Longdistancetwins

Over the past few days, there have been some great articles written about Mauer’s accomplishments - the batting titles, the MVP season, the records, and the magic he brought to life on a near-daily basis for 15 years.
Today, he was deservingly enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame alongside Todd Helton, Adrian Beltré, and Manager Jim Leyland in Cooperstown, New York. I was fortunate enough to be present for it. 
Being there was an amazing experience. That is likely true for a number of other members of Twins Territory as well. Anecdotally, close to half of the fans in attendance wearing jerseys, team shirts, or other memorabilia were repping Mauer.

The whole weekend was a celebration of baseball legends, with a parade on Saturday, the induction today, and a speaker’s series taking place tomorrow with a Q&A panel with this year’s inductees.
Walking through the picturesque small-town downtown area, there were over a dozen cash-only vendors selling hot dogs and burgers they were grilling along the sidewalks. Children were operating lemonade stands and selling water from portable coolers. You couldn’t walk more that 10 feet without someone going the other direction saying “Hey! Joe Mauer!” Former players such as Fergie Jenkins were signing autographs. There were half a dozen baseball card shops selling memorabilia of the greats, from game-used gloves and bats, to autographed jerseys, to baseball movie-inspired gear.

The induction itself took place in a large field a mile or so outside of town, as Cooperstown only has around 2000 residents outside of HOF-weekend, and tens of thousands descend from near and far to celebrate the game most of us have loved since we were children.
At the ceremony, prior to the new inductees being introduced, some 45 other HOFers were brought to the stage and their accomplishments were celebrated briefly. The Twins were well-represented, with Tony O, Rod Carew, Dave Winfield, Jack Morris, Jim Kaat, Paul Molitor, David Ortiz, and Jim Thome all present. These players received some of the loudest standing ovations from the crowd. Rob Manfred and Bud Selig were also introduced, and they were the only people to be booed by the audience, which…seems right. 
Helton’s speech was the funniest, telling stories about his superstitions and his facial hair. Leyland’s was the most emotional, as the crusty baseball lifer got choked up multiple times as he reflected on the game. Beltre celebrated the teammates he loved to play with. Mauer’s speech was the most…Mauer. Joe’s humility was striking. Unlike the others, he did not share baseball anecdotes. He didn’t crack jokes. He instead focused on thanking everyone else - from the scouts, to his family, his high school coaches, and medical staff, Mayo Clinic doctors, and trainers that believed in him throughout his career. He built in pauses for people to applaud those others, and when the cheering wasn’t to his liking, he implored the audience to cheer louder and longer for those who see important to him. He even claimed his mom was the best athlete in the family. In typical Mauer fashion, he chose to stay out of the spotlight - even on a day honoring him. 
It will likely be at least 15 years before we see another player enter the hall as a member of the Twins, and that’s if a lot of things break right. It’ll likely be even longer waiting for another player as special as Mauer to come along. Even if you don’t have a chance to see one of your favorite players being inducted, Cooperstown is still well-worth a visit, as the museum can entertain for hours, with every turn presenting another artifact that brings back baseball memories. 

Abner Doubleday field is also just a block or so away from the Baseball Hall. This field over 100 years old, and is on the spot where he (apocryphally) invented the game of baseball.
 

Comment below if you were at the induction today, or if you have a favorite Mauer memory you want to share!

