The 1972

Minnesota Twins The Minnesota Twins are an American professional baseball team based in Minneapolis. The Twins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The team is named afte ...

finished 77–77, third in the

American League West The American League West is one of Major League Baseball's six divisions. The division has five teams as of the 2013 season, but had four teams from 1994 to 2012, and had as many as seven teams before the 1994 realignment. Although its teams cu ...

Offseason

* October 22, 1971: Paul Powell was traded by the Twins to the

Los Angeles Dodgers The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League West, West Div ...

for Bobby Darwin. * November 29, 1971: Brant Alyea was drafted from the Twins by the

Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (frequently referred to as the Oakland A's) were an American Major League Baseball (MLB) team based in Oakland, California from 1968 to 2024. The Athletics were a member club of the American League (AL) American League We ...

in the 1971

rule 5 draft The Rule 5 draft is a Major League Baseball (MLB) player draft that occurs each year in December, at the annual Winter Meeting of general managers. The Rule 5 draft aims to prevent teams from stockpiling too many young players on their minor lea ...

Regular season

On May 12, in a twenty-two inning match which concluded a day later,

Danny Thompson Daniel Henry Edward Thompson (born 4 April 1939) is an English multi-instrumentalist best known as a double bassist. He has had a long musical career playing with a large variety of other musicians, particularly Richard Thompson and John Ma ...

went 0 for 10 with a

sacrifice bunt In baseball, a sacrifice bunt (also called a sacrifice hit) is a batter's act of deliberately bunting the ball, before there are two outs, in a manner that allows a baserunner to advance to another base. The batter is almost always put out, a ...

, dropping his batting average 39 points over one game. He and

César Tovar César Leonardo Tovar (July 3, 1940 – July 14, 1994), nicknamed "Pepito" and "Mr. Versatility", was a Venezuelan professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) from to , most notably as the leadoff hitter fo ...

set a team record with their eleven plate appearances. After a slow start, manager

Bill Rigney William Joseph Rigney (January 29, 1918 – February 20, 2001) was an American professional infielder and manager in Major League Baseball (MLB). A 26-year veteran in the major leagues, Rigney played for the New York Giants from to , then spent ...

was replaced by Frank Quilici in early July. On July 9, Rich Reese hit his third pinch-hit grand slam

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the Baseball (ball), ball is hit in such a way that the batting (baseball), batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safe (baseball), safely in one play without any error ( ...

, tying a major league record in doing so. Rothsay, Minnesota, native

Dave Goltz David Allan Goltz (born June 23, 1949) is an American former professional baseball player who pitched in the Major Leagues from 1972 to 1983. Biography Dave Goltz attended high school in Rothsay, Minnesota where he was a multi-sport star athle ...

made his major league debut on July 18 – he is the first Minnesotan drafted by the

to make the big league club. He gave up one hit in innings. Only one Twin made the

All-Star Game An all-star game is an exhibition game that showcases the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or division, bu ...

: second baseman

Rod Carew Rodney Cline Carew (born October 1, 1945) is a Panamanian-American former professional baseball player and coach. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a second baseman, first baseman and designated hitter from 1967 to 1985 for the Minneso ...

. On July 31, pitcher

Bert Blyleven Rik Aalbert Blyleven (born Blijleven, April 6, 1951) is a Dutch-American former professional baseball pitcher and color commentator. He played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1970 to 1992, primarily with the Minnesota Twins, and f ...

gave up two

inside-the-park home run In baseball, an inside-the-park home run is a rare play in which a Batter (baseball), batter rounds all four bases for a home run without the baseball leaving the baseball field, field of play. It is also known as an "inside-the-parker", "in-the-p ...

s, both to the

Chicago White Sox The Chicago White Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago. The White Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. The club plays its ...

Dick Allen Richard Anthony Allen (March 8, 1942 – December 7, 2020), nicknamed "Crash" and "the Wampum Walloper", was an American professional baseball player. During his 15-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career, he played as a first baseman and thir ...

. When this next occurs in the major leagues (October 4, 1986), Blyleven is again on the mound. But the feat is accomplished this time by his Minnesota teammate Greg Gagne. When

hit for the cycle Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust or HIT, a fictional organization ...

on September 19, he finished with a game-ending home run. The only other player to do that in history was

Ken Boyer Kenton Lloyd Boyer (May 20, 1931 – September 7, 1982) was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) third baseman, coach and manager who played with the St. Louis Cardinals, New York Mets, Chicago White Sox, and Los Angeles Dodgers for 15 seaso ...

