Great video of the original telecast. Full length. Plus introductory highlights of the earlier games. Great opportunity to see some of the Twins' greats play.
Showing posts with label history. Show all posts
Showing posts with label history. Show all posts
5/13/14
6/17/13
The Twins and the Yankees have been at it longer than anyone can remember.
For a large fraction of the Minnesota Twins fans, the Yankees clearly represent three things: a franchise that has a bottomless pit for a budget and can buy players and championships, a team that after the wild card was established the Twins have to face in every post-season, and the team that the Twins (the good Twins' teams) lost to in every post-season. So the Yankees have been the proverbial thorn on the Twins' side or a major pain on their back side. For most fans, this relationship of the Twins-Yankees franchises is a recent one and it became apparent as the Twins got better this Millennium, since the Yankees were always in the other division. But this cannot be further than the truth. The two franchises have a long intertwining history that goes all the way back to the dark ages (of baseball.)
Both the Twins and Yankees franchises were founding members of the American League in 1901. The Yankees started their American League life as the Baltimore Orioles and the Twins as the new franchise in Washington that moved from Kansas City (the Blues,) which took the name of the NL team that was there and dissolved in 1899, the Senators. The KC Blues were part of the old Western League the predecessor of the American League. I am digressing here, but it is important for Twins' fans. The league was founded in 1893 and was comprised by mainly Midwestern teams. One of the founding teams of the Western League was the Sioux City Corn Huskers. In 1894 Charles Comiskey bought the Sioux City club and transferred to St. Paul, MN and called them the St. Paul Saints. The Saints moved to Chicago (the time the Blues moved to Washington DC to become the Senators) and became the White Stockings aka the White Sox. So think about that the next time the Twins decide to wear Saints' uniforms. But I am digressing. Back to the Twins and the Yankees...
The Yankees did not last much in Baltimore. Just a couple years before they moved to the Bronx and became the Highlanders with pretty much a brand new squad. The first ever game of the Highlanders, fate has it, was against the Twins nee Senators in Washington. Promptly the Senators won 3-1:
Both the Twins and Yankees franchises were founding members of the American League in 1901. The Yankees started their American League life as the Baltimore Orioles and the Twins as the new franchise in Washington that moved from Kansas City (the Blues,) which took the name of the NL team that was there and dissolved in 1899, the Senators. The KC Blues were part of the old Western League the predecessor of the American League. I am digressing here, but it is important for Twins' fans. The league was founded in 1893 and was comprised by mainly Midwestern teams. One of the founding teams of the Western League was the Sioux City Corn Huskers. In 1894 Charles Comiskey bought the Sioux City club and transferred to St. Paul, MN and called them the St. Paul Saints. The Saints moved to Chicago (the time the Blues moved to Washington DC to become the Senators) and became the White Stockings aka the White Sox. So think about that the next time the Twins decide to wear Saints' uniforms. But I am digressing. Back to the Twins and the Yankees...
The Yankees did not last much in Baltimore. Just a couple years before they moved to the Bronx and became the Highlanders with pretty much a brand new squad. The first ever game of the Highlanders, fate has it, was against the Twins nee Senators in Washington. Promptly the Senators won 3-1:
Both teams were wallowing in mediocrity in the aughts and the teens (and the Highlanders changed their name to the Yankees in 1913 to no avail). But in the roaring twenties, the Yankees and the Senators were the 2 teams that dominated the AL. The Yankees of Babe Ruth, Wait Hoyt and Lou Gehrig went to the
World Series from '21-'23 and from '26-'28
(won in '23, '27 and '28) and the Senators of Walter Johnson, Goose
Goslin and Sam Rice went in '24 and '25 and won their first trip.
With the interruption of a World Series trip by the Senators in 1933, the two franchises went in opposite ways from then on, with the Yankees (well) being the Yankees and the Senators (well) being the Senators. Twins' fans might dislike the Yankees right now, but the two teams have had pretty good relationships at least in their front offices since day one and a lot of cross-polination.
In addition to Billy Martin who managed both the Twins and the Yankees,
the following two Hall of Fame managers managed in both franchises: Clark
Griffith (1903-1908 Highlanders and 1912-1920 Senators; Bucky Harris
(1924-1928, 1935-1942, 1950-1954 Senators and 1947-1938 Yankees.) Harris won World Series with both teams (1924 and 1947,
which were in his first year with each team). Griffith and Martin, in
addition to managing MLB teams in the Twins and Yankees franchises, they
also played for both teams.
Speaking about playing for both teams, there are not 2 other teams in major league baseball that have more players playing for both than the Twins and the Yankees. The proximity and the train between New York and Washington DC helped in the early ages before the airplanes (and there were a lot of players who were going up and down the east coast try to make a living before the '40s,) but the exchanges have continued up to now. The
following 175 players (including many All Stars and four Hall of Famers)
played for both the Yankees' and the Twins' franchises (and a lot of these players got traded between the 2 franchises; look for players who played for both in the same season or in consecutive seasons) :
Spencer Adams (Senators 1925, Yankees 1926),
Bernie Allen (Twins 1962-66, Yankees 1972-73),
John Anderson (Senators 1905-07, Highlanders 1904-05),
Pete Appleton (Senators 1936-39, 1945, Yankees 1933),
Luis Ayala (Twins 2009, Yankees 2011),
Willie Banks (Twins 1991-93, Yankees 1997-98),
Walter Beall (Senators 1929, Yankees 1924-27),
Lou Berberet (Senators 1956-58, Yankees 1954-55),
Garland Braxton (Senators 1927-30, Yankees 1925-26),
Tommy Byrne (Senators 1953, Yankees 1943, 1946-51, 1954-57),
Bullet Joe Bush (Senators 1926, Yankees 1922-24),
Archie Campbell (Senators 1929, Yankees 1928),
John Candelaria (Twins 1990, Yankees 1988-89),
Roy Carlyle (Senators 1925, Yankees 1926),
Ben Chapman (Senators 1936-37, 1941, Yankees 1930-36),
Mike Chartak (Senators 1942, Yankees 1940, 1942),
Al Cicotte (Senators 1958, Yankees 1957),
Tex Clevenger (Senators 1956-60, Yankees 1961-62),
Orth Collins (Senators 1909, Highlanders 1904),
Wid Conroy (Senators 1909-11, Highlanders 1903-08),
Ron Coomer (Twins 1995-2000, Yankees 2002),
Don Cooper (Twins 1981-82, Yankees 1985),
Clint Courtney (Senators 1955-59, Yankees 1951),
Stan Coveleski, HOF (Senators 1925-27, Yankees 1928),
Herb Crompton (Senators 1937, Yankees 1945),
Roy Cullenbine (Senators 1942, Yankees 1942),
Nick Cullop (Senators 1927, Yankees 1926),
Jim Deshaies (Twins 1993-94, Yankees 1984),
Chili Davis (Twins 1991-92, Yankees 1998-1999),
Ron Davis (Twins 1982-86, Yankees 1978-81),
Rick Dempsey (Twins 1969-72, Yankees 1973-76),
Jimmie DeShong (Senators 1936-39, Yankees 1934-35),
Sonny Dixon (Senators 1953-54, Yankees 1956),
Jack Doyle (Senators 1902, Highlanders 1905),
Lew Drill (Senators 1902-04, Orioles 1902),
Kid Elberfeld (Senators 1910-11, Highlanders 1903-09),
Roger Erickson (Twins 1978-81, Yankees 1982-83),
Scott Erickson (Twins 1990-95, Yankees 2006),
Alvaro Espinoza (Twins 1984-86, Yankees 1988-91),
Alex Ferguson (Senators 1925-26, Yankees 1918, 1921, 1925),
Wes Ferrell (Senators 1937-38, Yankees 1938-39),
Tom Ferrick (Senators 1947-48 and 1951-52, Yankees 1950-51),
Pete Filson (Twins 1982-86, Yankees 1987),
Ray Fontenot (Twins 1986, Yankees 1983),
Eddie Foster (Senators 1912-19, Highlanders 1910),
Ray Francis (Senators 1922, Yankees 1925),
George Frazier (Twins 1986-87, Yankees 1981-83),
Billy Gardner (Senators/Twins 1960-61, Yankees 1961-62),
Milt Gaston (Senators 1928, Yankees 1924),
Joe Gedeon (Senators 1913-14, Yankees 1916-17),
Al Gettel (Senators 1949, Yankees 1945-46),
Lefty Gomez, HOF (Senators 1943, Yankees 1930-42),
Wayne Granger (Twins 1972, Yankees 1973),
Clark Griffith, HOF (Senators 1912-14, Highlanders 1903-07),
Randy Gumpert (Senators 1952, Yankees 1946-48),
Bump Hadley (Senators 1926-31, 1935, Yankees 1936-1940),
Jimmie Hall (Twins 1963-66, Yankees 1969),
Joe Harris (Senators 1925-26, Yankees 1914),
Harry Harper (Senators 1913-19, Yankees 1921),
LaTroy Hawkins (Twins 1995-2003, Yankees 2008),
Neal Heaton (Twins 1986, Yankees 1993),
Sean Henn (Twins 2009, Yankees 2005-07),
Steve Howe (Twins 1985, Yankees 1991-96),
Tom Hughes (Senators 1904-09, 1911-13, Orioles/Highlanders 1902, 1904),
Jackie Jensen (Senators 1952-53, Yankees 1950-52),
Don Johnson (Senators 1951-52, Yankees 1947, 1950),
Sad Sam Jones (Senators 1928-31, Yankees 1922-26),
Tim Jordan (Senators 1901, Highlanders 1903),
Jim Kaat (Senators/Twins 1959-1973, Yankees 1979-80),
Bill Keister (Senators 1902, Orioles 1901),
Roberto Kelly (Twins 1996-97, Yankees 1987-92),
Frank Kitson (Senators 1906-07, Highlanders 1907),
John Knight (Senators 1912, Highlanders/Yankees 1909-11, 1913),
Andy Kosco (Twins 1965-67, Yankees 1966),
Chuck Knoblauch (Twins 1991-97, Yankees 1998-01),
Bob Kuzava (Senators 1950-51, Yankees 1951-54),
Frank LaPorte (Senators 1912-13, Highlanders 1905-10),
Dave LaRoche (Twins 1972, Yankees 1981-83),
Lyn Lary (Senators 1935, Yankees 1929-34),
Chris Latham (Twins 1997-99, Yankees 2003),
Jack Lelivelt (Senators 1909-11, Highlanders/Yankees 1912-13),
Duffy Lewis (Senators 1921, Yankees 1919-20),
Jim Lewis (Twins 1983, Yankees 1982),
Slim Love (Senators 1913, Yankees 1916-18),
Kevin Maas (Twins 1995, Yankees 1990-93),
Danny MacFayden (Senators 1941, Yankees 1932-34),
Billy Martin (Twins 1961, Yankees 1950-57),
Tippy Martinez (Twins 1988, Yankees 1974-76),
Mickey McDermott (Senators 1954-55, Yankees 1956),
Danny McDevitt (Twins 1961, Yankees 1961),
Darnell McDonald (Twins 2007, Yankees 2012),
Mike McNally (Senators 1925, Yankees 1921-24)
Doug Mientkiewicz (Twins 1998-04, Yankees 2007),
Larry Milbourne (Twins 1982, Yankees 1981-82, 1983),
Willy Miranda (Senators 1951, Yankees 1953-54),
Chad Moeller (Twins 2000, Yankees 2010),
George Mogridge (Senators 1921-25, Yankees 1915-20),
Mike Morgan (Twins 1998, Yankees 1982),
Tom Morgan (Senators 1960, Yankees 1951-52; 1954-56),
George Murray (Senators 1926-27, Yankees 1922)
Dan Naulty (Twins 1996-98, Yankees 1999),
Denny Neagle (Twins 1991, Yankees 2000),
Graig Nettles (Twins 1967-69, Yankees 1973-83),
Bobo Newsom (Senators 1935-37, 1943, 1946-67, 1952, Yankees 1947)
Joe Niekro (Twins 1987-88, Yankees 1895-87),
Irv Noren (Senators 1950-52, Yankees 1952-56),
Jesse Orosco (Twins 2003, Yankees 2003),
Al Orth (Senators 1902-04, Highlanders 1904-09),
Champ Osteen (Senators 1903, Highlanders 1904),
John Pacella (Twins 1982, Yankees 1982),
Carl Pavano (Twins 2009-12, Yankees 2005-08),
Roger Peckinpaugh (Senators 1922-26, Yankees 1913-21),
Eddie Phillips (Senators 1934, Yankees 1932),
Sidney Ponson (Twins 2007, Yankees 2006, 2008),
Bob Porterfield (Senators 1951-55, Yankees 1948-51),
Jake Powell (Senators 1930-36, 1943-45, Yankees 1936-40),
Jerry Priddy (Senators 1943, 1946-47, Yankees 1941-42),
Pedro Ramos (Senators/Twins 1955-61, Yankees 1964-66),
Shane Rawley (Twins 1989, Yankees 1982-84),
Jeff Reardon (Twins 1987-89, Yankees 1994),
Harry Rice (Senators 1931, Yankees 1930),
Roxey Roach (Senators 1912, Highlanders 1910-11),
Eddie Robinson (Senators 1949-50, Yankees 1954-56),
Kenny Rogers (Twins 2003, Yankees 1996-97),
Jim Roland (Twins 1962-64, 1966-68, Yankees 1972),
Braggo Roth (Senators 1920, Yankees 1921),
Muddy Ruel (Senators 1923-30, Yankees 1917-20),
Dutch Ruether (Senators 1925-26, Yankees 1926-27)
Allen Russell (Senators 1923-25, Yankees 1915-19),
Mark Salas (Twins 1985-87, Yankees 1987),
Fred Sanford (Senators 1951, Yankees 1949-51),
Ray Scarborough (Senators 1942-43, 1946-50, Yankees 1952-53)
Germany Schaefer (Senators 1909-14, Yankees 1916),
Art Schult (Senators 1957, Yankees 1953),
Johnny Schmitz (Senators 1953-55, Yankees 1952-53),
Everett Scott (Senators 1925, Yankees 1922-25),
Kip Selbach (Senators 1903-04, Orioles 1902),
Hank Severeid (Senators 1925-26, Yankees 1926),
Howie Shanks (Senators 1912-22, Yankees 1925),
Spec Shea (Senators 1952-55, Yankees 1947-49, 1951),
Ruben Sierra (Twins 2006, Yankees 1995-96, 2003-05),
Roy Smalley (Twins 1976-82, 1985-87, Yankees 1982-84),
Elmer Smith (Senators 1916-1917, Yankees 1922-23),
Gabby Street (Senators 1908-11, Highlanders 1912),
Eric Soderholm (Twins 1971-75, Yankees 1980),
Jake Stahl (Senators 1904-06, Highlanders 1908),
Dick Starr (Senators 1951, Yankees 1947-48),
Bud Stewart (Senators 1948-50, Yankees 1948),
Steve Sundra (Senators 1941-42, Yankees 1936-40),
Jesse Tannehill (Senators 1908-09, Highlanders 1903),
Dick Tettelbach (Senators 1956-57, Yankees 1955),
Bob Tewksbury (Twins 1997-98, Yankees 1986-87),
Myles Thomas (Senators 1929-30, Yankees 1926-29),
Jack Thoney (Senators 1904, Orioles/Highlanders 1902, 1904),
Luis Tiant (Twins 1970, Yankees 1979-80)
Cesar Tovar (Twins 1965-72, Yankees 1976),
Bob Unglaub (Senators 1908-10, Highlanders 1903),
Elmer Valo (Senators 1960/Twins 1961, Yankees 1960),
Hippo Vaughn (Senators 1912, Highlanders 1908-12),
Bobby Veach (Senators 1925, Yankees 1925),
Jake Wade (Senators 1946, Yankees 1946),
Danny Walton (Twins 1973, 1975, Yankees 1971),
Gary Ward (Twins 1979-83, Yankees 1987-89),
Jim Weaver (Senators 1928, Yankees 1931),
Rondell White (Twins 2006-07, Yankees 2002),
Bob Wiesler (Senators 1956-58, Yankees 1951, 1954-55),
Stan Williams (Twins 1970-71, Yankees 1963-64),
Archie Wilson (Senators 1952, Yankees 1951-52),
Dave Winfield, HOF (Twins 1993-94, Yankees 1981-90),
Barney Wolfe (Senators 1904-06, Highlanders 1903-04),
Harry Wolverton (Senators 1902, Highlanders 1912),
Dick Woodson (Twins 1969-70 & 1972-74, Yankees 1974),
Butch Wynegar (Twins 1976-82, Yankees 1982-86),
Tom Zachary (Senators 1919-25, 1927-28, Yankees 1928-29),
Bill Zuber (Senators 1941-42, Yankees 1943-46).
