Tony…the Killer and Carew

Twins who have worn uniform number “5″

Jose Valdivielso, 1961
Don Mincher, 1962-66
Russ Nixon, 1967
Bob Oldis, 1968 (Coach)
Leo Cardenas, 1969-70
Danny Thompson, 1970-76
Roy Smalley, 1976-82, 1985-87
Ray Smith, 1983
Houston Jimenez, 1984
Jim Dwyer, 1988-90
Pedro Munoz, 1990-95
Roberto Kelly, 1996-97
Brent Gates, 1998-99
Michael Cuddyer, 2001-08

Roy Smalley is the most accomplished player to wear the number for the Twins, but the most interesting question that pops out of this list to me is who would you rather have as your right fielder: Pedro Munoz or Michael Cuddyer.

Twins career:
Cuddyer: 2445 PA .270/.345/.447 73 HR 107 OPS+
Munoz: 1701 PA .275/.316/.444 61 HR 101 OPS+

Looks like Cuddyer. Munoz’ career was over by the time he was 28, Cuddyer is currently 29 and still has a lot of games ahead of him.

Other fives:

The Twins have had five AL Rookie of the Year award winners: Tony Oliva (1964), Rod Carew (1967), John Castino (1979), Chuck Knoblauch (1991), and Marty Cordova (1995).

Among those Twins and former Twins celebrating birthdays this week is Howard Sinker’s favorite former short stop, Lenny Faedo.

Faedo was a hot prospect in his home town of Tampa, Florida. When he was 18, the Twins made him the 17th overall pick in the 1978 amateur draft. Faedo’s professional career started on a high note in the Appalachian League. The Elizabethton Twins, with Faedo’s help, won the league title in 1978, and Faedo was named to the Appalachian League All-Star team after batting .280 in 55 games. Faedo continued to progress in the organization over the next few years, long considered the Twins’ top prospect. There was even talk of moving Roy Smalley to first base or to a different team to make room for Faedo as the starting short stop for the major league club.

Though 1980 was a down year for Faedo - he batted just .240 for Orlando, he made his major league debut as a September call up at the end of the season. The Twins were said to be happy with his fielding, but felt he had a lot of work to do with his bat. Manager Johnny Goryl characterized Faedo as having a “Bible swing - ‘Thou shalt not pass,’” referring to Faedo’s tendency to swing at just about every pitch he saw.

After his first taste of the majors, it was clear to management that Faedo had not progressed as quickly as had been hoped, and the plans to trade Smalley were temporarily put on hold. Faedo became impatient with the organization, whose stance that he was the heir apparent at short stop had significantly softened after the 1980 season, including a tough stint in the Florida Instructional League that fall. Said Faedo:

They called me up in September and I sat on the bench for 25 days and then they put me in on artificial turf in Kansas City and I made a couple of errors, and now I can’t play.

 

George Brophy was on me during the instructional league, but there were a lot of reasons I didn’t play well, including an injury. Both Brophy and I will be better off if we didn’t talk much to each other. I know this: if they don’t think I am going to be a big league player, the Twins can release me, and I’ll sign with another organization the next day for a lot more money.

 

With talk of Roy Smalley moving to third base for the start of the 1981 season, the regular short stop job was up for grabs in the spring. Instead of having it handed to him, however, Faedo was forced into a spring competition with Johnnie Walker, another young short stop that came from the Dodgers’ organization, though with a lot less fan fare than Faedo had received. After a brief time of open competition, it was announced that Smalley would remain a short stop after all, and that the battle between Faedo, Walker, and new acquisition Chuck Baker would be for the backup job. Faedo ended up starting the season in the minors, but when Smalley went down with an injury in the late summer, Faedo found himself back with the Twins. Though he only batted .195/.209/.244 in 43 plate appearances before succumbing to his own injured heel, Faedo had impressed enough on defense to be penciled in by manager Billy Gardner as the starting short stop for the 1982 season.

After Roy Smalley was finally traded four games into the 1982 season, Faedo finally got his shot as a part of the Twins’ youth movement. Faedo struggled out of the gate both at the plate (.216/.293/.216 through April 22) and in the field. Before April was over Faedo had been replaced at short stop by career minor leaguer Ron Washington. At the age of 30, Washington got his first real shot at the majors and made the most of it. Though Faedo played a lot more for the balance of the season due to Washington’s injuries, the luster had certainly been lost from the former number on draft choice.

