Tom Brunansky, A Fan Favorite And World Champion Minnesota Twin

[Al from SoDak]

Tom Brunansky came to the Twins at their low point and helped see them to their highest.

The Minnesota Twins bottomed out in the early 1980s. However, as most readers will know, the Twins were acquiring and cultivating a significant amount of young talent who would be instrumental in winning the 1987 World Series. In 1982, they had a promising group of six young players, five of whom would become All-Stars. The Bloomington native first baseman Kent Hrbek. The gritty third baseman, Gary Gaetti. Frank Viola is a future ace starting pitcher. A hometown catcher, Tim Laudner. A great team player, Randy Bush. Early in 1982, an outfielder from southern California rounded out that group after being added from outside the organization. Let’s reflect on fan-favorite Tom Brunansky. 

Thomas Andrew Brunansky was born August 20, 1960, in West Covina, California, a suburb east of Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Valley. As a 13-year-old, Tom led his Pony League team to a World Series championship. He was the youngest player on the team. The Angels organization drafted Brunansky out of high school in the first round of the 1978 Amateur Draft. 

Brunansky worked his way up through the Angels minor league system and made the big-league squad on Opening Day 1981 as a 20-year-old in his fourth season. He started in left field against the Seattle Mariners, batted seventh, and went 1-4 with a run scored and a stolen base. His hit was a sixth-inning single off Glenn Abbott. The Angels won 6-2. Amazingly, he hit his first two home runs two days later, finishing that game with four RBI. Unfortunately, he soon tore ligaments in his thumb and played no more major league games in 1981.

By the start of the 1982 season, the Angels were loaded with proven outfielders. Fred Lynn (nine-time All-Star, 1975 MVP, 1975 Rookie of the Year) and Brian Downing (one-time All-Star, three-time top 20 MVP finisher) played for the Angels in 1981. Over that winter, they signed Reggie Jackson (Hall of Famer, 14-time All-Star, 1973 MVP, and a member of the 500 home run club) as a free agent, which made the young Brunansky expendable.

On May 12, 1982, Brunansky was traded to Minnesota along with pitcher Mike Walters for veteran relief pitcher and former All-Star Doug Corbett and starting second baseman Rob Wilfong. This was when the Twins were trading any veterans of any value. Starting in 1981 and going through 1983, the Twins also traded away Ken Landreaux, Jerry Koosman, Roy Smalley, Butch Wynegar, Gary Ward, and many others. Many players on the 1982 Twins were upset with the Twins trading away proven major leaguers. Ron Davis, of all people, was outspoken about trading Corbett and Wilfong. He was quoted in the Minneapolis Star Tribune, “Trade the owner,” speaking of Calvin Griffith. Many in the Twins clubhouse thought the trade was a salary dump. However, the players sent to the Angels did not provide overwhelming value in California. The former All-Star reliever, Corbett, was not bad. He had a 111 ERA+ in five seasons with the Angels and a WAR of 1.6. Wilfong also played five seasons with the Angels but had a poor 65 OPS+ with the bat, but somehow accumulated a WAR of 2.3. I would say the Twins won that trade. In short order, Brunansky proved to be a valuable addition. 

Bruno played every game of the 1982 season after being acquired by the Twins. He finished with 20 home runs and hit .272/.377/.471. He would go on to hit at least 20 home runs in each of his six seasons with the Twins. His batting numbers during his Twins tenure were .250/.330/.452 with 163 home runs and 469 RBI. He was a very good middle-of-the-order hitter and a decent right fielder. Brunansky also proved to be super durable, playing at least 150 games each season in the Twins uniform.

1985 was one of Brunansky’s best seasons, and his first half was excellent. Before the All-Star break, he batted .265/.358/.508 for an OPS of .867. He had 19 home runs and 56 RBI before the break. He was selected to the American League’s All-Star team and had the honor of the play at home in the Metrodome. Brunansky participated in the first home run contest as part of the festivities. I actually attended that 1985 event. I remember that inside the park, they promoted the home run contest to be an AL vs NL battle. So, while Dave Parker hit the most home runs, the AL won the event behind Brunansky hitting his dingers as the last participant, like the bottom of the ninth, except I think they played two "innings" with each player batting twice and getting ten swings per round or “inning.” In the actual All-Star Game the next day, Brunansky went in to play right field in the seventh inning. He got up to bat once in the bottom of the eighth inning against future Twins closer Jeff Reardon of the Montreal Expos. Brunansky grounded out to shortstop.

