Jim O’Rourke (1850)
Joe Brown (1918)
Joe Astroth (1922)
Cloyd Boyer (1927)
Rico Carty (1939)
Craig Skok (1947)
Garry Maddox (1949)
Rob Wilfong (1953)
David West (1964)
Joe Brown was the general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1956-1976.
Craig Skok was drafted by Minnesota in 1967, but did not sign.
Due to personal time constraints, this is a reprint from last year which has not been updated.
Jim O’Rourke (1850)
Joe Brown (1918)
Joe Astroth (1922)
Cloyd Boyer (1927)
Rico Carty (1939)
Craig Skok (1947)
Garry Maddox (1949)
Rob Wilfong (1953)
David West (1964)
Joe Brown was the general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1956-1976.
Craig Skok was drafted by Minnesota in 1967, but did not sign.
Jim O’Rourke (1850)
Joe Brown (1918)
Joe Astroth (1922)
Cloyd Boyer (1927)
Rico Carty (1939)
Craig Skok (1947)
Garry Maddox (1949)
Rob Wilfong (1953)
David West (1964)
Joe Brown was the general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1956-1976.
Craig Skok was drafted by Minnesota in 1967, but did not sign.
Jim O’Rourke (1850)
Joe Brown (1918)
Joe Astroth (1922)
Cloyd Boyer (1927)
Rico Carty (1939)
Craig Skok (1947)
Garry Maddox (1949)
Rob Wilfong (1953)
David West (1964)
Joe Brown was the general manager of the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1956-1976.
Craig Skok was drafted by Minnesota in 1967, but did not sign.
Date: Wednesday, September 4.
Batting stars: Kirby Puckett was 2-for-4 with a double. Chili Davis was 2-for-4. Dan Gladden was 2-for-5. Kent Hrbek was 1-for-4 with a three-run homer, his sixteenth.
Pitching stars: Allan Anderson pitched two shutout innings, giving up two hits and striking out one. Mark Guthrie struck out three in a scoreless inning, giving up one hit.
Opposition stars: Alex Cole was 4-for-5 with a double. Albert Belle was 2-for-5 with a home run (his twenty-fifth), a double, and five RBIs. Willie Blair pitched eight innings, giving up three runs on eight hits and one walk and striking out one.
The game: With one out in the first Chuck Knoblauch and Puckett singled and Hrbek followed with a three-run homer to put the Twins ahead 3-0. That was as good as it got for them. In the third, a walk, an error, and a bunt single loaded the bases for the Indians with none out. A force out followed, but Carlos Baerga was hit by a pitch to force in a run and Belle followed with a bases-clearing double to give Cleveland a 4-3 lead.
The Indians added a run in the fourth when Jim Thome led off with a single, went to third on a pair of productive outs, and scored on Cole's single. In the fifth Baerga led off with a single and Belle hit a two-run homer to make the score 7-3. In the seventh, singles by Jose Gonzalez, Carlos Martinez, and Thome brought home another run to make it 8-3.
Meanwhile, the Twins did not get a man past first base in innings two through seven. Puckett hit a two-out double in the eighth. The Twins tried to get back into it in the ninth. Singles by Davis and Brian Harper and a walk to Shane Mack loaded the bases with none out. Mike Pagliarulo then hit into a double play, scoring a run but pretty much taking the Twins out of the inning.
WP: Blair (2-2). LP: David West (4-4). S: Shawn Hillegas (7).
Notes: The Twins used their standard lineup. Paul Sorrento pinch-hit for Greg Gagne in the seventh. Al Newman then went in to play shortstop. Gene Larkin pinch-hit for Newman in the ninth.
Puckett raised his average to .331. Harper was 1-for-4 and was batting .320. Mack was 0-for-2 with two walks and was batting .308.
