1980 Minnesota Twins
LeagueAmerican League
DivisionWest
BallparkMetropolitan Stadium
CityBloomington, Minnesota
OwnersCalvin Griffith (majority owner, with Thelma Griffith Haynes)
General managersCalvin Griffith
ManagersGene Mauch, Johnny Goryl
TelevisionKMSP-TV
(Bob Kurtz, Larry Osterman)
Radio830 WCCO AM
(Herb Carneal, Frank Quilici)
← 1979 Seasons 1981 →

The 1980 Minnesota Twins season was a season in American baseball. The Twins finished 77–84, third in the American League West. 769,206 fans attended Twins games, the lowest total in the American League.

Offseason

Regular season

On May 31, outfielder Ken Landreaux went 0 for 4, ending his hitting streak at 31 games. This set a Minnesota Twins record that has yet to be topped.

Landreaux tripled three times July 3, in a 10-3 win over the Texas Rangers, to tie an American League record. This Twins record remained untouched until Denard Span matched it on June 29, 2010.

Landreaux, a Los Angeles native, is the only Twins player to make the All-Star Game at Dodger Stadium.

One of the club's most unusual games was played in Toronto on Thursday, August 28, a game in which one player was replaced after being injured in a car crash during the game and that featured a rare save by a Twins starting pitcher. A game that ended with the Blue Jays' mound ace playing left field. The Canadian National Exhibition (like a state fair) was set up adjacent to Exhibition Stadium. Because of a schedule evening concert by the rock group The Cars, no inning would be able to start past 5:00 PM; the game was begun at 1:00 PM to avoid the curfew. However, the game went into extra innings and was suspended in the 15th inning, to be finished the following afternoon. During the evening hours Thursday, Bombo Rivera was injured in a car crash with Toronto's Otto Velez and neither could resume playing Friday. Friday's scheduled starter Dave Stieb played left field for the final inning of the Thursday game when the Jays ran out of position players (he'd go on to lose the Friday game). Minnesota's John Verhoeven got the win, and starter Albert Williams, who faced four batters in the fifteenth inning, got the save.[5]

On September 18, at Milwaukee for a double-header, outfielder Gary Ward hit a double, single, homer and triple in the first game, becoming the sixth Twin to hit for the cycle. It came, however, in a losing effort as the 9-8 win by the Brewers was the only time—of the ten Minnesota cycles—that Minnesota has lost the game in which a Twin cycled. Ward became part of history in 2004 when, on May 26, his son Daryle Ward hit for the cycle for Pittsburgh, and they became the only father-son duo to accomplish the feat.

Infielder John Castino led the team in most of the major offensive categories, batting .302 with 13 HR and 64 RBI. Shortstop Roy Smalley hit 12 HR and collected 63 RBI. Ken Landreaux batted .281 with 7 HR and 62 RBI.

Reliever Doug Corbett replaced Mike Marshall as manager Gene Mauch's all-purpose reliever, racking up 8 relief wins along with 23 saves. His saves total set a major league rookie record. Only veterans Jerry Koosman (16-13) and Geoff Zahn (14-18) had double digit wins.

Season standings

AL West 		W L Pct. GB Home Road
Kansas City Royals 97 65 0.599 — 49–32 48–33
Oakland Athletics 83 79 0.512 14 46–35 37–44
Minnesota Twins 77 84 0.478 19½ 44–36 33–48
Texas Rangers 76 85 0.472 20½ 39–41 37–44
Chicago White Sox 70 90 0.438 26 37–42 33–48
California Angels 65 95 0.406 31 30–51 35–44
Seattle Mariners 59 103 0.364 38 36–45 23–58

