Don Baylor and the 1987 Minnesota Twins
I went for a weekend getaway with the lady (which is why I'm behind on my posts) and woke up in our hotel room Monday morning to news that Don Baylor had passed away.
A lot has been written about his career this week already. As there should be... Baylor was a great player and a big contributor to the development of generations of younger players, when you factor in his years of managing and coaching after retiring as a player.
Baylor only played 20 regular season games with Minnesota, after being acquired on the August 31st trading deadline from Boston. That was enough to get him one of Topps patented bad airbrushing jobs to convert his Red Sox cap into a Twins cap in time for the 1988 baseball card set. For the regular season, Baylor batted only .286/.397/.306. But he was there for a reason, and that was to teach the Twins how to win...
Twins broadcaster Roy Smalley relayed a story about the Don Baylor trade during a game later that night. On the day of the 1987 trade deadline, then Twins-GM Andy McPhail went up to Smalley in the locker room and told him he had a chance to acquire Baylor. McPhail asked Smalley what he thought of Baylor, as they played together with the Yankees in 1983-84. Despite knowing that a trade for Baylor would cut into Smalley's playing time at Designated Hitter, he fully endorsed the trade. As Baylor would give the Twins a much better chance at winning the World Series.
On July 22, 2017, the Minnesota Twins held a pregame celebration honoring the 1987 World Series winning team. Throughout that weekend, former players would cycle through the TV booth and spend an inning, telling stories that brought back all sorts of memories about the team and their first World Series win in franchise history.
The 1987 Minnesota Twins had their core of star players, but were weak on pitching after Bert Blyleven and Frank Viola.
A 2011 Hall of Famer, Blyleven is currently the TV color analyst on a majority of broadcasts. He specializes in starting to tell interesting stories, then stopping before getting to the interesting part... And he likes to circle people with a telestrator...
Viola is currently the pitching coach for the AAA Las Vegas 51's, a New York Mets affiliate. Now his stories were interesting to listen to!
Minnesota acquired knuckleballer Joe Niekro in a trade with the Yankees in June, 1987. But he was more known for scuffing baseballs in Anaheim, than pitching well.
But at least he got on Letterman for it!
Niekro passed away in 2006.
Future Hall of Famer Steve Carlton joined the Twins at the July trade deadline, but did not pitch well (and still looks beyond strange in a Twins uniform). Carlton resigned with Minnesota in the 1987 offseason, and lasted 5 games into the 1988 season, before getting released and retiring.
Defying all odds, and a weak pitching staff, Minnesota made it to the World Series for the first time since 1965. Riding a powerful offense, lead by Kirby Puckett, Kent Hrbek, Tom Brunansky and Gary Gaetti. The reunion pointed out the different paths each of them went in their respective careers.
Puckett's career was cut short after an eye injury, then his life was tragically cut short after a massive stroke in 2006. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2001.
Hrbek retied as a Twin in 1994, and become an ambassador for the franchise. In 2010, he opened a bar named after himself, behind home plate at Target Field.
Brunansky played another six seasons, then got into coaching. Becoming the Twins batting coach for the 2012-2016.
Gaetti hit 360 home runs during a 20 year career, and is currently the manager of the Sugar Land Skeeters of Sugar Land, Texas.
Second year manager, cranky Tom Kelly, pushed all the right buttons all season long... And did it again five years later...
On the Friday night before the reunion celebration, Kelly was honored with a bronze statue outside Target Field. The jerk in me would like to point out that despite winning two World Series in his first six years as a manager, those two World Series were followed by a whole lot of last place finishes. While it's tough to criticize Kelly for what he did when things were going well, I think it's equally valid to point out that from 1993-2000, he didn't bring enough to the table to field a winning team. Yes, a lot of that isn't his fault, given the personnel he had to work with in many of those seasons. But if he was a miracle worker in 1987 and 1991, he was all out of miracles for the rest of his managing career.
Is that worth a bronze statue? I say no...
And I'm sure most Twins fans wouldn't agree with me...
