Tag: Rick Renick

Major League Debuts as Minnesota Twins – Tonkin & Renick

Two major league debuts in a Twins uniform on July 11.

 

Michael Tonkin

Michael Tonkin (P) – July 11, 2013 – Drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 30th round of the 2008 MLB June Amateur Draft. A nice 1.1 inning debut in a Twins 4-3 loss to Tampa at Tropicana Field.

Rick Renick – (3B/OF/SS) – July 11, 1968 – Signed by the Minnesota Twins as an amateur free agent in 1965. Debuted at Met Stadium as the starting shortstop and in his first at bat hit a home run off Tigers starter Mickey Lolich off a high fastball into the left field stands. Renick became the first Minnesota Twins player to hit a home run in his first at bat.

To see other Major League Debuts as Minnesota Twins

The pinch-hit grand slam, it has been awhile

Dwyer, JimOdds are that you will not recognize the player in this picture but he is still in the Twins organization and has been on the Fort Myers Miracle coaching staff since 2006. He played in the big leagues for 18 seasons for seven different teams but never had more than 260 at bats in any single season and played for the Minnesota Twins in 1998, 1999 and 1990.

It has been over 25 years since a Minnesota Twins batter pinch-hit a grand slam for the Minnesota Twins. This Twins were ahead 3-2 in the bottom of the sixth inning when “Pig Pen” stepped into the left-handed batters box to hit pinch-hit for Twins catcher Tim Laudner who was hitting in the 7-hole on that day. Right-hander Donn Pall was the third pitcher used by the mighty whitey’s that inning and he gave up the grand salami to Jim Dwyer and the Twins were up 7-2 and would eventually win the game by a score of 10-3 as Frank Viola won his 22nd game of the season. No one has pinch-hit a grand slam home run for the Twins since September 15, 1988.

Pinch-hit grand slam home runs in Twins history

Rk Player Date Tm Opp Rslt PA AB R H HR RBI
1 Jim Dwyer 1988-09-15 MIN CHW W 10-3 1 1 1 1 1 4
2 Mike Cubbage 1978-08-08 MIN SEA W 10-2 1 1 1 1 1 4
3 Rod Carew 1976-09-09 MIN TEX W 6-0 1 1 1 1 1 4
4 Tony Oliva 1975-06-29 MIN TEX L 7-9 1 1 1 1 1 4
5 Rich Reese 1972-07-09 MIN NYY L 6-9 1 1 1 1 1 4
6 Harmon Killebrew 1971-09-03 (1) MIN OAK W 9-4 1 1 1 1 1 4
7 Rick Renick 1970-06-30 MIN KCR W 8-5 1 1 1 1 1 4
8 Rich Reese 1969-08-03 MIN BAL W 5-2 1 1 1 1 1 4
9 Julio Becquer 1961-07-04 (1) MIN CHW W 6-4 1 1 1 1 1 4
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/5/2016.

ERROR, ERROR, RECOMPUTE: A bit of a technical glitch with my search, it turns out that the last player to pinch-hit a home run for the Twins was not Jim Dwyer but our old friend Matt LeCroy in 2004. Here is the corrected list.

