I probably should have written about this a few days ago, but I was just too darn happy to be with Angie Kinderman (@sconnieangie) to put the proper thoughts together and focus on something so detailed. If you’ve been a regular follower of my blog then you’ve probably noticed on more than one occasion that Angie is a die-hard Minnesota Twins fan. If you’re new to my blog then you should know that my girlfriend is a die-hard Twins fans. I, on the other hand, am an Oakland Athletics fan and for some reason have developed a bit of angst against the Twins since we lost to them in the American League Division Series back in 2002. For those who are unaware that was the “Moneyball” season. Anyway, in the seven months that we’ve been together we’ve only physically been together for a little less than a month’s worth of time due to the fact that we live 3000 miles away from one another; she lives in Florida and I live in Oregon. Being the hopeless romantic that I am I decided to “take one for the team,” so to speak, and wear a Twins hat whenever we meet at the airport. On December 31st I wore the “M” logo hat from my blog post on January 21st when I flew into Ft. Lauderdale to see her and I wore the navy blue “TC” logo cap from my post on February 15 when she came to visit me. This last Friday when I flew in to see her again I decided to roll with this cap.
This cap is only the fourth one the team has won on the
field in their 53 years of existence. The navy blue panel with red bill “TC”
logo was first introduced at the start of the 2010 season and has served as the
team’s road cap ever since. It especially seemed like the perfect cap to wear
as I traveled to see Angie due to the fact that I was literally going on the
road to see her; however, I would love more than anything to make it more of a
permanent stop sometime in the near future because I love being with her so
damn much. Like with a lot of other teams, the introduction of new caps can
have detrimental consequences on a team’s success, and no one found this out the
hard way much like the 2010 Twins.
I purchased this cap in late April along with six other hats
from the New Era Flagship store across the street from the MLB Fan Cave as well as two from the Lids store
about three blocks away. I was in a bit of a spending mood that day on account
of the fact that a few of the afternoon games had been rained out after we
wrapped up our filming for the day. Fellow
Cave Dweller and Twins fan Lindsay
Guentzel (@LindsayGuentzel) had a few friends from Minnesota
visiting town that week which turned out to be a huge coincidence that I had
perfectly timed the purchase. They were all collectively happy about it.
For some odd reason my relationship with Lindsay was rather
hit-or-miss at times and I have yet to come up with a reasonable explanation as
to why that is. Some days we joked back and forth to one another while others
we became highly competitive based on the environment and circumstances we were
dealing with. To be honest, I’m pretty sure more of that had to do with my
overall attitude. She never wronged me, and sometimes I was a total jerk,
something I apologized to her about at great length over the phone while I was
on my country-wide baseball road trip a few months after I had been kicked out
of the Fan Cave. I think the one moment that really
solidified things between the two of us came on the final challenge I had
participated in when our assignment was to create an All-Star campaign video
for one of the players on the team were representing. I talked about this in my
post from April 1st. I chose to do mine on Reddick at which the
final product turned out incredibly well. I had gotten help from the New York chapter of the
Oakland Athletics Fan Club which happened to feature a former Miss Oakland
named Sophia Andrade. I was also fortunate enough to get former Athletics Eric
Byrnes and current Cincinnati Red Jay Bruce to endorse Reddick as well. It also
didn’t hurt in the end that Reddick himself endorsed it as well as former WWE
talent scout and play-by-play commentator Jim Ross backing at well.
Unfortunately for me, the last two parts I had forgotten to relay when we then
had to give a one minute presentation and pitch for our player. Lindsay’s video
was kind of plain, but still a good idea. Since the team has planter boxes with
flowers in the outfield, Lindsay decided to revolve her video around a Twins
garden gnome that she had who would then be kidnapped and not returned unless
people voted for Josh Willingham. The only catch for her video was that she
needed someone with a British accent to do the voice. Cue me. One of the many
talents I have is that I can do voice impersonations, a skill I rarely ever
discuss with people, but work on regularly throughout my days as I once wanted
to do voiceover work for cartoons. So, not being one to turn down requests, I
happily helped Lindsay out with the voiceover work… and nailed it in one take.
