The 1984 Minnesota Twins season was the 24th season for the Minnesota Twins franchise in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, their 3rd season at Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome and the 84th overall in the American League.

The team spent much of the season contending for the division title, but finished with a record of 81–81, tied for second in the American League West, and three games behind the division winner Kansas City Royals. Their 81–81 record was an 11-game improvement from 1983, and a 21-game improvement from their 102-loss season of 1982 (the third-worst record in franchise history).

1,598,692 fans attended Twins games, a Twins attendance record, but still the fifth-lowest total in the American League. Towards the end of the season, Calvin Griffith sold the club to local investor Carl Pohlad.

Offseason October 1983: Jeff Little was released by the Twins.Jeff Little at Baseball Reference December 7, 1983: Gary Ward and Sam Sorce (minors) were traded by the Twins to the Texas Rangers for John Butcher and Mike Smithson.John Butcher at Baseball Reference January 17, 1984: Mark Grace was drafted by the Twins in the 15th round of the 1984 Major League Baseball draft, but did not sign.Mark Grace at Baseball Reference

Regular season May 4 - Oakland's Dave Kingman popped up in the fourth inning. The ball found a drainage hole in the Metrodome's roof and never returned to the playing surface. Kingman was awarded a ground-rule double. In the ninth, he hit another ball out—but this one was just into the seats. May 8 – Kirby Puckett got four hits in his major league debut, at Anaheim Stadium. June 29 – Andre David made his major league debut and started in right field for the Twins. In his first at bat in the second inning, he homered off Detroit Tigers pitcher Jack Morris to become the fourth Twin to homer in his first-ever at bat. David joined Rick Renick (1968), Dave McKay (1975) and Gary Gaetti (1981); three of the four were against Detroit pitching. In 2015, Eddie Rosario joins the list when he homers on the very first pitch he sees in the majors. Only one Twins player made the All-Star Game, catcher Dave Engle. September 28 – The Twins suffered their biggest blown lead for a loss in team history. Leading Cleveland 10–0 in the third inning, and 10–2 in the sixth, they lost the 9-inning game 11–10. In the ninth, relievers Ron Davis and Ed Hodge loaded the bases. Hodge allowed a walk-off single.

Offense

Kent Hrbek hit .311 with 27 HR and 107 RBI. Tom Brunansky hit 32 HR and 85 RBI. Leadoff batter Kirby Puckett hit .296 and scored 63 runs. Gary Gaetti hit 5 HR and 65 RBI.

Pitching

Starter Frank Viola was 18–12. Reliever Ron Davis had 29 saves. He also blew 14 saves, to tie a major league record set in 1976 and tied two other times. Mike Smithson allowed 35 homers, the most in the majors.

Defense

Gary Gaetti led the major leagues playing in 162 games. His 334 assists led all of baseball this season. Outfield teammates Kirby Puckett (center) and Tom Brunansky (right) also led the major leagues in assists.

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Notable transactions June 4, 1984: Jay Bell was drafted by the Twins in the 1st round (8th pick) of the 1984 Major League Baseball draft. Jay Bell signed on June 11, 1984.Jay Bell at Baseball Reference

Roster 1984 Minnesota Twins Roster Pitchers Catchers

Infielders Outfielders

Other batters Manager

Coaches

Game log Regular season

|-style=background:#fbb | 1 || April 3 || 7:35p.m. CST || Tigers || 1–8 || Morris (1–0) || Williams (0–1) || – || 2:10 || 34,381 || 0–1 || L1 |-style=background:#fbb | 2 || April 5 || 12:15p.m. CST || Tigers || 3–7 || Petry (1–0) || Viola (0–1) || – || 2:33 || 8,373 || 0–2 || L2 |-style=background:#bbb | — || April 23 || || @ Tigers || colspan=8 | Postponed (Rain) (Makeup date: April 24) |-style=background:#fbb | 17 || April 24 || 4:30p.m. CST || @ Tigers || 5–6 || Morris (4–0) || Davis (2–2) || – || 2:16 || N/A || 8–9 || L1 |-style=background:#fbb | 18 || April 24 || 7:21p.m. CST || @ Tigers || 3–4 || Abbott (1–0) || Viola (0–3) || López (1) || 2:29 || 20,315 || 8–10 || L2

