Twins Bite-Sized History: Part 5, Gene Mauch, Rod Carew and the Lumber Company

Part 5 of a 12-part series that breaks Twins history into fun-sized chunks.You can find more here:

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4

The clubhouse was handed to manager Frank Quilici who guided the team to nearly a .500 record from 1972 through 1975, but they never finished higher than third in the division, and never fewer than eight games back. The results took their toll on attendance. The Twins did not break the 1,000,000 attendance mark for the first time in 1971, but it wouldn’t be the last. The Twins wouldn’t reach that mark again until 1977, thanks to Carew’s stellar season, a new manager, and a “Lumber Company.”

The manager was Gene Mauch, a veteran manager from the National League who also happened to be a former member of the St. Paul Saints and Minneapolis Millers. He took over the Twins in 1976, and, despite the midseason trade of Bert Blyleven, the Twins posted a winning record for the first time since 1970.

The next year was even more exciting, and over 1,100,000 Twins fans watched it live. The Twins offense, known as the “Lumber Company,” scored 867 runs and featured career years from Larry Hisle (119 RBI) and Lyman Bostock (.336 batting average). That level of run support helped make a 20-game winner out of Dave Goltz, who posted a 3.36 ERA. On August 23, the Twins were 18 games above .500 and a game back of the Royals. A late season fade to fourth place and 84 wins didn’t tarnish the return of interest to the franchise.

That interest was further fueled by Carew’s remarkable 1977 season. He entered June hitting .365 but proceeded to gather hits in every June game save one on the 18th. On July 1st he was hitting .411 and would keep his average above that level through July 10th. His story broke through sports and into mainstream news, even being featured on the cover of Time magazine (shown above). He would not reach .400 again, but finished the year with a .388 average, eight hits shy of the magical mark.

It would be the zenith of Carew’s career with the Twins. But things turned sharply downhill that offseason.

Next up: Bottoming Out