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March 19 Nothing happened today, except for the births of Paul Powell in San Angelo, Texas in 1948, and Tim Corcoran in Glendale, California in 1953. The two hit a combined .171 in 42 total games as Twins. Powell went 5-for-31 as a Twins rookie in 1971. Corcoran, who played parts of nine season in the majors, went 9-for-51 for the Twins in 1981. March 20 Happy 27th Birthday to Brad Hand It’s the birthday of 2008 Chaska High School graduate and current Padres pitcher Brad Hand. Nobody pitched in more major league games last season than Hand who made 82 relief appearances for San Diego. His senior season at Chaska the lefty went 8-2 with two saves, allowing only six earned runs in 68 innings for a 0.61 ERA. At the plate he hit .352 with eight home runs and 24 RBI. He was drafted by the Miami Marlins in 2nd round (52nd overall) out of high school. Brad Hand made his major league debut on June 27th, 2011 in Miami vs. the Atlanta Braves. He walked the first big league batter he faced, Jordan Schafer, who would play for the Twins in 2014 and ‘15. The second batter he faced was Adrian Gonzalez, who struck out swinging. Hand would allow only one hit over six innings. That one hit, however, was a solo home run by Adrian Gonzalez to lead off the fourth in a 1-0 Braves win. Hand's first major league win came in his fifth start, on July 7th at home vs. Houston as he held the Astros scoreless, giving up two hits and three walks over seven innings in a 5-0 Marlins victory. Hand only pitched in one game in 2012, starting the first game of a doubleheader in Washington on August 3rd. He allowed seven runs on six hits and six walks over 3 ⅔ innings in a 7-4 loss. He appeared in only seven games in 2013. Between 2014 and ‘15, Hand pitched in a combined 70 major league games, starting 28, compiling a 7-15 record. He was 9-25 over parts of five big league seasons entering 2016 when he was claimed off waivers during the first week of the season by the San Diego Padres. Hand went 4-4 with a save and 2.92 ERA in his aforementioned major league-leadeing 82 appearances last season. As a batter, Hand has five major league hits, one each off of Johnny Cueto and Stephen Strasburg. He hit three home runs as a minor leaguer. March 21 Happy 52nd Birthday to Tim McIntosh It’s the birthday of 1983 Hopkins High School graduate Tim McIntosh. He played three seasons at the University of Minnesota before being selected in the 3rd round of the ‘86 draft by the Milwaukee Brewers. He played in 71 major league games over the course of five seasons, primarily at catcher and in the outfield. His first major league hit was a home run. McIntosh got into five games with the Brewers in 1990, making his major league debut on September 3rd in Milwaukee vs. the Minnesota Twins. He went 0-3 as the Twins’ Mark Guthrie hurled a complete game shutout. Paul Molitor (Cretin High School class of ‘74) went 0-4. On September 28th, with the Yankees leading the Brewers 6-1, McIntosh entered the game in the 7th as a defensive replacement for catcher B.J. Surhoff. McIntosh led off the bottom of the 8th, hitting a home run for his first major league hit and his only hit of the 1990 season. McIntosh was a September call-up in 1991, going 4-9 with a HR in his first two games. He played only as a defensive replacement, however, in five subsequent games, making only two plate appearances. McIntosh, in fact, only started 25 of the 71 major league games that he played in, and 20 of those starts came in 1992 when he played in a total of 35 games, collecting 14 of his 21 career hits while batting .182. McIntosh appeared in one game as a late-inning defensive replacement for Milwaukee in ‘93 before being claimed off waivers by the Montreal Expos on April 14th. He played in 20 games for the Expos, collecting two hits and zero walks in 21 plate appearances for an .095 batting average. He became a free agent after the season and was signed by the Minnesota Twins. He spent the 1994 season with Triple-A Salt Lake, hitting .338 with 18 HRs. After the ‘94 season, his contract was purchased by the Nippon-Ham Fighters in Japan where he hit only .220. In February of ‘96, McIntosh signed as a free agent with the New York Yankees. He played in three games for the big league club that season. Tim McIntosh appeared in his last major league game on June 12, 