WARNING: THIS IS GOING TO BE A VERY PERSONAL AND INTENSE BLOG POST. 
One thing I've always been interested in is history. It started with my dad when I was a kid growing up in the Macalester/Groveland area in St.Paul. My dad, who is the reason I'm the Twins fan I am today (thanks, dad!), loved baseball and history. As a lover of both, I wanted to share a little bit about how I became a Twins fan and I'd absolutely LOVE to have you guys all share and tell me how you became a fan. Did you grow up a fan? Are you a displaced fan in another state? Did you inherit it from a family member?
Me, I got it from my dad. It started by playing catch in the yard and him pitching me wiffle balls. Then as I got older it evolved into reading books about baseball superstars, past and (then) present: Griffey Jr, Gwynn, Clemens, Maddux, Ryan and of course Puckett. 
There was something about that guy and his 5'9" frame and high leg kick that got me hooked. I started watched games on MSC, then on WCCO radio, then the occasional Fox 29. I grew up with John Gordon and Herb Carneal on radio and Dick and Bert on TV. It became an obsession, soon I was scoring games at home, muting the TV and calling the games by myself. I remember going to 1 or 2 games a year as my grandpa would treat me for my birthday and the Dome dogs...man, even as a kid, I ate 5 each game! 
I also remember collecting cards in the 90s and eagerly ripping packs open every chance I got and always being ecstatic when I saw a Twins player...right into my binder it went!
I was fortunate enough to attend signings at the Twins Pro Shop in Roseville with my dad back when that was a thing for ninety minutes every Saturday. 
As the years grew, so did I and my dad. We never stopped loving or talking Twins. It became a constant source of love (and heartache in October!) for each of us. 
When my dad passed away in Jan 2018, just days before Twinsfest, I knew what I had to do. Dad always talked about Rod Carew and the summer of 1977. He would share stories about going to the Met and watching Carew on TV and how my mom had little to no interest and how it was the most exciting baseball summer he'd seen up to that point. From that point on, Carew was dads favorite player. So when I saw that Carew was going to be there, I knew I needed to try and find him. I was down at the basement level and I found out he was only appearing but not signing. I had a baseball ready nonetheless. I was walking around and saw Rod with his wife and a security guard and took my chance. I explained to Rod (after the security guy emphatically told me "Hes not signing today sir"), that I had lost my dad less than a week before and how he was my hero and how Rod was my dad's. He ended up signing a ball and giving me a hug, and I ended up burying that ball with dad. He never met Rod, but he got his autograph forever. 
This is just one of the many examples of stories that I have that made me a Twins fan to this day. 
What are some of yours? Do you have any cool stories, memories, experiences or autographs to share? I'd love to read about them!
Thank you for reading this unusual post and I hope to hear about how YOU became a Twins fan, below. 

ChatGPT 4 is all the rage these days. If you do not know what ChatGPT, ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot developed by OpenAI and released in November 2022. It is built on top of OpenAI's GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 foundational GPT large language models (LLMs) and has been fine-tuned (an approach to transfer learning) for conversational applications using both supervised and reinforcement learning techniques.
It can be a lot of fun to ask it questions about the Minnesota Twins. What do we think about this list of 10 players who "struggled" during their Minnesota Twins tenure. Are these the worst Twins players in history? 
Tsuyoshi Nishioka feels right at home on this list, what about Ron Coomer?
Tsuyoshi Nishioka: Nishioka, a Japanese infielder, had a disappointing stint with the Twins from 2011 to 2012, batting just .215 with limited defensive contributions.
Drew Butera: While a reliable catcher defensively, Butera struggled offensively during his time with the Twins (2010-2013), hitting .182 with limited power.
Vance Worley: Worley, a starting pitcher, struggled to find success with the Twins from 2013 to 2014, posting a 7.21 ERA in 10 starts.
Juan Castro: In 2005, Castro played shortstop for the Twins and struggled offensively, hitting .221 with limited power.
Terry Felton: Felton, a relief pitcher, struggled during his time with the Twins from 1979 to 1983, posting a career ERA of 5.43.
David McCarty: McCarty, an infielder/outfielder, struggled offensively during his time with the Twins (1995-1997), batting .229 with limited power.
Brian Buscher: Buscher played third base for the Twins from 2006 to 2009, posting a career batting average of .266 but struggled with limited power.
Ron Coomer: Coomer, an infielder, struggled offensively during his time with the Twins (1995-2000), hitting .274 with limited power.
Tim Teufel: Teufel played second base for the Twins from 1983 to 1995 but struggled offensively, batting .249 with limited power.
Gene Glynn: Glynn, an infielder, struggled during his time with the Twins from 1979 to 1985, hitting .209 with limited power.
Just to note it does look like ChatGPT is looking at some entire careers for this list. Tim Teufel was pretty good with the Twins.
 

