200,000th Customer - As you can see, 200,000 hits has now come and gone. Yesterday afternoon as exactly 3:24 p.m., Ryan Murphy from Illinois, was Hit #200,000. Less than a minute earlier, he was Hit #199,999. Anyway, 200,000 is a nice number. It is fun to see the continued support and increased numbers that this site receives, so again, I say Thank you to everyone who has checked it out and makes it a daily stop! Thank you!
Thursday, January 19, 2005
The Twins Came to Town
Good morning All! It is going to be a quick article today, I believe. (no American Idol Thoughts, or even Other Thoughts today) I just got home from an excellent evening. As has been mentioned daily on this site for the last three weeks, the Minnesota Twins Winter Caravan made its stop in my town of Warroad, MN, last night. It was a fun-filled night, and I would like to share some of it with you. I am going to include a number of pictures from the event on this page, likely in no particular order. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to e-mail me, or leave Comments at the bottom. Thanks! By the way, I know that there are plenty of people who are reading this site for the first time today. Welcome! Please feel free to write me at any time. Also, the Comments hyperlink at the bottom of the page is very easy to use and does not require membership of any kind. Also, if any members of the Twins contingency are reading this, thank you for stopping by. Please feel free to e-mail me, if you like.
The first thing I
want to say is that I hope no one is too disappointed in the content today. I
went to the event to enjoy it, not to do anything more. And I completely did. So
today, you won't be reading any new analysis. I didn't ask the players or
coaches deep, analytical, statistical questions. I didn't second guess manager
Ron Gardenhire last night. I can do that on the site all season, right? I
didn't ask him why he is so insistent on having a lefty in the bullpen because
of statistical, lefty-lefty matchups yet would not consider a platoon with
Jacque Jones in right field the last four years. I didn't ask Rick Anderson for
any inside information on Francisco Liriano or Scott Baker. I did not ask
Jason
Bartlett if he is at all offended by the fact that he is in a positional
'battle' with the likes of Nick Punto and Juan Castro! And I didn't ask
Lew Ford
anything about him being a better defensive outfielder than Shannon Stewart. No,
I just went to the Twins Caravan to meet people and to talk baseball with other
fans.
I worked a normal day yesterday. Eight o'clock to five o'clock at Marvin Windows & Doors. I sit in front of a computer much of the day and do analysis. People at work know how big of a Twins fan I am, and they knew how excited I really was about last night. Throughout the day, people would come up to me at work and say things like, "Are you getting any work done, or just daydreaming of possible questions to ask," or "I'm surprised you're even here today." And that's fine, but I do feel the need to report that I actually accomplished a lot at work yesterday. I found that it was the best way to make the day go by more quickly!
So anyway, at
5:00 (ok, I was at the time clock at 4:59!), I punched out and drove home,
changed and grabbed a digital camera. I was back into town, at the local radio
station, am 1410 KRWB, by 5:20. I had the great good fortune of being invited to
the station to meet and greet the Twins group. They all arrived at approximately
5:30. Each of the players and coaches spent time on the air answering questions.
They all did their quick, "Hi, my name is Jason Bartlett, and you're listening
to Twins Baseball" spots. When the group first came in, it was very exciting.
The first person to come up to talk to me was the Twins new beat writer at mlb.com,
Kelly Thesier. The guys just call her 'Dot-Com.' Anyway, it was nice
getting to talk to her, even if just for a few minutes. It sounds as if she is
quite busy with the new job, moving and pretty much being sent right on this
Caravan.
I spent a bunch of time with the Twins Director of Broadcasting, Andy Price. He is the guy who is basically in charge of the entire Winter Caravan. We talked about all kinds of topics. After awhile, we were able to use KRWB's Owner Mike Pederson's computer to take a look at my website. He asked a number of questions like how much time I put into it and what I tend to write about and how much of the content is Twins related. We went back into the hall, and Lew Ford joined us. Earlier, I had reintroduced myself to him, and it took him a little bit, but he came back to me and said, "you've got the site that posted my dad's article." I said yeah. It was fun just chatting with Andy and Lew. We talked about the Twins new uniforms, and some marketing things and how uniforms and hats are chosen and some other fairly random topics. Again, nothing serious, but it was just fun.
