Celebrating Five Years Of Twins Daily

I think I speak for all of the owners when I say that I am proud of the Twins Daily site and the community that has grown over our first five years.

In May of 2003, SethSpeaks.net began. It started, in large part, thanks to the old Twins Geek site. Maybe some of you even remember the old Dickie Thon Twins Fan Forum. I figured I was a baseball guy with a lot of years of playing, but also a willingness to listen to other thoughts and ideas. At the time, SethSpeaks.net was a baseball blog, but I also wrote about basketball, football, movies, TV, and generally whatever I wanted. I figured that I wanted a site that represented me, and that would be something I would want to read. I just hoped eventually a few others might read and that we could discuss and share ideas.

Over time, SethSpeaks.net became much more TwinsCentric (hmmm… that’s an interesting name). I began diving further and further into the minor leagues. One of my favorite things to do on that site and on Twins Daily is doing Q&As with players, getting to know the minor leaguers. Of course, when I started doing that at SethSpeaks.net in the mid-’00s, things were different. I actually hand-wrote letters with questions for players and sent them to the minor league affiliates’ media relation types. I got responses from some players, including Kevin Slowey, Matt Garza and others. As we have moved ahead, social media has made it a lot easier.

I admit, sometimes I miss what SethSpeaks.net was. There were some great relationships that grew from e-mail (people can still e-mail me, my e-mail address is on this site, in my profile). But at Twins Daily, the community is wonderful (most of the time). Through our get togethers and through the events such as the Winter Meltdown, it has been wonderful getting to know so many of the Twins Daily readers. It’s always nice hearing people come up and introduce themselves and say Thank You. And, even more, it’s nice being able to say Thank You to our readers in person. And though that isn’t possible to say Thank You in person to everyone, well, you can read it here. I really do Thank You for all of the support, not only over the last five years, but the support I’ve felt for almost 13 years.

Being a part of Twins Daily has provided many opportunities. I know I’m looking forward to getting down to Ft. Myers again in March to cover the Twins and the minor league fields for our Reports from The Fort. The Twins have been very accepting of Twins Daily, and that means a lot and is very appreciated. It’s been wonderful to earn the respect (hopefully) of the terrific Twins beat writers. It’s been fun getting to work with people from each of the Twins affiliates, especially those in Cedar Rapids where I enjoy spending 3-4 days each summer too. It's been fun going to fantastic events like Twins Fest and the Diamond Awards.

I am proud to be a part of Twins Daily. Sure, it has had its ups and downs, as does everything, but I am proud.

The thing that I am most proud of is that I believe that Twins Daily is the go-to place online for Twins minor league information. I’m excited that we’ll be doing daily minor league reports again in 2017. We get tremendous feedback on those daily reports from our readers and I know that the players and their families enjoy reading them as well. Thank you to Jeremy Nygaard, Cody Christie, Eric Pleiss and Steve Lein for helping to write those. Also thank you to Steve Buhr in Cedar Rapids for his great Kernels articles.

And Jeremy Nygaard’s work makes Twins Daily the best spot for MLB (and Twins-specific) draft information.

I have always believed that the minor leaguers deserve credit for the work they put in. Those who have purchased the annual Twins Prospect Handbook know that it means a lot to me. That’s why I want to do Q&As and Get To Know ‘Em interviews with players, top prospects or not. They all deserve that.

It’s always fun for me to get to know players when they get drafted and watch them grow on and off the field. Many don’t get to the big leagues, but it’s always fun to see guys who put in their time get an opportunity in the big leagues.

Likewise, it has been a lot of fun to watch Twins Daily grow over the past five years. I think we are willing to try new things in the internet era, both on our site, on social media, and in our events. It’s been fun to watch how the site, the audience, the events and the fun has all grown.

I remember 1987 and 1991 very well. I enjoyed the years from 2001 through 2010. These last few years have been tough (which again makes me glad that I enjoy following the minor leagues!), but hopefully things will turn around, starting in 2017.

We are all Twins fans, first and foremost. Hopefully our passion shines through in our writing - whether it is positive or negative. Part of the allure of Twins Daily was that I wouldn’t have to write five or more times each week as I did at SethSpeaks.net.

Well, looking at the numbers, I’ve been still writing 5-10 articles every week. Why? Because I enjoy it.

So again, as we celebrate five years of Twins Daily, I just want to say thank you to everyone who makes this such a special place, a place I enjoy checking out many times each day.