Category: This Day in Twins History

This Day in Twins History – April 25

 

Fred Bruckbauer
Fred Bruckbauer

April 25, 1961 – A tough day in Municipal Stadium in Kansas City as the A’s pound seven Minnesota Twins pitchers in a 20-2 Twins defeat. Twins reliever Fred Bruckbauer made his only big league appearance in this game when he came in to pitch in the top of the fourth inning and gave up a double, a single, a walk and a double before getting pulled. Bruckbauer was charged with 3 earned runs and since he never again pitched in the big leagues his ERA stands at infinity. Norm Bass went the distance for the A’s giving up 7 hits and 9 walks but still got the “W”.

 

Camilo Pascual
Camilo Pascual

April 25, 1964 – The Twins lose to the Detroit Tigers 5-2 at Met Stadium in what was the first ever nationally televised Twins game from Met Stadium. The team had played on national TV 19 times before this game but all the games were on the road. Their first nationally televised game was on June 10, 1961. Strangely enough, Camilo Pascual started and lost both of these games. The game was on NBC and the announcers were Bob Wolff and Joe Garagiola.

 

Earl Wilson
Earl Wilson

April 25, 1970 – The Twins are playing the Tigers at the Met and take a 3-1 lead into the ninth only to have the Tigers score twice to tie the game. The Twins came back with one of their own, an unearned run in the bottom of the ninth and won the game 4-3. Exciting you say? But you should have seen what transpired in the top of the seventh with the Twins ahead 2-1. Jim Kaat is on the mound for the Twins and retires Elliot Maddox and Cesar Gutierrez on groundouts to the shortstop for the first two outs and then appeared to have struck out pitcher Earl Wilson, but, Twins catcher Paul Ratliff did not catch Kaat’s pitch in the air and this is where things really got weird. Ratliff got the ball and rolled it back to the mound and headed for the dugout. Tiger 3B coach Grover Resinger knew his rules and he told Wilson to head to first base. None of the Twins seemed to notice Wilson as he rounded first and headed for 2B and at this point coach Resinger was in the middle of the infield urging Wilson on. By now Twins LF Brant Alyea figured out what was happening and ran after the ball but had trouble picking it up and Wilson was still running and was now rounding 3B and heading for home. By this time Twins shortstop Leo Cardenas had ran over to cover home plate and Alyea threw him the ball. Wilson was a big guy and all this running was beginning to take its toll and when he saw Cardenas with the ball he turned and started back to 3B but pulled a hamstring and just collapsed to the ground before getting back to the 3B bag. Cardenas threw the ball back to Alyea who then tagged Wilson out as he lay in the base path just short of 3B and the Twins were out of the inning unscathed. The scoring you ask? A strikeout, an error on Ratliff, and the out was recorded as LF-SS-LF (7-6-7). To top it all off the television crew had all gone to the commercial after the apparent strikeout and none of this was recorded on video.

Camilo Pascual
Mike Pazik

Carrithers, DonApril 25, 1977 – Twins pitchers Mike Pazik and Don Carrithers were seriously injured in an automobile accident when their van collided with a car going the wrong way on an exit ramp in Bloomington, MN. Pazik suffered two broken bones in each leg and was out for the season. Carrithers, who was driving, suffered a compound fracture of his right knee, a partial rupture of the quadriceps tendon near his knee and a fractured right wrist and ended missing three months of the 1977 season.

April 25, 1980 – Making his first appearance in Minnesota since his fight with a marshmallow salesman in the Fall of 1979, A’s manager Billy Martin has to be restrained by umpires from attacking a fan who was pelting him with marshmallows during the Twins’ 10-3 victory.

April 25, 2005 – The Minnesota Twins and Hennepin County announce they have agreed on a proposal to fund and construct a new ballpark in downtown Minneapolis.

