1995: Twins trade away Aguilera and Erickson

Originally posted 7/9/08

Before I start, it’s worth remembering Patrick Reusse’s thoughts (which seemed to be indicitave of most Twins fans’ thoughts) on the Frank Viola trade.

July 6, 1995

Here’s excerpts of Reusse’s column from July 8:

Frank Viola was traded to the New York Mets on July 31, 1989, for what turned out to be five pitchers: Rick Aguilera, Kevin Tapani, David West, Tim Drummond and Jack Savage.

General manager Andy MacPhail said a simple look at the standings – the Twins were 51-53 and 12 1/2 games removed from first place – was evidence that there was a need to rebuild the pitching staff. Several members of the media disagreed, suggesting this was a give-up deal intended to save money for a tight-fisted owner, Smilin’ Carl Pohlad.

MacPhail’s theory turned out to be correct. With Tapani and Aguilera in vital roles, the Twins won a second World Series championship in 1991.

Thursday, Terry Ryan – MacPhail’s successor as general manager – took action. Even if the primary motive was to save money, there can be no arguing that this shakeup was done in the best interest of Minnesota’s big-league franchise.

The Twins entered the Boston series at 20-44 and 24 1/2 games out of first place. The payroll was sitting at $26 million, about what the Twins had paid earlier in this decade when they were winning and Pohlad was receiving $14 million per year in national TV revenue.

That $14 million was set to decline substantially in 1994 and has been all but wiped out as baseball goes through its post-strike miseries in 1995.

Even those folks who have referred to Pohlad as Mr. Cheap in the past could not expect the Twins to operate with a horrible ballclub, minimal TV revenue, lousy attendance and an unchanged payroll.

So, Aguilera 33, and one of baseball’s premier closers for five seasons, and his $3.8 million salary were traded to Boston for a pitching prospect, Frankie Rodriguez, and a player to be determined.

Reusse reported that one star player wasn’t very happy with the deal.

Rodriguez found out about the trade in the seventh inning, when Kirby Puckett ran past the Boston bullpen on the way to right field and said: “Hey, Frankie. Tomorrow night. This uniform.”

Later, Puckett lashed out against the trade, saying: “This is garbage. They don’t want to win around here.”

Have you looked at the standings lately, Puck? They are not winning around here. The Twins – and that includes you – have been losing at an astounding pace.

Rodriguez was considered Boston’s top pitching prospect at the start of the season, but his stock had fallen due to a few shaky outings in his first major league appearances that made him carry to Minnesota a 10.57 ERA. Rodriguez also brought a past with him, having been charged and convicted of statutory rape in 1992. Still, Reusse was favorable towards the trade:

A closer such as Aguilera is a necessity on a contending team. A closer such a Aguilera, in the last hours before he could veto any trade, is a wasted accessory on a last-place team.

Rodriguez might not make it, but there is hope he could become a star, just as there was hope for Viola in 1982 and 1983, when he went a combined 11-25 for the Twins.

Aguilera’s response to the trade was reported as “classy as usual.” Not so for his former teammate who was traded the next day.

July 7, 1995

It was announced a day later that the rumored Scott Erickson deal to Baltimore was official. Erickson would move east in exchange for Scott Klingenbeck and another PTBNL.

Erickson had some parting shots for the organization, as reported by Jim Souhan:

Erickson packed his belongings, left the Metrodome and criticized the Twins for dealing him and closer Rick Aguilera.

“I feel bad for the guys,” Erickson said of his former teammates. “It looks like they’re going to change the whole team. There aren’t many players left from the World Series, and that was just four years ago. It makes a fool out of everybody who’s a Minnesota Twins fan. There’s nothing to cheer for. It’s a joke for anybody who likes baseball.

“They should turn the team over to someone who wants a winning team, somebody who likes baseball.”

That barb was aimed at Twins owner Carl Pohlad.

“If the team was playing well, I wouldn’t have made these moves,” general manager Terry Ryan said.

