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 Minnesota Twins have played baseball for 62 seasons and they have had 273 different pitchers start one or more games for them. The number drops to 26 pitchers having started 100 or more games, just six having started 200 or more, three at 300 or more and only Jim Kaat started over 400 or 422 to be exact.
Pitching has not exactly been the Twins strength over the years, the team has been known for producing hitters. But the Twins have had a number of very good pitchers with Bert Blyleven and Jim Kaat in the MLB Hall of Fame. The Minnesota Twins Hall of Fame includes pitchers Blyleven, Kaat, Frank Viola, Rick Aguilera, Brad Radke, Jim Perry, Camilo Pascual, Eddie Guardado, Johan Santana and Joe Nathan. Three of the inductee’s were relievers.
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.
Regardless if you believe in Quality Starts (QS) or not, the term is used now days in MLB. A QS is defined as pitching six innings or more while allowing three or fewer earned runs. I would be happier if a QS was seven innings and two or fewer earned runs but that is just my age showing. The new “opener” strategy could put a kink in QS but I don’t think the opener strategy is a fit for most teams and will not be a big deal down the line.
Today we are taking a look at consecutive QS for Minnesota Twins starters and we have one pitcher that stands head and shoulders above the rest of the Twins pitchers in QS and that is Johan Santana who had 21 QS in a row in 2004. Impressive or not? You bet your bippy it is, no American League pitcher between 1961-2018 has thrown that many QS in a row. In the National league only four pitchers have thrown that many QS in a row since 1961, Bob Gibson leads with 26 in 1967, Jacob deGrom (2018) and Jake Arrieta (2015) have 24 and Chris Carpenter has 22 in 2005.
The closest to Santana’s streak of 21 in Minnesota is Bert Blyleven who had 12 in 1972 and Jim Merritt who also had 12 in 1967. The biggest surprise on this list to me is Rick Aguilera with 10 QS in 1989. I certainly remember Aggie starting for Minnesota when they first traded for him but I don’t remember him as pitching that well, maybe it was the fact that his record was only 3-4 during the streak.
Glen Perkins announced his retirement yesterday after spending his entire 12 year big league career in a Minnesota Twins uniform. Perkins was born in St. Paul and attended Stillwater High School before moving on to the University of Minnesota. In 2004 the Twins drafted Perkins in the first round with their 22nd pick, two picks after Trevor Plouffe and three picks before Kyle Waldrop. Perkins selection was a compensatory selection from the Seattle Mariners for them having signed Twins close Eddie Guardado as a free agent.
Perk made his major league debut on September 21, 2006 at Fenway Park with 1.1 innings of scoreless relief. Perkins was drafted as a starter but he struggled in that role in 2008-2009 and was turned into a full-time reliever in 2010. The Twins moved Perkins into the closer role in 2012 and he flourished there until injuries started talking their toll in 2016.
In his 12 season in Minnesota the three-time All-Star posted a 35-25 record with a 3.88 ERA and 120 saves. The 120 saves by Perkins puts him third on the all-time Twins save list behind Joe Nathan with 260 and Rick Aguilera with 254.
My memories of Glen Perkins will be that he was a good closer but that he had a kind of Jekyll and Hyde attitude problem, I always saw Perkins as a “me first, team second” kind of guy and over the years he had his share of issues with the Twins front office. I saw his interactions with fans in spring training on a number of occasions where he could be a real jerk at times. I am surprised that Perkins lasted in Minnesota as long as he did, as a matter of fact I had selected Perkins as my very first Twins Turkey of the Year back in 2009.
I see Glen Perkins departure from the Twins as plus through subtraction and I really won’t miss him as a Twins player, I hope he doesn’t get a chance to spread his attitude in a Twins front office job. There is more to life than just baseball.
Adalberto Mejia (P) – August 20, 2016 – Traded by the San Francisco Giants to the Minnesota Twins for Eduardo Nunez on July 28, 2016. It is never easy to make your debut when your team is down 8 to zip in the fifth inning but that was Mejia’s task at Kauffmann Stadium. Mejia went 2.1 innings allowing 5 hits, 1 walk and 2 earned runs in his first time on a big league mound.
Paul Abbott (P) – August 21, 1990 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 3rd round of the 1985 amateur draft. A tough start for Mr. Abbott against the Kansas City Royals at Royals Stadium when he is pinned with the loss after giving up 7 earned runs in 3 innings on 6 hits and 5 walks in his 84 pitches that day.
Dave McKay (3B/2B/SS) – August 22, 1975 – Signed by the Minnesota Twins as an amateur free agent in 1971. McKay was the starting third baseman against the Tigers at the Met. Started a Twins four run rally by leading off the bottom of the third inning with a home run off Tiger pitcher Vern Ruhle in his first big league at bat. Ended up 1 for 3 with a RBI and run scored.
