Switching Positions? No Way.

A lot has been made about Joe Mauer and his future as the Minnesota Twins catcher. Sure, he just signed a four year deal, but that’s not the type of future I am talking about. The type of future that I’m referring to is whether Mauer is going to remain the Twins catcher, or if he’ll eventually be removed from behind the plate and put into a different position.

Mauer injured his knee on April 7^th, had surgery to remove his meniscus on April 8^th, and remained on the disabled list until June 2^nd. Was this a serious injury? You bet. Whenever someone gets their meniscus removed, it’s serious. For those of you not familiar with the role of a meniscus, it disperses friction, or acts as “padding” in between the tibia and femur. So since Mauer doesn’t have a meniscus in his left knee, it does raise a good question whether Mauer will remain behind the plate or not.

If you ask me, I think Mauer will remain the Twins catcher until three things happen…

1) He is no longer a Minnesota Twin.

2) He retires.

3) He can no longer play everyday as a major league catcher, and is therefore forced to be removed from the catcher position.

Notice that I italicized the word forced. I feel as long as Mauer is able to play an average catcher, he’ll remain there. His value, both offensively and defensively, is far too great to be moved to another position. From a financial standpoint, for Mauer, and a baseball standpoint, the Twins and Mauer would be foolish to switch positions unless he absolutely has to.

A popular position that people have talked about Mauer moving to is third base. Could Mauer play an average major league third base? I have no doubt that he could. Mauer is one of those special athletes that have it “all.” He could’ve played division one football, a high level of basketball, heck, he probably could’ve starred on the Bachelor. Have you seen those sideburns? I mean, they’re outrag…never mind, let’s stick to the topic.

Mauer could play third base, first base, outfield, whatever. But that’s really not the point. The point(s) I’m trying to make is that it’s hard to make a position transition, even for a special athlete like Mauer. Mauer has played catcher his entire life. It’s something he’s become, and having him switch positions could have some significant impact on the type of player that Mauer is, or may become.

The other point I’m trying to make is that if Mauer doesn’t need to be moved from behind the plate, why do it? Since Mauer’s removal of the meniscus, he hasn’t had one single recurrence or related injury to the knee. Yes, he just had a stress reaction, but that really has no relevance or relation to the removing of the meniscus. It’s been 3 years since Mauer had his knee worked on, and not one related injury has occurred. Plus, he’s the reigning AL batting champ, and is a career .321 hitter. That’s just icing on the cake as to why the Twins shouldn’t even consider moving Mauer from behind the plate.

Could I be wrong? Sure. Crazier things have happened. Another freak accident here, another incident here and Mauer’s knee could become a major issue. But for now, watching Mauer and knowing that he’s the Twins everyday catcher for at least four more years gives me enough reason to forget the talk about switching positions, well until now, and to just enjoy watching him and his mega hunk appearance.

Pucks in Purgatory

by Sam Bergman

tap… tap tap… this thing on?

Excellent. Ahem… Ladies and gentlemen, we are pleased to announce that the NHL playoffs will begin later this week.

…I know. You’d think you would have heard something about that, wouldn’t ya? You being a casual hockey fan and all. I mean, no one expects you to follow every little development of the regular season like those of us who live and die with Canada’s game, but still, when the playoffs roll around, well, you’d just expect that someone over at a major TV sports network would feel compelled to let you know about it!

But apparently not. Due in small part to ESPN’s deliberate attempt to bury any league that isn’t carried over its air, and in large part to the NHL’s infuriating incompetence when it comes to electronic media, press relations, and fan accommodation, the post-lockout hockey playoffs arrive in the U.S. with all the fanfare of a crucial Pakistani cricket match. That’s a great shame, because the majority of American sports fans being what they are (which is to say, sheep) this kind of willful ignorance means that a postseason that promises to be the most entertaining in years could fly under the radar of the vast majority of sports fans, even here, in the much-ballyhooed State of Hockey.