The Twins gave Faedo another chance as a starter at the beginning of the 1983 season. Though Washington had a clear advantage at the plate, the Twins had determined that, with his fielding deficiencies and his age, Washington would serve the team better in the utility role. The chatter around the club in the spring was the hope that a young short stop acquired in Smalley trade, Greg Gagne, had the skills to either take the job himself, or at least to push Faedo to finally reach his potential. As it turned out, Gagne wasn’t ready for the role and Faedo won the job out of spring training. There was speculation that the choice of Faedo over Washington was racially motivated. Regardless of the reasons the organization gave, Washington became the every day short stop in early May when Faedo went down with an injury that cost him the bulk of the season. He returned as a regular for the last month of 1983, the Twins hoping that he would prove that he could play the position every day.

Faedo returned in the spring of 1984 in what was reported as the best shape of his career. Again the Twins brought Gagne in to camp in hopes of further pushing Faedo. As had been the pattern, Gagne was sent to the minors and Faedo began the season as the every day short stop.

Faedo had not made any friends in the organization with his comments years earlier, and had developed a long-simmering fued with manager Billy Gardner. After a critical error in a late April game in 1984, Faedo was quoted as saying “I won’t lose any sleep over it,” enough to push the final button of Gardner, who immediately pulled Faedo from the lineup and ultimately had him removed from the organization, initially on loan to the Detroit Tigers who needed a third baseman for their AA squad in Evansville. Later in the season, the Twins loaned Faedo to the Texas Rangers for their Oklahoma City AAA affiliate. Gardner indicated later that he might have pulled some strings to land Faedo in Oklahoma City in the middle of the summer:

I tell you, pal, it’s hot in Oklahoma City in the summertime - hot as it can get. Oklahoma in the summer, that’s when you find out who wants to play.

 

Gardner went on to make some other pointed comments in Faedo’s direction:

That other word- motivation- I hear that and it makes me sick. If being in the big leagues is not all the motivation you need, pal, you’re in trouble.

 

Gardner’s words turned out to be a parting shot. At the end of the 1984 season Faedo was assigned to AAA Toledo, leaving him available in the December draft. No team drafted Faedo, but the Twins cut ties by releasing him in the spring of 1985. He did sign as a free agent with the Kansas City Royals a month later, and bounced around the minor leagues for a time, but never again saw major league action.

May 11, 1939
Frank Quilici - Here is what I wrote about Quilici last year when I profiled managers in team history: The Twins promoted from within to replace Rigney, and lifelong Twin Frank Quilici became the sixth manager of the Twins. Quilici was a utility man for the Twins in the 1960’s, and was most famous for the two-hit inning he had off of Don Drysdale in Game 1 of the 1965 World Series. Quilici managed the team for four seasons, and compiled a 280-287 record in his managing career. In Quilici’s final season as manager, he had a young first baseman on the team by the name of Tom Kelly. It was Kelly’s only season as a major league player.
May 12, 1923 - Eddie Lyons
May 12, 1947 - Vic Albury
May 13, 1933 - Johnny Roseboro
May 13, 1935 - Bill Dailey
May 13, 1960 - Lenny Faedo
May 13, 1975 - Jack Cressand
May 14, 1948 - David LaRoche
May 14, 1955 - Hosken Powell
May 14, 1963 - Pat Borders
May 15, 1970 - Scott Watkins

May 15, 1981
Justin Morneau - with just three full season under his belt, Justin Morneau sits at #14 on the franchise’s all-time home run list with 116. By the time you read this, it is entirely possible that he will have passed Mickey Vernon for the 13th spot (Vernon has 121). Barring injury, by season’s end he should be knocking on the door of the top ten. Here are the players in his path:

10. Jim Lemon 159
11. Jacque Jones 132
12. Goose Goslin 127
13. Mickey Vernon 121
14. Morneau 116 and counting…
15. Roy Smalley 110
16. Corey Koskie & Eddie Yost 101

May 16, 1928
Billy Martin - When I think about Billy Martin’s time as a manager for the Twins two things stand out. The first is the fact that one of Martin’s first decisions was to move Jim Perry into the starting rotation full time, a move that paved the way for Perry to become the team’s first Cy Young award winner. The second thing that stands out is the way that Martin managed to be fired after a season despite leading the team to the first ever AL West title. Martin, of course, got into a fight with one of his pitchers during the season, and had trouble getting along with Calvin Griffith; certainly a pattern that would continue in Martin’s managing career.