Each of the six players mentioned at the top of this story played on the 102-loss 1982 team, and each was with the Twins five years later and was instrumental when they won it all in 1987. Tom Brunansky contributed greatly to the upset over the Detroit Tigers in the American League Championship Series by hitting .412 with two home runs and nine RBI in the five-game series. Brunansky reportedly finished second to teammate Garry Gaetti for ALCS MVP. In Game One, he had two doubles and three RBIs in an 8-5 Twins win. His two-run double in the bottom of the eighth inning gave the Twins a little breathing room. In Game Two, Brunansky doubled in a run and scored a run at the bottom of the second to help the Twins get even after an early two-run deficit. He walked and scored in the fourth. The Twins won again 6-3. He had a two-run home run in the Game Three loss. Bruno had a couple walks in the Twins Game Four 5-3 victory. In the Game Five clincher in Detroit, the Twins jumped out to a 4-run lead in the second inning, during which Brunansky had a two-run double. He also had a home run in the three-run ninth inning when the Twins put the game away.

Brunansky’s performance in the World Series victory over the St. Louis Cardinals was less remarkable, as he hit only .200 with two RBI. He drove in the lone run in the 3-1 Game Three loss. He then contributed to the big Game Six win, which tied the series. He had a single and scored in the bottom of the fifth, which tied the score after an early deficit and drove in a run with a groundout in the eighth inning. The Twins would win 11-5 to tie the series, then won Game Seven for the first championship in Minnesota Twins history.

While the 1987 championship was fantastic, the Twins came down from that high with a poor start in 1988. After starting 4-10, Andy MacPhail did the unthinkable – he traded one of the core team members, one of that group of six from 1982. Tom Brunansky was traded to St. Louis for Tom Herr, which can only be described as a disaster. In Kent Hrbek and Dennis Brackin’s 2007 book Tales from the Minnesota Twins Dugout, Hrbek called the day they traded Brunansky “one of the most mystifying events I’ve ever been associated with…I still don’t get it.” 

The Twins not only got rid of an immensely popular, heart-and-soul player, but Herr apparently never wanted to be here. In a 2021 post on STLRedbirds.com, Tom Herr explained the trade and his reaction. “The shock of the trade bothered me more than anything…It really hit me out of the blue. I can remember getting on the plane to fly to Minneapolis and crying like a baby. It was hard to go through. Looking back on it, I didn’t handle it very well. I kept looking back instead of forward. I was looking at it more that the Cardinals didn’t want me than that the Twins wanted me. If I had put a more positive spin on it, I would have reacted better.”

Brunansky played well for St. Louis, continuing his consistent 20 home runs and 80 RBI production. However, by 1990, the Cardinals felt they needed an elite relief pitcher, so Brunansky was traded for future Hall of Famer Lee Smith in a one-for-one deal that sent him to Boston, where he played most of three seasons and continued putting up similar numbers. He later played for Milwaukee in 1993 and part of 1994, but that time in Milwaukee was not up to his usual standards. The Brewers traded him back to the Red Sox in June of 1994 when he finished the season, which would be his last. That last half-season with the Red Sox was much better than his time in Milwaukee. I’m sure he was proud to finish out his career with a respectable OPS+ of 98 with Boston (with the Brewers, he had posted a low OPS+ of 58 in 1993, then a paltry 34 OPS+ in the first part of 1994). 

Brunansky’s career numbers were .245/.327/.434. His batting average was a little low for his era, but he walked a lot. His career OPS+ was 106, so a little better than average. He had 919 career RBI. He hit 271 home runs, including being in the top ten of his league three times, all with the Twins (28 in 1983, 32 in 1984, 32 in 1987). His 271 career home runs are 208th all-time. (Interestingly, two other teammates from that 1982 group finished even higher on that all-time home run list; Hrbek’s 293 home runs are 169^th all-time, while Gaetti’s 360 are 87^th. What a group!)

