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
The year 2023 was a landmark year for breaking long-standing streaks in the world of American sports. Two of the most talked-about streaks that ended were the Minnesota Twins’ 18-game MLB playoffs losing streak and the Detroit Lions’ 32-year drought without an NFL postseason victory. As we look forward to the 2024 baseball season and beyond, fans are wondering which long-standing records may yet tumble.
When it comes to the Twins and the MLB in particular, expectations have already reached a fever pitch ahead of the new season getting underway. The Texas Rangers head into the season as the reigning champions after their fairytale campaign last year culminated with a first World Series in franchise history. The Lone Star State side headed into the postseason as rank outsiders after securing a mere fifth seeding in the American League. However, victories against the Tampa Bay Rays, the top seed Baltimore Orioles and the heavyweight Houston Astros secured a trip to the championship series for the first time since they lost back-to-back World Series in 2010 and 2011.
David West was born on September 1, 1964, in Memphis, TN, to Eugene C. West and Vivian Womble West. David passed away in Palm City, Florida from brain cancer on May 14, 2022.
West fell in love with baseball at an early age. According to Ripbaseball.com, West excelled in American Legion ball, playing for Millington Telephone, but the big left-hander with the 90 mile-per-hour fastball had to wait a bit to play at Craigmont High School. He was declared scholastically ineligible and missed his first two seasons of high school ball. After his Senior season he was named to second team of American Baseball Coaches Association High School All-America squad.
Today we are going to take a look at former Twins third baseman Ron Clark. This Texas cowboy was born Ft. Worth, Texas back in 1943, a few years before me but not many. In high school he did it all, played football, basketball, track and of course baseball, unlike today when young kids focus and specialize in one sport and play it year around.
Toughness was one of the hallmarks of the young Texan. As a youth he spent a lot of time around the rodeo circuit, and was well acquainted with riding the horses himself. He notched 104 victories in 111 bouts as a Golden Gloves boxer. He wore cowboy boots, Stetsons, and Western clothes, and spoke with a Texas drawl.
Clark was signed by the Philadelphia Phillies in the spring of 1961 as an amateur free agent (the draft didn’t begin until 1965) after graduating from high school and started out with the Class C Bakersfield Bears working his way up the big league ladder. Apparently his .202 average in just 39 games didn’t impress his organization because according to today’s baseball Bible which is the B-R website, Clark was sent to the Los Angeles Angels in some unknown transaction prior to the 1962 season and then a year later the Angels sent him to the Minnesota Twins before the 1963 season. Clark played for the class A Wilson Tobs in 1963 and hit .301 earning him a short stay with the AA Charlotte team. Clark spent 1964 and 1965 with AA Charlotte. In 1966 Clark moved up another rung to AAA Denver which was managed by Cal Ermer and played well enough to earn a September call-up to the Twins.
Ron Clark
Ron Clark’s big league debut took place at Met Stadium on September 11, 1966 as a pinch-runner in the eighth inning for Harmon Killebrew but that didn’t end well as he was thrown out at the plate. The Twins beat the Baltimore Orioles that day 11-6 so all is well that ends well. It wasn’t until his fourth game for Minnesota that Clark was able to step to the plate with bat in hand and that took place at Yankee Stadium I against Fritz Peterson as a pinch-hitter for pitcher Jim Ollom. With the Twins down 2-0 and runners on first and third, Clark hit a deep sac fly to center that scored the Twins first run in a game that the Twins would eventually win 5-3. In his fifth and final big league game in 1966 Clark entered the game as a replacement for Killebrew at third base with the hometown Twins beating the Tigers 12-1 and singled off George Korince.
Clark was never able to win a big league job full-time with Minnesota and was sold to the Seattle Pilots in July 1969. Clark was mentioned in Ball Four, Jim Bouton’s classic memoir. Commenting on a game in which Clark collided with Boston slugger George Scott and needed 13 stitches in his lip to repair the damage, Bouton called Clark a “tough, gutty ballplayer” and wrote that he “has a baby face, two tattoos on his arm, smokes big cigars — and when he has thirteen stitches in his lip he drinks beer out of the side of his mouth.”
The Pilots became the Brewers in 1970 and Clark was traded to Oakland and then moved on to Milwaukee and Philadelphia before making his last big league appearance in September of 1975. Ron Clark coached, managed and scouted for numerous teams until 2014 when this baseball lifer decided to retire.
Make sure that you read Frank Quilici‘s account of a near tragedy while Clark was with Charlote 1964 andwas hit with a batted ball in the Sporting News below.
