The Trade FOR Bruno - Twins Almanac for May 12

[Matt Johnson]

The Twins Almanac for May 15 is stacked with great names from Minnesota baseball history, including 1949 Rochester townballer Sam Jones, the colorful Pedro Ramos, Rod "Mad Hits" Carew, Butch "I Love that Kid" Wynegar, Chuck "Dollar Dog" Knoblauch, Golden Gophers all-time great Robb Quinlan, and Anthony Bemboom. On this date...

Image courtesy of © Tony Tomsic-USA TODAY Sports

 

1955
The Cubs' Sam Jones threw the first no-hitter by a black pitcher in MLB history on this date in 1955. The Minnesota angle here is that the former Negro Leaguer played for the townball Rochester Royals in 1949, pitching no-hitters against Owatonna on August 4 and Austin on September 7. 

It is worth noting here that 1949 was the same summer that former Negro Leaguer Hilton Smith was playing townball in Fulda, Minnesota, managed by Patrick Reusse's dad Dick. (Smith was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2001 along with Kirby Puckett and Dave Winfield.)

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1961
Twins and Angels pitchers traded home runs off each other on this date in 1962.

Tied 2-2 in the top of the fifth, Angels pitcher Eli Grba hit a solo home run to give his team a 3-2 lead. Then in the bottom of the inning, Twins pitcher Pedro Ramos homered to tie it back up. Ramos added a two-run single in the sixth, and the Twins held on to win 5-4, with the pitcher driving in the Twins’ final three runs. 

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1972
The Twins suffered their longest loss on this date in 1972. 

The Twins and Brewers were tied 3-3 after 21 innings at Met Stadium when the game was postponed due to the American League’s curfew. The game resumed the next morning, with the Brewers scoring in the top of the 22nd off Bert Blyleven. The Twins loaded the bases against Brewers pitcher Jim Lonborg in the bottom of the inning, but the Brewers held on to win 4-3.

Rod Carew went 5-for-7 with two doubles and three walks in the game.

Blyleven and Lonborg started the regularly scheduled game later that day, with Blyleven going nine innings. This game, too, required extra innings. The Brewers took a 4-3 lead on a solo home run in the top of the 15th, but with Jim Nettles aboard in the bottom of the inning, Eric Soderholm hit a two-out, walk-off home run for a 5-4 Twins win.

Soderholm’s home run was apparently the most clutch swing in Twins history in terms of Win Probability Added, (which I don’t claim to understand). According to BaseballReference.com, the Twins’ probability of winning went from 8% to 100% on Soderholm’s swing, for a probability added of 92%.

Carew went 3-for-6 with a walk in the second game, for a total of 12 times on base between the two games.

The Twins and Brewers played a combined 37 innings over the two games.

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1982
Just one day after trading two bonafide big leaguers for a minor league pitcher and the unproven Tom Brunansky, the Twins continued their liquidation by trading pitcher Roger Erickson and standout catcher Butch Wynegar to the Yankees for not a whole heckuva lot.

Wynegar was an All-Star in his first two seasons and finished second to Detroit’s Mark Fidrych in 1976 AL Rookie of the Year balloting.

Despite the Brunansky deal working out very well in retrospect, both trades were seen at the time as cheap, cost-cutting measures by Twins ownership.

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1991
Rookie second baseman Chuck Knoblauch went 4-for-5 on this date in 1991, raising his average to .336 over his first 30 career games. He hit .400 over a 20-game hitting streak in September and was named American League Rookie of the Year. 

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2002
1995 Hill-Murray graduate, three-time Golden Gophers MVP, and 1999 tenth-round Angels draft pick Robb Quinlan went 5-for-5 with two home runs and eight RBI for triple-A Salt Lake versus Edmonton on this date in 2002.

Quinlan went on to hit .333 with 31 doubles, 13 triples, 20 home runs, and a league-leading 112 RBI en route to being named the Angels’ Minor League Player of the Year. The major league team, meanwhile, won the 2002 World Series. Quinlan made his major league debut on July 25, 2003.

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2019
Sauk Rapids-Rice graduate Anthony Bemboom made his major league debut catching for the Rays on this date in 2019. He must call a nice game, because pitcher Blake Snell had 10 strikeouts through the first four innings. 

 

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[bighat]

Wait, the headline is the "Trade for Bruno" but I didn't get to read who the Twins traded for Brunansky. Did I miss something? 

Great column, keep it up!