Blog Bat Around Alphabet Challenge

 

This is my first crack at a Blog Bat Around.  Nachos Grande suggested this a while back and I've been kind of hemming and hawing about this.  With a blog title that is 20 characters long, I'm wondering if I can stick to the home team to pick out 20 players but here goes nothing! Oh and as far as the pics are concerned, I'm totally cheating here by not scanning my own cards.

Carew, Rod        One of my favorite cards of one of my favorite players.  The only thing that annoyed me about him is that he refused to sign bats at Twinsfest.

Rick Aguilera        Rick was a key piece in a big deal that saw the Twins ship staff ace Frank Viola to the Mets in return for a handful of players that helped get the Twins back to the WS in 1991.

Oliva, Tony        Obvious choice here, Tony Oliva has always been a fan favorite.

Castino, John        John Castino was the 1979 AL ROY (along with Alfredo Griffin) and one heck of a fielder.  Unfortunately his career was cut short due to chronic back issues.    

Olson, Greg        This might be a stretch, but many folks may forget that Greg Olson actually played a few games for the Twins.  He was released and later signed with Atlanta.  I picked him because he played for the local college and later on has a famous SI cover with Dan Gladdan from the '91 WS.

Dan Gladden        Dan Gladden provided a spark for the Twins ever since he was traded from San Francisco.  As a fan favorite, he is also one of a handful of Twins players to have played on both the '87 and '91 World Series teams.

Izzy Hoffman        Izzy played 1 year for the Senators, so this is stretching way back but there are not many players in Twins history that have a name which starts with an I.  Besides this guy has a card in the famous T206 set, so why not pick him?

Laudner, Tim        This letter has plenty of players to pick from, but I'm going with the unheralded Tim Laudner.  He was one of the core group of players that played in the minors and made their way to the bigs in the early 80's and then finally winning it all in 1987.

Erickson, Scott      Scott Erickson was another anchor in a really good group of Twins pitchers in 1991.  Then the Twins got fleeced by Baltimore in a 1995 trade.

  

Serum, Gary        I remember pulling this card from packs and thinking "sweet a Twin!".  Then I pulled this card over and over and over.  But Gary did establish a rather famous watering hole not far from my current location so I'm putting him in this spot.

Puckett, Kirby        Who else but Kirby could be chosen for the letter P? 

O'Connor, Jack        For the final 'O' name I couldn't pick David Ortiz.  For some folks he may be an easy choice but I just can't pick him.  Instead I'm going with Jack O'Connor.  He was picked up by the Twins from Montreal in a rule 5 draft.  He pitched a few years here then was traded back to Montreal.  But I remember watching him pitch on TV and pulling many of his cards from packs.

Randy Bush        Might be a bit of a surprise pick because there's plenty of other players I could put here but I think Randy Bush is an under appreciated player.  He was mainly a role player but came up with some timely hits while filling in at DH.

Tom Kelly        There is only one 'T' in this blog name and so many good players to chose from.  Instead of a player I'm taking the man who skippered the Twins to two World Series championships.

Santana, Johan        There was a stretch in the 2000's where nobody was better then Johan Santana.

Cuddyer, Michael        One of my all-time favorites, Cuddyer was a mainstay with the Twins.  I was bummed when the Twins let him walk in free agency and he signed with the Rockies where he won his only batting crown and a Silver Slugger.

Astudillo, Willians        A recent fan favorite, La Tortuga was a utility fielder who could also pitch a couple innings when the Twins ran out of pitchers.  Unfortunately he played a big role in a fight in the Venezuelan winter league resulting in the team cutting him loose.

Radke, Brad        Radke is a long time Twin who played 12 seasons with them.  He was usually the opening day starter.  He didn't blow hitters away like Santana, but he was a workhorse, often pitching more than 200 innings in a season.

Davis, Chili        My friends and I got a kick out his name when the Twins signed him as a free agent.  However funny we thought the name sounded, this pick up turned out pretty well for the Twins.  He hit .277 with 29 HR's for the '91 Twins.  Nothing to laugh at there.

Smalley, Roy        Roy Smalley was the Twins lone representative (a starter) in the 1979 All-Star game.  When I pulled this card, I was disappointed he didn't get the All-Star banner.  However 10-yr old me didn't realize the reasoning for this until the following year.

Whew! Some of these picks were tougher to make than I thought, but overall a fun exercise.  I might not limit the list to the hometown team if there is a next time.

On another note I tried (and failed) to get some cards sent out.  I weighed these myself and applied the proper postage but a few bubble mailers were returned to me from the post office.  I didn't know an overstuffed bubble mailer could be considered a "heightened security risk".  I'm pretty sure the post office hates baseball cards, but I'll get this sorted out.