Minnesota pro athletes, come and gone

Ever have one of those days when you look up something about a particular sport or player, then you see someone else's name or statistical line and think, "Wait, who? Wait, what happened?"

It's amazing how much information gets blurred or forgotten -- even in a short period of time. We took a swing through just the past five years to find some of those "Really?" moments from the major local pro sports scene.

• 2004: Lew Ford led the Twins in plate appearances, runs scored and hits. He was also one of four Twins players to receive votes in the MVP race (Johan Santana, Joe Nathan and Torii Hunter were the others). ... Meanwhile, Randy Moss had his worst season-to-date (49 catches, 767 yards) in the same year Daunte Culpepper had his amazing season at QB (4,711 yards passing, 39 TDs, 11 INTs).

• 2005: Do you remember Randy Robitaille? Do you recall that he not only played most of a full season for the Wild, but he also finished tied for fourth on the team with 40 points in 2005-06? This apparently really happened.

• 2006: Here is your roster for the 2006-07 Timberwolves -- Kevin Garnett, Ricky Davis, Mark Blount, Randy Foye, Mike James, Craig Smith, Trenton Hassell, Marko Jaric, Troy Hudson, Rashad McCants, Justin Reed, Bracey Wright, Mark Madsen and Eddie Griffin. If you forgot any (or most?) of them, there's a reason: they have all since been dispatched from the team (though Blount is technically back on the Wolves now after a recent trade, he is likely to be let go again).

• 2007: Here is a smattering of names of players who saw significant playing time for the Vikings, Twins, Wild or Timberwolves two years ago: Robert Ferguson (WR, Vikings), Jeff Cirillo (IF/DH, Twins), Ramon Ortiz (P, Twins), Kirk Snyder (G, Timberwolves), Aaron Voros (C, Wild).

• 2008: Do you remember that from June 20 until the end of last season, the Twins were never more than three games out or one game up in the AL Central division race?

• Have any good "that guy" or "that season" suggestions? Send them our way at mrand@startribune.com