Author: David Shama

Killebrew plans to call and congratulate Jim Thome after Thome ties or exceeds Killebrew’s career home run total of 573.  What will Killebrew say?

“I passed up a lot of guys myself.  Don’t feel bad about it,” Killebrew answered.

Thome, 39, has five home runs in his first season with the Twins.  He needs four more to tie Killebrew’s 573 that ranks 10^th on baseball’s career home run list.

Killebrew, who is the Twins’ all-time home run leader, was asked about Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire, three sluggers whose names have been associated with steroids but rank first, sixth and ninth on baseball’s all-time home run list. Killebrew said the accusations “changed the whole complexion of baseball.”

“Baseball is predicated on statistics…and this has changed the history of the game forever,” he said. “I don’t know what they’re going to do.  I’ve even talked to the commissioner and he’s at a loss to know how to completely handle this situation as well.”

Killebrew said Senator Jim Bunning, a former big league pitcher, has been outspoken about players who use performance enhancing drugs.  He’s called for obliteration of their records but Killebrew said how does anyone know what statistics were compiled while using drugs?

“It’s a cloud over baseball that shouldn’t be there,” Killebrew said.  “It’s such a beautiful game and to have that over the game of baseball…it makes you sad.”

Killebrew, who makes his home in Arizona, will be in town later this month to host the 7^th Annual Kwik Trip Harmon Killebrew Classic on May 23 and 24.  The classic will benefit the Twins Community Fund and the Miracle League of Minnesota.  The fund provides resources for community baseball and softball.  The Miracle League provides children with mental and/or physical challenges an opportunity to play baseball as a team member in an organized league.

Tickets are available to the public for a dinner and auction starting at 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 23 at the Target Field.  The cost is $150 per person or $1,000 for ten. Killebrew will greet all who attend.  Silent and live auctions will feature a variety of items including baseball memorabilia for collectors and fans.  The celebrity golf tournament  Monday, May 24 is sold out.  For more information and to see auction lists, visit www.harmonkillebrewfoundation.org.

Helping others has been part of Killebrew’s makeup for a long time.  The Miracle League inspires him.  He recalled a story told to him about a Miracle League youngster in another state who while playing in a game made it all the way to third base in a wheelchair.  Then the inspired youngster got on his belly and crawled to home plate.  “The physical therapist said it was worth a year’s work just playing that one situation with the Miracle League game,” Killebrew said.

Since May 21, 2009 the White Sox are 3-10 in games with the Twins that have been decided by two runs or less.  The White Sox lost to the Twins 3-2 on Wednesday and are eight games back of first place Minnesota in the Central Division.

Former Twins pitcher Glen Perkins is 0-4 with an 10.72 ERA pitching for AAA Rochester.

Local sports writer and announcer Dave Wright will be in Las Vegas next Wednesday signing copies of his new book, 162-0.  The book is about the greatest wins in Twins history and came out six weeks ago.  About 760 books have been sold so far.

The Gophers announced earlier this week that football season ticket holders can purchase tickets for the team’s five away games.  It’s easy to spot the bargain with Middle Tennessee State tickets priced at $25 each.  Wisconsin and Michigan State tickets are $49 each, Purdue $46 and Illinois $45.

Lynx point guard Lindsay Whalen and teammate Seimone Augustus are two of the top paid players in the WNBA earning about $110,000 each per season, the league maximum.  Many players play in Europe during the WNBA off-season but salaries are about half what they earn in America.

Whalen, 28, is one of the WNBA’s best point guards and figures to help the Lynx compete with the better teams in the league.  Her impact goes beyond the court, though, and franchise officials are crediting the former Gopher for more interest among ticket buyers.  Season ticket sales are expected to reach about 2,000, several hundred more than last year, according to Lynx chief operating officer Conrad Smith.

Single game and group ticket sales will increase in 2010.  WNBA teams rely on game day ticket buyers and the club hopes to sometimes sell 1,000 walk-up tickets.

