Bob Veale, a hard-throwing lefty for the Pittsburgh Pirates who led the majors in strikeouts in 1964 and finished second to Sandy Koufax in whiffs the following season, died last week. He was 89, the New York Times reported. When a major leaguer dies, particularly a pitcher, I usually check to see whether they ever... Continue Reading »

In “Facing Nolan,” a relatively new documentary about the Hall of Fame pitcher, Ryan, wild but effective in the early days of his career with the New York Mets, eventually was traded to the California Angels. When Ryan first learned that he was going to California, he thought he was on his way to the... Continue Reading »

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 »

Mudcat Grant, who won 145 games over a 14-year major league pitching career, including 21 wins for the World Series-bound Twins in 1965, died Saturday, the Twins announced. He was 85. Grant spent the bulk of his career with the Cleveland Indians, but he had his best season in 1965, helping the Twins win 102... Continue Reading »

As I have written before here, the 1973 Twins encountered a little bit of everything it seems. They swept the eventual World Series-winning Oakland A’s to start the season — and went 14-4 against the club the rest of the way — yet they had a losing record against the 91-loss Cleveland Indians, struggled as... Continue Reading »

A season after the Twins went to the World Series in 1965, they got off to a slow start and played mostly .500 ball. But there were signs the second half of the season might be different, particularly on June 9, 1966, when the Twins hosted the Kansas City A’s before only 9,600 fans. Curveballer... Continue Reading »

It was another day spent in these United States of America and another day spent on social media (sigh) when I came across a most enjoyable tweet: Artist Graig Kreindler had tweeted an image of one of his paintings. My painting of Sandy Koufax (born #OTD in 1935) about to finish his 3rd career no-no.... Continue Reading »

Former Twins ace Johan Santana, who last pitched in 2012, is on the Hall of Fame ballot for the first time in 2018. Since the ballot was released, a number of Twins bloggers have argued that Santana deserves to be enshrined due to similarities between his and Sandy Koufax’s Hall of Fame career. Yes, there... Continue Reading »

If you’re not a fan of the Twins, you’re probably reading this headline and thinking, “Are you kidding?” But if you are a fan of the Twins who also happened to watch Game 6 of the World Series between the Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers Tuesday night, then you probably enjoyed the confluence of... Continue Reading »