Bernie Allen (Twins 1962-66, Yankees 1972-73),
John Anderson (Senators 1905-07, Highlanders 1904-05),
Pete Appleton (Senators 1936-39, 1945, Yankees 1933),
Luis Ayala (Twins 2009, Yankees 2011),
Willie Banks (Twins 1991-93, Yankees 1997-98),
Walter Beall (Senators 1929, Yankees 1924-27),
Lou Berberet (Senators 1956-58, Yankees 1954-55),
Garland Braxton (Senators 1927-30, Yankees 1925-26),
Tommy Byrne (Senators 1953, Yankees 1943, 1946-51, 1954-57),
Bullet Joe Bush (Senators 1926, Yankees 1922-24),
Archie Campbell (Senators 1929, Yankees 1928),
John Candelaria (Twins 1990, Yankees 1988-89),
Roy Carlyle (Senators 1925, Yankees 1926),
Ben Chapman (Senators 1936-37, 1941, Yankees 1930-36),
Mike Chartak (Senators 1942, Yankees 1940, 1942),
Al Cicotte (Senators 1958, Yankees 1957),
Tex Clevenger (Senators 1956-60, Yankees 1961-62),
Orth Collins (Senators 1909, Highlanders 1904),
Wid Conroy (Senators 1909-11, Highlanders 1903-08),
Ron Coomer (Twins 1995-2000, Yankees 2002),
Don Cooper (Twins 1981-82, Yankees 1985),
Clint Courtney (Senators 1955-59, Yankees 1951),
Stan Coveleski, HOF (Senators 1925-27, Yankees 1928),
Herb Crompton (Senators 1937, Yankees 1945),
Roy Cullenbine (Senators 1942, Yankees 1942),
Nick Cullop (Senators 1927, Yankees 1926),
Jim Deshaies (Twins 1993-94, Yankees 1984),
Chili Davis (Twins 1991-92, Yankees 1998-1999),
Ron Davis (Twins 1982-86, Yankees 1978-81),
Rick Dempsey (Twins 1969-72, Yankees 1973-76),
Jimmie DeShong (Senators 1936-39, Yankees 1934-35),
Sonny Dixon (Senators 1953-54, Yankees 1956),
Jack Doyle (Senators 1902, Highlanders 1905),
Lew Drill (Senators 1902-04, Orioles 1902),
Kid Elberfeld (Senators 1910-11, Highlanders 1903-09),
Roger Erickson (Twins 1978-81, Yankees 1982-83),
Scott Erickson (Twins 1990-95, Yankees 2006),
Alvaro Espinoza (Twins 1984-86, Yankees 1988-91),
Alex Ferguson (Senators 1925-26, Yankees 1918, 1921, 1925),
Wes Ferrell (Senators 1937-38, Yankees 1938-39),
Tom Ferrick (Senators 1947-48 and 1951-52, Yankees 1950-51),
Pete Filson (Twins 1982-86, Yankees 1987),
Ray Fontenot (Twins 1986, Yankees 1983),
Eddie Foster (Senators 1912-19, Highlanders 1910),
Ray Francis (Senators 1922, Yankees 1925),
George Frazier (Twins 1986-87, Yankees 1981-83),
Billy Gardner (Senators/Twins 1960-61, Yankees 1961-62),
Milt Gaston (Senators 1928, Yankees 1924),
Joe Gedeon (Senators 1913-14, Yankees 1916-17),
Al Gettel (Senators 1949, Yankees 1945-46),
Lefty Gomez, HOF (Senators 1943, Yankees 1930-42),
Wayne Granger (Twins 1972, Yankees 1973),
Clark Griffith, HOF (Senators 1912-14, Highlanders 1903-07),
Randy Gumpert (Senators 1952, Yankees 1946-48),
Bump Hadley (Senators 1926-31, 1935, Yankees 1936-1940),
Jimmie Hall (Twins 1963-66, Yankees 1969),
Joe Harris (Senators 1925-26, Yankees 1914),
Harry Harper (Senators 1913-19, Yankees 1921),
LaTroy Hawkins (Twins 1995-2003, Yankees 2008),
Neal Heaton (Twins 1986, Yankees 1993),
Sean Henn (Twins 2009, Yankees 2005-07),
Steve Howe (Twins 1985, Yankees 1991-96),
Tom Hughes (Senators 1904-09, 1911-13, Orioles/Highlanders 1902, 1904),
Jackie Jensen (Senators 1952-53, Yankees 1950-52),
Don Johnson (Senators 1951-52, Yankees 1947, 1950),
Sad Sam Jones (Senators 1928-31, Yankees 1922-26),
Tim Jordan (Senators 1901, Highlanders 1903),
Jim Kaat (Senators/Twins 1959-1973, Yankees 1979-80),
Bill Keister (Senators 1902, Orioles 1901),
Roberto Kelly (Twins 1996-97, Yankees 1987-92),
Frank Kitson (Senators 1906-07, Highlanders 1907),
John Knight (Senators 1912, Highlanders/Yankees 1909-11, 1913),
Andy Kosco (Twins 1965-67, Yankees 1966),
Chuck Knoblauch (Twins 1991-97, Yankees 1998-01),
Bob Kuzava (Senators 1950-51, Yankees 1951-54),
Frank LaPorte (Senators 1912-13, Highlanders 1905-10),
Dave LaRoche (Twins 1972, Yankees 1981-83),
Lyn Lary (Senators 1935, Yankees 1929-34),
Chris Latham (Twins 1997-99, Yankees 2003),
Jack Lelivelt (Senators 1909-11, Highlanders/Yankees 1912-13),
Duffy Lewis (Senators 1921, Yankees 1919-20),
Jim Lewis (Twins 1983, Yankees 1982),
Slim Love (Senators 1913, Yankees 1916-18),
Kevin Maas (Twins 1995, Yankees 1990-93),
Danny MacFayden (Senators 1941, Yankees 1932-34),
Billy Martin (Twins 1961, Yankees 1950-57),
Tippy Martinez (Twins 1988, Yankees 1974-76),
Mickey McDermott (Senators 1954-55, Yankees 1956),
Danny McDevitt (Twins 1961, Yankees 1961),
Darnell McDonald (Twins 2007, Yankees 2012),
Mike McNally (Senators 1925, Yankees 1921-24)
Doug Mientkiewicz (Twins 1998-04, Yankees 2007),
Larry Milbourne (Twins 1982, Yankees 1981-82, 1983),
Willy Miranda (Senators 1951, Yankees 1953-54),
Chad Moeller (Twins 2000, Yankees 2010),
George Mogridge (Senators 1921-25, Yankees 1915-20),
Mike Morgan (Twins 1998, Yankees 1982),
Tom Morgan (Senators 1960, Yankees 1951-52; 1954-56),
George Murray (Senators 1926-27, Yankees 1922)
Dan Naulty (Twins 1996-98, Yankees 1999),
Denny Neagle (Twins 1991, Yankees 2000),
Graig Nettles (Twins 1967-69, Yankees 1973-83),
Bobo Newsom (Senators 1935-37, 1943, 1946-67, 1952, Yankees 1947)
Joe Niekro (Twins 1987-88, Yankees 1895-87),
Irv Noren (Senators 1950-52, Yankees 1952-56),
Jesse Orosco (Twins 2003, Yankees 2003),
Al Orth (Senators 1902-04, Highlanders 1904-09),
Champ Osteen (Senators 1903, Highlanders 1904),
John Pacella (Twins 1982, Yankees 1982),
Carl Pavano (Twins 2009-12, Yankees 2005-08),
Roger Peckinpaugh (Senators 1922-26, Yankees 1913-21),
Eddie Phillips (Senators 1934, Yankees 1932),
Sidney Ponson (Twins 2007, Yankees 2006, 2008),
Bob Porterfield (Senators 1951-55, Yankees 1948-51),
Jake Powell (Senators 1930-36, 1943-45, Yankees 1936-40),
Jerry Priddy (Senators 1943, 1946-47, Yankees 1941-42),
Pedro Ramos (Senators/Twins 1955-61, Yankees 1964-66),
Shane Rawley (Twins 1989, Yankees 1982-84),
Jeff Reardon (Twins 1987-89, Yankees 1994),
Harry Rice (Senators 1931, Yankees 1930),
Roxey Roach (Senators 1912, Highlanders 1910-11),
Eddie Robinson (Senators 1949-50, Yankees 1954-56),
Kenny Rogers (Twins 2003, Yankees 1996-97),
Jim Roland (Twins 1962-64, 1966-68, Yankees 1972),
Braggo Roth (Senators 1920, Yankees 1921),
Muddy Ruel (Senators 1923-30, Yankees 1917-20),
Dutch Ruether (Senators 1925-26, Yankees 1926-27)
Allen Russell (Senators 1923-25, Yankees 1915-19),
Mark Salas (Twins 1985-87, Yankees 1987),
Fred Sanford (Senators 1951, Yankees 1949-51),
Ray Scarborough (Senators 1942-43, 1946-50, Yankees 1952-53)
Germany Schaefer (Senators 1909-14, Yankees 1916),
Art Schult (Senators 1957, Yankees 1953),
Johnny Schmitz (Senators 1953-55, Yankees 1952-53),
Everett Scott (Senators 1925, Yankees 1922-25),
Kip Selbach (Senators 1903-04, Orioles 1902),
Hank Severeid (Senators 1925-26, Yankees 1926),
Howie Shanks (Senators 1912-22, Yankees 1925),
Spec Shea (Senators 1952-55, Yankees 1947-49, 1951),
Ruben Sierra (Twins 2006, Yankees 1995-96, 2003-05),
Roy Smalley (Twins 1976-82, 1985-87, Yankees 1982-84),
Elmer Smith (Senators 1916-1917, Yankees 1922-23),
Gabby Street (Senators 1908-11, Highlanders 1912),
Eric Soderholm (Twins 1971-75, Yankees 1980),
Jake Stahl (Senators 1904-06, Highlanders 1908),
Dick Starr (Senators 1951, Yankees 1947-48),
Bud Stewart (Senators 1948-50, Yankees 1948),
Steve Sundra (Senators 1941-42, Yankees 1936-40),
Jesse Tannehill (Senators 1908-09, Highlanders 1903),
Dick Tettelbach (Senators 1956-57, Yankees 1955),
Bob Tewksbury (Twins 1997-98, Yankees 1986-87),
Myles Thomas (Senators 1929-30, Yankees 1926-29),
Jack Thoney (Senators 1904, Orioles/Highlanders 1902, 1904),
Luis Tiant (Twins 1970, Yankees 1979-80)
Cesar Tovar (Twins 1965-72, Yankees 1976),
Bob Unglaub (Senators 1908-10, Highlanders 1903),
Elmer Valo (Senators 1960/Twins 1961, Yankees 1960),
Hippo Vaughn (Senators 1912, Highlanders 1908-12),
Bobby Veach (Senators 1925, Yankees 1925),
Jake Wade (Senators 1946, Yankees 1946),
Danny Walton (Twins 1973, 1975, Yankees 1971),
Gary Ward (Twins 1979-83, Yankees 1987-89),
Jim Weaver (Senators 1928, Yankees 1931),
Rondell White (Twins 2006-07, Yankees 2002),
Bob Wiesler (Senators 1956-58, Yankees 1951, 1954-55),
Stan Williams (Twins 1970-71, Yankees 1963-64),
Archie Wilson (Senators 1952, Yankees 1951-52),
Dave Winfield, HOF (Twins 1993-94, Yankees 1981-90),
Barney Wolfe (Senators 1904-06, Highlanders 1903-04),
Harry Wolverton (Senators 1902, Highlanders 1912),
Dick Woodson (Twins 1969-70 & 1972-74, Yankees 1974),
Butch Wynegar (Twins 1976-82, Yankees 1982-86),
Tom Zachary (Senators 1919-25, 1927-28, Yankees 1928-29),
Bill Zuber (Senators 1941-42, Yankees 1943-46).
And thus the story goes...
If you are interested, you can find more Twins history posts here.
4/6/12
Twins' Opening Day facts
Happy Opening Day to the Minnesota Twins who are starting the 2012 season by playing at the Baltimore Orioles at 3:05 PM local time. Here are some facts about the Twins' opening days of yore:
- The Twins lost their last 3 opening days
- The Twins' overall record, since they moved to Minnesota, on opening day is 25-26, so with a win today, they will be back to .500
- The following pitchers made the most opening day starts for the Minnesota Twins: Brad Radke (9), Bert Blyleven (6), and Frank Viola (4)
- The Franchise original opening day opponent was also the Baltimore Orioles on 4-29-1901 at the American Park in Washington DC
- The Twins' Franchise overall record on opening day is 62-49
- The Twins' Franchise opening day record against the Orioles is 6-1, with the only loss in a 6-7 game in 1957 at Griffith Stadium
- The only teams the Twins' Franchise has a losing record against on Opening day games are the Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox , Kansas City Royals, New York Yankees, and Tampa Bay Devil Rays (the only time they played them were of the Devil kind still)
- Only 5 of the 13 position players (Alexi Casilla, Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Denard Span and Danny Valencia) of the Twins' 2011 opening day 25-man roster are on the 2012 roster
- Only 6 of the 12 pitchers (Nick Blackburn, Matt Capps, Brian Duensing, Fransisco Liriano, Carl Pavano and Glen Perkins) of the Twins' 2011 opening day 25-man roster are on the 2012 roster
2/2/12
Who is the all time Twins' most valuable player?
