Weave

According to my mother, my first word was “go.” I’m not sure I buy it, but if it’s true it certainly explains my predilection for travel. My first MLB game was in 1987 and after moving to Minnesota in 1998, I fell in love with the game. It was almost inevitable my love of baseball and travel would intersect, although I’m not sure when I started intentionally marking off stadiums. Before the season was suspended from the virus, I’d planned to close out seeing all 30 active stadiums in September 2020 when the Twins visit the San Diego Padres. The new Rangers stadium is also in limbo for July. Everyone needs to keep washing their hands and maintaining proper social distance so I can get back to flying and hanging out with 30,000 people on a nightly basis. In the meantime, I decided to take a trip down memory lane and finally finish my write up my experience at each stadium.

National League East


Atlanta Braves
 
Turner Field
 


 
My first visit was June 6, 2006 Washington Nationals at the Braves. It was a work trip and a group decided to go see a game. Former Twin Matthew LeCroy was playing for the Nationals at the time. Future Twin Jon Rauch also appeared for the Nationals.
I would later be back in Atlanta the summer of 2011 for a work project and attend multiple games, including an August 12, 2011 game when they retired Bobby Cox’s number. I have a Dan Uggla bobblehead from that summer too. It’s only selling on ebay for around $20 eight years later so guess I won’t be retiring early with that gem. The Chipper Jones bobblehead from the same series is going for $36 so if you rate it by hits per dollar, Chipper is a better deal.
Turner was fine and close to the airport and downtown which was convenient for me as a visiting fan in those days. But the concourses weren’t open and it hadn’t been maintained all that well by 2011. There weren’t many premium areas either. The Braves closed it five years later and moved to the suburbs where the money was. Trivia tidbit – If you look closely you can spy Turner, now known as Georgia State Stadium, in episodes of IFC’s Brockmire.
 
SunTrust Park (now Truist)
 


By the time SunTrust was built, I was consciously trying to get to all active stadiums, but hadn’t managed to find a time to get back to Atlanta when the Braves were in town. Fortunately a work trip to Atlanta popped up in August of 2018 while the Braves were hosting the Rockies. If they’re going to force me to watch pitchers bat, at least I didn’t have to spring for the plane ticket. The stadium is new and fine and in the middle of a new and fine manufactured village. Parking is not great or cheap, it’s still hot and humid in Georgia, and they didn’t put a roof on it, but there are plenty of premium areas so if you have the money you can get some AC. It has a really nice kids’ area and picnic tables around the concourses so it’s a family friendly park if you can afford the tickets. Pics and more on Twitter. Since I was there in 2018, they’ve unfortunately changed the name to Truist Park.
 
Miami Marlins
 
Marlins Park
 


I’ve been to Florida a zillion times and I’ve seen probably a hundred baseball games there, but until the 2017 All Star Game, they’d all been spring training or MiLB. The Twins were headed to Houston after the ASG break and Royce Lewis was in Fort Myers at GCL so I decided to get two stadiums off my list and squeeze in some MiLB with a Miami-Fort Myers-Houston trip.
My first impression of Marlins Park was it looks like a spaceship from the highway. I made it into town in time for the home run derby and saw the ASG the next night. It was July in Miami so the roof was closed both days, mercifully. Inside the stadium isn’t particularly remarkable, but the bobblehead collection is pretty cool and it was the first time I’d encountered signing up for designated driver via iPad. The home run whirligig was still inside in 2017. I’m still not sure if it was hideous or awesome, but it was at least unique. For the actual ASG, my seat happened to be in front of the auxiliary press box which meant I got to hear all the announcements to the visiting press. The AL won 2-1, I took a couple hundred pictures, and then spent an afternoon on South Beach before heading to Fort Myers.
 
