Tag: Rick Dempsey

Back in Time to June 1967

What we have here is a clipping from the Sunday, June 4, 1967 Star Tribune Sports section and a story about the up-coming June free agent draft with assistant farm director George Brophy.

You have to love Brophy’s best picks going into the draft being listed in the local paper. Was Brophy being honest or just blowing smoke? You sure don’t see things like that now days. Let’s take a closer look.

The first guy on the list is Terry Hughes and he was the second overall pick by the Cubs. Next on the list was Mike Garman and he was the third overall pick by the Red Sox. Don Blemberg was the next player on the list but the name was incorrect, it was really Ron Blomberg and he was the first overall pick in the draft by the Yankees. Fourth on the list is Wayne Simpson and he was the eighth overall selection by the Reds. Phil Meyer was next on the list he went number 14 overall to the Phillies but never made it to the big leagues. Mike Nunn is next and the Angels used the ninth overall selection to draft this catcher who would never reach the majors. Next on the Brophy list is Brian Bickerson who was really Brien Bickerton who was taken seventh overall by the Athletics but he too never had a big league appearance. Next up, Larry Keener who turned out to be a round two pick by the Phillies and he too spent his big league career in the minors. Next up is catcher Ted Simmons and he was taken tenth overall by the Cardinals and he went on to have a long 21-year big league career. Larry Matlock is the tenth guy on the list and he is really Jon Matlack who was picked by the Mets as the fourth overall selection and he had a very nice career. Up next was Jim Feer but he turns out to be Jim Foor and he was picked 15th overall by the Tigers and he had a brief big league career. The last player on this 12-man list is a pitcher by the name of Dave Kingman. The Angels got Kingman in the middle of round two and turned him into a position player that some of you might know as Kong Kingman. Yes, he is the same guy that put a ball into the Metrodome ceiling. Actually the best player (by WAR) selected in the first round (or any round) that year was shortstop Bobby Grich who was taken 19th overall by the Orioles.

So, what did the Twins do with their 17th pick? The Twins chose third baseman Steve Brye who became the first ever Twins first round pick to put on a Twins uniform when he debuted with Minnesota in September of 1970. Brye went on to spend all or parts of seven seasons with Minnesota but only appeared in 100 or more games twice. The best players the Twins drafted in 1967 turned out to be pitcher Dave Goltz a fifth round pick and catcher Rick Dempsey a 15th round pick who went on play in the big leagues for 24 years but the Twins traded him early on to the New York Yankees for Danny Walton.

As far as the players names being misspelled is concerned, it is not all that unusual for that time period for the scouts and teams to have incorrect spelling of prospect names and every now and then the same player was picked by two different teams because of the spelling of their names.

Major League Debuts as Minnesota Twins – Cuddyer & Dempsey

We have two debuts as Twins for you today, September 23rd, as we approach the finish line. Rick Dempsey played in the big leagues for all or parts of 24 years while Michael Cuddyer played for all or parts of 15 seasons. Those are some good career’s.

 

Michael Cuddyer

Michael Cuddyer (OF/1B/3B) – September 23, 2001 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 1st round (9th) of the 1997 MLB June Amateur Draft. Cuddyer debuted at the Dome as the starting DH hitting 8th against the Cleveland Indians. Cuddyer took a walk in his first PA and then went 1 for 2 with a double and a strike out before being lifted for pinch-hitter David Ortiz. At the end of the day the scoreboard shows the Indians with 4 run and the Twins with 2.

 

Rick Dempsey – Credit: Topps

Rick Dempsey (C) – September 23, 1969 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 15th round of the 1967 amateur draft. Debuted at Municipal Stadium against the Kansas City Royals when he replaced John Roseboro as the catcher in the fourth inning. Dempsey went 1 for 2 before he was lifted for pinch-runner Herman Hill in a Twins 6-2 win.

You can check out other Major League Debuts as Twins that I have done by going here.

Former Twins outfielder Danny Walton passes away a age 70

Former Minnesota Twins player Danny Walton passed away on August 9, 2017 at the age of 70. Daniel James Walton was born in Los Angeles, California on July 14, 1947 and passed away on August 9, 2017 in Morgan, Utah.

Walton’s pro baseball career started in 1965 when he was drafted in the 10th round by the Houston Astros.  A much heralded minor league slugger, he put up huge numbers in Triple-A and appeared headed for major league glory. Many fans compared him to Mickey Mantle, with the full expectation that he would succeed The Mick as the game’s next great slugger. In fact, Walton’s nickname was “Mickey.” This obviously never came to pass.