I do know that this a fairly controversial question and there are probably 4-5 players who will roll off any Twins' fans' tongue in any order and the answer could be alright. On the other hand, the answer to this question is somewhat meaningless, if there was not a single thing to consider: Lifetime achievement awards by the club, such as retiring of a number (as the Twins did for Tom Kelly recently) or induction to the team's Hall of Fame (as the Twins did for Camilo Pasqual recently). So this is really mostly an exercise. And I am looking at the Minnesota years of the franchise at the moment. There are a whole bunch of ways of looking at it, but here is what I am doing:
I am looking at the single season Wins Above Replacement (Using the Baseball-Reference way to calculate) leader(s) for the Twins and making a list of them, starting with the players who led the Twins in single season WAR more times and ending with the players who led the team in single season WAR only one season. The listings within the groups are alphabetical. I am also using the following designations to clarify a few points:
* = baseball hall of fame member
italics = Twins' hall of fame member
underline = number retired by the Twins
# = active player
bold - highest WAR by a Twins' player
Here is the list:
4 Times:
#Joe Mauer: (2006: 7.0; 2008 8.7; 2009: 7.5; 2010: 5.9)
3 Times:
*Rod Carew: (1975: 8.2; 1976: 7.2; 1977: 10.9)
*Harmon Killebrew: (1961: 5.5; 1967: 7.1; 1969: 6.1)
Chuck Knoblauch: (1995: 6.5; 1996: 8,8; 1997: 6.4)
*Kirby Puckett: (1988: 7.2; 1989: 4.3; 1992: 6.7)
Brad Radke: (1997: 4.7; 1998: 5.7; 1999: 5.5)
#Johan Santana: (2004: 7.5; 2005: 6.3; 2007: 4.9)
2 Times:
Bob Allison: (1963: 7.5; 1964: 6.2)
*Bert Blyleven: (1973: 9.2; 1974: 7.2)
Doug Corbett: (1980: 5.9, 1981: 2.5)
Kent Hrbek: (1984: 5.4; 1985: 2.5)
Kevin Tapani: (1991: 2.8; 1993: 2.8)
Tony Oliva: (1966: 6.6; 1970: 7.4)
1 Time:
#Scott Baker: (2011: 3.9)
Tom Brunanksy: (1982: 5.0)
John Castino: (1983: 4.0)
Gary Gaetti: (1986: 5.3)
Greg Gagne: (1990: 2.8)
Dave Goltz: (1978: 6.1)
Jacque Jones: (2002: 4.9)
Corey Koskie: (2003: 4.7)
Jerry Koosman: (1979: 6.5)
Shane Mack: (1994: 4.0)
Joe Mays: (2001: 5.9)
Camilo Pascual: (1962: 5.7)
César Tovar: (1968: 4.4)
Zoilo Versalles: (1965: 7.6)
Frank Viola: (1987: 7.6)
And a couple of comments:
I'd love your thoughts on this
I am looking at the single season Wins Above Replacement (Using the Baseball-Reference way to calculate) leader(s) for the Twins and making a list of them, starting with the players who led the Twins in single season WAR more times and ending with the players who led the team in single season WAR only one season. The listings within the groups are alphabetical. I am also using the following designations to clarify a few points:
* = baseball hall of fame member
italics = Twins' hall of fame member
underline = number retired by the Twins
# = active player
bold - highest WAR by a Twins' player
Here is the list:
4 Times:
#Joe Mauer: (2006: 7.0; 2008 8.7; 2009: 7.5; 2010: 5.9)
3 Times:
*Rod Carew: (1975: 8.2; 1976: 7.2; 1977: 10.9)
*Harmon Killebrew: (1961: 5.5; 1967: 7.1; 1969: 6.1)
Chuck Knoblauch: (1995: 6.5; 1996: 8,8; 1997: 6.4)
*Kirby Puckett: (1988: 7.2; 1989: 4.3; 1992: 6.7)
Brad Radke: (1997: 4.7; 1998: 5.7; 1999: 5.5)
#Johan Santana: (2004: 7.5; 2005: 6.3; 2007: 4.9)
2 Times:
Bob Allison: (1963: 7.5; 1964: 6.2)
*Bert Blyleven: (1973: 9.2; 1974: 7.2)
Doug Corbett: (1980: 5.9, 1981: 2.5)
Kent Hrbek: (1984: 5.4; 1985: 2.5)
Kevin Tapani: (1991: 2.8; 1993: 2.8)
Tony Oliva: (1966: 6.6; 1970: 7.4)
1 Time:
#Scott Baker: (2011: 3.9)
Tom Brunanksy: (1982: 5.0)
John Castino: (1983: 4.0)
Gary Gaetti: (1986: 5.3)
Greg Gagne: (1990: 2.8)
Dave Goltz: (1978: 6.1)
Jacque Jones: (2002: 4.9)
Corey Koskie: (2003: 4.7)
Jerry Koosman: (1979: 6.5)
Shane Mack: (1994: 4.0)
Joe Mays: (2001: 5.9)
Camilo Pascual: (1962: 5.7)
César Tovar: (1968: 4.4)
Zoilo Versalles: (1965: 7.6)
Frank Viola: (1987: 7.6)
And a couple of comments:
- The more I look into these type of historic lists, the more I am impressed by the way Joe Mauer looks among Hall of Fame caliber past players
- Retiring numbers and Twins' HOF elections are very subjective. Case in point: Chuck Knoblauch, whose position in this list shows that he deserves to be at least in the Twins' HOF. On the other hand the way he left, does not bode well... I wonder how the Twins' brass will view Johan Santana 5-10 years from now
I'd love your thoughts on this
2/1/12
How the integration barrier broke for the Twins' franchise
February is African American/Black History Month so I wanted to contribute by looking at the integration of the Twins franchise. And it did happen at the Senators' years. The Washington Senators, even though they were one of the first Major League teams to break the ethnicity barrier, in 1913 by featuring two 17 year old lefty outfielders, Merito Acosta and Jack Calvo, both born in Cuba (and the team had a long pipeline of Cuban talent, pre-Castro), was one of the last to break the color barrier and integrate. Only the New York Yankees (1955), the Philadelphia Phillies (1957), the Detroit Tigers (1958) and the Boston Red Sox (1959) integrated later than the Senators.
The first black player made his appearance on the Senators on September 6, 1954 at Griffith Stadium and he was Cuban-born Carlos Paula (Conill). Carlos Paula was born in Havana on Monday November 28, 1927. He made his debut in the US in 1952, at age 24, playing for the Decatur Commodores of the integrated and unaffiliated, class D, Mississippi-Ohio Valley League. He played as a Right Fielder in 119 of the 127 games, hit .334 and slugged .495 mainly because of 23 doubles and 16 triples; he also had 6 HRs. The next season, he started also in Decatur, hitting .265 and slugging .490 in the first 26 games. He was then traded to the Paris Indians of the unaffiliated class B Big State (mainly Texas) League. Even though the Indians were in the League basement with a 48-96 record, Paula played 97 games, hit .309 and slugged .462 with 20 doubles, 9 triples and 6 Home Runs. This caught the eye of the Senators who purchased him from the Paris Indians in the off-season. Paula started his Senators' career with their Charlotte Hornets A league (South Atlantic) affiliate. He hit .309 and slugged .495, with a league leading 13 triples (he also had 24 doubles and 14 home runs) in 153 games. This gained him a call up to the bigs in September.
His first appearance in the majors was at Griffith Stadium on both games of a double-header against the Philadelphia Athletics. He started the first game as the Left Fielder and batted 5th, between Peter Runnels and Jim Lemon. His first action on the game was when he led the bottom of the second of a 0-0 game against Arnie Portocarrero. He struck out swinging. His first action on the field was on the top of the 3rd inning when he caught a fly ball at LF hit by Spook Jacobs (The Senators' starter in that game was Johnny Schmitz.) His second plate appearance came at the bottom of that inning with Mickey Vernon on second, Paul Runnels at first and one out with the Senators leading 1-0. He hit a long out at Right Fielder Joe Taylor. His next plate appearance came in the bottom of the 4th with the Senators really making Arnie Portocarrero work, the score up 4-0, two outs and runners on the corners. Mickey Vernon on third and Peter Runnels (who was walked to face the rookie) on first. Paula pulled a balled to the Center Field gap for a double that ended Portocarerro's day and got the Senators up 6-0. Paula singled in his next plate appearance (to the Center) against Marion Fricano on the bottom of the 6th with two outs. His final at bat was at the bottom of the 9th with Roy Dietzel on first and one out. He flew out at Center. All in all he finished that game with 2 hits, a double and 2 runs batted in, in 5 plate appearances. He also led the team (other than 1st baseman Mickey Veron) with 4 put outs and was perfect on the field. The Senators won 8-1. At that point a new leaf was turned in the Twins' Franchice history. The team was finally integrated.
At the nightcap the same day, Paula also started at Left Field and batted 5th between Runnels and Lemon. Paula went hit-less in that game in 4 plate appearances and the Senators lost 2-3. He played in 7 more games that season (started 3 more at LF, played in an other there and pinch hit in the rest) and in those total nine games, he hit .167/.231/.208. His double and the 2 RBIs on his debut were his only ones of the season. He just managed 2 more singles and a couple of BBs in the other 8 games. Paula played the whole 1955 season with the Senators. He appeared in 115 games, had 374 plate appearances, and hit a very respectable .299/.332./.449 (111 OPS+) He finished the season with 105 hits, 20 doubles, 7 triples, 6 HRs, 17 BB (3 intentional) and 47 strike outs; he stole 2 bases and was cause stealing three times, grounded into 9 double plays and was hit by a pitch 2 times. He also had 4 sacrifice flies. His 1956 season was his last in the majors. He played in 33 games with the Senators, hitting .183/.250/.341 and he was optioned to their AAA club, the Louisville Colonels of the American Association. After 53 games he was sold to the Yankees' affiliate Denver Bears, also of the American Association. After 25 games with the Bears, in order to make room in the club for future All-Star Norm Siebern, the Yankees sold him to the Philies who assigned him to their AAA club, the Miami Marlins of the International League. He played just 11 games with them before he was released. His total line at the American Association in 1956 was .319/.385/.549 with 16 HRs and 58 RBI. The next season he played with the AAA Minneapolis Millers of the American Association, then a New York Giants' affiliate. In 1958 he played with the AAA Sacramento Solons (unaffiliated) of the Pacific Coast League. In 1959, he started the season with the Solons who were now the AAA club of the Milwaukee Braves and mid-season 1959 he was traded to the International League (AAA) Cincinnati Reds affiliate, Havana Sugar Kings. We all know what happened in Cuba in 1959, but Carlo Paula's situation there is not clear. He played 31 games with the Sugar Kings and next season he surfaced in Mexico, playing 88 games with the Mexico City Tigres of the Mexican League who were the League Champions. That season, 1960, his age 32 season, was the last professional baseball season for Carlos Paula.
Paula died at the age of 55 in Miami, FL on April 25, 1983.
The Washington Senators did not sign a US-born African American player until they signed Joe Black (the first African American pitcher in the majors with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1952) as a free agent on August 7, 1957.
The first black player made his appearance on the Senators on September 6, 1954 at Griffith Stadium and he was Cuban-born Carlos Paula (Conill). Carlos Paula was born in Havana on Monday November 28, 1927. He made his debut in the US in 1952, at age 24, playing for the Decatur Commodores of the integrated and unaffiliated, class D, Mississippi-Ohio Valley League. He played as a Right Fielder in 119 of the 127 games, hit .334 and slugged .495 mainly because of 23 doubles and 16 triples; he also had 6 HRs. The next season, he started also in Decatur, hitting .265 and slugging .490 in the first 26 games. He was then traded to the Paris Indians of the unaffiliated class B Big State (mainly Texas) League. Even though the Indians were in the League basement with a 48-96 record, Paula played 97 games, hit .309 and slugged .462 with 20 doubles, 9 triples and 6 Home Runs. This caught the eye of the Senators who purchased him from the Paris Indians in the off-season. Paula started his Senators' career with their Charlotte Hornets A league (South Atlantic) affiliate. He hit .309 and slugged .495, with a league leading 13 triples (he also had 24 doubles and 14 home runs) in 153 games. This gained him a call up to the bigs in September.
His first appearance in the majors was at Griffith Stadium on both games of a double-header against the Philadelphia Athletics. He started the first game as the Left Fielder and batted 5th, between Peter Runnels and Jim Lemon. His first action on the game was when he led the bottom of the second of a 0-0 game against Arnie Portocarrero. He struck out swinging. His first action on the field was on the top of the 3rd inning when he caught a fly ball at LF hit by Spook Jacobs (The Senators' starter in that game was Johnny Schmitz.) His second plate appearance came at the bottom of that inning with Mickey Vernon on second, Paul Runnels at first and one out with the Senators leading 1-0. He hit a long out at Right Fielder Joe Taylor. His next plate appearance came in the bottom of the 4th with the Senators really making Arnie Portocarrero work, the score up 4-0, two outs and runners on the corners. Mickey Vernon on third and Peter Runnels (who was walked to face the rookie) on first. Paula pulled a balled to the Center Field gap for a double that ended Portocarerro's day and got the Senators up 6-0. Paula singled in his next plate appearance (to the Center) against Marion Fricano on the bottom of the 6th with two outs. His final at bat was at the bottom of the 9th with Roy Dietzel on first and one out. He flew out at Center. All in all he finished that game with 2 hits, a double and 2 runs batted in, in 5 plate appearances. He also led the team (other than 1st baseman Mickey Veron) with 4 put outs and was perfect on the field. The Senators won 8-1. At that point a new leaf was turned in the Twins' Franchice history. The team was finally integrated.