West started for the Twins. He pitched well for two innings. His line was 2.1 innings, four runs (three earned), two hits, two walks, and two strikeouts. It seems like a pretty quick hook--again, the sequence in the third was walk, error, bunt single, ground out, hit batsman, double. Only one hard-hit ball, although obviously the walk and the hit batsman weren't helpful. Still, with a big lead in the division, Tom Kelly might have given West more of a chance to work out of trouble. As it happened, the Twins burned through five relievers, including Carl Willis and Terry Leach, in a game they didn't win anyway.
Willis allowed two runs in one inning to raise his ERA to 2.29. Leach gave up a run in one inning to make his ERA 2.88.
Tom Edens gave up a run in 1.2 innings to raise his ERA to 7.20.
People have forgotten what an awesome hitter Albert Belle was. He had a reputation for being a jerk, and he way have been, but the jerk could hit. 1991 was his first season as a regular, and it was the first of ten consecutive seasons in which he hit twenty-three or more home runs. He had eight consecutive seasons in which he hit thirty homers or more, and in three of them he hit forty-eight or more. He had an OPS of over 1.000 four times and an OPS of over .900 two more times. Injuries forced him to retire in 2000, after his age-thirty-three season, but his career numbers were .295/.369/.564 with 381 home runs in basically ten seasons. Whatever else he may have been, Albert Belle was a great batter.
This was the last save of Shawn Hillegas' career. He had ten total, seven of them in 1991. Steve Olin is listed as the closer, but he had just seventeen saves, and Hillegas and Dave Otto each had seven. He was not a particularly good pitcher: in 181 major league games (62 starts) he was 24-38, 4.61, 1.47 WHIP. He was substantially better as a reliever, although not a star or anything: 9-12, 3.77, 1.37 WHIP. Given his lack of success as a starter, I don't know why teams kept giving him starts rather than putting him in the bullpen, but they did. There was obviously something about him that convinced teams he could be a successful starting pitcher, even though the stats provide no evidence to back it up.
Chicago defeated Kansas City 4-1 and Oakland lost to Milwaukee 2-0, so the White Sox moved back into second place.
Record: The Twins were 80-54, in first place in the American League West, eight games ahead of Chicago.
In the East, Toronto took a three game lead over Detroit.
Date: Wednesday, August 28.
Batting stars: Randy Bush was 3-for-4 with a double and a hit-by-pitch. Kent Hrbek was 2-for-3 with a double and two walks. Brian Harper was 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs. Mike Pagliarulo was 2-for-5. Gene Larkin was 2-for-5.
Pitching stars: David West pitched six innings, giving up two runs on five hits and a walk and striking out none. Carl Willis pitched two shutout innings, giving up two hits. Rick Aguilera pitched a perfect inning, striking out one.
Opposition stars: Mark Whiten was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer, his ninth. Carlos Baerga was 2-for-4. Eric King pitched 6.1 innings, giving up three runs on nine hits and two walks and striking out one.
The game: The Twins loaded the bases with one out in the first but did not score. They opened the second with singles by Pagliarulo and Larkin but scored only once, on a double play. They added a run in the third on back-to-back two-out doubles by Hrbek and Harper to go ahead 2-0.
The Indians put men on first and second with one out in the third and did not score. The Twins loaded the bases with one out in the fifth and did not score. In the sixth, however, Baerga singled and Whiten hit a two-out two-run homer to tie the score 2-2.
The Twins took the lead back in the seventh. Bush was hit by a pitch to start the inning, went to third on a one-out single by Hrbek, and scored on Harper's single. In the eighth, Larkin led off by reaching third on a two-error play and scored on Bush's two-out single to put the Twins up 4-2. Cleveland got a two-out single in the eighth but otherwise did no damage.
WP: West (4-3). LP: King (5-8). S: Aguilera (35).
Notes: Bush was the DH in place of Chili Davis, He batted second. Chuck Knoblauch went to third spot. Kirby Puckett was out of the lineup, with Shane Mack moving to center and Larkin playing right.
Harper raised his average to .314. Mack was 1-for-5 and was batting .300. Willis lowered his ERA to 1.89. Aguilera's ERA went to 2.41.
