{"id":71518,"date":"2025-06-01T16:30:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-01T16:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/71518\/"},"modified":"2025-06-01T16:30:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-01T16:30:09","slug":"the-twins-almanac-6-1-a-record-win-streak-and-a-record-home-run-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/71518\/","title":{"rendered":"The Twins Almanac (6\/1): A Record Win Streak and a Record Home Run – History"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tTwins Begin 15-Game Winning Streak (1991)
The Twins were in fifth place in the AL West\u20145.5 games behind Oakland\u2014when\u00a0Allan Anderson<\/a>\u00a0bested Kevin Appier<\/a> for a 8-4 win in Kansas City on this date in 1991, beginning a team record 15-game winning streak. DH\u00a0Chili Davis<\/a>\u00a0hit a pair of two-run homers in the game.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tBy the time the streak was over, the Twins had moved into first place, half a game ahead of Oakland.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tLongest HR to LF in Metrodome History (1996)
Mark McGwire<\/a>* hit the longest home run to left field in Metrodome history on this date in 1996, measured at 475 feet. The longest homer at the Dome overall was 481 to right field by the Brewers’ Ben Oglivie<\/a> in 1983. Interestingly, Kent Hrbek<\/a> hit a Charlie Hough<\/a> knuckleball 480\u00a0feet the very next season. As imprecise of a science as home-run measurement is, you’re telling me they couldn’t fudge an extra foot or two for the hometown kid?!\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe longest home run to center field was 473 feet by\u00a0Pedro Mu\u00f1oz<\/a> in 1994.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tSteinbach Beaned (1991)
New Ulm native Terry Steinbach<\/a> was beaned by Bobby Thigpen<\/a> on this date in 1991. He was taken to the hospital as emotions ran high. Check out this clip.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Blyleven-Smalley Trade (1976)
The day after giving the ol\u2019 one-finger salute walking off the mound at Met Stadium,\u00a0Bert Blyleven<\/a>\u00a0and his roommate,\u00a0Danny Thompson<\/a>,\u00a0were traded to the Rangers for\u00a0Roy Smalley<\/a>,\u00a0Mike Cubbage<\/a>,\u00a0Bill Singer<\/a>, Jim Gideon<\/a>, and $250,000 on this date in 1976.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tBlyleven had been involved in contentious contract negotiations with\u00a0Calvin Griffith\u00a0leading up to the trade. Blyleven wasn\u2019t the only one, though. Talks between Danny Thompson and the owner were also at a standstill. Griffith refused to give the infielder\u2014who had been diagnosed with leukemia prior to the 1973 season\u2014a fair price, insisting that no other team would even offer someone with cancer a contract at all. Thompson struggled in Texas and passed away at the Mayo Clinic that December, just 69 days after playing his final major league game. He was just 29 and left behind a wife and two young daughters.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tBorders Pitches Snapper Mow ‘Em Down Inning (1997)
Less than 20 hours after her historic (if ineffective) professional baseball debut, St. Paul Saints pitcher Ila Borders struck out the side in a one-inning relief appearance against the Sioux Falls Canaries.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tFolks, that’s what we call a Snapper Mow ‘Em Down Inning.\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tBirthdates of Jack Kralick and Dean Chance (1935 & 1941)
Jack Kralick<\/a>\u00a0was born in Ohio on this date in 1935, and\u00a0Dean Chance<\/a>\u00a0was born in Ohio on this date in 1941. Remarkably, they pitched the first and second no-hitters in Twins history.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tHunter Goes 5-for-5 with a Grand Slam (2005)
Torii Hunter<\/a>\u00a0went 5-for-5 with a grand slam, driving in all six runs in a 6-2 win over Cleveland at home in the Dome on this date in 2005.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tBrad Radke<\/a>\u00a0gave up a two-run homer in the first, but he,\u00a0J.C. Romero<\/a>, and\u00a0Jesse Crain<\/a>\u00a0held Cleveland scoreless the next eight innings. Hunter gave the Twins the lead with a grand slam in the third inning, driving in\u00a0Shannon Stewart<\/a>,\u00a0Lew Ford<\/a>, and\u00a0Justin Morneau<\/a>. Hunter added two insurance runs in the sixth, driving in\u00a0Nick Punto<\/a>\u00a0and Ford with a bloop double. Designated Hitter Lew Ford was 3-for-5 with two runs scored in the game.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tFirst Trades in Twins History (1961)
In the first trade in Minnesota Twins history,\u00a0Calvin Griffith\u00a0sent 1950\u00a0Winona High School\u00a0graduate and Gophers football legend\u00a0Paul Giel<\/a>\u00a0along with\u00a0Reno Bertoia<\/a>\u00a0to the Kansas City A\u2019s in exchange for\u00a0Bill Tuttle<\/a>\u00a0on this date in 1961.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tLater that same day, the Twins traded infielder\u00a0Billy Consolo<\/a>\u00a0to Milwaukee for four-time World Series champion\u00a0Billy Martin<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

\n\t1961 was Martin\u2019s 11th and final season as a major league player. From 1962 to \u201964, he worked as a scout for the Twins, and rejoined the major league team as third base coach in 1965. He was sent down to Denver midway through the 1968 season to serve as the triple-A manager. He succeeded\u00a0Cal Ermer<\/a>\u00a0as Twins manager in 1969, winning the American League West in his only season at the helm.\n<\/p>\n

\n\tMartin was hugely popular as a Twins coach and manager, and instrumental in the development of\u00a0C\u00e9sar Tovar<\/a>, and, perhaps to a lesser extent,\u00a0Rod Carew<\/a>. Martin went on to manage 16 major league seasons, including five stints with the Yankees whom he led to a World Series Championship in 1977.\n<\/p>\n

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!<\/p>\n

View The Players Project<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Twins Begin 15-Game Winning Streak (1991)The Twins were in fifth place in the AL West\u20145.5 games behind Oakland\u2014when\u00a0Allan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":71519,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2388],"tags":[5,977,978,822,60,3190,4,169,975,976,148],"class_list":{"0":"post-71518","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-twins","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-blog","10":"tag-forum","11":"tag-minnesota","12":"tag-minnesota-twins","13":"tag-minnesotatwins","14":"tag-mlb","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-rumors","17":"tag-schedule","18":"tag-twins"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/114609063608861463","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=71518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/71518\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/71519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=71518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=71518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=71518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}