Jim Holt gone at the age of 74

Jim Holt

James William Holt was born on May 27, 1944 in Graham, NC and passed away at the age of 74 on March 29, 2019 in Burlington, NC. The youngest of six children, Jim Holt learned to play baseball in high school and after graduation had tryouts with the Pittsburgh Pirates and Cleveland Indians. When these tryouts didn’t attract any pro ball offers and opportunities in Graham pretty much limited to working in a flour or timber mill, Holt decided to join the Army in 1963 and intended to make it a career.

Minnesota Twins Top 10 First Baseman

Between 1961-2017 there have been 58 players that have played at least 10 games at first base for our Minnesota Twins. However, to qualify for this list which ranks them in Baseball-Reference WAR order the player must have played first base in at least 51% of their games while wearing a Twins uniform. This eliminates players like Rod Carew, Harmon Killebrew, Bob Allison and of course Joe Mauer who started playing first base later in their careers. Kent Hrbek is the Twins all-time leaders in games at first base with 1,609.

Kent Hrbek – Hrbek’s work in the field was as good as his work with a bat.
Results
Rk Player WAR/pos From To G AB R H HR RBI SB BA OPS
1 Kent Hrbek 38.6 1981 1994 1747 6192 903 1749 293 1086 37 .282 .848
2 Justin Morneau 23.3 2003 2013 1278 4749 669 1318 221 860 5 .278 .832
3 Don Mincher 8.7 1961 1966 590 1511 220 369 90 265 4 .244 .824
4 Doug Mientkiewicz 6.4 1998 2004 643 2147 273 590 43 266 11 .275 .776
5 Rich Reese 3.2 1964 1973 807 1918 238 498 50 241 16 .260 .711
6 Ron Jackson 2.8 1979 1981 344 1154 150 309 23 138 6 .268 .734
7 John Briggs 1.8 1975 1975 87 264 44 61 7 39 6 .231 .731
8 Vic Power 1.7 1962 1964 301 1197 151 333 26 116 10 .278 .703
9 Scott Stahoviak 1.0 1993 1998 344 1019 135 261 27 119 13 .256 .745
10 Pat Bourque 0.1 1974 1974 23 64 5 14 1 8 0 .219 .593
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 7/21/2018.

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Twins Top 10 Catchers

Twins Top 10 First Baseman

Twins Top 10 Second Basemen

Twins Top 10 Third Baseman

Twins Top 10 Shortstops

Twins Top 10 Right Fielders

Twins Top 10 Center Fielders

Twins Top 10 Left Fielders

Top Twins DH

Congratulations to Tom Kelly

Jay Thomas Kelly will have his number 10 retired on Saturday and we here at Twins Trivia would like to add our congratulations for a well deserved honor. Kelly was originally drafted by the Seattle Pilots in round 8 of the 1968 amateur draft but the Seattle Pilots relocated after just one season in the Emerald city and moved to Milwaukee where they became the Brewers.  Within days of being released by the Brewers in April of 1971, Kelly signed as a free agent with Minnesota. With the exception of 1976, Kelly has been in the Twins organization since 1971. Kelly has played for, coached and managed the Minnesota Twins and on occasion has even taken his turn at the microphone to describe Twins action on television.

Actually, over the years Tom Kelly has worn several different numbers with the Minnesota Twins. When he played 49 games for the Twins in 1975 he wore the number 16. When he coached the Twins from 1983-1986 he wore the number 41 and he wore that same number for the remainder of the 1986 season after being named as the Twins interim manager replacing Ray Miller who was relieved of his duties on September 12, 1986. Kelly then switched to the number 10 prior to the 1987 season and wore that number for the remainder of his Twins managing career through the 2001 season.

Who else has worn the Twins number 10 you ask? Here is the complete list now that no other Minnesota Twin will wear that number again.

 1961-1967 – catcher Earl Battey
1968 – catcher John Roseboro
1868-1972 – 3B/OF Rick Renick
1973-1974 – 1B Joe Lis
1974 – 1B Pat Bourque
1975-1977 – OF Lyman Bostock
1978-1981 – OF Hosken Powell
1982-1983 – OF Bobby Mitchell
1984-1986 – catcher Jeff Reed
 

Since Tom Kelly last wore the number 10 in 2001, no other Twins have ever that number.