Talk » Hanif was a hero for kids growing up then

This story is part of ESPN The Magazines Oct. 12 Owners Issue. Subscribe today!Minnesota TwinsOverall: 87 Title track: 68 Ownership: 91 Coaching: 90 Players: 110 Fan relations: 91 Affordability: 52 Stadium experience: 28 Bang for the buck: 108 Change from last year: -40So ... yeah. The Twins had a surprisingly exciting 2015 season in which the team won 83 games and remained relevant well into September. Optimism abounded. Target Field never looked greener. Young talent! New coach! Prospects! What would follow a mere seven months later was a new low even for a team that, over the past five seasons, had win totals of 63, 66, 66 and 70. A 1-9 start this season would lead to a 7-18 April, and the Twins were 10.5 games back -- and entirely irrelevant -- in the AL Central by May 1, well on their way to what would ultimately become the worst season in the history of the franchise. Fifty. Nine. Wins.Whats goodThe Twins fell precipitously in each of our eight categories this year, but there are still few places more enjoyable to catch a game than at Target Field, which opened in 2010. The teams No. 28 rank in stadium experience is by far its highest rating, and the 10th-highest in baseball. And though the Twins roster is rated a dismal 110th (and no, guys, Joe Mauer is not to blame for this mess -- hes, like, the 11th-biggest problem), Minnesota undeniably has terrific young talent in Miguel Sano, who amassed a .462 slugging percentage this past season, and 22-year-old Byron Buxton, who after his Sept. 1 call-up justified his longstanding reputation as the best prospect in baseball, batting .287, with a .357 on-base and .653 slugging percentage in the seasons final 29 games. And, of course, second baseman Brian Dozier became Babe Ruth for the seasons final 60 games (1.019 OPS!). That was fun.Whats badSo, so much. Before the season, most experts predicted the Twins would sport an average offense and staggeringly poor pitching. And, boy, were they right! It was wretched. The Twins allowed an MLB-worst 5.49 runs per game, an AL-worst WHIP of 1.45, and struck out the third-fewest players per nine innings of any team in baseball. Minnesota fell 40 spots overall in our rankings, driven by a 74-spot drop in players, a 56-spot drop in coaching, and a 28-spot drop in ownership. The twist? Compared with 2015, the players are largely the same; the coach, Paul Molitor, is light years ahead of his predecessor in terms of on-the-field strategy and an openness to analytics; and the Pohlads are ... the Pohlads. The problems are the same. The team just won 24 fewer games.Whats newIn a very un-Twins-like move, the team fired longtime GM Terry Ryan in July after two stints (1994-2007 and 2011-2016) running the organization. After an exhaustive search with the help of third-party firm Korn Ferry, which helped the Timberwolves land Tom Thibodeau, the franchise hired 33-year-old Derek Falvey away from the Cleveland Indians to serve as the general manager and president of baseball operations. With a new voice, one that has experience with a winning organization and one who has worked to bridge the gap between folks who lean toward analytics in player evaluation and those who might favor scouting, the Twins are once again asking their fan base to believe. And however unwarranted that request might seem, with the young talent already on this roster and with Falvey now in the fold, its perhaps more palatable to do so now than at any time since 2011.Next: Philadelphia Phillies?| Full rankingsStitched College Jerseys . White came in fourth place in the event. He was the two-time defending gold medallist. The gold medal went to Swiss snowboarder Iouri Podladtchikov. Custom College Jerseys . John Tavares, Thomas Vanek and Kyle Okposo were also being counted on to slow down sizzling Rangers forward Rick Nash. That plan didnt go so well early. https://www.fakecollegejerseys.com/ . Laudrup revealed Thursday he was notified of his dismissal in "the briefest of letters which gave no reasons why such hasty and final action was deemed necessary. Fake College Basketball Jerseys . -- Matt Rupert scored once in regulation and again in the shootout as the London Knights extended their win streak to nine games by defeating the Owen Sound Attack 4-3 on Friday in Ontario Hockey League action. Wholesale College Jerseys . It just didnt show when he hit the ice. Berra made 42 saves and Kris Russell scored at 1:32 of overtime, lifting the Calgary Flames to a 3-2 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks on Sunday night.Mohammad Kamruzzaman, a veteran Bangladesh sports journalist, was 15 years old when he went to the Dhaka Stadium to watch the Pakistan-New Zealand Test in November 1955. It was there that Hanif Mohammad, the original Little Master, left an imprint in his mind.Nobody else could even make a fifty in that game, except Hanif Mohammad, Kamruzzaman remembers. He made a century, and handled the New Zealand attack really well. You could have called it a mediocre attack but on a matting wicket, they were tough to handle. John Reid bowled medium-fast in that game. They had a legspinner called (Alex) Moir. But New Zealand fell in big trouble towards the end of that game, losing six wickets for not many.Hanif, all of 20 then, brought up his second Test century, hitting 103 out of Pakistans 195 for 6 declared. The next highest score was Wallis Mathias, who made 41 not out.Kamruzzaman, studying for his matriculation exam the following year, remembers managing some money from home to watch the match like many others. I think my mother gave me money to buy the student concession tickets, he recollects. I think it was five taka for the four days. I was glad to witness the first Test century in Dhaka. Hanif used to be a subdued batsman, and he tackled the New Zealand attack almost single-handedly.Kamruzzaman, who has played the game at the club level and covered it for more than five decades, is now in his 70s. Hanif, he says, was adored by sport-loving Bengalis as much as he was in West Pakistan. Most vivid in his memory are Hanifs second and third Test tons at this venue, against England in 1962.Seven years later came those two centuries. I remember England were led by Ted Dexter and had a superb batting line-up. Hanifs first-innings century had some incredible shots, but the real hard work was in the second innings. He still managed to make 104 runs. See, he always batted for his team and hardly ever for himself.Jalal Ahmed Chowdhury, one of the most experienced coaches in Bangladesh, is younger than Kamruzzaman but played cricket for a long time. He rememberss what Hanif meant for his generation that grew up in the late 1950s and early 1960s.ddddddddddddIn the early 1960s, I was still in school. I remember of hearing about this man who doesnt get out, Jalal recalls. A myth started to develop around Hanif Mohammad. He was one of the two stars we knew about in those days. The other one was Fazal Mahmood.Hanif became the idol for many of us. It had a lot to do about his endurance. By 1964-65, I started to get conscious about the game and one of the things I realised was that if Hanif did well, Pakistan would be saved. Like kids these days have Shakib and Mashrafe as heroes, in those days too they liked batsmen. Hanif became a favourite.He used to be known as a defensive player, but newspapers of the time regularly used a photo of him playing a slog sweep. It didnt really go with his batting style but I loved that photo. He understood bowlers very well. His evading technique always caught our eye and that was a big reason why he could tackle those big bowlers in the West Indies. He was a master of concentration.Jalal said Hanif was a hero for kids growing up then as the youth population wasnt fully aware of the political rhetoric involving Pakistan. Cricket was fun for us back then, he remembers. The only anger within all of us back then was about Bengalis not getting a chance to represent Pakistan in sports.Jalal also remembers the stories they heard in Dhaka about Hanifs breakthrough innings in Bridgetown. We heard stories about Abdul Hafeez Kardar slipping notes into his hotel room during his marathon 337 in West Indies. Apparently during that series, Hanif used to regularly have his meals at a Muslim home.Much like Kamruzzaman and Jalal, a certain generation remembers Hanif fondly. He was a charm before the world around them changed. But even in the Bangladesh of 2016, the news of Hanifs death brings sadness to an older generation who only have these memories to live by. ' ' '