After we had completed our pitches and played our videos it finally came down
to the judges’ decision for who the winner would be. At the time I hadn’t won a
single challenge we had; however, Lindsay had won two and everyone else except
Philadelphia Phillies fan Gordon Mack had all won at least one. I honestly
thought I had it in the bag… until they announced Lindsay’s name. I was vapor
locked. I did everything I could to keep from reacting emotionally until
production wrapped. When that came to pass I walked downstairs and cried.
Ricardo Marquez followed me down and did his best to console me. I wasn’t mad
at Lindsay because she had won, I was mad at myself for helping her win. And
with only a week to go before the first elimination I thought I was done.
Which, as it turned out, I was.
On the last day that I was officially a Cave Dweller the A’s
and Twins had started a three-game series in Minnesota on May 28th. Things had
started off well on my end; Travis Blackley was pitching a great game as the
starter and Reddick had crushed a first inning solo home run off of Twins
pitcher Scott Diamond, at which I yelled out, “Diamondcutter!!!” and made the
diamond symbol like Diamond Dallas Page of World Championship Wrestling fame.
However, my joy, little by little came to an end as the Twins came back to win
the game 5-4 in the bottom of the eighth inning. During the comeback Lindsay
shouted with as the final runs crossed the plate. She even apologized to me
afterward; something that I thought was a bit weird considering that I never
had a problem with anyone cheering for their team as they played mine. But
alas, that would turn out to be the final A’s game I would watch in the Fan
Cave as I was eliminated the next afternoon following the conclusion of the
Chicago Cubs versus San Diego Padres game. Of all games. Yeesh!
The Twins would go on to sweep the A’s and my bitterness
boiled over as I spent my nights at Foley’s Pub in downtown Manhattan, drinking
and watching the last two games of the series with the A’s Fan Club. When I
returned to the apartment complex on the night of the third game I arrived just
as the other seven remaining Cave Dwellers were getting back. Lindsay, Ricardo
and Ricky Mast all shared an apartment so I went upstairs with them for an
additional bit of drinking. Lindsay decided to call it a night early, leaving
the three of us to our own devices. Not too long after her lights went out I
scanned the living room, looking for the garden gnome she used in her video,
but I couldn’t find it. Next to the sink in the kitchen sat three Twins
bobbleheads she had brought to New York from Minnesota. When Ricky
and Ricardo weren’t paying attention I snatched the Dan Gladden bobblehead and
bid them a good night. As I reflect back on that night I feel incredibly stupid
for what I did; however, I had all the intention in the world to return it at
the end of the season. What I didn’t know at the time was that little Dan
Gladden would be taking my countrywide baseball tour with me.
I’m not going to go into too much detail on this part of the
story as I have a much more detailed post that I’ll be writing in the future;
however, what I will tell you is that Gladden made the journey with me to the
27 stadiums I was able to visit (including Canada), to Disneyland, to the
National Baseball Hall of Fame and a slew of other baseball related events
including a few Minor League stadiums. When I talked to Lindsay on the phone to
apologize for the way I may have treated her I had debated on informing her
that I had the bobblehead, but the words didn’t quite come out of my mouth. I
had only knocked out about half of the stadiums ad wanted to finish my quest
before I gave her the slightest hint that I was the one who had abducted it.
Unfortunately for everyone, including little Dan Gladden, he has since fallen
apart quite a bit. Here is a before and after on the punishment he has taken.
I assure you, it wasn’t my intention for it to end up in as
rough of shape as it is. Back in January I hit up Ebay to try and find her a
brand new one to send to her so I can finish up my tour with him. Once again;
however, fate stepped in the way. Three weeks after I paid for a new one I got
an email from the dealer informing me that he had returned my money as the
shipping company he had used completely shattered the new on I had purchased.
Talk about irony! So with that, I figured a Twins road cap post would be the
perfect time to come clean as little Dan Gladden did fall apart on the road.
