Tag: Dave Goltz

From High Hopes to Hard Realities: The 1975 Minnesota Twins

1961 – 1975 primary Twins logo

Fifty years ago is a long time and many of you reading this weren’t even born back then but I’m sure you Minnesota Twins fans are still interested in what went on back then. Those of you like myself that were around back then, might enjoy a quick look down memory lane. I plan to do that through some articles this season that I am borrowing from The Sporting News which was considered to to be the baseball Bible of its time and maybe some tidbits from the Star Tribune and Sid Hartman now and then. We will see how it goes and what interest there may or may not be. Feel free to make any comments you wish.

In 1974, the Minnesota Twins finished with a record of 82-80, placing them third in the American League West. The team had some standout performances, including Rod Carew winning his fourth AL batting title with a .364 average and Bobby Darwin hitting 25 home runs. The pitching staff saw Bert Blyleven (17-17), Joe Decker (16-14), and Dave Goltz (10-10) achieving double-digit wins. Despite these individual successes, the Twins struggled with consistency and attendance, which was the lowest in the American League.

The 1975 Minnesota Twins had a challenging season, finishing with a record of 76-83, which placed them fourth in the American League West. Managed by Frank Quilici, the team played their home games at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington, Minnesota. Despite their struggles, the Twins had some standout performances. Rod Carew, the team’s star second baseman, won his fifth American League batting title with an impressive .359 average. The pitching staff saw three players achieve double-digit wins: Jim Hughes (16-14), Bert Blyleven (15-10), and Dave Goltz (14-14).

Continue reading From High Hopes to Hard Realities: The 1975 Minnesota Twins

Most starts by a Twins SP

Bert Blyleven

I get a number of emails each day and one of them pointed out the following about my favorite pitcher all-time, Warren Spahn.

“Today’s definition of a durable pitcher is more lenient than the guidelines in place between 1942 and 1965, when Warren Spahn totaled 382 complete games for the Braves, Mets, and Giants.

Managers are happy these days if a starter can work six innings, maybe seven. Complete games are very rare, indeed. Just 35 CG’s were registered in the American and National Leagues last season — and only 379 were posted over the past eight years combined. That latter total, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, was three fewer than the number of complete games that Spahn recorded himself.”

Only two Twins starters have over 100 complete games, Bert Blyleven with 141 and Jim Kaat with 133 and the nearest to them for CG’s in Minnesota is Dave Goltz with 80. By the way, the most starts by a Twins starter stands at 42 by Jim Kaat in 1965.

I have attached a B-R Stathead search link for Minnesota Twins pitchers that have had 100 or more starts. The list is relatively short since only 26 pitchers from 1961-2023 have started that many games wearing the Twins uniform. The nice thing about it is you can re-sort the list in any way you want to see who had the most strikeouts, wins, etc. Check it out, I’m sure you will find some things that will surprise you.

For combined seasons, from 1961 to 2023, At least 60% games started, Playing for MIN, in the regular season, requiring Games Started >= 100, sorted by descending Games Started.

Some of the best Twins we saw at Metropolitan Stadium

Minnesota Twins home from 1961-1981

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.

Games played – Harmon Killebrew-963, Tony Oliva-842, Rod Carew-817

Hits – Rod Carew-1,046, Tony Oliva-935, Harmon Killebrew-844

Continue reading Some of the best Twins we saw at Metropolitan Stadium

A look at Twins Quality Starts over the years

According to WikipediA, in baseball a quality start is a statistic for a starting pitcher defined as a game in which the pitcher completes at least six innings and permits no more than three earned runs. The quality start has effectively replaced the ‘complete game’ as a meaningful measure of a starting pitcher’s performance.

The quality start was developed by sportswriter John Lowe in 1985 while writing for The Philadelphia Inquirer. Nolan Ryan has used the term “High Quality Start” for games where the pitcher goes seven innings or more and allows three earned runs or fewer, which baseball columnist and formber BBWAA president Derrick Goold referred to as “Quality Start Plus.”

Continue reading A look at Twins Quality Starts over the years

Minnesota Twins pitching leaders in games started

Back on December 19 in 2006 pitcher Brad Radke announced his plans to retire after 12 season of wearing the colors of the Minnesota Twins. That got me to wondering where the Twins pitchers with the most starts for Minnesota came from.