Walton debuted with the Astros at the age of 20 on April 20, 1968 but he only got 2 plate appearances with Houston before they traded him to the Seattle Pilots in August 1969. Walton was so dominant in the American Association in 1969 that The Sporting News voted Walton its Minor League Player of the Year. The following year, 1970, the Pilots became the Milwaukee Brewers and Walton quickly became a fan favorite. His growing strikeout rate and a knee injury finally forced the Brewers hand and they traded Walton to the New York Yankees in June of 1971. Receiving little playing time in New York they then traded Walton to the Minnesota Twins in October 1972 for catcher Rick Dempsey.

Walton’s time in the Minnesota organization lasted 3 years but he only appeared in a Twins uniform in 37 games in 1973 and 42 games in 1975 and spending the rest of his time in AAA. Playing for the Twins AAA Tacoma Twins in 1974 Walton tried switch-hitting smashed 35 home runs, knocked in 109 runs while hitting a respectable .263. Danny Walton’s strikeouts continued to plague him and he hit just .176 with 5 home runs for the Twins in a total of 79 games and 179 PA’s in 1973-1975. In December 1975 the Twins traded Walton to the Los Angeles Dodgers for 2B Bobby Randall.

After playing in 18 games for LA he was traded back to his first team the Houston Astros where he again played briefly before being released in March of 1978. Walton then went to Japan to play for the Yokohama Taiyo Whales in the Japan Central league where he appeared in 75 games before leaving there and signing with the Seattle Mariners in March of 1979 but he never played in a big league game for them. In March of 1980 he was released by the Mariners but was signed by the Texas Rangers where he appeared in the final 10 games of his big league career. The Rangers traded him to the Cincinnati Reds in December of 1980. Walton spent the 1980 season in AAA before calling it a career. 

Over a professional career that lasted from 1965 to 1980, Walton played for six major league teams and 13 minor league franchises.Outside of his one decent season in Milwaukee, he never gained traction in the major leagues. But he didn’t give up, kept going back to the minor leagues, and became one of the greatest Triple-A sluggers of the expansion era. In parts or all of 10 Triple-A seasons, he hit 184 home runs and slugged .507.

To this day, Walton remains a minor league legend. While not many major league fans saw Walton play, many fans of my age and older have heard the stories of his prodigious power and his tape-measure home runs. There is a certain mystique to the name Danny Walton. All things considered, that’s not a bad legacy to have.

After leaving baseball, Walton worked as a welder. He was the happiest man with a great love for life and people. He was loud, funny and very affectionate. He had so many friends that loved to be in his company.

 In 1983, Danny married Judy in Elko, Nevada. It was love at first sight for them and they were able to spend 34 wonderful years together.

Danny is survived by his wife, Judy, sisters, Charlene (Steve) Alzugaray, Marian (Larry) Kane, brother-in-law, Mick (Christine) Jungles, Brard (Dixie) Bailey, Lyle (Lisa) Bailey, and his children, Cody (Vicki) Walton, Amy Walton, Shelly Walton, Jason Polaro, Daniel Zahl, Bryan (Cassie) Roberts, and Brandon (Tonya) Robertson and nine grandchildren.. He was preceded in death by his parents and one sister, Catherine May Walton and brother-in-law, Vaughn “Duck” Bailey.

The Hardball Time did a great story on Danny Walton that you can read here.

Danny Walton Obituary

Rest in Peace Danny Walton and thank you for the wonderful memories.

The 1967 AL Pennant Race – Part 12 – Dean Chance and the no-hitter that wasn’t and the 1967 draft

Dean Chance is perfect for five innings

Dean Chance

The following story that was written for the SABR Games Project about Dean Chance’s five inning no-hitter that turned out not to be a no-hitter after the fact was written by local sports historian and Minnesota Twins official score-keeper Stew Thornley. 

Dean Chance is perfect for five innings – August 6, 1967

Close, but no cigar: No-hitters not officially recognized

 

 

The Twins drafted Oakland high school star third baseman Steve Brye on June 6, 1967 in round 1 and 17 overall. Over 7 seasons with Minnesota Brye appeared in just 537 games, mostly as a pinch-hitter or back-up outfielder.