But no Twins fan will ever short change the players on this team that brought the first World Championship to Minnesota. Left Fielder Dan Gladden was an immediate fan favorite after coming over from the Giants in a trade before the 1987 season. Gladden played with the Twins through the 1991 Series, then signed with Detroit for the 1992-93 seasons. After spending 1994 playing in Japan, he returned to Minnesota as a broadcaster, doing both radio and TV for Twins games.
For St. Louis, Tom Herr was one of their better hitters, and few more hated in Minnesota. His home run of Les Straker in game 6 gave the Cardinals an early advantage, setting up a 5-2 lead, going into the bottom of the 5th inning and their cockiness was off the charts... Until Twins batters silenced the St. Louis bench in the second half of the game.
Don Baylor, hit a two run homer off Cardinals ace, John Tudor, in the 5th inning, leading the comeback. Which was sealed by Kent Hrbek's grand slam off Cardinals reliever Ken Dayley. Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog had promised a St. Louis victory, and there would be no game 7... Guess what Whitey?
Baylor was a monster during the 1987 World Series, batting .385/.467/.615 in five games. After getting hit by a pitch to lead off the second inning (a Baylor specialty during his career), he was thrown out at home plate trying to score by Vince Coleman. Immortalized forever in the 1988 Fleer World Series set.
There's Herr again... Being a baby about getting thrown out at first base in the first inning of Game 7... Also immortalized forever in the 1988 Fleer World Series set...
At the July 22, 2107 reunion at Target Field, the ceremonial first pitch of that night's game was thrown out by Jeff Reardon to catcher Tim Laudner. Mimicking the final pitch of the 1987 World Series, complete with Herb Carneal's call of the play over the stadium public address system.
"A ground ball to 3rd by Willie McGee, Gaetti has it, throws to Hrbek and the Minnesota Twins are 1987 World Champions!"
The Twins winning the World Series was huge news in Minnesota. A state that hadn't had a major championship since the NBA Lakers called Minneapolis home. After a tease in 1965, then nothing from any of the Twins, Vikings or North Stars until now. The players on that team, while relatively unknown outside Minnesota, are still legends in that state.
George Frazier wrapped up his 10 year major league career with Minnesota in 1987, winning his only World Series with the Twins. (Frazier pitched three games -tying a major league record with three losses- in the New York Yankees 1981 World Series loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers).
In 1998, Frazier signed on as a color analyst for the Colorado Rockies in 1998, and was a steady voice of Rockies baseball until he retired in 2015. He would occasionally tell stories of the 1987 Twins, and show off his World Series ring during games.
Seeing the Twins team, 30 years later was kind of shocking. I remember them from thirty years ago. Dan Gladden should only be in his early 40's now...
Wait, I'm in my early 40's now...
I was only 12 when they won the World Series...
Still, it was an amazing team. They were directly responsible for me getting into baseball, and I have fond memories of following the 1987 World Series players as the years went on. Some retired, some played for a few more seasons with the Twins, some signed as free agents with other teams...
And some of them were traded away...
The 1988 Minnesota Twins started the season slow, and on April 22, 1988, had a record of 4-10... Feeling the need to shake up the team, GM Andy McPhail traded away long time fan favorite, slugging right fielder Tom Brunansky...
To the St. Louis Cardinals...
Well, who did we get?
(Though I have to admit, the upside-down cereal bowl helmet, with the crayon drawn on "M" and the cartoon button jersey, made this card even more laughable than Herr's 1988 -and only- season in Minnesota...)
After a 19 year career, with six previous post season appearances, Don Baylor won his only World Series with Minnesota. He left to sign with the Oakland Athletics in the 1987 offseason, with Oakland hoping he could provide the same leadership to their up and coming team. In doing so, he got to play in the 1988 World Series against Los Angeles, becoming the first player to play in three consecutive World Series, for three different teams.
Baylor retired as a player after the 1988 World Series.
After two seasons as the Milwaukee Brewers hitting coach, and one season as the St. Louis Cardinals hitting coach, Baylor was named the first manager of the Colorado Rockies in 1993.