  1. Jim Kaat had 422 starts with the Twins and was signed by the Washington Senators as an amateur free agent in 1957 long before the draft was instituted and was one of the original Minnesota Twins in 1961. Debuted August 2, 1959 with the Senators.
  2. Brad Radke had 377 starts with the Twins and was an eighth round pick in the June amateur draft in 1991. Radke debuted on April 29, 1995 in three not so stellar innings of relief and started every game that he appeared in after that.
  3. Bert Blyleven had 345 starts with the Twins after being drafted by Minnesota in round three of the 1969 June amateur draft. Bert debuted on June 5, 1970 and all his appearances but three were starts.
  4. Frank Viola had 259 and just one relief appearance with the Twins after being selected in round 16 of June 1978 amateur draft. Sweet Music debuted on June 6, 1982.
  5. Jim Perry had 249 start for Minnesota after being acquired in a trade on May 2, 1963 from the Cleveland Indians for pitcher Jack Kralick.
  6. Dave Goltz had 215 starts for the Twins after drafted in the round five of the 1967 June amateur draft. The Rothsay, Minnesota native debuted on July 18, 1972.
  7. Kyle Gibson had 188 starts with Minnesota after being drafted 22nd in round one of the 2009 June amateur draft. Gibson debuted on June 29, 2013.
  8. Kevin Tapani had 180 starts in 181 appearances in a Twins uniform after being acquired in a trade from the New York Mets in the Frank Viola trade on July 31, 1989. Tapani had debuted with the Mets on July 4, 1989.
  9. Camilo Pascual had 179 starts with Minnesota and was signed by the Washington Senators as an amateur free agent prior to the 1952 season long before the draft was instituted and was one of the original Minnesota Twins in 1961. Pascual debuted on April 15, 1954.
  10. Johan Santana had 175 starts with the Twins after being drafted by the Florida Marlins from the Houston Astros in the 1999 rule 5 draft and then being traded to the Twins for Jared Camp who the Twins had originally drafted in the Rule 5 draft that year. Santana debuted on April 3, 2000.

The other players with 150 or more starts for Minnesota are Eric Milton with 165, Scott Baker with 159, Scott Erickson with 153, Kyle Lohse with 152 and Dave Boswell with 150.

The only pitchers mentioned here today to make a start for the Minnesota Twins at Target Field are Kyle Gibson and Scott Baker.

The only pitcher on this list to spend his entire career in Minnesota? That would be Brad Radke.

Opening Day Complete Games

Bert Blyleven

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.

Continue reading Opening Day Complete Games

Complete games on Opening Day are a rarity

Pedro Ramos

Back in the 60’s and 70’s it was not unusual to see the opening day pitcher pitch a complete game. Twins pitchers did it three times in the 60’s including in 1961 when they played their first game against the New York Yankees and Pedro Ramos went the distance in the 6-0 Twins win and again three more times in the 70’s. The last pitcher to pitch a complete game on opening day for Minnesota was Dave Goltz in 1978 but he lost to the Mariners that day in a 3-2 game.

Continue reading Complete games on Opening Day are a rarity

Best seasons by Twins position players & pitchers

As the Twins prepare for their 59th season of play in Minnesota we should look back and be thankful for some great seasons these players have given us in the past. I am using B-R Play Index to come up with the ten greatest seasons by Minnesota Twins players over the years and I am once again using WAR as the tool to do this. I think you might be surprised at some of these.

Continue reading Best seasons by Twins position players & pitchers

We won’t see these kinds of starts again anytime soon

Today we are going to look at the Twins starting pitchers that went to the mound to pitch and they didn’t let pitch counts and innings pitched stop them. Here we have a list of Twins starting pitchers that started a game and pitched a minimum of 11 innings, Jim Merritt is the top man on the list and will probably remain there forever. 

Since 1961 starting pitchers have stayed in a game 11 or more innings on 430 occasions but the last pitcher to do so was Dave Stewart who went 11 very efficient innings throwing just 129 pitches in his start and complete game 1-0 shutout of the Seattle Mariners in August 1, 1990. Can it happen again? Sure, but the chances are slim to none with today’s coddled and pampered pitchers.

