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
Todd Walker was a Minnesota Twins first round pick (8th overall) in 1994 out of LSU and signed with the Twins for $815,000. That was a good draft for the Twins as they also got pitcher Travis Miller in round 2, catcher A.J. Pierzynski in round 4, and maybe the best of the group, third baseman Corey Koskie in round 26.
Walker made his debut on August 30, 1996 at County Stadium against the Brewers and started at third base and then moved to second later in the game. TK had Walker hitting sixth in the line-up and ended the day going 1 for 5 with a run scored in a loss to the Brewers when Marc Newfield hit a walk-off home run off Twins reliever Jose Parra leading off the bottom of the 12th inning.
Walker shuffled between the big leagues and minors in 96 and 97 but was a Twins starter in 1998-1999. On July 15, 2000 after a slow start and spending time in TK’s doghouse where Walker was a semi-regular resident, he was traded to the Colorado Rockies along with Butch Huskey for Todd Sears and cash. Walker was known for his hitting and not his glove and that didn’t sit well with skipper Tom Kelly. In addition it seemed like TK was not a fan of college players in general. Walker eventually on to the Reds, Red Sox, Cubs, Padres and spent his final season in the big leagues with the A’s in 2007.
All in all Todd Walker spent all or parts of 12 seasons in the big leagues and played in 1,288 games and ended his big league career with a .289 average and a 10.5 WAR.
Baseball America did a “where are you now” article on Todd Walker that you can read here.
Joe Grzenda, a 31-year old right-handed pitcher was purchased from the New York Mets by the Minnesota Twins on November 29, 1967 and spent the 1968 season with the AAA Denver Bears who were managed by Billy Martin after he replaced the fired Johnny Goryl. Martin used Grzenda as a reliever and he used him often as Grzenda appeared in a team leading 56 games posting a 5-8 record and a 3.14 ERA. Grzenda threw 86 innings and struck out 60 batters.
When Billy Martin was named the Twins 1969 manager he obviously remembered Grzenda and Grzenda made the Twins team out of spring training. Strangely enough Grzenda was the losing pitcher in the 1969 season opener on April 8th as the Twins were walked off 4-3 by the new Kansas City Royals in 12 innings at Municipal Stadium and was the winning pitcher in the 1969 regular season finale on October 2nd when the Twins beat the Chicago White Sox 6-5 at Met Stadium. Grzenda appeared in game 3 of the 1969 ALCS and retired Boog Powell and Frank Robinson, the only two batters he faced. On March 21, 1970 the Twins traded Grzenda along with pitcher Charlie Walters to the Washington Senators for outfielder Brant Alyea.
Rob Bowen and Boedha, a Belgian Malinois-German Shepherd mix. The two serve together on the K-9 unit for the Dooly County Sheriff’s Office in Georgia. (Courtesy of Rob Bowen) Click on image to make it larger
There is a great article in “The Athletic” ($ site) today by Dan Hayes about former Minnesota Twins catcher Rob Bowen and his post-baseball career in law enforcement. It is a great story that I know you will enjoy if you can get to it.
After appearing in just 13 games in 1961 Rollins had a break-out rookie season in 1962, so good as a matter of fact that he was named at the starting third baseman and lead-off hitter for the American League in the first of two All-Star games played that season. In his first at bat at D.C. Stadium he faced future Hall of Fame pitcher Don Drysdale who welcomed him by hitting him with a pitch. Rollins played six innings going 1 for 2 with a hit off Bob Purkey and was replaced by Brooks Robinson. Catcher Earl Battey was also a starter in that game and pitcher Camilo Pascual took the loss with three innings in relief of Jim Bunning and allowed all three runs on four hits in a 3-1 loss to the National League.
In the second All-Star game in 1962 that was played at Wrigley Field, the American League prevailed 9-4. Rich Rollins and Earl Battey were again named starters and the AL lead-off hitter Rich Rollins singled in his first at bat off Johnny Podres. Camilo Pascual and Jim Kaat were also on that team but did not play in the game.
