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Last night, I posted my choices for the Twins Hitters of the Decade for the 1960s. Today, I am sharing my choices for the Twins Pitchers of the Decade for that 1960s. While not as impressive as the hitter list, this group does show the depth of solid pitchers that were on the Twins roster in the 1960s. Please leave your comments.In each decade, I will select five Starting Pitchers and five Bullpen pitchers. But the role of the bullpen in 1960s baseball is much, much different than it is today, and even much different than it became in the 1980s. So below you will see five starters and five "relievers" but frankly, at least three of the relievers made a significant number of starts. So in reality, you could call them "Long Relievers" and they are somewhat interchangeable with the back-end starters listed. But I am very curious your thoughts on my selections for a Twins pitching staff for the decade of the 1960s. And on a side note, later tonight (Thursday), I will be posting a podcast with someone who was/is very close to those Twins teams from the 1960s. It was a little over an hour conversation filled with many stories about the players selected (and many "snubs") from my list. You will definitely want to listen to that. THE PITCHERS SP - Jim Kaat (1961-1969) 340 games, 307 starts, 141-114 with a 3.22 ERA in 2,173 ⅔ innings. 1,410 K, 530 BB. Kaat debuted with the Senators as a 20-year-old in 1959 and pitched in 16 total games before the team moved to Minnesota in 1961. He was an All Star in 1962 and 1966. He led the league in starts in 1965 and 1966, and with 19 complete games in 1966 when he also led the league with 304 ⅔ innings. He finished fifth in MVP voting that season. It was before there were two Cy Young Awards, but he was The Sporting News’ AL Pitcher of the Year that season. He won the first eight Gold Gloves of the 16 he won in his career during the decades (1962-1969). SP - Jim Perry (1963-1969) 261 games, 135 starts, 74-45 with a 2.88 ERA in 1,117 innings. 646 K. 322 BB. Perry debuted with Cleveland in 1959. He came to the Twins early in the 1963 season and remained through the 1972 season. His two All Star appearances and his Cy Young Award came in 1970 and 1971, but he was pretty good in the ‘60s too. He split a lot of time between the rotation and the bullpen, but he provided innings, and kept his ERA low each year. His best season of the decade was the 1969 season when he went 20-6 with a 2.82 ERA. He finished third in Cy Young voting, setting up his great 1970 season. SP - Camilo Pascual (1961-1966) 184 games, 179 starts, 88-57 with 3.31 ERA in 1,284 ⅔ innings. 995 K. 431 BB. Pascual signed from Cuba and debuted at 20 in 1954. He was an All Star in 1959 and 1960. The Twins came to Minnesota and he was an All Star in 1961, 1962 and 1964. He won 20 games in 1962 and 21 games in 1963. Known for his great curveball, Pascual threw at least 248 ⅓ innings each season from 1961 through 1964, and he led the American League in strikeouts in three of those season. SP - Dean Chance (1967-1969) 104 games, 93 starts, 41-34 with a 2.67 ERA in 664 innings. 504 K. 166 BB. After six seasons with the Angels, Chance came to the Twins before the 1967 seasons. That season, he won 20 games and won the AL Comeback Player of the Year award. He then won 16 games the following season. In his three seasons with the Twins, he posted an ERA under three each season. SP - Dave Boswell (1964-1969) 169 games, 135 starts, 64-47 with a 3.28 ERA in 967 ⅔ innings. 820 K. 416 BB. Boswell debuted with the Twins as a 19-year-old in 1964. He remained with the Twins through the 1970 season. He was a reliable part of the Twins rotation throughout his time. His best season was 1969 when he won 20 games and posted a 3.23 ERA in 256 ⅓ innings. So while he’s mostly known for a fight, he was also a pretty good starting pitcher. RP - Al Worthington (1964-1969) 327 games, 0 starts, 37-31 with 88 saves and a 2.62 ERA in 473 ⅓ innings. 399 K. 186 BB. Worthington debuted as a 24-year-old in 1953 with the New York Giants. He came to the Twins early in the 1964 season, already 35. He became a reliable arm in the late innings for the next five seasons. He posted an ERA no higher than 2.84 from 1964 through 1968. RP - Dick Stigman (1962-1965) 138 games, 85 starts, 37-37 with 7 saves and a 3.69 ERA in 643 ⅔ innings. 538 K. 248 BB. The central Minnesota native was an All Star with Cleveland as a rookie in 1960. He came to the Twins in 1962 and went 12-5. The following season, he won 15 games in 241 innings. He split his time with the Twins between the rotation and the bullpen and ate a lot of innings in either role. RP - Ron Perranoski (1968-1969) 141 games, 0 starts, 17-17 with 37 saves and a 2.53 ERA in 206 ⅔ innings. 127 K. 90 BB. Perranoski came to the Twins from the Dodgers before the 1968 season and spent four years in the organization. In those two seasons, he was a late-inning fireman. In 1969, he went 9-10 despite a 2.11 ERA. He led the league with 31 saves and tossed 119 2/3 innings. He led the league in Saves the next season as well. LR - Mudcat Grant (1964-1967) 129 games, 111 starts, 50-35 with 7 saves and a 3.35 ERA in 780 ⅔ innings. 377 K. 163 BB. Grant came to the Twins from Cleveland during the 1964 season. In 1965, he went 21-7 with a 3.30 ERA. The next season, he went 13-13 despite posting a 3.25 ERA. He then went 2-1 with a 2.74 ERA in three World Series starts and added a huge home run as well. RP - Jim Merritt (1965-1968) 122 games, 89 starts, 37-41 with 6 saves and a 3.03 ERA in 686 ⅔ innings. 527 K. 135 BB. The southpaw debuted with the Twins in 1965 with 16 games. He entered the Twins starting rotation during the 1966 season. Despite the record, Merritt posted ERAs below 3.38 and WHIPs below 1.10 in his three seasons as a starter with the Twins. He was traded to Cincinnati after the 1968 season and became an All Star and 20-game winner in 1970. Click here to view the article

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). http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/w413/mjohnso9/Worthington.68T_zpshtvoxhjr.jpg 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. http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/w413/mjohnso9/knoblauch.Milton.Guzman_zpsrjiautqk.jpg 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. http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/w413/mjohnso9/wera_zpsgffok02p.jpg 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. http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/w413/mjohnso9/hrbek.85t_zpspasivh1t.jpg 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.