# 1964 Minnesota Twins season

The 1964 Minnesota Twins season was the 4th season for the Minnesota Twins franchise in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, their 4th season at Metropolitan Stadium and the 64th overall in the American League. They failed to improve on their 91 game wins from the previous two seasons, and fell to 79–83, a tie for sixth with the Cleveland Indians in the American League, 20 games behind the AL champion New York Yankees.

## Offseason

* December 2, 1963: Rudy May was drafted from the Twins by the Chicago White Sox in the 1963 first-year draft.

## Regular season

On May 2, in Kansas City, Missouri, Tony Oliva, Bob Allison, Jimmie Hall and Harmon Killebrew hit consecutive 11th-inning home runs, to tie a major league record first set by the Milwaukee Braves in 1961 and duplicated by the Cleveland Indians in 1963. The Twins finished the year with 221 homers, their second-best total ever.
On July 15, new Twin Mudcat Grant allowed thirteen singles and a walk in facing the Washington Senators. None would score, and Grant pitches a shutout, 6–0.
Five Twins made the All-Star Game: first baseman Bob Allison, outfielders Harmon Killebrew, Jimmie Hall and Tony Oliva and pitcher Camilo Pascual.
Tony Oliva became the first black player in the history of the American League to win the AL Rookie of the Year award. He led the major leagues in hits (217), extra base hits and total bases. He led the American League in batting average (.323), runs scored (109) and doubles.
Six Twins hit 20 or more home runs: Harmon Killebrew (49 HR, 111 RBI), Tony Oliva (32 HR, 96 RBI, 109 runs), Bob Allison (32 HR, 86 RBI), Jimmie Hall (25 HR, 75 RBI), Don Mincher (23 HR, 56 RBI), and Zoilo Versalles (20 HR, 94 runs).
Jim Kaat led the Twins with 17 wins and won his third Gold Glove; Camilo Pascual again led the Twins in strikeouts with 213.
1,207,514 fans attended Twins games, the third highest total in the American League.

### Season standings

vteAmerican League :
| Team | W | L | Pct. | GB | Home | Road |
| New York Yankees | 99 | 63 | .611 | — | 50‍–‍31 | 49‍–‍32 |
| Chicago White Sox | 98 | 64 | .605 | 1 | 52‍–‍29 | 46‍–‍35 |
| Baltimore Orioles | 97 | 65 | .599 | 2 | 49‍–‍32 | 48‍–‍33 |
| Detroit Tigers | 85 | 77 | .525 | 14 | 46‍–‍35 | 39‍–‍42 |
| Los Angeles Angels | 82 | 80 | .506 | 17 | 45‍–‍36 | 37‍–‍44 |
| Cleveland Indians | 79 | 83 | .488 | 20 | 41‍–‍40 | 38‍–‍43 |
| Minnesota Twins | 79 | 83 | .488 | 20 | 40‍–‍41 | 39‍–‍42 |
| Boston Red Sox | 72 | 90 | .444 | 27 | 45‍–‍36 | 27‍–‍54 |
| Washington Senators | 62 | 100 | .383 | 37 | 31‍–‍50 | 31‍–‍50 |
| Kansas City Athletics | 57 | 105 | .352 | 42 | 26‍–‍55 | 31‍–‍50 |

### Record vs. opponents

1964 American League recordvte Sources: :
| Team | BAL | BOS | CWS | CLE | DET | KCA | LAA | MIN | NYY | WSH |
| Baltimore | — | 11–7 | 10–8 | 8–10 | 11–7 | 13–5–1 | 11–7 | 10–8 | 10–8 | 13–5 |
| Boston | 7–11 | — | 4–14 | 9–9 | 5–13 | 12–6 | 9–9 | 5–13 | 9–9 | 12–6 |
| Chicago | 8–10 | 14–4 | — | 12–6 | 11–7 | 16–2 | 10–8 | 9–9 | 6–12 | 12–6 |
| Cleveland | 10–8 | 9–9 | 6–12 | — | 11–7 | 10–8 | 9–9 | 10–8–1 | 3–15–1 | 11–7 |
| Detroit | 7–11 | 13–5 | 7–11 | 7–11 | — | 11–7 | 10–8 | 11–7 | 8–10–1 | 11–7 |
| Kansas City | 5–13–1 | 6–12 | 2–16 | 8–10 | 7–11 | — | 6–12 | 9–9 | 6–12 | 8–10 |
| Los Angeles | 7–11 | 9–9 | 8–10 | 9–9 | 8–10 | 12–6 | — | 12–6 | 7–11 | 10–8 |
| Minnesota | 8–10 | 13–5 | 9–9 | 8–10–1 | 7–11 | 9–9 | 6–12 | — | 8–10 | 11–7 |
| New York | 8–10 | 9–9 | 12–6 | 15–3–1 | 10–8–1 | 12–6 | 11–7 | 10–8 | — | 12–6 |
| Washington | 5–13 | 6–12 | 6–12 | 7–11 | 7–11 | 10–8 | 8–10 | 7–11 | 6–12 | — |

### Notable transactions

* June 6, 1964: Andy Kosco was signed as a free agent by the Twins.
* June 24, 1964: Rod Carew was signed as an amateur free agent by the Twins.

