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
The following players made their major league debuts as Minnesota Twins on May 24.
Cole De Vries
Cole De Vries (P) – May 24, 2012 – Signed by the Minnesota Twins as an amateur free agent on August 22, 2006. Cole, a Minnesota native was saddled with he loss during his big league debut.
Matt Macri
Matt Macri (3B) – May 24, 2008 – Traded by the Colorado Rockies to the Minnesota Twins for Ramon Ortiz on August 15, 2007. Matt made his big league debut in a 19-3 loss to the Detroit Tigers in Comerica Park but he did pretty well for himself going 2 for 3 with a run scored, a RBI and a stolen base.
Ft. Myers Miracle (High A) 3B/1B/OF Chris Paul was named Twins minor league Player of the Week. In six games for the Miracle, he hit .500 (11-for-22) with four doubles, one home run, six RBI, three walks, seven runs, a .577 on-base percentage and a .818 slugging percentage. In 42 games for the Miracle this season, he is hitting .341 (57-for-167) with 13 doubles, three home runs, 23 RBI and 24 runs scored.
The Irvine, California native was drafted by the Twins in the sixth round of the 2015 First-Year Player Draft from the University of Cal-Berkeley and signed for a $50,000 bonus on July 17, 2015.
Only one major league debut as a Minnesota Twins player on May 23 and that is our old buddy Anthony Swarzak who is currently pitching for the Mighty Whities and having a career year.
Anthony Swarzak
Anthony Swarzak (P) – May 23, 2009 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 2nd round of the 2004 MLB June Amateur Draft. Swarzak became the first Twins pitcher to start a game and pitch 7 scoreless innings in his major league debut earning him his first big league win in a Twins 6-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers at the Metrodome.
The Twins spotted the Orioles a 5–0 lead last night but came roaring back to win in Baltimore, 14–7. It’s the first time the Twins won a game by at least five runs after trailing by five or more runs in over 18 years, since a 13–8 win in Cleveland on April 17, 1999, in which they trailed by six runs at one point.
Sano is a bona fide slugger (you think?)
Miguel Sano
Miguel Sano slammed his 11th home run of the season and drove in three runs, bringing his season total to 37 RBIs in 40 games. The only other players in Twins history, including their days as the Washington Senators, to have as many homers and RBIs as Sano in their first 40 games of a season were Larry Hisle in 1977 (11 HR, 42 RBIs) and Joe Mauer in 2009 (13 HR, 40 RBIs).
Salvador Perez’s two-run home run in the second inning got the Royals off and running in the team’s 6-4 victory in the first game of a doubleheader in Minnesota on Sunday. Perez also went deep twice in Kansas City’s defeat in the second game of the double dip. Perez has now hit 14 home runs in 200 at bats at Target Field in his career, the second-best home run ratio (one HR every 14.3 AB) among players with at least 150 at bats in Minnesota’s current home, behind Jim Thome (one HR every 11.8 AB). Perez has averaged one home run for every 29.8 at bats in all other stadiums in his career.
Kennedy allows two homers in the first
Robbie GrossmanMax Kepler
Robbie Grossman and Max Kepler each hit two-run home runs off of Ian Kennedy in the first inning in the Twins’ 8-4 win over the Royals in the second game of a doubleheader on Sunday. It’s the first time Kennedy allowed multiple home runs in the first inning in the 244 starts he has made in his career.
Only one player made his major league debut as a Minnesota Twins player on May 22.
Minnesota first baseman Chris Colabello walks back to the dugout after striking out against Oakland relief pitcher Ryan Cook for the final out of the game in Monday’s Home Opener at Target Field in Minneapolis, April 7, 2014. The Twins lost 8-3. (Pioneer Press: John Autey)
Chris Colabello (1B) – May 22, 2013 – Signed as a Free Agent with the Minnesota Twins on February 2, 2012 – According to B-R Colabello is the 18,000 player to debut in the majors but his debut was not much to write home about. Colabello has quite a story to tell, check it out.
