​They didn’t get along. (Photo by Lane Stewart/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images) (SetNumber: X25156) Time: 6:05 Central Weather: Humid, with a chance of thunderstorms, 96°. Opponent’s SB site: Pinstripe Alley TV: Twins TV. Radio: Playing songs that bring tears to my eyes. How cursed are the Twins against the Yankees? When the team faced Gerrit Cole at Target Field in 2022, the first three Twins hitters—Arráez, Buxton, Correa—went deep, yet the Twins still lost 10-7. They’ll see Cole again today at Yankee Stadium, essentially a haunted mansion where the Twins have died before. Cole is making his eighth start since undergoing Tommy John surgery last year, and he’s been up and down this season. He relies on a 96-ish fastball paired with a slider, plus a curve, change, and sinker; when healthy, the fastball and slider are his best combination.
In April, I read a Rival Roundup post at Pinstripe Alley that mentioned the Twins. Are we Yankees’ rivals now? Is that like the Harlem Globetrotters naming the Washington Generals their “rivals”? An obligatory “when in Yankee Stadium” video is below.
In May, a new statue of Dave Winfield was unveiled at Toni Stone Field in St. Paul, in the Rondo neighborhood where Winfield grew up. Winfield spoke briefly, and you can see the entire ceremony here. He gave an interview to Charles Hallman of the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder you can read here. In the interview, Winfield notes that he was drafted by four pro teams—the Utah Stars of the ABA, the Atlanta Hawks of the NBA, the Minnesota Vikings, and the Padres. He also recalls how his mother and grandmother did most of the raising.
The Padres moved Winfield from pitching to hitting, and he made the All-Star team every year from 1977 to 1988, then won a World Series during his lone season in Toronto in 1992. Much of his career was with the Padres and the Yankees. The Yankees signed Winfield in 1981 for $23 million, then the most ever for a player. Owner George Steinbrenner, who was as vocal and wealthy as ever, mistakenly thought the contract was for $16 million—he hadn’t read the fine print about a signing bonus and cost-of-living increases. Furious, whiny, and quick to blame, Steinbrenner criticized Winfield to the press, lamenting that he’d lost “Mr. October” in Reggie Jackson and gained “Mr. May” in Winfield. When that failed to turn fans against Winfield, he attempted character defamation.
Jim McLennan at AZSnakePit has the full story. Steinbrenner paid $40,000 to known gambler Howard Spira to dig up dirt on Winfield’s charitable foundation (which had some financial issues Winfield personally funded to fix, and the charity provided scholarships for nearly 30 years). Spira eventually went to jail for two years, and Steinbrenner was banned from associating with a known gambler, though two years later new commissioner Bud Selig lifted the ban. Just like Ronald Reagan’s pardon.