(Perhaps you think we are being unfair by branding the mass of American sports fans as “sheep.” Perhaps you have not listened to the Jim Rome Show lately. The reality is that Americans have been so conditioned to regard seriously the bleating of various self-appointed mass media tastemakers that most of us will respond as directed on nearly any subject on which we do not already possess a passionate opinion. See also Rodriguez, Alex and Smith, Anna Nicole.)

So how did we reach this sad state of affairs? It seems pointless even to bother rehashing the lockout, partly because everyone already knows what damage a hockey-free year did to the sport’s popularity south of the 49th parallel, but also because the changes the lockout wrought to hockey’s inner workings should actually work in the sport’s favor eventually, provided NHL Commissioner Gary “Glowing Puck” Bettman doesn’t blow the whole thing up in his own hands first. (He probably will, actually, after which the league owners will show their displeasure by only granting Bettman a 3-year extension and 75% salary bump.)

Many hockey fans like to compare the game’s current state of affairs with baseball’s sorry condition following the cancellation of the ’94 World Series: the National Pasttime was as low as it had ever been, and yet, all it took was persistence, patience, and a monster season from McGwire and Sosa (pre-reality check) to set things back on track. And while it’s awfully tempting to believe that the NHL might follow a similar path in the near future (Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin are every bit the offensive force that McGwire and Sosa were, and they have the added benefit of being on the front side of their respective careers, and also of not being ‘roided-up phonies,) there is one very, very big difference between pro baseball in 1995 and pro hockey in 2007. And that difference can be found in the rigid ideology currently guiding the leadership of the NHL.

Say what you will about Bud Selig (and we’ve said much in the past,) but as many mistakes as he has made while running MLB over the years, he has been a master at adjusting to the shifting realities of the American sports/entertainment landscape. Selig, for all his unpleasantries, is a savvy businessman who has proven adept at keeping his owners fat and happy, and the fans by and large just happy enough to avert open revolt. He has advocated for, and imposed, various controversial changes on the game he controls, but he has always been careful to ensure that he had a sizable base of support behind him, not just among the owners, but among the players and the media as well. Given that kind of backing, the diehard fans will usually come around eventually.

Gary Bettman, on the other hand, appears to have taken a cursory look at the NHL back when he was first appointed commissioner, and decided on a single, linear course of action which he has followed like a religion, refusing to deviate even one inch from the course lest someone question his commitment to his own vision. Remember that, in 1993, when Bettman came aboard, Wayne Gretzky was turning Los Angeles into a bona fide hockey town, Mario Lemieux was revitalizing one of the league’s moribund but vital markets (Pittsburgh,) and the game was finally beginning to get regular national exposure on American TV, courtesy of ESPN.

Bettman's strategy, then, involved rapid and extensive expansion to the larger cities in the American south, while simultaneously abandoning as many undersized markets as could be arranged, with the overall objective of putting as much quick cash as possible into the pockets of the league’s owners. In the fifteen years since, this plan has become the NHL’s Iraq policy, a woefully misguided (if originally well-intended) ideological line in the sand from which the commissioner refuses to back away even as the league shudders around him and fans in two countries beg him to recalibrate.

Point out the clear wrongheadedness of placing teams no one asked for in Tampa Bay, Phoenix, Raleigh, and Sunrise, Florida (Sunrise, for the love of God!) while allowing hockey-mad markets like Winnipeg, Quebec, and Minnesota to languish without teams, and you’ll get a regurgitated speech on how much better things are going in Raleigh these days. (Winning a fluky Cup does tend to boost one’s attendance figures for a year or so, yes, before everyone goes back to caring only about NASCAR and football.) Inquire into the wisdom of abandoning the unprecedented national reach of the sports juggernaut that is ESPN for an outlying cable channel that offered you a couple of extra million dollars, and you’ll get back a fascinating theory about the benefits of partnering with a channel that is truly devoted to your sport and only your sport. Which immediately begs the question: if a tree falls six miles away from a forest and makes no sound, does it matter to anyone in the forest how devoted the ferns growing at the tree’s base were to the tree?

