1991 World Series Hero Dan Gladden

April 13, 2008

The mystery person from our previous post is former Minnesota Twins outfielder, and current Twins radio network color commentator Dan Gladden. MLW Staff caught up with him at the Twins spring training camp in Fort Myers, Florida.

Gladden is one of seven Minnesota Twins players to be on both the 1987 and 1991 World Series championship teams. In this photo, Gladden is seen wearing one of his World Series rings.

Gladden is perhaps best known for scoring the game-winning run in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series. In the bottom of the 10th inning, Gladden stretched a bloop hit into a double, and later scored on a Gene Larkin pinch-hit single to win the World Series. Many consider the 1991 World Series to be the greatest World Series ever played.

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World Series Winner Holding a Wiffleball

April 5, 2008

Can you guess who is holding this wiffleball? One major clue is this player is wearing a World Series ring. Look closely, and you’ll be able to see what team he played for. If you’re not sure of the team, you don’t have to look hard around this site to see what Major League Baseball team we follow.

Unfortunately, we’re not sure what year his World Series ring is from, since he won two World Series with this team. To this day, this player is in some way involved with the organization on his ring.

Are you stumped, or do you know the answer? If you have a guess, please post it in the comments. The former player will be revealed in a follow-up article sometime next week.

Update: The mystery person is 1991 World Series hero Dan Gladden.

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Joe Nathan holds a wiffleball, signs contract extension

April 2, 2008

Joe Nathan poses with a wiffleball at the Twins spring training camp in Fort Myers, Florida, just days before he signed a contract extension to remain as the closer for the Minnesota Twins.

Nathan agreed to a three-year extension with the Twins, with a club option for 2012. The deal is believed to be worth between $11-$12 million per year.

Nathan got off to a good start in 2008 by striking out the first batter he faced, former Twins center fielder Torii Hunter, and picking up a save in the Twins season opener against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

We wish Joe the best of luck, and we thank him for taking time to pose for our staff.

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Pickle Ball

March 25, 2008

Thanks to Rick, one of our readers, the ‘mystery ball’ has been identified as a Pickle Ball. Now that we know what to look for, they can be found quite easily on sites such as ebay.com and Amazon.com.

As we mentioned in the original post, Tom W. uses these balls as training aids for his grandson. Tom discovered these balls by chance, and he has used them to help his grandson develop a quicker swing, hit a curveball, and become a switch hitter, while using his regular game bat. Tom says these balls have had the greatest impact of any at home training aid he’s used. So when you can’t get to a batting cage and hit the real thing, Pickle Balls are a great substitute.

While traditional Wiffle Balls are great in their own way, they’re not very good baseball training aids. Pickle Balls will behave more like a regular baseball than a Wiffle Ball.

If you plan to use the Pickle Ball as a replacement ball in your own wiffleball league, we’ve been advised that they’ll work better on a larger field. Using these balls on a smaller field may result in more home runs than usual.

We hope to try out these Pickle Balls this summer, and Tom has even offered to send us a couple to test. Once we try them out at The Sac, we’ll post a full review on majorleaguewiffleball.com. Thanks again to Rick for helping us out!

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