This was one of only thirteen games in 1991 that Davis was not the starting DH. Bush was the starting DH in six of those thirteen other games.
This was the last good start West would make in 1991. He would start two more games and appear in relief three times.
Eric King came up to the Tigers in 1986 as a twenty-two-year old and went 11-4, 3.51, 1.24 WHIP. He pitched much better out of the bullpen than as a starter, so Detroit put him in the bullpen for 1987 and probably thought they had a coming star. Instead, he went 6-9, 4.89, 1.48 WHIP. He did better in 1988, then was traded to the White Sox, for whom he was a rotation starter for the next three seasons. He did pretty well in the first two, but in 1991 he was 6-11, 4.60, 1.39 WHIP. He went back to the Tigers in 1992 and then was done, although he did make sixteen starts in the Pacific League in 1998. His wikipedia entry says that he's best known for giving up Ken Griffey, Jr.'s first major league home run, which makes me feel better for not remembering him.
Oakland finally won a game, defeating Boston 9-3. The White Sox lost again, falling 7-6 to Kansas City, so the Athletics moved into sole possession of second place.
Record: The Twins were 77-52, in first place in the American League West, eight games ahead of Oakland.
Date: Monday, August 19.
Batting stars: Mike Pagliarulo was 2-for-4 with a three-run homer, his fifth. Kent Hrbek was 2-for-4 with a two-run homer (his fourteenth), a double, and two runs. Kirby Puckett was 2-for-4 with a home run (his thirteenth) and two runs. Brian Harper was 2-for-4. Shane Mack was 2-for-4.
Pitching star: Steve Bedrosian pitched three innings, giving up one run on two hits and two walks and striking out two.
Opposition stars: Brook Jacoby was 3-for-5. Terry Steinbach was 2-for-4. Jose Canseco was 2-for-5 with a home run (his thirty-fifth) and two runs. Rickey Henderson was 1-for-3 with a three-run homer (his eleventh) and two walks. Joe Klink pitched 2.1 scoreless innings, giving up three hits and a walk and striking out one.
The game: Canseco hit a two-out homer in the top of the first to give the Athletics a 1-0 lead. Puckett responded with a two-out homer in the bottom of the first to tie it 1-1. There was no more scoring until the fourth, when Oakland exploded for five runs. Terry Steinbach started the inning with a walk. Jacoby singled and Brad Komminsk had an RBI single to give the Athletics the lead. Mark McGwire walked to load the bases. With one out, Mike Bordick laid down a squeeze bunt. Rickey Henderson followed with a three-run homer to give Oakland a 6-1 lead.
The Twins came right back in the bottom of the fourth. With one out, Hrbek and Chili Davis hit back-to-back doubles to score one run. Harper singled, but Davis was thrown out at the plate. Undaunted, Mack singled and Pagliarulo hit a three-run homer to cut the Athletics' lead to 6-5.
In the fifth, singles by Canseco, Jacoby, and McGwire plated a run to make it 7-5. In the bottom of the fifth Knoblauch walked and Hrbek hit a two-run homer to tie it 7-7.
There was no more scoring until the ninth. With one out, Dave Henderson walked. He went to second on a ground out and Steinbach delivered an RBI single to give Oakland an 8-7 lead. In the bottom of the ninth Randy Bush hit a pinch-hit one-out double, but a ground out and a pop up ended the game.
WP: Klink (9-3). LP: Steve Bedrosian (4-3). S: Dennis Eckersley (34).
Notes: Dan Gladden was on the bench for this game. Mack moved to left and Gene Larkin went to right. Knoblauch moved up to the leadoff spot and Larkin batted second. Al Newman was at shortstop in Greg Gagne's place.
Bush pinch-hit for Newman in the ninth. Scott Leius then pinch-ran for Bush.
Puckett raised his average to .328. Harper went up to .306. Mack got over .300 for the first time all season at .301.
