Twins Superstars

As you may or may not know from the 1991 Twins team post, we've got a fan of the Twins working at the site. Thus, it was a no brainer to make perhaps the two most iconic Twins best players in the past three decades in Joe Mauer and Kirby Puckett for our set. We figured we'd release the original cards before they both get the pinstripe treatment next week. And then what the heck, why not add in former MVP Justin Morneau while we're at it?? Enjoy!

Joe Mauer's card is based on his 2009 MVP season. He led the league in OBP and won a Gold Glove while crushing the ball enough to earn the 19-20 HR range. Sadly, Mauer hasn't been able to replicate this success, but we'll always have perhaps the best catcher card in Showdown (calling you out 01 Pennant Run Pudge!).

Kirby Puckett's best season was 1988, where he finished 3rd in the MVP voting and won a Gold Glove, with a high enough OB to earn a 10 (he was more often an OB 8-9 type of hitter). While his HR numbers were average, he hit over 40 doubles while leading the majors in hits.

Combined, these two Twins legends are a stellar 2-3 punch for any batting order, with the next hitter providing the classic #4 cleanup potential: Justin Morneau!

Despite winning the AL MVP in 2006, the Morneau's best Showdown season was 2010. Sadly, this is one of the ultimate "what if" cards in the game, as Morneau's year ended with an infamous concussion on July 7th. Morneau had an OBP of 437 while being on pace for (about) 35 home runs and 50 doubles when he went down with an injury. Frankly, I think those numbers would've put him ahead of MVP winner Josh Hamilton and Morneau would've claimed his second MVP, with perhaps more to come. Truly one of the biggest baseball injury tragedies of this century, team this peak Morneau card up with Mauer and Puckett (with Bob's amazing Harmon Killebrew card in his Throwback post from a few weeks ago) for the ultimate Minnesota lineup!