Name: Beth Miller
Hometown: Buffalo, Minnesota
Town I Currently Live In: St. Louis Park, Minnesota
Profession: Administrator
Bats: Neither
Throws: Like a girl
Positions: Scorekeeper. (In my brief career playing softball for my company team--about 25 games--they usually stuck me in right field. I had two games at catcher, and one game at 3B.)
Greatest Career Achievement in Baseball/Softball/T-ball: I got a hit once!
Hobbies: Sewing (quilts, crafts, and clothes), reading, writing, watching sports
What are you known for around the WGOM? Random appearances?
If you could have a nice, polite dinner with any 3 people - dead or alive - who and why? Ack! I hate these questions! I'm going to limit my answer to people alive, because I pretty much want to talk to anyone with historical significance, whether it be personal, scientific, political, or cultural. And I want to meet with Terry Ryan, Tom Kelly, and Jim Rantz, just to get their perspective on how the Twins organization is going.
If you could pick any 3 people - again, dead or alive - to go out and party (or if you're not the party type, go for martini's or whatever it is you do) who and why? There are so many people, I'm going to pick one group: I'd like to meet with some of the "stars" of baseball from the late 1800's. I'd like to show them what the game is like today, and have them explain differences from how the game was then. As the rules were evolving, I'd like to know how they decided to make the changes.
Sports Allegiances: Twins, Wild, Swarm
Favorite Books: Pride and Prejudice, Hitchhikers' Guide
Favorite Music: Generally pop, but my iPod holds a wide variety
Favorite Baseball Movie: 61* or For the Love of the Game
Favorite Non-baseball Movie: I don't watch a lot of movies, so of the limited ones I've seen, it depends on my mood.
Favorite Food & Drink: For simple pleasures, I really like a good hamburger. I don't drink alcohol. (Which means I watch all these games sober!)
Favorite TV Show(s): I never really watched TV, but I do enjoy The Simpsons.
Favorite Twins Player, historically: Tom Brunansky was my favorite player as a kid, but Kent Hrbek is the all-time favorite.
Favorite Twins Player, currently: Michael Cuddyer and Scott Baker
Best Twins Memory: Someone gave me good tickets to a Twins game for my 12th birthday, and Tom Brunansky hit a walk-off home run! That or Baker's near-perfect game.
Favorite Sport to Play: Tennis
Favorite Sport to Watch: Baseball
If I could live anywhere in the world, I'd live in: Somewhere near enough to attend lots of Twins games.
If I was commissioner for a day, I'd: I'd make Manny Ramirez cut his hair. It annoys me.
If I had Bill Smith's job I'd: I'd completely abuse my position to watch a lot of baseball from some really good seats. I'd like to go to Twins minor league games, but they're so far away (exception: Beloit). As for the work part of the job, I'd make sure all my assistants were giving me full reports from a scouting and statistical view.
Favorite Ballpark: Wrigley Field for the history, Kauffman Stadium for the ballpark
Favorite blogs: WGOM, Aaron Gleeman, Seth Speaks, the Strib/SPPP blogs
What is your take on Conan's discussion with old time baseball players? Absolutely hilarious. That's pretty much what someone with a time machine would look like if they went back in time (except the natives would probably not be so tolerant). I've seen the old-time baseball exhibition they do at the Dome every year, and while it's interesting, I'm really interested in knowing the thought process that went behind the changing of the rules. When did they decide that gloves were a good idea and allowed them (which would change the "catch on one bounce" rule), why did they decide on four balls for a walk, etc.
Why is your Buffalo better than FTLF's Buffalo, NY? I list it as my hometown! My parents property is oddly located with ties to four cities; the address is Buffalo and that's where I went to high school, so I usually go with that.
What kind of writing do you enjoy the most? Honestly, most of my writing these days are just e-mail messages to friends, blog entries, and stuff like that. I don't have the attention span to write anything longer.
Who do you credit with creating your interest in baseball? My parents. My mom loves the Twins because her father loved baseball, and listened to all the Twins games on the radio (he died in 1990), and before that followed the Minneapolis Millers. My dad loves all sports (his mother was a huge football fan; his dad didn't care about sports).
Map time!



Recent Letters to the Editor
In Response to Cup of Coffee: March 18, 2010,
SBG wrote: You should have overridden the computer because I'd think that UNC would be a safe bet. After all, they won it last year.
UncleWalt wrote: I was surprised by how many brackets have Kansas as the champ in the Basket and Ball Guys league. I annually pick the Tar Heels to go all the way, but the stupid yahoo computer…
AMR wrote: I'm Cheering for Murray St. over Vanderbilt for the Sonic Youth … On Tin!" I can't remember what I put into my WGOM Bracket, I did two brackets at work after putting in my annual one…
spookymilk wrote: I've seen a handful of brackets blow up in the opening days, but yeah, I don't remember the first slate of games killing anyone. That would've given you a dubious … few years ago…
nibbish wrote: Well, obviously, but even the idea of a Jeter/Yankee fan controversy would be too good to pass up comment on, even if I have as good a chance of ending up on the Royals as…
DK wrote: I know we're all thinking about baseball and basketball right now, but how about this guy Clint Dempsey?
UncleWalt wrote: That would've crippled a lot of us, particularly Walt. I saw that. I was wondering if three hours would have been some sort of record for the time from start of bracket to blowing it up.
brianS wrote: Cal Bear suspended for tournament. For...wait for it..."running Amoke".
SBG wrote: By the way, prior to this season there have been 25 tournaments with the 64 or 65 team arrangement. No 16 seed has ever beaten a #1, but 4 #15s have won, 15 #14s…
SBG wrote: I have 'Nova going to the Elite Eight. Heh.
In Response to Nightmares at WGOMville,
Rhubarb_Runner wrote: 44And he preached in away games, wearing a Twins uniform. I can see that line being used throughout the season's game logs, too.
Andrew wrote: This is definitely going into my Catcher-cisms collection.
DK wrote: I'm saying those two scenarios make no difference to me. Trading for one more bad player doesn't suddenly make Billy a success, to me, just because he had set himself up so badly before…
Milt on Tilt wrote: The Twins had a problem and Bill Smith addressed it. I don't know what else you wanted him to do. Obviously we would have been in a much better situation had he got O-Dog one…
brianS wrote: trading for Cabrera was genius for no other reason than New Guy's Orlando Ballgame schtick.
brianS wrote: Amen.
DK wrote: Cabrera was not good, objectively, before we got him, and he wasn't good after we got him. Therefore the only reason Billy Smith gets a "victory" for getting him was because he previously failed…
Beau wrote: And Joe being full of the Holy Ghost returned from New York, and was led by the Spirit into St. Paul, 2Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat…
spookymilk wrote: Oh, well done, … read this passage to Mauer, stat!
Milt on Tilt wrote: I guess that's where our disagreement arises. I'm comparing him to the next available option rather than the league average or something. He was a +0.4 WAR (whoopdy-do) but the Twins replacement level was below…
In Response to Cup of Coffee: March 17, 2010,
brianS wrote: I dunno. But we're not really talking about a legal argument so much as an ethical one, I think.
Moss wrote: The old "you can't have your coke and snort it too" … can't get a conviction on a … test...and is possession of any amount of coke a felony??
hungry joe wrote: tell me about it...
brianS wrote: It is hard to consume if you do not possess.
Jeff A wrote: The people we tried to give a break to came forward and sought help, too--after they got caught. They also didn't try to deny or place blame somewhere else--that's partly why we were inclined…