1977 Minnesota Twins season

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1977 Minnesota Twins
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s)Calvin Griffith (majority owner, with Thelma Griffith Haynes)
General manager(s)Calvin Griffith
Manager(s)Gene Mauch
Local televisionWTCN
(Harmon Killebrew, Joe Boyle)
Local radio830 WCCO AM
(Herb Carneal, Frank Quilici)
< Previous season     Next season >

The 1977 Minnesota Twins season was a season in American baseball. The team finished 84–77, fourth in the American League West.

Offseason[]

  • March 18, 1977: Geoff Zahn was signed as a free agent by the Twins.[1]

Regular season[]

In a May 25 double-header at Boston's Fenway Park, outfielder Lyman Bostock tied a major league record with twelve putouts in the first game. His total of seventeen putouts over both games set a new American League record.

On June 26, a crowd of 46,463 turned up at Metropolitan Stadium to watch first baseman Rod Carew's pursuit of a .400 batting average. Carew didn't disappoint, going 4 for 5 with six RBI, raising his batting average seven points to .403. Lost in the commotion was right fielder Glenn Adams' own 4-for-5 performance, as he drove in a Twins-record eight runs. The Twins beat the Chicago White Sox 19–12.[2]

Rod Carew, outfielder Larry Hisle and catcher Butch Wynegar were named to the All-Star Game. Carew was the leading AL vote-getter, scoring 405 of 422 possible votes in the national balloting by sports writers and broadcasters.[3]

Carew was named American League Most Valuable Player. In winning his sixth AL batting title, Carew flirted with becoming the first batter since Ted Williams in 1941 to hit .400, finishing at .388. He also had 239 hits, scored a league-leading 128 runs, hit 14 home runs and collected 100 RBI.

Other offensive stars were Larry Hisle, who hit 28 HR and drove in a league-leading 119 runs, and Lyman Bostock, who hit .338 with 104 runs, 14 HR and 90 RBI.

The Twins' ability to score runs was matched by their pitchers' ability to give up runs. Reliever Tom Johnson replaced Bill Campbell, racking up 16 relief wins along with 20 saves. Dave Goltz became a 20-game winner for the first time.

1,162,727 fans attended Twins games, the fourth lowest total in the American League. It was, however, the first time since 1970 that the Twins attracted more than one million fans.

Season standings[]

  • v
  • t
AL West 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
Kansas City Royals 102 60 0.630 — 55–26 47–34
Texas Rangers 94 68 0.580 8 44–37 50–31
Chicago White Sox 90 72 0.556 12 48–33 42–39
Minnesota Twins 84 77 0.522 17½ 48–32 36–45
California Angels 74 88 0.457 28 39–42 35–46
Seattle Mariners 64 98 0.395 38 29–52 35–46
Oakland Athletics 63 98 0.391 38½ 35–46 28–52

Record vs. opponents[]

1977 American League Records
  • v
  • t

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK SEA TEX TOR
Baltimore — 6–8 5–6 5–5 11–4 12–3 4–7 11–4 6–4 8–7 8–2 7–3 4–6 10–5
Boston 8–6 — 7–3 3–7 8–7 9–6 5–5 9–6 4–6 8–7 8–3 10–1 6–4 12–3
California 6–5 3–7 — 8–7 6–4 4–6 6–9 5–5 7–8 4–7 5–10 9–6 5–10 6–4
Chicago 5–5 7–3 7–8 — 6–4 4–6 8–7 6–5 10–5 3–7 10–5 10–5 6–9 8–3
Cleveland 4–11 7–8 4–6 4–6 — 8–7 3–7 11–4 2–9 3–12 7–3 7–3 2–9 9–5
Detroit 3–12 6–9 6–4 6–4 7–8 — 3–8 10–5 5–5 6–9 5–5 5–6 2–8 10–5
Kansas City 7–4 5–5 9–6 7–8 7–3 8–3 — 8–2 10–5 5–5 9–6 11–4 8–7 8–2
Milwaukee 4–11 6–9 5–5 5–6 4–11 5–10 2–8 — 3–8 8–7 5–5 7–3 5–5 8–7
Minnesota 4–6 6–4 8–7 5–10 9–2 5–5 5–10 8–3 — 2–8 8–6 7–8 8–7 9–1
New York 7–8 7–8 7–4 7–3 12–3 9–6 5–5 7–8 8–2 — 9–2 6–4 7–3 9–6
Oakland 2–8 3–8 10–5 5–10 3–7 5–5 6–9 5–5 6–8 2–9 — 7–8 2–13 7–3
Seattle 3–7 1–10 6–9 5–10 3–7 6–5 4–11 3–7 8–7 4–6 8–7 — 9–6 4–6
Texas 6–4 4–6 10–5 9–6 9–2 8–2 7–8 5–5 7–8 3–7 13–2 6–9 — 7–4
Toronto 5–10 3–12 4–6 3–8 5–9 5–10 2–8 7–8 1–9 6–9 3–7 6–4 4–7 —


