The Mount Rushmore of the Minnesota Twins

1970 Topps #62: AL Batting Leaders / Rod Carew, Reggie Smith, & Tony Oliva

The Twins began life in MLB as the Washington Senators, joining the AL in 1901 along with a bunch of other teams. It took until their 24th season in 1924 to make the playoffs, but they won the World Series that year. They made the World Series, losing both times, twice in following 9 years.

In 1961, the franchise moved to Minnesota and renamed itself the Twins. The team was a force in the late 1960s, finishing first or second 5 times between 1965 and 1970, but losing in the playoffs each year. The Twins won it all in 1987 and again in 1991, and then went into a period of suffering as a small market team. That changed in 2002 when the team posted a 1st place finish (one of 6 between ’02 and ’10) but again the team has lost all 6 times in the playoffs.

In 2011, the Twins turned suddenly dreadful, losing 99 games, and they have been only a bit better so far in 2012.

Let’s take a look at this team’s long list of great players.

Top batters in franchise history, by WAR:

Rk	Player	WAR/pos	From	To
1	Rod Carew	60.4	1967	1978
2	Harmon Killebrew	56.1	1954	1974
3	Kirby Puckett	48.2	1984	1995
4	Sam Rice	48.0	1915	1933
5	Joe Judge	42.4	1915	1932
6	Goose Goslin	40.0	1921	1938
7	Tony Oliva	39.7	1962	1976
8	Buddy Myer	38.1	1925	1941
9	Chuck Knoblauch	36.3	1991	1997
10	Clyde Milan	36.2	1907	1922
11	Kent Hrbek	35.7	1981	1994
12	Joe Cronin	34.6	1928	1934
13	Joe Mauer	33.8	2004	2012
14	Bob Allison	31.3	1958	1970
15	Cecil Travis	27.1	1933	1947

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 6/12/2012.

So…the top 4 guys are all Hall of Famers, as are Goose Goslin and Joe Cronin. All Tony Oliva did was win 3 batting titles. And then you have two guys in Kent Hrbek and Joe Mauer who are huge fan favorites and spent numerous years as the popular face of the franchise.

No shortage of choices here…

Here are the pitchers:

Rk	Player	WAR	From	To
1	Walter Johnson	144.7	1907	1927
2	Bert Blyleven	46.3	1970	1988
3	Brad Radke	42.6	1995	2006
4	Johan Santana	34.0	2000	2007
5	Camilo Pascual	30.8	1954	1966
6	Jim Kaat	27.2	1959	1973
7	Frank Viola	25.0	1982	1989
8	Jim Perry	24.2	1963	1972
9	Firpo Marberry	23.5	1923	1936
10	Dave Goltz	22.5	1972	1979
11	Dutch Leonard	21.7	1938	1946
12	Joe Nathan	17.8	2004	2011
13	Kevin Tapani	17.8	1989	1995
14	Jim Shaw	17.5	1913	1921
15	Tom Zachary	16.5	1919	1928
16	Pedro Ramos	16.5	1955	1961

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 6/12/2012.

So we had all these great choices for batters, and then there’s Walter Johnson, who cannot possibly be left off anybody’s ballot. Then there’s HOFer (yay!) Blyleven, Radke (the face of the franchise in between Hrbek and Mauer), Cy Young winner and 1987 post-season hero Frank Viola…it goes on and on.

Beyond these guys, there are others to consider as well: longtime manager Tom Kelly, plus two guys who produced a ton during the 1987 run: Dan Gladden and Tom Brunansky. In the 1925 World Series, Joe Harris had 3 HR and 6 RBI in 7 games. And then there’s Jack Morris, who pitched probably the most famous World Series game in the minds of fans aged 30 to 50.

Lots of folks to choose from here…please pick 4.

0 0 votes

Article Rating

65 Comments

Oldest

Newest Most Voted

Inline Feedbacks

View all comments

Dan McCloskey

12 years ago

I voted for what appears to be the consensus top four: Carew, Killebrew, Johnson and Puckett. Can’t say I understand how Puckett currently has more votes than Johnson, though.

