All-Time Twins Team

[CubFan7125]

C - Earl Battey: 2 gold gloves, 4 time all-star, played for the Twins from 1961-1967

1B - Kent Hrbek: 293 career HR's, 1982 all-star, #14 is retired by the Twins, hometown hero who was the emotional leader of both the 1987 & the 1991 World Series Champions, played in his entire career in a Twins uniform(1981-1994)

2B - Rod Carew: 1967 Rookie of the Year, 1977 AL-MVP, 12 time all-star, led AL in hitting 7 times, enshrined in Cooperstown, #29 is retired by the Twins, played in Minnesota from 1967-1978

3B - Gary Gaetti: 2 time all-star, 4 gold gloves, 201 HR's, 1987 ALCS MVP, played in Minnesota from 1981-1990

SS - Zoilo Versalles: 2 time all-star, 1965 AL MVP, led AL in triples from 1963-1965, played in Minnesota from 1961-1967 (this was probably the toughest position to call, with both Smalley & Gagne receiving serious consideration.)

LF - Bob Allison: 2 time all-star, finished in the top 10 in homers 7 times during the 60's, extremely good defensive Left Fielder, 211 HR's, played in Minnesota from 1961-1970

CF - Kirby Puckett: 10 time all-star, 6 gold gloves, 1989 batting champ & 1991 ALCS MVP, led AL in hits 4 times & RBI's once, inducted into Cooperstown this year, played for the Twins from 1984-1995

RF - Harmon Killebrew: 10 time all-star, 1969 AL MVP, led AL in HR's 5 times, all-time Twin HR leader with 475, #3 is retired by the Twins, member of the Hall of Fame

DH - Tony Oliva: 8 time all-star, 1964 Rookie of the Year, 1966 gold glove winner, led AL in batting 3 times, doubles 4 times, & hits 5 times, 1917 hits & 220 HR's, #6 is retired by the Twins, played from 1962-1976(his entire career)

LP - Jim Kaat: 173 wins, 2 time all-star, 11 gold gloves, won 25 games in 1966, inducted into the Twins HOF this year, played in Minnesota from 1961-1973

RP - Bert Blyleven: 149 wink, 2035 K's, was #2 starter on 87 World Series team, played for Twins from 1970-1975 & 1985-1988

All of the above stats are Twins stats, not career numbers, now I will fill out the team.

Rotation
1. Kaat
2. Blyleven
3. Frank Viola
4. Jim Perry
5. Brad Radke

Bullpen
1. Jeff Reardon
2. Rick Aguilara
3. Ron Perranoski
4. Dave Goltz(I know he started, but my rotation was full & I wanted a lefty out of the pen.)
5. Ron Davis or Mike Marshall, I couldn't decide

Bench
C - Tim Laudner (Tough call between him & Brian Harper, who I never liked, so Laudner wins.)
IF - Roy Smalley, Chuck Knoblauch
OF - Larry Hisle, Tom Brunansky (OK he wasn't that great, but I liked him.)

And of course TK manages them with Billy Martin as his bench coach. Please feel free to slap me around for whatever mistakes I am sure I have made on this list.

[Skipper Steve]

What? No Rob Wilfong?

[timconnelly]

What a well-researched article: my hat is off to you! I might add, in case anybody didn't know, that the Minnesota Twins are part of the same franchise as the Washington Senators. They moved to Minnesota in 1961 and that same season, the AL expanded a new team to Washington that was called the Senators. That franchise later became the Texas Rangers.

[CubFan7125]

I thought about adding Washington to the list, but decided just to stick to the team since it moved to Minnesota. Beyond the "Big Train" i think you would be stretching it with any original Senators anyway.

By the way Skipper, I'd thought I would leave Rob Wilfong to whoever does the Los Angeles/California/Anaheim Angels list. The other 2 tough ones to leave off were Bombo Rivera & Willie Norwood.

[nightal]

I can't argue with anyone on this team. Great job.

[BBapplepie]

In the late 50's & early 60's I was a Detriot Tigers rooter or
just tired of all the Yankees fans. I became a lifelong Mets
fan in 1962, but starting in 1965 I always enjoy the Twins
with the likes of Oliva and Carew they were great hitters
to watch. One thing the Twins have that the Mets don't have
as much is history due to the fact that the Twins players have
stayed with the franchise longer.
I totally agree with CubFan7125 every pick at each position, he
did a fantastic job with the players team stats. GOOD WORK!!

[Skipper Steve]

Originally posted by CubFan7125
The other 2 tough ones to leave off were Bombo Rivera & Willie Norwood.

Learn something new every day.
If you had put a gun to my head and said "Bombo Rivera, what's your reply in three seconds or I pull the trigger," I would have yelled out:

Montreal Expos!

Just looked - he played a heckuva lot more for the Twins. Go figure?

If the Twins and Expos do end up going someday, can we call it "The Curse of the Bomborino"?

Skip, keep this guy off the next draft thread, he'll kill all of us.

CF, great job, I'm floored! How did you research all this?

