Maybe it’ll be at the autograph booths, or at the radio booth, or maybe just walking around. But with all the past, present and future Twins at this thing, you’re going to run across some guy that you’ve never heard of. Here’s a cheat sheet for those of us who aren’t in the Twins front office or SABR historians.

Rick Anderson – The Twins pitching coach, but he also played in the majors, and was part of a trade package the Mets gave up when they acquired David Cone.
Justin Arneson – 24-year-old outfielder who hit .232 in High A last year. Not great, but not bad for a Fergus Falls native that signed after an open tryout camp.
Scott Baker – Starting pitcher had a 3.37 ERA in his rookie year with the Twins, but a 6.37 ERA last year. Of course, he’s still just 25 years old.
Ricky Barrett – Promising LH reliever who had 49 K in 47.1 IP, without giving up a home run last year. The 25-year-old needs to improve his control (26 BB).
Jason Bartlett – Back when he was a utility player in A ball, Bartlett was acquired for Buck Buchanan. I blasted that trade. I’m an idiot.
Juan Berenguer – “El Gasalino” helped the Twins win World Series in 1987. He almost played against them in 1991 but was traded by the Braves in July.
Bert Blyleven – Retired in 3rd place on all-time strikeout list. He proves that 52.3% of all baseball writers are idiots.
Boof Bonser – His success was no fluke. In 2005 he lead AAA International League in strikeouts. Yes, “Boof” is his legal name – he changed it. From John.
Rod Carew – Hit .334 with the Twins. For his career. Fell eight hits shy of hitting .400 in 1977 when he won the American League MVP.
Alexi Casilla – The 22-year-old is who the Twins received for JC Romero. He went from High A all the way to the majors last year. Look for him in 2008.
John Castino – 1979 Rookie of the Year by a tie, strangely enough. Career was cut short by chronic back pain after six seasons with the Twins.
Randy Choate – LH reliever that was signed during the offseason. He’s played the last few years with the D’Backs, splitting time between AAA and the majors.
Jeff Cirillo – 13-year veteran the Twins signed during the offseason. Will backup first base and designated hitter, and may platoon with Nick Punto some at third.
Ron Coomer – One of the better players during some lean years for the Twins, the third baseman signed with the Cubs after the 2000 season.
Jesse Crain – Struggled early, but finished the year with a 3.52 ERA and a considerably better strikeout rate (61K/76IP). He’ll be better than you think this year.
Michael Cuddyer – The breakout season everyone anticipated in 2002 happened last year. The rightfielder handled the cleanup role better than anyone in years.
Mark Dolenc – A 22-year-old Mankato State alum who the Twins drafted last year in the 15th round. The outfielder struggled in his 1st season in rookie league.
Korey Feiner – 25-year-old catcher and Wisconsin native who played in High A last year. He’s invited to spring training this year despite hitting .219 last year.
Lew Ford – Likely backup outfielder whose statistics have declined since his impressive debut in 2004. He’s recovering from offseason surgery on his knee.
Ron Gardenhire – If the Twins win 70 games this year, Gardy will pass Sam Mele for second place all-time in Wins as manager of the Twins.
Toby Gardenhire – The 23-year-old shortstop hit .198 in Low A ball last year. Gardy’s son.
Matt Garza – This time last year, he was the recently drafted first round pitcher. The 23-year-old raced from A-ball to the majors, but may start 2007 in AAA.
Dan Gladden – Gladden makes me wonder if on-base percentage might be overrated for leadoff hitters. He spent five years with the Twins and contributed to two World Championships, but his career on-base percentage was just .324.
Dave Goltz – A very good starting pitcher on some lean Twins teams. Goltz won 20 games in 1977, and had an ERA of 3.48 in his Twins career.
Matt Guerrier – Pronounced Guh-rare. He’s the Twins long reliever for the last few seasons who was picked up off of waivers from the Pirates.
Ken Harvey – Signed in the offseason to a minor league deal. The 28-year-old right-handed first baseman was the Royals 2004 representative to the all-star team.
Chris Heintz – Rochester’s 32-year-old catcher who occasionally is promoted when Gardy gets worked up about batting Joe Mauer as designated hitter.
Kent Hrbek – People remember Herbie as a slugger, but he only finished in the top five in home runs in one season. A great all-around hitter, not just a slugger.
Torii Hunter – Some complain about what Hunter isn’t, but he consistently provides a .270 BA, 25+ HR, 90 RBI and great defense in center field. Not bad.
Garrett Jones – 25-year-old first baseman who has hit 46 home runs in Rochester over the last two years. With 230 strikeouts.
Tom Kelly – Managed the Twins for 16 years and recorded 1140 wins. Has twice as many more wins than any other Twins manager.
Harmon Killebrew – The slugger by which all other sluggers should be measured. Killer led the league in home runs six times. There’s no other Twins within 200 home runs of him. He was a force of nature. I idolized Oliva, grew up with Carew and loved Kirby. But Killebrew is the best Twin ever.
Jason Kubel – Prior to his knee injury he was going to be the third big bat with Mauer and Justin Morneau. Hopefully his destiny was just delayed, not derailed.
Gene Larkin – For his career, he had 268 walks and only 278 strikeouts. In Game 7, the Twins couldn’t have asked for a better, more disciplined hitter, to be up.