At the nightcap the same day, Paula also started at Left Field and batted 5th between Runnels and Lemon. Paula went hit-less in that game in 4 plate appearances and the Senators lost 2-3. He played in 7 more games that season (started 3 more at LF, played in an other there and pinch hit in the rest) and in those total nine games, he hit .167/.231/.208. His double and the 2 RBIs on his debut were his only ones of the season. He just managed 2 more singles and a couple of BBs in the other 8 games. Paula played the whole 1955 season with the Senators. He appeared in 115 games, had 374 plate appearances, and hit a very respectable .299/.332./.449 (111 OPS+) He finished the season with 105 hits, 20 doubles, 7 triples, 6 HRs, 17 BB (3 intentional) and 47 strike outs; he stole 2 bases and was cause stealing three times, grounded into 9 double plays and was hit by a pitch 2 times. He also had 4 sacrifice flies. His 1956 season was his last in the majors. He played in 33 games with the Senators, hitting .183/.250/.341 and he was optioned to their AAA club, the Louisville Colonels of the American Association. After 53 games he was sold to the Yankees' affiliate Denver Bears, also of the American Association. After 25 games with the Bears, in order to make room in the club for future All-Star Norm Siebern, the Yankees sold him to the Philies who assigned him to their AAA club, the Miami Marlins of the International League. He played just 11 games with them before he was released. His total line at the American Association in 1956 was .319/.385/.549 with 16 HRs and 58 RBI. The next season he played with the AAA Minneapolis Millers of the American Association, then a New York Giants' affiliate. In 1958 he played with the AAA Sacramento Solons (unaffiliated) of the Pacific Coast League. In 1959, he started the season with the Solons who were now the AAA club of the Milwaukee Braves and mid-season 1959 he was traded to the International League (AAA) Cincinnati Reds affiliate, Havana Sugar Kings. We all know what happened in Cuba in 1959, but Carlo Paula's situation there is not clear. He played 31 games with the Sugar Kings and next season he surfaced in Mexico, playing 88 games with the Mexico City Tigres of the Mexican League who were the League Champions. That season, 1960, his age 32 season, was the last professional baseball season for Carlos Paula.
Paula died at the age of 55 in Miami, FL on April 25, 1983.
The Washington Senators did not sign a US-born African American player until they signed Joe Black (the first African American pitcher in the majors with the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1952) as a free agent on August 7, 1957.
1/4/12
Not a Garden Variety Top 10 List - Part 4: Twins Franchise OPS Leaders
This is the fourth installment of the franchise top ten lists, Looking at the team leaders in OPS.
Again, the purpose is to provide a glimpse of the great players who wore the Franchise's uniform, being Twins or Senators.As with the other lists, there are two top ten lists for each category: Single Season Best and Career Best. Career Best takes into consideration cumulative performance for only the Twins' or Senators' years of a player's career. In other words, what Carew did with the Angels does not matter. And the top-10 lists are not a single top ten list. Because of the variations of the game through out the years, a Senators' top ten list is merged with a Twins' top ten list to give the franchise's best (usually 20-30) players in a category.
So in the lists, we get the ranking in the franchise and the ranking of a particular player among Senators or Twins, depending what uniform that player won. Because the purpose of this is to be a history lesson and a celebration of the great players who played for our beloved franchise, and not a debate about who is better than whom, I am not adding commentary on performances. Also, because these units are somewhat freestanding the way they are posted, I am profiling every player including the ones appearing in earlier lists. The stats in the profiles are career totals and not franchise totals.
Here is the OPS List:
Franchise Single Season:
Franchise 1 WAS 1 Goslin, G 1928 WAS 1.056
Franchise 2 MIN 1 Mauer, J 2009 MIN 1.031
Franchise 3 MIN 2 Carew, R 1977 MIN 1.019
Franchise 4 MIN 3 Killebrew, H 1961 MIN 1.012
Franchise 5 MIN 4 Killebrew, H 1969 MIN 1.011
Franchise 6 MIN 2 Goslin, G 1926 WAS .967
Franchise 6 WAS 2 Sievers, R 1957 WAS .967
Franchise 8 MIN 5 Killebrew, H 1967 MIN .965
Franchise 8 MIN 5 Knoblauch, C 1996 MIN .965
Franchise 8 WAS 4 Stone, J 1936 WAS .965
Franchise 11 MIN 7 Killebrew, H 1970 MIN .957
Franchise 11 MIN 7 Allison, B 1964 MIN .957
Franchise 13 WAS 5 Goslin, G 1925 WAS .941
Franchise 14 WAS 6 Goslin, G 1924 WAS .937
Franchise 15 MIN 9 Mauer, J 2006 MIN .936
Franchise 16 WAS 7 Cronin, J 1930 WAS .934
Franchise 16 MIN 10 Morneau, J 2006 MIN .934
Franchise 16 MIN 10 Hrbek, K 1987 MIN .934
Franchise 19 WAS 8 Travis, C 1941 WAS .930
Franchise 20 MIN 12 Killebrew, H 1966 MIN .929
Franchise 21 MIN 13 Killebrew, H 1964 MIN .924
Franchise 22 WAS 9 Vernon, M 1953 WAS .921
Franchise 23 MIN 14 Puckett, K 1988 MIN .920
Franchise 24 WAS 10 Judge, J 1930 WAS .919
Franchise 24 MIN 15 Carew, R 1975 MIN .919
Franchise Career:
Franchise 1 MIN 1 Killebrew, H .892
Franchise 2 WAS 1 Goslin, G .888
Franchise 3 MIN 2 Mauer, J .874
Franchise 4 WAS 2 Stone, J .867
Franchise 5 WAS 3 Sievers, R .859
Franchise 6 MIN 3 Mack, S .854
Franchise 7 MIN 4 Morneau, J .851
Franchise 8 WAS 4 Manush, H .849
Franchise 9 MIN 5 Hrbek, K .848
Franchise 10 WAS 5 Cronin, J .842
Franchise 11 MIN 6 Carew, R .841
Franchise 12 MIN 7 Puckett, K .837
Franchise 13 MIN 8 Koskie, C .836
Franchise 14 MIN 9 Oliva, T .830
Franchise 15 WAS 6 Spence, S .829
Franchise 15 MIN 10 Allison, B .829
Franchise 17 MIN 11 Hisle, L .811
Franchise 18 MIN 12 Lawton, M .808
Franchise 19 MIN 13 Knoblauch, .807
Franchise 20 WAS 7 Lemon, J .805
Franchise 21 WAS 8 Rice, S .804
Franchise 22 WAS 9 Judge, J .802
Franchise 23 WAS 10 Myer, B .801
Who is who of the Senators listed, with a bit of biographic information and a picture (alphabetically):
Cronin, J
---------
Joseph Edward Cronin
Born: October 12, 1906 in San Francisco, CA
Died: September 7, 1984, Osterville, MA
SS
1926-1927 Pittsburgh, 1928-1934 Senators, 1935-1945 Red Sox.
Career: .301/.390/.468, 170 HR, 1424 RBI, 1232 R, 2285 H, 87 SB
7 times All Star: 1933, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1941
AL MVP 1930
Hall of Fame (elected 1956 as a Red Sox' Player)
His number 4 retired by Boston
Goslin, G
-----------
Leon Allen (Goose) Goslin
Born: October 16, 1900 in Salem, NJ
Died: May 15, 1971, Bridgeton, NJ
OF
1921-1930, 1933, 1938 Senators, 1930-1932 St. Louis, 1934-1938 Detroit
Career: .316/.387/.500, 248 HR, 1609 RBI, 1482 R, 2735 H, 175 SB
All Star 1936
World Series Winner 1924 (Senators) 1935 (Detroit)
Hall of Fame (Elected 1968 as a Minnesota Twin not as a Senator)
Judge, J
----------
Joseph Ignatius (Joe) Judge
Born: May 25, 1894 in Brooklyn, NY
Died: March 11, 1963 in Washington DC
1B
1915-1933 Senators, 1933-1934 Red Sox
Career: .298/.378/.420, 71 HR, 1034 RBI, 1185 R, 2352 H, 213 SB
World Series Winner 1924 (Senators)
Lemon, J
---------
James (Jim) Robert Lemon
Born: March 23, 1928 in Covington, VA
Died: May 14, 2006 in Brandon, MS
1950, 1955 Cleveland, 1954-1960 Senators, 1961-1962 Twins, 1963 Philadelphia, 1963 White Sox
Career: .262/.332/.460, 164 HR, 529 RBI, 446 R, 901 H, 13 SB
All Star: 1959, 1960 (Senators)
Manush, H
-----------
Henry Emmett (Heinie) Manush
Born: July 20, 1901 in Tuscumbia, AL
Died: May 21, 1971 in Sarasota, FL
OF
1923-1927 Detroit, 1928-1930 St Louis, 1930-1935 Senators, 1936 Boston, 1937-1938 Brooklyn, 1938-1939
Pittsburgh
Career: .330/.377/.479, 110 HR, 1183 RBI, 1288 R, 2524 H, 114 SB
Led AL in Batting Average in 1926 and in Hits in 1928 and 1933
All Star (1934, Senators)
Hall of Fame (Elected 1964, Detroit Tigers)
Myer, B
---------
Charles Solomon (Buddy) Myer
Born: March 16, 1904 in Ellisville, MS
Died: October 31, 1974 in Baton Rouge, LA
2B
1925-1927, 1929-1941 Senators, 1927-1928 Red Sox
Career: .303/.389/.406 38 HR, 850 RBI, 1174 R, 2131 H, 156 SB
Led the AL in Batting Average in 1935 and Stolen Bases in 1928
Two times All Star: 1935, 1937
Rice, S
---------
Edgar Charles (Sam) Rice
Born: February 20, 1890 in Morocco, IN
Died: October 13, 1974 in Rossmoor, MD
OF
1915-1933 Senators, 1934 Cleveland
Career: .322/.374/.427, 34 HR, 1078 RBI, 1513 R, 2987 H, 351 SB
Led the AL in Hits 1924, 1926 and Stolen Bases in 1920
World Series Champion 1924 (Senators)
Hall of Fame (elected 1963, Minnesota Twins)
Sievers, R
-----------
Roy "Squirrel" Edward Sievers
Born: November 18, 1926 in St.Louis, MO
1949-1953 St Louis Browns (later became Baltimore Orioles), 1954-1959 Senators, 1960-1961 (White Sox)
1962-1964 Phillies, 1964-1965 (expansion Senators - later became Texas Rangers)
Career: .267/.354/.475 318 HR, 1147 RBI, 945 R, 1703 H, 14 SB
Led the AL in HRs in 1957 and in RBI in 1957
All Star: 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959 (Senators) 1961 (White Sox)
Rookie of the Year: 1959 (Browns)
Spence, S
----------
Stanley (Stan) Orville Spence
Born: March 20, 1915 in S.Portsmouth, KY
Died: January 9, 1983 in Kinston, NC
OF
1940-1941, 1948-1949, Red Sox, 1942-1947 Senators, 1949 St Louis
Career: .282/.369/.437 95 HR, 575 RBI, 541 R, 1090 H, 21 SB
All Star: 1942, 1944, 1946, 1947 (all with Senators)
Stone, J
--------
John "Rocky" Thomas Stone
Born: October 10, 1905 in Mulberry, TN
Died: November 30, 1955 in Shelbyville, TN
OF
1928-1933 Detroit, 1934-1938 Senators
Career: .310/.376/.467 77 HR, 707 RBI, 739 R, 1391 H, 45 SB
Travis, C
----------
Cecil Howell Travis
Born: August 8, 1913 in Riverdale, GA
Died: December 16, 2006 in Riverdale, GA
SS
1933-1941, 1945-1947 Senators; 1941-1944 US Army, received Bronze Star for injuries
Career: .314/.370/.416 27 HR, 657 RBI, 665 R, 1544 H, 23 SB
Led the AL in Hits, 1941
All Star: 1938, 1940, 1941
Vernon, M
-----------
James Barton (Mickey) Vernon
Born: April 22, 1918 in Marcus Hook, PA
Died: September 24, 2008 in Media, PA
1B
1939-1943, 1946-1947, 1950-1955 Senators, 1949-1950, 1958 Cleveland, 1956-1957 Boston, 1959 Milwaukee,
1960 Pittsburgh; US Army 1944-1945
Career: .286/.359/.428 172 HR, 1311 RBI, 1196 R, 2495 H, 137 SB
Led the AL in Batting Average in 1946 and 1953
All Star: 1946, 1948, 1953, 1954, 1955 (Senators) 1956 (Boston) 1958 (Cleveland)
World Series Champion 1960
Who is who of the Twins listed, with a bit of biographic information and a picture (alphabetically):
Allison, B
------------
William Robert (Bob) Allison
Born: July 11, 1934 in Raytown, MO
Died: April 9, 1995 in Rio Verde, AZ
1958-1960 Senators, 1961-1970 Twins
Career: .255/.358/.471 256 HR, 796 RBI, 811 R, 1281 H, 84 SB
Led the AL in OPS in 1963 and in Runs in 1963
All Star: 1959 (Senators) 1963, 1964 (Twins)
Rookie of the Year (1959, Senators)
Carew, R
----------
Rodney (Rod) Cline Carew
Born: October 1, 1945 in Gatun, Canal Zone
IF
1967-1978 Twins, 1979-1985 Angels
Career: .328/.393/.429 82 HR, 1015 RBI, 1424 R, 3053 H, 353 SB
Led AL in Batting Average: 1969, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1978; in OBP 1974, 1975, 1977, 1978 in
OPS 1977 in Runs 1977, Hits 1973, 1974, 1977
All Star: 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978 (Twins), 1979, 1980,
1981, 1982, 1983, 1984 (Angels)
MVP 1977
Rookie of the year 1967
Roberto Clemente Award 1977
Uniform number 29 Retired by the Twins (1987) and Angels (1991)
Hall of Fame (elected 1991, Minnesota Twins)
Hisle, L
---------
Larry Eugene Hisle
Born: May 5, 1947 in Portsmouth, OH
OF
1968-1971 Philadelphia, 1973-1977 Twins, 1978-1982 Milwaukee
Career: .273/.347./.452 166 HR, 674 RBI, 652 R, 1146 H, 128 SB
Led the AL in RBI in 1977
All Star 1977 (Twins), 1978 (Milwaukee)
Hrbek, K
---------
Kent Alan Hrbek
Born: May 21, 1960 in Minneapolis, MN
1B
1961-1994 Twins
Career: .283/.367/.481 293 HR, 1086 RBi, 903 R, 37 SB
All Star 1982
World Series Champion 1987, 1991, Twins
Uniform number 14 was retired by the Twins (1995)
Killebrew, H
-------------
Harmon "Killer" Clayton Killebrew
Born: June 29, 1936 in Payette, ID
1B
1954-1960 Senators, 1961-1974 Twins, 1975 Royals
Career: .256/.376/.509 573 HR, 1584 RBI, 1283 R, 2086 H, 19 SB
Led AL in Home Runs 1959, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1967 and 1969, in RBI in 1962, 1969 and 1971, in OBP in
1969 and in SLG% in 1963
All Star: 1959, 1960 (Senators) 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971
(Twins)
MVP 1969
Uniform number 3 Retired by the Twins (1975)
Hall of Fame (elected 1984, Minnesota Twins)
Knoblauch, C
------------
Edward Charles (Chuck) Knoblauch
Born: July 7, 1968 in Houston, TX
2B
1991-1997 Twins, 1998-2001 Yankees, 2002 Kansas City
Career: .289/.378/.406 98 HR, 615 RBI, 1132 R, 1839 H, 407 SB
All Star 1992, 1994, 1996, 1997 (all with Twins)
Gold Glove 1997
Silver Slugger 1995, 1997
World Series Champion: 1991 (Twins), 1994, 1996, 1997 (Yankees)
Rookie of the Year 1991 (Twins)
Koskie, C
-----------
Cordel (Cory) Leonard Koskie
Born: June 28, 1973 in Anola, MB, Canada
3B
1998-2004 Twins, 2005 Blue Jays, 2006 Brewers
Career: .275/.367/.458 124 HR, 506 RBI, 516 R, 71 SB
Lawton, M
----------
Matthew (Matt) Lawton
Born: November 30, 1971 in Gulfport, MS
OF
1995-2001 Twins, 2001 Mets, 2002-2004 Indians, 2005 Cubs, 2005 Yankees, 2006 Mariners
Career: .259/.368/.417 138 HR, 631 RBI, 756 R, 165 SB
All Star: 2000 (Twins), 2004 (Indians)
Mack, S
---------
Shane Lee Mack
Born: December 7, 1963 in Los Angeles, CA
OF
1987-1988 San Diego, 1990-1994 Twins, 1997 Boston, 1998 Kansas City, 1998 Oakland
Career: .299/.364/.456 80 HR, 398 RBI, 436 R, 853 H, 90 SB
World Series Champion 1991 (Twins)
Mauer, J .