David West started and lasted just 3.2 innings, allowing six runs on six hits and three walks. He struck out four. Terry Leach gave up one run in 2.1 innings to make his ERA 2.78.
The Athletics' starter was Joe Slusarski. He pitched four innings and also allowed six runs. He gave up seven hits and and one walk with one strikeout.
You may remember Brad Komminsk--he was a can't-miss prospect who missed. The Braves took him with the fourth pick of the 1979 draft. He tore up the minors and made his major league debut with Atlanta in mid-August of 1983. He batted .222 in 36 at-bats, but he was only twenty-two. He was doing well in AAA in 1984, came up to the majors at the end of May, and batted .203 in 301 at-bats. He stuck with the Braves the entire 1985 season, but batted just .227. He did draw a fair number of walks, but not enough to offset his low average. Also, he was supposed to be a power hitter, and he was in the minors, but his high in home runs for Atlanta was eight in 1984. He was with the Braves through 1986, was with Milwaukee in 1987, was in the minors all of 1988, played for Cleveland in 1989, was with Baltimore and San Francisco in 1990, and was with Oakland in 1991. He hit well in AAA, but for some reason could not translate that to the majors. It's true that he rarely got regular playing time--his high in at-bats in a season was 301--but it's also true that he never showed he deserved it. For his career, in 1119 plate appearances, he batted .218/.301/.336 with 23 home runs. He was in AAA with the White Sox in 1992-1993, played in the Northern League in 1996, and played one game of AAA for Detroit in 1997. He was a long-time minor league coach and manager.
The White Sox lost to Detroit 3-2, so the Twins maintained their lead.
Record: The Twins were 71-49, in first place in the American League West, 3.5 games ahead of Chicago.
Date: Wednesday, August 14.
Batting stars: Chili Davis was 2-for-4 with a walk, a double, and two RBIs. Shane Mack was 2-for-5. Kent Hrbek was 2-for-5.
Pitching star: Carl Willis pitched three innings, giving up one run on two hits and striking out two.
Opposition stars: Luis Polonia was 2-for-3. Wally Joyner was 2-for-4 with a home run, his sixteenth. Dave Winfield was 1-for-4 with a two-run homer, his twenty-second. Lance Parrish was 1-for-4 with a home run, his fourteenth.
The game: The Twins loaded the bases with none out in the second inning, but Mike Pagliarulo was caught looking, Greg Gagne hit into a forceout at the plate, and Al Newman grounded out. The Angels started the scoring in the third when Luis Sojo doubled, went to third on a wild pitch, and scored on a sacrifice fly. The Twins got on the board, and in fact took the lead, in the bottom of the third. Mack and Randy Bush opened the inning with singles. Kirby Puckett bunted them over and Davis delivered a two-out two-run double to give the Twins a 2-1 lead.
California took the lead back in the top of the fourth when Dave Parker walked and Winfield hit a two-run homer. The Twins tied it 3-3 in the bottom of the fourth when Gagne tripled and scored on Newman's sacrifice fly. The Angels went into the lead to stay in the fifth when Dick Schofield singled and Joyner hit a two-run homer to make the score 5-3.
The Twins had their chances, but could not catch up. They had three consecutive one-out singles in the fifth, but Brian Harper flied out and Pagliarulo grounded out to end the inning. With one out in the sixth, Newman reached on an error, Mack singled, and Dan Gladden had an RBI single to cut the lead to 5-4. The tying run was on second, but Puckett and Kent Hrbek each struck out and the Twins never threatened again.
California added single runs in the eighth and ninth to close out the scoring. In the eighth Polonia and Joyner singled and a sacrifice fly brought home the run. In the ninth Parrish homered.
WP: Kirk McCaskill (9-15). LP: David West (3-3). S: Bryan Harvey (27).
Notes: Mack started in left and batted first in place of Gladden. Bush played right field and batted second. Newman was at second base in place of Chuck Knoblauch.
Gladden pinch-hit for Bush in the sixth and stayed in the game in left, with Mack moving to right. Scott Leius pinch-hit for Pagliarulo in the seventh and stayed in the game at third base.
