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
Rod Carew’s .388 batting average in 1977 was the highest in baseball since Ted Williams in 1957. (National Baseball Hall of Fame)
It is always interesting to look back over the years and try to determine who has had the best offensive season for your favorite team. In the case of the Minnesota Twins I think that is a pretty easy answer, Rod Carew in 1977 and his run at hitting .400. I was lucky that I was able to witness that season as I was able to get out to Met Stadium and see a number of his games in person. Here is a short 3 minute video (don’t forget to turn on the sound) for you to watch about Rod. An interesting point is that none have taken place at Target Field.
But the Twins have had many great offensive seasons by their players and today we going to provide a list of the top 10 (actually 11) for you. All the players on this list have a WAR of 7.0 or above. As you go down the list you can picture the player in your mind or if you weren’t around or didn’t follow the Twins back then this website will hopefully learn more about that player and his contribution to Minnesota Twins history. As always we are going to use Baseball-Reference.com and their nifty tool “Stathead” to help us identify the players for this list by rating them using WAR.
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.
Over the years the Minnesota Twins have hit 8,591 home runs since they started play in 1961 through the 2021 season. Let’s take a look at some milestone home runs, who hit them and where did they hit them. You might want to take note that the Minnesota Twins won 10 of these 12 games.
#1 was hit by Bob Allison on 4-11-61 at Yankee Stadium off Whitey Ford in a Twins 6-0 win in the first game they ever played.
#100 was hit by Bob Allison on 7-19-61 at Wrigley Field off the Angels Ron Kline in a 6-0 Twins win in game one of a DH.
As you watch the 2021 MLB Opening Day games tomorrow one of the things that you are unlikely to see is a complete game win by a starting pitcher. Back in the day, it was normal to see starting pitchers throw complete games in their final one or two spring training exhibition starts and complete games on OD were a normal occurrence. Not so in todays baseball.
Last year Chicago Cubs starter Kyle Hendricks pitched a complete game throwing 103 pitches as he shutout the Milwaukee Brewers 3-0 on July 24. It was the first complete game on OD (not counting a five inning effort by Gerrit Cole in 2020) since April 1, 2013 when Clayton Kershaw shutout the San Francisco Giants 4-0. The last complete game on OD in the American League goes back even farther, back to April 1, 2011 when Felix Hernandez got a CG 6-2 win against the Oakland A’s. The last pitcher to pitch a complete game against the Twins was Rick Rhoden when he was pitching for the New York Yankees on April 5, 1988 after the Minnesota Twins won the 1987 World Series.
The Minnesota Twins OD complete games are documented below.
With no baseball being played and “classic” games being broadcast on the radio and television I thought I would do something a bit different, at least for awhile, since no baseball is being played. I thought I would give up a brief recap of Minnesota Twins games from 1961.
I have been working on a very long term project whereas I do a brief recap of Twins games on my “In This Day in Twins History Pages.” So my plan is to give you a brief recap of the Twins first season as it plays out on a weekly basis. For more info on a particular game you can also click on the date and go to the appropriate “In This Day in Twins History Page” as there you will often get to see some player pictures and supporting documentation. We will see how long I can keep up with it, no promises. So let’s see what we have for week one.
Yankee manager Ralph Houk inspects the jacket of Twins manager Cookie Lavagetto prior to the Twins first ever game, played April 11, 1961 at Yankee Stadium. Twins win 6-0.
The Minnesota Twins have had many great hitters over the years but how many of them have had 1,000 or more hits while wearing a Minnesota Twins uniform? There has been just 14 of them, do you think you can name them all off the top of your head? Grab a pencil and paper and write down their names and see how many of them you can name. Feel free to leave a comment on how you did. When you are all done, click on the link below to see the entire list.
Did any of the names on this list surprise you? How many of these players did you get to see play when they were active Twins players? What Twins player didn’t you get to see play that you would have enjoyed watching?
Bob Allison just missed getting on this list with 999 hits while Jacque Jones with 974 hits and Brian Dozier with 928 hits were the others with over 900 hits but under 1,000.
Have a great day and stay safe and healthy during this difficult time as we pass the time waiting for the COVID19 issue to pass.
Stolen from today’s MN Twins GameNotes. This is just crazy, the man is 39 years old. We are lucky to have watched him this year.
ALL ABOUT THE BOOMSTICK: Historic night in Nellyville:
Nelson Cruz has 30 home runs on the season, tied for second most in the AL.
He now has 30 for the sixth straight season. Active players with 30+ homer streaks include Albert Pujols (12) from 2001-12, Edwin Encarnacion (8) from 2012-19, and Miguel Cabrera (7) from 2007-13.
Cruz’s 30 home runs pass Chili Davis‘ 1991 total (29) for the most by a DH in club history, (MLB all-time record is 54 by David Ortiz in 2006).
Current .652 slugging percentage is the highest in club history (next: Killebrew, .606 in 1961).
Becomes the 23rd player in baseball history with multiple three-homer games in a season (first in Twins history). The first in MLB history with multiple after turning 39.
After Cruz’s three-homer game July 25 at CWS, he joins Doug DeCinces (8/3 & 8, 1982) and Johnny Mize (7/13 & 20, 1938) as the only players to homer three times within 10 days.
Leads baseball in home runs since ASG (14), next players, Max Kepler and Mancini have nine. Also leads baseball in RBI since ASG (26)
Joins Jason Kubel (2009) as the only two players in club history with four five+ RBI games in a season.