That same day, Jim Klobuchar went after a couple of the star players that remained:

Puckett and Knoblauch now are picturing themselves as victims of the Twins’ financially benighted management.

You are reading this correctly. Neatly sequestered from the plodding, grubbing world of reality by contracts in the millions of dollars, Puckett and Knoblauch actually believe they are being abused, their professional goals being trampled.

They believe this because the Twins had to trade another of their millionaire stars, Rick Aguilera, to avoid the poor farm. Almost everybody understands why except Kirby Puckett and Chuck Knoblauch:

Two reasons why they had to trade Aguilera, and pitcher Scott Erickson a few hours later, are Kirby Puckett and Chuck Knoblauch.

He goes on…

Puckett and Knoblauch say the Twins trading Aguilera means the Twins don’t want to win.

This is a baseball management that is paying Puckett and Knoblauch a combined $8 million to lead a team that has perpetrated some of the worst baseball ever aired publicly in Minnesota.

Franz Kafka could have written the scene. First, the negotiations: Ballplayers hypnotized by gold threaten to embarrass the management. They threaten to leave town, find somebody else or go to court unless they get the last ounce available.

They get it. The team has to keep some of its stars. It’s part of the creed of credibility, the contract with the fans. Nobody said there hadn’t been gluttony on the part of baseball ownership in the past. We’re talking about where it is today.

So now, the team loses. It loses some more. It loses and loses. The fans, disgusted by the competing greeds of last summer and this spring, start watching movies and looking for tornadoes instead of going to ballgames. Facing millions of dollars in losses and oceans of empty seats because of the team’s ineptness, the team slips into a crisis. Aguilera gets more than $3 million, but he almost never plays. He’s paid to finish games that are about to be won. The Twins almost never found themselves in that condition from April through the 4th of July.

What Knoblauch and Puckett seem to be saying is this:

Pay us what we want or we’re out of here.

Guarantee us a winning team so we can feel good about making a combined $8 million.

Keep everybody who wants to make every dime he can get.

If you don’t, you’re cheap. If you don’t have the money, get it. If you don’t get the money and we don’t win, you’re to blame, not us, and we may have to ask for more money to take counseling because this is bound to affect our self-esteem.

How did the trades work out for the Twins in the long run?

Aguilera became a free agent after finishing the 1995 season with Boston and immediately signed with the Twins. He had mixed results as as starting pitcher in 1996, but still had enough left to be a decent closer for the Twins in 1997 and 1998. Aguilera was traded to the Cubs in May of 1999 in a deal that brought young prospect Kyle Lohse to Minnesota.

Frank Rodriguez went 13-14 with a 5.05 ERA in his first full season in 1996. It would be his best season. After a particularly bad showing in 1998, the Twins let Seattle take him off of waivers.

The PTBNL in the Aguilera deal was J.J. Johnson, who never saw any major league time.

Scott Erickson pitched for Baltimore from the trade in 1995 to 2002. He had several very effective seasons, particularly in 1997 and 1998. He signed a very large contract with the Orioles after the 1998 season, but his performance fell off pretty drastically after that and he played out the rest of his career with a variety of injury problems.

Scott Klingenbeck appeared in a total of 28 games for the Twins between 1995 and 1996. The Twins sent him to the Reds in the spring of 1997 as part of a conditional deal, and ended up getting nothing in return.

Kimera Bartee was the PTBNL who was sent to the Twins at the end of the 1995 season. The Orioles reclaimed the outfield prospect two months later in the rule V draft, but let him go on waivers before the 1996 season started. Bartee played four years with Detroit.

1973: Eddie Bane’s Debut

Wednesday July 4, 1973

On June 27, the Twins faced the Texas Rangers in a near-meaningless game between a team struggling to stay above .500 and a team that was on its way to losing 105 games in a season. Still, 35,698 turned out to see the game in Texas (where crowds below 5,000 were common) thanks to the debut of the Rangers’ top draft choice; pitcher David Clyde. The Twins lost that game 4-3, but Twins’ management, including Calvin Griffith, noticed the crowd. The announcement was made that Eddie Bane would make his debut for the Twins on July 4 at Met Stadium.