1996, entering in the ninth as a defensive replacement at third in a 7-4 Yankee loss in Toronto. March 21, 1970 Twins Trade Gzrenda & Charley Walters for Brant Alyea The Twins trade pitchers Joe Grzenda and 1965 Minneapolis Edison High School graduate Charley Walters to the Washington Senators for outfielder Brant Alyea. Alyea’s career had gotten off to an Eddie Rosario-esque start, homering on the first big league pitch he saw on September 11, 1965. His Twins career also got off to a hot start, driving in a Twins record seven runs to back Jim Perry on Opening Day. He will go on to drive in 21 runs in the Twins’ first 12 games. Quite remarkably, 19 of those 21 RBI come in Jim Perry’s first four starts. Alyea matched his own record, going 3-for-4 with two home runs and driving in all seven Twins runs in a 7-6 win on September 7, 1970. Glenn Adams broke Alyea’s record with 8 RBI on June 26, 1977. Randy Bush matched that on May 20, 1989. Though Walters didn’t make the same splash in the major as Alyea, his story is nonetheless interesting. The Twins signed Walters out of their annual open tryout at Met Stadium in 1965. He went 7-2 with a 1.94 ERA for the 1967 Northern League Champion St. Cloud Rox. Walters broke camp with the Twins in ‘69 and pitched 6.2 innings over six games between April 11-May 14. He did not allow a run in his first five outings. He allowed four, however, in his sixth and final major league appearance. Walters has been a sportswriter for the Pioneer Press since well before I was born. March 21 Happy 39th Birthday to Cristian Guzman It’s the birthday of former Twins shortstop Cristian Guzman, born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic in 1978. The Twins acquired Guzman along with Eric Milton, Brian Buchanan, Danny Mota and three millions dollars of George Steinbrenner’s cold hard cash in exchange for Chuck Knoblauch on February 6, 1998. Guzman 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. March 21, 2010 Nathan Needs Tommy John Surgery The defending Central Division Champion Minnesota Twins announce that 4x All-Star closer Joe Nathan needs Tommy John surgery. He had saved a career-high 47 games the previous season. Nathan would make two more All-Star teams post-surgery in 2012 and '13 as a Texas Ranger. March 22, 2010 Joe Mauer’s Big Payday 2001 Cretin-Derham Hall graduate and 2009 American League Most Valuable Player Joe Mauer officially signs his eight-year, $184 million extension during a press conference at the Twins’ Spring Training facility in Ft. Myers, Florida. The contract, which locks the hometown kid up through 2018, is the fourth-fattest in major league history at the time. March 23, 2015 Molitor and Sanberg Face-Off The Paul Molitor-managed Twins lose 3-0 to Ryne Sandberg’s Phillies. It is believed to be the first time that current Hall of Famers have managed against each other. Such an occurrence has never happened in the regular season. On a side note, who in the audience saw Hall of Fame player Ted Williams manage the Senators and Rangers when they'd come to Bloomington to play the Twins? The Splendid Splinter had a lot of friends in Minnesota dating back to his 1938 season with the Minneapolis Millers. Williams famously spent his first major league off season in Minnesota rather than return home to see his mom in sunny San Diego. Obviously there was a girl involved. Ted's first wife was Doris Soule from Princeton, MN. My grandma, for the record, thought Ted was a vile man. I, however, was more interested in grandpa's stories of fishing with the Kid. March 24, 1988 Twins Trade Billy Beane The Twins trade outfielder Billy Beane to the Detroit Tigers for pitcher Balvino Galvez. Beane, who was the Mets’ first-round draft choice in 1980, played 80 games for the 1986 Twins, and 12 games for the ‘87 World Series Championship team. Galvez, who pitched 10 games for the Dodgers in ‘86, never made it back to the majors. The Twins had originally acquired Beane from the Mets on January 16, 1986 in a five-player trade featuring Tim Teufel. Billy Beane was the General Manager of the Oakland Athletics from 1998 until after the 2015 season when he was promoted to Executive Vice President of Baseball Operations. March 25, 1983 Twins Trade Sal Butera The Twins and Tigers swap catchers, with Minnesota sending Salvatore Butera to Detroit for minor leaguer Stine Coole and straight cash, homie. Sal