The Twins Almanac for 4/20

[Matt Johnson]

The wide-ranging Twins Almanac for 4/20 features quite a cast of characters, including Hall of Famers Charles Albert Bender, Dave Bancroft, Bert Blyleven, Kirby Puckett, and Cy Young, and Minnesotan major leaguers Dan Smith, Jack Crooks, and Sam Hentges. We also revisit an 11-home run doubleheader back in 2019. 

April 20
Happy Birthday, Dan Smith

Happy 55th birthday to 1987 Apple Valley grad and former Rangers first-round draft pick Dan Smith.

He made his major league debut in Texas on September 12, 1992 (age 23), opposing fellow Minnesota native Jack Morris and the eventual World Series Champion Toronto Blue Jays. Devon White led off the game with a ground ball single and promptly stole second. Roberto Alomar bunted White over to third, and Joe Carter drove him in with a sac fly. Welcome to the big leagues, right?! Smith induced a pop out from Dave Winfield to end the inning.

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April 20, 1891
Birthdate of Dave Bancroft

Hall of Fame shortstop Dave Bancroft was born in Sioux City, Iowa on this date in 1891. He got his start in pro baseball in Duluth the summer after his junior year of high school. He was traded to Superior, got married a year later, and made his home in the Wisconsin port town the rest of his life.

He managed the St. Cloud Rox in 1947.

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April 20, 1898
St. Paul Native Homers off Cy Young

Playing for the National League St. Louis Browns, St. Paul native Jack Crooks hit his 21st and final major league home run off Cleveland Spiders ace Cy Young on this date in 1898. Young only gave up six home runs all season.

Crooks also homered off Young in 1892—the season Young won a career-high 36 games.

Fun Fact: Crooks had the first four-home run game in professional baseball history playing for the Omaha Omahogs in his hometown of St. Paul on June 8, 1889.

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April 20, 1903
Bender Beats Young in MLB Debut

18-year-old Minnesota native Charles Albert Bender earned the win over the Boston Americans' Cy Young in his major league debut on this date in 1903. Bender allowed four runs over six innings in relief of Hall of Famer Eddie Plank.

He made his first start seven days later, pitching a shutout against the New York Highlanders. The Highlanders' starting pitcher that day was Clark Griffith, who went on to own the Washington Senators until his death in 1955 when his son Calvin took over. Calvin, of course, moved the Senators to Minnesota in 1961.

Bender became the first Minnesotan inducted to the Hall of Fame in 1953. He was the only Minnesotan enshrined in Cooperstown for 48 years until 1969 St. Paul Central grad Dave Winfield was inducted in 2001, alongside Twins all-time great Kirby Puckett, and Negro Leagues legend Hilton Smith, who pitched for the semi-pro Fulda, MN team in 1949.

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April 20, 1974
Blyleven Tough-Luck Loss

Bert Blyleven struck out 13 in Arlington, but lost 1-0 on this date in 1974. The Rangers' Jim Spencer singled in the bottom of the ninth, moved to second on a passed ball by Twins catcher Randy Hundley, and scored on Jim Fregosi's two-out walk-off single to left. The run was unearned. Rangers pitcher Steve Hargan held the Twins to two hits and three walks.

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April 20, 1991
Some Pollyannaish Perspective

The Twins were 2-9 on this date in 1991.

Manager Tom Kelly—known for keeping an even keel—saw his team right the ship and put together a pretty decent little season. 

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April 20, 1994
Puckett’s Season-Starting Hit Streak

Right fielder Kirby Puckett went 1-for-4 with two RBI off Cleveland's Dennis Martinez in a 6-5 walkoff win on this date in 1994, extending his team record season-starting hitting streak to 15 games.

Josh Willingham tied that record in 2012—and established a new record for the longest streak to start a Twins career. Brian Dozier broke Puckett's record in 2018, hitting in the first 17 games of the season. He had hit in 24 consecutive games going back to 2017 (25 if you count the Wild Card game, in which he hit a leadoff home run in the 8-4 loss in New York).

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April 20, 2019
11-Homer Doubleheader

In the first game of a Saturday doubleheader in Baltimore, Eddie Rosario hit two solo home runs in a 6-5 win, becoming the third player in team history with back-to-back multi-homer games. (He hit two in a 7-4 loss to the Blue Jays at Target Field on 4/18.)

The first Twin with consecutive multi-homer games was Don Mincher on July 20 and 21, 1963, and the second was Kirby Puckett in Milwaukee on August 29 and 30, 1987. 

In the second game of the doubleheader, the Twins tied the team record with eight home runs (former Oriole All-Star Jonathan Schoop hit the eighth off position player Chris Davis in the ninth). Interesting to note that the original record was also set in a doubleheader, when the Twins hit eight in Game 1, and four in Game 2 on August 29, 1963, for a team record of 12 on the day. 

Nelson Cruz, Mitch Garver, and Schoop each hit a pair. Garver also doubled, for a total of 10 total bases. He also hit for 10 total bases 11 days earlier, on April 9. The only other Twins catcher to hit for 10 total bases even once was Earl Battey on July 9, 1961. Garver did it twice in less than a month. (Tim Laudner hit for 10 total bases as a DH on May 7, 1989). 

The Twins hit eight home runs again just over a month later, on May 23, becoming just the second team in major league history with two eight-home run games in one season (‘05 Rangers). 

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April 20, 2021
Mounds View Graduate Makes MLB Debut

2014 Mounds View graduate Sam Hentges made his major league debut with Cleveland on this date in 2021. He struck out three of the four batters he faced (and gave up a solo home run to José Abreu).

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Bonus 4/20 Trivia

Former major league center fielder Charlie Jones connected for 420 major league hits with the Red Sox, White Sox, Senators, and St. Louis Browns between 1901 and 1908.

An avid fisherman, the Pennsylvania native eventually moved to and is buried in Lutsen, Minnesota. "He earned a reputation as an excellent sign painter in Cook County and worked as a tax collector for the Internal Revenue Service."

 

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[Seth Stohs]

This stuff is fantastic... I know it isn't always conversation-inducing, but I sure appreciate it. 

From today: 
3.) The Omaha Omahogs. HA!
2.) Minnesotans dominated Cy Young!! 
1.) The 1991 Twins started their season 2-9, you say?