Twins Milestone Home Runs from 1961-2021

Over the years the Minnesota Twins have hit 8,591 home runs since they started play in 1961 through the 2021 season. Let’s take a look at some milestone home runs, who hit them and where did they hit them. You might want to take note that the Minnesota Twins won 10 of these 12 games.

#1 was hit by Bob Allison on 4-11-61 at Yankee Stadium off Whitey Ford in a Twins 6-0 win in the first game they ever played.

#100 was hit by Bob Allison on 7-19-61 at Wrigley Field off the Angels Ron Kline in a 6-0 Twins win in game one of a DH.

Another occurrence of strange but true

Ryan Harper

This past Thursday Ryne Harper pitched 3.1 innings of solid relief against the Toronto Blue Jays at Target Field giving his team a chance to come back and win the game. The Twins didn’t come back to win the game but the 31-year-old rookie pitcher did his share. 

Twins relief pitchers have pitched 3 or more innings in a game 1,787 times since 1961. From 1961-1969 Twins relievers did it 282 times, in the 70’s they did it 475 times, in the 80’s they did it 388 times, in the 90’s they did it 358 times, in the 2000’s Twins relievers did it 161 times and from 2010 through yesterday it has been done 123 times and to be fair, some of these occurrences starting in 2018 are “primary pitchers” following an “opener”. 

Ray Corbin

The longest Twins relief appearance took place back on May 25, 1975 when Ray Corbin relieved Vic Albury after just two outs when the Detroit Tigers jumped on Albury for three first inning runs at Metropolitan Stadium and manager Frank Quilici had seen enough. Corbin pitched the next 10.1 innings allowing just two runs (one earned) on seven hits and four walks along with four strikeouts. The game was tied at 4-4 after five innings until the Tigers scored an unearned run off Corbin (Corbin’s error) in the top of the 11th inning to take a 5-4 lead. In the bottom of the 11th Tiger pitcher John Hiller walked Steve Brye and Larry Hisle followed with a two-run home run and the Twins walked off the Tigers 6-5 with Ray Corbin getting the well deserved win. Just four days earlier Corbin had pitched 6.1 innings of relief.

Vic Albury

As irony would have it, just over a month later on June 30th the Twins were facing the California Angels at the Met and the Twins started Ray Corbin. Before Corbin could retire a single Angel batter he gave up five straight singles and John Doherty followed with a three-run homer, the only home run he would hit that season and the Angels were up 6-0 and Twins skipper Frank Quilici sent Corbin to the showers and called for Vic Albury. Albury held the Angels scoreless for 8 innings before running into trouble in the ninth when he gave up four runs but only one earned run on three hits and an error. Albury pitched 9 innings of relief allowing the one earned run on six hits and seven walks while striking out four batters and ended up with a no decision for his days work as the Angels beat the Twins 10-3.

Twins relievers have pitched seven or more innings in a game a total of 33 times. Ray Corbin and Tom Burgmeier each did it on three occasions. It has been a long time since it was done last, 34 years ago Dennis Burtt was the last Twins pitcher to pitch seven or more innings of relief when he did it in October of 1985 in a 8-6 Twins loss to the Indians at the Metrodome.

Here is a list of games in which a Minnesota Twins reliever pitched seven or more innings.

It appears that it is just not starting pitchers that are pitching fewer innings in each start, it looks like relievers don’t stay in games as long either.

And he goes down swinging!

Harmon Killebrew

We all know that strikeout rates are up all across baseball for the last few years but today we will look at Minnesota Twins batters and their strikeout rates going back to 1961. We used B-R’s amazing Play Index to find what we were looking for.

The top two all time Twins leader in strikeouts are Harmon Killebrew with 1,314 and Joe Mauer with 1,034. Mauer? What the heck? Longevity can do strange things to numbers and the devil is in the details.

Minnesota Twins Top 10 Left Fielders

Between 1961-2018 there have been 70 players that have played at least 10 games in left field for our Minnesota Twins. However, to qualify for this list which ranks them in Baseball-Reference WAR order the player must have played left field in at least 51% of their games while wearing a Twins uniform. This eliminates players like Harmon Killebrew, Bob Allison, Tony Oliva, Gary Gaetti, Torii Hunter and Cesar Tovar who played left field at different points in their careers. Dan Gladden is the Twins all-time leader in games played in left field.