May 16, 1955
Jack Morris - Morris only played one season with the Twins, but had he only played in one game (Game 7 of the 1991 World Series), he would be no less a legend in Minnesota. It helps, of course, that he grew up in St. Paul. His best years came with the Detroit Tigers in the 1980’s, and the fact that he was the winningest pitcher in the 1980’s comes up a lot in Hall of Fame discussion. I personally don’t think that he should be in the Hall of Fame, but his Game 7 performance should.

May 16, 1955 - Tack Wilson
May 16, 1957 - Mark Funderburk
May 17, 1946 - Dan Monzon

On Wednesday night Carlos Gomez became the 12th player in franchise history to hit for the cycle, the eighth since 1961. Players who have hit for the cycle in franchise history:

Otis Clymer - 10/2/1908
Goose Goslin - 8/28/1924
Joe Cronin - 9/2/1929
Mickey Vernon - 5/19/1946
Rod Carew - 5/20/1970
Cesar Tovar - 9/19/1972
Larry Hisle - 6/4/1976
Lyman Bostock - 7/24/1976
Mike Cubbage - 7/27/1978
Gary Ward - 9/18/1980
Kirby Puckett - 8/1/1986
Carlos Gomez - 5/7/2008

May 5, 1947
Larry Hisle - Though Larry Hisle’s baseball career started with some fanfare, by the time he found his way to Minnesota after four seasons in the major leagues, he was already labeled a disappointment. Hisle spent all of the 1972 season in the minor leagues, but upon joining the Twins organization he was handed the starting center field job. Hisle got off to a quick start and became one of the finest run producers in the league over the five year period that he played in Minnesota. Hisle did have some injuries during that time, and reportedly didn’t get along with owner Calvin Griffith, so he signed with Milwaukee when he became a free agent after the 1977 season. After a solid 1978 season, Hisle tore his rotator cuff on a throw from the outfield, an injury that effectively ended his career. Hisle is currently number 15 on the Twins all-time home run list with 87, and is number 13 on the RBI list with 409.
May 5, 1971
Mike Redmond - Minnesota loves its back up catchers. Mike Redmond is no exception. On July 6, 2007, Redmond was hit in the head by the bat of White Sox slugger Jim Thome. Though he left the game as part of Ron Gardenhire’s worst nightmare (Joe Mauer was in the DH spot so the pitcher needed to bat for the rest of the game), Redmond was back the next day, catching with seven stitches in his head. In his fourth season with the Twins, Redmond continues to be a fan favorite and introduced the term “naked batting practice” to Minnesota baseball fans.

May 6, 1940 - Bill Hands
May 6, 1954 - Albert Williams

May 8, 1948
Steve Braun - The Twins drafted Steve Braun in 1966 and he made his major league debut with the club in 1971. He played his first six seasons with the Twins, part of a 15-year career that included a World Series ring with the 1982 St. Louis Cardinals. Braun may be a bit undervalued in team history because his best skill, getting on base, is something that is still generally not a priority for the Minnesota Twins. Braun had a career .376 OBP with the Twins, good enough for ninth on the team’s all time list. For perspective, Harmon Killebrew is sixth with .383 and Rod Carew is first with .393.

May 9, 1953 - Ron Jackson

Twins who have worn the uniform number “4″

Bob Allison, 1961-70
Steve Braun, 1971-75
Gene Mauch, 1976-80 (Manager)
Mark Funderburk, 1981
Jim Eisenreich, 1982-84
Chris Speier, 1984
Steve Lombardozzi, 1985-88
Orlando Mercado, 1989
Chip Hale, 1990-95
Paul Molitor, 1996-98
Paul Molitor, 2000-01, 2003 (Coach)
Augie Ojeda, 2004

Other fours (award winners & great games edition):

Cy Young Awards in Twins History: 4

Jim Perry (1970)
Frank Viola (1988)
Johan Santana (2004, 2006)

MVP Awards in Twins History: 4

Zoilo Versalles (1965)
Harmon Killebrew (1969)
Rod Carew (1977)
Justin Morneau (2006)

No-Hitters in Twins History: 4

8/26/1962: Jack Kralick
8/25/1967: Dean Chance
4/27/1994: Scott Erickson
9/11/1999: Eric Milton

A little bit of a quiet week for birthdays…

April 27, 1975 - Benj Sampson

April 28, 1935
Pedro Ramos - Here’s my take on Ramos’ only season as a Twin (from Coffeyville Whirlwind):

SP Pedro Ramos 11-20 3.95 ERA 1.30 WHIP 0.8 PW 15 WS 7.1 WARP3
Ramos led the AL in losses for the fourth consecutive year, this time with his own personal record of 20. As with the previous four, he really didn’t pitch that poorly, at the very least certainly not poorly enough to join the 20 game loser club.