Jason Ryan (P) – August 24, 1999 – Traded by the Chicago Cubs with Kyle Lohse to the Minnesota Twins for Rick Aguilera and Scott Downs. Probably drew the short straw when his big league debut was at the Met against the Red Sox and Pedro Martinez. Ryan lasted 4.1 innings giving up 4 earned runs on 4 hits and 6 walks and getting the loss in a 7-1 Red Sox victory.
Kent Hrbek (1B) – August 24, 1981 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 17th round of the 1978 amateur draft. First big league action was a start at first base in Yankee Stadium II against Tommy John in the 8 hole in the batting order. Hrbek went 2 for 5 with a run scored and 2 RBI. One of his 2 hits was a home run off George Frazier leading off the top of the 12th inning which provided the winning run in a Twins 3-2 victory over the Bronx Bombers.
Armando Gabino (P) – August 25, 2009 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins from the Cleveland Indians in the 2004 minor league draft on December 13, 2004. Gabino started his big league career with a start at the Dome against the Orioles. Gabino unfortunately lasted just 2.2 innings when he gave up 3 earned runs on 5 hits and 3 walks but the Twins came back to win the game 7-6.
Travis Miller (P) – August 25, 1996 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 1st round (34th pick) of the 1994 amateur draft. Travis Miller kind of showed right away that starting was not his thing when he started against the Texas Rangers at the Dome and was lifted after throwing 48 pitches in his first and only inning when he gave up 5 hits and 2 walks while allowing 7 Rangers runs. Two of the five hits were home runs. Oh, he did get the loss.
Alex Wimmers (P) – August 26, 2016 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 1st round (21st) of the 2010 MLB June Amateur Draft. Debuted at Rogers Centre in relief and pitched a slick 1 inning striking out 2 batters in a 15-8 Twins loss to the Bluejays.
Jack Cressend (P) – August 26, 2000 – Selected off waivers by the Minnesota Twins from the Boston Red Sox on April 22, 1999. The Twins were down 6-2 to the Tigers when Cressend entered the game in relief and pitched 1 inning giving up one run on two hits. The Twins eventually lost the game 8-2.
Dwight Siebler
Dwight Siebler (P) – August 26, 1963 – Purchased by the Minnesota Twins from the Philadelphia Phillies on August 24, 1963. Siebler entered the game in relief of Jim Kaat with runners on first and second and one out. Siebler got the first batter on a weak foul popup to the third baseman, but then he issued a bases filling walk before hitting the next batter to force in a run, walked the next guy to force in another run before retiring the next batter for the final out of the inning. It all sounds bad but his line was 2/3 of an inning with 2 walks, a HBP and zero runs on his record.
We have one player making his major league debut as a Minnesota Twin on June 22
Kyle Lohse
Kyle Lohse (P) – June 22, 2001 – Traded by the Chicago Cubs with Jason Ryan to the Minnesota Twins for Rick Aguilera and Scott Downs on May 21, 1999. Lohse’s debut was a start at Comerica Park against the Tigers and he pitched into the 7th inning but after 106 pitches and the scored tied at 4-4, Twins skipper Tom Kelly had seen enough.
We all know about the Minnesota Twins players who have been enshrined in the MLB Hall of Fame and it is a great and rare honor to get voted in. Over the years a number of outstanding and I think “hall worthy” Minnesota Twins players have received votes but never enough to get that call they have waited for, I would put players like Tony Oliva, Jim Kaat and Jack Morris in that category.
Oliva
Kaat
Morris
Here is a list of other one-time Twins players who received at least one vote in HOF balloting through 2017 voting, some deserved it and others I have to wonder what the voter was thinking.
Minnesota Twins pitchers have pitched some bad games over the years, here is a list of Twins pitchers that gave up 10 or more runs in a single game. The most runs given up by a Twins pitcher was 11 by the 38-year-old Rick Reed in a 15-1 loss at the Metrodome to the New York Yankees back in 2003.
A save (abbreviated SV or S) is a statistic awarded to a relief pitcher, often called a closer, who enters the game under certain conditions and maintains his team’s lead until the end of the game. The save rule was first adopted for the 1969 season and amended for the 1974 and 1975 seasons. Baseball researchers have worked through the official statistics retroactively to calculate saves for all major league seasons prior to 1969.
The first save credited to a Minnesota Twins pitcher occurred on April 16, 1961 long before the save rule was actually in existence in 1969.