The most famous eye issue in Minnesota Twins history has to be the Kirby Puckett glaucoma issue that led to the future Hall of Famer’s premature retirement. In a meaningless fall game against the Indians at the Metrodome on September 28, 1995 with the Twins in last place and 42 games out of first place, Puckett was hit in the face by a fastball from Dennis Martinez in the bottom of the first inning. When Puckett who was the DH that afternoon and in the third spot in the batting order stepped to the plate, Chuck Knoblauch was on third base after he too was hit by a Martinez pitch leading off the game. Knobby stole second and advanced to third on a fly ball to center by Matt Lawton. On a 0-2 count Martinez hit Puckett in the face and blow shattered his jaw and put him out of play for the rest of the season. My wife and I were at that game along with just 9,440 others and when Puckett fell to the ground the silence was amazing, you could have heard a pin drop before Indians catcher Tony Pena and the Twins medical staff rushed to Puckett’s aid.
At spring training camp the following March he was batting well, but on March 28 he woke up unable to see out of his right eye. Doctors discovered he had glaucoma. The problem could not be corrected, even after four surgeries, and on July 12, 1996, he announced his retirement as a player.
This past summer Philadelphia Phillies pitching prospect Matt Imhof was injured in a freak accident when he was struck in the face by a resistance band that was anchored to a wall following a minor league game in Florida. The mounted base broke off the wall and damaged Imhof’s right eye. Doctor’s were unable to save the eye. At last report Imhof had not decided if he would continue his professional baseball career as a pitcher. Imhof, a left-hander was a Phillies second round selection in the June 2014 draft.
Almost 50 years ago back in the fall of 1968 a freak injury caused a Minnesota Twins minor league catching prospect to also lose an eye playing the game he loved.
Many players can say that they played ball in the Minnesota Twins minor league system but few can say that they were good enough and fortunate enough to wear a MLB Minnesota Twins uniform. Because of a tragic accident nearly fifty years ago on October 6, 1968 catcher Franklyn Sands big league dreams took a sharp detour and his dreams of becoming a big leaguer would never happen and his life was forever chnaged.
The Bahamas are not exactly a hot-bed for major league talent but at last count six players born in the Bahamas have worn a big league uniform. According to some, Frank Sands was one of the best catchers to ever come out of the Bahamas when the Houston Astros signed Sands to a contract to play pro ball as a 17-year old and sent him to play class A ball in Bismarck-Mandan in the Northern league in 1966. After the 1966 season the Astros chose not to protect Sands and the Minnesota Twins drafted him and assigned him to AAA Denver in 1967 where he appeared in just 46 games. The following season the Twins organization decided to send Sands to play class A ball for the Wilson Tobs. Sands caught 116 of the teams 139 games and gained a reputation as a good receiver with a whip like arm but his hitting remained a work in progress.
Then on October 6, 1968 while taking part in the Twins Florida Instructional League tragedy struck, here is how B-R Bullpen describes the incident.
“Sands was warming up pitcher Tom Hall. Hall bounced a breaking ball in the dirt, and it caromed up and off Sands’ mitt into his cheekbone. A sliver of bone punctured his eye from the inside. Sands knew immediately that he had lost the eye. Scipio Spinks observed, “After his accident, it was mandatory for catchers to wear a mask while warming up pitchers.”
Frank spent four weeks in the hospital, and as soon as he got out, the first thing he wanted to do was put on his uniform and get out for batting practice. He was determined to come back, despite the obstacle he faced in batting with impaired depth perception. Twins owner Calvin Griffith liked the young man very much and gave him every opportunity. In fact, Griffith said that Sands would have a job for life with the organization if he wanted it.”
Sands reported for spring training in 1969, this time as a pitcher but was farmed out early in training camp to the class A Orlando Twins where he appeared in just three games pitching just four innings before breaking his arm throwing a pitch. Frank Sands professional baseball career was over but he still caught in the Bahamas Baseball Association for several years playing a game he loved.
Scipio Spinks was a pitcher and a teammate of Sands in the Northern League in 1966 and today is a scout for the Arizona Diamondbacks. Here is what Scipio wrote in a e-mail to me about Frankie Sands.
“It’s been a long time, he mostly hung out with Roy Bethel and other Bahamian players. He was a very good catcher and had a cannon for an arm, very friendly and sure of himself, I threw to him some as he was a very good catcher. He wasn’t a good hitter though and he struggled at the plate. We only played together for a few years as he was ruled 5 by the Twins, I believe he could have become a decent hitter and I do believe he would have made it to the Big Leagues.”
