Matt Johnson

Now that the Eddie Rosario Experience is almost certainly over, let's take a look back at some of his contributions to Twins history. This is just what appears in my Twins Almanac spreadsheet. Please contribute your own Eddie trivia, fun facts, or cool stories in the comments section. And if you're into this kind of stuff, follow me on Twitter at @TwinsAlmanac.
 

May 6, 2015
Major League Debut


 
Leading off the bottom of the third against Oakland's Scott Kazmir, the 23-year-old Puerto Rico native hits the first big-league pitch he sees for an opposite field home run. In what made for a storybook moment, Eddie's parents were actually in the stands at Target Field being interviewed by Marney Gellner when it happened. Twins won 13-0.
 

Six Twins have homered in their first major league at-bat: Rick Renick, Dave McKay, Gary Gaetti, Andre David, Gary Gaetti, Luke Hughes, and Rosario. Fifteen players in major league history have homered on their first pitch, including former Twin Brant Alyea (playing for the Ted Williams-managed Senators).  

July 30, 2015
Triple Streak


 
The rookie left fielder triples in his third-straight game, tying the club record (Rod Carew 1977, Dan Gladden 1991, and Delmon Young 2008). Bonus Fact: Rosario led the majors with 15 triples his rookie season.
 

June 13, 2017
First Three-Home Run Game


 
The Twins beat the Mariners 20-7 at Target Field, setting a franchise record with 28 hits. Nine-batter Eddie Rosario goes 4-for-5 with three home runs, five RBI, and three runs scored.
 

Third baseman Eduardo Escobar went 5-for-6 in the game. Kennys Vargas, Jason Castro, and Rosario all had four hits. The only Twin in the starting lineup without multiple hits was first baseman Joe Mauer. 
Rosario's 13 total bases in the game are tied for second-most in team history, along with outfieldmates Byron Buxton and Max Kepler, Tim Teufel, and Rich Becker. Kirby Puckett set the team record with 14 that one Sunday in Milwaukee.
 
Rosario was the fifth player in major league history to hit three home runs from the nine-hole. The others were Trot Nixon, Dale Sveum, Art Shamsky, and knuckleball pitcher Jim Tobin in May 14, 1942.
 

July 1, 2017
5-for-5


 
Rosario goes 5-for-5 with three runs scored and an RBI in a 10-5 Twins win in Kansas City. Last I checked, there have been 51 five-hit games in Twins history. Escobar and Rosario both had one in 2017.
 

Kirby Puckett had two six-hit games—one each in 1987 and '91.  

June 3, 2018
Second Three-Home Run Game


 
Tied with stupid Cleveland 5-5 in the bottom of the ninth, Rosario hits a two-run walk-off home run, becoming the first player in team history with two career three-home run games. Additionally, he joined Tony Oliva as the only other player in team history with two games with 12 or more total bases.
 

Max Kepler and Nelson Cruz have since joined the club of Twins players with two career three-home run games, with Cruz's coming just 10 days apart. 

Hitting three home runs in a game used to be a big deal. There were just four such games in the team's first 55 seasons (Bob Allison, Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva, and Justin Morneau), and EIGHT in the four seasons from 2016 to 2019. 
 

April 5, 2019
Rosario's Bat Hits for Cycle


 
Jorge Polanco goes 5-for-5, hitting for the 11th cycle in Twins history—and he did it swinging Eddie Rosario's bat! Unfortunately the Twins lost 10-4 in Philadelphia (starter Jake Odorrizi gave up five runs in 2/3 of an inning).
 
Polanco came up a double shy of the cycle just four days later.
 

April 20, 2019
Second-Straight Multi-HR Game


 


In the first game of a Saturday doubleheader in Baltimore, Rosario hits two solo home runs in a 6-5 win, joining Don Mincher and Kirby Puckett as the only players in team history with back-to-back multi-home run games.


 


The Twins tied a team record with eight home runs in the second game of the doubleheader. They had a second eight-home run game just over a month later, on May 23, becoming just the second team in major league history with two such games in one season, joining the '05 Rangers.


 

May 6, 2019
12 Home Runs in First 32 Games



(*Note: This one is really about Kirby Puckett)


 
After hitting zero home runs in 1984, and just four in 1985, Kirby Puckett erupted for 13 home runs in the Twins' first 33 games of the '86 season. That's a team record. Second-most through 33 is 12, by Harmon Killebrew in 1970, Rosario in 2019, and Nelson Cruz this season. (Rosario hit his 13th in Game 34, but, like I said, this fun fact was about Puckett.)
 
 


Well folks, that's what I have. Obviously there are a lot more Eddie Rosario memories to share. Please make your contributions in the comments section below. (I remember him inducing a big balk dancing off third base...) And remember, if you enjoy geeking out on Twins history, coming join me at
@TwinsAlmanac on Twitter.

Now that the Eddie Rosario Experience is almost certainly over, let's take a look back at some of his contributions to Twins history. This is just what appears in my Twins Almanac spreadsheet. Please contribute your own Eddie trivia, fun facts, or cool stories in the comments section. And if you're into this kind of stuff, follow me on Twitter at @TwinsAlmanac.
 

May 6, 2015
Major League Debut


 
Leading off the bottom of the third against Oakland's Scott Kazmir, the 23-year-old Puerto Rico native hits the first big-league pitch he sees for an opposite field home run. In what made for a storybook moment, Eddie's parents were actually in the stands at Target Field being interviewed by Marney Gellner when it happened. Twins won 13-0.
 

Six Twins have homered in their first major league at-bat: Rick Renick, Dave McKay, Gary Gaetti, Andre David, Gary Gaetti, Luke Hughes, and Rosario. Fifteen players in major league history have homered on their first pitch, including former Twin Brant Alyea (playing for the Ted Williams-managed Senators).  

July 30, 2015
Triple Streak


 
The rookie left fielder triples in his third-straight game, tying the club record (Rod Carew 1977, Dan Gladden 1991, and Delmon Young 2008). Bonus Fact: Rosario led the majors with 15 triples his rookie season.
 

June 13, 2017
First Three-Home Run Game


 
The Twins beat the Mariners 20-7 at Target Field, setting a franchise record with 28 hits. Nine-batter Eddie Rosario goes 4-for-5 with three home runs, five RBI, and three runs scored.
 

Third baseman Eduardo Escobar went 5-for-6 in the game. Kennys Vargas, Jason Castro, and Rosario all had four hits. The only Twin in the starting lineup without multiple hits was first baseman Joe Mauer. 
Rosario's 13 total bases in the game are tied for second-most in team history, along with outfieldmates Byron Buxton and Max Kepler, Tim Teufel, and Rich Becker. Kirby Puckett set the team record with 14 that one Sunday in Milwaukee.
 
Rosario was the fifth player in major league history to hit three home runs from the nine-hole. The others were Trot Nixon, Dale Sveum, Art Shamsky, and knuckleball pitcher Jim Tobin in May 14, 1942.
 

July 1, 2017
5-for-5


 
Rosario goes 5-for-5 with three runs scored and an RBI in a 10-5 Twins win in Kansas City. Last I checked, there have been 51 five-hit games in Twins history. Escobar and Rosario both had one in 2017.
 

Kirby Puckett had two six-hit games—one each in 1987 and '91.  

June 3, 2018
Second Three-Home Run Game


 
Tied with stupid Cleveland 5-5 in the bottom of the ninth, Rosario hits a two-run walk-off home run, becoming the first player in team history with two career three-home run games. Additionally, he joined Tony Oliva as the only other player in team history with two games with 12 or more total bases.
 

Max Kepler and Nelson Cruz have since joined the club of Twins players with two career three-home run games, with Cruz's coming just 10 days apart. 

Hitting three home runs in a game used to be a big deal. There were just four such games in the team's first 55 seasons (Bob Allison, Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva, and Justin Morneau), and EIGHT in the four seasons from 2016 to 2019. 
 

April 5, 2019
Rosario's Bat Hits for Cycle


 
Jorge Polanco goes 5-for-5, hitting for the 11th cycle in Twins history—and he did it swinging Eddie Rosario's bat! Unfortunately the Twins lost 10-4 in Philadelphia (starter Jake Odorrizi gave up five runs in 2/3 of an inning).
 
Polanco came up a double shy of the cycle just four days later.
 

April 20, 2019
Second-Straight Multi-HR Game


 


In the first game of a Saturday doubleheader in Baltimore, Rosario hits two solo home runs in a 6-5 win, joining Don Mincher and Kirby Puckett as the only players in team history with back-to-back multi-home run games.


 


The Twins tied a team record with eight home runs in the second game of the doubleheader. They had a second eight-home run game just over a month later, on May 23, becoming just the second team in major league history with two such games in one season, joining the '05 Rangers.


 

May 6, 2019
12 Home Runs in First 32 Games



(*Note: This one is really about Kirby Puckett)


 
After hitting zero home runs in 1984, and just four in 1985, Kirby Puckett erupted for 13 home runs in the Twins' first 33 games of the '86 season. That's a team record. Second-most through 33 is 12, by Harmon Killebrew in 1970, Rosario in 2019, and Nelson Cruz this season. (Rosario hit his 13th in Game 34, but, like I said, this fun fact was about Puckett.)
 
 


Well folks, that's what I have. Obviously there are a lot more Eddie Rosario memories to share. Please make your contributions in the comments section below. (I remember him inducing a big balk dancing off third base...) And remember, if you enjoy geeking out on Twins history, coming join me at
@TwinsAlmanac on Twitter.

December 29
Happy Birthday, Jim Brower


 
Happy 47th birthday to 1991 Minnetonka graduate and Golden Gophers all-time great Jim Brower (1994 Dave Winfield Pitcher of the Year Award winner).
 
He spent parts of nine seasons in the majors with Cleveland, the Reds, Expos, Giants, Atlanta, the Orioles, Padres, and Yankees.
 
He led the majors with 89 appearances with the Giants in 2004. (Bonus Fact: 2008 Chaska graduate Brad Hand led the majors with 82 appearances with San Diego in 2016).
 

December 30, 1923
Birthdate of Harry Elliott


 
1942 Watertown graduate Harry Elliott was born in San Francisco on this date in 1923. The Golden Gophers all-time great had some prodigious minor league seasons, but missed his window of opportunity for a significant major league career, not signing his first professional contract until he was almost 27—after a brief stint as a touring jazz pianist, service in the Navy Air Corps, and attending the University of Minnesota on the G.I. Bill. The stocky 5-foot-7, 175-pound Elliott possessed a quick bat, deceptive power to all fields, and a fiery competitive disposition. After getting a cup of coffee in 1953, he spent the entire 1955 season with the Cardinals, but his best years were already behind him.
 
For more about Harry Elliott, check out my blog post (it’s about an eight-minute read): TwinsAlmanac.com/HarryElliott
 

December 30
Happy 75th Birthday, Jose Morales


 
Former Twin Jose Morales was born in the U.S. Virgin Islands on this date in 1944. He set a major league record with 25 pinch hits for the Expos in 1976 (broken by Jon Vander Wal with 28 in 1995).
 
He played for the Twins from 1978 to ‘80. In 1978, he led the American League with a .323 average as a designated hitter (.314 overall), and set a team record with 14 pinch hits (since tied by Chip Hales in 1995, and broken by Hale with 19 in ‘96). Morales’s 36 pinch hits over three seasons with the Twins is fourth-most in team history.
 
He tied 1964 Waterville graduate Jerry Terrell’s 1975 team record by grounding into three triple plays on May 17, 1980. He hit a grand slam off future Twins Dan Schatzeder on June 19, 1980 (Schatzeder was the winning pitcher in Game 6 of the 1987 World Series).
 

December 30, 2010
Killebrew Reveals Cancer Diagnosis


 
74-year-old Twins legend Harmon Killebrew issues a statement announcing that he has been diagnosed with esophageal cancer. He passed away just over five months later, on May 17, 2011.
 

December 31
Happy 58th Birthday, Rick Aguilera


 
Longtime Twins closer Rick Aguilera was born in San Gabriel, CA on this date in 1961. The Twins acquired Aggie on July 31, 1989 in what was perhaps the greatest trade in team history, sending 1987 World Series MVP and ’88 Cy Young winner Frank Viola to the Mets for David West, Aguilera, Kevin Tapani, Tim Drummond, and Jack Savage (as a player to be named later on October 16).
 
Aggie saved 254 games for the Twins between 1989 and ’99, second only to Joe Nathan‘s 260. He saved 42 regular season games for the 1991 World Series Champion Twins.
 
Aggie, who hit three home runs with the Mets, pinch-hit in the 12th inning of Game 3 of the World Series, becoming the first pitcher to do so since Don Drysdale pinch-hit for Sandy Koufax vs. Jim Kaat in Game 2 of the ’65 Series.
 
He was the winning pitcher in two of the most memorable Game 6’s in World Series history: 1986 (Buckner game), and 1991 (Puckett game).

January 1
Happy 36th Birthday, Neil Wagner


 
2002 Eden Prairie graduate Neil Wagner was born in Minneapolis on this date in 1984. He pitched for North Dakota State for three seasons before signing with Cleveland in 2005.
 
He made his major league debut pitching for the Oakland Athletics against Cleveland on August 30, 2011. He pitched five innings over six games with the Athletics that season. He made it back to the majors with the Toronto Blue Jays, getting into 36 games in 2013, and 10 in 2014.
 
Wagner pitched three scoreless innings over four appearances against the Twins, holding them to 1-for-11 (.091). Chris Colabello hit a seventh-inning double for the Twins’ only hit off Wagner in the second game of a doubleheader at Target Field on April 14, 2014. The next inning, Blue Jays pitchers combined to give up six runs on EIGHT walks and just one hit.

January 2
Happy 55th Birthday, Greg Swindell


 
Seventeen-year major leaguer and 1989 All-Star Greg Swindell was born in Fort Worth, TX on this date in 1965. He led the Twins with a 3.58 in his only full season with the team—1997.
 
He made 64 appearances with the 2001 World Series champion Arizona Diamondbacks.
 
1980 New Ulm graduate Terry Steinbach homered off Swindell in his first major league at-bat on September 12, 1986.

January 3, 1897
Birthdate of Pete Turgeon


 
Pete Turgeon was born in Minneapolis on this date in 1897.
 
He got into three games (one start at shortstop) with the 1923 Cubs, going 1-for-6 with a run scored altogether. The Cubs lost all three games he played in.

January 3
Happy 77th Birthday, Bob Gebhard


 
Former Twins pitcher and front office exec Bob Gebhard was born in Lamberton, MN on this date in 1943. The Twins drafted Gebhard out of the University of Iowa in the 44th round of the very first amateur draft in 1965. That summer he went 11-2 with a 1.91 ERA for the St. Cloud Rox.
 
Gebhard pitched professionally for 11 years, including 30 relief appearances with the Twins between 1970 and ‘71, and two innings with the ‘74 Expos. He was a player/coach with the Expos’ triple-A club in ‘74 and ’75, minor league field director and pitching coach from 1976 to ’81, part of the major league coaching staff in ’82, and director of minor league operations through 1986.
 
Andy MacPhail brought Gebhard home to Minnesota in 1987, hiring him as director of major league personnel. Here’s a fun remembrance MacPhail shared of Gebhard’s first season back in Minnesota: “Literally we had just won the world championship and Bob Gebhard turns to me and goes ‘Damn, Andy, we won this thing. We were just trying to get organized!’”
 
He assumed the title of vice president of player personnel in 1988. Following the 1991 World Series, Gebhard became general manager of the expansion Colorado Rockies, who began play in 1993. He hired ’87 Twins World Series hero Don Baylor as manager, signed first baseman Andres Galarraga the day before the ’92 expansion draft, and pulled off a trade for slugger Dante Bichette immediately following the draft. He signed Larry Walker in the spring of ’95, and that year, just the team’s third in existence, the Rockies won the NL West. The following season the Rockies won the NL’s first-ever wild card spot. Gebhard resigned from the Rockies on August 20, 1999 amid speculation that he was about to be fired.
 
Gebhard served in the St. Louis Cardinals front office from 2000 to 2004, and as vice president, special assistant to the general manager of the Diamondbacks from 2005 to 2016. He received the Roland Hemond Award from the Society of American Baseball Research (SABR) in 2012 in recognition of his contributions to the community of professional baseball scouts.
 
Gebhard makes his home in Centennial, Colorado.
 
(See the @TwinsAlmanac Twitter account on January 3rd for a chance to win an autographed 1972 Topps card)

January 3
Happy 40th Birthday, Michael Restovich


 
It’s the birthday of former major league outfielder Michael Restovich, born in Rochester, MN in 1979. Restovich was named Minnesota High School Baseball Player of the Year in 1997, his senior season at Rochester Mayo. He was drafted by the Twins in the second round that June (the Twins’ first-round draft choice Virginia high schooler Michael Cuddyer).
 
Restovich hit .369 in 76 games between the Rookie League Elizabethton Twins and class-A Fort Wayne Wizards in 1998. In 1999 he hit .312 with 19 HR and 107 RBI for the class-A Quad City River Bandits.
 
Restovich made his major league debut on September 18, 2002. His first major league hit was a ninth-inning pinch-hit homer in a 14-4 Twins loss at Comiskey Park on September 21. Future Twins closer Jon Rauch started the game and earned the victory for Chicago despite giving up lead-off home runs to David Ortiz and Corey Koskie in the second and fourth innings. Koskie hit a second leadoff homer in the sixth off reliever Mike Porzio. Brad Radke had an uncharacteristically bad day, allowing six earned runs on nine hits in just three innings.
 
Restovich went on to play parts of six major league seasons with the Twins (’02-’04), Rockies (’05), Pirates (’05), Cubs (’06), and Nationals (’07). He made 297 plate appearances over 152 games, hitting .239 with 28 walks, six home runs, and 21 RBI.
 
Fun Fact: Wuertz and 1997 Austin graduate Michael Wuertz would have played against each other a handful of times in high school, and presumably on summer teams as well. I know Restovich homered off Wuertz in high school at least once. Wuertz spent eight seasons in the majors with the Cubs and the Athletics, but the two never met on the big stage.

January 4
Happy 76th Birthday, Charlie Manuel


 
It’s the birthday of baseball lifer Charlie Manuel, born in West Virginia on this date in 1944. He spent parts of six seasons in left field with the Twins, hitting .198 with four home runs over 242 games between 1969 and 1972.
 
After 19 games over two seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Manuel moved on to a very successful six-year career in Japan. He averaged .319 with 41 home runs per year over the four seasons from 1977 to 1980.
 
