Teflon

Thanks Al! That was a fun read. I went quite a few games in the Metrodome during the 1980s. One of the Twins' rituals during those years was a Kent Hrbek routine that occurred when PA announcer Bob Casey would bellow "NO SMOKING! There's NO SMOKING in the Metrodome!" During the announcement, Herbie would turn and face the crowd sitting behind first base and pantomime a person smoking and then shake his head and make a "no" gesture with his hands, Then he would pantomime a person drinking a beer and emphatically nod his head "yes." That was always a fun little thing to watch for. One night I was bummed to find Hrbek was not in the lineup and assumed his pregame ritual would be missing. To my delight, Gaetti did the whole pantomime routine from 3B during the Casey announcement. I got a big kick out of seeing his homage to Hrbek's little ritual. Another cool Gaetti memory occurred when George Brett got is 3000th hit. The Royals were playing in Anaheim and Gaetti was playing 1B. Brett got his 3000th hit in the 7th inning off Angels' reliever Tim Fortugno. (a one-out single to 2B, his 4th hit of the game.) All the hoopla of a player getting his 3000th hit ensued and then Gregg Jeffries followed Brett to the plate and flew out to RF for the second out. Brett was still somewhat in a daze as he took his lead off 1B with Mike Macfarlane at the plate. To everyone's surprise, Fortugno turned and threw to Gaetti at first, who tagged Brett out easily. The expression on Brett's face is priceless as is his wife's reaction in the stands. Imagine getting picked off first after your 3000th hit! I wonder if Gaetti and Brett have ever talked about that since.

I'm waiting for them to implement the Andy Etchebarren eyebrow rule. PS - Miranda actually looks better with a moustache

I owned a book a few decades ago called Cult Baseball Players in which a number of authors wrote about their favorite players. Danny Peary put the book together and contributed a chapter on his favorite player, Vic Power. Power played the game with a great flair and sounded like an interesting person both on and off the field. He has been my avatar picture for as long as I have been on Twins Daily.

Does anyone know if we''ll have the option of choosing between the home or away TV broadcast or to use the radio audio with the TV video? Those are all regular options on the MLB.TV games. Not sure if that works the same when you buy a separate team subscription.

I thought life was about as absurd as it could get already. Guess not. SCOTT BORAS: The Little Farm Boy Who Changed Baseball Contracts Forever (A Biography Book For Kids)

I grew up in southeastern Minnesota in the 1970s and there wasn't a Twins affiliate broadcasting games in that area. We could sorta get WCCO at night if we drove up out of the coulees onto the ridges. WKTY in La Crosse carried the Brewers games, however, and those came in clear as a bell. The Brewers broadcasters were Bob Uecker and Merle Harmon. Harmon was a top tier professional play-by-play guy and Uecker was, well... himself. Man, those games were great! The Brewers were getting good with a core of Yount and Molitor and Cecil Cooper and Ben Oglivie (hitter of the longest homerun in Metrodome history) and the broadcasts were lively. I would love one more teenage summer evening hanging out with my buddies, drinking Old Style lager and listening to Uecker and Harmon calling a Brewers game. Rest in peace, Mr. Baseball. Hoping you're in the front row.

The Twins bullpen is a known haven for lefties.

It's interesting to speculate how the Twins would have been different if Calvin Griffith had sold the team to somebody other than the Pohlads. In Gary Olson's SABR article on the ownership history of the Minnesota Twins he wrote: Griffith had explored several sales options, but decided in the end to sell to Pohlad because it was the first serious offer he got that met his terms. (Earlier in the year Donald Trump had approached Griffith about buying the team, but that exchange went nowhere.) A Minneapolis-based group led by Marv Wolfenson and Harvey Ratner offered $27 million in cash, but Griffith turned them down. https://sabr.org/bioproj/topic/minnesota-twins-team-ownership-history/

I would rather the Twins convert Trevor Larnach to 1B to platoon with Miranda and find a LFer with more range so it's Buxton flanked by only 1 slow guy instead of 2.

Read all about it: More than thirty years ago, the Metrodome roof swallowed a Dave Kingman fly ball

Now I even long for the days of a Tsuyoshi Nishioka or Byungho Park signing.

June 22, 1984, the Griffith family sells the Twins to Carl Pohlad. (Calvin Griffith, Thelma Griffith Haynes, Carl Pohlad) Star Tribune photo

The infamous Joe Neikro nail file.

That was a change-of-pace type of post for Twins Daily and it was much enjoyed! I'd like to see more like this.

I think the Twins were also taken aback upon discovering that Free Agents weren't actually "Free."

The fans in left field at the Metrodome would give Rickey the business long and hard and he would taunt them back. Cup his ear, tip his hat, whatever. I got the feeling he loved it. Then he'd steal two bases or hit a homer or make one of those exaggerated swipes with the glove catching a fly ball. I wondered if he would be that devastating on the Twins if the left field fans just left him alone. I loved watching him play, though.