Ron Gardenhire and Rick Anderson were both very energetic. I had heard that about Gardy, but
didn't realize that Andy was that way too. Believe me, that is totally a good
thing. That is the type of energy needed when going out to these places, to get
fans excited about the team. Bartlett was a little bit more reserved, I think,
but I get the feeling that isn't necessarily the case. I could be wrong. I am
all the time! (Note in the picture at the right, a gentleman wearing a
sethspeaks.net t-shirt!)
Anyway, about 6:15, the Twins contingency left the radio station and headed over to the Warroad High School. The event was scheduled to be held in the school's mini-theatre. People were expecting about 150 people to attend. However, it was quickly moved into the school's gymnasium because well over 300 people showed up. Now, I said that today would be pretty stat-light, but I do have to point this out this about the three evening stops this week:
Caravan Attendance City Population* % in attendance
Fargo 700 90,599 0.77%
Grand Forks 350 49,321 0.71%
Warroad 320 1,722 18.58%
*2000 census numbers
We win! We win!
Anyway, the program started with John Gordon being brought to the podium by KRWB announcer Terry Olson. Gordon spoke to the crowd for several minutes. He compared the surprisingly high numbers compared to the expected numbers in Warroad to the surprisingly high number of fans who packed Metrodome to welcome back the Twins in 1987 after they beat the Detroit Tigers to advance to the World Series. A bit of a hyperbole, to say the least, but a good, positive story nonetheless. Then, he introduced the 2006 Twins Winter Caravan video. Again, this video was excellent. It highlighted some positives from 2005, but its primary purpose was to excite fans about the possibilities in 2006. Of course, much of that optimism centers around the left arm of Johan Santana. Joe Nathan, Brad Radke and Carlos Silva are also mentioned in the parts discussing the Twins incredible pitching staff. In terms of offense, the video talks about the additions of Luis Castillo, Rondell White and even Tony Batista. It talks about the emergence of Joe Mauer as one of the stars of the game and the league's best catcher. It focuses on the power potential still in Justin Morneau. It was a very strong video with a clear purpose to excite fans about 2006. And again, let's remember, as stat-heads, that is what it really is about; building fans. And you build fans by being positive, and I have no problem with that!
Next up, John
Gordon introduced each of the Twins. First, Ron Gardenhire. Next, Jason
Bartlett. (I heard numerous female sources tell me that he is this year's
Grant Balfour... for what that means, click here.) Then,
Rick Anderson. And finally, Lew Ford came out to loud LEEWWWWWWWWW! Gordon proceeded to ask each person a number of questions. Here
are just some of the highlights for me (from memory, not notes). Gordon asked
Lew Ford about the battle in right field and what he is doing to prepare. He
said that he is making sure that Gardy has coffee whenever he needs it, and
donuts, and anything he needs. Interesting, Bartlett then said the same thing
about his shortstop situation to which Gordon said, "Gardy, you must really
being enjoying this week!" Asked about the pitching staff, Anderson said, "Gardy
says that I am the best pitching coach in the league... every fifth day... when
Johan Santana is on the mound." He said Radke and Silva are givens. He said
Lohse is currently the #4 starter but would be a #2 in many rotations. He
actually said that the fifth starter would be a battle between Scott Baker and
Francisco Liriano, of which he said, "watch out for him because he is going to
be something very special."
Gardy proceeded to take the microphone from Gordo and said that he just couldn't do it like that. He proceeded to keep the crowd laughing for quite a few minutes. He is a very good story teller. You can completely see why the players like and respect him so much. It appears that he does keep things light and is a big part of that. He gave Warroad some grief for beating the USA Women's Hockey team 2-1 up here two weeks ago. Apparently Gardy's son Toby, who played on the Twins' Appalachian League championship team in Elizabethtown, is dating one of the members of the Women's Olympic team. He also said that he thought this was a hockey town (it's self-proclaimed Hockeytown USA after all), but it also had its high school team reach the state tournament last year, so he congratulated them.
