Met Stadium Usher

Just looking outside the current roster: Dylan Moore is a classic and veteran utility guy. He won the Gold Glove for utility players in 2024. Not a great hitter, but with some power pop, he hits lefties okay, righties not as much. A good baserunner as well. He plays anywhere in the infield and is actually a good outfielder. He is in the opt-out waiting period with the Phillies right now. If they let him go, maybe he is the type of guy we should pick up, and move along from both our other choices. Whaddaya think?

"Phil Roof hit two home runs on May 30, 1972 as a member of the Minnesota Twins against the Kansas City Royals. He hit the first off Paul Splittorff and the second off Bruce Dal Canton. The Twins won the game 3-2." from baseball-reference.com. I was there, one of a throng of 6,164 at the Met that day. 😊 Jim Perry was the winning pitcher. In the 1980s he was a coach for the Mariners, where I had moved, and I met him on Photoday (remember those?) at the old Kingdome. I told him I had been there on his big day. He said, "don't go away," and dashed off to bring witnesses, to whom I repeated the story. He had the biggest smile ever.

Since Ryan is the most important starter right now, perhaps he should skip the World Baseball Classic? I know it is prestigious and fun, and all that, but a lot of Twins hopes for the year depend on him now. He has already represented the US in international baseball at the Tokyo Olympics, when the team won a silver medal.

I sure do miss hearing Dick Bremer on the Twins broadcasts, with no disrespect intending to Cory Provus, who is a fine baseball announcer in his own right. As a listener, you knew that Dick was all about the Twins, but would give you a fair and honest account of every game while also making you feel like he was a friend of the family. His book, mentioned above, is good reading for Twins fans. So thanks Seth, for this excellent piece on Bremer going to the Twins Hall of Fame. However, there are a couple typos/thinkos you might want to edit, just for posterity on this momentous event. A matriarch is a highly respected woman. A patriarch is a highly respected man. And I bet the Twins presented him with a plaque. It would be a shame if they gave him the plague. Not too late to do an edit or two, is it? Also, a shoutout to Rufus for the comment above about Halsey Hall. It is astounding to me that he wasn't in the first set of inductees. I realize it is a generational thing, but truly he made listening to the 1960s Twins a joy. I would guess that Dick would agree.

Hmmm.... the Walking Man. I yost can't think of his name. (Said in a Scandinavian accent. 😉 )

We are going for The Ashes, where the winner goes home with the urn! The series goes back to 1882, that's even before Calvin R. Griffith.

Some good notes above about the tough Mesopotamian Division. The Sumerians are a great old school team for sure, but you can never overlook expansion teams like Hammurabi's Babylonians, or the Akkadians, with big boppers Gilgamesh and Enkidu.

The Hall of Fame does have the famous character clause: "Voting shall be based upon the player's record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played." Of course, it doesn't specify that integrity, sportsmanship, character has to happen only on the field, and it doesn't specify that those same traits shouldn't be judged off the field. Steroid users and Nazi sympathizers who have had great MLB careers have gotten wrapped up in this morality clause. The always trite logic of "so-and-so got in, a bad guy, and thus THIS guy should get in too," frequently gets cited. Personally, as someone fortunate enough to have visited Cooperstown a few times, I have seen plenty of displays referencing Rose, or Shoeless Joe, among the infamous. To me, that's doing them justice. Being selected to the Hall is an honor, and I don't see why we should feel compelled to honor them. IMHO.

Herb & Halsey (and Ray, too), made every game fun listening. It really was a different style from today's announcers, of which the Twins have some good ones, but I, like every other older Twins fan who has commented on this site, have genuine nostalgia for the long ago crew and style. It really was like being with friends at a game.

Just noting that France came up to the Bigs also playing 2nd and 3rd, to add to what weitz41 said above. Maybe he can still be useful as (yet another) utility infielder. It would be nice to get his bat going.