----------
Joseph (Joe) Patrick Mauer
Born: April 19, 1983 in St. Paul, MN
C
2004- Twins
Career: .323/.403/.471 84 HR, 502 RBI, 545 R, 1096 H, 35 SB
Led the AL in Batting Average 2006, 2008, 2009, in OBP in 2009, in Slugging percentage in 2009 and in
OPS in 2009
All Star: 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010
Silver Slugger: 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010,
Gold Glove: 2008, 2009, 2010
AL MVP 2009
Morneau, J
----------
Justin Ernest George Morneau
Born: 5/15/1981 in New Westminster, BC Canada
2003-2011 (Twins)
Career: .281/.353/.499 185 HR, 709 RBI, 550 R, 1055 H, 4 SB.
All Star: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 (Twins)
Silver Slugger: 2006, 2008 (Twins)
MVP: 2006 (Twins)
Oliva, T
---------
Pedro (Tony) Oliva
Born: July 20, 1940 in Pinar Del Rio, Cuba
OF
1962-1976 Twins
Career: .304/.353/.476 220 HR, 947 RBI, 870 R, 1917 H, 86 SB
All Star: 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970 (Twins)
Gold Glove: 1966
Rookie of the year 1964
Uniform number 6 retired (Twins, 1991)
Puckett, K
-----------
Kirby Puckett
Born: March 14, 1961 in Chicago, IL
Died: March 6, 2006 in Phoenix, AZ
OF
1984-1995 Twins
Career: .318/.360/.477 207 HR, 1085 RBI, 1071 R, 2304 H, 134 SB
Led the AL in Batting Average 1989, in RBI 1994 and in Hits in 1987, 1988, 1989, 1992
All Star: 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995
All Star MVP: 1993
Silver Slugger 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1992, 1994
World Series Champion: 1987, 1991
ALCS MVP: 1991
Roberto Clemente Award: 1996
Hall of Fame (Elected 2001; Minnesota Twins)
Next: Home Runs
Again, the purpose is to provide a glimpse of the great players who wore the Franchise's uniform, being Twins or Senators.As with the other lists, there are two top ten lists for each category: Single Season Best and Career Best. Career Best takes into consideration cumulative performance for only the Twins' or Senators' years of a player's career. In other words, what Carew did with the Angels does not matter. And the top-10 lists are not a single top ten list. Because of the variations of the game through out the years, a Senators' top ten list is merged with a Twins' top ten list to give the franchise's best (usually 20-30) players in a category.
So in the lists, we get the ranking in the franchise and the ranking of a particular player among Senators or Twins, depending what uniform that player won. Because the purpose of this is to be a history lesson and a celebration of the great players who played for our beloved franchise, and not a debate about who is better than whom, I am not adding commentary on performances. Also, because these units are somewhat freestanding the way they are posted, I am profiling every player including the ones appearing in earlier lists. The stats in the profiles are career totals and not franchise totals.
Here is the OPS List:
Franchise Single Season:
Franchise 1 WAS 1 Goslin, G 1928 WAS 1.056
Franchise 2 MIN 1 Mauer, J 2009 MIN 1.031
Franchise 3 MIN 2 Carew, R 1977 MIN 1.019
Franchise 4 MIN 3 Killebrew, H 1961 MIN 1.012
Franchise 5 MIN 4 Killebrew, H 1969 MIN 1.011
Franchise 6 MIN 2 Goslin, G 1926 WAS .967
Franchise 6 WAS 2 Sievers, R 1957 WAS .967
Franchise 8 MIN 5 Killebrew, H 1967 MIN .965
Franchise 8 MIN 5 Knoblauch, C 1996 MIN .965
Franchise 8 WAS 4 Stone, J 1936 WAS .965
Franchise 11 MIN 7 Killebrew, H 1970 MIN .957
Franchise 11 MIN 7 Allison, B 1964 MIN .957
Franchise 13 WAS 5 Goslin, G 1925 WAS .941
Franchise 14 WAS 6 Goslin, G 1924 WAS .937
Franchise 15 MIN 9 Mauer, J 2006 MIN .936
Franchise 16 WAS 7 Cronin, J 1930 WAS .934
Franchise 16 MIN 10 Morneau, J 2006 MIN .934
Franchise 16 MIN 10 Hrbek, K 1987 MIN .934
Franchise 19 WAS 8 Travis, C 1941 WAS .930
Franchise 20 MIN 12 Killebrew, H 1966 MIN .929
Franchise 21 MIN 13 Killebrew, H 1964 MIN .924
Franchise 22 WAS 9 Vernon, M 1953 WAS .921
Franchise 23 MIN 14 Puckett, K 1988 MIN .920
Franchise 24 WAS 10 Judge, J 1930 WAS .919
Franchise 24 MIN 15 Carew, R 1975 MIN .919
Franchise Career:
Franchise 1 MIN 1 Killebrew, H .892
Franchise 2 WAS 1 Goslin, G .888
Franchise 3 MIN 2 Mauer, J .874
Franchise 4 WAS 2 Stone, J .867
Franchise 5 WAS 3 Sievers, R .859
Franchise 6 MIN 3 Mack, S .854
Franchise 7 MIN 4 Morneau, J .851
Franchise 8 WAS 4 Manush, H .849
Franchise 9 MIN 5 Hrbek, K .848
Franchise 10 WAS 5 Cronin, J .842
Franchise 11 MIN 6 Carew, R .841
Franchise 12 MIN 7 Puckett, K .837
Franchise 13 MIN 8 Koskie, C .836
Franchise 14 MIN 9 Oliva, T .830
Franchise 15 WAS 6 Spence, S .829
Franchise 15 MIN 10 Allison, B .829
Franchise 17 MIN 11 Hisle, L .811
Franchise 18 MIN 12 Lawton, M .808
Franchise 19 MIN 13 Knoblauch, .807
Franchise 20 WAS 7 Lemon, J .805
Franchise 21 WAS 8 Rice, S .804
Franchise 22 WAS 9 Judge, J .802
Franchise 23 WAS 10 Myer, B .801
Who is who of the Senators listed, with a bit of biographic information and a picture (alphabetically):
Cronin, J
---------
Joseph Edward Cronin
Born: October 12, 1906 in San Francisco, CA
Died: September 7, 1984, Osterville, MA
SS
1926-1927 Pittsburgh, 1928-1934 Senators, 1935-1945 Red Sox.
Career: .301/.390/.468, 170 HR, 1424 RBI, 1232 R, 2285 H, 87 SB
7 times All Star: 1933, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1941
AL MVP 1930
Hall of Fame (elected 1956 as a Red Sox' Player)
His number 4 retired by Boston
Goslin, G
-----------
Leon Allen (Goose) Goslin
Born: October 16, 1900 in Salem, NJ
Died: May 15, 1971, Bridgeton, NJ
OF
1921-1930, 1933, 1938 Senators, 1930-1932 St. Louis, 1934-1938 Detroit
Career: .316/.387/.500, 248 HR, 1609 RBI, 1482 R, 2735 H, 175 SB
All Star 1936
World Series Winner 1924 (Senators) 1935 (Detroit)
Hall of Fame (Elected 1968 as a Minnesota Twin not as a Senator)
Judge, J
----------
Joseph Ignatius (Joe) Judge
Born: May 25, 1894 in Brooklyn, NY
Died: March 11, 1963 in Washington DC
1B
1915-1933 Senators, 1933-1934 Red Sox
Career: .298/.378/.420, 71 HR, 1034 RBI, 1185 R, 2352 H, 213 SB
World Series Winner 1924 (Senators)
Lemon, J
---------
James (Jim) Robert Lemon
Born: March 23, 1928 in Covington, VA
Died: May 14, 2006 in Brandon, MS
1950, 1955 Cleveland, 1954-1960 Senators, 1961-1962 Twins, 1963 Philadelphia, 1963 White Sox
Career: .262/.332/.460, 164 HR, 529 RBI, 446 R, 901 H, 13 SB
All Star: 1959, 1960 (Senators)
Manush, H
-----------
Henry Emmett (Heinie) Manush
Born: July 20, 1901 in Tuscumbia, AL
Died: May 21, 1971 in Sarasota, FL
OF
1923-1927 Detroit, 1928-1930 St Louis, 1930-1935 Senators, 1936 Boston, 1937-1938 Brooklyn, 1938-1939
Pittsburgh
Career: .330/.377/.479, 110 HR, 1183 RBI, 1288 R, 2524 H, 114 SB
Led AL in Batting Average in 1926 and in Hits in 1928 and 1933
All Star (1934, Senators)
Hall of Fame (Elected 1964, Detroit Tigers)
Myer, B
---------
Charles Solomon (Buddy) Myer
Born: March 16, 1904 in Ellisville, MS
Died: October 31, 1974 in Baton Rouge, LA
2B
1925-1927, 1929-1941 Senators, 1927-1928 Red Sox
Career: .303/.389/.406 38 HR, 850 RBI, 1174 R, 2131 H, 156 SB
Led the AL in Batting Average in 1935 and Stolen Bases in 1928
Two times All Star: 1935, 1937
Rice, S
---------
Edgar Charles (Sam) Rice
Born: February 20, 1890 in Morocco, IN
Died: October 13, 1974 in Rossmoor, MD
OF
1915-1933 Senators, 1934 Cleveland
Career: .322/.374/.427, 34 HR, 1078 RBI, 1513 R, 2987 H, 351 SB
Led the AL in Hits 1924, 1926 and Stolen Bases in 1920
World Series Champion 1924 (Senators)
Hall of Fame (elected 1963, Minnesota Twins)
Sievers, R
-----------
Roy "Squirrel" Edward Sievers
Born: November 18, 1926 in St.Louis, MO
1949-1953 St Louis Browns (later became Baltimore Orioles), 1954-1959 Senators, 1960-1961 (White Sox)
1962-1964 Phillies, 1964-1965 (expansion Senators - later became Texas Rangers)
Career: .267/.354/.475 318 HR, 1147 RBI, 945 R, 1703 H, 14 SB
Led the AL in HRs in 1957 and in RBI in 1957
All Star: 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959 (Senators) 1961 (White Sox)
Rookie of the Year: 1959 (Browns)
Spence, S
----------
Stanley (Stan) Orville Spence
Born: March 20, 1915 in S.Portsmouth, KY
Died: January 9, 1983 in Kinston, NC
OF
1940-1941, 1948-1949, Red Sox, 1942-1947 Senators, 1949 St Louis
Career: .282/.369/.437 95 HR, 575 RBI, 541 R, 1090 H, 21 SB
All Star: 1942, 1944, 1946, 1947 (all with Senators)
Stone, J
--------
John "Rocky" Thomas Stone
Born: October 10, 1905 in Mulberry, TN
Died: November 30, 1955 in Shelbyville, TN
OF
1928-1933 Detroit, 1934-1938 Senators
Career: .310/.376/.467 77 HR, 707 RBI, 739 R, 1391 H, 45 SB
Travis, C
----------
Cecil Howell Travis
Born: August 8, 1913 in Riverdale, GA
Died: December 16, 2006 in Riverdale, GA
SS
1933-1941, 1945-1947 Senators; 1941-1944 US Army, received Bronze Star for injuries
Career: .314/.370/.416 27 HR, 657 RBI, 665 R, 1544 H, 23 SB
Led the AL in Hits, 1941
All Star: 1938, 1940, 1941
Vernon, M
-----------
James Barton (Mickey) Vernon
Born: April 22, 1918 in Marcus Hook, PA
Died: September 24, 2008 in Media, PA
1B
1939-1943, 1946-1947, 1950-1955 Senators, 1949-1950, 1958 Cleveland, 1956-1957 Boston, 1959 Milwaukee,
1960 Pittsburgh; US Army 1944-1945
Career: .286/.359/.428 172 HR, 1311 RBI, 1196 R, 2495 H, 137 SB
Led the AL in Batting Average in 1946 and 1953
All Star: 1946, 1948, 1953, 1954, 1955 (Senators) 1956 (Boston) 1958 (Cleveland)
World Series Champion 1960
Who is who of the Twins listed, with a bit of biographic information and a picture (alphabetically):
Allison, B
------------
William Robert (Bob) Allison
Born: July 11, 1934 in Raytown, MO
Died: April 9, 1995 in Rio Verde, AZ
1958-1960 Senators, 1961-1970 Twins
Career: .255/.358/.471 256 HR, 796 RBI, 811 R, 1281 H, 84 SB
Led the AL in OPS in 1963 and in Runs in 1963
All Star: 1959 (Senators) 1963, 1964 (Twins)
Rookie of the Year (1959, Senators)
Carew, R
----------
Rodney (Rod) Cline Carew
Born: October 1, 1945 in Gatun, Canal Zone
IF
1967-1978 Twins, 1979-1985 Angels
Career: .328/.393/.429 82 HR, 1015 RBI, 1424 R, 3053 H, 353 SB
Led AL in Batting Average: 1969, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1978; in OBP 1974, 1975, 1977, 1978 in
OPS 1977 in Runs 1977, Hits 1973, 1974, 1977
All Star: 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978 (Twins), 1979, 1980,
1981, 1982, 1983, 1984 (Angels)
MVP 1977
Rookie of the year 1967
Roberto Clemente Award 1977
Uniform number 29 Retired by the Twins (1987) and Angels (1991)
Hall of Fame (elected 1991, Minnesota Twins)
Hisle, L
---------
Larry Eugene Hisle
Born: May 5, 1947 in Portsmouth, OH
OF
1968-1971 Philadelphia, 1973-1977 Twins, 1978-1982 Milwaukee
Career: .273/.347./.452 166 HR, 674 RBI, 652 R, 1146 H, 128 SB
Led the AL in RBI in 1977
All Star 1977 (Twins), 1978 (Milwaukee)
Hrbek, K
---------
Kent Alan Hrbek
Born: May 21, 1960 in Minneapolis, MN
1B
1961-1994 Twins
Career: .283/.367/.481 293 HR, 1086 RBi, 903 R, 37 SB
All Star 1982
World Series Champion 1987, 1991, Twins
Uniform number 14 was retired by the Twins (1995)
Killebrew, H
-------------
Harmon "Killer" Clayton Killebrew
Born: June 29, 1936 in Payette, ID
1B
1954-1960 Senators, 1961-1974 Twins, 1975 Royals
Career: .256/.376/.509 573 HR, 1584 RBI, 1283 R, 2086 H, 19 SB
Led AL in Home Runs 1959, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1967 and 1969, in RBI in 1962, 1969 and 1971, in OBP in
1969 and in SLG% in 1963
All Star: 1959, 1960 (Senators) 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971
(Twins)
MVP 1969
Uniform number 3 Retired by the Twins (1975)
Hall of Fame (elected 1984, Minnesota Twins)
Knoblauch, C
------------
Edward Charles (Chuck) Knoblauch
Born: July 7, 1968 in Houston, TX
2B
1991-1997 Twins, 1998-2001 Yankees, 2002 Kansas City
Career: .289/.378/.406 98 HR, 615 RBI, 1132 R, 1839 H, 407 SB
All Star 1992, 1994, 1996, 1997 (all with Twins)
Gold Glove 1997
Silver Slugger 1995, 1997
World Series Champion: 1991 (Twins), 1994, 1996, 1997 (Yankees)
Rookie of the Year 1991 (Twins)
Koskie, C
-----------
Cordel (Cory) Leonard Koskie
Born: June 28, 1973 in Anola, MB, Canada
3B
1998-2004 Twins, 2005 Blue Jays, 2006 Brewers
Career: .275/.367/.458 124 HR, 506 RBI, 516 R, 71 SB
Lawton, M
----------
Matthew (Matt) Lawton
Born: November 30, 1971 in Gulfport, MS
OF
1995-2001 Twins, 2001 Mets, 2002-2004 Indians, 2005 Cubs, 2005 Yankees, 2006 Mariners
Career: .259/.368/.417 138 HR, 631 RBI, 756 R, 165 SB
All Star: 2000 (Twins), 2004 (Indians)
Mack, S
---------
Shane Lee Mack
Born: December 7, 1963 in Los Angeles, CA
OF
1987-1988 San Diego, 1990-1994 Twins, 1997 Boston, 1998 Kansas City, 1998 Oakland
Career: .299/.364/.456 80 HR, 398 RBI, 436 R, 853 H, 90 SB
World Series Champion 1991 (Twins)
Mauer, J .