12 years ago

Reply to Dan McCloskey

More people know who Kirby Puckett is than Walter Johnson.

Forrest

12 years ago

Reply to jr

Man, what do they teach kids in school these days?!?

brp

12 years ago

Reply to jr

I don’t think that’s true; what I do think is that since Johnson never played for the “Minnesota Twins” per se, there is somewhat of a disconnect for more casual fans… though the readership here isn’t exactly the casual fan.

Regardless it doesn’t help that there were two separate Washington Senators franchises that both still exist as different teams, either.

Dan McCloskey

12 years ago

Reply to brp

I’d like to think that brp’s explanation is more accurate than jr’s. Never heard of Walter Johnson? Seriously? I doubt very many people reading this blog fall into that category.

MikeD

12 years ago

I’m with the consensus top four of Johnson, Carew, Killebrew and Puckett. Part of me is surprised that the Big Train isn’t leading the list. The other part of me understands that some may just not have voted for him since they don’t view him as a Twin. Yet he has to exist somewhere, and the way the rules are set up, he’s a Twin!

Brent

12 years ago

I also voted with the current consensus. I also considered Rice, Goslin, Cronin, Oliva, Blyleven and Mauer.

Hartvig

12 years ago

Reply to Brent

I followed almost exactly the same thought process, although I have to admit I didn’t give Cronin much consideration which is unfair to him. His problem is that his career is almost evenly divided between Washington & Boston (a few more games in Boston but a little more WAR in Washington) so he’s kind of left in limbo. Strangely enough, that worked in Nolan Ryan’s favor because of the relative scarcity of front line candidates for the expansion franchises so he’s on 2 Mt. Rushmore’s. I’m trying to think of other top tier Hall of Famers who will be effected… Read more »

Hartvig

12 years ago

Reply to Hartvig

OK, so about 15 seconds of skimming thru the HOF members tells me that are a whole bunch more guys that are going to be effected although most won’t be quite as evenly divided as Cronin is.

Brent

12 years ago

If I were to split them between the Sens and the Twins, then I would go Johnson, Rice, Goslin and Cronin as Sens and Killebrew, Carew, Blyleven, and Puckett as Twins.

Tmckelv

12 years ago

Senators I/Twins have 4 distinct successful eras: 1924 thru 1933 – Walter Johnson, Goose Goslin, Same Rice, Bucky Harris (over Joe Judge, Joe Cronin, Muddy Ruel, Ossie Bleuge, Firpo Marberry) 1965 thru 1970 – Rod Carew, Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva, Jim Kaat (over Camilo Pascual, Jim Perry) 1987 thru 1991 – Kirby Puckett, Bert Blyleven, Tom Kelly, Kent Hrbek (over Gary Gaetti, Greg Gagne, Dan Gladden, Tom Brunansky, Roy Smalley, Scott Erickson, Chuck Knoblauch, Frank Viola, Rick Aguilara) 2002 thru 2010 – Joe Mauer, Johan Santana, Justin Morneau, Torii Hunter (over Ron Gardenhire, Joe Nathan, Brad Radke, AJ Pierzynski, Christian… Read more »

Brent

12 years ago

Reply to Tmckelv

I thought of using your method (1 per successful era) but that meant leaving either the greatest power hitter in franchise history off or Mr. .388. I decided that Mauer would have to wait to get on the Mount (and then he might be nudging Puckett off, not Killer)

Shane

12 years ago

I know Johnson pitched for Washington and they moved and are now the Twins but Johnson never pitched for the Twins so if it’s a Mount Rushmore Twins then he should not be on it

Author

Andy

12 years ago

Reply to Shane

It’s for the entire franchise. That’s how we’ve done all these polls so far—Athletics included their time in KC and PHI, for example.

deal

12 years ago

ok can somebody do some homework for me on the old guys?

Did the Senators win any World Series??

There are an Some really good Twins on their that never did (as Twins)

Tmckelv

12 years ago

Reply to deal

1924 Won WS
1925, 1933 Lost WS

1924/1925 Washington Senators were a GREAT Team. Tucked in there between Yankees WS appearances.

