The 1982 Minnesota Twins season was the 22nd season for the Minnesota Twins franchise in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, and the 82nd overall in the American League. It was also the 1st season at Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, which they would continue to play in until 2009.
The team finished 60–102, seventh in the American League West. It was the first time the Twins lost more than 100 games since moving to Minnesota. This feat of more than 100 losses would be matched in 2016 and was surpassed by one game as that record was 59–103.
Despite the Twins' new stadium, only 921,186 fans attended Twins games, the lowest total in the American League.
Offseason October 23, 1981: Mike Kinnunen was traded by the Twins to the St. Louis Cardinals for Jeff Little. January 12, 1982: Kirby Puckett was drafted by the Twins in the 1st round (3rd pick) of the 1982 Major League Baseball draft.
Regular season The Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome debuted with an April 3 exhibition game against the Philadelphia Phillies. Philadelphia's Pete Rose had the first unofficial Metrodome hit, and Minnesota's Kent Hrbek homered twice.
In the regular-season home opener, outfielder Dave Engle had the Twins' first hit and home run in the Metrodome. Third baseman Gary Gaetti homered twice and was thrown out at home trying to stretch a triple for an inside-the-park home run. The Seattle Mariners beat the Twins 11–7.
On May 29, for the only time in Twins history, a catcher nabbed four base stealers in a single game: Sal Butera threw out Ken Griffey, Graig Nettles, Bobby Murcer and Willie Randolph of the New York Yankees. Otherwise, May was not a good month as the Twins went 3-26, the worst major league month in baseball since the Philadelphia Athletics posted a 2–28 record in June of 1916. The Twins record slide of fourteen consecutive losses ended with a June 4 shutout win over Baltimore.
Only one Twins player made the All-Star Game in Montreal, first baseman Kent Hrbek.
On July 19, outfielder Tom Brunansky hit what will be the Twins only inside-the-park grand slam home run, ever. Jerry Augustine of the Milwaukee Brewers threw the pitch.
Pitcher Terry Felton – who'd gone 0–3 in 1980 – finished this season 0–13, and would not pitch in the majors again.
Offense Kent Hrbek hit .301 with 23 HR and 92 RBI. Gary Ward hit .289 with 28 HR and 91 RBI. Gary Gaetti hit 25 HR and 84 RBI. Tom Brunansky hit 20 HR and 46 RBI.
+ Team Leaders Statistic Player QuantityHR Gary Ward 28RBI Kent Hrbek 92BA Kent Hrbek .301Runs Gary Ward 85
Pitching
Reliever Ron Davis had 22 saves.
+ Team Leaders Statistic Player QuantityERA Bobby Castillo 3.66Wins Bobby Castillo 13Saves Ron Davis 22Strikeouts Brad Havens 129
Defense
Season standings
Record vs. opponents
Notable transactions March 26, 1982: Tim Corcoran was released by the Minnesota Twins. April 10, 1982: Roy Smalley III was traded by the Twins to the New York Yankees for Ron Davis, Greg Gagne and Paul Boris. May 12, 1982: Doug Corbett and Rob Wilfong were traded by the Twins to the California Angels for Tom Brunansky, Mike Walters, and $400,000. May 12, 1982: Butch Wynegar and Roger Erickson were traded by the Twins to the New York Yankees for Larry Milbourne, Pete Filson, John Pacella and cash. July 21, 1982: Houston Jiménez was purchased by the Twins from the Broncos de Reynosa.
Roster 1982 Minnesota Twins Roster Pitchers Catchers
Infielders Outfielders
Other batters Manager
Coaches}
Player stats
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 C Tim Laudner 93 306 78 .255 7 33 1B Kent Hrbek 140 532 160 .301 23 92 2B John Castino 117 410 99 .241 6 37 3B Gary Gaetti 145 508 117 .230 25 84 SS Lenny Faedo 90 255 62 .243 3 22 LF Gary Ward 152 570 165 .289 28 91 CF Bobby Mitchell 124 454 113 .249 2 28 RF Tom Brunansky 127 463 126 .272 20 46 DH Randy Johnson 89 234 58 .248 10 33
Other batters Player G AB H Avg. HR RBI Ron Washington 119 451 122 .271 5 39 Mickey Hatcher 84 277 69 .249 3 26 Jesús Vega 71 199 53 .266 5 29 Dave Engle 58 186 42 .226 4 16 Sal Butera 54 126 32 .254 0 8 Randy Bush 55 119 29 .244 4 13 Jim Eisenreich 34 99 30 .303 2 9 Larry Milbourne 29 98 23 .235 0 1 Butch Wynegar 24 86 18 .209 1 8 Rob Wilfong 25 81 13 .160 0 5 Greg Wells 15 54 11 .204 0 3 Ray Smith 9 23 5 .217 0 1 Roy Smalley 4 13 2 .154 0 0
Pitching
Starting pitchers Player G IP W L ERA SO Brad Havens 33 208.2 10 14 4.31 129 Albert Williams 26 153.2 9 7 4.22 61 Frank Viola 22 126.0 4 10 5.21 84 Jack O'Connor 23 126.0 8 9 4.29 56 Roger Erickson 7 40.2 4 3 4.87 12
Other pitchers Player G IP W L ERA SO Bobby Castillo 40 218.2 13 11 3.66 125 Terry Felton 48 117.1 0 13 4.99 92 Pete Redfern 27 94.1 5 11 6.58 40 Darrell Jackson 13 44.2 0 5 6.25 16 Pete Filson 5 12.1 0 2 8.76 10 Don Cooper 6 11.1 0 1 9.53 5
Relief pitchers Player G W L SV ERA SO Ron Davis 63 3 9 22 4.42 89 Jeff Little 33 2 0 0 4.21 26 Paul Boris 23 1 2 0 3.99 30 John Pacella 21 1 2 2 7.32 20 Doug Corbett 10 0 2 3 5.32 15 Fernando Arroyo 6 0 1 0 5.27 4
Farm system
Notes
References
External links Player stats from www.baseball-reference.com Team info from www.baseball-almanac.com