88-Year Old Dan Dobbek Passes Away

Dan Dobbek, one of the original 1961 Minnesota Twins died in his home in Portland, Oregon on November 28 just eight days short of 89th birthday, of congestive heart failure with dementia surrounded by his family. Dan was born December 6, 1934, in Ontonagon, Mich., to John and Marion (McKinnon) Dobbek. He had an older sister Dolores, who died at 26.

Dan was drafted and served in the U.S. Army in 1957-1958. He played professional baseball for the Washington Senators and Minnesota Twins. Jim Kaat noted that he and Dan Dobbek were both signed by Twins scout Dick Wiencek. In his first year in pro ball in 1956 with the Class B Hobbs Sports, Dobbek played in 129 games hitting .340 with 23 home runs and had 144 RBI. Dan was drafted by Uncle Sam and served in the U.S. Army in 1957-1958. He made his MLB debut with the Washington Senators on September 9, 1959 going 1 for 4 against the Chicago White Sox at Griffith Stadium in a 5-1 loss. Dobbek spent the 1960 season with the Senators appearing in 110 games but had only 288 PA’s while hitting just .218 with 10 home runs.

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When the Washington Senators moved to Minnesota after the 1960 season and became the Minnesota Twins, Dan Dobbek became one of the original Twins. Although Dobbek did not start the Twins first game in 1961 against the New York Yankees he entered the game in the seventh inning as a defensive replacement for Jim Lemon and had the honor of being just one of ten Twins who played in that first Twins game, a 6-0 Twins shutout at Yankee Stadium I. Later that year on July 2 in a game at Municipal Stadium against the Kansas City Athletics Dobbek ran into a fence hurting his shoulder and cutting his head. It was later determined he would need surgery for the injured shoulder. After the 1961 season, the Twins traded Dobbek to the Cincinnati Reds for catcher Jerry Zimmerman.

Dan Dobbek never played in the major leagues again, finishing his pro career in the minors with the Reds and then again in the Twins minor league system and retired after the 1963 season. Dobbek also played for the Elefantes de Cienfuegos of the Cuban Winter League and was a member of the 1960 Caribbean Series champion team. After leaving baseball, Dobbek worked over 30 years for several different laundry companies in Portland.

Dan Dobbek leaves behind his wife, Helen Joan (Lingelbach) Dobbek; and sons, Thomas John and Patsy and Daniel Joseph and Johnita; as well as a granddaughter, Cecilia Palos; and a great-granddaughter, Athena of Georgetown, Ky.

Thank you for the memories Dan Dobbek. We at Twinstrivia.com pass on our condolences to the Dobbek family, friends and fans.

Dan Dobbek Obituary

RIP Baseball Dan Dobbek Obituary

Top left-handed hitting Twins power hitters

Kent Hrbek

The Minnesota Twins have been known as a home run hitting team over the years. It got me to thinking since I was a left-handed batter when I was young and played ball with the other kids, who makes up the top 10 of Twins left-handed hitting home run hitters over the years.

The Twins leading power lefty, is as many of you might suspect, native-Minnesotan first baseman Kent Hrbek with 293 home runs. Nine Twins left-handed batters have hit 100 or more home runs in a Twins uniform. Just as an aside, there are ten Twins right-handed batters with 100 or more home runs wearing Twins colors over the years. Since the Twins began play they have hit a total of 9,002 home runs. 3,564 have been hit left-handed and 5,438 right-handed.

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Using dWAR to determine Twins best gloves over the years

What is dWAR? Defensive WAR (dWAR): this takes only the player’s defensive contributions and positional adjustment into account in a WAR calculation. dWAR was created by Baseball-Reference. I am using this tool to look at Minnesota Twins players from 1961 thru 2023 to see what it determines as the best defensive Twins players by position for their entire Twins career. A player has to have played at least 51% of his games at that position to qualify. According to dWAR, Greg Gagne is the best defensive player the Twins have ever had.

Minnesota Twins Greg Gagne (7) in action, 6/16/1991 CREDIT: Chuck Solomon (Photo by Chuck Solomon /Getty Images

Catcher – Butch Wynegar 9.0 Glenn Borgmann 4.1

First Base – Ron Jackson -0.4 C.J. Cron -0.4

Second Base – Chuck Knoblauch 8.6 Steve Lombardozzi 3.7

Third Base – Gary Gaetti 11.3 Nick Punto 8.6

Shortstop – Greg Gagne 12.4 Zoilo Versalles 8.6

Left Field – Lew Ford 2.0 Gary Ward 1.2

Center Field – Byron Buxton 7.6 Torii Hunter 6.2

Right Field – Max Kepler 3.0 Tom Brunansky 1.2

Pitcher – Camilo Pascual -0.1 Mudcat Grant -0.1

So what do you all think? Is dWAR a fair way to help determine the best defensive players? Here is a B-R Stathead link to the best defensive players in all of MLB from 1961 thru 2023, does this list make you a believer?

