Twins – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Twins Nix Royce Lewis June 6 Jersey Giveaway

Posted on May 27, 2026May 27, 2026 by David Shama

Royce Lewis’ demotion to Triple-A St. Paul earlier this month apparently made the Twins re-think their giveaway promotion of his jersey for the June 6 home game against the Royals.

The promotional calendar for 2026 home games originally had the first 10,000 fans that day receiving a replica No. 23 jersey. Now the promotional calendar and a ticket spokesperson confirmed that fans will receive a Byron Buxton t-shirt instead.

A Buxton bobblehead will be given away to the first 10,000 fans at the game with the Cardinals on June 27. That offering was on the original promotional schedule.

The mercurial Lewis, who has played parts of five seasons with the Twins, has a career storyline among the most curious in club history. With both a dizzying array of injuries and hitting extremes, Lewis is a captivating figure who once looked like one of MLB’s brightest young players but at other times appears out of place on the roster.

Lewis, who turns 27 June 5, had what appeared to be a breakout season in 2023 when in 217 at bats he hit .309 with 15 home runs and 52 RBI. In the postseason he became the third player in MLB history to homer in his first two postseason at bats. He set the stage for the dramatic during the regular season by hitting four grand slams in a 20-game span as he helped the Twins win the AL Central Division title.

Good Royce/bad Royce. The last two seasons his batting averages were .233 and .237. He was hitting .163 when the Twins demoted him on May 19 to the Saints.

The hope is Lewis will find confidence and rhythm in his swing. Against inferior pitching to what he sees in the bigs, the right-handed hitting infielder has gone on a tear. With the Saints in seven games and 27 at bats he has whacked six home runs.

Lewis has supposedly slumped in recent seasons because of struggles with fast balls and his prevalence for chasing pitches. In response he has sought advice and made adjustments to his batting stance.

Whether he can work himself back to better production in the majors won’t be known for a while. The Twins, though, have sent a message with his demotion and cancellation of the June 6 giveaway.

And there’s more. Twins’ manager Derek Shelton has moved shortstop Brooks Lee over to third base, the position once thought to be locked up by Lewis. That’s a development that might block Lewis’ path to regular playing time when he makes his presumptive return to the big-league club.

Worth Noting

Anthony Edwards of the Timberwolves played in 61 regular season games so he wasn’t eligible for the three All-NBA teams the league recently announced. The minimum to qualify is 65 games. Edwards was named to the All-NBA second team in 2024 and 2025.

Anthony Edwards, Timberwolves player — Anthony Edwards photo courtesy of Minnesota Timberwolves

Uber talented and competitive, Edwards could improve his team by showing more maturity in his leadership role. His stock will also rise if the Wolves acquire a quality point guard who can complement Edwards and teammates with playmaking.

A Gophers football authority talking to Sports Headliners about quarterback Drake Lindsey and his spring arrest in Arkansas for underage drinking and possessing fake identification. “We’ll see if it leads into (suspension for) the Eastern Illinois (opening) game. I don’t want to make too big of a deal out of it.”

BetMGM set the win total for Big Ten football teams earlier this month. Minnesota is projected at 6.5, the same as Nebraska, Wisconsin and UCLA. Of the Big Ten’s 18 teams, only five others have fewer wins predicted.

Indiana and Oregon are the leaders at 10.5.

Start times were announced today for five of the Gophers football games:

7 p.m. September 3 Eastern Illinois at home;

2:30 p.m. September 12 Mississippi State at home;

11 a.m. September 19 Akron at home;

2 or 7 p.m. October 24 Iowa at home;

6:30 p.m. November 27 at Wisconsin.

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Can Baseball Save Memorial Day?

Posted on May 22, 2026May 22, 2026 by David Shama

The headline is facetious but makes a point.

Surveys report over 50 percent of Americans don’t know the meaning of Memorial Day. The national holiday honors those who lost their lives in military service for the United States.

Millions who live in this nation only know Memorial Day as a holiday from work and school. An opportunity for cookouts, drinking beer, outdoor recreation, visiting people and places, and the unofficial beginning of summer.

The significance of the historical day is not lost on Major League Baseball which will show up and pay tribute to our fallen heroes on Monday.

At 3 p.m. (local times) home teams across the country will pause for an extended moment of silence. In a nation that needs more unity and gratitude this gesture is most welcome.

Teams and umpiring crews will have discretion regarding details of the National Moment of Remembrance. The Twins play in Chicago against the White Sox on Monday afternoon.

MLB players and umpires will wear a red poppy on the left side of their jerseys and shirts with “Lest We Forget” language included. The poppy is a globally recognized symbol for those who died in battle.

These elements and others at ballparks on Monday will be appreciated by those who are passionate about the holiday. With the millions of fans who follow the nation’s baseball teams, the Memorial Day remembrance will educate other Americans about the sacrifice made by past generations to make the freedoms of today possible.

To their credit, the Twins have long recognized the contributions of military members on Memorial Day and so many other times as well. Patriotism is on display at Target Field, from the National Anthem to ceremonial first pitches. See the comment below from former Twins marketing leader Patrick Klinger.

Baseball has long played a role in the recognition of Memorial Day in the Twin Cities. Starting in the early 1900s the minor league Minneapolis Millers and St. Paul Saints, rivals in the American Association, played each other on holidays including Memorial Day.

The so-called “Streetcar Series” had a morning game in one city, then a second in the other town. With streetcars in vogue, it was convenient for fans to travel between Nicollet Park in Minneapolis and Lexington Park in St. Paul.

The series went on for nearly 60 years. A bitter and high stakes rivalry that saw players riding the street cars with fans and fights on the field. It came to a halt, though, in the 1950s when buses replaced streetcars.

