Tag: Roy Smalley

This Day in Twins History

Bert Blyleven

5/31/1976 – With trade rumors running rampant due to how poorly salary negotiations had progressed, Bert Blyleven walked off the mound at the Met in front of 8,379 fans trailing the California Angels 3-1. A number of fans were on Blylevens’ case shouting and singing “bye-bye Bertie” and Blyleven angrily looked up at the hecklers and flashed them the “one finger salute”. That was the final straw for Twins management and Bert along with shortstop Danny Thompson was traded to Texas the next day for pitchers Bill Singer and Jim Gideon, shortstop Roy Smalley III, 3B Mike Cubbage and $250,000.

5/31/1980 – Outfielder Ken Landreaux goes 0-for-4 in Minnesota’s 11-1 loss to the Orioles Scott McGregor, ending his hitting streak at 31 consecutive games. It is the longest streak in the AL since Dom DiMaggio’s 34-game streak in 1949. Ken’s streak started on April 23rd. Landreaux had 49 hits in 125 at bats during the streak for a .392 batting average. This streak remains the team record to this date.

Make sure you check out the “Today in Twins History” page every day.

This Day in Twins History – May 30, 1986

Roy Smalley III

DH Roy Smalley III hits a home run from each side of the plate against the Red Sox at the Metrodome in a Twins 13-5 win and becomes the first Twins batter to ever do so. Smalley ended up hitting 110 home runs for Minnesota in his 10 year two tour career with the Twins. Smalley was the son of former big leaguer Roy Smalley Jr. who had an 11 year career with the Cubs, Braves, and Phillies between 1948-1958 and nephew of former Twins manager Gene Mauch. Smalley is a Twins analyst with Fox Sports North these days.

A very nice chat with Gary Serum

Please meet Gary Serum

Gary Serum

Gary Wayne Serum was born in Fargo, North Dakota on October 24, 1956 but grew up in the Alexandria, Minnesota area. Gary grew up playing basketball, baseball, and football but basketball was the game he really enjoyed. After graduating from high school, the Twins signed Serum in 1975 out of one of their “tryout camps” and to this day Gary is one of only three tryout camp signees to play a big league game in a Twins uniform. The other two are pitcher Charlie Walters and infielder Jerry Terrell. Serum quickly worked his way up the Twins minor league system playing in Elizabethton (rookie), Wisconsin Rapids (A), Orlando (AA), and Tacoma (AAA) and then he got the call that all baseball players wait for. On July 22, 1977 Serum made his major league debut at Met Stadium in relief against the California Angels just 2 years after signing his first pro contract. The first batter, Rance Mulliniks hit a single but Gary retired the next 6 batters, two of them on strikeouts. Serum spent all of 1978 with Minnesota, primarily as a starter, but in 1979 the Twins acquired Jerry Koosman and Paul Hartzell and Serum was moved to the bullpen and his innings pitched dropped dramatically. In April of 1982 Gary was included along with Roy Smalley as part of a trade with the Yankees where the Twins acquired Ron Davis, Greg Gagne, and Paul Boris. Gary felt almost immediately that this trade was probably the end of his baseball career as the Yankees just did not call up many of their own from their minor league system. Serum had a good year in Columbus and Nashville in 1982 but did not get called up by the Yankees. At the conclusion of spring training in 1983 the Yankees wanted Serum to play in AA ball but Gary no longer was interested in those long bus rides and asked for his release and at the age of 25 walked away from baseball and came back home to Minnesota and went back to college. Gary then got involved in sales and over the years he sold insurance, advertising, solar and automobiles. Then, 21 years ago Gary got into the restaurant business and he has owned and operated Serum’s Good Time Emporium in Anoka, Minnesota ever since. Serum’s Good Time Emporium is famous for its chicken wings and Gary tells a great story during the interview on how that occurred. In his spare time Gary enjoys boating and golfing, both here in Minnesota and at his place in Florida.