Oh, and in case you’re wondering, yes, I do fully intend to get Lindsay a new
one, but I’ll wait to give it to her when I get to Target Field, the final
stadium on my checklist after Turner and Coors Field. Seems like a perfect time
and place to wrap things up.
Since this cap has only been used for so many years I
couldn’t think of two better guys to mark it up with and pay tribute to.
#7- Joe Mauer was taken with the first overall pick by the Twins in
the 2001 amateur draft out of Cretin-Derham
Hall High
School in St. Paul,
Minnesota. He made his debut on April 5, 2004 as the
predecessor to A.J. Pierzynski who had been traded to the San Francisco Giants
at the end of the 2003 season. Maurer only played in 35 games that season due
to swelling in his knees which sidelined him in July through the end of the
season. In 2005 he played his first full season, batting an impressive .294
with nine home runs and 55 RBI. From 2006-2010, Mauer was the man, winning
three batting titles in 2006, 2008 and 2009 on top of making four All-Star Game
Appearances, winning three Gold Gloves (2008-2010), four Silver Slugger awards and
the American league MVP in 2009. In 2006 he finished in sixth for the MVP, in
2008 he finished in fourth and in 2010 he finished in eighth. While Mauer has
continued to hit well throughout his entire career (.324 lifetime average), it
was during the 2011 season that problems began to arise. He signed a $184
million deal in March of 2010 which wouldn’t kick in until the 2011 season;
however, he only ended up playing in 82 games that season and underwent
arthroscopic knee surgery in the offseason. In 2010 the Twins finished the
season in first place in the American League Central Division and lost in the
first round of the American League Division Series to the New York Yankees. In
2011 they finished in dead last, and have been there ever since. I kind of want
to blame the hat, but I suppose I need more conclusive evidence other than this
one guy to prove that theory. Soooooooo…
#33- Justin Morneau was a third round draft pick by the
Twins in 1999 out of New Westminister High School
in beautiful British Columbia, Canada. He made
his MLB debut on June 10, 2003 when he played in 40 games that season and 74 in
2004 where he clubbed 19 home runs along with 58 RBI and a .271 batting
average. In 2005 he played his first full season as the Twins first baseman,
fairing well at the plate with another 22 home runs and 79 RBI.
In 2006 Morneau dominated the AL. Despite not making the
All-Star team that year (ridiculous) he managed to win his first, and only thus
far, AL MVP award after going .321 on the season with 34 home runs and 130 RBI.
Over the next four seasons he batting average went down and then back up again,
but his power numbers stayed consistent. From 2007-2010 Morneau made four
straight All-Star Game appearances and even finished in second place to Boston
Red Sox second baseman Dustin Pedroia for the AL MVP again in 2008 after
hitting .300 with 29 home runs and 129 RBI. When the 2010 season came Morneau
started off hot. So much to the point where I flipped him the bird during a
game in Oakland after he crushed a home run off of Dallas Braden on June 4th,
the third home run I had seen Morneau yak in the two Twins victories I had seen
in the Coliseum. However, only a month later on July 7th Morneau
would be taken out of a game in Toronto
after sustaining a concussion which took him out for the remainder of the
season. At the time he was batting .345 with 18 home runs and 56 RBI,
well-enough on pace to lock up the AL MVP that season. Without Morneau in the
lineup the Twins continued to do well with out him, but unfortunately for
himself, he was never the same player in the seasons to follow. In 2012 he got
a bit of his power back, hitting 19 home runs and knocking in 77 runs, but his
average hovered around .267.
What’s most interesting about this hat is that both players
were wearing it when their injuries had first occurred; however, they were also
wearing it when they had their largest fortunes of success in the first year it
was worn. Mauer hit eight of his nine home runs on the road in 2010 and his
batting average was 25 points higher on the road (.339) than at home (.314).
For Morneau 14 of his 18 home runs that season came on the road, not to mention
his .375 batting average outside of Target field along with his 1.205 OPS. If
there were ever two guys who had the Midas touch and a drink from the poorly
chosen Holy Grail from “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade” while wearing this
cap, it was certainly there two.
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