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
As we start a new year in 2018 I wanted to share a list of former Minnesota Twins players that passed away in 2017
RIP gentlemen and thank you for the great memories, you are a part of Minnesota Twins history forever.
A complete list of deceased former Minnesota Twins players can be found on our “Deceased Twins” page.
James Thomas Donohue Jr. was born in St. Louis, Missouri on October 31, 1937 and died on September 9, 2017 in the city where he was born. Jim Donohue was a 1956 graduate of CBC (Christian Brothers College), a prominent Catholic high school in the St. Louis area.
Donohue who friends called “Bones”, was signed by the St. Louis Cardinal prior to the 1956 season at the age if 18 and assigned to play for the Class D Gainesville G-Men in the Florida State League where he was 5-6 as a starter/reliever and he posted a very nice 2.08 ERA in 95 innings.
Donohue continued working his way up the Cardinals minor league ladder but in June of 1960 he was traded by St. Louis to the Los Angeles Dodgers. His stay in their system was relatively short because that November the Detroit Tigers snagged him with a Rule 5 pick. Donohue made the 1961 Tigers team and debuted in the majors on April 11, 1961. Used strictly in relief, his stay in Detroit too was destined to be a short one as on June 7, 1961 the Tigers traded him to the Los Angeles Angels. Donohue spent the rest of 1961 with the Angels splitting his time as a starter and as a reliever. Donohue started the 1962 season in LA but on May 29th the Minnesota Twins acquired him in a trade for pitcher Don Lee.
Bones appeared in six games starting one for the Twins in June of 1962 before being sent to the minors never to pitch in the big leagues again. As far as I can determine, Donohue spent 1963 and 1964 in the Twins minor league system without being invited to spring training before leaving baseball behind. In Jim’s brief stay in Minnesota he pitched in just 6 games and had no wins with one loss, and a save in 10.1 innings with a 6.97 ERA.
Jim Donohue is the 78th former Minnesota Twins player to pass away. Although Jim Donohue’s time with the Minnesota Twins was short, he did pitch for the organization and as such is part of the Twins wonderful history forever. Thank you for the memories Jim Donohue. We at Twinstrivia.com want to express our condolences to the Donohue family and all of Jim’s friends and fans.
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.
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.
| 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 |
Quebec Chronicle-Telegraph – Nov 28, 1961 – Maranda drafted by Twins (interesting writing style)