had made Minnesota Twins history on May 29, 1982 by throwing out four baserunners in a 6-4 loss to the Yankees at him in the Dome. Sal and Drew Butera are the only father-son combination to play for the Twins. They have pretty impressive big league pitching resumes, too. Sal did not allow a hit in his two major league pitching appearances. He pitched a 1-2-3 inning in his big league pitching debut for Montreal in 1985. In 1986 he pitched a scoreless ninth for the Cincinnati Reds, walking one and striking out one. Drew, meanwhile, pitched a hitless bottom of the eighth for the Twins on May 20, 2012, walking one Brewer and striking out Carlos Gomez. While playing with the Dodgers in 2014, Drew pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning versus the Miami Marlins. He pitched again for Los Angeles just three days later, this time giving up a 2-run HR to Paul Goldschmidt as he recorded the final two outs of the game. The Twins re-signed Sal Butera as a free agent on May 22, 1987. They would go on to win the World Series... Keep in touch with @TwinsAlmanac on Twitter, and on Facebook.

http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/w413/mjohnso9/20160525_170738_zpsyytecp4e.jpg May 26, 2011 Twins Pay Final Respects to Harmon Killebrew On an off day, the Twins and about 4,000 of their fans paid their final respects to Harmon Killebrew, who had passed away on May 17, with a beautiful memorial service on the infield at Target Field. In attendance was Commissioner Bud Selig, Hall of Famers Hank Aaron, Rod Carew, Paul Molitor and Bert Blyleven, as well as Tony Oliva and an All-Star lineup of Twins old and new. http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/w413/mjohnso9/20160525_170841_zpsxzzdwuop.jpg May 27, 1961 First 5-Hit Game in Twins History Twins leadoff hitter, Zoilo Versalles, went 5-for-5 with 2 doubles and 2 runs scored at Griffith Stadium in Washington, DC. It was the first 5-hit game in Twins history. The Twins jumped out to a 1-0 lead as Harmon Killebrew drove in Versalles in the top of the first. But Twins starting pitcher, Ed Palmquist, was only able to record one out, giving up 4 runs before being relieved by Winona, MN-native, Paul Giel, who gave up one more, giving the Senators a 5-1 lead after the first inning. They went on to win 14-4. May 28, 1986 Five Twins Pitch in Eighth Inning Five Twins pitched in the eighth inning versus the Blue Jays at the Metrodome, establishing a team record for pitchers used in a single inning. Gary Gaetti had tied the game at 6-6 in the bottom of the seventh. Toronto slugger, George Bell, however, led-off the eighth with a homer off of Twins starter, Bert Blyleven. After Blyleven gave up a single to the next batter, the Twins went to the bullpen. The Blue Jays just kept hitting, however, scoring seven more off of Keith Atherton, Juan Agosto, Ron Davis and Roy Lee Jackson for an 8-run eighth inning. Tom Brunansky hit a 2-run HR in the ninth, but Toronto held on to win 14-8. May 28, 2011 Twins Combine For One-Hit Shutout In his second start and fourth appearance of the season, Anthony Swarzak held the Angels hitless for 7 1/3 innings at Target Field and allowed just one hit and two walks over eight innings before giving way to the bullpen. Meanwhile, the Angels' Jered Weaver pitched a two-hit shutout through nine innings. Matt Capps and Alex Burnett held the Angels hitless in the ninth and tenth. In the bottom of the tenth, Justin Morneau hit a one-hit single off of Angels reliever Hisanori Takahashi. Morneau was replaced by pinch-runner Jason Repko while Takahashi was relieved by Kevin Jepsen, who allowed singles to Michael Cuddyer and Delmon Young, and, after just three pitches, the Twins had the bases loaded for Danny Valencia. Valencia delivered a walk-off single to right, driving in Jason Repko. Both teams had combined for just 3 total hits prior to the Twins' 4-hit bottom of the tenth. Prior to the bottom of the tenth, Denard Span was the only Twins runner to reach second, doing so in the sixth inning. Span was also picked off twice in the inning. He reached on an infield single, and was then picked up off first, but advanced to second on an error. Five pitches later Weaver picked him off of second for the final out of the inning. May 29, 1982 Sal Butera Catches Four Stealing Sal Butera threw out a Twins record four baserunners in a 6-4 loss to the