From an earlier post on Bane:

Bane finished his college career with a 41-4 record and a then NCAA record 505 strikeouts. On June 7, 1973, the Minnesota Twins made Eddie Bane their number 11 pick in the amateur draft. Three days later Bane would shut out the Dave Winfield and the Minnesota Golden Gophers in a College World Series game.

Due in part to fledgling attendance, Twins’ owner Calvin Griffith put Bane on the fast track to the big club, skipping the minor leagues all together and taking the same direct route to the majors as three other players in the draft: #1 overall pick David Clyde of Texas, Dave Winfield with San Diego, and Robin Yount with Milwaukee. In total, 18 players have made the jump directly from the draft to the majors.

To sweeten the deal for Minnesota fans who hadn’t been turning out over the past few years, the team threw in an Eddie Bane autographed picture giveaway and promised fireworks after the game. The promotion worked as a then-Met Stadium record crowd of 45,890 turned out for the game against the Royals. The game was delayed 15 minutes to allow the crowd, many of whom had waited in lines to get into the parking lot and to get tickets, time to settle in.

   Kansas City Royals            Minnesota Twins                      
1. F Patek              SS    1. R Carew              2B
2. C Rojas              2B    2. J Terrell            SS
3. A Otis               CF    3. T Oliva              DH
4. L Piniella           LF    4. B Darwin             RF
5. K Bevacqua           1B    5. S Braun              3B
6. P Schaal             3B    6. L Hisle              CF
7. H McRae              RF    7. J Lis                1B
8. J Wohlford           DH    8. G Mitterwald         C
9. F Healy              C     9. J Holt               LF 

   D Drago              P        E Bane               P

Bane looked good early, and did not allow a hit until the third inning. Hal McRae singled to start the third, and eventually scored when Fran Healy doubled off of Bane to give the Royals a 1-0 lead. Bane settled down again, however, and allowed just one more Kansas City hit over the next four innings.

Dick Drago, the Royals’ starter somewhat lost in the Bane hype, looked like he was struggling most of the game, but somehow held the Twins scoreless. After seven innings, Drago had allowed eight Twins hits, but had yet to allow a run.

Bane left the game after he pitched his half of the seventh to a standing ovation and made his first, and perhaps last, major league curtain call (a move the Sporting News pointed to as demonstrating “class you don’t see from most 22-year-olds”). The rookie phenom was out of the game, and the Twins were trailing 1-0.

In the bottom of the eighth, the Twins used four consecutive hits to score three runs and take the rookie off the hook. The big blow was a Larry Hisle two-run home run off of Drago. The lead was short lived, however, and the Royals took it back in the top of the ninth off of Ray Corbin. Corbin, who was having a good year, walked four Royals and allowed four runs in the inning.

The Twins tried to mount a comeback, and got two hits off of Drago to start the ninth. By the time Drago left the game, he had allowed 14 Twins hits and was charged with four runs. Gene Garber came on to finish the game, however, and the Royals managed to win in front of the huge crowd, 5-4, despite 15 Twins hits (11 LOB).

As it turned out, Bane’s first start may have been his best. He didn’t win a game in 1973, finishing 0-5 for the season. Bane was sent the minors for the bulk of the next two seasons, and started in just 168 innings in the majors. After a rough spring in 1977 he was optioned to Tacoma and never saw the majors again.

Box

1948: McBride Sets an AL Mark for Putouts in LF

Friday July 2, 1948

In a footnote to the Nats’ 2-1 extra-innings win over the Yankees in the Bronx, Tom McBride set a league mark by making either 11 or 12 putouts in left field over the course of the 12-inning game.

The New York Times had 11 putouts listed for McBride, and there was (unsurprisingly) no mention of the record in James P. Dawson’s write-up of the game.

