Who Here Even Remembers Twins Third Baseman Eric Soderholm?

[Al from SoDak]

The Minnesota Twins have had more than 1,000 players in their history. Here at Remembering Random Twins, we try to learn more about some of the lesser-known Twins players. Today, let's look at the career of Twins third baseman Eric Soderholm.

@mikelink45 had a blog post here on Twin Daily in 2019 about the best third basemen in Twins history and presented 11 choices who could be considered at least one of the best. Of those 11, Eric Soderholm is easily the one on the list that I know the least about. 

Eric Soderholm was born September 24, 1948, in Cortland, New York. After graduating from high school, he attended South Georgia College in Douglas, Georgia, and had a very successful baseball career.

Soderholm was originally drafted in the 11^th round of the June 1967 Major League Draft by the Kansas City Athletics. He did not sign and returned to South Georgia College for another season. Soderholm was then selected with the first overall pick by the Twins in the secondary phase of the draft (January 1968). For those who don’t remember, the January draft was for players who had graduated from school after the June draft, which was timed to coincide with the most common graduation date for high schools and colleges. That secondary January draft existed from 1966 to 1987. (Famously, Kirby Puckett was a top choice in the January 1982 draft.)

After working methodically through the minor league system, Soderholm debuted for the Twins on September 3, 1971, in a win against Oakland. He went 1-4 with a home run, a walk, and two runs scored. From 1971 to 1975, Soderholm batted .257/.336/.389 in five years with the Twins. He hit 36 home runs and accumulated a WAR of 10.1. That’s a rather good five-year stretch. In August of 1975, Soderholm injured his knee. He missed the rest of 1975 and all of 1976. That was it for his Twins career. After the 1976 season, he was released by the Twins and signed with the Chicago White Sox.

Soderholm made an immediate impact with the White Sox in 1977, batting .280 with 25 home runs, and was named the American League Comeback Player of the Year by the Sporting News. He followed that up with another 20-home run season in 1978. He later played with the Texas Rangers and New York Yankees. The only playoff team for which he played was the 1980 Yankees. He had one postseason hit in six plate appearances as the Yankees’ designated hitter, and the Kansas City Royals swept the Yankees. Those playoff games were his last games in Major League Baseball. 

In addition to providing some pop with the bat, Soderholm profiled as a good fielding defensive third basemen, appearing on some leader lists in his career, including ninth in defensive WAR in 1975 (among all positions), first in fielding percentage in 1977 (among 3B), first in range factor in 1979 (among 3B), and 37^th in career Total Zone Runs as a third basemen right behind Josh Donaldson. Baseball-Reference lists Danny Valencia and Trevor Plouffe as two players whose careers are most similar to Eric Soderholm in all of MLB history. Baseball-Reference also lists players most similar by age, and again, other Twins show up – Willi Castro (age 26), Dave Hollins (28), and Marwin Gonzalez (29 and 30). That should give more recent Twins fans an idea of Soderholm’s abilities as a ball player.

After his baseball career, Soderholm had two separate and vastly different careers. First was as a ticket broker which was all about money, money, money. How much money could be made by reselling sports and concert tickets? That would appear to be a fast-paced, hectic career. But that life and career did not fulfill Soderholm, and he pulled a complete reversal. With his daughter's help, Soderholm turned to healing, yoga, meditation, and teaching all of that at SoderWorld, a healing arts center in the western Chicago suburb of Willowbrook. “It’s so rewarding. I’m actually more proud of building this place than I am of playing nine years in the big leagues.’’ Quite a transformation.

I’m too young to remember Eric Soderholm’s playing career. After a bit of research, I would say he appears to have been a good all-around third baseman for a handful of years, but he may be underrated in Twins history. I don’t think he’s the best third baseman in Twins history by any means, but after Harmon Killebrew, Gary Gaetti, and Corey Koskie, I could see an argument for him anywhere else in the top ten. 

Am I the only one who just doesn’t know about him? Castino, Rollins, and Cubbage are others that I am too young to remember, but I feel like I have a basic level of knowledge of their careers, which I couldn’t have said about Soderholm prior to this article. What do others remember of Eric Soderholm? Was he good? Should he be remembered more? I would love to hear any comments, recollections, or stories below.

View full article

[Karbo]

He was a pretty good fielder as I remember, and I think of him being a streaky hitter. I think you should put Castino at or near the top of the list of 3B. Short career but before he got hurt he was awesome!

[Cornholio]

Met him at Yankee stadium in 1972. I called out his name and he looked surprised that someone knew his name. That was the debut game for Dave Goltz, Twins were beaten 6-0. Ray Corbin started for the Twins, and I believe he was leading the league in ERA at the time. Got many autographs that day.

[mikelink45]

It's nice to bring back memories of the old twins. He was a solid part of the teams during his stay with the twins and if he had had been able to stay on for his whole career he would have made an even stronger case for moving up our top 10 list

[stringer bell]

I remember Soderholm and he was one of those guys I rooted for, over and above being a Twin. He played a good third base and had power, but the Twins teams he was on were in decline. Attendance was dropping and few paid attention. One of the broadcasters called Eric "Solid Sod". For some reason I remember that.

[annismark]

He also had a brother, Dale, that played in the Twins minors.