 

Shane Mack

 

Results
Rk Player WAR/pos From To G AB R H HR RBI BA OPS
1 Shane Mack 19.6 1990 1994 633 2161 351 668 67 315 .309 .854
2 Larry Hisle 17.2 1973 1977 662 2437 369 697 87 409 .286 .811
3 Gary Ward 10.6 1979 1983 417 1543 216 439 51 219 .285 .794
4 Eddie Rosario 8.8 2015 2018 503 1889 278 529 74 237 .280 .784
5 Marty Cordova 5.8 1995 1999 628 2322 336 643 79 385 .277 .799
6 Dan Gladden 5.7 1987 1991 644 2470 358 661 38 238 .268 .700
7 Shannon Stewart 4.9 2003 2006 333 1373 179 404 29 162 .294 .772
8 Josh Willingham 4.8 2012 2014 324 1132 161 263 61 192 .232 .799
9 Delmon Young 1.0 2008 2011 497 1845 233 530 47 273 .287 .753
10 Brant Alyea 0.5 1970 1971 173 416 47 103 18 76 .248 .753
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 12/22/2018.

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Twins Top 10 Catchers

Twins Top 10 First Baseman

Twins Top 10 Second Basemen

Twins Top 10 Third Baseman

Twins Top 10 Shortstops

Twins Top 10 Right Fielders

Twins Top 10 Center Fielders

Twins Top 10 Left Fielders

Top Twins DH

Twins walk-off wins – 1961-2017

Twins walk-off King

Harmon Killebrew

In the past 57 seasons the Minnesota Twins have walked off their opponents 403 times. Kirby Puckett leads the Minnesota Twins in career walk-off’s wins by delivering the winning run in some manner 11 times, it might have been on a hit, walk, HBP, error or a sacrifice. Second on the list is Harmon Killebrew. I guess that is why these guys are Hall of Fame players.

The Twins have walked off their opponent with a single a total of 196 times. Rod Carew  did it seven times and is the leader in this category and it has been done five times by Alexi Casilla, Harmon Killebrew, Brian Harper, Larry Hisle, Kent Hrbek and Jacque Jones.

The Twins have hit 108 walk-off home runs and Justin Morneau leads the pack here with five and is followed Gary Gaetti, Harmon Killebrew, Kirby Puckett, Tony Oliva and Kent Hrbek with four each. One was an inside the park job by Tim Teufel.

The Twins have walked off their opponents with doubles 35 times and Kirby Puckett did it 3 times, the following players each did it twice, Cristian Guzman, Rich Reese, Tony Oliva, Eduardo Escobar, Shannon Stewart, Glenn Borgmann  and Tom Brunansky.

The Sacrifice Fly has led to 25 Twins walk-off wins with only Zoilo Versalles and Cristian Guzman doing it more than once.

The Twins have walked-off opponents 12 times on an opposing team error.

The Twins have walked-off their opponent 11 times when they drew a bases-loaded walk. 

The Twins have had six walk-off triples and no one has more than one.

The Twins have celebrated a walk-off win six times after a simple ground out.

The Twins have two walk-off wins via getting hit by a pitch (Paul Molitor and Max Kepler).

The first player to deliver a walk-off win was Zoilo Versalles and the most recent to do it is Byron Buxton.

 

Major League Debuts as Minnesota Twins – Beresford, Heintz, Bowyer, Becker, Hocking, Stahoviak, Jorgensen, Johnson, Adams, Morris, & Dotter

Lots of players that made their big league debut as a Minnesota Twin on September 10.

James Beresford

James Beresford (1B/3B/2B) – September 10, 2016 – Signed by the Minnesota Twins as an amateur free agent on August 13, 2005. Made his major league debut at Target Field as the starting third baseman hitting eighth. James was 1 for 4 with a sacrifice in 5 PA’s and helped celebrate a Twins 2-1 victory over the Indians.

