Time: 6:05 Central
Weather: Humid, chance of T-storms, 96°
Opponent’s SB site: Pinstripe Alley
TV: Twins TV. Radio: Playing songs bringing tears to my eyes
How cursed are the Twins against the Yankees? When the team faced Gerrit Cole at Target Field in 2022, the first three Twins hit home runs (Arráez, Buxton, Correa). And the Twins STILL lost 10-7.
They’ll be facing Cole again today, in Yankee Stadium, essentially a haunted mansion where the Twins always die. Cole is making his eighth start since having TJ surgery last year, and he’s been up-and-down so far this season. He throws a 96-ish fastball, slider, curve, change, sinker; when he’s healthy, the fastball/slider are his best combo.
Back in April, I read a “Rival Roundup” post at PinstripeAlley that mentioned the Twins. We’re the Yankees’ rivals, now? Isn’t that like if the Harlem Globetrotters called the Washington Generals their “rivals”?
Obligatory “when in Yankee Stadium” video:
In May, a new statue of Dave Winfield was unveiled at Toni Stone Field in St. Paul, in the Rondo neighborhood where Winfield grew up. Winfield spoke a few words, and you can see the whole ceremony here. He did an interview with Charles Hallman of the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder you can read here. In the interview, Winfield points out that he was drafted by four pro teams! The Utah Stars of the ABA, the Atlanta Hawks of the NBA, the Vikings, and the Padres. And Winfield talks fondly about his mother and grandmother who did the lion’s share of raising him.
The Padres switched Winfield from pitching to hitting, and he would make the All-Star team every year from 1977-1988, then win a World Series during his one year in Toronto in 1992. Most of his career was spent with the Padres and the Yankees. The Yankees signed Winfield in 1981 for $23 million, then the most-ever for a player. Owner George Steinbrenner, then as always a rich idiot, thought the contract was for $16 million — he hadn’t read the fine print about a singing bonus and cost-of living increases.
Furious, whiny baby Steinbrenner subsequently spent much of Winfield’s time in New York bashing him to the press, lamenting that he’d lost “Mr. October” in Reggie Jackson and gotten “Mr. May” in Winfield. When that didn’t turn fans into haters of Winfield and worshipers of Almighty George, he tried character defamation.
Jim McLennan at AZSnakePit has the story. Steinbrenner paid $40,000 to known gambler Howard Spira to dig up some dirt on Winfield’s charitable foundation (which did have some financial problems, which Winfield paid to fix himself, and the charity gave out scholarships for almost 30 years). Eventually Spira went to jail for two years, and Steinbrenner was banned for associating with a known gambler, although two years later, new commissioner Bud Selig lifted the ban. Just like Ronald Reagan pardoned Steinbrenner for his illegal campaign contributions to Dick Nixon! That “the Boss,” what a classy guy.
Oh, and Winfield was involved in another controversial story during his time as a Yankee. In 1983, doing in-between-inning warmup tosses, Winfield Randy Johnson’d a bird in Toronto. It was a seagull. He was actually taken to jail on charges of animal cruelty (the Blue Jays GM paid the $500 bail). Yankees manager Billy Martin said “when Toronto comes down to New York next week, we’re going to get their four starting pitchers arrested. We’re going to have somebody call the police and say they were molested in the hotel.” As BluebirdBanter’s Tom Dakers writes, “that pretty much tells you everything you need to know about Billy Martin.”
Finally, a few weeks ago, Matt noticed that AI garbage was stealing his stuff and getting it wrong. Around that time, Neil deMause (who writes about stadium shenanigans) mentioned that “the AI slop is getting weird, man.” To wit:
Hmm, that does sound familiar.
Oh brave new world that has such (un)people in’t! I should start inserting the word “poop” into every sentence just to confuse the machines, except it wouldn’t work. Nothing will! There’s good ideas about what we could do out there, but they have no chance and everything is doomed. Like the Twins this weekend.
Read the full article here