You can listen to the Gary Serum interview by clicking here. Check out our other interviews with former Twins players in the Interview Archives.

Twins opening day tidbits

March 31, 2011 – I thought that it would be fun to look over the Twins 50 year history of Opening Days and see who has started the most games at each position. Through their first fifty years, the Twins record on Opening Day is 24-26 and they are currently on a two game losing streak.

The Minnesota Twins first Opening Day was at Yankee Stadium on April 11, 1961 in front of only 14,607 fans and the Twins played and won their first ever game by a score of 6-0. Their Opening Day line-up that day had Earl Battey catching, Harmon Killebrew at first, Billy Gardner at second, Zoilo Versalles was at short, Reno Bertoia played third, Jim Lemon was in left, Lenny Green was in center, Bob Allison was in right, and Pedro Ramos was the starting pitcher. Little did anyone know at the time that the Twins second baseman that day, Billy Gardner, would become the Twins manager twenty years later. The Twins have only fielded the same opening day line-up from one year to the next on one occasion in 50 years and that was in 1970 (won 12-0) and 1971 (lost 7-2) when the Twins had George Mitterwald catching, Rich Reese at first, Rod Carew at second, Leo Cardenas was at short, Harmon Killebrew was at third, Brant Alyea was in left, Cesar Tovar was the centerfielder, Tony Oliva was in right and Jim Perry was the starting pitcher. This goes to show how much things change from year to year.

I told you earlier that I was going to find out what Twins have started the most Opening Day games by position and here is what I have found.

  Total # of players that have played this position on opening day Started most opening days at this position
Catcher 20 Earl Battey, Butch Wynegar, Joe Mauer – 6
1B 19 Kent Hrbek – 12
2B 20 Rod Carew – 9
SS 16 Zoilo Versalles, Roy Smalley, Greg Gagne – 7
3B 23 Gary Gaetti – 9
LF 25 Mickey Hatcher, Dan Gladden, Marty Cordova, Jacques Jones – 4
CF 20 Torii Hunter – 9
RF 19 Tony Oliva – 8
DH 25 Paul Molitor, Randy Bush, Glenn Adams – 3
P 25 Brad Radke – 9

 

Most Games Played in a Twins Uniform

Rank Name Games played Plate appearances
1 Harmon Killebrew 2,329 9,462
2 Kirby Puckett 1,783 7,831
3 Kent Hrbek 1,747 7,137
4 Tony Oliva 1,676 6,879
5 Rod Carew 1,635 6,980
6 Bob Allison 1,541 5,921
7 Gary Gaetti 1,361 5,459
8 Torii Hunter 1,234 4,894
9 Randy Bush 1,219 3,480
10 Roy Smalley 1,148 4,675

 

Good Eye, Good Eye!

May 15, 2010 – The Twins preach to their pitchers that the batter should earn his way on base via a hit, just throw the ball over the plate and take your chances that the batter will hit it to one of your fielders. In recent years, the Twins pitching staff has always been one of the league leaders in fewest bases on balls allowed.

But the shoe is on the other foot when it comes to the Twins hitters where the coaching staff tries to teach patience at the plate, after all, a walk is just as good as a hit. Plus, the more pitches you see, the better the odds are of the batter getting a hit and the quicker the pitcher reaches their so called pitch limits. This year the Twins hitters have taken that advice to heart and after 32 games they have walked 147 times and are on pace for about 700 walks which would be the most not only in Twins history but in franchise history. The 1956 Senators walked 690 times and the most walks by a Twins team was the 1962 Twins when they walked to first base 649 times. Let’s take a look at the top 10 career Twins and Senators batters that believed that a walk was indeed as good as a hit.