Baylor managed the Rockies through the 1998 season.
And if this all isn't 1987 enough for you, check out these 1987 World Series highlights set to Bonnie Tyler's "I Need a Hero".
A lot has been written about his career this week already. As there should be... Baylor was a great player and a big contributor to the development of generations of younger players, when you factor in his years of managing and coaching after retiring as a player.
Baylor only played 20 regular season games with Minnesota, after being acquired on the August 31st trading deadline from Boston. That was enough to get him one of Topps patented bad airbrushing jobs to convert his Red Sox cap into a Twins cap in time for the 1988 baseball card set. For the regular season, Baylor batted only .286/.397/.306. But he was there for a reason, and that was to teach the Twins how to win...
Twins broadcaster Roy Smalley relayed a story about the Don Baylor trade during a game later that night. On the day of the 1987 trade deadline, then Twins-GM Andy McPhail went up to Smalley in the locker room and told him he had a chance to acquire Baylor. McPhail asked Smalley what he thought of Baylor, as they played together with the Yankees in 1983-84. Despite knowing that a trade for Baylor would cut into Smalley's playing time at Designated Hitter, he fully endorsed the trade. As Baylor would give the Twins a much better chance at winning the World Series.
On July 22, 2017, the Minnesota Twins held a pregame celebration honoring the 1987 World Series winning team. Throughout that weekend, former players would cycle through the TV booth and spend an inning, telling stories that brought back all sorts of memories about the team and their first World Series win in franchise history.
The 1987 Minnesota Twins had their core of star players, but were weak on pitching after Bert Blyleven and Frank Viola.
A 2011 Hall of Famer, Blyleven is currently the TV color analyst on a majority of broadcasts. He specializes in starting to tell interesting stories, then stopping before getting to the interesting part... And he likes to circle people with a telestrator...
Viola is currently the pitching coach for the AAA Las Vegas 51's, a New York Mets affiliate. Now his stories were interesting to listen to!
Minnesota acquired knuckleballer Joe Niekro in a trade with the Yankees in June, 1987. But he was more known for scuffing baseballs in Anaheim, than pitching well.
But at least he got on Letterman for it!
Niekro passed away in 2006.
Future Hall of Famer Steve Carlton joined the Twins at the July trade deadline, but did not pitch well (and still looks beyond strange in a Twins uniform). Carlton resigned with Minnesota in the 1987 offseason, and lasted 5 games into the 1988 season, before getting released and retiring.
Defying all odds, and a weak pitching staff, Minnesota made it to the World Series for the first time since 1965. Riding a powerful offense, lead by Kirby Puckett, Kent Hrbek, Tom Brunansky and Gary Gaetti. The reunion pointed out the different paths each of them went in their respective careers.
Puckett's career was cut short after an eye injury, then his life was tragically cut short after a massive stroke in 2006. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2001.
Hrbek retied as a Twin in 1994, and become an ambassador for the franchise. In 2010, he opened a bar named after himself, behind home plate at Target Field.
Brunansky played another six seasons, then got into coaching. Becoming the Twins batting coach for the 2012-2016.
Gaetti hit 360 home runs during a 20 year career, and is currently the manager of the Sugar Land Skeeters of Sugar Land, Texas.
Second year manager, cranky Tom Kelly, pushed all the right buttons all season long... And did it again five years later...
On the Friday night before the reunion celebration, Kelly was honored with a bronze statue outside Target Field. The jerk in me would like to point out that despite winning two World Series in his first six years as a manager, those two World Series were followed by a whole lot of last place finishes. While it's tough to criticize Kelly for what he did when things were going well, I think it's equally valid to point out that from 1993-2000, he didn't bring enough to the table to field a winning team. Yes, a lot of that isn't his fault, given the personnel he had to work with in many of those seasons. But if he was a miracle worker in 1987 and 1991, he was all out of miracles for the rest of his managing career.
Is that worth a bronze statue? I say no...
And I'm sure most Twins fans wouldn't agree with me...