The Lynx open the regular season tomorrow in Tulsa against former Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson.  The Lynx home opener is Sunday against Washington with a 6 p.m. start at Target Center.  Attendance could exceed 10,000 for the opener.

The Timberwolves are interested in re-signing 7-foot center Darko Milicic who ended the last weeks of the season in Minneapolis after coming here from the Knicks. That interest will be contingent on Milicic accepting a salary for less money than this past season, according to an NBA source.

Milicic was treated much better by Wolves fans than in previous NBA stops, according to the same source who spoke anonymously.  That could be a factor in Milicic re-signing with the Wolves rather than playing in Europe.

The Wolves might have a new European center in Nikola Pekovic who was chosen in the second round of the 2008 draft, but so far has remained overseas.   He’s contractually available to play for the Wolves next season.  At 6-11, he’s a low post player and not Milicic’s equal as a shot blocker.  Because he was a second round pick, Pekovic can command open market money on a contract with the Wolves.

If former Wolves executive Fred Hoiberg doesn’t make it as a successful head coach in his new assignment at Iowa State he might try Hollywood.  He looks like a young Harrison Ford.  See photo at right.

Minnesota Wild prospect Kris Foucault had 16 points in 23 playoff games to help the Calgary Hitmen win the Ed Chynoweth Cup and become Western Hockey League champions. The Hitmen will open play Saturday in the MasterCard Memorial Cup tournament, the top competition in Canadian junior hockey.

Fans can enter a contest at Wild.com to have this summer’s Wild Road Tour kick off at their house. The Wild will have players and broadcasters on a state road tour visiting various communities.  This summer’s road tour will stop in 18 cities from June 21-24.

The Fighting Irish football team hasn’t played the Gophers in Minneapolis since 1937 but that could change within several years.  Athletic departments and media throughout the country are speculating about what the Big Ten Conference membership will look like in the near future.

Conference commissioner Jim Delany and others in the Big Ten are considering  expanding the 11 team league.  Nothing is expected to be announced for awhile but Sports Headliners believes Delany wants an expansion that establishes his conference as by far the most watched and wealthy in the country.

That goal is best achieved with an expansion that increases membership not by two or three schools but with five.  Key to expansion and a five team addition is inclusion of storied Notre Dame, still a football independent but a member of the Big East Conference in other sports.

Delany is likely to use all his intelligence and charm to bring Notre Dame into the Big Ten family.  He’s probably willing to wait awhile longer on completing the expansion project if it means delivering the grand prize, the Fighting Irish football program along with the school’s other sports teams.  Notre Dame brings a national following including its “subway alumni” in New York.

It’s a good guess, though, that Delany won’t wait more than three years for the Irish who have a deep and historic commitment as an independent that schedules a cross section of the nation’s better football teams.  It will be Delany’s task to convince Notre Dame leaders that the Fighting Irish is better off in the Big Ten for reasons that include TV revenues.

A 16 team Big Ten will presumably command record TV revenues for a college conference.  The league’s huge TV audiences, expected to include New York, Chicago and numerous other top 50 TV markets, could generate so much revenue that Notre Dame might well receive more as a member of the Big Ten than with its own TV football deal.

A Big Ten expansion is a big boost to the Big Ten Network, ABC/ESPN and CBS, the TV entities the league relies on for television exposure and revenues.  More eyeballs watching conference games, particularly football and men’s basketball, means increased cable fees for the Big Ten Network, and more advertising revenues in the future for the Big Ten Network and other TV partners.

The Gophers and other members of the Big Ten receive about $22 million each per year from TV revenues and conference monies from sources such as bowl games, according to Gophers athletic director Joel Maturi.  Without that $22 million (much of it TV money), the Gophers wouldn’t be able to maintain a total of 25 men’s and women’s sports, nearly all of them financial losers.

Maturi and others who head up athletic departments in the league will want assurances that conference expansion will increase their share of the revenue pie, not lessen it.  There doesn’t seem much doubt, though, that Delany, who was visionary enough to help develop the already powerful Big Ten Network, will have the dollars figured out, along with the other details needed to accomplish a successful expansion.