In 1976 he had Carew, Wynegar, Smalley, Hisle, Bostock, Cubbage, Ford and Randall - not a bad lineup.

Goltz and Blyleven led an otherwise blah pitching staff and Campbell was an outstanding RP. 

 

Same lineup and SP Goltz and Zahn led the staff in 1977.  Then Erickson, Goltz and Zahn with Mike Marshall in the pen. 

There were some horses here.

 

Yes, you are right. Those were the earliest of my Twins memories, especially when Roy Smalley was playing for Uncle Gene. I should have written not enough horses. Mauch was an excellent manager and would be remembered alongside other great 70's mangagers: Earl Weaver, Dick Williams Whitey Herzog, Sparky Anderson, and of course Billy Martin, but Calvin Griffith kept trading his horses, or not spending enough to add more to the stable. I cried when Smalley and Wynegar went to the Yankees, Bostock and Carew to the Angels. Mauch never broke 90 wins with those Twins teams, but saw the postseason when he went west too. Managed Carew, Doug Corbett, Rob Wilfong, and Geoff Zahn in California. Twice knocked out of the ALCS.

 

Yes, you are right. Those were the earliest of my Twins memories, especially when Roy Smalley was playing for Uncle Gene. I should have written not enough horses. Mauch was an excellent manager and would be remembered alongside other great 70's mangagers: Earl Weaver, Dick Williams Whitey Herzog, Sparky Anderson, and of course Billy Martin, but Calvin Griffith kept trading his horses, or not spending enough to add more to the stable. I cried when Smalley and Wynegar went to the Yankees, Bostock and Carew to the Angels. Mauch never broke 90 wins with those Twins teams, but saw the postseason when he went west too. Managed Carew, Doug Corbett, Rob Wilfong, and Geoff Zahn in California. Twice knocked out of the ALCS.

 

I remember seeing Killebrew, Carew, etc., at-bats, though I admit I don't remember much about how the Twins fared in those years in general. When I look back, their W-L records are better than I thought they were. The Twin Cities were pretty down on the Twins in the 70s, which I admit is why I suspected they were never very good, but the teams were never that bad.

 

I remember Smalley being ejected from a game for dropping an F-Bomb to the umpire after striking out, which was so loud I'm sure it could have been heard outside the stadium. We were in the last suite on the first base line and his shout was very loud even up there.

I suppose I'd be kind of embarrassed right now if I had acted emotional over seeing Arraez in the starting lineup on day one.