Twins players with just one hit on their Minnesota Twins resume

The players listed below had just one hit while wearing a Minnesota Twins uniform. Most had more than one big league hit in their big league careers but for our purposes we are just looking for those players that had just one hit while wearing Minnesota Twins colors. 

As you might suspect, since this list covers players that played for the Minnesota Twins from 1961 (when pitchers still batted) through 2019 the list has a lot of pitchers on it. The right-hand column on the list shows you the positions played by that player.

According to ELIAS – Bartolo Colon & Jaime Garcia

Colon notches complete-game win

 

Bartolo Colon

Bartolo Colon went the distance for the Twins on Friday to earn his first win since signing with Minnesota last month. At age 44, Colon became the oldest player to record a complete-game win in the last seven seasons. The last player that threw a complete game and earned a win at an older age than Colon was Jamie Moyer, who was 47 years young when he held the Padres to two runs over nine innings for the Phillies on June 5, 2010. Colon did stake his claim as the oldest player with a complete-game win for the Twins/Senators franchise, besting Connie Marrero who was 43 at the time of his last complete-game victory for the Senators in 1954.

Including Friday’s performance, Colon has thrown a complete game for eight different major-league teams: the Indians, Expos, Angels, White Sox, Yankees, A’s, Mets, and Twins. Only two other pitchers that debuted in the modern era – that is, since 1900 – pitched a complete game for at least eight different ball clubs. Mike Morgan did so for nine different teams, and Doyle Alexander did so for eight teams.

Friday’s game marked Colon’s first win at Target Field, which is the 40th venue at which Colon has recorded a win. Only three other pitchers in the modern era have notched a win at 40 or more stadiums – Randy Johnson (43), Jamie Moyer (42), and Pedro Martinez (40). The all-time record holder is Tim Keefe, who won 342 games at 47 different stadiums from 1880 to 1893.

Have baseball, will travel

Jaime Garcia

Jaime Garcia’s winning streak ended on Friday night after allowing six runs (five earned) in his debut with the Yankees against the Indians. Garcia, who earned a win in his final start for the Braves on July 21 as well as his only start for the Twins on July 28, did put his name in the record books in another way, becoming the first pitcher in major-league history to start a game for three different teams over a span of 15 days. The previous shortest span for a pitcher making a start for three different teams was 23 days, a mark set by Ed Daily in 1890 (Brooklyn Gladiators of the American Association, New York Giants, Louisville Colonels of A.A.) and tied by Ron Darling in 1991 (Mets, Expos, Athletics).

According to ELIAS – Bartolo Colon

Twins add sexy

 

Bartolo Colon

Bartolo Colon made his Twins debut on Tuesday night with a start against the Yankees. Minnesota is the 10th major-league team Colon has started for, becoming the fifth pitcher in major-league history to start for 10 different teams. Mike Morgan holds the all-time record; he started at least one game for 12 different teams and of course one of them was the Minnesota Twins.

This is sort of impossible to believe, but there have been eight pitchers older than the age that Bartolo Colon currently is to appear in a Major League Baseball game in the past 50 years. They are:

Hoyt Wilhelm (49, 1972)
Jamie Moyer (49, 2012)
Phil Niekro (48, 1987)
Nolan Ryan (46, 1993)
Jesse Orosco (46, 2003)
Tommy John (46, 1989)
Charlie Hough (46, 1995)
Randy Johnson (45, 2009)

Did you remember back to when Twins pitchers batted?

The Designated Hitter rule came into play in the American League for the first time in 1973 and pitchers in the AL had to put their bats into storage where they still sit today. Since 1973 very few AL pitchers have had to dust off  and apply pine tar to their bats before walking to home plate to try to get some wood on the ball.

Do you know what pitcher got the last hit for the Minnesota Twins before the DH cane into play? How about that last Twins pitcher to bat before the DH?

