long lead by the Brooklyn Dodgers and propelled the New York Giants into the World Series. The home run is so famous that it has almost completely obscured the fact that... Continue Reading »

Sam Mele, the second manager in the history of the Minnesota Twins and who guided the team into the 1965 World Series, died Monday, according to various reports. Mele, who spent 10 years as a player in the majors, replaced manager Cookie Lavagetto during the 1961 season, the Twins’ first after previously being known as... Continue Reading »

Long before Ron Gardenhire managed the Twins to six division titles between 2002 and 2014, Gardenhire — like a lot of big league skippers — had a brief career as a player. If you’d like to see Gardenhire in action as a second baseman for the New York Mets — the team he spent five... Continue Reading »