Doug

12 years ago

Reply to deal

Only one WS for the Sens, in 1924.

Lawrence Azrin

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

THe 1924 WS is well pre-TV, so it doesn’t get the attention that more recent great postseason moments get, but for a while after it happened, it was considered the greatest, most exciting WS ever.

There was an excellent book written about it some years ago.

Brent

12 years ago

Reply to Lawrence Azrin

What book? I would like to read that. I like that the boy manager outfoxed John McGraw that year.

ajnrules

12 years ago

Reply to Brent

It’s called “Damn Senators: My Grandfather and the Story of Washington’s Only World Series Championship” and was written by the grandson of first baseman Joe Judge.

Jason Z

12 years ago

Reply to Lawrence Azrin

Sam Rice’s catch. And letter to the HOF to be opened upon his death. He made a game saving catch and tumbled over the fence. Emerged from the crowd. All pre-TV. Probably would rival Willie May’s catch. After he died in 1965, I believe, the HOF tried desperately to find the letter. About 2 weeks later a lawyer in NYC, after reading about the search produced the letter. For years the controversy was whether he held the ball. He wrote the letter to be opened after his death to resolve the question. The theme of this letter was as follows…… Read more »

Richard Chester

12 years ago

Reply to Jason Z

For a detailed account of that catch you should read Rice’s biography on the SABR Baseball Biography Project. It can be accessed via a link on Rice’s home page on Baseball Reference. It’s worth a look.

e pluribus munu

12 years ago

Reply to Jason Z

I remember reading an interview with Rice about this long before his death (it was when I first became aware of him). It was very satisfying when his “deathbed statement” was revealed.

That said, Rice’s catch was in the ’25 Series, which the Senators lost to the Pirates almost as dramatically as they won in ’24.

Tmckelv

12 years ago

I may be missing it. Is Joe Mauer on the poll? I will check back later because I wanted to vote for him.

Author

Andy

12 years ago

Reply to Tmckelv

I managed to leave Mauer off. I have now added him.

koma

12 years ago

Joe Mauer is missing in the vote

Tmckelv

12 years ago

Nice Card Andy. I was always on the fence between the Individual League Leader Cards (with 3 pictures and the long list of players on the back) or one card with both league leaders and the top 10 for each league on the back. I guess if you have a large number of cards in the set then the individual league leader cards (like the one shown) is better because it gives you 6 (or more if ties) photos for each stat.

Author

Andy

12 years ago

Reply to Tmckelv

I almost chose this Tony Oliva card, back when checklists were awesome:

This is one of the few good things about modern cards, getting back to the idea of checklists with a picture on them.

Tmckelv

12 years ago

Reply to Andy

Yes, the 1970’s were not kind to checklists. No one knew that they would go on to be some of the more valuable cards in a set due to the little kids writing on many of them.

bstar

12 years ago

Reply to Tmckelv

Hey, that’s what they were, “check”-lists. You were supposed to write on them if you were a kid, and I certainly wore them out.

Doug

12 years ago

Sam Rice had a quite remarkable career arc, given that his first season as a regular wasn’t until age 27. Late starters like that are usually gone by their mid-30s (or earlier), yet Rice played until 44 and was still a regular at age 40 when he batted .349, within a point of his career best.

What might Rice’s career totals have looked like if he had an earlier start instead of trying to be a pitcher? Probably in Musial (another failed pitcher) or Aaron territory in hits.

Richard Chester

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

Rice holds an unusual record. In his 20 years in the game he never hit less than .293. That is the highest minimum BA for a player with at least 10 years in the majors. (There is no seasonal minimum PA taken into consideration.)

Doug: Rice batted .350 at age 35 in 1925 for his seasonal high.

Library Dave

12 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

Take away Ty Cobb’s .240 over 150 AB in his rookie year, and he never hit less than .316. Hard to believe anyone could make such amazingly consistent contact.

Richard Chester

12 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

BTW Rice’s record is for retired players only. So far Pujols lowest is .299.