----------
Joseph (Joe) Patrick Mauer
Born: April 19, 1983 in St. Paul, MN
C
2004- Twins
Career: .323/.403/.471 84 HR, 502 RBI, 545 R, 1096 H, 35 SB
Led the AL in Batting Average 2006, 2008, 2009, in OBP in 2009, in Slugging percentage in 2009 and in
OPS in 2009
All Star: 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010
Silver Slugger: 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010,
Gold Glove: 2008, 2009, 2010
AL MVP 2009
Morneau, J
----------
Justin Ernest George Morneau
Born: 5/15/1981 in New Westminster, BC Canada
2003-2011 (Twins)
Career: .281/.353/.499 185 HR, 709 RBI, 550 R, 1055 H, 4 SB.
All Star: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 (Twins)
Silver Slugger: 2006, 2008 (Twins)
MVP: 2006 (Twins)
Oliva, T
---------
Pedro (Tony) Oliva
Born: July 20, 1940 in Pinar Del Rio, Cuba
OF
1962-1976 Twins
Career: .304/.353/.476 220 HR, 947 RBI, 870 R, 1917 H, 86 SB
All Star: 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970 (Twins)
Gold Glove: 1966
Rookie of the year 1964
Uniform number 6 retired (Twins, 1991)
Puckett, K
-----------
Kirby Puckett
Born: March 14, 1961 in Chicago, IL
Died: March 6, 2006 in Phoenix, AZ
OF
1984-1995 Twins
Career: .318/.360/.477 207 HR, 1085 RBI, 1071 R, 2304 H, 134 SB
Led the AL in Batting Average 1989, in RBI 1994 and in Hits in 1987, 1988, 1989, 1992
All Star: 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995
All Star MVP: 1993
Silver Slugger 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1992, 1994
World Series Champion: 1987, 1991
ALCS MVP: 1991
Roberto Clemente Award: 1996
Hall of Fame (Elected 2001; Minnesota Twins)
Next: Home Runs
12/19/11
Not a Garden Variety Top 10 List - Part 3: Twins Franchise Slugging Percentage Leaders
This is the third installment of the franchise top ten lists, which started with the Batting Average List and the OBP list last week. Again, the purpose is to provide a glimpse of the great players who wore the Franchise's uniform, being Twins or Senators.
As with the other lists, there are two top ten lists for each category: Single Season Best and Career Best. Career Best takes into consideration cumulative performance for only the Twins' or Senators' years of a player's career. In other words, what Carew did with the Angels does not matter. And the top-10 lists are not a single top ten list. Because of the variations of the game through out the years, a Senators' top ten list is merged with a Twins' top ten list to give the franchise's best (usually 20-30) players in a category.
So in the lists, we get the ranking in the franchise and the ranking of a particular player among Senators or Twins, depending what uniform that player won. Because the purpose of this is to be a history lesson and a celebration of the great players who played for our beloved franchise, and not a debate about who is better than whom, I am not adding commentary on performances. Also, because these units are somewhat freestanding the way they are posted, I am profiling every player including the ones appearing in earlier lists. The stats in the profiles are career totals and not franchise totals.
Here is the Slugging Percentage List and you will see many more Twins than Senators. This reflects the differences in ball play during the times:
Franchise single season:
Franchise 1 WAS 1 Goslin, G WAS .614
Franchise 2 MIN 1 Killebrew, H .606
Franchise 3 MIN 2 Mauer, J .587
Franchise 4 MIN 3 Killebrew, H .584
Franchise 5 WAS 2 Sievers, R .579
Franchise 6 MIN 4 Carew, R .570
Franchise 7 MIN 5 Morneau, J .559
Franchise 8 MIN 6 Killebrew, H .558 .
Franchise 9 MIN 7 Oliva, T .557
Franchise 10 MIN 8 Killebrew, H .555
Franchise 11 MIN 9 Allison, B .553
Franchise 12 MIN 10 Gaetti, G .551
Franchise 13 MIN 11 Killebrew, H .548
Franchise 14 WAS 3 Goslin, G .547
Franchise 15 MIN 12 Killebrew, H .546
Franchise 15 MIN 12 Oliva, T .546
Franchise 17 MIN 14 Killebrew, H .545
Franchise 17 MIN 14 Hrbek, K 9 .545
Franchise 17 MIN 14 Puckett, K .545
Franchise 17 WAS 4 Stone, J .545
Franchise 21 WAS 5 Sievers, R .544
Franchise 22 WAS 6 Goslin, G .542
Franchise 23 MIN 15 Puckett, K .540
Franchise 24 MIN 16 Kubel, J .539
Franchise 25 MIN 17 Killebrew, H .538
Franchise 26 MIN 18 Puckett, K .537
Franchise 27 WAS 7 Killebrew, H .534
Franchise 27 MIN 19 Puckett, K .534
Franchise 29 MIN 20 Allison, B .533
Franchise 29 MIN 20 Hisle, L .533
Franchise 31 MIN 22 Hunter, T .524
Franchise 32 WAS 8 Manush, H .523
Franchise 33 MIN 23 Hrbek, K .522
Franchise 34 MIN 24 Hall, J .521
Franchise 35 MIN 25 Cuddyer, M .520
Franchise 35 WAS 9 Manush, H .520
Franchise 35 WAS 10 Travis, C .520
Franchise 35 MIN 25 Hrbek, K .520
Career:
Franchise 1 MIN 1 Killebrew, H .514 .
Franchise 2 WAS 1 Goslin, G .502
Franchise 3 WAS 2 Sievers, R .500
Franchise 4 MIN 2 Morneau, J .499
Franchise 5 MIN 3 Hrbek, K .481
Franchise 6 MIN 4 Mack, S .479
Franchise 7 WAS 3 Manush, H .478
Franchise 8 MIN 5 Puckett, K .477
Franchise 9 MIN 6 Oliva, T .476
Franchise 9 WAS 4 Stone, J .476
Franchise 11 MIN 7 Allison, B .471
Franchise 11 MIN 7 Mauer, J .471
Franchise 13 WAS 5 Lemon, J .470
Franchise 14 MIN 9 Hunter, T .469
Franchise 15 MIN 10 Koskie, C .463
Franchise 16 MIN 11 Kubel, J .459
Franchise 17 MIN 12 Hisle, L .457
Franchise 18 MIN 13 Jones, J .455
Franchise 18 WAS 6 Cronin, J .455
Franchise 20 WAS 7 Spence, S .453 .
Franchise 21 MIN 14 Brunansky, T .452
Franchise 22 MIN 15 Cuddyer, M .451
Franchise 22 MIN 15 Cordova, M .451
Franchise 24 MIN 17 Carew, R .448
Franchise 25 MIN 18 Gaetti, G .437
Franchise 26 MIN 19 Harper, B .431
Franchise 26 MIN 19 Coomer, R .431
Franchise 28 WAS 8 Rice, S .429
Franchise 29 MIN 20 Lawton, M .428
Franchise 29 WAS 9 Vernon, M .428
Franchise 31 WAS 10 Judge, J .423
Who is who of the Senators Listed, with a bit of biographic information and a picture (alphabetically):
Cronin, J
---------
Joseph Edward Cronin
Born: October 12, 1906 in San Francisco, CA
Died: September 7, 1984, Osterville, MA
SS
1926-1927 Pittsburgh, 1928-1934 Senators, 1935-1945 Red Sox.
Career: .301/.390/.468, 170 HR, 1424 RBI, 1232 R, 2285 H, 87 SB
7 times All Star: 1933, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1941
AL MVP 1930
Hall of Fame (elected 1956 as a Red Sox' Player)
His number 4 retired by Boston
Goslin, G
-----------
Leon Allen (Goose) Goslin
Born: October 16, 1900 in Salem, NJ
Died: May 15, 1971, Bridgeton, NJ
OF
1921-1930, 1933, 1938 Senators, 1930-1932 St. Louis, 1934-1938 Detroit
Career: .316/.387/.500, 248 HR, 1609 RBI, 1482 R, 2735 H, 175 SB
All Star 1936
World Series Winner 1924 (Senators) 1935 (Detroit)
Hall of Fame (Elected 1968 as a Minnesota Twin not as a Senator)
Judge, J
----------
Joseph Ignatius (Joe) Judge
Born: May 25, 1894 in Brooklyn, NY
Died: March 11, 1963 in Washington DC
1B
1915-1933 Senators, 1933-1934 Red Sox
Career: .298/.378/.420, 71 HR, 1034 RBI, 1185 R, 2352 H, 213 SB
World Series Winner 1924 (Senators)
Lemon, J
---------
James (Jim) Robert Lemon
Born: March 23, 1928 in Covington, VA
Died: May 14, 2006 in Brandon, MS
1950, 1955 Cleveland, 1954-1960 Senators, 1961-1962 Twins, 1963 Philadelphia, 1963 White Sox
Career: .262/.332/.460, 164 HR, 529 RBI, 446 R, 901 H, 13 SB
All Star: 1959, 1960 (Senators)
Manush, H
-----------
Henry Emmett (Heinie) Manush
Born: July 20, 1901 in Tuscumbia, AL
Died: May 21, 1971 in Sarasota, FL
OF
1923-1927 Detroit, 1928-1930 St Louis, 1930-1935 Senators, 1936 Boston, 1937-1938 Brooklyn, 1938-1939 Pittsburgh
Career: .330/.377/.479, 110 HR, 1183 RBI, 1288 R, 2524 H, 114 SB
Led AL in Batting Average in 1926 and in Hits in 1928 and 1933
All Star (1934, Senators)
Hall of Fame (Elected 1964, Detroit Tigers)
Rice, S
---------
Edgar Charles (Sam) Rice
Born: February 20, 1890 in Morocco, IN
Died: October 13, 1974 in Rossmoor, MD
OF
1915-1933 Senators, 1934 Cleveland
Career: .322/.374/.427, 34 HR, 1078 RBI, 1513 R, 2987 H, 351 SB
Led the AL in Hits 1924, 1926 and Stolen Bases in 1920
World Series Champion 1924 (Senators)
Hall of Fame (elected 1963, Minnesota Twins)
Sievers, R
-----------
Roy "Squirrel" Edward Sievers
Born: November 18, 1926 in St.Louis, MO
1949-1953 St Louis Browns (later became Baltimore Orioles), 1954-1959 Senators, 1960-1961 (White Sox) 1962-1964 Phillies, 1964-1965 (expansion Senators - later became Texas Rangers)
Career: .267/.354/.475 318 HR, 1147 RBI, 945 R, 1703 H, 14 SB
Led the AL in HRs in 1957 and in RBI in 1957
All Star: 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959 (Senators) 1961 (White Sox)
Rookie of the Year: 1959 (Browns)
Spence, S
----------
Stanley (Stan) Orville Spence
Born: March 20, 1915 in S.Portsmouth, KY
Died: January 9, 1983 in Kinston, NC
OF
1940-1941, 1948-1949, Red Sox, 1942-1947 Senators, 1949 St Louis
Career: .282/.369/.437 95 HR, 575 RBI, 541 R, 1090 H, 21 SB
All Star: 1942, 1944, 1946, 1947 (all with Senators)
Stone, J
--------
John "Rocky" Thomas Stone
Born: October 10, 1905 in Mulberry, TN
Died: November 30, 1955 in Shelbyville, TN
OF
1928-1933 Detroit, 1934-1938 Senators
Career: .310/.376/.467 77 HR, 707 RBI, 739 R, 1391 H, 45 SB
Travis, C
----------
Cecil Howell Travis
Born: August 8, 1913 in Riverdale, GA
Died: December 16, 2006 in Riverdale, GA
SS
1933-1941, 1945-1947 Senators; 1941-1944 US Army, received Bronze Star for injuries
Career: .314/.370/.416 27 HR, 657 RBI, 665 R, 1544 H, 23 SB
Led the AL in Hits, 1941
All Star: 1938, 1940, 1941
Vernon, M
-----------
James Barton (Mickey) Vernon
Born: April 22, 1918 in Marcus Hook, PA
Died: September 24, 2008 in Media, PA
1B
1939-1943, 1946-1947, 1950-1955 Senators, 1949-1950, 1958 Cleveland, 1956-1957 Boston, 1959 Milwaukee, 1960 Pittsburgh; US Army 1944-1945
Career: .286/.359/.428 172 HR, 1311 RBI, 1196 R, 2495 H, 137 SB
Led the AL in Batting Average in 1946 and 1953
All Star: 1946, 1948, 1953, 1954, 1955 (Senators) 1956 (Boston) 1958 (Cleveland)
World Series Champion 1960
Who is who of the Twins listed, with a bit of biographic information and a picture (alphabetically):
Allison, B
------------
William Robert (Bob) Allison
Born: July 11, 1934 in Raytown, MO
Died: April 9, 1995 in Rio Verde, AZ
1958-1960 Senators, 1961-1970 Twins
Career: .255/.358/.471 256 HR, 796 RBI, 811 R, 1281 H, 84 SB
Led the AL in OPS in 1963 and in Runs in 1963
All Star: 1959 (Senators) 1963, 1964 (Twins)
Rookie of the Year (1959, Senators)
Brunansky, T
-------------
Thomas (Tom) "Bruno" Andrew Brunansky
Born: August 20, 1960 in Covina, CA
1981 Angels, 1982-1988 Twins, 1988-1990 St Louis, 1990-1992, 1994 Red Sox, 1993-1994 Milwaukee
Career: .245/.327/.434 271 HR, 919 RBI, 804 R, 1543 H, 69 SB
All Star: 1985 (Twins)
World Series Champion: 1987 (Twins)
Carew, R
----------
Rodney (Rod) Cline Carew
Born: October 1, 1945 in Gatun, Canal Zone
IF
1967-1978 Twins, 1979-1985 Angels
Career: .328/.393/.429 82 HR, 1015 RBI, 1424 R, 3053 H, 353 SB
Led AL in Batting Average: 1969, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1978; in OBP 1974, 1975, 1977, 1978 in OPS 1977 in Runs 1977, Hits 1973, 1974, 1977
All Star: 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978 (Twins), 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984 (Angels)
MVP 1977
Rookie of the year 1967
Roberto Clemente Award 1977
Uniform number 29 Retired by the Twins (1987) and Angels (1991)
Hall of Fame (elected 1991, Minnesota Twins)
Coomer R
----------
Ronald (Ron) Bryan Coomer
Born: November 18, 1966 in Chicago, IL
1995-2000 Twins, 2001 Cubs, 2002 Yankees, 2003 Dodgers
Career: .274/.313/.421 92 HR, 449 RBI, 333 R, 827 H, 13 SB
All Star: 1999 (Twins)
Cordova M
-----------
Martin (Marty) Keevin Cordova
Born: July 10, 1969 in Las Vegas, NV
1995-1999 Twins, 2000 Toronto, 2001 Cleveland, 2002-2003 Baltimore
Career: .274/.344/.448 122 HR, 540 RBI, 480 R, 938 H, 57 SB
Rookie of the Year: 1995 (Twins)
Cuddyer M
-----------
Michael Brent Cuddyer
Born: March 27, 1979 in Norfolk, VA
2001-2011 Twins
Career: .272/.343/.451 141 HR, 580 RBI, 606 R, 1106 H, 52 SB
All Star: 2011 (Twins)
Gaetti G
--------
Gary Joseph Gaetti
Born: August 19, 1958 in Centralia, IL
1981-1990 Twins, 1991-1993 Angels, 1993-1995 Kansas City, 1996-1998 St Louis, 1998-1999 Cubs, 2000 Red Sox
Career: .255/.308/.434 360 HR, 1341 RBI, 1130 R, 2280 H, 96 SB
All Star: 1988, 1989 (Twins)
Silver Slugger: 1995 (Kansas City)
Gold Glove: 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989 (Twins)
ALCS MVP: 1987 (Twins)
World Series Champion: 1987 (Twins)
Hall J
--------
Jimmie Randolph Hall
Born: March 17, 1938 in Mt.Holly, NC
1963-1966 Twins, 1967-1968 Angels, 1968-1969 Cleveland, 1969 Yankees, 1969-1970 Cubs, 1970 Atlanta.
