The 1969 Minnesota Twins season was the 9th season for the Minnesota Twins franchise in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, their 9th season at Metropolitan Stadium and the 69th overall in the American League.

Led by new manager Billy Martin, the Twins won the newly formed American League West with a 97–65 record, nine games over the second-place Oakland Athletics. The Twins were swept by the Baltimore Orioles in the first ALCS.

Regular season In the first year of divisional play, the Twins won the American League West, led by Rod Carew (.332, his first AL batting title), Tony Oliva (.309, 24 HR, 101 RBI) and league MVP Harmon Killebrew (49 HR, 140 RBI – both league-leading totals). Carew stole home 7 times. Leadoff batter César Tovar was third in the AL with 45 stolen bases. Jim Perry and Dave Boswell each won 20 games, the first and only time a Minnesota club has held two 20-game winners. Reliever Ron Perranoski became the first Twin to lead the AL in saves with 31. Pitcher Jim Kaat won his 8th Gold Glove Award.

In the May 18 loss to Detroit, the Twins stole five bases during the third inning to tie a major league record. Four bases were stolen during Harmon Killebrew's at-bat: César Tovar stole home, and Rod Carew stole second, third and then home.

On June 21 in Oakland, the Twins were tied 3–3 with the A's going into the tenth inning. In the top of the inning, Minnesota scored eleven times, tying a 1928 New York Yankees record. The Twins won the game 14–4.

On September 20, the Twins were at least able to clinch a playoff spot at home by beating the Seattle Pilots 3-2 on a walk-off double by Tony Oliva that brought in Rod Carew who'd hit a single in the at-bat before. It would be 2 more days before they'd clinch the AL West outright as the Pilots upset the Twins the next day while the 2nd-place A's throttled the California Angels. On September 22, they went on the road to Kansas City and won over the expansion Royals 4-3 becoming the first team to win the division.

Four Twins made the All-Star Game: first baseman Killebrew, second baseman Carew, outfielder Oliva, and catcher John Roseboro. Harmon Killebrew became the second Twin to be named American League Most Valuable Player.

1,349,328 fans attended Twins games, the third highest total in the American League.

Season standings

Record vs. opponents

Notable transactions June 5, 1969: 1969 Major League Baseball draft Bert Blyleven was drafted by the Twins in the 3rd round.Bert Blyleven at Baseball Reference Jim Hughes was drafted by the Twins in the 33rd round.Jim Hughes at Baseball Reference

Roster 1969 Minnesota Twins Roster Pitchers Catchers

Infielders Outfielders

Other batters Manager

Coaches

Player stats = Indicates team leader

= Indicates league 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 115 361 95 .263 3 32 1B 132 419 135 .322 16 69 2B 123 458 152 .332 8 56 3B 162 555 153 .276 49 140 SS 160 578 162 .280 10 70 LF 81 189 43 .228 8 29 CF 152 554 151 .273 8 62 RF 153 637 197 .309 24 101

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 158 535 154 .288 11 52 96 225 50 .222 7 26 69 187 48 .257 5 13 83 164 34 .207 2 24 118 144 25 .174 2 12 71 139 34 .254 5 17 37 47 9 .191 0 2 12 14 5 .357 1 2 6 9 2 .222 0 0 5 8 1 .125 0 0 5 6 3 .500 0 0 2 2 0 .000 0 0 16 2 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 46 261.2 20 6 2.82 153 39 256.1 20 12 3.23 190 40 242.1 14 13 3.49 139 20 140.2 8 7 3.33 92 20 88.1 5 4 2.95 50

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 48 119.1 5 5 3.02 57 44 110.1 7 5 3.67 66 3 5.1 0 1 5.06 1

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 75 9 10 31 2.11 62 46 9 10 3 4.57 51 38 4 1 3 3.88 24 21 1 0 1 4.71 16 6 0 0 0 5.40 2 4 0 0 0 6.75 2 3 0 0 0 2.70 1

Postseason

The Twins were swept 3–0 by the Baltimore Orioles in the 1969 American League Championship Series.

Awards and honors Recipient Award All-Star starting 2B All-Star reserve 1B All-Star reserve OF(did not play due to injury) All-Star reserve C AL Gold Glove Award P AL Most Valuable Player

Along with MVP winner Killebrew, starting pitcher Jim Perry, Carew, shortstop Leo Cardenas, relief pitcher Ron Perranoski, Oliva, and utility man Cesar Tovar all received votes in American League MVP balloting, finishing in 9th, 10th, 12th, 13th, 15th and 17th place, respectively.

Perry finished in third place in American League Cy Young Award balloting.

Farm system

LEAGUE CHAMPIONS: Charlotte

Notes

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