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
I have followed MLB since about 1956 by buying baseball cards, by listening to baseball games on the radio, by subscribing to The Sporting News and reading whatever box scores I could find. But how things have changed over the years, including pitching. One of the biggest changes has to do with starting pitching.
Starting pitchers used to pitch and hit back in the day. They would start every fourth day but over time the starting rotation changed to four to five. Recently some teams have gone to six day rotations and it is not that uncommon nowadays for games to be pitched totally by relief pitchers. Relief pitchers back then were “injured” starters or starters that for one reason or another had become ineffective.
The franchise has a 3-3 record in World Series history
The start of a new baseball season is always a glorious time. Fans across the country all have high hopes and dreams that they will be celebrating a Fall Classic win later in the year. Obviously, most of those dreams will be dashed over the next few months but, just for a little while, all 30 teams are still in with a chance.
Five clubs have never tasted victory, of course, with the Seattle Mariners never even making it to the World Series. There may be a few Twins fans that can’t remember a victory of our own but we have come out on top on no less than three occasions – with another three agonizing finals defeats in franchise history.
After winning the AL Central last season, there will be some of the best MLB betting sites looking at the Twins as a long shot for a championship this year. But, while we settle into the new campaign, let’s take a look back at all the times the franchise made it to the World Series.
A dirt farmer in Southern Indiana in the year 1924 chose to name his son after a famous baseball player who would someday enter the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Little did anyone know at the time, including that famous player, just how much that decision would mean to that son and the generations to follow. That was the beginning of a love affair with baseball that would identify this family, a love that would begin with the Washington Senators and move on to Minnesota in 1961. Now five generations in, this family allegiance is still very much alive today.
This is a story of the son of that son with the famous name and his love of baseball that was handed down to him. He in turn has passed that love on to his son, who now has a daughter who will hopefully understand this love of the game. Memories are made with the game of baseball, and so many are worth sharing.
As the pages of this book are turned, the reader will begin to recognize many of these memories and hopefully be reminded of memories that are part of their lives. Hopefully, the reader will have a better understanding of how generations of a family can be connected by the threads of a baseball.
I made my first trip out to the Lee County Sports Complex Tuesday morning to see what is going on out there before Spring Training starts. I had hoped to get out there back in early January to take in some of the Twins Fantasy Camp games and chat with some former Twins players that serve as team managers and coaches but I had a nasty cold for about two weeks that just didn’t want to go away so I thought it best to stay away.
When I got out to the complex today it was a beehive of activity from trucks delivering office equipment, landscaping activities going on around the complex (which actually withstood Hurricane Ian back in late September fairly well), a cherry picker taking a huge Luis Arraez images down from above the ticket office, to major and minor league players working out on numerous fields.
On my walk to the back fields I noticed a player heading towards me and he looked familiar but I just couldn’t place him, it turned out to be Louie Varland and I got his picture, wished him good luck and embarrassingly I forget to introduce myself. How dumb is that? I didn’t make that mistake on all the other players I met today. This time of the year no one is wearing uniforms with numbers so it is often very hard to know who is who. What surprised me I guess is how many players are already here with pitchers throwing on at least three fields. Catchers all over the place and one of those catchers was Christian Vazquez. Looks to me like Vazquez is going to be an easy player to like as today he signed autographs for a group of people and posed for a picture for me, even went to the trouble of taking off his catching gear first. He reminded us “that I am number 8 and not number 7” and everyone got a good laugh including Christian in an obvious reference to Joe Mauer.
I met a gentleman on the back fields from Indiana by the name of Robert McCammon who is a retired school teacher and now spends winters in Florida and works part-time at Hammond Stadium during Spring Training. He grew up a Washington Senators fan and is now a Twins fan and last year he published a book called Walter Johnson Had No Idea. Twins President Dave St. Peter wrote the Forward for the book. I have a copy of the book and am anxious to read it since I just wrapped up my latest Baldacci novel yesterday.
