Tag: Metrodome

This Day in Twins History – April 17

Jason Kubel
Jason Kubel

4/17/2009 – Jason Kubel hit for the cycle at the Metrodome against the Angels. Kubel became the ninth Twins player to hit for the cycle when he doubled in the first, singled in the third, and tripled n the sixth before clobbering a grand slam homerun in the 8th inning as the Twins rallied for an 11-9 win. It was only the third time in MLB history a player had completed hitting for the cycle with a grand slam home run. It was done previously by two shortstops, Tony Lazzeri in 1932 and Miguel Tejada in 2001. Box Score

4/17/2014 – What a day! Yesterday’s Twins/Blue Jays game was snowed out so the Twins scheduled a doubleheader for today in spite of 4″ of snow that fell at the ballpark last night. The weird snow storm dumped 20″ in North Branch but only .03″ at the airport. When Kyle Gibson throw the first pitch in the first game at Target Field it was just 31degrees, an all-time record cold temperature for a Twins home game. The Twins won game 1 by a score of 7-0 in front of 20,507 shivering fans. The second game of the DH which was the make-up game started about 6PM and the Twins won 9-5 but it was how they won that game that was unusual as 20,698 fans looked on but there were far less when the eighth inning hubbub started. The Twins scored six runs on only one hit in the bottom of the eighth inning as they came from behind to beat the Blue Jays, 9-5, in the second half of their split doubleheader at Target Field. Minnesota’s six-run “rally” benefited from the almost total inability of Toronto pitchers to throw strikes in that inning, as Steve Delabar, Sergio Santos and J.A. Happ combined to walk eight Twins batters. (Santos also threw three run-scoring wild pitches in that inning.). According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Minnesota was the first big-league team to draw eight walks in one inning since April 19, 1996. The eight walks in one inning set a Twins club record, their previous record was six, done twice – April 16, 1961 at Baltimore (first inning) and July 15, 1965 vs. Kansas City (fourth inning). Both of the attendance totals were “paid attendance” and not a real count of fans in the stands and the estimate for fans in attendance was less than 12,000 for game one and even less for game two. Box Score Game 1, Box Score Game 2

1965 All-Star game crossword puzzle

crossword imageThe excitement builds in Minnesota as the preparations continue for the 2014 All-Star game that will be played one week from today. The team hit the road for Seattle after Sunday’s loss to the New York Yankees and final preparations are being made at Target Field to host Minnesota’s third MLB summer classic. The Twins will be represented by closer Glen Perkins and catcher Kurt Suzuki in the game and Twins manager Ron Gardenhire will be one of the coaches.

The Twins have previously hosted MLB All-Star festivities in 1965 at Met Stadium and again in 1985 at the H.H.H. Metrodome. From 1961-2014 the Twins have had 51 different players represent them at the All-Star game. The first big league game I ever attended was the 1965 All-Star game. I was able to purchase a standing room only ticket the day of the game and watched the game from under the left-field bleachers. A memory that will stick with me for ever.

An amazing number of future Hall of Famers played in that 1965 game. So let’s see how well you remember that All-Star game. I have put together a crossword puzzle for that 1965 game and I think it will test your memory skills. Every player named an All-Star that year is mentioned in the puzzle in one fashion or another. If you enjoy Minnesota Twins or All-Star game history and like to do crossword puzzles then this might be just the thing for you.

Once you have brought the puzzle up and are ready to print the puzzle, do a right-click with your mouse and you might want to do a print preview first to get the puzzle the right size to fit on a single page by adjusting the margins. The clues for the puzzle will print on page 2.

1965 All-Star game puzzle

Answers? You want answers? Probably just to double-check your work because if you are checking out this site you are probably a big baseball fan and will not need to do any research to complete the puzzle. If you do need help answering some, checking the box score for the 1965 All-Star game might be the way to go. If you still need help, you can find them on the link below but only do so as a last resort. Thanks, I hope you enjoy it.

1965 All-Star game puzzle answers

According to Elias

The brooms were at the ready behind the Twins dugout as the Twins took on the White Sox looking for a rare four-game sweep.
The brooms were at the ready behind the Twins dugout as the Twins took on the White Sox on Sunday afternoon looking for a rare four-game sweep.

The Twins completed a four-game series sweep of the White Sox on Sunday in what was the first series sweep of four or more games in the majors this season. June 22 is the latest date on which a team completed the major leagues’ first series sweep of four or more games in a season since 1938. The White Sox were the first team to fashion such a sweep that year when they won all four games of a series against the St. Louis Browns at Sportsman’s Park from June 27-30.

