The Baseball Writers Association of America granted a chapter to the Twin Cities to coincide with the arrival of the Twins for the 1961 season. There was only one award publicized at season's end, and that went to Harmon Killebrew as the team MVP.
A year later, the chapter went into a plaque-awarding frenzy, adding a Twins' Pitcher of the Year, Outstanding Rookie, Most Improved Player and an Upper Midwest Player of the Year.
The Pitcher of the Year award bears the name of Joe Haynes, former big-leaguer, husband of Thelma Haynes, owner Calvin Griffith's sister and partner. Joe died in 1967 from a heart attack that struck while he was shoveling snow at his Hopkins home.
The competition for the Haynes award at the end of some seasons has been phenomenal, such as 1988, when Frank Viola went 24-7 and beat out Allan Anderson, the league ERA champion at 2.45, and closer Jeff Reardon with 42 saves.
That was the third Haynes Award for Viola, although outdone in '88 with his winning the Cy Young Award.
As this flop of a Twins season winds down, the Twin Cities chapter has voted on our awards, with the results yet to be revealed.
Thus, it was merely the presumed Twins 2021 Pitcher of the Year taking the mound on Friday night at Target Field. And, strangely, he would not be out there until the bottom of the first.
Jose Berrios moved permanently into the Twins' rotation on May 13, 2017, and made his last start on July 24, 2021, also at Target Field. In those four seasons and almost two months, he made 157 starts without missing a turn.