The Twins are off to a slow start this season and might be on their way to another 90-plus loss season—but, hey, cheer up! Today is the club’s home opener at Target Field and the weather forecast encourages fans to leave their parkas at home. To perk you up even more, Sports Headliners is serving up a 20-questions Twins trivia column.
Answer 15 to 20 questions correctly and you can draft the next trivia column. Anyone answering only a couple of questions correctly needs to sign up for Twins Trivia School at my house (free tuition but lodging costs are exorbitant).
Here are the questions, with answers at the bottom of the column. No peeking or cheating of any kind. Fines are double for transgressions involving more difficult questions.
1. What was the first season the Twins played at Target Field?
2. The Twins haven’t won a regular season opener for awhile. How many consecutive opening season games have the Twins lost? Be sure to count last week’s opener in Detroit.
3. Who was the Twins designated hitter on opening day in 2014? (Hint: he was in the minors before summer officially began.)
4. The coldest temperature ever for a Twins opener was 33 degrees on April 14, 1962. Who was the opponent?
5. In Twins history the franchise has been owned by two families including the Pohlads. Name the other family. (No hints on this gimme.)
6. Before Joe Mauer earned a $184 million contract from the Twins he was the American League’s Most Valuable Player. What year did he win the award?
7. Much has been written about Torii Hunter rejoining the Twins—the franchise he played for regularly from 1999-2007. Who are the two teams Hunter played with before returning to the Twins?
8. Who was the Twins general manager before Terry Ryan took the job for a second time in 2011? (Note: this is a “lay-up” so don’t mess it up.)
9. The Twins coaching staff includes a former Minnesota high school basketball player who long ago won the state’s Mr. Basketball Award. What is his name?
10. This Twins regular is a Mississippi native just like Elvis Presley and Brett Favre. Who is he? (If you never heard of Elvis and Brett, proceed to the next question.)
11. The Twins track their franchise records back to 1901 when the club was in Washington, D.C. before moving to Minneapolis-St. Paul after the 1960 season. What was the nickname of the Senators Hall of Fame pitcher who won 36 games in a single season?
12. In 2014 the Twins hosted the MLB All-Star Game at Target Field. What other years have the Twins hosted the game?
13. This Twins great was on the cover of Time Magazine in the 1970s. Who was the cover boy?
14. Who was the Twins pitcher who started and won the final game of the 1991 World Series? (No, it wasn’t Bert Blyleven—or Pedro Ramos.)
15. Everybody (?) knows Harmon Killebrew hit the most career home runs for the Twins. Some trivia experts even know Kent Hrbek hit the second most. Who is No. 3 on the all-time list?
16. Name the Twins player who led the team in home runs and RBI during spring training this year. (Hint: he was acquired in a 2012 trade involving Francisco Liriano.)
17. What was the name of the Twins message board at the old Met Stadium? (No, it wasn’t the “Jumbotron.”)
18. Who is the Twins player that holds the franchise record for scoring the most runs in a single season? (Need help? He played in the 1990s.)
19. Name the only person to “play” for the Twins and Vikings? (Hint: this is a trick question. Honest.)
20. Who was the Twins losing pitcher in yesterday’s game against the White Sox? (How much easier can I make these questions?)
And the Answers to Today’s Trivia Questions Are…
1. Target Field opened to rave reviews locally and nationally in 2010, and has been a hit with fans and media ever since.
2. After losing last week’s season opener to the Tigers in Detroit, the Twins have now dropped seven consecutive openers. If you’re counting, that’s the longest streak in club history dating back to 1961.
3. Chris Colabello terrorized American League pitchers in the early days of the 2014 season but was playing in Triple A Rochester before Minnesota schools adjourned for summer.
4. It must have been a shock to the Los Angeles-based Angels to play baseball in 33 degree football weather at Met Stadium on April 14, 1962.
5. The Griffith family moved the Senators from Washington, D.C. to Minneapolis-St. Paul after the 1960 season and the club became known as the Minnesota Twins. Franchise president Calvin Griffith was a character and sometimes more entertaining than his team.
6. The stars aligned for Mauer in 2009 when he had career highs in batting average (.365), home runs (28) and RBI (96), and was voted American League MVP. The next year he received a new $184 million contract.
7. Hunter played five seasons for the Angels after leaving the Twins, and then joined the Tigers for two more seasons before coming back to Minnesota this year. Although he is 39 years old, Hunter has played in 140 or more games the last five seasons.
8. Bill Smith was the Twins general manager from 2008-2011. Ryan, who had been the GM from 1994-2007, agreed to a second round of duty in succeeding Smith.
9. Twins third base coach Gene Glynn, the pride of Waseca, Minnesota, won the 1975 Mr. Basketball Award. He was the first person to win the award.
10. Twins second baseman Brian Dozier, who was second in the American League last season with 112 runs scored, grew up in Mississippi and was drafted by the Twins out of the University of Southern Mississippi.
11. Walter “Big Train” Johnson was one of the most dominating pitchers ever—hence his nickname. He won 417 games for the Senators from 1907-1927.
12. The Twins hosted All-Star Games in 1965, 1985 and 2014. The American League lost the first two games in Minnesota but won last year when Twins reliever Glen Perkins earned the save in the 5-3 win.
13. In 1977 Rod Carew was making a run at becoming baseball’s first .400 hitter since Ted Williams in 1941. Carew graced the cover of Time Magazine and went on to win the American League Most Valuable Player Award. His final batting average that season was .388.
14. Jack Morris pitched a 10-inning, seven-hit 1-0 shutout against the Braves in Game Seven of the 1991 World Series to give the Twins their second world championship in five years. The game is remembered as one of the most exciting in World Series history.
15. Bob Allison, the Twins left fielder in the franchise’s early years in Minnesota, hit 256 home runs in his career with Minnesota. That ranks third behind Killebrew with 559 and Hrbek at 293.
16. Eduardo Escobar, acquired by the Twins from the White Sox in 2012, hit four home runs and drove in 20 runs to lead the club in those categories during spring training.
17. The Twins-O-Gram seemed high tech back in the day at Met Stadium when it delivered brief messages to liven up the ballpark experience. (Sorry, no visuals on the Twins-O-Gram).
18. Chuck Knoblauch set a single season franchise record for runs scored in 1996 with 140. Knoblauch, who played seven seasons with the Twins from 1991-1997, was inducted into the club’s Hall of Fame in 2014.
19. Okay, I have used this question in the past and it’s a tricky one, but a few readers might recall the answer is the organist who “played” and pepped up the crowds at Twins and Vikings games at Met Stadium. Get it?
20. The Twins’ season record dived to 1-5 with a loss to the White Sox yesterday, and Minnesota’s Phil Hughes was the losing pitcher in the game.
Four correct (Griffith, Hunter with Angels and Tigers, Jack Morris, Phil Hughes) and two half-correct (Walter Johnson A-train instead of Big Train and the organist at the Metrodome not the Met Stadium). 5 points. Whew… I avoided remedial studies at your place. Should have gotten Knoblauch and Carew.