Later in the 1967 draft the Twins selected and signed RHP Dave Goltz in round 5, RHP Steve Luebber in round 13, and catcher Rick Dempsey in round 15. The Twins drafted LHP Al Hrabosky in round 11 but did not sign him.

The rest of the stories that I have done on the 1967 AL pennant race can be found here.

Minnesota Twins who have received Hall of Fame votes over the years

We all know about the Minnesota Twins players who have been enshrined in the MLB Hall of Fame and it is a great and rare honor to get voted in. Over the years a number of outstanding and I think “hall worthy” Minnesota Twins players have received votes but never enough to get that call they have waited for, I would put players like Tony Oliva, Jim Kaat and Jack Morris in that category.

Oliva
Kaat
Morris

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a list of other one-time Twins players who received at least one vote in HOF balloting through 2017 voting, some deserved it and others I have to wonder what the voter was thinking.

 Jacque Jones, Kenny Rogers, Brad Radke, Bret Boone, Jesse Orosco, Chuck Knoblauch, Gary Gaetti, Rick Aguilera, Chili Davis, Terry Steinbach, Jim Eisenreich, Luis Tiant, Frank Viola, Steve Bedrosian, Jim Deshaies, Jeff Reardon, Kent Hrbek, John Candelaria, Rick Dempsey, Graig Nettles, Don Baylor, Chris Speier, Joe Niekro, Bill Campbell, Jerry Koosman, Mike Marshall, Leo Cardenas, Jim Perry, Ron Perranoski, Vic Wertz, Camilo Pascual, Vic Power, Elmer Valo, and Billy Martin.

Best players drafted by Minnesota Twins by round

I went through the history of the Minnesota Twins June Amateur draft choices to see who the best players were that the club drafted, signed and the player debuted with Minnesota across his chest. The player may or may not have played his entire career with the Twins but the WAR numbers are for their entire careers. Why are they ranked by WAR you may ask? Simple, I know of no other way to rank them, so right or wrong, I have chosen B-R WAR.

Twenty five of the 61 rounds shown have no players that qualified meaning that no one ever drafted in that round has made it to the majors with Minnesota. So if the Twins draft you in one of those rounds in the future, the odds are very much against you. Unless you have followed the Twins since day one, you might not recognize or remember some of these players.

Continue reading Best players drafted by Minnesota Twins by round

Minnesota Twins who have served in the Military

veterans-day-thank-you-picturesEveryday is a good day to thank a Veteran for his service but Veterans Day is even more meaningful. With the national election behind us and a new President waiting his turn to sit in the Oval office we should all be thankful to the Veterans who have made this possible. It makes no difference if you voted for the President-elect or not, it is now time to respect the wishes of the people and the laws of this country and to roll up our sleeves and move on to make it even better than what is already is.

Here is a list of former Minnesota Twins players that have served their country. Please take a few moments to thank them for their service.

 

Courtesy of Hans Van Slooten and B-R.

The MLB June amateur draft is far from a science

2016 DraftThe 2016 MLB will take place June 9, 2016 in Secacus, New Jersey and the Minnesota Twins will have the 17th selection this year. There are already numerous mock drafts being published but as normal they are all over the board, so what else is new. Here is a list (with pictures) on MLB.com of their proposed top 100 2016 prospects.

Baseball draft are so different from all the other sports in many ways but the two main differences that stand out is that baseball drafts are more international than other sports and if you get drafted in baseball you can look forward to spend a number of years in the minor leagues before you have the experience and necessary skill sets to play in the major leagues. Sure there have been some players that went directly to the major leagues but they are rare and the last player to do so I believe is RHP Mike Leake who was drafted eighth overall in 2010 by the Cincinnati Reds from Arizona State and now pitches for the Cardinals. The last Twins player to be drafted and go straight to a big league mound was LHP Eddie Bane who also was from Arizona State.

The June amateur draft is exciting for the fans but it is serious business for the MLB teams that have spent lots of time and money watching these young prospects as they try to determine who is the best player available when it comes time to make their selection. Mistakes in a draft can and do haunt teams for many years. There are many ways to mess up a draft choice, the player may not turn out to be as good as you thought, you might have bypassed a star player, you might not be able to sign the player, the player and/or his agent may state they don’t want to play for you, and of course an injury may cut his career short. If everything goes your way you have yourself a baseball player but the odds are stacked against you.

Continue reading The MLB June amateur draft is far from a science