Torii thinks this is a stupid question. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-US PRESSWIRE

It’s an age old debate!  Would you Rather?  One of my favorite comedy podcasts, Comedy Bang Bang, often ends with a game of Would you Rather?  The guests are given two scenarios and are forced to decide which of the two scenarios they would rather.  Typically, the two scenarios are beyond bizarre, but comedy always ensues.  In addition, Bill Simmons, a little-known sports writer from Boston, often posits whether one would rather have had Robert Horry’s career (role player with a bunch of Championships) or Karl Malone’s career (one of the 25 greatest players of all time, no Championships).

I have always found this to be a fascinating question.  As a person with a psychology background, I wonder if this could be used as a projective personality test of some sort.  Regardless, it makes an interesting conversation starter.  I came up with a similar question, related to our beloved Twins franchise.  Would you rather have had Gene Larkin‘s career or Torii Hunter‘s career?

Everyone knows that Torii Hunter is one of the most charismatic and beloved players in Twins history.  He basically took over as center fielder from Kirby Puckett, another extremely charismatic and beloved player.  Hunter forged his own identity and became one of the most productive Twins of the 2000s.  Hunter played 9 full seasons for the Twins.  Since leaving Minnesota for Anaheim, he has continued to put up impressive numbers for the past 5 seasons with the Angels.  In addition to numbers, Hunter has made some of the most memorable catches in MLB history.  He robbed an All-Star game home run from Barry Bonds.  It appeared for a second that Bonds might powerbomb him, which would have likely been the most memorable moment in All-Star game history.  Torii has never won a World Series and has never even played in a World Series game.

Gene Larkin had a short, 7-year career, all in Minnesota.  He did not have the highlight reel that Hunter had.  In fact, a quick youtube search for Larkin led me to this video and little else:  Larkin’s Pipes  Larkin appears at the 1:37 mark, sings a few bars and then laughs like a crazy person.  (Note:  watch the whole video, for the fashion, singing, nostalgia and the creepy Santa that threatens to come to your house at the very end).  However, all singing aside, Larkin was a member of both the 1987 and 1991 Twins World Series Championship teams, even hitting the World Series winning single in the bottom of the 10th inning in 1991.  When I close my eyes, I can see Larkin running down to first with his one arm raised in the air.  Three players in the entire history of Major League Baseball have hit a game 7, extra inning walk-off hit:  Earl McNeely, Edgar Renteria and Gene Larkin.

Here are a couple of charts I made to compare Larkin and Hunter:

You too can own this card!

It is easy to see that Torii Hunter has had a much more accomplished career as an MLB player.  Hunter has played roughly 3 times more games and has put up impressive counting stats.  Larkin only played more than 119 games in a season twice.  Hunter has played 14 full seasons, and played in fewer than 119 games only twice during that span.  Hunter has also earned literally a truckload of money, depending on the denomination of the currency.  His career is still in progress and he has been productive enough to likely get another 2 or 3 year contract, for good walkin’ around money.  Larkin made almost 3 million himself, which is nothing to sneeze at (it might blow away).  Larkin is best known for his Game 7 walk-off, but he only had 4 total plate appearances in that World Series.  Hunter has played in far more playoff games and had a much larger role on those teams.

Larkin had a far less accomplished personal career and a more accomplished team career.  Hunter could still win a World Series in his career, so that could certainly change this question significantly.  As of right now, this makes for a very interesting question.  Larkin was a part-time player who enjoyed immense team success, with two World Series championships.  However, he was just a minor part of these teams.  Hunter was a borderline star player for a long time and enjoyed modest team success, never reaching the highest level.  At times, he was considered one of the best players on his team.  So, would you rather have had Gene Larkin’s MLB career or Torii Hunter’s MLB career?

We've seen Josh Willingham's home run trot 30 times this season, which makes it one of the more common trots in team history. Photo by Bob DeChiara-US PRESSWIRE

Josh Willingham hit a three run home run off Tiger pitcher Doug Fister last night. It was Willingham’s 30th home run of the 2012 season. Not only does that blast set a career high for the slugger, it put him in some select company among his fellow Minnesota Twins.

A 30 homer season is a common occurrence for some teams, but not the Twins. Aside from Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew, the Twins are not a franchise that has ever been known for their power hitters. Among the 16 original MLB franchises, the Twins (formerly Washington Senators) are dead last with 9,717 round trippers. And they have endured some long power droughts in their history. One of the longest such droughts is still going strong; it has been 41 years since the Twins last had a player hit 35 or more in one season. For example, from 1988 through 2005, even as the other 29 teams were busy knocking balls over the fence in a steroid-fueled fury, no Twin managed to attain the 30 homer mark.

Willingham’s 2012 season is just the 24th 30 homer season since the Twins came to Minnesota in 1961. Killebrew owns a third of that total, with eight 30 HR seasons (1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1970). In every one of those seasons, Killebrew hit 39 or more, which gives him the eight highest individual HR totals in team history. Next on the list is Willingham’s teammate Justin Morneau, who has three 30 HR campaigns (2006, 2007, and 2009). Gary Gaetti (1986, 1987), Bob Allison (1963, 1964), and Tom Brunansky (1984, 1987) each had a pair. The other 30 homer seasons belong to Jimmie Hall (1963), Tony Oliva (1964), Kirby Puckett (1986), Kent Hrbek (1987), Torii Hunter (2006), Michael Cuddyer (2009), and Willingham.

The Twins expected Willingham to be a powerful presence in the team’s lineup, but nobody could have predicted just how successful he would be as a home run hitter. His previous career high was 29 home runs in 2011 with the Oakland Athletics; before last year he had never exceeded 26. But he has topped those numbers with 46 games still to be played in 2012, and he has given the lie to everyone who claimed that Target Field is a pitchers’ park where power hitters are doomed to struggle.

He also provided one of the few highlights in an awful game for the Twins. Aside from Willingham’s blast, Twins hitters managed just five other hits, and they struck out eight times. It was far too little offense on a night when the pitchers were doing nothing to stop the Detroit offense. Brian Duensing, Casey Fien, Alex Burnett, and Luis Perdomo combined to allow eight runs on five walks and 13 hits (six of those for extra bases). Willingham’s home run came in the fourth inning after three Detroit errors had created the only serious Twins’ scoring threat of the entire game, and it briefly tied the score at 4-4 before Detroit eventually ran away with the game.

Looking forward, Willingham has an excellent chance to reach the 35 home run mark, and possibly 40. If he does so, he’ll own the highest home run total by a Twin since Killebrew hit 41 in 1970. Several Twins have hit 34 since then, but never 35.

It sounds like a lot, but this franchise has actually been one of the weakest homer-hitting teams for most of its existence. Over their 110 season history, the Senators/Twins have averaged just 87.39 homers per year, thanks to the Deadball era: in 1917 and 1918, the Swinging Senators hit just four home runs each year! Super-slugger Joe Judge mashed half the team’s total in 1917, a whopping two round-trippers. Our country was busy with World War I in both of those years, so perhaps the Senators were just conserving power for the War effort. Good for them.

We Canned the Kaiser long ago, but there are still 387 longballs to go before the Twins join the 10,000 club, a club that currently has 15 members. In fact, every one of the original franchises in the NL and the AL have reached the mark except the Twins. The Chicago White Sox were the most recent to reach the Big 1-0-0-0-0. Brent Lillibridge hit a solo shot last April against the A’s for that milestone. Warning: if you click that video link, you will be subjected to Hawk Harrelson’s obnoxious home run call; Puckett’s Pond is not responsible for any ruptured ear drums or decreased will to live that results from Hawk Exposure. (more…)