This year, card collecting industry titan Topps — in conjunction with Beckett Media — is releasing each team’s “Most Legendary Line-Up” which pairs each team’s best players with the best card of theirs issued by the company or one of its subsidiaries.
The team lists will be released at noon Central time every Monday, according to Jon Finkel of Beckett Media, and in power rankings style, adding another element of intrigue as fans wait all season to see where their team lands.
The Minnesota Twins, for what it’s worth, are team No. 26 as was announced this past Monday:
- 26 – Twins
- 27 – Los Angeles Angels
- 28 – Arizona Diamondbacks
- 29 – Miami Marlins
- 30 – Tampa Bay Rays
So how were the players selected?
“So there were a couple factors,” Finkel told Zone Coverage. “The overall factors of picking cards went like this; once we went into a room with Beckett sports card experts and Topps baseball card experts you obviously have a lot of kind of opinions and stuff, so we kind had to kind of set some guidelines for everybody so we came up with four loose guidelines.”
Those guidelines, as relayed by Finkel, were as follows:
- What the player means to the local fanbase.
- Overall skills and talent of the players in general.
- The player’s star power.
- What the player/card meant to the hobby in general.
Two cards, in particular, stood out to Finkel in the process.
“The Kirby Puckett card that we put in there is one of those cards that is from the heyday of collecting,” he said. “That ’85 Topps set — specifically the rookies — is a legendary set in general (because of) the way it looks. The white border, with the kind of the old school logo of the team in the circle on the right-hand side and the crooked name of the team. That was a year where there was a ton of kind of bigger name rookies and Puckett coming out and what he ended up becoming obviously winning the World Series a few years later and another one a few years after that, that is an iconic card.
“And then, the Rod Carew, just you know, what he became, it is a cool card,” Finkel continued. It has one of the early years of putting the rookie All-Star trophy on there. Those are the two that I would say stand out for us. And almost any Harmon Killebrew card just because of his power numbers and what the 500 club used to mean specifically when he got into it, that card is always one that is looked on with a lot of fondness in the hobby.”
Here’s a look at the Twins’ “Most Legendary Line-Up” as decided by Topps and Beckett Media:
Starting pitcher – Bert Blyleven (1975 Topps No. 30)
Many know Blyleven for his off-color commentary during Twins games and in recent years, his induction into the MLB Hall of Fame. But as the latter can attest, he was a fine pitcher in his day, as he possessed one of the best curveballs the game has ever seen.
Blyleven finished his two Twins stints with a 149-138 record, 3.28 ERA and 2,035 strikeouts in 2,566 innings.
Relief pitcher – Joe Nathan (2004 Topps No. 557)
Nathan is the finest reliever in Twins history, as he saved 30 games for six straight years before having Tommy John surgery in 2010. He returned for the 2011 season before departing, and had a pair of fairly good seasons for the Texas Rangers before closing out his career with the Tigers and Chicago Cubs.
Nathan was drafted as a shortstop and even worked as a starter for the Giants before his breakout 2003 season. He was traded to the Twins after that year in the deal that sent Boof Bonser and Francisco Liriano over for catcher A.J. Pierznyski, thus opening the catcher spot for….
Catcher – Joe Mauer (2002 Bowman Chrome No. 391)*
Now it might seem surprising to see a Bowman card on the list, but Topps bought out Bowman and dissolved the name for 35 years following the 1955 season. Then Topps gave it a reboot in 1989, shaking up the scene with different-sized cards and a larger focus on the future — that is, minor-league players.
That’s the case with the 2002 Mauer card, as he was actually closer to his No. 1 draft date (2001) than his MLB debut (2004) when this card was issued.
Mauer is easily the greatest catcher in Twins history, and has hit a stellar .308/.391/.442 through 15 big-league seasons as he’s gone from a great defensive catcher — including winning three straight Gold Gloves from 2008-10 — to a very good defensive first baseman. He probably should have won a Gold Glove at first last year, to be honest.
First baseman – Kent Hrbek (1982 Topps Traded No. 44T)
In the industry, “traded” means the card wasn’t part of the initial run for whatever reason, whether it was a player who was in fact traded, or in Hrbek’s case, didn’t have much time in the big leagues — 24 games in 1981 — to merit inclusion in a full season set.