Jim Merritt

Results
Rk Player Date Tm Opp Rslt App,Dec IP H R ER SO
1 Jim Merritt 1967-07-26 (2) MIN NYY W 3-2 GS-13 13.0 7 2 2 7
2 Camilo Pascual 1963-07-23 MIN CLE L 2-3 CG(13), L 12.2 7 3 3 11
3 Dave Boswell 1969-07-14 MIN CHW W 4-3 GS-12 12.0 10 3 2 7
4 Jim Kaat 1969-05-20 MIN BAL W 3-2 GS-13, W 12.0 8 2 1 4
5 Camilo Pascual 1964-10-01 MIN KCA L 4-5 CG(12), L 12.0 12 5 1 14
6 Jim Roland 1964-05-19 MIN NYY W 7-2 GS-12, W 12.0 7 2 2 8
7 Camilo Pascual 1962-09-12 MIN CHW L 1-2 CG(12), L 12.0 12 2 2 7
8 Dave Goltz 1977-07-25 MIN OAK W 2-1 CG(11), W 11.0 8 1 1 14
9 Bill Singer 1976-09-01 MIN MIL W 3-2 GS-11 11.0 6 2 2 3
10 Dave Goltz 1976-05-18 MIN OAK W 4-3 CG(11), W 11.0 7 3 3 7
11 Bert Blyleven 1975-08-27 MIN MIL W 1-0 SHO(11), W 11.0 6 0 0 13
12 Jim Kaat 1973-06-23 MIN CAL L 1-3 CG(11), L 11.0 11 3 3 6
13 Jim Kaat 1972-05-24 MIN KCR W 1-0 GS-11, W 11.0 5 0 0 7
14 Jim Perry 1970-08-07 MIN OAK W 2-1 CG(11), W 11.0 5 1 1 7
15 Jim Kaat 1969-04-09 MIN KCR L 3-4 GS-12 11.0 8 3 2 4
16 Jim Kaat 1964-04-26 MIN DET W 3-2 CG(11), W 11.0 7 2 2 11
17 Jim Kaat 1962-08-01 MIN BAL W 3-1 CG(11), W 11.0 9 1 1 12
18 Pedro Ramos 1961-04-28 MIN LAA L 5-6 GS-11 11.0 6 4 4 10
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 3/27/2018.

 Jim Kaat did it six times while wearing a Twins uniform and the all-time leader in these kinds of starts since 1961 is Gaylord Perry with 17 starts of 11 innings or more. Bill Singer (1973), Mickey Lolich (1971) and Mark Fidrych (1976) each did it four times in a single season.

Back in Time to June 1967

What we have here is a clipping from the Sunday, June 4, 1967 Star Tribune Sports section and a story about the up-coming June free agent draft with assistant farm director George Brophy.

You have to love Brophy’s best picks going into the draft being listed in the local paper. Was Brophy being honest or just blowing smoke? You sure don’t see things like that now days. Let’s take a closer look.

The first guy on the list is Terry Hughes and he was the second overall pick by the Cubs. Next on the list was Mike Garman and he was the third overall pick by the Red Sox. Don Blemberg was the next player on the list but the name was incorrect, it was really Ron Blomberg and he was the first overall pick in the draft by the Yankees. Fourth on the list is Wayne Simpson and he was the eighth overall selection by the Reds. Phil Meyer was next on the list he went number 14 overall to the Phillies but never made it to the big leagues. Mike Nunn is next and the Angels used the ninth overall selection to draft this catcher who would never reach the majors. Next on the Brophy list is Brian Bickerson who was really Brien Bickerton who was taken seventh overall by the Athletics but he too never had a big league appearance. Next up, Larry Keener who turned out to be a round two pick by the Phillies and he too spent his big league career in the minors. Next up is catcher Ted Simmons and he was taken tenth overall by the Cardinals and he went on to have a long 21-year big league career. Larry Matlock is the tenth guy on the list and he is really Jon Matlack who was picked by the Mets as the fourth overall selection and he had a very nice career. Up next was Jim Feer but he turns out to be Jim Foor and he was picked 15th overall by the Tigers and he had a brief big league career. The last player on this 12-man list is a pitcher by the name of Dave Kingman. The Angels got Kingman in the middle of round two and turned him into a position player that some of you might know as Kong Kingman. Yes, he is the same guy that put a ball into the Metrodome ceiling. Actually the best player (by WAR) selected in the first round (or any round) that year was shortstop Bobby Grich who was taken 19th overall by the Orioles.

So, what did the Twins do with their 17th pick? The Twins chose third baseman Steve Brye who became the first ever Twins first round pick to put on a Twins uniform when he debuted with Minnesota in September of 1970. Brye went on to spend all or parts of seven seasons with Minnesota but only appeared in 100 or more games twice. The best players the Twins drafted in 1967 turned out to be pitcher Dave Goltz a fifth round pick and catcher Rick Dempsey a 15th round pick who went on play in the big leagues for 24 years but the Twins traded him early on to the New York Yankees for Danny Walton.

As far as the players names being misspelled is concerned, it is not all that unusual for that time period for the scouts and teams to have incorrect spelling of prospect names and every now and then the same player was picked by two different teams because of the spelling of their names.