LeCroy, Matt 4

here
Rk Player Date ? Tm Opp Rslt PA AB R H HR RBI Pos Summary
1 Matt LeCroy 2004-05-19 MIN TOR W 6-5 1 1 1 1 1 4 PH 1B
2 Greg Colbrunn 1997-08-04 MIN TOR W 9-3 3 3 1 1 1 4 PH 1B
3 Jim Dwyer 1989-06-10 MIN CHW W 11-8 2 2 1 1 1 4 PH DH
4 Carmelo Castillo 1989-04-11 MIN DET W 14-0 2 1 1 1 1 4 PH RF
5 Jim Dwyer 1988-09-15 MIN CHW W 10-3 1 1 1 1 1 4 PH
6 Ron Washington 1986-07-03 MIN BAL W 11-7 2 2 2 2 1 4 PH 2B
7 Dave Engle 1982-07-06 MIN DET L 6-11 4 4 1 3 1 4 PH RF
8 Mike Cubbage 1978-08-08 MIN SEA W 10-2 1 1 1 1 1 4 PH
9 Rod Carew 1976-09-09 MIN TEX W 6-0 1 1 1 1 1 4 PH
10 Tony Oliva 1975-06-29 MIN TEX L 7-9 1 1 1 1 1 4 PH
11 Danny Walton 1973-04-17 MIN CAL W 10-5 2 2 2 2 1 4 PH DH
12 Rich Reese 1972-07-09 MIN NYY L 6-9 1 1 1 1 1 4 PH
13 Harmon Killebrew 1971-09-03 (1) MIN OAK W 9-4 1 1 1 1 1 4 PH
14 Rick Renick 1970-06-30 MIN KCR W 8-5 1 1 1 1 1 4 PH
15 Rich Reese 1970-06-07 MIN WSA W 10-9 3 3 1 1 1 4 PH 1B
16 Rich Reese 1969-08-03 MIN BAL W 5-2 1 1 1 1 1 4 PH
17 Julio Becquer 1961-07-04 (1) MIN CHW W 6-4 1 1 1 1 1 4 PH
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 8/20/2016.

Congratulations to Eddie Rosario

Rosario, Eddie 2015Eddie Rosario found the first big league pitch he saw to his liking and he hammered it into the Target Field left-center field bleachers for a home run. The pitch was thrown by left-handed starter Scott Kazmir and put the Twins up 1-0 en-route to a 13-0 white-washing of the Oakland A’s. Rosario becomes the 115th player to hit a home run in his first major league at bat but only the 29th player in big league history to swing at the first pitch he saw in the major leagues and hit it for a home run.

Rosario goes into the Twins record books as the 10th Twin to hit a home run in his first game but the first to do it on the first pitch of his first plate appearance. Six of the 10 home runs in the first game came on the first at bat.

I have been waiting for the Twins to call up Rosario and it was nice to see him have a positive impact in his first major league game. Rosario’s parents were in the stands to witness their sons historic moment. Although Rosario’s stay in Minnesota is expected to be short, you never know, he might just be here to stay. Congratulations Eddie!

BOX SCORE

Twins players that have hit a home run in their first major league game

Rk Player Date Opp Rslt PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BOP Pos Summary
1 Eddie Rosario 2015-05-06 OAK W 13-0 4 4 1 1 0 0 1 1 8 RF
2 Luke Hughes 2010-04-28 DET L 6-11 4 4 1 1 0 0 1 1 9 3B
3 Andre David 1984-06-29 (1) DET W 5-3 4 4 1 1 0 0 1 2 7 RF
4 Gary Gaetti 1981-09-20 TEX L 3-4 3 3 1 1 0 0 1 2 7 3B
5 Tim Laudner 1981-08-28 DET W 6-0 4 3 1 2 0 0 1 2 8 C
6 Kent Hrbek 1981-08-24 NYY W 3-2 5 5 1 2 0 0 1 2 8 1B
7 Dave McKay 1975-08-22 DET W 8-4 3 3 1 1 0 0 1 1 8 3B
8 Eric Soderholm 1971-09-03 (1) OAK W 9-4 4 2 2 1 0 0 1 1 7 3B
9 Hal Haydel 1970-09-07 (2) MIL W 8-3 3 3 2 2 1 0 1 1 9 P
10 Rick Renick 1968-07-11 DET W 5-4 4 4 1 1 0 0 1 1 7 SS
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 5/7/2015.

I find it kind of interesting that all the players on the above list were slotted 7-9 in the batting order.