Chris Parmelee
Chris Parmelee

April 25, 2012 – Twins 1B Chris Parmelee was hit in the batting helmet in the sixth inning by a 93 MPH fastball thrown by Red Sox hurler Justin Thomas. The ball hit the bill of Parmelee’s helmet, deflected down and struck Parmelee above his eye. A couple of inches lower, Parmelee continues to think, and he could have been struck directly in his eye. The ball bounced all the way back to the Red Sox dugout at Target Field. Parmelee was down for about a minute but rose to his feet and walked off the field. He was examined by doctors, who tested him for a concussion but luckily that was not the case. The Twins ended up losing the game 7-6.

This Day in History – April 21

 

Ray Moore
Ray Moore

April 21, 1961 – The Minnesota Twins played their inaugural home game at Metropolitan stadium but came away with a loss against Joe McClain and the Washington Senators. The Senators score 2 in the top of the ninth off reliever Ray Moore and pin a 5-3 defeat on the Twins. 24,606 fans attended the Twins first home game and team ownership was disappointed that the game was not a sell-out with about 6,000 seats sitting empty. Temperature at game time was 63 degrees. There were no line-up cards available so Twins manager Cookie Lavagetto and Senators manager Mickey Vernon had to scribble their line-ups on pieces of scrap paper.

April 21, 1967 – Tony Oliva of Minnesota lost a home run due to a base running blunder. Playing in Detroit in the third inning, Cesar Tovar was the runner at first base. Oliva hit the ball out of the park off Denny McLain, but then passed Tovar between first and second. He was credited with a single and one RBI for scoring Tovar. In the ninth inning Oliva hit another home run and this one counted.

John ButcherApril 21, 1985 – The Twins had won the first two games of the 1985 season under manager Billy Gardner but then proceeded to lose nine in a row before John Butcher took the mound for the Twins against the Oakland A’s at Oakland-Alameda County Stadium on this day and shut out the A’s on just 3 hits facing only 28 batters and threw just 81 pitches. The game lasted just 1 hour and 55 minutes and Kirby Puckett went 3 for 5 and knocked in both runs.

April 21, 1994 – Eddie Murray set a major league record with his 11th switch-hit home run (home run from each side of the plate) game as the Cleveland Indians beat the Minnesota Twins 10-6 at the Metrodome.

April 21, 2004 – The Twins sell pitcher Brad Thomas to the Boston Red Sox.

 

Joe Nathan
Joe Nathan

April 21, 2007 – The Twins had started the 2007 season with 19 consecutive stolen bases before Torii Hunter gets caught in the 8th inning of their 17th game of the season. However; the Twins beat the Royals at Kauffman Stadium 7-5 and Joe Nathan performs a rarity during his 6th save of the season when he retires the Royals 1-2-3 in the ninth getting Esteban German, Tony Pena, and David DeJesus all looking at 3rd strikes. Getting the side out 1-2-3 for a save, all on called third strikes is rare feat and was last done in 2003 by Jose Valverde.

April 21, 2012 – With his leadoff single in the ninth inning, Josh Willingham extended his season-opening hitting streak to 15 games. He improved upon the record he set Friday night, the longest hitting streak by a player to start his Twins career. And he tied Kirby Puckett’s 1994 Twins record for the longest season-opening hitting streak. His streaks ended as he went hitless on April 22nd.

This Day in Twins History – April 12

April 12, 1965 – In Minnesota, the Yankees drop their second straight 11 inning opener, as the Twins win 5-4. Twins starter Jim Kaat, stranded because of the ice and snow, is brought to Metropolitan Stadium by helicopter. Kaat is matched by Jim Bouton, who goes five innings, giving up two earned runs. Bob Allison‘s wind-blown fly ball in the 11th drops untouched for a three-base error by Hector Lopez, one of eight errors the two teams committed on this day. Cesar Tovar‘s 2-out single scores the winner off ex-Twins hurler Pedro Ramos. I did a piece about this opening day back in 2008 that you can view at http://wp.me/p1YQUj-tT

.April 12, 1990 – The Twins and Rangers hook up on a deal and the Twins get 2B Fred Manrique and the Rangers receive pitcher Jeff Satzinger.