Career: .254/.321/.434 121 HR, 391 RBI, 387 R, 724 H, 38 SB
All Star: 1964, 1965 (Twins)
Harper, B
---------
Brian David Harper
Born: October 16, 1959 in Los Angeles, CA
C
1979, 1981 Angels, 1982-1984 Pittsburgh, 1985 St Louis, 1986 Detroit, 1987, 1985 Oakland, 1998-1993 Twins, 1994 Milwaukee
Career: .295/.329/.419 63 HR, 428 RBI, 339 R, 931 H, 8 SB
World Series Champion 1991, Twins
Hisle, L
---------
Larry Eugene Hisle
Born: May 5, 1947 in Portsmouth, OH
OF
1968-1971 Philadelphia, 1973-1977 Twins, 1978-1982 Milwaukee
Career: .273/.347./.452 166 HR, 674 RBI, 652 R, 1146 H, 128 SB
Led the AL in RBI in 1977
All Star 1977 (Twins), 1978 (Milwaukee)
Hrbek, K
---------
Kent Alan Hrbek
Born: May 21, 1960 in Minneapolis, MN
1B
1961-1994 Twins
Career: .283/.367/.481 293 HR, 1086 RBi, 903 R, 37 SB
All Star 1982
World Series Champion 1987, 1991, Twins
Uniform number 14 was retired by the Twins (1995)
Hunter T
---------
Torii Kedar Hunter
Born: 7/18/1975 in Pine Bluff, AR
1997-2007 Twins, 2008-2011 Angels
Career: .274/.332/.467 281 HR, 1051 RBI, 987 R, 1819 H, 177 SB
All Star: 2002, 2007 (Twins), 2009, 2010 (Angels)
Silver Slugger: 2009 (Angels)
Gold Glove: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 (Twins), 2008, 2009 (Angels)
Jones, J
---------
Jacque Dewayne Jones
Born: April 25, 1975 in San Diego, CA
1999-2005 Twins, 2006-2007 Cubs, 2008 Detroit, 2009 Florida
Career: .277/.326/.448
Killebrew, H
-------------
Harmon "Killer" Clayton Killebrew
Born: June 29, 1936 in Payette, ID
1B
1954-1960 Senators, 1961-1974 Twins, 1975 Royals
Career: .256/.376/.509 573 HR, 1584 RBI, 1283 R, 2086 H, 19 SB
Led AL in Home Runs 1959, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1967 and 1969, in RBI in 1962, 1969 and 1971, in OBP in 1969 and in SLG% in 1963
All Star: 1959, 1960 (Senators) 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971 (Twins)
MVP 1969
Uniform number 3 Retired by the Twins (1975)
Hall of Fame (elected 1984, Minnesota Twins)
Koskie, C
-----------
Cordel (Cory) Leonard Koskie
Born: June 28, 1973 in Anola, MB, Canada
3B
1998-2004 Twins, 2005 Blue Jays, 2006 Brewers
Career: .275/.367/.458 124 HR, 506 RBI, 516 R, 71 SB
Kubel, J
--------
Jason James Kubel
Born: 5/25/1982 in Belle Fourche, SD
2004, 2006-2011 (Twins)
Career: .271/.335/.459 104 HR, 429 RBI, 334 R, 694 H, 10 SB
Lawton, M
----------
Matthew (Matt) Lawton
Born: November 30, 1971 in Gulfport, MS
OF
1995-2001 Twins, 2001 Mets, 2002-2004 Indians, 2005 Cubs, 2005 Yankees, 2006 Mariners
Career: .259/.368/.417 138 HR, 631 RBI, 756 R, 165 SB
All Star: 2000 (Twins), 2004 (Indians)
Mack, S
---------
Shane Lee Mack
Born: December 7, 1963 in Los Angeles, CA
OF
1987-1988 San Diego, 1990-1994 Twins, 1997 Boston, 1998 Kansas City, 1998 Oakland
Career: .299/.364/.456 80 HR, 398 RBI, 436 R, 853 H, 90 SB
World Series Champion 1991 (Twins)
Mauer, J .
----------
Joseph (Joe) Patrick Mauer
Born: April 19, 1983 in St. Paul, MN
C
2004- Twins
Career: .323/.403/.471 84 HR, 502 RBI, 545 R, 1096 H, 35 SB
Led the AL in Batting Average 2006, 2008, 2009, in OBP in 2009, in Slugging percentage in 2009 and in OPS in 2009
All Star: 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010
Silver Slugger: 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010,
Gold Glove: 2008, 2009, 2010
AL MVP 2009
Morneau, J
----------
Justin Ernest George Morneau
Born: 5/15/1981 in New Westminster, BC Canada
2003-2011 (Twins)
Career: .281/.353/.499 185 HR, 709 RBI, 550 R, 1055 H, 4 SB.
All Star: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 (Twins)
Silver Slugger: 2006, 2008 (Twins)
MVP: 2006 (Twins)
Oliva, T
---------
Pedro (Tony) Oliva
Born: July 20, 1940 in Pinar Del Rio, Cuba
OF
1962-1976 Twins
Career: .304/.353/.476 220 HR, 947 RBI, 870 R, 1917 H, 86 SB
All Star: 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970 (Twins)
Gold Glove: 1966
Rookie of the year 1964
Uniform number 6 retired (Twins, 1991)
Puckett, K
-----------
Kirby Puckett
Born: March 14, 1961 in Chicago, IL
Died: March 6, 2006 in Phoenix, AZ
OF
1984-1995 Twins
Career: .318/.360/.477 207 HR, 1085 RBI, 1071 R, 2304 H, 134 SB
Led the AL in Batting Average 1989, in RBI 1994 and in Hits in 1987, 1988, 1989, 1992
All Star: 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995
All Star MVP: 1993
Silver Slugger 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1992, 1994
World Series Champion: 1987, 1991
ALCS MVP: 1991
Roberto Clemente Award: 1996
Hall of Fame (Elected 2001; Minnesota Twins)
Next: On base Plus Slugging (OPS)
As with the other lists, there are two top ten lists for each category: Single Season Best and Career Best. Career Best takes into consideration cumulative performance for only the Twins' or Senators' years of a player's career. In other words, what Carew did with the Angels does not matter. And the top-10 lists are not a single top ten list. Because of the variations of the game through out the years, a Senators' top ten list is merged with a Twins' top ten list to give the franchise's best (usually 20-30) players in a category.
So in the lists, we get the ranking in the franchise and the ranking of a particular player among Senators or Twins, depending what uniform that player won. Because the purpose of this is to be a history lesson and a celebration of the great players who played for our beloved franchise, and not a debate about who is better than whom, I am not adding commentary on performances. Also, because these units are somewhat freestanding the way they are posted, I am profiling every player including the ones appearing in earlier lists. The stats in the profiles are career totals and not franchise totals.
Here is the Slugging Percentage List and you will see many more Twins than Senators. This reflects the differences in ball play during the times:
Franchise single season:
Franchise 1 WAS 1 Goslin, G WAS .614
Franchise 2 MIN 1 Killebrew, H .606
Franchise 3 MIN 2 Mauer, J .587
Franchise 4 MIN 3 Killebrew, H .584
Franchise 5 WAS 2 Sievers, R .579
Franchise 6 MIN 4 Carew, R .570
Franchise 7 MIN 5 Morneau, J .559
Franchise 8 MIN 6 Killebrew, H .558 .
Franchise 9 MIN 7 Oliva, T .557
Franchise 10 MIN 8 Killebrew, H .555
Franchise 11 MIN 9 Allison, B .553
Franchise 12 MIN 10 Gaetti, G .551
Franchise 13 MIN 11 Killebrew, H .548
Franchise 14 WAS 3 Goslin, G .547
Franchise 15 MIN 12 Killebrew, H .546
Franchise 15 MIN 12 Oliva, T .546
Franchise 17 MIN 14 Killebrew, H .545
Franchise 17 MIN 14 Hrbek, K 9 .545
Franchise 17 MIN 14 Puckett, K .545
Franchise 17 WAS 4 Stone, J .545
Franchise 21 WAS 5 Sievers, R .544
Franchise 22 WAS 6 Goslin, G .542
Franchise 23 MIN 15 Puckett, K .540
Franchise 24 MIN 16 Kubel, J .539
Franchise 25 MIN 17 Killebrew, H .538
Franchise 26 MIN 18 Puckett, K .537
Franchise 27 WAS 7 Killebrew, H .534
Franchise 27 MIN 19 Puckett, K .534
Franchise 29 MIN 20 Allison, B .533
Franchise 29 MIN 20 Hisle, L .533
Franchise 31 MIN 22 Hunter, T .524
Franchise 32 WAS 8 Manush, H .523
Franchise 33 MIN 23 Hrbek, K .522
Franchise 34 MIN 24 Hall, J .521
Franchise 35 MIN 25 Cuddyer, M .520
Franchise 35 WAS 9 Manush, H .520
Franchise 35 WAS 10 Travis, C .520
Franchise 35 MIN 25 Hrbek, K .520
Career:
Franchise 1 MIN 1 Killebrew, H .514 .
Franchise 2 WAS 1 Goslin, G .502
Franchise 3 WAS 2 Sievers, R .500
Franchise 4 MIN 2 Morneau, J .499
Franchise 5 MIN 3 Hrbek, K .481
Franchise 6 MIN 4 Mack, S .479
Franchise 7 WAS 3 Manush, H .478
Franchise 8 MIN 5 Puckett, K .477
Franchise 9 MIN 6 Oliva, T .476
Franchise 9 WAS 4 Stone, J .476
Franchise 11 MIN 7 Allison, B .471
Franchise 11 MIN 7 Mauer, J .471
Franchise 13 WAS 5 Lemon, J .470
Franchise 14 MIN 9 Hunter, T .469
Franchise 15 MIN 10 Koskie, C .463
Franchise 16 MIN 11 Kubel, J .459
Franchise 17 MIN 12 Hisle, L .457
Franchise 18 MIN 13 Jones, J .455
Franchise 18 WAS 6 Cronin, J .455
Franchise 20 WAS 7 Spence, S .453 .
Franchise 21 MIN 14 Brunansky, T .452
Franchise 22 MIN 15 Cuddyer, M .451
Franchise 22 MIN 15 Cordova, M .451
Franchise 24 MIN 17 Carew, R .448
Franchise 25 MIN 18 Gaetti, G .437
Franchise 26 MIN 19 Harper, B .431
Franchise 26 MIN 19 Coomer, R .431
Franchise 28 WAS 8 Rice, S .429
Franchise 29 MIN 20 Lawton, M .428
Franchise 29 WAS 9 Vernon, M .428
Franchise 31 WAS 10 Judge, J .423
Who is who of the Senators Listed, with a bit of biographic information and a picture (alphabetically):
Cronin, J
---------
Joseph Edward Cronin
Born: October 12, 1906 in San Francisco, CA
Died: September 7, 1984, Osterville, MA
SS
1926-1927 Pittsburgh, 1928-1934 Senators, 1935-1945 Red Sox.