1958 14-18 90 ERA+
1959 13-19 95 ERA+
1960 11-18 115 ERA+
1961 11-20 108 ERA+

One area in which Ramos didn’t help himself was with the home run ball. He led the AL with 39 home runs allowed, another career high. In the end it was all a little too much for Griffith, who put Ramos on the trade block right after the season, and finally made a deal with the Indians in the spring of 1962. Thus ended Ramos’ tenure with the organization. In seven years he posted the following line: 78-112 4.19 ERA (95 ERA+) with 37.6 WARP3. Ramos stayed in the majors until 1970. His record caught up to his performance a bit during his time with Cleveland, and he had only the second winning season of his career in 1963.

April 28, 1962 - Luis Quinones

April 29, 1952
Ron Washington - Played five seasons with the Twins, mainly in the utility infielder role. Washington’s busiest season was 1982, when he batted .271/.291/.368 in 470 PA’s and essentially split time with Lenny Faedo at short stop. He is currently managing the Texas Rangers, though his hold on the job isn’t as firm as he might like after a losing season in his major league managerial debut last year.

April 30, 1964 - Jeff Reboulet
May 1, 1954 - Roy Lee Jackson

There is only one player in Twins’ history who has worn the number three.

The number three was retired on August 11, 1974, so Harmon Killebrew is also the last Twin who will ever wear that number as well.

Harmon Killebrew was discovered by Washington Senators scout Ossie Bluege when he was playing an impromptu baseball game in his hometown of Payette, Idaho. Interestingly, it was about 50 years earlier that another Senators scout happened upon Walter Johnson while he was playing in Idaho. Like Johnson, the Senators snatched up the 17-year-old Killebrew before other teams had a chance. Unlike Johnson, however, Killebrew received a signing bonus of $30,000.

Because of the “bonus baby” rules at the time, Killebrew had to be on the major league roster for two years. For Killebrew, it meant a lot of sitting and watching games from his signing to June of 1956. When the two years expired, he was finally able to play on a regular basis in the minor leagues. After two full seasons in the minors, Killebrew was ready to join the major league team again. He played his first full season in 1959.

It didn’t take long for Harmon to catch on. His easy going way was well liked by fans, and the fact that he hit 42 home runs in his first season with a team that was historically short on power didn’t hurt matters. By the middle of 1959, Washington fans were already sure they had found the player that was going to turn things around.

Killebrew had exhibited Mickey Mantle-like power from the time he first donned a Washington uniform at the age of 17. But he was prone to swipe at bad balls, he seemed to heavy around the hips, and to have bad hands and a scatter arm.

 

After four earlier trials with the Senators and three fair seasons at Charlotte (Sally) and Chattanooga (Southern), Harm has become and assured, relaxed performer… Some of the more romantic Senator fans were looking to Harm as the “Joe Hardy” of “Damnyankees” fame, come to deliver the Senators, at last, from the depths of the second division.

 

-Herb Heft, The Sporting News, May 1959

 

Washington baseball fans were never able to see Killebrew deliver the Senators from the depths because the team moved west to Minnesota prior to Killebrew’s third full season. “Killer” responded to the new setting with his best season to date in 1961. In the Twins’ first decade, Killebrew slugged 40+ home runs seven times. Though he missed a good chunk of the 1965 season due to injuries, Killebrew was a key factor in the team’s first American League pennant victory. His greatest season, however, was probably 1969 when he batted .276/.427/.584 with 49 HR and a team record 140 RBI.

While it is certainly true that Killebrew was more than comfortable at the plate, he never really found a home in the field. His very early years with the Senators found him playing mostly second base, but by the time he became a regular Killebrew had moved to third base. In his second full season, however, he was moved to first base, the position at which he played more games than any other. During his career, Killebrew also played in the outfield. Towards the end of his career, he was primarily a designated hitter.

When Killebrew retired after the 1975 season, he left with 573 home runs, 559 of which were hit while he was wearing a Washington/Minnesota uniform. That total is still a franchise record, and Killebrew currently sits in ninth place on the career home run list, sandwiched between Mark McGwire (583) and Rafael Palmeiro (569). Killebrew remains the only Twin to have ever hit more than 40 home runs in a season.

In what is one of the most ridiculous moments in Hall of Fame history, Harmon Killebrew missed induction on three ballots before he was finally elected in 1984. He was the first Minnesota Twin to be inducted.