There is certainly method to Bettman’s madness. He and those who follow his lead believe, correctly, that a league that caters only to its diehard base while ignoring the masses of casual fans who need some extra prodding to take an interest is a losing strategy. This is something baseball has understood for decades, and it’s the core reason behind such “improvements” as the designated hitter, the wild card system, and the absurd nationwide hyping of the Red Sox/Yankees rivalry.

But whereas baseball has usually eased into such changes, proclaiming every new innovation a “trial” while keeping one eye sharply cocked towards the core fan base, Bettman’s NHL has essentially told an entire nation, Canada, to shut up and be thankful they still have a few teams. It has told fans in southern New England that the Boston Bruins are quite enough team for the entire hockey-mad region, then allowed one of the worst owners in sports to run the once-proud franchise into the ground. It has manipulated attendance figures of its underperforming new teams throughout the Sun Belt, and then when called on the distortions, pointed to similarly slumping attendance in Original Six markets like Chicago, while conveniently ignoring the obvious truth that the Blackhawks are run by an owner so addled and out of touch that he doesn’t allow his team’s home games to be broadcast because he believes that TV holds down attendance! In short, Commissioner Bettman will not be moved from his absurd script by any reality, not even when his devotion to ideological purity is threatening to sink the sport he professes to care about.

This isn’t the article I intended to write when I sat down at the keyboard a few hours ago. I wanted to talk about the Pittsburgh Penguins’ miraculous resurrection at the hands of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. I wanted to zero in on the fascinating first-round playoff matchup of San Jose and Nashville, which will end with one of the three best teams in all of hockey being eliminated before the end of April. I wanted to touch on the Hollywood-couldn’t-have-scripted-it-any-better rise of Niklas Backstrom, the Minnesota goaltender who could well prove to be this year’s out-of-nowhere playoff hero. I planned to dwell at length on a Western Conference so loaded down with talent that only a single playoff team failed to reach the 100-point plateau.

But you know what? I already know all about that stuff, and so do all the other hockey diehards in Minnesota. A playoff preview should be about giving those casual fans that everyone is always chasing a reason to tune in, to take an interest, even if only for a few hours, even if only as a diversion on the nights that the Twins aren’t playing. And even though I believe with all my heart that the game of hockey is as vibrant and entertaining as it has ever been, I just can’t imagine anyone who doesn’t already believe the same being convinced to slog through the wasteland at the outer edge of his cable system to catch a glimpse of the action. Besides, even if he did, he likely wouldn’t be able to see Sid the Kid wind it up or Niklas Backstrom glove one down.

Not with that immovable elephant standing in the middle of the room, he wouldn’t.

Scott Baker? Calling Scott Baker.

This message is directed towards anyone that can tell me where Scott Baker has gone. You know him, right? He stands about 6’4 and weighs around 220 pounds. He throws right handed, and was a 2^nd round draft pick of the Twins in 2003. You remember him, right?

Some people, may not remember Scott Baker. Sure, you know the name if you’re a follower of the Twins, especially over the last few years, but Baker has become a name that is mentioned less and less when talking about the Twins “rich” system of pitching. He’s fallen behind guys like Matt Garza, Kevin Slowey, Glen Perkins, and to some, even Anthony Swarzak.

In case you’ve forgot, Baker started with the Twins in 2003 while pitching for Quad Cities. After that, it took him only two years before reaching the big leagues. In his first stint with the big club, in 2005, Baker was one of the best looking young pitchers that this organization had. Baker posted a 3.35 ERA in 10 starts with the club while posting a 3-3 record. People began to envision a future rotation that would consist of Santana, Liriano, and Baker.

After the 2005 season, in which the Twins finished the year 83-79 after winning three consecutive AL Central division titles, Baker’s name began being thrown around in trade rumors. It was rumored that Baker and/or Liriano were the two main pieces that teams were looking to acquire for the Twins when they went out looking for a big bat. Twins general manager Terry Ryan laughed at those teams while telling them to get lost. You knew that this organization had future plans with Scott Baker.