Rollins finished his 1962 rookie season with a .296 batting average, 16 home runs and 96 RBI but New York Yankee shortstop Tom Tresh received the AL ROY award that season. Rollins finished eighth in MVP voting that season with Mickey Mantle winning and Harmon Killebrew finishing third.
I never met Rich Rollins but was lucky enough to get a chance to do a phone interview with him back in July 2009 that is about an hour-long that you can listen to here. There are numerous other interviews with former Minnesota Twins that you can listen to on the Interview Archives page.
Today we are going to take a look at former Twins third baseman Ron Clark. This Texas cowboy was born Ft. Worth, Texas back in 1943, a few years before me but not many. In high school he did it all, played football, basketball, track and of course baseball, unlike today when young kids focus and specialize in one sport and play it year around.
Toughness was one of the hallmarks of the young Texan. As a youth he spent a lot of time around the rodeo circuit, and was well acquainted with riding the horses himself. He notched 104 victories in 111 bouts as a Golden Gloves boxer. He wore cowboy boots, Stetsons, and Western clothes, and spoke with a Texas drawl.
Clark was signed by the Philadelphia Phillies in the spring of 1961 as an amateur free agent (the draft didn’t begin until 1965) after graduating from high school and started out with the Class C Bakersfield Bears working his way up the big league ladder. Apparently his .202 average in just 39 games didn’t impress his organization because according to today’s baseball Bible which is the B-R website, Clark was sent to the Los Angeles Angels in some unknown transaction prior to the 1962 season and then a year later the Angels sent him to the Minnesota Twins before the 1963 season. Clark played for the class A Wilson Tobs in 1963 and hit .301 earning him a short stay with the AA Charlotte team. Clark spent 1964 and 1965 with AA Charlotte. In 1966 Clark moved up another rung to AAA Denver which was managed by Cal Ermer and played well enough to earn a September call-up to the Twins.
Ron Clark
Ron Clark’s big league debut took place at Met Stadium on September 11, 1966 as a pinch-runner in the eighth inning for Harmon Killebrew but that didn’t end well as he was thrown out at the plate. The Twins beat the Baltimore Orioles that day 11-6 so all is well that ends well. It wasn’t until his fourth game for Minnesota that Clark was able to step to the plate with bat in hand and that took place at Yankee Stadium I against Fritz Peterson as a pinch-hitter for pitcher Jim Ollom. With the Twins down 2-0 and runners on first and third, Clark hit a deep sac fly to center that scored the Twins first run in a game that the Twins would eventually win 5-3. In his fifth and final big league game in 1966 Clark entered the game as a replacement for Killebrew at third base with the hometown Twins beating the Tigers 12-1 and singled off George Korince.
Clark was never able to win a big league job full-time with Minnesota and was sold to the Seattle Pilots in July 1969. Clark was mentioned in Ball Four, Jim Bouton’s classic memoir. Commenting on a game in which Clark collided with Boston slugger George Scott and needed 13 stitches in his lip to repair the damage, Bouton called Clark a “tough, gutty ballplayer” and wrote that he “has a baby face, two tattoos on his arm, smokes big cigars — and when he has thirteen stitches in his lip he drinks beer out of the side of his mouth.”
The Pilots became the Brewers in 1970 and Clark was traded to Oakland and then moved on to Milwaukee and Philadelphia before making his last big league appearance in September of 1975. Ron Clark coached, managed and scouted for numerous teams until 2014 when this baseball lifer decided to retire.
Make sure that you read Frank Quilici‘s account of a near tragedy while Clark was with Charlote 1964 andwas hit with a batted ball in the Sporting News below.
