Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–April 17

Alexander Cartwright (1820)
Cap Anson (1852)
Tom Needham (1879)
Jake Daubert (1884)
Buzz Arlett (1912)
Solly Hemus (1923)
Tsutomu Wakamatsu (1947)
Denny Walling (1954)
Craig Worthington (1965)
Marquis Grissom (1967)
Gary Bennett (1972)
Ryan Raburn (1981)
Jed Lowrie (1984)
Deolis Guerra (1989)

Alexander Cartwright was instrumental in developing the rules for the game of baseball.

Buzz Arlett was a star in the low minors from 1934-1941, and probably would have been for several more years had World War II not intervened.  He had a career average of .319 with a slugging average of .480, but never played above Class C.

Tsutomu Wakamatsu was a star in Japan from 1971-1989, making the all-star team eleven times.  His career average of .319 is second to Leron Lee on the all-time list of players with at least four thousand at-bats.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–April 17 →

2021 Twins Game Logs

2021 Game 14: Twins vs. Angels of Some Multiple Locations

23 Comments

Your Minnesota Twins are back on the road tonight, opening their much-needed (apparently) road trip in California. Lewis Thorpe will be pitching for the Twins against Andrew Heaney for LA, and I really don't know what to expect. Some health might really help this team. Some reasonable bullpen performances would be great too.

Game time is 8:38. So watch the first 5 innings and go to bed before the bullpen blows the lead, because you should get some good sleep and you don't want to see that anyway.

Sorry, it's hard not to be a cynic right now, even after that walkoff win.

Friday Music Day

Friday Music Day – Whoops Guest DJ drops the Ball

5 Comments

I forgot to throw this up last night. It has been ... a week. Throw up your lists in the comments, but if you want to admit it what's your guilty pleasure song that you defend for no reason.

For me it's Ringo's Beatles songs because I find it hilarious, and Call Me Maybe because of DC memories playing Kickball.

My last video will be up later today when I find a video of it.

Happy Friday.

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–April 16

Dutch Leonard (1892)
Paul Waner (1903)
Babe Phelps (1908)
Pete Hughes (1915)
Pete Suder (1916)
Joe Bauman (1922)
Rich Rollins (1938)
Bernie Allen (1939)
Garry Roggenburk (1940)
Jim Lonborg (1942)
Bob Montgomery (1944)
Bruce Bochy (1955)
Curt Young (1960)
Fernando Vina (1969)
Antonio Alfonseca (1972)
Kelly Dransfeldt (1975)
Nolan Arenado (1991)

Pete Hughes was a star in the low minors from 1937-1952.  His incomplete career numbers are a .350 average and a .637 slugging percentage, but for some reason he never played above Class B.

Joe Bauman hit 72 home runs for Roswell in the Longhorn League in 1954.

Kelly Dransfeldt was drafted by Minnesota in the seventh round in 1993, but did not sign.

Rich Rollins, Bernie Allen, and Garry Roggenburk all played for the Twins at the same time.  I wonder how unusual it is for a team to have three players who share the same birthday.  They also all were born or raised in the state of Ohio.  Rollins and Allen were also business partners for a while.

Continue reading Happy Birthday–April 16 →

2021 Twins Game Logs

2021 Game 13: Boston Red Sox at Minnesota Twins

54 Comments

Game Time  12:10pm CDT

After dropping the first three games of a long home series with Boston to extend their losing streak to four, the Twins will try to right the ship today and avoid the sweep. Big Mike Pineda takes the ball for the Twins while Boston trots Garret Richards out to the hill. Two weeks into the season and I have yet to see more than an inning of any Twins game, but I'm really liking the retro feel of listening to the game on the radio while I clean the garage or rake out the lawn. Until the middle innings roll around and Dazzle does the play by play, at least. Play ball!

Keeping Track

Happy Birthday–April 15

Jim Creighton (1841)
Ed Abbaticchio (1877)
Ed Bailey (1931)
Willie Davis (1940)
Ted Sizemore (1945)
Jeromy Burnitz (1969)
Milton Bradley (1978)
John Danks (1985)
Chris Tillman (1988)

Jim Creighton was a star pitcher from 1857-1862, before the National League was created.  He passed away from a ruptured hernia in 1862 at the age of twenty-one.

Until Henry Aaron came along, Ed Abbaticchio held the “first in the alphabet” record.  Now, of course, David Aardsma has them both beat.

There do not appear to be any major league players with connections to the Minnesota Twins born on this day.

Remodeled basement. Same half-baked taste.