1977 Minnesota Twins
LeagueAmerican League
DivisionWest
BallparkMetropolitan Stadium
CityBloomington, Minnesota
OwnersCalvin Griffith (majority owner, with Thelma Griffith Haynes)
General managersCalvin Griffith
ManagersGene Mauch
TelevisionWTCN
(Harmon Killebrew, Joe Boyle)
Radio830 WCCO AM
(Herb Carneal, Frank Quilici)
Seasons

The 1977 Minnesota Twins season was a season in American baseball. The team finished 84–77, fourth in the American League West.

Offseason

  • March 18, 1977: Geoff Zahn was signed as a free agent by the Twins.[1]

Regular season

In a May 25 double-header at Boston's Fenway Park, outfielder Lyman Bostock tied a major league record with twelve putouts in the first game. His total of seventeen putouts over both games set a new American League record.

On June 26, a crowd of 46,463 turned up at Metropolitan Stadium to watch first baseman Rod Carew's pursuit of a .400 batting average. Carew didn't disappoint, going 4 for 5 with six RBI, raising his batting average seven points to .403. Lost in the commotion was right fielder Glenn Adams' own 4-for-5 performance, as he drove in a Twins-record eight runs. The Twins beat the Chicago White Sox 19–12.[2]

Rod Carew, outfielder Larry Hisle and catcher Butch Wynegar were named to the All-Star Game. Carew was the leading AL vote-getter, scoring 405 of 422 possible votes in the national balloting by sports writers and broadcasters.[3]

Carew was named American League Most Valuable Player. In winning his sixth AL batting title, Carew flirted with becoming the first batter since Ted Williams in 1941 to hit .400, finishing at .388. He also had 239 hits, scored a league-leading 128 runs, hit 14 home runs and collected 100 RBI.

Other offensive stars were Larry Hisle, who hit 28 HR and drove in a league-leading 119 runs, and Lyman Bostock, who hit .338 with 104 runs, 14 HR and 90 RBI.

The Twins' ability to score runs was matched by their pitchers' ability to give up runs. Reliever Tom Johnson replaced Bill Campbell, racking up 16 relief wins along with 20 saves. Dave Goltz became a 20-game winner for the first time.

1,162,727 fans attended Twins games, the fourth lowest total in the American League. It was, however, the first time since 1970 that the Twins attracted more than one million fans.

Season standings

AL West W L Pct. GB Home Road
Kansas City Royals 10260 0.630 — 55–26 47–34
Texas Rangers 9468 0.580 8 44–37 50–31
Chicago White Sox 9072 0.556 12 48–33 42–39
Minnesota Twins 8477 0.522 17½ 48–32 36–45
California Angels 7488 0.457 28 39–42 35–46
Seattle Mariners 6498 0.395 38 29–52 35–46
Oakland Athletics 6398 0.391 38½ 35–46 28–52

Record vs. opponents

1977 American League record

Sources:
Team BAL BOS CAL CWS CLE DET KC MIL MIN NYY OAK SEA TEX TOR
Baltimore —6–85–65–511–412–34–711–46–48–78–27–34–610–5
Boston 8–6—7–33–78–79–65–59–64–68–78–310–16–412–3
California 6–53–7—8–76–44–66–95–57–84–75–109–65–106–4
Chicago 5–57–37–8—6–44–68–76–510–53–710–510–56–98–3
Cleveland 4–117–84–64–6—8–73–711–42–93–127–37–32–99–5
Detroit 3–126–96–46–47–8—3–810–55–56–95–55–62–810–5
Kansas City 7–45–59–67–87–38–3—8–210–55–59–611–48–78–2
Milwaukee 4–116–95–55–64–115–102–8—3–88–75–57–35–58–7
Minnesota 4–66–48–75–109–25–55–108–3—2–88–67–88–79–1
New York 7–87–87–47–312–39–65–57–88–2—9–26–47–39–6
Oakland 2–83–810–55–103–75–56–95–56–82–9—7–82–137–3
Seattle 3–71–106–95–103–76–54–113–78–74–68–7—9–64–6
Texas 6–44–610–59–69–28–27–85–57–83–713–26–9—7–4
Toronto 5–103–124–63–85–95–102–87–81–96–93–76–44–7—

Notable transactions

Roster

1977 Minnesota Twins
Roster
Pitchers Catchers

Infielders

 Outfielders

Other batters

 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
CButch Wynegar144532139.2611079
1BRod Carew156616239.38814100
2BBob Randall10330673.239022
3BMike Cubbage129417110.264955
SSRoy Smalley150584135.231656
LFLarry Hisle141546165.30228119
CFLyman Bostock153593199.3361490
RFDan Ford144453121.2671160
DHCraig Kusick11526868.2561245

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
Glenn Adams9526991.338649
Rich Chiles10826169.264336
Jerry Terrell9321448.224120
Rob Wilfong7317142.246113
Bob Gorinski5411823.195322
Willie Norwood398319.22939
Luis Gómez326516.246011
Glenn Borgmann174311.25627
Bud Bulling15325.15605
Larry Wolfe8256.24006
Sam Perlozzo10247.29200
Randy Bass9192.10500

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
Dave Goltz39303.020113.36186
Paul Thormodsgard37218.011154.62100
Geoff Zahn34198.012144.6888
Pete Redfern30137.1695.1873
Mike Pazik318.0102.506

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
Ron Schueler52134.2874.4177
Dave Johnson3072.2254.5833
Jeff Holly1848.1236.8932
Bill Butler621.0016.865

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
Tom Johnson71167153.1387
Tom Burgmeier616475.0935
Gary Serum80004.374
Don Carrithers70106.913
Jim Shellenback50007.943
Jim Hughes20002.081

Awards and honors

Farm system

Level Team League Manager
AAA Tacoma Twins Pacific Coast League Del Wilber and Tom Kelly
AA Orlando Twins Southern League Johnny Goryl
A Visalia Oaks California League Roy McMillan
A Wisconsin Rapids Twins Midwest League Jim Rantz, Carlos Pascual
and Spencer "Red" Robbins
Rookie Elizabethton Twins Appalachian League Fred Waters

Notes

  1. ↑ Geoff Zahn at Baseball Reference
  2. ↑ "Minnesota Twins 19, Chicago White Sox 12". Baseball-Reference.com. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
  3. ↑ "Carew Tops All Voting for All-Stars". Kingman Daily Miner.com. Retrieved January 28, 2016.
  4. ↑ Don Carrithers at Baseball Reference
  5. ↑ Dave Johnson at Baseball-Reference
  6. ↑ Darrell Jackson at Baseball Reference

References

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