1977 Minnesota Twins season

1977 Minnesota Twins
Major league affiliations
Location
1977 information
Owner(s) Calvin Griffith
Manager(s) Gene Mauch
Local television WTCN
(Harmon Killebrew, Joe Boyle)
Local radio 830 WCCO AM
(Herb Carneal, Frank Quilici)
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The 1977 Minnesota Twins season was a season in American baseball. The team finished 84-77, fourth in the American League West.

Contents

Offseason

Regular season

First baseman Rod 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 outfielder 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. Carew and Hisle were selected to the All-Star Game along with catcher Butch Wynegar

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 the first time the Twins since 1970 the Twins attracted more than one million fans.

Season standings

AL West W L GB Pct.
Kansas City Royals 102 60 -- .630
Texas Rangers 94 68 8 .580
Chicago White Sox 90 72 12 .556
Minnesota Twins 84 77 17.5 .522
California Angels 74 88 28 .457
Seattle Mariners 64 98 38 .395
Oakland Athletics 63 98 38.5 .391

Notable transactions

Roster

1977 Minnesota Twins
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders

Other batters

 Manager

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 Wynegar, ButchButch Wynegar 144 532 139 .261 10 79
1B Carew, RodRod Carew 155 616 239 .388 14 100
2B Randall, BobBob Randall 103 306 73 .239 0 22
3B Cubbage, MikeMike Cubbage 129 417 110 .264 9 55
SS Smalley, RoyRoy Smalley 150 584 135 .231 6 56
LF Hisle, LarryLarry Hisle 141 546 165 .302 28 119
CF Bostock, LymanLyman Bostock 153 593 199 .336 14 90
RF Ford, DanDan Ford 144 453 121 .267 11 60
DH Kusick, CraigCraig Kusick 115 268 68 .254 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
Norwood, WillieWillie Norwood 39 83 19 .229 3 9
Gómez, LuisLuis Gómez 32 65 16 .246 0 11
Borgmann, GlennGlenn Borgmann 17 43 11 .256 2 7
Bulling, BudBud Bulling 15 32 5 .156 0 5
Bass, RandyRandy 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
Goltz, DaveDave Goltz 39 303 20 11 3.36 186
Thormodsgard, PaulPaul Thormodsgard 37 218 11 15 4.62 94
Zahn, GeoffGeoff Zahn 34 198 12 14 4.68 88
Redfern, PetePete Redfern 30 137.1 6 9 5.18 73
Pazik, MikeMike 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
Schueler, RonRon Schueler 52 134.2 8 7 4.41 77
Johnson, DaveDave Johnson 30 72.2 2 5 4.58 33
Holly, JeffJeff Holly 18 48.1 2 3 6.89 32
Butler, BillBill 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
Johnson, TomTom Johnson 71 16 7 15 3.13 87
Burgmeier, TomTom Burgmeier 61 6 4 7 5.09 35
Serum, GaryGary Serum 8 0 0 0 4.37 4
Carrithers, DonDon Carrithers 7 0 1 0 6.91 3
Shellenback, JimJim Shellenback 5 0 0 0 7.94 3
Hughes, JimJim Hughes 2 0 0 0 2.08 1

Awards and honors

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 Spencer "Red" Robbins
Rookie Elizabethton Twins Appalachian League Fred Waters

Notes

  1. ^ Geoff Zahn page at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ Don Carrithers page at Baseball Reference
  3. ^ Dave Johnson page at Baseball-Reference
  4. ^ Darrell Jackson page at Baseball Reference

References

AL East
AL West
California • Chicago • Kansas City • Minnesota • Oakland • Seattle • Texas
NL East
NL West