Tim Laudner – Defensive catcher who played for the Twins from 1982-1989. Was named to the all-star team in 1988.
Scott Leius – His rookie year was 1991, where he split time at 3B with Mike Pagliarulo. In 1994, he finished second to Wade Boggs in Gold Glove voting.
Steve Lombardozzi – Played 2B for the Twins in mid-80s. In the 1991 World Series, he led all Twins with a .412 batting average. Ask him about his son.
Joe Mauer – Sorry, I have no idea who this guy is.
Justin Morneau – Him neither.
Matt Moses – 1st round draft pick in 2003. The third baseman had just a 689 OPS in AA last year, but he’s also just 21. His glove work needs help.
Joe Nathan – Already is second all-time in Saves for the Twins, though he needs 131 more to pass Rick Aguilera. The 32-year-old closer is signed through 2008.
Pat Neshek – Three years ago, I would’ve mocked the Twins for inviting this native Minnesotan (and 45th round pick) to Twins Fest. Last year the side-arming reliever struck out 140 in 97 innings between AAA and the majors. Again, I’m an idiot.
Tony Oliva – We’re excited for Mauer, but Tony O won batting titles in both of his first two seasons. So try and step it up Joe, willya?
Greg Olson – Proof that the Twins don’t hold any grudges. Olson was the Braves catcher during the 1991 World Series. He’s also a U of M alum.
Glen Perkins – Speaking of U of M grads, the LH starting pitcher began the season in AA and found himself in the majors in September.
Trevor Plouffe – 2004 #1 pick who started at shortstop but has played 3B recently. He’s struggled both seasons so far, but he just 20 years old.
Sidney Ponson – Top-of-the-rotation starting pitcher whose career was derailed by weight, alcohol and legal problems. He’s just 30 and on a minor league deal.
Nick Punto – Was Punto’s 2006 a breakthrough or a fluke? We’ll find out, but the Twins hedged their bets when they signed Cirillo this offseason.
Frank Quilici – Played infield for the Twins from 1965-1970. Then he managed them from 1972-1975, starting as a 33-year-old. Gawd, I miss old time baseball.
Tom Quinlan – You may recognize the name as being a St. Paul family. Quinlan played 3B for four years in the majors, one with the Twins, where he had 6 AB.
Brian Raabe – New Ulm native and U of M alum who played infield for the Twins from 95-97. He had a total of 29 major league at-bats.
Brad Radke – Retired this year in 3rd place on the Twins career wins list, one behind Bert Blyleven. He and Bert can commiserate about lack of run support.
Mike Redmond – Backup catcher who apparently takes naked batting practice. Try and picture THAT as you’re asking him for his autograph.
Juan Rincon – You can only worry so much about a guy whose ERA was 2.91, but he struggled towards the end of last year, and gave up more hits than innings.
Johan Santana – Can we anoint a guy with only three full years as a starter as the best Twins pitcher ever yet? Maybe not, be I’ll listen to arguments.
David Shinskie – A 22-year-old relief pitcher whose strikeout rate doesn’t scream “prospect”, but he had a 2.13 ERA in Beloit.
Carlos Silva – Last year’s struggles might make you forget just how good he was in 2005. I’ll help: 188.1 IP, 9 BB, 3.44 ERA. Probably worth a gamble.
Errol Simonitsch – 24-year-old southpaw starter who hasn’t mastered AA after one-and-a-half years there. Still, he was added to the 40-man roster.
Kevin Slowey – In many organizations, he’d be a dark horse candidate for the starting rotation. Nearly matched Garza stat for stat in the minors. He’s a good’un.
Roy Smalley – You have to love – and I mean absolutely LOVE – that the shortstop that suffered with the Twins through the late 70s came back in time for 1987.
Denard Span – 1st round pick who showed promise as a Kenny-Lofton-type CF, but stalled at AA last year. 2007 is a very big year for this 22-year-old.
Terry Steinbach – U of M catcher has a ring, was a three time all-star, finished his career with his hometown team, and even got a single vote for MVP in 1996.
Kevin Tapani –You don’t need an insane strikeout rate to have a major league career. Tapani didn’t, and he pitched 13 years and was paid $34 million. Nice job.
Eli Tintor – 22-year-old catcher with a 749 OPS (.285 BA) in High A. Plus, he’s from Hibbing and was born on XMas eve. You can’t help but root for him.
Matt Tolbert – 24-year-old shortstop who had decent numbers at High A and AA-New Britain last year. It’ll be interesting to see what a full year at AA produces.
Jason Tyner – I don’t know which was a bigger surprise last year – that he hit .312 or that he only stole 4 bases. Needs to get on base vs. RH to take the next step.
Joe Vavra – Twins pitching coach last year. He “never played the game”. And yet the Twins still hit better. Whoulda thunk it.
David Winfree – Probably the Twins best hope at third base for the future. Hit well in AA after taking some time off for personal reasons. He’ll be 21 this year and likely facing AA pitching. Good luck kid – we’ll be watching you.

Twins Geek is the editor and part-owner of GameDay, the independent baseball program sold outside of Twins games. The Twins, in the spirit of baseball, have let them into the Metrodome for this weekend. You'll be able to get a free copy of the program from the 2006 playoffs, including a Splinters with the above cheat sheet and an autograph card. Hope to see you there.