Funny that this baseball cookie cutter has recessed laces, the opposite of real baseballs.

Happy Holidays to all of the Puckett’s Pond readers.  We hope each and every one of you find something to lift your spirits during the holiday season.

If you’re a young person from my generation, you can never really feel the holiday spirit without watching Home Alone.  To kick off this week’s version of the Thursday Links, here is a list of 12 things you probably didn’t know about Home Alone.  And if you DID know all 12 of these things, let me know, I’ll mail you something awesome.

If you’re still not feeling the spirit, head over to The Platoon Advantage and read Mark Smith’s 12 Days of Baseballmas.  If you still don’t feel the spirit, you likely never will.

Last week I presented a link to the All True Twins team from Beyond the Boxscore.  This week, Beyond the Boxscore presents the All All-True-Team Team.  The Senator’s Walter Johnson is the only player from the Twins franchise to make the list.  I had to look him up at Baseball-Reference, as he was a bit before my time, but with 127.7 career WAR, he’s a total stud (Here is another interesting character from the Washington Senator’s history, one that played just before Johnson arrived in Washington).

This one is a little more than a week old, but something I hadn’t stumbled upon until some time during the last week.  Target Field has earned a LEED Silver Certification.  Not only is Target Field the
Greenest Ballpark in America but now the folks over there have an extra something to hang their hat on.  (more…)

*I had an interesting conversation with my significant other last night during which I lamented the inner turmoil I will almost certainly face when Cuddyer leaves and I will have to find a new favorite Minnesota Twin.  I’m an adult, and I’m agonizing over who my favorite Twins player is like a 9 year old boy.  Unlike many 9 year old boys (or girls) I’m not leaping straight to Joe Mauer or Justin Morneau as my favorite Twin, but they’re not out of the running.  I haven’t decided yet, as this will likely be a difficult decision to make, requiring more thought than I can afford to give it at the moment.  In the vein of saddness, here is a Michael Cuddyer Eulogy from Twins Fan From Afar.

With yet another busy week behind us, let us look again at the best reads of the week that was:

Here is all of the Josh Willingham signing coverage you are likely to need.  First, an excellent piece by Parker Hageman about how well suited Willingham’s offensive style is for Target Field.  In case you like being skeptical, here is Rob Neyer’s counter argument, which doesn’t say that Willingham isn’t going to be successful in Minnesota, rather that Target Field might not be such a bad place for power hitting righties who hit the ball to the opposite field.  However, it seems fairly evident that no matter where he is hitting the baseball Willimgham’s power will help boost the Twins offense in 2012.  Even my new favorite man crush, Dustin Parkes, weighs in on the Willingham signing, suggesting that it is probably a good deal, but might not be as good as Twins fans hope.  Finally, Twinkie Town weighs in with an estimation of the Twins’ 2012 payroll, including Willingham’s estimated 2012 salary, pushing the Twins dangerously close to their suggested $100 million dollar cap.  (more…)

Previous articles in the series: 1965, 1969, 1970, 1987, 1991, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009

It was just a year ago, but it feels as ancient as the Roman Empire. The same Twins team that has bumbled to a likely100 loss season in 2011 was actually pretty good in 2010.

On September 22, 2010, one day after clinching the Central Division title, the Twins completed a sweep of the hapless Cleveland Indians. It was their 15th win in 18 games, and it tied them with the Yankees for the best record in baseball at 92-60. The first year of baseball at state of the art Target Field was a smashing success. Sellout crowds crammed the seats virtually every game, and the Twins seemed to win almost all of them. Minnesota’s on-field product was arguably the best it had ever been in this, the team’s 50th year of play.

The Twins were far from the biggest sports headline of 2010. LeBron James managed to upstage them, partly because the Twins didn’t take the time to record a one hour prime time TV special. Millions of baseball fans (and millions of Seinfeld fans) will remember 2010 as the year that George Steinbrenner, a titan of the game, passed away at age 80. Meanwhile, in 2010, 33 Chilean miners were rescued after a tense rescue operation that captivated much of the world’s attention. And in Washington D.C., the Republican Party won back control of the House of Representatives. (more…)