The Minnesota Twins are off to an 0-7 start, their worst in 56 seasons since the franchise left Washington, D.C. following the 1960 campaign. After losing their home opener against the Chicago White Sox on Monday, the Twins extended a futility streak that easily passes the 0-4 starts recorded in 1969, 1981 and 2012.
The winless start is a reminder of a funny story that St. Paul Pioneer Press columnist Charley Walters shared in Bob Showers’ entertaining book, “The Twins at the Met.” Walters was on the Twins roster in 1969, Billy Martin’s only season at the helm.
The 1969 schedule portended a fast start, beginning with series against the Kansas City Royals, a newly formed expansion team, and the California Angels, who had lost 95 games in 1968.
But Martin’s illustrious career as a big league manager began with four losses, including a pair of extra-inning defeats in Kansas City.
Dropping four in a row never came easy to the high-strung and competitive Martin, and he admitted as much to Minneapolis Tribune writer Dave Mona after the Twins had clinched the first American League West title that September.
“Looking back,” Martin said, “I think we were just trying too hard to win that first game. I threw up after the first loss. I don’t recommend any rookie manager start with 12- and 17-inning losses.”
Martin’s digestive tract may have taken a beating in those early days, but not enough to curtail some extracurricular nightlife, as Walters explained to Showers:
“In 1969, we started the season 0-4. We're in Anaheim for a series against the Angels and I'm sound asleep in my hotel room when the phone rings at 3:30 a.m. It's Ted Uhlaender and he says: 'We've got an unbelievable party going on. You've got to come down to room 203.' I could hear women and music and laughter in the background. I was 22 years old and single at the time, but there was no way I was going down to that party. It was the middle of the night, we'd just lost our first four games and I wasn't going to do anything that might get me sent to the minors. I told Ted I wasn't coming down and he tells me to hang on because someone wants to talk to me. Another guy gets on the phone and says, 'Hey Big Shooter, this is Billy. You've got five minutes to get your ass down here.' It was Billy Martin, our manager. I said, 'I'll be right down.'
”I get dressed and go down to the party. Half of our ballclub is there with a bunch of Hollywood types. Billy comes over and asks what I'm drinking and I say, 'Billy, I just got up. I'll have what you're having.' So he gives me a scotch and I have a seat. I remember thinking: 'This is the big leagues.' I left the room at 6 a.m. and the party was still going on. And, we won our next seven games.”
With Martin at the helm, the Twins improved by 18 wins over their disappointing 1968 performance and finished atop the AL West with a 97-65 record. Asking the 2016 Twins to come out on top, however, may be too much to ask. According to STATS LLC, no team has started 0-7 and advanced to the postseason. Three teams have done so after starting 0-6, so perhaps Monday’s loss to the White Sox shouldn’t be seen as the game that decides a season.
Looking beyond 2016, it would be nice to see the Twins break two other losing streaks. After Monday’s loss, they haven’t won a home opener since 2011. And they haven’t won a season opener since 2008—a string of eight straight Opening Day losses.
The winless start is a reminder of a funny story that St. Paul Pioneer Press columnist Charley Walters shared in Bob Showers’ entertaining book, “The Twins at the Met.” Walters was on the Twins roster in 1969, Billy Martin’s only season at the helm.
The 1969 schedule portended a fast start, beginning with series against the Kansas City Royals, a newly formed expansion team, and the California Angels, who had lost 95 games in 1968.
But Martin’s illustrious career as a big league manager began with four losses, including a pair of extra-inning defeats in Kansas City.
Dropping four in a row never came easy to the high-strung and competitive Martin, and he admitted as much to Minneapolis Tribune writer Dave Mona after the Twins had clinched the first American League West title that September.
“Looking back,” Martin said, “I think we were just trying too hard to win that first game. I threw up after the first loss. I don’t recommend any rookie manager start with 12- and 17-inning losses.”
Martin’s digestive tract may have taken a beating in those early days, but not enough to curtail some extracurricular nightlife, as Walters explained to Showers:
“In 1969, we started the season 0-4. We're in Anaheim for a series against the Angels and I'm sound asleep in my hotel room when the phone rings at 3:30 a.m. It's Ted Uhlaender and he says: 'We've got an unbelievable party going on. You've got to come down to room 203.' I could hear women and music and laughter in the background. I was 22 years old and single at the time, but there was no way I was going down to that party. It was the middle of the night, we'd just lost our first four games and I wasn't going to do anything that might get me sent to the minors. I told Ted I wasn't coming down and he tells me to hang on because someone wants to talk to me. Another guy gets on the phone and says, 'Hey Big Shooter, this is Billy. You've got five minutes to get your ass down here.' It was Billy Martin, our manager. I said, 'I'll be right down.'
”I get dressed and go down to the party. Half of our ballclub is there with a bunch of Hollywood types. Billy comes over and asks what I'm drinking and I say, 'Billy, I just got up. I'll have what you're having.' So he gives me a scotch and I have a seat. I remember thinking: 'This is the big leagues.' I left the room at 6 a.m. and the party was still going on. And, we won our next seven games.”
With Martin at the helm, the Twins improved by 18 wins over their disappointing 1968 performance and finished atop the AL West with a 97-65 record. Asking the 2016 Twins to come out on top, however, may be too much to ask. According to STATS LLC, no team has started 0-7 and advanced to the postseason. Three teams have done so after starting 0-6, so perhaps Monday’s loss to the White Sox shouldn’t be seen as the game that decides a season.
Looking beyond 2016, it would be nice to see the Twins break two other losing streaks. After Monday’s loss, they haven’t won a home opener since 2011. And they haven’t won a season opener since 2008—a string of eight straight Opening Day losses.
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