After his playing career, Brunansky coached high school baseball in California before being hired by the Twins in 2010 as a minor league hitting coach. In 2013, he was hired by the big-league club and was the Twins hitting coach for four seasons. Following his dismissal from the Twins, he was an assistant coach at the University of St. Katherine in San Marcos, California. He was no longer listed as a coach on the team’s website for the 2024 season. 

I still see the 1987 team as a really entertaining group of guys that grew into a championship ball club. They all got along, loved having fun and playing the game, and had learned to play it well together. Apparently, that makes the Twins teams of that era a little unique. In Tales from the Minnesota Twins Dugout, Hrbek reported about the togetherness and goofiness of the Twins teams of the 1980s and specifically 1987. Hrbek said, “Brunansky assumed all teams had fun and enjoyed the game and each other the way we did. But when he was traded, he found out otherwise.” I would guess Hrbek and other Twins players had the same assumption before Brunansky’s experience.

Tom Brunansky was loved by fans and teammates alike. I think it’s fair to say all Twins fans of the era wished MacPhail had kept the core pieces together a little longer. They were a fun group, and they were good at baseball—good enough to become World Series champions, thanks in part to Tom Brunansky.

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[Dave Mona]

Excellent post with great background and insight. Bruno was among my favorite radio guests. 

 

[Karbo]

Great article. I remember well the shock of the Herr trade. The Twins needed a 2nd baseman and Herr had been very good in St. louis for the past few years. He came here and it seemed he had attitude with people. 

[Al from SoDak]

4 hours ago, Dave Mona said:

Excellent post with great background and insight. Bruno was among my favorite radio guests. 

 

Thanks for reading and for the for the positive comment. I used to love litening on the radio.

[Al from SoDak]

3 hours ago, Karbo said:

Great article. I remember well the shock of the Herr trade. The Twins needed a 2nd baseman and Herr had been very good in St. louis for the past few years. He came here and it seemed he had attitude with people. 

Yeah, "shock" is a good word.

I distinctly remember hearing about the trade. I was standing in line at the Met Center on a Saturday morning for Bruce Sprinsteen concert tickets. We had a newspaper to pass the time. All of us said, "What the hell?" And by all of us, I mean everybody near us in line.

Herr was a good player. It maybe could have been a win/win trade, but Herr did not want to be in Minnesota.

[dxpavelka]

One of the sweetest swings ever.

[theBOMisthebomb]

Tommy Herr is my least favorite Twins player of all time. 

[nclahammer]

What an awesome read and stroll down memory lane.   So many new (or forgotten) details about his time in Minnesota.  Tom Brunansky is perhaps my favorite all-time Twin, of the players I grew up watching in person.  I openly wept when he was traded to the Cardinals.    In 1988, we road-tripped to St. Louis for a couple of games and my roommate painted a huge bedsheet with the words "We miss you Bruno!" on it.   While I was not able to hang it up at the old Busch Stadium (ushers told me it was not allowed), I was able to hang it up when Brunansky returned to the Metrodome with the Boston Red Sox.  From what I hear, the split between the team and Bruno when he was Minnesota's hitting coach, did not go over very well, and his relationship with the team is not on very good terms.  I hope things can be patched up and I would love to see Tom Brunansky back at a TwinsFest and get a chance to talk to him again and thank him for some terrific memories.

[Bodie]

2 hours ago, theBOMisthebomb said:

Tommy Herr is my least favorite Twins player of all time. 

Almost as hate-able as little crybaby Knoblauch...

[dxpavelka]

15 hours ago, theBOMisthebomb said:

Tommy Herr is my least favorite Twins player of all time. 

Passing on Ron Davis?

 

[Finlander]

I was able to get a program signed by 3 or 4 Twins at the stadium back in those days - I think Bruno, Kirby and Herbie. What struck me the most was that Brunansky, a right handed thrower and batter, signed the program with his left hand. I was surprised and thought it was such a cool little laterality secret! Does anyone else remember him writing leftie?