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Minnesota Twins 1987 World Series Anniversary Profile: Les Straker

By Benjamin Chase

CHICAGO, IL - APRIL 15: A replica World Series Trophy, today's promotional giveaway, on the field before the game between the Chicago Cubs and the Pittsburgh Pirates at Wrigley Field on April 15, 2017 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jon Durr/Getty Images)
CHICAGO, IL - APRIL 15: A replica World Series Trophy, today's promotional giveaway, on the field before the game between the Chicago Cubs and the Pittsburgh Pirates at Wrigley Field on April 15, 2017 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Jon Durr/Getty Images) /
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With the 30th anniversary celebration of the Minnesota Twins’ 1987 World Championship this year, we continue to profile the players!

The Minnesota Twins are working toward another playoff appearance after a long layoff, something that they did in 1987 before they won their first World Series championship in franchise history.

The Twins have established a tradition of Venezuelan starters doing well, and that started with the guy who was effectively the third starter for the 1987 team…

Background

The Cincinnati Reds originally signed Les Straker out of Venezuela in 1977. After a number of years not really finding any traction in the Reds farm system, he left as a minor league free agent and went to the Oakland Athletics. After just one season in the A’s system, he was released. Roughly a month later, the Twins picked him up.

Straker won 16 games and threw 193 innings with AA Orlando in 1985, getting plenty of notice in the Twins system. He threw well over 18 starts, fighting some injury bug, with the Twins AAA club in Toledo in 1986. That led to Straker earning the starting job out of spring training in 1987.

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1987 Performances

Straker earned a job out of spring training with the Twins, making 31 apperances, 26 of them starts, throwing 154 1/3 innings with a 4.37 ERA and a 1.35 WHIP.

The Twins spent the season attempting to find a guy to take Straker’s spot, but he kept performing and guys like Steve Carlton and Joe Niekro struggled to perform as well as he did.

After a rough start in the ALCS, Straker made an impressive start in game 3 on the road in St. Louis. He went 6 scoreless innings with 4 hits and 2 walks, striking out 4.

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Post-1987

Straker had a job out of camp in 1988, and he was actually having a better season than 1987 with a 3.92 ERA and 1.34 WHIP over 16 starts before he was injured and missed the rest of the season. When he came back the next spring, he wasn’t the same, and after spending 1989 in AAA with the Twins, he spent three games with the Montreal AAA team in 1990 before leaving the team.

Straker was off the radar for a number of years, though he was around the game, working with young players in his native Venezuela. The Phillies hired Straker as their pitching coach with their Venezuelan Winter League team in 2004, and he served in that role until 2015, when the Venezuelan Summer League was ended by MLB, and he took over as the pitching coach for one of the two Phillies Dominican Summer League teams in 2017.

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