Dave Engle

Birth Date: 11/30/1956

Dave Engle Bio

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Dave Engle was born on November 30, 1956, in San Diego. His father and Hall of Famer Ted Williams were best friends, so Engle has all kinds of memories around sports or fishing or more (article/Q&A).

In 1978, he was the third-round pick of the California Angels out of USC (Southern California). In college, he was a part of USC's national championship team in 1978. He was also part of the USC football team that was a championship in 1974.

In February of 1979, he was traded to the Twins with Paul Hartzell, Brad Havens and Ken Landreaux in exchange for Rod Carew. Just two years later, on April 14, 1981, in Seattle, Engle came in as a pinch-hitter for Hosken Powell in the top of the 9th inning and walked. He stayed in the game and played right field in the bottom of the inning.

He received rookie of the year votes in 1981. He was a part-time player in 1982. In 1983, he played in a career-high 120 games including behind the plate for the first time in his career.

Engle was named to the 1984 All Star team. The Twins lone representative in that game was Engle. He didn't play in the game.

By 1985, Engle was a part-time DH and catcher for the Twins. Mark Salas was the primary catcher, Jeff Reed got some time, and Tim Laudner continued to get a lot of time behind the plate too. In addition, he would lob the ball back to the pitchers, which gradually became a bigger and bigger issue. Engle said he had a shoulder problem, but tests showed nothing.

Quote
"Hopefully, it's just muscles in his shoulder and not a problem with his head," Twins manager Billy Gardner said at the time.""

Before the 1986 season, he was traded to the Detroit Tigers in exchange for Chris Pittaro and Alejandro Sanchez. The Tigers released him in August. He signed a minor-league deal with the Expos... He played in 59 games as a bench player. He played 34 more games for the Expos in 1988 before they released him in July. He signed with the Brewers right before the season started. He was soon called up, got into 27 games, and was released in July. He got a little Triple-A time with the Rangers' affiliate in Oklahoma City. In 1991, he played in one game for the Astros Triple-A club in Tucson.

Following his playing career, he went into coaching. In 1995, he became the manager of the Astros' High-A affiliate in Kissimmee, Florida. The following season, he managed Double-A Jackson to a .500 record (70-70). He returned to a managerial role in 1999 for the Mets' Low-A affiliate, Capital City. They went 83-58, and in 2000, he moved up to High-A St. Lucie where the team went 81-58. He has also done some scouting.

Did you know? Dave Engle and Tom Brunansky are brothers-in-law. Engle was the Angels sixth-round pick in 1978. Brunansky was the Angels' first-round pick that same year.

In 2014, the Star Tribune's Dennis Brackin wrote an article on Engle. At the time, he was a major-league scout with the Orioles.

Notable Events & Trivia

Dave Engle was the Twins lone representative in the 1985 at Candlestick Park in San Francisco.

Baseball-Reference

Dave Engle Minor Leagues Statistics | Baseball-Reference.com

Dave Engle Minor Leagues Statistics including batting, fielding, prospect rankings and more on Baseball-Reference.com
FanGraphs

Dave Engle - Stats - Batting | FanGraphs Baseball

Dave Engle career batting statistics for Major League, Minor League, and postseason baseball
Sabr.org

Dave Engle – Society for American Baseball Research

Check out stories, photos, and highlights from the 2026 conference.
Baseball Almanac

Dave Engle Stats, Height, Weight, Research & History | Baseball Almanac

Dave Engle stats, height, weight, history, research, and more on Baseball Almanac.
Wikipedia

Dave Engle - Wikipedia

Ralph David Engle (born November 30, 1956) is an American former Major League Baseball utility player who played for the Minnesota Twins, Detroit Tigers and Milwaukee Brewers of the American League and the Montreal Expos of the National League from 1981 to 1989.

Personal Experiences

Sometime in 1984 at the Metrodome - I was 8 or 9. Our family got to 1-3 games per year, so it was a big deal. I was there for batting practice, and down the 3B line. The Red Sox were taking BP, and a ball came down by us. John Henry Johnson, a left-handed reliever of the Red Sox, came over, and of course, I yelled, hoping he might toss me the ball. He was right in front of me when he picked up the ball. He looked at me, turned around to go back to the field, turned back and said, "I suppose I came this far..." He tossed me the ball, and I caught it. Anyway, I got that ball signed by a couple of players. I can't remember who the first one was. The second was this rookie outfielder named Kirby Puckett, and he was nice when he signed it. I worked my way over to the Twins dugout. Dave Engle was there. He smiled. I dropped the ball to him. He caught it, smiled, and tossed it into the team's ball bag. He said (something like), "Thanks kid! We can always use more baseballs!" My smile drooped, I started to turn, he quickly grabbed the ball back and signed it and threw it back up to me while apologizing the whole time. Funny now... devastating to an 8-year-old. But all good. And, I'm pretty sure by the end of that summer, my brother and I played with it in the backyard. That Puckett - I mean Engle - autograph would be pretty cool to have on a mantle 40 years later, I guess.

