According to ELIAS

Twins rookies highlight five-run inning against Quintana

Byron Buxton 2016Entering his start against the Twins at Target Field last night, Jose Quintana had limited rookies to a .141 batting average (10 for 71) and only four RBI this season. But a trio of rookies tagged him for hits in a five-run second inning by Minnesota, Jorge Polanco and Max Kepler singled, and Byron Buxton connected for a three-run homer–and that outburst catapulted the Twins to an 8-5 victory over the White Sox breaking the Minnesota Twins 13-game losing streak.

Steve Korcheck passes away at 84

KorchekSteve Korcheck passed away at the age of 84 from heart failure on August 26 in Bradenton, Florida. Stephen Joseph Korcheck was born August 11, 1932 in McClellandtown, Pennsylvania and was a celebrated high school athlete before going on to George Washington University where he played baseball and football and earned bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate degrees.

Steve Korcheck never played for the Minnesota Twins so why you ask does he show up on a Twinstrivia.com web site? The Minnesota Twins didn’t exist yet and I never saw Steve Korcheck play baseball for the Senators but as a kid growing up in Taylors Falls, Minnesota I followed baseball and collected baseball cards. Back then Topps were the only baseball cards available and the local dime store sold the packs for a nickel each or six for a quarter. I didn’t have much money so I collected and returned empty pop bottles to finance my purchases.

Korcheck, SteveOne of the cards that I had was a 1959 Steve Korcheck card which I thought was a very cool looking card and that card caused me to follow Korcheck more closely. Korcheck wasn’t a very good hitter and the Washington Senators were a bad baseball team and my friends made fun of my like of Steve Korcheck. My baseball playing friends started yelling “you hit like Steve Korcheck” whenever a player made an out.

Five years later I was a senior in high school and in shop class I decided to make a baseball bat from scratch on a wood lathe. It took me some time since we only had 45 minutes or so in shop class daily but the bat turned out great. It was a beauty if I say so myself, a nice thin handle like I preferred and of course I had to have a name on the bat to make it look like the real thing so I stamped Steve Korcheck’s name on the barrel of the bat. A friend who played on the Taylors Falls High School baseball team asked me if he could use the bat and I was hesitant to loan it to him but he talked me into it. You can of course guess what happened, in his first at bat he hit a long foul fly ball and cracked the bat and my Steve Korcheck model bat was history. I did get an “A” on that shop project from the shop teacher who incidentally was also the baseball coach. I have never forgotten that experience or Steve Korcheck and later in life I started collecting some players autographs on their baseball cards and one of the autographs I have gotten was from Steve Korcheck who was kind enough to sign my card, write a short note, and enclose his business card as president of the State College of Florida. When I got the material back from Steve Korcheck I was amazed that this player and man that we had made so much fun of as kids had attained this status in life, President of a college and that he had earned a doctorate degree. This really made me think about what I had expected Steve Korcheck to be in real life versus the non-hitting catcher I saw as a child. Now days, in my late 60’s I play fantasy baseball and have for many years. One of my teams every year is called “Korcheck’s Bunch”, a reminder to myself that life is not all about baseball and that you might not be the best player in baseball but you can be great man in many other ways. Steve Korcheck was a teacher his entire life and he was All-Star but you won’t see it on his Baseball-Reference.com page.

After graduating from George Washington University in 1954 Korcheck signed as a free agent with the Washington Senators passing up an opportunity to play pro football with the San Francisco 49’ers who had selected the 6’1″ 205 pound Korcheck in the third round of the NFL draft as a center.

Korcheck made his big league debut on September 6, 1954 as the starting catcher in the second game of a double-header against the Philadelphia Athletics at Griffith Stadium. Korcheck who went by the nickname of “Hoss” ended up 0 for 3 and the Senators lost the game 3-2. Korcheck  played in the major leagues briefly for the Washington Senators in 1954 and 1955 before serving his country in the Army in 1956-1957. After his military service was behind him, Korcheck resumed his baseball career appearing briefly in a Senators uniform in 1958 and 1959 but his hitting skills or lack there of kept him from earning a roster spot with Washington. Korcheck spent the entire 1960 season with the Washington Senators AAA farm team Charleston under manager Del Wilber and played with future Minnesota Twins like Bert Cueto, Jimmie Hall, Jim Kaat, Don Mincher, Ted Sadowski, Garland Shifflett, Sandy Valdespino and Zoilo Versalles before calling it a career and moving on with the rest of his life.

Why Did Senators Catcher Steve Korcheck Choose Baseball Over San Francisco 49’ers?

Stephen J. Korcheck, former MCC president and baseball player, dies

Final inning over in a life well lived

Thank you for the memories Steve Korcheck and may you rest in peace. Twinstrivia.com would like to pass on our condolences to the Korcheck family and friends. Steve Korcheck may be gone but he will never to be forgotten.