Manuel spent five seasons managing in the Twins system, ending with the 45-96 triple-A Portland Beavers, which included Ron Gardenhire and Billy Beane.
 
He managed the Phillies to back-to-back World Series, winning it all in 2008.

January 4, 2002
Gardenhire Named Manager


 
The Twins announce former third base coach Ron Gardenhire as the 12th manager in team history, succeeding Tom Kelly, who, after the team’s first winning season in nine years, announced his retirement on October 12, 2001. TK was the longest tenured manager or head coach in all of professional sports at the time of his retirement.
 
The Twins won the AL Central in each of Gardy’s first three seasons, and in six of his first nine. They only advanced past the divisional round, however, in Gardy’s first season of 2002.
 
After five runner-up finishes, he was named AL Manager of the Year in 2010. He managed the Twins for 13 seasons before being fired on September 29, 2014, having amassed 1,068 wins—just 72 shy of TK’s team record of 1,140.
 
After serving as Arizona Diamondbacks bench coach in 2017, Gardy took over the Tigers’ managerial job in 2018.
 
 
Keep in touch with @TwinsAlmanac on Twitter.

December 29
Happy Birthday, Jim Brower


 
Happy 47th birthday to 1991 Minnetonka graduate and Golden Gophers all-time great Jim Brower (1994 Dave Winfield Pitcher of the Year Award winner).
 
He spent parts of nine seasons in the majors with Cleveland, the Reds, Expos, Giants, Atlanta, the Orioles, Padres, and Yankees.
 
He led the majors with 89 appearances with the Giants in 2004. (Bonus Fact: 2008 Chaska graduate Brad Hand led the majors with 82 appearances with San Diego in 2016).
 

December 30, 1923
Birthdate of Harry Elliott


 
1942 Watertown graduate Harry Elliott was born in San Francisco on this date in 1923. The Golden Gophers all-time great had some prodigious minor league seasons, but missed his window of opportunity for a significant major league career, not signing his first professional contract until he was almost 27—after a brief stint as a touring jazz pianist, service in the Navy Air Corps, and attending the University of Minnesota on the G.I. Bill. The stocky 5-foot-7, 175-pound Elliott possessed a quick bat, deceptive power to all fields, and a fiery competitive disposition. After getting a cup of coffee in 1953, he spent the entire 1955 season with the Cardinals, but his best years were already behind him.
 
For more about Harry Elliott, check out my blog post (it’s about an eight-minute read): TwinsAlmanac.com/HarryElliott
 

December 30
Happy 75th Birthday, Jose Morales


 
Former Twin Jose Morales was born in the U.S. Virgin Islands on this date in 1944. He set a major league record with 25 pinch hits for the Expos in 1976 (broken by Jon Vander Wal with 28 in 1995).
 
He played for the Twins from 1978 to ‘80. In 1978, he led the American League with a .323 average as a designated hitter (.314 overall), and set a team record with 14 pinch hits (since tied by Chip Hales in 1995, and broken by Hale with 19 in ‘96). Morales’s 36 pinch hits over three seasons with the Twins is fourth-most in team history.
 
He tied 1964 Waterville graduate Jerry Terrell’s 1975 team record by grounding into three triple plays on May 17, 1980. He hit a grand slam off future Twins Dan Schatzeder on June 19, 1980 (Schatzeder was the winning pitcher in Game 6 of the 1987 World Series).
 

December 30, 2010
Killebrew Reveals Cancer Diagnosis


 
74-year-old Twins legend Harmon Killebrew issues a statement announcing that he has been diagnosed with esophageal cancer. He passed away just over five months later, on May 17, 2011.
 

December 31
Happy 58th Birthday, Rick Aguilera


 
Longtime Twins closer Rick Aguilera was born in San Gabriel, CA on this date in 1961. The Twins acquired Aggie on July 31, 1989 in what was perhaps the greatest trade in team history, sending 1987 World Series MVP and ’88 Cy Young winner Frank Viola to the Mets for David West, Aguilera, Kevin Tapani, Tim Drummond, and Jack Savage (as a player to be named later on October 16).
 
Aggie saved 254 games for the Twins between 1989 and ’99, second only to Joe Nathan‘s 260. He saved 42 regular season games for the 1991 World Series Champion Twins.
 
Aggie, who hit three home runs with the Mets, pinch-hit in the 12th inning of Game 3 of the World Series, becoming the first pitcher to do so since Don Drysdale pinch-hit for Sandy Koufax vs. Jim Kaat in Game 2 of the ’65 Series.
 
He was the winning pitcher in two of the most memorable Game 6’s in World Series history: 1986 (Buckner game), and 1991 (Puckett game).

January 1
Happy 36th Birthday, Neil Wagner


 
2002 Eden Prairie graduate Neil Wagner was born in Minneapolis on this date in 1984. He pitched for North Dakota State for three seasons before signing with Cleveland in 2005.
 
He made his major league debut pitching for the Oakland Athletics against Cleveland on August 30, 2011. He pitched five innings over six games with the Athletics that season. He made it back to the majors with the Toronto Blue Jays, getting into 36 games in 2013, and 10 in 2014.
 
Wagner pitched three scoreless innings over four appearances against the Twins, holding them to 1-for-11 (.091). Chris Colabello hit a seventh-inning double for the Twins’ only hit off Wagner in the second game of a doubleheader at Target Field on April 14, 2014. The next inning, Blue Jays pitchers combined to give up six runs on EIGHT walks and just one hit.

January 2
Happy 55th Birthday, Greg Swindell


 
Seventeen-year major leaguer and 1989 All-Star Greg Swindell was born in Fort Worth, TX on this date in 1965. He led the Twins with a 3.58 in his only full season with the team—1997.
 
He made 64 appearances with the 2001 World Series champion Arizona Diamondbacks.
 
1980 New Ulm graduate Terry Steinbach homered off Swindell in his first major league at-bat on September 12, 1986.

January 3, 1897
Birthdate of Pete Turgeon


 
Pete Turgeon was born in Minneapolis on this date in 1897.
 
He got into three games (one start at shortstop) with the 1923 Cubs, going 1-for-6 with a run scored altogether. The Cubs lost all three games he played in.

January 3
Happy 77th Birthday, Bob Gebhard


 
Former Twins pitcher and front office exec Bob Gebhard was born in Lamberton, MN on this date in 1943. The Twins drafted Gebhard out of the University of Iowa in the 44th round of the very first amateur draft in 1965. That summer he went 11-2 with a 1.91 ERA for the St. Cloud Rox.
 
Gebhard pitched professionally for 11 years, including 30 relief appearances with the Twins between 1970 and ‘71, and two innings with the ‘74 Expos. He was a player/coach with the Expos’ triple-A club in ‘74 and ’75, minor league field director and pitching coach from 1976 to ’81, part of the major league coaching staff in ’82, and director of minor league operations through 1986.
 
Andy MacPhail brought Gebhard home to Minnesota in 1987, hiring him as director of major league personnel. Here’s a fun remembrance MacPhail shared of Gebhard’s first season back in Minnesota: “Literally we had just won the world championship and Bob Gebhard turns to me and goes ‘Damn, Andy, we won this thing. We were just trying to get organized!’”
 
He assumed the title of vice president of player personnel in 1988. Following the 1991 World Series, Gebhard became general manager of the expansion Colorado Rockies, who began play in 1993. He hired ’87 Twins World Series hero Don Baylor as manager, signed first baseman Andres Galarraga the day before the ’92 expansion draft, and pulled off a trade for slugger Dante Bichette immediately following the draft. He signed Larry Walker in the spring of ’95, and that year, just the team’s third in existence, the Rockies won the NL West. The following season the Rockies won the NL’s first-ever wild card spot. Gebhard resigned from the Rockies on August 20, 1999 amid speculation that he was about to be fired.
 
Gebhard served in the St. Louis Cardinals front office from 2000 to 2004, and as vice president, special assistant to the general manager of the Diamondbacks from 2005 to 2016. He received the Roland Hemond Award from the Society of American Baseball Research (SABR) in 2012 in recognition of his contributions to the community of professional baseball scouts.
 
Gebhard makes his home in Centennial, Colorado.
 
(See the @TwinsAlmanac Twitter account on January 3rd for a chance to win an autographed 1972 Topps card)

January 3
Happy 40th Birthday, Michael Restovich


 
It’s the birthday of former major league outfielder Michael Restovich, born in Rochester, MN in 1979. Restovich was named Minnesota High School Baseball Player of the Year in 1997, his senior season at Rochester Mayo. He was drafted by the Twins in the second round that June (the Twins’ first-round draft choice Virginia high schooler Michael Cuddyer).
 
Restovich hit .369 in 76 games between the Rookie League Elizabethton Twins and class-A Fort Wayne Wizards in 1998. In 1999 he hit .312 with 19 HR and 107 RBI for the class-A Quad City River Bandits.
 
Restovich made his major league debut on September 18, 2002. His first major league hit was a ninth-inning pinch-hit homer in a 14-4 Twins loss at Comiskey Park on September 21. Future Twins closer Jon Rauch started the game and earned the victory for Chicago despite giving up lead-off home runs to David Ortiz and Corey Koskie in the second and fourth innings. Koskie hit a second leadoff homer in the sixth off reliever Mike Porzio. Brad Radke had an uncharacteristically bad day, allowing six earned runs on nine hits in just three innings.
 
Restovich went on to play parts of six major league seasons with the Twins (’02-’04), Rockies (’05), Pirates (’05), Cubs (’06), and Nationals (’07). He made 297 plate appearances over 152 games, hitting .239 with 28 walks, six home runs, and 21 RBI.
 
Fun Fact: Wuertz and 1997 Austin graduate Michael Wuertz would have played against each other a handful of times in high school, and presumably on summer teams as well. I know Restovich homered off Wuertz in high school at least once. Wuertz spent eight seasons in the majors with the Cubs and the Athletics, but the two never met on the big stage.

January 4
Happy 76th Birthday, Charlie Manuel


 
It’s the birthday of baseball lifer Charlie Manuel, born in West Virginia on this date in 1944. He spent parts of six seasons in left field with the Twins, hitting .198 with four home runs over 242 games between 1969 and 1972.
 
After 19 games over two seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Manuel moved on to a very successful six-year career in Japan. He averaged .319 with 41 home runs per year over the four seasons from 1977 to 1980.
 
Manuel spent five seasons managing in the Twins system, ending with the 45-96 triple-A Portland Beavers, which included Ron Gardenhire and Billy Beane.
 
He managed the Phillies to back-to-back World Series, winning it all in 2008.

January 4, 2002
Gardenhire Named Manager


 
The Twins announce former third base coach Ron Gardenhire as the 12th manager in team history, succeeding Tom Kelly, who, after the team’s first winning season in nine years, announced his retirement on October 12, 2001. TK was the longest tenured manager or head coach in all of professional sports at the time of his retirement.
 
The Twins won the AL Central in each of Gardy’s first three seasons, and in six of his first nine. They only advanced past the divisional round, however, in Gardy’s first season of 2002.
 
After five runner-up finishes, he was named AL Manager of the Year in 2010. He managed the Twins for 13 seasons before being fired on September 29, 2014, having amassed 1,068 wins—just 72 shy of TK’s team record of 1,140.
 
After serving as Arizona Diamondbacks bench coach in 2017, Gardy took over the Tigers’ managerial job in 2018.
 
 
Keep in touch with @TwinsAlmanac on Twitter.

[As seen on Zone Coverage]
 
Recently, I had the chance to talk with Clyde “the Guide” Doepner, the Curator for the Minnesota Twins. Don’t know what a “curator” is? Think about getting paid to collect, display, and maintain Twins memorabilia for thousands of fans to enjoy at Target Field. Yes. Somebody gets paid to do that! Per his request, Clyde asked that I make this as little about him as possible and as much about the Twins as possible, but I want to provide you with a little background before jumping into our conversation.
 
“I was brought up to say thank you.”
In August of 1966 he was hired on as a first year teacher and varsity head baseball coach. In the spring of that same year, Cal Griffith (Twins’ owner) had sent out free season tickets to all head varsity baseball coaches, but the previous coach didn’t get them before he left and so they sat unused all summer. When he saw these in his mailbox, he decided to go down to the Met, find Cal’s office, and thank him for the tickets. Back in 1966 it was that easy. When he went to thank him, Cal noted that he was the only person to thank him for the tickets and brought him “down the hall, to the left, to the right, and to the Griffith seats”, as Clyde would say. Cal invited him to sit in those seats anytime he came to a game rather than “sitting out in the thankless seats with those ‘hecklin’ son of a guns’”, and a relationship was forged. It got the point that Clyde could sit anywhere he wanted when he came to a game and he became good friends with the Griffith family.
 
“We’re not paying those son of a guns…”
When the Twins made the move from the Met to the Dome, the sports commission was going to start charging the Griffith family for storage space. As Clyde tells it, “[Cal] being too frugal, too cheap to do that said ‘we’re not paying those son of a guns’ and he told his brothers ‘throw everything’. [Clyde] went out [to the dumpster] and collected about 3,000 items, and so Clyde “the Collector” was born and he debuted all the memorabilia at the first Twins fest in 1988. No matter how he got any artifact he considers all artifacts as “a part of the Twins”. If you’re interested to see a lot of the memorabilia then I suggest you check out this book.
Being part of the Twins organization since 1966, Clyde is an endless book of stories which will be the focus of the rest of the article.
“No Clyde, I’m all done, this is it.”
At the end of the 2015 season before he made a public announcement Torii Hunter gave Clyde his glove. Clyde’s response was “I don’t want it, because you’re coming back next year” knowing that he only signed a one-year deal, but that the Twins would likely offer him another contract. Torii said, “No Clyde, I’m all done, this is it.” So a few days later, Hunter made it official and announced that he was retiring from Major League Baseball.
 
“I was thinking of my Mom.”
When Jim Thome hit his 600th home run at Comerica Park, Clyde made sure to get all the bases. He gave third base to Thome, second base to the Twins Community Fund for auction, and first base was kept for the Twins. Why did Thome get third base? Clyde thought “well, once you touched third base you couldn’t screw up the home run”. And why did the Twins get first? When Thome was asked what he was thinking about when he knew it was done and running down to first he said “My mother, she had died the year before”. This struck a chord with Clyde as he also recently lost his mother. On the base he signed: “On the way to this base, I was thinking of my Mom”.
“Only Halsey could turn a sport coat into a Blazer”
Halsey Hall was a sports reporter for the Twin Cities and announcer for the Twins for many years. He was actually the first broadcaster to coin the phrase “Holy Cow”, although most fans credit Harry Caray. He was described as having a “grizzly voice, because he smoked two cigars during every game”. Hall of Famer, Herb Carneal would say that “Halsey liked good cigars, but unfortunately that’s not the kind he smoked”. So the story goes that during one game, Halsey’s cigar ash fell into a wastebasket full of paper and started it on fire. He then blurted out, over the air, “oh my god, I’m on fire!” The fire ended up burning his hand, sport coat, and pants and there was a delay in the game until the fire was put out. Former Twins Catcher Jerry Zimmerman said “Only Halsey could turn a sport coat into a blazer”. Halsey was gifted a big red ashtray, and you bet that same ashtray is on display in the Target Field press box.
 
“Isn’t that the way it goes?”
Tom Kelly has each ball from the last out of the game that clinched the division in 1987, the game that clinched the pennant in 1987, and the game that clinched the world series in 1987. As Clyde puts it, “When Kent Hrbek heard about that he said ‘isn’t that the way it goes, Clyde? I caught all three of them, Tom took them, and you give him credit’”.
 
Other tidbits:
Clyde is one of the only curators in MLB. Recently, the Atlanta Braves added a curator when they built their new stadium.
Target field has 38 display cases that he is responsible for filling and maintaining the memorabilia. He does all of this himself.
Jim Thome kept a champagne cork and lighter in his locker. Before eye black was a thing, players would burn part of the cork and put it under their eyes.
He was good friends with Harmon Killebrew. In fact, he was in charge of his appraising six to seven thousand items for his estate.
Tom Kelley donated his entire collection to the Twins.

Last but most importantly, Clyde wanted to thank the Twins organization. He would say that “the ‘Twins way’ isn’t just what happens on the field, but what happens in the clubhouse and what goes on in the community”. Clyde’s parting words to the reader would be “you should always say thank you. Not for some ulterior motive, but because it’s the right thing to do”. After all, if he hadn’t said thank you then many of the artifacts we have come to love around Target Field might be in a dumpster somewhere.
 
This guy was has an endless amount of stories. If it is at all possible, he would be a great "get" for an upcoming Twins Daily event. Give him the mic and let him talk for as long as he wants.

May 17, 1963
Allison Has Twins' First 3-HR Game


 
Bob Allison became the first Minnesota Twin to hit three home runs in a game in an 11-4 Twins win in Cleveland. He was 3-for-5 on the day with six RBI. His batting average at the end of the day was .330. He would finish his All-Star ‘63 season with a .271 AVG, 35 HRs, and 91 RBI.
 
Harmon Killebrew and Zoilo Versalles also hit home runs in the game. Pitcher Jim Perry, who had played for Cleveland the previous season, was 2-for-3 with a walk and scored on Allison’s first home run.
 




 

May 17, 1975



Aaron Brings Hammer to Bloomington


 
Milwaukee Brewers designated hitter Hank Aaron hit the 738th of his 755 career home runs off of the Twins' Ray Corbin in the fifth inning of a Saturday afternoon game at Metropolitan Stadium in Bloomington. The two-run home run extended the Brewers' lead to 6-2. Aaron had hit an RBI double in the third, knocking Twins starting pitcher Vic Albury out of the game. The Twins trailed just 6-7 in the bottom of the eighth when Rod Carew hit a two-out, two-run double. Tom Kelly entered one of his 49 major league games playing first base in the top of the ninth. The Twins held on to win 8-7.
 




 

May 17, 1998
David Wells Pitches a Perfect Game


 
50,000 fans, including Billy Crystal, came out to Yankee Stadium for Beanie Baby Day, and what turned out to be the fifteenth perfect game in major league history. David Wells threw 120 pitches, striking out 11. The last perfect game at Yankee Stadium was Game 5 of the 1956 World Series by Don Larsen, who attended the same high school as Wells, Point Loma in San Diego. Don Larsen actually threw out the first pitch before baseball’s next perfect game, pitched by David Cone in 1999 on Yogi Berra Day at Yankee Stadium. Berra had caught Larsen's perfect game in the '56 Series. Cone threw only 88 pitches in his perfect game.
 