Seth Stohs

I just wanted to add a short personal memory to Seth’s fine article on Dave Engle. Since Toledo was the AAA affiliate of the Twins for about 8 years and Toledo’s my "born and raised" city, I saw the Mud Hens and Dave Engle play a lot. Two memories. I recall Engle edging out the great Wade Boggs for the batting title of the International League in, I believe 1980, by 1 point! That’s a story that Engle may be telling his grandchildren now! Second, was that Engle was a very strong defensive RF with a Matt Wallner type arm. I remember a play where the batter hit the ball down the right field line for a hit, with a runner on first. The ball sliced just about all the way to the right field corner by the wall. Engle retrieved it and unleashed an absolute monster line drive throw and threw out the runner at third! Greg Allen greglw3

Dave Engle Statistics

Register Batting
Year	Age	AgeDif	Tm	Lg	Lev	Aff	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB
1978	21	-0.9	Salinas	CALL	A	CAL	53	221	203	34	62	11	0	6	40	4	1	15	33	.305	.353	.448	.801	91		1	0	2
1979	22	-2.9	Toledo	IL	AAA	MIN	106	390	363	46	104	17	1	7	51	2	0	25	54	.287	.332	.397	.728	144		0	1	1
1980	23	-1.8	Toledo	IL	AAA	MIN	133	535	489	74	150	27	3	7	73	8	2	34	65	.307	.350	.417	.768	204		2	4	6
1981	24	-4.7	MIN	AL	Maj	MIN	82	265	248	29	64	14	4	5	32	0	1	13	37	.258	.296	.407	.703	101	9	1	1	2	1
1982	25	0.0	Toledo	IL	AAA	MIN	9	42	34	14	15	1	1	5	12	0	0	7	5	.441	.524	.971	1.494	33		0	0	1	0
1982	25	-3.8	MIN	AL	Maj	MIN	58	197	186	20	42	7	2	4	16	0	0	10	22	.226	.269	.350	.619	65	6	1	0	0	0
1983	26	-2.8	MIN	AL	Maj	MIN	120	408	374	46	114	22	4	8	43	2	1	28	39	.305	.351	.449	.800	168	13	1	0	5	1
1984	27	-1.7	MIN	AL	Maj	MIN	109	424	391	56	104	20	1	4	38	0	1	26	22	.266	.308	.353	.661	138	18	0	2	5	3
1985	28	-0.9	MIN	AL	Maj	MIN	70	195	172	28	44	8	2	7	25	2	2	21	28	.256	.333	.448	.781	77	3	0	0	2	1
1986	29	3.0	Nashville	AA	AAA	DET	8	31	24	5	4	0	0	2	7	1	1	6	4	.167	.355	.417	.772	10		1	0	0	0
1986	29	0.2	DET	AL	Maj	DET	35	93	86	6	22	7	0	0	4	0	0	7	13	.256	.312	.337	.649	29	2	0	0	0	0
1987	30	1.8	MON	NL	Maj	MON	59	90	84	7	19	4	0	1	14	1	0	6	11	.226	.278	.310	.587	26	5	0	0	0	1
1988	31	2.9	MON	NL	Maj	MON	34	42	37	4	8	3	0	0	1	0	0	5	5	.216	.310	.297	.607	11	2	0	0	0	0
1989	32	3.5	MIL	AL	Maj	MIL	27	70	65	5	14	3	0	2	8	0	0	4	13	.215	.261	.354	.615	23	1	0	1	0	0
1990	33	6.8	Oklahoma City	AA	AAA	TEX	16	60	54	6	13	6	1	1	7	0	0	6	6	.241	.317	.444	.761	24		0	0	0	0
1991	34	8.2	Tucson	PCL	AAA	HOU	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	0		0	0	0	0
Year	Age	AgeDif	Tm	Lg	Lev	Aff	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	SB	CS	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	TB	GDP	HBP	SH	SF	IBB
Majors (9 seasons)					Majors		594	1784	1643	201	431	88	13	31	181	5	5	120	190	.262	.311	.388	.700	638	59	3	4	14	7
Minors (7 seasons)					Minors		326	1280	1168	179	348	62	6	28	190	15	4	93	167	.298	.349	.433	.782	506		4	5	10	0
All Levels (14 Seasons)							920	3064	2811	380	779	150	19	59	371	20	9	213	357	.277	.327	.407	.734	1144		7	9	24	7

AAA (6 seasons)					Minors		273	1059	965	145	286	51	6	22	150	11	3	78	134	.296	.348	.430	.778	415		3	5	8	0
A (1 season)					Minors		53	221	203	34	62	11	0	6	40	4	1	15	33	.305	.353	.448	.801	91		1	0	2

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 3/26/2024.

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