TWINS TRIVIA is hopefully a fun and informative site that will help you to better enjoy the Minnesota Twins and their wonderful history. “History never looks like history when you are living through it” – John Gardner, former Secretary of Health
September 20, 1965 – Just 537 fans paid to watch the Kansas City A’s Jim “Catfish” Hunter beat Jim “Mudcat” Grant 8-2 at Met Stadium in a makeup game in a cool 52 degree drizzle. Fortunately the game was over in two hours and 10 minutes. Don Mincher hits two home runs and gets two of the Twins four hits. It is the smallest paid crowd to watch the Twins play at home. B-R shows attendance of 547 but Twins media guide states 537. You would think that a team that was on its way to the 1965 World Series would draw a bit better than that. Box Score.
The Twins beat up on the Detroit Tigers 20-6 last night at Target Field in front of 29,394 fans that had to watch 3 hours and 59 minutes of baseball if they wanted to see the games final pitch. The Twins are the first AL team this season to score 20 runs in a game and this is the most runs ever scored by the Twins in a game at Target Field.
This is the 13th time in franchise history and the eighth time in Twins team history that the team has scored 20 or more runs in a game. The Detroit Tigers have been the unlucky victims of the Twins/Senators 20 or more runs parade on five occasions, four times by the Twins and once by the Washington Senators.
The Twins previous high for runs scored in a game at Target field occurred on July 16, 2012 when they out-scored the Baltimore Orioles 19-7. The Twins have had 20 runs scored against them just three times and always on the road. The Twins lost to the Kansas City A’s 20-2 on April 25, 1961, they lost 23-6 to the Kansas City Royals on April 6, 1974 and they lost a 20-6 game to the Texas Rangers on July 25, 2011.
Here is what ELIAS had to say about the game: Eduardo Escobar led the Twins’ 20-hit attack, going 5-for-6 from the eighth slot in the lineup, in their 20-6 victory over the Tigers. He was the first major-league player to collect five hits, including a home run, in a game from either the eighth or ninth slot in the lineup since Detroit’s Carlos Pena generated six hits, including a pair of homers, at Kansas City back in 2004.
Eduardo Escobar
Escobar’s night began with a second-inning homer off Robbie Ray, and he followed with a single off Blaine Hardy, a triple off Jim Johnson, a single off Joba Chamberlain and another single off pitcher-for-a-day infielder Andrew Romine. Escobar became the second Twins player this month to get hits off five different pitchers in the same game – Danny Santana did it against the White Sox on August 3 – something no other big-leaguer has done this season.
And just to complete the story, we note that Escobar also made a pair of errors at shortstop on Friday night. The last major-leaguer with at least five hits and at least two errors in the same game was Kansas City’s Angel Berroa, who did it in a game at Cleveland in September 2003.
For the Twins, their 20-run, 20-hit performance marked just the eighth time in modern major-league history that a team had posted those exact numbers – and three of those eight games have been produced by the Twins. Minnesota went 20/20 against the Athletics in 1980 and against the White Sox in 2009.
8/8/1962 – With the score tied at 3 apiece at Municipal Stadium in Kansas City, A’s rookie third baseman Ed Charles steals home with two out in the ninth to score the winning run in a A’s 4-3 win over the Twins. Ray Moore and Jerry Zimmerman were the Twins battery at the time.
8/8/1974 – The Royals – Twins game at Royals Stadium is briefly interrupted by President Nixon’s resignation speech. The speech is broadcast after it begins and the next inning is delayed until the conclusion of the speech. The Twins prevail over the host Royals‚ 3 – 2 in 14 innings when Tony Oliva‘s sacrifice fly drives home Rod Carew. Bill Campbell pitches 7 innings of relief for the win.
8/8/1976 – This has nothing to do with the Minnesota Twins but still it deserves to be remembered for its “strangeness”. Thirty-seven years ago, on Aug. 8, 1976, the Chicago White Sox made sartorial history by wearing shorts in a win over the Royals. The Bermudas were the idea of—who else?—owner Bill Veeck. The shorts were worn in a total of three games.
