Twins Almanac: Twins Legends Harmon Killebrew And... Mike Lincoln?

[Matt Johnson]

The Twins Almanac for May 4th features Minnesota natives Jim Burnos, Charles Bender, and Paul Castner, and Twins legends Harmon Killebrew and . . . Mike Lincoln? I also manage to work Julio Franco into today's installment. 

Happy 62nd birthday to former Twins minor leaguer Jim Burnos.

While at Cooper High School in New Hope, he was defensive partners with 13-year NHLer Jim Johnson.

He was rookie-ball teammates with Kirby Puckett at Elizabethton in the Appalachian League in 1982. 

Just doing a little poking around on the internet, it looks like Jim was an assistant baseball coach up in Nevis at one point. If anyone has any fun facts or interesting stories about Jim, please join the conversation in the comments section below.

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May 4, 1906
Native Americans Charles Albert Bender (from Minnesota) and Louis Leroy (from Wisconsin) were the opposing starting pitchers in New York on this date in 1906.

Bender lost his cool and was ejected in the fifth inning after supposedly enduring racial abuse from the Highlanders' Clark Griffith. (Clark, of course, was Calvin Griffith’s uncle, with whom Calvin lived from age 11.) 

Wanting to make up for his early exit, Bender went out the next day and earned a complete-game win against New York, pitching a total of 13.2 innings on consecutive days. 

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May 4, 1975
The Twins retired Harmon Killebrew’s number 3 in a pre-game ceremony while he was in town playing for the Kansas City Royals on this date in 1975.

Figuring a lot of fans were at Met Stadium that day to see him, Killebrew decided to hit a home run off Vic Albury in the top of the first inning, driving in Hal Mcrae. 

On September 18 of that season, Killebrew hit his 573rd and final home run at Met Stadium off the Twins’ Eddie Bane.

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May 4, 1999
Rookie Mike Lincoln earned his first major league win, and the 3,000th win in Twins history, versus the Yankees at home in the Dome on this date in 1999.

Every Twins batter had at least one hit in the 8-5 win, with Torii Hunter and Ron Coomer each going 3-for-5. 

No offense to Lincoln, but he was a fairly unremarkable player to earn the 3,000th win in Twins history, considering Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven earned both the team’s 1,000th and 2,000th wins. (In between those milestone wins, Blyleven won a World Series ring with Pittsburgh and made an All-Star team with Cleveland.) 

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Bonus Content
St. Thomas Academy graduate, World War I veteran, Notre Dame legend, and former White Sox pitcher Paul Castner was the featured guest at the Halsey Hall SABR Chapter meeting on this date in 1985.

Castner played fullback at Notre Dame under legendary coach Knute Rockne, blocking for the Gipper. According to biographer Bill Lamb, baseball was Castner’s third-best sport after football and hockey.

As an aside, the 52nd annual SABR (Society for American Baseball Research) national convention will be held in Minneapolis at the Hyatt Regency on Nicollet Avenue August 7–11 this summer. 

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Double Bonus
Including this for all the townball players in the audience: 48-year-old Julio Franco homered off five-time Cy Young Award winner Randy Johnson on this date in 2007.

Don't tell Molly, but looks like I have at least another eight years of baseball left in me. 

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Please join the conservation in the comments section below.

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