This column continues the Only One series in which this reporter shares his experiences as the only African American journalist on the scene. SEATTLE — Someone told me before coming to the Emerald City that Seattle and Minneapolis are similar in some ways. That person was right. During our first day ever here, the Only One […]
Twins/MLB
Sports: a space for local and national sports stories, with emphasis on issues pertaining to African Americans.
Posted inSports
Twins among MLB’s surprise teams
An old cliché that has stood the test of time is “It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.” With this in mind, look at the two best teams in baseball as we have reached the mid-summer classic. The Los Angeles Dodgers are on fire with the best record in the big leagues, 61-29, […]
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Did Twins get lightening with Lewis?
Before last week’s Major League Baseball Draft, ESPN Analyst Keith Law predicted that Hunter Greene would not be the top overall pick. The 17-year-old Greene made the cover of Sports Illustrated in May in the featured cover story, “Hunter Greene is Exactly What Baseball Needs.” “I think not,” Law told me during a visit to […]
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Twins, Wolves add some color to team admin
Over the years we have often criticized local teams for the lack of diversity in their administration. Finally, it seems at least a couple of them have gotten our message. The Minnesota Twins and the Minnesota Timberwolves have both created front office positions now filled by former team players. Torii Hunter began last November as […]
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Major League Baseball is competitive
In the NBA, 16 of the 30 teams qualify for the playoffs; same thing in the National Hockey League. In the NFL just 12 of the 32 teams reach the playoffs. Major League Baseball has long refused to qualify half of its league for post-season play. They do play a lot, 162 games in the […]
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Twins showing good early signs
Major League Baseball, being the original American pastime, is full of clichés like “Baseball is a marathon, not a sprint” — 162 games over six-plus months. Last season locally was a long season indeed. The Twins were 59-103, the worst record in the Major Leagues. Longtime general manager Terry Ryan was fired. So far in 2017, […]
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Teaching the art of hitting baseballs
The hardest skill to master in sport is hitting a baseball. As a result, a batter often can have hot streaks when it looks to him like he’s hitting beach balls, and then suffer hitless streaks where the ball looks like the size of a BB. Such ups and downs are regular occurrences in baseball, […]
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‘A long way to go’ to reach MLB diversity hiring goals
It’s been 70 years since Jackie Robinson broke Major League Baseball’s (MLB) color barrier, and it’s been 45 years, since shortly before his death in 1972, that he urged baseball to do better in regards to diversity. “His vision was to see diverse players on the field reflecting diverse coaches and those in the front […]
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Blacks scarce at annual Jackie Robinson Day game
Does anyone really care anymore? This year’s annual Jackie Robinson Day (April 15) held by Major League Baseball (MLB) has come and gone. Unfortunately, as I sat last Saturday in a virtually all-White press box watching a game where players of both teams wore Robinson’s No. 42 on the 70th anniversary of his breaking baseball’s […]
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Three of four new Twins’ hires Black
Is this the beginning of greater team diversity? A non-shopping “Black Friday” took place at the Minnesota Twins ballpark last week when it was announced that three of four new hires are Black. This comes on the heels of our criticism of the Twins’ on-field and off-field diversity efforts, or lack thereof, a couple of […]
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Black Twins fans give the sport a thumbs-up
This column continues the Only One series in which this reporter shares his experiences as the only African American journalist on the scene. The 2016 Minnesota Twins season concludes this weekend. All season long we searched, and on the last unofficial day of summer, Labor Day, the Only One finally located a Black family at […]
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It’s still just faux diversity for the Twins
Diversity, as far as the Minnesota Twins are concerned, remains like a haystack needle. We are not social scientists, but we are eye-test experts. We easily recognize diversity or the lack thereof when we see it There is one non-U.S.-born Black player (Miguel Sano) and one Black coach (Butch Davis) on the team. Out of […]
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Trials of an Only One | 2016 Central Regional Tournament
This column continues the Only One series in which this reporter shares his experiences as the only African American journalist on the scene. In August, Cincinnati will host the 2016 Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) World Series. The Minnesota Twins RBI program last weekend hosted this year’s RBI Central Regional tournament in both Minneapolis […]
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Torii Hunter stands tall, stresses unity at Hall of Fame speech
Baseball, unlike football and basketball, doesn’t have a fast track to the majors. Torii Hunter was fresh out of high school when the Minnesota Twins drafted him in 1993. After about three years in the minor league, he remembered hitting the frustration wall. He wanted to give up baseball and perhaps head to college and […]
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Twins visit the hood
Major League Baseball’s Reviving Baseball in the Inner Cities (RBI) youth baseball and softball program operates in all 30 MLB franchise cities. This season the Minnesota Twins, through its Community Fund, is handing out free baseball gloves to all participants ages eight and under in Minneapolis and St. Paul. An estimated 5,000 youth in the […]
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Twins need to pick it up!
Last year the Twins had their best season in several years, finishing 83-79 for first-year manager Paul Molitor. Expectations for 2016 were heighten that the team could return to the American League playoffs in a tough-balanced American League Central.
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Twins reclaim Whitest Team in MLB title
This past off-season we saw another exodus of Black baseball players as the Minnesota Twins traded Aaron Hicks to New York and Torii Hunter announced his retirement after a season back with the club that originally drafted him.
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New book revives lost stories of Black baseball in MN
“They may not all have been stars, but many of them were stars and signed by major league teams. They were offered tryouts, and nobody knows about it because it has been a missing piece of our history,”
Posted inLocal & State, News, Sports, Twins/MLB
Twins announce new partnership with Latino-owned La Raza
About a third of Minnesota Twins’ 2016 regular season games will be broadcast on Minnesota’s only Latino-owned radio station.
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Torii Hunter transitions to off-the-field play
It took him two years to finally put away his Gold Glove, but nonetheless Torii Hunter says he’s only “transitioning” and not retiring from baseball.