Minnesota Twins

HOF Harmon Killebrew played for the Senators/Twins from 1954-1974
HOF Harmon Killebrew played for the Senators/Twins from 1954-1974
Rank Player Bases on Balls Plate Appearances Base on Ball %
1 Harmon Killebrew 1,321 8,018 16.48%
2 Kent Hrbek 838 7,137 11.74%
3 Bob Allison 641 4,641 13.81%
4 Rod Carew 613 6,980 8.78%
5 Roy Smalley 549 4,675 11.74%
6 Chuck Knoblauch 513 4,571 11.22%
7 Kirby Puckett 450 7,831 5.75%
8 Tony Oliva 448 6,879 6.61%
9 Matt Lawton 408 3,150 12.95%
10 Tom Brunansky 394 3,760 10.48%

 Washington Senators

Eddie Yost
Eddie Yost
Rank Player Bases on Balls Plate Appearances Base on Ball %
1 Eddie Yost 1,274 7,461 17.08%
2 Joe Judge 943 8,906 10.59%
3 Buddy Myer 864 7,028 12.29%
4 Mickey Vernon 735 7,769 9.46%
5 Ossie Bluege 723 7,452 9.70%
6 Clyde Milan 685 8,312 8.24%
7 Sam Rice 680 9.879 6.89%
8 Buddy Lewis 573 5,937 9.65%
9 Joe Kuhel 530 5,234 10.13%
10 Goose Goslin 488 5,810 8.40%

Top franchise home run teams

January 23, 2010 – The home run, the long ball, the big blast, or whatever you want to call it is fun to watch and it can put runs on the score board in a hurry. The home run is loved by most baseball fans (pitchers excluded of course) but it does not guarantee a winning season. The 1965 Twins hit 150, the 1987 Twins hit 196 and the 1991 Twins hit 140 home runs and all three teams played in a World Series. The Twins big slugger as we all know was Harmon Killebrew who hit 49 out of the park in 1964 and again in 1969. Matter of fact, the Killer holds the top nine Twins home run seasons, Bob Allison joins him in the top ten with 35 in 1963. The Twins least productive season from a home run perspective was the strike shortened season of 1981 when the Twins hit only 47 long balls in 109 games and Roy Smalley was the team leader with a total of 7. Their lowest full season home run output was 81 in 1976 when they finished third with an 85-77 record and Disco Danny Ford hit 20 round trippers.

Twins top 10 home run teams

  Year Home Runs Record Finish
1 1963 225 91-70 3
2 1964 221 79-83 6
3 1986 196 71-91 6
4 1987 196 85-77 1
5 2004 191 92-70 1
6 1962 185 91-71 2
7 2009 172 87-76 1
8 1961 167 70-90 7
9 2002 167 94-67 1
10 2001 164 85-77 2

The Senators top home run teams never even got a sniff of the top spot in their league as their top 10 home run teams never finished better than in fifth place. Their pennant winning teams of 1924, 1925, and 1933 hit 22, 56, and 60 home runs respectively. The Senators top sluggers were none other than the Twins big bopper, Harmon Killebrew who hit 42 as a Senator in 1959 and Roy Sievers who hit 42 out of the park for the 1957 Senators and hit 39 more in 1958.

Senators top 10 home run teams

  Year Home Runs Record Finish
1 1959 163 63-91 8
2 1960 147 73-81 5
3 1958 121 61-93 8
4 1956 112 59-95 7
5 1957 111 55-99 8
6 1938 85 75-76 5
7 1949 81 50-104 8
8 1954 81 66-88 6
9 1955 80 53-101 8
10 1950 76 67-87 5

 

They Said It

July 4, 2009 – Here are some fun and interesting quotes pertaining to the Minnesota Twins/Washington Senators that I found in The Sports Illustrated archives.

