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 »

A check of Twins Territory on social media shows that, although the Twins are once again not playing meaningful baseball in October, that hasn’t stopped fans from reminiscing about the past, including the team’s run to the World Series in October 1987. I got caught up in it as well, finally watching clips of the... Continue Reading »

Major League Baseball has pitched a new playoff proposal for the 2022 season and beyond, a plan that was unveiled this month and landed with an overwhelming thud. Many, I think, are supportive of expanding playoff opportunities to more teams, but a nationally televised seeding process where teams would pick who they play? That would... Continue Reading »

You need look no further than the Twins to see how much baseball has changed. I say that after Twins manager, Paul Molitor, was fired Tuesday. It’s a reminder that the young executives running baseball teams today, executives armed with numbers and statistics, are going to run them so that the formulas work. And if... Continue Reading »

Calvin Coolidge Ermer, who managed the Twins for part of 1967 and all of 1968, is one of 991 players in major league history to appear in one game, according to Baseball-Reference.com. That moment for Ermer, better known as a “cup of coffee” in baseball terms, came on Sept. 26, 1947 with the Washington Senators.... Continue Reading »

Long before Ron Gardenhire managed the Twins to six division titles between 2002 and 2014, Gardenhire — like a lot of big league skippers — had a brief career as a player. If you’d like to see Gardenhire in action as a second baseman for the New York Mets — the team he spent five... Continue Reading »

President Barack Obama delivered his final State of the Union address last week, reassuring Americans that the country remains in good shape, despite recent concerns about the economy and national security. The 2011 State of the Union address But this is a blog about one particular baseball team, so I ask: What’s the state of... Continue Reading »