1972 Minnesota Twins season

MLB yearly infobox
name = Minnesota Twins
season = 1972
misc = 77-77, third in the AL Western Division

current league = American League
y1 = 1901
division = Western Division
y2 = 1969
Uniform
ballpark = Metropolitan Stadium
y4 = 1961
city = Bloomington, Minnesota
y5 = 1961
owners = Calvin Griffith
managers = Bill Rigney and Frank Quilici
television = WTCN-TV
(Halsey Hall, Frank Buetel, Lynn Faris)
radio = 830 WCCO AM
(Herb Carneal, Halsey Hall, Ray Christensen)|The by|1972 Minnesota Twins finished 77-77, third in the AL West. After a slow start, manager Bill Rigney was replaced by Frank Quilici. 797,901 fans attended Twins games, the seventh highest total in the American League. It was almost half the number of fans that had attended just a few seasons earlier.

Regular Season

Only one Twins made the All-Star Game, second baseman Rod Carew.

Offense

Rod Carew won his second AL batting title with a .318 average.
Bobby Darwin showed potential as a hitter with 22 HR and 80 RBI, but that did not make up for age and injuries taking their toll on other players. Harmon Killebrew hit 26 HR (4th in the league) but drove in only 75 runs. Tony Oliva's bad knees limited him to only 10 games.

Notable transactions

*May 12, 1972: Sal Butera was signed by the Twins as an amateur free agent. [ [http://www.baseball-reference.com/b/butersa01.shtml Sal Butera page at Baseball Reference] ]
*June 6, 1972: Willie Norwood was drafted by the Twins in the 3rd round of the 1972 amateur draft. [ [http://www.baseball-reference.com/n/norwowi01.shtml Willie Norwood page at Baseball Reference] ]

Player stats

Batting

tarters by position

"Note: Pos = Position; G = Games played; AB = At Bats; H = Hits; Avg. = Batting Average; HR = Home Runs; RBI = Runs Batted In"

Other pitchers

Relief pitchers

References

External links

* [http://www.baseball-reference.com/teams/MIN/1972.shtml Player stats from www.baseball-reference.com]
* [http://baseball-almanac.com/teamstats/roster.php?y=1972&t=MIN Team info from www.baseball-almanac.com]