The sweep of the White Sox was the first-four-game sweep that Twins have ever had at Target Field where the team began play in April of 2010. The last time the Twins completed a four-game sweep was June 2-5, 2011 in Kansas City and the last time they had a four-game sweep at home was at the Metrodome on July 12-15, 2007 against the Oakland A’s.

This Day in Twins History – May 16

Blly Martin
Blly Martin

May 16, 1928 – Alfred Manuel “Billy” Martin was born in Berkeley, California. Billy played in the majors for 11 seasons with the New York Yankees, Kansas City A’s, Detroit Tigers, Cleveland Indians, Cincinnati Reds, Milwaukee Braves and finished his career with the Minnesota Twins in 1961. Martin managed the Twins in 1969, the Detroit Tigers in 1971-1973, the Texas Rangers in 1973-1975, the Oakland A’s from 1980-1982, the New York Yankees from 1975-1979, 1983, 1985 and again in 1988. Billy Martin died as the result of an automobile accident on December 25, 1989.

May 16, 1983 – The Twins enter the ninth inning at the Metrodome trailing the Oakland A’s 7-0. The Twins hit four home runs in the bottom of the ninth (Dave Engle, Bobby Mitchell, Gary Gaetti, and Mickey Hatcher and they score 6 runs. They have the tying run on first when Dave Engle who pinch-hit a home run to lead off the rally strikes out to end the game. Hatcher’s home run was also as a pinch-hitter marking the third time in Twins history they have pinch-hit two home runs in the same game. The attendance was only 7,056 and you wonder how many fans were actually still at the Dome to witness this amazing comeback that fell a run short. Boxscore

Harvey Mackay
Harvey Mackay

May 16, 1984 – The Twins sell 51,863 tickets to their 8-7 loss to the Blue Jays, but only 6,346 fans show up for the game. The skewed numbers are the result of a massive ticket buyout plan organized by Minneapolis businessman Harvey Mackay to keep the Twins in Minnesota; if the club does not sell 2.41 million tickets this season it can break its lease with the Metrodome. Taking advantage of reduced prices on the Family Day promotion, Mackay pays $218,718 for 44,166 tickets. Boxscore

May 16, 2010 – Jason Kubel hit a stunning grand slam off Mariano Rivera with two outs in the eighth inning Sunday, and the Twins snapped a nine-game losing streak against the Yankees with a 6-3 victory in Yankee Stadium. Kubel’s third homer of the season and sixth career slam snapped a string of 51 straight converted save opportunities for Rivera at home, tying the major league record set by Eric Gagne with the Dodgers. Nick Blackburn (4-1) allowed three runs and nine hits in seven innings for Minnesota, which picked up its first win against New York since Aug. 13, 2008. The Twins had lost 12 straight overall against New York, counting the sweep in last year’s AL division series. Boxscore

Where do Twins rank in MLB ticket prices?

MoneyI have been keeping track of Minnesota Twins ticket prices for some time and you can see my work on the Twins Ticket Price History page. Based on how I calculate Twins ticket price averages I have the Twins with an average ticket price of $30.68. TMR (Team Marketing Report) publishes their MLB FCI (Fan Cost index) each year and this year according to their formula they have the Minnesota Twins with an average ticket price of $32.59. Why the difference in our average ticket prices? It could be many different things but as long as we each approach our data in a consistent format each year the numbers will remain valid. My goal is to track Twins ticket prices from year to year and I don’t do any comparisons to the other MLB teams. TMR on the other hand is interested in comparing where each team stands in their FCI of which average ticket price is an important piece.

The other day TMR put out this chart showing 2014 MLB average ticket prices.

MLB2014Tickets

Click on the chart twice to make it larger and easier to read.
Click on the chart twice to make it larger and easier to read.

MLB2014Tickets

In  2014 the Boston Red Sox have the highest average ticket price at $52.32 and the San Diego Padres have the lowest average ticket price at $16.37. The Red Sox have had the highest average priced MLB ticket since 2011 when they took over the crown from the Chicago Cubs. As I mentioned earlier, the average MLB ticket price is $27.93. The Twins average ticket price of $32.59 ranks them with the seventh highest average ticket price moving up one spot from last year. Eleven teams have rank above the MLB average ticket price and 19 teams rank below the average. Of the 10 teams that appeared in postseason play in 2013, seven of them had ticket prices that fell below the MLB average ticket price.