I'm an ordained minister and this is Good Friday, but this is intended as a sociological post, not a theological one.
Tom Johnson was a favorite relief pitcher for me as a kid, though he had a pretty meteoric rise and a similarly quick fall, perhaps at least in part to Gene Mauch using him for 146.2 innings in relief in 1977. He was also the winning pitcher in the most exciting game I've ever been to, the "Rod Carew game" on June 26, 1977, when he threw 6.2 innings in relief (really!) in a 19-12 Twins win. 
I didn't realize that Johnson had entered the ministry following retirement, but he has a really interesting perspective on the challenges facing both baseball and organized religion in today's culture.
https://julieroys.com/if-you-build-it-they-will-come-no-longer-works-baseball-organized-religion/

I had an idea. What if someone got a hit, stole second - maybe third and someone else got a hit and they scored?
 
In new school does that not count?
 
What if someone got a hit, someone bunted and then a single brought them home? Does that not mean that the run scores?
 
Do I have to wait for a HR? Should I look for a K instead of a sacrifice?
 
Do I have to fire up the computer. What to do? No HR? We cannot score that way. We need HRs without runners on base because analytics say that is really the cool new way to do it.
Let's eliminate the sacrifice, the bunt, the stolen base - I know they worked for 150 years but they did not have computers.
 
Mookie Betts looks great, but what is he doing stealing two bases?
 
Why would we hit to the weakness of a shift when we can score a high exit velocity on the ball we hit for an out? Why go the other way when we can get a launch angle? Doesn't exit velocity score us more points? Doesn't launch angle get us an extra mention on Sports Center?
 
Don't we get more runs for a HR with more distance?
 
What is it with the old school. Get a hit. Advance a base. Score. So boring.
 
And then there are RBIs - who cares. No one is getting a hit other than a HR anyway so why worry about a batter who can actually bring that baserunner to home plate? Runs, RBIs, Batting average - so yesterday.
 
And then there is pitching. We should all throw 100 mph because the batters can never adjust to that! Have them hit into a DP - what are you talking about it will impact my K/BB rate. The ERA is so old school lets just worry about K/HR.
 
And starting pitchers who go into the later innings - why? So what if we need 43 RP to handle all the extra innings. We do not need Spahn, Marichal, Mathewson - they are old school. Lets just have 9 pitchers per game per team. Boy is that fun. No saves, no complete games, no dominating Sandy Koufax or Bob Gibson. Let's have a lot of Duffeys, Romos, Aaron Bummers - who? Yup. No more pitchers in the HOF. Who needs them?
 
And, by the way, no more fans in the stands. Not because there is Covid, but because the game is getting so damned boring.
 
As an addendum - game three of the WS - the Dodgers had long balls, but they also scored on singles, they had a bunt for a run, and they stole bases. When you blend old school with some new maybe the game can get fun again.
 
Game 4 - Tampa Bay ties the series. Yes they got HRs, but a single and an error won the game. By putting the ball in play so many things can happen. It went for a single, it was dropped by the centerfielder and then the catcher - errors seldom happen on a K.
 
Game 6 - Kevin Cash proved what I hate - Snell was upset and should be. He is an Ace and he was ready to be Jack Morris but the damn team policy removed the human element and the Rays deserved to lose.

After reading the 2005 season summary that is part of an excellent series on TD I was forced to think about second base where 2005 demonstrated the difficulty we had for many years.
 
