MARTY CORDOVA

There have been hundreds of players in Minnesota Twins history, and very few have had a better first two seasons than Marty Cordova.  When baseball reconvened in 1995, after the '94 strike, the Twins had some major holes in their lineup.  Kent Hrbek had retired.  Shane Mack and Dave Winfield were gone.  Cordova won the left field job in spring training and finished the season as the American League Rookie of the Year.  He followed his 24 home run, 20 stolen base debut with an even better year in 1996.  Although the homer and stolen base numbers dropped a bit, he set career highs with a .309 average, 111 runs batted in, 97 runs scored, 46 doubles and an .849 OPS.  Cordova was going to be the next Twins superstar.

Then back problems hit.  Cordova played three more seasons for the Twins, but spent significant time on the DL in each of them.  In the mid-'90s, my friends and I would often buy left field general admission tickets to see the Twins.  That meant sitting right behind Cordova.  My friend Laura loved to watch his cute butt.  Marty actually signed two of these cards for me -- I always send a copy of each for the player to keep, if they choose -- and I know who's getting this duplicate!