The most publicly recognized local possibilities with potential to buy the Minnesota Twins are Marty Davis and Glen Taylor.
But there is another understated potential suitor with the wherewithal and background who, insiders say, would be interested in the Twins. He’s Jim Hays, 67, a Minneapolis Patrick Henry High and University of Minnesota Carlson School of Business grad who is well-connected in baseball and loves the game.
Hays is the founder of Minneapolis-based Hays Companies, which is among the country’s leading business insurance brokerages and who also operates a myriad of other major businesses.
>> Davis is the Cambria quartz countertop businessman whose family became ultrawealthy in the dairy and cheese business.
Davis, 60, from St. Peter, Minn., is a baseball enthusiast you can find many summer days in front row seats behind home plate at Twins games at Target Field. He’s believed to have had an interest in acquiring the Twins for several years, but they have not been for sale until the other day.
>> It’ll be interesting if the Alex Rodriguez-Marc Lore-Michael Bloomberg group ends up with a hefty Timberwolves-Lynx buyout to settle with Taylor, then tries to buy the Twins. Also, it’s unclear whether Major League Baseball would approve Rodriguez, who as a player was suspended for all of the 2014 season for use of performance-enhancing substances.
>> As for Taylor’s possible interest in the Twins, the double-billionaire first wants the Wolves-Lynx ownership issue cleared up before considering.
>> With the Timberwolves-Lynx sale arbitration hearing to begin Nov. 4, the timing of the Twins sale announcement was intriguing.
>> White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf lobbied hard — and unsuccessfully — for Rodriguez to buy the Mets, who ended up sold to Steve Cohen for $2.4 million four years ago.
Reinsdorf, by the way, whose team lost a record 121 games this season, and a group that includes ex-pitcher Dave Stewart, are chatting about a sale that costs $2 billion.
>> A little birdie says the Twins are hoping for a $1.8 billion offer, but $1.5 billion is a more realistic expectation.
>> It wouldn’t be surprising if retired Twins Hall of Famer Joe Mauer is sought as a limited partner in a Twins sale deal.
>> Former Twins chairman Jim Pohlad gave the Pioneer Press a hint of the team’s next TV deal when he recently suggested the MLB Network might be the team’s best option, saying “maybe there’s a bit of a downturn for a little while, but there’s a lot of upside.”
>> To attain the nearly $55 million the Twins received last year in the Bally Sports North TV rights deal, in 2025 the club would need more than 500,000 pure streaming subscribers at the anticipated price of $100.
>> It could take until the final out of the 2025 season for a Twins ownership transaction to become official.
>> Brian Flores might be the Vikings’ best defensive coordinator since Tony Dungy in 1991.
>> The Vikings’ Kevin O’Connell remains favored to win NFL coach of the year, per BetOnline.ag.
>> The 5-0 Vikings were projected to win 6.5 games before the season.
>> It’s the 35th anniversary this month of the Vikings’ infamous Herschel Walker trade, which was a money deal made because GM Mike Lynn didn’t want to pay four players and eight draft picks, including three first-rounders and three second-rounders.
>> The Vikings stadium lease allows the team to play just one home game outside the stadium within a five-year period, so the recent victory in England over the Jets was the one for 2021-2025. Between 2026 and 2030, the Vikings can play just one home game outside of market.
>> The Vikings, seeking running back depth, last week opted for Cam Akers, 25, and his $1.2 million contract from Houston rather than another ex-Viking, Dalvin Cook, 29, who they could have had off the Cowboys’ practice squad, where he’s paid $380,000.
>> Some Target Center courtside seats for the WNBA Finals between the Lynx and Liberty cost $600. At Barclays Center in Brooklyn, the most expensive seat for Game 2 was $9,945, per Ticketmaster.
>> Liberty guard Sabrina Ionescu, whose last-second, 28-foot 3-pointer won Game 3 against the Lynx, was wearing her alma mater Oregon Ducks green-colored basketball shoes.
>> At Game 3 Wednesday evening was Tommy Mauer, 64, who worked six WNBA Finals among 22 years in the league as a referee before retiring. He said WNBA officiating is better now than it’s ever been.
“Those are really, really, really good players, and officiating is hard, very difficult to do,” Mauer said. “But I’m never going to say they’re better than I was.”
>> Mauer is assistant AD at Concordia University, St. Paul. From a highly respected officiating family, he and brothers Ken, Mark, Brian and Jim refereed Wednesday’s 37-0 Mounds View victory over St. Michael-Albertville.
