Tag: Detroit Tigers

Do you remember Twins All-Star catcher Dave Engle?

Dave Engle was drafted in 1978 by the California Angels in the third round (66 over all) as a third baseman out of USC. His stay in his home state however; was short-lived as he was traded on February 3, 1979 with pitchers Paul Hartzell and Brad Havens and outfielder Ken Landreaux to the Minnesota Twins for Rod Carew who wanted out of Calvin Griffiths Minnesota Twins organization.

Engle spent 1979 in AAA Toledo as a third baseman and in 1980 he again found himself in Toledo but that year he played in the outfield. Engle made the 1981 Twins team out of spring training and debuted on April 14, 1981. Engle was always first a hitter and finding a position for him was a struggle for Minnesota and they decided to turn him into a catcher. Engle must have been a quick study because by 1983 he was catching for Minnesota. In 1984 he was the Twins lone representative to the All-Star game but did not get a chance to play in the game at Candlestick Park. In 1984 Engle started having more issues throwing the ball back to the pitcher although he had no problems throwing to second or third base if needed. The problem continued to plague him in 1985 and he soon found himself a part-time player. In January of 1986 he was traded by the Twins to the Detroit Tigers for Chris Pittaro and Alejandro Sanchez in one of those “I’ll take yours if you take mine” trades. 

Dave Engle stay in Minnesota lasted 439 games, 176 of them behind the plate. Engle hit .268 as a Twin with 28 home runs and 13 triples which is not too shabby for a catcher. The Tigers released Engle in August of 1986. Engle went on to play for Montreal in 1987-1988 and finished out his big league career in 1989 with Milwaukee.

Did you know that Dave Engle hit the first home run at the Metrodome and that he is Tom Brunansky‘s brother-in-law?

 

Catcher Dave Engle’s ‘stardom’ with Twins was short-lived

Q&A: Engle reflects on childhood with Ted Williams

 

Looking ahead to the 1967 baseball season

Fifty years ago the Boston Red Sox won the American League pennant in 1967 in what many think is one of the most if not thee most exciting AL pennant races ever. The Detroit Tigers and Minnesota Twins finished one game back and the Chicago White Sox finished 3 games behind the Red Sox. My plan is to do some postings as the year goes along about the 1967 AL pennant race. I found an article in the April 17, 1967 Sports Illustrated called “RISING DYNASTY FOR THE BIRDS?” that does a recap on each AL team and predicts their chances for the 1967 season. Kind of a fun read. The Boston Red Sox of course played the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series and lost 4 games to 3.

Carl Yastrzemski won the triple crown in 1967 although he and Twins 1B Harmon Killebrew each had 44 home runs that year. Even though you know how the story ends, it will still be fun reliving it.

This day in Twins franchise history – September 6, 1954

Carlos Paula
Carlos Paula

This is one of those rare times when we delve back into the Washington Senators and Minnesota Twins franchise history because Carlos Paula played a key role and he should not be forgotten.

September 6, 1954 – On this day in 1954 the Washington Senators played a black ballplayer for the first time. His name was Carlos Paula and he was from Havana, Cuba. The 26 year-old Paula started in left field for the Senators seven years after Jackie Robinson made his Major League debut. Paula hit fifth in the Senators batting order and  went 2 for 5 with a double and knocked in 2 runs in a 8-1 win in game 1 of a double-header against the Philadelphia A’s. The Senators lost game 2 by a 3-2 score at Griffith Stadium. Only the Yankees in 1955, the Phillies in 1957, the Tigers in 1958 and the Red Sox in 1959 broke the color-line later than did the Senators/Twins franchise. Box Score.

I recently ran across a very nice write-up on Carlos Paula and his time with the Washington Senators on the National Basball Hall of fame web site called:  #GOINGDEEP: CARLOS PAULA, THE MAN WHO INTEGRATED THE WASHINGTON SENATORS. Take the time to read it and to enjoy the wonderful pictures. According to the story, Carlos Paula had ties to Minnesota Twins 1965 MVP Zoilo Versalles.

Senators and Twins black players

According to ELIAS

Zimmermann’s unusual performance a first since Grove

Jordan Zimmermann allowed eight runs over seven innings but still managed to earn the win over the Minnesota Twins last night. It’s been just over two years since a pitcher got the win in a game in which he allowed at least eight runs; the Phillies’Cliff Lee surrendered eight runs over five innings on March 31, 2014 against the Rangers in a 14-10 win.

What was even more unusual was that Zimmermann struck out nine batters in Monday’s matchup. The last pitcher to earn the win while allowing at least eight runs and recording nine or more strikeouts was the Athletics’ Lefty Grove on May 30, 1927 against the Yankees (9 IP, 8 R, 11 SO in a 9-8 victory); those Yankees went on to finish the season 110-44 and swept the Pirates in the World Series. Babe Ruth went 2-for-5 with an RBI and Lou Gehrig was 1-for-4 with two runs batted in off Grove that day.

