Wednesday, October 28, 2015

Spiderman and The Ignitor

Yes the World Series has begun, and yes, it's the top of the 11th inning, but there's Twins new to be had.

First the good news - Manager Paul Molitor was named the Sporting News AL Manager of the Year. The award is voted on by managers throughout the league, so it is a special honor for the rookie skipper.

Congratulations, Paulie! Well deserved, as the expectations were not too high coming into the year and you delivered.

Now the not so good news - Old Torii Two Eyes, Spiderman, winner of Gold Gloves and hitter of home runs, is retiring. Torii Hunter's Major League debut was to pinch run for Paul Molitor way back in 1997. Since then, he's hit 353 Home Runs. He's driven in 1,395 Runs, and scored 1,296. Winner of 9 Gold Gloves, Torii played in 4 All-Star games. Torii has been in the playoffs in 8 years, though his teams never made it to the World Series.

I know! I'm impressed too!
Some of the guys with similar numbers to Torii include Dave Parker, Chili Davis, Carlos Lee, Carlos Beltran, Luis Gonzalez, Dwight Evans, Joe Carter and Garret Anderson. All great players, but not quite Hall of Famers (maybe Beltran gets in). No shame in that - he'll get a few votes and might stick on the ballot for a few years, it will be nice to talk about what a great career he had. So, it is bittersweet, but congratulations to Torii on 19 excellent years in the big leagues.





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7 comments:

  1. CommishbobOctober 28, 2015 at 7:56 AM

    he may not be a Hall of Famer but Hunter had a fine career and played the game the right way. Class guy all the way.

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    1. BrianOctober 28, 2015 at 9:21 AM

      A fan favorite and I have to believe his experience and attitude helped the Twins this year more than the stats can show.

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  2. BobWalkthePlankOctober 28, 2015 at 8:15 AM

    I don't think he'll be too mad about the Hall of Fame.....he made 171 million dollars during his career! He was also one of the few guys to make good on a long free agent deal. His numbers with the Angels were even better than his Twins years.

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    1. BrianOctober 28, 2015 at 9:41 AM

      I was bitter about that deal for awhile but I can't begrudge Torii for jumping at that offer. The Twins were never going to pay that much for Torii, they felt that he was a great player, but not the highest paid on the team great.

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  3. Tony L.October 28, 2015 at 10:17 AM

    As a side note, I've read a number of stories about how Molitor absolutely hated the idea that The Ignitor was his nickname. First off, it's spelled wrong (Igniter is correct, but everyone wrote it with the -or for Molitor). Secondly, as he said in a 1984 article in the Milwaukee Newspaper -- "It's not really a nickname. People don't go around calling me The Ignitor or anything. So it's not really a nickname. That's the wrong word. It's more of a description." (https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=5HobAAAAIBAJ&sjid=6k4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=2321%2C4545316)

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  4. acrackedbatOctober 28, 2015 at 12:28 PM

    Molitor is a part of my pc. He was in the latter years of his career when I began collecting. Congrats to Paulie!

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  5. night owlOctober 28, 2015 at 11:24 PM

    Hunter will always be a favorite of mine for robbing Bonds in the All-Star Game. You could tell how disgusted Bonds was. Loved it.

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