### Roster
## Player stats

* = Indicates team leader

### 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 | Earl Battey | 131 | 405 | 110 | .272 | 12 | 52 |
| 1B | Bob Allison | 149 | 492 | 141 | .287 | 32 | 86 |
| 2B | Bernie Allen | 74 | 243 | 52 | .214 | 6 | 20 |
| 3B | Rich Rollins | 148 | 596 | 161 | .270 | 12 | 68 |
| SS | Zoilo Versalles | 160 | 659 | 171 | .259 | 20 | 64 |
| LF | Harmon Killebrew | 158 | 577 | 156 | .270 | 49 | 111 |
| CF | Jimmie Hall | 149 | 510 | 144 | .282 | 25 | 75 |
| RF | Tony Oliva | 161 | 672 | 217 | .323 | 32 | 94 |

#### Other batters

Note: G = Games played; AB = At bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting average; HR = Home runs; RBI = Runs batted in
| Player | G | AB | H | Avg. | HR | RBI |
| Don Mincher | 120 | 287 | 68 | .237 | 23 | 56 |
| Jerry Kindall | 62 | 128 | 19 | .148 | 1 | 6 |
| Jerry Zimmerman | 63 | 120 | 24 | .200 | 0 | 12 |
| Johnny Goryl | 58 | 114 | 16 | .140 | 0 | 1 |
| Frank Kostro | 59 | 103 | 28 | .272 | 3 | 12 |
| Jim Snyder | 26 | 71 | 11 | .155 | 1 | 9 |
| Vic Power | 19 | 45 | 10 | .222 | 0 | 1 |
| Ron Henry | 22 | 41 | 5 | .122 | 2 | 5 |
| Jay Ward | 12 | 31 | 7 | .226 | 0 | 2 |
| Bill Bethea | 10 | 30 | 5 | .167 | 0 | 2 |
| Joe McCabe | 14 | 19 | 3 | .158 | 0 | 2 |
| Lenny Green | 26 | 15 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Bud Bloomfield | 7 | 7 | 1 | .143 | 0 | 0 |
| Rich Reese | 10 | 7 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| Joe Nossek | 7 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |
| George Banks | 1 | 1 | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 |

### Pitching
#### Starting pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Camilo Pascual | 36 | 267.1 | 15 | 12 | 3.30 | 213 |
| Jim Kaat | 36 | 243.0 | 17 | 11 | 3.22 | 171 |
| Dick Stigman | 32 | 190.0 | 6 | 15 | 4.03 | 159 |
| Mudcat Grant | 26 | 166.0 | 11 | 9 | 2.82 | 75 |
| Lee Stange | 14 | 79.2 | 3 | 6 | 4.74 | 54 |
| Dave Boswell | 4 | 23.1 | 2 | 0 | 4.24 | 25 |

#### Other pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; IP = Innings pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | IP | W | L | ERA | SO |
| Gerry Arrigo | 41 | 105.2 | 7 | 4 | 3.84 | 96 |
| Jim Roland | 30 | 94.1 | 2 | 6 | 4.10 | 63 |

#### Relief pitchers

Note: G = Games pitched; W = Wins; L = Losses; SV = Saves; ERA = Earned run average; SO = Strikeouts
| Player | G | W | L | SV | ERA | SO |
| Al Worthington | 41 | 5 | 6 | 14 | 1.37 | 59 |
| Bill Pleis | 47 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 3.91 | 42 |
| Jim Perry | 42 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 3.44 | 55 |
| Johnny Klippstein | 33 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 1.97 | 39 |
| Bill Dailey | 14 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 8.22 | 6 |
| Garland Shifflett | 10 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4.58 | 8 |
| Dwight Siebler | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.91 | 10 |
| Bill Fischer | 9 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7.36 | 2 |
| Jerry Fosnow | 7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 10.97 | 9 |
| Bill Whitby | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8.53 | 2 |
| Gary Dotter | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2.08 | 6 |
| Chuck Nieson | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4.50 | 5 |

## Farm system

| Level | Team | League | Manager |
| AAA | Atlanta Crackers | International League | Jack McKeon and Pete Appleton |
| AA | Charlotte Hornets | Southern League | Al Evans |
| A | Wilson Tobs | Carolina League | Ralph Rowe |
| A | Orlando Twins | Florida State League | Harry Warner |
| A | Wisconsin Rapids Twins | Midwest League | Joe Christian |
| A | Bismarck-Mandan Pards | Northern League | Vern Morgan |
| Rookie | Melbourne Twins | Cocoa Rookie League | Fred Waters |
LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Melbourne