(). In later years, and after such a hit became known as a "

walk-off home run In baseball, a walk-off home run is a home run that ends the game. For a home run to end the game, it must be hit in the bottom of the final inning and generate enough runs to exceed the opponent's score. Because the opponent will not have an opp ...

", the feat was duplicated by

George Brett George Howard Brett (born May 15, 1953) is an American former professional baseball third baseman, designated hitter, and first baseman who played 21 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Kansas City Royals. Brett's 3,154 career hit ( ...

(), Dwight Evans (), and Carlos González (). Tovar is just the second Twin to

, after

in 1970; eight more Twins will do so by 2009. Carew won his second AL batting title with a .318 average, but did not hit any home runs during the season. Previously,

Zach Wheat Zachariah Davis Wheat (May 23, 1888 – March 11, 1972), nicknamed "Buck", was an American professional baseball player. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a left fielder from 1909 to 1927, most notably as a member of the Brooklyn Do ...

was the last player to accomplish this feat when he won the 1918 NL batting title with the

Brooklyn Dodgers The Brooklyn Dodgers were a Major League Baseball team founded in 1883 as the Brooklyn Grays. In 1884, it became a member of the American Association as the Brooklyn Atlantics before joining the National League in 1890. They remained in Brook ...

. Bobby Darwin showed potential as a hitter with 22 HR and 80 RBI, but that did not make up for age and injuries taking their toll on other players. (Those numbers were also suppressed by his Twins-record 145 strikeouts.)

Harmon Killebrew Harmon Clayton Killebrew Jr. (; June 29, 1936May 17, 2011), nicknamed "the Killer" and "Hammerin' Harmon", was an American professional baseball first baseman, third baseman, and left fielder. He spent most of his 22-year career in Major League ...

hit 26 HR (4th in the league) but drove in only 75 runs.

Tony Oliva Tony Pedro Oliva Lopez (born Antonio Oliva Lopez Hernandes Javique; July 20, 1938) is a Cuban former professional baseball player and coach. He played his entire career in Major League Baseball as a right fielder and designated hitter for the M ...

's bad knees limited him to only 10 games.

led the team with 86

runs scored In baseball, a run is scored when a player advances around first, second and third base and returns safely to home plate, touching the bases in that order, before three outs are recorded and all obligations to reach base safely on batted bal ...

. Four pitchers had double digit wins:

(17–17), Dick Woodson (14–14),

Jim Perry James Perry may refer to: * James Perry (journalist) (1756–1821), British journalist and newspaper editor * James Franklin Perry (1790–1853), early Texas settler (with wife Emily Austin Perry) * Jimmy Perry (1923–2016), English actor and scr ...

(13–16), and

Jim Kaat James Lee Kaat (; born November 7, 1938), nicknamed "Kitty", is an American former professional baseball player and television sports commentator. A left-handed pitcher, he played Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Washington Senators / Minnes ...

(10–2). Kaat also won his 11th

Gold Glove Award The Rawlings Gold Glove Award, usually referred to as simply the Gold Glove, is the award given annually to the Major League Baseball (MLB) players judged to have exhibited superior individual Fielding (baseball), fielding performances. It is awar ...

. 797,901 fans attended Twins games, the seventh highest total in the

American League The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is the younger of two sports leagues, leagues constituting Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western L ...

. It was almost half the number of fans that had attended just a few seasons earlier.

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Notable transactions

* May 12, 1972: Sal Butera was signed by the Twins as an amateur free agent. * June 6, 1972:

1972 Major League Baseball draft The 1972 Major League Baseball draft took place prior to the 1972 MLB season. The draft saw the San Diego Padres select Dave Roberts first overall. First round selections The following are the first round picks in the 1972 Major League Baseba ...

Willie Norwood William Ray Norwood Sr. (born November 30, 1955) is an American gospel singer. He is the father and voice coach of R&B singers Brandy and Ray J. Career 1975–1992: Early career Willie Norwood's career in the music industry began at Jackson ...

was drafted by the Twins in the 3rd round. **

Lyman Bostock Lyman Wesley Bostock Jr. (November 22, 1950 – September 24, 1978) was an American professional baseball player. He played Major League Baseball for four seasons, as an outfielder for the Minnesota Twins and California Angels (1978), with a l ...

was drafted by the Twins in the 26th round.Lyman Bostock
at ''Baseball Reference''

Roster

Player stats

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''

Other batters

''Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in''

Pitching

Starting pitchers

''Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts''

Other pitchers

''Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts''

Relief pitchers

''Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts''

Farm system

Notes

References

*
Player stats from www.baseball-reference.comTeam info from www.baseball-almanac.com
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