| 1972 Minnesota Twins | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| League | American League | |||
| Division | West | |||
| Ballpark | Metropolitan Stadium | |||
| City | Bloomington, Minnesota | |||
| Owners | Calvin Griffith (majority owner, with Thelma Griffith Haynes) | |||
| General managers | Calvin Griffith | |||
| Managers | Bill Rigney, Frank Quilici | |||
| Television | WTCN-TV (Halsey Hall, Frank Buetel, Lynn Faris) | |||
| Radio | 830 WCCO AM (Herb Carneal, Halsey Hall, Ray Christensen) | |||
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The 1972 Minnesota Twins finished 77–77, third in the American League West.
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).[3] In later years, and after such a hit became known as a "walk-off home run", the feat was duplicated by George Brett (1979),[4] Dwight Evans (1984),[5] 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.
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W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oakland Athletics | 93 | 62 | 0.600 | — | 48–29 | 45–33 |
| Chicago White Sox | 87 | 67 | 0.565 | 5½ | 55–23 | 32–44 |
| Minnesota Twins | 77 | 77 | 0.500 | 15½ | 42–32 | 35–45 |
| Kansas City Royals | 76 | 78 | 0.494 | 16½ | 44–33 | 32–45 |
| California Angels | 75 | 80 | 0.484 | 18 | 44–36 | 31–44 |
| Texas Rangers | 54 | 100 | 0.351 | 38½ | 31–46 | 23–54 |
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Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | BAL | BOS | CAL | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIL | MIN | NYY | OAK | TEX | |
| Baltimore | — | 7–11 | 6–6 | 8–4 | 8–10 | 10–8 | 6–6 | 10–5 | 6–6 | 7–6 | 6–6 | 6–6 | |
| Boston | 11–7 | — | 8–4 | 6–6 | 8–7 | 5–9 | 6–6 | 11–7 | 4–8 | 9–9 | 9–3 | 8–4 | |
| California | 6–6 | 4–8 | — | 7–11 | 8–4 | 5–7 | 9–6 | 7–5 | 7–8 | 4–8 | 8–10 | 10–7 | |
| Chicago | 4–8 | 6–6 | 11–7 | — | 8–4 | 5–7 | 8–9 | 9–3 | 8–6 | 7–5 | 7–8 | 14–4 | |
| Cleveland | 10–8 | 7–8 | 4–8 | 4–8 | — | 10–8 | 6–6 | 5–10 | 8–4 | 7–11 | 2–10 | 9–3 | |
| Detroit | 8–10 | 9–5 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 8–10 | — | 7–5 | 10–8 | 9–3 | 7–9 | 4–8 | 10–2 | |
| Kansas City | 6–6 | 6–6 | 6–9 | 9–8 | 6–6 | 5–7 | — | 7–5 | 9–9 | 7–5 | 7–11 | 8–6 | |
| Milwaukee | 5–10 | 7–11 | 5–7 | 3–9 | 10–5 | 8–10 | 5–7 | — | 4–8 | 9–9 | 4–8 | 5–7 | |
| Minnesota | 6–6 | 8–4 | 8–7 | 6–8 | 4–8 | 3–9 | 9–9 | 8–4 | — | 6–6 | 8–9 | 11–7 | |
| New York | 6–7 | 9–9 | 8–4 | 5–7 | 11–7 | 9–7 | 5–7 | 9–9 | 6–6 | — | 3–9 | 8–4 | |
| Oakland | 6–6 | 3–9 | 10–8 | 8–7 | 10–2 | 8–4 | 11–7 | 8–4 | 9–8 | 9–3 | — | 11–4 | |
| Texas | 6–6 | 4–8 | 7–10 | 4–14 | 3–9 | 2–10 | 6–8 | 7–5 | 7–11 | 4–8 | 4–11 | — | |
| 1972 Minnesota Twins | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Roster | |||||||||
Pitchers
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Catchers
Infielders
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Outfielders
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Manager
Coaches
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| = Indicates team leader |
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 | 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 |
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 | 3 | 6 | 2 | .333 | 0 | 0 |
| Bucky Guth | 3 | 3 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
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 | 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 |
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 |
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 |
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1972 MLB season by team
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