Maybe it’s just me, but when I think of the Minnesota Twins and their history, I think of their offense first – their leadoff hitters, their power hitters, the M&M Boys, the Bomba Squad. That doesn’t mean their pitchers have always been awful. Over 60 years, a franchise has had years where their pitchers were above average. Any team can have a ton of memorable pitchers over 60 years. The Twins had Kurt, Blyleven, Viola, Radke, Santana, and others. But the Twins had an American League ERA leader in 1988, who has been forgotten in history and whose name is not often heard. Let’s take a closer look at the career of left-handed starting pitcher Alan Anderson.
Alan Anderson was born on January 7, 1964, in Lancaster, Ohio. During high school, Anderson flourished as a left-handed pitcher and threw four no-hitters, including two no-hitters in consecutive games, catching the attention of major league scouts. After high school, the Twins drafted Anderson in the second round of the 1982 Major League Baseball June Amateur Draft. The future looked bright. However, that soon changed.
In his first year of professional baseball in 1983, while with the Class A Wisconsin Rapid Twins, he tore ligaments in his elbow, a blow that would likely change his career. The flamethrower was forced to rely on varying his control and speed to pitch effectively. He had a great year with the Class A Visalia Oaks in 1984, followed by a season and a half with the AAA Toledo Mud Hens in 1985 and 1986 before being called up to the MLB.
On June 11, 1986, Anderson made his major league debut for the Minnesota Twins against the Texas Rangers. It was a great performance. He pitched an unprecedented 10 innings (at least by today’s standards), giving up one run in the first and third innings, but then he settled down and held Texas scoreless. Unfortunately, he was up against rubber knuckleballer Charlie Huff, who pitched 13 innings and gave up just two runs. The Rangers finally managed to get four runs off the Twins’ relief pitchers in the 16th inning to win, 6-2. Anderson finished his first season with a 3-6 record and a 5.55 ERA in 10 starts over 21 games.
In 1987, Anderson was a candidate to make the Twins’ starting rotation, but he injured his back during spring training. After recovering from his injury, he began the season with the AAA Portland Beavers. It was an up-and-down season from there. He pitched sporadically for the Twins in May and June, but was ineffective and returned to Portland. He turned his season around and had a strong August, but it was too late, as he never pitched for the Twins during that regular season or postseason. He was forced to sit back and watch his 1987 heroics come to an end.
1988 was the year Anderson finally put it all together. After three starts and one complete game at AAA Portland, he returned to the Twins on April 28, 1998. He started against Baltimore that day, pitching 6.1 innings and allowing two runs for the win. From there, he earned a regular spot in the rotation, starting 30 games. He had three complete games. He had a six-game winning streak from July 24 to August 22. He pitched well and consistently throughout the season. After a June 5 start, his ERA rose to 4.50. From there, it steadily dropped almost every game. He closed out the season with a three-hit shutout win against Oakland on September 27, lowering his ERA to an American League-best 2.45. He finished the season with a 16-9 record. He pitched 202.1 innings, but only struck out 83. This was probably a side effect of his previous elbow injury and his transition to a more control-oriented pitcher. Anderson had a stellar season, winning 16 games with a 2.45 ERA. However, he was overshadowed by his teammate Frank Viola, who won the 1988 American League Cy Young Award. Anderson was not favored for the Cy Young Award. Perhaps the national voters were too enamoured with Viola to appreciate Anderson’s career-best year.
1989 was another good season for him. He was selected as the opening pitcher, won 17 games, pitched 196.2 innings, and had an ERA of 3.80. He also had a low strikeout rate of 69. At some point in 1989, he tore the labrum in his shoulder, and the injury affected him the rest of the season. In 1990, he pitched a good number of innings (188.2), but his other stats deteriorated. He dropped to 7-18 with an ERA of 4.53. He struggled again in 1991, finishing with a 5-11 record and a 4.96 ERA. He pitched for most of 1991 with the Twins (with a brief demotion to AAA), but was again left off the postseason roster. Thus, despite his success with the Twins from 1986 to 1991, he did not appear in the playoffs or the World Series in either season.
Anderson became a free agent after the 1991 season and signed with the New York Yankees but never returned to MLB. He then played in the minor leagues with Texas and Cleveland before retiring after the 1993 season. He had a career record of 49-54 with a 4.11 ERA and 102 ERA+ in 818.2 innings pitched. His 1988 season was an impressive 166 ERA+.
Anderson served as a minor league pitching coach for the Texas Rangers after retiring from baseball in 1994. He currently works as a firefighter, real estate agent and auctioneer.
I’ll never forget Anderson’s MLB debut in 1986. I remember listening to the game on WCCO. I couldn’t sleep listening to that marathon. Wow, a 10 inning debut! Thankfully, there was no school in June, so I slept in and would probably talk about it with my friends the next day while playing wiffle ball.
Alan Anderson didn’t have the longest or most decorated career in Minnesota Twins history, but he’s memorable for his MLB debut in 1986 and winning the ERA title in 1988.
Interested in Twins history? Then check out the Minnesota Twins Players Project, a community-driven project that discovers and collects great information on every player who has ever worn a Twins uniform.
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