The times were changing, too, regarding stadiums. In 1956 the Millers moved into their new home in Bloomington. Metropolitan Stadium, built to attract a MLB franchise, opened that year and there were no streetcars from the cornfields of Bloomington to the Capital City. St. Paul opened its Midway Stadium in 1957 as a counter move to attract a MLB club. Minneapolis and its stadium won out with the Washington Senators relocation to the Met for the 1961 season and they have forever been known as the Minnesota Twins.

A poignant reminder of Memorial Day’s importance is felt by those who visit Fort Snelling National Cemetery. Only those who served in the miliary and their families can be laid to rest at the cemetery that is located adjacent to Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

The 436-acre site is Minnesota’s only national cemetery. It is the final resting place for over 260,000 souls.

Fort Snelling headstone for George Shama, uncle to David Shama The headstones include those of my parents and two uncles, George Shama and John Fitchette. My father served in World War II and was stationed in Panama. He liked to jest that during his time in Central America our nation’s enemies couldn’t wrest control of the vital passageway under his watch.

My dad loved America. When he was in Panama, he vowed if he could survive the war and return home, he would go downtown and “kiss the pavement” on Hennepin Avenue. I presume he did so.

While my father came from an immigrant family, my mother had relatives here dating back to the American Revolution. She was a proud member of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

I guarantee they knew about Memorial Day. They might even have known the holiday that began in 1868 was first referred to as Decoration Day.

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Don’t Bet Against John McKay as Vikings Next General Manager

Posted on May 10, 2026May 10, 2026 by David Shama

It won’t be long until Vikings owners Zygi and Mark Wilf hire a general manager. Don’t be surprised if it’s Rams assistant GM John McKay.

McKay, reportedly 36, checks a lot of boxes for the job. Despite his young age, he has an impressive 10 years of experience with the Rams including previous positions as director of pro personnel and assistant director of scouting.

McKay has evaluated college players for the draft, scouted opposing teams, and evaluated rosters of all NFL teams prior to free agency. Failure in the college draft haunted the Vikings in recent years led by former GM Kwesi-Adofo Mensah who was fired in January.

McKay comes from an innovative organization led by GM Les Snead and head coach Sean McVay. The front office excels in “outside-the-box” thinking. The Rams, for example, have drawn praise for their roster construction and salary cap management. The Rams won the Super Bowl in 2022 and in the 2026 playoffs lost a close NFC Conference title game to the eventual Super Bowl champion Seahawks.

Mensah reportedly had communication and relationship problems with the Vikings. His analytics-heavy and non-traditional football decision making approach may well have contributed to those reports.

Vikings coach Kevin O'Connell image by David Shama — Kevin O’Connell

McKay doesn’t fit that profile and clearly has been a collaborative colleague based on his rise to prominence in the organization. He and Vikings head coach Kevin O’Connell are reportedly close friends. The two worked together when KOC was with the Rams during the 2021 and 2022 seasons.

Their friendship could be a point of distinction in the selection process as the Wilfs contemplate a hire. The Wilfs clearly believe in O’Connell, who in his four years so far had two superlative seasons of 13-4 and 14-3. Their head coach is a quarterback whisperer and a likable leader who has created a strong culture with the Vikings.

O’Connell is 40, four years older than McKay. The Wilfs could ponder the advantage of having two young leaders for decades to come.

McKay presumably is intrigued by the Vikings job. The opportunity to work with a trusted friend in O’Connell could be huge. The roster has flaws, but this is not a rebuild, with multiple prominent players in place led by superstar wide receiver Justin Jefferson.

Not to be dismissed either is the track record of ownership. The Wilfs have historically shown a willingness to spend money on the roster and facilities, including the franchise’s headquarters in Eagan. They have also shown a commitment to patience and loyalty.

Rick Spielman, the predecessor to Adofo-Mensah, spoke about his experience in a statement after he was dismissed in 2022 after 16 years with the organization. “… I want to thank Zygi & Mark Wilf and the entire Wilf family for believing in me and consistently providing the resources for us to be successful as a football operations staff. It is not common in the NFL to be in a position for this long, which goes to show how this ownership group believes in stability and supports their leaders.”

Rob Brzezinski is the interim GM and has been with the franchise for 27 years. He’s a candidate for the permanent job but it’s fair to wonder if the Wilfs wanted to promote him why are they doing a search? And with a search firm leading the way, TurnkeyZRG.

Worth Noting

Brock Faber scored a goal and had two assists last night in the Wild’s 5-1 win over the Avalanche. The defenseman’s production was vital as the Wild, aided also by the return of goalie Jesper Wallstedt, pulled closer to the Avs in the best of seven games playoff series, now trailing 2-1.

Wallstedt had 35 saves, playing against perhaps the NHL’s best team. Wallstedt showed a lot of emotion and after the game Faber, talking to TNT, spoke light heartedly about his teammate noting “he’s pretty normal for a goalie.”

The game was in St. Paul and Faber wasn’t complaining about not being in Denver where the first two games were played. Faber described playing in the Mile High City as “like breathing through a straw.”

Tony Oliva experienced min-strokes last year. The stroke issue included hospitalization but now the 87-year-old Twins legend is in much better health. “I am feeling pretty good,” he told Sports Headliners recently.

Oliva exercises at a suburban Minneapolis health club a few times per week. He is also attending Twins games.

The club has been much maligned this season, but Oliva sees developing talent and likes the coaching staff and manager Derek Shelton. “I believe that we’re going to surprise a lot of people this year,” said Oliva who turns 88 in July.

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