Kevin Slowey was Framed!

Hello Twins Daily! I haven't posted here in a long time, and I'll be honest, I miss it here. Also, I am not at TwinsFest today like seemingly everyone else, so I started to feel sad and nostalgic. I decided to create a top 10 favorite Twins list. But, that seemed kind of boring, so I added a little twist.

(originally published at Kevin Slowey was Framed!)

I have received two complaints in my entire life. 1. You don't illustrate enough. 2. You haven't made your 10 favorite Twins of all time clear enough. I plan to take care of both of those complaints in one fell swoop. I have drawn representative images of each of my 10 favorite Twins, using Paint. Each image portrays the player as I remember them. Some are portraits, some are scenes and some are more conceptual. I'll analyze the image and discuss the player as we count down from 10 to 1. I have only been a fan since about 1986, due to my inability to have been born and then form memories prior to that. Blame science if your favorite player is not on my list.

10. Jacque Jones



The image is a bit unsettling to me for some reason. My favorite Jacque Jones quirk happened only every so often, but it was great when it happened. He would get a ball in the outfield, rear back and then just rifle the ball straight into the ground. This is my artist's representation of that phenomenon. I always hoped the ball would burrow into the ground, but it usually just bounced off the Metrodome turf. This is probably one of the best images you are going to see in the series, so get settled in.

Jones was miscast as a lead-off hitter, but certainly had his moments. Whenever he would hit a home run Torii Hunter would seem to come up and swing out of his shoes trying to hit one too. Jones never walked much, but hit for high averages during his early years. He had a really great 2002, posting a 3.7 rWAR and helping the Twins make the playoffs for the first time in over a decade. I always liked him because he was smaller, he played hard and he seemed to enjoy himself. That is really all it takes for me.


9. Brad Radke



Oh dear, there is a lot to discuss here. This is a strike zone chart, I guess. I am trying to illustrate Radke's pinpoint control. See, the joke is that he only threw two balls his whole career! He did paint the corners, much as I did in this image. Now, Radke did not pitch only to strange alien-like creatures with extremely tiny arms and faces that look like they are being blown in a hurricane-strength wind. In fact, most of the hitters he faced did not have thinning hair. If he had, he may have been even better. As it were, Radke was an underrated pitcher during a hitters' heyday. His career ERA+ was 113, so he was statistically above-average. His final game was pitched on my 24th birthday. I celebrated the one-year anniversary of that event by renting a car.

There are 8 more players and 8 more truly terrible drawings. To see the rest of the list, please visit me at Kevin Slowey was Framed! It's a link, I promise it will be a short visit.