According to ELIAS

Dozier: 24 extra-base hits in August

Brian Dozier homersBrian Dozier‘s home run last night in Cleveland was his 24th extra-base hit since August 1. That is the highest total in a calendar month in Twins franchise history. He broke the mark set by Joe Cronin, who had 23 extra-base hits for the Washington Senators in July 1932 and again in June 1933. (The team relocated from Washington to Minnesota in 1961.)

The only other active player to produce at least 24 extra-base hits in a calendar month is Albert Pujols with 24 in June 2009.

Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez and Ken Griffey Jr. each rank in the top 10 all-time in extra-base hits but none of them ever had as many as 24 extra-base hits in a calendar month in their major-league careers.

According to ELIAS

Dozier ties franchise record for extra-base hits in a month

Dozier
Dozier

Brian Dozier‘s first-inning home run on last night was his 23rd extra-base hit this month, tying a Twins franchise record for extra-base hits in a calendar month. Joe Cronin had 23 extra-base hits in a calendar month twice, when the team was known as the Senators, in July 1932 and June 1933. Cronin hit .368 (46-for-125) in July 1932, but then topped that off by sporting a remarkable .458 batting average (54-for-118) in June 1933.

Dozier has 12 home runs this month, the most for any player in a calendar month this season. Only two other players in franchise history had 12 or more homers in a calendar month: Harmon Killebrew eight times (his high for a month was 15 in May 1959) and Jimmie Hall in August 1963 (13 homers).

Twins minor league player of the week – Zach Granite

Zach Granite 2016Chattanooga Lookouts (AA) outfielder Zach Granite is the Twins minor league player of the week. Granite played seven games for the Lookouts, hitting .357 (10-for-28) with two doubles, six runs scored, two RBI and six stolen bases. Granite has played in 118 games, mostly in center field for the Lookouts this season, hitting .300 (146-for-487) with 16 doubles, eight triples, four home runs 49 RBI, 81 runs scored and 50 stolen bases. He leads the Southern League in batting average and stolen bases and ranks second in runs scored.The 23-year-old was drafted by the Twins in the 14th round of the 2013 First-Year Player Draft out of Seton Hall University where he was a four-year starter.

Will 2016 Twins win count exceed number of players used?

Numbers

And it isn’t even September

This past Friday night in Toronto Alex Wimmers became the 29th pitcher used (counting Eduardo Escobar’s one relief appearance) by the Twins this season and 47th player overall. The Twins record for pitchers used in a season was 25 in 2012 (catcher Drew Butera made one relief appearance). Eleven different pitchers have made starts and 23 have made relief appearances. The Twins most players used in a season is 48 in 2014.

The numbers of players used by the Minnesota Twins this year probably won’t equal the number of games the Twins win this season but it will be very close. Wouldn’t that be something if the Twins used more players than the number of games they won?

I’m tired of this BS that the Minnesota Twins call professional baseball!

soap-boxTigers 8-game winning streak in Minnesota

The Tigers beat the Twins Thursday afternoon extending their winning streak in Minnesota to eight games. That matches the longest current road winning streak for any team against a particular opponent. The Yankees have won eight straight games at Atlanta (2009-present) and the Angels have won eight in a row in Colorado (2001-present).

It’s the longest road winning streak for the Tigers against the Twins since the team moved from Washington to Minnesota in 1961 and the longest against the franchise since they won 11 straight road games against the Senators from 1949 to 1950.

The two paragraphs above come from According to ELIAS. Way too much news like this coming out of Target Field, is there any good news at all? Hope has turned into despair in Twins Territory. Even for a long time Twins fan like myself it is difficult to watch the 2016 Minnesota Twins. I just can’t understand why this team keeps making the same mistakes over and over. Sending players to the minors has not worked, as a matter of fact a case could be made that the Twins keep their players in the minors too long. Players seem to be regress in the Twins system versus get better. Once these players reach Minnesota they seem to fall apart totally after a short stay.

So what do you do?

No RBI? No problem, you can still win the game

Win a baseball game without your team getting an RBI? It happens, but it doesn’t happen all that often, in the case of our Minnesota Twins it has happened on 12 occasions in the Twins 56 years of play in Minnesota with the last occurrence taking place on May 1, 2015 at Target Field when the Twins shut out the might whities from Chicago 1-0. The Twins had seven hits that day, the most they have ever had in a game of this type. The Twins have beaten the Cleveland Indians three times and the Yankees twice without getting a RBI.

The first time it happened was June 22, 1962 at Met Stadium in the first game of a double-header against the Los Angeles Angels. The Twins had only three hits that day and a walk but they managed to come back from a 2-0 deficit to win the game 3-2. Starter Don Lee for the Angels pitched a complete game in a losing effort, he had pitched for the Twins in 1961 and part of 1962 before being traded to the Angels just a month earlier for pitcher Jim Donohue who also appeared in this game.

