Major League Debuts as Minnesota Twins – Sampson, Koskie, Pierzynski, Casian & Oliva

Three of the five players listed below debuted in the bigs as Twins in one game on September 9th. What are the odds of finding them all on one card?

Benj Sampson (Credit: Getty images)

Benj Sampson (P) – September 9, 1998 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 6th round of the 1993 amateur draft. pitched one inning of scoreless relief at Edison Field throwing 15 pitches and allowing no hits but the Twins lost to the Anaheim Angels 10-8.

Corey Koskie

Corey Koskie (3B) – September 9, 1998 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 26th round of the 1994 amateur draft. Entered the game at Edison Field to play 3B with the Twins already down 10-3 and he struck out twice in two PA’s as the Twins lost to Anaheim 10-8.

AJ Pierzynski – 1998 Spring Training – Credit Getty images

A.J. Pierzynski (C) – September 9, 1998 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 3rd round of the 1994 amateur draft. The Twins were down 10-2 when A.J. entered the game to catch. He had two PA’s in the game and grounded out in his first at bat and then was hit by a pitch and came around to score on a bases clearing triple but the Twins still came out on the short end of a 10-8 loss at Edison Field the Anaheim Angels.

Larry Casian (P) – September 9, 1990 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 6th round of the 1987 amateur draft. Debuted at the Dome in a 12-9 loss to the Indians. Casian pitched the final 1.1 innings of the game allowing one run on two hits.

Tony Oliva (OF) – September 9, 1962 – Signed as an amateur free agent in 1961. Fifteenth player to make his big league debut in a Twins uniform. The Twins lost to the Tigers 10-9 at Tigers Field the day that Oliva debuted in the big leagues. The Twins scored 3 in the top of the ninth on a Bernie Allen home run to close the gap to just a run but then Zoilo Versalles grounded out for the first out, Tony Oliva then struck out against Bob Humphreys four the second out and then Lenny Green grounded out to end the game.

 

You can check out other Major League Debuts as Twins that I have done by going here.