John's Journal: A Thousand Wins, A Million Baseball Memories

Paul Twenge doesn’t leave much to chance during a high school baseball game. The coach at Minnetonka, who in April recorded his 1,000^th career victory, arrives at each game with a stack of five clipboards, pens and sharpened pencils at the ready.

One clipboard tracks pitch counts. On another, Twenge writes down notes from the game. There’s a clipboard that is used to track how many pitches are thrown by relievers getting loose in the bullpen and one for keeping count of balls and strikes.

The fifth clipboard is pure baseball genius. It’s used to track pitches for each Skippers at-bat, and the information is translated into a confidence-building exercise.

“That chart doesn’t tell him what pitch he hit, but it shows him his batting average if he hits the first pitch, the second pitch, the third pitch and so on,” Twenge said. “It may show him he’s hitting .357 on the fourth pitch, which makes it his goal to get to the fourth pitch.”

Twenge, 71, is a true baseball lifer. He grew up in the small town of Hatton, North Dakota, playing football, basketball and baseball in high school and football and baseball at Mayville State. His baseball coaching career began with a high school job in St. Thomas, N.D., a stint as graduate assistant coach at South Dakota State, six years as head coach at Anoka-Ramsey Junior College, then 19 years as an NCAA Division I head coach at Valparaiso University in Indiana before coming to Minnetonka in 2006.

Ask him about winning 1,000 games and he’ll likely respond with a statement about losing 600-some games, too. And he will smile.

The smile comes easily when Twenge tells baseball stories. As he talked during a bus ride to a Friday night game at Waconia under cold conditions, he remembered two games in the worst weather of his career, both when he was at Valparaiso.

After playing a frigid doubleheader at Wisconsin-Milwaukee, “We didn’t shake hands because everybody was running to the bus or their car.” And there was a night game at Bradley in Peoria, Illinois, when Bradley’s defense had a terrible time getting outs and the game went on seemingly forever.

“It was 36 degrees when we started,” Twenge said. “By the time the game was over there were 11 people in the stands and the temperature was 18 degrees. You’d get in the bus, hit the heat and fall asleep.”

One of Twenge’s lifelong friends is Dave Lee, who spent 32 years at WCCO radio in Minneapolis, the last 29 as host of the morning show before retiring in 2021. Lee is a member of the Minnesota Broadcast Hall of fame, was named by the National Association of Broadcasters as Minnesota’s sportscaster of the year six times and continues to handle play-by-play duties on KSTC-TV for the MSHSL girls and boys state basketball tournaments.

Twenge and Lee were among 28 members of the Hatton High School graduating class of 1972. They remain close.

One of Twenge’s earliest baseball memories is Lee knocking on the door of the Twenge home and asking if Paul, then five or six years old, wanted to play catch.

“When you’re a friend of his, you’re a friend for life,” said Lee, whose decades-long nickname for Twenge has been “Deacon” because Paul was a fan of NFL Hall of Famer Deacon Jones, who played in the 1960s and 1970s.

“He carried (Jones’) football card with him all the time,” Lee said.

Twenge and Lee played on state championship baseball teams in high school, and Twenge’s devotion to athletics is no surprise to his buddy.

“Even as a kid, that was his passion,” Lee said. “He was the hardest worker on every team I played on. He was always early and he always stayed late. You could tell he would take himself to the next level just by his work ethic.

“He was fun to hang out with and he was just so honest about everything. To this day he could never really tell an untruth. Morally, he’s the kind of friend you needed. Just a solid, solid friend.”

Twenge and his wife Dawn have three grown children and he has accumulated a stadium full of friends over the years. During his years coaching at Valparaiso, he became very close with Bob Thorgren, a local businessman in Valparaiso, Indiana, and a university booster. Thorgren was 59 when he died in 2012, and Twenge quietly salutes him when he’s in uniform.

“Bob” is written on the back of the coach’s shoes, and Thorgren’s name is also written under the brim of Twenge’s hat.

“He was a lifetime Valpo person and he knew everybody,” Twenge said. “He was a super good guy. I miss Bob.”

Minnetonka has a strong baseball tradition. The Skippers have played in 14 state tournaments, the last five under Twenge. They were Class 4A state runner-up in 2018 and also qualified for state in 2013, 2021, 2023 and 2024.

This season the team has a record of 10-2 following an especially busy weekend. After winning at Waconia 3-2 on Friday night they played two home games on Saturday. Minnetonka defeated Grand Rapids 3-0 in a game that started at 8 a.m., then beat Totino-Grace 5-2 in an afternoon game.

Minnetonka senior infielder Miles Humphreys said Twenge’s obsession with the game’s details is key.

“I would say his attention to detail really sets him apart from other coaches that I've had. He just really drills everything and focuses on the little things.”

Another senior, August Berger, said, “He’s very energetic and he knows how to coach. He's been around for a long time.”

Twenge’s energy is clear when he grabs a fungo for pregame drills and sprints to a spot between the mound and shortstop. He hits fly balls to the outfielders, then stands at home plate and hits infield. If he only had a nickel for every time he’s swung a fungo.

Minnetonka’s Veterans Field is a modern baseball showplace, an entire field covered in turf. For a guy who grew up playing on dirt and swallowing dust, the move to turf for all levels of baseball has been a massive improvement, especially in Minnesota’s spring weather.

“In our climate, kids want to play,” he said. “You can’t let weather prevent you from playing. Temperature could, lightning could, but it can rain and 15 minutes later you’re playing. It’s a great thing for high school baseball. It’s coach-proof, you can’t screw it up. I think it’s idiotic not to have turf.”

The honors that have come Twenge’s way are lengthy. In 2018 he was named National High School Baseball Coach of the Year by the American Baseball Coaches Association. In 2021 he was inducted into the National High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. That same year he was named to the Minnesota Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. With USA Baseball, he was an assistant to the national under 16 team for seven years.

The game has not changed over the years, he said, although there are more distractions for teenagers.

“The desire to play has not changed. Kids nowadays have multiple choices at their fingertips. But when they play, they really want to play. You have to keep that energy up. What’s changed are some of the mechanics of the game. There are so many little things that were never taught to us as youth that kids have access to now, either online or through a coach. That ability to get better is huge.

“Every coach has to bring energy. If everybody’s not excited, at least the coach should be.”

Twenge has coached plenty of baseball players who have gone on to college baseball and beyond. Currently, Minnetonka grad and pitcher Ryan Lambert is with the New York Mets’ Class Double-A team in Binghampton, N.Y., and Sam Thorson is a pitcher with the Chicago Cubs’ High A affiliate in South Bend, Indiana.

A former teacher, Twenge worked as an assistant activities director at Minnetonka High School until retiring from that position a year ago. He jokes about how much paper he used, writing notes, filling filing cabinets and making copies, and how younger people in those jobs work almost entirely paper-free.

“I ran that printer to death,” he said. “They don’t go through paper now. Me not being there has saved lots of trees.”

He has no plans to retire from coaching. He still enjoys the game and the kids, and he’s always learning more about baseball.

“I think it’s really in the hands of how you mesh with your players,” he said. “You want to be in line with the players. If you’re not, then it’s time to stop. Or if you get tired.

“My biggest fear is I’m going to die before I learn more about baseball.”

Spoken like a true baseball lifer.

--MSHSL staff member John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Bluesky at johnmilleamn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at [email protected] or [email protected]