Notable transactions[]

  • April 6, 1977: The Twins purchased the contract of Don Carrithers from the Montreal Expos.[4]
  • May 2, 1977: Dave Johnson was purchased by the Twins from the Seattle Mariners.[5]
  • June 7, 1977: Darrell Jackson was drafted by the Twins in the 9th round of the 1977 Major League Baseball draft.[6]

Roster[]

1977 Minnesota Twins
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders

Other batters

  •  2 Randy Bass
 Manager
  •  4 Gene Mauch

Coaches

Player stats[]

= Indicates team 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 Butch Wynegar 144 532 139 .261 10 79
1B Rod Carew 156 616 239 .388 14 100
2B Bob Randall 103 306 73 .239 0 22
3B Mike Cubbage 129 417 110 .264 9 55
SS Roy Smalley 150 584 135 .231 6 56
LF Larry Hisle 141 546 165 .302 28 119
CF Lyman Bostock 153 593 199 .336 14 90
RF Dan Ford 144 453 121 .267 11 60
DH Craig Kusick 115 268 68 .256 12 45

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
Glenn Adams 95 269 91 .338 6 49
Rich Chiles 108 261 69 .264 3 36
Jerry Terrell 93 214 48 .224 1 20
Rob Wilfong 73 171 42 .246 1 13
Bob Gorinski 54 118 23 .195 3 22
Willie Norwood 39 83 19 .229 3 9
Luis Gómez 32 65 16 .246 0 11
Glenn Borgmann 17 43 11 .256 2 7
Bud Bulling 15 32 5 .156 0 5
Larry Wolfe 8 25 6 .240 0 6
Sam Perlozzo 10 24 7 .292 0 0
Randy Bass 9 19 2 .105 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
Dave Goltz 39 303 20 11 3.36 186
Paul Thormodsgard 37 218 11 15 4.62 100
Geoff Zahn 34 198 12 14 4.68 88
Pete Redfern 30 137.1 6 9 5.18 73
Mike Pazik 3 18 1 0 2.50 6

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
Ron Schueler 52 134.2 8 7 4.41 77
Dave Johnson 30 72.2 2 5 4.58 33
Jeff Holly 18 48.1 2 3 6.89 32
Bill Butler 6 21 0 1 6.86 5

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
Tom Johnson 71 16 7 15 3.13 87
Tom Burgmeier 61 6 4 7 5.09 35
Gary Serum 8 0 0 0 4.37 4
Don Carrithers 7 0 1 0 6.91 3
Jim Shellenback 5 0 0 0 7.94 3
Jim Hughes 2 0 0 0 2.08 1

Awards and honors[]

  • Rod Carew, American League batting champion (.388)
  • Rod Carew, Roberto Clemente Award
  • Rod Carew, American League MVP

Farm system[]

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Tacoma Twins Pacific Coast League Del Wilber and Tom Kelly
AA Orlando Twins Southern League Johnny Goryl
A Visalia Oaks California League Roy McMillan
A Wisconsin Rapids Twins Midwest League Jim Rantz, Carlos Pascual
and
Rookie Elizabethton Twins Appalachian League Fred Waters

Notes[]

  1. ^ Geoff Zahn at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ "Minnesota Twins 19, Chicago White Sox 12". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
  3. ^ "Carew Tops All Voting for All-Stars". Kingman Daily Miner.com. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
  4. ^ Don Carrithers at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ Dave Johnson at Baseball-Reference
  6. ^ Darrell Jackson at Baseball Reference

References[]

Retrieved from ""