The Twins announced last week that former closer and all-time saves leader Rick Aguilera has been elected to the team’s Hall of Fame. Aguilera will become the 19th member when inducted during an on-field pre-game ceremony, Saturday, June 21.
The Hall of Fame honors players, managers, coaches and off-field personnel who have contributed to the organization’s growth and success. The late Halsey Hall deserves enshrinement, joining the others inducted since the Hall of Fame’s inception in 2000. In the 1960s and 1970s Hall provided color commentary on Twins broadcasts for WCCO Radio and WTCN TV (now KARE). He was affable, knowledgeable and absolutely hilarious. This town has never had a better story teller than Hall who could have listeners laughing so hard from a good yarn or a fast quip that your belly was shaking. Hall was as entertaining as a Harmon Killebrew home run or a Tony Oliva line drive. Both, by the way, are in the Twins Hall of Fame.
Inflation makes a huge impact on building costs. A Twins executive wrote via e-mail that the projected expense in 1997 to build a retractable roof baseball stadium in downtown Minneapolis near the Mississippi River was about $350 million. The downtown open air stadium being built now will cost beyond $520 million.
The Timberwolves much anticipated game with Kevin Garnett and the Celtics in Boston last Friday produced a larger TV audience than other Wolves games of late but the telecast’s 2.6 rating is very modest. (A rating point is a percentage of households watching a particular program).
The Wolves’ Al Jefferson was named the NBA’s Western Conference Player of the Week on Monday for games played January 21-27, the league announced. Jefferson averaged 28.8 points, 12.8 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.3 steals as the Wolves went 3-1 on the week.
Timberwolves’ first-year center Chris Richard, who had played in only 24 of the team’s 43 games while averaging 9.2 minutes, was assigned to the Sioux Falls SkyForce of the NBA Development League on Monday. Listed at 6-9, Richard told Sports Headliners on Sunday that his height is 6-7 or 6-8. The second round draft choice from Florida has a one year contract with the Wolves. He’s impressed with his likeable attitude and on-court hustle.
Third-year guard Rashad McCants said the right knee that caused him to miss 44 games last season because of microfracture surgery is 100 percent healthy. What does bother him, he said, is the Wolves not winning more games. McCants played on a national championship team at North Carolina, a state championship in high school and said “he’s not used to losing.”
The Gopher women’s basketball program was hoping for its 23rd Williams Arena crowd of over 10,000 on Sunday when Minnesota defeated Michigan State to move within one-half game of first place in the Big Ten Conference behind Ohio State. The advance promotion was billed “Pack the House,” bench seats were available for $5 and a large group of basketball alumni were welcomed back. Announced attendance was 9,849, but capacity is 14,625.
Minnesota’s Emily Fox was named the Big Ten Conference Player of the Week on Monday after the junior guard led the Gophers to a pair of important victories over nationally ranked Ohio State and Michigan State. Fox averaged 22.5 points and 5.0 assists in the wins.
Minneapolis Community and Technical College men’s basketball coach Jay Pivec earned his 500th career coaching win with a victory last week and was the subject of a feature on January 25 in the online Downtown Journal.
Tonight’s Willd-Anaheim game at the Xcel Energy Center starts at 6 p.m. and will be seen on the VERSUS network. The teams play for the fourth and final time this season tonight. The road team has won the first three games including the Ducks 4-2 win at Xcel Energy Center on January 18. Brian Rolston leads the Wild in scoring against the Ducks in 2007-08 with four points. A 1,000-pound Brahma bull from the World’s Toughest Rodeo will greet fans from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the lobby of Xcel Energy Center. The rodeo is at the Xcel Friday and Saturday nights.