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
April is a wet month in Minnesota but the sun is out this morning and I think it is the first time in almost a week. The Twins have been home and have not had any games rained out but the fans and the players have had to endure some rain and cool weather for most of the current home stand.
However; the weather here in 2016 is mild when you compare it to the Minnesota Twins troubles 50 years ago back in 1966.
April 16 – Lost to the Angels 3-2 at home
April 17 – Postponed against Angels at home
April 18 – Scheduled day off
April 19 – Lost to Kansas City A’s 3-2 on the road
April 20 – Postponed due to cold weather
April 21 – Scheduled day off
April 22 – Lost to the Angels 2-1 on the road
April 23 – Lost to the Angels 4-3
April 24 – Beat the Angels on the road 5-3
April 25 – Lost to the Tigers 3-0 on the road
April 26 – Postponed in Detroit
April 27 – Postponed in Baltimore
April 28 – Postponed in Baltimore
April 29 – Postponed in Washington DC
April 30 – Postponed in Washington DC
May 1 – Split a doubleheader with the Washington Senators on the road.
You can read more about this Twins streak of bad weather as well as several other interesting Twins articles dating back to 1966 in the Sporting News PDF below.
I found out just recently that former Minnesota Twins pitcher Bill Whitby had passed away on March 12, 2016 in Huntersville, North Carolina at the age of 72 from heart disease.
William Edward Whitby was born in Crewe, Virginia on July 29, 1943. Bill was a star athlete at Victoria High School (Virginia) and after his high school graduation signed as a 17-year-old amateur free agent with the Minnesota Twins for $10,000, a substantial bonus back then.
Bill started his professional pitching career as a 17 year old in class D ball with the Wytheville Twins and played there with future Twins to be Jim Manning, Tony Oliva, Frank Quilici, and Ted Uhlaender. Whitby climbed the Twins minor league ladder quickly and found himself pitching for the AA Charlotte Hornets late in 1963. In 1964 Bill started the season in Charlotte again but got the call that all players wait for, the call to the big leagues. Bill Whitby made his big league debut at the age of 20 on June 17, 1964 at Cleveland Stadium in game 2 of a doubleheader in the 8th inning with two runners on and two out with the Twins trailing 4-0. He retired Indians second baseman Larry Brown for the final out but in the ninth inning he got the first batter out before giving up a home run (Pedro Ramos) and a single before retiring the final two batters. Whitby made three more relief appearances in a Twins uniform before being returned to Charlotte.
Sadly for Bill, it turned out that those four appearances for the Twins would be his only pitching opportunities in the big leagues. Bill started the 1965 season in Charlotte but after posting a 10-8 record with a 2.61 ERA (including pitching a no-hitter) he was promoted to AAA Denver where it turns out he spent the next four years. The Twins traded RHP Bill Whitby to the St. Louis Cardinals on July 1, 1969 and in return received 1B Bill Davis and RHP Mel Nelson. Bill pitched briefly in 1970 for AAA Denver which was then a Washington Senators affiliate before encountering some shoulder issues that prompted him to hang up his baseball spikes for good at the age of 26.
Bill and his wife Donelle were married for over 50 years and actually met when Donelle was selected as “Miss Hornet” in 1964 and Bill who was playing for Charlotte at the time served as her escort. As part of being selected “Miss Hornet”, Donelle Ranson was also given a trip to spring training in Melbourne, Florida where she and Bill started dating and on February 12, 1966 they were married and went on to have two children, son’s Brian and Kevin.
After baseball was in his rear view mirror Bill and Donelle returned to their farming roots and bought a farm near Huntersville, North Carolina where they raised beef cattle and some crops. When I talked with Donelle she was very grateful to the Minnesota Twins because they provided the opportunity for her and Bill to meet and share a wonderful life together.
Twins batters wore themselves out yesterday swinging and missing Tanner Roark pitches at Nationals Park when they whiffed 18 times and were shutout by the Washington Nationals 2-0 in 2 hours and 39 minutes. This is the second time in Twins history that they have struck out 18 times in a nine inning game. Their high water mark of striking out 19 times has been achieved three times in extra inning games.
The Minnesota Twins have struck out 15 or more times in a game on 46 occasions and their record in those games now stands at 10-36.
