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 Minnesota Twins beat the Detroit Tigers 9-5 and won their first American League pennant in 22 years as Bert Blyleven wins his second game of the series. The Twins, with the worst road record of any pennant or division winner in history (29-52), took two of three in Detroit to win the best-of-7 ALCS playoffs in five games. The Twins are greeted by over 50,000 fans waiting at the Metrodome (and I was one of them) following their victory in Detroit which gave them their first AL pennant in 22 years.
A nice piece about this day by Doug Grow can be found here. A 10 minute video of the event can be seen on this YouTube – http://youtu.be/jnWpdB9iXgk . Hall of Fame announcer Herb Carneal introduces the players.
9/16/1970 – Pitcher Clyde Wright becomes the California Angels second ever 20 game winner when he beat the Twins and Bert Blyleven 5-1 at Met Stadium. Bert Blyleven, a 19-year old rookie, ties an AL record by striking out the first six batters (Sandy Alomar, Tony Gonzalez, Jim Fregosi, Alex Johnson, Ken McMullen, and Jay Johnstone). He strikes out 10 in 6 2/3 innings.
9/16/1983 – Minnesota’s Tim Teufel goes 5-for-5 with a triple and the first 2 home runs of his ML career in an 11-4 win over the Blue Jays and in the process becomes the first Twin to get 5 hits in a single game at the Metrodome. Teufel becomes the only Twins player to ever get 5 hits and score 5 runs in a game. Teufel ends up with 13 total bases for the game.
9/16/1993 – Dave Winfield of the Minnesota Twins became the 19th player in major league history to get 3,000 hits with a single off Oakland’s Dennis Eckersley at the Metrodome in a 13 inning 5-3 Twins win. In the process Winfield became the first player wearing a Twins uniform to get his 3,000th hit.
9/16/1996 – Paul Molitor gets his 3,000th career hit, becoming the 21st major leaguer to reach the mark and the first to do it with a triple (off Jose Rosado) while the Twins were on the road in Kansas City. The ‘Ignitor’ reaches this milestone in the same season in which he also collects 200 hits, making him the only player to accomplish both feats in the same campaign. The Twins end up losing the game 6-5.
The home run hitters of baseball have been idolized by baseball fans for years, but what about those “Punch-and-Judy” hitters that just have not been able to put one out over the fence and haven’t even been lucky enough to get an inside the park home run? These guys probably could not hit one out even if you let them stand on second base and hit. A Punch-and-Judy is said of a hitter who tends to hit well-placed but weakly-hit balls for singles. The first reference was made by former Los Angeles Dodgers manager Walter Alston when asked about a home run by Willie McCovey of the San Francisco Giants. “When he belts a home run, he does it with such authority it seems like an act of God. You can’t cry about it. He’s not a Punch and Judy belter.”
From what I can determine, the player with the most at bats in the big leagues without ever getting a home run is Bill Holbert. Holbert was a catcher who played a little outfield and infield in 1876 and 1878-1888 with six different teams. Holbert is credited with 2,335 official at bats without hitting a single round tripper. But that was a long time ago and if you look at more modern times, the record holder is Tom “Rebel” Oliver, an outfielder with the Boston Red Sox from 1930-1933 who had 1,931 official at bats and 534 hits but not a homer in the bunch.
So let’s see who among Twins position players going back to 1961 with 100 or more at bats were or are true “Punch-and-Judy” type hitters and who had the most official at bats without a four-bagger on their Minnesota Twins resume.
Al Newman
Number 1 on this list is Al Newman. Newman played 2B/SS/3B for the Twins from 1987-1991 when they played in the Metrodome and Al had 1,647 at bats in a Twins uniform and he failed to hit a single home run. Newman also played for Montreal in 1985-1986 and for Texas in 1992. Between those three teams Newman had 2,107 at bats and he had one home run. Newman’s only career home run took place on July 6, 1986 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium off Atlanta Braves starter Zane Smith.
Number 2 on the list is current Twins outfielder Ben Revere. Revere has been with the Twins off and on since 2010 and during those three season he has 809 at bats through August 12, 2012 without a home run to his credit but he has a ways to go to catch up with Al Newman.
Number 3 on the list is SS/2B Houston Jiminez. Jiminez played for Minnesota in 1983-1984 and had 384 at bats in a Twins uni without a single home run. Jiminez also played for the Pirates in 1987 and the Indians in 1988. Jiminez had 411 career at bats without a homer.
