Happy birthday, Andre David

Happy 67th birthday to former Twin Andre David who homered off Hall of Famer Jack Morris on his very first major-league swing as a 26-year-old rookie in 1984. Unfortunately, it was the only home run of his career.

Happy birthday, Rich Garcés

Happy 54th 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. 

OTD in 1969: Rod Carew steals second, third, and home in the same inning

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. 

OTD in 2021: Miguel Sanó hits three home runs

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 six years from 2016 to 2021 (Kepler x2, Rosario, Dozier, Buxton, Cruz x2, and Sanó).

 

OTD in 1865: 

Baseball has a long history here in Minnesota. One hundred and sixty 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.

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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!

View The Players Project