The1987 Minnesota Twins seasonwas the 27th season for theMinnesota Twins franchise in theTwin Cities ofMinnesota, their 6th season atHubert H. Humphrey Metrodome and the 87th overall in theAmerican League. The Twins won theWorld Series for the first time since moving fromWashington in 1961, the second time that the franchise won theWorld Series (theWashington Senators won it in1924). Having won only 85 games during the1987 regular season, they won the World Series with the then-fewest regular season wins since Major League Baseball expanded to a 162-game season in1961, and the fewest of any team since the1889 New York Giants (excluding thestrike-shortened1981 and theCOVID-19 pandemic-shortened2020 seasons and later surpassed by the2006 St. Louis Cardinals who won 83 games that season). They also became the first team to win the World Series despite being outscored by their opponents in the regular season, having scored 786 runs and allowed 806.
Tom Kelly became the fifthmanager to win a World Series in his first full season on the job, and one of seven total, as of 2023, to accomplish the feat.[1]
November 12, 1986: The Twins traded a player to be named later to theNew York Mets forRon Gardenhire. The Twins completed the trade by sending Dominic Iasparro (minors) to the Mets on April 4, 1987.[2] Gardenhire would spend the next 28 years in the Twins Organization including a 13-year stint as manager from 2002 to 2014.
January 9, 1987:Juan Berenguer was signed as a free agent by the Twins.[3]
The Twins were 85–77, first in theAmerican League West, two games ahead of the Kansas City Royals. The team had one of the lowest winning percentages ever for a World Series champion, at .525. They also had the remarkably bad road record of 29-52 (.358 percentage) but made up for it winning 56 home games (best in MLB). Fortunately for the Twins, they played in a very weak division; only two teams finished above .500 and only 10 games separated the Twins from the last-placeCalifornia Angels (the previous year's division champion) andTexas Rangers. The Twins' 85-77 was the lowest for a World Series champion for nearly two decades, until the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals won the World Series with an 83–78 record.
1987 was the first year the Twins started using their modernized logos and uniforms, which are still in use today.
Over a late August weekend at Milwaukee, Puckett went 10 for 11, with four homers and two doubles, raising his batting average 13 points. The feat tied a major league record.
Joe Niekro, a pitcher for the Twins, was suspended for 10 games whenumpireTim Tschida discovered anemery board in his pocket. Tschida suspected Niekro was scuffing the ball, and saw the emery board fly out of Niekro's pocket. Niekro said he was filing his nails in the dugout, butAmerican League presidentDr. Bobby Brown didn't believe him, and ordered the suspension. When the Twins won the pennant, Niekro set a major league record as he'd waited 20½ years since his debut to reach a World Series game.
2,081,976 fans attended Twins games, the sixth highest total in theAmerican League.
TheHomer Hanky was introduced in 1987's pennant drive. When the Twins made the playoffs for the first time since 1970, three members of that team remained with the club now seventeen years later. Bert Blyleven was the only remaining player;Tony Oliva became the hitting coach andRick Renick the third base coach.
This was the last year for a long time that the Twins were stocked with power hitters. In particular,Kirby Puckett,Kent Hrbek,Gary Gaetti, andTom Brunansky combined to hit 125 home runs. (The team as a whole hit 196.) Hrbek, Gaetti, and Brunansky each surpassed 30 home runs, a number that no Twin would reach again untilJustin Morneau andTorii Hunter in 2006.
The defense was not as strong as would be typical for Twins teams under manager Tom Kelly. Hrbek was the most reliable fielder at first base, and the outfield ofDan Gladden, Puckett, and Brunansky was reliable.Third basemanGary Gaetti and center fielderKirby Puckett each won their secondGold Glove Award.
March 31, 1987: Minor leaguers Jose Dominguez and Ray Velázquez and a player to be named later were traded by the Twins to theSan Francisco Giants for outfielderDan Gladden and minor leaguer David Blakely. The Twins completed the deal by sendingBryan Hickerson to the Giants on June 15.[7]
July 31: The Twins traded a player to be named later to theCleveland Indians forSteve Carlton. The Twins completed the trade by sending minor leaguer Jeff Perry to the Indians on August 18.
September 1: The Twins traded a player to be named later to theBoston Red Sox fordesignated hitterDon Baylor.[20] The Twins completed the deal by sending minor leaguer Enrique Rios to the Red Sox on December 18.
The Twins won theAmerican League Championship Series beating theDetroit Tigers 4 games to 1.Gary Gaetti was named theALCSMVP. He'd set a record by homering in his first two post-season at-bats. The Twins won the series by winning two of the three road games at Detroit despite a 4–8 regular season record vs the Tigers as well as 29 regular season wins on the road.
The Twins won all four home games to top theSt. Louis Cardinals in the World Series.Frank Viola was named the Series' MVP even though it was the Twins bats that were instrumental in the first three wins outscoring St. Louis 29–10 in the process.
^Johnson, Lloyd, and Wolff, Miles, ed.,The Encyclopedia of Minor League Baseball, 2nd and 3rd editions. Durham, North Carolina: Baseball America, 1997 and 2007