New York Mets
 
Citi Field
 


I’d been to the newest Yankee Stadium a couple of times and once saw Shea Stadium from a cab, but hadn’t made it to Citi Field despite being in New York City several times over the years. When I saw the Twins on the schedule early in 2019 with a weekend series before in Philadelphia, the trip practically planned itself. I took Amtrak into the city and then made my way out to an Airbnb in Flushing about a mile from the field.
The first game was rain delayed, but fortunately I’d managed to accidentally buy a ticket with access to a couple of the clubs. None that included free food of course, but it was cold and rainy so I was happy to have a warm dry place to hang out after doing a lap around the concourse. There are some weird areas in the outfield from them moving in the fences. The views from the seats are OK, but there’s a dead space between the seats and the wall which makes the area just seem awkward. The condiment carts were exceptional and put Target Field’s to shame. The batter’s eye has an apple that pops up if the Mets hit a homer. The game ended as a 14-8 Twins win and we got to see the apple a few times.
The weather had cleared for the second game and I was able to walk the mile to the field. You pass an area that an usher told me used to be a big chop shop area. He said the discussion lately has been about moving the vast parking to the east side so hotels could be built with Manhattan views. The stadium is close to the tennis complex that hosts the US Open so there’s definitely a market for more hotels with better access to transit near the field and tennis complex. With better weather I made my way out to a deck where you can watch flights come and go at LGA. I’d seen Citi Field from planes a few times so it was fun to be on the other side. Game two ended in a Twins loss 9-6 where Twins pitching allowed TEN walks so I finished the game in the Delta Sky360 Club and watched the Islanders play the Penguins. Here’s the Flickr album if you’re interested.
 
Philadelphia Phillies
 
Citizens Bank Park
 


When the 2019 Twins schedule came out with an April weekend series in Philadelphia with the Mets next, I knew it was time to get both off my list. I flew in later Friday night, but not in time for what turned out to be a terrible, rainy, cold game where Jake Odorizzi went 0.2 and gave up five runs.
Fortunately, the sun came out on Saturday morning and, after doing the Rocky stairs at the art museum, I headed to the ballpark on a warm April day. Citizen’s Bank Park sits south of downtown in the middle of parking lots that serve the football field, hockey arena, and baseball field. It’s a great feature if you’re driving, but isn’t as convenient if you’re a walker, so I arrived by Lyft. I like brick and Citizen’s Bank Park has plenty of it. They also have trees in the batter’s eye. The bullpens are tiered, which always reminds me of the 2010 game where Drew Butera caught Jim Thome’s homer in the bullpen in a crazy game where the Twins won 13-10 in 11 innings. Out behind left field you can get the Federal Donuts chicken sandwich. There’s no donut involved, but the sandwich is good. I made my way to my right field seat near Bryce Harper for the Saturday game and watched the Phanatic take its laps on its four wheeler. MAX! and La Tortuga had back-to-back homers in the 3rd then and the Twins won 6-3.
I opted for a seat in the CBP equivalent of the Legend’s Club for the Sunday game. It has whole walls covered in baseballs. The security guy I talked to says it's like 17-18K baseballs. I didn’t count them so we’ll have to take his word. They've been up since at least 2010 as far as he remembered. The game started out well with a MAX! lead-off homer but the bats went silent and Berrios was human and the Twins lost 2-1. Pictures on Flickr.
 
Washington Nationals
 
Nationals Park
 


A family trip took me to Washington, DC in October of 2019. I didn’t get to pick the dates so no option to make sure we’d be there during baseball so I needed a little cooperation from the Nationals. I’d done the math and new they needed to make the NLCS for us to have a chance to see them… and THEY DID! And of course went on to win the 2019 World Series.
There were four of us who decided to make the trip to the game. Believe it or not the tickets for game four were cheaper than a trip back to DC would have been. We picked the outfield right under the scoreboard. Not my usual infield choice, but the price was right and the view was pretty good. We took the Metro to the game. As you come out of the stop for the ballpark, there are restaurants, bars, and condos. I’m not sure what was there before, but the area looks new and was hopping on a playoff game night. The main entrance on the metro side has two large parking garages on either side with large silver baseballs on each side. One garage is the path of a pitch and the other is the path of a homer.
Unfortunately, other than the baseballs and nice area across the street by the Anacostia River, the rest of the outside is rather non-descript. They have some history stuff leading up to the homeplate gate which includes the Senators years that are actually the Twins’. Inside the park is pretty standard with open concourses, middle tier club level with suites above it, and the requisite Budweiser party roof/loft/deck in center field.
We got to see the Presidents race, sing Baby Shark with the crowd as Gerardo Parra stepped up to bat, and cheer when Brian Dozier entered as part of a double switch. The Nationals scored seven in the bottom of the first. It would be all the offense from them we’d see and all they’d need. They went on to win 7-4, sweeping the Cardinals in four games to advance to the World Series. It was amazing to be in that environment, despite the beer thrown over our section when the game was over. We really need to have a winning playoff game at Target Field. Pictures and some terrible video work on Flickr.
 
