1973 Minnesota Twins season explained

Minnesota Twins
Season:	1973
League:	American League
Division:	West
Ballpark:	Metropolitan Stadium
City:	Bloomington, Minnesota
Owners:	Calvin Griffith (majority owner, with Thelma Griffith Haynes)
General Managers:	Calvin Griffith
Managers:	Frank Quilici
Television:	WCCO-TV (Ray Scott, Ralph Fritz)
Radio:	830 WCCO AM (Herb Carneal, Ray Christensen)

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), and 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.

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		CatchersInfielders		Outfielders		ManagerCoaches

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		125	432	112	.259	16	64
1B		103	253	62	.245	9	25
2B		149	580	203	.350	6	62
SS		99	347	78	.225	1	36
3B		115	361	102	.283	6	42
LF		132	441	131	.297	11	58
CF		143	545	148	.272	15	64
RF		145	560	141	.252	18	90
DH		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
	124	438	116	.265	1	32
	92	278	73	.263	6	33
	69	248	60	.242	5	32
	47	117	23	.197	1	15
	35	111	33	.297	1	9
	37	96	17	.177	4	8
	39	76	17	.224	0	4
	55	66	14	.212	3	6
	15	48	12	.250	0	4
	12	34	9	.265	0	9
	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
	40	325.0	20	17	2.52	258
	29	181.2	11	12	4.41	93
	29	170.1	10	10	4.17	109
	23	141.1	10	8	3.95	53
	10	51.2	3	2	4.35	18

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
	39	142.0	7	10	3.49	78
	32	106.1	6	4	5.25	65
	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
	51	8	5	14	3.03	83
	28	3	3	7	3.14	42
	27	2	4	8	6.09	19
	14	1	0	0	2.70	13
	7	0	1	0	11.81	6

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball.

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Wisconsin Rapids

References

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

Notes and References

1. https://www.baseball-reference.com/r/reeseri01.shtml Rich Reese page at baseball Reference
2. https://www.baseball-reference.com/l/lisjo01.shtml Joe Lis
3. https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/g/gomezlu01.shtml Luis Gómez
4. https://www.baseball-reference.com/k/kaatji01.shtml Jim Kaat