Here is a summary of our highs and lows:
 
Billy Martin was our 2B in the first year in Minnesota and would last one year before becoming a coach and manager and then going to the Yankees again and again and again. If only he would stop hitting marshmallow salesmen.
Bernie Allen had five years of average play (239 BA). In 1960, Allen led the Boilermakers to a record of 4-4-1 (2-4 Big Ten) and wins over #12 Notre Dame, Ohio State and #1 Minnesota
Jerry Kindall was there for the championship with a career 213 batting average. His fame came in Arizona as their coach winning 860 games and three College World Series championships over 24 seasons (1973–1996).
Then came ROD CAREW and he might have had a full career with us if Calvin Griffith had kept his racist mouth shut. Here is a summary from Wikipedia - "The greatest contact hitter in Twins history, he won the 1977 AL Most Valuable Player Award, setting a Twins record with a .388 batting average.Carew appeared in 18 straight All-Star Games and led the AL in hits three times, with his 239 hits in 1977 being twelfth most at the time. He won seven AL batting titles, the second most AL batting titles in history behind Ty Cobb, and on July 12, 2016 the AL batting title was renamed to the Rod Carew American League batting title." To make matters more painful he got his 3000th hit against Frank Viola! And what was it that Calvin said --"I'll tell you why we came to Minnesota. It was when we found out you only had 15,000 blacks here. Black people don't go to ballgames, but they'll fill up a rassling ring and put up such a chant it'll scare you to death. We came here because you've got good, hardworking white people here."
Danny Thompson - An All-American at Oklahoma State he was diagnosed with leukemia at age 26. He said, “You don’t have time to get down,” he said. “You’ve got to keep your head up and go right at it.” After and excellent rookie season he slid over to SS and Carew went back to 2B. He died in 1976.
Bob Randall - A lifetime 257 hitter who came to the Twins from the Dodgers and played all his major league games with the Twins (460) and took over 2B as Carew was again moved to 1B. He was with us five years and went on to be a college coach.
Rob Wilfong - His claim to fame is that he lead the American League in sacrifice hits in 1979. He hit 262 in six years with the Twins and was traded to the Angels. Currently he is a scout for the Detroit Tigers (I hope he is finding some better players for them now).
John Castino - he was moved to 2B in 1982. He led the league in fielding percentage at 2B in 1982, but if the switch to 2B was supposed to protect his back it did not work. He was out in 1984 when back fusion ended his career - as a person with back fusion I can sympathize.
Tim Teufel - known for the Teufel shuffle at bat - a wiggle of the butt His best years would be with the Mets when he was at 2B for the World Series. He is currently their goodwill ambassador and minor league coach. He hit 265 in his six years with the Twins. He was traded for Billy Beane and two others. If only we had moved Beane into the front office and off the field!
Steve Lombardozzi - he played in the 1987 World Series and hit .412 with a home run in Game 5. He hit 233 in five seasons with the Twins. In 1986 he led second basemen in fielding percentage.
Wally Backman and Tommy Herr - Backman was traded for from the Mets where he was platooned with Tim Teufel. He hit 231 for us. "The Mets sent him and Mike Santiago to the Minnesota Twins for Jeff Bumgarner, Steve Gasser and Toby Nivens, none of whom emerged as a major leaguer.The Mets sent him and Mike Santiago to the Minnesota Twins for Jeff Bumgarner, Steve Gasser and Toby Nivens, none of whom emerged as a major leaguer." That year we also traded for Tommy Herr from the Cardinals, Herr announced that he didn’t really want to be in Minnesota. Backman was brought in to replace Herr and Backman announced that he was thrilled to be with the Twins and bought a house on Lake Minnetonka. Kent Hrbek said, “Tommy Herr never wanted to play here, so he didn’t fit in with the rest of us." Then he added, “Backman does fit in. You can see the difference just in the fact that Wally wants to have fun. Already, Backman and (Dan) Gladden are pulling pranks on each other.” Backman is a minor league manager with an excellent resume.
Al Newman - 231 Twins average, he went on to be a coach with the team. He was acquired in a trade where we gave up pitcher Mike Schade (who?). He was allowed to leave as a free agent after 1991 and eventually ended up coaching the St Cloud Rox.
