Just Like 1982

In 1982 four of the best prospects in baseball - 1^st baseman Kent Hrbek, 3^rd basemen Gary Gaetti, right fielder Tom Brunansky, and starting pitcher Fran Viola - played their rookie season for the Minnesota Twins. The players had varying levels of success and the team lost 102 games, but the seeds for future successful Twins teams were sown.

When another star prospect – Kirby Puckett - joined them in 1984, the Twins had the foundation that would bring them a World Series title in 1987. Brunansky is now considered to be amongst the top 30 Twins of all-time while Gaetti and Viola among the top 20, and Puckett and Hrbek among the top 10. Puckett is a member of Baseball’s Hall of Fame. Hrbek, Gaetti, and Viola are members along with Puckett in the Twins Hall of Fame.

31 years later the Twins have, are, and will be summoning some of the best prospects in baseball just as they did in 1982. Right fielder Oswaldo Arcia, starting pitcher Kyle Gibson and center fielder Aaron Hicks are already here, with 3^rd baseman Miguel Sano, 2^nd baseman Eddie Rosario, and starting pitchers Alex Meyer and Trevor May expected in 2014. While center fielder Bryon Buxton and starting pitcher Jose Berrios expected in 2015.

Buxton and Sano are already being hailed as Hall of Fame talents. Arcia and Rosario are expected to be All-Stars. Meyer and Gibson are supposed to be top of the rotation starters with Berrios and May being solid pitchers. If Joe Mauer can stay healthy and productive, a Twins lineup of Buxton, Mauer, Arcia, Sano, Rosario, Hicks, and others could make this a Twins team which could be amongst the greatest Twins teams of all-time. Of course history is filled with failed “can’t miss” prospects, so time will tell.

What can’t be missed with this new wave of young Twins players is the excitement they have generated. Certified autographs of Buxton and Sano are going for well over $100 a piece, and demand for items tied to them is in great demand. Meanwhile this year I gone to separate free public autograph signings with Glen Perkins, Chris Parmelee, Josh Willingham, and Pedro Florimon, and was able to go through the line multiple times. That use to not to be the case as Twins players use to draw huge crowds. Fans are not excited about the current players; they want to see the good, young prospects, and soon they shall.

Just like in 1982, the Twins are sowing the seeds of future success. We can only hope this time it will turn out as well as it did then.

Minnesota Twins and Baseball Free Agency

Baseball free agency is upon us once again, and millions of baseball fans will clamor for their team to sign a big name player who will help them win next season.

The Twins coming off their worst season in years are looking for a starting shortstop, a backup catcher who can hit, a starting pitcher or two, and plenty of help in the in bullpen. However, the Twins history says they won’t be finding any big name player on the free agent market.

In fact the Twins history shows they will leave most of their free agent go to other teams, and most of those players will achieve little with their new clubs.

After the 1976 season baseball had its first true off-season of free agency. Bill Campbell was the Twins first free agent. Campbell had been the best reliever in the American League for the Twins in 1976 going 17-5 with an ERA of 3.01 and 20 saves.

Campbell signed a 5 year $1 million dollar deal with Boston. This was consider outrageous money (oh, how things have changed since then), and much was expected of Campbell. He delivered in 1977 with a very good season then followed that up with a bunch of subpar years.

Outfielder Larry Hisle and Lyman Bostock had brilliant years for the Twins in 1977, and entered free agency as hot commodities. Hisle signed a 6 year $3.15 million contract with Milwaukee while Bostock signed a multi-million dollar deal with the Angels. Twins fans were outraged that Twins had let them go. When starting pitcher Dave Goltz left after the 1979 season to sign with the Dodgers, Twins fans started giving up hope.

However, Hisle, Bostock, and Goltz never lived up to the amount of money they were given. Hisle had a brilliant 1978 for Milwaukee then proceeded to get hurt and never play more then 27 game in a season for the next 4 years. Bostock was having a good 1978 when he was tragically murdered late in the season. Goltz never even came close to having even an average season with the Dodgers, and they released him before the end of his contract.

Gary Gaetti, Greg Gagne, Jack Morris, Jeff Reardon, Dan Gladden, Shane Mack, Chili Davis, Eric Milton, David Ortiz, Eddie Guardado, LaTroy Hawkins, Jacque Jones, Corey Koskie, Torii Hunter, Matt Guerrier, and Jesse Crain have all left the Twins as free agents. Some had success, some failure, some a little of both. Were any really worth retaining? You could argue Hunter, Gagne, and Ortiz were, but it is not a high percentage of the number of free agents who have left the Twins.

The Twins will likely loose 4 more free agents this off-season. Michael Cuddyer, Joe Nathan, Joe Kubel, and Matt Capps are free agents. I expect 3 if not all 4 to leave. Cuddyer and Kubel have spent their entire careers with the Twins while Nathan has spent most of his productive years with the Twins, but money talks and all 3 could quickly be out of the Twins price range.