The Twins starter that day was Canadian Georges Maranda from Quebec. The right-handed throwing Maranda had an interesting history having been signed by the Boston Braves in 1951. Although Maranda started his career in the Braves system as a 19 year-old he did not make a big league appearance until he debuted as a Rule 5 selection for the San Francisco Giants at the age of 28 on April 26, 1960. He spent the entire season with the Giants in 1960 and was used sparingly, appearing in only 17 games and pitching a total of 50.2 innings and posting a 1-4 record. In 1961 the Giants sent him to AAA Tacoma where he posted a 10-4 record with a 3.56 ERA which was good enough to catch the attention of the Minnesota Twins who made him their Rule 5 pick on November 27, 1961. In Minnesota he again spent the entire season in the big leagues pitching primarily in relief he appeared in 32 games starting just four and the game above was one of those four games. Maranda was credited with the win which turned out to be the only victory he would get wearing a Minnesota uniform and one of the only two games he would win in the majors. The October of 1962 the Twins traded Maranda to the Cleveland Indians as the PTBNL in a deal for pitcher Ruben Gomez.

You have got to love that glove (click on the picture to make it bigger)
You have got to love that glove (click on the picture to make it bigger)


Georges Henri Maranda was the first Canadian to wear a Minnesota Twins uniform. Maranda played 13 seasons in professional baseball, but only played for two seasons in the majors. In his final season of pro ball in 1963 he pitched for the Jacksonville Suns in the American Association in 1963. In 1973, the town of Lévis named its baseball park the “Stade Georges Maranda” (Georges Maranda Stadium). He was inducted into the Quebec Baseball Hall of Fame on June 26, 2000. Georges Maranda passed away on July 14, 2000 at the age of 68 after a battle with cancer.

Georges Maranda
Georges Maranda
Rk Date Tm Opp Rslt AB R H RBI
1 2015-05-01 MIN CHW W 1-0 28 1 7 0
2 2010-04-27 MIN DET W 2-0 33 2 5 0
3 2001-09-28 MIN CLE W 1-0 30 1 6 0
4 1985-08-24 MIN BOS W 1-0 30 1 5 0
5 1978-07-07 (2) MIN OAK W 1-0 30 1 5 0
6 1970-04-29 MIN CLE W 1-0 30 1 6 0
7 1968-08-19 MIN NYY W 1-0 28 1 4 0
8 1968-07-23 (2) MIN CAL W 3-1 30 3 7 0
9 1967-08-25 (2) MIN CLE W 2-1 33 2 7 0
10 1966-09-16 MIN NYY W 2-1 28 2 2 0
11 1966-07-21 MIN WSA W 1-0 32 1 5 0
12 1962-06-22 (1) MIN LAA W 3-2 29 3 3 0
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/24/2016.

Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph – Nov 28, 1961 – Maranda drafted by Twins (interesting writing style)

Georges Maranda Memorial

Twins minor league player of the week – Tanner English

Tanner English - 2016Ft. Myers Miracle (High A) outfielder Tanner English is the Twins minor league player of the week. English played six games for the Miracle, hitting .391 (9-for-23) with two triples, three home runs, four walks and eight runs scored. The 23-year-old English is hitting .233 (20-for-86) with three doubles, three triples, four home runs and eight RBI in 24 games for the Miracle this season. English is about 5’10” and goes about 160 and plays primarily center field and has stolen 51 bases in 59 attempts in his three seasons in the Twins system.

English was originally a 13th round selection in the 2011 MLB Draft out of high school by the Tampa Bay Rays but decided to go to college. English was drafted in the 11th round of the 2014 First-Year Player Draft out of the University of South Carolina and signed by Minnesota for a reported bonus of $105,000.

Twins Minor League Report08212016

According to ELIAS

Royals allow one run, on Dozier’s homer

For the fourth straight game, the Royals allowed only one run, and it came on a solo homer. No other team in major-league history has had a streak like that, allowing only one run, on a solo homer, in four straight games.

Dozier
Dozier

Yesterday’s homer came off the bat of Brian Dozier, who has a six-game homer streak against the Royals. (Dozier did have a game during the streak with only a pinch-hit walk, but we’re going by the hitting streak rules here.) The only other player to have a six-game homer streak against the defending World Series winner was Joe Adcock of the Milwaukee Braves. He homered in nine straight games against the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1956. The Twins longest streak of this kind belongs to Harmon Killebrew who homered against the Kansas City Athletics in 9 straight games in 1961. The longest streak of this kind for an opponent belongs to Seattle Mariners Ken Griffey Jr. who hit six against the Twins in 1999 and Jim Thome who also hit six against the Twins while with the White Sox in 2007.