Who was the 25th man on 1987 Twins World Series roster?
From SABR member John Bonnes at the Minneapolis Star-Tribune on January 9, 2012:
I was born in 1967 which means for the first 30 years of my life, there was no internet. Those were my formative years – so how come it almost seems inconceivable to have a world where there isn’t one? But occasionally, it still surprises me, usually around a topic from my youth. Like a month ago, when I realized I could find the song from the movie Hopscotch that I had been humming to people for a couple of decades. (It’s Rondo in D, K382 by Mozart).
The latest example was generated by the local SABR chapter’s message board. It turns out that in the 1987 World Series, 24 players appeared for the Twins (http://www.baseball-reference.com/postseason/1987_WS.shtml). But the postseason roster (as far as we know) is 25 players. So who didn’t get to play?
I used this question as an excuse to truck around the internet for an hour and become amazed at everything you can find out. Bear with me on the tour…..
Only nine pitchers pitched for the Twins in that series , so I though it would have had to have been a pitcher. The ones who did are starters Frank Viola, Bert Blyleven, Les Straker and relievers Jeff Reardon, Juan Berenguer, Dan Schatzeder, Keith Atherton, Georg Frazier and Phil Joe Niekro.
In the ALCS, only seven pitchers appeared: the nine above minus Frazier and Niekro. That doesn’t help.
The Twins who threw the most innings in 1987 (other than those nine) were Mike Smithson (21 G, 109 IP), Mark Portugal (13G, 44 IP), Steve Carleton (9G, 43 IP) and Joe Klink (12G, 23 IP). Nobody else had more than 16.1.
Read the full article here: http://www.startribune.com/sports/twins/blogs/136920598.html
Originally published: January 9, 2012. Last Updated: January 9, 2012.