Yankees at home at the Metrodome. Twins starting pitcher Terry Felton, who retired with an 0-16 Major League record, gave up singles to Bobby Murcer and former-Twin, Graig Nettles, to open the second inning. The Yankees’ Roy Smalley struck out with the runners moving. Sal Butera’s throw to Gary Gaetti at third beat Murcer so badly that he retreated back toward second, which was occupied by Nettles who backtracked toward first. Gaetti threw to Kent Hrbek at first who tagged Nettles out. When Murcer decided to try taking third again, Hrbek threw to the pitcher, Felton, who was covering the bag, completing a strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out triple play. Butera was credited with having caught both runners stealing. Butera had thrown out Ken Griffey as part of a strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out double play to end the first inning. Then, with Griffey batting in the third, Butera threw out Willie Randolph trying to steal second for the third out of the inning. All three Yankees pitchers that day went on to have brief careers with the Twins. Starting pitcher, Tommy John, worked as a Twins broadcaster from 1994-’96. George Frazier pitched for the 1987 world championship team. And Shane Rawley, who was an ‘86 All-Star with the Phillies, pitched for the Twins in 1989. All three threw to former Twins catcher, Butch Wynegar, who had been traded to the Yankees a little more than two weeks earlier. Twins rookie, Kent Hrbek, went 3-for-4 with a triple. It was already his third triple of the season. http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/w413/mjohnso9/20160525_170503_zpsmlozhwhq.jpg May 30, 1980 Landreaux Hits in Twins Record 31 Straight Games Tied 2-2 versus Baltimore in the seventh at home in Bloomington, Ken Landreaux hit a one-out double to extend his hitting streak to 31 games. Landreaux would be stranded on third and the Twins went on to lose in ten innings. Baltimore’s Scott McGregor held Landreaux hitless the following day, snapping his Twins-record hitting streak. McGregor would go on to win 20 games in 1980 and be named to the All-Star team the following season. http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/w413/mjohnso9/20160525_170628_zps2lfjvoyq.jpg May 30, 1986 Roy Smalley Homers From Both Sides of Plate Roy Smalley became the first Twin to homer from each side of the plate in the same game in a 13-5 win versus the Red Sox at home in the Dome. He hit a leadoff home run batting left-handed in the bottom of the third, and a 3-run home run batting right-handed in the seventh, driving in Greg Gagne and Kirby Puckett. All nine Twins in the starting lineup plus pinch-hitter Mickey Hatcher had at least one hit in the game. Starting pitcher, Frank Viola, gave up 5 runs on 10 hits in just 3 ⅔ innings, but Keith Atherton, acquired just nine days earlier, pitches 5 ⅓ scoreless innings in relief. Two Twins have homered from each side of the plate in the same game since Smalley did it. Chili Davis did it on 10/2/1992, and Ryan Doumit on 7/22/2012. Mark Teixeira and Nick Swisher each homered from both sides of the plate in the same game a Major League record fourteen times. Mickey Mantle did so ten times. The Padres’ Ken Caminiti homered from each side of the plate a record four times during his Most Valuable Player season of 1996. Three players have homered from each side of the plate in the same inning: Cleveland’s Carlos Baerga in 1993, the Cubs’ Mark Bellhorn in 2002, and the Angels’ Kendrys Morales in 2012. http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/w413/mjohnso9/20160525_171008_zps5qqttr2m.jpg May 31, 1976 Bert Blyleven Gives Twins Fans the Middle Finger With contract negotiations at a standstill and trade rumors swirling, Bert Blyleven walked off the mound after the top of the ninth trailing the Angels 3-1. There were only 8,379 fans at Metropolitan Stadium that day, some of whom were giving the pitcher grief, singing “bye-bye Bertie.” Before he got to the dugout, Blyleven, visibly angry, looked to the stands and gave the hecklers the middle finger. The next day he was traded with Danny Thompson to the Texas Rangers for four players, including Roy Smalley. Thompson, who had been diagnosed with leukemia prior to the 1973 season, died on December 10, 1976 at age 29. Keep in touch with the Twins Almanac by following @TwinsAlmanac on Twitter.