8/8/1987 – The Twins beat the Oakland A’s 9-2 at the Metrodome as Twins pitcher Steve Carlton wins the 329th and final game of his Hall of Fame career. Carlton pitches 8 2/3 innings giving up 2 runs while striking out two batters.
8/8/1988 – The Indians and the Twins were scoreless after 3 innings at the Metrodome with Allan Anderson on the mound for the local nine. In the top of the fourth inning with no one out, the Indians Ron Washington and Willie Upshaw singled to put runners on first and second and then Joe Carter smashed a long drive to the left field corner where Twins outfielder Dan Gladden snagged it for an out and wheeled and fired a strike to Steve Lombardozzi at 2B to nail Washington and then Lombo relayed the ball to Gene Larkin at first to get the runner there by at least 5 feet and completed the unusual 7-4-3 triple play. The Twins went on to win the game by a 7-2 score with Galdden going 3 for 5 with a run scored, a stolen base, and a RBI. Catcher Brian Harper was 4 for 4 but played second fiddle to Gladden on this day.
8/8/2004 – The A’s beat the Twins 6 – 5 in 18 innings. It is the second-longest game in the 23-year history of the Metrodome. With the score tied 3 to 3, the A’s score 3 in the top of the 18th off Terry Mulholland to take a 6-3 lead. The Twins come back with 2 in the bottom of the 18th with a Morneau home run but leave Matthew LeCroy stranded on first when Koskie and Cuddyer flyout to end the rally and the Twins hope of a huge comeback victory. The game lasts 4 hours and 57 minutes.
8/8/2005 – One time Minnesota Twins manger (1976-1980) Gene Mauch passes away at the age of 79. Mauch was the seventh manager in Twins history. I think one of my favorite Gene Mauch quotes was “I’m not the manager because I am always right, but I am always right because I am the manager”.
8/8/2009 – The Twins third manager, Cal Ermer passed away at the age of 85 in Chattanooga, Tenn. Ermer replaced the fired Sam Mele in June 1967 with the Twins in sixth place with a 25-25 record. The Twins went 66-46 the rest of the season but lost the American League pennant on the final day of the season. Ermer was fired after the Twins finished in seventh place in 1968 with a 79-83 record.
May 16, 1928 – Alfred Manuel “Billy” Martin was born in Berkeley, California. Billy played in the majors for 11 seasons with the New York Yankees, Kansas City A’s, Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Indians, Cincinnati Reds, Milwaukee Braves and finished his career with the Minnesota Twins in 1961. Martin managed the Twins in 1969, the Detroit Tigers in 1971-1973, the Texas Rangers in 1973-1975, the Oakland A’s from 1980-1982, the New York Yankees from 1975-1979, 1983, 1985 and again in 1988. Billy Martin died as the result of an automobile accident on December 25, 1989.
May 16, 1983 – The Twins enter the ninth inning at the Metrodome trailing the Oakland A’s 7-0. The Twins hit four home runs in the bottom of the ninth (Dave Engle, Bobby Mitchell, Gary Gaetti, and Mickey Hatcher and they score 6 runs. They have the tying run on first when Dave Engle who pinch-hit a home run to lead off the rally strikes out to end the game. Hatcher’s home run was also as a pinch-hitter marking the third time in Twins history they have pinch-hit two home runs in the same game. The attendance was only 7,056 and you wonder how many fans were actually still at the Dome to witness this amazing comeback that fell a run short. Boxscore
Harvey Mackay
May 16, 1984 – The Twins sell 51,863 tickets to their 8-7 loss to the Blue Jays, but only 6,346 fans show up for the game. The skewed numbers are the result of a massive ticket buyout plan organized by Minneapolis businessman Harvey Mackay to keep the Twins in Minnesota; if the club does not sell 2.41 million tickets this season it can break its lease with the Metrodome. Taking advantage of reduced prices on the Family Day promotion, Mackay pays $218,718 for 44,166 tickets. Boxscore
May 16, 2010 – Jason Kubel hit a stunning grand slam off Mariano Rivera with two outs in the eighth inning Sunday, and the Twins snapped a nine-game losing streak against the Yankees with a 6-3 victory in Yankee Stadium. Kubel’s third homer of the season and sixth career slam snapped a string of 51 straight converted save opportunities for Rivera at home, tying the major league record set by Eric Gagne with the Dodgers. Nick Blackburn (4-1) allowed three runs and nine hits in seven innings for Minnesota, which picked up its first win against New York since Aug. 13, 2008. The Twins had lost 12 straight overall against New York, counting the sweep in last year’s AL division series. Boxscore
April 25, 1961 – A tough day in Municipal Stadium in Kansas City as the A’s pound seven Minnesota Twins pitchers in a 20-2 Twins defeat. Twins reliever Fred Bruckbauer made his only big league appearance in this game when he came in to pitch in the top of the fourth inning and gave up a double, a single, a walk and a double before getting pulled. Bruckbauer was charged with 3 earned runs and since he never again pitched in the big leagues his ERA stands at infinity. Norm Bass went the distance for the A’s giving up 7 hits and 9 walks but still got the “W”.