It was so nice to be at the complex on a nice sunny day with temperatures in the low 70’s and watching people catching and throwing a baseball around again. It is a fun time of the year, no one has lost a game, no one is injured yet, no pressure on anyone to make the team, no trade rumors flying around and everyone is happy and in a good mood. How can you not love baseball at this time of the year. I took a number of other pictures that I will share with you in the next few days.
Update on 2/8 – You can see the rest of the 2023 Spring Training pictures here.
Ever since I started following baseball almost 65 years ago, I have been led to believe that you need to have great starting pitching to win it all. Is it true or is this been a falsity all along? I have been fortunate to watch some great starting pitching over the years and I still wish I could have seen the great Walter Johnson pitch in person but those kinds of starters are disappearing. Ace starters are getting paid big bucks but at the same time they are quickly becoming as extinct as dinosaurs.
Here is my problem. Baseball pitching today is about throwing less than 100 pitches, don’t face the line-up a third time around, openers, and bullpen games and God knows what else they will dream up. You pay the starters huge dollars and then you don’t let them pitch. Aren’t starter’s supposed to be your best pitchers? Starters have been throwing over 100 pitches and going through the opposing lineup multiple times in games since baseball started and now all of a sudden that is not a good idea?
Some pretty good pitchers on this list. One of the items that just jumps out at me is the fact that Walter Johnson gave up just one home run in the games that he pitched and struck out 10> while Johan Santana gave up 34 blasts during his 10> K games. Do you think that Bert Blyleven knows that Johan Santana has more 10 strikeout games in a Twins uniform then he does? If you want to see something interesting click on the Ind. Games link for Walter Johnson and check out how many of his complete games were extra inning efforts.
The Twins scored three runs in the top of the first inning and the Yankees answered back with three runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning in the American League Wild Card game. Only one other postseason game in major-league history saw each team score at least three runs in the first inning. In Game 4 of the 1993 World Series, the Blue Jays scored three times in the top of the first only to relinquish the lead in the bottom half of the inning when the Phillies scored four times in what is still the highest scoring World Series game in major-league history, a 15-14 Toronto win at Veterans Stadium.
Dozier and Rosario go deep in first postseason plate appearance
Brian Dozier and Eddie Rosarioeach homered in their first career playoff plate appearance in the first inning of the American League Wild Card game on Tuesday night. It’s only the third time in major-league history that multiple players from the same team each homered in their first postseason at bat in the same game. That previously happened on October 2, 1984, when the Cubs’ Bob Dernier (first inning) and Rick Sutcliffe (third inning) each did it; and on October 1, 1996 by the Orioles’ Brady Anderson (first inning) and B.J. Surhoff (second inning).
Yankees postseason domination of Twins continues
The Yankees beat the Twins in the American League Wild Card game on Tuesday. New York has now won each of the last 10 postseason games it has played against Minnesota, winning the last three games of the 2004 ALDS and registering three-game sweeps in the 2009 ALDS and 2010 ALDS prior to Tuesday’s win. That ties the second-longest postseason winning streak for one team against another in major-league history. The Red Sox won 11 straight postseason games against the Angels (1986-2008), the Yankees won 10 in a row against the Rangers (1996-2010) and the Athletics won 10 straight against the Red Sox (1988-2003).
Robertson’s strong relief effort lifts Yankees
David Robertson did not allow a run while getting 10 outs in relief in the Yankees’ win over the Twins in the American League Wild Card game. Robertson is the seventh pitcher in major-league history to record at least 10 outs without allowing a run while pitching in relief in a victory in a winner-take-all postseason game. Five of the other six pitchers to do it were starting pitchers during the regular season: Walter Johnson (1924 World Series), Vida Blue (1972 ALCS), Mike Torrez (1977 ALCS), Pedro Martinez (1999 Divisional Playoffs) and Madison Bumgarner (2014 World Series). The only other pitcher who was primarily a reliever to do that was the Yankees’ Joe Page in Game 7 of the 1947 World Series against the Dodgers. Page, who pitched in relief in 54 of his 56 regular-season appearances that season, pitched the final five innings and didn’t relinquish a run allowing New York to capture the World Series with a 5-2 victory. Robertson threw 52 pitches in his outing. Those are the most pitches Robertson has ever thrown in a game in his major-league career. His previous high was 45 on July 1, 2008.
