The Twins talked ticket sales, spring training prospects and season swag at their media luncheon Friday.
For the first time ever, no Twins were named to the team’s Hall of Fame this year. The Twin Hall of Fame started in 2000, and candidates need to get 60 percent of the votes from local media members to qualify.
Twins announce that no one was voted into the Twins Hall of Fame this year. Dan Gladden, Cesar Tovar and Mudcat Grant received most votes.
— LaVelle E. Neal III (@LaVelleNeal) January 23, 2015
“I’m disappointed that no individual from either the player ballot or the non-player ballot received the necessary votes to receive induction,” Twins President Dave St. Peter told attendees at the luncheon, according to MLB.com.
Last year Chuck Knoblauch earned enough votes to get into the Twins Hall of Fame, but his induction was canceled after he was arrested for assaulting his ex-wife.
Prospects
FOX Sports reports Twins General Manager Terry Ryan says it would be “a stretch” for Byron Buxton and Miguel Sano to land on the roster out of training camp, but he thinks they could debut later in the 2015 season.
Sano was out all last season due to elbow surgery, and Buxton had his share of injuries.
“That would be a realistic point of view from my vantage point. They’re both very talented. If they have the types of years that you would hope with their type of skill set, there’s no reason not to say, ‘Oh, they have a chance.’ They do,” Ryan said according to FOX Sports.
Spring training center and goodies
In the next week, a $48.5 million revamp to the CenturyLink Sports Complex in Fort Myers, Fla., will wrap up. St. Peter says 70,000 spring training tickets have been sold so far and about 1.2 million regular-season tickets are sold, FOX Sports reports.
Opening Day tickets went on sale on Friday for the April 13 game, and regular-season tickets sales start Feb. 21.
Swag to watch out for this season: Twin hoodie sweatshirts for an opening day giveaway, and bobblehead days featuring Brian Dozier, Phil Hughes and Paul Molitor.
Also in store could be an outdoor Wild game at Target Field. No final decision yet, since TCF Bank Stadium is also in the running.
Twins Fest is underway through Sunday.