Brent

12 years ago

Juat looking at Carew’s stats. I never realized that he came within 1 game of winning 7 AL batting titles in a row (in 1976, in what has to be very close to the greatest batting race ever, the top 4 players in the batting race played in the same game in the final game of the season, with the final order being Brett .333, Mcrae .332, Carew, .331 and Bostock .328)

Tmckelv

12 years ago

Reply to Brent

Nice, I always knew that Brett and McRae went down to the wire for the Batting Title. I didn’t realize that last game was so significant with all 4 of those players involved. From what I can tell from the boxscores from that last weekend – the 4 averages going into the last game of the season were Bostock .323, Carew .329, McRae .331, Brett .331.

Carew and McRae went 2-4 and Brett went 3-4…wow. Bostock didn’t play.

Brent

12 years ago

Reply to Tmckelv

As a Royals fan, I can tell the way it went down ended up being very ugly. Going into the last at bat in the bottom of the 9th, Carew was out of it and it came down to whether Brett or McRae got a hit or not. Brett did and McRae didn’t. Brett’s hit was an inside the park HR on a high fly to left misplayed by the Twins (white) LFer Steve Brye. After the game McRae, who was very upset, said some things I am sure he wished he could take back about Brye and Gene Mauch… Read more »

Voomo Zanzibar

12 years ago

Reply to Brent

“Things have been like this a long time. They’re changing gradually. They shouldn’t be this way, but I can accept it.” […] “I know what happened. It’s been too good a season for me to say too much, but I know they let that ball fall on purpose.”

And here is McRae in a tender and emotional moment:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kamDqL-AGzI

Jameson

12 years ago

Reply to Voomo Zanzibar

Put that in your f-ing pipe and smoke it! Wow!

Lawrence Azrin

12 years ago

#30/ajnrules –

Thanks, I didn’t realize Joe Judge’s grandson wrote it. The Game Seven was especially epic, what with grounders to third TWICE bouncing over Freddie Lindstrom’s head.

Darien

12 years ago

I went Johnson, Killebrew, Puckett, and Blyleven, though leaving off Rod Carew almost killed me. This poll really needed to be a “top five.” 😉

If we were looking strictly at playing career, I probably would have Carew above Blyleven, but “Circle Me Bert” gets him in for me.

Doug

12 years ago

Hartvig,

Some others with pretty even splits between franchises are Frankie Frisch and Carlton Fisk (a couple that came immediately to mind).

Richard Chester

12 years ago

Reply to Doug

Tris Speaker had 1000+ games each with the Indians and Red Sox.

Hartvig

12 years ago

Reply to Richard Chester

Mike Piazza is another name that occurred to me. More WAR in LA, more games in New York.

Phil

12 years ago

Carew, Killer, Kirby, Johnson. Easiest one yet.

Luis Gomez

12 years ago

Reply to Phil

Agreed. For non-twins fans this is the easiest one, but Twins fans will make a choice based upon their hearts, and that is the toughest one.

Phil

12 years ago

For hometown fans, I’m guessing there’s a lot of sentiment for Hrbek, Johan, Oliva, maybe even Viola. (And that current frustration with Mauer undermines sentiment.)

Hartvig

12 years ago

Reply to Phil

I would guess that Radke would get a little love as well

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Johnson, Carew, Goslin and Blyleven. With sincere apologies to Harmon, I’m taking the Goose over him because of his impact on the 1924-25 World Series — OPS 1.000+ each time, with a total of 6 HRs and 13 RBI in 14 games.

Firpo Marberry goes on Mt. Name-more.

Hartvig

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

You also get the added bonus of that magnificent proboscis of his up the the mountain.

Editor

John Autin

12 years ago

Reply to Hartvig

Best of all, he had a sense of humor about his beak, as per James: “I been hitting .344 as a one-eyed hitter, you know. If I could see around my nose, I’d hit .600.” As to how many HRs he might have hit with another home park, his 1930 season is informative. He was dealt from the Senators to the Browns after hitting 7 HRs in 47 games; he hit 30 in 101 games the rest of the way. That year, he hit 3 HRs in 35 games in Griffith Stadium, and 34 in 113 everywhere else. That included… Read more »

e pluribus munu

12 years ago

Reply to John Autin

Goslin’s sense of humor is an interesting factor. If you read the interview in Larry Ritter’s book, his humor is self-depreciating and very charming. But James reports that other players regarded him as selfish.