Chuck Knoblauch - if we ignore some statements and actions and personality he might be the next greatest second baseman for the Twins after Rod Carew. Rookie of the year, part of the 1991 World Series team. Wiki says, "During the 1994–96 seasons, Knoblauch batted .312, .333, and .341, respectively, won the AL Gold Glove Award at second base in 1997, and stole over 40 bases in three consecutive seasons." Twins fans became irate when he requested that he be traded. When he returned he was booed, bottles and hot dogs were thrown at him. With the Yankees he developed the yips - he could not throw and that was the beginning of the end. He played 12 years, seven with the Twins where he had a 304 career average. His post baseball career in marred by his physical abuse of his former wife which came as he was about to be named to the Twins HOF. He was also named in the Mitchell report for HGH.
Todd Walker - a member of the National College Baseball Hall of Fame was a first round draft pick who never prospered in MN and I blame Tom Kelly who seemed to resent the college degree and accomplishments of Walker. Walker his 285 for the Twins in five seasons and his career did better after he left us. He is now on the New England sports network and I was shocked to hear him when I tuned in on a game when I was working in Maine. He was acquired from the Twins in Theo Epstein's first trade. A quiet, studious and serious player "He really took baseball serious," Matt Lawton said. "Everything he did, he's always talking about hitting. He'd play a video game and he'd compare that video game to anything about hitting. He'd bring up something about hitting fastballs, hitting breaking balls." "Some of his former teammates in Minnesota said Walker's glove wasn't the only reason he was in Kelly's doghouse. Their stormy relationship led to him being traded to Colorado in July 2000.
Lawton said Kelly wasn't particularly fond of first-round picks. Walker, who had an outstanding collegiate career at LSU, was the eighth overall pick in 1994. Lawton said it didn't take much for a first-round pick to rub Kelly the wrong way, citing pitcher Todd Ritchie and first baseman David McCarty as examples." https://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-xpm-2003-03-30-0303300603-story.html "You'd have to ask him all about that, but it certainly seemed that way," Walker said. "I certainly didn't do anything to warrant the way I was treated by him on and off the field. He had his good moments, and he certainly had his bad moments."
Jay Canizaro - I have to admit this is the first of the second basemen I do not remember. In two years he hit 255 and went back to the minors.
Luis Rivas - Venezuelan - a free swinger who was supposed to take over the base and become the man of the future pairing with Guzman at SS. But think of the free swinging of Rosario with no power and less contact! Six seasons with 262 average and 307 OBP and 383 slugging.
Nick Punto - a Gardy favorite - the opposite of Walker this was a guy who hustled, got dirty, wanted to play, had a smile and attitude that made him a lovable piranha. But would you trade Walker for Punto - no way. He played for us for seven years and hit 248, 323 OBP, 324 Slugging.
Luis Castillo - Dominican Republic - had a 299 BA for two years with the Twins. 720 OPS. He was with the Marlins for both their World Series. In 2007 he set a major league record for consecutive games at 2B without an error - 143. In August 2019, Castillo was cited on charges related to a drug trafficking and money laundering operation - he was not convicted.
Alexi Casilla - Dominican - His biggest contribution was giving up his number so Jim Thome could have it. In seven years he hit 250 for the Twins with a 639 OPS.
Orlando Hudson - Hudson hit .268 with a career-low .710 OPS. Hudson founded the C.A.T.C.H. Foundation, a 501c3 organization that seeks to provide resources and a support system for youth coping with autism.
Brian Dozier - our third best second baseman in Twins history (my judgment). A member of the Southern Mississippi college team that played in the 2009 college world series. He started as a SS as so many players do and found a home at second. He was a Twin for seven years - hit 248/325/447 - which would be much better if we took his last five years - his HR totals per year are - 6,18,23, 28,42,34. I was say we got rid of him at the right time. He had peaked for us and although he continues to play his top HR since being traded is 20. Notorious for great half years paired with lousy halves it took patience to get the best from him. He became the first second baseman to hit 40 home runs.
Jonathan Schoop - we hardly knew you although your 256/304/473 slash line fits many of our historic 2B men. Good luck in Detroit and say hi to Gardy.
Luis Arraez - we hope he is the future. His 334 BA certainly makes us think of another great - Rod Carew. Let's hope flash-in-the-pan is something you never hear. I am very excited by him and his potential.