Josh Donaldson Says Minnesota Fans “Don’t Even Care” About Baseball

[ziggy]

2 hours ago, Church of Kreidler said:

I think one of the things that can hurt the Twins is that Twins Territory is big! I live in ND, and so I can only get to maybe one game a year. That doesn't make me less of a fan, just less willing to make the drive down 94... And can you blame me...

Hey, do me a favor and count the number of threshing machines along the route. I was always going to Bulau but kept falling asleep when the mrs drove.

[Seth Stohs]

10 hours ago, BobAzar said:

Not saying he's wrong, but he played here in 2020 and 2021 (no fans at all, and gradually allowing more fans to come into target field). so, not exactly "normal baseball" games. 

Yeah, this is a fairly important point to make... Dude is a moron.

Rocco and Falvey and the team and the clubhouse must have cared the year before he got there when they won 101 games. 

[ziggy]

I think part of the issue is Minnesotans are know for being passive aggressive. So we aren't agressively applauding the opening lineup nor are we booing struggling players. I don't see that as a bad thing.

Also we don't acknowledge the 250 foot pop fly ball nor the player jogging into 2nd base or down the first base line with boos. If he wanted more passion he would be guilty of deserving several boos for those types of plate appearances.

[chpettit19]

4 hours ago, tarheeltwinsfan said:

CH I would enjoy an article  or a series of articles by you about your experiences at 27 different ball parks this season. Any chance you will go to the final 3 stadiums before the season is over. Was this a one time bucket list or do you travel a lot frequently? Have you been to spring training? Completely different atmosphere for the fans. 

The intention was to do a series of articles throughout the summer, but life had other plans. I'll do one at the end of the season summarizing all my adventures. I'll get to all 30 this summer. Did spring training and the WBC as well. Has been quite the adventure.

[knothole61]

13 hours ago, DJL44 said:

Minnesotans will sell out the arena for a bad NHL team but won’t fill the stadium for a good MLB team.

The Wild play in an arena of about 18,000 capacity and the Twins in a stadium with about 40,000 seats...just saying. But you're not wrong--Minnesota is hockey country.

[knothole61]

9 hours ago, sampleSizeOfOne said:

Yup. I'm a fan of Minnesota.

It is a fine state which has a representative professional baseball team.

Does it gather a disproportionate of my attention than other activities? Yeah, most of the time. Am i outspoken on the subject? Pretty much only on this forum. Do i spend money to indulge or express my fandom? Again, very rarely and most of it is on this site.

So i am not sure what would make me a good fan in Mr. Donaldson's estimation. But i do a finely cultivated apathy. And will invoke it regarding Mr. Donaldson's opinion. I hope he's happy being right in this one instance. 

I'd even go one step further (and could be speaking for others besides myself, i don't know) to say i am not sure i care if i care.

sample, I've been trying to understand your avatar for years now--can you help me out? And by the way, I agree with you about Mr. Donaldson.

[olerud]

 Donaldson--"Everything analytics no reasoning." I 100% agree with his assessment about that time period of the management!!!!!!

[DanFordWasThe Man]

True. While we have a lot of very passionate fans, I would have to agree Minnesotans as a group tend to care about a ton of other things in life more than baseball.

On the other hand, Josh Donaldson doesn't care that much about anything else other than Josh Donaldson.

[LewFordLives]

20 hours ago, Tibs said:

I love the Twins. I love Target Field. I love going to games.

Simply put, the atmosphere for regular season games is not good. A lot of fans can't even be bothered to stand up and clap for the starting lineup. A large portion of fans aren't paying attention to the game whatsoever.
 

Everything you said is true, although it wasn't always like this. I can remember people going nuts when Kirby Puckett's name came up in the lineup at the Metrodome and the early days of Target Field could get raucous with Mauer, Morneau, and Dozier. 

Over time, the air goes out of the balloon when 

1. The fans perceive the club has next to zero chance of making the playoffs, and

2. They don't recognize most of the names in the lineup on a given day. 

[tarheeltwinsfan]

9 hours ago, chpettit19 said:

The intention was to do a series of articles throughout the summer, but life had other plans. I'll do one at the end of the season summarizing all my adventures. I'll get to all 30 this summer. Did spring training and the WBC as well. Has been quite the adventure.

ch  I am looking forward to reading more about your adventures this baseball season.  What a great series of trips to the different venues. I am envious , but at 81, I don't have the energy to  do what you are doing. I will have to live vicariously through your forthcoming articles. 

[Coach JT]

Donaldson was bitter we gave him away for a bag of peanuts. The question is how do the twins get fans interested? Have a plan maybe? Great pitching, great fielding and hit for avg hitters/on base guys. The Brewers have given us the blue print for years and we refuse to follow. A couple power hitters sprinkled into line up. 