Camilo Pascual
April 25, 1964 – The Twins lose to the Detroit Tigers 5-2 at Met Stadium in what was the first ever nationally televised Twins game from Met Stadium. The team had played on national TV 19 times before this game but all the games were on the road. Their first nationally televised game was on June 10, 1961. Strangely enough, Camilo Pascual started and lost both of these games. The game was on NBC and the announcers were Bob Wolff and Joe Garagiola.
Earl Wilson
April 25, 1970 – The Twins are playing the Tigers at the Met and take a 3-1 lead into the ninth only to have the Tigers score twice to tie the game. The Twins came back with one of their own, an unearned run in the bottom of the ninth and won the game 4-3. Exciting you say? But you should have seen what transpired in the top of the seventh with the Twins ahead 2-1. Jim Kaat is on the mound for the Twins and retires Elliot Maddox and Cesar Gutierrez on groundouts to the shortstop for the first two outs and then appeared to have struck out pitcher Earl Wilson, but, Twins catcher Paul Ratliff did not catch Kaat’s pitch in the air and this is where things really got weird. Ratliff got the ball and rolled it back to the mound and headed for the dugout. Tiger 3B coach Grover Resinger knew his rules and he told Wilson to head to first base. None of the Twins seemed to notice Wilson as he rounded first and headed for 2B and at this point coach Resinger was in the middle of the infield urging Wilson on. By now Twins LF Brant Alyea figured out what was happening and ran after the ball but had trouble picking it up and Wilson was still running and was now rounding 3B and heading for home. By this time Twins shortstop Leo Cardenas had ran over to cover home plate and Alyea threw him the ball. Wilson was a big guy and all this running was beginning to take its toll and when he saw Cardenas with the ball he turned and started back to 3B but pulled a hamstring and just collapsed to the ground before getting back to the 3B bag. Cardenas threw the ball back to Alyea who then tagged Wilson out as he lay in the base path just short of 3B and the Twins were out of the inning unscathed. The scoring you ask? A strikeout, an error on Ratliff, and the out was recorded as LF-SS-LF (7-6-7). To top it all off the television crew had all gone to the commercial after the apparent strikeout and none of this was recorded on video.
Mike Pazik
April 25, 1977 – Twins pitchers Mike Pazik and Don Carrithers were seriously injured in an automobile accident when their van collided with a car going the wrong way on an exit ramp in Bloomington, MN. Pazik suffered two broken bones in each leg and was out for the season. Carrithers, who was driving, suffered a compound fracture of his right knee, a partial rupture of the quadriceps tendon near his knee and a fractured right wrist and ended missing three months of the 1977 season.
April 25, 1980 – Making his first appearance in Minnesota since his fight with a marshmallow salesman in the Fall of 1979, A’s manager Billy Martin has to be restrained by umpires from attacking a fan who was pelting him with marshmallows during the Twins’ 10-3 victory.
April 25, 2005 – The Minnesota Twins and Hennepin County announce they have agreed on a proposal to fund and construct a new ballpark in downtown Minneapolis.