Puckett was 1-for-4 and was batting .326. Harper was 0-for-4 and fell to .304. Willis' ERA fell to 1.94.
West pitched five innings, giving up five runs on five hits and one walk and striking out four. McCaskill also pitched five innings, giving up three runs on eight hits and two walks and striking out three.
The Twins went 4-for-14 with men in scoring position, which isn't so bad, but they stranded ten men, including (as shown above) twice leaving the bases loaded. The Angels stranded only two men despite going 0-for-3 with men in scoring position. The Twins out-hit California 10-8.
The White Sox defeated Detroit 9-8 to gain a game on the Twins.
Record: The Twins were 68-47, in first place in the American League West, 1.5 games ahead of Chicago.
Date: Friday, August 9.
Batting stars: Shane Mack was 2-for-3 with a triple. Brian Harper was 2-for-4.
Pitching star: David West pitched eight innings, giving up one run on five hits and a walk and striking out three.
Opposition stars: Ken Griffey was 3-for-4 with a home run (his fourteenth) and a double. Randy Johnson pitched six innings, giving up four runs (two earned) on six hits and a walk and striking out four. Calvin Jones pitched two shutout innings, giving up a hit and a walk and striking out two.
The game: Mack hit a two-out triple in the second but did not score. The first run of the game came in the fourth, when Griffey led off with a home run. In the fifth the Twins loaded the bases with none out, as Harper reached on an error and Mack and Kent Hrbek singled. A pair of ground outs plated two runs to give the Twins a 2-1 lead. In the sixth Chuck Knoblauch was hit by a pitch, went to second on a wild pitch, and scored on a Kirby Puckett single. With one out Harper singled to move Puckett to third, and a sacrifice fly made the score 4-1. They added one more run in the ninth when Scott Leius singled and scored on a Dan Gladden triple.
The Mariners did not go away quietly, though. With one out Tracy Jones singled and Alonzo Powell walked. A force out put runners on first and third and Alvin Davis singled to make it 5-2. That brought the tying run to the plate, but Scott Bradley struck out to end the game.
WP: West (3-2). LP: Johnson (10-8). S: Rick Aguilera (30).
Notes: Greg Gagne was apparently dealing with a minor injury. He last played August 6 and would not play again until August 11. Al Newman was at shortstop in his place.
Puckett was 1-for-4 and was batting .326. Harper raised his average to .312.
Randy Johnson was still not fully Randy Johnson yet in 1991. He was 13-10, 3.98, but with a 1.50 WHIP because he led the league in walks with 152. Against the Twins that season he was 1-2, 4.50, 1.65 WHIP.
You can be forgiven if you don't remember Calvin Jones. Apart from having a pretty common name, he only pitched in the majors for two seasons. This was his first one, and he was pretty good: 2-2, 2 saves, 2.53, 1.34 WHIP, 42 strikeouts in 46.1 innings. In 1992, however, he was not good: 3-5, 5.69, 1.57 WHIP in 61.2 innings. He then pitched in the minors for a few years and in Mexico and in the Atlantic League through 2002. He later became a scout for the Dodgers, and is credited with signing Clayton Kershaw.
By game scores this was nearly West's best game of the season, second only to his seven shutout innings on July 4. He would have only one more game score higher than fifty (53 on August 28) and would be out of the rotation by early September.
The White Sox won yesterday, when the Twins were idle, and won again on this day, defeating Baltimore 7-4.
Record: The Twins were 66-44, in first place in the American League West, two games ahead of Chicago.
Date: Saturday, August 3.
Batting stars: Shane Mack was 3-for-5 with a home run (his thirteenth) and two runs. Kirby Puckett was 3-for-5 with a double and two RBIs. Brian Harper was 2-for-4 with a three-run homer, his sixth. Chili Davis was 2-for-5.
Pitching star: Rick Aguilera pitched 1.1 scoreless innings, giving up a hit and striking out one.