I just noticed that Harmon "Killer" played 1B (969, career), 3B (791, career), OF (470, career). I didn't separate then add up just his Twins numbers. Did he not merit consideration for those positions or was OF his strongest defensive position?

[Golden Bear]

Killebrew never really played RF (1 game for his career); he played most of three seasons in LF from 1962-1964, and had spot duty in 1966.

I don't know a lot about Killer, but I've heard third-hand that he was a subpar fielder at any of the three positions he played (1b, 3b, LF). Oliva, on the other hand, was an outstanding RF until his knees went, with a terrific arm.

You could probably put Killer in RF in a pinch, but I'd propose a friendly amendment to play Oliva in RF and Harmon at DH. (This is make-believe, so we can pretend our version of Oliva has good wheels.)

Originally posted by Golden Bear
Killebrew never really played RF (1 game for his career); he played most of three seasons in LF from 1962-1964, and had spot duty in 1966.

How'd you know he played in RF. I never personally researched him but it only lists "OF". What's your source? Watching the games back then or research?

[CubFan7125]

A very good suggestion pertaining to Killebrew & Oliva. I needed to get Killer on my team, but I also wanted Hrbek, Gaetti, and Allison in there. Being born in 1967 I never really saw either of them play, but I have memories of being a little kid & seeing "Tony O" DH at the Old Met, so I put him there and put Harmon in the last available spot.(I grew up about 6 blocks away from the ballpark and during the summer my friends & I would buy the 50 cent tickets and take a Twins game in.)

From what I have heard & read, to say that Killebrew was sub-par defensively would be generous, so maybe DH would be more appropriate anyway.

[Golden Bear]

Yogi:

On the baseball-reference site, if you look at the fielding stats, it breaks down OF on the right as either LF, CF, or RF.

Originally posted by Golden Bear
Yogi:

On the baseball-reference site, if you look at the fielding stats, it breaks down OF on the right as either LF, CF, or RF.

Thanks, I'll revisit that site and check out the positions more closely.

[Golden Bear]

Originally posted by CubFan7125
A very good suggestion pertaining to Killebrew & Oliva. I needed to get Killer on my team, but I also wanted Hrbek, Gaetti, and Allison in there. Being born in 1967 I never really saw either of them play, but I have memories of being a little kid & seeing "Tony O" DH at the Old Met, so I put him there and put Harmon in the last available spot.(I grew up about 6 blocks away from the ballpark and during the summer my friends & I would buy the 50 cent tickets and take a Twins game in.)

From what I have heard & read, to say that Killebrew was sub-par defensively would be generous, so maybe DH would be more appropriate anyway.

I agree...Killer is a must have on the team; he's arguably the greatest Twin ever. But he's also the poster child for the DH, because he really couldn't play a position, so he's a nice fit there.

Oliva was the other type of DH; the veteran who was once valuable in the field, but who sustained injuries which limited his ability to contribute there. He actually had a GG in the OF early on in his career.

[pjl7]

As a lifelong Twins fan, currently sweating out the evil intentions of Pohlad, Selig, Buzz Buzzard and the like...this thread is a breath of fresh air. Although, I don't have the time to provide citations and stats, I have some opinions formulated over time on this subject. I will try not to be critical, but just offer some thoughts on what I have done differently when considering this in the past.


SS- This one I have gone back and forth on between Versalles and Smalley. In the end, I went with Smalley. I am a big believer in Secondary Average, and Smalley beats Versalles (in Minnesota) by a significant margin (.280-.215). He was also a solid defensive shortstop despite not looking the part and playing a lot at other positions late in his career.

All other positions, I am in 100% agreement with (although I think Kaat actually won 189 games in Minnesota).

The bench does require a few adjustment (from the Twins fan's point of view). First, we would take Marshall, Red Worthington, Doug Corbett or Soup Campbell, over Davis in a minute, but we can probably live with only four relievers. That frees a bench spot.

First, Laudner is OK, but I would take Butch Wynegar over him. Laudner was more popular due to being on a winning team, but Butch was a better player. He was also pretty popular when he was here.

In the infield, the backup of Zoilo and Smalley is one, but Knoblauch is not allowed here. He left no friends or fans behind when he left. We will take all-utility guy Cesar Tovar over Knoblauch. Knoblauch would pout too much on the bench and bring the club down. Pepe would simply play wherever he was plugged in.

In the outfield, Bruno is a given. He had a decent bat and played the right field corner in the Dome better than anyone. The other spot would go to Hisle, Gladden or Shane Mack depending on whether you wanted longevity, productivity or popularity.

A few other names of note...Lyman Bostock had three decent years here. Don Mincher was incredibly effective as a platoon player for the Twins. His numbers would have looked good iun the 1980s, let alone the 1960s. Chili Davis was beloved in his two seasons here.

The spot left from the pitching spot has to go to pinch-hitter extraorinaire Randy Bush. He created almost 5 runs per game (in an offensive era, I know) and was a Twin for 12 seasons.

Finally, at this point we'd have to make the owner Calvin Griffith, not Pohlad.