Remembering Random Twins: George Tsamis Talks Debut Jitters, Dome Noise, and the Saints Goodbye

[William Malone]

Image courtesy of Image courtesy of the St. Paul Saints

George Tsamis and his Campbell, California teammates reached the 1979 Little League World Series championship game, losing in extra innings to a heavily favored Taiwan team. Taiwan produced the tournament champion ten times between 1969 and 1981.

Back in 1979, I was 12 years old. Those were the ABC Wide World of Sports days, so it was a big deal. The announcers were Mel Allen and Red Barber, which was amazing. When you're sitting there playing in front of 30,000 people as a 12-year old, it's a great experience. We lost the game in extra innings, but to play in the Little League World Series is an unbelievable thing.

The Toronto Blue Jays drafted Tsamis in 1988 out of Stetson University, but he did not sign and stuck around for his senior year. This allowed the Minnesota Twins to draft him a year later. 

Stetson was great. It was a great place to be. And one of the years there, we had been just one game away from the College World Series. It's been a great program for a long time. I didn't have a great year [as a junior]. So, I just felt it was best to go back for my senior year. And I did have a better year. Just the way it all worked out, I think it was the right decision.

Scott Ullger, who was an assistant on the Twins big league staff from 1995 through 2014, managed Tsamis at four different minor league levels; Class-A (1989), High-A (1990), Double-A (1991) and Triple-A (1992-93). 

What a great guy [Scott Ullger] was. Just a great guy to play for. Obviously, he was successful and was in the big leagues for a long time. Playing for him was great. Coming up with the Twins in general. They're the team that gave me the opportunity. So I'm very thankful for that.

Minnesota had a strong core of veterans on their roster when Tsamis debuted in 1993.

Rick Aguilera was great. He always helped with the younger guys. Kevin Tapani and Scott Erickson too. Mike Trombley was my buddy, my good friend. He had a successful career. But even being able to play with Kirby Puckett, Dave Winfield and Kent Hrbek. All those guys were legends for the Twins. Just being able to play with those guys was a great experience. You know, back in the Metrodome! Tough place to pitch. But what a great atmosphere. It can get so loud in there. I was lucky to get that chance.

Tsamis hit the first batter he faced as a big leaguer. He eventually settled in, allowing just one run over four innings of long relief.

I remember it was freezing out. It was cold. The bullpen had been used a lot, so I knew if it was early in the game I was coming in. And that's what happened. It was just a cool thing. Just to get a chance to pitch in the big leagues for the first time. You wish everybody could have that experience. Tom Kelly came to me [after the game] and said some nice things to me about filling those four innings in that game. Just to save the bullpen for that day.

He was used as a long reliever throughout the 1993 season, logging 68.1 innings over 41 relief appearances.

You know what the job is? You just gotta be ready to go. When you're called on, you gotta be ready. It's your job to eat the innings. Eating innings, keeping the team in the game, and saving the bullpen. You have to go out there and throw strikes. You don't want [the game] to get out of hand.

One of his favorite memories from that season was a thrilling 12-11 road win against the Oakland Athletics on May 26th.

It was one of the wildest games. A back-and-forth game in the rain. That was a highlight for me, and it was the only win I got in the big leagues. I don't even remember what the score was. 13-something. 11-10? Whatever it was, just a wild game. But just a chance to play in the big leagues. It's tough to get there, and not everybody gets there. But just to get a chance to pitch in that old Yankee Stadium or Fenway Park. It was a great thrill to get those opportunities.

Local fans might know Tsamis as the longtime St. Paul Saints manager. He led them from 2003-20, winning a Northern League championship in 2004 and an American Association title in 2019. Tsamis also won back-to-back Northern League championships while managing the New Jersey Jackals in 2001 and 2002.

Lucky enough to win back-to-back championships in New Jersey, and then the St. Paul job just became available. That's just the way it worked out, and was fortunate enough to stay there for 18 years. I was in the old stadium [Midway Stadium], and got to go to the new stadium [CHS Field]. To be a part of that St. Paul Saints organization for 18 years was a great thing. As was being in New Jersey for two years. Now it's my fifth year [with the Kane County Cougars], which is a great place as well. Great crowds.

Tsamis enjoys the challenge of trying to win as an independent league manager.

I've been lucky to be in good spots with good people. The competition has been great. The thing about independent ball is that it's about winning, which makes it exciting. It's not about player development. We're trying to win, and win championships.

His tenure with the Saints came to a sudden end in 2021 when the Twins named them their new Triple-A affiliate.

That was probably the toughest thing I ever had to go through, to lose that job there. You hear the rumors about it happening, but you don't really think it's going to happen. Look, it was a great decision by the Saints. To be the Triple-A team for the Minnesota Twins, which is 15 minutes away. They made the right decision. It's a great thing for everybody there. But it was definitely tough and definitely painful to lose that job.

The Saints are still great to me. Since that happened, the Saints have allowed me to give baseball lessons at the stadium in the winter time. There's a lot of great people there. But now I'm in a great spot with Kane County.

Tsamis has had similar success with the Kane County Cougars, winning the American Association championship in 2024.

It's crazy how that's happened. Obviously when the St. Paul thing happened, it was the same year that Kane County got bumped out [of minor league baseball]. Kane County basically took St. Paul's place in the American Association, and I was named the manager. So that worked out.

St. Paul had always been one of the greatest crowds in this league. But Kane County is right there as well. Kane County has led the league in attendance every year. And it's a great place to be. Big crowds. I basically went from one great organization to another.

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[palmspringstwinsfan]

Good story about a great guy 

[Sjoski]

 Nice to see he continues to survive. 

He was a scab replacement player in the 1995 MLB strike. Caught in the middle of millionaires fighting billionaires while fringe players like Gerorge were making peanuts just tried to survive.

You have to wonder how this effected his career as a player and manager.  

[theBOMisthebomb]

I met George at the open tryouts for the Saints at CHS Field. I thanked him for giving me the chance to dream for an afternoon. He was really respectful and took the time to acknowledge my efforts even though I was in my early forties and just there to see what I could do with obviously no chance to make the squad. 

I also used to call and email questions to his weekly Saints show.