Then came 2006. In spring training, Baker would earn a starting spot with the big league club. In 6 spring training starts, he went 2-1 with a 3.52 ERA. Was this fools gold? It may have been after we watched Kyle Lohse go 5-0 with a 2.42 ERA in spring training. However, many people, including Twins fans, were much more optimistic when talking about Scott Baker.

At the beginning of 2006, Baker would pitch very well for the Twins. He posted a 3.47 ERA in 4 starts for the club, including an absolute masterpiece against the Yankees on April 14^th. Things were looking good for Baker.

Then, something went wrong. Something that Scott Baker, Rick Anderson, or anyone could not, and still cannot, explain. Baker began leaving the ball up, which resulted in a number of HR’s given up, which meant that he began losing games and watching his ERA inflate worse than the inflation rate in the 1910’s. After May 6^th, Baker would never see his ERA below 5 again.

Baker would then be taken out of the rotation and sent down to Rochester where he pitched extremely well. He resorted back to the 2005 version of Baker where he had put himself on the map as far as the future rotation for the Minnesota Twins. Baker would get a few more starts with the big league club, but he would never put together a string of which he did in 2005.

Now, today, April 7^th, 2006, Baker has taken a back seat to guys like Garza, Slowey, and Perkins. He’s no longer considered the first guy to be called up if someone like Sidney Ponson, Carlos Silva, or Ramon Ortiz were to falter. To be honest, right now, Baker looks like one of those AAAA pitchers that pitch well at the AAA level, but can never put it together at the ML level.

However, I feel as though there is still hope to remain optimistic about Scott Baker. Yes, his 2005 season was outstanding, while his 2006 season was, well, atrocious. Heck, he ended the 2006 season with a worse ERA than Carlos Silva! But, I feel as though both seasons, 2005 & 2006, may have been a bit of aberration respectively. Is Scott Baker as good as his 2005 season indicates? No. Is he as bad as his 2006 season? I don’t think so either.

I think Baker falls somewhere in between. The reason why I think there is still hope for Scott Baker is because I remember what Boof Bonser looked like last July. He looked awful, like he had no possible future with this team except for being a AAA pitcher. Bonser was sent down to AAA in July of 2006 and it looked as if he wouldn’t be back up the remainder of the year. However, something changed in Bonser. He got angry, pissed about being sent back down to Rochester. There was a new Boof, a more confident version of Boof. Plus, he decided to add more of a “spike” curve to his arsenal, which looked to have made all the difference. Three months later, and Mr. Bonser was the Twins Game 2 starter in the ALDS against Oakland.

Now do I expect Baker to be a game 2 starter in the postseason one day? Not exactly. But, I do feel as though Baker has the ability to make that change, or maturation, that Bonser did after being sent down last July. Baker still has the ability to strike major league hitters out as he posted a 6.70 K/9 rate in that horrendous 2006 season. He just needs to learn how to keep the ball down more, spot his fastball, and maybe, just maybe, talk to Bonser about learning that “spike” curve.

Is Baker going to be back up with the big league club this year? I think that’s totally up in the air right now, but it’s pretty obvious that he’s probably fourth on the list when it comes to calling someone up. However, in 2008, there will be another battle for a few spots in the rotation. With guys like Silva, Ortiz, and Ponson likely gone, that would leave three spots open; But, with Liriano scheduled back then and having a spot basically reserved, that leaves two. It’s time for Baker to prove, once again, that he is part of this team’s future, and to prove that he’s not just your average minor league journeyman.

Scott Baker? Are you ready?

Theismann Says: Great Players Make Great Plays

Shortly after Florida wrapped up its second straight men’s college basketball championship, and article appeared on ESPN.com declaring that (and I’m paraphrasing from memory here) coach Billy Donovan had joined the list of all-time great college basketball coaches.[1] In more-related-than-you-think news, Ramon Ortiz pitched quite well for the Twins on Wednesday.

