Twins, Cities

It's over, the Twins' 162-game return to near-perfect mediocrity. Things looked promising back in mid-May when Justin Morneau seemed like he'd been beaned into the second coming of Mickey Mantle. But baseball seasons are epics, and this one took a turn for the tragically mundane about the time Torii Hunter fractured his ankle against the centerfield wall at Fenway. Still, there are reasons to look forward to the next campaign.

The Twin Cities' current favorite son Joe Mauer almost had the world on a string after his first six major-league at-bats back on opening day in April of 2004. Then he limped back to third after base coach Al Newman stopped him from attempting to score on a Shannon Stewart single. Gardenhire yanked him immediately, and two days later surgeons filleted a tear in Mauer's knee, granting him a month of idling and rehab. Nonetheless, his auspicious debut performance for the Twins, when he reached base four times, scored twice, and tagged out a potential winning run at the plate in extra innings, obliterated what little doubt remained as to his readiness for the majors. While his first season was shortened by that injury, he still was named to the American League all-rookie team. This year he quadrupled his at-bats, hitting .297 while marshalling a stellar pitching staff that was undermined by a perpetual offensive funk. It appears that St. Paul, hometown to hall-of-famers Dave Winfield and Paul Molitor, as well as likely inductee Jack Morris, has itself another green-diamond icon, and this one could play his entire career here.

Just what is it about St. Paul that produces such superior baseball talent compared with its neighbor and rival? Both cities have produced their share of native-born major-leaguers: St. Paul with 26 (prior to Mauer) including 9 pitchers; and Minneapolis with 34 (16 pitchers) roughly proportionate to the cities' populations. The pioneers from each city are surprisingly ancient, both born before the Civil War. Joe Visner of Minneapolis was first signed by the Baltimore Orioles in 1885 and played four seasons in the outfield, each with a different club, compiling a lifetime average of .261 while slapping 12 home runs. Joe Werrick of St. Paul spent most of his four-season late-1880s career as an infielder with the Louisville Colonels of the American Association, hitting .250 with 10 homers. But the similarities end with these early Twin Citians.

St. Paul, as one would expect, comes out ahead, rounding third while Minneapolis is caught in a pickle between first and second. The only stat for which St. Paul does not hold an edge is home run frequency, and that's mainly because Kent Hrbek (raised in the shadow of the old Met in Bloomington but born in the City of Lakes) accounts for more than one out of every four at-bats by a Minneapolis player. But even taking Molitor and Winfield out of the equation (both had almost as many at-bats as the Minneapolis total), as well as Hrbek, St. Paul batters prevail. Among them is the great Arnold "Chick" Gandil, who played nine solid seasons, once hitting .318, before his untimely expulsion from baseball as ringleader of the World Series fix known as the Black Sox scandal. Notable among the Minneapolis also-rans is Johnny Blanchard, who platooned as a catcher during five consecutive World Series runs by the Yankees, but never played a 100-game season. Pitching tells the same tale: in addition to Morris, St. Paul produced the stalwart Tom Burgmeier (3.23 lifetime ERA over 16 seasons); Minneapolis produced one "Walt" Johnson (18 earned runs over 27 and 1/3 storied innings).

This discrepancy begs an explanation. A less interesting one might consider disparate little league programs or some grand city policy. I would prefer a cause like municipal water, astrology, or gamma rays. Any ideas?

The Tale of the Tape (again, pre-Mauer, as gleaned from Baseball-Reference.com):

Batting

St. Paul-----AB 44780; H 12381; Avg. .276; HR 984 (46 AB/HR)

Minneapolis--AB 13013; H 3329; Avg. .256; HR 477 (27 AB/HR)

Pitching

St. Paul-----IP 5836; ER 2452; ERA 3.78; SO 3413 (.58/IP); BB 2043 (.35/IP)

Minneapolis--IP 1764; ER 804; ERA 4.10; SO 741 (.42/IP); BB 652 (.37/IP)