Hartman: All-Star MVP was a career thrill for Steinbach

Twins bench coach and catching instructor Terry Steinbach is the lone Minnesotan to win the All-Star Game MVP award.

Steinbach said that while his biggest accomplishment in baseball was winning a World Series in 1989 with the Oakland Athletics, being named the 1988 All-Star Game MVP isn't far behind. The 2014 game is at Target Field on Tuesday night.

"Well, it was obviously very important," said Steinbach, a New Ulm native who was an assistant coach for Wayzata High School for five years after retiring. "I think winning the World Series is really a team effort and that takes the whole year to accomplish that. The All-Star Game is really a one-night special moment, very, very exciting, a lot of fun and a lot of great players getting thrown together. It was very memorable personally for me to get MVP of that. But I think winning the World Series is most important."

Steinbach won the MVP by helping the American League to a 2-1 victory at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. The biggest moment came when Steinbach homered off National League starter Dwight Gooden in the third inning. He also drove in the AL's other run with a fourth-inning sacrifice fly. He is the only person to have hit a home run in both his first at-bat in the major leagues and first at-bat in an All-Star Game.

Steinbach was in the AL starting lineup with fellow Minnesotans Dave Winfield and Paul Molitor in 1988, but he said he played with many big stars in three All-Star appearances (1988, '89 and '93).

"We had [Kirby] Puckett and Frankie Viola was throwing, Randy Johnson was on some of those teams, Roger Clemens, Nolan Ryan, the list goes on and on," he said. "It was an honor for me to be in the locker room with those guys, and it was really fun once the game started and you're part of those All-Stars."

Steinbach went 3-for-6 with one double, one home run and three RBI in those three All-Star Games.

He said players in that era were more inclined to leave quickly following their appearance in the game. He thinks camaraderie is higher now.

"When I played in the games, a lot of guys would play their three or four innings and they had a cab waiting as soon as the game was over. They showered, cabbed, airplane, gone," he said. "You never really got to see anybody after the game. But now from what people told me, the importance of the All-Star Game [with the winning team getting home-field advantage in the World Series], most of the players stick around to see the finale of the game.

"I think it's different and better [now]," he added. "I think there's a lot more stuff that the players do, a lot more stuff for the fans. From the home run hitting contest, the Legends game, the Futures game, then the actual All-Star Game itself, I think it gives the fans a lot of variety and a lot of stuff to see."

Steinbach was asked if he felt like a hero following his great All-Star Game performance.

"Well, define hero?" he asked. "It was good to go to New Ulm because the people thought it was pretty cool that a local guy not only made it to the All-Star Game but was MVP."

Gardenhire selected

I found Ron Gardenhire really excited last week after getting a phone call from American League All-Star manager John Farrell of the Red Sox, inviting the Twins manager to be a coach in the All-Star Game.

"It's home, our ballpark, being part of it is really special for our fans, this whole area," Gardenhire said. "I'm looking forward to being on the bench there and watching the ballgame."

He said he has been an All-Star coach three times. He also allowed former Twins coach Wayne Terwilliger to substitute for him on another occasion.

"It's a lot of fun, and fun to be around these guys," Gardenhire said.

Jottings

• Glen Perkins is having a great year as a closer with 22 saves and a 2.97 ERA for the Twins. The team is fortunate to have signed the former Gophers hurler to a four-year extension in March that calls for $4.025 million this year, $4.65 million in 2015, $6.3 million in 2016 and $6.5 million in 2017. Perkins no doubt would have received more money had he gone into free agency.

• Center fielder Aaron Hicks is hitting .288 at Class AA New Britain. He has hit .343 with three doubles, three RBI and five runs scored over his past 10 games.

• NCAA rules prevent Gophers football coach Jerry Kill from mentioning the names of any players who have been offered scholarships after attending this summer's football camps. Kill did say several showed the ability to play Big Ten football and have been offered for the 2015-2016 season.

• Phil Jackson hired former Timberwolves coach Kurt Rambis for the Lakers after Rambis lost his job here. Now that Jackson is president of Knicks basketball, Jackson has named Rambis associate head coach with head coach Derek Fisher. Rambis won four NBA championships as a player with the Lakers.

• Former Wolves player and vice president Fred Hoiberg will be in Rochester at the Mayo Clinic on Tuesday to have his pacemaker replaced because of low batteries. Hoiberg had open heart surgery in 2005, which ended his playing career, and knew the replacement was eventually coming. Hoiberg is now head basketball coach at Iowa State. "It's not a big surgery," Hoiberg told the Des Moines Register. "It's very routine for people with pacemakers."

• Former Bloomington Jefferson and Kansas center Cole Aldrich, who finished the NBA season strong with the Knicks, has a good chance of being a top contributor for the team next year. Aldrich had nine points and 15 rebounds in 31 minutes in his first game with the Knicks' summer league team in Las Vegas. … Several players with Minnesota ties playing in the NBA summer league. Former Gopher Trevor Mbakwe has averaged 6.5 points and six rebounds through two games with the Lakers, and he might have a real shot at making the roster because L.A. has become so thin upfront with the departure of Pau Gasol to the Bulls. … Former Roseville standout and Bucknell graduate Mike Muscala is averaging 13 points and 10 rebounds through two games with the Atlanta Hawks. … Former Hopkins standout Trent Lockett is averaging 13.7 points and 4.3 rebounds with the D-League Select team.

• The Gophers basketball program has offered a 2017 class scholarship to Gary Trent Jr. of Apple Valley. His father Gary Trent, who is one of the Apple Valley coaches, played with the Trail Blazers, Raptors and Timberwolves in a 10-year NBA career.

Sid Hartman can be heard weekdays on 830-AM at 7:40, 8:40 and 9:20 a.m. and on Sundays at 9:30 a.m. shartman@startribune.com