UPDATE: So what happens the day I post this blog? Later that afternoon the Twins play the Washington Nationals and lose 6-5 in the 16th inning and they strike out 20 times, just a day after striking out 18 times. I watched the entire 5 hour and 56 minutes of the game on TV. Boxscore
I don’t think that Willie Nelson and Jimmy Nelson are related but Jimmy made things tough for the Twins last night. Willie’s song “On the Road Again” should be added to all the Twins players listening lists so they can start to enjoy being on the road again.
The Twins are 0-7 on the road this season but that is a long ways from their longest losing streak that the team has encountered as road warriors. Back in 1961 the Minnesota Twins lost 14 road games in a row between May 16 and June 7 against the White Sox, Senators, Indians, Tigers and Yankees before finally breaking the road losing streak with a 3-1 win over the Orioles in Baltimore. Road woes are nothing new to the Twins, over the years they have lost 8 or more consecutive games away from the home confines 19 times. Let’s hope that we don’t make it 20 today.
Twins strikeouts versus runs scored history. Feel free to click on the chart to make it larger and easier to see.
Our Minnesota Twins and the Atlanta Braves both stand at 0-7 and the race is on to see can win a game first. It is tough when you have just played seven games into a new season and find yourself five games out of the division lead. Never-the-less, Paul Molitor‘s gang will try again tonight.
The Twins might have to consider changing their name to the Minnesota Flailers. Joe Mauer is hitting .375 and Eduardo Escobar is hitting .370 but the rest of the line-up is hitting between .125 and .192 with a combined team OBP of .290. Byron Buxton, Miguel Sano and Byung-ho Park have each struck out in 50% of their plate appearances.
OH! but the strikeouts. Needless to say the team is on a record pace and after seven games, admittedly a small sample size, they have struck out once every 3.29 PA’s and 11.29 times a game. It is hard to miss the ball that often. Their previous worst for strike-outs per PA was 4.34 in 2013, that same Twins team struck out an all-time franchise high of 1,430 times. But if you use the current running rate of 11.29 strike outs per game the 2016 Twins will strike out a record-breaking 1,829 times. I know that is unlikely to happen but right now that is exactly what is happening.
Paul Molitor and Terry Ryan have a huge mess on their hands but things can’t stay this bad for ever. Can they? Everything levels out so we all need to be patient and ride this storm out.
Let’s talk about strikeouts, how bad are they really? We could discuss the pro’s and con’s of strikeouts forever and cases can be argued that a strikeout by a batter is terrible and you could argue that there are worse things than a strikeout. Teams usually tolerate high strikeout rates if power is also involved but what if a batter has mediocre power and still strikes out frequently? What impact do strikeout really have on runs scored? After all, that is the object of the game isn’t it? Score more runs than the opponent and you win the game assuming your pitchers do their jobs.
Let’s take a look at the previous 55 seasons of Twins play. If you look at the numbers nothing really jumps out at you to tell you that strikeout are OK or horrendous. The Twins had an OK season by some standards last year and yet they still struck out 1,264 times and in 2002 they won 94 games and still struck out 1,089 times. On the other side of the coin the Twins only struck out 684 times in 1978 and still only won 73 games. Strikeouts in themselves will not determine if your team will win or not.
The Twins have only scored more runs than they have had strikeouts on four occasions in 55 seasons, in 1976 when they finished 85-77, in 1977 when they finished 84-77, in 1979 when they finished 82-80 and in their 1995 championship season when they were 95-67. Twins history seems to indicate that if you score more often than you strike out than you will have a winning season.
I think it is interesting to note here that Gene Mauch managed the Twins from 1976-1980, none of his team struck out more that 754 times. Just a coincidence or was it his managing style? Yet only three of those five years that Mauch managed the Twins, did they have a winning record and they never won more than 85 games under his leadership.
Strikeouts are obviously up across the board for a variety of reasons, since 2000 the Twins have played 15 seasons, during 11 of those they struck out over 1,000 times, the only other season they struck out of 1,000 times was in 1964.
During the Twins AL championship season of 1965 they struck out 969 times, in 1987 they struck out 898 times, and in 1991 they struck out only 749 times. The Twins have made the playoffs 11 times and they averaged 944 strikeouts during those years. Keep in mind too that six of those 11 playoff years were on this side of 2000.
