5/4/1974 – Less than 3 months after pitcher Dick Woodson wins MLB’s first salary arbitration case, the Twins exile him to the New York Yankees for pitcher Mike Pazik. Owner Calvin Griffith swore he would never pay Woodson the money and he held true to his word.
5/4/1975 – The Minnesota Twins retired their first number ever, HOF Harmon Killebrew’s number 3. Harmon, playing for the Kansas City Royals, hit his first ever home run against the Twins and it was at Met Stadium in a Twins 6-3 win over the Royals. Vic Albury gave up the long ball to Harmon in the first inning. Box score.
Stew Thornley wrote the following in the Halsey Hall chapter of SABR “Old-timers” may remember a promotion by Tootsie Rolls in 1975 to commemorate the one millionth run in major league history (with only the history of the American and National leagues being recognized). The countdown came down to Sunday, May 4, 1975. At Metropolitan Stadium in Minnesota, the Twins held a pre-game ceremony to retire the number of Harmon Killebrew, who then homered in the first inning for the Kansas City Royals. In the bottom of the second, Rod Carew was on third for the Twins with no out. Teammates, monitoring the progress of runs that day, yelled at Carew that he was in line to score the millionth run. When Steve Brye hit a fly to right, Carew tagged and raced for home. However, the strong-arm of Al Cowens nailed Carew at the plate, taking away his chance for the millionth run. Soon after Bob Watson of the Astros, in the first game of a doubleheader in San Francisco, scored on a home run by Milt May and took the honor. The run came at 12:52 Pacific time. Watson was on second and ran as fast as he could to reach home. He reportedly crossed home plate at Candlestick Park four seconds before Dave Concepcion, who had homered in Cincinnati and also beat cheeks around the bases. Carew, by being thrown out by Cowens, missed out on the prize: $10,000 and 1 million Tootsie Rolls”.
5/4/1982 – Minnesota Twins’ rookie outfielder Jim Eisenreich, who suffered from Tourette’s Syndrome, removes himself from the game due to taunts from Boston Red Sox bleacher fans.
5/4/1984 – In the fourth inning of the Twins-A’s game, Oakland’s Dave Kingman hit a ball into one of the Metrodome roof’s drainage holes and the ball never came back down. Kingman’s pop-up had gone up 180 feet and into one of the seven-inch drainage holes in the inner layer of the roof. The umpires gathered to discuss the event that had never happened before in a major league game and awarded Kingman a ground rule double. In the ninth inning Kingman homered for Oakland’s only run and the Twins won 3-1. Before the game the next day, a Dome worker found the ball and let it fall on the field to a waiting Twins outfielder Mickey Hatcher, he dropped it. Box score.
5/4/1999 – The Twins beat the Yankees 8-4 at the Metrodome as Mike Lincoln gets the win and the Twins get victory number 3,000. Box score.
