The Twins Almanac: A Sports Illustrated Cover & Bert Blyleven is Traded Away

Saturday (11/2)
Our World Series Champion Minnesota Twins were on the cover of Sports Illustrated on this date in 1987. Can you name all the guys in this picture? Flex your Twins knowledge in the comments section at the bottom of the page.

Happy 50th birthday to one of my favorite Twins, Orlando Cabrera , born in Cartagena, Colombia in 1974.

Happy 36th birthday to 2007 Mounds View graduate and Golden Gophers all-time great Seth Rosin . He pitched in the majors for the Rangers in 2014 and Phillies in 2015.

The Twins signed him to a minor league contract in February 2017 but released him in March. He wound up posting a 0.511 WHIP and 0.00 ERA in 15 relief appearances with the St. Paul Saints that summer.

Happy 66th birthday to 1985 NL MVP Willie McGee. As great of a player as the two-time batting champion was, Twins fans may best remember him for the bouncing ball he hit to Gary Gaetti for the final out of the 1987 World Series.

Sunday (11/3)
Jack Hickey was born in Minneapolis on this date in 1881. He made two major league starts (one complete game) with the Cleveland Naps in 1904, giving up 13 runs (10 earned) on 14 hits and 11 walks over 12.1 innings pitched.

He is one of at least eight Minnesotans featured in the 1909–11 Obak (T212) set, which was like a West Coast companion to the T206 set of Honus Wagner fame. 

After tying Tom Glavine for the MLB lead with 17 losses, the Twins traded Bert Blyleven, along with Kevin Trudeau, to the Angels for Paul Sorrento and two others on this date in 1988. (Trudeau was born in Forest Lake, Minnesota, but his family moved to California when he was nine.)

Bert was named AL Comeback Player of the Year in 1989. He won 17 games, led the AL with five shutouts, and finished fourth in Cy Young balloting. His 6.0 bWAR was second in the league to Cy Young-winner Bret Saberhagen. 

Are you interested in Twins history? Then check out the Minnesota Twins Players Project, a community-driven project to discover and collect great information on every player to wear a Twins uniform!