I guess it was fitting that a Minnesota native Dave Goltz would be the last Twins pitcher to bat at Met Stadium before pitchers were told not to bother to bring their bats to spring training the following season. But back to the last Twins pitcher to get a hit before the DH, it happened in the same game that Goltz had the last pitcher’s at bat in front of only 3,193 fans at Met Stadium. This pitcher finished his 1972 season with a .160 average which was a career best and six RBI. Two of those six RBI came in that last at bat when he hit a double and had two RBI off Chicago White Sox pitcher Dan Neumeier to make the score Twins 10 and the mighty whitey’s 0 in the top of the fifth inning. So who was this guy? You might be surprised. But if you can’t figure it out at least take a guess and then you can look it up in the box score.

Bobby Korecky
Bobby Korecky

After the 1972 season Twins pitchers never got a hit again outside of any post season action until 1997 when Interleague play was introduced. With Interleague play pitchers once again batted in NL parks but the DH was still in play in AL parks. There was one game since the DH started that a Twins pitcher came to bat in a home game and actually had a hit and that was Bobby Korecky back on May 19, 2008 in a four hour 12 inning marathon against the Texas Rangers.

Here is a list of Twins pitchers that have gotten hits since the DH came on the scene in 1973

Rk Player Date Tm Opp Rslt PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI
1 Kyle Gibson 2015-06-16 MIN STL L 2-3 2 2 0 1 0 0 0 0
2 Mike Pelfrey 2015-05-20 MIN PIT W 4-3 2 2 0 2 0 0 0 0
3 Kevin Correia 2014-07-12 MIN COL W 9-3 3 3 0 1 1 0 0 1
4 Kyle Gibson 2014-06-02 MIN MIL L 2-6 2 2 0 1 0 0 0 0
5 Scott Diamond 2013-06-26 MIN MIA L 3-5 3 3 0 1 0 0 0 0
6 Scott Diamond 2012-05-18 MIN MIL W 11-3 3 3 1 1 0 0 0 0
7 Scott Baker 2011-06-24 MIN MIL L 3-4 3 3 0 1 0 0 0 0
8 Francisco Liriano 2011-05-22 MIN ARI L 2-3 2 2 0 1 0 0 0 1
9 Scott Baker 2011-05-21 MIN ARI L 6-9 2 2 0 1 1 0 0 0
10 Carl Pavano 2010-06-26 MIN NYM W 6-0 4 3 0 2 0 0 0 0
11 Carl Pavano 2010-06-20 MIN PHI W 4-1 4 3 0 1 0 0 0 0
12 Scott Baker 2008-06-26 MIN SDP W 4-3 3 1 1 1 0 0 0 0
13 Kevin Slowey 2008-06-13 MIN MIL W 10-2 4 4 1 2 1 0 0 2
14 Bobby Korecky 2008-05-19 MIN TEX W 7-6 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0
15 Livan Hernandez 2008-05-17 MIN COL L 2-3 3 2 0 1 0 0 0 1
16 Nick Blackburn 2008-05-16 MIN COL W 4-2 3 3 0 1 0 0 0 0
17 Johan Santana 2007-06-24 MIN FLA W 7-4 3 3 1 1 0 1 0 1
18 Johan Santana 2007-06-19 MIN NYM W 9-0 5 4 1 1 1 0 0 0
19 Carlos Silva 2006-06-21 MIN HOU L 3-5 3 3 0 1 0 0 0 0
20 Francisco Liriano 2006-05-19 MIN MIL W 7-1 2 2 0 1 0 0 0 1
21 Joe Mays 2005-06-10 MIN LAD L 5-6 3 3 0 1 0 0 0 0
22 Johan Santana 2005-06-08 MIN ARI W 10-0 4 4 1 1 0 0 0 0
23 Johan Santana 2004-06-20 MIN MIL W 4-2 4 4 0 2 0 0 0 1
24 Johan Santana 2004-06-15 MIN MON W 8-2 4 4 0 1 0 0 0 1
25 Kyle Lohse 2003-06-21 MIN MIL L 1-8 2 1 0 1 0 0 0 0
26 Brad Radke 2003-06-20 MIN MIL L 2-3 2 2 0 1 0 0 0 0
27 Johan Santana 2003-06-07 MIN SDP W 6-2 3 3 0 1 0 0 0 0
28 Joe Mays 2003-06-03 MIN SFG W 6-4 3 1 0 1 0 0 0 0
29 Johan Santana 2002-06-23 MIN PHI W 5-1 2 2 0 1 0 0 0 0
30 Kyle Lohse 2002-06-16 MIN MIL W 7-6 2 2 0 1 0 0 0 0
31 Eric Milton 2002-06-15 MIN MIL W 5-2 4 4 0 2 0 0 0 1
32 Rick Reed 2002-06-14 MIN MIL L 5-7 3 3 0 1 0 0 0 0
33 Brad Radke 2001-07-13 MIN MIL L 3-6 2 2 0 1 0 0 0 0
34 Kyle Lohse 2001-07-12 MIN MIL W 13-5 4 4 0 2 1 0 0 1
35 Brad Radke 2001-06-17 MIN CHC L 4-5 2 2 0 1 0 0 0 0
36 Juan Rincon 2001-06-16 MIN CHC L 4-11 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0
37 J.C. Romero 2001-06-15 MIN CHC L 3-5 2 2 1 1 1 0 0 0
38 Joe Mays 2000-07-07 MIN PIT L 6-8 2 1 1 1 1 0 0 0
39 Sean Bergman 2000-06-03 MIN CIN L 3-9 2 2 0 1 1 0 0 0
40 Joe Mays 2000-06-02 MIN CIN L 3-4 2 2 0 1 0 0 0 0
41 Dan Perkins 1999-06-11 MIN MIL W 9-7 2 2 0 1 0 0 0 0
42 Eric Milton 1998-07-02 MIN CIN L 7-8 3 3 0 1 0 0 0 0
43 Eric Milton 1998-06-22 MIN HOU W 5-3 3 3 0 1 0 0 0 1
44 Eric Milton 1998-06-06 MIN PIT L 3-4 3 3 0 2 0 0 0 0
45 Mike Morgan 1998-06-05 MIN PIT L 1-6 2 2 1 1 0 0 0 0
46 Bob Tewksbury 1997-09-02 MIN CHC L 3-9 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 1
47 Rich Robertson 1997-06-14 MIN HOU W 6-1 2 2 0 1 0 0 0 0
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 1/2/2016.