Other “3’s” in Twins history:

To answer the trivia question from a few weeks back, the three players who played for both Washington and Minnesota that were not with the team at the time of the move were listed in TheJaw’s comment below the post:

Bill Fischer - Played with Washington from 1958 to 1960. Traded to Detroit in July 1960. Played with Minnesota Twins in 1964.

 

Mike Fornieles - Played with Washington in 1952 and Minnesota in 1963.

 

Garland Shifflett - Played with Washington in 1957 and Minnesota in 1964.

 

Technicality - Julio Becquer - Played with Washington from 1955 to 1960. Taken by Angels in expansion draft in December 1960. Purchased from Philadelphia by Minnesota in June 1961. Played with Minnesota from 1961 to 1963.

 

Well played, TheJaw.

There are three managers who have lasted longer than five seasons with the Twins: Sam Mele, Tom Kelly, and Ron Gardenhire. Two of the three have been able to take the team to a World Series.

By this time in 2010, the Twins will have played their home games in three different ballparks: Metropolitan Stadium, HHH Metrodome, and “The Ballpark to be named later.”

There are three occasions on which a Twins batter was intentionally walked 20 or more times in a single season. Harmon Killebrew did it twice, in 1969 (20) and 1970 (23). The third time it happened was in 2006, when Joe Mauer received 21 intentional passes.

Trivia: there are six pitchers with 500+ innings pitched in a Twins’ uniform who have a strikeout to walk ratio greater than 3.00 in their Twins career. Name them.

April 20, 1967 - Greg Brummett

April 21, 1957
Jesse Orosco - Quick, how old was Jesse Orosco when he joined the Twins as part of a trade in August of 2003? Answer: 46. Though he was originally drafted by the Twins in the second round of the 1978 amateur draft, the relief pitcher did not actually play with the major league Twins until three decades later. That might sound like one long minor league career, but in actuality Orosco played in 24 major league seasons. His best year was probably 1983, when he finished third in the NL Cy Young voting as a member of the New York Mets. Though he only appeared in eight games with the Twins, Orosco’s professional playing career began and ended in the Twins organization.

April 21, 1979 - Terry Tiffee
April 22, 1964 - Jack Savage

April 23, 1977
Jason Tyner - Tyner had 1,464 PA’s in his major league career from 2000-2007, but had just one career major league home run, hit against the Indians on July 28, 2007. I would have to think that he would be in the running for weakest-hitting designated hitter in history.

April 23, 1979
Carlos Silva - The architect of one of the most remarkable games in recent Twins’ history (check out the pitch count), Silva is getting paid and paid well to pitch in Seattle.

April 24, 1944
Bill Singer - Though Singer had a very good pitching career (his stop in Minnesota was brief and towards the end of his career), he will probably be remembered best for the remarks that led to his dismissal from a front office job with the New York Mets.

April 24, 1958
Bill Krueger - Though I don’t have any particular reason, Bill Krueger was one of my favorite Twins when I was an eighth grader following the Twins. He didn’t last long, and was traded to the Expos at the August trade deadline for Darren Reed.

April 24, 1968
Todd Jones - The most famous deadline deal made by the Twins in 2001 was the Matt Lawton for Rick Reed trade. Somewhat lost in the shuffle was the trade in which the Twins sent Mark Redman to the Tigers for reliever Todd Jones. At the time, the Twins were giving up on the Hawkins-as-closer plan, and brought Jones on to provide the all-important veteran leadership in the bullpen. Jones pitched fairly well in his two months with the Twins, but became a free agent after the season and took his game to Coors Field where he was actually able to pitch pretty well. He is currently the Tigers’ closer.

April 24, 1976 - John Barnes
April 25, 1954 - Greg Wells
April 25, 1956 - Larry Pashnick

April 25, 1975
Jacque Jones - When used properly, Jones is a very effective left-handed bat, and a decent fielder. Unfortunately, he can’t hit left-handed pitching to save his life. In his career to date, he has hit .293/.341/.480 against right-handed pitchers and just .233/.281/.354 against southpaws. The Tigers seem to be using him properly this year. Through his first 10 games this season, he has just two plate appearances against left-handed pitching.

April 26, 1950 - Tom Norton

April 26, 1960
Steve Lombardozzi - Lombo was a very likeable player and a member of the 1987 Minnesota Twins World Series team. He was basically your prototypical no-hit middle infielder (career .233/.307/.345), the kind of player that gets praised by the Twins’ organization and generally has a pretty easy time endearing himself to the fan base. It is possible that Lombo was even more well liked after his career in Minnesota was over due to the fact that his replacement was Tom Herr.