Don't knock hose water. Best drink in the world after mowing the lawn.

This is the honest truth. The amount of bulk popcorn you could purchase for the price of a movie theater popcorn tub would fill an SUV when popped. That large movie theater soda is a about 85% carbonated water. Both are probably still under $1 to produce. The theaters only make about 30% of the ticket price in profit. The other 70% goes to the distributor. Given the continued decline in attendance, I don't see how theaters can continue to operate.

One problem in baseball is you have to wait sooooo long to see prospects. It's hard to be excited about drafting a Walker Jenkins then having him disappear into obscurity for three or more years. Players coming into the NFL and NBA are already well-known from college and instantly recognized when they show up professionally. The closest thing for the MLB is signing international stars but it's hard for the average fan to feel the same connection to a player who needs an interpreter for the post-game interview. Awkward. Question - Golf has got to be the absolute most boring sport on TV. Is it suffering through the same decline in popularity as baseball? If not, why?

The best Black Friday deal had to be the game-worn Isiah Kiner-Falefa spring training jersey I got in 2022 that was not actually game-worn.

My 2025 ballot: Billy Wagner Ichiro Suzuki Alex Rodriguez Ichiro is as sure a first-ballot Hall of Famer as there is. It would be cruel and unusual punishment for Wagner to get as high as 73.8 % and not make it in his final year. I think it's time to get over the A-Rod blacklist ban. He was clearly among the greatest to ever play shortstop.

Below is the list of this year's candidates with links to their Baseball Reference pages. You can choose up to 10 players. A player must be included on 75% of ballots to be elected. Players are removed from future ballots if selected on fewer than 5% of ballots or if they have appeared on the ballot 10 times without election. (This is the last year for Billy Wagner) This list doesn't include players on the Classic Baseball Era Committee Ballot. There are two former Twins on the ballot and one potential Timberwolves owner. Gary Sheffield was removed from the ballot this year after having failed to be elected in his 10th year of eligibility last year. (63.9%) Player Year on Ballot % of Ballots Billy Wagner 10th 73.80% Andruw Jones 8th 61.60% Carlos Beltrán 3rd 57.10% Alex Rodriguez 4th 34.80% Manny Ramirez 9th 32.50% Chase Utley 2nd 28.80% Omar Vizquel 8th 17.70% Bobby Abreu 6th 14.80% Jimmy Rollins 4th 14.80% Andy Pettitte 7th 13.50% Mark Buehrle 5th 8.30% Francisco Rodríguez 3rd 7.80% Torii Hunter 5th 7.30% David Wright 2nd 6.20% Ichiro Suzuki 1st CC Sabathia 1st Dustin Pedroia 1st Ian Kinsler 1st Félix Hernández 1st Troy Tulowitzki 1st Ben Zobrist 1st Curtis Granderson 1st Hanley Ramírez 1st Russell Martin 1st Adam Jones 1st Brian McCann 1st Carlos González 1st Fernando Rodney 1st

The '77 Twins were so much fun! What a blow in '78 to lose both Hisle AND Bostock. Hisle's salary deservedly increased ten-fold with the Brewers and Bostock's went up 20-fold with the Angels so I actually felt good for those two even though it was crushing for the Twins. It was apparent that Calvin Griffith couldn't afford to operate an MLB franchise in the new free-agent economy but he still hung on tenuously for another half-dozen years - agonizing years for Twins fans. (We were rewarded with Willie Norwood, Hosken Powell and Bombo Rivera as our new outfield options) Living in SE Minnesota, I got Brewers games on the radio from La Crosse (the excellent Bob Uecker and Merle Harmon) so could still follow Larry's career every night in '78. He helped lead the Brewers to their first-ever 90+ win season (and first-ever winning record) in a super-competitive AL East division where the Yankees, Red Sox and Orioles were all formidable. That Brewers team also featured a 21-year-old Paul Molitor and a 22-year-old Robin Yount. Such an enjoyable era in baseball! (Outside of Minnesota)

Will Falvey as team president have any responsibilities in the process of selling the team or will that be entirely up to the Pohlads / a 3rd-party representative of the Pohlads? Also wondering... With it looking like Minneapolis will shut down the HERC, if that parcel adjacent to Target Field would have any development potential - perhaps as a Twins-owned parking garage. That would seem to be a potential money-maker for the team if the city can be urged to clear and sell the land.

This is a problem created by the MLB since their main intent is to procure Latin players from poor countries who can be signed more cheaply without going through the draft process. Too bad if this practice occasionally ends up biting the MLB in the @ss and costing them additional $'s. PS - The Twins' Tony Oliva switched his US paperwork to his younger brother Pedro Jr.'s name and birthdate to make him appear younger to major league scouts. I would have done that, too.