>> On Sunday evening, line judge Jeff Seeman from Chaska will work his 350th career NFL game (Jets -Steelers), including two Super Bowls.
>> The Lynx finished seventh in regular-season attendance, averaging 9,291 per game, in the 12-team WNBA.
>> Highest-paid Lynx player is Napheesa Collier, 28, at $215,469 this season. Average NBA player salary: $12 million.
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>> WNBA star Caitlin Clark, whose Indiana Fever finished No. 1 in attendance (17,035), plans to play in an LPGA pro-am golf event Nov. 13 at the Pelican Club near Tampa, Fla.
>> The Gophers’ lone senior hockey player, forward Aaron Huglen from Roseau, and wife Maddie are expecting their first child in February.
>> Gophers men’s hockey coach Bob Motzko on Wednesday is featured speaker at a Capital Club breakfast at Mendakota Country Club.
>> Timberwolves coach Chris Finch speaks at a Dunkers club breakfast on Oct. 31 at Interlachen Country Club.
>> Wild GM Billy Guerin speaks Nov. 5 to the Twin Cities Dunkers at a breakfast at Interlachen CC.
>> The Twins still rank as the second-best minor league farm system among baseball’s 30 clubs, per mlb.com.
>> Jerry Kill, the ex-Gophers head coach, is senior offensive adviser for the Vanderbilt football team that recently upset No. 1 Alabama 40-35.
>> That was former Gophers All-American Bobby Bell, 84, introduced to new Minnesota president Rebecca Cunningham at his alma mater’s 24-17 football upset of USC.
>> Mike Guentzel, the longtime former Gophers men’s hockey assistant, is a pro scout for the new Utah Hockey Club.
>> Guentzel’s son, Jake, 30, the former Hill-Murray star with the Lightning, at $13.5 million a season is the eighth-highest paid player in the NHL, per Forbes.
>> A Terrence Fogarty-designed 90-pound plaque of Johnson hockey coaching legend Lou Cotroneo will be displayed at the high school.
>> Ray Hitchcock, the popular former Johnson, Gophers and Washington Redskins offensive lineman and coach, is recovering well after a recent heart attack. “I was at death’s door, but I guess the guy upstairs didn’t need a line coach,” Hitchcock, 59, said.
>> Former Gophers QB Ray “Stretch” Stephens, 76, younger brother of late Gophers QB All-American Sandy Stephens, recently passed away.
>> Dick Larson, the former Gophers QB and assistant coach, passed away at age 88 the other day from a brain infection.
>> That was QB Drake Fritz, grandson of former Vikings coach Bud Grant and U.S. Hockey Hall of Famer Dean Blais, and son of ex-Eden Prairie QB Rick Fritz, coming off the bench to rally Lakeville South 20-13 past Champlin Park on Thursday.
>> It was 37 years ago this month that Kent Hrbek, hitting from a crouched stance, homered off the Tigers’ Jack Morris in the Twins’ 6-3 Game 2 ALCS victory the Metrodome. “It was opposite field,” said Hrbek, 64, who married Kristen Thoen on Saturday in Casper, Wy.
>> Cam Christie, who just turned 19 and left the Gophers for the LA Clippers via the NBA draft, is averaging 2.8 points after five exhibition games and will make $1.2 million this season.
>> USC defensive tackle Jide Abasiri is a true freshman from Prior Lake.
>> University of St. Thomas junior guard Kendall Blue, son of former St. Paul Central star guard Lisa Lissimore, has been named to the Summit League’s preseason first-team.
>> Kendall Brown, 21, the 6-7 former East Ridge basketball star, last week was released by the Indiana Pacers.
>> Grant Christensen, a 1995 Roseville Area High grad, runs the game clock for Kansas City Chiefs games.
>> The most in-demand tickets for Timberwolves Target Center games this season, per StubHub: Golden State on Dec. 21, Lakers on Dec. 2 and Nuggets on Nov. 1.
>> Macalester College men’s basketball coach Abe Woldeslassie has added Peter Vang and Riley Miller as assistants this season.
>> Kid to watch: Four-year-old Leo Casalenda of Bloomington the other day won his age group in the National Pedal Pull tractor championship in Mitchell, S.D.
Don’t print that
>> Pssst: A Gophers women’s sports supporter tried to give the basketball team’s star player a Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) check for $5,000, with a stipulation that the player get the total amount, not less because of a handling fee. The booster says the University wouldn’t accept the $5,000 that way, and the check remains on the supporter’s desk.
