Twins Flashback 1995: A mixed bag of losing
01/03/2025 08:00 AM
The 1991 gang disbands
Happy New Year Twinkie Town! Alas, I spent my New Year's Eve wearing a path from bedroom to bathroom battling the worst norovirus I've had since, well, perhaps the start of this millennium.
Fortunately I am on the mend and here to bring you some Minnesota Twins anniversary history. 2015 & 2005 will of course be covered more in-depth as the year proceeds, but let's go 30 years back—where's the flux capacitor—to look at what our Twins were doing in 1995.
It was a strange year—one shortened to 144 games due to 1994 strike rollover—in Twins Territory, to be sure.
On one hand, the offense could still put runs on the board in bunches. Kirby Puckett (.314 BA, 130 OPS+, 1,000th career RBI & R) kept doing his thing, as did Chuck Knoblauch (.333 BA, 136 OPS+, 46 SB). Marty Cordova (.277 BA, 24 HR, 20 SB, 115 OPS+) came out of nowhere to capture AL Rookie of the Year!
But the pitching? Well, the pitching was a train-wreck—and that is perhaps putting it mildly. Words almost cannot fully describe the hurler futility of '95, so please just see it for yourself here. Very likely the worst Twins pitching staff ever put together.
What did this all add up to? A 56-88 final mark—44 GB behind about-to-become-a-juggernaut Cleveland. Perhaps the most notable '95 event this 3-year losing stretch precipitated was the sell-off of many 1991 World Series heroes...
- Rick Aguilera to the Boston Red Sox for Frankie Rodriguez
- Scott Erickson to the Baltimore Orioles for Scott Klingenbeck
- Kevin Tapani & Mark Guthrie to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Ron Coomer, Greg Hansell, and Jose Parra.
Speaking of '91 heroes: Kent Hrbek saw his number lifted to the rafters in '95, and in the final Dome contest of the year Puckett was plunked in the eye. Little did Twins fans know it would be a career and franchise-altering HBP.
In short: the band was officially broken up after 1995.