Note that in 2009 Twins pitchers had no hits. Twins pitchers also had no hits between 1973 and 1996 although four pitchers had plate appearances, but sadly they all culminated with a strike out.

This Day in Twins History – August 25

Dean Chance8/25/1967Dean Chance pitches the second no-hitter in Twins history and defeats the Indians  2-1 in the second game of a double-header at Cleveland Stadium. The Indians actually scored first in this game when Chance walked Lee Maye and Vic Davalillo in the bottom of the first. Chance then struck out Chuck Hinton but Tony Horton reached on an error by SS Jackie Hernandez to load the bases. With Max Alvis batting, Chance threw a wild pitch and Maye scored the Indians first and only run. Chance then struck out Alvis and Joe Azcue flew out to end the threat. Chance then completed the game without allowing an Indian hit while striking out eight and walking a total of five batters. The Twins went on to score two runs and win this unusual no-hitter. Box Score

8/25/1970 – A bomb scare at Met Stadium delayed the Boston Red Sox vs. Minnesota Twins game forty-three (43) minutes. According to the Sporting News, a bomb scare forced a 43-minute delay in the fourth inning, but the only bomb that exploded was the homer by Tony Conigliaro off of Tom Hall in the eighth giving Red Sox 1-0 victory over Twins. A crowd of 17,697 evacuated the stands after announcement over public address system stated that a telephoned warning had been received that bomb was due to go off. The evacuation was orderly and without panic with about 2,000 fans, players, police and vendors gathered in the center-field area. The rest milled about in the parking lot. The bomb was supposed to go off at 10:30 PM so after a 27 minute wait, the game was resumed at 10:57 PM. The Sox end the game with a double play, the first out is a force at second base on a ball hit by Jim Holt and then Tony Oliva is caught in a rundown (6-5-2-5) trying to score from third. Ken Brett is the winner in relief over Tom Hall. Box Score

Bob Casey
Bob Casey

Bob Casey who was the Twins public address announcer for a long time and a Minnesota legend was at times a curmudgeon. One of the best anecdotes about him occurred during this bomb threat. “Bob,” a team official told Casey, “there’s a bomb threat, and we need to clear the stadium. So could you make some sort of announcement for people to calmly leave the stadium.” Casey assured them that it would be no problem. Moments later, he grabbed the microphone and shouted, “Ladies and gentlemen, please don’t panic but there’s going to be an EXPLOSION in 15 minutes!”