Charlton’s Baseball Chronology, accessed at baseballlibrary.com, records McBride’s total as 12 for the afternoon, saying that it was an AL record for putouts in left field in an extra-inning game. I can find no listing for that particular record, but I do know, thanks to baseball-almanac.com, that the current nine-inning record for left field putouts is shared by Willie Horton and Paul Lehner, who each had 11 in a single game (Horton in 1969, Lehner in 1950).

For what it is worth, Lyman Bostock shares the record for center field putouts with Jacoby Ellsbury, each having recorded 12 in a game. Bostock did it on May 25, 1977 in the second game of a doubleheader at Fenway Park.

McBride also figured prominently in the offense that day. His walk in the seventh inning pushed the eventual tying run to second. The runner, Carden Gillenwater, moved to third on a sacrifice fly, then scored on another. The game was won when Gillenwater hit a home run off of Tommy Byrne in the top of the 12th inning.

Walt Masterson was the fly-ball inducing pitcher who, according to the boxscore in the NYT, recorded 20 of his 36 total outs on outfield fly balls.

1973: Kaat Deals a One-Hitter

Sunday July 1, 1973

From Thomas Rogers’ round up in the New York Times:

Minnesota at California – Frank Robinson’s 534th career home run was the only hit off of Jim Kaat as the Twins won a 2-1 pitching battle from the Angels. Bill Singer of California gave up just four hits, but Rod Carew’s single in the third inning drove in both Minnesota runs. Robinson belted his homer, which tied him for sixth on the all-time list with Jimmie Foxx, in the second inning. Jim Holt picked up three of the Minnesota hits, two singles and a double.

Box

Jim Kaat’s Bill James Game Score for the game was an 88. In addition to allowing just the one hit, he didn’t walk anyone and struck out 7. It was his highest game score of the 1973 season. Just over a year earlier, Kaat scored a 91 in this game.

1995: Eddie Murray’s 3000th Hit

Friday June 30, 1995

Here is Jim Souhan’s account:

Cleveland slugger Eddie Murray’s rare and historic milestone Friday night at the Metrodome helped prevent another rare and historic achievement – a Twins home victory.

Murray became the 20th player in baseball history to reach 3,000 hits when he pulled a ground ball single through the right side of the infield, past the headlong dive of second baseman Chuck Knoblauch, in the sixth inning of Cleveland’s 4-1 victory.

An announced crowd of 27,416 spectators watched Murray reach the milestone in his 18th season.

Twins pitcher Mike Trombley, who threw the cutting fastball, will remember that the hit mattered, which is fitting. Throughout his 18-year career, Murray has prided himself on hitting when it matters. “It feels good to get it out of the way,” Murray said after the game, at a press conference.

“I think it will be nice to get things back to normal, even though it never bothered me.”

Trombley promised himself he would not pitch to Murray differently on Friday than he would have in any other game. Entering the game, Murray had gone 0-for-2 in his career against Trombley. “I ate him up early,” Trombley joked.

Trombley walked Murray on a full-count changeup in the second, and heard jeers. “I know the crowd was saying, `He’s not going to give him anything to hit all night,’ ” Trombley said. “But I was going to pitch to him the way I normally would.

“When I was a kid, if I would have gone to a game to see a 3,000th hit, I might boo, too. If I walked him four times, I wouldn’t have been happy, either.”

Murray led off the fourth in his next at-bat, and flew to center on a ball that, off the bat, looked like it had a chance to fall in. But center fielder Rich Becker easily caught it. “Rich is used to me pitching,” Trombley joked. “He broke back on the ball.”

Murray came up again in the sixth. The score was 1-1. Albert Belle led off with a double. Murray swung and missed at a changeup from Trombley, then Trombley threw a thigh-high fastball that he tried to keep on the outside part of the plate.

Murray pulled it on the ground between first and second. Knoblauch sprinted into short right field and dived, but missed.

“I wasn’t over as far as I should have been,” Knoblauch said. “He’s a pull hitter, and there was a runner on second, so he was even more of a pull hitter. I thought I had a chance, or I wouldn’t have dove. I’ve made that play before.”

