The Twins announced Gophers baseball coach John Anderson will get the Herb Carneal Lifetime Achievement Award during the team's Diamond Awards banquet.
Anderson has been head coach of the Gophers since 1981, has won Big Ten coach of the year eight times and has a career record of 1,317-887-3. He has 11 Big Ten titles and 19 NCAA appearances.
Joe Kreger of Green Isle will get the team's Terry Ryan Play Ball! Minnesota Award. Kreger played, managed and umpired youth and amateur baseball from 1966-2014 after graduating from Arlington-Green Isle High School.
The Diamond Awards banquet begins at 5:30 p.m. on Jan. 23 at the Depot.
Twins and Upper Midwest award winners are honored that night. The team awards, which came after voting from the Twin Cities chapter of the BWAA, were announced in October.
Nelson Cruz was chosen the Twins most valuable player for 2019, and also won the team’s Bob Allison Award for leadership. Taylor Rogers won the team’s top pitcher award, and Luis Arraez was named the rookie of the year. Catcher Mitch Garver was named most improved, center fielder Byron Buxton was chosen defensive player of the year, and pitcher Kyle Gibson won the media’s Good Guy Award.
The Upper Midwest player of the year is Nick Anderson, who was born in Crosby and grew up in Brainerd.
Former Twin Justin Morneau will get the Kirby Puckett Award that day for Twins alumni community service, and the team’s minor league players of the year — outfielder Trevor Larnach and pitcher Randy Dobnak — also will be recognized.
Star Tribune photo of Paul Molitor and John Anderson by Jeff Wheeler, 2015
Sign up for our Twins newsletter to get all of the updates sent to you daily.
La Velle E. Neal III has covered baseball for the Star Tribune since 1998 (the post-Knoblauch era). Born and raised in Chicago, he grew up following the White Sox and hating the Cubs. He attended both the University of Illinois and Illinois-Chicago and began his baseball writing career at the Kansas City Star. He can be heard occasionally on KFAN radio, lending his great baseball mind to Paul Allen and other hosts.
Phil Miller covered three seasons of Twins baseball, but that was at a different ballpark for a different newspaper. Now Miller returns to the baseball beat after joining the Star Tribune as the Gopher football writer in 2010, and he won't miss the dingy dome for a minute. In addition to the Twins and Gophers, Miller covered the Utah Jazz and the NBA for six years at The Salt Lake Tribune.
Former Twins reliever May set to sign with New York Mets
Maeda finishes second to Cleveland's Bieber for Cy Young Award
Preposterous Game 4 finish makes a winner of ex-Twin John Curtiss
Graterol lives up to Twins' World Series dreams -- for the Dodgers
