David HK

This is a small thing in our big world, but-- It's 9:20 PM in HK right now, and I am watching live baseball from Taiwan. Just now, the Monkeys put up a 5-spot in the top of the ninth to storm back and lead the Brothers 8-6, until the Brothers tied it up with 2 in the bottom of the 9th! We're going to extras... Cheers, y'all.

An organization that wasn't tone-deaf or just didn't care whatsoever would find a way around this. So, even if it's a rule, it's a buyback "option" they don't have to take. Or they could take it, and then turn around and donate it again. You'd think that someone, anyone who gets paid to be a PR person, or heck, OWNS THE CLUB would figure this out. I hate them even more now.

Yes.

Oh, thanks a lot, Seth. Now I'm gonna be grumpy all day remembering that Bruno-for-Tom Herr trade. What a travesty that was.

Go Twins!

I like this kid even more, knowing about the Dizzy cheeks.

Man, these recaps bring back a hundred old memories! Dean Chance, Perry and Kaat, Dave Boswell- the Twins were loaded with good pitchers in 69, as well as that early version of the Bomba Squad. Boswell was my fave pitcher that year, 'til Billy took him out behind the old Lindell AC that night in Detroit. He missed about 3 weeks, but still won 20 games, even after having his 6'3" a** handed to him by a pint-sized old man... What a year that was.

The 70s, as a Twins fan, was a lo-o-o-o-o-ong decade. There were bright spots, here and there, 76, 79, but for the most part, it was just as you said. Killer, Tony O, others got old, and Calvin let all the stars go for a pittance. But still, we never gave up!

Jeepers, how many of those highlights from other teams in that video were against the Twins?!? And how about those attractive White Sox / Carpet Mart softball uniforms? Remember the shorts?

Yeh, that was in the lean years, when it was a crapshoot for the AL to have to pick one guy from the Twins... I wonder if they actually used a dartboard?

I would add Allan Anderson to the list, too. His 1988 season, where he led the AL in ERA was awesome, and he backed it up in 89 too, with another solid year. But then, like Keyser Söze in Usual Suspects... Poof! He was gone...

I love these, Seth. Great blasts from the past with names that still stick in the memory, even though I can't remember lunch... Heh... Steve Braun- he was just one of those "professional hitters." Always ready with the stick, and an awesome pinch hitter too. He was the 70s version of Randy Bush in the next decade. Never really a full-time role, but a most-time role, and a heck of a bat off the bench. And I, too, gotta go with Disco Dan in the OF.

Heh... TK always had a bit of a thing for Portugal. I always liked the guy, but he was a young Cali dude, and I'm sure he got under TK's skin just by being himself. I was sad to see him get traded away for the proverbial bag o' balls, and he went on to have some good years in the NL.

I'm old school, so gotta go with Hoyt and Wilbur. Geez, the longevity of those guys. In my 40's I had moved from Chicago to LA, and lived across from a high school where I saw a bunch of similar vintage dudes playing ball. I went over and soon joined up with one of the over 40 leagues there. Went to the cage, tuned up on the hitting- and by golly, I got some of the old stroke back- or so I thought. There were a couple of exhibition-type games before the season started, and I was stinging the ball. The mgr batted me leadoff in the first game. On the mound was this fireplug of an old guy, probably pushing 60 at the point, who threw a knuckler. The other guys were saying that he was a nightmare to hit, and I had never faced one before, but thought, what's the big deal? Never even came close to touching the ball in 5 trips. Never saw the top half of the batting order again, either...

Ahh, Seth, you've done it again. Thanks for this awesome rundown. These are the names and faces from my Elementary School days, the heroes who populated my baseball card collection, and whose exploits I'd fall asleep to with the transistor under my pillow with those night games coming in from the coast. What I'd give right now to fall into a sound, innocent sleep, with the crackle of static and the day's closing grain prices in between the innings where images of my childhood idols danced in my head...

I concur. Doctor, do you concur?

Thanks for this, Matthew.

Heh... Klawitter- Wisconsin boy. I remember Billy Gardner saying that when he wanted him to come into the game, he'd look toward the bullpen and raise his hand like a claw...

Sweet. Thanks, Tommy.

Who usually won?

Mid-May is a starting point. We all have to play it completely by ear. This is going to be a slow walk back to normal, and who knows what the new normal will be right now. Here in Hong Kong, schools were shut down right after Chinese New Year. At first, it was for 2 weeks. Then 4. Now it's April 20, but they way it looks right now, that date is precarious, too. Sports and other official gatherings have gone down, too. The biggest events of the year so far, the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens, HK Marathon, major international conventions such as the Jewelry show and Flower show, the International Film Festival and Art Basel have all been cancelled. The only fortunate part of this is having gone through SARS in 2003, people here are already versed in what to do to get through. However, in the early days, before the spread broke out of Wuhan, people still adhered to Chinese New Year traditions, and that caused several clusters of infection from handfuls of large family dinners and gatherings. They passed the virus to one another in family or co-worker holiday events. Once that was learned, that behavior immediately changed. I've just begun to see people walking the streets here and there sans masks very recently, but many shops have signs that ask you not to enter without one, and it's still a mark of social responsibility and awareness to do so. Day by day, we march on slowly. And it's all we can do right now. I miss the hell out of baseball right now; it's a lifeline home for me here. But this is uncharted territory. I can't tell you how much it shakes me from over here when I see pundits and pols and others saying "go out, have fun, don't worry." My God, haven't they been paying attention? This is the way it happened here, and the way it spread across the globe so rapidly. People are sick and don't know it yet, and infect others around them by just being obstinate or wholly ignorant. It's not just older people, either. You can't know whom in your social circle might be immuno-compromised. It's a death sentence for someone like me, 60 years old, with chronic asthma. And for those who are compromised, it's a horrible death, like a slow-motion drowning. Even many of those who recover do so with greatly diminished lung capacity, for the rest of their lives. Please be smart, be safe, everyone, and take care of those around you. See you on the other side of this.

I taped Ken Burns' Baseball series long ago. The turned my VHS copies into Dvd. It's not the greatest pixel-wise, but so much of that stuff is old photos and film anyway, I just pretend it's from the old days. About time to crank up Inning 1 again!

Heh... It reminded me of the Chiefs' fashion show from Slap Shot. https://www.google.com/search?q=slapshot+fashion+show&oq=slap+shoy+fashion+show&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l3.16653j0j7&client=ms-android-samsung-gj-rev1&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#