Except for Turner Field, the visits to the National League East stadiums came later in my trek to see all parks. I managed to see the Twins at the Mets and Phillies, but the most fun was watching the Nationals win the NLCS. My favorite stadium in this division is a tough choice between Citi Field and Citizens Bank, but the edge goes to Citizens Bank.
 
TCAnelle’s NL East Rankings:
Citizens Bank Park
Citi Field
Nationals Park
SunTrust Park
Marlins Park
Turner Field

I’m going to dive into blogging here and see where it goes. Sometimes, as a writer, the hardest thing is to come up with an idea that’s worth writing about and that people will actually be interested to read. I expect that to be my struggle, but I’ve got what I think will be an interesting series to kick things off, and maybe that will be the extent of my contributions. Time will tell.
 
In any case, nobody wants to read about me. You want to see what information you can glean about our Twins. Given the rampant discussions on Twitter and on various blogs regarding the state of the Twins’ pitching staff, I thought it would be interesting to do a series on the numbers underlying the starters currently projected to be in the mix for the Twins.
 
While I’m sure others will make starts this season, here are the guys I’m hoping to work my way through for this series:
Jose Berrios
Jake Odorizzi
Michael Pineda
Rich Hill
Homer Bailey
Devin Smeltzer
Lewis Thorpe
Randy Dobnak
 
By way of framing the series, I think there are pretty clearly three different groups. The known (but in some cases misunderstood) quantities, the new veterans, and the prospects.
 
When the season starts, we know Pineda and Hill will not be in the rotation, and we know Berrios, Odorizzi, and Bailey will be (barring injury, of course). That being the case, I decided to start off by diving into the three prospects (a term I’m using loosely, given the MLB experience they got last year), starting with Dobnak.
 
A common question we hear, read, and think to ourselves as we are trying to fall asleep: “Can Randy Dobnak be a key piece of a successful playoff run?” I can cut to the chase and just say the answer is yes, but if you want to know why, go ahead and keep reading the words.
 
Let’s start by looking at Dobnak’s surface-level stats:
28.1 IP – lots and lots of caveats about the small sample
7.31 K/9 – not inspiring, but we will need to take a look at his swinging strike rates
1.59 BB/9 – elite, but let’s see how often he’s really in the strike zone
1.59 ERA – wow, but a lot of this depends on the above
2.90 FIP – also wow
3.77 xFIP – still wow, but we will need to look into his batted ball tendencies because 0.32 HR/9 is the reason for the jump from his FIP to his xFIP.

Okay, so we have a few things to dive into:
Swinging Strike Rates, which are generally highly correlated to K/9
Zone Percentage, which is highly correlated to BB/9
Batted Ball Tendencies, which are going to be a bit more difficult to use to extrapolate, given the small sample.

Getting hitters to swing and miss, and throwing strikes are generally skills the pitcher possesses (or does not), while the results – K/9, BB/9, HR/9, etc. Fluctuate due to randomness, umpire tendencies, opponents’ skill, etc. (esp in small samples).
 
Here’s what we see for Dobnak on those plate discipline skills:
43.8% of his pitches were in the strike zone
12.9% of his pitches resulted in a swinging strike

Putting those numbers into context, 61 pitchers qualified for the ERA title last season, so the median pitcher would be the one whose result was 31st among qualified starters. For swinging strike, it turns out that is a couple of familiar names: Jose Berrios and Homer Bailey at 10.8 percent. Looking at zone percentage, there is a three way tie among Jeff Smardzija, Mike Soroka, and Bailey again at 42.6 percent (a bit of a preview of the Bailey post. Hmm). By now you’ve surely noticed that Dobnak’s numbers were markedly above the median.
 
In fact, his zone percentage of 43.8% would have tied him with Zach Eflin for 20th among all qualified starting pitchers, just a tick below Noah Syndergaard at 43.9 percent. His swinging strike rate of 12.9% puts him in a three way tie with Charlie Morton and Clayton Kershaw, who were tied for 14th among qualified starters. Obviously good company.
 
