Ben Revere vs Kirby Puckett

It seems more and more that people want to call Ben Revere the second coming of Kirby Puckett, and frankly, the more I watch Revere play, the less I agree with the assessment. Of course, I was merely a year old when Kirby broke into the league, but I do remember Kirby's later career, and I have statistics to reflect upon.
Before I tell you where the players are different, let me first admit where they bear some similarity: Both are short black men who smile a lot and place center field rather well. Neither hit a home run in the first year in the league.
Now, for the differences. The first is that Kirby could hit. Despite his lack of power in his first season, Puck still hit .296. And he DID have a bit more power, hitting 12 doubles and 5 triples to Revere's 5 and 4. Puck managed to walk less and strikeout more, but he always hit line drives. He simply hit the ball harder than Revere, which is likely why his power spiked two seasons later. I suspect this will not happen with Revere. Puckett went from 0 homers to 31 in that stretch. (Of course, his 89 season, 3 more years later, he only had 9 HRs, but hit .339. If anything, his erratic bating profiles more like Joe Mauer than anyone)
Revere was better than Puckett in another statistical category. Ben Revere is much faster. Already at this point in his season, he has 30 stolen bases, compared to Pucks 14. That's pretty much it. Puckett was a much better hitter sooner in his career than Revere, and there is no other way to interpret it.
In fact, just trying to find a lead off hitting outfielder that has been as bad as Revere early in their career... it's tough. Randy Winn had more doubles and triples and a higher average in his first season, but the stolen bases are on point.For me, the closest comparison with the bat was Tony Gwynn. No, not THAT Tony Gwynn. His son. The one that is currently hitting .258 for the Dodgers. His stolen bases are approaching the level of Revere, but his bat through the first three seasons (which added up to admittedly fewer than Revere's first full season in the league) was so bad that Milwaukee kept sending him down. His combined average through three seasons was .248. Revere is hitting .249.
So. the next time you hear someone assert that Ben Revere reminds you of Kirby Puckett, tell them that he actually reminds you more of Tony Gwynn. Just don't tell them which one.

Remember when?

The year was 1989. The Twins were two tears removed from the World Series title, the first major sports championship the state had ever seen. They had an all star center fielder, beloved by fans, charismatic, and in the prime of his career. They gave him a new contract, which featured the largest salary ever given. Yes, Kirby was making a whopping 3 million dollars a year.Perhaps we shouldn't be so critical of the Pohlads, considering how salaries have exploded over the past 20 years.

Also, Nick Punto now make 4 million dollars per annum. That's depressing.

Whatifsports has been bought out

The engine for Whatif seems to be the same, but now Fox Sports and MSN seem to have got their hands all over the Whatif brand. They don't seem to have done much with it, however the site was redesigned, perhaps to make it all pretty like MSN Search. This, of course, isn't a ground breaking sports story, but I admit I use Whatif almost daily. It was the last good place to get a look at Kirby Puckett whenever I wanted. With the redesign, Kirby no longer graces the main page. I miss Kirby

Am I the only one?

The only one who is reminded of a certain Twins great by a current certain player?

Lets see.... slightly overweight, but thought to be a good hitter. Frustrating to watch at times because of his willingness to swing at just about anything (DY at the balls in the dirt, Kirby at any fastball above his belly button). Off the field problems (DY before his career really started, Kirby fell apart afterwards).
I don't know, if Delmon can develop a fan friendly personality, they seem like they could have fairly similar careers. Keep this in mind. Kirby's breakout season was as a 26 year old in his third season. Delmon, at this point, is still 23 and in his 4th season. He feels to me more like the heir to the Puckett throne than Torii Hunter did. Well, as an offensive threat, anyways.
After watching him against the Angels, Jason Kubel is the Twins' new, uh... Randy Bush?

The Catholic Minnesota Twins and Ryan, a Brief History

Originally posted on "Is It Sports?" by Ryan. Ryan discusses how the Twins are a symbol of his personal being to the non-Catholic, non-Minnesotan world. Pretty deep.

