1972 Minnesota Twins season
| 1972 Minnesota Twins | |
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| 77–77, third in the AL Western Division | |
| Major League affiliations | |
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| Other information | |
| Owner(s) | Calvin Griffith (majority owner, with Thelma Griffith Haynes) |
| General manager(s) | Calvin Griffith |
| Manager(s) | Bill Rigney, Frank Quilici |
| Local television |
WTCN-TV (Halsey Hall, Frank Buetel, Lynn Faris) |
| Local radio |
830 WCCO AM (Herb Carneal, Halsey Hall, Ray Christensen) |
| < Previous season Next season > | |
The 1972 Minnesota Twins finished 77–77, third in the American League West.
On May 12, in a twenty-two inning match which concluded a day later, Danny Thompson went 0 for 10 with a sacrifice bunt, dropping his batting average 39 points over one game. He and César Tovar set a team record with their eleven plate appearances.
After a slow start, manager Bill Rigney was replaced by Frank Quilici in early July.
On July 9, Rich Reese hit his third pinch-hit grand slam home run, tying a major league record in doing so.
Rothsay, Minnesota, native Dave Goltz made his major league debut on July 18 – he is the first Minnesotan drafted by the Minnesota Twins to make the big league club. He gave up one hit in 3⅔ innings.
Only one Twin made the All-Star Game: second baseman Rod Carew.
On July 31, pitcher Bert Blyleven gave up two inside-the-park home runs, both to the Chicago White Sox Dick Allen. When this next occurs in the major leagues (October 4, 1986), Blyleven is again on the mound. But the feat is accomplished this time by his Minnesota teammate Greg Gagne.
When César Tovar hit for the cycle on September 19, he finished with a game-ending home run. The only other player to do that in history was Ken Boyer (1961). In later years, and after such a hit became known as a "walk-off home run", the feat was duplicated by George Brett (1979),Dwight Evans (1984), and Carlos González (2010). Tovar is just the second Twin to hit for the cycle, after Rod Carew in 1970; eight more Twins will do so by 2009.
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