Puckett’s Pond faces off two notable Minnesota Twins players and you decide which one was greater
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Puckett’s Pond is enlisting your help in deciding who the greatest Minnesota Twins in history are at each position. Eventually we’ll square off each position against the others and wind up with the greatest Minnesota Twin, as selected by you. The first position we’ll be selecting is catcher. We’ll only be counting literal Minnesota Twins and not the pre-1961 Washington franchises. Players also will need 700 PAs as a Twin to qualify. We ask you to consider the player based solely on his time as a Twin and at the position specified. We’ve faced off George Mitterwald vs A.J Pierzynski, Brian Harper vs Earl Battey, Glenn Borgmann vs Tim Laudner and Joe Mauer vs Butch Wynegar. Pierzynski, Battey, Laudner and Mauer emerged as the victors of round 1. In round 2, Pierzynski lost to Mauer and Laudner fell to Battey.
Battey received 77% the votes against Laudner and Mauer got 87% of votes against Pierzynski. This sets up our final round which will crown the greatest Twins’ catcher according to you.
However, first we’re interested to see who would’ve won in a Laudner vs Pierzynski match up. The pair are more evenly matched than the players they faced off against. Just for curiosity’s sake. Consider it a consolation round of sorts:
And now, the final match up: Mauer vs Battey. Mauer beat a hard luck Butch Wynegar and the aforementioned Pierzynski to get to this point. Battey faced Brian Harper and of course Tim Laudner. Mauer’s had the more difficult path. Battey didn’t have to face Wynegar for example. To avoid repeating ourselves, Mauer’s rundown can be viewed here and Battey’s here. This match-up pits a great defender and one of the best catchers of the 60s, against one of the best offensive catchers ever. Both had some playoff experience but neither won a championship. Let’s crown a winner.
Who was the greatest Twins catcher ever? Have your say:
Feel free to leave your reasoning in the comments. Check back here for the results and the beginning of the greatest Twins’ first baseman poll.