The Twins entered Friday’s game with an all-time record (since 1961) of 4,362-4,425 and an all-time franchise record (Senators and Twins) of 8,585-9,289. For sixty years, the Senators played baseball in our nation’s capital, winning one World Championship and three AL pennants. In 1961, owner, Calvin Griffith, moved the Senators from Washington, DC to Bloomington, Minnesota. The Senators played from 1901-1960, compiling a record of 4,223-4,864. Some notable Hall of Famers from the Senators teams include: Goose Goslin, Sam Rice, Joe Cronin, Bucky Harris, Heinie Manush and Walter Johnson. The Senators beat the New York Giants in the 1924 World Series in seven games, marking the only World Series victory for the franchise during their first sixty-year tenure in Washington. Source: Twins GameNotes
Tag: Sam Rice
Most games played by position in franchise history
July 31, 2010 – I just wanted to take a look and see who the leaders for games played at each position by the Minnesota Twins and the Washington Senators. With the way things are in baseball today and players on the move through free agency it is hard to keep the same players for any length of time. The only current player that might have a shot at moving on to the list below in the near future is Joe Mauer and if all goes well that might happen late in 2011 or early 2012.
Position | Games | Name | Games | Name |
---|---|---|---|---|
Catcher | 831 | Earl Battey | 874 | Muddy Ruel |
1B | 1,609 | Kent Hrbek | 2,025 | Joe Judge |
2B | 1,128 | Rod Carew | 1,339 | Buddy Myer |
SS | 1,112 | Greg Gagne | 1,445 | George McBride |
3B | 1,311 | Gary Gaetti | 1,625 | Eddie Yost |
LF | 620 | Dan Gladden | 1,093 | Goose Goslin |
CF | 1,432 | Kirby Puckett | 1,635 | Clyde Milan |
RF | 1,138 | Tony Oliva | 1,592 | Sam Rice |
DH | 406 | Tony Oliva | — | — |
Tough to strike out
June 21, 2010 – Hall of Famer Sam Rice is way ahead of everyone in franchise history with the best strike out per at bat ratio going down swinging just once in every 33.6 at bats in 9,879 plate appearances. It seems as though the players in the past had much bat control or were more patient then the players of today. As you can see, the Twins best in this category is Brian Harper and he struck out once in every 19.6 at bats in 2,691 plate appearances. Where do Joe Mauer and Rod Carew stand you ask? To this point in his career Joe has 3,253 plate appearances and he strikes out once in every 8.8 at bats. Carew struck out once in every 8.7 at bats in his 6,980 Twins plate appearances. What I think is kind of weird is that Tony Oliva was known as a free swinger and he struck out once every 9.8 at bats in 6,879 at bats. Just for comparison, Harmon Killebrew struck out once every 5.81 at bats in 9,462 Twins plate appearances while Justin Morneau is currently at a strike out every 6.71 at bats in 3,889 plate appearances.
Toughest Twins to strike out
Rank | Name | At bats per strike out |
---|---|---|
1 | Brian Harper | 19.6 |
2 | Mickey Hatcher | 15.0 |
3 | Cesar Tovar | 13.5 |
4 | Lenny Green | 13.3 |
5 | Hosken Powell | 11.0 |
6 | Butch Wynegar | 10.6 |
7 | Lyman Bostock | 10.4 |
7 | Ted Uhlaender | 10.4 |
9 | Al Newman | 10.2 |
10 | Jim Holt | 10.0 |
Toughest Senators to strike out
Rank | Name | At bats per strike out |
---|---|---|
1 | Sam Rice | 33.6 |
2 | Sam Dente | 27.7 |
3 | Heinie Manush | 25.1 |
4 | Muddy Ruel | 23.4 |
5 | Clyde Milan | 23.1 |
6 | Rick Ferrell | 21.0 |
7 | Clint Courtney | 19.3 |
8 | Eddie Foster | 19.2 |
9 | Stan Spence | 18.5 |
10 | George Case | 17.5 |
Good Eye, Good Eye!