Some of the best Twins we saw at Metropolitan Stadium

Minnesota Twins home from 1961-1981

Baseball was fun to watch at Metropolitan Stadium from 1961-1981 and a lot of MLB and Minnesota Twins “greats” played there. Here is a short list of some of the Twins leaders in some hitting and pitching categories. Keep in mind these are stats accumulated only while playing at Met Stadium.

Games played – Harmon Killebrew-963, Tony Oliva-842, Rod Carew-817

Hits – Rod Carew-1,046, Tony Oliva-935, Harmon Killebrew-844

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2023 Twins Turkey of Year

November is flying by. The World Series is over, the GM meetings are behind us, the Hot Stove league is starting to heat up, the newly hired managers are all excited about how good their new teams are, the 2023 MLB award season is in full swing, free agents players and their agents are starting to count their money, the weather is cooling off and Thanksgiving is upon us one more time. The NFBC site is already accepting players for the 2024 Fantasy season and drafts for the 2024 season are already underway (If you think you know baseball and have some extra money then this is the place for you). Black Friday sales have been on-going for some time and yes, the entire baseball world will once again be getting together for the Baseball Winter Meetings (Dec 3-6, 2023) and this year they are back in Nashville.

The Minnesota Twins broke their long losing streak in post-season play and even won a post-season series in 2023 but unfortunately the Houston Astros were waiting for them once again and sent the Twins home early to heal what ails them and to sharpen their golf skills. Hey, they were 3-3 in the post-season but they still have a ways to go and they obviously had some Turkey’s on their roster this season that we can roast. A team that has seven batters that struck out 100 or more times and another that fell just one KO short of 100 along with a $33 million dollar player that hits into a team record 30 double-plays must have some fowl players for us to chose from.

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Twins Spring Training home has new name

Hammond Stadium

Lee Health and the Minnesota Twins agreed to a 10-year partnership Thursday, November 16th that will rename the spring training stadium site in Fort Myers the Lee Health Sports Complex. The complex has been the Twins’ spring training home since 1991. Lee Health is now designated as the Twins’ official Florida healthcare provider. As you might expect, both sides are mum on the financial’s in this new partnership.

The Twins and the club’s six minor league affiliates have called the Lee Health Sports Complex their spring training home since 1991; the 2024 spring campaign will be the organization’s 34th in Fort Myers.

Lee Health Sports Complex, located at 14100 Six Mile Cypress Parkway in Fort Myers, is inclusive of the 8,730-seat Hammond Stadium in which the Twins play spring training home games and conduct select workouts (while also serving as the Mighty Mussels’ home ballpark); five full practice fields (including the home field for the FCL Twins) and two half-fields; a minor league building with locker rooms, training and video facilities; the Twins Player Development Academy, which features a 58-room residence hall for players and staff, dining facilities, recreational spaces, meeting rooms, educational classrooms and the 220-seat Champions Hall; and four community softball fields.

Short 2 minute video

Twins Switch Hitters

Eddie Murray

In baseball, a switch hitter is a player who bats both right-handed and left-handed, usually right-handed against left-handed pitchers and left-handed against right-handed pitchers, although there are some exceptions. Is it beneficial to be a switch hitter? Left-handed batters get a better jump out of the batter’s box to first base. This means the left-handed batter will get more infield hits. Hitting the ball to the first base side of the field has many built-in advantages for his team (such as hitting behind the runner), so he becomes a more valuable hitter.

If you look at position players only, then about 13% are switch hitters, 54% right-handed and 33% left-handed hitters. I believe that at last count there have been 20 switch hitters elected into the Hall of Fame. Many consider Mickey Mantle the greatest switch hitter of all time while others might tell you that it was Pete Rose but that is a whole different story. The switch hitter in the HOF with the most hits is Eddie Murray and the only HOF switch hitting player with more home runs than Murray (504) is Mickey Mantle with 536. So a case can certainly be made for Eddie Murray being the best switch hitter in MLB history.

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Roy Smalley

The Minnesota Twins have had their fair share of switch hitters over the years. Who was their best switch hitter? That would depend on what you are looking for in a hitter but you have to start with Roy Smalley. Up until this past season Roy Smalley led Twins switch hitters with 110 career home runs in a Twins uniform but this past season in 2023 Jorge Polanco took over the team lead in switch hitter home runs with 112. Lets take a look at the Twins switch hitters from 1961 to 2023 at https://stathead.com/tiny/hYPg4. The list shows us the Twins have had 77 switch hitters (both position players and pitchers) over the years but only 68 of them had a plate appearance and 66 of them had at least one hit while 44 of them slugged at least one home run.