Chris Parmelee
April 25, 2012 – Twins 1B Chris Parmelee was hit in the batting helmet in the sixth inning by a 93 MPH fastball thrown by Red Sox hurler Justin Thomas. The ball hit the bill of Parmelee’s helmet, deflected down and struck Parmelee above his eye. A couple of inches lower, Parmelee continues to think, and he could have been struck directly in his eye. The ball bounced all the way back to the Red Sox dugout at Target Field. Parmelee was down for about a minute but rose to his feet and walked off the field. He was examined by doctors, who tested him for a concussion but luckily that was not the case. The Twins ended up losing the game 7-6.
Just 537 fans paid to watch the Kansas City A’s Jim “Catfish” Hunter beat Jim “Mudcat” Grant 8-2 at Met Stadium in a makeup game in a cool 52 degree drizzle. Don Mincher hits two home runs. It is the smallest paid crowd to ever watch the Twins play at home. B-R shows paid attendance of 547 but Twins media guide states 537.
Mudcat Grant
The Twins were up by 9.5 games going into this game and would clinch the 1965 AL pennant just 6 days later. The team went on to win 102 games in 1965 the most in Twins history and yet the Twins would finish 1965 with an attendance of just 1,463,268 in 77 home dates for an average of 19,003 fans per game. The Twins played the Los Angeles Dodgers in the Twins first ever World Series and lost 4 games to 3.
How do you get a nicknames like Mudcat and Catfish? Legend has it that this is how it came to be. Jim Grant was with the Indians and was the roommate of his boyhood idol Larry Doby when he first came to Cleveland, and Doby dubbed him “Mudcat”, saying that he was “ugly as a Mississippi mudcat”. The nickname stuck. As for Jim Hunter, it was in 1965 that the PR-conscious Athletics’ owner Charles O. Finley that gave Hunter the nickname “Catfish” in an effort to pique fan interest. A story circulated that Hunter’s family gave him the nickname as a child when he went missing and was later found with a string of catfish but there seems to be no truth to that story.
During a game at Dodger Stadium, two protesters ran on the field, knelt down and poured lighter fluid on the American flag with the intention of burning it. As Rick Monday testified, the wind blew the first match out – and as they were about to touch the second match to the flag, Monday came from behind, snatched it and ran it to safety. Here is a clip of Cubs outfielder Rick Monday on April, 25, 1976 at Dodger Stadium saving the American flag from burning. Thank you Rick Monday! I wonder what ever happened to those two clowns that tried to burn our flag?
Monday, a two-time all-star who played in the majors for 19 years with the Kansas City A’s, the Oakland A’s, the Chicago Cubs and the Los Angeles Dodgers was the Chicago Cubs center fielder that day and went 3 for 5 with 2 runs scored and a RBI. The Cubs lost that game to the Dodgers in the bottom of the 10th inning by a 5-4 score on a walk-off single by Ron Cey. The box score can be found here.
Monday has been a broadcaster for the Los Angeles Dodgers since 1993 after starting his sports casting career in 1985.
Former Twins, pitcher Mike Marshall and catcher Randy Hundley also played in this game.
The Washington Senators played in Washington D.C. from 1901 through 1960. During those 60 years the team played 9,188 games and had 4,223 wins, 4,864 losses and 101 ties to show for their efforts. Excluding the tie games the Senators had a .460 winning percentage.
Since the Minnesota Twins took the field for the first time as a major league team back on April 11, 1961 against the New York Yankees the Minnesota Twins have played 8,293 games and have 4,138 wins, 4,147 losses and 8 ties for a .499 winning percentage. Their home record stands at 2,241-1,913 for a .539 win percentage and on the road they have 1,897 wins and 2,234 losses for a .459 winning percentage.
I have put together a chart that shows how the Twins have fared against their American League brethren from 1961-2012 under Gardy, under TK, and the other 10 Twins managers combined that preceded TK and Gardy from 1961-1986, I know that TK managed briefly in 1986 but I have not included those few games in TK’s stats.
