Finding Fun Minnesota Twins Single Season Records

Baseball Reference made their play index free for about a month.  I have intended to play around with it for a couple weeks, but I have been busy with work.  However, I'm on SPRING BREAK!!!! now, so I have some free time.  Let's see if we can find some cool stuff.  At the end, I'll decide whether or not to pay for this feature going forward.  I know you are on the edge of your seats.

Of course, I then immediately got distracted within the split finder and this was the result:

QUESTION NUMBER 1 - Who holds the Twins' record for most home runs in a single inning, over the course of a full season?

Answer:  Harmon Killebrew in 1962 and Jacque Jones 40 seasons later in 2002, with 11 each.  Both achieved this feat in the 1st inning.

Jones was the leadoff hitter that year, so each of those ding dongs was a leadoff shot.  Killebrew hit 48 home  runs that season, mostly batting clean-up.  He only hit one of those home runs in the 5th inning.  Odd. 

In case you were wondering, the highest total for each individual inning in Twins' history is listed below:

Inning	Player	HR	Season
1st	Harmon Killebrew	11	1962
1st	Jacque Jones	11	2002
2nd	Tom Brunansky	7	1983
2nd	Michael Cuddyer	7	2009
2nd	Delmon Young	7	2010
3rd	Kent Hrbek	7	1987
4th	Harmon Killebrew	9	1967
5th	Harmon Killebrew	8	1963
6th	Harmon Killebrew	9	1966
7th	Harmon Killebrew	7	1963
7th	Harmon Killebrew	7	1966
8th	Harmon Killebrew	7	1962
8th	Justin Morneau	7	2006
9th	Harmon Killebrew	7	1961

One guy appears on this chart quite a few times.  The conclusion:  Harmon Killebrew was awesome.

QUESTION NUMBER 2 - Who was caught stealing the most in a season, as a substitute, in Twins' history?

Answer:  Denny Hocking in 1997 with 3. 

Hocking was caught stealing 5 times that season, and only stole 3 bases.  He ended his career with 36 stolen bases and 27 caught stealing.  That's an elite 57% success rate.  But hey, at least he bleached his hair.  He also hit a robust .184 as a sub that season.  I'm guessing Hocking owns many of the Twins lol-est records. 

QUESTION NUMBER 3 - Who had the most plate appearances as a leadoff hitter in a season, in Twins history?

Answer:  Kirby Puckett with 160 in 1985. 

Kirby Puckett lead off all but one game he played in 1985.  In that season, he hit .288/.330/.385.  As the leadoff hitter, he hit .243/.300/.297.  Puckett was the leadoff hitter for one more season, before settling into the 3-hole.   If Aaron Hicks can post OBP and SLG as high as Puckett's figures in 1985, we should all be quite pleased.

QUESTION NUMBER 4 - Who was hit by pitch the most at home, in a single season, in Twins' history?

Answer:  Chuck Knoblauch (1997) and Cesar Tovar (1968), each with 11. 

I'm guessing that in hindsight, many Twins fans would have been psyched to see those Knoblauch HBPs.  Not me.  I enjoyed Knoblauch.  A.J. Pierzynski (2003), Cesar Tovar (1972) and Shane Mack (2003) were each hit 10 times on the road.  That's their record to share.  Pierzynski was hit a league-leading 27 times in his one season in San Francisco.  Wow, hurts donut indeed.  Knoblauch was hit by 139 pitches in his career.  Tovar was only hit 88 times. 

QUESTION NUMBER 5 - Who hit the most home runs on a 3-0 count, in a season, in Twins' history?

Answer:  Pat Meares (1997) and Bobby Kielty (2002), each with 2.

Odds are, both guys were benched shortly after the second jack.

QUESTION NUMBER 6 - Who had the most RBI in Twins' history, with 2 outs and runners in scoring position, in a single season?

Answer:  Gary Gaetti with 43 in 1987

In that season, Gaetti came to the plate 93 times in that situation.  He hit .326/.376/.581 in those plate appearances.  Most strikeouts in the same situation, in a season?  Gary Gaetti, with 25 back in 1983.  He hit .190/.281/.316 in those situations back in '83, in 89 plate appearances.  Looks like someone learned how to be clutch!  ;)

QUESTION NUMBER 7 - Who hit the most home runs at home in their final season with the Twins?

Answer:  Kirby Puckett with 13

Puckett hit his final two home runs at the Metrodome on September 4, 1995.  I know this because I was there.  It was Labor Day, so it was the last day of summer.  I got to go to the game, not knowing that it would be the final time I would get to see Kirby Puckett play.  He was my favorite player and I just adored him.  In the third inning, he hit an opposite-field solo home run.  Then, in the 4th inning, he hit a another one, this time with Rich Becker on base.  

These were the final two home runs that Twins fans got to witness in Puckett's Hall of Fame career.  No one would have ever guessed that at that time though.  I feel very lucky that I was there.  I think it may have been the only game I attended that season.  Of course, we all know that Puckett was forced to retire due to glaucoma at the end of that season.  He should have hit many more Metrodome home runs.  Very sad. 

Wow, things just got more serious than planned.  One more question.

QUESTION NUMBER 8 - Who has the highest OBP against same-handed pitchers, in a season, in Twins' history (min 200 PA)?

Answer:  Right-handed - Kirby Puckett (1995) - .371 OBP and Left-Handed - Joe Mauer (2012) - .392 OBP

Here is your daily reminder that Joe Mauer is swell.  This was also in Puckett's final season as an active player.  He was clearly still a great player and had at least a few more good seasons left in him.  Anyone arguing that Kirby Puckett isn't a Hall of Fame player did not watch him play (or did not watch him closely enough) and probably will have to fight me at some point. 

Not really, I'm pretty nice. 

Verdict:  I will be spending some money in a couple weeks.  If the split finder is this addictive, the play index must be even better.  Plus, this tool is only 36 bucks for the whole year, and I will probably play with it about 20 hours per week.  Doing the math:

20 hours x 52 weeks is 1040 hours

36 bucks / 1040 hours = .03 bucks/hour

Conversion to cents:

3600 cents / 1040 hours = 3.46 cents/hour

Yeah, it's worth it. 

I'll do this same exercise with some pitching records in the near future.  If you enjoyed this, check out Baseball Reference's split tool.  Be careful, it's very addictive.

Brad Swanson has a computer and access to the internet.  He started his own blog solely to show off his byline skills.  You can reach him via telephone, if you know his phone number.