[Larry Tiernan]

Josh Donaldson played in Minnesota in the 2020 and 2021 seasons.  Due to Covid, there were no fans allowed during the 60-game 2020 season and attendance was restricted thru June of the 2021 season. During his 1.5 seasons as a Twin he missed a lot of time due to injuries, including the 2020 playoffs.  He provided no veteran leadership, proven by his selfish behavior to get thrown out of a game against the White Sox after hitting a HR and disrespecting the home plate umpire.

I hated the free agent signing that brought him to MN and I celebrated the trade to NY that got him out of MN.  

IMO, Twins fans care deeply about baseball, they just don't give a crap about Josh Donaldson. 

Edited 22 hours ago by Richie the Rally Goat
Circumvented swear filter

[killercarewoliva]

23 hours ago, DJL44 said:

Baseball is the #4 sport in this market after football, hockey and basketball. 

well that's just shameful. Yes, I do remember the last goalie to play without a mask and a set of North Stars Gump Worsley but that doesn't mean anything at all. any sport ever devised by mankind is better than baseball. nothing is it's the one and only perfect game. Glenn Perkins. he had a season. he couldn't play at all. as a closer he was making $6 million. yes, I assume he took the money but he said I don't understand why you should get paid if you're not playing. be difficult to find a player from any team that would even make that comment. it is a money game. this is not high school. this is not college. this is where people leave their families gone from home 3 months out of six. otherwise why would they do it well for the love of the game? yeah, but you can for the love of the game in your backyard, you don't need to travel. when I see people wearing crazy stuff like on TV at the football game, these are grown men going out there making a complete fool of themselves like those dudes in Oakland used to be. hey guy, you're spending what $1,000 for the afternoon. the guys on the field are laughing at you all the way to the bank and you show up for the draft day really. Go spend time with your family.. there are baseball people let me say that's not killerbrew oliva Carew like Clemente and Aaron and Willie Mays. Bert blylevin made $9,000 one season. Jim Cox made $13,000 one season. The guy in Philadelphia. Bryce, what's his last name? $30 million in one season and if you try to change the rules, you'll take his fists and slap the commissioner to the ground. here's the thing sir. people pay huge money. you want them to double their $300 average price ticket in a given stadium and pay $600 to see you play so you can make $60 million a season. you think that's good? I haven't thought of a word to use to call you on. it's not going to be your first name. well y'all have a nice day. if anybody wants to reply to that, sometimes I can't get your reply. I tap on that little thing doesn't always come up. ticket should be 10% of what they are and everybody would still make a fortune

[JD-TWINS]

22 hours ago, ashbury said:

If you've ever lived in a "good baseball town" you'll at least understand where he's coming from.

And still, a player just doesn't, doesn't, doesn't, doesn't, doesn't say the quiet part out loud.  It serves no purpose.

Typical Josh Donaldson pot-stirring.

I’ve lived in Cincinnati since the Spring of ‘91. Reds had won in ‘90 & Twins won in ‘91 ….. I was experiencing Baseball Nirvana.

10 years later most people thought the Twins were getting contracted by MLB, with Carl’s help.

The Reds draw when they win - they draw when St. Louis - Cubs - Pirates - Guardians are in town because visiting fans buy half of the seats that are sold.

CINCINNATI is a self proclaimed “baseball town” …… oldest franchise in MLB …… Opening Day always kicked off here FIRST each year. Fans here, due to mediocre Management & Ownership spending, have been ambivalent for 30 years,……they still live on the cost-tails of “The Big Red Machine”! Team has been occasionally competitive - mostly below mid-line of the NL.

The attendance here, outside of Season Tickets that are sold with seats left vacant, is embarrassing. Tuesdays they sell Bud for $3 - hot dogs for $2 - ice cream for $1. Essentially the only way to get adults under 35 out to a game.

Win, and they will come. …….. that’s small market baseball all over the country.

[sstolen]

22 hours ago, Tibs said:

I love the Twins. I love Target Field. I love going to games.

Simply put, the atmosphere for regular season games is not good. A lot of fans can't even be bothered to stand up and clap for the starting lineup. A large portion of fans aren't paying attention to the game whatsoever.

You can go to other stadiums and this is not the case. It's not an excuse of the team not being good either. Before the last couple seasons when we were actually competing for/winning the division Target Field has had plenty of empty seats.

Yes, baseball fans at other stadiums aren't all paying attention to every single pitch. There's still an energy around the game that you can feel being in the crowd.

It bums me out a bit because Target Field is such a nice field. It has a lot going for it that other places don't. The atmosphere just isn't there.

Then stay home 

[sampleSizeOfOne]

10 hours ago, knothole61 said:

sample, I've been trying to understand your avatar for years now--can you help me out? And by the way, I agree with you about Mr. Donaldson.