The major leagues’ first two perfect games were pitched in 1880, just five days apart. The next perfect game wasn’t pitched until 1904 by the Boston Americans’ Cy Young. The most recent perfect game was pitched by the Mariners’ Felix Hernandez on August 15, 2012.
 




 

May 17, 2011
Harmon Killebrew Passes Away


 
Minnesota Twins legend Harmon Killebrew passed away at his home in Scottsdale, Arizona on this date in 2011. He was just 74 years old.
 
 
Be well, do good work, and keep in touch with the @TwinsAlmanac on Twitter.

May 7, 1965



Twins Commit Seven Errors


 
The Twins committed seven errors in a 13-5 loss to the White Sox on their home turf in Bloomington. Shortstop Zoilo Versalles and third baseman Rich Rollins each committed two errors, while Harmon Killebrew, Earl Battey and St. Paul native Jerry Kindall added one each. Every infielder plus the catcher committed an error. Despite the seven errors, Twins pitching still gave up 10 earned runs. Nimrod, MN native Dick Stigman started the game for the Twins and lasted just 3 ⅔ innings, allowing four runs (all earned) on five hits.
 
The Twins would salvage the season and capture the American League Pennant.
 

May 7, 1978



Smalley Draw Team-Record 5 Walks


 
Roy Smalley set a team single-game record when he walked 5 times in a 15-9 Twins win in Baltimore. Smalley also hit a double in his sixth at-bat, driving in left fielder Willie Norwood. Smalley walked in each of the first three innings, the first two vs. 1990 Hall of Fame inductee Jim Palmer who only lasted 1 ⅔ innings, allowing six runs on three hits and five walks. Willie Norwood stole second during each of Smalley’s first three at-bats, which eventually ended in walks anyway. The Twins scored nine of their 15 runs in the first three innings. Starting for the Twins was Alexandria, MN High School graduate Gary Serum, who only lasted 4 ⅓ innings, allowing five runs on eight hits, but did not walk a batter.
 

May 7, 1989



Dan Gladden Makes Second Pitching Appearance


 
Dan Gladden made his second big league pitching appearance in a 12-1 loss in Cleveland. Gladden allowed only one run on two hits and a walk. Not bad considering that Cleveland had scored 11 runs over seven innings against Minnesota’s full-time professional pitchers.
 
By the way, how about Gimenez getting out of the inning on four pitches yesterday, eh?
 




 

May 7, 2000



Tom Kelly Wins 1,000th Game


 
Tom Kelly became the 46th manager in major league history to win 1,000 games as Minnesota beat Detroit 4-0 at the Metrodome. Joe Mays, who entered the game with an 0-4 record, pitched a complete game five-hit shutout for the Twins.
 

May 7, 2002



Mary Tyler Moore Throws Out First Pitch


 




 

May 7, 2008



Carlos Gomez Hits for the Cycle


 
Leadoff hitter Carlos Gomez hit for the “natural cycle” in reverse in a 13-1 Twins win versus the White Sox in Chicago. Gomez led off the game with a home run, and then hit a triple, double and single. Gomez had three RBI, two runs scored and also struck out twice. Nick Punto hit the first of his two home runs of the season. Livan Hernandez pitched the complete game for the Twins, improving to 5-1.
 




 
 
Keep in touch with the @TwinsAlmanac on Twitter.

April 30, 1961
Killebrew’s First HR as a Twin


 
Trailing the White Sox 5-2 in the bottom of the 11th in Bloomington, Harmon Killebrew hit his first home run in a Twins uniform. The White Sox held on to win 5-3 with Bob Shaw pitching all 11 innings.
 
All told Harmon Killebrew would hit 573 home runs, fifth-most in baseball history at the time he retired, and still 11th all-time as of 2016. He hit 84 home runs as a member of the Washington Senators, 475 in a Twins uniform, and 14 as a Kansas City Royal in 1975.
 




 

May 1, 1996
Twins Win on Paul Molitor Walk-Off Hit-By-Pitch


 
The Twins held a 5-3 lead vs. Kansas City heading into the top of the ninth when 1994 AL Rookie of the Year Bob Hamelin hit a two-run home run off of Dave Stevens to tie the game. Hamelin had also homered in the second, both times with Jose Offerman aboard. Royals all-time saves leader Jeff Montgomery set the Twins down in order in the bottom of the ninth. His second inning of relief did not go so smoothly, however. After popping Pat Meares up for the first out, Montgomery walked Rich Becker and Chuck Knoblauch. A single by Chip Hale loaded the bases for the future-Hall of Famer Paul Molitor who Montgomery beaned, forcing in the winning run.
 




 

May 1, 2005
Johan Santana Loses for First Time in 20 Starts


 
Johan Santana pitched eight strong innings versus the Angels at the Dome, allowing only two runs on two hits, solo home runs by Vladimir Guerrero and Jose Molina. Bartolo Colon, however, held the Twins scoreless, allowing only two hits through 7 ⅓ innings. Shannon Stewart drove in the Twins only run with a solo home run off Francisco Rodriguez in the ninth.
 
Santana had gone 17-0 in his last 20 starts going back to his 2004 Cy Young-winning season. He would go 16-7 in 2005 and finish third in Cy Young balloting. He won the award again in 2006 when he and the Yankees’ Chien-Ming Wang tied for the major league lead with 19 wins.
 

May 1, 2009
Joe Mauer Homers in First At-Bat Back from Disabled List


 
After missing the first 22 games of the season with a lower back injury, Joe Mauer homered in his first at-bat back from the disabled list. Playing Kansas City at the Metrodome, Mauer came up with two down in the first. After taking Sidney Ponson’s first two pitches, Mauer deposited his 2-0 offering in the left-center field seats.
 
Mauer led-off the fourth inning with an opposite field double and scored on a Justin Morneau single up the middle. Mauer walked in the fifth and scored on Morneau’s sixth home run of the season. He finished the day 2-for-3 with a walk and three runs scored as the Twins beat the Royals 7-5.
 
Mauer went on to hit 11 home runs and drive in 32 runs in the month of May en route to his third batting title and being named the 2009 American League MVP. The Twins won the Central Division in ‘09 with a dramatic 12th inning walk-off win in Game 163 vs. Detroit, but were swept by the Yankees in the first round of the playoffs.
 

May 2, 1963
Twins Trade Jack Kralick for Jim Perry


 
The Twins traded pitcher Jack Kralick, who had come with the team from Washington, to the Cleveland ballclub for Jim Perry. Kralick pitched the Twins’ first no-hitter the previous season, on August 26, 1962. Kralick lost the perfect game by giving up a walk with one out in the ninth of the Twins’ 1-0 win over the Kansas City Athletics. The final two outs were recorded on foul pop flies. Though the Twins’ first season in Minnesota (1961) was probably Kralick’ best, he did garner his lone All-Star selection with Cleveland in 1964.
 
Perry’s career had gotten off to a hot start in Cleveland. In 1959 he was runner-up to the Senators’ Bob Allison for American League Rookie of the Year. He tied with Baltimore’s Chuck Estrada for the American League lead with 18 wins in 1960, and made his first All-Star team in 1961.
 
During Perry’s first five seasons with the Twins he was used both as a starter and relief pitcher, including the ninth inning of Game 7 of the 1965 World Series. In 1969 he started 36 of the 46 games he appeared in, winning 20 as the Twins won the American League West pennant. Perry won the Cy Young Award in 1970, his first season in Minnesota in which he was used exclusively as a starter, and tied for the league lead with 24 wins as the Twins again won the West.
 
Perry played ten seasons in Minnesota. He is fifth in Twins history in both wins (128) and innings pitched. In 2011 Perry became the sixteenth player inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame.
 

May 2, 1964



Twins Hit Four Consecutive Home Runs


 
Tony Oliva gave the Twins a 2-0 lead vs. the Athletics in Kansas City with a third inning home run. The teams were tied 2-2 entering the top of the ninth when Harmon Killebrew hit a solo home run to put the Twins in front. Rocky Colavito, however, tied it up in the bottom of the inning, singling in Ed Charles. The A’s came perilously close to the walk-off win. After Colavito advanced to second on a passed ball, the Twins filled first with an intentional walk. Both runners moved up on a groundout to the pitcher, the second out of the inning. The Twins then issued a second intentional walk, loading the bases. Manager Sam Mele then brought Bill Pleis. With zero margin for error, Pleis struck out his man, forcing extra innings.
 
Neither team threatened to score in the tenth. Then Tony Oliva led off the top of the eleventh with a home run, followed by Bob Allison and Jimmie Hall. Kansas City then went to the bullpen, but to no avail, as Harmon Killebrew made in four in a row and the Twins beat Kansas City 7-3.
 
Seven teams in the history of Major League baseball have hit four consecutive home runs, most recently the Diamondbacks in 2010. The last American League team to do so was the White Sox in 2008 when Jim Thome, Paul Konerko, Alexei Ramirez and Juan Uribe went back-to-back-to-back-to-back.
 
This wasn’t the only time the Twins made home run history against the Kansas City Athletics. The Twins set an American League record by hitting five home runs in a single inning on June 9, 1966 against KC at the Met in Bloomington. The Athletics erupted for four runs in the first off Camilo Pascual, who only lasted ⅔ of an inning. Facing 1987 Hall of Fame inductee, Catfish Hunter, the Twins pulled within 4-3 on a Bob Allison RBI double in the fifth and a two-run Killebrew homer in the sixth. Then, in the bottom of the seventh, Rich Rollins and Zoilo Versalles connected for back-to-back home runs off of Hunter to take the lead. Reliever Paul Lindblad retired Sandy Valdespino before allowing back-to-back homers to Tony Oliva and Don Mincher. The Athletics then turned to John Wyatt who allowed the Twins’ third consecutive home run, and the fifth of the inning, to Harmon Killebrew, his second of the game.
 
Four National League teams have hit five home runs in an inning. The first time was in 1939 and the most recent in 2006. All four were against the Cincinnati Reds.
 




 

May 2, 2010
Wilson Ramos Debuts with 4-Hit Game


 
22-year-old Venezuelan catcher Wilson Ramos made his major meague debut going 4-for-5 with a double and run scored in Cleveland. The following night, at home versus Detroit, Ramos went 3-for-4 with a double, becoming the third player in major league history with seven hits in his first two games, and the first since the Chicago Cubs’ Coaker Triplett in 1938.
 
Ramos played seven games for the Twins before being traded to the Washington Nationals for closer Matt Capps. The Twins would go on to win the American League Central with a 94-68 record. They were swept out of the playoffs by the New York Yankees.
 
Ramos was the second Twin to debut with a four-hit game. 24-year-old Kirby Puckett went 4-for-5 with a run scored in his major league debut on May 8, 1984 in 5-0 Twins win in Anaheim. Hitting leadoff, Kirby grounded out in his first at-bat before collecting four straight singles. Puckett was the sixth player in American League history to debut with a four-hit performance.
 
Kirby would finish third in American League Rookie of the Year balloting behind Seattle’s Alvin Davis and Mark Langston. The Twins’ Tim Teufel finished right behind Kirby in fourth place. Roger Clemens came in sixth. In the National League, future-World Series Hero Dan Gladden finished fourth behind Doc Gooden, Juan Samuel, and Orel Hershiser.
 




 

May 3, 1986
Puckett Leads Off Consecutive Games with First-Pitch Home Runs


 
Twins leadoff hitter Kirby Puckett homered on the Tigers’ Walt Terrell’s first pitch of the game. He had homered on Jack Morris’s first pitch the day before. It was already his 11th home run of the young season.
 
Morris struggled mightily in the May 2 matchup, as the Twins touched the ‘73 Highland Park grad for four runs on four hits and four walks in just 1 ⅓ innings. Even Steve Lombardozzi got in on the act, leading off the second inning with a home run. Kirby was 3-for-6 with two RBI and three runs scored in the Twins 10-1 win. 23 games into the ‘86 season, Kirby was hitting .396.
 
Tigers pitching fared better on May 3, however. In addition to Kirby’s first-pitch home run, Gary Gaetti also homered in the first, driving in Tom Brunansky. Walt Terrell recovered, though, and kept the Twins off the board until, leading 7-3 with two out in the ninth, he gave up a solo home run to Gaetti. He then struck out pinch-hitter Billy Beane to complete the 7-4 Tigers victory.
 




 

May 3, 2011
Francisco Liriano Pitches a No-Hitter


 
Francisco Liriano pitched the fifth no-hitter in Twins history on a chilly 42 degree night in Chicago, beating the White Sox 1-0. Liriano entered the game with a 1-4 record and 9.13 ERA.
 
The Twins’ only run came on a Jason Kubel home run in the fourth. Liriano was far from perfect, giving up six walks, although he did induce three ground ball double plays. Despite averaging 7.5 strikeouts per nine innings on the season, and 9.3 per nine over the course of his career, Liriano only struck out two batters in his no-hit performance. He threw 123 pitches, only 66 of which were strikes. Liriano would finish the season with a 9-10 record and 5.09 ERA. The no-hitter was Liriano’s only complete game as a Twin. He pitched two complete games for the Pirates in 2013.
 
This was the second Twins no-hitter in which six runners reached base. The first was the Twins’ first no-hitter, thrown by Dean Chance on August 25, 1967 in the second game of a doubleheader in Cleveland. Chance completed the no-hitter despite giving up an earned run. He walked the first two batters of the game and then the bases were loaded on an error by third baseman, Cesar Tovar. Chance then threw a wild pitch, giving Cleveland an early 1-0 lead. The Twins would go on to win 2-1 as Chance walked five and struck out eight. Cleveland hit into two double plays.
 

May 4, 1975
The Twins Retire Their First Number


 
Harmon Killebrew signed as a free agent with the Kansas City Royals in January, 1975. The Twins retired his number in a ceremony before the Sunday finale of their first home series against Kansas City the following season. Killebrew’s #3 was the first number retired by the Twins. Killebrew hit a two-run home run in the top of the first. The Twins went on to win 6-3.
 
Minnesota natives Dave Goltz and Tom Burgmeier picked up the win and the save in the first game of the series. Killebrew sat out game two in which Bert Blyleven earned a complete game victory.
 




 

May 5, 1882
Lee Quillen Born in North Branch


 
It’s the birthdate of former major league infielder Lee Quillen, born 135 years ago in North Branch, MN. Quillen played four games (three at shortstop) for the eventual 1906 World Series Champion Chicago White Sox. He hit .192 in 49 games as Chicago’s backup third baseman in 1907.
 
Quillen passed away in 1965 at the age of 83. He is buried at Oakland Cemetery in St. Paul.
 




 

May 5, 1884



Charles Albert Bender Born in Crow Wing County


 
It's the birthdate of the first Minnesotan Hall of Famer, Albert "Chief" Bender, who was elected in 1953.
 




 

May 5
Happy 70th Birthday to Larry Hisle


 
It’s the birthday of Larry Hisle, born in Portsmouth, Ohio in 1942. The 14-year major leaguer played five seasons for the Twins, from 1973 to ‘77 when he hit .302 with 28 home runs and an American League-leading 119 RBI.
 
Hisle made Twins history twice in June, 1976. First, on June 4, he hit for the third cycle in Twins history. Then, on June 30, he stole a team record four bases. Lyman Bostock, incidentally, hit for the cycle on July 24, 1976.
 
Hisle was the hitting coach for the back-to-back World Series champion Toronto Blue Jays in 1992 and ‘93. In ‘93 the Blue Jays’ John Olerud, Paul Molitor and Roberto Alomar had the first, second and third best batting averages in the American League.
 
In 2010, Fox Sports North included Hisle among their “50 Greatest Twins.” He is currently the Milwaukee Brewers’ Manager of Youth Outreach.
 




 

May 5, 2001



LaTroy Hawkins Blows First Save After Record Streak


 
On a Saturday night in Kansas City, the first place (20-8) Twins handed LaTroy Hawkins a 10-8 lead in the bottom of the ninth. Hawkins had converted the first 23 save opportunities of his career, an MLB record. After pulling within a run on a sacrifice fly, however, former Twin David McCarty tied the game with a two-out, line drive single to center, scoring Jermaine Dye. With McCarty aboard in the twelfth, Royals outfielder Dee Brown hit a walk-off home run off of Travis Miller.
 




 

May 6, 2015



Eddie Rosario Homers on First MLB Pitch


 
Leading off the bottom of the third against Oakland’s Scott Kazmir at Target Field, Eddie Rosario hit the first pitch he saw in the Major Leagues for an opposite field home run. He was hitless in three subsequent at-bats. The Twins went on to beat Oakland 13-0.
 
Six Twins have homered in their first Major League at-bat: Rick Renick, Dave McKay, Gary Gaetti, Andre David, Luke Hughes and Rosario. Fifteen players in the history of Major League Baseball have homered on their first big league pitch. In 2010, Boston’s Daniel Nava hit a grand slam on his first Major League pitch. In 1981, in the span of less than a month, Kent Hrbek, Tim Laudner and Gary Gaetti each homered in their first Major League game.
 
Keep in touch with @TwinsAlmanac on the Twitter.

April 23, 1961
Pitcher Kralick Delivers Twins' Only RBI


 
In the final game of the Twins' first ever home series, Jack Kralick pitched a complete game, four-hit shutout in a 1-0 Twins win versus the expansion Senators. Kralick's bat provided the Twins' only run, driving in Billy Gardner with a fifth-inning single. With the win the Twins improved to 7-2 on the season.
 

April 23, 1980
Landreaux Begins Record Hit Streak


 
Ken Landreaux began a 31-game hitting streak by breaking up Angel pitcher Bruce Kison's no-hitter with a one-out double in the ninth. California held on to win 17-0. So it goes.
 

April 24, 1996
5 RBI Game for Both Molitor and Myers


 
Paul Molitor was responsible for 10 of the record 24 runs the Twins scored in a 24-11 win at Tiger Stadium. He went 2-for-5 with a walk, five RBI and five runs scored (he reached on two fielder’s choices). Catcher Greg Myers went 5-for-6 with five RBI and three runs scored.
 
The Twins jumped out to a 6-1 lead after two innings, but had used three pitchers by the end of the third and trailed 10-7 at the end of four innings. But they kept adding on, outscoring the Tigers 17-1 over the final five innings. They scored in every inning but the fourth, never scoring more than five runs in an inning, which they did in the eighth.
 

April 25, 1883
Birthdate of Russ Ford


 
Minneapolis Central alumnus and seven-year major leaguer Russ Ford was born 134 years ago in Brandon, Manitoba. The Fords immigrated to the United States when Russell was three years old, eventually settling in Minneapolis. Ford won 99 major league games for the New York Highlanders/Yankees, and Buffalo Buffeds/Blues between 1909-1915.
 