April 12, 2002 – In their first sellout since winning the World Series in 1991, the Twins beat the Tigers in their home opener, 4-2, in front of 48,244 loud and enthusiastic fans at the Metrodome. The Minnesota franchise had been considered for elimination due to MLB’s contraction plan proposed during the off-season.

April 12, 2005 – The Twins beat the Tigers 5-4 when Shannon Stewart singles off Troy Percival in the bottom of the 9th and breaks a streak in which Percival had not allowed the Twins to score an earned run over 40 innings since 1995.

April 12, 2010 – In the first regular season game at Target Field the Twins beat the Boston Red Sox 5-2 with starter Carl Pavano getting the win and Red Sox starter Jon Lester took the loss. Closer Jon Rauch recorded the first save at Target Field. The first hit was a single by Red Sox leadoff hitter Marco Scutaro who was later thrown out trying to steal 2B. The first Twins hit was a single by Orlando Hudson. The first homerun at Target Field was a 391 foot shot to right off the bat of Jason Kubel in the 7th inning. Game time temperature was 68 degrees with partly sunny skies. Attendance was 39,715, slightly over the capacity figure of 39,504. Paid attendance was 38,145. The game lasted 2:59.

April 12, 2013 – The New York Mets thumped the Twins 16-5 at Target Field. The temperature at game time was 34 degrees and snow flurries were evident throughout the game. Twins fans came layered in ski gear, hunting clothes and whatever else they could find to keep warm. The Twins provided free coffee and hot chocolate to the Twins fans at the gate as they entered the ballpark. But the fact that the Mets batted around in each of the first 2 innings putting up 10 runs did little to warm Twins fans. The announced attendance was 23,735, but that’s tickets sold and not the actual number of people inside Target Field.

This Day in Twins History – March 31

March 31, 1987 – Just before the Twins open their championship 1987 season they trade pitchers Bryan Hickerson, Ray Velasquez, and Jose Dominguez to the Giants for pitcher David Blakely and outfielder Dan Gladden.

March 31, 1999 – The Twins send pitcher Dan Serafini to the Cubs and get cash for their coffers.

March 31, 2003 – The earliest opening day in Minnesota Twins history takes place at the Twins beat the Tigers 3-1 in Detroit.

March 31, 2010 – Twins outfielder Denard Span struck his mother, Wanda Wilson, in the chest with a foul ball while batting in the first inning on Wednesday at George M. Steinbrenner Field in Tampa against the Yankees in a spring training game. Span was leading off the game against the Yankees’ Phil Hughes when he fouled a 3-2 pitch directly to the left of the visitors’ third-base dugout, where a group of friends and family members were settling in for the game. The ball struck his mother, who was sitting three rows from the field and wearing a Twins jersey with Span’s name on it, with a thud that was audible to the players on the Minnesota bench. Span immediately dashed into the seating bowl, consoling her as help arrived. Luckily, Span’s mother was not seriously hurt and after being checked out, watched the remainder of the game.

Make sure you stop by and check out our “Today in Twins History” page every day.

This Day in Twins History – February 11

 

Dick Woodson - Twins pitcher from 1969 - 1974
Dick Woodson – Twins pitcher from 1969 – 1974

1974 – Forty-eight major league players invoke the new arbitration procedure established to settle contract differences. The first is pitcher Dick Woodson (seeking a contract for $30,000) and his team, the Twins (offering $23,000), who present their respective cases to Detroit lawyer and labor arbitrator Harry H. Platt, who must decide on one of the monetary amounts presented. Woodson wins. Get the story first hand on what transpired and why from Dick Woodson by going to my Salaries page and listen to the interview I had with Dick about this subject. You will find the interview about half way down the page.