May 15, 2010 – The Twins preach to their pitchers that the batter should earn his way on base via a hit, just throw the ball over the plate and take your chances that the batter will hit it to one of your fielders. In recent years, the Twins pitching staff has always been one of the league leaders in fewest bases on balls allowed.
But the shoe is on the other foot when it comes to the Twins hitters where the coaching staff tries to teach patience at the plate, after all, a walk is just as good as a hit. Plus, the more pitches you see, the better the odds are of the batter getting a hit and the quicker the pitcher reaches their so called pitch limits. This year the Twins hitters have taken that advice to heart and after 32 games they have walked 147 times and are on pace for about 700 walks which would be the most not only in Twins history but in franchise history. The 1956 Senators walked 690 times and the most walks by a Twins team was the 1962 Twins when they walked to first base 649 times. Let’s take a look at the top 10 career Twins and Senators batters that believed that a walk was indeed as good as a hit.
Minnesota Twins
Rank | Player | Bases on Balls | Plate Appearances | Base on Ball % |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Harmon Killebrew | 1,321 | 8,018 | 16.48% |
2 | Kent Hrbek | 838 | 7,137 | 11.74% |
3 | Bob Allison | 641 | 4,641 | 13.81% |
4 | Rod Carew | 613 | 6,980 | 8.78% |
5 | Roy Smalley | 549 | 4,675 | 11.74% |
6 | Chuck Knoblauch | 513 | 4,571 | 11.22% |
7 | Kirby Puckett | 450 | 7,831 | 5.75% |
8 | Tony Oliva | 448 | 6,879 | 6.61% |
9 | Matt Lawton | 408 | 3,150 | 12.95% |
10 | Tom Brunansky | 394 | 3,760 | 10.48% |
Washington Senators
Rank | Player | Bases on Balls | Plate Appearances | Base on Ball % |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Eddie Yost | 1,274 | 7,461 | 17.08% |
2 | Joe Judge | 943 | 8,906 | 10.59% |
3 | Buddy Myer | 864 | 7,028 | 12.29% |
4 | Mickey Vernon | 735 | 7,769 | 9.46% |
5 | Ossie Bluege | 723 | 7,452 | 9.70% |
6 | Clyde Milan | 685 | 8,312 | 8.24% |
7 | Sam Rice | 680 | 9.879 | 6.89% |
8 | Buddy Lewis | 573 | 5,937 | 9.65% |
9 | Joe Kuhel | 530 | 5,234 | 10.13% |
10 | Goose Goslin | 488 | 5,810 | 8.40% |
Championship Washington Senators Teams
March 22, 2008 – The Washington Senators who became the Minnesota Twins in 1961 certainly had more losing seasons then they had winning seasons between the time they started as a charter member team of the American League in 1901 and when they played their final game as the Washington Senators on October 2, 1960. During their 60 years as the Senators and Nationals, they compiled a 4,223 – 4,864 record while fielding winning teams in only 18 of their 60 years. Their best seasons were:
1924 – The Nationals won the AL pennant with a 92-62 record and went on to win their first and only World Series championship by beating the New York Giants 4 games to 3.
1925 – The Nats won the pennant for the second year in a row finishing the season 96-55 record. They played the Pittsburgh Pirates in the fall classic and took a 3 games to 1 lead before losing 3 straight and the series 4 games to 3 and became the first team to lose the World Series after taking a 3 games to one lead in a seven game series.
1933 – The Nationals won the pennant with a 99-53 record and went on to lose the World Series in 5 games to the New York Giants in what turned out to be their final World Series appearance while in Washington.
The Washington teams had many exciting players and we will touch on many of them in the future. The Senators/Nationals had several Hall of Famers that played on their pennant winning teams such as RHP Stan Coveleski (1925-1927), SS Joe Cronin (1928-1934), OF Goose Goslin (1921-1930, 1933, 1938), OF Heinie Manush 1930-1935), OF Sam Rice from 1915-1933, and the incomparable RHP Walter (Big Train) Johnson who pitched for Washington from 1907-1927 compiling a record of 417-279 and winning 60% of his games for a team that only won 49.2% of their games. During his time with the Washington Nationals, he won 27% of the teams total games.