Puckett Passes Away
The day after suffering a massive stroke at his home in Arizona, Twins all-time great and 2001 Hall of Fame inductee Kirby Puckett passes away. He was just 45 years old.
The day after suffering a massive stroke at his home in Arizona, Twins all-time great and 2001 Hall of Fame inductee Kirby Puckett passes away. He was just 45 years old.
1993 Apple Valley grad Dave Maurer pitched for the Padres, Cleveland, and Blue Jays over parts of four major league seasons.
1965 Minneapolis Edison grad and longtime Pioneer Press sportswriter Charley Walters went 7-2 with a 1.94 ERA for the 1967 Northern League champion St. Cloud Rox. He made six appearances with the Twins in 1969.
St. Paul Central alumnus Mickey Rocco led the American League and tied for the major league lead with 653 at-bats in 1944.
The Twins trade first baseman Randy Johnson and outfielder Ron Scheer to the White Sox for infielder Roy Smalley. The Twins had originally acquired Smalley in the 1976 trade that sent Bert Blyleven and Danny Thompson to the Texas Rangers.
Audobon, MN native Joe Marshall led all of professional baseball with 25 home runs in 1903.
Richard “Dick” Siebert was born on February 19, 1912 in Fall River, MA. In the summer of 1923 the Sieberts moved to Cass Lake, MN where Dick’s dad pastored Immanuel Lutheran Church. In 1926 the family moved to St. Paul where the elder Siebert had accepted a teaching position at Concordia …
Newman played in 110 games in 1987, starting 75, splitting time pretty evenly between second base and shortstop. One of my all-time favorite “fun facts,” however, is that he also started two games as the 1987 World Series champions’ designated hitter.
I need your help compiling a complete list of Minnesota-raised major leaguers. We know where players were born, but I want to establish where they grew up, went to high school, and when they graduated (if applicable).
1974 Richfield High School graduate and University of Minnesota alumnus Brian Denman pitched for the Boston Red Sox in 1982.
Coming off the best season of his career, the Twins sign 1978 Bloomington Kennedy High School grad Kent Hrbek to a new five-year, $6 million contract, making him the first player in team history scheduled to make a million dollars a year.
2003 Eden Prairie graduate and three-year Golden Gopher Cole DeVries appeared in 21 games for the Twins between 2012 and 2013.
Former Houston Astros pitcher Don Arlich went 15-0 for the 1961 State Champion St. Paul North Polars, a team that also featured Twins curator Clyde Doepner.
Winona native Julie Wera played for perhaps the greatest baseball team of all time—the 1927 Yankees.
After the Twins traded him for “Everyday” Eddie Guardado, 2005 Mounds View High School graduate and Mesabi Range Community and Technical College alumnus Mark Hamburger made five major league appearances with the Texas Rangers in 2011.
Former Twins stopper Al Worthington was the first pitcher in team history to save 20+ games, the first to lead the league in saves, and provided the most valuable relief performance (sabermetrically speaking) in Twins history on August 9, 1967.