They Played for the Love of the Game Untold stories of black baseball in Minnesota By Frank White This is the third book written about black baseball in Minnesota which might be an indication of how important this was to the history of Minnesota and the history of Baseball. Frank White, a St Paul native, is a perfect writer for this topic. His father, Louis Pud White, was an outstanding, if little remembered catcher in the baseball leagues as evidenced by Buck O’Neil, and he was a friend of
As you probably know, if you have been ready my blogs, I like the stories that are part of the lore and history of baseball more than the gold rush for free agents. Maybe it is because I am old I like to think about players who really loved the game and not the agents and owners. I recognize the talent and the ability of the Hall of Famers and even those who struggle for years in the minors without making it to the big spotlight. In fact I have my own strange sense of hall of fame with deaf,
In 1961 Minnesota joined the ranks of Major League Baseball and the National Football League. It might be hard to believe today, but before that there were no Twins and Vikings in the state history, unless you buy the story of the Rune Stone in Alexandria and those Vikings might have tossed rocks, but not footballs. There has never been another year like this in Minnesota sports history and happily I can say I was there – both as a high school sophomore at Central High School in Minneapolis an
Why haven’t we had a cowboy movie or series about baseball? It did occur in the old and wild west. We know that Bat Masterson and Wyatt Earp refereed boxing matches and Bat Masterson went on to NY to be a sports writer. But who talks about baseball in the old west? Baseball spread throughout the Old West around the late 1840s, and in 1869, the Cincinnati Red Stockings—America’s first professional team—departed westward from St. Louis on a rail tour. In describing their game with the local Eagl
I do not know how to make this case for TD except in this short blog. I love the ability to discuss, debate and disagree without antagonism. As you have seen and responded to - I am the anti Darvish guy, at least in years 3 and beyond and the likes and the responses have been wonderful. This is what a sight like this is best at doing. I choose to be the contrarian and I have tried to express that as many ways as I can. Should I pull all of my statements together here? But that is not my poin
I have hardly been able to keep up with all the free agents signings this winter. Kaat, Cuddyer, Morneau, join Hawkins and Hunter - and I almost forgot Eddie Guardado who will probably be joined in our front office bullpen by Glen Perkins soon. it is like an all star team! Is Johann next? http://m.twins.mlb.com/roster/coaches I have never seen so many coaches or so many special assistants - the team front office should be able to beat any other front office in a game! And I cannot begin to e
In the past baseball was a path out of the ghettos for Irish, Italians, Jewish, Germans...Today immigrants still need to learn baseball. In an era when we are wasting money on walls and deportations, one of the best ways to get into our nation is to be able to hit a baseball over the wall. In 2013 Fox News ran this story http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2013/04/03/over-28-percent-players-were-foreign-born-in-mlb-opening-day.html that 28% of the players in MLB were immigrants. The Dominican Republic
It’s the Hall of Fame selection, not the president of the United States that is being chosen. Its time for all the sabrematricians and the modern sports writers to get off their rocking horses and forget the angst. Jack Morris is in the Hall of Fame. He almost made it in the regular selection process and should have if I chose, but there was no hesitation on the veteran committee. He is in because he was a big game pitcher. He was the head of the rotation, he played for good teams and made
In a recent post there was a lot of reflection about Gordon being listed as only our eighth best prospect and it got me thinking about how we look at these lists and what is the difference between #2 and #8. Gordon at 8 is fine with me.I think his second half decline raised questions about the validity of the first half.Each year the reviews and reports seem to have a slightly less optimistic look at Gordon.It appears to me, if I combine the various TD and other reports that he will be a fine
With Justin Morneau returning to Minnesota it just seems to fulfill destiny. The Canadians have only two teams – Toronto (officially) and that offshoot of Ontario called Minnesota with the Twins (Jumeaux). Canada should celebrate both and we should take pride in straddling the border with both temperature and hockey to welcome our northern kin. Morneau was a natural and Colorado was just a blip on his resume. Now he is coming back home. Welcome Justin – you can let your o’s get longer and slip