How do we evaluate greatness? On the surface, this question seems simple: we use results. We look at who did well, who did Lima, and we tally up the score at the end. But this system misses the essence of true greatness entirely. When we focus solely on results, we overlook the existential essence of what the great really is. Think about the Donovan example for a moment. The ESPN article claimed that his team’s ability to capitalize on Ohio State’s cross-eyed shooting catapulted him into position as “one of the elite coaches in the sport.” Now, obviously Donovan has done something rare. But does that change his ability as a coach? Of course not. He’s just as good now as he was before that game tipped off (aside from gaining whatever experience he got from the game). If Donovan is great now, then he was great before, too.

I’m not saying people do not improve. I’m saying we get cause and effect mixed up. Winning the second national title doesn’t make Billy Donovan a great coach; being a great coach won Billy Donovan two national titles. Now think of Ramon Ortiz. Very few people consider his signing to be a shrewd Terry Ryan move. But what if (and I know this is a huge if) Ortiz actually has a decent year? What if the move turns out to be worth it? Some will then say that this makes Terry Ryan an even better General Manager, because he has another success to point to. Wrong. Any success Ryan has had or will have happens because of his pre-existing skill.

We have a tendency to get things flipped around like this. Peyton Manning didn’t finally become a great quarterback after winning the Super Bowl—he won because he was a great quarterback. We must keep “great” and “accomplished” separate, because often they have little to do with each other. The RBI is another good example of this. The once-proud stat is now a punching bag for the enlightened baseball mind; rightfully so, given the way it was previously used. RBI has no business being used to evaluate a player’s quality. But it does tell you what they did. These are separate concepts. RBI as an historical record works just fine: Hunter drove in Punto. What does not work is: Hunter is a good player because he drove in Punto. In this example, Hunter drives in Punto because he’s a good player.

Keeping these two concepts of “good” and “accomplished” separate frees many now-derided stats from sabermetric purgatory (I’m looking at you, save). Once a player’s quality and his past accomplishments are freed from each other, we get to enjoy all kinds of fun things (like an Aaron Boone home run to beat the Red Sox) and make peace with the more disappointing ones (like Ernie Banks’ World Series rings) that don’t seem to mesh with skill as we accept it. And the more we can enjoy in life, the more enjoyable life can be. (Or, is it: we enjoy more things in life because life is more enjoyable?)

John Sharkey makes mediocre plays at aodshark@gmail.com.

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[1] Something the kids call “research” led me to this column by Andy Katz, titled “Second crown elevates grinder to greatness.”

Play Ball

In the opening day spirit, I thought I'd try my hand at a little bit of the running diary while watching the Twins/Orioles tilt. I only planned on doing it for about an hour and a half, just to kind of get the feel for the whole liveblogging/running diary thing. There's a chance that, if people think it would be fun, we could have occasional live-blogs of games here as they're played out. So what follows is my first crack at the format, as it were. I got a bit of a late start, coming in in the bottom of the first. So... here we go. Be kind.