But no Twins fan will ever short change the players on this team that brought the first World Championship to Minnesota. Left Fielder Dan Gladden was an immediate fan favorite after coming over from the Giants in a trade before the 1987 season. Gladden played with the Twins through the 1991 Series, then signed with Detroit for the 1992-93 seasons. After spending 1994 playing in Japan, he returned to Minnesota as a broadcaster, doing both radio and TV for Twins games.
For St. Louis, Tom Herr was one of their better hitters, and few more hated in Minnesota. His home run of Les Straker in game 6 gave the Cardinals an early advantage, setting up a 5-2 lead, going into the bottom of the 5th inning and their cockiness was off the charts... Until Twins batters silenced the St. Louis bench in the second half of the game.
Don Baylor, hit a two run homer off Cardinals ace, John Tudor, in the 5th inning, leading the comeback. Which was sealed by Kent Hrbek's grand slam off Cardinals reliever Ken Dayley. Cardinals manager Whitey Herzog had promised a St. Louis victory, and there would be no game 7... Guess what Whitey?
Baylor was a monster during the 1987 World Series, batting .385/.467/.615 in five games. After getting hit by a pitch to lead off the second inning (a Baylor specialty during his career), he was thrown out at home plate trying to score by Vince Coleman. Immortalized forever in the 1988 Fleer World Series set.
There's Herr again... Being a baby about getting thrown out at first base in the first inning of Game 7... Also immortalized forever in the 1988 Fleer World Series set...
At the July 22, 2107 reunion at Target Field, the ceremonial first pitch of that night's game was thrown out by Jeff Reardon to catcher Tim Laudner. Mimicking the final pitch of the 1987 World Series, complete with Herb Carneal's call of the play over the stadium public address system.
"A ground ball to 3rd by Willie McGee, Gaetti has it, throws to Hrbek and the Minnesota Twins are 1987 World Champions!"
The Twins winning the World Series was huge news in Minnesota. A state that hadn't had a major championship since the NBA Lakers called Minneapolis home. After a tease in 1965, then nothing from any of the Twins, Vikings or North Stars until now. The players on that team, while relatively unknown outside Minnesota, are still legends in that state.
George Frazier wrapped up his 10 year major league career with Minnesota in 1987, winning his only World Series with the Twins. (Frazier pitched three games -tying a major league record with three losses- in the New York Yankees 1981 World Series loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers).
In 1998, Frazier signed on as a color analyst for the Colorado Rockies in 1998, and was a steady voice of Rockies baseball until he retired in 2015. He would occasionally tell stories of the 1987 Twins, and show off his World Series ring during games.
Seeing the Twins team, 30 years later was kind of shocking. I remember them from thirty years ago. Dan Gladden should only be in his early 40's now...
Wait, I'm in my early 40's now...
I was only 12 when they won the World Series...
Still, it was an amazing team. They were directly responsible for me getting into baseball, and I have fond memories of following the 1987 World Series players as the years went on. Some retired, some played for a few more seasons with the Twins, some signed as free agents with other teams...
And some of them were traded away...
The 1988 Minnesota Twins started the season slow, and on April 22, 1988, had a record of 4-10... Feeling the need to shake up the team, GM Andy McPhail traded away long time fan favorite, slugging right fielder Tom Brunansky...
To the St. Louis Cardinals...
Well, who did we get?
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!
*****
Baylor retired as a player after the 1988 World Series.
After two seasons as the Milwaukee Brewers hitting coach, and one season as the St. Louis Cardinals hitting coach, Baylor was named the first manager of the Colorado Rockies in 1993.
Baylor managed the Rockies through the 1998 season.
*****
RADICAL!!!
Where did you find that Stadium Club Don Baylor? I’m 99% sure it’s a custom card.
ReplyDeleteIt was printed on the back panel of the boxed team set. Not the team sets that were packaged in plastic hanger packs. I wish they'd made this actual card, but I've only ever seen on the boxed team set. I scanned the box, since I didn't want to cut it apart.
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