[Teflon]

Soderholm had one of the freakier injuries that I can remember - he missed the entire '76 season after falling into a storm sewer. He ended up signing as a free agent with the '77 White Sox so was part of those fun contests with the Twins that summer. One game in particular I remember - the June 26th showdown for first place in the AL West at Met Stadium. It was one of the biggest regular season games I can remember for the Twins. They entered the game tied with the White Sox atop the AL West division and Rod Carew was getting a lot of national attention as he was approaching a .400 batting average. It was a hot (87 degrees) windy day at Met Stadium and 46,000 fans had come out to see the game. Carew went 4 for 5 with a homer pushing his batting average over .400 and getting huge ovations. Glenn Adams also homered and drove in 8 runs. which is still the most in Twins history. (Later tied by Randy Bush.)  Soderholm was one of four White Sox players to smack a home run in that game, but the Twin prevailed in a wild win, 19-12!  To this day, this is still among my favorite Twins games trailing only the 10-inning Game 7 win in the 1991 World Series, .

[Ricky Vaughn]

I remember Soderholm, but I was in the Navy during most of his time with the Twins. I agree with Karbo about Castino. One of my most vivid memories of him was a game I was at in 1980 or 81 I think. The Twins had Rick Dempsy in a rundown and he bowled Castino over but John held onto the ball.  As Dempsy walked away he said something and Castino immediately jumped to his feet and decked him with one punch. Of course the benches emptied and chaos ensued.

[twinstalker]

Are you asking if we're old?  Yes.  Yes I remember ES.  Unlike pretty much every Twin from 1970 on, though, I don't have any specific memories, even from radio listening.  It wouldn't surprise me if he were non-clutch to go with his meh Twins career.

[IndianaTwin]

Know him? I invoked his name in a conversation last evening. 

The record-setting shot put/discus thrower at the high school IT Junior graduated from (and still volunteers at as the PA guy) is named Borgmann, so I asked him if she was related to Glenn. In explaining who Glenn was, I was able to recite a regular lineup from the 1974 Twins, one of the first of which I threw simulated games tossing tennis balls against the side of the house. 

Also of note is that he wore No. 12. That memory comes from getting a t-shirt with the number 12. It came with iron-on letters, so I had my mom put "Twins" on the front. I was probably the only kid who ever had a green Eric Soderholm shirsey.

I'm old enough for Soderholm, Cubbage and Castino, but not Rollins. 

 

[IndianaTwin]

5 hours ago, Teflon said:

Soderholm had one of the freakier injuries that I can remember - he missed the entire '76 season after falling into a storm sewer. He ended up signing as a free agent with the '77 White Sox so was part of those fun contests with the Twins that summer. One game in particular I remember - the June 26th showdown for first place in the AL West at Met Stadium. It was one of the biggest regular season games I can remember for the Twins. They entered the game tied with the White Sox atop the AL West division and Rod Carew was getting a lot of national attention as he was approaching a .400 batting average. It was a hot (87 degrees) windy day at Met Stadium and 46,000 fans had come out to see the game. Carew went 4 for 5 with a homer pushing his batting average over .400 and getting huge ovations. Glenn Adams also homered and drove in 8 runs. which is still the most in Twins history. (Later tied by Randy Bush.)  Soderholm was one of four White Sox players to smack a home run in that game, but the Twin prevailed in a wild win, 19-12!  To this day, this is still among my favorite Twins games trailing only the 10-inning Game 7 win in the 1991 World Series, .

Yes indeed to the Rod Carew Game. It was t-shirt day, with all kids under 12 getting a Carew t-shirt.

The actual attendance for the day was at least two less than was announced. My brother-in-law very much wanted a t-shirt, so he bought an extra pair of tickets. We went in to our left-field seats, got the shirt and exited, then returned the t-shirt to the car and went in to our real seats down the right field line. 

Carew still calls it his most memorable game as a Twin. A couple years ago on a panel at Twins Fest, I was able to ask about it, and he talked for several minutes. 

We had also gone to the game the day before, where Adams was perceived to have jogged after a fly ball that dropped in an 8-1 loss, so fans were on him a little bit on Sunday.  

[darwin22]

8 hours ago, Teflon said:

Soderholm had one of the freakier injuries that I can remember - he missed the entire '76 season after falling into a storm sewer. He ended up signing as a free agent with the '77 White Sox so was part of those fun contests with the Twins that summer. One game in particular I remember - the June 26th showdown for first place in the AL West at Met Stadium. It was one of the biggest regular season games I can remember for the Twins. They entered the game tied with the White Sox atop the AL West division and Rod Carew was getting a lot of national attention as he was approaching a .400 batting average. It was a hot (87 degrees) windy day at Met Stadium and 46,000 fans had come out to see the game. Carew went 4 for 5 with a homer pushing his batting average over .400 and getting huge ovations. Glenn Adams also homered and drove in 8 runs. which is still the most in Twins history. (Later tied by Randy Bush.)  Soderholm was one of four White Sox players to smack a home run in that game, but the Twin prevailed in a wild win, 19-12!  To this day, this is still among my favorite Twins games trailing only the 10-inning Game 7 win in the 1991 World Series, .

I was also at that game---as a 13 year old.  A fabulous game!!  It was Rod Carew "jersey day," which might have prompted the sellout.  I remember Soderholm as a solid hitter with a strong glove.  Absolutely deserves mention as a top 3B in Twins history.

[Mike h]

I remember Eric Soderholm as one of the most eagerly anticipated call ups from my younger days.  His power was hyped (22hr and 28 2b at AAA in 1971) but a stat I can't seem to verify was how many grand slams he hit.  It must have been some ridiculous number for that to stick in my head.  Meanwhile, Steve Braun, who was one of my favorite Twins at the time, was playing 3rd and hit only 5 HR.  Braun was decent; there was no urgent need to replace him, but the team would go on to finish in 5th place in the AL West.  I remember screaming for Soderholm to get a chance.  Unfortunately, he was horrible in his September call-up.  But he made the roster the next year and seemed to be doing better, then he stepped in a sewer.  

Torri Hunter was similarly hyped as a prospect, so was Alex Kirilloff.  Eric Soderholm was just like that.