Zimmermann (6-2, 2.45 ERA) is the first pitcher to win at least six of his first eight starts for Detroit with an ERA under 3.00 since Doyle Alexander in 1987 (7-0, 1.61 ERA). The Tigers traded John Smoltz to acquire Alexander that season.

According to ELIAS

The Braves and Twins both lost Thursday, dropping their records to 0-9. It’s only the third time in major-league history that two teams started 0-9 or worse in the same season. It also happened in 1884 when Detroit of the National League and Altoona of the Union Association did it; and in 1988 when Baltimore and Atlanta did it.

The Twins scored only one run in their loss to the White Sox yesterday and have scored only 14 runs in nine games this season. That matches the fewest runs scored over the first nine games of a season in Twins franchise history. The 1949 Washington Senators also scored only nine runs over the first nine games of the season. That team finished with a 50-104 record. The last major-league team to have that offensive futility over its first nine games of a season was the 2004 Expos (10 runs), the last American League team was the 2003 Tigers (14).

The Twins are the second team in major-league history to lose each of their first nine games, and score three or fewer runs in each. The other was the 1988 Orioles, who lost a record 21-straight games to start the season. Baltimore failed to score as many as four runs in any of the first 12 games that season.

According to ELIAS

Santana is as good as ever

Ervin Santana 2015

 

Ervin Santana, who allowed only one run in seven innings to beat the Tigers on Sunday, is 5-0 with a 1.47 ERA over his last six starts for the Minnesota Twins. Santana has posted such a low ERA over a span of six starts in only one other season of his 11-year major-league career. That was in 2011, when Santana produced ERAs of 1.09 and 1.24 for the Angels during two overlapping spans of six starts from July to August.Escobar’s two long hits key Minnesota win

Eduardo Escobar 2015Eduardo Escobar tripled and homered in the Twins’ 6-2 win at Detroit on Saturday. The only other Minnesota shortstop in the last 10 years to hit a triple and a home run in the same game was Escobar himself, last August 22, also against the Tigers.

This Day in Twins History – September 19, 2002

Mike RyanSeptember 19, 2002 – Twins rookie outfielder Mike Ryan gets 2 hits in the first inning of his major league debut in Comerica Park against the Detroit Tigers. In what was a nine-run first inning for Minnesota, Ryan singled in his first two big league at-bats, and drove in two runs. But the glow of the feat was short-lived when his hits and Minnesota’s 9-0 lead were wiped out when rain forced the game to be called before the top of the third inning. In his official debut the next day Ryan goes 0 for 4.

This is the kind of situation where a player could play in a major league game and if his career ended at that point he would never go down in baseball history as having played in a big league game, this doesn’t seem right to me. You have to wonder how many other times this has happened. You could tell your grand kids you played in the majors and their might be no proof.

Don’t forget to check out our Today in Twins History page daily to learn more about Twins history.

 

According to ELIAS

Dozier, Twins shock Tigers with ninth-inning rally

Brian DozierBrian Dozier capped a seven-run outburst in the bottom of the ninth inning with a three-run homer against Tigers closer Joakim Soria to give the Twins an 8-6 walk-off victory. The win marks the first time since May 27, 1997 that Minnesota walked off with a win after trailing by at least five runs entering the bottom of the ninth inning – the Twins erased a five-run deficit in the ninth inning against the Mariners in that comeback victory. For the Tigers, it marks just the second time in the last 65 years that they lost a game in which they led by at least five runs in the ninth inning or later. On August 29, 1986, the Angels plated eight runs in the bottom of the ninth inning to clinch a 13-12 win over Detroit, capped by a walk-off grand slam by Dick Schofield.

Roy Sievers - 1954 Topps
Roy Sievers – 1954 Topps

Dozier, who also launched a walk-off home run on July 6 against the Orioles to open the Twins’ home-stand, is the second player in franchise history to record multiple walk-off homers in a single home-stand. Roy Sievers achieved that feat for the Washington Senators in the 1958 campaign, having hit game-ending homers against the Indians on July 16 and the White Sox on July 20.

According to ELIAS

Mauer clears the bases

Joe Mauer 2015Joe Mauer‘s three-run triple last night highlighted the Twins’ 6-2 win over the Tigers. It was Mauer’s first triple in 88 career at-bats with the bases loaded, but the seventh time he drove in all three runners on base in that situation (three grand slams and a trio of three-run doubles). Source:ELIAS

According to ELIAS

Tigers McCann hits his first career homer….and it doesn’t leave the park

James McCann‘s two-run inside the park home run, the first home run of his career, tied the game in the seventh innings in a contest the Tigers won, 10-7, over the Twins yesterday afternoon. McCann became just the third catcher in the last 36 years whose first career home run was an inside the parker, joining Minnesota’s Chad Moeller (July 29, 2000) and Pittsburgh’s Angelo Encarnacion (August 19, 1995).

McCann was the first Tigers player whose first career home run was an inside the park homer in over 59 years, since pitcher Frank Lary accounted for Detroit’s only run with a homer that didn’t leave the park in a season-opening loss to the Kansas City Athletics on April 17, 1956. Source: ELIAS