It's just an old children's book i read as a kid, I suppose i could have also selected any number of Theodor Geisel publications, or also Mike mulligan's steam shovel, "are you my mother?", or if slightly older demographic, Frank Baum or the Mother Westwind series. But the ball seemed to fit with baseball, if not explicitly, and when joined TD and selected the avatar, i had relatively recently taken up playing tuba. So it seemed an appropriate if obscure reference. (and in some fashion, obscurity is a bonus) but it did seem doubly appropriate during the era where we wrote game thread intros, and i tried to pick up the slack, and it so happened that i was in a parade that day, and hurriedly typing something up while waiting for step off.

 

Thanks for asking.

[saviking]

Then who were thise imposters in the stands waving home hankys and sending the decibels through the roof. 

[sampleSizeOfOne]

4 minutes ago, saviking said:

Then who were thise imposters in the stands waving home hankys and sending the decibels through the roof. 

That would explain why they saved on a roof for target field...

[weitz41]

Sound like a bitter old man...Wait...I'm speaking from experience. YOU kids..GET off may lawn!!

[ashbury]

1 hour ago, JD-TWINS said:

I’ve lived in Cincinnati since the Spring of ‘91. Reds had won in ‘90 & Twins won in ‘91 ….. I was experiencing Baseball Nirvana.

10 years later most people thought the Twins were getting contracted by MLB, with Carl’s help.

The Reds draw when they win - they draw when St. Louis - Cubs - Pirates - Guardians are in town because visiting fans buy half of the seats that are sold.

CINCINNATI is a self proclaimed “baseball town” …… oldest franchise in MLB …… Opening Day always kicked off here FIRST each year. Fans here, due to mediocre Management & Ownership spending, have been ambivalent for 30 years,……they still live on the cost-tails of “The Big Red Machine”! Team has been occasionally competitive - mostly below mid-line of the NL.

The attendance here, outside of Season Tickets that are sold with seats left vacant, is embarrassing. Tuesdays they sell Bud for $3 - hot dogs for $2 - ice cream for $1. Essentially the only way to get adults under 35 out to a game.

Win, and they will come. …….. that’s small market baseball all over the country.

I'm glad you pointed out Cincy.  They're an important example and no theory is complete without taking it into account.  (Whatever "theory" I have is half-formed and less than half-baked anyway.)

I pulled up a table (shown below) comparing W-L rankings versus attendance rankings across the last 20 seasons.  There is indeed a very strong correlation between winning and attendance.  The Reds happen to fit exactly to that pattern - 21st in winning percentage, 21st in attendance.

Statisticians always warn that correlation is not causation. You can say "build a winning team and the fans will come."  I could be contrary, given a century-plus of baseball history to build on, and put it the other way around to say that if a city supports its team they'll be rewarded with winners.  The truth?  Possibly somewhere in between.  What I don't like about "win and they will come" is that it's awfully transactional - "we give you this and you give this to us in return" - when pro sports are (or should be) about love and excitement instead.

Also, attendance is not the only measure of fan engagement, and neither is equivalent to team profitability.  I mention this just to keep clear the limitations of trying to do an amateur study.

Anyhoo, the blue and red symbols in the table highlight the biggest outliers.  Despite consistent winning teams the past two decades, Cleveland hasn't supported the Guardians.  It's interesting if Cleveland fans will travel southwest to watch their team play an interleague game but not attend at home. (Yes, I know, Ohio is very regional so we're talking about Dayton and Columbus fans and so forth.)   I'm sure MLB has been studying their situation for years, and would have a solution if there was one.  FWIW that home-attendance history flies in the face of my one bit of anecdotal evidence - I went to a game in Cleveland late last month and the Friday night crowd (against the non-bitter-rival Diamondbacks) was large and enthusiastic - remaining so even in the final innings after an 8th inning bullpen meltdown. 

The Phillies and Rockies are the biggest ones in the other direction.  Philadelphia is a large city and they're quirky so that one doesn't interest me too much as anything the Twins could learn from. But what eldritch magic does the Colorado FO have that pulls fans in to see the woeful product they put on the field?  That needs to be bottled and shared.

Have to mention the Brewers of course.  They also demonstrate you don't have to win to draw.

Back to Donaldson's point about the Minnesota Twins - the Twin Cities do not shine in this table.  The team is 15th in wins, but only 18th in attendance.  They are not as bad about this as the Athletics or Rays, but then again you don't want to be mentioned in the same breath with basket cases.  No table is going to give a good picture of the atmosphere at the ballyard - in my experience Red Sox fans lean forward and shout "we're here to have fun," while Twins fans sit back and say "entertain me."

I'm sure there is much more to be gleaned than I mentioned, but I don't plan to make this into a big undertaking for myself.  Here is the table.  Thanks for the nudge.

