The 1969 season has a special place in the history of the Minnesota Twins as they claimed the very first American League West title.
Unfortunately, the magic ended in the initial AL Championship Series as the Twins were defeated by the Baltimore Orioles.
However, there were definitely some unforgettable moments that season.
AL Most Valuable Player and future Hall of Fame inductee Harmon Killebrew led that team, but many others contributed to the success.
With the exception of a short stint in Detroit in 1973, Rich Reese played 10 years in the major leagues with the Twins and 1969 was the top performance of his career with 16 homers and 69 RBI.
There have been many sluggers in Reese isn’t really one of them … or is he?
Despite having just 52 homers in his career, Reese is one of four players to hit three pinch-hit grand slams. He’s the only one of the four to have all of the homers with the same team.
The first of the blasts by Reese came against Baltimore on August 3, 1969.
An all-star in 1969, Baltimore’s Dave McNally had a 15-0 record as he entered the contest against the Twins at Metropolitan Stadium in Minnesota. Adding two wins from 1968, McNally had won 17 straight decisions.
The Orioles led 1-0 entering the seventh as McNally had blanked the Twins on four hits.
In the seventh, McNally retired the first two batters before Leo Cardenas and Frank Quilici both singled. Pinch-hitter Rick Renick walked to load the bases.
Minnesota manager Billy Martin picked Reese to hit for eventual winning pitcher Jim Kaat.
Reese smacked a 3-2 pitch from McNally over the left field fence to give the Twins the lead and put them on course for a 5-2 victory ending the Baltimore lefty’s chance at history as the first AL pitcher to win 16 games to begin the season.
The Other Slams
Reese hit his other two pinch-hit grand slams in 1970 and 1972.
The second shot came off Dick Bosman of Washington, while the final blast was against Lindy McDaniel of the New York Yankees.
A Couple More Homers
In his career, Reese added two more pinch-hit homers to give him five overall.
In 1967, he tagged Fred Talbot of the Yankees and Moe Drabowsky of the Orioles. The homer off Drabowsky was a walk-off two-run blast that gave the Twins a 10-9 win on August 31.
The Record Holders
Resse was the second player to reach three career pinch-hit grand slams.
Ron Northey was the first player to accomplish the feat with two for the St. Louis Cardinals in 1947 and 1948, His third was with the Chicago Cubs in 1950.
Willie McCovey hit two for the San Francisco Giants in 1960 and 1965. McCovey’s third long ball came after Reese tied the record when he hit his final one with the San Diego Padres in 1975.
The most recent player to join the group was Ben Broussard. He hit a pair for the Cleveland Indians in 2004 and his third was with the Seattle Mariners in 2007.