The Twins Almanac: The Greatest Generation Serves the Nation

[Matt Johnson]

Read up on this weekend in Minnesota baseball history with notes on Bob Casey, Wayne Terwilliger, Carl Pohlad, Shane Mack, Gary Ward, Kerry Taylor, Jerry Koosman, Jesse Orosco, Wally Backman, and the Minnesotan who gave up Babe Ruth's only minor league home run. 

Dec. 7: The United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked on this date in 1941. The Greatest Generation met the global crisis head on.

Legendary Twins public address announcer Bob Casey served as a B-17 aircraft turret gunner and was decorated with the Purple Heart for wounds sustained in combat. Wayne Terwilliger enlisted in the Marine Corps at age 17 and served heroically in the 2nd Armored Amphibian Battalion in the South Pacific. Carl Pohlad served as an infantryman in France, Germany, and Austria and was decorated with three Purple Hearts and two Bronze Stars.

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Dec. 7: Happy 61st birthday to one of the most underrated players in Twins history, Shane Mack. After being claimed from the Padres in the Rule 5 Draft, Mack posted a .309 average over five seasons in Minnesota, from 1990 to '94. His 5.0 WAR was the highest among positions players on the 1991 World Series Championship team. (Kevin Tapani actually led the team with a 6.8 WAR.) In 1992, Mack's .315 batting average and 6.5 WAR were both fifth-best among American League position players. 

My favorite Mack fun fact is that the left fielder led off the 1992 home opener with a home run. (You can imagine the atmosphere for the Twins' very first plate appearance inside the Dome since winning the World Series the previous October.) What makes the story really interesting, though, is that left fielder Dan Gladden did the exact same thing leading off the 1988 home opener. And they both went 4-for-5 in the game. 

 

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Dec. 7: The Twins traded All-Star outfielder Gary Ward to the Rangers for pitchers Mike Smithson and John Butcher, and catcher Sam Sorce on this date in 1983.

In just his 14th major league game, Ward hit for the sixth cycle in Twins history on September 18, 1980. His son Daryle Ward hit for the cycle with the Pirates in 2004, making the Wards the first father-son duo in major league history to do so. (The Biggios joined the club in 2019.)

Ward made his second All-Star team with the Rangers in 1985.

Butcher pitched a remarkable 81-pitch, one hour and 55 minute three-hit shutout on April 21, 1985. (He faced only one over the minimum thanks to a double play and caught stealing.) The Twins had lost nine in a row, falling to 2-9 on the season entering the Sunday series finale in Oakland. Leadoff hitter Kirby Puckett went 3-for-5, driving in both Twins runs in the 2-0 victory. It was the beginning of a 10-game winning streak.

Mike Smithson had a one-hitter going through 8 1/3 innings in Chicago on June 29, 1985. Frank Eufemia came in and gave up two hits, but held one for a 1-0 Twins win.

Smithson started 20 games for the 1987 World Series champion Twins, going 4-7.

 

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Dec. 7: The Twins acquired second baseman Wally Backman from the Mets on this date in 1988. His one season with the Twins got off to a productive start, scoring 12 runs in the team's first 11 games.

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Dec. 7: The San Diego Padres claimed 1989 Roseau graduate Kerry Taylor from the Minnesota Twins in the Rule 5 Draft on this date in 1992.

Taylor, who had signed with the Twins as an amateur free agent out of high school, made it to the majors for 36 appearances with the Padres in 1993, and one in 1994.

His final season in MLB-affiliated ball was 2000 at triple-A in the Blue Jays organization where he was teammates with Roy Halladay. His final season in professional baseball was 2001 in South Korea with the Hyundai Unicorns where he was teammates with fellow Minnesotan Tom Quinlan (who the year earlier became the first foreign-born Korean Series MVP).

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Dec. 8: Pitcher Ellis Johnson was born in Minneapolis on this date in 1892. He made his major league debut at age 19. I couldn't find a box score, but he almost certainly faced Ty Cobb in that game.

Fun Fact: Johnson gave up Babe Ruth's ONLY minor league home run. (On a related note, fellow Minnesotan Rube Walberg gave up more major league home runs to Babe Ruth than any other pitcher.)

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Dec. 8: After pitching a no-hitter in his final start of the season, the Rangers sent Bert Blyleven to Pittsburgh as part of a four-team, 11-player trade on this date in 1977.