Read the SABR Biography Project’s entry on Ford: http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/c15d8d78
 

April 25, 1885
Birthdate of Hack Spencer


 
Hack Spencer was born 132 years ago in St. Cloud. He grew up in the Minneapolis area. Spencer made his one and only major league appearance for the St. Louis Browns on April 18, 1912, allowing two runs on two hits in the final 1.2 innings of a 7-12 loss to the Chicago White Sox.
Read the SABR Biography Project’s entry on Spencer: http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/5e9d0d43
 

April 25, 1961
Fred Bruckbauer Has Career ERA of Infinity


 
With the Twins down 7-2 after three in KC, 22-year-old St. Mary's High School (Sleepy Eye, MN) graduate Fred Bruckbauer made his major league debut. Bruckbauer gave up three runs on three hits and a walk before being pulled without recording an out.
 
Unfortunately, this was Bruckbauer’s one and only big league appearance. Since he never recorded an out, his ERA is infinity. The Twins went on to lose the game 20-2.
 

April 25, 1989
Paul Molitor Has 2-HR Game vs. Twins


 
1974 Cretin High School graduate and Golden Gophers legend Paul Molitor hit Twins starter Roy Smith’s second pitch of the game out of the park. He also homered on Twins reliever German Gonzalez’s first pitch of the eighth inning. Milwaukee won 10-4. It was Brewers pitcher Bryan Clutterbuck’s first of two major league wins.
 

April 26, 1986
Dome Deflates, Twins Collapse


 
The Twins led the California Angels 5-1 in the bottom of the eighth on a stormy night in Minneapolis when a tear caused the Metrodome roof to deflate. The L.A. Times described the scene, with “80-m.p.h. winds tearing holes in the fiberglass dome and whipping through the stadium, sending speakers and light standards swaying on their cables like yo-yos in a wind tunnel… Above the third base line, a geyser of water shot through a drainage hole in the roof, dousing a handful of spectators.” The roof was re-inflated and, remarkably, the game was only delayed nine minutes. The Twins went on to score once more in the eighth, with Mickey Hatcher driving in Steve Lombardozzi with a sacrifice fly.
 
With a 6-1 lead in the ninth, starting pitcher Frank Viola gave up a leadoff double to Brian Downing and a two-run home run to George Hendrick before being relieved by closer Ron Davis with the Twins still up 6-3. Davis gave up a single and two-run home run to the first two men he faced. With one out he walked pinch-hitter Reggie Jackson, representing the tying run. After striking out Bobby Grich for the second out, Ron Davis gave up a go-ahead, two-run homer to Wally Joyner, who had made his major league debut less than three weeks earlier. Tom Brunansky, Roy Smalley and Gary Gaetti went down in order in the bottom of the ninth and the Twins lost 7-6.
 

April 27, 1903



Bender Pitches First CG Shutout


 
After an impressive debut in which he pitched six innings in relief for a victory over Boston’s Cy Young, 19-year-old Crow Wing County native Charles “Chief” Bender pitched his first complete-game shutout, defeating New York Highlanders and future-Hall of Famer Clark Griffith. Bender would win 17 games his rookie season.
 
Griffith, of course, went on to own the Washington Senators until his death in 1955 when his son Calvin took over. Calvin, of course, moved the Senators to Minnesota in 1961.
 
Bender would win 212 major league games during his 16-year major league career. He became the first Minnesotan inducted to the Hall of Fame in 1953.
 

April 27, 1965
Camilo Pascual Hits Second Grand Slam


 
Camilo Pascual allowed just one run on two hits in an 11-1 Twins win on the road in Cleveland. With the Twins already leading 3-0 with two out in the first inning, Pascual hit his second career grand slam, and the only grand slam by a pitcher in Twins history.
 
Pascual hit his first grand slam in the Senators’ final season in Washington, on August 14, 1960 in a 5-4 win in the first game of a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium. The Senators won the second game 6-3 in 15 innings.
 

April 27, 1969
Killebrew’s 400th Home Run


 
Harmon Killebrew hit his 400th career home run with two out in the top of the first inning of an afternoon game in Chicago. Down a run in the seventh, Rod Carew hit a two-run homer and pitcher Dave Boswell and the Twins went on to win 4-3.
 
This was a fun boxscore to read. The top of the Twins lineup that day went Tovar, Carew, Killebrew, Oliva, Alison.
 
All told, Killebrew hit 573 home runs, fifth-most in baseball history at the time he retired, and still 11th all-time as of 2016. He hit 84 home runs as a member of the Washington Senators, 14 as a Kansas City Royal in 1975, and 475 in a Twins uniform.
 

April 27, 1994
Scott Erickson No-Hitter


 
Scott Erickson pitched the first no-hitter in Metrodome history, the third in Twins history, and the first since Dean Chance threw one in the second game of a doubleheader in Cleveland in 1967. Erickson, who had led the American League with 20 wins and finished second in Cy Young voting in 1991, was coming off a ‘93 season in which he led the league with 19 losses and 266 hits allowed.
 
The Twins scored in each of the first four innings to lead the Milwaukee Brewers 5-0. Milwaukee’s first baserunner, John Jaha, reached on a hit-by-pitch leading off the sixth. With two out in the ninth, Erickson walked two batters before getting the dangerous Greg Vaughn to fly out to Alex Cole in left. Erickson struck out five Brewers, including the DH Greg Vaughn twice and former Twins catcher Brian Harper. Kirby Puckett went 4-for-5 with an RBI.
 

April 28, 1985
Mickey Hatcher Ties Tony O.’s Consecutive Hits Record


 
Mickey Hatcher went 4-for-5 in a 10-1 Twins win over Oakland at the Metrodome. Having gone 5-for-5 the previous day, Hatcher’s four hits tied Tony Oliva’s 1967 team record of nine consecutive hits. Todd Walker matched the feat on July 28, 1998.
 

April 28, 2010
Hughes Homers in First MLB At-Bat


 
Leading off the top of the third Luke Hughes lifted Max Scherzer’s 2-2 pitch to right for an opposite field home run. It was his first major league at-bat.
 
Hughes had originally come up to bat in the second when Delmon Young was thrown out trying to steal third for the third out of the inning.
 
The Tigers would come back to win the game 11-6.
 
Six Twins have homered in their first major league at-bat: Rick Renick, Dave McKay, Gary Gaetti, Andre David, Hughes and Eddie Rosario. Between August 26 and September 20, 1981, Kent Hrbek, Tim Laudner and Gary Gaetti each homered in their first major league game.
 

April 29, 1962
Twins Hit Six Solo Home Runs


 
The Twins hit six solo home runs in game two of a doubleheader in Cleveland. Lenny Green, Don Mincher, Zoilo Versalles, and Bill Tuttle hit one each, and Johnny Goryl hit two. The Twins scored in each inning but the third and ninth, and won the game 7-3.
 
The Twins did not hit a home run in game one, which they won 8-4.
 
Keep in touch with @TwinsAlmanac on Twitter.

April 16, 1961
First Grand Slam in Twins History


 
Bob Allison hit the first grand slam in Twins history in the top of the first in the first game of a doubleheader in Baltimore. The Orioles’ Chuck Estrada, who had tied for the league lead with 18 wins the previous season and would win 15 in 1961, walked three straight to start the game, filling the bases for the cleanup hitter Allison. After giving up a double to Jim Lemon, Estrada was pulled having given up four runs without recording an out. Relief pitcher John Papa didn’t fare much better, issuing two two-out bases loaded walks before Dick Hall, the third pitcher used by Baltimore in the six-run first, came on to get the final out.
 
Bob Allison added a three-run home run in the sixth, giving him seven RBI for the game. The Twins won 10-5.
 
Bob Allison’s grand slam was historic in three ways. Obviously it was significant in that it was the first in Twins history. Secondly, Allison would go on to hit three grand slams in 1961, still tied for the team record with Rod Carew (1976), Kent Hrbek (‘85), Kirby Puckett (‘92), and Torii Hunter (‘07). Thirdly, it was the first of eight grand slams that the Twins would hit during their inaugural 1961 season. That’s still a team record. The other Twins to hit grand slams in ‘61 were Dan Dobbek, Harmon Killebrew, Julio Becquer (a pinch-hit walk-off grand slam on the fourth of July), Ted Lepcio, and Bill Tuttle.
 
The Twins held a 4-2 lead going into the bottom of the 9th of the second game of the doubleheader. With one out and the bases loaded, Baltimore crept to within one on an RBI groundout. Then, with two down, runners on second and third and future-Hall of Fame manager Whitey Herzog pinch-hitting for future-Hall of Fame knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm, Twins pitcher Ray Moore unleashed a wild pitch, allowing Baltimore to tie the game 4-4.
 
In the top of the 11th, however, Zoilo Versalles hit a two-run home run, and Chuck Stobbs slammed the door in the bottom of the inning.
 




 

April 17, 2009
Kubel Completes Cycle with Grand Slam


 
Down 4-9 to the Angels in the eighth at home in the Dome, the Twins scored three on RBI hits by Mike Redmond and Denard Span. After Brendan Harris struck out looking for the second out, the Angels, still leading by two, intentionally walked Justin Morneau to load the bases for Jason Kubel, who had already gone 3-for-4 with an RBI and run scored and was a home run shy the cycle. Kubel hit the 0-1 pitch out of the park, completing the Twins’ seven-run eighth inning rally. Joe Nathan retired the Angels in order in the top of the ninth for the save and an 11-9 Twins win. Two previous players had completed the cycle with a grand slam, both shortstops. Tony Lazzeri in 1932, and Miguel Tejada in 2001.
 




 

April 17, 2010
Joe Mauer Receives MVP Award


 
Joe Mauer receives the 2009 American League Most Valuable Player Award.
 
After missing the first 22 games of the 2009 season with a lower back injury, Joe homered on his first swing back from the disabled list. He went on to hit 11 home runs and drive in 32 runs in the month of May. He would go on to set career bests with 28 homers and 96 RBI, and win his third AL batting title, setting a major league record for highest batting average by a catcher, .365.
 
The Twins won the Central Division in ‘09 with a dramatic 12th inning walk-off win in Game 163 vs. Detroit, but were swept by the Yankees in the first round of the playoffs.
 

April 17, 2014
Twins Draws 8 Walks in 8th


 
The Twins and the Blue Jays played two cold ones on April 17 after having been snowed out the previous night. The Twins won game 1 by a score of 7-0. The gametime temperature of 31 degrees was a record for a Twins home game. The temperature was up to 42 for the start of game 2. The Twins trailed 3-5 going into the bottom of the eighth when they would score four runs before their first hit, and ultimately score six runs on just one hit. Blue Jays pitcher Steve Delebar walked Josmil Pinto and Chris Hermann to start the inning. Eduardo Nunez then dropped down a successful sacrifice bunt. In retrospect the sacrifice was completely unnecessary, as Sergio Santos (replacing Delebar) and J.A. Happ combined to walk the next five Twins batters. Three runs scored on Santos wild pitches, and a fourth run scored when Happ walked Chris Colabello with the bases loaded. Finally, after having already scored four runs, the Twins got their first hit of the inning, a two-run Jason Kubel single to right. Josmil Pinto then walked for the second time in the inning before the Blue Jays finally recorded the final two outs of the inning. Glen Perkins sat down the Jays in order in the ninth, securing a 9-5 Twins victory.
 

April 18, 1912
Minnesota Native Makes Only MLB Appearance


 
Hack Spencer, who was born in St. Cloud and grew up in the Minneapolis area, makes his one and only major league appearance, allowing two runs on two hits in the final 1.2 innings of a 7-12 loss to the Chicago White Sox.
 
The Browns would finish the season 53-101. The only American League team worse than the Browns in 1912 was the New York Highlanders. The Highlanders would become the Yankees in 1913 and go on to win 27 World Series, including at least two in each decade from 1920 to 2010, except for the '80s in which they did not win a World Series. The Yankees have not won a World Series in the current decade, if that makes anyone feel better.
 




 

April 19
Happy 57th Birthday to Frank Viola


 
It’s the birthday of 3x All-Star pitcher Frank Viola, born in East Meadow, New York in 1960. The Twins drafted Viola in the second round in 1981 out of St. John’s University in Queens, New York. Viola was the Most Valuable Player of the 1987 World Series, and was an All-Star and Cy Young Award winner the following season when he won a major league-leading 24 games. On July 31st, 1989, the Twins traded Viola to the New York Mets for pitchers Rick Aguilera, Kevin Tapani, David West, Tim Drummond, and Jack Savage. As a Met, Viola was an NL All-Star in 1990 and ‘91, finishing third in NL Cy Young balloting in 1990. Viola was inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame with Carl Pohlad in 2005.
 




 

April 19
Happy 34th Birthday to Joe Mauer


 
It’s the birthday of 2001 Cretin-Derham Hall graduate and #1 overall major league draft choice, 3x American League batting champ, 2009 Most Valuable Player, and 6x All-Star Joseph Patrick Mauer, born in St. Paul in 1983.
 
No other American League catcher has ever won a batting title. The last National League catcher to win a batting title was 1986 Hall of Fame inductee Ernie Lombardi in 1942. Mauer’s .365 average in 2009 is the best by a catcher in major league history.
 

April 19, 1988
Joe Niekro Called for 3 Balks


 
After the Yankees’ Rickey Henderson led off the game with a single to center, Joe Niekro was called for back-to-back balks, advancing Henderson to second and to third. Henderson scored on a Don Mattingly double. Henderson came up again in the second inning, this time hitting a two-RBI single to left. Niekro was promptly called for his third balk of the game, moving Henderson up to second. After giving up a two-run home run to Mike Pagliarulo to make it 7-0 Yankees in the second, Niekro was replaced by Juan Berenguer. Berenguer, Keith Atherton and Jeff Reardon did not allow a run the rest of the game. Trailing 3-7 in the bottom of the ninth, the Twins scored three runs on RBI hits by Kirby Puckett and Tom Brunansky before Hrbek lined out to first, ending the game with the tying runner, Mark Davidson, stranded on third.
 




 

April 20, 1903
Chief Bender Makes MLB Debut


 
19-year-old Crow Wing County native Charles “Chief” Bender makes his major league debut with the Philadelphia Athletics, pitching six innings in relief, earning the victory over the Boston Americans’ Cy Young. Seven days later he earned his first complete-game shutout vs. the New York Highlanders and Hall of Fame pitcher Clark Griffith. Griffith, of course, went on to own the Washington Senators until his death in 1955 when his son Calvin took over. Calvin, of course, moved the Senators to Minnesota in 1961.
 
Bender would go on to win 212 games over 16 seasons. He became the first Minnesotan inducted to the Hall of Fame in 1953.
 

April 21, 1961
Twins First Home Opener


 
Having started their inaugural season 5-1, the Twins came home to Bloomington to play the expansion Washington Senators. The teams were tied 3-3 when the Senators scored two off of Ray Moore in the top of the ninth to win 5-3. Only 24,606 fans attended the game, 6,000 short of a sell-out despite a gametime temperature of 63 degrees.
 




 

April 21, 1985
John Butcher Pitches 1hr 55min CG Shutout


 
The Twins had lost nine in a row, falling to 2-9 on the season, entering the Sunday series finale in Oakland when Twins pitcher John Butcher hurled a remarkable complete game shutout. Butcher allowed three hits, but faced just 28 batters, one over the minimum. He threw just 81 pitches and the game was over in one hour and 55 minutes. Leadoff hitter Kirby Puckett went 3-for-5, driving in both Twins runs in the 2-0 victory. It was the beginning of a 10-game Twins winning streak.
 

April 21, 2007



19th Straight Steal to Start Season


 
In the 17th game of the season, Alexi Casilla stole second base for the Twins' 19th consecutive successful steal attempt to start the season. Torii Hunter was caught stealing in the eighth to end the streak. With a 7-5 lead in Kansas City, Joe Nathan pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth, with all three outs coming on called third strikes.
 

April 21, 2012
Willingham Begins Twins Career with 15-Game Hit Streak



First-year Twin Josh Willingham led off the top of the ninth in Tampa Bay with a line drive single to center, extending his season-opening hit streak to 15 games. Willingham would score on a Ryan Doumit sac fly, but the Twins lost 4-1. Willingham’s streak was the longest to begin a Twins career, and tied Kirby Puckett’s 1994 streak for the longest by a Twin to begin a season.
 

April 22, 1961
Twins' First Walk-Off Win



In game two of their first ever home series, the Twins and expansion Senators played to a 4-4 tie through nine. In the bottom of the 10th, with the bases loaded and one away, Zoilo Versalles gave the Twins their first ever walk-off win, driving in Earl Battey with a sacrifice fly to center. The freshly minted Twins improved to 6-2 on the season.
 




 

April 22, 1980
89 degrees for 1980 Home Opener


 
Geoff Zahn pitched a complete game for an 8-1 Twins win in the 1980 home opener. The gametime temperature in Bloomington was a balmy 89 degrees. Hosken Powell, Ron Jackson and Roy Smalley each homered.
 

April 22, 1988
Twins Day Goes From Bad to Worse


 
Bert Blyleven gave up seven runs on nine hits and four hit batters in 4 2/3 innings in an 11-6 loss to the Cleveland ballclub at the Metrodome. Four of those runs came on a Cory Snyder grand slam. Later in the game, Joe Carter also hit a grand slam off of Keith Atherton. To add insult to injury, after the game the Twins traded Tom Brunansky to the Cardinals in exchange for clubhouse cancer Tommy Herr.
 
 
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April 16, 1961
First Grand Slam in Twins History


 
Bob Allison hit the first grand slam in Twins history in the top of the first in the first game of a doubleheader in Baltimore. The Orioles’ Chuck Estrada, who had tied for the league lead with 18 wins the previous season and would win 15 in 1961, walked three straight to start the game, filling the bases for the cleanup hitter Allison. After giving up a double to Jim Lemon, Estrada was pulled having given up four runs without recording an out. Relief pitcher John Papa didn’t fare much better, issuing two two-out bases loaded walks before Dick Hall, the third pitcher used by Baltimore in the six-run first, came on to get the final out.
 
Bob Allison added a three-run home run in the sixth, giving him seven RBI for the game. The Twins won 10-5.
 
Bob Allison’s grand slam was historic in three ways. Obviously it was significant in that it was the first in Twins history. Secondly, Allison would go on to hit three grand slams in 1961, still tied for the team record with Rod Carew (1976), Kent Hrbek (‘85), Kirby Puckett (‘92), and Torii Hunter (‘07). Thirdly, it was the first of eight grand slams that the Twins would hit during their inaugural 1961 season. That’s still a team record. The other Twins to hit grand slams in ‘61 were Dan Dobbek, Harmon Killebrew, Julio Becquer (a pinch-hit walk-off grand slam on the fourth of July), Ted Lepcio, and Bill Tuttle.
 