Cleveland designated hitter Dave Winfield, who reached 3,000 hits as a Twin at the Metrodome on Sept. 16, 1993, led Murray’s teammates onto the field, and they embraced him. Pitcher Orel Hershiser picked Murray up and playfully bounced him off the ground.

Box

Having this kind of milestone happen at the Metrodome might have been the highlight of the 1995 season. As Souhan noted:

Was it only four years ago that the Twins won the World Series and Cleveland finished with a record of 57-105?

Yes, it was 1991, when Cleveland, perhaps the most inept sports franchise of the century, had a franchise-worst winning percentage of .352.

That should put the Twins’ woes into perspective. They entered Friday’s game with a winning percentage of .293. That puts them on a pace to finish 42-102 this season.

The mark of a horrid team is losing 100 games in a 162-game season. The Twins have a chance to do it in the strike-shortened 144-game season.

For what it is worth, the Twins went 39-46 the rest of the way to finish with a somewhat respectable 56-88 record.

1991: Puckett’s 1,500th Hit and Scott Erickson’s Win Streak Ends

From the Hot Stove 1991 Series this winter:

Saturday June 29, 1991

Dennis Brackin reported on the Twins’ newest draw, Scott Erickson:

The Twins are expecting at least 40,000 fans Sunday for their annual bat-day promotion. But bat day isn’t expected to be the biggest drawing card for the weekend series against the White Sox.

Twins vice president Dave Moore said a crowd in the mid-40,000’s is expected tonight. The attraction: Scott Erickson.

“Saturday nights are always good for us, but we’re starting to see people calling and asking when Scott Erickson pitches,” Moore said. “And this is obviously the only time he’s going to pitch in our park before the All-Star Game.”

After concluding a four-game series against the White Sox at the Dome on Monday, the Twins will play six road games (three each at Toronto and Chicago) before the All-Star break. Erickson, 12-2 with a 1.39 ERA, will be seeking his 13th straight victory tonight.

Moore said the fan interest in Erickson was obvious during the 10-game homestand June 3-13.

Erickson pitched twice, attracting 25,313 in a 2-1 victory over Cleveland on June 8 and 29,687 in a 10-3 triumph over the Yankees on June 3.

The other attendance figures for Cleveland’s visit were 18,200, 20,677 and 14,171; the other two Yankees games drew 18,233 and 19,178.

The bottom line: Erickson attracted an average of 27,500 for his two starts. In games against Cleveland and New York in which Erickson didn’t pitch, the Twins averaged 18,092.

“Without a doubt, people are starting to want to find out when Scott is going to pitch, and we’re starting to see some of the same thing with Jack Morris,” Moore said. “It sure doesn’t hurt that Sunday is bat day, and Jack’s pitching.”

The crowd, as it turned out, was even larger than expected. From Ray Richardson’s story in the Pioneer Press:

A crowd of 50,525 came to see Erickson go for his 13th consecutive victory. Instead, they saw the 23-year-old right-hander suffer his worst pounding of the season.

Erickson was tagged for 11 hits and seven runs, both season highs, in 6 1/3 innings as the Twins lost their fourth consecutive game.

“I knew someday I would probably get beat up on, but I was hoping it wouldn’t be tonight,” Erickson said. “This one is very untimely because we needed a pickup to break the losing streak.”

Greg Hibbard survived three home runs by the Twins to earn the victory and give the White Sox their eighth victory in nine games.

In the manager’s estimation:

“It was pretty obvious that he (Erickson) didn’t have anything,” Kelly said. “The ball was up in the strike zone and his zip just wasn’t there.”

After dropping their fourth consecutive game, the Twins got some bad news off the field as well.

The strained abdominal muscle Dan Gladden suffered Friday night forced the Twins to put the veteran left fielder on the 15-day disabled list before Saturday’s game.

Gladden was hurt swinging the bat on a strikeout pitch from White Sox pitcher Charlie Hough in the third inning. He was unable to finish the game.

“He’s looking at a minimum of two weeks before he could do anything even if he wasn’t put on the d.l.,” Twins physician Dr. John Steubs said. “Something like that can be difficult to get rid of. We’ll go slow with the therapy for awhile. He just needs rest to let the spasm go down.”