Ah, New Years, time for resolutions that will last a week or two. Let’s lose all our extra pounds, work out more, be smarter, be more beautiful… Well it is a time of reflection which is good and it is a time for hope. And no sport is better situated to take advantage of hope than baseball. Hockey and basketball are in the middle of their never-ending seasons and football just eliminated hope for over half their teams with the playoffs about to begin. But baseball is in the smoky haze of the hot
Maybe it was seeing Bo Jackson on a commercial, looking like a younger version of George Foreman that got me thinking about two sport athletes, maybe it is the big deal that is being made over Ohtani being a two way pitcher/hitter in the major leagues, or perhaps it was looking at the baseball cards from my old favorite Milwaukee Braves, but suddenly I was thinking about athletes, baseball players, who actually excelled in two sports at the major league level. Not the Michael Jordan type of athl
Last night I was doing research for a lecture I am going to give when I guide a trip to Nashville next fall. Nashville is most famous for the Grand Ole Opry and performers like Bill Monroe so I was looking at the history of Blue Grass – Monroe is the acknowledged creator of this form of music – and all of a sudden I was into baseball. Hard to imagine, but when a lecturer and college instructor begins researching the path can lead a number of directions. The passage from the book, Bluegrass, b
Boy were the times different. Isn’t that Lounge singer Denny McLain? Why is Bobby Veach mining for Coal between seasons. When comparing athletes from different generations there so many obstacles that statistics just cannot stand up. When someone quotes WAR for a player from the first half of the twentieth century to compare them with current players I have to believe that the person doing so knows it is a ridiculous exercise. It was not only how they were used in the games, the equipment, train
We have all heard the complaints (legitimate to me) about the use of names like Redskins, Indians, and Braves professional sports teams. I will not go into the reason these are offensive and the degrees of offensiveness attached to each. What I am interested in is where the Indians are when it comes to the ball field. The photo I have put up with this is from my relatives in WI. I found the following list of American Indian professional players - http://www.baseball-almanac.com/legendary/ameri
I read the announcement that the Twins were going back on to WCCO and I was delighted. It did not get as much attention now as it would have 30 years ago (of course they were on WCCO then) but that is because TV and all the cable networks have changed the way that we enjoy the game. Growing up in Minneapolis in the 1950's I would take my little transistor radio to bed with me and hide under the pillows to listen to Earl Gillespie and Blaine Walsh tell me about the Milwaukee Braves game. In the
I remember my Grandpa's hands. They were so big that when we arm wrestled they would wrap around my hand and over lap and people thought I had big hands. He had hands from being a lumberjack, from working as a fireman on the Iron range railroad, but he might have had big hands because he played country ball. He pitched, he caught, he played what ever was needed. He was not great, my uncles moved into various paid ball clubs, but grandpa always played and I was young and he was old and still he w
https://www.si.com/more-sports/2011/07/01/kaplan-spahnmarichalToday I was motivated by reading an article on ESPN by Bradford Doolittle - hitting the reset on pitcher wins http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/21439977/hitting-reset-button-starting-pitcher-wins-baseball As a baseball fan who started out rooting for Warren Spahn, Lew Burdette, Hank Aaron, and Eddie Mathews of the Milwaukee Braves and then moving over to the new Twins as an usher for their first season my views are tainted by histo
Minnesota Twins: Royce Lewis recalled James outman DFA'ed Per Aaron Gleeman. Lewis slashed .303/.443/.900 in his short stint in St Paul. While outman struggled at the plate. Lewis has been open and is expected to play 1st and 2 base in the long term.
I am not a follower of Donald Trump. I have participated in several no kings rallies and am disgusted with what he and his followers have done to our country and the world. I would like to know what most Brazilians feel about the United States now and about the folks our citizens have elected to represent us.
Minnesota Twins: Royce Lewis recalled James outman DFA'ed Per Aaron Gleeman. Lewis slashed .303/.443/.900 in his short stint in St Paul. While outman struggled at the plate. Lewis has been open and is expected to play 1st and 2 base in the long term.· 0 replies
hello Seth......you'll wanna correct the date in headline of today's minor league report. :-) Brad· 0 replies
I am not a follower of Donald Trump. I have participated in several no kings rallies and am disgusted with what he and his followers have done to our country and the world. I would like to know what most Brazilians feel about the United States now and about the folks our citizens have elected to represent us.· 1 reply