Next up, the
crowd was invited to ask questions for a few minutes. I would guess that eight
to ten questions were asked. Rick Anderson was asked which pitcher in baseball
he would take to add to his rotation if he could. He said Roy Halladay. Gardy
was asked which hitter he would take to add to the lineup. He said he's not
allowed to answer that because it is called tampering. Other questions included
your favorite ballparks, best and worst games you've played in and things like
that. There really were no 'tough' questions which again, I think is just fine.
This isn't a SABRmetric group.
At that point, they drew names and four names were given signed baseballs by the Twins involved. Next, they picked out winners of some 1965 bobblehead dolls. The second one was a Frank Quilici bobblehead, which my girlfriend won. As she was coming back to sit down, the next name drawn was my friend Tyler's wife. She won a Mudcat Grant bobblehead. So that was exciting. They also handed out four packs of tickets and more.
The next challenge was to form an autograph lineup which is far more difficult than you would imagine when there are 300 people involved. They really did a nice job of moving people along and the line moved smoothly. Because of the sheer numbers, this process still probably took over 45 minutes. I didn't stand in line that whole time. I sat in the bleachers and mingled with some great Twins fans including our friend Marvin Gustafson who wrote a great Why Baseball article for me a couple of months ago. I guess I was just impressed with how many real big Twins fans there are in town. I shouldn't be. I mean, I know I'm not the only one. I talked to some about Tony Oliva and Harmon Killebrew, and to another group about Kirby Puckett. Others talked about the current Twins. It was just a fun time. Anyway, when the line dwindled down, we got into line. I was able to get four cards autographed. I will try to get those scanned and post them here later today.
Tyler, his wife,
and I decided to head up to the lounge for one quick drink. It was about 8:30 at
this point. Shortly after we got there, the whole Twins contingency came down to
the lounge and ate and talked. I bought their first round just kind of as a
thank you again. I stayed for about two hours. I stayed out of their way for the
most part. I am just not one of those people who is willing to intrude on
people's time. Yes, they are public people because of their profession, but they
should also be able to sit at a table and eat and hang out without people
constantly coming up to them. I know there were a couple of guys who stood and
talked Gardy's ear off for over an hour. I would just feel guilty about taking
too much of their time. Before I left, I did go over and shake a couple of hands
and thank them for coming to Warroad. Things like this don't happen a lot. I
realize it is another stop on their schedule, but I hope that they do know and
understand that it does mean a lot to the fans for them to be seen like this.
And that concluded my night. Seriously, it was just a blast, all the way through. From the time I got to the radio station and initially shook some hands to shaking hands as I left the lounge, it was nothing but fun and enjoyment. So again, no stats today (other than the Warroad supremacy thing), and no debate on positions, or the lineup, or the Lohse situation or anything like that. This event wasn't about that, and the guys likely would have told us nothing different than what we can read. And that's fine! The Caravan is about promoting the team, and about giving back. This event helped raise money for Warroad Youth Baseball. The Twins will also be conducting a youth baseball clinic here this summer. The Twins and the Twins Community Fund definitely has reached out to their fans. One more reason to end this by just saying "Thank you Twins! Thank you Ron Gardenhire, Rick Anderson, Jason Bartlett, Lew Ford and John Gordon! Thank you Andy Price! Just, thank you!"
Now, we just need to get a new stadium!
For a quick look at Kelly Thesier's take on the Twins Wednesday, be sure too click here. Try not to note that she 1.) Spelled Warroad way wrong, 2.) said Warroad was in North Dakota, and 3.) did not even mention the Warroad stop in her article. (Update - 1 and 2 have since been corrected!) I still enjoyed the story of Ford and Bartlett ice skating in Thief River Falls!
On that note, I am going to call it a day. I really did have a lot of fun. I think the event was a complete success, and I only hope that the Twins will decide to come back next year!
If you have any comments, opinions, or ideas for future articles, please e-mail me.
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