Sabath Anthony “Sam” Mele was born in Astoria, New York on January 21, 1922. Although they met in America, Sam Mele‘s parents were born in Avellino, Italy. Mele’s mother was sister to big league brothers Al Cuccinello and Tony Cuccinello. Mele, a natural all-around athlete and a Queens Park baseball legend attended New York University, where he excelled as a basketball player before serving his country in the Marines during World War II. But Mele wanted to play pro baseball and was signed as a free agent by the Boston Red Sox in 1946. In his first year of organized ball, Mele played 119 games for Scranton (A ball in the Easter League) hitting .342 with 18 home runs before being moved up to Louisville in the AAA American Association where he played all of 15 games. Mele made his major league debut with the Red Sox the following year against the Washington Senators on April 15, 1947. His rookie season may have been one of the best of his career as Sam hit 12 home runs and knocked in 73 runs in 123 games while hitting .302. Mele would never hit over .300 again in his 10 year major league career. During his playing career spanning 1947 to 1956, Mele, who batted and threw right-handed, saw duty with six major league clubs: the Boston Red Sox, Washington Senators, Chicago White Sox, Baltimore Orioles, Cincinnati Reds and Cleveland Indians, batting .267 with 80 home runs in 1,046 games. Sam Mele played his final major league game as a Cleveland Indian on September 16, 1956. Mele played AAA ball with for the White Sox and Athletics in 1957 and 1958 but never returned to the majors as a player.
Sam Mele in his playing days
Mele turned to coaching and served under manager Cookie Lavagetto in 1959 and 1960 for the Washington Senators before the team moved to Minnesota in 1961 and became known as the Twins. With the ‘61 Twins struggling, Calvin Griffith asked Lavagetto to take a week off in early June and during this period Mele filled in as manager. When Cookie Lavagetto was fired on June 23, 1961, Sam Mele stepped in as manager full-time and became the Minnesota Twins second manager. The Twins moved up two places in the standings under Mele, finishing seventh when the 1961 season ended.
But the Twins, building with young home-grown players like future Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew, Jim Kaat, Zoilo Versalles and Bob Allison, challenged the powerful New York Yankees in 1962 before finishing second. After finishing third in 1963, the team suffered through a poor season in 1964, leading to speculation that Mele would be replaced by his new third base coach, Billy Martin.
Finally, in 1965 the Twins broke the Yankees’ string of five World Series appearances by winning their first ever American League pennant and sent the Bronx Bombers on a tailspin where the New York Yankees would not appear in another World Series for 12 years. Led by Zoilo Versalles, who was named the American League’s Most Valuable Player, batting champion Tony Oliva, and pitcher Mudcat Grant, who won 21 games, Minnesota won 102 games and coasted to the league title. The Yankees finished sixth, 25 games out. No Twins team has ever won 102 games since and Mele was named as the 1965 Sporting News Manager of the Year and back then there was only one manager of the year named for both the AL and NL. Minnesota took a two-game lead in the 1965 World Series, but the superior pitching of the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale and Claude Osteen took its toll, and Los Angeles won in seven games. During the 1965 season Mele was involved in a an incident with home plate umpire Bill Valentine. The usually mild-mannered Mele’s hand apparently hit Valentine’s jaw and he was fined $500 and suspended five days.
The 1966 Twins won 13 fewer games, and ended up as runners-up to the Baltimore Orioles. Mele had clashed publicly with two of his coaches, Hal Naragon and pitching tutor Johnny Sain and both were fired after the 1966 season much to the dismay of star pitcher Jim Kaat who wrote an “open letter” to Twins fans voicing his displeasure on the Sain firing. The “letter” made national news and caused a ruckus during the 1966 World Series when major league baseball wanted the World Series front and center. The club swung a major trade for pitcher Dean Chance during the offseason and unveiled star rookie Rod Carew in 1967. Hopes and expectations were high in Minnesota, but when the Twins were only .500 after 50 games, Mele was fired. His successor was not Martin, as had been anticipated, but long time minor league manager Cal Ermer. Mele’s record as a manager was 524-436 (.546). He never managed again, but returned to the Red Sox as a scout for 25 years.
Sam Mele passed away on May 1, 2017 at the age of 95. I was lucky enough to interview Sam Mele back in May of 2009 and the interview is about a 1/2 hour-long so grab the beverage of your choice, sit back, relax and listen to Sam tell you a little about himself and what it was like to manage the Minnesota Twins.
Back in 1969 the Minnesota Twins were playing their ninth season of baseball in Minnesota after moving from Washington after the 1960 season where they were known as the Washington Senators. That 1969 team was a very good team and it was managed by Billy Martin who was getting his first shot as a big league manager. The team eventually won the AL West division title with a 97-65 record and went on to lose the ALCS to the 109-53 Baltimore Orioles three games to none. Billy Martin ended up getting fired shortly there after and the rest is history.
During that 1969 season at the request of baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn, Major League Baseball Promotions, Inc ran a contest to determine each MLB teams “Greatest Team” and “Greatest Player”. This would eventually lead to the naming of the “Greatest Player Ever” and the “Greatest Living Player” at the 100 year anniversary celebration of professional baseball at the All-Star game at Washington on July 22.
As a part of baseball’s 100 year anniversary festivities a special logo was designed to be worn on all uniform sleeves and that patriotic looking logo remains the MLB logo today – the batter who looks a lot like Harmon Killebrew, but isn’t. (That, according to the designer, Jerry Dior).
On June 3rd the Minnesota Twins announced their All-Time Twins team and to no ones surprise, Harmon Killebrew was voted as the Greatest Twins Player ever. Since there was no internet back then, the vote counts were much smaller.
