Frank Quilici – Twins player, coach, manager, and broadcaster
Frank Quilici - Twins 2B from 1965 -1970 and Twins manager from 1972 - 1975
Francis Ralph Quilici, better known to Twins fans as Frank or maybe even Guido, was born in Chicago, Illinois on May 11, 1939. Quilici is the only person in Twins history to play, coach, manage and serve as a Twins broadcaster. Frank signed with the Minnesota Twins as a free agent in 1961 after passing up a very nice bonus a year earlier from the New York Yankees. Working his way through the Twins minor league system with stops at Erie, Wytheville, Charlotte, Wilson, and Denver, Frank made his major league debut at Met Stadium on July 18, 1965 in the 8th inning of game one of a doubleheader against the California Angels and Frank fouled out to the first baseman Joe Adcock in his first big league at bat. Due to a serious knee injury to regular 2B Bernie Allen, Frank played in 56 regular season games in their 1965 World Series season. Quilici started in all 7 World Series games and tied a major league World Series record when he had two hits (a double and a single) in a single inning (the third) off future Hall of Famer Don Drysdale. Ironically, Quilici spent the entire 1966 season back in the minors before again playing for the Twins from 1967 – 1970. Quilici played in the “bigs” for five seasons hitting .214 in 682 at bats playing all four infield positions and finished his career with a .981 fielding average. Frank coached for the Twins in 1971 and part of 1972 before he was named the Twins youngest ever skipper when he took the managers hat from a fired Bill Rigney at the age of 33. Under Quilici’s leadership, the Twins finished third in 72, 73, and again in 74 but a fourth place finish in 1975 caused owner Calvin Griffith to dismiss Frank from the manager role and moved him to the WCCO radio booth and a whole new career. Frank’s record as the Twins skipper was 280-287. Today Frank enjoys the retired life in Burnsville, Minnesota but that is not to say that he is sitting back in his rocking chair as he has a lot of irons in the fire and he participates in numerous charitable activities including the Twins Community Fund and Miracle Fields programs.
The interview with Frank is 2 hours long and was done in May of 2009 and is split into two parts.
Frank Quilici interview part 1
Frank Quilici interview part 2