The Twins Almanac: Weekend Edition (A Duensing Double and a Maurer Sighting)

[Matt Johnson]

This weekend's Almanac features Brian Duensing, an Apple Valley graduate who pitched in the majors, and a tertiary connection to one of the best baseball players ever from Minneapolis. 

Feb. 22: Happy 42nd birthday to former Twins pitcher Brian Duensing. He is the only pitcher in Minnesota Twins history to win two games in one day—at least on paper. Duensing came in out of the bullpen in both games of a doubleheader in Chicago on August 9, 2013, retiring all four White Sox he faced. What doesn't show up in the record book, however, is that back in 1969 Jim Perry earned two wins for the Twins on the same day. He pitched two hitless innings, doubled, and scored the winning run in a game resumed from the night before, and then pitched a complete-game shutout in the day’s regularly scheduled game. Officially, however, the first win shows up as the day before—when the game began. (Going back to Washington Senators days, Walter Johnson also once won two games in one day.) 

Duensing pitched a three-hit shutout as the first-place Twins beat the Oakland A’s 2-0 on August 14, 2010. He gave up one hit in each of the first three innings before completely shutting down the Oakland offense for the final six innings. Reigning AL MVP Joe Mauer went 3-for-4 in the game. The Twins went on to win the Central for the sixth time in nine years that season, with a remarkable SIX pitchers notching at least 10 wins each: Carl Pavano (17), Francisco Liriano (14), Kevin Slowey (13), Scott Baker (12), Nick Blackburn (10), and Brian Duensing (10).

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Feb. 23: Happy 50th birthday to Apple Valley graduate Dave Maurer, who made 22 relief appearances over four seasons with San Diego, Cleveland, and Toronto. 

His only MLB loss came pitching for Cleveland at the Metrodome on September 25, 2002, giving up a 12th-inning walk-off home run to David Ortiz (didn’t need him). Cleveland first baseman Jim Thome, incidentally, hit two home runs in the game, both off Rick Reed (naturally). 

Dave’s brother Mike pitched six seasons in the A’s organization, making it as high as Double A. The Twins drafted their dad Thomas out of the University of St. Thomas in 1966 and he pitched four seasons in their farm system. During those four years in the minors, Thomas Maurer was teammates with fellow Minnesotans Charley Walters, Dave Goltz, and Mike Sadek.

If anybody has any interesting stories or fun facts about any of the Maurers, please share them in the comments section at the bottom of the page.

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Feb. 23, 1929: Former AL MVP Elston Howard was born in St. Louis on this date in 1929. It's a slow day in Minnesota baseball history, but here's the connection: In 1961, Howard was one of THREE Yankees catchers to hit over 20 home runs, along with Minneapolis native Johnny Blanchard, and Yogi Berra (who played mostly left field that season). How many teams in baseball history have had three catchers hit 20+ home runs in a season?

Blanchard hit two home runs in the World Series that season. He played in five-straight World Series, winning rings in 1961 and '62. Of course Hibbing-born, Fargo-raised Roger Maris also put up respectable power numbers in 1961. 

 

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[Twins63]

Wow, only stories you usually hear from '61 Evil Empire is the homerun race between Maris and Mantle not 3 catchers hitting 20+ homers.

[ashbury]

2 hours ago, Twins63 said:

Wow, only stories you usually hear from '61 Evil Empire is the homerun race between Maris and Mantle not 3 catchers hitting 20+ homers.

It's a nice stat, but because all three played other positions, the breakdown while catching was Howard 17, Blanchard 11, Berra 2.  Fantastic aggregate batting production from the position, though - .898 OPS in a year where the AL for all positions was .724

[Matt Johnson]

4 minutes ago, ashbury said:

It's a nice stat, but because all three played other positions, the breakdown while catching was Howard 17, Blanchard 11, Berra 2.  Fantastic aggregate batting production from the position, though - .898 OPS in a year where the AL for all positions was .724

Yeah, of course they didn't actually have three everyday catchers, but still pretty cool. (Of course I'm a catcher.)  

[ashbury]

51 minutes ago, Matt Johnson said:

Yeah, of course they didn't actually have three everyday catchers, but still pretty cool. (Of course I'm a catcher.)  

Don't kid yourself that images of Dwight Schrute didn't flash through my mind while posting.  😀

But 3 catchers hitting 20 invites leaps to totals of 60, whereas the true total at the position was 30.  Impressive, but a guy like Gus Triandos managed that total all by himself a few seasons earlier.   As I tried to emphasize, the nuanced view takes away nothing from their true accomplishment as a triune behind the plate.  1961 was the first season I paid attention to as a child, and I didn't move to the Twin Cities until the late 70s, so that Yankees team is and was special to me and my brother; it's probably why I like to bathe in the details.

[Matt Johnson]

12 hours ago, ashbury said:

Don't kid yourself that images of Dwight Schrute didn't flash through my mind while posting.  😀

But 3 catchers hitting 20 invites leaps to totals of 60, whereas the true total at the position was 30.  Impressive, but a guy like Gus Triandos managed that total all by himself a few seasons earlier.   As I tried to emphasize, the nuanced view takes away nothing from their true accomplishment as a triune behind the plate.  1961 was the first season I paid attention to as a child, and I didn't move to the Twin Cities until the late 70s, so that Yankees team is and was special to me and my brother; it's probably why I like to bathe in the details.

Three guys with the ability to play the catcher position at the major league level each hit 20+ home runs :) 

Or another way of looking at it: Three guys remembered primarily as catchers each hit 20+ homers. (Although I see that Blanchard actually wound up playing a few more games in the outfield over the course of his career. Still, though, I bet if you asked 10 fans what position Blanchard played, a majority would say catcher first.) 

And we could quibble about whether Berra was a viable catcher in 1961, but still, three bona fide members of the catcher fraternity. 

Also, there wasn't much Almanac material for this weekend, and when I saw it was Howard's birthdate, the 20-HR nugget and the Minneapolis connection immediately came to mind :)

 

[ashbury]

34 minutes ago, Matt Johnson said:

Three guys with the ability to play the catcher position at the major league level each hit 20+ home runs :) 

Or another way of looking at it: Three guys remembered primarily as catchers each hit 20+ homers. (Although I see that Blanchard actually wound up playing a few more games in the outfield over the course of his career. Still, though, I bet if you asked 10 fans what position Blanchard played, a majority would say catcher first.) 

And we could quibble about whether Berra was a viable catcher in 1961, but still, three bona fide members of the catcher fraternity. 

Also, there wasn't much Almanac material for this weekend, and when I saw it was Howard's birthdate, the 20-HR nugget and the Minneapolis connection immediately came to mind :)

 

Ain't nobody quibbling about Elston Howard, though.  That guy was a beast.  1961 might not even have been his best season, considering he won MVP two years later.

[Eephus]

It must have been 2010 playoffs against the Yankees. I was listening to the Yankees pregame radio show and they were talking with John Gordon. Duensing had had a very decent season and was starting the game that day. Asked about Duensing, Gordon said something in a droll voice along the lines of the numbers were a little misleading and he's very average, nothing special. My impression was Gordon was trying to impress the New York crew with some honesty. (Pretty sure he worked in New York before coming to the Twins.) It was like overhearing a private conversation. Never liked Gordo's cheery, fakey, vague play by play schtick, but this was a side of him that seemed to make him sound like a bit of jerk.