The Twins held a 4-2 lead going into the bottom of the 9th of the second game of the doubleheader. With one out and the bases loaded, Baltimore crept to within one on an RBI groundout. Then, with two down, runners on second and third and future-Hall of Fame manager Whitey Herzog pinch-hitting for future-Hall of Fame knuckleballer Hoyt Wilhelm, Twins pitcher Ray Moore unleashed a wild pitch, allowing Baltimore to tie the game 4-4.
 
In the top of the 11th, however, Zoilo Versalles hit a two-run home run, and Chuck Stobbs slammed the door in the bottom of the inning.
 




 

April 17, 2009
Kubel Completes Cycle with Grand Slam


 
Down 4-9 to the Angels in the eighth at home in the Dome, the Twins scored three on RBI hits by Mike Redmond and Denard Span. After Brendan Harris struck out looking for the second out, the Angels, still leading by two, intentionally walked Justin Morneau to load the bases for Jason Kubel, who had already gone 3-for-4 with an RBI and run scored and was a home run shy the cycle. Kubel hit the 0-1 pitch out of the park, completing the Twins’ seven-run eighth inning rally. Joe Nathan retired the Angels in order in the top of the ninth for the save and an 11-9 Twins win. Two previous players had completed the cycle with a grand slam, both shortstops. Tony Lazzeri in 1932, and Miguel Tejada in 2001.
 




 

April 17, 2010
Joe Mauer Receives MVP Award


 
Joe Mauer receives the 2009 American League Most Valuable Player Award.
 
After missing the first 22 games of the 2009 season with a lower back injury, Joe homered on his first swing back from the disabled list. He went on to hit 11 home runs and drive in 32 runs in the month of May. He would go on to set career bests with 28 homers and 96 RBI, and win his third AL batting title, setting a major league record for highest batting average by a catcher, .365.
 
The Twins won the Central Division in ‘09 with a dramatic 12th inning walk-off win in Game 163 vs. Detroit, but were swept by the Yankees in the first round of the playoffs.
 

April 17, 2014
Twins Draws 8 Walks in 8th


 
The Twins and the Blue Jays played two cold ones on April 17 after having been snowed out the previous night. The Twins won game 1 by a score of 7-0. The gametime temperature of 31 degrees was a record for a Twins home game. The temperature was up to 42 for the start of game 2. The Twins trailed 3-5 going into the bottom of the eighth when they would score four runs before their first hit, and ultimately score six runs on just one hit. Blue Jays pitcher Steve Delebar walked Josmil Pinto and Chris Hermann to start the inning. Eduardo Nunez then dropped down a successful sacrifice bunt. In retrospect the sacrifice was completely unnecessary, as Sergio Santos (replacing Delebar) and J.A. Happ combined to walk the next five Twins batters. Three runs scored on Santos wild pitches, and a fourth run scored when Happ walked Chris Colabello with the bases loaded. Finally, after having already scored four runs, the Twins got their first hit of the inning, a two-run Jason Kubel single to right. Josmil Pinto then walked for the second time in the inning before the Blue Jays finally recorded the final two outs of the inning. Glen Perkins sat down the Jays in order in the ninth, securing a 9-5 Twins victory.
 

April 18, 1912
Minnesota Native Makes Only MLB Appearance


 
Hack Spencer, who was born in St. Cloud and grew up in the Minneapolis area, makes his one and only major league appearance, allowing two runs on two hits in the final 1.2 innings of a 7-12 loss to the Chicago White Sox.
 
The Browns would finish the season 53-101. The only American League team worse than the Browns in 1912 was the New York Highlanders. The Highlanders would become the Yankees in 1913 and go on to win 27 World Series, including at least two in each decade from 1920 to 2010, except for the '80s in which they did not win a World Series. The Yankees have not won a World Series in the current decade, if that makes anyone feel better.
 




 

April 19
Happy 57th Birthday to Frank Viola


 
It’s the birthday of 3x All-Star pitcher Frank Viola, born in East Meadow, New York in 1960. The Twins drafted Viola in the second round in 1981 out of St. John’s University in Queens, New York. Viola was the Most Valuable Player of the 1987 World Series, and was an All-Star and Cy Young Award winner the following season when he won a major league-leading 24 games. On July 31st, 1989, the Twins traded Viola to the New York Mets for pitchers Rick Aguilera, Kevin Tapani, David West, Tim Drummond, and Jack Savage. As a Met, Viola was an NL All-Star in 1990 and ‘91, finishing third in NL Cy Young balloting in 1990. Viola was inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame with Carl Pohlad in 2005.
 




 

April 19
Happy 34th Birthday to Joe Mauer


 
It’s the birthday of 2001 Cretin-Derham Hall graduate and #1 overall major league draft choice, 3x American League batting champ, 2009 Most Valuable Player, and 6x All-Star Joseph Patrick Mauer, born in St. Paul in 1983.
 
No other American League catcher has ever won a batting title. The last National League catcher to win a batting title was 1986 Hall of Fame inductee Ernie Lombardi in 1942. Mauer’s .365 average in 2009 is the best by a catcher in major league history.
 

April 19, 1988
Joe Niekro Called for 3 Balks


 
After the Yankees’ Rickey Henderson led off the game with a single to center, Joe Niekro was called for back-to-back balks, advancing Henderson to second and to third. Henderson scored on a Don Mattingly double. Henderson came up again in the second inning, this time hitting a two-RBI single to left. Niekro was promptly called for his third balk of the game, moving Henderson up to second. After giving up a two-run home run to Mike Pagliarulo to make it 7-0 Yankees in the second, Niekro was replaced by Juan Berenguer. Berenguer, Keith Atherton and Jeff Reardon did not allow a run the rest of the game. Trailing 3-7 in the bottom of the ninth, the Twins scored three runs on RBI hits by Kirby Puckett and Tom Brunansky before Hrbek lined out to first, ending the game with the tying runner, Mark Davidson, stranded on third.
 




 

April 20, 1903
Chief Bender Makes MLB Debut


 
19-year-old Crow Wing County native Charles “Chief” Bender makes his major league debut with the Philadelphia Athletics, pitching six innings in relief, earning the victory over the Boston Americans’ Cy Young. Seven days later he earned his first complete-game shutout vs. the New York Highlanders and Hall of Fame pitcher Clark Griffith. Griffith, of course, went on to own the Washington Senators until his death in 1955 when his son Calvin took over. Calvin, of course, moved the Senators to Minnesota in 1961.
 
Bender would go on to win 212 games over 16 seasons. He became the first Minnesotan inducted to the Hall of Fame in 1953.
 

April 21, 1961
Twins First Home Opener


 
Having started their inaugural season 5-1, the Twins came home to Bloomington to play the expansion Washington Senators. The teams were tied 3-3 when the Senators scored two off of Ray Moore in the top of the ninth to win 5-3. Only 24,606 fans attended the game, 6,000 short of a sell-out despite a gametime temperature of 63 degrees.
 




 

April 21, 1985
John Butcher Pitches 1hr 55min CG Shutout


 
The Twins had lost nine in a row, falling to 2-9 on the season, entering the Sunday series finale in Oakland when Twins pitcher John Butcher hurled a remarkable complete game shutout. Butcher allowed three hits, but faced just 28 batters, one over the minimum. He threw just 81 pitches and the game was over in one hour and 55 minutes. Leadoff hitter Kirby Puckett went 3-for-5, driving in both Twins runs in the 2-0 victory. It was the beginning of a 10-game Twins winning streak.
 

April 21, 2007



19th Straight Steal to Start Season


 
In the 17th game of the season, Alexi Casilla stole second base for the Twins' 19th consecutive successful steal attempt to start the season. Torii Hunter was caught stealing in the eighth to end the streak. With a 7-5 lead in Kansas City, Joe Nathan pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth, with all three outs coming on called third strikes.
 

April 21, 2012
Willingham Begins Twins Career with 15-Game Hit Streak



First-year Twin Josh Willingham led off the top of the ninth in Tampa Bay with a line drive single to center, extending his season-opening hit streak to 15 games. Willingham would score on a Ryan Doumit sac fly, but the Twins lost 4-1. Willingham’s streak was the longest to begin a Twins career, and tied Kirby Puckett’s 1994 streak for the longest by a Twin to begin a season.
 

April 22, 1961
Twins' First Walk-Off Win



In game two of their first ever home series, the Twins and expansion Senators played to a 4-4 tie through nine. In the bottom of the 10th, with the bases loaded and one away, Zoilo Versalles gave the Twins their first ever walk-off win, driving in Earl Battey with a sacrifice fly to center. The freshly minted Twins improved to 6-2 on the season.
 




 

April 22, 1980
89 degrees for 1980 Home Opener


 
Geoff Zahn pitched a complete game for an 8-1 Twins win in the 1980 home opener. The gametime temperature in Bloomington was a balmy 89 degrees. Hosken Powell, Ron Jackson and Roy Smalley each homered.
 

April 22, 1988
Twins Day Goes From Bad to Worse


 
Bert Blyleven gave up seven runs on nine hits and four hit batters in 4 2/3 innings in an 11-6 loss to the Cleveland ballclub at the Metrodome. Four of those runs came on a Cory Snyder grand slam. Later in the game, Joe Carter also hit a grand slam off of Keith Atherton. To add insult to injury, after the game the Twins traded Tom Brunansky to the Cardinals in exchange for clubhouse cancer Tommy Herr.
 
 
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April 9, 2000
Twins & Royals Go Back-to-Back-to-Back


 
Already up 6-0 entering the top of the sixth in Kansas City, Corey Koskie leads the inning off with a base hit. Ron Coomer, Jacque Jones and Matt LeCroy then proceed to hit three consecutive home runs on four total pitches. Coomer homers again in the seventh, again with Koskie on base.
 
Eric Milton retires the first 20 batters in order and has a 2-hit shutout going into the 8th. After retiring the first two batters, including former Twin David McCarty, Milton allows two hits and is relieved by Eddie Guardado. Guardado gives up an RBI single and then back-to-back home runs to Carlos Beltran and Jermaine Dye. Eddie is relieved by Hector Carrasco who surrenders the Royals’ third consecutive home run to Mike Sweeney. It is the first game in major league history in which each team hits back-to-back-to-back home runs.
 
The Twins are one of seven teams to have hit four consecutive home runs, doing so on May 2, 1964 in Kansas City versus the Athletics. With the score tied 3-3 entering the top of the 11th, Tony Oliva hit a leadoff home run followed by Bob Allison, Jimmie Hall, and Harmon Killebrew, giving the Twins a 7-3 victory.
 
The Twins set the American League record by hitting five home runs in a single inning on June 9, 1966, also against the KC Athletics, but this time in Bloomington at the Met. The Athletics erupted for four runs in the first off of Camilo Pascual, who only lasted ⅔ of an inning. Facing 1987 Hall of Fame inductee Catfish Hunter the Twins pulled within 4-3 on a Bob Allison RBI double in the fifth and a two-run Killebrew homer in the sixth. Then, in the bottom of the seventh, Rich Rollins and Zoilo Versalles connected for back-to-back homers off of Hunter to take the lead. Reliever Paul Lindblad retired Sandy Valdespino before allowing back-to-back homers to Tony Oliva and Don Mincher. The Athletics then turned to John Wyatt who allowed the Twins’ third consecutive home run, and the fifth of the inning, to Harmon Killebrew, his second of the game.
 
Four National League teams have hit five home runs in an inning. The first time was in 1939 and the most recent in 2006. All four were against the Cincinnati Reds.
 

April 9, 2010
Drew Butera Makes Major League Debut


 
Catcher Drew Butera makes his major league debut in Chicago, making he and his dad Sal (1980-’82 and ‘87) the first father-son duo in Twins history. Drew goes 0-for-3 with three strikeouts and a sac bunt in a 4-3, 11-inning Twins win over the White Sox.
 




 

April 10, 1982
Twins Deal Smalley, Acquire Gagne


 
The Twins trade Roy Smalley and 1975 Alexandria High School graduate Gary Serum to the New York Yankees for Ron Davis, Paul Boris, and Greg Gagne.
 
Ron Davis, who had been an All-Star in ‘81, was one of the game’s first setup men, combining for a potent 1-2 punch with Hall of Famer Goose Gossage. Davis still holds the Yankees record for consecutive strikeouts in a single game with eight on May 4, 1981. Doug Fister established a new American League record for consecutive strikeouts in a game with nine on September 27, 2012. The major league record belongs to Tom Seaver who K’ed 10 in a row on April 22, 1970.
 
Ron Davis was never in All-Star form in Minnesota, however. He tied a single season record with 14 blown saves in 1984, a dubious feat which no pitcher has matched since. Four pitchers had blown 14 saves in a season prior to Davis, including Hall of Famers Rollie Fingers (1976) and Bruce Sutter (‘78). Incidentally, Goose Gossage (112), Rollie Fingers (109) and Jeff Reardon (106) have the most blown saves in major league history. Gossage’s six seasons with 10 or more blown saves are most all-time, followed by Fingers and Reardon, each with four seasons of 10 or more.
 
The Twins sent Ron Davis to the Chicago Cubs in August of ‘86 as part of a trade that brought George Frazier to the Twins. Frazier pitched in 54 games for the ‘87 Twins. Davis never saved another game, pitching sparingly in relief for the Cubs, Dodgers and Giants through the end of the ‘88 season.
 
Though Davis was the object of the Twins’ desire at the time, Greg Gagne would obviously emerge as the key figure in this transaction. He didn’t make his major league debut until 1983, and even then only played 12 games between the ‘83 and ‘84 seasons before becoming a fixture at shortstop for the Twins from 1985 to 1992. He was a key component of the Twins’ ‘87 and ‘91 World Series Championships.
 
The Twins had originally acquired Roy Smalley in the 1976 trade that sent Bert Blyleven and Danny Thompson to the Texas Rangers. In July of ‘84, the Yankees offloaded Smalley to the White Sox in exchange for players to be named later, one of whom wound up being Doug Drabek, who, after just one season, the Yankees in turn shipped off to Pittsburgh where he would win the 1990 Cy Young Award. The White Sox traded Smalley back to Minnesota in 1985. Smalley retired after the Twins’ 1987 World Series Championship season.
 
Gary Serum was born in Fargo, and grew up in Alexandria, Minnesota. He played two and a half major league seasons with the Twins from 1977 to ‘79. Despite posting a 9-1 record between Double-A and Triple-A in the Yankees organization, 1982 was Serum’s final professional season.
 




 

April 11
Birthdate of Bob Casey


 
The inimitable Bob Casey was born in Minneapolis on this date in 1925. Casey was the Twins’ Public Address Announcer for 44 years, from 1961 until his death in 2005. He also worked for the Minneapolis Millers, the Lakers and the Vikings.
 
The decorated World War II veteran is buried at Fort Snelling National Cemetery. Tony Oliva, Kent Hrbek, Dan Gladden, Jack Morris, John Gordon, and Dave St. Peter served as pallbearers at his funeral.
 

April 11, 1961
Twins First Regular Season Game


 
The Twins played their first ever regular season game at Yankee Stadium. Harmon Killebrew collected the first hit in Twins history leading off the fourth with a single to center. Twins pitcher Pedro Ramos and Whitey Ford were locked in a scoreless duel until Bob Allison led off the seventh with a home run, the first in Twins history. The Twins went on to win their first game 6-0 as Ramos pitched a complete game, 3-hit shutout versus the eventual 1961 World Series Champs. Ramos held Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris to a combined 1-for-11, with Berra singling in the first. Ramos did not allow a baserunner after the fifth inning. Roger Maris would establish a new single season home run record with 61 that year.
 
The Twins would go on to a 5-1 record before playing their first home game in front of a crowd already deep in the throes of pennant fever. They would lose their first game in Bloomington, however, 3-5 to the new Senators, and finish their inaugural season 70-90, 7th place in the America League.
 

April 12, 1926
Cubs Hero Walt Moryn Born in St. Paul


 
It’s the birthdate of 1944 St. Paul Harding High School graduate Walt Moryn, born 91 years ago. He played parts of eight major league seasons from 1954-’61 with the Brooklyn Dodgers, Cubs, Cardinals, and Pirates. He played 11 regular season games for the 1955 World Series Champion Dodgers, and represented the Cubs in the 1958 All-Star Game (on the bench). Cubs fans’ endearing memory of Moryn is of him making a dramatic shoestring catch for the final out of Don Cardwell’s no-hitter on May 15, 1960.
 
Moryn passed away on July 21, 1996 in Winfield, Illinois. He was 70 years old.
 




 

April 12, 2005
Twins Win on Shannon Stewart Walk-Off


 
The Twins beat the Tigers 5-4 on a Shannon Stewart walk-off ground rule double off of Troy Percival. Percival had not allowed an earned run versus the Twins in over 40 innings going back to 1995. Torii Hunter drove in Jason Bartlett to tie the game in the bottom of the eighth.
 

April 12, 2010
First Regular Season Game at Target Field


 
The Twins beat the Red Sox 5-2 in the first regular season game played at Target Field. Carl Pavano earned the win for the Twins. Jon Lester, the losing pitcher, walked Denard Span to lead off the bottom of the first. Orlando Hudson then collected the Twins’ first hit at the new ballpark. After Mauer and Morneau made the first two outs, Michael Cuddyer collected the new stadium’s first RBI, driving in Span on a single to left. Jason Kubel then drove in Hudson, giving the Twins a 2-0 lead in the first. Mauer hit an RBI double in the second, and an RBI single in the fourth. Jason Kubel hit Target Field’s first regular season home run leading off the seventh. Jon Rauch retired Kevin Youkilis, David Ortiz and Adrian Beltre in order for the save.
 

April 13, 1962
Home Opener Snowed Out


 
In just the second year of major league baseball in Minnesota the Twins’ home opener vs. the Los Angeles Angels is cancelled due to six inches of snow.
 




 

April 14, 1927
Winona’s Wera Makes MLB Debut


 
25-year-old Winona, Minnesota native Julie Wera makes his major league debut for New York at Yankee Stadium, pinch-hitting for Hall of Famer Waite Hoyt against Hall of Famer Lefty Grove. He grounded out.
 
Wera played 38 games at third base for the vaunted ‘27 Yankees. He hit his one and only big league homer during a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium on July 4, 1927 in front of a then-record crowd of 74,000.
 
