Author: David Shama

Six years, $80 million.  It looks like a bargain.

Earlier this year the Minnesota Twins signed first baseman Justin Morneau to a contract for those terms, making him the highest paid player in franchise history.  The 27-year-old Morneau has rewarded the Twins with team leading totals in home runs, 15, RBI, 74, plus a batting average of .318, second on the club (among full season regulars) to Joe Mauer’s average of .319.

His home runs are about 22 percent of the team’s total of  69.  That’s huge on a team that lacks power and has the fewest home runs in the American league, yet finds itself only 1.5 games out of first place in the Central Division behind Chicago.

Former Twins star Tony Oliva, who works for the team as a part-time coach, thinks Morneau could hit 40 home runs in a season.  Except for Oliva’s former teammate, Harmon Killebrew, no Twin has ever done that.

But Morneau is a special player adept in both the field (two errors this season, five last year) and at the plate, and he’s already won one American League Most Valuable Player award (2006) and could win another this season.   He ranks second in the league among RBI leaders and his batting average of .318 is only six percentage points behind Ian Kinsler of Texas.  A second league MVP award would be a first in Twins history.   Zoilo Versalles, Rod Carew and Killebrew were one time winners.

Morneau is making $8 million this season, according to espn.com.  Albert Pujols of St. Louis and Ryan Howard of Philadelphia are both first basemen and former MVP winners in the National League.  Their salaries are $13,870,940 and $10 million, per espn.com.  Outfielder Valdimir Guerrero of the Los Angeles Angels and Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees, the most recent AL MVPs other than Morneau, earn $15.5 million and $28 million.

The Twins wouldn’t trade Morneau’s salary, reportedly $8.4 million, for any of those mentioned above.  With Morneau’s talent and upside (he’s younger than all four of them), it’s debatable whether they would swap him either.

About 50 people filled the Club Room at Williams Arena last weekend for a reunion of Gopher basketball players from the late 1960s and early 1970s.  Jim Brewer and Ron Behagen, the former All-Americans who played on the 1972 Big Ten championship team, were there.  Players like Larry Overskei, a starter on the 1969-70 Gophers that took one of UCLA’s great teams to an overtime loss at Williams Arena, was present, too.  But no one in the room last Friday night was more inspiring than LeRoy Gardner who has cancer and has stopped taking chemotherapy and radiation.

LeRoy, 61, made perhaps his last visit to Williams Arena last week, the historic building where he first played for St. Paul Central in the state tournament.  The 6-foot-4 Gardner had muscular legs and an aggressive style that helped Central to the state tournament consolation championship and also earned him a scholarship to Minnesota where he was a starting forward during a career that ended with the 1968-69 season.

Even as a young man LeRoy knew about adversity.  As an African-American he faced racism both on and off the court.  His first wife, Rene, became a cancer survivor.  He worked his way through challenges during a career at the University that included teaching in the school’s General College.  He also survived a life threatening crisis with his aorta.

Now he’s the victim of lung cancer, and his second wife, Claudia, is in need of a liver transplant.  “Death’s not hard,” LeRoy said.  “It’s living that’s hard.”

Former Gopher captains Al Nuness and Paul Presthus have been part of a support group that has taken LeRoy to his chemo appointments.  Friends and family have brought comfort to LeRoy, reminding him that the most important aspect of life is to spend time with those you love.

“You don’t get strength from yourself,” LeRoy said. “You get strength from the spirit of God, and from your friends and your family, and your community. …”

With a raspy voice and weakened body, he talked about his conviction that people live on after physical death.  “It’s not about faith, it’s about what I know,” he said.

So this summer LeRoy treasures his moments with those he cares about, including his four children, and seven grandchildren, and also his time on the golf course.  Last week he played three times, 18-hole outings.  Last year he played 65 times.  Never broke 100 but he could give a you-know-what about his score.

He’s out on the course to have fun.  And while playing golf and living his life, he’s an inspiration to those who know him.

Former Gopher and NCAA wrestling champion Brock Lesnar will throw out the first pitch at the Twins-White Sox game on Monday night, according to a source who requested anonymity.  Lesnar will be a featured participant in the Ultimate Fighting Championship event on Saturday, August 9 at Target Center.  Lesnar, 1-1, will fight Heath Herring, 28-13-1, in a heavyweight match-up.

The event will be the first UFC promotion in the state and over 12,500 tickets have  been sold at an average cost of $225, according to the source.  He also said a news conference promoting the event will be open to the public beginning at 1 p.m. on Thursday, August 7 at the Mall of America Rotunda.

Worry warts and “I told you so” types took note that Wolves’ rookie Kevin Love developed soreness in his right Achilles tendon last week.  Love, whose durability was questioned by some before the NBA draft, didn’t finish the fourth Wolves game in the Las Vegas NBA summer league, nor did he play in the finale Sunday night.

Last weekend was the largest three-game home series attendance for the Twins this year.  The games against Texas drew 101,248 fans, an average of 33,749 fans per game.

When Glen Perkins of the Twins defeated Texas last week he won his third straight game and improved his record to 7-2.  The Minnesota native hasn’t lost since May 30 and is 5-0 with a 3.81 ERA in his last nine starts.   He starts in New York against the Yankees today.  

Left fielder Delmon Young has three or more hits in 12 games this season including four in July.  He’s hitting .381 in his last 10 games with one home run and six RBI.

John Bell Wilson was a student manager for former Gopher basketball coaches John Kundla and Bill Fitch. Kundla is in basketball’s hall of fame in Springfield, Massachusetts for coaching his five world champions with the Minneapolis Lakers.  Wilson thinks Fitch should be in the hall of fame, too.  Fitch coached the 1981 world champion Boston Celtics and the 1986 runner-up Houston Rockets.  He coached five different NBA franchises to the playoffs and is seventh in all-time wins among NBA coaches.

Former Viking wide receiver Ahmad Rashad, who had six seasons here with 50 receptions or more, has to be a candidate for the team’s Ring of Honor recognizing the franchise’s greatest players.  Rashad, who played collegiately at Oregon, was recently inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in South Bend.