1972 Minnesota Twins season

March 2026 November 2013 Minnesota Twins 1972 American League West Metropolitan Stadium Bloomington, Minnesota 77 77 y 3rd Calvin Griffith (majority owner, with Thelma Griffith Haynes) Calvin Griffith Bill Rigney, Frank Quilici WTCN-TV (Halsey Hall, Frank Buetel, Lynn Faris) 830 WCCO AM (Herb Carneal, Halsey Hall, Ray Christensen) The 1972 Minnesota Twins season was the 12th season for the Minnesota Twins franchise in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, their 12th season at Metropolitan Stadium and the 72nd overall in the American League. The Twins finished 77–77, third in the American League West. Offseason October 22, 1971: Paul Powell was traded by the Twins to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Bobby Darwin.Bobby Darwin at Baseball Reference November 29, 1971: Brant Alyea was drafted from the Twins by the Oakland Athletics in the 1971 rule 5 draft.Brant Alyea at Baseball Reference Regular season thumb|250px|Armed Forces Day at Metropolitan Stadium, 1972. On May 12, in a twenty-two inning match which concluded a day later, Danny Thompson went 0 for 10 with a sacrifice bunt, dropping his batting average 39 points over one game. He and César Tovar set a team record with their eleven plate appearances. After a slow start, manager Bill Rigney was replaced by Frank Quilici in early July. On July 9, Rich Reese hit his third pinch-hit grand slam home run, tying a major league record in doing so. Rothsay, Minnesota, native Dave Goltz made his major league debut on July 18 – he is the first Minnesotan drafted by the Minnesota Twins to make the big league club. He gave up one hit in 3 2 3 innings. Only one Twin made the All-Star Game: second baseman Rod Carew. On July 31, pitcher Bert Blyleven gave up two inside-the-park home runs, both to the Chicago White Sox Dick Allen. When this next occurs in the major leagues (October 4, 1986), Blyleven is again on the mound. But the feat is accomplished this time by his Minnesota teammate Greg Gagne. When César Tovar hit for the cycle on September 19, he finished with a game-ending home run. The only other player to do that in history was Ken Boyer (1961).http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1961/B09142SLN1961.htm Retrosheet box score – St. Louis Cardinals 6, Chicago Cubs 5 (2), game played on September 14, 1961 at Busch Stadium February 18, 2016 https://web.archive.org/web/20150924132719/http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1961/B09142SLN1961.htm September 24, 2015 dead In later years, and after such a hit became known as a "walk-off home run", the feat was duplicated by George Brett (1979),Retrosheet Boxscore: Kansas City Royals 5, Baltimore Orioles 4 https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1979/B05280KCA1979.htm 2023-10-12 www.retrosheet.org Dwight Evans (1984),http://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1984/B06280BOS1984.htm Retrosheet box score – Boston Red Sox 9, Seattle Mariners 6, game played on June 28, 1984 at Fenway Park February 18, 2016 https://web.archive.org/web/20210308013851/https://www.retrosheet.org/boxesetc/1984/B06280BOS1984.htm March 8, 2021 dead and Carlos González (2010). Tovar is just the second Twin to hit for the cycle, after Rod Carew in 1970; eight more Twins will do so by 2009. Carew won his second AL batting title with a .318 average, but did not hit any home runs during the season. Previously, Zach Wheat was the last player to accomplish this feat when he won the 1918 NL batting title with the Brooklyn Dodgers. Bobby Darwin showed potential as a hitter with 22 HR and 80 RBI, but that did not make up for age and injuries taking their toll on other players. (Those numbers were also suppressed by his Twins-record 145 strikeouts.) Harmon Killebrew hit 26 HR (4th in the league) but drove in only 75 runs. Tony Oliva's bad knees limited him to only 10 games. César Tovar led the team with 86 runs scored. Four pitchers had double digit wins: Bert Blyleven (17–17), Dick Woodson (14–14), Jim Perry (13–16), and Jim Kaat (10–2). Kaat also won his 11th Gold Glove Award. 