Cy Young winner Jim Perry was the Twins best switch hitting pitcher hitting 5 home runs and getting 46 RBI with 117 hits and hitting .191 in 613 AB’s over 380 games in his Twins career. Pitcher Pedro Ramos was no slouch with the stick for Minnesota as he hit three home runs in his one season (1961) pitching for Minnesota in just 93 AB’s. Ramos was the Minnesota Twins very first switch hitter to appear in a game and get a hit with two RBI off future Hall of Famer Whitey Ford when he batted on Opening Day in 1961 at Yankee Stadium. He also became the first Twins switch hitter to hit a home run when he hit one out on May 12 at Met Stadium against the Los Angeles Angels pitcher Eli Grba in a 5-4 Twins victory.

Jim Perry
Pedro Ramos

I have written some previous articles about Twins switch hitters that you can check out at Twins switch-hitters and Twins switch-hitters from 1961-2015

SABR 52 will be in Minneapolis in 2024

SABR will be heading to the Twin Cities for our 52nd annual convention on August 7-11, 2024, at the Hyatt Regency Minneapolis hotel in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The Hyatt Regency Minneapolis is conveniently located at 1300 Nicollet Mall in the heart of downtown Minneapolis’s core shopping, restaurant, and entertainment district. Target Field will host a weekend series between the Minnesota Twins and Cleveland Guardians during SABR 52.

This will be SABR’s third convention held in Minneapolis, and the first since 2012. Learn more about SABR’s convention history by clicking here.

If you have questions about SABR or the Minneapolis Halsey Hall Chapter please feel free to drop me a line. I am a member and have been for some time and will either answer your question or forward you to someone who can. The Halsey Hall Chapter’s 2023 Fall meeting will be held on Saturday, November 18 at Faith Mennonite Church in south Minneapolis. Read the current newsletter for more details.

Twins need a win today

Pablo Lopez

After snapping their 18 game postseason losing streak in the recent ALWC series against the Toronto Blue Jays and going on the sweep the Blue Jays two games to none the Twins find themselves in the Bayou City playing the defending champions.

Game 1 against Justin Verlander did not go well even though they had him on the ropes early in the game. They fell behind 5-0 but came back with four of their own in the seventh but that was as close as they would get before losing to the Astros 6-4.

Game 2 is a game the Twins need to win, no it is not an elimination game, but it is a game in which they have their ace pitcher Pablo Lopez pitching and they need to win a game on the road in Houston. This would be the ideal game to do so and go home for two games tied at 1-1. More importantly, this is a game that the Twins need to show what they are made of, they need to take a step forward and show that they don’t let a loss to the defending champs let the air out of their balloon. The Astros are not unbeatable, the Twins need to show that they have the gumption to come back from being down one game to none and make the flight back home a happy one. I fully expect the Twins to do so.

Game of the other three Division Series have not exactly gone as planned either, with the Orioles, Braves, and Dodgers all losing at home. An unusual start to the ALDS and NLDS.

Twins 18 game postseason losing streak dead and buried

The Minnesota Twins beat the Toronto Blue Jays at Target Field in Game 1 of the AL Wild Card Series by a score of 3-1. Pablo López was the starter and winner, allowing one run on five hits in 5.2 innings pitched, with two walks and three strikeouts. Louie Varland (0.1 IP), Caleb Thielbar (1 IP) and Griffin Jax (1 IP) each earned a hold as Jhoan Duran earned the save with a scoreless ninth inning. The offense recorded five hits and walked six times. Royce Lewis was the hitting star going 2-for-3 with two home runs and three RBI. The paid attendance was 38,450, the second sellout of the season and largest since the Home Opener on April 7 vs. Houston – 38,465.

The Twins win was their first playoff victory since a 2-0 win at old Yankee Stadium in Game 1 of the ALDS on October 5, 2004 – a span of 6,397 days. The win snapped the longest playoff losing streak in baseball history. In that span, the Twins had lost 13 games to the Yankees, three to the A’s and two to the Astros. The Twins win was their first postseason win in Minnesota since a 2-1 victory over the Angels at the Metrodome in Game 1 of the 2002 ALCS on October 8.

Good pitching, stellar defense and two home runs by designated hitter Royce Lewis in his first two AB’s led the Twins to victory in front of a sellout home crowd that yelled and screamed and waived their Homer Hankies at every opportunity. Lewis who hasn’t played in 2 weeks due to a hamstring issue wasn’t even sure if he would be on the playoff roster since he is not 100%. Never-the-less he carried the Twins offense on his shoulders in this game. We may have to coin this the Royce Lewis game. You can’t write about the game without mentioning a stellar play by Carlos Correa throwing out a Blue Jays runner at the plate and two magnificent plays by Michael A. Taylor in center field, one a diving catch and the other a leaping grab at the fence.

If your a baseball fan that likes to sit back and enjoy the game, this would have been a tough game for you as the crowd was standing more than they were sitting. Playoff baseball at its best, unless you are a Blue Jays fan. The Twins are seeking the first postseason sweep in Twins/Senators franchise history.