So back to the Minnesota Twins and where their ticket prices have ranked according to TMR since 2006.

2013 at Target Field – Team record was 66-96. MLB average ticket price was $27.73. Twins average ticket price was $32.59 ranking them with 8th highest average ticket price.

2012 at Target Field – Team record was 66-96. MLB average ticket price was $26.98. Twins average ticket price was $33.04 ranking them with 5th highest average ticket price.

2011 at Target Field – Team record was 63-99. MLB average ticket price was $26.91. Twins average ticket price was $33.04 ranking them with 6th highest average ticket price.

2010 at Target Field – Team record was 94-68 and in postseason. MLB average ticket price was $26.74. Twins average ticket price was $31.47 ranking them with 7th highest average ticket price.

2009 in Metrodome – Team record was 87-76 and in postseason. MLB average ticket price was $26.64. Twins average ticket price was $21.70 ranking them with 17th highest average ticket price.

2008 in Metrodome – Team record was 88-75. MLB average ticket price was $25.43. Twins average ticket price was $20.68 ranking them with 19th highest average ticket price.

2007 in Metrodome – Team record was 79-83. MLB average ticket price was $22.77. Twins average ticket price was $19.27 ranking them with 20th highest average ticket price.

2006 in Metrodome – Team record was 96-66 and in postseason. MLB average ticket price was $22.21. Twins average ticket price was $17.26 ranking them with 21st highest average ticket price.

So what does all this prove? I am not sure but the Twins organization is fond of saying that the Minnesota Twins should not be compared to organizations like the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, Cardinals etc. because the revenue numbers are very different. While that is true, how can the Twins justify such high average ticket prices when their payroll is nowhere near the top and their record on the field is one of the worst each of the last three years but yet they have asked their fans to pay ticket prices that are 7th, 8th, 5th, and 7th highest in all of major league baseball. In the National League the Cubs have put a bad product on the field and been gouging their fans for years and it looks like the Twins have become the Chicago Cubs of the American League both in play and in average ticket prices. Owner Jim Pohlad and everyone in the Twins organization should be pretty embarrassed by these numbers.

Today in Twins History – April 6

4/6/1951 – Twins pitching great and MLB Hall of Famer Rik Aalbert “Bert” Blyleven was born on this day in Zeist, Netherlands. Blyleven, now a Twins TV color commentator makes a big deal about his birthday and seems to mention his birthday on every Twins telecast and can tell you on any day of the year how many days it is until his next birthday. Bert is famous for using his “telestrator” for circling Twins fans in the crowd who have brought their “Circle me Bert” signs to the ball game.

4/6/1966 – The Twins swing a deal with the Red Sox and acquire catcher Russ Nixon and 2B Chuck Schilling and give up pitcher Dick Stigman and 1B Jose Calero.

4/6/1972 – For the first time in history, the major leagues failed to open because of a player strike, which started on April 1. The traditional season opener between Houston and Cincinnati was canceled and 86 games were lost before the strike was settled.

4/6/1973 – Tony Oliva hits the first home run ever by a designated hitter in AL history when he cranks one out against “Catfish” Hunter in Oakland in the Twins 8-3 victory.

4/6/1978 – In only the second game of the season while playing in the Kingdome, Twins 2B Rob Wilfong is hit by a pitch thrown by Mariners reliever Shane Rawley in the sixth inning and suffers a broken bone in his hand which sidelines him for a month.

4/6/1982 – A  huge crowd of 52,279 turns out for the inaugural game at the brand-new Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. Twins rookie 3B Gary Gaetti goes 4-for-4 with a pair of home runs, but Seattle wins 11-7. By the way, the temperature outside that day was 28 degrees.

4/6/2004 – Playing in just his second major league game, Twins star rookie catcher Joe Mauer hears something “pop” as he slides and tries to catch a foul pop-up in a game against the Cleveland Indians at the Metrodome. The Twins actually ended up winning the game 7-6 in 15 innings. A few days later, April 8th, Joe ends up having surgery to repair a medial meniscus tear in his left knee. Mauer returns to the line-up on June 2 but continues to have trouble off and on with the knee swelling and he plays in his final 2004 game on July 15 and his first season as a Twin ends after just 35 games but in that short period he showed all of us what kind of bat he had as he hit .308 in 107 at bats.