Kent Hrbek 1983 Fleer1985 – Twins 1B Kent Hrbek signs a new contract that makes him the club’s first $1 million player.

 

This Day in Twins History – February 6, 1998

Chuck KnoblauchThe Twins recently announced the Chuck Knoblauch will be enshrined in the Twins Hall of Fame this summer but on this day back in 1998 the Twins traded their 1991 Rookie of the Year and four-time All-Star second baseman Chuck Knoblauch to the Yankees and in turn received pitchers Eric Milton and Danny Mota along with shortstop Cristian Guzman and outfielder Brian Buchanan and $3 million in cash. Knoblauch had publicly asked to be traded because he felt the Twins were not interested in putting a winning team on the field. Here is what CBS had to say about the trade at the time, there are some interesting quotes in this story when you look back on 1998 from 2014.

Knoblauch’s stay in New York was relatively short, just four years but he got his wish to be part of a winning team as the Yankees played in the World Series each of the four years, winning it all three times and getting Knoblauch three more rings to go with the one he won in Minnesota in 1991. Knoblauch developed some throwing issues during him time in New York and eventually started playing some outfield. Knoblauch became a free agent after the 2001 season and signed with the Kansas City Royals but only played 8o games for them in 2002 as before calling it a career.

Eric Milton
Eric Milton

Eric Milton was 57-51 with a 4.76 ERA for the Twins during his 6 seasons in Minnesota before he was traded to the Phillies for pitchers Carlos Silva, Bobby Korecky, and the infamous infielder Nick Punto.

Cristian Guzman
Cristian Guzman

Shortstop Cristian Guzman also stayed in Minnesota for six seasons appearing in 841 games hitting .266 and stealing 102 bases. Guzman left the Twins as a free agent after the 2004 season.

The Twins expected big things from outfielder Brian Buchanan but he never panned out and he appeared in only 143 games as a Twins hitting .258 with 16 home runs. In July 2002 the Twins traded “Buck” to the San Diego Padres for shortstop Jason Bartlett who just signed a minor league deal with the Twins once again.

Pitcher Danny Mota appeared in four games for the Twins giving up 10 hits and one walk in 5.1 innings and never put on a major league uniform again.

The day the DH was born – January 11, 1973

After a seven-hour meeting in the Lancaster Room of the Sheraton-O’Hare Motor Hotel in Rosemont, Illinois, American League owners voted 8-4 for something they called the “designated pinch hitter for the pitcher,” or DPH, an abbreviation quickly modified to DH. I asked Clark Griffith how the Twins voted and here is what he had to say. “The Twins voted for it and I think that was a mistake. The vote was based on having Killebrew and Oliva for DH. I was involved in the drafting of the rule and after the vote it occurred to me that we used the wrong statistic to support it. The stat used was pitcher BA v. hitters BA and it should have been pitchers and those who hit for pitchers v. other batters. In essence, that means measuring the ninth hitter with all others. The effect of not removing a pitcher for a PH was not considered either. The DH is a horrible rule that should be allowed to go away. I love reading NL box scores for their complexity.”

From what I can determine, Charlie Finley, former Oakland Athletics owner, is generally credited with leading the push for the DH in 1973. He was strongly supported by American League President Joe Cronin and owners Nick Mileti (Cleveland), Jerry Hoffberger (Baltimore), John Allyn (Chicago) and Bob Short (Texas). John Fetzer (Detroit), Bud Selig (Milwaukee) and Calvin Griffith (Minnesota) would make 8 votes in favor with Boston, New York, Kansas City and California voting against the DH.

 

Current rules for the DH

A hitter may be designated to bat for the starting pitcher and all subsequent pitchers in any game without otherwise affecting the status of the pitcher(s) in the game. A Designated Hitter for the pitcher must be selected prior to the game and must be included in the lineup cards presented to the Umpire-in-Chief.

The Designated Hitter named in the starting lineup must come to bat at least one time, unless the opposing club changes pitchers. It is not mandatory that a club designate a hitter for the pitcher, but failure to do so prior to the game precludes the use of a Designated Hitter for that game.

