Article: Johan Santana Elected To Twins Hall of Fame

[Seth Stohs]

This afternoon at Target Field, the Minnesota Twins announced that Johan Santana has been elected to the Twins Hall of Fame.

 

Santana is the 31st person elected into the Twins Hall of Fame. The Hall of Fame ceremony will be on August 4th.The Twins drafted Jared Camp in the 1999 Rule 5 draft. Immediately they traded him to the Marlins in exchange for Johan Santana... and CASH.

 

After spending a couple of seasons in the Twins bullpen, Santana became the best pitcher in baseball for a three to five year period. He won the American League Cy Young Award in 2004 and 2006, and he should have won it in 2005 as well. He was an All Star in 2005, 2006 and 2007 with the Twins.

 

He led the American League in strikeouts, K/9, WHIP, FIP and ERA+ each of those years.

 

Before the 2008 season, Santana was traded to the New York Mets where he had two more good seasons before injuries cost him the rest of his career.

 

Johan Santana is still just 38-years-old.

 

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[Respy]

Amazing pitcher with a fire in his belly, yet a certain humbleness and respect for the game.  Several of my favorite Twins memories were with Johan on the mound, including the 17-strikeout game in 2007.  Absolutely dominant on many occasions.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

Congratulations to a great pitcher.

[jimmer]

My favorite Twins Pitcher of All Time

[drjim]

Easily my favorite Twin since the World Series teams. Would make plans to get to the Dome on days he pitched.

[USAFChief]

Congrats, and well deserved!

[spanman2]

He was worth the price of admission by himself on days he pitched.

[KirbyDome89]

 

He won the American League Cy Young Award in 2004 and 2006, and he should have won it in 2005 as well. 

Those 05' voting results are indefensible. It's still hard to look at Johan's numbers vs. the field that season. Im not sure if he would've made the HOF even with 3 straight Cy Young awards, but I doubt he'd be below 5% of the vote. 

[mikelink45]

I am very pleased with this.  I was starting to hope that the Twins would cool their HOF ballots for a few years because we are getting down to where just starting for the team was good enough.  Johan raises the bar.

[Nine of twelve]

8/23/2005 was one of my favorite Santana victories.

[DocBauer]

Tremendous pitcher and great Twin! Just too bad his arm fell off early. Really thought he might be on his way to a possible HOF career.

 

One of the great losses/mismanagement situations by the Twins; losing Hunter hurt a lot, and IMHO helped lead to the trade of Santana to upgrade over all talent and find a replacement CF. I still wonder what could have been had the Twins been more pro-active and found a way to keep both what might have been,

[Thrylos]

Congrats to Johan and well deserved.

 

Not having Knoblauch in the Twins' HOF is a travesty.

[old nurse]

 

Congrats to Johan and well deserved.

 

Not having Knoblauch in the Twins' HOF is a travesty.

Times change, what happened off the field matters.

[EddieMatthews]

My favorite memory (many times) was watching Johan set up his change-up and then throw it to a hitter.  So often it was on a two strike count, and either froze the hitter or the hitter flailed hopelessly.

 

Congrats Johan!

[Rosterman]

I always wondered "what if" he ahd remained a Twin. Back then, it was a $120 million 7-year deal for the guy. Should the Twins have grabbed at it? Did Johan really feel being on a bigger stage was more important then being the biggest fish in a small pond? Kudos that the Twins will add this guy to their Hall of Fame.

 

Now, Al Worthington, another worthy candidate.........

[jimmer]

 

I always wondered "what if" he ahd remained a Twin. Back then, it was a $120 million 7-year deal for the guy. Should the Twins have grabbed at it? Did Johan really feel being on a bigger stage was more important then being the biggest fish in a small pond? Kudos that the Twins will add this guy to their Hall of Fame.

 

Now, Al Worthington, another worthy candidate.........

Santana and a few others openly questioned management when they sold at the trade deadline in 2007 instead of buying.  Selling at the deadline was an odd move considering they had won the division 4 out of the previous 5 seasons. He asked why should he stay if the team was always going to look to the future and not help the team when it was time.  Nothing to do with the big stage and everything to do with Santana feeling like management was content to just compete for division titles.

[drjim]

Santana and a few others openly questioned management when they sold at the trade deadline in 2007 instead of buying. Selling at the deadline was an odd move considering they had won the division 4 out of the previous 5 seasons. He asked why should he stay if the team was always going to look to the future and not help the team when it was time. Nothing to do with the big stage and everything to do with Santana feeling like management was content to just compete for division titles.

How else would we the Twins have ushered in the Drew Butera era?

 

That was by far Ryan's worse year (and not coincidentally his last of the first run). Selling was a defensible move, but they should have gone all the way and set the team up for more sustained success beyond 2010. The half measures allowed Torii to walk for squandered draft picks and significantly decreased the Johan return. Plus a few other bit pieces that could have fetched a little something.

[Thrylos]

 

Times change, what happened off the field matters.

 

Why is Puckett still there then?

[Pius Jefferson]

Should have won three consecutive Cy Young awards. A giant f you to the writers who voted for Colon because he had more wins. 

[Nine of twelve]

Should have won three consecutive Cy Young awards. A giant f you to the writers who voted for Colon because he had more wins.

And to those who voted for Colon for any other reason as well.

[old nurse]

 

Why is Puckett still there then?

The issue is getting in. If you want to start a debate about removing people go ahead.  If you want to argue standards for persons vary on situation I would agree. Just look at people's voting habits in politics.

[sploorp]

Congrats Santana, you deserve it.  Maybe next year, Mudcat.

[Seth Stohs]

 

Congrats to Johan and well deserved.

 

Not having Knoblauch in the Twins' HOF is a travesty.

 

Knoblauch is in the Twins' Hall of Fame... he just didn't have a ceremony. But he is a Twins Hall of Famer. 

[Mr. Brooks]

Knoblauch is in the Twins' Hall of Fame... he just didn't have a ceremony. But he is a Twins Hall of Famer.

According to mlb.com, he's not.

And according to twinstrivia.com, he was elected, but not inducted, and is not a member of the Twins HOF. Fox Sports and Strib says the same.

Twinkie Town says this:

 

Update: It's been confirmed that it's not just the ceremony, it's also his actual placement in the Twins Hall of Fame.

 

Do you have a link or source for anything that says he's actually in?

[Seth Stohs]

 

According to mlb.com, he's not.
And according to twinstrivia.com, he was elected, but not inducted, and is not a member of the Twins HOF. Fox Sports and Strib says the same.
Twinkie Town says this:

Update: It's been confirmed that it's not just the ceremony, it's also his actual placement in the Twins Hall of Fame.

Do you have a link or source for anything that says he's actually in?

 

Nope, all I have is the press release, which says he's elected, but not inducted... So, i mean, it's just verbiage.

[Mr. Brooks]

Nope, all I have is the press release, which says he's elected, but not inducted... So, i mean, it's just verbiage.

You have to be inducted to be in. Induction does not just mean ceremony. Induction is the process of officially adding an electee to the hall.

He's not in the Twins HOF.

[Oldgoat_MN]

Twins Hall of Fame.

No mention of Knoblauch.

 

EDIT: per Twins Trivia: "Knoblauch is the first and only player to be elected to the Twins Hall of Fame but not inducted."