It gets better. If you look at qualified starters who posted at least a 12.9% swinging strike rate combined with a 43.9% zone percentage – that rare combination of being in the zone and missing bats – here is the list you get for 2019:
Gerrit Cole – 16.8%/45.2%
Max Scherzer – 16.4%/45.6%
Justin Verlander – 16.1%/45.2%
Lucas Giolito – 15%/47.2%
Yu Darvish – 13.4%/44.5%
Charlie Morton – 12.9%/45.1%

Just missed:
Clayton Kershaw
German Marquez
Lance Lynn
Noah Syndergaard
Trevor Bauer
Walker Buehler

Does this mean Dobnak is in the company of these elite aces? Of course not. What it does suggest, though, is that his success was not a fluke. He displayed an elite combination of skills in missing bats (which generates strikeouts) and living in the strike zone (which prevents walks). This suggests that he has considerable upside. He also threw essentially a major league innings load last year – compiling more than 160 innings across 4 levels from High A to the majors. This suggests he’s capable of providing the Twins with volume as well as quality, something that is not always the case for prospect pitchers.
 
There are reasons to be worried, though. The difference between Dobnak’s FIP and his xFIP was driven by an unsustainably low 5.3% HR/FB rate. The lowest HR/FB rate among qualified starters was 9.3%, and given Dobnak’s 42.5% hard hit rate, it’s safe to assume more of those fly balls will reach the seats going forward. That said, if he regresses to the mean in HR/9 and posts 150 innings with a sub-4.00 ERA, that’s obviously a serviceable starting pitcher. And, given that FIP and xFIP were driven by his 7.31 K/9, if those swinging strikes turn that into a 9.00+ K/9, he has considerable upside to deliver a lower ERA.

The best Left fielder in Twins history presents one more puzzle.
 
This is an addition. I got so caught up in Killebrew I forgot Jim Lemon. He played 120 games in LF in 1961 near the end of his career. I loved to watch him play. Lenny Green, Dan Dobbek and Joe Altobelli shared the rest of the leftfield games. He played seven years with the Senators before they moved. His career numbers Senators/Twins were .265 /334/.470/.805, but only 7.7 WAR because he was not a fleet fielder. He hit 38 and 33 HRs the years before they moved and 14 in 1961. In DC he teamed with Roy Siever to be the power tandum. His last year was with the Twins/Phillies/White Sox in 1963. He was a coach for us on the 1965 WS team.
 
Once again Killebrew is the on the best page. Because he played 22 years and in six positions he had enough time to spend as much time at 3B as any candidate, as much at first base and most of the candidates and he played 471 games in LF. His line of .256/.376/.509/.884 and 60.4 WAR has now been on three of my analyses. The only other significant place for him was DH 158 games, but the position did not begin until his last two years with the team.
 
He was not a great fielder, probably true in every position, but he was versatile enough to be in six positions. In was the primary LF in our first year. Lenny Green, Dan Dobbek, and Joe Altobelli also got a good number of games in the position. Harmon had 120 games so they started some and came in for defense in others.
In 1962 he went up from 120 games in Left to 151 and Lenny Green was his primary back up with 87 games and he was a terrific fielder and base runner. In 1963 Jimmie Hall got in 89 games behind Killebrews 137 and Lenny Green only 14. “Allison had 25 doubles, 35 home runs, 91 RBI, led the league in runs scored (99) and in OPS (.911), and earned his second All-Star berth.”wiki
 
In 1964 Killebrew 157 games, Bob Allison 27 and Lenny Green 6. In 1965 it was Bob Allison’s position with Sandy Valdespino and Jimmie Hall behind him. Hall was mostly in CF that year and Allison, Hall, Mincher, Killebrew, Oliva gave us an historic power lineup. He had a poor World Series except for game two when “His bases-loaded double against Sandy Koufax and a great backhand diving catch of a Jim Lefebvre fly ball were the main contributors to the Twins victory. This catch has been called the best catch in Twins history.” Wiki.
 
Allison only had 33 games in LF in 1966 and Jimmie Hall had 70, Andy Kosco 31, Sandy Valdespino 18. Allison “was hit by a pitch and missed 91 games, but returned at the end of the season to knock a pinch-hit three-run homer, sending the New York Yankees to the cellar in the American League.”
 