Chris Heintz (C) – September 10, 2005 – Signed as a Free Agent with the Minnesota Twins on November 21, 2003. Heintz debuted as a replacement for Mike Redmond as the catcher with the Twins down 7-2 at Jacobs Field. The Twins ended up losing 7-5 and Heintz was in the on deck circle awaiting his first plate appearance when the game ended.

Travis Bowyer (P) – September 10, 2005 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 20th round of the 1999 MLB June Amateur Draft. Bowyer debuted in the same game as Chris Heintz but Bowyer entered the game in relief with no outs and the bases full of Indians. Bowyer got the first batter on a sac fly and then threw a wild pitch moving the runners-up before allowing a single to score another run and his night was over at Jacobs Field in the 7-5 loss to Cleveland after 7 pitches.

Rich Becker (OF) – September 10, 1993 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 3rd round of the 1990 amateur draft. Becker,  Hocking, and Stahoviak all debuted in the same game. Becker debuted in the lead-off spot while playing center field and went 2 for 5, both hits were doubles and he scored a run and struck out 3 times. Twins lost 3-2 in Arlington Stadium.

According to ELIAS – Miguel Sano and a great come-back win

Twins storm back against Orioles

The Twins spotted the Orioles a 5–0 lead last night but came roaring back to win in Baltimore, 14–7. It’s the first time the Twins won a game by at least five runs after trailing by five or more runs in over 18 years, since a 13–8 win in Cleveland on April 17, 1999, in which they trailed by six runs at one point.

Sano is a bona fide slugger (you think?)

Miguel Sano

Miguel Sano slammed his 11th home run of the season and drove in three runs, bringing his season total to 37 RBIs in 40 games. The only other players in Twins history, including their days as the Washington Senators, to have as many homers and RBIs as Sano in their first 40 games of a season were Larry Hisle in 1977 (11 HR, 42 RBIs) and Joe Mauer in 2009 (13 HR, 40 RBIs).

This Day in Twins History – March 6, 1973 – DH comes into play

In an exhibition game with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Minnesota Twin Larry Hisle becomes the first designated hitter in ML history. Hisle makes the new AL rule look good by collecting 2 HR’s and 7 RBI.

Larry Hisle

The story on why Hisle became the first DH is interesting in itself. The first Spring Training game in the AL in 1973 fell to the Twins. But Minnesota had plans for the recently acquired Cardinals prospect Hisle in the outfield, and he was penciled in as the center fielder as camp got under way. At least, until the morning of the first game, when Hisle injured his toe after tripping over a chair while horsing around with his son. Twins skipper Frank Quilici still wanted to get his new player some swings so he decided to leave him in the lineup at this newfangled DH spot. And while there had been designated “pinch” hitters used in Spring Training games as a trial since 1969, this was the first time a player batted as a DH under the new rule.

When the 1973 season began, 34 year-old Tony Oliva was the Twins primary DH and started 138 games in that role. Larry Hisle as it turns out didn’t appear in a big league regular season game as a DH until July 18, 1975.

Baseball’s 10th man – Pioneer or Pigeon is a interesting write-up on the DH from the Saturday Evening Post July/August 1973 edition that is worth your read.