Record vs. opponents

1980 American League record

Sources: [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK SEA TEX TOR
Baltimore — 8–5 10–2 6–6 6–7 10–3 6–6 7–6 10–2 7–6 7–5 6–6 6–6 11–2
Boston 5–8 — 9–3 6–4 7–6 8–5 5–7 6–7 6–6 3–10 9–3 7–5 5–7 7–6
California 2–10 3–9 — 3–10 4–6 5–7 5–8 6–6 7–6 2–10 3–10 11–2 11–2 3–9
Chicago 6–6 4–6 10–3 — 5–7 2–10 5–8 5–7 5–8 5–7 6–7 6–7 6–7–2 5–7
Cleveland 7–6 6–7 6–4 7–5 — 3–10 5–7 3–10 9–3 5–8 6–6 8–4 6–6 8–5
Detroit 3–10 5–8 7–5 10–2 10–3 — 2–10 7–6 6–6 5–8 6–6 10–2–1 4–8 9–4
Kansas City 6–6 7–5 8–5 8–5 7–5 10–2 — 6–6 5–8 8–4 6–7 7–6 10–3 9–3
Milwaukee 6–7 7–6 6–6 7–5 10–3 6–7 6–6 — 7–5 5–8 7–5 9–3 5–7 5–8
Minnesota 2–10 6–6 6–7 8–5 3–9 6–6 8–5 5–7 — 4–8 6–7 7–6 9–3 7–5
New York 6–7 10–3 10–2 7–5 8–5 8–5 4–8 8–5 8–4 — 8–4 9–3 7–5 10–3
Oakland 5–7 3–9 10–3 7–6 6–6 6–6 7–6 5–7 7–6 4–8 — 8–5 7–6 8–4
Seattle 6–6 5–7 2–11 7–6 4–8 2–10–1 6–7 3–9 6–7 3–9 5–8 — 4–9 6–6
Texas 6–6 7–5 2–11 7–6–2 6–6 8–4 3–10 7–5 3–9 5–7 6–7 9–4 — 7–5
Toronto 2–11 6–7 9–3 7–5 5–8 4–9 3–9 8–5 5–7 3–10 4–8 6–6 5–7 —


Notable transactions

Roster

1980 Minnesota Twins
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

Outfielders Manager

Coaches

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 Butch Wynegar 146 486 124 .255 5 57
1B Ron Jackson 131 396 105 .265 5 42
2B Rob Wilfong 131 416 103 .248 8 45
3B John Castino 150 546 165 .302 13 64
SS Roy Smalley 133 486 135 .278 12 63
CF Ken Landreaux 129 484 136 .281 7 62
RF Hosken Powell 137 485 127 .262 6 35
DH Glenn Adams 99 262 75 .286 6 38

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
Pete Mackanin 108 319 85 .266 4 35
Mike Cubbage 103 285 70 .246 8 42
José Morales 97 241 73 .303 8 36
Dave Edwards 81 200 50 .250 2 20
Danny Goodwin 55 115 23 .200 1 11
Bombo Rivera 44 113 25 .221 3 10
Sal Butera 34 85 23 .271 0 2
Willie Norwood 34 73 12 .164 1 8
Gary Ward 13 41 19 .463 1 10
Jesús Vega 12 30 5 .167 0 4
Greg Johnston 14 27 5 .185 0 1
Bob Randall 5 15 3 .200 0 0
Lenny Faedo 5 8 2 .250 0 0

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
Jerry Koosman 38 243.1 16 13 4.03 149
Geoff Zahn 38 232.2 14 18 4.41 96
Roger Erickson 32 191.1 7 13 3.25 97
Darrell Jackson 32 172.0 9 9 3.87 90
Terry Felton 5 17.2 0 3 7.13 14

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
Pete Redfern 23 104.2 7 7 4.56 73
Fernando Arroyo 21 92.1 6 6 4.68 27
Albert Williams 18 77.0 6 2 3.51 35

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
Doug Corbett 73 8 6 23 1.98 29
John Verhoeven 44 3 4 0 3.97 42
Mike Kinnunen 21 0 0 0 5.11 8
Mike Marshall 18 1 3 1 6.12 13
Mike Bacsik 10 0 0 0 4.30 9
Bob Veselic 1 0 0 0 4.50 2

Farm system

See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Toledo Mud Hens International League Cal Ermer
AA Orlando Twins Southern League Roy McMillan
A Visalia Oaks California League Tom Kelly
A Wisconsin Rapids Twins Midwest League Rick Stelmaszek
Rookie Elizabethton Twins Appalachian League Fred Waters

Notes

  1. ^ Doug Corbett page at Baseball Reference
  2. ^ a b "Guy Sularz Stats".
  3. ^ Jeff Holly page at Baseball Reference
  4. ^ Albert Williams page at Baseball Reference
  5. ^ 162-0: Imagine a Twins Perfect Season: The Greatest Wins!, 2010 Edition, p. 198, Dave Wright, Triumph Books, ISBN 978-1-60078-326-5
  6. ^ Paul Hartzell page at Baseball Reference
  7. ^ a b c d e Bob Randall page at Baseball Reference
  8. ^ Mike Marshall page at Baseball Reference

References

Categories