1967 Allison was in Left 139 games and Sandy Valdespino was in 64. 1968 Allison was backed up by Cesar Tovar and Jim Holt. The last year of the decade it was a scrum in LF – Allison 58 games, Craig Nettles (wrong position) 53, Ted Uhlaender 44, Charlie Manuel (you got to be kidding) 41, Cesar Tovar 40 and five more in single figures.
Allison only appeared in left 12 games in 1970 with Jim Holt and Brand Alyea getting the most appearances ahead of Cesar Tovar.
 
Allison finished with .255/.358/.471/.829 and 34 WAR for 13 years with the Senators/Twins. He had been Rookie of the Year. He had 528 appearances in LF. And also 196 CF, 631 RF. He will appear on another list.
His later history is perhaps best known. After retiring he worked for Coca Cola and faced a terrible disease that might have affected his latter years in the field – “Allison helped found the Bob Allison Ataxia Research Center at the University of Minnesota along with his wife Betty, sons Mark, Kirk, and Kyle, and former Twins' teammates Jim Kaat and Frank Quilici. He continued to battle this rare degenerative neurological disease for eight years, eventually losing his ability to walk, talk, write, and feed himself. Allison died of complications from ataxia on April 9, 1995 at the age of 60 in his Rio Verde, Arizona home.” Wiki.
 
Tovar took over LF in 1972 with Alyea behind him and Steve Brye third. Jim Holt had only 14 appearances in LF. In 1973 Brye took over LF and Tovar backed him up with Charlie Manuel third. Holt was back with 80 starts in 1973 and Larry Hisle had 50, Mike Adams 23. Then the mix and match continued in 1874 at Steve Braun had 108 games and Larry Hisle 74. Braun 106 and Hisle 41 in 1975.
 
Hisle took over LF in 1976 and Braun was behind him. 1977 was a fascinating combination of Larry Hisle 71 and Lyman Bostock 60 – two great players. Bob Gorinski got in 30.
 
Larry Hisle would be with the Twins five years .286/.354/.457/.811 17.2 WAR 470 LF games, 500 CF, 101 RF.
 
Lets just say things went down in 1978 with Willie Norwood 101 games, Rich Chiles (who?) 59, and Bombo Rivera 32! Bombo Rivera started in LF in 1979 in 61 games, Ken Landreaux 49, Glenn Adams 45, and Dave Edwards 36. Six others had single digits in LF with Hosken Powell the most interesting name.
 
Willie Norwood would be with the Twins four years .286 /.354/.457/.811 and despite decent numbers had a total WAR of minus – 1.3. He was not a good fielder.
 
In the new Decade 1980 dropped to seventh in LF appearances. Rick Sofield started 71, Landreaux 55, Dave Edwards 28 ant then Ron Jackson, Glen Adams, Gary Ward and Bombo. Hoping for Bombo 1981 had Gary Ward 62, Rick Sofield 33, Hosken Powell 12 and Mark Funderburk (Another great name) for 6.
 
Gary Ward owned Left in 1982 with 127 games and Mickey Hatcher had 26. The same two in 1983 with Hatcher in 11.
 
Bombo was with us three years .266/.327/.372/.699 2.5 WAR NS 103 games in left.
 
Gary Ward was with us 5 years 285/.333/.461/.794 10.6 WAR 354 games in left for us. Mickey Hatcher took over in 1984 with 100 games and Dave Meier had 41 and Darrell Brown 19. The same two held down third in 1985 with Randy Bush in 38 games.
 
Mickey Hatcher – 6 years .284/.315/.383/.697 3.7 WAR
 
Then Randy Bush took over in 1986 with Billy Beane - Yes that Billy Beane .217/.258/.303/.561 in two years with the Twin and then on to Moneyball. We got him for Tim Teufel. Behind Billy was Mickey and Mark Davidson.
Then in 1987, the world series year we had Dan Gladden 105 games, Tom Brunansky 58, Mark Davidson 36. Gladden and Moses in 1988, Gladden, Moses and Bush in 1989, Gladden, Shane Mack, and Moses in 1990. Gladden, Mack, and Pedro Munoz in 1991,
 
Gladden would be 5 years .268/.318/.382/.700 5.7 WAR and into the radio booth after two years in Detroit.
Shane Mack took over in 1992 backed by Darren Reed. Mack split time with Pedro Munoz and Dave McCarty in 1993 and again in 1994, the strike year. He did play 180 games at CF, 180 RF, as well as 352 in LF. It is hard to separate OF since they switch so much.Mack was out greatest Rule V pick.
 