4/6/2005 – The Twins are leading the Seattle Mariners 3-1 in the top of the 8th inning at Safeco Field when Ron Villone is brought in to face Twins 1B Justin Morneau. Villone beans Morneau and in the process Morneau suffers a mild concussion. According to a Star Tribune article in 2005, “Contributing to the concern is Morneau’s history of concussions. This was his fifth, although the first involving baseball. He suffered others playing basketball and hockey and, in the worst one, running backward in 2000 during a workout. He fell and hit the back of his head on the ground.” Morneau saw the pitch coming toward his head – a frightening recollection. “A heat-seeking missile,” Morneau called it. After a 2 week stint on the DL, Morneau returned to the line-up on April 22.

4/6/2009 – The Twins open their 28th and final season at the Metrodome with a 6-1 loss to the Seattle Mariners. The Twins opponent in the first regular season game at the Metrodome on April 6, 1982 was also the Mariners and the Twins lost that game 11-7.

By the way, I just set up a new page that I call Twins Audio and Video clips, check it out if you have a few minutes.

Fun facts about Twins home openers

2013 opening dayThe Minnesota Twins are playing their final spring training game today and I am sure they are hoping for a quick non extra inning game so they can grab a quick shower and board the plane for their flight to Minneapolis where they look to get settled in before they open the season against the Detroit Tigers on Monday, April 1. It seems that the baseball gods are having a good laugh and are playing an April Fool’s joke on both the Twins and the Tigers by making them play ball on day that the weather prognosticators say will be a windy 31 degrees at game time with wind chills in the 20’s.

When the Twins first moved here from Washington they played outdoors in Metropolitan Stadium from 1961 through the 1981 season. In-door baseball was just at the starting gate about this time as Roy Hofheinz was in the process of building the “Eighth Wonder of the World” in Houston in what would open in April 1965 as the Harris County Domed Stadium but was later called simply as the Astrodome.

Let’s take a look at some of the interesting facts about the Twins home openers.

  • The Twins called the “Met” home for 21 years and their record in their Met Stadium home openers was 21-9 including winning 10 out of 11 between 1964-1974.
  • The first Twins pitcher to get credited with a win in a Twins home opener was Bill Pleis in 1964.
  • Of those 21 Met home openers, only 5 of the games were actual season openers as the Twins started their season on the road most of the time. The Twins were 2-3 in season openers at the Met.
  • During the Met Stadium years the Twins opened the season 6 times against the A’s, five times as Oakland and once as Kansas City and they won four and lost two.
  • Between 1961 and 1981 they opened the home season as early as April 6 (1971) and as late as April 23 (1972).
  • The average temperature at the start of a Twins home opener at Met Stadium was 56.48 degrees.
  • The coldest start to a Twins home opener occurred on April 14, 1962 when it was 33 degrees at game time and the Twins ended up losing to the Los Angeles Angels 12-5 in front of 8,363 hardcore Twins fans. The coldest start ever to a game at Met Stadium took place against the New York Yankees in May 2, 1967 when the temperature stood at 32 degrees and the Twins trounced the Yankees 13-4.
  • The warmest start to a Twins home opener took place on April 22, 1980 when the California Angels and Rod Carew were in town to take a 8-1 pasting at the hands of the Twins who were as hot as the 89 degree temperature that day. Geoff Zahn pitched a complete game and Hosken Powell,  Ron Jackson and Roy Smalley all hit home runs.

The Twins moved indoors in 1982 and played in the HHH Metrodome through the 2009 season so the out-door temperatures mattered little as it was always between about 66-72 degrees inside.

  • Of the 28 seasons that the Twins played dome ball, they opened the season at home 15 times and their record in these season opening games was 7-8.
  • The Twins were 9-4 when their first game of the season at the Dome was not a season opener.
  • Many of the Twins openers at the Dome were night games, something not done at any out-door venue in Minnesota.
  • Between 1982 and 2009 they opened the home season as early as March 31 (2008) and as late as April 27 (1995).

Since the Twins have called Target Field home in 2010 they have never played a season opening game there until this year. The earliest game they have played there was April 8, 2011. The Twins are 2-1 in Target Field home openers. The average temperature at a Target field home opener so far has been 57.67 degrees but even if the temperature is only 31 degrees on Monday, the average temperature for a Target field home opener will still be about 51 degrees.

 Here is a chart showing the Twins outdoor home openers.