What an excellent reminiscence. #26 really caught my attention. I was a kid who read a lot too (and a future librarian, at that). Baseball biographies were a big hit with me, old time or newer books. Three that came out in 1967 were about Twins players (guessing 1967 was the lag time then for getting a book written and published based on the adventures of the 1965 team). Thanks for letting us enjoy your fan journey!

Holy Cow, I find it incomprehensible that Halsey Hall isn't in. If it were up to me, I'd have a statue of him at the ballpark, holding a microphone in one hand and a cheroot in the other. He should have been inducted in the inaugural year. A famous quote about him is from the time he accidentally set his sports coat on fire with a cigar during a broadcast. Afterwards it was said, "Halsey's the only man I know who can turn a sports coat into a blazer." The source of that quip has been disputed over the years. For those that came a little too late to enjoy his broadcasts, he was the grandfatherly/favorite uncle personality to enjoy being with at a game. He had decades of sports writing in the Twin Cities and had announced many Millers and Saints games, the minor league predecessors to the Twins. He fostered a genuine interest in baseball throughout the area, and was an integral part of Twins broadcasting when they arrived. He was an authentic and beloved personality, so Minnesotan. Incidentally, he is believed to be the first baseball announcer to say Holy Cow! after a play, long before Harry Caray or Phil Rizzuto. He was a Twins announcer from the first year, 1961, until 1972, when he became an "Ambassador of Twins Baseball," or some other grand title. I know he came to the ballpark nearly every game since I saw him there numerous times in the mid-1970s. For many fans, he was the face or voice of the Twins.

Mudcat and Al Worthington would get my votes. I think it is important to not lose our appreciation of these guys while some fans can still recall how great they were. Mudcat and Kitty were the pitching fulcrum that the 1965 pennant team used to get to the top, and that wasn't the only quality year for either of them. Worthington was the key to that 1965 bullpen (note that the rules for saves and the understood usage of the bullpen changed a few times during Worthington's career). In my opinion the 1965 team set up the Twins to truly be the team that created loyalties throughout Twins Territory. From a couple years later, I was tempted by Dean Chance, who was fabulous during his brief time with the Twins. And just think, if Calvin Griffith hadn't been so danged cheap, we might have had Luis Tiant on this list as well (and another pennant or two).

Regarding Tony O and his fielding, part of the story for him is that he was a prodigy as a young hitter and a work in progress as a fielder. So, he wasn't the best fielder in 1964. However he worked hard at it. As his brief biography on the Hall of Fame website mentions, "In 1966, Oliva led the AL in hits for the third straight year (191) while winning a Gold Glove Award for his play in right field." He truly had become a fine outfielder. He had some excellent fielding years before the cataclysm of a major, major knee injury in 1971, made while diving for a ball during a crucial mid-season game. After surgery he was never quite the same. Indeed, he had a second big knee surgery in 1972. He ultimately had seven operations. Over the years I have heard it said many times that if modern arthroscopic techniques had been available to him then, he would of had a second half of his career as dynamic as the first half. He was still a dangerous hitter to the end, but as a fan, it was a bit painful to watch him trying to run when he hit a line drive between fielders. But he did, and that's why he is a gamer, and deserving of all the respect he now gets. IMHO, anyway. So perhaps he wasn't a great fielder as a great hitting rookie, but ultimately, he got there.

Bob Allison was indeed a great Twin during the sixties, but for later day fans his numbers don't jump out in comparison to other eras. It is important to remember that in the sixties, with the exception of 1961 (an expansion year), the pitching was dominant. Hitter numbers were suppressed (making Killebrew's numbers truly outstanding, btw). Perhaps WAR isn't the ideal criterion to use for these kinds of lists. Big Bob was a superb clutch hitter, a fine fielder with a rocket arm, and a feared baserunner, in the Frank Robinson, look-out-here-I-come sort of way. He had been a fullback at U of Kansas and probably could have taken out any middle infielder in the game if inclined. He was also a great team leader, and he was terrific with the fans as we all got used to having the Twins in our area. It can be understood how a later fan could have missed him here, but to us veteran fans (and to Eric's dad, no doubt), he is an essential addition to that All-Star list. In my opinion, anyway. :-)