|-style=background:#cfc | 74 || June 29 || 4:35p.m. CST || @ Tigers || 5–3 || Williams (3–3) || Morris (12–4) || Davis (15) || 2:50 || N/A || 37–37 || W1 |-style=background:#fbb | 75 || June 29 || 8:00p.m. CDT || @ Tigers || 5–7 || Hernández (4–0) || Filson (4–2) || – || 3:00 || 44,619 || 37–38 || L1 |-style=background:#fbb | 76 || June 30 || 6:35p.m. CDT || @ Tigers || 3–4 || Petry (11–3) || Schrom (1–3) || Hernández (14) || 2:43 || 48,095 || 37–39 || L2

|-style=background:#cfc | 77 || July 1 || 12:30p.m. CDT || @ Tigers || 9–0 || Viola (8–7) || Berenguer (4–6) || – || 2:21 || 43,484 || 38–39 || L1 |-style=background:#bbbfff |colspan="12"|55th All-Star Game in San Francisco, CA |-style=background:#cfc | 85 || July 12 || 7:35p.m. CDT || Tigers || 4–2 || Viola (10–7) || Petry (11–4) || Davis (17) || 2:18 || 29,729 || 44–41 || W2 |-style=background:#fbb | 86 || July 13 || 7:35p.m. CDT || Tigers || 3–5 || Hernández (5–0) || Lysander (0–1) || López (10) || 3:11 || 30,050 || 44–42 || L1 |-style=background:#fbb | 87 || July 14 || 7:35p.m. CDT || Tigers || 5–6 || Hernández (6–0) || Walters (0–3) || – || 3:40 || 46,017 || 44–43 || L2 |-style=background:#fbb | 88 || July 15 || 1:15p.m. CDT || Tigers || 2–6 || Rozema (6–1) || Schrom (2–4) || López (11) || 3:00 || 27,965 || 44–44 || L3

|- style="text-align:center;" | Legend:      = Win      = Loss      = PostponementBold = Twins team member

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 109 391 104 .266 4 38 1B 149 559 174 .311 27 107 2B Tim Teufel 157 568 149 .262 14 61 3B 162 588 154 .262 5 65 SS 108 298 60 .201 0 19 LF Mickey Hatcher 152 576 174 .302 5 69 CF 128 557 165 .296 0 31 RF 155 567 144 .254 32 85 DH Randy Bush 113 311 69 .222 11 43

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 Tim Laudner 87 262 54 .206 10 35 Darrell Brown 95 260 71 .273 1 19 Ron Washington 88 197 58 .294 3 23 Dave Meier 59 147 35 .238 0 13 16 52 13 .250 1 6 Andre David 33 48 12 .250 1 5 Pat Putnam 14 38 3 .079 0 4 Chris Speier 12 33 7 .212 0 1 Jim Eisenreich 12 32 7 .219 0 3 13 29 5 .172 0 5 John Castino 8 27 12 .444 0 3 Jeff Reed 18 21 3 .143 0 1 Greg Gagne 2 1 0 .000 0 0 Álvaro Espinoza 1 0 0 ---- 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 35 257.2 18 12 3.21 149 36 252.0 15 13 3.68 144 34 225.0 13 11 3.44 83 Ken Schrom 25 137.0 5 11 4.47 49

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 Pete Filson 55 118.2 6 5 4.10 59 Ed Hodge 25 100.0 4 3 4.77 59 17 68.2 3 5 5.77 22 Bobby Castillo 10 25.1 2 1 1.78 7

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 64 7 11 29 4.55 74 36 4 3 5 3.49 22 Len Whitehouse 30 2 2 1 3.16 18 Mike Walters 23 0 3 2 3.72 10 Larry Pashnick 13 2 1 0 3.52 10 Keith Comstock 4 0 0 0 8.53 2 2 0 0 0 1.93 0 Curt Wardle 2 0 0 0 4.50 5

Awards and honors

All-Star Game Dave Engle, reserve

Farm system

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Elizabethton

Notes

References

External links Player stats from www.baseball-reference.com Team info from www.baseball-almanac.com