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6:22 PM--And, I've finally made it, only five outs late. Brilliant. The Chairman inside-outs one to left field, and away we go. I must be good luck.
6:24--No milk jug this year? That's a shame--I blame the lost calcium for Mauer's leg injury.
6:26--It's the curse of the missing milk jug; Cuddyer down on a backdoor slider to end the first.
6:30--Tejada's single breaks up the no-hitter. I'm a jinx.
6:31--Rondell tries to fool the runner with the "I lost the ball in the ceiling" trick. Note to Rondell--an Oscar is not in your future, friend.
6:33--The President picks off Tejada, then K's Gibbons on the next pitch. Is there even anything fun to say about him?
6:36, :37--Morneau and Hunter each go opposite field, on consecutive pitches. And, near as I can tell, no blows are thrown in the dugout afterward.
6:40--It's comforting to know that however this college thing works out, at least there will always be a job working on Menards ads.
6:42--Radke joining Dick and Bert while Johan gets locked in. My Radke bobblehead approves.
6:48--After a walk to the 9 hitter, Brian Roberts drops one softly behind second. Corners, two down. Johan quickly goes 0-2 to Mora.
6:50--...and destroys him with a changeup for a swinging third strike. The changeup looks locked in early.
6:54--Gah. Do we really have to bring up Liriano? I prefer to pretend that he was just some kind of dream, not a real player. It's easier to deal with that way.
6:57--I should have been an Ultimate Fighter. Nobody looks cooler in their commercials than an Ultimate Fighter.
7:01--Apparently someone named Paris from American Idol is chatting up Dick and Bert. Believe it or not, this is a bit outside my comfort zone.
7:05--Aubrey Huff gets the Baltimore scoring started with an RBI double, and then Gibbons drives him in with a chopper over Morneau. Back even at two, one down.
7:08--Corey Patterson laces one off the baggie--RBI double to push Baltimore ahead 3-2. The O's are starting to take their hacks early in the count.
7:14--I'm not sure how one is supposed to do this exactly. Do I give any play-by-play? Witty banter? Fun and easy cooking tips? A few singles to start the Twins' 4th, by the way.
7:18--What should I be expecting from Rondell? Anything? I feel like if all of his limbs stay attached, it's a successful game.
7:20--White stays fully assembled and draws a walk to load the bases. Cirillo at the dish, and my roommate is in actual physical pain seeing him in a Twins uniform.
7:22--Morneau... thrown out by approximately three miles. But the tying run (Cuddyer) scores on Cirillo's single. Looks like Morneau blew threw a late stop sign. Bako, the catcher, took the worst of the collision--looks sliced open under the chin.
7:27--Moving right along, tied at 3 through 4. And Channel 29's out-of-commercial intro thing is trying to hypnotize me. I think it might have worked, too--I'm increasingly excited about the Sidney Ponson era.
7:31--Rondell robs Mora of extra bases with a diving grab. And I'm happy to report that he walked away from the attempt.
7:33--My roommate wants to buy a boat. It's hard to argue with him.
7:37--Rally time, kids. The boat will have to wait. Punto doubles over the wall in right-center. 2nd & 3rd, no out. The Chairman at the dish.
7:40--Bedard in trouble. Bases full, none out, the 4-5-6 coming up.
7:44--Passed ball--4-3 Minny. Curly at the plate with two on.
7:45--Morneau thrown out again, this time trying to stretch it to a double off the baggie. 5th run scores. Gotta get him a copy of Tom Emanski's baserunning video.
7:47--Breaking it open? Hunter chases Bedard with a double, 6-3. This one is going exactly to plan--get the big names to produce, then hold on.
7:53--Tejada turns on one--the Metrodome crowd, however, wants none of his souvenirs.
7:54--Johan showing flashes all evening. Not totally sharp, but the changeup looks good.
8:01--Santana finishes off his 6 innings, up 6-4. Sounds like he's done for the night, and so am I. Trying to make this sort of thing interesting is hard work. Maybe I'll try again some time.

John Sharkey welcomes a better way to do this at aodshark@gmail.com.

Remembering Herb

Stew Thornley was a biographer of Herb Carneal and passed along these thoughts yesterday to the SABR Minnesota chapter's e-list:

knew he had been having some additional health problems, and he really had been having some other health issues in recent years, in addition to still missing his wife, Kathy, who died in 2000, and it was sad to hear the news. Still, to make it to 83 after having lived a good life is okay.

Herb was like Ray Christensen in that he was just like what you expected him to be after hearing him on the radio for so many years. That makes for a pretty genuine person. He was low-key and had a good sense of humor. Sometimes it took a little nudging to get more stories out of him, and he left out a few good ones that I didn't hear until after the book was done. One was that he had proposed to Kathy during the seventh-inning stretch of a game (I think she was up in the radio booth with him at the time or something like that). After that, he would always look down to her in her seat during the seventh-inning stretch and blow a kiss. It's also why, after she died, that he cut back the innings that he announced so that he would no longer be announcing during the seventh inning.

