Justin Morneau had a career defining year in 2006.   In his second full season in the major leagues and with the Twins, he easily established personal bests in average, home runs and RBI’s, .321, 34 and 130.  He was named the American League’s Most Valuable Player by the Baseball Writers Association of America.

The 25-year-old first baseman led the majors in hitting after June 8 with a .362 average.  Prior to last season Morneau had twice hit under .240 in seasons with the Twins and never had more than 22 home runs or 79 RBI’s. 

He told Sports Headliners the success of 2006 taught him to become a more patient hitter and provided more confidence.  He was asked to be more specific.  “Not afraid to get behind in the count, not afraid to hit with two strikes,” Morneau said.  “You feel like you can get a hit. It doesn’t matter what the situation is…it kind of carries over and it stops you from swinging at bad pitches and chasing pitches.”

During the long major league season Morneau, who turns 26 next month, emphasizes a steady emotional approach.  “You learn it’s 162 games, and (if) you get all excited every time you get a hit and if you beat yourself up every time you get an out, you’re going to drive yourself nuts the whole year,” he said. “So you just kind of stay somewhere in the middle.  The only thing that really matters is if the team wins.” 

Winning is the likely result for the 2007 Twins who are trying to repeat as Central Division champions in arguably baseball’s best division.  Morneau said one or two teams from the division may make the playoffs and once in the post season a team can make a run at a World Series championship.  Detroit, Chicago and Cleveland stand between the Twins and another division championship, the team’s fourth in five years. 

“It’s going to be a battle everyday,” Morneau said of the division race.  “You can’t really take a night off.  It could cost you the division.   In the end last year we ended up by winning the division by one game on the last day of the season.  Every day is important.   You can’t afford to give games away.”

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Jimmy Williams, the former Gopher basketball assistant coach known for his recruiting mastery, will not be joining new Minnesota coach Tubby Smith’s staff, according to a knowledgeable source.  Williams resigned as an assistant at Oklahoma State last week and there’s been speculation he will come back to Minnesota where he was a Gopher assistant in the 1970s and 1980s. 

It was 40 years ago this year that Bud Grant became the Minnesota Vikings head coach.  Grant, one of the greatest athletes ever at the University of Minnesota, had been head coach of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the Canadian Football League.  Grant, who turns 80 next month, was 29 years old when he started coaching the Blue Bombers.  

The Twins’ Rochester farm team might have a superior starting pitching staff to some major league teams. Matt Garza, Glen Perkins, Kevin Slowey and Scott Baker figure to win a lot of games in AAA.   

With five goals in the last regular season game, the Wild set a franchise record for goals in a season with 235, breaking the previous record of 231 set in 2005-06.  The 5-1 victory over St. Louis Saturday night gave the Wild its 48^th win of the season and established a franchise season record of 104 points. 

The Timberwolves haven’t won back-to-back games since mid-February when they had wins against Boston and Denver.  The Wolves defeated New York Friday night but came home and lost to New Orleans on Saturday evening.

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About 12,000 season ticket holder seats, or 65 percent of inventory, are being reduced in cost for the 2007-2008 season by the Minnesota Timberwolves.  Team president Chris Wright told Sports Headliners earlier this week that renewal notices were recently sent to season ticket holders and the price roll back on so many seats is precedent-setting for the franchise. 

The Wolves have also introduced a $20 lower level season ticket for 2007—2008.  There are 1,400 of those seats available and the price ranks among the lowest ever offered by the Wolves. 

Wright said “market conditions” prompted the aggressive pricing changes.  The team is on course to miss the playoffs for a third consecutive season after reaching the Western Conference finals in the 2004 playoffs. 

“This is a great NBA market,” Wright said.  “What you have to do is align the pricing with the demand for the product to motivate the market to participate in your brand.  We think this motivates people.” 

Some season ticket holders will pay more for their seats next season. The Wolves are increasing prices on average by about $50 per game for 214 courtside seats.  Also, many seats between the baselines will cost season ticket holders $10 per game more in 2007-2008. 

Wright expects a season ticket holder renewal rate similar to last year’s 82 percent.  The rates in 2005 and 2004 were 88 percent and 93 percent respectively. 

Wright said the team still has a waiting list for seats close to the court. The Wolves also have deposits for nearly 600 new season tickets.   

The current season ticket total of 7,000 is low compared to the 10,000 plus the franchise had during other years.  Group sales, special individual ticket pricing, promotions and special events helped put fans in the 19,356 seat Target Center this season. 

The Wolves are averaging 16,013 fans, ranking 23rd in NBA attendance earlier this week.  Last season the Wolves averaged 16,150 fans per game and ranked 25^th in the 30 team league. The franchise’s success as marketers includes selling out six games this season after selling out only one last season. 

The Wolves have tried to meet season ticket holder discontent directly at gatherings such as a recent “town hall” meeting that included vice president of basketball operations Kevin McHale.  Wright said topics included trades, draft choices and “team chemistry.”  

Customer communications efforts also produced a four color brochure mailed to season ticket holders, Minnesota Timberwolves, Blue Print for the Future.  The brochure includes a message from owner Glen Taylor stating the team made a mistake in recent years “chasing quick fixes to shortcomings that we had as a team.”  The brochure describes the team’s operating philosophy and criteria in areas such as player acquisition, scouting and style of play.

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