Category: Jim Palmer

August 26, 2021

Twins beat Boston, Robles with late-inning blasts

On Tuesday, former Twins reliever Hansel Robles locked down his 11th save of the season in an 11-9 Red Sox win. On Wednesday, the Twins made sure that didn’t happen again. The Red Sox forced extra innings after they rallied to tie the game at 4-4. But in the top of the 10th, the Twins... Continue Reading »

May 23, 2020

About Ron Davis, one more time

In our slower, baseball-less world, except in South Korea, of course, I found myself staring at Twitter when a tweet popped up about a horrible Twins loss on May 13, 1985. Where did this happen? Where else? The Bronx, the site of so much Twins agony. On that spring night at Yankee Stadium, the Twins... Continue Reading »

January 20, 2019

The day a Twins rookie took the mound opposite Don Larsen, Harvey Haddix and Jim Palmer

As July turned to August, the 1965 Twins found themselves with a five-game lead in the American League heading into an Aug. 2 matchup against a good Baltimore Orioles team, according to Cool Of The Evening, a book by Jim Thielman about that pennant-winning season for the Twins. But rather than wait and let a rookie pitcher... Continue Reading »

December 17, 2018

Jim Palmer and the Hall of Fame case for Tony Oliva

Harold Baines, the longtime DH and outfielder for the Chicago White Sox, was inducted into the Hall of Fame last week, along with longtime Chicago Cubs reliever, Lee Smith. Smith’s enshrinement went down relatively easy for most baseball fans, but that was not the case for Baines as the twitterverse and blogosphere came up choking... Continue Reading »

December 30, 2015

New Billy Martin biography sheds light on Martin’s time with Twins

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 »

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.