Wera did not play in the 1927 World Series in which the Yankees swept the Pirates. He did, however, receive the same $5,782 portion of the winners’ purse as the rest of his teammates, which included Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth. Nice bonus, considering that Wera’s ‘27 salary was reported to be $2,400.
 

April 14, 1983
Snow Collapses the Dome


 
The largest April snowstorm in Minneapolis’s history forces the postponement of a game versus the California Angels. The decision to postpone the game was made the night before out of concern that the Angels would not be able to arrive in Minnesota in time. Travel concerns were a moot point, however, as damage from the storm caused the Metrodome roof to collapse about twelve hours after the decision to postpone. The spring storm dumped over 13 inches of snow on the Twin Cities.
 

April 14, 2016
Worst Start in Twins History


 
The Twins are swept by the White Sox in their home-opening series, falling to 0-9 to start the season, the worst start in franchise’s 116-year history. It is the worst start by any major league team in 13 years, going back to the epicly awful ‘03 Tigers who finished 43-119.
 
The Braves would also fall to 0-9 later that day, and finish the season 68-93. The Twins, meanwhile, would finish 59-103, the worst record in Minnesota Twins history. It was remarkably not the worst season in franchise history, however. The 1904 Washington Senators finished 38-113 (.252 winning %).
 




 

April 15, 1998
Eisenreich’s Last Home Run


 
Playing for the Florida Marlins, 1977 St. Cloud Tech graduate and St. Cloud State Hall of Famer Jim Eisenreich hits his final major league home run, a two-run game-winner off Curt Schilling driving in current Brewers manager Craig Counsell.
 

April 15, 2000
Ripken Gets 3,000 at the Dome


 
Cal Ripken Jr. becomes the 24th player to reach 3,000 hits in a 6-4 Orioles win at the Metrodome. Ripken entered the game sitting at 2,997, having collected one hit the night before in a wild 10-9 Twins win. Trailing 4-9, the Twins scored six runs in the bottom of the eighth before Eddie Guardado earned the save, retiring Ripken for the final out of the game.
 
On this night, Ripken was 2-for-3 when he came up in the seventh in a tie game with two out and Albert Belle on third. Hector Carrasco was brought in from the bullpen to face the Iron Man. Catcher Matt LeCroy gave up a passed ball on Carrasco’s first pitch, allowing Belle to score the go-ahead run. Then, on the second pitch of the at-bat, Ripken stroked a line-drive single to center, becoming the seventh player in major league history to collect both 400 home runs and 3,000 hits.
 
Former Twin Mike Trombley came on in the bottom of the 9th to earn the save for Baltimore. Noteworthy in retrospect is the fact that Midre Cummings pinch-hit for the number nine batter, Torii Hunter.
 
Ripken was greeted at first after his 3,000th hit by base coach Eddie Murray, who had himself collected his 3,000th hit at the Metrodome in 1995 off of Mike Trombley as a member of the Cleveland ballclub. The following season, while playing for Baltimore, Murray became just the third person in major league history with 3,000 hits and 500 home runs. Rafael Palmeiro and Alex Rodriguez have since joined the club.
 
St. Paul Central High School graduate and Golden Gophers legend Dave Winfield also collected his 3,000th hit at the Metrodome in 1993. 29 players have collected 3,000 hits in the 146 year history of Major League Baseball. Three of those reached the milestone at the Metrodome in a period of seven years. It is also noteworthy that of the 29 members of the 3,000 hit club, two (Winfield and Paul Molitor) were born in St. Paul just five years apart.
 




 

April 15, 2001
Milton Ks 8 of First 10


 
Hosting the White Sox, Eric Milton gets off to a hot start, striking out the side including Frank Thomas. Milton goes on to strike out eight of the first 10 batters he faces. He allows only two runs over seven innings, those coming on a two-run Thomas homer in the sixth, one of 521 he hit in his career, tied with Ted Williams and Willie McCovey for 19th all-time. LaTroy Hawkins earned the save in the Twins 4-3 victory, their sixth straight, improving to 9-2 on the season.
 
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March 26, 1989
Twins Trade Atherton for Castillo


 
The Twins trade pitcher Keith Atherton to the Cleveland ballclub for outfielder Carmelo Castillo.
 
Atherton’s name is attached to one of the more dubious records in team history as one of the record five Twins pitchers to work the eighth inning in a 14-8 loss to Toronto at the Metrodome.
 
Atherton made 59 relief appearances for the 1987 World Series Champion Twins. He faced two batters in Game 4 of the ‘87 ALCS, and made two appearances in the World Series, pitching a perfect top of the ninth in the Twins’ 10-1 Game 1 victory.
 
He would make 32 relief appearances for Cleveland in 1989, his final major league season.
 
Carmelo Castillo’s major league career fizzled out early in the Twins’ 1991 World Series Championship season, going 2-for-12 over nine games. He played his final big league game on May 9, 1991.
 




 

March 27
Happy 49th Birthday to Tom Quinlan


 
It’s the birthday of 1986 Hill-Murray graduate Tom Quinlan. Tom was a “Mr. Hockey” finalist his senior season at Hill-Murray. He was drafted by the Calgary Flames in the 4th round, and Toronto Blue Jays in the 27th round out of high school. He made his major league debut on September 4, 1990, doubling in his second at-bat vs. Frank Tanana for his first big league hit. His first at-bat was cut short when current Executive Vice President of the White Sox Ken Williams was caught trying to steal second. Quinlan would strike out leading off the following inning.
 
Quinlan hit his only big league homer while playing for the Phillies on May 29, 1994 off of 1990 NL Cy Young Award winner Doug Drabek. Despite winning 22 games in 1990, Drabek made his one and only All-Star team in 1994 as a member of the Astros.
 
Quinlan appeared in only 42 games over parts of four seasons. He was briefly a Minnesota Twin in 1996, going 0-for-6 in his final four major league games.
 




 

March 27
Happy 38th Birthday to Michael Cuddyer


 
It’s the birthday of 2x All-Star, 2013 National League Batting Champion and current Twins Special Assistant Michael Cuddyer, born in Norfolk, Virginia in 1979.
 
The Twins drafted Cuddy in the first round (9th overall) in 1997 out of high school. He made his major league debut as a September call-up in 2001.
 
In June, 2006 he hit two grand slams in a span of four days. He hit for the cycle on May 22, 2009. And on August 23, 2009 he became the only player in Twins history to homer twice in the same inning.
 
This past January 27 the Twins announced the Michael Cuddyer and Andy MacPhail were elected to the team Hall of Fame.
 




 

March 27, 1973
Jim Perry Okays Trade to Tigers


 
37-year old pitcher Jim Perry okays a trade to Detroit for pitcher Danny Fife and cash money.
 
The Twins had originally acquired Perry from the Cleveland ballclub for Jack Kralick on May 2, 1963. Kralick had pitched the first no-hitter in Twins history the previous season, on August 26, 1962.
.
During Perry’s first five seasons with the Twins he was used as both a starter and a reliever, including the ninth inning of Game 7 of the 1965 World Series. In 1969 he started 36 of the 46 games he appeared in, winning 20 as the Twins won the American League West pennant. Perry won the Cy Young Award in 1970, his first season in Minnesota in which he was used exclusively as a starter, and tied for the league lead with 24 wins as the Twins again won the West.
 
Perry played ten seasons in Minnesota. He is fifth in Twins history in both wins (128) and innings pitched. In 2011 he became the sixteenth member of the Twins Hall of Fame.
 




 

March 27, 2005



Bob Casey Passes Away


 
Iconic Twins public address announcer Bob Casey passes away at the VA in Minneapolis as a result of complications of liver cancer and pneumonia, which he had contracted while visiting Twins Spring Training earlier in the month despite his poor health. He was 79 years old.
 
Casey was the only public address announcer in the Twins’ 44-year history up until the day of his death.
 
Casey, who was universally liked and respected, developed relationships with many players over the course of his career, one of whom was Alex Rodriguez. When A-Rod learned of Casey’s condition from Twins broadcasters John Gordon and Dan Gladden, he called Casey in the hospital.
 
From Mark Sheldon’s story for the team website:

Casey was hoping to work part-time for a 45th season and announce his retirement in June when Rodriguez and the Yankees were scheduled to be in town.
"He spoke a lot, but it was hard to understand him," Rodriguez said of the final conversation with Casey. "His son was kind of translating what he was trying to say. His son told me that Puckett and myself were his favorites, and that he wanted to go out this year in June ... (and) have me take him out there and throw out the first pitch. It was very emotional." 
If you ask me, the Twins should find a way to play Bob Casey’s Kirby Puckett introduction at every home game. Maybe let two or three fans do their best impersonations during the seventh inning stretch. Thoughts?
 

March 28, 1996
Kirby Puckett Wakes Up with Vision Problem


 
36-year-old Twins superstar Kirby Puckett appears poised for a big year, hitting .344 in spring training, when, on the last day of camp, he wakes up unable to see out of his right eye. He is diagnosed with glaucoma and placed on the Disabled List for the first time in his career. Four surgeries do nothing to improve his vision, and he officially retires on July 12.
 




 

March 29
Happy 56th Birthday to Mike Kingery


 
It's the birthday of 1979 Atwater High School graduate Mike Kingery, born in Saint James, Minnesota in 1961. When he was six months old the Kingerys moved to Atwater where Mike’s father was proprietor of the Atwater Bowling Center. Kingery signed with the Royals as an amateur free agent on August 27, 1979. He made his major league debut on July 7, 1986 and would go on to play 819 major league games over parts of 10 seasons with Kansas City, Seattle, San Francisco, Oakland, Colorado, and Pittsburgh. A career .268 hitter, Kingery’s best season by far was with the Rockies in 1994, when, at age 33, he hit .349 over 105.
 
Kingery hit .290 in 24 games vs. the Minnesota Twins, including a home run off of Les Straker on July 29, 1987. That same season he hit two home runs off of 1973 Highland Park High School graduate Jack Morris.
 
Kingery and and Blix Donnelly headlined the seven-member 2014 inaugural class of the West Central Baseball Hall of Fame in Willmar.
 
Mrs. Johnson and I swung into the Moose Lake Dairy Queen on our way home from Duluth last summer, and I was interested to see a poster for “The Kingery Family,” a travelling singing and ministry troupe. Turns out Mike and his wife Chris are parents of EIGHT children. In addition to his minstrel work, Mike Kingery operates the Solid Foundation Baseball School in Grove City, MN.
 

March 29, 1996
Puckett Placed on 15-Day Disabled List


 
Quoting directly from a New York Times article from March 31, 1996:
 

“Kirby Puckett's blurry vision is being caused by a partial blockage of a blood vessel in his right eye, and the Minnesota outfielder will miss the season opener, the Twins said Friday after placing him on the 15-day disabled list … retroactive to Thursday, making him eligible to return April 12. During that time, he will undergo treatment and will be able to work out with the club. Matt Lawton, who went 2 for 4 with a run batted in in Puckett's place Friday, will start against the Tigers tomorrow.” 




 

March 30, 1981
Twins Trade Landreaux to Los Angeles


 
The Twins trade Ken Landreaux to the Dodgers for Mickey Hatcher and minor leaguers Mathew Reeves and Kelly Snider. The Twins had acquired Landreaux from the Angels along with three other prospects just over two years earlier for Rod Carew.
 
Lanreaux made Twins history twice during the 1980 season. He compiled a Twins record 31-game hitting streak from April 23 to May 30. Then, on July 3, he tied the modern major league record with three triples in a 10-3 home victory vs. Texas. Denard Span matched that record on June 29, 2010.
 
Landreaux made his lone All-Star team in 1980, despite having one of his least productive seasons according to Baseball Reference who calculates his 1980 WAR as -0.2.
 
Mickey Hatcher also appears in the Twins record book, and just for having the largest glove anyone has ever seen. On April 28, 1985 Hatcher went 4-for-5 in a 10-1 Twins win over Oakland at the Metrodome. He had gone 5-for-5 the previous day, giving him nine consecutive hits, tying Tony Oliva’s 1967 club record. Todd Walker matched the feat in 1998.
 
The Twins released Hatcher on March 31, 1987 to make room for Dan Gladden who they had acquired in a trade with the Giants.
 




 

March 30, 2005
Bob Casey Laid to Rest


 
The inimitable Bob Casey, who had passed away three days prior from complications of liver cancer and pneumonia, is eulogized at St. Olaf Catholic Church and laid to rest at Fort Snelling National Cemetery in Minneapolis. Tony Oliva, Kent Hrbek, Dan Gladden, Jack Morris, John Gordon, and Dave St. Peter served as pallbearers. Also in attendance were Carl Pohlad, Roy Smalley, Juan Berenguer, Tim Laudner, and Scott Leius.
 




 

March 31, 1987
Twins Trade for Gladden


 
The Twins release fan-favorite Mickey Hatcher and pick up San Francisco outfielder Dan Gladden for two minor league pitchers and a player to be named later, who would turn out to be Bemidji native and 2x Gophers Dave Winfield Pitcher of the Year Bryan Hickerson. Hatcher was still owed $650,000 for 1987 and a $100,000 buyout clause for the ‘88 season. At the time it was the most expensive contract the Twins had eaten. It would prove to be a prudent business move.
 
Gladden, of course, was a key contributor to both World Series Championship teams, coming up with clutch hits in both Series. He hit a grand slam in Game 1 of the 1987 Series, and hustled out one of the most important hits in Twins history, a broken-bat AstroTurf double leading off the bottom of the tenth in Game 7 of the ‘91 Series.
 
Chuck Knoblauch then executed one of the most underrated plays in Twins history, a textbook sacrifice bunt to move Gladden to third with one out. Atlanta then intentionally walked Kirby and Hrbie to set up a potential inning-ending double play. Pinch-hitter Gene Larkin foiled that strategy, however, elevating the first pitch he saw to left-center giving the Twins a 1-0 walk-off victory.
 
The Gladden trade was the third significant move of the ‘87 off season. Back in February the Twins had acquired Jeff Reardon and Al Newman in separate tradres with Montral. The Twins would make several more significant moves during the season, including trades for Joe Niekro and Don Baylor.
 
Dan Gladden signed with Detroit as a free agent following the ‘91 World Series.
 




 

March 31, 2010



Span Hits His Mother


 
Leading off a Spring Training game vs. the Yankees in his hometown of Tampa, Denard Span fouls Phil Hughes’s 3-2 pitch over the third base dugout striking his own mother square in the chest. It was a scary moment at the ballpark but she was not seriously hurt.
 




 

March 31, 2014
Mounds View’s Seth Rosin Makes MLB Debut


 
With his Rangers trailing the Phillies 14-10 on Opening Day, 2007 Mound View graduate and three-year Golden Gopher Seth Rosin makes his major league debut, pitching a scoreless ninth, striking out 2006 National League Most Valuable Player Ryan Howard on three pitches for his first Big League K.
 
Rosin signed a minor league deal with the Twins on February 23, 2017.
 




 

April 1, 2002
Twins Hit 5 HRs on Opening Day


 
The Twins tie an American League record by clubbing five home runs on Opening Day in Kansas City. Jacque Jones hit a solo and three-run home run, while David Ortiz, Brian Buchanan, and Torii Hunter each hit solo shots in the 8-6 Twins win.
 
The Twins are the most recent of five American League teams to hit five home runs on Opening Day. The previous four were the Yankees in 1932, Red Sox in 1965, Brewers in 1980, and the Cleveland ballclub in 1995. The Mets set the major league record with six Opening Day home runs in 1988.
 




 

April 1, 2007
Herb Carneal Passes Away


 
Legendary Twins radio broadcaster Herb Carneal passes away at the age of 83. Carneal spent 44 years with the Twins, joining Ray Scott and Halsey Hall in 1962, the Twins’ second season in Minnesota. Carneal received the Hall of Fame’s Ford C. Frick Award in 1996. He and Jim Kaat comprised the sophomore class of the Twins Hall of Fame, inducted on July 7, 2001.
 
On a personal note, when I was in elementary school I won a drawing at Hardee’s (true story) and got to spend an inning in the booth with Herb Carneal and John Gordon.
 
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March 12, 2006
Kirby Puckett Memorial Service


 
15,000 fans, family, and friends including Cal Ripken Jr., Dave Winfield, Kent Hrbek, Harmon Killebrew, Dan Gladden, Al Newman, Gardy, TK and more pay tribute to Kirby Puckett in a moving memorial service at the Metrodome. Mudcat Grant sang “What a Wonderful World.”
 




 

March 12, 2014
Sano Goes Under the Knife


 
Mets team physician Dr. David Altchek performs Tommy John surgery on 20-year-old Twins prospect Miguel Sano at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York. Dr. Altchek performed the same surgery on 2016 Twins First-Round Draft Choice Alex Kirilloff last Wednesday (March 8).
 




 

March 13
Happy 38th Birthday to Johan Santana


 
It’s the birthday of former Twins ace Johan Santana, born in Tovar, Venezuela in 1979.
 
Santana pitched for the Twins for eight seasons, winning the American League Cy Young Award in 2004 and ‘06, the latter unanimously. In 2004 he became the first Venezuelan 20-game winner. He also set Twins records with 13 consecutive victories and 265 strikeouts that season. On August 19, 2007 Santana set a Twins single-game record with 17 strikeouts vs. Texas at home in the Dome.
 




 

March 14
Happy 61st Birthday to Butch Wynegar


 
It’s the birthday of 2x Twins All-Star catcher Butch Wynegar, born in York, Pennsylvania in 1956.
 
The 20-year-old rookie became the youngest Twin to appear in an All-Star on July 13, 1976, pinch-hitting for Luis Tiant. He drew a walk in the 7-1 American League loss. Wynegar finished second to Detroit’s Mark Fidrych in 1976 AL Rookie of the Year balloting.
 
The Twins traded Wynegar to the Yankees for diddly squat on May 12, 1982 as part of a string of cost-cutting measures.
 




 

March 14
Kirby Puckett Born 57 Years Ago


 
It’s the birthdate of Kirby Puckett, born in Chicago, Illinois in 1960. Kirby and Mr. T grew up in the same Chicago public housing project, Robert Taylor Homes. Puckett played twelve seasons with the Minnesota Twins. He was a 10-time All-Star, six-time Gold Glove winner, 1988 AL Batting Champ (.339), and 1991 American League Championship Series and 1993 All-Star Game Most Valuable Player. Puckett retired as the Twins' all-time leader in hits (2,304), doubles (414), total bases (3,453), at-bats (7,244) and runs (1,071). At the time of his retirement his .318 career average was the highest for a right-handed batter since Joe DiMaggio.
 
