# 1982 Minnesota Twins season

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. His 0-16 career record is a major league record for futility.

### 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 | Quantity |
| HR | Gary Ward | 28 |
| RBI | Kent Hrbek | 92 |
| BA | Kent Hrbek | .301 |
| Runs | Gary Ward | 85 |

### Pitching

Reliever Ron Davis had 22 saves.
Team Leaders :
| Statistic | Player | Quantity |
| ERA | Bobby Castillo | 3.66 |
| Wins | Bobby Castillo | 13 |
| Saves | Ron Davis | 22 |
| Strikeouts | Brad Havens | 129 |

### Season standings

vteAL West :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| California Angels | 93 | 69 | .574 | — | 52‍–‍29 | 41‍–‍40 |
| Kansas City Royals | 90 | 72 | .556 | 3 | 56‍–‍25 | 34‍–‍47 |
| Chicago White Sox | 87 | 75 | .537 | 6 | 49‍–‍31 | 38‍–‍44 |
| Seattle Mariners | 76 | 86 | .469 | 17 | 42‍–‍39 | 34‍–‍47 |
| Oakland Athletics | 68 | 94 | .420 | 25 | 36‍–‍45 | 32‍–‍49 |
| Texas Rangers | 64 | 98 | .395 | 29 | 38‍–‍43 | 26‍–‍55 |
| Minnesota Twins | 60 | 102 | .370 | 33 | 37‍–‍44 | 23‍–‍58 |

### Record vs. opponents

1982 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CAL | CWS | CLE | DET | KC | MIL | MIN | NYY | OAK | SEA | TEX | TOR |
| Baltimore | — | 4–9 | 7–5 | 5–7 | 6–7 | 7–6 | 4–8 | 9–4–1 | 8–4 | 11–2 | 7–5 | 7–5 | 9–3 | 10–3 |
| Boston | 9–4 | — | 7–5 | 4–8 | 6–7 | 8–5 | 6–6 | 4–9 | 6–6 | 7–6 | 8–4 | 7–5 | 10–2 | 7–6 |
| California | 5–7 | 5–7 | — | 8–5 | 8–4 | 5–7 | 7–6 | 6–6 | 7–6 | 7–5 | 9–4 | 10–3 | 8–5 | 8–4 |
| Chicago | 7–5 | 8–4 | 5–8 | — | 6–6 | 9–3 | 3–10 | 3–9 | 7–6 | 8–4 | 9–4 | 6–7 | 8–5 | 8–4 |
| Cleveland | 7–6 | 7–6 | 4–8 | 6–6 | — | 6–7 | 2–10 | 7–6 | 8–4 | 4–9 | 4–8 | 9–3 | 7–5 | 7–6 |
| Detroit | 6–7 | 5–8 | 7–5 | 3–9 | 7–6 | — | 6–6 | 3–10 | 9–3 | 8–5 | 9–3 | 6–6 | 8–4 | 6–7 |
| Kansas City | 8–4 | 6–6 | 6–7 | 10–3 | 10–2 | 6–6 | — | 7–5 | 7–6 | 5–7 | 7–6 | 7–6 | 7–6 | 4–8 |
| Milwaukee | 4–9–1 | 9–4 | 6–6 | 9–3 | 6–7 | 10–3 | 5–7 | — | 7–5 | 8–5 | 7–5 | 8–4 | 7–5 | 9–4 |
| Minnesota | 4–8 | 6–6 | 6–7 | 6–7 | 4–8 | 3–9 | 6–7 | 5–7 | — | 2–10 | 3–10 | 5–8 | 5–8 | 5–7 |
| New York | 2–11 | 6–7 | 5–7 | 4–8 | 9–4 | 5–8 | 7–5 | 5–8 | 10–2 | — | 7–5 | 6–6 | 7–5 | 6–7 |
| Oakland | 5–7 | 4–8 | 4–9 | 4–9 | 8–4 | 3–9 | 6–7 | 5–7 | 10–3 | 5–7 | — | 6–7 | 5–8 | 3–9 |
| Seattle | 5–7 | 5–7 | 3–10 | 7–6 | 3–9 | 6–6 | 6–7 | 4–8 | 8–5 | 6–6 | 7–6 | — | 9–4 | 7–5 |
| Texas | 3–9 | 2–10 | 5–8 | 5–8 | 5–7 | 4–8 | 6–7 | 5–7 | 8–5 | 5–7 | 8–5 | 4–9 | — | 4–8 |
| Toronto | 3–10 | 6–7 | 4–8 | 4–8 | 6–7 | 7–6 | 8–4 | 4–9 | 7–5 | 7–6 | 9–3 | 5–7 | 8–4 | — |

### 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
## 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

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Toledo Mud Hens | International League | Cal Ermer |
| AA | Orlando Twins | Southern League | Tom Kelly |
| A | Visalia Oaks | California League | Phil Roof |
| A | Wisconsin Rapids Twins | Midwest League | Ken Staples |
| Rookie | Elizabethton Twins | Appalachian League | Fred Waters |