Career: .301/.390/.468, 170 HR, 1424 RBI, 1232 R, 2285 H, 87 SB
7 times All Star: 1933, 1934, 1935, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1941
AL MVP 1930
Hall of Fame (elected 1956 as a Red Sox' Player)
His number 4 retired by Boston
Goslin, G
-----------
Leon Allen (Goose) Goslin
Born: October 16, 1900 in Salem, NJ
Died: May 15, 1971, Bridgeton, NJ
OF
1921-1930, 1933, 1938 Senators, 1930-1932 St. Louis, 1934-1938 Detroit
Career: .316/.387/.500, 248 HR, 1609 RBI, 1482 R, 2735 H, 175 SB
All Star 1936
World Series Winner 1924 (Senators) 1935 (Detroit)
Hall of Fame (Elected 1968 as a Minnesota Twin not as a Senator)
Judge, J
----------
Joseph Ignatius (Joe) Judge
Born: May 25, 1894 in Brooklyn, NY
Died: March 11, 1963 in Washington DC
1B
1915-1933 Senators, 1933-1934 Red Sox
Career: .298/.378/.420, 71 HR, 1034 RBI, 1185 R, 2352 H, 213 SB
World Series Winner 1924 (Senators)
Lemon, J
---------
James (Jim) Robert Lemon
Born: March 23, 1928 in Covington, VA
Died: May 14, 2006 in Brandon, MS
1950, 1955 Cleveland, 1954-1960 Senators, 1961-1962 Twins, 1963 Philadelphia, 1963 White Sox
Career: .262/.332/.460, 164 HR, 529 RBI, 446 R, 901 H, 13 SB
All Star: 1959, 1960 (Senators)
Manush, H
-----------
Henry Emmett (Heinie) Manush
Born: July 20, 1901 in Tuscumbia, AL
Died: May 21, 1971 in Sarasota, FL
OF
1923-1927 Detroit, 1928-1930 St Louis, 1930-1935 Senators, 1936 Boston, 1937-1938 Brooklyn, 1938-1939 Pittsburgh
Career: .330/.377/.479, 110 HR, 1183 RBI, 1288 R, 2524 H, 114 SB
Led AL in Batting Average in 1926 and in Hits in 1928 and 1933
All Star (1934, Senators)
Hall of Fame (Elected 1964, Detroit Tigers)
Rice, S
---------
Edgar Charles (Sam) Rice
Born: February 20, 1890 in Morocco, IN
Died: October 13, 1974 in Rossmoor, MD
OF
1915-1933 Senators, 1934 Cleveland
Career: .322/.374/.427, 34 HR, 1078 RBI, 1513 R, 2987 H, 351 SB
Led the AL in Hits 1924, 1926 and Stolen Bases in 1920
World Series Champion 1924 (Senators)
Hall of Fame (elected 1963, Minnesota Twins)
Sievers, R
-----------
Roy "Squirrel" Edward Sievers
Born: November 18, 1926 in St.Louis, MO
1949-1953 St Louis Browns (later became Baltimore Orioles), 1954-1959 Senators, 1960-1961 (White Sox) 1962-1964 Phillies, 1964-1965 (expansion Senators - later became Texas Rangers)
Career: .267/.354/.475 318 HR, 1147 RBI, 945 R, 1703 H, 14 SB
Led the AL in HRs in 1957 and in RBI in 1957
All Star: 1956, 1957, 1958, 1959 (Senators) 1961 (White Sox)
Rookie of the Year: 1959 (Browns)
Spence, S
----------
Stanley (Stan) Orville Spence
Born: March 20, 1915 in S.Portsmouth, KY
Died: January 9, 1983 in Kinston, NC
OF
1940-1941, 1948-1949, Red Sox, 1942-1947 Senators, 1949 St Louis
Career: .282/.369/.437 95 HR, 575 RBI, 541 R, 1090 H, 21 SB
All Star: 1942, 1944, 1946, 1947 (all with Senators)
Stone, J
--------
John "Rocky" Thomas Stone
Born: October 10, 1905 in Mulberry, TN
Died: November 30, 1955 in Shelbyville, TN
OF
1928-1933 Detroit, 1934-1938 Senators
Career: .310/.376/.467 77 HR, 707 RBI, 739 R, 1391 H, 45 SB
Travis, C
----------
Cecil Howell Travis
Born: August 8, 1913 in Riverdale, GA
Died: December 16, 2006 in Riverdale, GA
SS
1933-1941, 1945-1947 Senators; 1941-1944 US Army, received Bronze Star for injuries
Career: .314/.370/.416 27 HR, 657 RBI, 665 R, 1544 H, 23 SB
Led the AL in Hits, 1941
All Star: 1938, 1940, 1941
Vernon, M
-----------
James Barton (Mickey) Vernon
Born: April 22, 1918 in Marcus Hook, PA
Died: September 24, 2008 in Media, PA
1B
1939-1943, 1946-1947, 1950-1955 Senators, 1949-1950, 1958 Cleveland, 1956-1957 Boston, 1959 Milwaukee, 1960 Pittsburgh; US Army 1944-1945
Career: .286/.359/.428 172 HR, 1311 RBI, 1196 R, 2495 H, 137 SB
Led the AL in Batting Average in 1946 and 1953
All Star: 1946, 1948, 1953, 1954, 1955 (Senators) 1956 (Boston) 1958 (Cleveland)
World Series Champion 1960
Who is who of the Twins listed, with a bit of biographic information and a picture (alphabetically):
Allison, B
------------
William Robert (Bob) Allison
Born: July 11, 1934 in Raytown, MO
Died: April 9, 1995 in Rio Verde, AZ
1958-1960 Senators, 1961-1970 Twins
Career: .255/.358/.471 256 HR, 796 RBI, 811 R, 1281 H, 84 SB
Led the AL in OPS in 1963 and in Runs in 1963
All Star: 1959 (Senators) 1963, 1964 (Twins)
Rookie of the Year (1959, Senators)
Brunansky, T
-------------
Thomas (Tom) "Bruno" Andrew Brunansky
Born: August 20, 1960 in Covina, CA
1981 Angels, 1982-1988 Twins, 1988-1990 St Louis, 1990-1992, 1994 Red Sox, 1993-1994 Milwaukee
Career: .245/.327/.434 271 HR, 919 RBI, 804 R, 1543 H, 69 SB
All Star: 1985 (Twins)
World Series Champion: 1987 (Twins)
Carew, R
----------
Rodney (Rod) Cline Carew
Born: October 1, 1945 in Gatun, Canal Zone
IF
1967-1978 Twins, 1979-1985 Angels
Career: .328/.393/.429 82 HR, 1015 RBI, 1424 R, 3053 H, 353 SB
Led AL in Batting Average: 1969, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1978; in OBP 1974, 1975, 1977, 1978 in OPS 1977 in Runs 1977, Hits 1973, 1974, 1977
All Star: 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978 (Twins), 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984 (Angels)
MVP 1977
Rookie of the year 1967
Roberto Clemente Award 1977
Uniform number 29 Retired by the Twins (1987) and Angels (1991)
Hall of Fame (elected 1991, Minnesota Twins)
Coomer R
----------
Ronald (Ron) Bryan Coomer
Born: November 18, 1966 in Chicago, IL
1995-2000 Twins, 2001 Cubs, 2002 Yankees, 2003 Dodgers
Career: .274/.313/.421 92 HR, 449 RBI, 333 R, 827 H, 13 SB
All Star: 1999 (Twins)
Cordova M
-----------
Martin (Marty) Keevin Cordova
Born: July 10, 1969 in Las Vegas, NV
1995-1999 Twins, 2000 Toronto, 2001 Cleveland, 2002-2003 Baltimore
Career: .274/.344/.448 122 HR, 540 RBI, 480 R, 938 H, 57 SB
Rookie of the Year: 1995 (Twins)
Cuddyer M
-----------
Michael Brent Cuddyer
Born: March 27, 1979 in Norfolk, VA
2001-2011 Twins
Career: .272/.343/.451 141 HR, 580 RBI, 606 R, 1106 H, 52 SB
All Star: 2011 (Twins)
Gaetti G
--------
Gary Joseph Gaetti
Born: August 19, 1958 in Centralia, IL
1981-1990 Twins, 1991-1993 Angels, 1993-1995 Kansas City, 1996-1998 St Louis, 1998-1999 Cubs, 2000 Red Sox
Career: .255/.308/.434 360 HR, 1341 RBI, 1130 R, 2280 H, 96 SB
All Star: 1988, 1989 (Twins)
Silver Slugger: 1995 (Kansas City)
Gold Glove: 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989 (Twins)
ALCS MVP: 1987 (Twins)
World Series Champion: 1987 (Twins)
Hall J
--------
Jimmie Randolph Hall
Born: March 17, 1938 in Mt.Holly, NC
1963-1966 Twins, 1967-1968 Angels, 1968-1969 Cleveland, 1969 Yankees, 1969-1970 Cubs, 1970 Atlanta.
Career: .254/.321/.434 121 HR, 391 RBI, 387 R, 724 H, 38 SB
All Star: 1964, 1965 (Twins)
Harper, B
---------
Brian David Harper
Born: October 16, 1959 in Los Angeles, CA
C
1979, 1981 Angels, 1982-1984 Pittsburgh, 1985 St Louis, 1986 Detroit, 1987, 1985 Oakland, 1998-1993 Twins, 1994 Milwaukee
Career: .295/.329/.419 63 HR, 428 RBI, 339 R, 931 H, 8 SB
World Series Champion 1991, Twins
Hisle, L
---------
Larry Eugene Hisle
Born: May 5, 1947 in Portsmouth, OH
OF
1968-1971 Philadelphia, 1973-1977 Twins, 1978-1982 Milwaukee
Career: .273/.347./.452 166 HR, 674 RBI, 652 R, 1146 H, 128 SB
Led the AL in RBI in 1977
All Star 1977 (Twins), 1978 (Milwaukee)
Hrbek, K
---------
Kent Alan Hrbek
Born: May 21, 1960 in Minneapolis, MN
1B
1961-1994 Twins
Career: .283/.367/.481 293 HR, 1086 RBi, 903 R, 37 SB
All Star 1982
World Series Champion 1987, 1991, Twins
Uniform number 14 was retired by the Twins (1995)
Hunter T
---------
Torii Kedar Hunter
Born: 7/18/1975 in Pine Bluff, AR
1997-2007 Twins, 2008-2011 Angels
Career: .274/.332/.467 281 HR, 1051 RBI, 987 R, 1819 H, 177 SB
All Star: 2002, 2007 (Twins), 2009, 2010 (Angels)
Silver Slugger: 2009 (Angels)
Gold Glove: 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 (Twins), 2008, 2009 (Angels)
Jones, J
---------
Jacque Dewayne Jones
Born: April 25, 1975 in San Diego, CA
1999-2005 Twins, 2006-2007 Cubs, 2008 Detroit, 2009 Florida
Career: .277/.326/.448
Killebrew, H
-------------
Harmon "Killer" Clayton Killebrew
Born: June 29, 1936 in Payette, ID
1B
1954-1960 Senators, 1961-1974 Twins, 1975 Royals
Career: .256/.376/.509 573 HR, 1584 RBI, 1283 R, 2086 H, 19 SB
Led AL in Home Runs 1959, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1967 and 1969, in RBI in 1962, 1969 and 1971, in OBP in 1969 and in SLG% in 1963
All Star: 1959, 1960 (Senators) 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971 (Twins)
MVP 1969
Uniform number 3 Retired by the Twins (1975)
Hall of Fame (elected 1984, Minnesota Twins)
Koskie, C
-----------
Cordel (Cory) Leonard Koskie
Born: June 28, 1973 in Anola, MB, Canada
3B
1998-2004 Twins, 2005 Blue Jays, 2006 Brewers
Career: .275/.367/.458 124 HR, 506 RBI, 516 R, 71 SB
Kubel, J
--------
Jason James Kubel
Born: 5/25/1982 in Belle Fourche, SD
2004, 2006-2011 (Twins)
Career: .271/.335/.459 104 HR, 429 RBI, 334 R, 694 H, 10 SB
Lawton, M
----------
Matthew (Matt) Lawton
Born: November 30, 1971 in Gulfport, MS
OF
1995-2001 Twins, 2001 Mets, 2002-2004 Indians, 2005 Cubs, 2005 Yankees, 2006 Mariners
Career: .259/.368/.417 138 HR, 631 RBI, 756 R, 165 SB
All Star: 2000 (Twins), 2004 (Indians)
Mack, S
---------
Shane Lee Mack
Born: December 7, 1963 in Los Angeles, CA
OF
1987-1988 San Diego, 1990-1994 Twins, 1997 Boston, 1998 Kansas City, 1998 Oakland
Career: .299/.364/.456 80 HR, 398 RBI, 436 R, 853 H, 90 SB
World Series Champion 1991 (Twins)
Mauer, J .
----------
Joseph (Joe) Patrick Mauer
Born: April 19, 1983 in St. Paul, MN
C
2004- Twins
Career: .323/.403/.471 84 HR, 502 RBI, 545 R, 1096 H, 35 SB
Led the AL in Batting Average 2006, 2008, 2009, in OBP in 2009, in Slugging percentage in 2009 and in OPS in 2009
All Star: 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010
Silver Slugger: 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010,
Gold Glove: 2008, 2009, 2010
AL MVP 2009
Morneau, J
----------
Justin Ernest George Morneau
Born: 5/15/1981 in New Westminster, BC Canada
2003-2011 (Twins)
Career: .281/.353/.499 185 HR, 709 RBI, 550 R, 1055 H, 4 SB.
All Star: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 (Twins)
Silver Slugger: 2006, 2008 (Twins)
MVP: 2006 (Twins)
Oliva, T
---------
Pedro (Tony) Oliva
Born: July 20, 1940 in Pinar Del Rio, Cuba
OF
1962-1976 Twins
Career: .304/.353/.476 220 HR, 947 RBI, 870 R, 1917 H, 86 SB
All Star: 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970 (Twins)
Gold Glove: 1966
Rookie of the year 1964
Uniform number 6 retired (Twins, 1991)
Puckett, K
-----------
Kirby Puckett
Born: March 14, 1961 in Chicago, IL
Died: March 6, 2006 in Phoenix, AZ
OF
1984-1995 Twins
Career: .318/.360/.477 207 HR, 1085 RBI, 1071 R, 2304 H, 134 SB
Led the AL in Batting Average 1989, in RBI 1994 and in Hits in 1987, 1988, 1989, 1992
All Star: 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995
All Star MVP: 1993
Silver Slugger 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1992, 1994
World Series Champion: 1987, 1991
ALCS MVP: 1991
Roberto Clemente Award: 1996
Hall of Fame (Elected 2001; Minnesota Twins)
Next: On base Plus Slugging (OPS)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