797,901 fans attended Twins games, the seventh highest total in the American League. It was almost half the number of fans that had attended just a few seasons earlier. Season standings Record vs. opponents MIN Notable transactions May 12, 1972: Sal Butera was signed by the Twins as an amateur free agent.Sal Butera at Baseball Reference June 6, 1972: 1972 Major League Baseball draft Willie Norwood was drafted by the Twins in the 3rd round.Willie Norwood at Baseball Reference Lyman Bostock was drafted by the Twins in the 26th round.Lyman Bostock at Baseball Reference Roster 1972 Minnesota Twins Roster Pitchers 28 Bert Blyleven 23 Ray Corbin 16 Bob Gebhard 30 Dave Goltz 21 Wayne Granger 36 Jim Kaat 17 Dave LaRoche 32 Steve Luebber 22 Tom Norton 31 Jim Perry 19 Jim Strickland 13 Dick Woodson Catchers 24 Glenn Borgmann 25 Rick Dempsey 15 George Mitterwald  8 Phil Roof Infielders  4 Steve Braun 29 Rod Carew 27 Bucky Guth  3 Harmon Killebrew 14 Dan Monzon 20 Rich Reese  1 Eric Soderholm  5 Danny Thompson Outfielders 25 Mike Adams 11 Steve Brye  2 Bobby Darwin 26 Jim Holt  9 Charlie Manuel  7 Jim Nettles  6 Tony Oliva 10 Rick Renick 12 César Tovar Manager 43 Frank Quilici 18 Bill Rigney Coaches 44 Vern Morgan 43 Frank Quilici 45 Buck Rodgers 42 Ralph Rowe 46 Al Worthington Player stats = Indicates team leader = Indicates league leader Batting Starters by position Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in Pos Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI C Glenn Borgmann 56 175 41 .234 3 14 1B Harmon Killebrew 139 433 100 .231 26 74 2B Rod Carew 142 535 170 .318 0 51 SS Danny Thompson Danny Thompson (baseball) 144 573 158 .276 4 48 3B Eric Soderholm 93 287 54 .188 13 39 LF Steve Brye 100 253 61 .241 0 12 CF Bobby Darwin 145 513 137 .267 22 80 RF César Tovar 141 548 145 .265 2 31 Other batters Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI Steve Braun 121 402 116 .289 2 50 Jim Nettles 102 235 48 .204 4 15 Rich Reese 132 197 43 .218 5 26 George Mitterwald 64 163 30 .184 1 8 Phil Roof 61 146 30 .205 3 12 Charlie Manuel 63 122 25 .205 1 8 Rick Renick 55 93 16 .172 4 8 Dan Monzon 55 55 15 .273 0 5 Rick Dempsey 25 40 8 .200 0 0 Tony Oliva 10 28 9 .321 0 1 Jim Holt 10 27 12 .444 1 6 Mike Adams Mike Adams (outfielder) 3 6 2 .333 0 0 Bucky Guth 3 3 0 .000 0 0 Pitching Starting pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G IP W L ERA SO Bert Blyleven 39 287.1 17 17 2.73 228 Dick Woodson 36 251.2 14 14 2.72 150 Jim Perry Jim Perry (baseball) 35 217.2 13 16 3.35 85 Jim Kaat 15 113.1 10 2 2.06 64 Dave Goltz 15 91.0 3 3 2.67 38 Other pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G IP W L ERA SO Ray Corbin 31 161.2 8 9 2.62 83 Relief pitchers Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts Player G W L SV ERA SO Wayne Granger 63 4 6 19 3.01 45 Dave LaRoche 62 5 7 10 2.83 79 Jim Strickland 25 3 1 3 2.50 30 Tom Norton 21 0 1 0 2.78 22 Bob Gebhard 13 0 1 1 8.57 13 Steve Luebber 2 0 0 0 0.00 1 Awards and honors All-Star Game Rod Carew, Second Base Starter Farm system Minor League Baseball AAA Tacoma Twins Pacific Coast League Harry Warner AA Charlotte Hornets Southern League Johnny Goryl A Lynchburg Twins Carolina League Kerby Farrell A Orlando Twins Florida State League Early Wynn A Wisconsin Rapids Twins Midwest League Jay Ward A Charlotte Twins Western Carolinas League Bob Sadowski Rookie Melbourne Twins Florida East Coast League Fred Waters Notes 2 References Johnson Lloyd Wolff Miles The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball 2nd Durham, North Carolina Baseball America 1997 978-0-9637189-8-3 Player stats from www.baseball-reference.com Team info from www.baseball-almanac.com Category:Minnesota Twins seasons Minnesota Twins season Minnesota Twins