Larry Hisle, A Very Good Twins Hitter Who Stood In The Shadow Of Rod Carew

Of course, the Minnesota Twins had some excellent batting teams and good offenses in the mid-1970s, led by Rod Carew. Some of these years also included the last couple of healthy and productive seasons from Tony Oliva. They scored a ton of runs in that era.

But there were other contributors beyond those Hall of Famers, including a collection of talented outfielders. That group had lesser-known productive members such as Steve Braun and Bobby Darwin and well-known players such as Dan Ford and Lyman Bostock. The years in the table below coincide with All-Star Larry Hisle’s tenure in Minnesota. Let’s take a deeper look at Hisle’s story.

Larry Eugene Hisle was born in Portsmouth, Ohio, on May 5, 1947. His mother, a big baseball fan, named him Larry after Larry Doby, the first African American to play in the American League. Sadly, both Hisle's parents died at an early age, and Larry lived with his aunt for a period before being adopted. He channeled his grief into sports. When he was tired of his training, he would remember his mother, who wanted him to give his best.

The Philadelphia Phillies selected Hisle in the second round of the 1965 Major League Amateur Draft, the inaugural modern-day draft. As a youngster, Hisle was proficient in basketball and baseball but turned down a basketball scholarship offer from Ohio State to sign with the Phillies. He would later attend Ohio State but did not play sports there.

After two minor league seasons, the six-foot-two, 190-pound Hisle debuted with the Phillies on April 10, 1968. He got two hits in his first MLB at-bat against Claude Osteen. He also scored a run in that debut game, a 2-0 Phillies win against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Despite that promising start, Hisle was sent to the minor leagues after only 12 plate appearances. In 1969, he got extensive playing time and finished fourth in National League Rookie of the Year voting. His first home run came on April 21, 1969, against Gary Gentry of the New York Mets. His rookie season statistics compared favorably to Willie Mays's 18 years earlier. Hisle had 20 home runs and 56 RBIs that season with a 124 OPS+. However, Hisle had a disappointing sophomore season in 1970, which resulted in him playing much of 1971 and all of 1972 in the minor leagues. He was traded three times in that difficult period. In October 1971, he was traded to the Dodgers, then a year later, in October 1972, to the Cardinals, then shortly after that, in November 1972, to the Twins, where he found a home.

Larry Hisle had an immediate impact on the Twins. While with the Twins, the right-handed Hisle played all three outfield positions, primarily left field. His OPS+ was positive (meaning above the major league median, 100 being the median) in every season with the Twins. Hisle’s OPS+ numbers started at 114 in 1973, then proceeded to 131, 143, 111, and 144 in the next four seasons. His excellent 1977 season was his best with the Twins. He was selected to the All-Star team and finished 12^th in voting for Most Valuable Player, while his 119 RBIs led the American League. That season, he hit .302/.369/.533 and had 28 home runs.

Hisle’s Twins highlights include a five-hit game in 1973, three five-RBI games, and two four-run games in May 1976. But perhaps his most notable achievement was hitting for the cycle on June 4, 1976.

Modern Twins fans might be interested to learn that Baseball Reference lists Jacque Jones and Eddie Rosario as two of the ten most similar players to Hisle. That comparison should give recent fans an idea of Hisle’s baseball abilities.

After the 1977 season, a couple of the top Twins outfielders, Hisle and Lyman Bostock, were granted free agency. They left for greener pastures, leaving large shoes to fill the Twins lineup. For his part, Hisle signed with the Milwaukee Brewers. He had an All-Star season in 1978 when he hit .290/.374/.533 with 34 home runs and 115 RBIs. His MVP vote totals increased from the prior season; he finished third in 1978. After that success, he unfortunately suffered a significant rotator cuff injury in 1979. He played very little thereafter. 1982 ended up being his final season. 

After his playing career, Larry Hisle was the hitting coach for the Toronto Blue Jays from 1992 to 1995, which included their two World Series championship seasons of 1992 and 1993. During the 1993 season, Toronto batters (John Olerud, Paul Molitor, and Roberto Alomar) would finish 1-2-3 in batting average in the American League.

As of 2019, Hisle was the Manager of Youth Outreach with the Milwaukee Brewers and the President of Major League Mentoring in Milwaukee.

Larry Hisle was a talented player with two excellent seasons – 1977 and 1978. He finished his career with a respectable batting slash line of .273/.347/.452 and 166 home runs with 674 RBIs. His career OPS+ was an impressive 123, and he achieved a WAR of 25.0. Hisle was a splendid batter who contributed to the Twins' offensive success of the mid-1970s. With those great offenses in 1976 and 1977, it seems like they should have been more successful. Patrick Reusse surmised in Tales from the Minnesota Sport Beat that, at least in 1977, “They just couldn’t pitch."

What are your memories of the 1970s Twins? Besides Carew, who was the offensive catalyst for those teams? Start the discussion below. 

For more Twins history, please check out my previous entries at Remembering Random Twins.

Sources include www.baseball-reference.com, www.sabr.org, and www.wikipedia.org.

Are you interested in Twins history? Then check out the Minnesota Twins Players Project, a community-driven project to discover and collect great information on every player to wear a Twins uniform!