Pinch hitters for a Designated Hitter may be used. Any substitute hitter for a Designated Hitter himself becomes a Designated Hitter. A replaced Designated Hitter shall not re-enter the game in any capacity. The Designated Hitter may be used defensively, continuing to bat in the same position in the batting order, but the pitcher must then bat in the place of the substituted defensive player, unless more than one substitution is made, and the manager then must designate their spots in the batting order.

A runner may be substituted for the Designated Hitter and the runner assumes the role of the Designated Hitter.

A Designated Hitter is “locked” into the batting order. No multiple substitutions may be made that will alter the batting rotation of the Designated Hitter.

Once the game pitcher is switched from the mound to a defensive position this move shall terminate the DH role for the remainder of the game. Once a pinch-hitter bats for any player in the batting order and then enters the game to pitch, this move shall terminate the Designated Hitter role for the remainder of the game.

Once a Designated Hitter assumes a defensive position this move shall terminate the Designated Hitter role for the remainder of the game.

At first, the designated hitter rule did not apply to any games in the World Series, in which the AL and NL winners met for the world championship. From 1976-1985, it applied only to Series held in even-numbered years, and in 1986 the current rule took effect, according to which the designated hitter rule is used or not used according to the practice of the home team. The list below shows the career numbers for players that played at least 50% of their games at DH.

Rk Player G From To Age AB R H HR RBI BA
1 Harold Baines 2830 1980 2001 21-42 9908 1299 2866 384 1628 .289
2 Frank Thomas 2322 1990 2008 22-40 8199 1494 2468 521 1704 .301
3 Don Baylor 2292 1970 1988 21-39 8198 1236 2135 338 1276 .260
4 Edgar Martinez 2055 1987 2004 24-41 7213 1219 2247 309 1261 .312
5 David Ortiz 1969 1997 2013 21-37 7057 1208 2023 431 1429 .287
6 Hal McRae 1837 1973 1987 27-41 6568 873 1924 169 1012 .293
7 Chili Davis 1562 1988 1999 28-39 5525 808 1540 249 954 .279
8 Andre Thornton 1225 1977 1987 27-37 4313 650 1095 214 749 .254
9 Travis Hafner 1183 2002 2013 25-36 4058 619 1107 213 731 .273
10 Billy Butler 1015 2007 2013 21-27 3768 445 1124 118 562 .298
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 1/5/2014.
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The list below shows the numbers for Twins players that played at least 50% of their games at DH.

Rk Player G From To Age AB R H HR RBI BA
1 Glenn Adams 501 1977 1981 29-33 1387 138 390 29 196 .281
2 David Ortiz 455 1997 2002 21-26 1477 215 393 58 238 .266
3 Paul Molitor 422 1996 1998 39-41 1700 237 530 23 271 .312
4 Chili Davis 291 1991 1992 31-32 978 147 276 41 159 .282
5 Jose Morales 290 1978 1980 33-35 674 79 200 12 101 .297
6 Dave Winfield 220 1993 1994 41-42 841 107 222 31 119 .264
7 Jim Thome 179 2010 2011 39-40 482 69 128 37 99 .266
8 Danny Goodwin 172 1979 1981 25-27 425 52 103 8 55 .242
9 Jim Dwyer 145 1988 1990 38-40 329 47 95 6 43 .289
10 Rondell White 137 2006 2007 34-35 446 40 102 11 58 .229
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 1/5/2014.

This Day in Twins History – January 7

Bobby Castillo1/7/82 – The Twins sent catcher Scotti Madison and pitcher Paul Voigt to the Dodgers and acquired pitcher Bobby Castillo and outfielder Bobby Mitchell. Castillo spent three years in a Twins uniform and posted a 23-24 record with 3.98 ERA in 52 starts. Castillo’s claim to fame? He is credited with teaching Fernando Valenzuela how to throw a screwball. Mitchell was the Twins regular center fielder in 1982 hitting .249 in 124 games but lost his job in 1983 and never appeared in the big leagues again. Mitchell is currently the Atlanta Braves roving minor league outfield and base running instructor.

