Puckett's Pond

MLB History: Who is Ron Gardenhire? #Twins

Paul Pleiss — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:00:33 +0000

The original piranha

Ron Gardenhire is not edgy. Ozzie Guillen is edgy. Ron Gardenhire does not get you excited about baseball. Ron Gardenhire is as interesting as a bucket of acorns. Yes, he has an excellent winning percentage as the Twins manager, and an even better record for home games, but he’s just not exciting. Gardy’s middle name is Clyde, and that’s the only interesting thing I knew about the Twins skipper before embarking on an exhaustive search of the internet.

According to his Wikipedia page, Ronald Clyde Gardenhire was born on a couch in West Germany on 24 October 1957. No joke.

Follow me after the jump to learn more about the Twins skipper….

… [visit site to read more]

Which Non-Roster Invitees will help the Twins?

Nate Gilmore — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:08:33 +0000

If you’ve read Puckett’s Pond in the last month, you already know that there is a small army’s worth of non-roster invitees joining the team in Spring Training this year. There are 25 of them, which is a lot of players to keep track of. Fortunately, one hard-working, intelligent website has done a profile on every one of those non-roster invitees to keep you informed.

They run the gamut from young prospects who haven’t seen AA to grizzled MLB veterans. Among them are some hard-throwing pitchers, free swinging hitters, and stout defenders. And their personal stories are just as interesting. Almost all of them are struggling with some sort of adversity, whether it is a lack of opportunity, lack of respect, or, in one case, problems with drug addiction. Quite a few of them are former Tigers, some were once drafted by the Twins, and one of them is the nephew of a reality TV star.

But the thing we really want to know about them is which ones will play for the Twins this year. Unfortunately, all of these players have one built-in disadvantage in trying to make the Majors: they are not on the 40 man roster. In order to call any of these guys up, the Twins would need to place a player on waivers or the 60 day Disabled List. Those types of transactions do happen over the course of a season, but it can be a big impediment for a non-roster player. … [visit site to read more]

Thursday Links – Groundhog Edition

Eric Pleiss — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 07:45:07 +0000

Happy Groundhog Day! Pitchers and catchers report to Ft. Myers in just 16 days, no groundhog, or his shadow, can change that. Last weekend was a great time to be a Twins fan, especially if you had the privilege of heading over to the Metrodome to experience TwinsFest. While I did not make the trip to Minneapolis for the event, many Twins bloggers did, and shared their experiences with their readers (including this very awesome Kirby Puckett jacket). TwinsFast has come and went (Here is a great TwinsFest vlog from Drew Butera and with Spring Training right around the corner, and unseasonably warm weather throughout much of the Midwest, it is hard to think about anything except baseball.* The rest of the baseball blogosphere must be similarly entranced by proximity of Spring Training because there were many great baseball articles to link to this week!

*Not that you couldn’t have thought about something besides baseball. I spent one sleepless night earlier this week pondering the loss in lifetime earnings potential that could be created by not receiving an annual raise in salary. Numbers, combined with time, are scary things. This has been the first installment of “Things that Keep Me Up at Night”.

Anyways, on with the links:

The Common Man was so taken by the anticipation of seeing Brad Radke at TwinsFest that he wrote the script for a pretty entertaining Twins commercial, in the style of SNL’s Bill Brasky skit.

While I guess this is technically ANOTHER TwinsFest story, this one, even more than the others, really embodies what TwinsFest is all about: making connections with your favorite baseball players, and creating memories that last a lifetime. Lindsey Seavery from CBS Minnesota reports on a Missing Jersey that was reunited with Twins great Tony Oliva, 25 years after he lost it.

The Twins have expanded their Hall of Fame to 24 members, electing Camilo Pascual. If there is a man that looks like a MLB pitcher, Pascual is that guy. … [visit site to read more]