1973 Minnesota Twins season

1973 Minnesota Twins
81-81, third in the AL Western Division
Major League affiliations
American League (since 1901)
Western Division (since 1969)
Location
Metropolitan Stadium (since 1961)
Bloomington, Minnesota (since 1961)
Other information
Owner(s)	Calvin Griffith (majority owner, with Thelma Griffith Haynes)
General manager(s)	Calvin Griffith
Manager(s)	Frank Quilici
Local television	WCCO-TV (Ray Scott, Ralph Fritz)
Local radio	830 WCCO AM (Herb Carneal, Ray Christensen)
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The 1973 Minnesota Twins finished 81-81, third in the American League West.

Offseason

November 30, 1972: Rich Reese was purchased from the Twins by the Detroit Tigers.^[1]
November 30, 1972: César Tovar was traded by the Twins to the Philadelphia Phillies for Joe Lis, Ken Sanders and Ken Reynolds.^[2]

Regular season

With the American League's new designated hitter rule taking effect, on April 6 in Oakland, California, Tony Oliva became the first DH to hit a home run.

On July 3, Tony Oliva hit three home runs against the Kansas City Royals. The Twins-record feat was accomplished twice before, by both Bob Allison and Harmon Killebrew in 1963.

Two Twins made the All-Star Game: second baseman Rod Carew and pitcher Bert Blyleven. 907,499 fans attended Twins games, the third lowest total in the American League.

On September 27, California Angels pitcher Nolan Ryan struck out sixteen Twins and set a major league season mark of 383 strikeouts. Minnesota's Rich Reese was Ryan's 383rd victim.

Pitcher Bert Blyleven finished with a 20-17 record and set several team records: total innings pitched (325.0), complete games (25), shutouts (9), strikeouts (258).

Rod Carew won his third AL batting title with a .350 average. Bobby Darwin continued to show potential as a hitter with 18 home runs and 90 RBI. Tony Oliva limped through the season, hitting 16 HR and collecting 92 RBI. Bert Blyleven won 20 games for the first time, and three other pitchers had double digit wins: Jim Kaat (11-12), Dick Woodson (10-8), and Joe Decker (10-10). Kaat also won his 12th Gold Glove Award.

Season standings

AL West	W	L	Pct.	GB	Home	Road
Oakland Athletics	94	68	0.580	—	50–31	44–37
Kansas City Royals	88	74	0.543	6	48–33	40–41
Minnesota Twins	81	81	0.500	13	37–44	44–37
California Angels	79	83	0.488	15	43–38	36–45
Chicago White Sox	77	85	0.475	17	40–41	37–44
Texas Rangers	57	105	0.352	37	35–46	22–59

Record vs. opponents

1973 American League Records Sources:
Team	BAL	BOS	CAL	CWS	CLE	DET	KC	MIL	MIN	NYY	OAK	TEX
Baltimore	—	7–11	6–6	8–4	12–6	9–9	8–4	15–3	8–4	9–9	5–7	10–2
Boston	11–7	—	7–5	6–6	9–9	3–15	8–4	12–6	6–6	14–4	4–8	9–3
California	6–6	5–7	—	8–10	5–7	7–5	10–8	5–7	10–8	6–6	6–12	11–7
Chicago	4–8	6–6	10–8	—	7–5	5–7	6–12	3–9	9–9	8–4	6–12	13–5
Cleveland	6–12	9–9	7–5	5–7	—	9–9	2–10	9–9	7–5	7–11	3–9	7–5
Detroit	9–9	15–3	5–7	7–5	9–9	—	4–8	12–6	5–7	7–11	7–5	5–7
Kansas City	4–8	4–8	8–10	12–6	10–2	8–4	—	8–4	9–9	6–6	8–10	11–7
Milwaukee	3–15	6–12	7–5	9–3	9–9	6–12	4–8	—	8–4	10–8	4–8	8–4
Minnesota	4–8	6–6	8–10	9–9	5–7	7–5	9–9	4–8	—	3–9	14–4	12–6
New York	9–9	4–14	6–6	4–8	11–7	11–7	6–6	8–10	9–3	—	4–8	8–4
Oakland	7–5	8–4	12–6	12–6	9–3	5–7	10–8	8–4	4–14	8–4	—	11–7
Texas	2–10	3–9	7–11	5–13	5–7	7–5	7–11	4–8	6–12	4–8	7–11	—

Notable transactions

June 5, 1973: Luis Gómez was drafted by the Twins in the 7th round of the 1973 Major League Baseball Draft.^[3]
August 15, 1973: Jim Kaat was selected off waivers from the Twins by the Chicago White Sox.^[4]
August 17, 1973: Rich Reese was signed as a free agent by the Twins.^[1]