Fourth on the list is SS Luis Gomez. Gomez played for the Twins from 1974-1977 and had 362 official at bats without a long ball. Gomez went on to play for the Blue Jays in 1978-1979 and the Braves in 1980-1981 but when his career ended he had 1,251 major league at bats and a “0” in the home run column.
In the fifth spot on this list is another current Twins player, 2B/SS/3B Jamey Carroll. Through today Carroll has 352 Twins at bats and he still has not cleared the fences. Carroll is in his 11th big league season and is playing for his sixth team and he has hit 12 home runs in his 3,326 career big league at bats.
Number six on our list is catcher Junior Ortiz. Ortiz played in the big leagues for 13 seasons with 5 organizations and he did hit 5 home runs in 1,894 at bats but as a Twins catcher in 1990-1991 he had 304 at bats and not a single home run. Maybe that is why he wore the number “0” on his back as a Minnesota Twin?
Lucky number seven on the list is yet another current Minnesota Twins player, fan favorite (NOT) Tsuyoshi Nishioka who has played 2B and SS. Nishioka has 233 big league at bats to his credit and zero home runs.
Eighth on the list is a Liriano, no, not Francisco but 2B Nelson Liriano. Nelson Liriano has 25 home runs in his 11 seasons and 2,216 at bats in the bigs but as a Minnesota Twin in 1990 he came up empty in the home run column in 185 at bats
Ninth we have another catcher, Jose Morales. Morales was with the Twins parts of 2007, 2009-2010 and hit .297 in 158 at bats but none of the long ball variety. Morales spent 2011 in Colorado and had 60 AB’s there but again came away without a home run.
Number 10 on the Twins homerless list is SS/2B Sergio Ferrer. Ferrer had zero home runs in 138 at bats as a Twin in 1974-1975. Ferrer played for the Mets in part of 1978-1979 and had 40 more at bats there with zero long balls.
Eleventh on the Twins homerless list we have 2B/3B Dan Monzon who came up void of any home runs in his 131 career big league at bats in 1972-1973 with the Minnesota Twins.
Our twelfth and final Minnesota Twins position player with 100 or more at bats with zero home runs is catcher Bruce Look. Look spent all of his 118 big league at bats with the Twins in 1968 and he had no luck hitting one out of the park.
So between these 12 position players we have 4,821 Twins at bats and not a single home run in the group. Isn’t it strange that three players (numbers 2, 5, and 7) on this list are currently playing for the 2012 Twins? That completes a look at the position players with 100 or more at bats with zero home runs on their Twins resumes. The two Twins pitchers with the most at bats as Twins with zero home runs are Mudcat Grant who had 298 regular season at bats in a Twins uni with no homers. We all know about the Mudcat’s home run in-game 6 of the 1965 World Series against the Dodgers and Grant did hit 6 home runs in his 14 year big league career but he did not hit any for the Twins. The other pitcher is Bert Blyleven who had 451 career at bats with zero home runs and 235 of these at bats were as a Minnesota Twins pitcher.
UPDATE AS OF SEPTEMBER 4, 2012 – Jamey Carroll homered against the Chicago White Sox pitcher Hector Santiago at US Cellular Field in the fifth inning of yesterdays game to end his Twins streak of 412 consecutive at bats without a home run. This streak of 412 homer less games moves him up to number 3 on the Twins list behind Al Newman and Ben Revere.
CORRECTION as of September 5, 2012 – It was brought to my attention that I missed outfielder Jason Tyner who had 442 Twins at bats before hitting a home run off Jake Westbrooke at Jacobs Field on July 28, 2007. Todate Jason Tyner career home run count stands at 1. This would put Tyner number 3 on the Twins list.
However; the original intent of my story was to list the Twins with the most at bats that had zero home runs on their entire Twins resume and not really to list the most consective Twins at bats without a homer, thus Jamey Carroll and Jason Tyner really would not belong on this list.
