We've seen Josh Willingham's home run trot 30 times this season, which makes it one of the more common trots in team history. Photo by Bob DeChiara-US PRESSWIRE

Josh Willingham hit a three run home run off Tiger pitcher Doug Fister last night. It was Willingham’s 30th home run of the 2012 season. Not only does that blast set a career high for the slugger, it put him in some select company among his fellow Minnesota Twins.

A 30 homer season is a common occurrence for some teams, but not the Twins. Aside from Hall of Famer Harmon Killebrew, the Twins are not a franchise that has ever been known for their power hitters. Among the 16 original MLB franchises, the Twins (formerly Washington Senators) are dead last with 9,717 round trippers. And they have endured some long power droughts in their history. One of the longest such droughts is still going strong; it has been 41 years since the Twins last had a player hit 35 or more in one season. For example, from 1988 through 2005, even as the other 29 teams were busy knocking balls over the fence in a steroid-fueled fury, no Twin managed to attain the 30 homer mark.

Willingham’s 2012 season is just the 24th 30 homer season since the Twins came to Minnesota in 1961. Killebrew owns a third of that total, with eight 30 HR seasons (1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1966, 1967, 1969, 1970). In every one of those seasons, Killebrew hit 39 or more, which gives him the eight highest individual HR totals in team history. Next on the list is Willingham’s teammate Justin Morneau, who has three 30 HR campaigns (2006, 2007, and 2009). Gary Gaetti (1986, 1987), Bob Allison (1963, 1964), and Tom Brunansky (1984, 1987) each had a pair. The other 30 homer seasons belong to Jimmie Hall (1963), Tony Oliva (1964), Kirby Puckett (1986), Kent Hrbek (1987), Torii Hunter (2006), Michael Cuddyer (2009), and Willingham.

The Twins expected Willingham to be a powerful presence in the team’s lineup, but nobody could have predicted just how successful he would be as a home run hitter. His previous career high was 29 home runs in 2011 with the Oakland Athletics; before last year he had never exceeded 26. But he has topped those numbers with 46 games still to be played in 2012, and he has given the lie to everyone who claimed that Target Field is a pitchers’ park where power hitters are doomed to struggle.

He also provided one of the few highlights in an awful game for the Twins. Aside from Willingham’s blast, Twins hitters managed just five other hits, and they struck out eight times. It was far too little offense on a night when the pitchers were doing nothing to stop the Detroit offense. Brian Duensing, Casey Fien, Alex Burnett, and Luis Perdomo combined to allow eight runs on five walks and 13 hits (six of those for extra bases). Willingham’s home run came in the fourth inning after three Detroit errors had created the only serious Twins’ scoring threat of the entire game, and it briefly tied the score at 4-4 before Detroit eventually ran away with the game.

Looking forward, Willingham has an excellent chance to reach the 35 home run mark, and possibly 40. If he does so, he’ll own the highest home run total by a Twin since Killebrew hit 41 in 1970. Several Twins have hit 34 since then, but never 35.

Here's Justin Morneau celebrating after his 200th career home run. Photo by David Richard-US PRESSWIRE

Just like Jim Thome a year ago, Justin Morneau reached a milestone last night with a two-homer game against a division opponent. Thome’s twin blasts against Detroit last August gave him 600 for his career. Morneau will probably never come close to that number, but he is a third of the way there, thanks to a pair of dingers against the hapless Indians last night.

The first round-tripper came on the heels of a Josh Willingham solo shot in the second inning. Morneau’s homer off Zach McAllister was the second run in what turned out to be a 10 run innings. The second, career shot number 200, came against Josh Tomlin in the fourth inning with Ben Revere aboard. That secures Tomlin’s place in the footnotes of Morneau’s career. He joins such notables as Albie Lopez, who served up Morneau’s first career homer back in 2003, Fernando Cabrera, who surrendered #100 in 2007, and Esteban Loaiza and Justin Duchsherer, against whom Morneau hit his only two postseason homers in 2006.