If you added in the running rate of strikeouts in 2016 after just seven games you would see a sharp dive of that blue line to 3.29.
The Twins will open their seventh season in Target Field on Monday and the biggest changes are noted here.
Minnie & Paul’s
The newest renovation is the replacement of seating in the centerfield area, below the Minnie & Paul Celebration sign and above the “batters-eye”. The upper level (Club Level) will be named Minnie & Paul’s and will be open to all fans. Minnie & Paul’s, a Twins-themed pub will feature Minnesota-branded food options while serving as a stylish gathering space for fans of all ages.
CATCH
The lower tier (Mezzanine Level) will be known as CATCH, an intimate all-inclusive club with limited access for approximately 120 season ticket members. This new premium space will be all-inclusive with beverages and a variety of tapas-style foods included in the season ticket price.
Safety Netting
New safety netting to comply with Major League Baseball’s Fan Safety Recommendations. Target Field’s current backstop net is in compliance with the stated MLB recommendations, which call for netting to protect seats between the dugouts within 70-feet of home plate. In contrast to other MLB ballparks, Target Field’s dugouts are the closest to home plate of any in the league, because of the proximity of seats within the dugout box seating sections (sections 3 through 6 and sections 11 through 14), the Twins will add protective netting above the dugouts in advance of the 2016 season. This new safety netting will extend approximately seven-feet high and run the length of the first and third base dugouts.
It is fun to look back at the Sporting News and see what was up with the Minnesota Twins back in the day. The Twins started their 1963 season with a 9-10 record in April but went on to win 91 games. That however; only earned them third place (15 1/2 games back) in the AL standings behind the AL champ New York Yankees and 5 games behind the second place Chicago White Sox.
Jack Kralick had an “interesting” month of April, in his first three starts the Twins scored zero runs on his behalf but he also gave up 18 runs so he deserved his 0-3 start, but in his fourth start of the month he pitched a complete game 3-0 shutout of the Washington Senators. Little did he know but on May 2 the Twins would trade him to the Cleveland Indians for pitcher Jim Perry and the man that threw the Minnesota Twins first no-hitter was history.
By the way, there is a nice piece about Twins 2014 first round selection (and fifth over-all) shortstop Nick Gordon in the Ft. Meyers News-Press today that you should check out if you get a minute.
I know I am a bit late with my Minnesota Twins prediction this year and I blame it on the Panama Canal cruise that I returned from yesterday. In the 2016 Minnesota Twins I see a fun young team but a team that takes a small step back this season. The good news however; is that the lessons the younger players learn this year will help them to become solid contenders in 2017 and beyond.
The most pleasant surprise this year will be the hitting of Eduardo Escobar who has finally taken over the shortstop role on a full-time basis and turns out to be a much better hitter than most expected. The biggest disappointment of the year will be the back-end of the Twins bullpen with Glen Perkins and Kevin Jepsen not performing up to their abilities, Jepsen due to injury and Perkins more due to attitude than anything else. What most had viewed as a strength going into 2016 turns out to actually be a weakness.
How about the AL Central Division? Here is how I see them in the standings come early October.
When the umpires call “Play Ball” for the Twins/Orioles game on Monday it will Twins opening day number 56. No I have not attended all the openers but I usually watch them on TV or listen to them on the radio, this time I will be listening or watching on my computer in Cape Coral, Florida.
So who will be in the Twins opening day line-up this year? You can never know for sure until they run on the field but I think that it is a safe assumption that only four players that were in the 2015 season opening loss in Detroit will be in Paul Molitor‘s starting line-up for the start the 2016 season for Minnesota in Baltimore. Those player’s being Kurt Suzuki catching, Joe Mauer at 1B, Brian Dozier at 2B and Trevor Plouffe at 3B. You probably can’t even remember the Twins 2015 opening day line-up, can you?
Here is a chance for you to look back to the last 10 years worth of Twins opening day line-ups. Some players are obviously familiar and others you probably have forgotten even played for Minnesota and some younger fans may have never even heard of some of these guys. For me it is interesting to see how much baseball teams turn-over from year to year and what positions the Twins seem to have trouble with.