Gladden was hitting .259 with four home runs and 23 runs batted in.

“Dan doesn’t miss too many games, so you know he must be hurting,” Twins manager Tom Kelly said. “He’s a pretty tough guy, but he was in an awful lot of pain.”

First baseman Paul Sorrento was called up from Class AAA Portland to replace Gladden on the roster.

Sorrento was hitting .340 with seven home runs and 50 RBIs in 72 games.

“Hopefully, I can do some damage up here now,” Sorrento said.

Box

Team Name                        G    W    L    T   PCT    GB    RS   RA
Minnesota Twins                 75   44   31    0  .587     -   337  295
California Angels               73   41   32    0  .562   2.0   340  306
Texas Rangers                   69   38   31    0  .551   3.0   363  333
Oakland Athletics               74   40   34    0  .541   3.5   357  372
Chicago White Sox               72   38   34    0  .528   4.5   302  316
Seattle Mariners                74   39   35    0  .527   4.5   305  299
Kansas City Royals              72   33   39    0  .458   9.5   321  323

In addition to the end of Erickson’s streak, this game is notable in that Kirby Puckett gathered his 1,500th hit. Puckett came into the game needing two hits to get halfway to 3,000, and did so off of Greg Hibbard. Though he homered in the first inning, it was the sixth inning double that made 1,500. It was career game number 1,142 for Puckett, whose career line looked like this after the game (from baseball-reference.com):

   G    PA    AB    R    H   2B  3B  HR  RBI  BB  IBB  SO  HBP  SH  SF GDP ROE  SB   CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS
+----+-----+-----+----+----+---+---+---+----+----+---+----+---+---+---+---+---+----+---+-----+-----+-----+-----+
 1142  5022  4684  671 1500 250  45 118  628  259  39  598  33   2  16  42 109   93  56  .320  .359  .468  .827

1964: Arrigo’s Near No-Hitter

This was originally posted at Tony, the Killer, and Carew a couple of years ago as part of a series on great Twins pitching performances.

Friday June 26, 1964
Metropolitan Stadium
Bloomington, MN

On June 26, in the midst of a stretch where they played 19 games in 16 days, the Twins looked to rookie Gerry Arrigo to make just his fifth start of the season. Arrigo did not have quite the credentials that Pascual brought into his game a few years earlier. He came into the game with a 4-1 record with a 4.33 ERA so far in 1964, though most of his appearances came in relief. His best start to that point had been a complete game victory over the New York Yankees on June 2, a game in which he walked six Yankees but struck out nine.

The Sporting News described Arrigo as a pitcher who “had to learn to control himself before he had enough control of his pitches to reach the majors”. Arrigo had developed a reputation as somewhat of a hot head in the minor leagues, particularly getting fired up when an umpire wasn’t calling a game the way he liked. That all seemed to be behind him, however, as he entered his first full season in the majors.

The first game of a double-header against the White Sox was also the first of a relatively important late June four-game series against Chicago. The two teams were separated by four games in the American League standings, with the White Sox sitting just 3.5 games behind first place Baltimore with a 36-26 record. The Twins had a 35-33 record and were 7.5 games out. A poor showing in the home series against the White Sox could mean that Minnesota’s pennant hopes would fade before July began.

The White Sox starter for game one of the series was Joe Horlen. He had faced the Twins twice in early May, earning both a win and a loss out of the bullpen. Since then Horlen had become a regular starter, and his 1964 numbers through June 26 were 4-4 with a 2.90 ERA.

Arrigo, a Chicago native, had a quick start against the Sox, retiring the first six batters he faced, three by strikeout. He ran into some trouble in the third inning, however, when he hit to batters with pitched balls. Both men were stranded, however, when he got Don Buford to ground out to end the inning.