Kathy and Herb were both from Richmond, although she then went to Atlanta to live with one one parent and a stepparrent (can't remember if the mom or the dad was the stepparrent). She was back in Richmond in 1950, staying with an aunt, when Herb came back to Richmond prior to the baseball season, when he would be starting as the announcer for the Springfield, Massachusetts, Cubs. They met and got married later in the year.

Kathy especially had that southern hospitality. In January 1995 I spent a couple days with Herb at their winter home in Florida to work with him on the book. After each session with Herb, I figured out Kathy wasn't going to let me out of there without first having dinner with them. Herb and I kind of wore each other out with these sessions, and I was so tired I just wanted to get back to my hotel and lie down. However, it wouldn't have been good southern hospitality to let a visitor leave on an empty stomach, so Herb and I would just sit and watch TV until Kathy got all the food on the table. After I had eaten, I was finally allowed to leave. (Please note that I hope this doesn't come across as bitching, but that it's a very endearing memory I have of both of them.)

Kathy was pretty sharp-tongued and you could get some good gossip out of her. But I also remember her intervening as Herb started to tell me a story she didn't want in the book. It was what caused Danny Walton of the Twins to punch announcer Larry Calton in 1975. This story is also in Danny Thompson's diary of that season, E-6, and the reason was that Danny Walton was handing out cigars on the team bus because he and his wife had just had a baby. Calton took a cigar and said, "Congratulations, Danny. What was it? Black or white?"A

s Herb started to tell me this story, Kathy heard it and came out of the other room. We had a tape recorder running, and she apparently didn't want her objection on the tape, so she just positioned herself in front of Herb and waved her arms back and forth, signalling him to knock it off. It was pretty funny (not the story but her reaction to Herb telling it).

Herb was the featured guest at our chapter meetings twice and was always happy to help out. He sure loved Halsey and had some good stories to tell about him.

Because he did only home games, I haven't been able to listen to Herb on the broadcasts in recent years. I heard from some that it was obvious he was slowing down, but I think he was still better than most of the announcers I now try not to listen to.

Stew

Opening Day Links

“Hello, Everybody.”

For the second straight year, a beloved member of the Twins’ Family has passed away prior to the season. Once again Opening Day festivities will be bittersweet for Twins’ fans after Herb Carneal moved on to the Radio Booth in the Sky on Sunday. While Carneal may be gone, he most certainly will not be forgotten, as you can see from the posts at Section 220, Pulling a Blyleven, Twins Geek and NBCSports. And, if you aren’t sure you’re ready for an Opening Day without Carneal’s baritone, you’re in luck, as the Star Tribune has audio clips of his call of the Twins’ clinching the Pennant in 1987, Rod Carew stealing home, Harmon Killebrew hitting his 500^th home run, a Kent Hrbek home run and Kirby Puckett robbing a home run. And if that’s not enough for you, the Pavek Museum of Broadcasting has a Herb Carneal montage for your listening pleasure.

Of course, it’s hard to stay sad on such a glorious day. I mean, it’s Opening Day! How can you stay sad when the Twins are handing out free Dome Dogs for breakfast, the reigning Cy Young Award, MVP and Batting Champion are about to take the field and it’s not even going to snow until tomorrow (Roofs are for the weak, by the way). It’s finally time to stop speculating and start playing. And, as usual, it is a glorious day.

And, now, for an Opening Day version of the Quick Links:

• Baseball Almanac has a history of Opening Day.
• As does the Hall of Fame.
• Hopefully, Matt Garza is as true to his word as General MacArthur was to his.

And just remember folks, as George Vescey once said, "There is no sports event like Opening Day of baseball, the sense of beating back the forces of darkness and the National Football League." I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I am.