Jerry Zimmerman
Jerry Zimmerman

8/25/1978 – Major League umpires stage a one-day strike in defiance of their union contract. Semipro and amateur umps are pressed into service until a restraining order forces the strikers to return.  At Toronto at Exhibition Stadium, the Blue Jays beat the Twins 7 – 3, with two amateur umpires and two coaches officiating: Toronto coach Don Leppert was at 2B and Twins coach Jerry Zimmerman was at 3B. Since 1910, this was just the 5th time this century, and the first time since 1941, that active players or coaches have acted as umpires. The umpires will walk out again at the beginning of the 1979 season

8/25/1998 – The Twins like many teams before them, send pitcher Mike Morgan packing, this time to the Cubs and pitcher Scott Downs heads to Minnesota. Morgan pitched for 12 different ML teams (13 if you count that he was traded to the Cubs twice) between 1978 and 2002 before he finally calls it quits.

8/25/2008 – The Twins make a deal with the Texas Rangers and reacquire relief pitcher Eddie Guardado and send pitcher Mark Hamburger to Texas. Hamburger resigned with the Twins as a free agent in September 2013.

This Day in Twins History – August 25

8/25/1967 – Dean Chance pitches the second no-hitter in Twins history and defeats the Indians 2-1 in the second game of a double-header at Cleveland Stadium. The Indians actually scored first in this game when Chance walked Lee Maye and Vic Davalillo in the bottom of the first. Chance then struck out Chuck Hinton but Tony Horton reached on an error by SS Jackie Hernandez to load the bases. With Max Alvis batting, Chance threw a wild pitch and Maye scored the Indians first and only run. Chance then struck out Alvis and Joe Azcue flew out to end the threat. Chance then completed the game without allowing an Indian hit while striking out eight and walking a total of five batters. The Twins went on to score two runs and win this unusual no-hitter.

8/25/1970 – A bomb scare at Met Stadium delayed the Boston Red Sox vs. Minnesota Twins game forty-three (43) minutes. According to the Sporting News, a bomb scare forced a 43-minute delay in the fourth inning, but the only bomb that exploded was the homer by Tony Conigliaro off of Tommy Hall in the eighth giving Red Sox 1-0 victory over Twins. A crowd of 17,697 evacuated the stands after announcement over public address system stated that a telephoned warning had been received that bomb was due to go off. The evacuation was orderly and without panic with about 2,000 fans, players, police and vendors gathered in the center-field area. The rest milled about in the parking lot. The bomb was supposed to go off at 10:30 PM so after a 27 minute wait, the game was resumed at 10:57 PM. The Sox end the game with a double play, a 1-6 force at second base, then a throw home to nab Tony Oliva trying to score. Ken Brett is the winner in relief over Tommy Hall.

Bob Casey

Bob Casey who was the Twins public address announcer for a long time and a Minnesota legend was at times a curmudgeon. One of the best anecdotes about him occurred during this bomb threat. “Bob,” a team official told Casey, “there’s a bomb threat, and we need to clear the stadium. So could you make some sort of announcement for people to calmly leave the stadium.” Casey assured them that it would be no problem. Moments later, he grabbed the microphone and shouted, “Ladies and gentlemen, please don’t panic but there’s going to be an EXPLOSION in 15 minutes!”