Obviously Puckett’s name is all over the Twins record book. He is one of four players in major league history with two 6-hit games, and only one since 1935. Kirby’s 6-hit games, incidentally, came in 1987 and 1991. The ‘91 game went extra-innings. Kirby’s sixth hit came in the bottom of the eleventh, advancing Shane Mack to third. Kent Hrbek drove Mack in with a walk-off infield hit (a line drive to deep shortstop according to Baseball Reference).
 
His eight 4-hit games in 1988 tied Rod Carew (1977) for the Twins record. The following season he set a Twins record with 74 multi-hit games. On May 13, 1989 he set a Twins record with four doubles. In 1992 he became the fourth Twin to hit three grand slams in a season. The first three were Bob Allison (1961), Rod Carew (1976), and Kent Hrbek (1985). Torii Hunter hit three grand slams in 2007.
 
Kirby Puckett is one of 11 players in major league history with three 215+ hit seasons. Only four players including Kirby have had three such seasons since Stan "the Man" Musial. Puckett and Tony Oliva are two of only seven players to lead their league in hits for three consecutive seasons.
 
Kirby Puckett was inducted into the Hall of Fame on August 5, 2001 alongside St. Paul Central High School graduate and Golden Gopher great Dave Winfield, Bill Mazeroski, and Negro Leaguer Hilton Smith.
 




 

March 15
Happy 62nd Birthday to Mickey Hatcher


 
It’s the birthday of Mickey Hatcher, born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1955.
 
The Twins acquired Hatcher from the Dodgers along with a pair of minor leaguers for Ken Landreaux in a trade near the end of Spring Training on March 30, 1981.
 
On April 28, 1985 Hatcher went 4-for-5 in a 10-1 Twins win over Oakland at the Metrodome. He had gone 5-for-5 the previous day, giving him nine consecutive hits, tying Tony Oliva’s 1967 club record. Todd Walker matched the feat in 1998.
 
The Twins released fan-favorite Hatcher on March 31, 1987 to make room for Dan Gladden who they had acquired in a trade with the Giants for two minor league pitchers and a player to be named later, who would turn out to be Bemidji native and 2x Gophers Dave Winfield Pitcher of the Year Bryan Hickerson. Hatcher was still owed $650,000 for 1987 and a $100,000 buyout clause for the ‘88 season. It was the most expensive contract the Twins had to eat up to that point.
 
Hatcher returned to Los Angeles where he played four more major league seasons.
 




 

March 16
Happy 73rd Birthday to Rick Renick


 
It’s the birthday of Rick Renick, born in London, Ohio in 1944.
 
Renick was the first of six Twins to homer in their first major league at-bat, doing so on July 11, 1968. It was a second-inning solo shot off of Mickey Lolich in a 5-4 Twins home win over Detroit. The five Twins to homer in their first major league at-bats since Renick are Dave McKay, Gary Gaetti, Andre David, Luke Hughes, and Eddie Rosario who homered on his first major league pitch.
 
Renick also hit one of the twelve pinch-hit grand slams in Twins history on June 30, 1970. Rich Reese had also hit one on June 7. Reese, in fact, hit 25% of the pinch-hit grand slams in Twins history, one each in 1969, 1970 and ‘72.
 
Rick Renick was the third base coach for the Twins’ 1987 World Series Championship team.
 




 

March 17, 1906



Hy Vandenberg Born 111 Years Ago


 
It’s the birthdate of Minneapolis Roosevelt and South High Schools alumnus and major league pitcher Harold "Hy" Vandenberg, born in 1906. He made his big league debut with the Boston Red Sox in 1935 at age 29, though he wouldn't win his first game until 1940 with the New York Giants, and his second not until 1944 with the Chicago Cubs. The 6'4" right-hander, who got his professional start with the Minneapolis Millers, appeared in 90 major league games, going 15-10 with five saves during seven seasons over an 11-year period. Additionally, he pitched in at least 435 minor league games, compiling a record of 139-128.
 
Hy Vandenberg was born in Abilene, Kansas. When Vandenberg was four years old his father died from tuberculosis and his mother moved the surviving members of the family to Minneapolis. Vandenberg began playing professional baseball with the Minneapolis Millers right out of high school, though he does not appear in the statistical record until age 24, when, in 1930, he pitched for the Bloomington, Illinois Cubs. He bounced around minor league baseball, going back and forth between Bloomington, Minneapolis and elsewhere before finally ending up in Syracuse in 1935 where he caught the attention of the Boston Red Sox. Vandenberg, however, didn't exactly think he was given a fair trial with Boston. He made only three relief appearances over a six week period, giving up 12 runs in 5 1/3 innings before heading back to Syracuse.
 
Vandeberg next appeared in the majors in 1937, getting one start for the New York Giants versus the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field. He allowed seven runs over eight innings in a 7-4 loss. He appeared in six games for Giants in '38, and two in '39, spending most of his time with the Jersey City farm club. He finally got his first major league win in 1940 in a 5-2 Giants win against the Phillies in Philadelphia. The New York Times described the five-hit complete game victory as an "elegant mound triumph."
 
After 1940, Vandenberg would not pitch in the majors again until 1944 when he re-emerged with the Chicago Cubs, appearing in 35 games, more than the 25 appearances he had accumulated in his previous five stints in the majors combined. He finished 1944 with a 7-4 record, two saves and a 3.63 ERA.
 
Vandenberg held out into the 1945 season, training at the University of Minnesota. Once he did report to the Cubs, however, he matched his success from the year before, compiling a 7-3 record and 3.49 ERA in 30 games. The Cubs played the Detroit Tigers in the 1945 World Series. Though the Cubs lost in seven games, Vandenberg provided solid relief pitching in Games 4, 5 and 7.
 
Despite coming off of his two most successful seasons, the Cubs released Vandenberg during spring training in 1946. Possibly dispirited, he performed poorly in the minors with Oakland and Milwaukee. In 1947 his contract was purchased by Oklahoma City, but he chose instead to leave professional baseball and pitched for the Springfield, Minnesota team in the amateur Western Minor League.
 
Following his playing career, Vandenberg worked as an engineering technician for the Hennepin County Highway Administration. Hy Vandenberg died from cancer at his home in Bloomington, Minnesota in 1994. He was 88 years old.
 




 

March 17
Happy 40th Birthday to Robb Quinlan


 
It’s the birthday of 1995 Hill-Murray graduate and 3x Gophers MVP Robb Quinlan.
 
As a junior at Hill-Murray High School in 1994 Quinlan set a state record by reaching base in 86 consecutive plate appearances, attracting attention from newspapers across the country.
 
After high school Quinlan went to the University of Minnesota where he hit .325 as a freshman in ‘96. His batting average went up each season from there, hitting .363 as a sophomore, .408 as a junior, and .413 as a senior. He earned first-team All-Big Ten honors and was named the Gophers’ Richard "Chief" Siebert Most Valuable Player each season from 1997 to ‘99. He was the Big Ten player of the year his senior season in 1999. Quinlan graduated as the Big Ten Conference's career leader in hits and Minnesota's career leader in hits, home runs, doubles, runs scored, RBI, total bases, and at-bats. As of last check (March 2016) he was still the Big Ten single season leader in total bases (92 in '98), and Gophers career leader in RBI, doubles, hits, runs scored, total bases, and tied for the career lead with 12 triples.
 
The summer after his junior year Quinlan played for the St. Cloud River Bats of the Northwoods League. He hit .353 with 11 home runs and 47 RBI en route to being named the league’s Most Valuable Player.
 
Quinlan was drafted by Angels in 10th round of 1999 Amateur Draft. Robb was a stud in 2002, his fourth professional season, being named the Angels’ Minor League Player of the Year after hitting .333 with 31 doubles, 13 triples, 20 home runs, and a league-leading 112 RBI for Triple-A Salt Lake. From May 29 to June 20 he went on a 21-game hitting streak in which he hit .440. He also had two five-hit games on the season. On May 12 he went 5-for-5 with two home runs and eight RBI vs. Edmonton. On July 28 he went 5-for-6, hitting for the cycle with two home runs and eight RBI vs. Colorado Springs. The Angels won the World Series in 2002. Quinlan, however, would not make his major league debut until July 25, 2003.
 
He would spend eight seasons in the majors, all with the Angels. Despite being a career .276 hitter, he never appeared in more than 86 games in a single season.
 
Robb’s older brother Tom was drafted in 1995. He played nine pro seasons, but had only three brief stints in the majors totalling 58 at-bats.
 




 

March 17, 1992
Twins Trade for John Smiley


 
Having lost 1991 World Series MVP Jack Morris to Toronto, the Twins trade former Gopher Denny Neagle, and Midre Cummings to Pittsburgh for ‘91 NL All-Star John Smiley. I was in second grade at the time and remember being very excited about the Twins picking up Smiley, whose 20 wins in 1991 matched Tom Glavine, Scott Erickson, and Marshall, MN native Bill Gullickson for the major league lead. Smiley, who had finished third in National League Cy Young balloting in 1991, was solid for the Twins in ‘92, going 16-9 with a 3.21 ERA. But after just the one season he was off to Cincinnati where he would make a second All-Star team in 1995.
 
Denny Neagle, meanwhile, put together a respectable thirteen-year major league career, making All-Star teams in 1995 as a Pirate, and 1997 as a Brave. He led the National League with 20 wins in 1997, and finished third in Cy Young balloting to the winner Pedro Martinez, and teammate Greg Maddux.
 




 

March 18


 
Nothing happened today, unless you count the birth of former major league catcher Corky Miller 41 years ago in Yucaipa, California. Corky went 0-for-12 in five games with the 2005 Twins.
 
Keep in touch with @TwinsAlmanac on Twitter, and on Facebook.

In what may be the only time I’m ever in the men’s restroom at CHS Field, I took in the world premiere of “Safe at Home” last night, Mixed Blood Theatre’s new show about baseball, race and immigration. The story takes place prior to game seven of the World Series and centers on whether a Dominican pitcher scheduled to start the biggest game of his career will instead use the platform to protest the game and take a political stand. The show is divided up into nine “scenes” (or shall we call them “innings”) scattered throughout the ballpark, each with their own story to tell: in one, an Irish and Latino vendor argue about the profitability of selling beer versus churros; in another, the owner of the team (and newspaper publisher) discusses the merits of “responsible journalism” with the reporter ready to break the story prior to the game. As a baseball fan, I thought the scene between the umpire and the MLB executive was particularly well acted and fascinating as they discussed exactly how this would play out if it actually happened in a game.
 
The story is definitely topical and the issues resonate, especially with the choice of using a baseball game as the backdrop to the simmering issues presented as opposed to, say, a football game – after all, baseball is the national pastime with a deep history inextricably linked with our struggles as a nation. The show itself is a technical achievement – groups of 25 are guided to different areas in the ballpark by an usher to watch separate seven minute scenes that run like clockwork throughout the evening. (At the performance I attended, our usher shared that he has learned a lot about baseball in working on this play, saying, “I’ve learned that the ball is round.” I think he was kidding.) It also takes theatre fans outside their comfort zone as you’re standing up in sometimes cramped quarters while the drama takes place right in front of you. Attendees seemed unsure as to whether they were supposed to clap at the end of each scene so we did what Minnesotans do – we just stood there awkwardly until the usher directed us to the next scene.
 
I have enjoyed many Saints games at CHS Field (and if you haven’t been there yet you really should check them out this season) so I knew I would appreciate my surroundings. As the show serves as a veritable tour of the ballpark, I caught myself a couple of times paying more attention to that than watching the show – during the scene in the clubhouse, my eyes drifted to the “Hall of Saints” pictures located above the lockers. “Oh yeah, I remember Rey Ordonez played for the Saints,” I caught myself thinking, and then, “wait a minute, there’s a show going on here. Focus!” I give credit to the writers and director that they kept the drama flowing even as you’re being shepherded periodically throughout the ballpark onto the next scene.
 
The acting is strong throughout and that may be the one regret I had about the show – at the end of the 90 minute performance you’re ushered into the Saints dugout and back through the stands to leave the ballpark without the chance for the actors to take a bow and show your appreciation for their work. But this is a minor quibble, if you’re a baseball fan this is a fantastic opportunity to see an entertaining new show in a beautiful setting. The pre-show gathering spot is in the Securian Club (the enclosed and heated space along right field) and while you’re outside briefly to travel from scene to scene, they all take place indoors. The show only runs through Sunday, so for more information about performance times and tickets, visit Mixed Blood’s website.

March 5
Happy 60th Birthday to Jerry Ujdur


 
It's the birthday 1975 Hermantown High School graduate Jerry Ujdur. Jerry made the Hermantown varsity team as an 8th grader. In ‘75 he met Dick Siebert halfway in Hinckley to audition for the legendary Gophers coach. He would win 27 games as a Gopher, second only to his teammate, Minnetonka High School grad Steve Comer's 30 wins. Ujdur appeared in 49 games, starting 37 for Detroit from 1980 to '83, winning 10 games for the Tigers in ‘82. He would pitch in four games for the Cleveland ballclub in 1984 before retiring with a major league record of 12-16.
 
Though he pitched in only 53 major league games, Ujdur sure had the number of a few Hall of Famers, including Eddie Murray who went 0-for-11 with two walks vs. the Hermantown Hawk. Carlton Fisk went 0-for-10 with a walk, Paul Molitor 2-for-14 with a walk, and Dave Winfield and Rickey Henderson each went 1-for-9 with 2 walks.
 




 

March 5, 2006
Kirby Puckett Suffers Stroke


 
Twins legend Kirby Puckett suffers a massive stroke at the home he shares with his fiancee in Scottsdale, Arizona. Old friend Ron Washington, in camp with the Athletics nearby, was one of the first at his bedside. Ken Griffey Jr. also rushed to his side, while former teammates including Shane Mack and Kent Hrbek made their ways to Arizona.
 
Puckett’s weight had spiralled out of control following the abrupt end to his career. "That's what really hurt him bad, when he was forced out of the game," Hrbek told the Associated Press. "I don't know if he ever recovered from it."
 
"We would tell him. But he enjoyed life. He enjoyed the size he was. That's who he was," Jacque Jones told ESPN from Cubs camp in Mesa, AZ. "You can't do anything about it until he decides to change. Hopefully, he'll pull through this, and it'll be like a call for him to change some things in his life.”
 




 

March 6, 1973
Larry Hisle Becomes First DH in MLB History


 
In an exhibition game vs. the Pittsburgh Pirates, Larry Hisle becomes the first Designated Hitter in major league history. Back on January 11, American League owners had voted 8-4 to adopt the DH, and in this game Hisle made them look like geniuses, hitting two home runs and driving in seven. The Yankees’ Ron Blomberg was the first DH to bat in a regular season game.
 
The Twins’ Tony Oliva would hit the first regular season home run by a DH on April 6th (Opening Day) off of Oakland's Catfish Hunter. Interestingly, Oakland owner Charlie Finley is generally credited with leading the push for the DH.
 




 

March 6, 2006
Kirby Puckett Passes Away


 
A day after suffering a massive stroke, Kirby Puckett passes away at St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix. After unsuccessful emergency surgery to relieve pressure on his brain, friends and family were notified that the end was near. Many people rushed to be with Kirby in his final hours. Former teammates Shane Mack and Kent Hrbek travelled to Arizona. Ron Washington, who was in spring training with the Athletics nearby, was one of the first friends to arrive. Another friend who rushed to the hospital and was reportedly at his bedside when he passed was Ken Griffey Jr.
 
"There's certain people that you owe it to, for the things they've done for you," Griffey told the Los Angeles Time. "No matter where you are. He was that important to my family. It was for the things he said to me, not for the way he played."
 
Kirby Puckett was just 45 years old, the second-youngest person to pass away after having already been enshrined in Cooperstown. Lou Gehrig was just 37.
 




 

March 7, 2013
Aaron Hicks Has Himself a Day


 
Entering spring training it was unclear whether or not 2008 first-round draft choice Aaron Hicks had a legitimate chance of making the Opening Day roster. On this day, though, he made the front office’s decision just a little bit easier, going 4-for-5 with 3 home runs, 6 RBI and a stolen base vs. the Phillies in Clearwater. He would indeed make his major league debut on April 1st, playing 81 big league games in 2013 but also spending some time back in Rochester.
 




 

March 8
Happy 60th Birthday to John Butcher


 
It’s the birthday of former Twins pitcher John Butcher, born in Glendale, California in 1957.
 
The Twins acquired Butcher along with pitcher Mike Smithson and minor league catcher Sam Sorce from Texas in exchange for Gary Ward on December 7, 1983.
 
Butcher pitched a remarkable 1 hour and 55 minute complete game shutout on April 21, 1985.
 
The Twins had lost 9 in a row, falling to 2-9 on the season, entering the Sunday series finale in Oakland when Butcher hurled an 81-pitch gem, allowing three hits, but facing just 28 batters, one over the minimum. Leadoff hitter Kirby Puckett went 3-for-5, driving in both Twins runs in the 2-0 victory. It was the beginning of a 10-game Twins winning streak.
 




 

March 8
Happy 55th Birthday to Mark Salas


 
It’s the birthday of former Twins catcher Mark Salas, born Montabello, California in 1961. The Twins acquired Salas from the Cardinals in the December ‘84 Rule 5 Draft, and traded him to the New York Yankees for knuckleballer Joe Niekro on June 6, 1987.
 
Today Salas is the Chicago White Sox bullpen catcher. Yes, I was surprised, too, but “Bullpen Catcher” is really what he’s listed as on the White Sox roster.
 




 

March 9
Happy 54th Birthday to Terry Mulholland


 
It’s the birthday of former Twins pitcher Terry Mulholland, born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania in 1963. The Twins purchased the 1993 All-Star from Seattle on April 2, 2004. He was 41 years old. He pitched in 39 games for the ‘04 Twins, starting 15. The following season, at age 42, Mulholland made 49 relief appearances for Minnesota. He pitched briefly for Arizona in 2005, his 20th and final major league season.
 




 

March 11, 1961
The First Game in Twins History


 
Winona Senior High School graduate and 2x All-American Golden Gopher tailback Paul Giel started the first game in Minnesota Twins history, an exhibition game against the Detroit Tigers at Tinker Field in Orlando. The Tigers won the game 4-1.
 
Pedro Ramos was the first Opening Day starter in Twins history, pitching a 3-hit shutout vs. Berra, Mantle, Maris and the gang at Yankee Stadium on April 11. One of the three hits that Ramos allowed was to Yankees ace Whitey Ford, with Yogi Berra and Moose Skowron collecting the other two. The game was scoreless through six until Bob Allison led off the seventh with a home run. It was Twins pitcher Ramos who knocked Ford out of the game with a 2-RBI single with one away in the seventh. The Twins went on to win 6-0.
 