This is one of those rare times when we delve back into the Washington Senators and Minnesota Twins franchise history because Carlos Paula played a key role and he should not be forgotten.
September 6, 1954 – On this day in 1954 the Washington Senators played a black ballplayer for the first time. His name was Carlos Paula and he was from Havana, Cuba. The 26 year-old Paula started in left field for the Senators seven years after Jackie Robinson made his Major League debut. Paula hit fifth in the Senators batting order and went 2 for 5 with a double and knocked in 2 runs in a 8-1 win in game 1 of a double-header against the Philadelphia A’s. The Senators lost game 2 by a 3-2 score at Griffith Stadium. Only the Yankees in 1955, the Phillies in 1957, the Tigers in 1958 and the Red Sox in 1959 broke the color-line later than did the Senators/Twins franchise. Box Score.
I recently ran across a very nice write-up on Carlos Paula and his time with the Washington Senators on the National Basball Hall of fame web site called: #GOINGDEEP: CARLOS PAULA, THE MAN WHO INTEGRATED THE WASHINGTON SENATORS. Take the time to read it and to enjoy the wonderful pictures. According to the story, Carlos Paula had ties to Minnesota Twins 1965 MVP Zoilo Versalles.
Two teams start the season with 30 losses in their first 40 games.
The Minnesota Twins fell to 10-30 this season with their extra-inning loss to the Blue Jays, after the Atlanta Braves record dropped to 10-30 with their loss at Pittsburgh earlier on Thursday night. This is only the second season since 1900 in which two major-league teams each lost at least 30 of their first 40 decisions. That had not happened since 1904, when the Philadelphia Phillies started 9-31 and the Washington Senators (who would become the Minnesota Twins) began with a 7-33 mark.
Not to scare you but the 1904 Washington Senators finished the season with a 38-113 record while scoring 437 runs and giving up 743 runs.
Former Twins infielder and baseball lifer Pete Mackanin has been named as the manager of the Philadelphia Phillies for 2016 and a team option for 2017. Mackanin served as the Phillies interim manager since June and has also been an interim manager for the Pirates and the Reds but this will be his first full-time gig as a big league skipper.
“The Phillies are pleased that Pete has accepted the position of manager for the 2016 season,” team president (and former Twins GM) Andy MacPhail said in a statement. “We believe that Pete is the best fit for the role. Since assuming the interim manager position in June, Pete has developed an excellent rapport with our players and has also connected well with the media and our fans. Equally as important is his eagerness to take on the challenge of rebuilding the team and further developing our players. We look forward to his contributions.”
Mackanin was a fourth round selection by the Washington Senators in 1969 and played in 548 games in the majors from 1973 to 1981 with the Rangers, Expos, Phillies and Twins. The Twins acquired Mackanin from the Phillies on December 7, 1979 for pitcher Paul Thormodsgard. Mackanin played in 185 games in a Twins uniform hitting .252 before leaving the team as a free agent after the 1981 season. Mackanin did not play in the majors again after leaving Minnesota. Mackanin’s tie to Minnesota Twins history is that he hit the last Twins home run in Met Stadium and also scored the last Twins run there.
Sixty years ago today, in 1954 the Washington Senators played a black ballplayer for the first time. His name was Carlos Paula and he was from Havana, Cuba. The 26 year-old Paula started in left field for the Senators seven years after Jackie Robinson made his Major League debut. Paula went 2 for 5 with a double and knocked in 2 runs in a 8-1 win in game 1 of a DH against the Philadelphia A’s. The Senators lost game 2 by a 3-2 score at Griffith Stadium. Only the Yankees in 1955, the Phillies in 1957, the Tigers in 1958 and the Red Sox in 1959 broke the color-line later than did the Senators/Twins franchise. Paula died on April 25, 1983 in Miami, Florida.
The Twins announced yesterday that RHP Vance Worley, who posted a 13.50 ERA in spring training, was sent outright to Class AAA Rochester on Friday. In order to send Worley to AAA Rochester, Worley has to clear waivers, which he did. That means that every team in baseball passed on Worley, who finished third in National League Rookie of the Year voting in 2011 with the Phillies and was last year’s Opening Day starter for the Twins. Was does that tell you about the 26 year-old Worley if no team in baseball is willing to take a chance on the guy that was 3rd in ROY voting just a couple of years earlier when pitchers are in such demand? Are the Twins wasting a AAA roster spot and possibly delaying some others pitchers development by having Worley there? If I was the Twins I would have the “Vanimal” on a very short and tight leash.