Roster

1973 Minnesota Twins

Roster

Pitchers

20 Vic Albury

18 Eddie Bane

28 Bert Blyleven

24 Bill Campbell

23 Ray Corbin

21 Joe Decker

16 Danny Fife

30 Dave Goltz

17 Bill Hands

36 Jim Kaat

20 Ken Sanders

19 Jim Strickland

13 Dick Woodson

Catchers

27 Glenn Borgmann

15 George Mitterwald

8 Phil Roof

Infielders

4 Steve Braun

29 Rod Carew

3 Harmon Killebrew

22 Craig Kusick

10 Joe Lis

14 Dan Monzon

1 Rich Reese

12 Eric Soderholm

7 Jerry Terrell

5 Danny Thompson

Outfielders

25 Mike Adams

11 Steve Brye

2 Bobby Darwin

9 Larry Hisle

26 Jim Holt

6 Tony Oliva

12 Danny Walton

Manager

43 Frank Quilici

Coaches

44 Vern Morgan

45 Buck Rodgers

42 Ralph Rowe

46 Al Worthington

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
1B	Lis, JoeJoe Lis	103	253	62	.245	9	25
2B	Carew, RodRod Carew	149	580	203	.350	6	62
LF	Holt, JimJim Holt	132	441	131	.297	11	58
RF	Darwin, BobbyBobby Darwin	145	560	141	.252	18	90
DH	Oliva, TonyTony Oliva	146	571	166	.291	16	92

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
Borgmann, GlennGlenn Borgmann	12	34	9	.265	0	9
Reese, RichRich Reese	22	23	4	.174	1	3

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
Blyleven, BertBert Blyleven	40	325	20	17	2.52	258
Decker, JoeJoe Decker	29	170.1	10	10	4.17	109

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
Bane, EddieEddie Bane	23	60.1	0	5	4.92	42

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
Corbin, RayRay Corbin	51	8	5	14	3.03	83
Campbell, BillBill Campbell	28	3	3	7	3.14	42
Sanders, KenKen Sanders	27	2	4	8	6.09	19
Albury, VicVic Albury	14	1	0	0	2.70	13

Farm system

Level	Team	League	Manager
AAA	Tacoma Twins	Pacific Coast League	Kerby Farrell
AA	Orlando Twins	Southern League	Harry Warner
A	Lynchburg Twins	Carolina League	Dick Phillips
A	Wisconsin Rapids Twins	Midwest League	Johnny Goryl
A-Short Season	Geneva Twins	New York–Penn League	Fred Waters

Notes

References

Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.
Player stats from www.baseball-reference.com
Team info from www.baseball-almanac.com

1973 MLB season by team

AL East	Baltimore Boston Cleveland Detroit Milwaukee New York

AL West	California Chicago Kansas City Minnesota Oakland Texas

NL East	Chicago Montréal New York Philadelphia Pittsburgh St. Louis

NL West	Atlanta Cincinnati Houston Los Angeles San Diego San Francisco

1973 All-Star Game 1973 World Series

Minnesota Twins

Formerly the Washington Nationals and the Washington Senators
Based in Minneapolis, Minnesota (Twin Cities)

Franchise

Ballparks

Spring Training: Plant Field
Tinker Field
Hammond Stadium

Culture

Homer Hanky
Little Big League
Major League: Back to the Minors
Continental League
"The Piranhas"
AL Central tie-breaker games
- 2008
- 2009
Damn Yankees

Important figures

Senators Hall of Famers	Herb Carneal Goose Goslin Bucky Harris Walter Johnson Arch McDonald Sam Rice

Wall of Fame members	Rick Aguilera Bob Allison Earl Battey Bert Blyleven George Brophy Rod Carew Bob Casey Gary Gaetti Calvin Griffith Kent Hrbek Jim Kaat Tom Kelly Harmon Killebrew Tony Oliva Carl Pohlad Kirby Puckett Brad Radke Jim Rantz Zoilo Versalles Frank Viola

World Series
Championships (3)

Pennants (6)

American League: 1924
1925
1933
1965
1987
1991

Division titles (10)

West: 1969; 1970; 1987; 1991
Central: 2002; 2003; 2004; 2006; 2009; 2010

Minor league affiliates

Triple-A: Rochester Red Wings
Double-A: Chattanooga Lookouts
A Adv.: Fort Myers Miracle
A: Cedar Rapids Kernels
Rookie Adv.: Elizabethton Twins
Rookie: GCL Twins; DSL Twins

Seasons (116)

1900s	1900 . 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909

1910s	1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919

1920s	1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929

1930s	1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939

1940s	1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949

1950s	1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959

1960s	1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969

1970s	1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979

1980s	1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989

1990s	1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999

2000s	2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009

2010s	2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

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