This pitcher was signed by the Kansas City Royals as an amateur free agent but released just 10 months later. The Cincinnati Reds signed him as a free agent only to lose him to the Minnesota Twins four years later in the Rule 5 draft. He made his major league debut on Opening Day for the Minnesota Twins at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum in the eighth inning with the Twins trailing the A’s 7-5. The Twins scored in the top of the ninth inning to tie the ball game when Willie Norwood pinch-hit for Rob Wilfong and delivered a single to left to score two base runners and send the game into extra innings.
Neither team scored until the 12th inning when both Roy Smalley and Rick Sofield hit home runs for the visiting Twins while the A’s were held scoreless in the bottom of the 12th inning sending A’s fans home disappointed. The pitcher you are trying to identify pitched the last 5 innings for Minnesota and held the A’s scoreless allowing just one hit and striking out six. This pitcher is the only pitcher in Twins history to be credited with a win while making his major league debut on an Opening Day. Do you know who this pitcher is?
Minnesota Twins pitchers have pitched some bad games over the years, here is a list of Twins pitchers that gave up 10 or more runs in a single game. The most runs given up by a Twins pitcher was 11 by the 38-year-old Rick Reed in a 15-1 loss at the Metrodome to the New York Yankees back in 2003.
Dave Engle was drafted in 1978 by the California Angels in the third round (66 over all) as a third baseman out of USC. His stay in his home state however; was short-lived as he was traded on February 3, 1979 with pitchers Paul Hartzell and Brad Havens and outfielder Ken Landreaux to the Minnesota Twins for Rod Carew who wanted out of Calvin Griffiths Minnesota Twins organization.
Engle spent 1979 in AAA Toledo as a third baseman and in 1980 he again found himself in Toledo but that year he played in the outfield. Engle made the 1981 Twins team out of spring training and debuted on April 14, 1981. Engle was always first a hitter and finding a position for him was a struggle for Minnesota and they decided to turn him into a catcher. Engle must have been a quick study because by 1983 he was catching for Minnesota. In 1984 he was the Twins lone representative to the All-Star game but did not get a chance to play in the game at Candlestick Park. In 1984 Engle started having more issues throwing the ball back to the pitcher although he had no problems throwing to second or third base if needed. The problem continued to plague him in 1985 and he soon found himself a part-time player. In January of 1986 he was traded by the Twins to the Detroit Tigers for Chris Pittaro and Alejandro Sanchez in one of those “I’ll take yours if you take mine” trades.
Dave Engle stay in Minnesota lasted 439 games, 176 of them behind the plate. Engle hit .268 as a Twin with 28 home runs and 13 triples which is not too shabby for a catcher. The Tigers released Engle in August of 1986. Engle went on to play for Montreal in 1987-1988 and finished out his big league career in 1989 with Milwaukee.
Did you know that Dave Engle hit the first home run at the Metrodome and that he is Tom Brunansky‘s brother-in-law?
Odds are that you will not recognize the player in this picture but he is still in the Twins organization and has been on the Fort Myers Miracle coaching staff since 2006. He played in the big leagues for 18 seasons for seven different teams but never had more than 260 at bats in any single season and played for the Minnesota Twins in 1998, 1999 and 1990.
It has been over 25 years since a Minnesota Twins batter pinch-hit a grand slam for the Minnesota Twins. This Twins were ahead 3-2 in the bottom of the sixth inning when “Pig Pen” stepped into the left-handed batters box to hit pinch-hit for Twins catcher Tim Laudner who was hitting in the 7-hole on that day. Right-hander Donn Pall was the third pitcher used by the mighty whitey’s that inning and he gave up the grand salami to Jim Dwyer and the Twins were up 7-2 and would eventually win the game by a score of 10-3 as Frank Viola won his 22nd game of the season. No one has pinch-hit a grand slam home run for the Twins since September 15, 1988.
ERROR, ERROR, RECOMPUTE: A bit of a technical glitch with my search, it turns out that the last player to pinch-hit a home run for the Twins was not Jim Dwyer but our old friend Matt LeCroy in 2004. Here is the corrected list.
