1984 Minnesota Twins season

The 1984 Minnesota Twins season was a season in American baseball. The team finished with a record of 81–81, tied for second in the American League West, and three games behind the division winner Kansas City Royals. Their 81–81 record was an 11-game improvement from 1983, and a 21-game improvement from their 102-loss season of 1982 (the third-worst record in franchise history).

1984 Minnesota Twins
81-81, second in the AL Western Division
Major League affiliations
Location
Other information
Owner(s)Calvin Griffith (majority owner, with Thelma Griffith Haynes)
General manager(s)Calvin Griffith
Manager(s)Billy Gardner
Local televisionKMSP-TV
(Bob Kurtz, Ted Robinson)
Spectrum
(Harmon Killebrew, Dick Bremer)
Local radio830 WCCO AM
(Herb Carneal, Joe Angel)
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1,598,692 fans attended Twins games, a Twins attendance record, but still the fifth-lowest total in the American League. Towards the end of the season, Calvin Griffith sold the club to local investor Carl Pohlad.

Offseason

Regular season
  • May 4 - Oakland's Dave Kingman popped up in the fourth inning. The ball found a drainage hole in the Metrodome's roof and never returned to the playing surface. Kingman was awarded a ground-rule double. In the ninth, he hit another ball out—but this one was just into the seats.
  • May 8 – Kirby Puckett got four hits in his major league debut, at Anaheim Stadium.
  • June 29 – Andre David made his major league debut and started in right field for the Twins. In his first at bat in the second inning, he homered off Detroit Tigers pitcher Jack Morris to become the fourth Twin to homer in his first-ever at bat. David joined Rick Renick (1968), Dave McKay (1975) and Gary Gaetti (1981); three of the four were against Detroit pitching. In 2015, Eddie Rosario joins the list when he homers on the very first pitch he sees in the majors.
  • Only one Twins player made the All-Star Game, catcher Dave Engle.
  • September 28 – The Twins suffered their biggest blown lead for a loss in team history. Leading Cleveland 10-0 in the third inning, and 10-2 in the sixth, they lost the 9-inning game 11-10. In the ninth, relievers Ron Davis and Ed Hodge loaded the bases. Hodge allowed a walk-off single.

Offense

Kent Hrbek hit .311 with 27 HR and 107 RBI. Tom Brunansky hit 32 HR and 85 RBI. Leadoff batter Kirby Puckett hit .296 and scored 63 runs. Gary Gaetti hit 5 HR and 65 RBI.

Pitching

Starter Frank Viola was 18-12. Reliever Ron Davis had 29 saves. He also blew 14 saves, to tie a major league record set in 1976 and tied two other times. Mike Smithson allowed 35 homers, the most in the majors.

Defense

Gary Gaetti led the major leagues playing in 162 games. His 334 assists led all of baseball this season. Outfield teammates Kirby Puckett (center) and Tom Brunansky (right) also led the major leagues in assists.

Season standings
AL West W L Pct. GB Home Road
Kansas City Royals 8478 0.519 — 44–37 40–41
California Angels 8181 0.500 3 37–44 44–37
Minnesota Twins 8181 0.500 3 47–34 34–47
Oakland Athletics 7785 0.475 7 44–37 33–48
Chicago White Sox 7488 0.457 10 43–38 31–50
Seattle Mariners 7488 0.457 10 42–39 32–49
Texas Rangers 6992 0.429 14½ 34–46 35–46

Record vs. opponents
1984 American League Records

Sources:

Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK SEA TEX TOR
Baltimore —6–78–47–57–67–65–77–65–75–86–69–39–34–9
Boston 7–6—9–37–510–37–63–99–46–67–67–54–85–75–8
California 4–83–9—8–58–44–86–78–44–98–47–69–45–87–5
Chicago 5–75–75–8—8–44–85–87–58–57–56–75–85–84–8
Cleveland 6–73–104–84–8—4–96–69–47–52–117–58–49–36–7–1
Detroit 6–76–78–48–49–4—7–511–29–37–69–36–610–28–5
Kansas City 7–59–37–68–56–65–7—6–66–75–75–89–46–75–7
Milwaukee 6–74–94–85–74–92–116–6—5–76–74–86–65–610–3
Minnesota 7–56–69–45–85–73–97–67–5—8–48–57–68–51–11
New York 8–56–74–85–711–26–77–57–64–8—8–47–56–68–5
Oakland 6–65–76–77–65–73–98–58–45–84–8—8–58–54–8
Seattle 3–98–44–98–54–86–64–96–66–75–75–8—10–35–7
Texas 3–97–58–58–53–92–107–66–55–86–65–83–10—6–6
Toronto 9–48–55–78–47–6–15–87–53–1011–15–88–47–56–6—

Notable transactions

Roster
1984 Minnesota Twins
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

  •  1 Alvaro Espinoza
 Outfielders

Other batters

 Manager

Coaches

Player stats
= Indicates team leader

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
CDave Engle109391104.266438
1BKent Hrbek149559174.31127107
3BGary Gaetti162588154.262565
SSHouston Jiménez10829860.201019
CFKirby Puckett128557165.296031
RFTom Brunansky155567144.2543285

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
Lenny Faedo165213.25016
Mike Hart13295.17205

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
Frank Viola35257.218123.21149
Mike Smithson3625215133.68144
John Butcher3422513113.4483

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
Albert Williams1768.2355.7722

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
Ron Davis64711294.5574
Rick Lysander364353.4922
Jack O'Connor20001.930

Awards and honors

All-Star Game

Farm system
See also: Minor League Baseball
Level Team League Manager
AAA Toledo Mud Hens International League Cal Ermer
AA Orlando Twins Southern League Charlie Manuel
A Visalia Oaks California League Dave Hilton
A Kenosha Twins Midwest League Duffy Dyer
Rookie Elizabethton Twins Appalachian League Fred Waters

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Elizabethton

Notes
  1. Jeff Little at Baseball Reference
  2. John Butcher at Baseball Reference
  3. Mark Grace at Baseball Reference
  4. Jay Bell at Baseball Reference

References
  • Johnson, Lloyd; Wolff, Miles, eds. (1997). The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball (2nd ed.). Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America. ISBN 978-0-9637189-8-3.
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