The Minnesota Twins have enjoyed their celebration of the 1987 World Series team this year, having a reunion at Target Field that brought back many of the team’s members. The General Manager of that 1987 team, Andy MacPhail was inducted into the team’s hall of fame. Yet, all of this became possible because of two incidents that occurred on this date years before the 1987 season.
August 24, 1980: The Resignation
From the time they moved to Minnesota and handed over the reigns to a 39 year-old Sam Mele, the Minnesota Twins had been managed by managers with one of two things in common – either they had never managed before (Mele, Cal Ermer, Billy Martin, Frank Quilici) or they’d never managed a team to finish with even 90 wins, let alone the postseason (Billy Rigney).