All these nice comments about Goslin have certainly had an impact. I see his Rushmore vote total has soared to five.

bstar

12 years ago

Yeah, this one doesn’t take much thought for me-Johnson, Carew, Killer, and Puckett. Special shout out to Tony Oliva-one of the more underrated and forgotten hitters of the last 50 years.

e pluribus munu

12 years ago

I went with Johnson, Carew, and Killebrew. Then I fell off the wagon. My fourth head is Goslin. I was fascinated to learn as a boy that the Senators had not always been a second division team: I’d thought it was a law of nature. 1924 became my favorite series – others have already brought up its iconic status. It replaced 1912 as the greatest Series ever in its time, and it has a claim on that title to this day, not only because of the dramatic form of the seventh game, but because of the wide notion at the… Read more »

Steven

12 years ago

Johnson, Oliva, Killebrew and Hrbek. Except for the end of Killebrew’s career, all of my picks spent their major-league playing days with the franchise. So did Kirby Puckett, but Hrbek gets the hometown edge.

no statistician but

12 years ago

JA and epm: Goose’s huge beak will require a large mountain for justice to be done. Together you’ve convinced me of what I wanted to think, but resisted: After the truly big names, Goslin was maybe the most dominant hitter in the AL of that era—1923 to 1936. Playing in a different home park he would have had 400 home runs, and his 248 total isn’t shabby at that. Like Heilmann, he is somehow undervalued—overshadowed might be a better term—but he was also a winner, a guy who helped make good teams, the only non-Yankee AL player of those years… Read more »

Richard Chester

12 years ago

Reply to no statistician but

Not that it matters but Goslin holds the record for the most home runs (32) at Yankee Stadium by a visiting player, more than Ted Williams (30). It makes you wonder how many HRs he would have hit had the Stadium was his home park.

Mike Felber

12 years ago

Johnson my avatar was not Swedish, but nicknamed one due to his looks. When asked about why he did not correct the misapprehension, he replied how fine the Swedes are & he said something like not wanting to disavow folks of the notion. There is great symmetry & some irony in the Joe Judge Grandson book & the one by Walter Johnson’s Grandson, “Baseball’s Big Train”. Especially since it was Judge’s line drive that effectively ended Johnson’s career. That is a great book, with a thrilling account of their World Series. There is a quote about another top baseball man… Read more »

Steven

12 years ago

I just read on Baseball Reference.com that Dave Boswell, Twins 20-game winner in 1969, died on June 11.

Jason Z

12 years ago

Reply to Steven

Pedro Borbon too. He was a big part of that bullpen employed
by the Big Red Machine back in the 70’s.

Sad when these guys that we remember as kids go.

He probably would have made $5,000,000 a year today as
a bridge to the one inning closer of today.

bstar

12 years ago

Reply to Jason Z

My Dad and I used to call Pedro Borbon “Ol’ Rubber Arm” for his ability to pitch in so many games. Good times.

Chad

12 years ago

I know strikeouts weren’t nearly as prevalent in Sam Rice’s playing days, but to strike out only 9 times in 689 PA’s at age 39 is pretty incredible. 275 k’s in over 10,000 PA’s for his career.

Richard Chester

12 years ago

Reply to Chad

With 1 SO per 33.7 per AB Rice was the 6th hardest player for pitchers to strike out (min. 1000 G).

Lawrence Azrin

12 years ago

Reply to Chad

If you’re impressed by that – check out Joe Sewell’s record: 9 seasons of over 100 games played with less than ten strikeouts (3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9). 114 career strikeouts in 7,132 ABs.

I’ve heard he used the same bat for much of his career. Apocryphal?

webpage

10 years ago

I’m now not sure where you’re getting your information, but great topic.

I must spend a while finding out more or working out more.
Thanks for wonderful info I was in search
of this info for my mission.