As I noted in my previous post, the Twins, although they couldn’t pitch in 1996, they certainly could hit and score runs, racking up 877 of them by season’s end. Not only did they score a lot of runs, they also came in bunches, including on April 24 when the Twins scored a team record... Continue Reading »

Twins manager Rocco Baldelli, who turned 44 on Sept. 25, received an unwelcome gift of sorts after he was sent packing on Monday, ending his seven-year tenure as manager of the club. Baldelli was the third winningest manager of the Twins behind Tom Kelly and Ron Gardenhire at 527-505. After he was first hired, he... Continue Reading »

It crossed my mind, I looked it up and there it was: Fernando Valenzuela, who died last week at the much too young age of 63, faced the Twins twice in his 17-year career and beat them both times, getting complete game victories on July 18, 1993, and again on July 23 at the Metrodome.... Continue Reading »

It’s back to back one-run wins for the Twins, this time a 4-3 victory over the Texas Rangers on Friday after edging the Rangers 3-2 the day before. Incredibly, the Twins had one less hit in Friday’s win than they did on Thursday, but let’s just say they got more bang for their buck because... Continue Reading »

Earlier this season I wrote a short news obit about former Twins player David McCarty who died at the much too young age of 54. For that obit, I tried to find some quotes about him from years ago, and I did, discovering some comments made by former Twins manager Tom Kelly. Kelly had this... Continue Reading »

The other day I wrote about a Twins’ Billy Martin baseball card that I recently discovered. What I didn’t mention is that I also came across what I will call a Scott Erickson action pack, complete with baseball card, poster and an Erickson action figure. Unfortunately, Erickson has been in the news of late for... Continue Reading »

Pat Mahomes’ son Patrick is headed to his second Super Bowl as the quarterback of the Kansas City Chiefs. But what about his old man? What were the Super Bowl-like moments for the former Twins pitcher who spent five of his 11 major league seasons in Minnesota? Well, there weren’t many, largely, it appears, because... Continue Reading »

Inspiration for this blog comes in many forms. This time, of all things, I ordered some stationery via eBay and it arrived wrapped in the front page of the Sept. 16, 1998, edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Who was on the front page? Who else? Mark McGwire after he connected for his 63rd home... Continue Reading »

Nineteen years ago the Oakland A’s were the talk of baseball, a franchise that had seemingly found a magic elixir that allowed them to win and win often with the tiniest of payrolls. A year later author Michael Lewis explained it all in a best-seller called “Moneyball.” Baseball would never be the same. Surprisingly, Lewis... Continue Reading »