 

attendance rank compared with the winning-percentage rank:

Team	W–L % rank	Attendance rank	Difference	Attendance / win*
Dodgers	1	1	0	~38,500
Yankees	2	2	0	~33,400
Red Sox	3	4	+1	~32,900
Cardinals	4	3	−1	~35,100
Braves	5	10	+5	~28,700
Guardians	6	29	+23 🔴	~20,100
Astros	7	13	+6	~28,500
Rangers	8	12	+4	~29,200
Giants	9	8	−1	~31,600
Angels	10	9	−1	~31,200
Cubs	11	6	−5	~32,600
Mets	12	5	−7	~33,500
Tigers	13	15	+2	~28,900
Blue Jays	14	14	0	~29,200
Twins	15	18	+3	~27,600
Mariners	16	16	0	~28,200
Athletics	17	25	+8	~23,800
Padres	18	11	−7	~30,500
Diamondbacks	19	22	+3	~26,100
Phillies	20	7	−13 🔵	~33,700
Reds	21	21	0	~26,700
Nationals	22	24	+2	~25,100
Brewers	23	17	−6	~28,800
Rays	24	28	+4	~22,500
Orioles	25	23	−2	~26,500
White Sox	26	19	−7	~28,700
Pirates	27	27	0	~24,300
Marlins	28	30	+2	~19,400
Royals	29	26	−3	~25,000
Rockies	30	20	−10 🔵	~29,000

[tarheeltwinsfan]

1 hour ago, sstolen said:

Then stay home 

Staying home in protest of low attendance compounds the problem.

[Craig Arko]

18 minutes ago, ashbury said:

when pro sports are (or should be) about love and excitement instead.

That’s a better description of amateur sports. Pro sports, at least in the U.S., are about money, ratings, and gambling. Oh, and money.

Kind of sad, isn’t it? And it’s dragging amateur sports along in its wake.

[ashbury]

7 minutes ago, Craig Arko said:

That’s a better description of amateur sports. Pro sports, at least in the U.S., are about money, ratings, and gambling. Oh, and money.

Kind of sad, isn’t it? And it’s dragging amateur sports along in its wake.

I phrased it that way knowing and expecting some pushback.  But the 1987 and 1991 champions would hold far less meaning if there wasn't KIRRRBEEE PUCKETT!!! during the down seasons.

[Craig Arko]

9 minutes ago, ashbury said:

I phrased it that way knowing and expecting some pushback.  But the 1987 and 1991 champions would hold far less meaning if there wasn't KIRRRBEEE PUCKETT!!! during the down seasons.

Understood, and agreeable. Those were admirable times.

[IndianaTwin]

12 hours ago, chpettit19 said:

The intention was to do a series of articles throughout the summer, but life had other plans. I'll do one at the end of the season summarizing all my adventures. I'll get to all 30 this summer. Did spring training and the WBC as well. Has been quite the adventure.

I’ll look forward to the series and I’m sure you’ll cover this then, but how many trips did you do? Lots of one-offs or were you able to string a lot together?

[ashbury]

1 hour ago, IndianaTwin said:

I’ll look forward to the series and I’m sure you’ll cover this then, but how many trips did you do? Lots of one-offs or were you able to string a lot together?

The mathematician in me wants to threadjack this into a discussion of the Traveling Salesman Problem.  😁

[Senior Softball Guy]

On 8/14/2026 at 12:53 PM, Cris E said:

Donaldson is a tool. I started writing about him and just stopped. It's better for my spirit to just leave him aside. 

I think the Saints suck up a fair amount of the baseball oxygen in the Twin Cities. Few MLB cities share space with a high quality minor league team, and I'm not sure there's enough baseball fanaticism in this market to cover 7000 cheap fun seats that showcase top prospects while still filling Target Field.  You can see a lot of the top talent from good seats for a third of the cost of the Twins. (Or less. I saw Jenkins hit 2 HR and Kulpepper's last game in St Paul last week for a $10 walk-around ticket on a Thursday $2 beer night.) It'll take a good team in Minneapolis to overcome that, and honestly it hasn't happened lately. 

A good point. I would add that we have 10,000 lakes, the best WNBA team, Gopher sports, NBA, NFL, NHL teams as well as the Loons! St. Louis has the Blues (and the blues) and the Cardinals. KC has the Royals and Chiefs. Thus said, I went to the final Coors Field games (ticket price $1) and watched a full house cheer on the worst team in baseball.

[TheLeviathan]

Donaldson looks and sounds like the kind of guy that doesn't put his shopping cart away after grocery shopping and whose wife always seems to be crying when she gets out of the giant pickup he bought to overcompensate.

[IndianaTwin]

3 hours ago, ashbury said:

The mathematician in me wants to threadjack this into a discussion of the Traveling Salesman Problem.  😁

Could the mathematician in you bump the pixel count up a little? 😀

[Coach]

My observation was, no one ever hung around him in the dugout.