YEAR Date Temperature Result Season opener
1961 4/21 63 lost 5-3 no
1962 *4/14 33 lost 12-5 no
1963 4/9 49 lost 5-4 yes
1964 *4/22 56 won 7-6 no
1965 4/12 44 won 5-4 yes
1966 4/12 52 won 2-1 yes
1967 4/14 51 won 5-3 no
1968 4/17 62 won 13-1 no
1969 4/18 59 won 6-0 no
1970 4/11 49 won 8-2 no
1971 4/6 53 lost 7-2 yes
1972 *4/23 44 won 8-4 no
1973 4/13 51 won 8-4 no
1974 4/9 53 won 3-1 no
1975 4/15 48 lost 7-3 no
1976 4/13 75 lost 4-1 no
1977 4/15 77 lost 3-2 no
1978 4/14 50 won 14-5 no
1979 4/17 63 lost 6-0 no
1980 4/22 89 won 8-1 no
1981 4/9 65 lost 5-1 yes
2010 4/12 65 won 5-2 no
2011 4/8 63 won 2-1 no
2012 4/9 45 lost 5-1 no
2013 4/1 35 lost 4-2 yes

* = The Twins had home openers postponed in 1962 (April 13), 1964 (April 21), and 1972 (April 22).

Twins tickets today and yesterday

Twins ticketsTarget Field still has a layer of snow and the temperature will reach only 17 degrees today here in Minnesota but in Ft. Myers the Twins pitchers and catchers have already started daily workouts and the position players will be reporting soon. On Saturday, February 16th the Twins will begin selling single-game tickets. The last couple of years when the Twins opened single-game ticket sales the phone lines and web site got over-run and there were sometimes long delays in getting your tickets purchased. Based on the Twins poor showing the last two seasons and low expectations for 2013 I would not expect long waits to purchase your tickets this year.

To me, the question is should you buy your single-game tickets when they go on sale on Saturday or do you wait? The current quoted price for single-game tickets is only good from February 16 through February 22 because on February 23 demand-based pricing kicks in. Haven’t heard about demand-based pricing?  The Twins actually started that policy in 2012 and here is how it plays out in 2013. Beginning February 23, single game ticket prices in all seating sections will be determined on a daily basis according to current market demand. Prices may fluctuate upward or downward based on real-time market conditions. So the question is, will I get better value by purchasing my tickets now or will I be able to get a better price once the season begins. I guess it all depends on how well the Twins play and what the weather is like. Personally; I just find it irritating that the published single-game ticket price is only good for 1 week before the first spring training game is even played. I guess I am old school.

On the other side of the coin you can certainly argue that it is better to sell more tickets even if you have to sell them at a discount than to not sell them at all at full price. The customer benefits because he gets to see the baseball game and the team benefits because they get the fan in the ballpark where it is likely he will spend additional dollars on food and possibly merchandise. Where the rub comes in is that going to a baseball game is getting to be like buying an airline ticket, each person on that flight is going to go to the same destination on that particular flight but each of them may have paid a different fare to get there. I have a problem with that.

The other issue I see is that in order to keep the season ticket holder base happy the team has to sell the demand-based tickets at a higher price than what the season ticket holders pay or that becomes a huge issue in itself. Thus the demand-based tickets can only be lowered to a certain price base level but on the other side if all is going great, the team can jack up the price of the ticket to whatever the market will pay. I see little risk and high reward for the team with demand-base pricing and to me it is another gimmick that costs the fans.

The Minnesota Twins have been here since 1961 and over 81 million fans (through 2012)have come through the turnstiles at the Met, the Metrodome and now Target Field to watch the Twins play ball and most of them have bought tickets. I thought it would be fun to take a look at Twins ticket prices going back to 1961 when the ballclub played their first game at Metropolitan Stadium. I did a lot of research on Twins ticket prices and here are some interesting nuggets that I found.

In 1961 the Twins had 3 price categories, a box seat went for $3, reserved grandstand went for $2.50 and general admission was $1.50. In spite of owner Calvin Griffith’s miserly reputation he did not raise ticket prices until 1968, his eighth season here and he only increased box seats by 50 cents and reserved grandstand by a quarter. Keep in mind that the Twins played in the 1965 World Series during this period and still did not raise ticket prices. Think that would happen in todays world? Not a chance.

By the time the Twins were getting ready to move into the brand new Metrodome in 1982 they had completed 21 years at Met Stadium and the team had implemented ticket price increases just 8 times with the cheapest ticket going from $1.50 to $3.00 and the highest priced ticket jumped from $3 to $7.