I wonder how many long-time baseball fans are aware that there are 500 or so former MLB players, being hosed out of pensions by the league and the players’ association.
All these men have been getting since 2011 are non qualified retirement payments of $625 per quarter, up to 16 quarters, or a maximum payment of $10,000 per year. Meanwhile, the maximum IRS pension limit per year is $210,000.
One of these men is Dublin, Virginia’s Bill Dailey. Born in Arlington, Virginia in March 1935, Mr. Dailey recently turned 82.
Bill Dailey – Twins pitcher 1963 – 1964
A pitcher who played for the Cleveland Indians, in 1961 and 1962, and the Minnesota Twins, in 1963 and 1964, Mr. Dailey appeared in a total of 119 games, all in relief. He notched 10 victories in 185 and two-third innings. In 1963 in what was probably Dailey’s best season, he appeared in relief 66 times for the Twins pitching a total of 108.2 innings and saved 21 games while winning 6 games and posting a 1.99 ERA.
Mr. Dailey had a career year for the Twins in 1963, when he appeared in 66 games, went 6-3, had a brilliant 1.99 Earned Run Average and recorded 21 saves. In that magical season, when the Twins were home and the opposing team was threatening, the organist for the Twins would play a parody of “Bill Bailey Won’t You Please Come Home” called “Bill Dailey Won’t You Please Come In?”
The union representing the players, the MLBPA, doesn’t have to be the legal advocates for these men, the league doesn’t have to negotiate about this matter and the alumni association is too busy putting on golf outings.
Neither the league nor the union want to retroactively restore these men into pension coverage; instead, taxes are taken out of the nonqualified retirement payment, which cannot be passed on to a surviving spouse or designated beneficiary. So when Mr. Dailey passes on, the payment he is currently receiving is not passed on to any of his loved ones, including his wife, Anne. They are also not eligible to be covered under the league’s umbrella health insurance plan.
Former pitcher Steve Rogers is a special assistant to Tony Clark, the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association. He is the players’ pension liaison; his email address is stever@mlbpa.org and his telephone number is 646-430-2112.
If you believe that these former big league ballplayers are being treated unfairly please give Steve Rogers a call or send him an e-mail and let him know that this is totally unfair.
This article was submitted by Doug Gladstone, Author
“A Bitter Cup of Coffee; How MLB & The Players Association Threw 874 Retirees a Curve”
Trevor Plouffe (SS/2B/OF/3B) – May 21, 2010 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 1st round (20th) of the 2004 MLB June Amateur Draft. A nice debut at shortstop for Trevor going 2 for 5 with a run scored and two RBI.
Luis Rodriguez (2B/3B/SS) – May 21, 2005 – Signed by the Minnesota Twins as an amateur free agent on June 1, 1997
Gene Larkin (1B/OF) – May 21, 1987 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 20th round of the 1984 amateur draft. Going 2 for 4 with an RBI in your first big league game is pretty nice.
Frank Eufemia
Frank Eufemia (P) – May 21, 1985 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 18th round of the 1982 amateur draft. Debut not too shabby considering he was pitching in a blow-out loss, 3.1 innings and no runs allowed.
Paul Boris (P) – May 21, 1982 –Traded by the New York Yankees with Ron Davis and Greg Gagne to the Minnesota Twins for Roy Smalley on April 10, 1982. Boris’s major league debut was one he would like to forget.
Jerry Crider (P) – May 21, 1969 – Signed by the Minnesota Twins as an amateur free agent in 1962
The Twins improved to 6–0 against the Royals this season after walking off with a victory over Kansas City last night. Jorge Polanco’s sacrifice fly drove in the winning run for the Twins in the 10th inning after Kennys Vargas hit a game-tying two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to force extras. Entering Friday, the Twins had lost their last 138 games in which they trailed in the ninth inning or later, which was by far the longest such active losing streak in the majors. The Braves now own the longest active losing streak of that kind, having lost their last 58 games in which they trailed in the ninth inning or later.