Yesterday’s 200th homer is more than just a nice round number. It is a step up the ladder on the Minnesota Twins’ all-time homer list. Morneau is just one home run away from tying Gary Gaetti for sixth place in franchise history. By the end of the season, barring an injury or a slump, Morneau is likely to catch Kirby Puckett (207) for fifth place as well. Fourth place on the Minnesota Twins list is Bob Allison with 211, a number Morneau could conceivably reach with a hot September, but if you count his Washington Senators numbers, Allison rises to #3 with 256.

As Dustin Morse (@Twins_morsecode) pointed out on Twitter, Morneau is the fourth Canadian-born Major Leaguer to reach the 200 milestone. Appropriately, his 200th blast came in support of fellow Canadian Scott Diamond.

Wherever he ranks on the all-time lists, it’s great to have Morneau back in his top slugging form. After struggling through the first half of the season, Morneau has suddenly regained his identity as one of the American League’s most dangerous hitters. His slash line has jumped from .229/.301/.435 near the end of June to .275/.335/.481 today. And there’s still plenty of season left for Morneau to impress us. His hitting surge comes too late in the season to boost the Twins back into contention, and to be honest, the Twins’ problems are far bigger than anything Morneau could solve. But it is very nice to know that Morneau, who is under contract through 2014, could be something close to the MVP lineup presence he used to be.

The Dodgers, Blue Jays, and Giants all were linked to Morneau at the trade deadline, but none of them made a substantial enough offer to impress Terry Ryan. Hopefully Morneau’s performance has those teams kicking themselves and making a mental note to overpay next time they try to trade with the Twins! Because it sure looks like Ryan made the right move by keeping Morneau in town.

image source: baseball-almanac.com

Former starting pitcher Jim Perry is the lone selection to the franchise Hall of Fame this year, voted in by a committee consisting of local and national BBWAA members, team officials, previous inductees, and fans.  He will be inducted in a special ceremony prior to the game against the Rangers on June 11th.  Perry’s induction into the Twins’ HOF is long overdue.  According to baseball-reference.com, Perry is 11th all-time on the franchise list of pitching WAR leaders, with 22.2.  He spent ten seasons with the Twins, going 128-90 with a 3.15 ERA, winning one Cy Young award, appearing in two All-Star games, and leading the team to the AL pennant in 1965. 

Perry had already established himself as one of the American Leagues’ top pitchers when he was traded to the Twins in May of 1963.  He was signed by the Indians as an amateur free agent in 1959, and pitched so well in his rookie season that he finished second to future teammate Bob Allison in ROY voting.  However, he did have a couple of rough seasons in 1961 and 1962, posting ERAs of 4.71 and 4.14, prompting the Indians to cut bait and trade him for a promising young prospect in Jack Kralick.  Kralick had some decent seasons in the Cleve, posting an ERA+ of 103 in five seasons, but Perry blossomed in Minny, posting a 113 ERA+ over the next nine years.  Though he didn’t fare so well in the postseason (6.75 ERA in three appearances), he played no small role in helping the Twins get there.  He was shifted to the rotation to replace an injured Camilo Pascual during the 1965 pennant chase, holding opponents to a .361 slugging percentage and posting a 2,45 ERA down the stretch.  The Twins won the pennant, but lost to the Dodgers in the World Series.  Perry would also help pitch the team to the postseason in 1969 and 1970, when he posted an ERA+ of 131 and125, respectively, but the team would ultimately lose in the ALCS to Baltimore both times.

After a couple of relatively disappointing seasons in 1971 and 1972, Perry was traded to Detroit for pitching prospect Danny Fife and cash.  Fife never did pan out, but Perry’s best years were behind him at that point.  He went 14-13 with a 4.03 ERA with the Tigers in 1973, then was re-acquired by the Indians in a blockbuster, 3-team deal that sent Jerry Moses to the Tigers and Ed Farmer, Rick Sawyer, and Walt Williams to the Yankees.  Perry had one more good season with Cleveland in 1974, posting a 2.96 ERA and 122 ERA+, but that was it.  He was traded to Oakland in May of 1975, posted a 5.38 ERA, then was released in August.   Perry finished his 17-year career with a 3.45 ERA, 109 complete games, 32 shutouts, a 106 ERA+, 1,576 strikeouts, and 3,285.2 innings pitched.  While those numbers might be quite short of Cooperstown standards, he is clearly one of the best pitchers in franchise history.