Kevin Tapani

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kevin Ray Tapani was an American baseball player from 1989 until 2001. Born in Des Moines, Iowa on February 18, 1964, Tapani was drafted in the second round of the 1986 amateur draft by the Oakland Athletics. Tapani made his big league debut on July 4, 1989 with the New York Mets of the National League but was soon traded to the Minnesota Twins of the American League as part of the Frank Viola trade that sent Viola, the 1988 American League Cy Young Award winner to the New York Mets.

Tapani became a starter while with the Twins, with whom he spent seven of his thirteen major league seasons as a stable veteran pitcher. While with Minnesota, Tapani ably played the role of number two starter behind Jack Morris during the Minnesota Twins' 1991 World Series season.

In his career, Tapani pitched adeptly in both the American League and National League, and played his last game on September 27, 2001. His career record: 143 wins, 125 losses, and an ERA of 4.35. In 1998 with the Chicago Cubs, Tapani earned his best record of 19-9, though his ERA was 4.85. In 1991, with the Twins, Tapani had his lowest ERA of 2.99 to go with a 16-9 record and 7th place in the 1991 Cy Young Award voting.

Tapani was raised in Escanaba, Michigan in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. He quarterbacked Escanaba High School to the 1981 MHSAA Class A State Football Championship. Tapani pitched collegiately at Central Michigan University and is a member of the CMU Athletics Hall of Fame (Class of 1999).