According to Elias and a little extra

Zelous Wheeler, called up from the minors by the Yankees on Thursday when slumping Yangervis Solarte was sent down, made a big splash in his major-league debut when he hit a home run in the fifth inning against the Twins’ Phil Hughes. Wheeler is the eighth player to hit a home run for the Yankees is his first major-league game and the first since Marcus Thames in 2002. The most notable player to homer for the Yankees in his big-league debut is Yogi Berra, who did so against the Philadelphia A’s in the first game of a doubleheader in the Bronx on Sept. 22, 1946.

So how many Minnesota Twins players have hit a home run in their first game?

Rick Renick
Rick Renick
Rk Player Year ? PA AB H 2B 3B HR RBI
1 Luke Hughes 2010 Ind. Games 4 4 1 0 0 1 1
2 Andre David 1984 Ind. Games 4 4 1 0 0 1 2
3 Gary Gaetti 1981 Ind. Games 3 3 1 0 0 1 2
4 Kent Hrbek 1981 Ind. Games 5 5 2 0 0 1 2
5 Tim Laudner 1981 Ind. Games 4 3 2 0 0 1 2
6 Dave McKay 1975 Ind. Games 3 3 1 0 0 1 1
7 Eric Soderholm 1971 Ind. Games 4 2 1 0 0 1 1
8 Hal Haydel 1970 Ind. Games 3 3 2 1 0 1 1
9 Rick Renick 1968 Ind. Games 4 4 1 0 0 1 1
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 7/4/2014.

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How about if we look to see who has hit a home run in his first game when the opponent was the Minnesota Twins?

Rk Player Year ? PA AB H 2B 3B HR RBI Tm
1 Zelous Wheeler 2014 Ind. Games 4 4 2 0 0 1 1 NYY
2 Chris Richard 2000 Ind. Games 5 4 1 0 0 1 1 STL
3 Jay Bell 1986 Ind. Games 3 3 1 0 0 1 1 CLE
4 Dave Machemer 1978 Ind. Games 4 4 1 0 0 1 1 CAL
5 Bert Campaneris 1964 Ind. Games 5 4 3 0 0 2 3 KCA
6 John Kennedy 1962 Ind. Games 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 WSA
Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 7/4/2014.

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.

Luke Hughes homers in his first ML at bat

 

Luke Hughes (courtesy of MLB Photos)

April 29, 2010 – Luke Hughes hit a home run in his first major league at bat and in the process became the fifth Minnesota Twin to accomplish this feat. Hughes hit his home run to right field off Detroit Tiger starter Max Scherzer on a 2-2 count as he lead off the third inning. Actually Hughes was batting in the second inning when Delmon Young was caught stealing third base for the final out of the second inning so that at bat did not count. Hughes, who was born in Perth, Australia, is the eighth Aussie to hit a homer in the major leagues and the first to do so in his first at-bat in the bigs. Unfortunately for Hughes and the Twins, they lost the game to the Tigers by an 11-6 score.

A complete list of Twins to hit a home run in either their first at bat or their first major league game are listed below. Hal Haydel is the only pitcher in the group. Oddly enough, no Twins rookie ever accomplished this feat at the Metrodome.

Player Date At Bat Count Opponent Pitcher
Luke Hughes 4-28-2010 1 2-2 in Detroit Max Scherzer
Andre David 6-29-1984 1 1-2 in Detroit Jack Morris
Gary Gaetti 9-20-1981 1 1-1 in Texas Charlie Hough
Tim Laudner 8-28-1981 3 0-1 Detroit @ Met Stadium Dave Rozema
Kent Hrbek 8-24-1981 5 2-2 in New York George Frazier
Dave McKay 8-22-1975 1 1-1 Detroit @ Met Stadium Vern Ruhle
Eric Soderholm 9-3-1971 2 1-1 Oakland @ Met Stadium Diego Segui
Hal Haydel 9-7-1970 2 0-0 Milwaukee @ Met Stadium Al Downing
Rick Renick 7-11-1968 1 3-1 Detroit @ Met Stadium Mickey Lolich