C
1B
2B
3B
SS
LF
CF
RF
DH
SP
YEAR
2015
Kurt
Suzuki
Joe
Mauer
Brian
Dozier
Trevor
Plouffe
Danny
Santana
Oswaldo
Arcia
Jordan
Schafer
Torii
Hunter
Kennys
Vargas
Phil
Hughes
2015
2014
Kurt
Suzuki
Joe
Mauer
Brian
Dozier
Trevor
Plouffe
Pedro
Florimon
Josh
Willingham
Aaron
Hicks
Oswaldo
Arcia
Chris
Colabello
Ricky
Nolasco
2014
2013
Joe
Mauer
Justin
Morneau
Brian
Dozier
Trevor
Plouffe
Pedro
Florimon
Josh
Willingham
Aaron
Hicks
Chris
Parmelee
Ryan
Doumit
Vance
Worley
2013
2012
Joe
Mauer
Chris
Parmelee
Alexi
Casilla
Danny
Valencia
Jamie
Carroll
Josh
Willingham
Denard
Span
Ryan
Doumit
Justin
Morneau
Carl
Pavano
2012
2011
Joe
Mauer
Justin
Morneau
Tsuyoshi
Nishioka
Danny
Valencia
Alexi
Casilla
Delmon
Young
Denard
Span
Mike
Cuddyer
Jason
Kubel
Carl
Pavano
2011
2010
Joe
Mauer
Justin
Morneau
Orlando
Hudson
Nick
Punto
J.J.
Hardy
Delmon
Young
Denard
Span
Mike
Cuddyer
Jason
Kubel
Scott
Baker
2010
2009
Mike
Redmond
Justin
Morneau
Alexi
Casilla
Joe
Crede
Nick
Punto
Denard
Span
Carlos
Gomez
Mike
Cuddyer
Jason
Kubel
Francisco
Liriano
2009
2008
Joe
Mauer
Justin
Morneau
Brendan
Harris
Mike
Lamb
Adam
Everett
Delmon
Young
Carlos
Gomez
Mike
Cuddyer
Craig
Monroe
Livan
Hernandez
2008
2007
Joe
Mauer
Justin
Morneau
Luis
Castillo
Nick
Punto
Jason
Bartlett
Rondell
White
Torii
Hunter
Mike
Cuddyer
Jeff
Cirillo
Johan
Santana
2007
2006
Joe
Mauer
Justin
Morneau
Luis
Castillo
Tony
Batista
Juan
Castro
Shannon
Stewart
Torii
Hunter
Jason
Kubel
Rondell
White
Johan
Santana
2006
C
!B
2B
3B
SS
LF
CF
RF
DH
SP
I am writing this from the Norwegian Pearl as we cruise in the Caribbean Sea on our way to dock in Roatan, Honduras tomorrow morning after leaving Costa Rica last night. Then on to Belize City, Belize and Costa Maya, Mexico before returning to Miami and Cape Coral Florida on Monday. Hot and humid here, I hope you have the same where ever you are when you attend a 2016 baseball season opener. I can’t wait for REAL baseball again.
I almost forgot to mention that while I am in the Caribbean stopping in places like Columbia, Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, Belize, and Mexico I have and will continue to be on the lookout for some potential ace pitchers that the Minnesota Twins can sign. But sadly, I must report that like most of the Twins scouts that have looked for good pitching for the last 56 years I too have struck out.
The Tampa Rays played (and defeated) the Cuban National team yesterday in Havana and President Barak Obama and his family were in attendance along with Raul Castro and a host of other dignitaries. The game marks the second time since 1959 that an American team has played in Cuba — the Baltimore Orioles defeated the national team, 3-2, in Havana in 1999. It will be interesting to see how the baseball relationship between these two baseball loving countries takes shape in the next few years.
The Minnesota Twins and the island of Cuba have a long history and it goes back to the 1960’s prior to the Washington Senators becoming the Minnesota Twins in 1961. The relationship between Calvin Griffith and Joe “Papa Joe” Cambria was an interesting one. The Senators/Twins had a nice Cuban pipeline going for a number of years.
Players born in Cuba that have pitched for the Twins
I think it is interesting to note that in the 60’s the Twins had a rich pipeline to Cuban players but the last Cuban player to play in a Twins uniform that was actually signed as an amateur free agent by the club was Tony Oliva in 1976, that is a long dry spell.