Catch Up With The Players Project: Royce Lewis, Bobby Darwin, & Jason Kubel

[Brock Beauchamp]

The Minnesota Twins Players Project is wrapping up its second week of existence. Here are the most popular players pages of the past week.

Two weeks ago we launched the Minnesota Twins Players Project. We're nearing 50 players added to the project, let's look at some of the most popular of the past week.

What is the Players Project? It's a community-driven, wiki-style project that focuses on Twins players of all stripes. It's open to all Twins Daily users and we've had contributions for current players, past players, and players who never even made the major leagues but played in the Twins farm system.

1. Royce Lewis
Kudos to @CoasterProductions for being the first person courageous enough to add a popular and/or great Twins player. Up until the creation of Lewis, no one had created a page for a player of his caliber. That means we still need someone to create pages for current greats like Byron Buxton, Pablo Lopez or Carlos Correa and past greats like Kirby Puckett, Kent Hrbek, Rod Carew, etc... *hint hint*

Unsurprisingly, the moment the Lewis page was created, it became wildly popular with users, collecting nearly 1,000 reads. But the page could use more video, trivia, and biography information. Feel up to the task?

---

2. Bobby Darwin
While I love seeing people collect cool videos for current Twins players, guys like Darwin are what really got me invested in this project. Did you know that Bobby Darwin received a single MLB plate appearance with the Angels at age 19 and then didn't make another MLB appearance for seven more years? That's the kind of oddity that I love about this project.

Props to @Greglw3 for digging up such an interesting tidbit on Darwin.

---

3. Jason Kubel
Man, what could have been with Kubel. Once a pretty athletic corner outfielder on the cusp of being an MLB All-Star, he grenaded his knee in the Arizona Fall League and was almost immediately relegated to designated hitter duties for the rest of his career. Still, who doesn't remember that grand slam against Mo Rivera?

While I created Kubel's page myself, a thanks goes out to @MMMordabito for coming back around and adding some interesting trivia I had forgotten, such as the fact that Kubel hit the first home run at Target Field!

 The Minnesota Twins Players Project is open to all Twins Daily users. If you're a Twins history buff or just want to dive into the background of your favorite player, come on board!

View full article

[bean5302]

I have to confess, these types of articles feel like a lot of work, and the guidance the team has provided on them actually drives that message home a bit. I haven't looked too deeply into it. Is there a youtube video or something which is kind of like a sped up/tutorial on how to create them you could share with people?

[Brock Beauchamp]

2 hours ago, bean5302 said:

I have to confess, these types of articles feel like a lot of work, and the guidance the team has provided on them actually drives that message home a bit. I haven't looked too deeply into it. Is there a youtube video or something which is kind of like a sped up/tutorial on how to create them you could share with people?

Here is a brief tutorial. As a long time TD user, you can skim several of the early parts.

 

[mikelink45]

No game today and Iowa lost so I am back in the box scores to see ex-Twins.  And starting with the Angels Miguel Sano 1 - 3 with 2 Ks.

Cano lost the game for the Orioles with  1 run in 2/3 inning but his era is 1.80

Gallo 0 for 3 with a strikeout

Kiner-Falefa 1 - 4 with 3 Ks - was he actually ever a Twin?

And who started for the Yankees - Gil 4.1 innings, 2 runs We traded him for Jake Cave

Steer 0 - 4 and Encarnacion-Strand 1 - 4 2Ks

Lopez pitches 1 inning and 0 runs

Rooker 0 - 2 with 2 Ks

Urshela 1 - 4 1 K

Randy Grossman 0 - 5 1K

Polanco 1 - 4 1 K

Luke Raley 0 - 4 1K

Arraez 4 - 5 0 Ks - he is spoiling my narrative.  One triple

Gordon 2 - 5 his second HR. - Our current leader is Royce Lewis with one on the IL

Rortvedt 1 - 3

LaMonte Wade 1 - 3 1 K

Who is doing better the players on the Twins or the players we no longer have?

 

[OBX 3 6 28 29 34]

Bobby Darwin! My cousin and I were huge Bobby D fans in the early 70s. I just looked him up on Baseball Reference and was surprised to see that he led the AL in K's 3 years in a row. Ha ha seems we forgave him those. Thanks for the memories!

[jkcarew]

Ahh…Bobby Darwin!

I remember those years when he was leading the league in K’s for the Twins while hitting 20 homers a year. Many claimed that he was unplayable. Shouldn’t be on the bench, let alone a starter. I was one of them.

His K% peaked at a little over 25% (among full Twins seasons)…and his career mark was 23.7%.

Today, he’d be at about $15M / year…and harolded as a guy with pop that can put the ball in play!!

[darwin22]

As a young Twins fans in the early 70s, Bobby Darwin was my favorite player.  Yes, he whiffed a lot, but over the course of 3 years (1972-74) he hit 65 HRs and averaged 88 RBI for Twins teams that were a combined 2 games over .500 for those 3 years.

Darwin, as many fans have forgotten, is the only player other than Harmon Killebrew to hit a HR into the second deck in left field at Metropolitan Stadium!

Great memories of Bobby D!