Saturday Evening Post July_August 1973

Twins career OBP and OPS leaders

Twins Career OBP Leaders

Joe Mauer

Rk Player OBP PA From To G AB H HR BB IBB SO BA OPS
1 Joe Mauer .401 5578 2004 2014 1298 4833 1540 109 676 115 660 .319 .860
2 Rod Carew .393 6980 1967 1978 1635 6235 2085 74 613 99 716 .334 .841
3 Chuck Knoblauch .391 4573 1991 1997 1013 3939 1197 43 513 19 453 .304 .807
4 Chili Davis .385 1163 1991 1992 291 978 276 41 168 24 193 .282 .862
5 Harmon Killebrew .383 8018 1961 1974 1939 6593 1713 475 1321 152 1314 .260 .901
6 Matt Lawton .379 3150 1995 2001 771 2672 739 72 408 31 335 .277 .808
7 Steve Braun .376 2830 1971 1976 751 2429 689 35 356 24 285 .284 .757
8 Shane Mack .375 2434 1990 1994 633 2161 668 67 200 5 381 .309 .854
9 Corey Koskie .373 3257 1998 2004 816 2788 781 101 385 39 647 .280 .836
10 Doug Mientkiewicz .367 2505 1998 2004 643 2147 590 43 300 23 308 .275 .776
11 Kent Hrbek .367 7137 1981 1994 1747 6192 1749 293 838 110 798 .282 .848
12 Lyman Bostock .366 1577 1975 1977 379 1436 456 18 112 12 138 .318 .812
13 Paul Molitor .362 1885 1996 1998 422 1700 530 23 146 23 186 .312 .794
14 Bob Allison .361 4643 1961 1970 1236 3926 999 211 641 25 842 .254 .840
15 Kirby Puckett .360 7831 1984 1995 1783 7244 2304 207 450 85 965 .318 .837
16 Lenny Green .359 1754 1961 1964 485 1514 406 27 204 5 113 .268 .742
17 Denard Span .357 2671 2008 2012 589 2354 669 23 254 6 321 .284 .746
18 Luis Castillo .357 1036 2006 2007 227 933 279 3 85 0 86 .299 .720
19 Earl Battey .356 3161 1961 1967 853 2762 768 76 328 35 315 .278 .765
20 Shannon Stewart .354 1523 2003 2006 333 1373 404 29 120 7 172 .294 .772
21 Larry Hisle .354 2764 1973 1977 662 2437 697 87 251 19 478 .286 .811
22 Josh Willingham .353 1364 2012 2014 324 1132 263 61 184 9 347 .232 .799
23 Tony Oliva .353 6880 1962 1976 1676 6301 1917 220 448 131 645 .304 .830
24 Roy Smalley .350 4676 1976 1987 1148 3997 1046 110 549 31 606 .262 .750
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 2/13/2015.

To qualify for this Twins career OBP leaders list the player had to have a minimum of 1,000 plate appearances as a Minnesota Twin and have a OBP equal to or greater than .350 . The players above made the cut, anyone on this list surprise you? Joe Mauer is the Twins career OBP leader and yet he still takes a lot of abuse for his hitting. I think we need to appreciate Joe Mauer for the hitter he is. Just missing the cut, Lew Ford

 

Twins Career OPS Leaders

Harmon Killebrew

Rk Player OPS PA From To G AB H 2B 3B HR BB BA OBP SLG
1 Harmon Killebrew .901 8018 1961 1974 1939 6593 1713 232 21 475 1321 .260 .383 .518
2 Chili Davis .862 1163 1991 1992 291 978 276 61 3 41 168 .282 .385 .476
3 Joe Mauer .860 5578 2004 2014 1298 4833 1540 309 22 109 676 .319 .401 .459
4 Shane Mack .854 2434 1990 1994 633 2161 668 119 24 67 200 .309 .375 .479
5 Kent Hrbek .848 7137 1981 1994 1747 6192 1749 312 18 293 838 .282 .367 .481
6 Rod Carew .841 6980 1967 1978 1635 6235 2085 305 90 74 613 .334 .393 .448
7 Bob Allison .840 4643 1961 1970 1236 3926 999 167 41 211 641 .254 .361 .479
8 Kirby Puckett .837 7831 1984 1995 1783 7244 2304 414 57 207 450 .318 .360 .477
9 Corey Koskie .836 3257 1998 2004 816 2788 781 180 13 101 385 .280 .373 .463
10 Justin Morneau .832 5350 2003 2013 1278 4749 1318 289 16 221 501 .278 .347 .485
11 Tony Oliva .830 6880 1962 1976 1676 6301 1917 329 48 220 448 .304 .353 .476
12 Don Mincher .824 1762 1961 1966 590 1511 369 73 9 90 220 .244 .341 .483
13 Jimmie Hall .815 2102 1963 1966 573 1885 507 73 16 98 191 .269 .334 .481
14 Lyman Bostock .812 1577 1975 1977 379 1436 456 78 26 18 112 .318 .366 .446
15 Larry Hisle .811 2764 1973 1977 662 2437 697 109 23 87 251 .286 .354 .457
16 David Ortiz .809 1693 1997 2002 455 1477 393 108 3 58 186 .266 .348 .461
17 Matt Lawton .808 3150 1995 2001 771 2672 739 163 13 72 408 .277 .379 .428
18 Chuck Knoblauch .807 4573 1991 1997 1013 3939 1197 210 51 43 513 .304 .391 .416
19 Josh Willingham .799 1364 2012 2014 324 1132 263 55 2 61 184 .232 .353 .446
20 Marty Cordova .799 2620 1995 1999 628 2322 643 139 14 79 233 .277 .348 .451
21 Michael Cuddyer .794 4555 2001 2011 1139 4072 1106 239 35 141 411 .272 .343 .451
22 Paul Molitor .794 1885 1996 1998 422 1700 530 102 17 23 146 .312 .362 .432
23 Gary Ward .794 1681 1979 1983 417 1543 439 80 20 51 115 .285 .333 .461
24 Torii Hunter .793 4894 1997 2007 1234 4492 1218 259 26 192 319 .271 .324 .469
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 2/13/2015.

