Twins Almanac: The Johan Santana Trade

Feb. 1; Happy 53rd birthday to former Twins outfielder Rich Becker. He had a heckuva game on July 13, 1996, going 4-for-6 with two home runs, a triple, and a double. Those four extra-base hits are tied for the most in Twins history, and the 13 total bases are tied for second-most. (Bet you know who hold the team record for total bases in a game. Heck, you can probably even name the year, city, and day of the week.)

Becker and Kenny Lofton led MLB center fielders with 11 assists in 1995, and Becker led the majors outright with 16 in 1996. He led all outfielders with five double plays turned in 1995 and nine in 1996. 

Feb. 2: Happy 57th birthday to 1991 20-game winner Scott Erickson. Erickson — who made his MLB debut midway through the 1990 season — started 1991 off hot, going 12-2 with a 1.39 ERA in the first half en route to being named starting pitcher of the All-Star Game. (Erickson was unable to pitch, however, due to a strained elbow, so in his stead manager Tony LaRussa handed the ball to fellow Twin Jack Morris wore black socks and his pants low in the style of Erickson.) Erickson finished the Twins' 1991 World Championship season tied for the MLB lead with 20 wins and came in runner-up to Roger Clemens in AL Cy Young balloting.  

After a solid ‘92 season, Erickson lost a major league-worst 19 games in 1993. ‘94 was arguably an even worse season for Erickson, though he did no-hit the Brewers at the Metrodome on April 27th. He rebounded after being traded to the Orioles during the 1995 season and ultimately proved to be one of the most durable pitchers of the ‘90s, pitching an American League-leading 251.1 innings in 1998 and winning 73 games between 1995 and ’99.

Feb. 2: Happy 71st birthday to Brainerd native Wayne Caughey. The Twins drafted him out of St. Cloud State in 1974 and he played nine seasons of professional baseball, including SIX seasons at Triple A between the Twins, Dodgers, and Pirates organizations, but never got that call up to "The Show." He is the former CFO of KLN Family Brands up in Perham, MN. 

Feb. 2, 2008: On this date in 2008, the Twins did the prudent thing and traded 2004 and 2006 Cy Young Award-winner Johan Santana to the Mets for outfielder Carlos Gómez and three pitchers (all of whom were duds). Gómez showed sparks but never lived up to his potential in Minnesota, though he did score one of the most exciting runs in team history in Game 163 in 2009. But less than a month later he was traded to Milwaukee for former and future All-Star J.J. Hardy. Gómez, for his part, would go on to consecutive All-Star seasons for Milwaukee in 2013 and ‘14. In 2013, he won a Gold Glove and finished top-10 in NL MVP balloting.

After three very good seasons in New York, Santana missed all of the 2011 season. He went 6-9 in 21 starts in 2012. He pitched the first no-hitter in Mets history on June 1, but pitched his final major league game on August 17 at just age 33.

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!