Category: Don Drysdale

November 28, 2022

The day the Twins’ Earl Battey met President Kennedy

In 1962, a year when major league baseball still played two All-Star games, the first of those games was played before 45,000 fans at D.C. Stadium on July 10. Among the fans that day, if one can call him that, was President John F. Kennedy. President Kennedy was assassinated 59 years ago today. Here's a... Continue Reading »

December 13, 2021

A stroll down memory lane with Hall of Fame pitcher Jim Kaat

It never fails: A current or former Twins player is in the news and before long I have stumbled across something online that is entirely new to me. Who has been in the news? Former Twins Jim Kaat and Tony Oliva, both of whom were recently elected to the Class of 2022 of the National... Continue Reading »

January 23, 2017

Happy 95th, Sam Mele!

Sam Mele, who won more than 500 games as manager of the Twins in the 1960s and guided them to the World Series in 1965, turned 95 on Saturday. Mele was born Jan. 21, 1922 in Astoria, New York. Before managing the Twins, Mele spent 10 seasons in the majors as a player, playing both... Continue Reading »

January 18, 2016

Sam Mele, who guided Twins to 1965 World Series appearance, turns 94 this week

Sam Mele, who won 524 games as manager of the Twins from 1961 to 1967, will celebrate his 94th birthday on Thursday. Mele’s tenure with the Twins wasn’t long, but after the Washington Senators relocated to Minnesota for the 1961 season, it also wasn’t long before the Twins showed improvement. Under Mele, the Twins won... Continue Reading »

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.