Opposition stars: Dave Henderson was 3-for-5 with three home runs, his twentieth, twenty-first, and twenty-second. Mark McGwire was 2-for-3 with a home run (his sixteenth), a double, and a walk. Harold Baines was 1-for-1 with a home run, his fourteenth. Jose Canseco was 1-for-5 with a home run, his twenty-ninth.
The game: Henderson hit a home run in the first inning to give the Athletics a 1-0 lead. They loaded the bases with two out in the inning but could do no further damage. In the third Henderson struck again, making it 2-0. Again Oakland threatened later in the inning, putting men on second and third with two out, but they again could not score. Henderson hit yet another home run in the fifth, making the score 3-0. In the sixth, McGwire hit a home run to increase the lead to 4-0. In the seventh Canseco hit a home run to boost the lead to 5-0.
It looked bad, but the Twins came back in a big way in the eighth. With one out Greg Gagne walked and Mack singled. Chuck Knoblauch had an RBI double and Puckett delivered a two-run single, cutting the margin to 5-3. Kent Hrbek walked and Davis had an RBI single to make it 5-4. Harper then stepped up and hit a three-run homer. It killed the rally, but it gave the Twins the lead at 7-5.
Baines hit a pinch-hit home run in the bottom of the eighth to cut the lead to 7-6. The Twins got the run back in the ninth on Mack's home run. The Athletics got a two-out single in the bottom of the ninth to bring the tying run to the plate, but Brook Jacoby flied out to end the game.
WP: Steve Bedrosian (4-2). LP: Joe Klink (8-3). S: Aguilera (28).
Notes: Mack was in left field in place of Dan Gladden, with Gene Larkin in right. Mack also batted leadoff. Gladden pinch-ran for Larkin in the eighth and stayed in the game in left field, with Mack moving to right.
Puckett raised his average back up to .331. Harper went up to .315. Terry Leach retired both batters he faced to make his ERA 2.82. Aguilera lowered his ERA to 2.64.
Mack's batting average went up to .296, the highest it had been to this point in the season.
The Twins were able to keep Rickey Henderson completely off the base paths this game, as he went 0-for-5.
Oakland had ten hits. Six of them were home runs, all solo home runs. They also had two doubles and two singles. They stranded eight runners and went 0-for-5 with men in scoring position. I don't know what the record is for having all of your runs come on solo homers (which don't hurt you), but I would have to think that six is at least in the ball park, so to speak.
David West started for the Twins. He pitched well other than the home runs, but his line is 5.1 innings, four runs, seven hits, four walks, and six strikeouts. The Athletics starter was Joe Slusarski. He pitched well for seven innings, but unfortunately for him he also started the eighth. That makes his line 7.1 innings, four runs, nine hits, one walk, one strikeout.
This was Slusarski's rookie season. He's another guy who got chance after chance despite not doing anything. In 1991 he made 19 starts and went 5-7, 5.27, 1.58 WHIP. In 1992 he made 14 starts and went 5-5, 5.45, 1.47 WHIP. He made only two appearances in 1993 and none in 1994. He was with Milwaukee in 1995 for 12 appearances out of the bullpen and went 1-1, 5.40, 1.80 WHIP. He next appeared in the majors in 1991 with Houston for 3 games. In 2000 he had his best major league season, going 2-7, 4.21, 1.33 WHIP in 54 relief outings. In 2001 he made 12 appearances for Houston and Atlanta, going 0-1, 9.00, 1.81 WHIP. Add it all together and he was 13-21, 5.18, 1.53 WHIP. He appeared in 118 games, 34 starts. His AAA numbers are 34-36, 4.12, 1.36 WHIP, not awful but not particularly impressive, either. It's yet another case of how some guys get chance after chance without ever showing they deserve it, while other guys star in AAA and at most get one brief major league shot.
The White Sox lost to Baltimore 6-3, so the Twins gained a game.
Record: The Twins were 62-43, in first place in the American League West, three games ahead of Chicago.