Though Horlen had allowed two singles to the Twins, he matched Arrigo scoreless inning for scoreless inning in the early going. The Twins didn’t really threaten anything until the fifth inning, when both Bob Allison and Earl Battey singled with nobody out. A failed sacrifice attempt by Jerry Kindall with the pitcher on deck effectively ended the Twins’ inning.

Meanwhile, Arrigo continued to cruise along through the White Sox lineup. A two-out throwing error by Zoilo Versalles in the fourth inning was quickly erased when first baseman Bob Allison recovered in time to throw the runner out at second. Arrigo faced the minimum from the time he got the last out in the third inning until he had one out in the eighth, when he walked Tommy McGraw.

The Twins finally got to Horlen when Harmon Killebrew hit his 24th home run of the season in the bottom of the sixth inning. Oliva, who had doubled earlier in the inning, also scored on Killebrew’s drive to give the Twins a 2-0 lead.

All that was left was for Arrigo to complete the no-hitter. Through eight, he allowed just three base runners, two of which he hit with pitches. He also had one walk and eight strikeouts. Arrigo faced Mike Hershberger, one of the two men that Arrigo had hit earlier in the game, to open the ninth inning. Hershberger and Arrigo had been teammates in the Florida Instructional League a few years earlier, so each was familiar with the opponent.

“I had been getting Hershberger out all night with sliders” said Arrigo, “So I threw him a high outside fastball. He punched it into right-center. I knew it was a hit. The only thing I could think of was that I had to win the game.” – The Sporting News 7/11/1964

Hershberger never got farther than first as Arrigo retired the final three batters he faced to complete the one-hitter.

Minnesota Twins    IP   H  R ER   BB  SO  HR    ERA
G Arrigo, W (5-1)   9   1  0  0    1   8   0   3.71
                   BF  Pit-Str   GB-FB  GmSc  IR-IS
                   31     -       8-10    92    -

Full box score and play-by-play

1969: A Very Good Inning

June 21, 1969

The Minnesota Twins and the Oakland A’s were tied 3-3 after nine innings of play at the Oakland Coliseum.

Ted Uhlaender singled to center field off of A’s reliever Paul Lindblad to start the inning.

Rod Carew followed with a single to right.

Harmon Killebrew sent a shot over the left field wall to put the Twins ahead 6-3, but they weren’t finished yet.

The Twins would score 8 more runs in the inning, for a total of 11. If that is not incredible enough, here are some numbers from that inning:

11 runs
8 hits
1 home run
7 singles
3 walks
3 Oakland errors
7 earned runs
16 Twins plate appearances
3 Oakland pitchers

The inning mercifully ended when Leo Cardenas hit a line drive to the pitcher, who caught Frank Quilici off of first for the double play.

The 11 runs were a record for most runs scored in an extra inning. The combined 12 runs in the 10th inning was also a record.

Here is the full boxscore.

2002: An Eventful Game Against the White Sox

Tuesday June 24, 2002

The Twins have had several memorable games with their rivals from Chicago, one of those occurred in late June 2002.

The White Sox took a 3-0 lead in the third under circumstances that LENIII found controversial:

Ray Durham’s sacrifice fly to left in the third scored Royce Clayton for a 1-0 lead, but Durham was awarded first base when Jones was charged with an error for dropping the ball. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire argued that the ball fell during the transfer from Jones’ glove to hand, and not during the catch.

The explosion, however, came after one of Ron Gardenhire’s pet peeves:

Four batters later, Magglio Ordonez hit his 13th homer to make it 3-0. Twins righthander Matt Kinney then lost control of a changeup that sailed behind Paul Konerko, and plate umpire Brian Gorman issued warnings to both benches.

Gardenhire hit the roof.

He rushed on to the field to argue and soon was ejected by Gorman. Gardenhire continued to yell at Gorman and soon drew crew chief Jerry Crawford into the discussion. Gardenhire, while standing on the mound, kicked at the dirt, threw his hat, threw a wad of gum that was in his mouth and later threw his scouting reports out of the dugout. It was a fit of which Lou Piniella would have been proud.

“He almost blew out an Achilles’ [tendon],” first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz said of Gardenhire’s kicking. “The whole infield was laughing.”

