The Twins Almanac for October 19

[Matt Johnson]

Today's Twins Almanac features a clip of the incomparable Bob Casey that you're going to want to see (and hear), as well as postseason heroics by Greg Gagne and Minnesota natives Kent Hrbek, Jack Morris, and Paul Molitor. 

Greg Gagne and Kent Hrbek homered as Jack Morris and the Twins beat Atlanta 5-2 in Game 1 of the World Series on this date in 1991. 

After the Gagne home run clip below is Bob Casey introducing the American League Champs prior to the game.

And below that, a later cover of Sports Illustrated featuring Minnesota native Greg Olson upended after tagging out Dan Gladden at the plate in Game 1. 

   

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"Twin Killing: Minnesota Charges Into the World Series."

Greg Gagne was on the cover of Sports Illustrated on this date in 1987. Anybody still have their copy? (Check out who the Tiger is in this picture. Couldn't catch a break on the basepaths.)

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Getting the start at first base over AL Batting Champion John Olerud, St. Paul native Paul Molitor went 3-for-4 with a two-run triple and a home run as the Blue Jays beat the Phillies 10-3 in Game 3 of the World Series on this date in 1993.

With the series shifting to the National League ballpark for Game 3, the Blue Jays weren't going to have Molitor as their DH, so manager Cito Gaston made the tough decision to play him at first base over Olerud, who led the league with a .363 batting average and was 10-for-29 (.345) to that point in the postseason. (Worth noting, of course, that Blue Jays batters had the top THREE batting averages in the league in '93, with Molitor coming in second at .332 followed by Roberto Alomar at .326. Their hitting coach? None other than Twins all-time fan favorite Larry Hisle.) In Games 4 and 5, Molitor played third base.

Molly hit an even .500 with two home runs in the Series, and was named Most Valuable Player.

 

 

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[Clare]

This is terrific.  Thanks so much for curating and posting this.

[Doctor Gast]

Great memories & great truths. 

Cito Gaston went with his gut & put seasoned veteran Molitor over Olerud at 1B when analytics said go with Olerud. And it paid off. Heart has been taken out of the game, and replaced with stats.

The mid-'80s Twins had great chemistry, MacPhail didn't try to change the chemistry by removing one & replacing him with another but added to it. That chemistry brought us WS championships that magical feeling that many today Twins fans have no idea what it's like & how it happened..  Some had a taste of it in '23, Too bad the chemistry was changed.

[Matt Johnson]

2 hours ago, Doctor Gast said:

Great memories & great truths. 

Cito Gaston went with his gut & put seasoned veteran Molitor over Olerud at 1B when analytics said go with Olerud. And it paid off. Heart has been taken out of the game, and replaced with stats.

The mid-'80s Twins had great chemistry, MacPhail didn't try to change the chemistry by removing one & replacing him with another but added to it. That chemistry brought us WS championships that magical feeling that many today Twins fans have no idea what it's like & how it happened..  Some had a taste of it in '23, Too bad the chemistry was changed.

Interesting point about the analytics. I'm not familiar with that. What analytics suggesting Olerud was the better option in that matchup? 

[Doctor Gast]

47 minutes ago, Matt Johnson said:

Interesting point about the analytics. I'm not familiar with that. What analytics suggesting Olerud was the better option in that matchup? 

BA for one at that time.