Jason Penner

@TwinsAlmanac Rollie Fingers?

Rickey Henderson, Kent Hrbek, and Kirby Puckett are the only players in American League history to finish runner-up in MVP balloting to a stinkin' relief pitcher. Can you name the bullpen vultures who swiped the MVP trophies from these everyday players?

@penner_aiden The truth cannot be controversial

As the head coach of an NFL team I would simply not have a punter on my roster. Fourth and 1 from my own 45 on the first drive of the game? Punching it up the middle. Fourth and 13 from my own 23? I'm airing it out for 25 yards. In a sport of quitters, I will be the black sheep.

@nut_history Ron Kittle

Name me a rookie of the year winner that just never panned out

@TheAlanNoble 2 weeks ago I said that about the Timberwolves…

Thunder winning the NBA Finals

@MNTwinsZealot I miss looking in the old fashion print newspaper and seeing box scores that looked like that.

Today in 1987 the #MNTwins suffer a tough loss in Boston. An abbreviated Berenguer start features 9 walks and Reardon is one out away from the save, but that out never happens…record is 27-24 & they’re 2 games back.

@TwinsAlmanac I believe in the audio Hrbek was heard saying “Ope!”

Oopsy daisies!

@muchl8r Outside of the scriptures, in the past 10 years, I have spent the most time reading her collection of short stories. They are such a mirror of my own condition.

Happy 100th birthday Flannery O'Connor! She's been gone longer than she was here but she's still making us rethink our life choices.

@TwinsAlmanac Where do you get those old packs? I’d really like to buy some 1983 topps packs - my first year of collecting.

Decided to open a pack of cards during my prep period and immediately hit the jackpot.

@penner_aiden ?

As much as it sucks to lose KAT… Tim Connelly you have my heart and soul.

@TwinsAlmanac Rob Wilfong

Name a player who played for both the #MNTwins and Angels. Let's see how long of a list we can crowdsource here.

@Patrick_Reusse @penner_aiden

First football game for new Bethel head coach Mike McElroy will be Sept. 14 at Northwestern (MN). Hope his athletes don’t lose their edge on the bus ride.

@LaVelleNeal Gary Ward

Dick Allen

@MNTwinsZealot The NL used to call them pitchers.

I don’t like regularly having a player who hits in the .160s in the lineup.

@DanBarreiroKFAN looks like your Luka dream is coming true!

@drewdyck I got mine! About halfway through and am encouraged. I always wondered what your background was with the last name Dyck. In our little German Mennonite community in southern MN the Dyck’s swap the “y” for an “i” 🤦‍♂️. My dad’s first language was low German just like yours.

My book has been out for three months now and I'm about to enter the toughest phase of promotion ... Door-to-door sales. 😮‍💨

Shout out to @philvischer and @HolyPostPodcast! Thanks to “News of the Butt” my daughter knew that turtles breathe through their butts and got some extra credit in class at school! #KnowledgeIsPower #TheMoreYouKnow

@tlschwerz If Royce singles with the bases loaded is that considered a slump?

No grand slam, but Royce Lewis just provided a ten run rule for the #MNTwins. They lead 11-1

@TwinsAlmanac Francisco Liriano against Roger Clemens during Liriano’s phenomenal rookie year.

Is Kirby Puckett's 6-for-6 game 36 years ago today the most famous regular-season performance in #MNTwins history? What are some other prominent regular-season performances in team history?

@Jon_Finkel This post so hits home! I lived in the middle of nowhere on a farm and almost no one else cared about baseball cards or even baseball. I just bought pack after pack hoping for Pucketts the most. I was constantly rearranging my cards and filling plastic sheets with my favs.

Dads and 90s kids, here's a fact: We had it so good with baseball cards and we didn't know it.... How could we? When we were kids they held promise, future fortunes and they cost .50/pack. You could hit up any grocery store, convenience store, pharmacy, 7-11 and... If you had a dollar in your pocket you were baseball card rich. Cards. Gum. Assets. You kids today have no idea. There were no box breaks or buy-ins or $49.99 or $99 packs or $1,000 packs or sets or streams to see other cards or dozens of different sets with holograms and refractors and subtle variations or uniform slivers cut inside... HELL NO. We had cardboard. And three ring binders. And plastic sleeves... We had a 4-pound Beckett guide that was our bible. We coveted like 7 rookie cards: Rickey Henderson Don Mattingly Kirby Puckett Roger Clemens Doc Gooden Mark McGwire Ozzie Smith And then, of course, we overloaded on Ken Griffey Jr... But for about 6 years we treated our card collection like it was our personal hedge fund. We'd trade cards in the school cafeteria like stock brokers... 3 Frank Violas and 2 Ryne Sandbergs for a Jose Canseco Rookie 1 Jack McDowell RC plus 1 Ruben Sierra RC for a Benito Santiago rookie We'd try to get lucky by loading up on Ellis Burks or Jim Abbott rookies. We took shots, cornering the market on random players with upside like Todd Benzinger and Walt Weiss or personal favorites like Oil Can Boyd... And on and on we'd go, thinking that once we had the rookie cards from the entire '94 all-star team or all of the rookie cards from the '92 Sox or Yankees or A's that we could then put our cards in a vault for thirty years... Then we'd open that vault up in 2023 when we were 40 and we'd... BE... RICH!!! We know now that it wasn't meant to be. But damn. What a time to be a kid. What a time to be alive. It was awesome. If you're nodding your head with Topps & Fleer-filled nostalgia, share this and follow me @Jon_Finkel. And be sure to sign up for my Books & Biceps newsletter for more columns like this and updates on my Macho Man biography (link in bio).

@TwinsAlmanac Don’t forget the other big three of Viola, Blyleven and Straker. 😉

Fun Fact: The Big Three of Glavine-Maddux-Smoltz tied Tapani-Erickson-Morris for World Series rings won together.