The Twins Almanac for May 18: Carew Dashes, Miggy Mashes

Happy Birthday, Andre David

Happy 66th birthday to former Twin Andre David. He homered off Hall of Famer Jack Morris on his very first major-league swing on June 29, 1984 (age 26). Unfortunately, it was the only home run of his career.

Happy Birthday, Rich Garcés

Happy 53rd birthday to former Twins reliever Rich Garcés. Back in 1990, he became the most recent of only eight teenagers to play for Minnesota. In just his second MLB game, he became the only teenager in Twins history to record a save.  

Prior to Garcés, the last teenager to play for the Twins was Bert Blyleven way back in 1970. 

1865

Baseball has a long history here in Minnesota. One hundred and fifty-nine years ago today—just a month after the end of the Civil War—the North Star Base Ball Club of St. Paul beat the Excelsior Club of Fort Snelling 38-14. 

If you're interested in Minnesota baseball history, I highly recommend Stew Thornley's outstanding book, Baseball in Minnesota: The Definitive History.

1969

Rod Carew stole second, third, and home in the same inning on this date in 1969. 

With the Billy Martin-managed Twins down 2-0 in Detroit, César Tovar singled off Mickey Lolich leading off the bottom of the third. Then, with Carew up to bat, Tovar was balked to second and then stole third. Perhaps distracted by Tovar, Lolich walked Carew. Then, with Harmon Killebrew at the plate, the Twins executed a double steal, with Carew swiping second and Tovar taking home on the throw. Carew then stole third and home to tie the game. (Killebrew wound up striking out.)

Carew was the only player to steal second, third, and home consecutively during the 1960s. 

St. Paul native Paul Molitor accomplished the feat in the first inning of a game against Oakland on July 26, 1987. 

The most recent player to do so was Elly De La Cruz on July 8, 2023. 

2021

Miguel Sanó hit three home runs with four RBI in a 5-4 win over the White Sox at Target Field on this date in 2021. 

In the Twins' first 55 seasons in Minnesota, there were only four 3-HR games (Allison, Killebrew, Oliva, and Morneau). There were NINE 3-HR games over a six-year period from 2016 to 2021 (Kepler x2, Rosario, Dozier, Buxton, Cruz x2, and Sanó).

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!