In the 1985 All-Star game, the American League started seven future Hall of Famers: Rickey Henderson (CF), George Brett (3B), Eddie Murray (1B), Cal Ripken (SS), Dave Winfield (RF), Jim Rice (LF), and Carlton Fisk (C). This is the most Hall of Famers ever in a starting lineup for an All-Star Game, not including Veterans Committee inductees. Three more, Wade Boggs, Paul Molitor, and Bert Blyleven appeared later in the game for the American League. The National League had five future Hall of Famers in Tony Gwynn, Ozzie Smith, Ryne Sandberg, Goose Gossage and Nolan Ryan appearing in the game. Gary Carter was an All-Star also but did not play. That makes 16 Hall of Famers gracing the Metrodome turf and 15 of them playing.
As I have mentioned in this blog previously, the first MLB game I ever attended was the 1965 All-Star game at Met Stadium and I got to see 15 future Hall of Famers play that day when the AL had Brooks Robinson, Harmon Killebrew, Al Kaline playing and Mickey Mantle and Carl Yastrzemski named to the team but not playing due to injury. The NL has 12 future Hall of Famers at the Met that day, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Willie Stargell, Ernie Banks, Juan Marichal, Ron Santo, Roberto Clemente, Frank Robinson, Billy Williams, Don Drysdale, Bob Gibson, and Sandy Koufax and they all played that day. Something I will never forget.
If the Minnesota Twins are awarded the 2014 All-Star game and if you get a chance to attend that game, don’t pass it up, who knows what future Hall of Famers you will get to see that day. Just saying………
1964 – Gerry Arrigo pitches the Twins first ever one hitter when Mike Hershberger singles to right leading off the ninth inning and breaks up Arrigo’s no hit bid but the Twins prevail 2-0 over the White Sox at Met Stadium in the first game of a doubleheader. This is the first time a Twins pitcher has thrown a one hitter and the first time a Twins pitcher has accomplished this feat at the Met.
1985 – Minnesota’s Ken Schrom one-hits Kansas City at the Metrodome, but needs a 2-run single from Roy Smalley in the bottom of the 9th to secure the 2-1 victory. Willie Wilson’s 3rd-inning single is the only Royals hit. The is the first one-hitter that a Twins pitcher has thrown in the Metrodome.
Maybe Liam Hendriks can make history tonight by becoming the Twins first hurler to get a one hitter at Target field, I will be out there watching. Twins pitchers have thrown 15 one hitters over the years and the last one was thrown by Scott Baker on August 31, 2007. Bert Blyleven has thrown the most one hitters, three, while pitching in a Minnesota Twins uniform. There have been 26 one hitters thrown against the Twins over the years with the last one thrown by Zach Stewart of the Mighty Whitey’s at Target Field last September.
5/31/1976 – With trade rumors running rampant due to how poorly salary negotiations had progressed, Bert Blyleven walked off the mound at the Met in front of 8,379 fans trailing the California Angels 3-1. A number of fans were on Blylevens’ case shouting and singing “bye-bye Bertie” and Blyleven angrily looked up at the hecklers and flashed them the “one finger salute”. That was the final straw for Twins management and Bert along with shortstop Danny Thompson was traded to Texas the next day for pitchers Bill Singer and Jim Gideon, shortstop Roy Smalley III, 3B Mike Cubbage and $250,000.
5/31/1980 – Outfielder Ken Landreaux goes 0-for-4 in Minnesota’s 11-1 loss to the Orioles Scott McGregor, ending his hitting streak at 31 consecutive games. It is the longest streak in the AL since Dom DiMaggio’s 34-game streak in 1949. Ken’s streak started on April 23rd. Landreaux had 49 hits in 125 at bats during the streak for a .392 batting average. This streak remains the team record to this date.
The first-year player draft was initiated in 1965 and since then a total of 60,428 players have been drafted. During that time, a total of 8,493 players (14.05%), which includes drafted players, non-drafted players and foreign-born players, have appeared in at least one Major League game.
Since the first-year player draft was initiated in 1965, 21 players that were drafted went straight to the big leagues to start their professional careers with out playing in a minor league game. Most eventually ended up spending time in the minors. The only Minnesota Twins player to accomplish this feat was LHP Eddie Bane. The Twins drafted Bane out of Arizona State University in June of 1973 and Bane his big league debut at Met Stadium on July 4th. Bane ended up spending parts of three seasons in the big leagues with Minnesota and had a 7-13 big league record between 1973, 1975 and 1976. Former Twins pitcher RHP Mike Morgan was picked by the Oakland A’s out of high school in 1978 and went straight to the big leagues too.