Blyleven won his first World Series ring with the Pirates in 1979 and brought some championship know-how with him back to Minnesota.

 

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Dec. 8: The Twins acquired West Central School of Agriculture (Morris, MN) graduate Jerry Koosman from the Mets for pitchers Greg Fields and Jesse Orosco on this date in 1978.

Koosman had the best season for a pitcher over 30 in Twins history in 1979, when, at age 36, he led the team with 20 wins. His 7.2 WAR that season is tied for seventh-best by a pitcher in team history (only Bert Blyleven, Johan Santana, and Frank Viola have posted better single-season WARs). 

Koosman also led the team with 16 wins in 1980. 1967 Rothsay graduate Dave Goltz led the team in wins from 1976 to ‘78, meaning a Minnesotan led the Twins in wins for five straight seasons. 

Jesse Orosco eventually pitched for the Twins 25 years later, in 2003 at age 46. It was the 24th and final major league season for Orosco, who pitched in more games than anyone in major league history.

 

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[twinstalker]

Koosman's 1979 combined with Smalley's start, Willie (neither leather) Norwood's first month, and good early play from Hosken and Bombo led to a little optimism as the Twins started well.  Unfortunately, KC had a great team, and Carew's Angels were too good for the Twins to stay competitive in the AL West.

I was a kid back then and in 2003 a full-fledged adult who definitely remembered the trade of Orosco for Koosman.  It's the type of recognition that keeps you young, because the trade seemed like yesterday.

In 1989 I was in NY and do not recall ever seeing or listening to the Twins that year, so in that sense I missed the whole Wally Backman experience.  I did read the box scores in USA Today, a new-ish paper that would actually have the Twins box scores, unlike the local paper I got.  NY was a million miles away from MN that year, compared to now where every part of the world is connected to every other.

[Doctor Wu]

Still hard to believe that the Twins someone plucked Shane Mack from that Rule 5 draft. That has to be one of their greatest picks ever. But it's not exactly like he was an obscure prospect even at that time. But hey, the Padres loss was our gain. Maybe we can found another gem in this year's Rule 5 draft, although I realize it's highly unlikely. 

[Matt Johnson]

10 hours ago, twinstalker said:

Koosman's 1979 combined with Smalley's start, Willie (neither leather) Norwood's first month, and good early play from Hosken and Bombo led to a little optimism as the Twins started well.  Unfortunately, KC had a great team, and Carew's Angels were too good for the Twins to stay competitive in the AL West.

I was a kid back then and in 2003 a full-fledged adult who definitely remembered the trade of Orosco for Koosman.  It's the type of recognition that keeps you young, because the trade seemed like yesterday.

In 1989 I was in NY and do not recall ever seeing or listening to the Twins that year, so in that sense I missed the whole Wally Backman experience.  I did read the box scores in USA Today, a new-ish paper that would actually have the Twins box scores, unlike the local paper I got.  NY was a million miles away from MN that year, compared to now where every part of the world is connected to every other.

If you could combine the second half of Smalley's '78 season and first half of his '79 season, it would rank up there with the all-time great seasons. (At one point I identified a specific 162-game span, but I can't find that note.)

The Orosco trade/re-acquisition spanning eras of your life reminds me of my own experience with Grant Hill. I've never been much a basketball guy, but I was into trading cards, and his cards were a big deal when I was in fifth grade. Flash forward through high school, college, a brief move to Duluth and then a move to Seattle and I'm second row center court at a SuperSonics game versus the Suns ... all the sudden in the second half I'm like, "Wait, 'Hill...,' like GRANT HILL from when I was a kid?!"

[Matt Johnson]

2 hours ago, Doctor Wu said:

Still hard to believe that the Twins someone plucked Shane Mack from that Rule 5 draft. That has to be one of their greatest picks ever. But it's not exactly like he was an obscure prospect even at that time. But hey, the Padres loss was our gain. Maybe we can found another gem in this year's Rule 5 draft, although I realize it's highly unlikely. 

Yeah, that is interesting. I wonder who they chose to protect instead of the former first-round pick. The Padres provided A LOT of talent for other teams during that era. Them and the Expos. I remember watching an All-Star game circa 1993 (give or take) and they put up a graphic of how many All-Stars that year had come through San Diego. 

 

[tarheeltwinsfan]

Nice article about good memories.