Mack was a Twin 5 years, .309/.375/.479/.854 19.6 WAR 352 games in left.
 
Marty Cordova took over in 1995 with Jerald Clark second in Left. And had 145 appearances in 1996, Rich Becker 15. Cordova had less in 1997 and Matt Lawton picked up the rest. Cordova still had LF in 1998 with Alex Ochoa, Denny Hocking, Chris Latham and Matt Lawton sharing the rest. Cordova had been Rookie of the Year and looked good, but like Castino his back ruined his career. “Between 1997 and 2000, he missed 240 games while on the injured list.” Wiki
 
Cordova played five years with the Twins .277/.348/.451/.799. 5.8 WAR
 
In 1999 Chad Allen took over with Hocking having the second most. Allen lasted one year and Jacque Jones took over in 2000 playing 90 games and Matt Lawton 67. Denny Hocking, Midre Cummings, Chad Allen, John Barnes, Brian Buchanan and TORII HUNTER all had games in left that year.
 
Chad Allen was with the Twins three years and had good stats 275/.332/.401/.732. But his fielding must have been bad because he finished with a minus -0.9 WAR.
 
2001 Jacque Jones, Chad Allen and Bobby Keilty. Jacque had 137 games. He had 143 games in Left in 2002 with Dustin Mohr and Bobby Kielty getting the rest. In 2003 Jacque had 90 games and Shannon Stewart had 46. Dustan Mohr and Lew Ford had a few. Then Jacque Jones moved to RF in 2004 and Lew Ford and Shannon Stewart split LF with Michael Restovich and Mike Ryan grabbing a few games. Shannon Stewart took over in 2005 with 125 games in LF and Lew Ford getting the rest. Jacque was in RF again. With Stewart, Hunter, Jones we had one of our best fielding and hitting OFs. Then Jacque turned down arbitration and signed with the cubs.
Jaccque Jones .279/.327/.455/.782 11.9 WAR in 7 years 461 games in LF.
 
2006 Lew Ford 64 games, Rondell White 38, Shannon Stewart 34, Jason Tyner 33, Jason Kubel 30. Then Kubel took over in 2007 84 games, Tyner 47, Ford 35, White 16, and Josh Rabe. Finally, cough, cough, we got a steady left fielder in 2008 when Delmon Young was acquired.
 
Lew Ford was with us 5 years and in 494 games hit .272/.349//.402/.750 8.3 WAR
 
Shannon Stewart was with us 4 years 333 games and hit .294/.354/.418/.772 and 4.9 WAR
 
2009 we backed off a little with Delmon getting 98 games and Span getting 74 which means a lot of defensive subs, and Jason Kubel 29 games. In 2010 Delmon was back out there for 149 games and Kubel 16. In 2012 we had one of those audition years like we have seen with other positions too. Young got in 75 games, Rene Tosoni 38, Jason Repko 24, Ben Revere 13, Joe Benson 11, Jason Kubel 9, Brian Dinkelman 5, and Trevor Plouffe 3! Wow, an entire lineup of LFs.
 
Delmon Young’s line looks good, .287/.324/.429/.753 but total WAR for 4 years was 1. With a -5,4 defensive WAR
None passed the test and in 2012 Josh Willingham played there 119 games, Darin Mastrioanni 25, Ryan Doumit 16, and Matt Carson (who?) 15. In 2013 Willingham played 72 games, Oswaldo Arcia 56, Clete Thomas 26 and Mastroianni 19. In 2014 we traded WIlllingham to KC for Jason Adam (P).
 
In Willingham’s three years his numbers are not as good as I remember, of course his 35 HR year is what is most memorable. .232/.353/.446/.799 4.8 WAR
 
 
Before he was traded Willingham had 53 games in 2014, Kubel 36, Schafer 34, Parmelee 22, Nunez 16, Herrman 12, Sam Fuld 10, and Aaron Hicks 2. Lots to sort out there, but hardly one great LF that year.
Eddie Rosario took over with 86 games in 2015 and he is the current LF so I will stop here. Rosario has a career left to define him and he could rise high on this list.
 
