The Twins Almanac: The First Twins Home Opener, Torii Hunter's Steal Streak, & Wally Backman's Hot Start

[Matt Johnson]

The Twins Almanac for Sunday, April 21st features John Butcher, Wally Backman, Alexi Casilla, Josh Willingham, Kirby Puckett, Lenny Green, and the first home opener in Minnesota Twins history. And it's the birthday of the man who pitched in more MLB games than anyone. 

April 21
Happy Birthday, Jesse Orosco
Happy 67th birthday to Jesse Orosco! 

His 1,252 appearances are the most in MLB history.

He pitched for the Twins in 2003, at age 46 . . . 25 years after they originally drafted him!

The final pitch of his career resulted in a walk-off strikeout. True story. Look up the video on YouTube.

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April 21, 1961
First Home Opener in Twins History

Having started their inaugural season 5-1, the Twins came home to Bloomington to play the expansion Washington Senators. Only 24,606 fans attended the first home opener—6,000 short of a sellout despite a gametime temperature of 63 degrees.

The Senators jumped out to an early lead with a two-run homer off Camilo Pascual in the top of the first.

Going into the bottom of the eighth, the Twins trailed 3-2, but Lenny Green tied it up with a solo home run. The Senators scored two off reliever Ray Moore in the top of the ninth, however, for a 5-3 win. 

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April 21, 1985
Butcher Pitches Speedy Shutout

The Twins had lost nine a row, falling to 2-9 entering the Sunday series finale in Oakland when John Butcher hurled a remarkable three-hit, 81-pitch* shutout. Butcher faced just 28 batters, only one over the minimum thanks to a caught-stealing and ground-ball double play. The game was over in one hour and 55 minutes.

Leadoff hitter Kirby Puckett went 3-for-5, driving in both runs in the 2-0 victory. It was the beginning of a 10-game winning streak.

*Pitch count according to John Swol's great site TwinsTrivia.com. 

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April 21, 1989
Backman Gets Off to a Hot Start

Wally Backman's Twins career got off to a hot start. He went 3-for-4 in a 7-1 win in Baltimore on this date in 1989, giving him 20 hits in the team's first 14 games. He was batting .345 with 12 runs scored to that point. 

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April 21, 2007
Nineteenth-Straight Steal

In the 17th game of the season, Alexi Casilla stole second for the Twins' 19th-straight successful stolen base attempt to start the season. Torii Hunter was caught attempting to steal in the eighth, ending the streak.

I wonder if Casilla will make another appearance in the Almanac later in the year.

Joe Nathan protected the 7-5 lead in the ninth, striking out three-straight Royals—all looking.

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April 21, 2012
Willingham Extends Record Hit Streak

Big offseason free agent acquisition Josh Willingham led off the top of the ninth with a line-drive single to center, extending his season-starting hitting streak to 15 games. The Twins lost to the Rays 4-1, but Willingham's hit set a new record for longest streak to begin a Twins career, and tied Kirby Puckett (1994) for the longest streak to begin a season in team history.

Brian Dozier set a new team season-starting hit streak record with 17 games in 2018. (Willingham's streak is still the longest to begin a Twins career.)

Willingham had a career year in 2012, hitting .260 with 35 home runs and 110 RBI, and winning a Silver Slugger Award alongside fellow AL outfielders Mike Trout and Josh Hamilton.

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[mikelink45]

So glad to see Lenny Green mentioned - he is one of the forgotten CFs.  Wally Backman brings back other memories. 

[CRF]

I completely forgot that Backman played for the Twins in 89. 

[mikelink45]

38 minutes ago, CRF said:

I completely forgot that Backman played for the Twins in 89. 

This is from SABR - "Wally Backman was perhaps the first major-league manager fired before his team played a game. His fiery personality may have cost him another chance at managing in the majors. Three times he spent short stints in jail. He declared bankruptcy. From this sordid interval in life, he emerged to become a successful minor-league manager."

"Backman was having his worst year ever in Minnesota, hitting .231 for the fifth-place Twins, and was released after the season. "

Today that 231 would be good in a lineup that has only two regulars and three rookies - Larnach, Martin and Miranda with higher batting averages.