Speaking of Jack Steal, this Friday's installment of our Twins Bloggers: Get to Know 'Em series will be focusing on him! Jack started his website around the beginning of the '09 season and it has been going strong ever since. He always provides great game recaps during the season and has good insight and analysis on all aspects of the Twins team in his posts. You can find him at Fanatic Jack Talks Twins. Without further ado, let's give the floor to Jack:
Personal-
NAME: Jack Steal
BIRTHDAY: June 11, 1971
HOMETOWN: Born in St. Paul, MN and reside in the NW suburbs.
FAVORITE COLOR: Blue
FAVORITE FOOD: Lasagna
FAVORITE MOVIE: A Few Good Men, Pride of the Yankees, The Natural
FAVORITE BOOK: Profiles in Courage, Tale of Two Cities
FAVORITE TYPE OF MUSIC: Rock and Country. I like them both a lot.
FAVORITE SPORT TO WATCH OTHER THAN BASEBALL: Football and hockey.
FAVORITE SPORT TO PLAY: Baseball as a kid, now softball.
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE VIKINGS/WILD/TIMBERWOLVES: I love the Vikings and was devastated when they lost to Atlanta in 1999. I am just starting to get into the Wild now. I was a huge hockey fan and when the North Stars moved to Dallas a part of me died inside. I like the Timberwolves and support them but am not really a big basketball fan. Too many THUGS!!
Baseball Generic-
WHAT MAKES BASEBALL SO GREAT TO YOU: It is America's past time!! It is a beautiful game, the bases are 90 feet, the pitcher's mound is 60 feet 3 inches, and it is the only sport that does not have a time clock. The games finish when they finish.
IF YOU HAD TO FOLLOW ANOTHER TEAM, WHICH AND WHY: My second favorite team is the Boston Red Sox. I of course was a Red Sox fan when it was not popular and they were getting their brains beat in by the Yankees every year. It is losing its luster now because they have such a high payroll. After going to St. Louis this year, I have become intrigued by the Cardinals.
BEST EXPERIENCE AT A BALLPARK OTHER THAN THE DOME: This year in St. Louis when we went to see the Twins play there. The best fans in the country!!! They were great to me even though I wore Twins stuff and rooted for them. Very affable.
OPINION ON INTERLEAGUE PLAY: I like it, how else could the Twins play Milwaukee and other teams we would never see.
OPINION ON UNBALANCED SCHEDULE: It should be more balanced and the Twins should play more games against the East and West division teams.
FAVORITE NON-TWINS PLAYER IN HISTORY: Growing up, my favorite players were Mike Schmidt, Darryl Strawberry, and Don Mattingly.
FAVORITE HATED NON-TWINS PLAYER IN BASEBALL HISTORY: Jim Thome. (Glad he is back in the N.L.)
DID YOU EVER PLAY BASEBALL/SOFTBALL, WHAT POSITION: I played through my Sophomore year in H.S. I still play softball 6 months of the year. I pitched and played mostly outfield.
Twins Generic-
WHEN DID YOU BECOME A TWINS FAN AND WHY: Growing up in Minnesota they were the home team. I really appreciated them when it looked like Pohlad was going to move the team back in 1997. It has turned into an obsession.
BEST EXPERIENCE AT THE DOME: October 6, 2009. The tie-breaker with Detroit.
EVER BEEN TO TWINS FEST: I have went the last three years in a row and it's awesome. I can hardly wait for it to come every winter.
EVER BEEN TO SPRING TRAINING: No, but some day.
HAVE YOU EVER BEEN CIRCLED BY BERT: No, and I don't want to either.
HAVE YOU EVER CAUGHT A FOUL BALL OR HOME RUN AT THE DOME: No, but I would give the ball to my kid or another if it happened.
Twins Specific-
FAVORITE TWINS PLAYER IN HISTORY: Kirby Puckett, but Joe Mauer is climbing the charts.
FAVORITE CURRENT TWINS PLAYER: Joe Mauer.
FAVORITE OBSCURE TWINS PLAYER: Greg Gagne or Randy Bush.
TWINS PLAYERS I DISLIKE: Ron Davis and Jesse Crain.
FAVORITE EXPERIENCE MEETING A PLAYER: Shannon Stewart a couple years ago in left field before the game. Nice guy. Bert Blyleven seems nice as well.
CURRENT PLAYER YOU THINK SHOULD BE A MOVIE STAR: Joe Mauer or Justin Morneau.
EXPECTATIONS OF TARGET FIELD: It should be nice if they did not cut any corners. It will be cold and we might struggle in April and May until the players get used to playing outside. The scenery around outside needs to improve. Get rid of the garbage burner behind it.
EXPECTATIONS FOR THE TEAM NEXT YEAR: It will depend on the Pohlad family to spend money and Bill Smith to make some good moves to improve the team. We could be real good but only if Mauer/Morneau/Kubel/Cuddyer have a supporting cast around them.
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Thanks so much to Jack for answering my questions! If you haven't checked out the previous surveys of Katie from KC's Baseball Blog, or Seth Stohs, definitely go back and read those. Make sure to stop by next Wednesday night when I join Jack for another podcast talking more Twins baseball, and be sure to check out the next installment of Twins Bloggers: Get to Know 'Em when Betsy from For the Love of the Game takes the hotseat!
Have a great weekend!
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