Transcripts

SPEAKER 1: I knew Kent when he was skinny.

SPEAKER 2: Well, where does he sit in the pantheon of Twin stars?

SPEAKER 1: He takes up a large space. The beauty of Kent Hrbek is that he could pay so little attention to himself and play as well as he did for so many years, and that's also, in a way, his curse. I would have loved to have seen him be a 225, 230-pounder who took care of himself and might be closing in on 450 or 500 home runs instead of a guy who only played 150 games in a season once.

But when you're talking about Hrbek, for the most part, you're talking about a flat out good guy who played a big role in bringing two World Series championships to Minnesota, and who was probably the best defensive first baseman, along with Don Mattingly, in recent history.

SPEAKER 2: Did the Twins and Twins fans get their money's worth?

SPEAKER 1: Oh, yeah, I think so. I think all you have to do is go into the Dome and see the World Series trophies. And he played a big role in two of those. Sure, he should have been in better shape, and sure, he should have played more games. But hey, everybody makes lifestyle decisions, and his was to go from being--

Remember when he was young, they called him Ted as in Ted Williams, the Splendid Splinter. He basically went from being the Splinter to being Shamu. And that was his choice. I mean, he wanted it to be that way, and he was good enough that the Twins had to play by his rules in terms of how he wanted to condition himself.

SPEAKER 2: He is one of the few players who has played his entire career with one team and certainly one of the few hometown players who has played his entire career with his hometown team. Can we expect to see that ever again?

SPEAKER 1: I don't think so. I mean, Puckett, for all practical purposes, has become a Minnesotan, and I expect that he would play his career, alpha to omega, with the Twins. But in this era of players changing teams, whether it's because of free agency or whether it's because of some kind of revenue sharing salary cap conspiracy, players are going to have to go where the money is, and the money isn't going to be in the same market from start to beginning, from start to finish.

SPEAKER 2: But Hrbek, he said a few years ago, he had apparently a much better offer to go to Detroit and play for them. And he said, if these guys here in Minnesota pay me enough, I'll just stay here.

SPEAKER 1: Two things about that. One, that he did turn down more money. He could have gone to Detroit for maybe another couple million over five years. But remember, he basically turned down 10% more to stay with Minnesota. The start-up costs would have eaten that up. The start-up costs of moving to a new city and maybe maintaining two homes.

So in reality, it was probably about a wash, but it was a nice statement about playing in Minnesota, especially when you contrast it to teary eyed Jack Morris, who was so thrilled to come home and so desperate to leave.

SPEAKER 2: Now the Twins are supposed to open a four game series against the Yankees tonight. Conceivably, I suppose this could be Ken Hrbek's last game with the Twins. Are they are the players going to go on strike tonight and call off the season?

SPEAKER 1: Oh, that's a good question. That's a good question. There's no telling what might happen tonight. The players are trying to figure it out. I think as we speak, Players Association representatives, it would come as no surprise at this point if they walked out earlier. I think they were surprised.

One of the things I think that set off Don Fehr, the union head, was that the letter saying that the owners were not going to contribute to the pension fund from the All-Star Game, it just kind of came in the regular mail, just like you'd get a form letter or an Ed McMahon letter. There was no special attempt to say, oh, by the way, we're withholding this $8 million that you'd normally get from playing in the All-Star Game.

The shame of it, the Yankees are scheduled to start Jim Abbott tonight. He's a tough left-hander, the kind of tough lefty that Hrbek usually doesn't play against anymore. I hope that if the strike is scheduled to start tomorrow, or even if there's a chance, I hope that Tom Kelly, the Twins manager, recognizes the sense of history and gets Hrbek in the lineup regardless.