In the 23 full seasons that Griffith owned the Twins from 1961 to 1983 (1984 does not count as the team was sold mid-season) he raised ticket prices 9 times (39%) and kept ticket prices at the previous rate on 14 (61%) occasions. During Griffith’s reign the average ticket price went from $2.33 to $6.00, an increase of 157.51%.

The Twins were sold to the Pohlad family in mid-season in 1984. Pohlad’s first full year as team owner was 1985 and his teams played in the Metrodome for 25 years from 1985 through 2009. During the Pohlad era in the Metrodome the Twins raised ticket prices 18 times or 72% of the time. They made no change to the ticket price 4 times, 16% of the time and they lowered ticket prices on 3 occasions or 12% of the time. The first drop took place in 1987 when the ticket price dropped 4% as the average ticket price went from $6.25 to $6.00 based on a $1.00 drop in lower left field seats. The second average ticket price drop occurred as the team entered the 1996 season when the average ticket went from $10.86 to $8.67 but this is kind of deceiving because the Twins added one new ticket category and dropped two high-priced categories and sold them as season tickets only and these category changes dropped the average ticket price when the ticket prices never actually changed. The third drop in average ticket price occurred as the Twins went into the 2002 season fresh off the “contraction” fiasco. The contraction business may have played a role in the ticket price reduction but what about the outrageous 53.58% average ticket price increase that took place prior to the 2001 season? Maybe the Twins realized that they over did it the year before, who knows? Bottom line, from 1985 through the 2009 season in the Metrodome under the Pohlad umbrella the average Twins ticket price went from $5.50 in 1985 to $30.25 which is an increase of 450%.

Between 1961 and 2005 the Twins had anywhere from 2 to 7 different pricing categories each season. Dynamic/variable pricing showed up in 2006 and the price categories jumped to 16, in 2009 it jumped to 24, in 2010 with the move to Target Field it more than doubled to 57 , in 2011 it crept up to 60 and in 2013 it jumps to 95.

I set up a new page called Twins Ticket Price History so if you want to see a year by year look at Twins ticket prices, some charts and tables showing ticketing information, and some ticket images including some interesting “phantom” tickets, check it out.

This Day in Twins History – October 2

10/2/1974 – Harmon Killebrew wears the Twins uniform for the last time as a Twins player and appears as a pinch-hitter with two out in the bottom of the ninth but takes a called third strike from Steve Foucault for the final out of the game and the 1974 season. Only 2,570 fans see Harmon play his last game as a Minnesota Twin. Texas Rangers manager Billy Martin elects not use a designated hitter, and allows starting pitcher Ferguson Jenkins to bat for himself. Although Fergie gets a hit in the Texas 2-1 victory over the Twins at Metropolitan Stadium, the Rangers manager refusal to use a DH prevents the position from being employed for the entire game according to the rules.

10/2/1981 – The HHH Metrodome is inflated for the first time. It took two hours to inflate over 310 tons of fabric, covering the world’s largest air-supported multi-use stadium.

10/2/1988 – The Twins draw 35,952 fans in their season finale against the California Angels to become the first American League team to pass 3 million in attendance in a single season. They finish the season with a total attendance of 3,030,672. By the way, the Twins won the game 3-2.

10/2/1992 – Chili Davis hits home runs from each side of the plate against the Royals at Kauffman Stadium in a 5-1 Twins victory and becomes only the second Twins batter to accomplish this feat.

10/2/2002 – The Twins lose game 2 of the 2002 ALDS in Oakland to the A’s by a score of 9-1. Joe Mays was the losing pitcher and the Twins scored their only run on a Christian Guzman home run.

10/2/2004 – The game against the Indians at the Metrodome was suspended after 11 innings with the game tied at 5 because the playing surface had to be prepared for a Gophers football game. I was there and walked away feeling like I got cheated, baseball games are not supposed to end in a tie. The Twins won the game 6-5 in the 12th inning the next day. Kyle Lohse who pitched the 12th inning was the winning pitcher and he went on to start the regularly scheduled game for that day but he only lasted 4 innings and was the losing pitcher. Box score for suspended game.

10/2/2009 – Joe Nathan recorded his 46th save of the season and in the process broke the club single season save record held by Eddie Guardado who had 45 saves in 2002. Joe finished the 2009 regular season with 47 saves

Don’t forget to stop by daily and check out what transpired on our Today in Twins History page.

This Day in Twins History

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.