Since the drafted was put in place, the Minnesota Twins have had more first round picks, 58, than any other big league team. Oakland is closest with 53 first round picks and Tampa has the least with 18.
The very first pick in 1965 was ASU outfielder Rick Monday who went on to have a long career. The first player to made it to the big leagues out of this draft was RHP Joe Coleman the 3rd over all pick with the Washington Senators.
The Twins very first rounder in 1965 was shortstop Eddie Leon out of the University of Arizona but he chose not to sign with the Twins. The following season (1966) the Twins picked 3B Bob Jones in round 1 and 20th over all and he never appeared in a big league game. The Twins picked Steve Garvey in round 3 in 1966 but he chose to go to college before starting his long 19 year pro baseball career.
In 1967 the Twins picked Steve Brye in round 1 and 19th over all and he became the first Twins drafted player to play for the Twins when he debuted in 1970 and went on to play for Minnesota between 1970-1976.
The Twins have had the first over all pick twice, once in 1973 when they took RHP Tim Belcher who chose not to sign with Minnesota and catcher Joe Mauer whom they took first in 2001.
In 1978 the Twins picked shortstop Lenny Faedo with their first pick and he played for the Twins from 1980-1984. A number of pretty good players were picked later, HOF Cal Ripken was picked in the 2nd round that year, Kent Hrbek in the 17th round and HOF Ryne Sandberg was picked in round 20. You never know…..
The last high school player to be picked 1st over all is shortstop Tim Beckham picked by Tampa in 2008.
24 drafted players have gone on to be selected to the Hall of Fame. To this point no player selected 1st over all has ever gone on to have a HOF career. The Twins have drafted two players who have gone on to HOF careers, Bert Blyleven in 1969 and Kirby Puckett in 1982.
Since 1965, 33.8% of the picks have been RHP, 13.6% have been LHP, 10.2% have been catchers, 24% have been infielders, and 18.2% have been outfielders.
64% of the players drafted in 2011 went on to sign big league contracts.
Of the 638 players on the 2012 Opening Day rosters, 23.5% were drafted 1-30 over all and 378 or 59.2% were drafted 1-150 over all (basically the first 5 rounds).
These facts have been derived from the 2012 First-Year Player Draft Selection Guide.
1962 – The Twins split a double header at Yankee Stadium losing the first game 4-3 and winning the second game 4-2. Twins reliever Ray Moore becomes the first Twins pitcher to lose and win a game in the same day. There is a nice SABR Biography of “Farmer” or” Old Blue” that you can read here.
1970 – Rod Carew becomes the first Twins player to hit for the cycle when he accomplishes that rare feat in a 10-5 win over the Royals in Kansas City.
1984 – Boston’s Roger Clemens strikes out 7 batters in 7 innings en route to his first ML victory, 5-4 over the Twins.
1986 – The Twins trade pitcher Eric Broersma to Oakland for pitcher Keith Atherton.
1989 – Danny Gladden ties a major league record when get gets 7 official at bats against the Texas Rangers in a 9 inning game. Randy Bush ties a Twins record with 8 RBI’s in a 19-3 win at Arlington Stadium.
1994 – The Twins are hot having won 9 out of their last 10 games and are beating the Boston Red Sox 10 to 1 after 4 1/2 innings at the Metrodome. Then in the bottom of the fifth the Twins send up 16 batters, get 10 hits (8 singles, 1 double, and 1 home run), 2 walks, a hit batter, score 11 runs and leave 2 on base against three Red Sox pitchers and take a 21 – 1 lead and they hold on for a 21-2 victory. Now that is a fun inning if you are a Twins fan.
outfielder Marty Cordova
1995 – Minnesota Twins outfielder Marty Cordova ties a rookie record of home runs by hitting home runs in five consecutive games.
Carlos Silva
2005 – In an amazing pitching performance, Carlos Silva beats the Brewers 7-1 at the Metrodome with a 74 pitch complete game win in a game that lasted 2 hours and 27 minutes.