Recently, Steve and I were talking about baseball in Chicago. I didn’t understand how anyone from a certain town could hate a team from their own town with as much venom as Steve hates the Cubs. I mean, He’s from Chicago. The Cubs are from Chicago. Why can’t you like both the White Sox and the Cubs?

He tried to explain the whole history of there being two leagues and what not. But why would that matter? There were two pennants to shoot for, why couldn’t you root for each team to gain there individual prizes? With two teams, I would have thought, you have two chances to achieve a world series title. Turns out, the baseball really wasn’t the issue. By Steve’s own admission, the difference was in the fan bases. The North Siders fell into a certain stereotype while the South Siders did likewise and both were at odds with each other. Basically, they relied on their teams to represent them and took their resentment of the other stereotypical fan base out on the team.

Now that I had that explanation, it made me think. You know, that isn’t unlike why I love the Twins. I don’t have the bitter animosity towards any group of people that Steve does, but I do expect my teams to represent me. That was my biggest problem with Randy Moss. He gave up on us. He was disrespectful, not only to opponents, but to his own teammates. That’s just not the Minnesota Way. And none of my friends, neighbors or family have EVER run over an officer of the law.

The Twins, on the other hand, were the first team that really caught my eye. I was 4 when they beat the Cardinals to win their first World Series in 1987, and I was just coming into the years where I had conscious memory. This was how baseball was. The Twins were the best. They won World Series.

Then, there were a few years where the Twins audaciously didn’t get to the World Series. The nerve! That’s when the World Series was built up as a crowning achievement and a spectacle. I saw Chris Sabo and his ridiculous glasses. There was the earthquake game between the A’s and Giants. Not to mention, I had just started little league, so I was beginning to actually understand the game and its complexities.

Meanwhile, I was getting into football too. The Vikings weren’t nearly the local connection that the Twins were. It was national television, so I didn’t get the familiarity with the announcers, and there were too many people on the team to identify. But football was cool. Cool uniforms, guys hitting each other. I loved it, but I loved a lot of different football teams.

Then 1991 rolled around and that changed everything. First, the Vikings traded for Herschel Walker, and Darrin Nelson, my favorite Viking at the time, was sent to Dallas. In the summer, people were noticing the Twins, who were making another strong push at a title. The Twins were winners again.

Now, I had gone to Catholic grade school all my life, a Catholic church every Sunday. Everyone I knew was Catholic, and that’s just the way it was to me. It helped that every time he came to bat, Kirby Puckett would execute the Sign of the Cross. My hero was Catholic too! I was Catholic. My friends were Catholic. My TEAM was Catholic. (Turns out my mother is Lutheran). The fact remained, this was a Minnesota team, playing
baseball, which I played, showing outward Catholicism. Definitely the good guys.

Well, the Twins won the 1991 World Series against the Braves in the Series where I learned that baseball is exciting and that when the Twins go to the playoffs, they win the World Series. 1991 solidified the fact that the Twins were my team, through thick and thin.

That’s when things became very, very thin. The Twins started stumbling downhill up until the strike year in 1994. Kent Hrbek retired that year. Then Puckett got glaucoma and retired, then Chuck Knoblauch turned Jim Rice on us and got traded to the Yankees. Life was tough in Minnesota and Twins town. The Vikings flailed in the ’98 playoffs, cementing the fact that the Twins were the top game in town.

Bud Selig and Carl Pohlad, the owner of the team, conspired to shut the team down at the turn of the millennium, however. Sneaky and swift-witted lawmakers made sure that didn’t happen, though, as they pointed out that the Twins had another 5 years left on a lease at the state owned Metrodome. So the government made sure the team didn’t die. Clearly, this was Minnesota’s team, my team.

Then I went off to school and had to deal with people that were A) not Catholic and B) not Minnesotan. They didn’t see the Twins as the good guys anymore. I didn’t see it as an affront to my personal being, but it was new. I did see the Twins in a new light, however. They were my representatives to the world. Wherever I go, baseball fans will associate me with the Twins. They are letting me down this season, and that hurts, deeply and personally.

But I wouldn’t have it any other way. - Ryan