I was trying to think who the Twins biggest free agent signing was. Minnesota natives Jack Morris, Dave Winfield, Terry Stienbach, and Paul Molitor all signed with Twins as free agents, but took less money to do so. Chili Davis signed a 2 year $4.5 million dollar contract in 1991 that was a fairly large investment at the time. However, since then the Twins have signed few free agents. Players such as Orlando Hudson, Rondell White, Livan Hernandez, and Jim Thome took less the below market contracts mainly because not many teams were interested in them.

There is lots of talk of the Twins signing shortstop Clint Barmes and catcher Ryan Doumit or catcher Rod Barajas not to mention a bunch of pitchers of varying talent and price range. Will the Twins invest in any of them? One cannot be sure, but their history says not unless they can get them at below market cost. Then again, when you loss 99 games as the Twins did this year, they may make an exception.

Meeting Gary Gaetti

Gary Gaetti is my favorite Minnesota Twin of all-time. Gary was a 2 time All-Star, 4 time Gold Glove winner who was also the MVP of American League Championship series. He was the heart and soul of the 1987 Twins’ World Championship team.

Gary is one of only 3 Twins (Harmon Killebrew and Justin Morneau are the others) who have hit 30 home runs and drove in 100 rbi’s in back to back seasons (Gary did it in 87 & 88).

Gary is the only Twin ever to hit a home run in his first regular season at bat and his first post season at bat.

I meet Gary Gaetti for the first time in person in 1983 at a baseball card show. He signed a Minnesota Twins schedule that day for young teenager (me) who was in awe of actually seeing a real baseball player up close and in person.

When I started collecting autographed baseball cards through the mail, Gary Gaetti was the first player I sent to. 9 days after I sent to him, Gary sent a signed card back to me signed in red sharpie. Yes, red sharpie. No other player has ever signed a card in red for me, so it is a card that stands out in my collection.

I have sent more cards, a photo, and baseball, and he has almost always signed for me and signed for free. In fact, when my first signed photo was damaged, I wrote him again and he immediately signed another photo for me, even personalized it.

My most treasured signed baseball card is an 88 Topps card which Gary signed in blue sharpie “Gary Gaetti 87 ALCS MVP”.

27 years after first meeting him, I had the chance to meet Gary Gaetti again. He was signing autographs at a card show not far from my house.

I have met a Hall of Famers Harmon Killebrew, Paul Molitor, and Rod Carew. I have met current superstars like Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, and Johan Santana. I have never been nervous in their presence. I was nervous meeting Gary Gaetti.

He was very gracious in listening to me tell him who I was and how much I loved to watch him play. He signed a baseball bat “Gary Gaetti 87 ALCS MVP” for me. I don’t know if I will ever me Gary Gaetti again in person, but I will always remember my 2 meeting with him fondly.

Thanks Gary for signing my stuff and for being a good guy!

(Below is a picture of my signed bat. I took the picture with my cell phone camera, so the quality of the picture isn't the greatest, but the signed bat itself looks great.)

Random Thought - 50 Years of Minnesota Viking Football

The Minnesota Vikings are celebrating their 50th anniversary this season. In 50 years the Vikings have been soundly beaten in 4 Super Bowls; lost 4 NFC Championship games of which 3 were last minute losses; and generally disappointed their fans on regular basis.

About 2 years ago I decided to collect autographed football cards of the Vikings players who played any of the 4 Super Bowls. I now have roughly 30 players including Fran Tarkenton, Alan Page, and Joe Kapp.

Next weekend (Dec 18 & 19) the Vikings are hosting a big 50th anniversary celebration. The 50 greatest Vikings will be revealed, and all 49 of still living members of that group will all be present.

Perhaps in honor of this coming moment, Bud Grant the coach of the Vikings’ 4 Super Bowl teams signed a football card, appropriately in purple sharpie, that I had sent him in the mail. Coach Grant normally does not do much signing through the mail, so thank you Coach Grant for signing the card, and I hope you have good time at the big Viking celebration!

While Coach Grant and others celebrate 50 years of Viking football, I will be attending a card show being put on by sportsnewsshow.com. Amongst others, they are having Minnesota North Star legend and new Hockey Hall of Fame member Dino Ciccarelli signing autographs. They are also having my favorite Minnesota Twin of all-time Gary Gaetti.
 Dino never signs through the mail, so I have to get him here. Gary on the other hand as been quite generous over the years in signing stuff for me for free, so I thought I would pay him back a bit. It will also be nice to see my favorite Minnesota Twin in person again.

A Couple of Minnesota Twins Thoughts

The Twins Trade for J.J. Hardy

The Twins had traded Carlos Gomez to Milwaukee for shortstop JJ Hardy. I like this trade. We needed a great fielding, solid hitting shortstop and now we have one. Better yet we did not have to give up any pitching to get him.

Of course this trade renders my signed Carlos Gomez ball, photo, and three baseball cards worthless. I also had to get some JJ Hardy cards for him to sign for me, but it will be worth it.

One thought about Carlos Gomez. This town fell in love with him the moment he arrived. They loved his speed, his defense, his personality, his energy. However, no one could stand his hitting. It drove people crazy. In batting order already sporting the light hitting Nick Punto, there was no room for Gomez even if he is the best fielding outfielder in baseball. Good luck Carlos, welcome JJ!

