Welcome to the very first installment of "This Week in Twins History"! This week, we'll be traveling back in time to revisit Harmon Killebrew's induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame, recalling the time the Twins retired Kent Hrbek's number, and the not-so-distant history of Minnesota trading Delmon Young to the Detroit Tigers.
Here we go...
August 12, 1984 - Rick Ferrell, Don Drysdale, Pee Wee Reese, Luis Aparicio, and Harmon Killebrew are inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Killebrew is the first Twins player to be represented in the Hall, and was selected in his fourth year of eligibility. Below, a clip from his induction speech. I've seen it probably ten times, but I still choke up a bit each time...
More moments after the jump!
August 13, 1986 - The Twins trade Ron Davis and Dewayne Coleman to the Cubs for shortstop Julius McDougal and pitchers George Frazier and Ray Fontenot.
August 13, 1995 - The Twins retire #14 in honor of Kent Hrbek, a two-time World Series champion with the team.
August 14, 1981 - The Twins play the last double header held at Met Stadium against the Mariners. In attendance are only 5,630 fans, and the Twins ended up splitting the games with Seattle.
August 15, 2011 - While in Detroit for a series against the Tigers, the Twins make a deal with the team to give them outfielder Delmon Young in return for Edina native Cole Nelson and a PTBNL, who ends up being Lester Oliveros. In his first at-bat against the Twins, Delmon of course hits a bomb off Francisco Liriano in the first inning. This is all overshadowed, however, by...
August 15, 2011 - Jim Thome hits home runs 599 & 600 in Detroit off of Rick Porcello and reliever Dan Schlereth. Jim Thome becomes only one of 8 major league hitters to hit 600 or more career home runs. Relive the magic...
August 16, 1990 - In a loss to Cleveland, Tom Kelly displays a bit of managing prowess, as he starts Kirby Puckett in RF, but moves him to short stop, third base, and second base...all in the 8th inning. Al Newman also switchs from third base to short stop back to third base in the same inning. The Twins lost 7-5.
August 17, 2010 - Probably one of my favorite modern Twins memories...the Minnesota Twins and Chicago White Sox are in a race for the AL Central title, with the Twins up 3 games in the standings. Chicago is in town for a crucial three game series, and game one starts with the Twins taking an early 3-0 lead, but the White Sox come back and by the 10th inning, the Twins are down 6-5. Delmon Young comes up to bat and singles, setting the table for...Jim Thome. I'm sure you remember what happens here, as Thome doesn't just hit a majestic bomb to the right field plaza, but ends up hitting the first walkoff home run in Target Field history. Of course I'm including video of this, because I'm pretty sure no one can watch this without a huge smile on their face.
August 18, 1966 - The Twins turn their first-ever triple play in the second inning against the Angels. A Rollins-Tovar-Killebrew play got batter Frank Malzone out.
Sources: Twins Trivia, Wiki, Twins, Wiki
That's all for this week...come back next week for more fun and interesting Minnesota Twins moments!