It comes as no surprise that the Kansas City Royals have been Twins patsies for a long time or that the New York Yankees have caused the Twins to get into a fetal position in the corner and cry. But a .276 winning percentage against the Bronx Bombers since Gardy took over as the Twins skipper is just plain atrocious, how can one team be so dominant? That number truly amazes me. You have to understand, I like Gardy as a manager but a .276 winning percentage means that if the Twins played the Yankees under Gardy in every game of a 162 game schedule, the Twins would end up with a 45-117 record under Gardy’s leadership. There is an old baseball axiom that states that if you play 162 games, odds are that you will win at least 60 games and lose at least 60 games, at that rate even if you lost all of the remaining 42 games you would sill have a .370 winning percentage. YIKES!
The only Central division team to hold a winning record over the Twins is the Cleveland Indians. The Twins have beat 8 teams more often than they have lost and 6 teams hold a winning percentage over Minnesota.
1961 – Outfielder Dan Dobbek hits the Twins first grand slam home run at Metropolitan Stadium. The unlucky hurler is Kansas City Athletic pitcher Ed Rakow. 1961 was Dobbek’s first and last season in Minnesota and he only had 125 at bats as a Twin hitting .168 with 4 home runs. In January of 1962 the Twins traded Dobbek to Cincinnati for catcher Jerry Zimmerman.
1990 – Twins outfielder John Moses makes his second appearance as a Twins pitcher in Fenway Park in a 13-1 loss to the Red Sox. John pitched one inning allowing two hits and one run. This is the sixth time that a Twins position player has turned pitcher. Red Sox RF anf former Twins player Tom Brunansky has a huge day going 5 for 5 with a double and 2 home runs, scoring three times and knocking in 7 more.
Bobby Korecky
2008 – The Twins beat the Texas Rangers 7-6 in 12 innings at the Metrodome. After blowing a lead, the Twins scored one in the bottom of the 9th inning to tie the score at 6 apiece. The Twins give up their DH in the 10th inning and Twins reliever Bobby Korecky is forced to hit in the bottom of the 11th and delivers a single in what turns out to be the only time that a Twins pitcher has had a base hit in the Metrodome. The Twins end up scoring on a walk-off double by Howie Clark in the 12th inning. Korecky also gets the victory, his first major league win.
When the Minnesota Twins open the 2012 season in Baltimore on Friday, April 6 it will mark the 32nd time in 52 season openers that the team has opened their baseball season as road warriors. As a cold weather team, the Twins have only played the seasons first game at Met Stadium five times (63,65,66,71,81) and fifteen times at the Metrodome. In their short history at Target Field the Twins have never opened the season at home. The Twins have not charged out of the gate on a winning note over the years winning only won 24 and losing 27 season opening games. You can make a strong case that their first ever game as Minnesota Twins on April 11, 1961 in Yankee Stadium when Pedro Ramos shut out the New Yorks Yankees 6-0 on just 3 hits was their greatest season opener ever. The most frequest opening day opponent for the Twins has been the Oakland A’s. The Twins have played the Oakland A’s on opening day ten times (the last time in 1990), eight times in Oakland and twice at home (at the Met in 1981 and at the Metrodome in 1987) and the opening day series between these two teams is tied at five game each. The Twins have drawn the Seattle Mariners as opening day opponents four times, twice at home and twice on the road and the Twins have yet to beat the Mariners on opening day.
Pitcher Brad Radke has taken the mound for the Twins on opening day nine times including seven in a row between 1999 and 2005. Radke’s record on opening day was 4 wins, 2 losses, and 3 no decisions. Kent Hrbek has started 12 games at 1B on opening day, the most games that any Twins player has played at any position on opening day. A number of players have started opening day at their position nine times but Hrbek is still the leader in that category.
The Twins have opened the season in Baltimore only once before and that was back on April 11, 1967 in Memorial Stadium when Jim Kaat took the mound for the Twins but before he retired a single batter, the Orioles plated four runs and held on for a 6-3 win. The Twins only other season opener against the Baltimore Orioles occurred on April 2, 2007 at the Metrodome when the Twins behind starter Johan Sanatana and home runs from Torii Hunter and Justin Morneau won 7-4.
Here is who the Twins have faced and how they have fared on opening day.
