The Twins held on for a 3-2 win over the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday, leveling the series at a game apiece and marking a milestone for starting pitcher Taj Bradley. Bradley struck out six batters across six innings to give him 205 strikeouts this season. He becomes the 10th pitcher in Twins history to... Continue Reading »

As the baseball lockout rolls on, I guess it’s as good a time as any to revisit a classic Twins tale — when former Twins manager Billy Martin and pitcher Dave Boswell drained a few pops at a Detroit bar and later slugged it out in a nearby alley.   Author Bill Pennington captured the... Continue Reading »

I’m not positive that major league baseball and its players truly settled their COVID-19 differences, but no matter: baseball is back. Summer training begins soon, followed by a 60-game season that gets underway later this month. At first glance, the shorter and geographically condensed season would appear to work in the Twins favor. Or does... Continue Reading »

I experienced a moment of serendipity Friday at the local thrift store, of all places. I was perusing used books when I came across the following: “Baseball: A doubleheader collection of facts, feats and firsts,” which was compiled by editors of The Sporting News and published in 1993. The book fell open to a bookmarked... Continue Reading »

At a discount retailer the other day, I came across an old hardback copy of a Rod Carew autobiography, co-written by former sports writer Ira Berkow. I quickly realized it was too tempting to pass up, so I paid the nominal fee and settled in to flap through its 236 pages. Right away I noticed... Continue Reading »

When one thinks of Billy Martin, synonymous with the New York Yankees as a player and manager, this image doesn’t come to mind: The Martins’ Richfield neighborhood had big, old maple trees and was close to the Twins’ ballpark in Bloomington. There was a backyard for Billy Joe — Gretchen called him B.J. — and... Continue Reading »