I Went to the Twins Moving Sale.

I went to the Twins moving sale held on November 7. Evidently while packing their offices up for the move to Target Field, the Twins found lots stuff they did not take with them, so they held a sale.

I arrived an hour and ten minutes before the start of the sale only to find I was about the 300th person in line. I read that 15,000 people came to the sale. Most of those folks did not get much. In fact there was a lot of junk there.

I did secure some things I wanted though. I got a Jack Morris bobble head for $10. I also got a set of 4 bobble heads that were given away to season ticket holders in 2007 for just $25. Who were the four? They were Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Micheal Cuddyer, and Gary Gaetti.

I am a big Gaetti guy, so getting him was great. Mauer and Morneau are two of the all-time great Twins plus Cuddyer is a great guy and solid player. I rearrange the shelf above my TV so I could display all my bobble heads of which I have ten plus a mini bobble head. While not a huge collector I do intend to try and secure some more.

The next big Twins event is Twinsfest in late January. If this moving sale is any preview of the crowds that will be at Twinsfest, I better get in line now.

Gary Gaetti Comes Through

In my last post I described how my 8 x 10 autographed photo of Gary Gaetti was badly damaged. I quickly sent a note to Gary explaining what happened and asked if he would sign another photo for me. Not only did he sign another photo for me, but he personalized it! Since I no intention of ever selling or trading any of my autographed items, I really enjoyed it when players personalize items.

Gary has always been one of my favorite Twins of all-time. This class move just re-enforces that feeling. I doubt Gary or anyone who knows him will ever read this blog, but I still want to publically thank you Gary for taking the time to sign my picture. It was most appreciated.

Good News Bad News

The good news is on Saturday I received my signed Harmon Killebrew baseball card and 8 x10 photo. I have stood in line five times at Twinsfest and the Twins Autograph Party to get Harmon to sign things, and only twice have I got through and actually got him to sign. The other three times the line was cut off before I got through.

Tire of this happening I sent a contribution to Harmon’s foundation. In exchange for a certain dollar contribution I could get items autographed. The price was not much more than it cost to get into and have him sign stuff at Twinsfest, so I decided to go this route. It worked great. Harmon got, signed, and returned my items in under 30 days. I was most pleased.

Now the bad news, I seriously damaged my signed Gary Gaetti 8 x 10. I was so happy when it arrived, and now I have pretty much ruined it. I spilt liquid on it. The only saving grace was the Killebrew picture I had just gotten was only a short distance away from the Gaetti picture. Luckily it was spared.

I will send another 8 x 10 to Gary, explain in my letter what happen, and ask him to sign a new one. Hopefully he will.

Gary Gaetti TTM Success

A weekend filled with Twins related activities (see previous posts) included the arrival of great item in the mail. Gary Gaetti was my first autograph request through the mail (ttm request) back in Feb. 2007. 9 days after sending my card I received a signed card back from him. I was very pleased, and began a wonderful new hobby.

After successes with several other players, I sent two more cards to Gaetti in late summer of 07, but never received anything back from him. I assumed he was either not signing, or did not receive them. It looks like it was the latter.

I got some official 8 x10 photos of some older Twins this year, and decided to send some out ttm. I sent out to Tom Brunansky, Greg Gagne, Randy Bush, and Gary Gaetti. To my profound happiness, I have received all four back signed with the arrival of Gary Gaetti’s today. Gary also was kind enough to sign a baseball card for me.

All four of the above listed gentlemen are class individuals. Brunansky and Bush even personalize their photo to me with Brunansky including his old uniform number on his. Gagne was the fastest returning his signed photo in 7 days, Gaetti took 47 days.

Many former and current Twins players are really good about signing autographs through the mail or in-person. I think it says something about the organization and the people and players in it.

Thanks Gary, Tom, Randy, and Greg for signing my pictures and cards. It is appreciated.

Jacque Jones

Jacque Jones was my favorite Minnesota Twin from 2000-20005. I felt that as Jacque Jones went, so went the Minnesota Twins. It seemed to me that when Jacque hit well the Twins won. When Jacque did not hit well the Twins lost.

I have no proof this was actually the case. Sabermertics people (people who study baseball stats) could probably produce numerous stats proving that say, for example, Torii Hunter was more important to the Twins success during those years. And while I love examining baseball stats and using them to prove a baseball player importance or unimportance, I sometimes just like going with a feeling that I get that a certain player is the key to a team.

Jacque, like Gary Gaetti before him, is one of those players whose value went beyond stats. Jacque willingly batted leadoff, even if he was not a typical leadoff hitter. Jacque, a left fielder, willingly moved to right field when Shannon Stewart joined the Twins and expressed a comfort level playing left field over right field. This made Stewart more productive and the Twins a better team.

Jacque was a team leader and teammate by example not words. I felt a need to write about Jacque, because I just received autographed baseball card back from him. Baseball cards stir up memories in me, and my memories of Jacque and his play for the Twins came back to me upon looking at this card. I could not help but think how great Jacque would look in left field for today’s Twins. Not to mention hitting leadoff.