2011 – The funeral for Harmon Killebrew was held at Christ’s Church of the Valley in Peoria, Arizona. Several hundred mourners, including past and present members of the Minnesota Twins, attended the service on a gorgeous sunny morning. The Twins just happened to be in town because they were scheduled to play the Arizona Diamondbacks in their first interleague play of 2011. Current Twins Joe Nathan, Michael Cuddyer, and Justin Morneau, as well as manager Ron Gardenhire, were pall bearers, along with ex-Twin Paul Molitor and Killebrew’s former teammates Rod Carew, Tony Oliva and Frank Quilici. Bert Blyleven, now a Twins broadcaster, was the only non-family member other than the pastor to speak at the service. A private burial is planned for Monday, May 23 in Killebrew’s hometown of Payette, Idaho.
Roberto Alomar, a 12-time All-Star and 10-time Gold Glove winning second baseman, and Bert Blyleven, a 287-game winning pitcher who ranks fifth on the all-time strikeout list, were elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Blyleven, who garnered 79.7% of the votes, pitched in 22 seasons with the Minnesota Twins, Texas Rangers, Pittsburgh Pirates, Cleveland Indians and California Angels and compiled a 287-250 record with a 3.31 ERA, 242 complete games, 60 shutouts and 3,701 strikeouts in 4,969 1/3 innings. The right-hander pitched a no-hitter on Sept. 22, 1977 for the Rangers against the Angels and shares the AL single-game record for the longest one-hit complete game of 10 innings June 21, 1976. He, too, was a key part of two World Series champions, the 1979 Pirates and the 1987 Twins.
Holy Cow, GM Terry Ryan has been busy, on the job less than two weeks and he has signed Jamey Carroll and now today the Twins announced they have signed C/1B/OF Ryan Doumit to a $3 million one year deal pending a physical. The deal apparently has some incentives and that is a good thing because the switch-hitting Ryan Doumit comes to Minnesota with some baggage. Injury type of baggage, in the form of a concussion history and that is not a good thing for a catcher.
Doumit was drafted in the 2nd round of the 1999 June free agent draft by the Pittsburgh Pirates as a catcher and has been in the Pirates organization ever since. Doumit made his major league debut in June of 2005. Although not rated as a strong catcher defensively, in his 7 big league seasons Doumit has played in 521 games but he has caught in 426 games, played the OF in 60 and played 1B in 35 games. Injuries have limited Doumit’s time in the line-up and he has never had more than 465 plate appearances in any of his 7 big league seasons.
OK, Ryan Doumit has an injury history but he is still a very nice pick-up and worth the gamble as I see it. Doumit has suffered injuries such as a broken thumb, broken wrist, and a fractured ankle not to mention the concussion issues I brought up earlier. He can play three positions and is a switch-hitter and will be 31 when the season starts in April. He has a little pop in his bat as his 67 home runs in 611 games attest and he has a .271 career average although he did hit only .250 in 2009, and .251 in 2010 but he hit .303 in 77 games last year.
I like the signing but if you think this will send Drew Butera packing you need to think again. Doumit is weak defensively and his strength is offense so there is no way that Gardy keeps him on the bench strictly as a back-up catcher day in and day out. Doumit will be in the line-up some where most of the time so Gardy still needs to have a back-up catcher available and that man will probably be Butera or another catcher with some defensive skills. If Doumit is the DH, Gardy will not want to risk losing his DH if he would suddenly need Doumit to catch. Even if Butera fails to make the team, I see no way the Twins do not carry three catchers next year. In spite of needing to carry three catchers, I like this signing and I give GM Ryan a big thumbs up. Keep working those phones Mr. Ryan, a starting pitcher would be nice and the outfield is still a big question mark.
Jason Bulger
The Twins also announced they have signed yet another relief pitcher to a minor league deal, this time it is former Angel Jason Bulger. Jason is a right hander and stands 6’4″ and goes about 210 and will be 33 in a couple of weeks. Bulger has been in the big leagues off and on with the D-Backs and the Angels since 2005 but has only appeared in 125 games with a 7-2 record. Bulger is another of those relief pitchers with control issues as his career mark of 5.1 BB/9 will tell you.
Finally, the Twins also announced that they plan to add another bronze statue of a former player outside Target Field next year but as yet the player has yet to be publicly identified. He would join statues of Harmon Killebrew, Kirby Puckett, Rod Carew, Tony Oliva and the late Twins owner Carl Pohlad and his wife Eloise. Who is it going to be? My guess would be Bert Blyleven and my dark horse choice would be Kent Hrbek. We will find out soon enough.
UPDATE November 23 – The Twins announced that they have officially signed free-agent catcher Ryan Doumit to a one-year deal worth $3 million.