Here I am at the end of another long trail of players. This is my best guess and biased top ten.
1. Killebrew in 471 games set the standard. 256/.376/.509/.884 and 60.4 WAR
2. Mack was a Twin 5 years, .309/.375/.479/.854 19.6 WAR 352 games in left.
3. Bob Allison .255/.358/.471/.829 and 34 WAR for 13 years
4. Larry Hisle five years .286/.354/.457/.811 17.2 WAR 470 LF games, 500 CF, 101 RF.
5. Shannon Stewart was with us 4 years 333 games and hit .294/.354/.418/.772 and 4.9 WAR
6. Jacque Jones .279/.327/.455/.782 11.9 WAR in 7 years 461 games
7. Dan Gladden 5 years .268/.318/.382/.700 5.7 WAR
8. Lew Ford was with us 5 years and in 494 games hit .272/.349//.402/.750 . 8.3 WAR
9.Marty Cordova played five years with the Twins .277/.348/.451/.799. 5.8 WAR
10. Delmon Young’s 287/.324/.429/.753 total WAR for 4 years was 1 (I just had to get Delmon on the list).

Although it’s Series 1 that kicks off a new year of baseball card collection each season, it’s the early year release of Heritage that is often seen as the first big product. Heritage carries a promise of being a throwback to yesteryear, this time 1970 specifically. Producing some of the most desired rookie cards, and short prints in all the collecting landscape, this product is one Topps knows you won’t want to miss.
 
Much like Series 1, Heritage isn’t designed as a massive hit factory. The biggest pulls in this product have more to do with photo variations and differing parallels. Although Topps has changed to define what each different type of card is on the reverse side in recent years, slow rolling through packs to spot differences helps to add appeal to this set.
 
For the Minnesota Twins specifically, there’s a lot to like in 2019.
 
Base Set-
 
There are 13 different players in the Twins base set, and they are delivered on 11 different cards. Heritage represents the first time C.J. Cron, Nelson Cruz, and Jonathan Schoop will be in Minnesota uniforms. Although Kohl Stewart had his first rookie card in Series 1, both Willians Astudillo and Stephen Gonsalves will make their Topps rookie debut on a three-person card joining Stewart. Continuing with the tradition of short printed base cards, Minnesota has two entrants in the 100-card grouping. Schoop’s first Minnesota card is short printed, while he’s joined by Jose Berrios.
 
Inserts-
 
A set utilizing a throwback theme, Heritage has remained consistent with many of the insert offerings transferring from year to year. Jim Perry and Harmon Killebrew are paired with current stars on three different Then & Now cards, while Rod Carew is included in the Baseball Flashback set. Sitting somewhere in between an insert and a hit, Joe Mauer is offered on a 1970 Poster Boxloader.
 
Hits-
 
For Twins fans looking at the big chase, there’s a bit of a letdown here. Both Schoop and Berrios are in the new Silver Metal run, which are serial numbered to just 70 copies. Eddie Rosario joins the duo as the three Minnesota offerings among the base mini set, all serial numbered to 100. The crown jewel of Heritage has always been the Real One autographs, and this is where fans may have wished for more. Bert Blyleven and Rod Carew are the only single signed cards. The former isn’t a hobby darling, and the latter is hitting collecting fatigue with autographs in virtually every product currently produced.
 
Branching out a bit to a bit tougher pulls, there are two separate cards that should turn out nicely. A dual Real One autograph features Carew and Rosario together, hand numbering, and likely a very small print run. There’s also a Real One triple autograph that features Byron Buxton, Torii Hunter, and Carew. Buxton has had Real One autos recently in Heritage, but Hunter getting back into the game is something of a nice development.
 
Relics will remain aplenty in Heritage and the Twins are represented there as well. From the 1970 mint coin cards to the postage stamp offerings, you’ll find plenty of throwback flavor. Cut up pieces of Eddie Rosario’s game worn jersey can also be expected as part of the Clubhouse Collection relics.
 
All in all, 2019 Topps Heritage is shaping up to be a fun set once again. The 1970 design won’t be a favorite for all, but this should be a fun set to build. The autograph portion of the program is a bit of a letdown for Twins fans, but there’s enough meat here to draw in other excitement. Look for the product in both hobby stores and on retail shelves February 27.
 
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