Twins GM Bill Smith traded outfielder Ben Revere to the Phillies in order to acquire Worley and minor league pitcher Trevor May in December 2012. The only saving grace from this trade is if May becomes a decent starting pitcher for Minnesota in the near future.
We were at Tuesday’s game when Worley had his last start this spring for the Twins and it was a pitiful performance as the Tampa Rays pounded the Twins to a tune of 11-3. Worley lasted just 2 and 2/3 innings and gave up 11 hits (including 6 doubles) and walked 2 while giving up 7 earned runs. If I remember correctly there was not a blooper in the bunch, the Rays were crushing the ball. As I said earlier, the Twins lost that game 11-3 and we left after 7 innings with the Twins trailing 8-1 and we hardly ever leave games early. The Twins had 8 hits and 9 walks in that game and could only muster 3 runs, that is some bad baseball. When we attended a rained out game against the Cardinals earlier this month we were able to send in our $10 parking ticket for a refund, I wonder if I should send in my parking ticket for this game to Dave St. Peter and see if I can get a refund because of the Twins poor play that night? Maybe I will.
Rob Antony
The other day acting GM Rob Antony made some strong comments about outfielders Aaron Hicks and Alex Presley not stepping up this spring to earn the centerfield starting job and the lack of hitting by free agent signees Jason Kubel and Jason Bartlett. I applaud Mr. Antony for saying what is on his mind and being honest about the state of this ballclub and I wish more of the Twins organization were as honest. I really expected this team to play close to .500 ball this year (and I still think they can) but based on what I have seen todate the team and its fans could be in for a long season. We all know that spring training means next to nothing as far as team regular season wins are concerned but the Twins play does send a message to Twins fans on what they should expect this season. Spring training is winding down and has about a week to go, the Twins had better start playing some better baseball soon if they want to see fans butts in the Target field seats this year.
The team started off spring training full of optimism in spite of GM Terry Ryan’s cancer diagnosis but the Miguel Sano injury seemed to drain the life right out of this team and its staff. Now is the time for manager Ron Gardenhire to step up and show his stuff by playing what he thinks is his best line-up and getting this team ready for some real baseball. The Twins strategy should be simple, the best players get the jobs and if they don’t cut the mustard then it should be “next man up” until this team starts to show some life and energy. Twins fans deserve to watch a team that wants to play and to win!
The Twins recently announced the Chuck Knoblauch will be enshrined in the Twins Hall of Fame this summer but on this day back in 1998 the Twins traded their 1991 Rookie of the Year and four-time All-Star second baseman Chuck Knoblauch to the Yankees and in turn received pitchers Eric Milton and Danny Mota along with shortstop Cristian Guzman and outfielder Brian Buchanan and $3 million in cash. Knoblauch had publicly asked to be traded because he felt the Twins were not interested in putting a winning team on the field. Here is what CBS had to say about the trade at the time, there are some interesting quotes in this story when you look back on 1998 from 2014.
Knoblauch’s stay in New York was relatively short, just four years but he got his wish to be part of a winning team as the Yankees played in the World Series each of the four years, winning it all three times and getting Knoblauch three more rings to go with the one he won in Minnesota in 1991. Knoblauch developed some throwing issues during him time in New York and eventually started playing some outfield. Knoblauch became a free agent after the 2001 season and signed with the Kansas City Royals but only played 8o games for them in 2002 as before calling it a career.
Eric Milton
Eric Milton was 57-51 with a 4.76 ERA for the Twins during his 6 seasons in Minnesota before he was traded to the Phillies for pitchers Carlos Silva, Bobby Korecky, and the infamous infielder Nick Punto.
Cristian Guzman
Shortstop Cristian Guzman also stayed in Minnesota for six seasons appearing in 841 games hitting .266 and stealing 102 bases. Guzman left the Twins as a free agent after the 2004 season.
The Twins expected big things from outfielder Brian Buchanan but he never panned out and he appeared in only 143 games as a Twins hitting .258 with 16 home runs. In July 2002 the Twins traded “Buck” to the San Diego Padres for shortstop Jason Bartlett who just signed a minor league deal with the Twins once again.
Pitcher Danny Mota appeared in four games for the Twins giving up 10 hits and one walk in 5.1 innings and never put on a major league uniform again.