>> No doubt the first NBA woman head coach will be the Lynx’s Cheryl Reeve.
>> Derek Falvey and Thad Levine received four-year contracts when hired to run the Twins eight years ago, then received four-year extensions. But while Falvey received yet another extension recently, Levine did not.
>> There’s buzz that Levine could end up working for new Giants baseball president Buster Posey.
>> There is mounting pressure internally to extend the contracts of Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell, who is signed through 2025, and QB Sam Darnold, who can become a free agent after the season.
>> St. Paul-based Securian Financial is still getting whispered as new corporate sponsor, replacing Xcel Energy Center.
>> Former chairman Jim Pohlad on the Twins’ per game attendance average of 24,069 this year: “It’s been OK. It wasn’t great.”
>> Details weren’t announced, but the Twins’ new broadcast rights deal with WCCO-AM is for three years and also includes two more years at the Twins’ option.
>> Former Vikings great Chuck Foreman, who played for Bud Grant, asked if his former coach would tolerate players today laughing and hugging opponents after a loss: “No way would that happen.”
>> The pitcher who gave up Dodger Shohei Ohtani’s milestone 50th home run this season was Mahtomedi’s Michael Baumann of the Marlins.
>> Head scratcher: The basketball Gophers did not offer 6-6 Orono wing Nolan Groves a tender, and the 4.0 student who scored 50 points in a game twice last season has opted for Yale.
>> The Vikings’ 5-0 start shouldn’t hurt a startup apparel business begun last week by Leah O’Connell and Chelsea Adofo-Mensah, respective wives of coach Kevin O’Connell and GM Kwesi Adofo-Mensah.
>> The Twins finished 21st of 30 major league teams in pitching ERA but fired their hitting coaches after finishing 12th in batting average.
>> When she was a free agent last year, the Lynx were among teams interested in the New York Liberty’s Breanna Stewart.
>> The 3-on-3 women’s professional basketball league, Unrivaled, owned by the Lynx’s Napheesa Collier and Stewart, has signed UConn’s Paige Buckers from Hopkins to a NIL deal that includes ownership, per The Athletic.
>> The Gophers still need to raise $30 million to pay off the cost of their $166 million Athletes Village, which opened in 2018.
>> St. Paul Saints manager Toby Gardenhire would seem a logical choice to replace one of the four coaches the Twins recently fired.
>> Happy birthday: Ex-Twins manager Ron Gardenhire turns 67 on Thursday.
>> The Gophers men’s basketball team won’t play St. Thomas but will play Hamline (Oct. 29) at Williams Arena.
>> One of the classy guys in sports, Gophers men’s hockey coach Bob Motzko, has dropped more than 30 pounds by walking at least three miles five times a week and eating half-portions instead of full portions.
>> The Gophers men’s hockey team’s power play has four first-round draft picks, more than some NHL teams.
>> Ex-Viking Jared Allen’s recent appearance at the Morrie Miller fundraiser in Winona produced $404,000 for youth athletics in the area.
>> Next year will be the 65th anniversary of the Lakers leaving Minneapolis for Los Angeles.
>> In the history of the NHL, only two players — ex-Wild defenseman Ryan Suter and defenseman Tony DeAngelo — were paid by three different teams in one season, Suter by the Wild, Stars and Blues, DeAngelo by Hurricanes (twice) and Flyers.
>> Bally Sports North, which has lost Twins TV rights, last week began laying off longtime employees.
>> The Gophers’ P.J. Fleck, at $6.7 million and with an eight-year Big Ten record of 31-34, is the ninth-highest paid football coach in the new 18-school Big Ten, according to USA Today’s latest salary survey. Fleck’s buyout is $23.4 million.
>> Will Karl-Anthony Towns, now of the Knicks, become the second Timberwolf (Malik Sealy’s No. 2 is the first) in team history to have his jersey retired?
>> Lionel Messi of Miami is the top-selling Major League Soccer jersey this year. Minnesota United has no jerseys among the top 25.
Overheard
>> Enterprising Eric Musselman, the first-year USC men’s basketball coach whose late father Bill’s Gophers played to sellout Williams Arena crowds, last week on what it will take to attract fans to the Trojans’ 10,300-seat Galen Center: “As far as promoting the game, we’re going to have to start doing stuff. And we will. I don’t know when it’ll happen, but Galen hopefully in due time will be sold out and be rocking. I have to market, our staff has to market, our players have to market. (Fans) will be there if we do our part. We’ve got to get creative. We can’t just expect people to show up. You’ve got to connect with campus, with community.”
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