After the Twins jumped out to a hot 5-2 start in New York and Boston, Camilo Pascual took the ball in the first home opener in Twins history vs. the new expansion Washington Senators who wound up beating the home team 5-3.
 
Keep in touch with the @TwinsAlmanac on Twitter and Facebook.

Here is the Twins Almanac for the week of February 5-11. Former Twins closer Al Worthington, Mounds View grad Mark Hamburger, and current Twins outfielder Max Kepler are all celebrating birthdays this week. '27 Yankees third baseman Julie Wera was born in Winona this week in 1902. Also this week in Twins history was a big payday for Bloomington's Kent Hrbek (1985), the Chuck Knoblauch trade ('08), and Terry Ryan's cancer diagnosis ('14).
 
 
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February 5
Happy 88th Birthday to Al Worthington


 
It’s the birthday of former Twins stopper Al Worthington, born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1929. The Twins purchased the 35-year-old pitcher from the Reds on June 26, 1964, the same day on which Twins pitcher Gerry Arrigo took a no-hitter against the White Sox into the ninth at Met Stadium. Arrigo would complete a 1-hit shutout of the Sox. Worthington, meanwhile, would appear in 41 of the Twins’ 81 remaining games, posting a 1.37 ERA.
 
Worthington was the first Twin to save 20+ games, going 10-5 with 21 saves and a 2.13 ERA during the Twins’ 1965 American League Championship season.
 
Worthington was the first Twin to lead the league in saves with 18 in 1968 at age 39. Ron Perranoski (‘69 and ‘70), Mike Marshall (‘79), and Eddie Guardado (‘02) are the only other Twins to do so.
 
Worthington lives in Sterrett, AL these days, and, incidentally, would be happy to answer your letter.
 
http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/w413/mjohnso9/hamburger%201_zps8lukeqze.jpg
 

February 5
Mark Hamburger Turns the Big 3-0


 
Happy 30th birthday to Mounds View High School and Mesabi Range Community and Technical College alumnus Mark Hamburger, born in St. Paul in 1987. Hamburger was signed by the Twins in 2007, and traded to Texas for Eddie Guardado in August, 2008. He pitched eight innings over five games for the Rangers late in the 2011 season, posting a 1-0 record during his only big league call-up.
 
Hamburger subsequently spent time in the Padres’ and Astros’ organizations before being signed again by the Twins in September 2013. He never made it back to the majors, though. Hamburger pitched for the St. Paul Saints in 2016, going 12-6 in 21 appearances (20 starts), with a 3.29 ERA.
 
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February 6, 1998
Twins Trade Chuck Knoblauch


 
The Twins trade All-Star second baseman Chuck Knoblauch to the New York Yankees for minor leaguers Eric Milton, Cristian Guzman, Brian Buchanan, Danny Mota and three millions dollars of George Steinbrenner’s cold hard cash. There had been speculation for several years that the struggling Twins would deal hot commodity Knoblauch, and eventually he himself demanded to be traded to a contender.
 
Knoblauch was coming off a stretch of four sensational seasons in which he made three all-star teams, hitting .318 and stealing 188 bases. His 127 OPS+ over that stretch was three points better than that of Roberto Alomar.
 
The trade would ultimately go down as a win-win. Knoblauch was uneven as a Yankee. We all know about his struggles throwing the ball to first base. He continued to swing a solid stick, though, and the Yankees won the World Series in each of his first three seasons in New York.
 
Cristian Guzman, meanwhile, was the Twins’ starting shortstop for six seasons, leading the league in triples three times. He never realized his full potential, but Twins fans sure saw some sparks from the exciting speedster. Milton jumped straight into the starting rotation, giving the Twins five solid seasons, highlighted by a no-hitter on September 11, 1999. Another highlight came on April 15, 2001 when Milton struck out eight of the first 10 White Sox he faced.
 
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February 9, 1902
It’s the Birthday of Julie Wera


 
Julie Wera, who played 38 games at third base for the vaunted ‘27 Yankees, was born in Winona, MN on this date in 1902. The 25-year-old Wera made his major league debut at Yankee Stadium on April 14, 1927, pinch-hitting for Hall of Famer Waite Hoyt against Hall of Famer Lefty Grove. He grounded out. Wera hit his one and only big league homer during a doubleheader at Yankee Stadium on July 4, 1927 in front of a then-record crowd of 74,000.
 
Wera did not play in the 1927 World Series in which the Yankees swept the Pirates. He did, however, receive the same $5,782 portion of the winners’ purse as the rest of his teammates, which included Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth. Nice bonus, considering that Wera’s ‘27 salary was reported to be $2,400.
 
Julie Wera died of a heart attack at his home in Rochester, MN on December 12, 1975. He was 73 years old.
 
Read J.G. Preston’s SABR BioProject biography of Julie Wera: http://sabr.org/bioproj/person/2dc33add
 
http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/w413/mjohnso9/Kepler.Mauer.8-1-16_zpskprrgr69.jpg
 

February 10
Happy 24th Birthday to Max Kepler


 
It's the birthday of Twins outfielder Max Kepler, born in Berlin, Germany in 1993.
 
Playing Cleveland at Target Field on August 1, 2016, Kepler became the fifth player in Twins history to hit three home runs in a game. The previous four were Bob Allison ('63), Harmon Killebrew ('63), Tony Oliva ('73), and Justin Morneau ('07). Brian Dozier joined the club on September 5, 2016.
 
Kepler's 3-HR game was the beginning of a historic offensive outburst for the team as a whole. Mired in one of the worst seasons in franchise history, the Twins hit a team record 19 extra-base hits over a two-game span.
 
They set a milestone in the third game of the series, too, putting up 10 runs in three straight games against the same team for the first time. They had scored 10 runs in three straight games before, but not against the same team. They would lose the fourth game of the series 2-9.
 

February 10, 2014
Terry Ryan Reveals Cancer Diagnosis


 
The Twins release a statement on behalf of 60-year-old General Manager Terry Ryan revealing that he has been diagnosed with skin cancer in his neck.
 
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February 11, 1985
Kent Hrbek Cashes In


 
1978 Bloomington Kennedy High School grad Kent Hrbek signs a 5-year, 6 million dollar contract, meaning he would be the first player in Twins history to earn a million dollars for a single season’s work. Hrbek celebrated by going ice fishing outside his Lake Minnetonka home.
 
 
Keep in touch with @TwinsAlmanac on Twitter and on Facebook.

“I know that guy had an extra RBI in 1954.” Minnesotan Hans van Slooten gets these inquiries daily as the primary developer for Baseball-Reference.com. The Halsey Hall chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research invites you to join us at the Roseville Library on Monday, May 16 as we welcome Hans to give a presentation on this popular site that has become an indispensible resource for statheads, casual fans, current and ex-players, baseball researchers and everyone in between.
 
Van Slooten will provide a brief history of the website, reveal some of the lesser known corners of the site and provide a tutorial on the site’s play indexes. He will also answer questions and run any play index queries requested by the audience.
While some may consider spending their day working with baseball stats a dream job, van Slooten told me recently with a laugh, “It’s not nearly as glamorous as it sounds.” The main office is in Philadelphia so he works normal business hours (“on east coast time”) from his home in St. Paul. A typical day may include fixing bugs on the site or developing new features. “I spent a lot of time earlier getting ready for the new season,” said van Slooten, who has a degree in computer science.
 
Another big responsibility is responding to daily inquiries – “A lot of the historical questions get forwarded onto Retrosheet but I also get emails from former minor leaguers saying, ‘Hey, you spelled my name wrong.’ And I can’t just take their word for it, I have to verify that they are who they say they are before I can correct it.”
 
With the sheer amount of information on the site, it’s easy to get lost in a mountain of data. “Sometimes I forget everything we have on the site,” van Slooten says. “It’s fun to search for random stuff like a Hall of Famer’s worst game or guys who played one major league game.” The site is 15 years old so it has its bugs and the work is ongoing – continuing projects include speeding up the site’s loading time and improving the mobile capabilities.
 
So if you’ve ever wondered how many complete games Old Hoss Radbourn had in 1884 (73 – take that, Bert Blyleven), join us for an evening of stats, baseball history and random information that every baseball fan needs filling their brain on a daily basis.
An Evening with Hans van Slooten
Monday, May 16, 2016
7 pm
Roseville Library
2180 Hamline Avenue, Roseville, 55113
Hamline Avenue and County Road B
 
This event is free and no RSVP is required.

http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/w413/mjohnso9/20160131_102737_zps4yadfqeb.jpg
 
A week before the start of their 1987 championship season, the Twins released fan-favorite, Mickey Hatcher, and traded for the much more dynamic, Dan Gladden.
 
In exchange for the Dazzle Man and a player to be named later, the Twins sent two minor league relievers and a player to be named to the San Francisco Giants. The player to be named that Minnesota would send to San Francisco wound up being Bemidji-native, former Golden Gopher pitcher and Twins ‘86 draft pick, Bryan Hickerson.
 
One of the appeals of Gladden was his game-changing speed. One newspaper headline the morning after the deal read “Popularity Sacrificed for Steals,” a motivation confirmed by Twins executive vice president, Andy MacPhail, who said that “the reason we got him is he gives us speed. He can steal bases, he’s a good turf player.” Hatcher, who had been with the Twins since 1981 and had peaked in ‘84, was a pretty one dimensional player. Though he possessed a career .281 average, he offered very little of the speed and versatility that the Twins sought with the addition of Gladden. “He just didn’t fit in,” manager Tom Kelly said of Hatcher. “There’s no place for him to play on this team. We have better athletes. We didn’t need him as a designated hitter or a pinch hitter, either.” It was a bold decision for the Twins to pull the trigger on the Gladden-for-Hatcher switch. Hatcher was owed $650,000 for the ‘87 season, and a $100,000 buyout for ‘88. It was the most expensive contract that the Twins would eat to that point in team history.
 
The decision would, obviously, pay dividends. Though Gladden wasn’t as good in ‘87 as he had been in ‘86 — or would be in ‘88, for that matter — he was a key component in the Twins winning their first World Series in franchise history. And the trademark grit and hustle he displayed on a broken bat Astroturf double in the bottom of the 10th of Game 7 put the Twins solidly in position to win the 1991 World Series. “Tonight,” Jack Buck said of that Game 7, “it’s so apparent that this is one of the most remarkable baseball games ever played.”
 
After being released by Minnesota, Mickey Hatcher returned to the Los Angeles Dodgers, where he had played the first two seasons of his career. After playing sparingly in the 1988 regular season, he replaced the injured Kirk Gibson in the World Series, batting .368 with 2 HRs and 5 RBI as the Dodgers upset the heavily favored Oakland A’s in five games. Hatcher retired after the 1990 season. He began coaching in 1993 with the Rangers, and served as Angels hitting coach from 2000 to 2012 under Dodger teammate, Mike Scioscia. The Angels won the World Series in 2002.
 
Bryan Hickerson, the final piece in the Gladden trade, graduated from Bemidji High School in 1982. He went on to the University of Minnesota, where he won the Gophers’ “Dave Winfield Pitcher of the Year” award in ‘85 and ‘86. The Twins selected Hickerson in the 7th round of the June ‘86 amateur draft. He made his Major League debut for the San Francisco Giants on July 25th, 1991, entering the game in the top of the 9th with the Giants leading the Mets 8-1. Hickerson struck out the first two big league batters he faced, Kevin McReynolds and Howard Johnson, and induced a groundout from pinch-hitter, Vince Coleman. He pitched primarily in relief, but did start 29 games for the Giants between ‘93 and ‘94. After being released by the Giants, Hickerson pitched for the Cubs and Rockies in 1995 before retiring with a career 21-21 record and 4.72 ERA in 209 Major League games.
 
For stories about the Major Leaguers who grew up in Minnesota, like Major Minnesotans on Facebook and follow @MajorMinnesota on Twitter.
 
For the history of Minnesota Twins baseball, told one day at a time, follow @TwinsAlmanac on Twitter.

http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/w413/mjohnso9/20160131_102737_zps4yadfqeb.jpg
 
A week before the start of their 1987 championship season, the Twins released fan-favorite, Mickey Hatcher, and traded for the much more dynamic, Dan Gladden.
 
In exchange for the Dazzle Man and a player to be named later, the Twins sent two minor league relievers and a player to be named to the San Francisco Giants. The player to be named that Minnesota would send to San Francisco wound up being Bemidji-native, former Golden Gopher pitcher and Twins ‘86 draft pick, Bryan Hickerson.
 
One of the appeals of Gladden was his game-changing speed. One newspaper headline the morning after the deal read “Popularity Sacrificed for Steals,” a motivation confirmed by Twins executive vice president, Andy MacPhail, who said that “the reason we got him is he gives us speed. He can steal bases, he’s a good turf player.” Hatcher, who had been with the Twins since 1981 and had peaked in ‘84, was a pretty one dimensional player. Though he possessed a career .281 average, he offered very little of the speed and versatility that the Twins sought with the addition of Gladden. “He just didn’t fit in,” manager Tom Kelly said of Hatcher. “There’s no place for him to play on this team. We have better athletes. We didn’t need him as a designated hitter or a pinch hitter, either.” It was a bold decision for the Twins to pull the trigger on the Gladden-for-Hatcher switch. Hatcher was owed $650,000 for the ‘87 season, and a $100,000 buyout for ‘88. It was the most expensive contract that the Twins would eat to that point in team history.
 
The decision would, obviously, pay dividends. Though Gladden wasn’t as good in ‘87 as he had been in ‘86 — or would be in ‘88, for that matter — he was a key component in the Twins winning their first World Series in franchise history. And the trademark grit and hustle he displayed on a broken bat Astroturf double in the bottom of the 10th of Game 7 put the Twins solidly in position to win the 1991 World Series. “Tonight,” Jack Buck said of that Game 7, “it’s so apparent that this is one of the most remarkable baseball games ever played.”
 
After being released by Minnesota, Mickey Hatcher returned to the Los Angeles Dodgers, where he had played the first two seasons of his career. After playing sparingly in the 1988 regular season, he replaced the injured Kirk Gibson in the World Series, batting .368 with 2 HRs and 5 RBI as the Dodgers upset the heavily favored Oakland A’s in five games. Hatcher retired after the 1990 season. He began coaching in 1993 with the Rangers, and served as Angels hitting coach from 2000 to 2012 under Dodger teammate, Mike Scioscia. The Angels won the World Series in 2002.
 
Bryan Hickerson, the final piece in the Gladden trade, graduated from Bemidji High School in 1982. He went on to the University of Minnesota, where he won the Gophers’ “Dave Winfield Pitcher of the Year” award in ‘85 and ‘86. The Twins selected Hickerson in the 7th round of the June ‘86 amateur draft. He made his Major League debut for the San Francisco Giants on July 25th, 1991, entering the game in the top of the 9th with the Giants leading the Mets 8-1. Hickerson struck out the first two big league batters he faced, Kevin McReynolds and Howard Johnson, and induced a groundout from pinch-hitter, Vince Coleman. He pitched primarily in relief, but did start 29 games for the Giants between ‘93 and ‘94. After being released by the Giants, Hickerson pitched for the Cubs and Rockies in 1995 before retiring with a career 21-21 record and 4.72 ERA in 209 Major League games.
 
For stories about the Major Leaguers who grew up in Minnesota, like Major Minnesotans on Facebook and follow @MajorMinnesota on Twitter.
 
For the history of Minnesota Twins baseball, told one day at a time, follow @TwinsAlmanac on Twitter.

March 17th is the birthday of Washburn High School (Mpls) alumnus and Major League pitcher, Harold "Hy" Vandenberg, born in 1906. He made his Major League debut with the Boston Red Sox in 1935 at age 29, though he wouldn't win his first game until 1940 with the New York Giants, and his 2nd not until 1944 with the Chicago Cubs. The 6'4" right-hander, who got his professional start with the Minneapolis Millers, appeared in 90 Major League games, going 15-10 with 5 saves during seven seasons over an eleven year period. Additionally, he pitched in at least 435 minor league games, compiling a record of 139-128.
 
Hy Vandenberg was born in Abilene, Kansas. When Vandenberg was 4 years old his father died from tuberculosis and his mother moved the surviving members of the family to Minneapolis. Vandenberg began playing professional baseball with the Minneapolis Millers right out of high school, though he does not appear in the statistical record until age 24, when, in 1930, he pitched for the Bloomington, Illinois Cubs. He bounced around minor league baseball, going back and forth between Bloomington, Minneapolis and elsewhere before finally ending up in Syracuse in 1935 where he caught the attention of the Boston Red Sox. Vandenberg, however, didn't exactly think he was given a fair trial with Boston. He made only three relief appearances over a six week period, giving up 12 runs in 5 1/3 innings before heading back to Syracuse.
 
Vandeberg next appeared in the Major Leagues in 1937, getting one start for the New York Giants versus the Brooklyn Dodgers at Ebbets Field. He allowed 7 runs over 8 innings in a 7-4 loss. He appeared in 6 games for Giants in '38, and 2 in '39, spending most of his time with the Jersey City farm club. He finally got his first Major League win in 1940 in a 5-2 Giants win against the Phillies in Philadelphia. The New York Times described the 5 hit, complete game victory as an "elegant mound triumph."
 
After 1940, Vandenberg would not pitch in the Majors again until 1944 when he re-emerged with the Chicago Cubs, appearing in 35 games, more than the 25 appearances he had accumulated in his previous 5 stints in the Majors combined. He finished 1944 with a 7-4 record, 2 saves and a 3.63 ERA.
 
Vandenberg held out into the 1945 season, training at the University of Minnesota. Once he did report to the Cubs, however, he matched his success from the year before, compiling a 7-3 record and 3.49 ERA in 30 games. The Cubs played the Detroit Tigers in the 1945 World Series. Though the Cubs lost in 7 games, Vandenberg provided solid relief pitching in games 4, 5 and 7.
 
Despite coming off of his two most successful seasons, the Cubs released Vandenberg during spring training in 1946. Possibly dispirited, he performed poorly in the minors with Oakland and Milwaukee. In 1947 his contract was purchased by Oklahoma City, but he chose instead to leave professional baseball and pitched for the Springfield, Minnesota team in the amateur Western Minor League.
 
Following his playing career, Vandenberg worked as an engineering technician for the Hennepin County Highway Administration. Hy Vandenberg died from cancer at his home in Bloomington, Minnesota in 1994. He was 88 years old.
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