I have been out to the CenturyLink Sports Complex several times this week primarily to watch some baseball as about 107 men and women participate in the annual Twins Fantasy Camp which runs from January 10-17. This year there are eight teams playing each other on four fields all day long.
Stan Dickman
Stan Dickman who owns and runs the camp does a fantastic job and he has a staff of former Twins greats that coach the teams, give the players hitting and pitch tips, tell stories and just plain have fun with the fantasy campers. It is not cheap, rookies pay about $4,295 but returning veterans get by with paying $3,795. Having said that it is not cheap, I also need to say that you do get a lot for your money and you won’t get treated any better any place. Stan treats his campers like family and the fact that over 70% of his campers return year after year proves it. I am not going to list all the benefits that campers have but you can check them out on the Twins Fantasy camp website.
I mentioned that the staff is made up of former Twins greats. Here are some of the former Twins greats that I have run into this week, Bert Blyleven is the Fantasy camp commissioner and you see him going from field to field looking for players he can bring up on charges and fine at the daily Kangaroo court. Wouldn’t that be fun to sit in on? When he is not busy writing notes in his ever-present tablet he is interacting with the family members and fans that hang out at the ballpark to watch the games. Others Twins greats that I have run into this week were Tony Oliva, Tom Brunansky, Kent Hrbek, Greg Gagne, Frank Viola, Rick Aguilera, Tim Laudner, Juan Berenguer, Mickey Hatcher, Frank Quilici, Bill Campbell, Steve Braun, Phil Roof, Julio Becquer, Gene Larkin and I am sure there are others that I have not seen. These Twins greats are all willing to spend time talking with fans and family members, have their pictures taken and sign all kinds of autographs. It is like a huge family reunion where everyone knows everyone and the players and the Twins greats are all on a first name basis.
One of the Twins Fantasy Campers, Father Stan Mader watches the ball all the way to the catchers mitt as he bats in one of the games.
I noticed right off the bat that the fantasy games are a bit different then the normal games that I watch out here in the spring at Hammond Stadium and on the adjoining fields. The action is a tad slower, each of the games has two umpires, the players may not be as athletic as they would like to be, catchers have trouble getting the ball back to the pitchers sometimes, there are 10 players on the field as the teams utilize four outfielders, courtesy runners are utilized when needed, in one game I watched I noticed that both shortstops were left-handed, I saw a left-handed third basemen, and even a left-handed catcher, I wonder where he got the left-handed catchers mitt? The play is entertaining, sometimes you can’t help but laugh at a play that may or may not have been made, but you know what, the players cheer for each other and they are playing as hard as they can because they want to win, just like the Twins do. They all want to get to that championship game on Saturday that will be played in Hammond Stadium.
But you know what I didn’t see? I didn’t see pitchers stepping off the mound and adjusting their cups, I didn’t see batters stepping out to walk around and adjust their batting gloves after each pitch, I didn’t see the catchers walk out to the pitcher’s mound every few pitches, there wasn’t as much spitting as you see at a normal baseball game and only once did I see a batter complain to the home plate umpire about a call and he was a pitcher that said “I hope I get the same call when I am pitching.”
But the action isn’t always on the field, today former Boston Red Sox pitcher Bill Lee stopped by for a visit and he held court with the fans, fantasy campers, and former Twins players alike with his story-telling. The man is 68 plus years old and he looks like he could take the mound for the Twins in 2015 and win 10 games or so. Matter of fact, according to the “Spaceman” himself, he still plays ball all over the world and last year he claims to have pitched over 340 innings including a couple of one-hitters. Wish I would have taken my camera out there today so I cold have taken his picture but I didn’t. I should know better than to go out to the ballpark without my camera.
I was talking with Bert Blyleven the other day behind the home plate screen at one of the fields when Twins TV announcer Dick Bremer stepped up to the plate and of course Blyleven gave him “an easy out coming” call that got Bremer to look around and smile. Bremer ended up popping out to the third baseman this time but Bert told me that Bremer can get ahold of one now and then. He told me a story about how Bremer a few years back pulled a home run over the left field fence that was a grand slam and the ball darned near hit Bert’s car that was parked near by.
I also wandered over to Hammond Stadium to see what progress was being made on all the work being done there. Even the workers there were friendly and stopped and chatted with me about their work and didn’t yell at me to watch out for all the wet concrete that seemed to be everywhere. According to the workers that I talked with, everything is on schedule and that fans are in for a treat when they come out to watch the Minnesota Twins play their spring training schedule in the not too distant future. The landscaping has not really started but according to one of the workers that will get started in February. I took some pictures of the stadium exterior and you can see them here. Workers have been busy installing the new sign out front at the entrance and that is still not complete but it is not too far away from the looks of things.