Rick Lysander1/7/83 – Houston sends pitcher Rick Lysander to the land of 10,000 lakes and receives pitcher Bob Veselic. The Twins used Lysander primarily as a reliever from 1983-1985 and during that time frame he appeared in 132 games winning 9 and losing 17 with a 4.08 ERA. Lysander had one particularly tough stretch in 1983 when he lost both games of a double-header to the Tigers on May 27th becoming the first Twins pitcher to suffer that indignity. The Twins gave Lysander a day off on the 28th in another loss to the Tigers but on the 29th he lost to the Tigers again giving him 3 losses to the Tigers in four days. The Twins then went home to Minnesota to play the Baltimore Orioles and you guessed it, on June 1st Lysander turned up as the losing pitcher again. Four losses in six days makes for a BAD week.

1/7/86 – The Twins trade pitchers Bryan Oelkers and Ken Schrom to the Indians and get pitchers Roy Smith and Ramon Romero in return. Smith went on to spend five seasons in Minnesota winning 19 and losing 18 games with a 4.28 ERA. Schrom is now president of the Corpus Christi Hooks.

This Day in Twins History – December 12, 1969

Graig Nettles
Graig Nettles

In a major deal the Minnesota Twins trade pitchers Dean Chance and Bob Miller, outfielder Ted Uhlaender, and 3B Graig Nettles to the Cleveland Indians for pitchers Luis Tiant and Stan Williams.

The Twins were fresh off a 97-65 season but had lost the ALCS to the Baltimore Orioles 3 games to none in the first year that the ALCS was played. Owner Calvin Griffith fired his feisty manager Billy Martin shortly after the playoffs and hired veteran baseball manager Bill Rigney to take over.

The Twins gave up a lot to acquire Luis “El Tiante” Tiant and Stan “Big Daddy” Williams. The 33 year-old Williams had a phenomenal season in 1970 out of the pen when he went 10-1 with a 1.99 ERA in 68 games while pitching 113.1 innings. 1971 was anther story with Williams going 4-5 with a 4.15 ERA and the Twins traded hin to the Cardinals in September.

Luis Tiant
Luis Tiant

Tiant was only 9-20 in 1969 but he was 21-9 in 1968 and the Twins had high hopes for Tiant. He pitched very well at the start of the 1970 season, and by the end of May was 6-0 with a 3.12 ERA when he went on the disabled list with arm troubles. He came back in early August, but only won one more game the rest of the way and finished the season with a 7-3 record and a 3.40 ERA. Tiant’s arm problems only got worse in the off-season, and the Twins released him at the end of spring training in 1971. The Atlanta Braves signed Tiant but within a month they too let him go and Tiant signed with the Boston Red Sox in May of 1971. With his fastball apparently gone it appeared that Tiant was done. However; Tiant began a remarkable comeback in 1972, reinventing himself as a junkballer, throwing an incredible variety of pitches from all sorts of arm angles. All of these came off a bizarre motion that had him looking straight at second base in the middle of his wind-up. Between 1972-1978, Tiant put up a 121-74 record for the Red Sox with a 3.30 ERA while averaging 243 innings per year. After leaving the Red Sox, Tiant pitched for the Yankees, Pirates and the Angels and left the major leagues in his rear view mirror after the 1982 season and 19 seasons and went on to pitch in Mexico at the age of 42.

Probably not one of the Twins best trades if you consider the wonderful career that Graig Nettles went to have. You just never know for years sometimes how trades really turned out. There was a nice article done by the Cleveland Plain Dealer back in 2009 about Dean Chance that you might enjoy checking out here. I have been trying to get in touch with Chance for an interview for years with no luck what so ever.