To qualify for this Twins career OPS leaders list the player had to have a minimum of 1,000 plate appearances as a Minnesota Twin and have a OPS equal to or greater than .790 . AJ Pierzynski just missed the cut at .788 . Number three on this list is Joe Mauer and we continue to bash him for not hitting more home runs.

This Day in Twins History – September 10, 1974

Vic AlburyForty years ago today only 3,285 fans witness what turns out to be a wild and wooly game between the Chicago White Sox and the Twins at the Met. Twins starter Vic Albury leaves after 7 with a 3-1 lead and closer Bill Campbell comes in to shut the door in what seems to be a routine ball game. Campbell retires the Whitey’s in the 8th with no scoring but in the top of the 9th all hell breaks loose. Before Campbell can retire a batter he gives up a single, then a double and Brian Downing then steps up to the plate and promptly hits a 3-run home run to tie the game at 4. The next batter singles and manager Quilici has seen enough and he brings in Tom Burgmeier who quickly gives up another single but settles down and retires the next three White Sox without any further damage and the Twins fail to score in the bottom of the ninth so to extra innings we go.

Tom Johnson
Tom Johnson

Larry HisleNeither team scores in the 10th but in the top of the 11th inning the White Sox get a single, a sacrifice and another single and take a 5-4 lead but Burgmeier closes the door. Craig Kusick leads off the bottom of the 11th for the Twins with a home run and once again we are tied, this time at 5. The 12th inning is scoreless. In the 13th the White Sox put a couple of hits together off of Burgy and take a 6-5 lead but once again the Twins fight back with walks to Eric Soderholm, Craig Kusick, and a sacrifice/fielders choice by Danny Thompson and the Twins have the bases loaded with one out. Glenn Borgmann singles to left to score Soderholm but Jerry Terrell who was running for Kusick is thrown out at home but the game is tied at 6 apiece. The White Sox escape further damage and the game moves on to the 14th inning. For some reason, Twins manager Frank Quilici brings in St. Paul native Tom Johnson to make his major league pitching debut in the 14th inning in a tie ball game. The rookie pitcher gives up two singles and commits an error and the White Sox push a run across to take a 7-6 lead. In the bottom of the 14h inning the Twins get a single from Soderholm and a double from Tony Oliva and yes, the game is tied at 7 once again. Johnson pitches a 1-2-3 top of the 15th and the Twins come to bat in the bottom of the inning facing future hall of famer, Goose Gossage. Steve Brye strikes out but Rod Carew singles and proceeds to steal second, Larry Hisle steps up and singles to left and Carew scores and the Twins have an unbelievable 8-7 victory. Twins Tom Burgmeier pitched 5 innings of relief and Tom Johnson pitched two innings in his major league debut and won his first major league game in his first big league appearance. The fans sure got their money’s worth in this 4 hour and 7 minute game.

Box score