Gardenhire has been thrown out of three games this season, compared to five for predecessor Tom Kelly in 15-plus seasons.

Gardy had more to say on the subject after the game…

“The league wants to stop all the B.S. that goes on in the game with guys getting beaned,” Gardenhire said. “My problem is that Roger Clemens comes out and says he’s going to do something to Barry Bonds’ elbow. What happens to Roger Clemens when he hits him? Not a freaking thing. We have a kid throw a changeup and he gets a warning? I don’t understand.”

Gardenhire said he has a problem with the league’s philosophy.

The score was 4-2 in the bottom of the seventh before the Twins finally caught up on Torii Hunter’s two-run home run off of starting pitcher John Garland. While he circled the bases, according to Neal, Hunter was far from quiet:

“We were in Florida for spring training, and they were in Arizona and they were talking about us,” Jones said of the White Sox. “We aren’t worrying about the White Sox, the Yankees or the A’s. We are worried about who we are going to play that day, and we go out and play hard.”

Jones wasn’t alone in pointing out comments the Twins have read or heard from White Sox players about this and past series. When Hunter connected off righthander Jon Garland to tie the score, he admitted to saying something to the White Sox bench during his trot.

“I can’t say what I said,” Hunter said with a sly smile.

The Twins took the lead in the bottom of the eighth inning when Jacque Jones doubled Luis Rivas home from second. Jones was called out trying to stretch the double to a triple – a call that at least one Metrodome security guard disagreed with.

Gary Baggott, the security officer who was ejected from Monday’s game for taunting an umpire, will not be punished by the Twins.

The umpiring crew wanted Baggott fired, but Matt Hoy, the Twins’ vice president of operations, said that won’t happen.

Baggott was tossed in the ninth when he took his glasses and waved them at umpires.

The Twins won the game and kept their security team in tact.

Box

1984: Griffith Sells the Twins

Originally posted in 2007

Friday June 22, 1984

Prior to the Twins 8-6 loss at the hands of the White Sox, a tearful Calvin Griffith signed a letter of intent to sell his share of the Minnesota Twins to banker Carl Pohlad.

The transition would mark the first time since 1920 that a Griffith was not the majority owner of the franchise. Clark Griffith took over ownership of the Washington Nationals that year when he wrapped up his on-the-field career with the Nats. In 1922 Clark Griffith adopted his 11-year-old nephew, Calvin, after the boy’s father died. From that point on, Calvin was a part of the franchise, starting as a bat boy, and eventually taking over ownership of the team when his adopted father died in 1955.

One of Calvin’s first moves as majority owner was to move the team from Washington to the Twin Cities. Calvin Griffith had owned the team from the first day they played a game with “Twins” on their uniforms. He had a reputation for being quite a miser, and by the late seventies was considered a baseball dinosaur. While most baseball owners during that time had made their fortunes outside of the game, Calvin Griffith was one of the last pure baseball men left in the ranks of ownership.

There were signs that the “new” business of baseball was starting to pass Calvin by in the early eighties. He was frustrated that the Twins would invest and develop talent in the farm system just to lose the emerging players to teams with a less conservative approach to spending.

Additionally, Calvin had made some racially charged remarks in 1978 at a speech at the Waseca Lions Club, where he reportedly said “I’ll tell you why we came to Minnesota. It was when we found out you only had 15,000 blacks here. Black people don’t go to ballgames, but they’ll fill up a rassling ring and put up such a chant it’ll scare you to death. We came here because you’ve got good, hardworking white people here.” The backlash was predictable and included the loss of future Hall-of-Famer Rod Carew, who refused to play on a Calvin Griffith owned team after that.

All of those factors combined to make Griffith’s decision a relatively easy one, though it was still emotional. He felt regret shortly after the sale when Pohlad fired the remaining Griffiths from their posts in the Twins’ organization, but he remained a fixture at games for the next several years. Most notably, Griffith was present to throw out ceremonial pitches at both the 1987 and 1991 World Series.