Judge’s magical season extends into the playoffs
Aaron Judge hit a two-run home run in the fourth inning giving the Yankees a 7-4 lead in a game they would go on to win 8-4 over the Twins in the American League Wild Card game on Tuesday. Judge is the third rookie in Yankees history to homer in his first career postseason game, joining Elston Howard (1955) and Shane Spencer (1998).
It’s 2017 and we’re realists. Although we love a complete-game shutout as much as the next fan, we don’t expect to see them very often these days. But Ervin Santana has pitched three this season, a major-league high, and on Sunday he went six innings in the Twins’ 4–0 win at Cleveland—a “new millennium shutout,” if you will.
In fact, Santana didn’t allow a run in seven of his 13 starts this season. In the live-ball era, only four other pitchers made as many as seven starts without allowing a run by the end of June: Sandy Koufax in 1963, Don Drysdale in 1968 (when he set an MLB record, since broken, with 58 2?3 consecutive scoreless innings), Jeff Locke in 2013, and Adam Wainwright in 2014. The only other pitcher to do so in Senators/Twins history was the Big Train himself, Walter Johnson, with Washington in 1913.
Jose Berrios improved his record to 7-1 in eight starts with a solid eight inning performance in the Twins’ win over the White Sox. Berrios is the sixth pitcher in Senators/Twins history to win at least seven of his first eight starts of a season. The others were Walter Johnson, who did it in 1913 (7-1) and 1925 (7-1), Joe Boehling in 1913 (7-0), Jerry Koosman in 1979 (7-0), Geoff Zahn in 1979 (7-1) and Francisco Liriano in 2006 (7-1).
Home Runs and Strikeouts, Strikeouts and Home Runs
Major League Baseball seems odds-on to set single-season industry-wide records for both home runs and strikeouts. There were 238 home runs hit in 72 major-league games from Friday to Tuesday, an average of 3.31 homers per game. That was the most homer-happy five-day period in the 142-year history of Major League Baseball, whether reckoned by total homers or by average per game.
But strikeouts grabbed the Elias Says headlines on Wednesday night, as major-league teams struck out a total of 290 times over 15 games. That average of 19.33 strikeouts per game was the highest on any day with at least 12 games played in major-league history. The previous record was set on Sept. 14, 2015, when there was an average of 19.25 strikeouts over 12 games.
I recently bought a book called “Extra Innings Baseball” at an estate sale and it has some interesting facts and stories and I thought I would share a couple of items from the book even though I just started reading it.
Did you know that: Kirby Puckett was the first player born in the 1960s to be elected to the Hall of Fame?
Socks Seybold
Did you know that: One of the oddest home runs in history took place at American League Park which was the home of the Washington Senators from 1904 to 1910. In this ballpark there was a doghouse near the outfield flag pole. The groundskeeper stored the flag in the doghouse between games. One afternoon the doghouse door was left open, and a member of the Senators hit the ball inside of it. Philadelphia A’s center fielder Socks Seybold crawled to retrieve the ball and got stuck allowing the batter to circle the bases for an “inside the doghouse” home run.
Did you know that an outfielder is sometimes referred to as a “gardener”?
Did you know that: The great Hall of Famer Walter Johnson who pitched for the Washington Senators from 1907 to 1927 and who many consider the greatest pitcher ever won 417 games and yet had a 5.3 SO/9 rate? Still he had 3,509 career strikeouts, maybe it had something to do with a 2.17 ERA, a 1.06 WHIP and a 0.1 HR/9 ratio.
I will let you know when I find more “cool” stuff. Have a wonderful Memorial Day week-end and don’t forget why you can celebrate Memorial Day!