Frank Kostro, Minnesota Twins utility man: “So far I’ve played right, left and first base and I’m Polish. Does that make me a utility pole?” – 4/29/1968

Mickey Mantle, injured Yankee, after batting practice at the Minnesota Twins’ Metropolitan Stadium: “This is the greatest home-run stadium I’ve ever seen. If this were my home park I’d hit 90 homers some year.” – 7/29/1963

Dick Erickson, head groundkeeper at Met Stadium in Bloomington, MN. asked what his job would be if the Twins and Vikings move into a domed stadium in 1981: “I guess I’ll just scrape the bubble gum off the field.” – 12/18/1978

Dave St. Peter, Twins president, on having real grass in the ballpark that Minnesota plans to open in 2010: “It will be a great joy to see somebody riding a mower instead of a vacuum cleaner.” – 9/24/2007

Sam Mele, to his family after he was fired by the Minnesota Twins: “What are you crying for? All these years you’ve been saying you’d like to have me home for the summer. Well, that’s where I’ll be now.” – 6/19/1967

Ellis Clary, Minnesota Twins scout, whose team is in the thick of its divisional race despite one of baseball’s lowest payrolls: “We’ve got the only players who’ll make more in their World Series shares than in salary.” – 8/6/1984

Calvin Griffith, 285-pound former owner of the Minnesota Twins upon running into equally hefty Craig Kusick, a onetime Twins first baseman who now teaches high school phys ed: “You and I should attend some of your classes.”

Ron Davis, former Minnesota Twin reliever who had a knack for giving up late-game homers, on the boos he still hears at appearances in the Twin Cities: “When it’s 10 years later and they still hate you, that’s what you call charisma.” – 2/20/1995

Mrs. Laura Quilici, hearing that her son Frank had been named manager of the Minnesota Twins: “Oh, the poor kid. He’s going to get an ulcer now.” – 7/17/1972

Jim DeShaies, Minnesota Twin pitcher on ignoring baseball tradition and changing his seat in the dugout during teammate Scott Erickson’s recent no-hitter: “I think everybody gets caught up in superstitions. But I don’t put much stock in them—knock on wood.” – 5/16/1994

Tony Perez, Cincinnati Reds coach, on wire-service reports that pitcher John Smiley was unhappy about his trade from the Pittsburgh Pirates to the Minnesota Twins: ” John Smiley is going to change his name to John Frowny.” 4/6/1992

Don Baylor, Minnesota Twins DH, on why he would say no if George Steinbrenner offered him the Yankees’ managing job: “I came into this game sane, and I want to leave it sane.” – 10/19/1987

Cookie Lavagetto, manager of the likely last place Washington Senators, after reprimand by Commissioner Ford Frick for saying the Yankees would win pennant by 15 games: “I wanted to get them overconfident so we could beat them.” – 4/14/1958

Billy Gardner, Minnesota Twins manager, on outfielder Darrell (Downtown) Brown, who has hit one home run in 591 career at bats: “That must be an awful small town.”

Tom Kelly, Minnesota Twins manager, explaining why he made pitcher Pat Mahomes walk off the field with him after pulling him during a 17-1 loss to the Detroit Tigers: “Then we would have to take only half the boos each.” – 5/10/1993

Junior Oriz, Minnesota Twins catcher, after teammate Scott Erickson threw a two-hitter for his 12th straight win: “He’s unbelievable. He’s like that guy in Texas who’s 41, or 42, or 43.”

Sam Mele, ousted Minnesota Twins manager, asked what he had noticed most about the club this summer: “They got going right after I left.” – 9/25/1967

Gene Mauch, Minnesota Twins manager, on having a blood relative, Roy Smalley on his team: “Sometimes I look on Roy as my nephew, but sometimes only as my sister’s son.” – 5/26/1980

Hal Naragon, Minnesota Twins catcher, on whether Boston’s Carl Yastrzemski will turn out to be the Red Sox new Ted Williams: “He’s like Ted from the shoelaces down.” – 9/18/1961

Gene Mauch, of the Minnesota Twins, who is in his first year as an American League manager: “I’ve seen more inferior umpiring so far this season than I saw in 16 years as a manager in the National League.” – 7/19/1976

Calvin Griffith, president of the Washington Senators, who once promised to keep the club in Washington “as long as I live,” in an amendment: “As long as we make a living.” – 7/14/1958