Hrbek won a pair of World Series rings with the Twins in 1987 and 1991, and ranks fourth in club history with 312 doubles, trailing Kirby Puckett, Mauer and Tony Oliva. He’s also second in RBIs (1,086, one ahead of Puckett).
Hrbek was also a remarkable defensive first baseman, though he was never rewarded with a Gold Glove as his career coincided with that of Don Mattingly, an accomplished defender in his own right.
Second baseman – Rod Carew (1968 Topps No. 80)
Few names come ahead of Carew in discussions about who some of the game’s greatest pure hitters are. All seven of Carew’s batting titles came during his 12 years with the Twins, as he finished with a line of .334/.393/.448 between 1967-78 before finishing up his career with the California Angels.
Carew is the franchise’s all-time leading hitter, no matter if you want to divide it by Senators/Twins history or just Twins history, as he hit .334 over his 1,635 games with the Twins. Carew also hit a Twins-best 90 triples.
The next closest Twin was Puckett (.318).
Shortstop – Greg Gagne (1985 Topps Traded No. 36T)*
The history of the position of shortstop has been sparse for the Twins, but who better to hold down the position than the guy who was on both World Series teams?
Gagne was never a terrific hitter — a career line of .254/.302/.382 — but he was absolutely wonderful defensively, and that’s a huge reason why he’s on the list.
Third base – Gary Gaetti (1983 Topps No. 431)*
Gaetti was part of the Baby Twins who came up in 1982 — Hrbek, Tom Brunansky, Tim Laudner and Randy Bush, too — and was a key cog in the offense until the team dealt him to the Angels after the 1990 season.
Gaetti was not only a powerful bat — 20-plus homers in six seasons — but he was also a great defensive third baseman as well.
Left field – Harmon Killebrew (1969 Topps No. 375)
Killebrew was a man before his time, as his prodigious power came with lots of walks and strikeouts. He finished with 573 homers and a 17.3 percent strikeout rate that would look downright brilliant in the current environment, while it was considered very, very high back in his day.
Killebrew stands alone atop the leaderboard with most games played in Twins/Senators history (2,329) while hitting a franchise-best 559 home runs with 1,540 RBIs as well.
Center field – Kirby Puckett (1985 Topps No. 536)*
Easily the most iconic on-field player in Twins history, Puckett retired after a bout with glaucoma during spring training in 1996. Five years later, he was a Hall of Famer and working for the Twins in the front office.
A lot of things happened in the meantime — including his untimely passing in 2006 — but on the field, few were more loved and revered than No. 34.
Puckett recorded the most hits in Twins history (2,304).
Right field – Torii Hunter (1994 Bowman No. 104)*
Hunter gets pushed to right field due to Puckett’s star power, but it’s also easy to forget that Torii played some right field not only near the end of his career, but also when he first came up. Hunter’s first year as a regular was 1999, and he saw time in all three spots of the outfield, with 13 starts in left, 90 in center and 10 in right. On nights Hunter wasn’t in center, it was usually Jacque Jones (64 starts) standing in.
Hunter was one of the team’s two first-round picks in 1993 — four if you count pitchers Marc Barcelo and Kelcey Mucker in the supplemental round — though it might be more surprising who the Twins took No. 21 after taking Hunter 20th.
Future Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek, who did not sign with the team.
Nevertheless, the Twins got a good one with Hunter, who won nine Gold Gloves — eight in Minnesota — in center field after Puckett retired.
Utility/DH – Tony Oliva (1964 Topps Giants No. 44)
The story goes that Oliva’s career was shortened by knee injuries and the lack of the DH, because otherwise his name would be among those enshrined in Cooperstown.
Watching him walk nowadays, some 40-plus years after his career ended, leaves no doubt that he has knee issues. Through his age-32 season, Oliva hit .313/.361/.507 in nearly 1,200 games. Then he played just 10 games in 1972, and from 1973-76 he hit just .277/.331/.391.
Those final four years happen to coincide with the addition of the DH to the AL, though it was too late to extend Oliva’s career. While he did play until his age-37 season, he ceased to be a productive big leaguer after the age of 32. He’s a bigger “what if?” than Puckett, for sure.
(Asterisks indicate card is considered a “rookie card”)
So what do you think? Anything you’d have done differently? Hit us up in the comments section and let us know!
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