8/25/1978 – Major League umpires stage a one-day strike in defiance of their union contract. Semipro and amateur umps are pressed into service until a restraining order forces the strikers to return. At Toronto at Exhibition Stadium, the Blue Jays beat the Twins 7 – 3, with two amateur umpires and two coaches officiating: Toronto coach Don Leppert was at 2B and Twins coach Jerry Zimmerman was at 3B. Since 1910, this was just the 5th time this century, and the first time since 1941, that active players or coaches have umpired. The umpires will walk out again at the beginning of the 1979 season

8/25/1998 – The Twins like many teams before them, send pitcher Mike Morgan packing, this time to the Cubs and pitcher Scott Downs heads to Minnesota. Morgan pitched for 12 different ML teams (13 if you count that he was traded to the Cubs twice) between 1978 and 2002 before he finally calls it quits.

8/25/2008 – The Twins make a deal with the Texas Rangers and reacquired relief pitcher Eddie Guardado and send pitcher Mark Hamburger to Texas.

Be sure to bookmark our Today in Twins History page so you can check out events like the ones mentioned above each and every day.

Interesting facts about the MLB first-year player draft

The first-year player draft was initiated in 1965 and since then a total of 60,428 players have been drafted. During that time, a total of 8,493 players (14.05%), which includes drafted players, non-drafted players and foreign-born players, have appeared in at least one Major League game.

Since the first-year player draft was initiated in 1965, 21 players that were drafted went straight to the big leagues to start their professional careers with out playing in a minor league game. Most eventually ended up spending time in the minors. The only Minnesota Twins player to accomplish this feat was LHP Eddie Bane. The Twins drafted Bane out of Arizona State University in June of 1973 and Bane his big league debut at Met Stadium on July 4th. Bane ended up spending parts of three seasons in the big leagues with Minnesota and had a 7-13 big league record between 1973, 1975 and 1976. Former Twins pitcher RHP Mike Morgan was picked by the Oakland A’s out of high school in 1978 and went straight to the big leagues too.

Since the drafted was put in place, the Minnesota Twins have had more first round picks, 58, than any other big league team. Oakland is closest with 53 first round picks and Tampa has the least with 18.

The very first pick in 1965 was ASU outfielder Rick Monday who went on to have a long career. The first player to made it to the big leagues out of this draft was RHP Joe Coleman the 3rd over all pick with the Washington Senators.

The Twins very first rounder in 1965 was shortstop Eddie Leon out of the University of Arizona but he chose not to sign with the Twins. The following season (1966) the Twins picked 3B Bob Jones in round 1 and 20th over all and he never appeared in a big league game. The Twins picked Steve Garvey in round 3 in 1966 but he chose to go to college before starting his long 19 year pro baseball career.

In 1967 the Twins picked Steve Brye in round 1 and 19th over all and he became the first Twins drafted player to play for the Twins when he debuted in 1970 and went on to play for Minnesota between 1970-1976.

The Twins have had the first over all pick twice, once in 1973 when they took RHP Tim Belcher who chose not to sign with Minnesota and catcher Joe Mauer whom they took first in 2001.

In 1978 the Twins picked shortstop Lenny Faedo with their first pick and he played for the Twins from 1980-1984. A number of pretty good players were picked later, HOF Cal Ripken was picked in the 2nd round that year, Kent Hrbek in the 17th round and HOF Ryne Sandberg was picked in round 20. You never know…..

The last high school player to be picked 1st over all is shortstop Tim Beckham picked by Tampa in 2008.

24 drafted players have gone on to be selected to the Hall of Fame. To this point no player selected 1st over all has ever gone on to have a HOF career. The Twins have drafted two players who have gone on to HOF careers, Bert Blyleven in 1969 and Kirby Puckett in 1982.

Since 1965, 33.8% of the picks have been RHP, 13.6% have been LHP, 10.2% have been catchers, 24% have been infielders, and 18.2% have been outfielders.

64% of the players drafted in 2011 went on to sign big league contracts.

Of the 638 players on the 2012 Opening Day rosters, 23.5% were drafted 1-30 over all and 378 or 59.2% were drafted 1-150 over all (basically the first 5 rounds).

These facts have been derived from the 2012 First-Year Player Draft Selection Guide.