Category: Twins

Clyde Doepner, the only full-time curator employed by a major league baseball team, said there’s a possibility of opening a Twins museum.  Club management has discussed a possible museum and perhaps locating it in the Ford Centre, the historic office building located near Target Field.

Doepner has been collecting Twins memorabilia dating back to when the ball club played at Met Stadium.  He has more than 7,000 memorabilia items in his personal collection, including not only Twins items but also from the franchise’s days in Washington, D.C.

The former high school teacher and baseball coach was hired two years ago as the franchise prepared for its opening of Target Field in 2010.  He credits team president Dave St. Peter with his hiring.  St. Peter and other club leaders wanted Target Field to be a place that told the history of baseball in Minneapolis-St. Paul including the Twins.

Although Doepner has collected items ranging from the autographs of U.S. presidents to a Twins jersey that incorrectly spelled Minnesota, there is a memory he described as more special than anything else.  “The day Harmon Killebrew knew my name,” Doepner said.

Call them the “Smash Boys.”  Miguel Sano, 18, hit 20 home runs in 267 at bats for the Twins Elizabethton team in the Appalachian Rookie League.  Eddie Rosario, 19, hit 21 balls out of the park in 270 at bats for Elizabethton.

Since the July All-Star break Twins first baseman Justin Morneau is hitting .235 in 14 games with no home runs and nine RBI.  He has been unable to play since August 28.

The late Angelo Giuliani, a famous Twins scout, is among nine people being inducted into the Saint Thomas Academy Athletic Hall of Fame on September 30.

Glenn Caruso, football coach of nationally ranked St. Thomas, will be the featured speaker at the C.O.R.E.S luncheon on Thursday, November 10.  C.O.R.E.S is an acronym for coaches, officials, educators, reporters and sports fans.

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Now what for the Minnesota Twins?

The embarrassing 2011 season is only weeks away from ending but how the offseason goes will tell the more passionate and savvy fans a lot about this organization’s future.

Ownership and management could take a “cosmetic” approach in the months ahead.  Make a few changes and rationalize 2011 as a tough luck season, mostly caused by an unusually high number of injuries.  But rather than take the victim approach, the decision makers at Target Field are advised to audit the entire organization and everyone in it.

Best business practices call for nothing less.  The process should include fact finding and opinion from not only the ownership and top management, but also the advice of consultants who can look more objectively at the organization and its people.

The Twins were 94-68 last season and have won six of the last nine Central Division titles, but even those ball clubs frustrated themselves and fans with their dismal playoff records.  The Twins weren’t built to play with baseball’s best teams, and this year’s club couldn’t compete very well against past Minnesota championship teams.

The 2011 Twins are stumbling to the season’s finish line.  The club has a 6-19 record in August and lost 15 of its last 18 home games.  Minnesota is 10-28 against the powerful East Division, the American League’s best grouping of teams.  The Twins have lost five straight series at home.

It’s time to look at everything and everybody involved with what the Twins do during the season, the offseason and spring training.  The scrutiny certainly needs to start with general manager Billy Smith and the organization’s other talent evaluators, but the organizational analysis needs to go beyond that and try to answer questions about coaching, conditioning and best use of player payroll.

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Joe Mauer has one home run in 207 at bats this season.  The lack of power has become a source of frequent criticism about the Twins’ left-handed hitting catcher.

His grandfather, Jake Mauer, has provided baseball counsel to the Twins’ $184 million man since Joe was a toddler.  The older Mauer told Sports Headliners the left knee Joe had surgery on during the past offseason still isn’t right and the usual physical abuses of catching doesn’t help the power hitting either.

“Well, he’s banged up.  He’s only 80 percent right now,” Jake Mauer said.  “He still has trouble with his left knee.  When he hits off the back foot he cannot put all his weight on it (the knee).  He has to distribute his weight to the front foot, and therefore (hits) all ground balls, all easy plays.  No power because you hit off your back foot.”

Mauer has never experienced such a power outage with the Twins.  His previous season low was in 2004 when he hit six home runs in 107 at bats.

Mauer has played in part or most of eight seasons with the Twins.  He’s not a home run hitter, only twice achieving double figures in home runs, with 13 in 2006 and 28 in 2009.

His grandfather believes the home runs will come with more frequency next season.  “Oh, yeah,” Jake said. “He’ll get back next year, probably.  He’ll have the whole winter to relax.  No operation, no nothing.”

Many of Mauer’s hits this year are to left field, as they were during that 2009 season when he hit home runs that just cleared the left field fence at the Metrodome.  That season Mauer won the American League batting title with a .365 average and was the AL MVP.

Mauer has played 11 games at first base without an error this season but his grandfather said Joe has no plans to give up catching.  “He enjoys it (first base),” Jake said. “He thinks it’s fun. As a longevity (move), no.  He wants to be a catcher.”

The Twins fell 10 games behind first place Detroit last weekend, ending hopes in the minds of many fans for a Minnesota Central Division title.   How does Joe feel about the club?

“He still thinks he’s gotta chance,” Jake said.  “What the hell else can he say?  I think he’s saying that because he thinks no matter how low you can get, he always wants to climb up to be a winner. And he’ll never give up, and he still thinks the team is going to do it.”

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