This Day in Twins History – February 5

Freddie Toliver1988 – The Twins trade for pitcher Freddie Toliver and send catcher Chris Calvert to Philly. The right-handed Toliver spent parts of 1988 and 1989 pitching for the Twins mostly as a starter and he had a 8-9 record with a 1.55 WHIP and a 4.95 ERA in 143.2 innings. The string bean Toliver (6’1″ and 165 lbs) always had control issues and in mid-1989 the Twins traded him to the Padres for Greg Booker. Calvert never advanced past AA ball. Booker a big 6’6″ right-handed pitcher appeared in 6 games in a Minnesota uniform in 1989 and had no record and the Twins let him go after the season ended.

2002 – MLB owners postpone contraction until the 2003 season; a day after the Minnesota Supreme Court refuses to hear their appeal of the injunction that forces the Twins to honor their Metrodome lease for the 2002 season.

The Minnesota Twins and litigation have not exactly been strangers over the years and this April 2010 article on mnbenchbar.com by Marshall Tanick highlights some of the brushes that the Minnesota Twins and their players have had with the courts over the years. There are several other cases of Twins players or ex-Twins players that have run afoul of the law that are not mentioned in this story.